Romans, looking at Romans chapter
1, and we're not proceeding too fast, but that's okay. That's okay. I would rather spend
time on a few things than much time on a lot of things. One of the things that caught
my attention here in verse 15, after Paul said that he's a debtor,
He's a debtor to all men to preach the gospel. So, that word, so,
so, or so then. As much as in me is. And I thought of this reference
if you want to jot it down, 2 Corinthians 3, 5. As much as in me is. And he says in that verse that
our sufficiency is not of ourselves. Our sufficiency to preach the
gospel is of God. Our sufficiency is of God. So
as much as in me is. I'm ready. I'm ready to preach
the gospel to you that are at Rome. Now, if we can understand
what is being said here in these three verses, verse 15, 16, and
17, if we can understand by His grace and power and His wisdom
and the revelation of what's being said here, If we can understand
these things, we'll have a good understanding of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. As we studied there in verse
1 and 2, the gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ in verse
3. In these three verses here, we
have the key to understanding the message that's given to us
in the book of Romans. And that message is that sinners
are justified not by the deeds of the law. Sinners are justified
because God justifies the ungodly by His grace. It's His grace
alone. that justifies us. Now, one of
my favorite verses in the book of Romans is Romans 3. Romans
3 verse 24. Don't turn, let me just quote
it to you. Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption
that is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, justified freely by His
grace. Isn't that precious? That's God's
gospel. That's the gospel that's the
power of God unto salvation. So then, so as much as in me
is, Paul was not only able and willing to preach the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he was ready, ready to do so. Hold your place there and find
2 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 4. When the Apostle Paul was
sitting on death row there in a Roman prison, this is many
years later, after he had written to the believers there in Rome,
He says in 2 Timothy 4 verse 1, I charge thee therefore before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the living and
the dead at the appearing of his kingdom to preach the word,
preach the word, be instant, that is be ready, be instant
in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering
and doctrine for the time will come When they will not endure
sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to
themselves, teachers having itching ears, they shall turn away their
ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables." Verse
6, now I'm ready to be offered the time of my departure is at
hand. This is the last words of Paul
as he sits on death row waiting to be executed and he writes
back to a young preacher and he says, Timothy, you be ready. be ready to preach the gospel.
And that's what he's saying here. He said, I'm ready, I'm willing,
I'm able, and I'm ready to preach the gospel to you who are at
Rome. Now, Rome in that day was, I
guess we could say, was a New York City. I mean, Rome is where
everybody wanted to be and where all the money was and all the
political power and all the economic power, everything was tied to
Rome. There was a saying years ago,
all roads lead to Rome. Rome is the place where it was
happening. But Paul, when he writes to these
people here, he says, what you really need to hear and what
all those people need to hear in Rome is the gospel. That's
what they need. They need the gospel. So what
did the people in Rome truly need? Was it more jobs? Was it a better economy? They
needed to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see,
the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation. He that
hath the Son hath life. They needed to hear the gospel.
And Paul said, I'm ready, I'm ready to do so. Then he says
in verse 16, now this is probably one of the most quoted verses
and one of the most well-known verses in all the book of Romans. For I'm not ashamed, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Now notice carefully, it's the
gospel of Christ, not another. Because the gospel of Christ,
he said, it is the power of God, the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believes that gospel, whether he be a religious
Jew or whether he be a intellectual Greek. The gospel
is the power of God unto salvation. Every believer stands with the
Apostle Paul ready to contend for the faith, ready to give
an answer of our hope of salvation we have in Christ, and every
believer stands ready and willing to preach the gospel, ready to
defend it, and we have absolutely no reason of being ashamed of
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I would be terribly ashamed
of a salvation that depended upon what I do. I would be terribly
ashamed if I knew that salvation was by the deeds of my doing
and the righteousness that I had to produce before God. I'd be
ashamed of that, wouldn't you? You see, our righteousness, all
of our best deeds and our righteousness before God is as filthy rags.
