The Word of Faith We Preach

Q: What does the Bible say about the righteousness of God?

The Bible reveals that God's righteousness is found in Christ, who fulfills the law and provides salvation for believers. In Romans 10, Paul emphasizes that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Romans 10:4). This righteousness is not based on human effort or adherence to the law, but it is a divine righteousness purposed, provided, and purchased for us through Christ. As he reflects on his own experiences and the ignorance of many regarding God's righteousness, he underscores this truth: a genuine relationship with God comes from understanding that Christ is our righteousness, fulfilling God's requirement for holiness (Romans 1:16-17).

Q: Why is understanding the righteousness of God important for Christians?

Understanding God's righteousness is crucial for recognizing our need for Christ and the basis of our salvation. Understanding the righteousness of God is of paramount importance for Christians because it shapes our comprehension of God's holiness and our own sinfulness. The righteousness of God is revealed in Christ, who is our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30) and fulfills the requirements of the law (Romans 10:4). This understanding corrects the common misconception that we can earn favor with God through our works. Instead, it leads us to recognize that we approach God only through faith in Christ, who has completed the necessary work for our salvation and our acceptance before God. Knowing God's righteousness helps us to rely solely on Christ for our standing with Him, emphasizing that true faith rests not in our own efforts but in Christ's finished work.

Q: How do we know that Christ is the righteousness of God?

Christ is identified as the righteousness of God through scriptural declarations and His fulfillment of the law. The assertion that Christ is the righteousness of God is rooted in multiple scriptural references. In 2 Corinthians 5:21, it states that God made Christ to be sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. This indicates that Christ's sacrifice was not only a means of atonement but a means to impart His righteousness to believers. Likewise, Romans 1:17 connects the gospel with the revelation of God's righteousness, emphasizing that through faith in Christ, we receive His perfect righteousness, thus eliminating the need for our own works to achieve salvation. The implications of this truth direct us to understand that Christ embodies the righteousness we need to stand before a holy God.

Q: What is the role of faith in receiving God's righteousness?

Faith is essential for receiving God's righteousness, as it involves trusting and believing in Christ as our Savior. Faith plays a critical role in our reception of God's righteousness, as highlighted in Romans 10:9-10. Believing in the heart results in righteousness, and confessing with the mouth leads to salvation. It is through faith that we acknowledge our need for Christ and His redemptive work. This faith is not just intellectual assent but a deep, personal trust in Christ's righteousness. The call to trust and believe is foundational; without faith, one cannot genuinely call upon the name of the Lord for salvation. Thus, faith is the means by which individuals are brought into a right relationship with God, receiving the righteousness that comes solely through Christ.

