Let's begin with verse 1. It
starts out, Paul. Paul. Now, the first thing that
comes to me when I see this word Paul, of course, is the author,
and we know him to have been Saul of Tarsus. But I'm going
to skip those things, which I feel like you already know. The first
thing that came to my mind when I saw the word Paul here is the
true servants of Christ. have never been fond of titles. They've never been fond of titles.
Those who really deserve titles never use them, and those who
do not deserve them are those who put much stock in them. It
came to John the Baptist, of whom Christ said he was the greatest
man born of woman, who was filled with the Holy Spirit from his
mother's womb. who was supernaturally conceived
when his mother and father were in old age, who was the direct
forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ the Messiah, and they
came to him and said, Who are you? He said, I'm a voice in
the wilderness. Crying makes straight a pathway
for our God. The true servants of Christ have
never been fond of titles. And our Lord spoke directly against
this in Matthew chapter 23. Now you turn there with me. Let's
use our Bibles a little bit. In Matthew chapter 23, verse
6, now it is said of the Pharisees, of those false religious leaders,
those hypocrites who did not know God, who were out for their
own gain and glory, it is said of them, look at verse 6, Matthew
23, They love the uppermost rooms at the feast. They love the chief
seats in the synagogue. They love greetings in the markets. They love to be called rabbi,
rabbi, or master, master. But Christ said, Be not ye called
rabbi, for one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren,
whether ye an apostle or a pastor or an evangelist. or missionary,
or what you are, your brethren, and call no man your father upon
the earth. For one is your father, which
is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters,
for one is your master, even Christ. But he that is greatest
among you shall be your servant." Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. Now Paul identified himself in
the opening verse of this book in a threefold way. First of
all, he called himself a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, a bondslave
of Jesus Christ. A few weeks ago we studied that
word, bondslave, and where Paul got it, over in the book of Exodus,
when a man had served in a Hebrew household as a slave for six
years. And on the seventh year, he was
permitted to go free. I don't know whether it was at
the beginning of the seventh year or at the end of the seventh
year. That's immaterial. But anyway, at the seventh year,
he was to go free. But if he came to his master
and said, I don't want to go free. I love my master. I love
my master's house. I love my master's work. I love
my wife and children. I want to remain in your home
as your servant, as your willing loving, obedient bond-servant. They'd take that man and bore
his ear with an awl to the door of his master's house, and from
that day on he would serve in that house forever as a bond-slave. Now, a bond-slave is not an unwilling
servant, it's a willing servant. A bond-slave is not one kept
against his will, but who is willing to be kept, one who serves
with love. And that's what Paul is saying.
When Paul was in prison, the world would have said he was
a prisoner of Nero, the Roman emperor. But Paul didn't say
that. When he wrote that book from the prison cell in Rome,
he said, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Wherever he was,
he was a servant of Christ, he was a bondslave of Christ, he
was a prisoner of Christ, he learned in whatsoever state he
happened to be to be content. And he secondly identifies himself,
Paul, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle. Now,
an apostle was once sent immediately from Christ. It is said that
to be an apostle, one must have seen the Lord and received his
gospel directly from the lips of Christ. Paul was an apostle. sent immediately by Christ, and
had his doctrine or his gospel, he said, I received it not from
man, but directly from the Lord. And an apostle had the power
to work miracles, to heal the sick, to speak in other languages,
to raise the dead, to take up serpents, and so forth. These
apostles had special powers. and special gifts to work miracles
from Christ in confirmation of their mission, in confirmation
of their authority, in confirmation of their doctrine. Don't try
to be an apostle, and don't grieve if you're not, because these
men were apostles who saw the Lord, and who received their
doctrine directly from His mouth, and who received from Him power,
like in Mark 16, to heal the sick, to raise the dead, to give
sight to the blind, and cause the lame to walk. They didn't
have the New Testament like you and I have. All they had was
the Old Testament scriptures, and they came preaching Christ
in his death, burial, and resurrection in his office as prophet, priest,
and king as the fulfillment of the Old Testament. They came
presenting their writings as the New Testament. as the inspired
word of God. They came as the apostles of
Christ, and they had to have these special miracles to confirm
their office, their mission, their authority, and their doctrine.