I'd be ashamed of that, but we have no reason to be ashamed
of the gospel of Christ wherein the righteousness of God is revealed. Now, Paul said, I know whom I
have believed, I'm not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. Now, what has the believer committed
unto the Lord Jesus Christ? In the accomplishment of our
salvation, everything, everything, everything is completed and finished
by him. He has left nothing for us to
do. Now let me give you four reasons why the Apostle Paul
can say with absolute certainty and with great boldness that
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. The first reason he
gives there for It is the power of God. It is the power of God
unto salvation. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the power of God. Now, don't turn. Let me just
read this to you. Over here in 1 Corinthians 1,
you're familiar with this. Verse 23. Verse 22, the Jews
require a sign. The Greeks seek after wisdom.
But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews, that is, the religious
self, righteous Jew, a stumbling block unto the Greek foolishness,
but unto them which are called, both Jews or Greek, Christ, the
power of God, and Christ, the wisdom of God. The gospel of
Christ is the power of God unto salvation. Now listen to this,
it is a power of God, to forgive sins only through the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the power of God to forgive
sin justly in a way that honors God's law and His justice. It's
the power of God to forgive sins only through the gospel of Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all our sin. And that verse in Ephesians
chapter 1 where it says, We are accepted in the Beloved in whom
we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of His grace. You see it through the
power of the Gospel that God can justly forgive our sins. Delivered for our offenses, raised
again for our justification. Why? Because He put away our
sin by the sacrifice of himself. Secondly, it's the power of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel of Christ is the power
of God. It's the power of God through
the gospel to give eternal life. It's the power of God unto salvation,
unto eternal life. The Father had given him power
over all flesh that he should give eternal life. Father has
given him what? All power over all flesh that
he should give eternal life to many as the Father had given
to him. See the gospel is the power of
God to give salvation and eternal life to sinners. There is no
salvation apart from the power of God revealed in Christ. Thirdly,
it is a power of God through the gospel that keeps us and
will not let us go. He's able to keep us from falling
and to present us faultless before the presence of God's glory with
exceeding joy. It is a power of God through
the gospel that keeps us and will not let us go. He says,
I give my sheep eternal life and they shall never perish.
No man can pluck them out of my hand. I and my father, we
are one. You remember the verse in 1 Peter
1.5, we are kept by the, power of God through faith in our Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, it's all relative to
Him, His power, His wisdom, His gospel. Fourthly, it is the power
of God through the gospel that presents us faultless before
His throne. It's the power of God that does
that. He obtained for us eternal redemption with His own blood.
We have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, who presents
us faultless before the presence of His glory, and He does so
with exceeding, exceeding joy. Now, how is that going to happen?
Through human effort? Through human strength? No. You see, the gospel of Christ
is the power of God unto salvation. That's key. That's key. That's
key to understanding. Now, here's the second thing.
This gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Now watch it
in the verse. For it's the power of God. It's
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that worketh, that
keepeth the law, that does the best he can. It's the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believes the gospel. How is salvation received? By
your doing, by your working, received by faith. Where'd you
get that faith? Well, just muster up some faith.
Impossible. Faith's the gift of God. The
gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes
the gospel. Now we know this, we believe
the gospel according to the working of His mighty power. Now preacher,
where did you get that? What's the scripture? Ephesians
1 verse 19, it's the power of God We believe according to the
effectual working of His mighty power. And then the next verse
says, it describes that kind of power. It's the power that
raised up the dead body of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how
we believe the gospel. Whosoever believes that Jesus
is the Christ, he's been raised from the dead. Spiritually, you
hath he quickened who were dead. You see, believing the gospel
is a miracle of His grace. No man naturally believes the
gospel. No man. No man naturally believes
the gospel. We're born dead in sin, hating
God, born with a wicked heart, the carnal mind is enmity against
God. Now, our Lord said this in John
6, 44. No man can come unto me, except the
Father which sent me draw him, and I'll raise him up at the
last day." Now, that's pretty definite, isn't it? You see,
believing the gospel is a miracle of God's grace. No man naturally
believes the gospel. Now, they can be religious. We've
got all kinds of religion. those people, that man over there
in Paris that tried to shoot up the airport, and he did it
in the name of religion, his religion, Allah. I'm doing this
in the name of Allah. Well, they shot him dead. You
see, men will do a lot of things in the name of religion. But
it's impossible to believe the gospel of God concerning Christ
apart from his will and his grace and his purpose. Now that's just
so. No man can come unto me except the Father which sent me to draw
him. Reminds me of a story. Many of
you read the books of Arthur W. Pink. Arthur W. Pink. Well, this is back in the
30s when Arthur W. Pink was a faithful gospel preacher,
wanted to publish some of his works. One of the books he wanted
to publish was The Sovereignty of God. Many of you read that.