All right, if you would open
your Bibles again to Romans 10, I hope to get over to the latter
part of the scripture Brother John Chapman read. The major
part of my message is the latter part of Romans 10, but before
I deal with those verses, I've got to briefly review the preceding
verses. Let's start with verse 1. And
the title of this message is, The Word of Faith We Preach. The Word of Faith We Preach. Now, I hate to try to say things
like this, like Paul, I believe this, or like Paul. I wish I
could be like Paul, but I think in this regard, probably not
as strongly as Paul felt it, I don't know that I could ever
say that I could wish that myself were cursed from Christ for my
brethren. Just being honest, I don't know
whether I could ever say that or not. That's what Paul said.
Or like Moses, who said, Lord, if you destroy these people,
then just block me out of the book you've written. Could you
say that? I can't say it. No use pretending. No use saying I'm like Paul when
I'm not. Or like Moses. But I do. I do. I do. My great desire and prayer to
God is that people might be truly saved. I can say that. I do not
want people just to get religion. They've got enough of that. I
want them to know God. To know Christ. That's what he
says in verse 1. My heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. He's talking
about Israel, talking about the religious people, the folks who
were keeping the Sabbath day and tithing and going to the
synagogue and studying the Old Testament scriptures. He said,
I want them saved. I want them saved. And I know
this is true in our day, my generation just like his generation. And
all the others is aware of God. They have religion. But they're
without a true knowledge of the living God. This is what Paul
is saying. Same thing I said this morning. He said my people
are religious, but they're not saved. He said they have a zeal
for God and a belief in God, but they're ignorant of God.
They don't know the living God. Isn't that what he said in verse
2? I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge. Now I ask you, I ask you, what
is the greatest proof Now if you think about this some more,
what is the greatest proof that a man does not know God? The greatest proof that a man
does not know the living God. What would it be? I'll tell you
what it is. The greatest evidence, the greatest
proof that an individual does not know God. I don't care if
he's a preacher, if he's a deacon, song leader, whatever he is.
He's been in the church all his life, he's a tither, all these
things. The greatest evidence and proof
that a man is ignorant of God is when he tries to approach
God, find favor with God, or appease God some other way than
the way God has designated. Is that right, John? Cecil, you've
been around a while, is that right? That's the greatest evidence
that a man does not know God. And that's what Paul says in
the next verse. For, he just said in verse 2, that they have
a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, they're ignorant.
What is the proof of their ignorance? For, here's the proof of their
ignorance. For, they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.
That's proof they do not know God. That's right. A man who does
not know God's way of righteousness does not know God. A man who
tries to come to the holy, living, immutable, unapproachable, incomprehensible
God, who dwelleth in a life to which no man can approach, he
becomes some other way than through Christ the High Priest. He doesn't
know that God. He has no understanding of that
God, no conception of that God. He doesn't know it, and that's
the greatest proof that men are ignorant of God, whether it's
in his generation or mine. A man that tries to come to God
by his works doesn't know God. A man that thinks he finds favor
with God by his good deeds doesn't know God. He doesn't know God,
and he's proving that. All right, look at verse 4, and
I want you to listen. Listen to this carefully. For
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe it. Here's God's righteousness, it's
Christ. Christ is God's righteousness. I was preaching at a church a
few nights ago, and I was preaching on the righteousness of God,
the righteousness of God. And I told them this, I grew
up in a Baptist Church. I was in church. My father and
mother took me to church when I was a little boy. And I grew
up in the church. I was active in the church. I
was in every service, Sunday school, morning service, BTU,
evening service, and Wednesday night. We were in church all
the time. I had, my pastor was the most popular, well-known
pastor in the state of Alabama. Our church led the state of Alabama
in baptisms every year. Every year. And following him,
my next pastor was one of the nation's most outstanding evangelists. My wife was his secretary. And
I never heard, to my recollection, one sermon
on the righteousness of God. I didn't know what the righteousness
of God was. the righteousness of God. Now,
