Romans chapter 1 verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. Now Paul knew from experience
the opposition and hatred which the gospel of Christ encountered
everywhere, the gospel of redemption. the gospel of substitution, despised
and hated and rejected. And he knew from experience something
about this hatred, persecution. In Acts 28, verse 22, he said
this, as concerning this teaching, this way, this doctrine, we know
that everywhere it is spoken against. The message of redemption by
the grace of God through the merits of Christ Jesus has met
and meets today and will meet all over the world with contempt
and ridicule and persecution. Isaiah said he is despised and
rejected of men. Our Lord said marvel not my brethren
if the world hate you. To the Jew It's a stumbling block
to the Greek. It's sheer nonsense. Why? I can give you four reasons,
and I think these are basically the four reasons why the gospel
is despised and hated and rejected by natural men, especially religious
natural men. Number one, man's dignity. Man's
dignity and high thoughts of himself, and all of us entertain
high thoughts of ourselves. And we are proud creatures, arrogant
creatures. Pride is our chief sin, but man's
dignity and his high thoughts of himself is offended when the
gospel of Jesus Christ addresses him as a hell-deserving sinner. How humbling is the charge, in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Mother, sweet, lovely, white-haired,
dear, saintly mother, in your flesh dwelleth no good thing.
That's humbling, isn't it? And daddy, with your chest stuck
out and your vest button straining and those your head held high
looking round upon all you've accomplished in these 40, 50,
or 60 years. Respected, admired, held in high
esteem by your children, neighbors, and friends, you are a sinful,
guilty creature in your flesh. bearing the wrath of a holy God. And in your flesh you can't please
God by anything you do. And your plowing, even your plowing,
your hard work, your earning your bread by the sweat of your
brow, is an abomination of the sight of God Almighty. Isn't
that humbling? The man's dignity and high thoughts of himself
is offended When the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of God's
glory, looks him in the face and says, you do fade as the
leaf, even your righteousness is a filthy rag in God's sight. From the sole of your feet to
the top of your head, there's no soundness in you, nothing
but open running sores that have not been bound up, neither mollified
with ointment. Now that's offensive. But that's what the gospel does.
It addresses all men as sinners. All have sinned and come short
of God's glory. That's you and me. All we like
sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. God's angry with the wicked.
God hates the workers of iniquity. That's Scripture. And our dignity, our high thoughts
of ourselves is offended. God shuts our mouths with the
law, shuts us up to guilt and shame and nakedness because of
His holiness. All right, secondly, I'll tell
you why this gospel is despised and rejected. The true gospel,
the true gospel, man's wisdom is offended, man's intellect
when the gospel is declared to be a mystery only learned by
revelation. That's offensive. You see, we
think we're wise and intelligent. God says you know not, you have
not, you understand not. But we say we do know, we do
see, we do understand. Now the way I see it is this
way. Your ways are not God's ways.
Well, I'll tell you what I think. Your thoughts are not God's thoughts.