All right, the third way he identified himself, he said, I'm separated
unto the gospel of God. Now before his conversion, Paul
had been separated to the law, and separated to the ceremony.
Now his mission was the gospel. And as I said to you last Sunday,
the gospel, the word gospel, means good news, glad tidings. That's exactly what the gospel
means. It's good news, it's glad tidings, it's the good news of
everything that God has ordained, everything that God has given,
everything that God has determined to do for his people in Christ
from eternity to eternity. And Paul said, I'm separated
unto the gospel of God. God is the author of it, God
is the executor of it, God is the applyer of it, and God is
the sustainer of it. Now, a true test of our gospel
is this. In our gospel, who gets the glory? That's a true test of any preacher's
gospel. When I preach, who gets the glory? Turn to 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy
1, verse 11. Look at this. 1 Timothy 1, 11.
Paul is talking about the gospel, and he says in 1 Timothy 1, 11,
"...according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God." And
that is better interpreted, and probably in your Amplified Bibles
it reads this way, "...according to the gospel of the glory of
God." This is the gospel of God. And a true test of our gospel
is who does it glorify. The gospel which Paul preached,
the gospel of Christ, is the gospel which glorifies God. It does not dignify and glorify
man. It glorifies God. It glorifies
him, his mercy. It glorifies his wisdom. It glorifies
his power. It glorifies his faithfulness. So Paul, a bondslave of Jesus
Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of
God, the gospel of God, the good news of God, the gospel which
glorifies God's mercy, and God's grace, and God's wisdom, and
God's power, and God's faithfulness, and God's love, and God's Son. Now look at verse 2, and he's
talking about the gospel here to which he's separated. the
gospel of God which he promised afore by his prophets in the
Holy Scriptures." Now, what is he talking about here when he
says, the Holy Scriptures? He's not talking about Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, and so forth, because those weren't
written. He's talking about Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
Joshua, Judges, and so forth, Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah. Now,
this is an important verse right here. to give you and me the
right conception of the Old Testament. Most people I meet have the wrong
conception of the Old Testament. I held a meeting several years
ago, or two or three times, in churches which called themselves
New Testament churches. Now, to be perfectly honest with
you, I don't like that term. I am not a New Testament Christian. I'm an Old Testament Christian
and a New Testament Christian. I love the whole Word of God. Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that came from God. And all Scripture is given
by inspiration of God. Old and New Testament. Genesis
is as inspired as Romans. Exodus is God's Word just as
much as Matthew is God's Word. I don't have time tonight to
tell you what the Old Testament is not or to dwell on the false
ideas of the Old Testament, but I want to talk for just a few
moments on what it is and what the Old Testament scriptures
say. Now then, let's see if this illustration
will help us. What place shall we give the
Old Testament? Well, first of all, you and I do not live in
New Testament days. And what I mean by that is this,
that you and I do not live, and did not live, when Christ came
down here to the earth in the flesh. And that's what I mean
by New Testament days. When Matthew, Mark, Luke, John,
and Paul, and Peter, and James, and all these other men were
living here, and they were apostles, and they were preaching, and
they were establishing churches, and Christ walked the earth,
and Christ died, was buried, and rose again, and the New Testament
was written, we didn't live here then. So everything that we preach
about Christ and everything that we write about Christ and what
He is and what He did and what He accomplished, we talk about
it in the past, don't we? Our Lord 2,000 years ago was
born a woman, born under the law, obeyed the law, died on
the cross, was buried in Rose again. Everything we say about
Christ is true, isn't it? Well, it's absolutely true. Our
confidence is in Him, our faith is in Him, our trust is in Him,
our hope is in Him, but it's all past tense. The Old Testament
writers didn't live when Christ was here. Moses didn't live when
Christ was here. Abraham didn't live when Christ
was here. David didn't live when Christ was here. But everything
they said about Christ was true, wasn't it? Just the same as everything
you say about Christ is true. You didn't walk on the earth
when he walked on the earth. You're talking about what did
happen. And these Old Testament writers were talking about what
was going to happen. Our Lord said to the Pharisees
and to the Jews of his day, if you had believed Moses, you would
believe me. Moses wrote about me. Christ
said of those who preach his gospel, he said, if they don't
hear you, they don't hear me. If they hear you, they hear me.
