Will you turn in your Bibles
to Romans chapter 1 again, please? Romans 1, 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. Let me boldly declare before
this congregation and before this tri-state area, and before
the world in which I live, that I am not ashamed of the gospel.
I am not embarrassed, not in the least, to declare to all
men, both to the wise and to the unwise, both to the Greek
and to the barbarian, that I believe the word of God, that I believe
all the record that God hath given concerning his dear son. There was a time when this world
did not exist as we know it right now. The world was not here. The trees, the valleys, the mountains,
the streams were not here. Man as a creature did not exist. There were no stars, there was
no moon, there was no sun. Only God existed in the beginning,
God. And Jesus Christ, our Lord, was
with God in the beginning. In John chapter 17, verse 5,
when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Master said,
And now, O Father, Glorify thou me with thine own self, and the
glory which I had with thee before the world was. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Now there was a time when this
world was created, created out of nothing. When God put the
stars in space, when God put the moon and the sun in place,
when God fashioned and molded and made and created out of nothing
this world as we know it right now, God created the trees, God
separated the water from the dry land. God made the fish,
and God made the animals, and God made all things that exist,
and God created man in His own image. Out of the dust of the
ground, God created man, and out of man He created woman.
God created them, male and female, in His own image. And Jesus Christ
was the author and creator of all things. In the book of Colossians,
in Colossians chapter 1, verse 14, it talks about our Savior
in whom we have redemption. It talks about our crucified
Lord in whom we have redemption through his blood. It talks about
our Mediator, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1, 15, who is the
image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by him who redeemed us with
his own blood, who accomplished for us the forgiveness of sins.
were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by him
and for him. Jesus Christ is the creator of
all things. I'm not ashamed to declare my
faith in that. I'm not ashamed at all. I'm not
embarrassed in the least to say that I believe that Jesus Christ
created this world. He created it exactly as the
account revealed in Genesis 1, 2, and 3. I'm not ashamed of
that. I'm not embarrassed to declare
it to all men. that I believe the record God
had given concerning his son. The record concerning the one
who died on the cross, but the one who shared the eternal existence
and glory of the Father before the world was, and who by the
word of his power created all things. He's the author of all
things. Now there was a time when man
fell. There was a time when this creature
who was created in the image of God, who was given great wisdom
and great power, who was given holiness and perfection, who
had communion with God. There was a time when this man,
left to the choice of his own will, the freedom of his own
will, chose to align himself and ally himself with Satan.
in league against God, and he sought to take God's throne with
Satan. He said, I'll be like God. I'll
be like God. There was a time when this man
fell. He fell into sin, he fell into
rebellion, he fell into darkness. As a result of that fall, he
died spiritually, and he was separated from God, alienated
from became without God, without hope, without help in this world. Darkness fell on God's creation. Thorns and briars grew up among
the vegetables and among the trees. Famine, blight, pestilence,
earthquakes, storms, sickness, disease, death, hatred, murder,
malice, all of these evils of hell came into God's Jesus Christ in that hour was
revealed by the Heavenly Father as the seed of woman, the seed
of the virgin, the Son of God who would come into this world
as my representative, as your representative, and bear our
guilt and our shame and defeat the power of Satan. I will put
enmity, God said to the serpent between thee and the woman, between
thy seed and her seed. Thou shalt bruise his heel, but
he will destroy and bruise thy head." In the fullness of time,
the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world. Turn to Galatians
chapter 4. In the fullness of time, the
Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, born of that virgin, born
of that woman. without the aid of man. He was
begotten of God. He was conceived of the Holy
Ghost. When this virgin Mary received the message from the
angel of God that she would bear a son who would be the Savior
of sinners, she said, These things cannot be, because I do not know
a man. And the angel said, The power
of God shall overshadow thee, the Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, And that which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. And without the aid of man, without
the aid of natural formation, a woman gave birth to a son,
and that son is God Almighty incarnate. In Galatians 4 verse
4, But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his
Son, made of a woman. made under the law as a man,
flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, he became a man. The
God of glory clothed himself in human flesh and was made of
a woman, made under the law, subject to the law, in all things
to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive
the adoption of sons. He was our substitute. He took
upon Himself our flesh. Everything that the Father demanded
of us as a man, He fulfilled. Everything that the Father commanded
of us as a man, He obeyed. Everything that the justice of
God demanded of us, Christ paid in full. God's justice demanded
our blood, our death, our agony, our suffering, and Christ supplied
everything that God's justice demanded. His blood makes atonement
for our sin, and only in the blood are we secure. Only in
the blood of Christ are we forgiven. Only in the blood of Christ do
we have remission of sin. Only through the blood of Christ
on the mercy seat of glory can a guilty sinner approach an holy
God. Now he is at the right hand of
the God-exalted The Scripture says in Philippians, if you'll
turn with me to the book of Philippians, chapter 2, it says that he, in
verse 7, made himself of no reputation. For thirty-three and a half years,
the Lord Jesus Christ made himself of no reputation. He was born
in a manger, in a stable, as the poorest among men. His followers
were shepherds and fishermen. and harlots and sinners. He had
no formal education. He owned not a plot of land.