he talked about the blood, he talked about the cross, he talked
about the Bible, he talked about heaven, he talked about hell,
but he never talked about the righteousness of God. And I went away to the service
and came back from World War II and I started, I came up here. And I never heard it up here.
And I went to Chattanooga and went to preacher school for three
years and studied the Pauline Epistles and the Introduction
to the Prophets and the Major and Minor Prophets and all these
things. Ronnie, you went to the same place. I never heard one
sermon on the righteousness of God. It was never touched in
the classroom. And I never preached it. I pastored
a church three years and I never brought a message on the righteousness
of God. Now you think about it. Because I was ignorant of the
righteousness of God. That's why. How many sermons
other than from right here and other grace churches have you
heard on the righteousness of God? But I want to show you how
important the right... You say, well, what are you talking
about the righteousness of God? Now, that scares me when you
ask that. Because that's the very thing he said about these
people who were unsaved. They were ignorant of what? They
weren't ignorant of hell. They weren't ignorant of heaven.
They weren't ignorant of the fact there's a God. They were
ignorant of the righteousness of God. The righteousness of
God. And do you know, let me show
you the importance of it, do you know that in the Old Testament,
the very name of the Messiah, you know what the Messiah's name
is? Jehovah Sidkenu, the righteousness of God. That's his name. Let
me show you that. Hold our text and turn to Jeremiah.
This is interesting, Jeremiah 23. Turn over there a moment.
This is his name. We're going to get on in the
scripture a few moments and see where, whosoever shall call on
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, this is his name.
And if you don't know his name, how can you call on him? It says in Jeremiah 23, 5, listen,
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, I raise unto David
a righteous branch, see the capital B, and a king shall reign and
prosper and execute judgment and justice. God can't save a
man without judgment and justice being executed. In his days,
Judas shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, and this
is his name. whereby he shall be called,"
is it in capital letters in your Bible? The Lord Our Righteousness. That's his name. That's the name
of the Redeemer. That's the name of the Messiah,
the Lord Our Righteousness. And I grew up in church, went
to preacher school, and they never told me about the Lord
Our Righteousness. The Lord Our Righteousness. You
see, this righteousness of God that he's talking about in Romans
10 is not his essential righteousness, it's the righteousness he purposed,
provided, and purchased for us in Christ. That's the righteousness
of God. Let me show you something else
in 2 Corinthians 5. Now, hold Romans 10, turn to
2 Corinthians 5. This is important. Watch this.
Not only is his name the Lord our righteousness, But the summary
of His work. The summary of His work. What
is His work? Came to this earth, born of a
virgin, lived on this earth, kept the law, died on the cross,
buried and rose again, ascended to heaven, seated at the right
hand of God. What's the summary of all that? 2 Corinthians 5.21.
2 Corinthians 5.21. For God hath made Christ to be seen for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made." What? The righteousness of God in Him. In Him. Oh, won't people say,
Paul said, they talk about God, but they don't know God, and
here's proof they don't know God. They're trying to come to
God without God's righteousness. They're trying to approach a
holy God on the basis of their own righteousness. They've ignored
the righteousness of God and they're trying to establish their
own. And that's foolish. Christ is our righteousness. That's his name. That's his work.
Now watch this in Romans 1. Turn over here. And this is the
essence of his gospel. This is the very essence of his
gospel. What's the gospel all about?
Could you tell me what is the summary and essence of the gospel
in one sentence? Well, Paul does here. He says
in Romans 1.16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first and also to the Greek, for therein, in that gospel,
is the righteousness of God revealed. You know, when you hear the gospel,
Mike, that's what it's all about. You're hearing about the righteousness
of God. You're hearing. Now, let's go back to our text.
And here the Apostle Paul, with a broken heart, looks out over
his people, religious though they are, and he said, I wish
they were saved. I bear them record, they have a zeal, they
have all this, but it's not according to knowledge, they're ignorant
of the righteousness of God. And they've pushed it aside,
the righteousness, they don't know anything about the righteousness
of God. and not knowing anything about the righteousness of God,