Paul says, we are ambassadors of Christ, as though Christ and
God did beseech you by us. God speaks through us. We're
God's messengers. We're God's mouthpieces. We're
those who speak for Christ. We're talking about what he did.
And Moses spoke for Christ, but he talked about what he was going
to do. Christ said, Abraham saw my day, and he was glad. And
Abraham wrote of me. Isaiah wrote of Christ. David
wrote of Christ. Jeremiah wrote of Christ. All
these men wrote about Christ. They wrote about the Christ of
the future, just like you and I preach about the Christ of
the past. And I don't mean to put it like that, but that's
where I have to put it to use this illustration. Christ is
the same yesterday, today, and forever. With Him there's no
past, present, or future, but there is with us. And I'm talking
about what did happen. And Moses talked about what would
happen. I talked about what did happen,
and Abraham talked about what's going to happen. Now turn to
Acts chapter 10, verse 43. Acts 10, 43. To him, to Christ, give all the
prophets witness. Who are the prophets there? Well,
they're the Old Testament prophets. To him give all the prophets
witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him should
receive remission of sins." That was their message. The Old Testament
promised Christ, prophesied Christ, typified Christ, and glorified
Christ. And any time you read the Old
Testament and you cannot see Christ on every page, you ask
the Holy Spirit to open your eyes, because He's there. Turn
to Matthew 2. Now, here's an illustration of
that. In Matthew 2, verse 1, Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem
of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came
wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he, this born
King of the Jews? We've seen his story in the East
and come to worship him. Now remember, all they had was
Old Testament scriptures. When Herod the king heard these
things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem was troubled with
him. We're talking about the Messiah, the king of the Jews.
And when he had gathered all the chief priests and the scribes
of the people together, he demanded of them, where will Christ be
born? Where will the Messiah be born?
Where will the Savior of Israel be born? Now where are these
men going to go to find out where Christ is to be born? Read on.
And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written
by the prophet, And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not
the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall
come a governor that shall rule my people Israel. So when the
wise men came to Jerusalem, they said, we've heard that Christ
is born, the Messiah, the King of the Jews, and they demanded
of Herod, where is this King that we may worship Him? sent
somebody down to the temple and said, bring those Bible scholars
up here, bring those scribes and priests up here. And they
came, and he said, your Messiah, your Savior, your Redeemer, where
is he supposed to be born? They went skedaddling to the
Word of God and turned to the book of Micah, and it says there,
in Bethlehem of Judea. And brother, if you want to find
out what family he came from, what tribe he came from, when
he was to be born, where he was to be born, of whom he was to
be born, of whose house in Lenin, who would be his disciples, who
would deny him, who would betray him, who would crucify him, how
long he'd stay in the grave, when he would rise, all of these
things are right there in the Old Testament. Who he was, what
he did, and why he did it, it's all in the Old Testament. So
that's what he's saying here, this gospel of God. is the gospel
promised afore by his prophets in the Holy Scripture. Now verse
3 and 4. Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ
our Lord. Romans chapter 1, verse 3 and
4. Which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh,
and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the
spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Now the subject
matter of the gospel of God. This gospel originating with
God, this gospel executed by God, this gospel sustained by
God, this gospel applied by God, this gospel of the glory of God,
the whole subject matter of it is His Son, Jesus Christ. The
gospel is not a proposition. The gospel is not a reward for
service rendered. The gospel is the glorious glad
tidings and good news of what Christ hath done for His people.
It's concerning his son. And I believe verse 3 and 4,
while they deal with a multitude of things, chiefly they deal
with two things. Two things are established in
verse 3 and 4 of Romans 1. The first in Romans chapter 1,
verse 3, is the humanity of Jesus Christ. That's what's established
right there. Now, Jesus Christ is not God, deteriorated to man,
or man deified to God, but he's God and man. He's the God-man. Christ had two natures. He is
the Son of God and He is the Son of Man. And it says in verse
3, this gospel is concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, who, according
to the flesh, was made of the seed of David. He was made of
a woman who was the great, great, great granddaughter of David.