Well, I'll tell you what seems reasonable to me. There's a way
that seems right unto me, and the end is death. Christ said
they have eyes, but they do not see. Oh, they can see the things
of the world, but they can't see by faith. Ears they have,
but they cannot hear. They can hear the voices of men,
but they can't hear Him who speaks from heaven. They have hearts,
but they do not understand. Oh, they understand the natural materialism, physical
things of this world, but the things of the Kingdom of God
knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not
heard, neither hath it entered the heart of man to think God
prepared for them that love Him. But He hath revealed them, revealed
them. It's a mystery that's revealed
by the Holy Spirit to a man's heart. Except you be born again,
Nicodemus, you can't even see, understand, much less enter the
Kingdom of God. I've told you earthly things
and you don't understand. How can you understand if I tell
you heavenly things? But when we shut the proud, wise
sons of Adam up to the fact that the gospel is a revelation, that
God is able by His Spirit to reveal the mysteries of His kingdom
to the most simple, to the most uneducated, it may
be, my dear doctor, lawyer, school teacher, that God may pass you
by in your natural wisdom And he may have picked one of the
Yucatan Mayan Indians and revealed to him the mysteries of his grace. That's right. Our Lord said that
one time in Matthew 11. He paused and lifted his eyes
to heaven and rejoiced in the Spirit and said, I thank you,
Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Now this may offend you, but
Christ said it. You've hid these things. from the wise and prudent, and
reveal them unto babes. For even so, Father, it seemed
good in your sight." God had chosen the foolish things of
this world to confound the wise. God had chosen the base things
of this world to confound the things which are mighty. God
had chosen the weak things and the things which are not to bring
to naught things that are that no flesh should glory in His
presence. I know it's offensive, but I
can't do anything about it. Only the Holy Spirit can. Man's
wisdom or his intellect is so offended when you tell him you
don't understand. And furthermore, you can't understand
unless God in His mercy gives you a heart to understand. But
that's what Christ said to Nicodemus thirdly. Not only does the gospel
offend man's wisdom and offend man's dignity, but it offends
his pride. We're proud creatures. His pride
is offended when the gospel exposes his empty hands. We're always
embarrassed when we get caught. Right? We're not embarrassed
till we do. We've got to get caught. We're
defensive. We're proud. We're arrogant.
We cover our sins until we get caught, and then we're suddenly
very humble. But I'll tell you, if the gospel
of God's grace ever reveals to you just how empty your hands
are, mine too, just how naked we really are, it'll humble us. But not till. And then Christ
said, Peter, when you are converted, you'll strengthen your breath. When you're converted. You'll
come down when you're converted. You'll
be a source of strength instead of you looking to them for strength. When you're converted, You'll
get straightened out in your thinking, in your attitude, in
your spirit, in your conduct, in your words, when you're converted.
When God shows you, in your flesh dwelleth no good thing, when
God shows you how empty your hands are, when God shows you
just how insufficient you are, it'll bring you down. Give man something to do in return
for salvation. He'll do it. He'll make an attempt
at it. But his pride will not permit
him to come to God as a beggar, and that's the only way God will
receive us. His pride will not permit him to come to Christ
empty-handed, but that's the only way you can come. His pride
will not permit him to come to Christ naked. He's got to hang
on to one big leaf, just one! But that's the only way Christ
will receive us. In my hands, no price I bring. Simply the
cross of Christ I put. Could my tears forever flow?
Could my zeal know respite? No, these for sin could never
atone. It's Christ that saves and Christ
alone. But the gospel is offensive because
man's pride is offended when you shut him up to the emptiness
of his hands and the terrible vacuum in his heart and the inability
of himself to do anything pleasing to God, anything, anything. And
then fourthly, man's self-esteem and his false concept of the
freedom of his will. We Americans, we like that word
freedom. We like that word freedom, and
I like it too. We don't want anybody reigning
over us, ruling over us. And in a sense, it's a little
bit bad because God's going to reign or He's not going to remain. He's going to rule or He's not
going to have anything to do with you. He's suffering. And
man's false concept of the freedom of his will is offended when
the Gospel declares, listen to me, I'll be merciful to whom I'll
be merciful. I'll be gracious to whom I'll
be gracious. It's not of him that will it. It's not of him
that run it. It's of God that showeth mercy.
The children not yet being born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said to
her, God said the elder shall serve the younger. Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated. Oh! Oh! Grace will take, but
not sovereign grace. Mercy will take, but not sovereign
mercy. If you take grace, it will be
sovereign. If you are an object of mercy, it will be sovereign.
If you don't merit it, God will give it to whomsoever He will.