they're trying to establish their own. But Christ is the righteousness
of God. That's His name. That's the essence
of His work. That's the summary of His gospel.
And that's why God sent Him forward to be a propitiation to declare
what is righteousness. Isn't that something? What was
wrong with my preachers? Why didn't they tell me that?
Why didn't they tell me? What's wrong with my teachers?
Why didn't they tell me that? Oh, we studied premillennialism,
we studied prophecy, and we studied soul winning, we studied how
to build a big church, and how to run a Sunday school, and how
to do this and how to do that, but they never told me how God
could be just and justify a sinner. And that's the how-to I needed
to know about. God help me by His grace, that's
not going to be said about this pulpit. Men may reject the righteousness
of God, but they're going to find out what it is. Men may
not have the righteousness of God, but they're going to find
out what it is. Who it is, I should say. It's
Christ. He's the righteousness of God.
Oh, preacher, let's don't get into doctrine. Let's just believe
on Jesus. Which one? the one who's the righteousness
of God, or the one today's preachers have invented. All right, verse
5, he said, all right, if you insist on approaching God, the
holy, immaculate, eternal God, on your righteousness, then Moses
is going to tell you what kind it better be. That's what he's
saying next verse to you. He said, now, if you're going
to reject God's righteousness, who is Christ, by His obedience,
His holiness, then Moses describes the righteousness which is of
the law. Here's Moses' description. Are you going to approach God
on the basis of your goodness, your righteousness? Then he says
that the man that doeth those things will live by them. The
man that does what? Does them. Who's going to live
by them? The man that does them. Not the
man that approves them. Not the man that aspires unto
them. Not the man that teaches them. Who's going to live by
his righteousness? The man who has a perfect righteousness. Every jot and tittle of God's
law obeyed perfectly. That's what Paul said in Galatians
3. Galatians 3, let me read it to you. He says in verse 10,
as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse of
the law, for it's written. Cursed is everyone that continued
not in all things written in the book of the law to do." So if we're going to deny God's
righteousness and come to God on the basis of our works, here's
what there must be. Perfect. Perfect. That's the
reason I shouldn't say things like I said while I go about
that song of giving Him all my heart and the world to have not
a part. I just, it just ain't so. would
God it were. I love the Lord Jesus with all
my heart, mind, soul, and strength, and I wish I did. And because I don't and can't,
that's why I need God's righteousness. That's why I need Christ. That's
why I need Christ. Alright, verse 6 through 8. Now,
here he says, but here's what he's telling us now. Watch what
he's coming to. The righteousness, the holiness, that's what we're
talking about, pure, perfect holiness, the holiness of God.
The righteousness, acceptance, which is ours, ours by faith. It doesn't speak of doing at
all. The righteousness of the law speaks of doing, doing, doing,
doing perfectly, perfectly, perfectly. But the righteousness which is
of faith doesn't speak of your doing anything. It speaks of
Christ doing something, and you're believing it. Not doing it, but
believing it. Believe me now. Listen. But,
we've just seen what Moses said, but the righteousness which is
of faith, this righteousness of God, this holiness of God,
speaketh on this way. Now, don't you say anything about
you're doing anything. Who shall ascend into heaven,
that is, to bring Christ down? He's already come. It's not required
that you go up and bring him down either by your prayers or
any other way. He came by the sovereign purpose and will and
gift of his Father. And don't you talk about going
down and then sending him to the deep and bringing up Christ
from the dead. He has risen. He has come. He has fulfilled his work. It's
finished. He is buried, he is risen, he
is ascended, the forerunner has gone within the veil and sat
down. Over! The righteousness is complete. It's fulfilled. It's all done.
It's done. The great transaction's done. But what saith it, verse 8? What
is this word of faith that we preach? What is this righteousness?
The word is nigh thee. The word is nigh thee. It's even
in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith which
we preach. This word of faith is in, now
it doesn't say it's in my mouth. It's not the words that I'm speaking
to you now. It's not, it's in your mouth.
This word of faith, this righteousness which is of faith in your mouth,
in your heart, that's where it is. But it's not talking about
just words, it's talking about an experience of faith. What's
the next verse? That if you shall confess with