He was made of a woman who was the rightful heir to the throne
of David. He was made of a woman He was
made flesh. He was born under the law. He
was bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. He was the rightful
heir to the throne of his father David. He was a man, M.A. in man, tempted in all points
as we are yet without sin. He knew loneliness. He knew sorrow.
He knew suffering. He knew sadness. He knew happiness. He knew thirst. He knew all of
these things. He experienced them. He was a
man, every bit man. But verse 4 says, and he was
declared, and the word there is determined, or specifically,
the Son of God. And this was made evident. This
was made evident by three things. Number one, by power. He was
declared, or it was made evident that he was the Son of God with
power. Or turn to Matthew 11. In Matthew
chapter 11, John the Baptist had said, This is the Lamb of
God that taketh away the sin of the world. This is the one
of whom Moses wrote. This is the one for whom we look.
This is the promised Savior. But then they threw John into
prison, and verse 2 of Matthew 11, John heard in the prison
the works of Christ. He sent two of his disciples
and said unto him, Are you he that should come? Are you the
Christ, or do we look for another? And Jesus, now what's he going
to do? How's he going to let John know that he's the Messiah?
How's he going to confirm this man's trust? Well, read on. Jesus said, Go and show John
those things which you hear and see. The blind receive their
sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear,
the dead are raised. and the poor have the gospel
preached to them. Nicodemus said no man could do
these miracles except God be with them. We know you have come
from God. Now these divine healers can
run around here claiming all this power, but I haven't seen
any dead men rise, any blind men see, any lame men walk, any
lepers cleansed, or any deaf people hearing. I see people
who have stomachaches, you know, and they get well, they say,
and I see folks with backaches and all that sort of thing. But
Christ said, John, he said to his disciples, Go show John the
blind seed. Only God can do that. And the
lame walk. So Christ is declared to be God
by power. In John chapter 5, he gave several
witnesses of his deity. He said, the Father hath borne
witness, John the Baptist hath borne witness, the Scriptures
bear witness, and the works that I do. Believe me, for the very
works' sake. Christ is God. Only God can forgive
sin. Only God can raise the dead.
Only God can make the blind to see. So he's declared to be the
Son of God with power, now look at the second line, according
to the Spirit of holiness. Now that's meaning the Holy Spirit.
For the Holy Spirit was given to him without measure. And everything
he did, he did in the power and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Turn to Acts 10, verse 38. Let's look at that. Acts 10,
38. Acts 10, 38 says, God anointed
Jesus Christ of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power. He was declared to be the Son
of God. by the Holy Spirit being put upon him without measure. And then thirdly, he is declared
to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead, by his own resurrection
from the dead. Now look at verse 5. By whom? And either Paul is talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ here or the Holy Spirit. But he says,
by whom, by Christ, and one doesn't work without the other. The Trinity
is never divided. By whom we have received grace.
It is from the Lord that we receive grace to repent. Repentance is
the gift of God. It's the goodness of God that
led you to repentance. Faith is the gift of God, grace
to believe. It is given unto you not only
to suffer for Him, but to believe on Him. We have from him grace
which justifies, and grace which pardons, and grace which covers
all our sins." And Paul said, "...by whom we have received
grace and apostleship." Now I've got to have you turn to Ephesians
chapter 4 for a moment. We have received from him our
apostleship. In Ephesians 4, verse 10, Ephesians 4, 10, "...he
that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all
heavens that he might fill or fulfill all things, and he gave
some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some
pastors and teachers, the same one from whom and by whom we
receive grace to repent and grace to believe and grace to be pardoned,
we receive from him the particular gift as an apostle," Paul says. or as an evangelist, or as a
prophet, or as a pastor or a teacher. And this was done for the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ, till every one of God's people come in the
unity of the faith. Now I want you to turn to Acts
18 a minute. Paul was down at a certain place
preaching. I don't remember where it was,
but I guess at Corinth. But he was down here preaching
in Acts 18, verse 9. and something had disturbed him
greatly. And God came and spoke to him
that night in a vision in Acts 18.9, and he said, Paul, Acts
18.9, do not be afraid, but speak and hold not your peace, for
I am with you, and no man shall set on you to hurt you, for I
have much people in this city. And so Paul stayed there 18 months
longer. Why? Because God had much people
in that city. And he says here in Romans 1,
verse 5, We have received greats, and we have received apostleship.