Hath not the Lord power over His own? of the same lump to
make one vessel under wrath and another under honor. Can I not
do with my own what I will? Am I not the Lord who can stay
my hand or say unto me, What doest thou? Why declare the end
from the beginning and from ancient times of things that are not
yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, I will do my pleasure,
our God's in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever he pleased
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of this earth,
and giveth it to whomsoever he will? That's offensive. But I say unto
you, and I wish I could say it to the whole world this morning,
That's the very heart of the gospel, those four things. Man's a sinner, a total sinner,
a defiled sinner, a corrupt sinner, a wretched sinner, a depraved
sinner, an ill-deserving, undeserving, ill-deserving sinner. No good
thing dwelleth in him. He can add nothing to the glory
of God nor to the holiness of God. If God left him alone, he'd
get what he deserved. If God passed him by, he'd have
no excuse. If God sent him to hell, he'll
have to go to hell praising God for his justice. Huh? That's
so. Salvation is a revelation. If
you know anything about salvation, it'll be revealed to you. You
won't learn it in the schools of this world. You'll learn it
in the school of the Holy Spirit. You won't learn it at the feet
of men, you'll learn it at the feet of Christ. Blessed are your
eyes, He said, they see, and your ears they hear. My Father
which is in heaven revealed that to you. Substitution. Christ Jesus died
for sinners, and that's the only hope any sinner has. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. By God's grace, I'm heaven-bound.
My only hope, my only plea, is when He died on that cross, He
died for me. We make no contribution to that
salvation. It's wrought out by the active
and passive obedience of our Lord. It's completely fulfilled,
it's law honored, it's justice satisfied, not by what I do or
what I believe or what I give, by what He did and what He gave. And even unkempt and sustained
this moment by His grace, not by my efforts. And written across the skies
in blazing letters of gold are these words, Salvation is of
the Lord! from Alpha to Omega. He's the
author and finisher of our faith. And He gives it whom He will.
That's so. And my friends, if that offends
you, I weep for you, because it's so. Ye shall know the truth,
and the truth will set you free. Free from what? Free from the
bondage of ceremony, tradition, religion, false professions. from sin if penalty of power
is practiced someday by God's grace from His presence. Free! Free from your own wisdom, which
is foolishness. Free from your pride, which is
damning you. Free! Truth will set you free. The Son shall make you free.
You shall be free indeed. Indeed. But we're Americans. We're born free. That's what
the Jews said. We're not in bondage to any man.
Christ said, he who is the servant of sin is in bondage to sin. Evidently. Evidently, there's
a danger of even those who've tasted the grace of God to yield
to the pressures of this world and be ashamed of the gospel.
Just for a moment, look at 2 Timothy and listen to Paul here. Evidently. What are you saying, Preacher?
Well, let's think about it. Evidently, 2 Timothy 1, there's
a danger of even those who have tasted the grace of God, been
taught in the things of the Spirit to yield to the pressures of
family and friends and fellow workmen, schoolmates, social
contacts, the natural world, and be ashamed of this gospel,
ashamed of Jesus, That, dear friend, on whom my hope of heaven
depends. Ashamed of Jesus, sooner far
let heaven blushed on a star. Ashamed of Jesus, yes I may,
when I've no guilt to wash away, no tear to wipe, no good to crave,
no sin to fear, no soul to save. Till then, now is my boasting
vain, till then I'll boast of Savior slain, and oh may this
my glory be. that he's not ashamed of me."
But Paul said in II Timothy 1.8, Be not thou, Timothy, my son,
beloved friend, companion, be not thou therefore ashamed of
the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. Don't be
ashamed, Timothy. Don't be ashamed. But be thou
partaker of the afflictions. Let them come. Say what they
will, let them say it. Do what they will, let them do
it. I'll be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel. Oh,
I don't want to be afflicted because I'm hateful. I don't
want men to hate me because I'm unpleasant, unkind, dishonest. But if it's because of the gospel,
if it's according to the power of God, if it's for the glory
of Him who saved me and called me, then let me be a partaker
of the afflictions. I'll be identified with God's
people. Paul says in verse 16 of Romans
1, For I am not ashamed, I am not ashamed of the gospel. Alright, why? Because it, oh
I like to underscore that word it, for it, verse 16, for it,
the gospel, it is the power of God by sending forth One gospel
He cuts off every other way. It. Not them. Not they. It. One gospel. One gospel. There is none other name unto
heaven. If any man preach any other gospel, let him be accursed.