a sincere confession before men, from your mouth, Jesus to be
Lord. That's the word of faith. It's
not my doing, it's my confessing Christ as my foundation. It's
not my working, it's resting in and trusting in and believing
in and looking to Christ as my own righteousness. It's in my
mouth. I say, hey, He's my righteousness. He's my Lord. He's my King. And believe it in my heart. That's
where the word of faith is, in your mouth, in your heart. We talk about believing, trusting,
receiving Christ. What do these words mean? Well,
I think they're basically the same, but there's a little difference.
Number one, believing. Believing Christ is to believe
Him as He is revealed in the Word of God, to believe the record.
Don't you think that's it? It's to believe the record. If
a man believes the record God has given concerning his son,
we believe His Word. Trusting Christ is to trust the
promises. which God gives us in Christ.
Abraham believed that he would do all that he promised. That's
trusting. In whom you trusted after you
heard, what? His word of promise. I trust
Him. Alright, receiving Christ. Receiving
Christ is to sincerely, willingly submit to Him. Submit. He takes over. He conquers. Now that's the word of faith,
that's what he says in verse 9. He says, here it is, here's
the word of faith which we preach, it's in your mouth, it's in your
heart, that if you shall confess before God and men, Jesus to
be your Lord, and shall actually believe and trust and receive
him in your heart, believe that God hath truly raised him from
the dead, all the miracles of his virgin birth, and the miracles
of his holy life, and the miracles of his crucifixion, and the miracles
of his resurrection. The miracle, last night, I was
sitting at the table in a restaurant in Huntington. My waitress, our
waitress, she's very pleasant, but very religious. And she came
by, and I know her well, I know her pretty well, and I said,
You know, she's been having some trouble. I said, is your foot
better? She said, yes, it's a little better, but I've been on my feet
all day. And she said, it's better though, she said, but it'll probably
take a miracle to heal it. I believe in miracles. Do you
believe in miracles? Do I believe in miracles? I am a miracle. The very fact I can see is a
miracle. The very fact that my mind can tell this right foot
to move out here in front of this left foot is a miracle.
How wonderfully am I made, that's a miracle. The fact the sun came
up this morning is a miracle. Everything associated with my
God and life is a miracle. But the greatest miracle Mike
and Desi sang about this morning, it took a miracle to save my
soul. I don't have to wait for God
to heal a broken ankle to see a miracle. To take a breath is
a miracle. Isn't that right? We live miraculously. He's our miracle. And that's
what this word of faith is. It's in my mouth. It's in my
heart. The word of faith which we preach
is the experience of faith. It's not, you're a sinner, yes. You trust Jesus, yes. You're
saved. I can be saved without saying
nothing to you. But God, I believe. I believe Jesus Christ is the
Son of God. I believe He came to this earth
and died for my sins. I believe He was buried and rose
again, and I believe He reigns on high. I believe the record,
I trust the promise, and I receive it. And he says in verse 11,
and the Scripture says, "...whosoever believes that shall never be
put to shame." Never, never, never. Go and play the game and
you're going to be put to shame. Go and carry on all this little
religious foolishness, and when God calls you to account and
says, where's your righteousness? Well, I'm fresh out of fig leaves.
That's what the mouse does. But everybody who stands before
Him in that glorious, gorgeous robe of Christ's righteousness
will never be put to shame. Verse 12. Watch this. Let me
give you this. For there's no difference. There's
no difference. You know, I sat there preparing
this message, and I looked at those words, for there's no difference.
Do you believe that? There is no difference? I read
it. There's no difference. There's no difference. Jew or
Gentile, male or female, white or black, old or young, harlot
or mother in Israel, elder in the church or thief in jail,
there's no difference. There's no difference. Paul says
that several times. I'll just give you, don't look
it up, Acts 15.10, he said, God's put no difference between us
and them. And he's talking about the Jew and the Gentile, y'all.
No difference. Boy, that grated that bunch of
Jews. You mean those Gentile dogs? That's what I'm saying,
Paul said, there's no difference. And then in Romans 3, 23, he
says there's no difference. All have sinned and come short
of God's glory. No difference. No difference. And then here he says there's
no difference. Well, I thank God I'm not like that bunch of
thieves. Oh, yes, you are. There's no difference in you.
The difference is in His protective care and His provenient grace. The difference is how He's acted