Why? For obedience to the faith among
all nations. That is, that men of all nations
who belonged to Christ, who were given him by the Father, for
whom he suffered and who are his own till every one of them
come to faith, till every one of them obey the gospel. And
God has given us this grace and this apostleship and put us in
this place because he's got some people there, and we're going
to stay there till he calls them out. That's what Paul's saying
right there. We have received grace and apostleship
for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name, among
whom are you also the called of Christ Jesus. Those in Rome
who were believers are the called of Christ Jesus, and I don't
have time to deal with this a great deal tonight, but that's what
we are, that's how we're referred to in the Bible, the called. Whom he ordained, he predestinated,
whom he predestinated he called, whom he called he justified,
whom he justified he glorified. We are partakers of a heavenly
calling. We're called by Christ, we're
called by His Spirit, we're called by His minister, we're called
by His gospel, we're called out of darkness to light, we're called
out of bondage to freedom, we're called out of enmity to fellowship,
we're called out of sin to holiness, we're called out of unrest to
peace, we're called out of shame to glory, we're called to a prize,
it's a heavenly calling, we're called to eternal life. And if
you'll take your concordance and check the word C-A-L-L-E-D
throughout the Bible, it'll give you the whole history of the
saints of God. They're called people. God calls
them. The Holy Spirit calls them. The
Lord Jesus Christ calls them. His gospel calls them. But they
are the objects of heavenly attention, and they're called. Now then,
verse 7 through 15. We can move right along in those
verses because Paul expresses several things. First of all,
I read a moment ago, let me just say this to you. Paul, in verse
7, he's talking about the persons to whom he's especially writing,
and then he thanks God for their faith that's known throughout
the world, and then he assures them of his constant prayer for
them. You know Samuel, it was Samuel,
who said, God forbid that I should sin against God in ceasing to
pray for you. We ought to pray for one another.
And then he tells them his desire to come and preach to them. And
then he tells them he wants to come and teach them and establish
them in the gospel. They need to be planted. They
need to be established. They need their assurance to
be strengthened. And he wants to come partly for
their sake and partly for his own encouragement. He says, I
want to come that we might encourage each other, that I might be encouraged. He said, I've tried to come to
you before, but I wasn't able. And then he felt a great debt
to these people and to all people. In verse 14, he says, I'm a debtor
to the Greeks and to the barbarians, to the wise and to the unwise.
That's his missionary spirit. I know we're concerned about
our immediate family circle. We want them to be saved. And
then we are concerned about our immediate social circle of friends. We want them to know the Lord.
And then we're concerned about our community. And then we're
concerned about our city. And we're concerned about Ohioans
or Kentuckians or West Virginians. But you know, Paul says, I'm
a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, to the wise
and to the unwise. I'm in debt to all men. I'm just
as concerned for those barbarians down in the heart of Ethiopia
to come to a knowledge of my Lord as I am those in my immediate
family circle. That's what Paul said. I'm a
debtor. I'm in debt to all men. So as much, verse 15, as in me
is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
I'm ready to come down there to Rome, to the capital of the
world, to the city of power, to the city of the military,
to the city of the great Caesars, and preach the gospel. Now look
at this next verse. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. My friends, the reason Paul was
so ready to preach the gospel of substitution, the gospel of
the cross, the gospel of Christ crucified, and we have no social
gospel. We have not a gospel for the
rich and then one separate one for the poor. We have not a gospel
for the educated and another for the uneducated. We have one
gospel. It's the gospel of substitution. It's the gospel for sinners,
all double-dyed, corrupt, depraved, degenerate sinners. Hopeless,
helpless, without God, without Christ, without hope in this
world. In the cesspool of iniquity, in the dunghill of corruption,
we have one gospel of a substitute who came down here and was made
in the likeness of sinful flesh and walked through this sewer
of sin in our place. and went to the cross of Calvary
and took our shame and filth and guilt in his body and died
that we may live, was buried and rose again. But the power
of God is ascended on the right hand of God as our mediator."