The only clothes he had was the robe upon his back. He was despised
and rejected and hated of men. He was a carpenter by trade and
raised in a carpenter's shop. He made himself of no reputation. He was tempted and tried and
tested in all points, as we are, yet without sin. He took on himself
the form of a servant. He was made in the likeness of
men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,
the cursed death, the criminal death. He became obedient even
to the death of the cross. Wherefore now God hath also highly
exalted him. and given him a name which is
above every name, that at the name of Jesus Christ every knee
should bow in heaven, in earth, and under the earth, and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, not a lamb,
a king, not a servant any longer, but a sovereign. Every tongue
should confess that he is Lord, to the glory of God. I'm not ashamed of this gospel. And Jesus Christ will return
again. He will come back to this earth.
He is at the right hand of God, satisfied, seated, expecting
till his enemies become his footstool. He is a conquering, victorious
who for a season endured the agonies of human flesh, and the
trials of human flesh, and the testings of human flesh, and
the agonies of eternal hell in his body on the tree. But now
he's a king, he's a conqueror, he's victorious, and he's seated
at God the Father's right hand as our mediator, as our high
priest, pleading for his people, and his prayers are effectual,
and he will come again. and we shall reign eternally
with him. I expect him to come. I do not
know when. The Scripture says, not even
the angels of heaven know the day or the hour when the Son
of Man cometh, but he's coming. I'm not ashamed of this gospel,
and I'm not embarrassed to declare it. Paul said in verse 14 of
Romans 1, look at it a moment, I am a debtor, both to the Greeks
and to the barbarians. What does he mean by that? He
means I am a debtor to the more cultured, educated nations represented
by the Greeks. If a man be a physician or a
professor, if he be a lawyer or a legislator, I'm not ashamed
to declare this gospel to him. The Greeks, the more cultured
and educated nations of the world, as well as to the barbarians. I'm a debtor to the barbarians,
to the rude, to the untaught, to the uncivilized. It doesn't
matter whether a man lives in a castle or a cabin. I'm a debtor
to him. I'm not ashamed, both to the
wise and to the unwise, so much as in me is," Paul said. I am
ready to preach this gospel, this gospel, of which I'm not
ashamed. I'm ready to preach this gospel
to you that are at Rome, the capital of the world. For I am
not ashamed, verse 16, I take, for I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. Now some people are. Some people
are ashamed of the gospel of Christ. They are not ashamed
of its benefits. They are not ashamed of its blessings.
They would like to share in all that the gospel produces, and
all that the gospel provides. But they are ashamed of the gospel.
Paul says, I'm not. I'm not ashamed of the gospel,
whether I be with the Greek, the wise, the cultured, the educated,
I'm not ashamed. I'm a debtor to him, too. Or
whether I be with the unwise, the untaught, the rude, the uncivilized,
I'm not ashamed with him either. I'm a debtor to him also, to
declare unto him the gospel. But some men are ashamed of the
gospel. They're not too much ashamed of it when they're around
the untaught, or the uncivilized, or maybe the rude and the uncouth.
But when they get around the Greeks, those of education and
those of culture and those of power, we become ashamed of the
gospel. In many ways, men reveal that
they are ashamed of the gospel. First of all, they never talk
of the gospel with their friends. They are careful to conceal what
they say they believe. They never talk of the gospel
when they are around others who may be critical, for they are
careful to conceal and to hide what they say they believe. They do not sound the clear note
They do not with boldness, as the Apostle Paul declared, I
am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of
God unto salvation. They seek the applause of the
world. They seek the glory of the world.
They seek to avoid the reproach of the gospel. There is a reproach
in the gospel. There is an offense to the gospel. Paul said himself, If I preach
circumcision, why am I persecuted? Then is the offense of the cross,
siege. If I seek to please men, I am
not the servant of Jesus Christ. There are five reasons why I
am not ashamed of the gospel. They are all given right here
in verses 16 through 19. First of all, I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, because it is the gospel of Christ. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
because it is the gospel of Christ. Look back at Romans chapter 1,
verse 1. Paul says, I'm a bond slave.
I am a servant of Jesus Christ, a willing, loving servant of
Jesus Christ. I'm called to be an apostle.
I'm separated unto the gospel of God. Now this gospel, verse
2, is the gospel which he promised by Moses, which he promised through
Abraham, which he promised through David, which he promised through
all the Old Testament prophets, which he promised in the Holy
Scripture. The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed.