toward you and how He's let them go. The difference is how much
rope He gave you and how little He gave them. That's the difference. The difference is not in you
at all. There is no difference. We're all as an unclean thing.
Wherefore by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin,
so death came upon all men. For all, all, all have sinned,
all have come short of the glory of God, all have fallen. God
looked down from heaven to see if there's any there. All become
unprofitable, all. Why can't we accept God's truth?
Why can't we accept Almighty God's truth and judgment? There's
no difference. Let me show you something interesting.
I mean, you'll have to turn to two or three scriptures. The
first one is in Psalm 51. Now, I just may be on somebody's
case right now. I don't know. But I feel impressed
to work this over. You'll never be justified till
you justify God in His anger and wrath against you. No, sir. No, sir. You'll never find the
righteousness of God till you have known and you have admitted
it. If you don't justify God, He
won't justify you. And if you try to justify yourself,
God will condemn you. But if you don't try to justify
yourself, but justify God, He'll justify you. Does that make sense? If you don't try to justify yourself,
but you justify God, He'll justify you. Psalm 51, listen to it,
verse 3 and 4. I acknowledge my transgressions.
My sin is ever before me. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified." God, you are justified when you speak, and you are clear
when you judge. Judge whom? Me. That is justifying
God. See that? I don't need to dwell
there. All right, let me go to another
one now. Luke 7. You know exactly what David is
saying. And this is the man God showed mercy unto. All right,
Luke 7, verse 29. And it says here in verse 29,
And all the people that heard him and the publicans justified
God. They said, God, you're right,
I'm a sinner. God, you're right, I'm unclean.
God, you're right, when you speak, when you judge. And they justified
God, and they were baptized with the baptism of John, the baptism
of repentance. But the Pharisees and lawyers
did what? Rejected the counsel of God against
themselves and refused to be baptized. They wouldn't justify
God. See what I'm driving at? There's no difference. Come to
that place. We've got to receive that Word.
We've got to bow before Him. There is no difference. There's
no difference between Jew and Gentile. The same Lord is over
all, sovereign over all, and He's rich unto all that call
upon Him. Now, watch this next line. And
this next verse has been misused and abused, something terrible.
Let me see if I can put it in a true context. Far! Now, you
notice when you come up on the word far, You don't start a new
thought. You're describing what he's already
said. Already said. I don't need to go back over
this, surely. The righteousness of the Lord will do it. The righteousness
of faith is belief. And if a man can confess Christ
in his heart and mouth and justify God, there's no difference. And
whosoever, whosoever, any of Adam's race, any man who sees
there's no difference, any man who justifies God in his judgment,
any man who feels a need of righteousness, any man who has no righteousness
of his own, whosoever, shall call. Brethren, this is not accepting
him, this is calling. Calling for what? Mercy. This is not letting God do anything,
this is calling on God to do something for me. This is not
deciding for Jesus. This is a call for mercy. This
is the same thing you hear the publican doing in the temple.
God be merciful to me, the sinner. He's calling. It's the same thing
blind Bartimaeus was doing sitting by the roadside. Jesus of Nazareth,
have mercy on me. It's the same thing that the
leper, when he came down from the mountain, the leper ran into
him and said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. It's the
same thing we hear the Canaanite woman saying, Lord, have mercy.
He turned and walked away. She said, Lord, have mercy. He
said, it's not fit to give the children's bread to dogs. Sure,
I'm a dog, but have mercy. That's what this call is. I tell you, I know folks that
got a refuge, they got a foundation, They just haven't taken the time
to see what the Word of God says, and the preachers are not taking
the time either. They're busy doing other things. There it is right there before
you. It starts this far, this far, far, far, far. For whosoever shall call. Now
watch this, don't leave me. On whom? On the name of the Lord,
the name. I don't say you have to be a
theologian to be saved, but I'll tell you this, you're going to
have to know who he is. Who is he? Who is the Lord? A
while ago we read he's the Lord our righteousness, and David
said he's the Lord our shepherd, and then he said the Lord our
peace, and then he said it's the Lord that provides our sacrifice. He's got a seven-fold name that
reveals his character and his work right through the Old Testament. Whosoever of Adam's race, but