Now that's the gospel of substitution. And Paul says, I'm not ashamed
of it. I'm not ashamed of it. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
Some people are ashamed of it, and I'll tell you how they reveal
their shame. Some of them flat deny it. They
just flat deny it and they advocate salvation by works. But some
have the ability to preach it and don't preach it. And some
preach, but they don't preach the gospel. And then some preach
only a part of this gospel. And then some preach it with
words that can't be understood. Paul says, I'm not going to cover
this gospel up with a lot of words, lest the cross of Christ
be made of non-effect. But I'm going to take the bloody
end of the cross of Christ and put it right in front of you
and say, there it is, stick, blood, and death, nails, sin,
and shame. There it is, substitution. identification, representation,
satisfaction, God's wrath upon the guilty, transferred to the
innocent that the guilty might go free. In words you can't misunderstand. And then some hold this gospel
in private, but not in public. And then some live upon popular
applause. They have regard to their own
interest, and they cannot bear the reproach of that gospel.
But Paul says, Whether it's in Rome, or whether it's in Philippi,
whether it's in Corinth, or whether it's down there in the mud huts
of the peons, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. For it, the gospel,
is the power of God, the dynamite of God unto salvation. to everyone that believeth. The
gospel of Christ, and only the gospel of Christ, the gospel
of the blood, the gospel of the cross, is God's means and God's
only means to quicken dead sinners. Sinners are never regenerated
apart from the word of God. Sinners are never regenerated
apart from the gospel of God. The gospel is the power of God
to regenerate, to quicken, to awaken, to open blind eyes, to
reveal Christ, to put away sin, and bring men to faith. And God
hath chosen by the foolishness of preaching. Preaching what? Preaching the social ills of
the day? Preaching what? Preaching the moral law? Preaching
what? Preaching our sectarianism? God
had chosen by the foolishness of the preaching of the cross
to save them that believe. To the Jew first, the Jews were
chosen to receive the law first, the prophets first, the types
first, the gospel of Christ first, but then to the Gentiles also.
Now then, let's move on. For verse 17, quickly, The gospel,
now this is so important, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ, it's the power of God unto salvation. For therein,
in the gospel, for therein, in the gospel of substitution, in
the gospel of Christ, in the gospel of the cross, is the righteousness
of God revealed. Now we're not talking here about
the essential personal righteousness of the Father. Although we do
see this in the gospel. We see the righteousness of God,
the essential righteousness of God in the gospel. We see it
in Christ coming down here and suffering and dying. He must.
But that's better seen in his laws and in his works and in
his word. But what we're talking about
here, now let's look directly at it. I'm not ashamed of the
substitutionary work of Christ, the cross of Christ. For in the
cross, in the gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed.
The gospel reveals that righteousness, that holiness, watch it now,
which Christ has accomplished for his people by his obedience
to the law and by dying under the penalty of the law. That's
the righteousness that's revealed in the gospel. Now then, turn
with me to Matthew 5, verse 20. You've got to look at this before
we leave it. Matthew 5, 20. In Matthew 5, verse 20, our Lord
is talking to the disciples here, and he points to these religious
leaders. And they were steeped in religion.
They were steeped in the moral law. They were moral men, men
of integrity, men of uprightness, compared to other men. They were
the choice men of their society. They were the religious leaders
and teachers. And they were clean men. And
Christ pointed to them and said to his disciples, unless your
holiness, your righteousness, not equal the righteousness of
those men, but exceed their righteousness, you'll never enter the kingdom
of heaven. That's what he says in Matthew 5 verse 20. Now that
upset the disciples because they didn't understand what Christ
was talking about. Our Lord said, if a man is going
to heaven by what he does, what he does must be perfect. If a
man is going to heaven by the kind of man he is, he's going
to have to be as good a man as God is. If a man is going to
heaven by his morality, his morality is going to have to match God's
morality. You who would live by the law,
don't you know what the law says, Paul said? He that would be saved
by the law is obligated to keep the whole law. And Christ said,
of these men, their righteousness is not good enough. How good
does a man have to be to go to heaven? Perfect. If he's going
by the law, if he's going by morality. Well, where are we
going to get the kind of righteousness with which God would be satisfied?