The Old Testament is the New Testament in type, in symbol,
in picture, in ceremony. The New Testament is the Old
Testament revealed. And Paul says, I'm separated
unto the gospel, the gospel of the Garden of Eden. You say,
Preacher, where do you see the gospel in the Garden of Eden?
Very clearly in Genesis 3.15. The seed of woman, the virgin-born
son, God incarnate, shall crush the power of Satan, which he
did at the cross, while Satan bruises his heel. That's his
humanity. Christ gave his body. Christ's
body dies. on that cross, and the lower
part of his existence. The human body died, but when
he died in the flesh on the cross, he conquered and crushed the
power of Satan. This gospel which we preach is
the gospel of the flood. The ark is a type of Christ.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and Noah was delivered
from judgment, from wrath, from the flood in the ark. as we're
delivered in Christ. This gospel which we preach is
the gospel of the wilderness, for Christ is that bread, and
Christ is that rock from which the healing waters flow, and
Christ is that brazen serpent lifted up to which the people
looked and lived. The gospel which we preach is
the gospel promised before by His prophets in the Holy Scripture.
Christ is seen in every in every day of atonement, in every sacrifice,
in the tabernacle, in every bit of furniture in that tabernacle
is Christ. Christ is our mercy seat. So
I'm not ashamed of this gospel which he promised by his Holy,
by his prophets and the Holy Scriptures, and it's concerning
his Son. A man said on television this
past week, and I wholeheartedly agree with him, The gospel and
Christianity is not a philosophy. It's a person. It's a person. The gospel is concerning his
Son, who became a man. Look at it, concerning his Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. As a man, he took on himself
not the nature of angels, but the nature of the seed of David,
of Abraham. As a man, he was tested and fired. As a man, he obeyed every law.
As a man, he was condemned and crucified. As a man, he died
under judgment on a cross. As a man, he gave his life for
sinners. As a man, he suffered and died."
In your bulletin this morning is an article by Charles Spurgeon
on page 3. which says the banquet of mercy
is served up by one host. That host is he to whom the cattle
on a thousand hills belong. But none have contributed any
danish to that royal banquet. He hath done it all himself. The royal bath of mercy wherein
black souls are washed was filled from the veins of Jesus. Not
a drop was contributed by any other being. He died upon that
cross, and as an expiator he died alone. No blood of martyrs
mingleth with that stream, no blood of noble confessors or
of heroes of the cross entered into the river of atonement.
That is filled from the veins of Christ and from nowhere else
besides. He hath done it wholly. Atonement
is the unaided work of Jesus Christ. On yonder cross I see
the man who trod the winepress alone. In yonder garden I see
the solitary conqueror who came to the fight single-handed, whose
own arm brought salvation, whose omnipotence sustained him. Salvation
is of the Lord. As to its provisions, Jehovah,
Father, Son, and Spirit have provided everything. The gospel is the gospel of Christ. And I'm not ashamed of it because
it is the gospel of Christ. It's the gospel of Christ who
became a man, look at verse 4, and who arose from the dead.
He was declared to be the Son of God with power according to
the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. My
friends, the cross is stamped with the justice of God and the
wrath of God and the resurrection is stamped with the acceptance
of God. Just as his death was our death,
his resurrection is our victory. And then also the gospel of Christ
is the gospel of Christ who became a man, who arose from the grave,
and verse 5, and the one by whom we have received grace. All that
we have and all that we are and all that we ever shall be is
ours through and by and because of and in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are never considered by the
Father at any time outside of Christ. Never. From eternity
past to eternity future. We are never regarded or considered
by the Father in any light except in the light of his Son's mercy. Outside of Christ, there's judgment
and wrath and condemnation. I'm not ashamed of that gospel
because it's the gospel of Christ. And secondly, I'm not ashamed
of that gospel because it is the power of God under salvation. There's an old story, not a word
of truth in it, not a word of truth in it. It's a tradition,
and there's some people who believe it, but there's not a word of
truth in it. It was started many, many, many years ago, but it
illustrates what I'm about to say. There was an empress by
the name of Helena who came to power And when she came to power,
the first thing that she did was send her wise men to hunt
for the cross of Jesus Christ. She wanted to find the actual
cross upon which Jesus Christ died. As I say, there's no truth
to this. This is a fable. This is a religious
tradition story. No truth in it at all. But it
goes like this. So her wise men went to Jerusalem. And they found Golgotha's Hill. This was after the Roman siege
and after the destruction of Jerusalem. They found Golgotha's
Hill. And they began to dig around
in the ruins and they found three crosses. But those three crosses
had fallen many different ways and they couldn't determine which
was the cross of Jesus Christ. So they brought them all three
to Empress Helena and they said, here are three crosses We found
them all three on top of a hill. And she said, well, one of them
is the cross of Christ. Which one? And she decided on these means
to determine which cross was the cross of Christ. She said,
go out in the cemetery and dig me up a body of someone recently
dead. So they went out in the cemetery
and they dug up the body of a man and they brought it into the
palace where they had the three crosses on the floor. He said,
put that body over on that cross over there. They laid the man's
body on the cross and he lay there. He said, put the man's
body on this cross. So they took it off of that cross
and put it on this cross and he lay there. He said, put the
man's body on this cross. They took the man's body from
that cross and laid it on the third cross, and he arose and
lived. As I say, that is not truth.