Other foundations can no man lay. Christ said, I am the way,
the truth, the life, the door, the rock. By setting forth that one gospel,
he dismisses any other way to God. No man cometh to the Father
but by me. It is what? It's the power of
God. What's the word power there? Dynamite, dunamis, instrument.
It's the instrument of God. The gospel of Christ is the instrument
which is rendered effectual by God's power to convey salvation
to all beliefs. Now listen to me, let me say
something here you need to learn. The power of God to save is not
in the strength of God to do what He pleases. Now think about
that a moment. Well, preacher, God can save
sinners, God can do anything. That's not the power of God to
save sinners, the fact that He can do anything. Because there's some things God
can't do. God can't lie. That's right. God can't lie. Scripture says that He cannot
lie. Convert is nature. Oh, wait a minute now. And God
can't save a sinner without a suitable sacrifice. He'd violate his nature. He'd violate his attributes.
He'd violate his justice. He'd violate his law. So the
power of God is not the strength of God. in this matter of salvation. The power of God under salvation
is not the strength of God to do what as He pleases. And the
power of God to save is not the determination of God to save.
Now wait a minute. I believe God elected a people.
But in electing a people, He did not save them. Election is not the power of
God under salvation. Men aren't saved because they're
elected. God determined, predetermined, predestinated is the word, everybody
whom He chose to be like Christ. But the power of God to save
them, to justify them, to redeem them, is not in His determination
to do it. The power of God to save sinners
is in the gospel of Christ which satisfies His justice and honors
His law. That's the power of God to save. piece of land out here costs
$100,000. I want it. My wanting it will not secure
it. I'm determined to have it. My determination to have it won't
secure it. My power to secure it rests on
one thing. Have I got the price that's on
the If I've got the price, if I can pay the bill, I can have
it. But I've got to pay it. And Jesus
paid it all. All the debt I owed. Sin left
an awful debt on me. But He made it, Father Stowe,
because He paid the bill. You see what I'm saying? And
God's power to redeem that person He is not in his want to or his
determination to, but in his son paying the bill and bought
the land. He redeemed it. See what I'm
saying? That's the power of the gospel,
the power of God. Under what? Under salvation.
Under salvation, the gospel is the word of truth by which men
are begotten unto a new life. Why preach? Because we are begotten
again by the word of truth, by the preaching of the gospel,
God saves them that believe. The gospel is the seed which
lives and grows and is begotten by the Holy Spirit and finally
results in our being conformed to His image. The gospel is the
means to quicken dead sinners, to open blind eyes. I see, I
see, I hear, I understand, I believe. The power of God to cause the
deaf to hear, the lame to walk, the dead to live and make enemies,
God's enemies, God's sons. That's the gospel. It's the power
of God under salvation. Salvation. Salvation is not a
decision to go to heaven when I die. Salvation is a living,
vital union with a person. It's to bow to, it's to commit
to, it's to receive the Lord Jesus Christ, it's to become
a new creature, it's to be one with Him, it's to become a son
of God! That's salvation. And the Gospel does that. I don't believe what the preacher
said, I believe what God said through the preacher. To everyone
that believes it, to everyone that believes it, Faith receives
the promise of God. Abraham believed God. It was
counted to him for righteousness. It was not written for his sake
alone that it was imputed to him for righteousness, but for
ours also, if we believe that God sent His Son into the world.
Faith embraces the satisfaction of Christ. Faith embraces the
merits of Christ. Faith commits ourselves to Christ,
body, soul, and spirit. The gospel is the power of God.
What does it reveal? Look at verse 17 quickly. For
therein, that is in the gospel, in the gospel, is the righteousness
of God revealed. Now listen real carefully. Nowhere else, nowhere else is
the righteousness of God for guilty sinners revealed but in
the gospel. Nowhere else. Now, my friends,
God's personal holiness, and I'm going to make this as simple
as I can, the absolute holiness and personal righteousness of
God individually is revealed throughout this Word. God is
holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. In many instances we see God's
holiness, His personal, individual holiness. God is holy. But here
we are not talking about God's individual, personal holiness.