He found a publisher in Pennsylvania, Zwingli, Pennsylvania. His name
was I.C. Herringding. And Mr. Pink contacted Brother Herringden
to publish some of his works. And he said he wanted to publish
a book on the sovereignty of God. And I see Herringden wrote back
to Arthur W. Pink and said, what do you mean,
the sovereignty of God? And he wrote back, A letter with
this one verse, John 6, 44. No man comes to the Father but
by and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, that was a sweet
relationship that was started, and Herrington published many
of Arthur Pink's works. So that's what it means. Faith
is the sovereign gift of God. the sovereign gift of God. For
by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself,
it is a gift of God." You see, it is the power of God that gives
us faith in Christ. Now listen to this. Now here's
where this religious world has turned this gospel upside down
and has made it depend upon the sinner rather than the Savior. Now here's what they say. They
say faith empowers the gospel. In other words, God done all
he can do, now through faith you've got to claim it. Through
faith you do this and through faith you do that. Now listen,
here's the truth. Faith does not empower the gospel. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ empowers faith. You see what we've got this whole
thing backwards. We've got salvation depending
upon the creature rather than the Creator. And that's just
not so. Salvation is of the Lord. We read this in the book of Acts.
As many as were ordained, Acts 13, 48. As many as were ordained
to eternal life, They believe the gospel. And then Paul said
earlier in that chapter, by him all that believe are justified
from all things which could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
Well, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believes the gospel. If you're a believer, you've
been made an object of His love, an object of His mercy, and He's
given you faith. Faith. That's why faith is called,
that's why faith is called, well, it's just ordinary. It's just
common. No, it is precious faith. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Now, read on. Here's the third
thing we see. To everyone that believeth, whether
he be a religious Jew or whether he be an intellectual Greek,
whether he be a wise Greek or a barbarian, an unwise, Verse
17, here's the third reason, that's the gospel of Christ,
that we're not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Therein, in
that gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed or made known. Now, when we read in the book
of Romans, and we're going to see this word righteousness,
I looked that up, this word righteousness in the book of Romans is used
33 times. It is like the book of Hebrews,
that key word in the book of Hebrews, remember? The word better. Christ is better. He's a better
priest with a better sacrifice, a better covenant. We have a
better hope. Well, this righteousness, if you can get a hold of this
by faith and by the revelation therein, the revelation of the
Holy Spirit, therein is the righteousness of God made known. Now, he's not talking here about
the essential character of God. He's talking about the righteousness
of God that's revealed in the gospel. Let me show you what
I mean. Turn to Romans 10. You see, it's
the justifying righteousness of Christ that's given unto us. Therefore, we can say with the
apostle, we're no longer going about to establish a righteousness,
are we? but we're resting in Christ.
Now, Romans 10. Brethren, verse 1, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. Well, I thought that religious nation was saved. No, they're
a bunch of rebels, lost, who need to read their history. We've
been studying their history. Well, what a bunch of idolaters.
I mean just idolatry. For I bear them record, They
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. They're ignorant
of the true and living God. That's why they... You go back,
we've been studying through 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, 1 Kings,
2 Kings, all the way through. They didn't even get out of the
wilderness before they were building idols. And Aaron said, this golden
calf is the one that delivered us out of Egyptian bondage. Well,
how silly! How silly! But read on, for I
bear them record, they have a zeal of God, but they're ignorant. They're ignorant of the true
and living God. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness... Now there he's talking about
the holy character of God. God's righteousness, His holy
character. Therefore, they're going about
to establish their own righteousness. Now, why would any sinner do
that? Because he's ignorant of God. He doesn't know what the law
of God requires. What does it require? Perfection. You cannot produce it. Our morality,
and I'm all for morality. There's nothing wrong with morality.
But morality is not righteousness. The best morality I had before
God, He said, it's filthy rags. Don't ever trust your morality.