it's not just whosoever, it's whosoever knows he's a sinner,
whosoever knows he has no righteousness, whosoever's in trouble, whosoever
justifies God, shall call like the thief on the cross, he's
called, Lord, you're not going to stay dead, I'm getting what
I deserve, remember me. On the name of the Lord. Who
is he? What did he do? Why did he do
it? Where is he now? Well, that man
will be saved. He'll be saved. He shall be saved. Now, watch this next verse. And
this is exactly what I'm saying. How are they going to call on
Him in whom they do not really believe? I know, and you know
this. You know, a fellow kind of gets
in a little trouble and goes to the hospital and the preacher
surrounds his bed And he's scared now, he's just plain scared.
And he's going to die, he thinks. And they start saying, well,
if you believe on Jesus, you'll be saved. And he takes them up
on it, you know, and shakes hands, and they come tell his family
and friends, he's gloriously saved. Did he really believe on Christ?
Did he really know Christ? How can he call on one in whom
he has not believed? And how can he believe in Him
of whom he's not heard? And how is he going to hear without
God sending him an honest, God-sent preacher? And how can they preach
except they be sent? I'm trying to say to my generation
that we need to get into the Word. We need to find out who
God is and who we are. What happened back there in the
garden and what God requires and what God demands, it's all
right there. And we need to give diligence to this thing and a
concern and a dedication to this thing of our relationship with
God. I don't know, whosoever shall really call. But men aren't
going to call until they get in trouble. And this trouble is not fleshly
trouble, it's heart trouble. This is what I'm trying to say. A man who's got a physical illness
is not in the trouble that he needs to be concerned about.
Our trouble is not our flesh. It's dying anyway. Our trouble
is we've sinned against God. Our trouble is we've sinned and
come short of the glory of God. That's our trouble. And they
called unto him out of their trouble, and he delivered them
out of their distresses. But it's soul heart trouble.
We've been talking about that, not having the righteousness
of God. All right, I'm going to close. He said in verse 15,
how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written,
how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of
peace. Talking about the feet of them,
how beautiful is their coming, how beautiful is the fact that
God sent them, how beautiful is their arrival. How beautiful
it is to see them come on the scene, you know, to preach this
glorious gospel. The greatest gift God can give
any man is a preacher to tell him the truth. And how shall
they hear without a preacher? But, he said in verse 16, they've
not all obeyed the gospel. That's what Isaiah said. He said,
Lord, who hath believed our report? Who hath believed our preaching?
That's the word, our preaching. Has anybody believed it? Well,
some have. And this faith, this saving faith,
comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. May God bless
this message to your prophet and to your understanding. Let's bow for prayer. Our Father, I pray you'd bless
this scripture that we've read tonight and we've looked into
together. This is the very foundation,
I know this. And I pray that you would give
to all here, every individual here, a genuine, honest, sincere
heart interest. in thy righteousness in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Lord, show us thyself. Show us your glory, your holiness,
your beauty. Show us your judgment, justice,
and mercy, and love, and grace. Show us ourselves. Empty us. Strip us. Show us there's no
difference. Enable us to justify you honestly, truthfully, to
justify you in every charge And Lord put within our hearts
the deepest, deepest desire to know the Lord Jesus Christ. to
look to Him and Him alone and give us that confidence and faith
and trust in Him and that peace that comes from knowing Him who
is our peace. Oh, that our people, our children,
our young people, our mothers and dads might be saved and know
the living God. In His name, in the name of Christ
we pray. Amen.

The Word of Faith We Preach

What does the Bible say about the righteousness of God?

Why is understanding the righteousness of God important for Christians?

How do we know that Christ is the righteousness of God?

What is the role of faith in receiving God's righteousness?

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The Word of Faith We Preach

What does the Bible say about the righteousness of God?

Why is understanding the righteousness of God important for Christians?

How do we know that Christ is the righteousness of God?

What is the role of faith in receiving God's righteousness?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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