Here Paul is talking about a way for guilty sinners like you and
me to obtain life before God. A way for guilty sinners like
you and me to obtain a holiness that will present us before God,
that will equip us to fellowship with God. this righteousness
of Christ by which we are made acceptable in God's sight. That's what he taught me, and
that's revealed in the Gospel. That's where you see it, that's
where it's revealed. I'll show it to you, Romans 3. Romans chapter
3, verse 19. Will you look at this with me? I do know this. God's holy, immaculately,
unchangeably, immutably, eternally, infinitely holy. And I'm just
that unholy. Now God can't look upon sin.
He couldn't even look upon His Son when He died upon the cross
bearing our imputed sin. How could He look upon us bearing
our own sin? So in order for me to stand before
God, I've got to have clean hands and a pure heart and a holy person,
a holy nature. I don't have it and can't produce
it. No law can be given that will enable me to produce it.
That's the righteousness I'm talking about that I've got to
have. Except your righteousness exceed that of the religious,
you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of God. I've got to have
a righteousness that God will be pleased with, satisfied with,
that God can accept. Where am I going to get it? Romans
3, 19. Now we know that what things
for ever the law saith, and say it to them who are under the
law, that's every one of us, that every mouth may be stopped.
Well, I'm not so bad. Stop your mouth. Well, I know
I've done this, but I hadn't done that. Stop your mouth. Guilty! All the world may be guilty,
guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, religion, good work, Whatever, there shall no flesh, no flesh
be justified in God's sight." So you justify yourself in your
own sight, in the sight of your preacher, in the sight of your
mama, daddy, brother, sister, but not in God's sight. He knows
you. He doesn't look on the outward
countenance, but on the heart. And that which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination to God. That's what Scripture says. But, verse 21, now, but now, the righteousness of God, the
holiness of God, without the law, without my meeting its demands,
that's what it's saying, without my coming up to its expectation,
without my fulfilling its commandments, the righteousness of God Himself,
with which God will be pleased, which God produced, which God
supplied, is manifested. It can be found, it can be seen,
it can be understood. It's been witnessed for the prophets,
it's been witnessed for the Word of God. Where is it? It's in
Christ, my friend, verse 22, even the righteousness of God,
which is by the faith in Jesus Christ upon all, and through
all upon all that believe, pays no difference, because all is
sin and comes short of God's glory. The righteousness of God. That's what he's talking about
over here. It's revealed in the Gospel. Christ came down here
in the flesh, on the earth, the God-man. He did everything that
law commanded Him to do. He satisfied every precept, every
statute, every jot, every tittle, every dot, every cross key, every
eye. Yes, He did. He walked on this
earth in the flesh as a man in a perfect, immaculate, holy fashion. And he said, I always do those
things that please my Father. This is my Son in whom I'm well
pleased, and my being in Him, I'm a son in whom He's well pleased. With His spotless righteousness
on, I'm as holy as God's Son. Right? That righteousness is
in Christ. When God purposed it from the
world, foundation of the world, when God promised it throughout
the Scripture, when God performed it, when Christ came. When Christ came. When will God
perfect it? When Christ comes again. I have
a righteousness. It's revealed in the Gospel.
Verse 18, and the wrath of God is revealed in the Gospel. I
know many writers don't feel this statement refers to the
Gospel, and they'd be right. They'd be right. The wrath of God is revealed
in the sentence of death upon Adam. The wrath of God revealed
in the flood, Noah. The wrath of God revealed in
the confusion of tongues at the tower. The wrath of God is revealed
in the fires of Sodom and Gomorrah. The wrath of God is revealed
in the destruction of Jerusalem. The wrath of God against sin.