Well, I'm being just, you know, He was a good man. Certainly
when He died, He was a good man. And He's gonna merit heaven because
He's good. That's nothing but salvation
by works. That's all it is. Because there's
none good, no not one. Now if you can say that his hope
of heaven was the righteousness of God revealed in Christ. Oh,
I remember when we were on vacation one time, you remember this,
and we were visiting the grave of George Washington in Mount
Vernon. And we, they have his, you can
look right into this tomb, it's open, you can see the grave of
George and Martha. And around that area was some
other gravestones, and I took a picture of this one, and he
gave his name, and he said, My hope of salvation is the righteousness
of God revealed in Christ. That man knew the gospel. Now
that's a good hope. That's a good hope. "...For they,
being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness..." Now underscore this, "...the righteousness of..."
It doesn't say of Tom, of George, "...of God." It's the righteousness
of God. That is the righteousness provided
for us in Christ. For Christ is the end of the
law. For righteousness to everyone
that believeth. Now, stay here in the book of
Romans and turn back to Romans chapter 5. We'll work our way
back to Romans chapter 5. The righteousness of God revealed
in the gospel is a person. He is the Lord our righteousness."
That's why Paul said, "...but of Him are you in Christ, who
of God is made unto us righteousness." Now, look at Romans chapter 5
verse 19. Now this is key. If you understand this, you know
the gospel. You know the gospel. "...For
by one man's disobedience..." Romans 5, 19, you got it? "...by
one man's disobedience many were made sinners, So by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous." Now who are we talking about
here? Two different men. In Adam all died, in Christ all
are made alive. Moreover, the law entered that
defense might abound, but where sin abounded, thank God, grace
did much more abound. Now read on verse 21, that as
sin has reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness. Don't overlook that. Grace does
reign, but through righteousness. Now, who's he talking about here?
Christ, our righteousness. And to eternal life by Jesus
Christ. Now, turn to Romans 4. It's the
gospel of the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, Now look at Romans chapter 4, verse 3. For what saith the
Scripture? Will Abraham believe God? Now,
when Abraham believed God, it was counted to him for righteousness. Now what righteousness is that?
Was it of the righteousness of the law? Abraham believed God
430 years before the law was even given. That's what it says
in Galatians chapter 3 or chapter 4. So the righteousness that
Abraham enjoyed was the righteousness that was given to him in Christ,
in the gospel of Christ. Remember, our Lord said of Abraham,
he rejoiced to see my day, he saw it, and he was glad. Now read on Romans 4. It was
counted to him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is a
reward, not reckoning of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on
him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also described
as the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works." Now what is that talking about? Very few people
in most churches today are clueless about imputed righteousness of
God. They're clueless. They think
that they have to go about to establish a righteousness of
their own. And if they do enough, give enough,
go enough, don't do this, don't do that, but go here, go there,
they have all these different moral codes and religious codes
and you do this and you do all that. And as some fool this morning
on the radio said, give your life to Jesus. Everything will
be okay. My friend, you see how backwards
we've got this thing? Give your life to Jesus. My friend,
we need Him to give us life, not give your life to Jesus.
What a mess is that? You see, He must give us life.
We have righteousness only in Christ. Blessed is the man whom
the Lord imputes righteousness without works. Now, look back
to the text, and I've got to quit here. "...For therein is
the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is
written..." This is in the Word of God four times, starting in
the book of Habakkuk. Chapter 2, verse 4, "...the just
shall live by faith." "...the just shall live by faith." Faith
alone. "...the just shall live by faith."
From faith to faith. What does that mean? from one
degree of faith to another. That is, what he's saying is
this, faith grows from one degree of faith to another. Faith grows,
faith increases as we receive a clearer light and revelation
of the righteousness of Christ that causes us to grow in faith
and in the knowledge of Christ who is our righteousness. You see how key this is right
here? For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the
power of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth, to
the Jew, to the Gentile, for therein is the righteousness
of God." It's revealed. You won't learn this in school.
Salvation is not by education, it's by revelation. It's revealed. to us and we receive it by the
gift of faith. The just shall live by faith. Are those, or we could say those
justified by the grace of God live by the faithfulness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. By the faithfulness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's how we live.