Well, turn to Romans 10. And Christ said in Romans 10,
now look at it, he said, Romans 10.1. My heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. I bear them record. They have a zeal of God. They're
interested in God. They have a zeal of God. They
have a religious zeal. They're not agnostics or pagans. But not according to knowledge,
for they being ignorant of God's righteousness. Now, they weren't
ignorant of the fact that God was holy. They weren't ignorant
of the fact that God was pure and perfect and righteous. He's
talking about here the same righteousness he's talking about back in verse
17 of Romans 1. Not God's essential righteousness,
but that righteousness which he has worked out and demands
of his people. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness,
That's what so many of our holiness friends are doing today. They're
going about to establish a religious morality. They're going about
to establish a holiness that will equip them, make them neat
and sufficient and clean enough so God will accept them. And
I'll tell you, there's not an angel in heaven that can be accepted
in himself. And there's not a human being
that ever lived on this earth that can be accepted by a holy
God in himself. He has to be sent to hell, for
to offend in one point of the law is to be guilty of the whole
law. And these people were going about to establish their own
righteousness, and have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God, the holiness which God has provided. For Christ is the
goal of the law. is the end and consummation of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. What
is my righteousness? Christ. What do I hope will present me
to God faultless, without blame, pure and holy, so that a holy
God can bear to be in my presence, can accept me, can regard me
as a son, can take me into his bosom, can take me into his heaven?
The fact that I stand in Christ, who is pure and holy and righteous
and who obeyed the law in every jot and tittle and charged it
to my account. Now that's the righteousness
he's talking about right here, without which no man will see
the Lord. For verse 18, God's wrath is
against, is revealed from heaven, oh let me go back here to verse
17, this righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. Now, the righteousness is not
known by the light of nature. Men won't take that by nature.
It has to be revealed by the Holy Spirit, and it's revealed
from one degree of faith to another. As we grow in faith, we have
a clearer view of our own sin and of Christ's righteousness
as we grow from faith to faith, one degree of faith to another.
In other words, the more a man grows in grace, the more he sees
his need of Christ. And the more he depends on the
righteousness of Christ, and the more he sees of his own inability
and the sufficiency of Christ. That's what he's talking about.
It's revealed from faith to faith. For the just begin life by faith,
continue life by faith, and enter eternal life by faith. Now, God's
judgment, verse 18, is against all who sin. And they have some
knowledge of the divine being and his perfection. They know
the difference between good and evil, but they do not live according
to the knowledge which they have. Verse 19, Because that which
may be known of God is manifest in them, God has showed it to
them. For the invisible things of him
from the creation of this world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.
So all men are without excuse. The heavens declare the glory
of God. the firmament showeth his handiwork. God hath revealed
himself to all men by nature and by conscience, so that all
men are without excuse. But instead of walking in the
light of conscience and in the light of nature which God hath
given, these people, professing themselves to be wise, became
fools, and they began to worship instead of the Creator, the creature.
And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into images. images of men and women. You
go down there in Mexico and you see these naked statues standing
around everywhere, how they worshipped the body, and how they worshipped
snakes. There are snakes everywhere carved
out of stone, and how they worshipped different things of that nature.
It takes you back to these days he's talking about here. They
began to worship, and therefore God gave them over to uncleanness.
God gave them over to practice all manner of corrupt evil practices,
perversion, sodomy, all manner of evil. God gave them up to
reprobate minds. And verse 32 says, People knowing
the judgment of God against such things, they know it by nature,
they know it by conscience, they know it by the things God has
made, they know good from evil, They know the divine perfection
of the eternal God, yet they not only do these things, but
they take pleasure in folks that do them. I should have said at
the opening of the message, not only is this type of message
hard to preach, but it's hard to find a quitting place. So
we'll quit there and take it up again week after next. Ronnie,
you come lead us in a verse or two of a song.