Now, you won't find any place in all of history where the wrath
of God against sin is revealed quite like it is at Calvary. That's God's Son hanging on that
cross. Now you stop and think about
that. Will God punish sin? Well, somebody will take you
back to Adam and say, see there? Somebody will take you to the
flood and say, see there? Somebody will take you to Sodom
and say, see there? Somebody will take you to the destruction
of Herodias. Will God punish sin? I take you to Calvary. And
I say that He that spared not His own Son. Huh? God will punish sin. God's wrath
and judgments against sin. Well, I thank God my sins have
all been punished in Christ. They've been paid for. I bear
them no more. My sins, oh, the bliss of that glorious thought.
My sins, not in part. That's what some people like
to think. Well, some of my sins Christ paid for. The rest of
them I'm responsible for. No, that's half salvation. That's
not an atonement. That's not a sacrifice. That's
a... I don't know what that is. But my sins, oh, the bliss of
that glorious thought, my sins, not in part, but the whole, are
nailed to the cross, and I bear them no more. Praise the Lord
as well with myself. Now, friend, take your burden
to Calvary. Leave it there. Leave it there. All our sins. You know what Scripture
says? He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us of all our sins. He was wounded by transgression,
by strife were healed. In Christ there is perfect satisfaction
and full atonement, and they who are justified have no sin. In Christ there is no sin. We're done with them. They're
put away. They're blotted out. They're
remembered no more. They're cast into the depths
of the sea. They're kept behind God's back. That's what He said. Yet we roll and toss and get
under a sense of despondency and depression and fear and doubts. Why? Oh, my sins, preacher. Let me tell you something. Christ
died for my sins. I'll never die for them. If He
paid for them, it's paid in full. I want God to enable me to walk
before Him in holiness and righteousness and truth and glorify His name.
I want to serve Him, not because I fear Him, but because I love
Him. I want to walk before God in holiness and righteousness.
I want to grow spiritually. I want to manifest His grace
and His glory, not because I'm scared He'll hit me, but because
I love Him and He loves me. Obedience motivated by fear.
Well, I wouldn't have it and I don't believe God would. Some wife says to her husband,
well, I'm leaving you because I'm afraid to leave you. I'd
help her pack her bag. But I'm staying with you because
of what I can get out of you. I'd buy her a ticket. I'm here
because I love you. Hang around. Huh? Oh God! I'm going to serve you because
I'm scared of you. I'm afraid you'll whip me. I'm
afraid you'll send me to hell." He probably will. Because sons
love God. I know by the fear of the Lord
men depart from evil. There's a reverential fear to
be had before God. We're to fear the Lord. I know
that. But I believe it's like a son respects and holds a father
in all. He loves him. Huh? I believe
that's what that is. I believe that's what that is.
And then the fifth thing, in closing, the fourth thing, verse
19, "...because that which may be known of God is revealed to
them." Where is it revealed? In the Gospel. That which may
be known of God is revealed in the Gospel. Philip said, Lord,
show us the Father. Show us the Father. And Christ
said, Have I been with you this long, and yet you don't know
me? He that has seen me has seen
the Father." What kind of thoughts do you entertain about God? Well, my thoughts, I believe,
are influenced by my understanding and knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Father is in me, and I am
in the Father. Be merciful. I'd like to say to every guilty
sinner, I'd like to say to every self-righteous Pharisee in this
world, the judgment of God is upon you because you're standing
in your own righteousness. But I'd like to say to every
Rahab, and every Tamar, and every Bathsheba, and every Zacchaeus,
and every Simon Peter, and every Saul of Tarsus, sinner, Christ
loves sinners, and He died for sinners. And he receiveth sinners. He receiveth sinful men, even
me, with all my sins. And he purges them and blocks
them out and remembers them no more. I remember them and weep
over them. But God does not charge them.
There is no charge against God's elect. In Christ there is no
condemnation. Huh? Why can't we receive the
gift of God and rejoice in it? Oh, preach that, folks will just
go do what they please. You reckon? You reckon? You reckon they'd sin against
that kind of love? I don't believe they would.