That's a tradition, that's a religious story, but it illustrates what
I'm saying. The cross of Christ has the power
to give life to dead sinners and only the cross. I may preach
up here all of the traditions of the church. I may preach the
traditions of the church to you again and again and again, but
the traditions of the church do not have the power to give
life to a dead sinner, to a dead I may stand up here and preach
the law to you, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery,
thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou
shalt not make unto thee any grave at any. I can preach these
laws to you till you're weary of hearing them, and they'll
never make you holy and never give you life. I can stand here
and preach doctrine and tell you how that man fell and how
that man's and how that God in sovereign grace chose a people,
and how that God Almighty is going to have a people, and how
that Christ is coming back, and how there's going to be a millennial
reign, and how there's going to be a resurrection, and steep
you in all of these doctrines of the church, and doctrines
of the millennium, and doctrines of the past, present, and future,
and they'll never give you life. But when a man stands and preaches
the cross, how that God loved us in Christ, and how that God
sent his Son down here to this world in the likeness of flesh,
and how that he bled, suffered, and died on the cross for sinners,
and how that he was buried and rose again. That gospel, if a
man is brought by the Holy Spirit to receive it and to believe
it, that gospel will make a foolish man wise. It'll bring him to know himself.
It'll bring him to know God. It'll bring him to know real
life. It'll bring him to place the
value upon things which are really valuable. It'll make a rebel
holy. It'll make a drunkard sober.
It'll make a man who hates love. Nothing can change the actions
till it changes the heart. And only the cross, only the
gospel of Christ can change the heart. Nothing else can. The gospel makes a rebel holy. The gospel makes a miserable
man happy. The gospel is God's instrument. The gospel is God's means to
work in us both to will and to enjoy doing His pleasure. I'm not ashamed of that. I'm not ashamed of it. It is
the power of God, and that word power is dunamis, it's dynamite. It is the dynamite of God to
make a dead man live, to make a rebel holy, to make a foolish
man wise, and to make a miserable man happy. Gospel can do it. You can't make yourself love
God, but the gospel can. You can't make yourself love
people. You don't love them by nature,
you hate them. But the gospel, if it ever grips
your heart, the gospel of Christ, if it ever becomes a part of
you, if you ever come to know Him, you can't help but love. Because He is love, and the love
of God shed abroad in our hearts for the Holy Spirit. The gospel
makes a man hunger and thirst for righteousness. Without the
gospel he has no hunger, he has no thirst, but the gospel is
the power of God unto salvation. I can join the church, I can
be baptized, I can get my name on the roll, I can reform my
life, but only the gospel can change my heart. only the gospel. That's why I'm not ashamed of
it. I've seen it do it. I've seen the gospel change men's
hearts. I've seen the gospel whittle
men down. I've seen the gospel break the
proud heart. I've seen the gospel make the
hater love. I've seen the gospel change men. I've seen it as the power of
God transformed completely a rebel into a man of God. sweeten the
nature, soften the heart, and enlighten the mind. The gospel,
that's why I'm not ashamed of it. I'm not ashamed of that gospel,
because it's the only thing that can do it. The only thing. Lord, God of glory, use this
mighty instrument of our grace, the gospel of Jesus Christ, to
make me a new creature. The next thing, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel, for therein," that is in the gospel, verse
17, therein, right there, is the righteousness of God revealed. Now, brethren, the cross of Jesus
Christ reveals the righteousness of God. Now we know that our
so-called righteousness is filthy rags, isn't it? Are you aware
of that yet? Are you aware that your righteousnesses
are filthy rags, contemptible rags, dirty rags in God's sight? Your righteousness is nauseous
to God, is a stink in the nostrils of God. He said, from the sole
of your feet to the top of your head. There's no soundness in
you, but nothing but open running sores that have not been bound
up, neither mollified with ointment. Are you made conscious that your
righteousness before God is filthy rags, that in the flesh dwelleth
no good thing?" Oh, compared with other people, sometimes
we look pretty good. Compared with God, we never look
good. Compared with other people, we
measure up pretty well, but compared with God, we're on the dunghill. We're maggots in the mire of
corruption by nature. That's our so-called righteousness. Well, the cross reveals the righteousness
of God. Turn to Romans chapter 5. The
obedience of Christ, the substitutionary work of Christ, the sacrifice
of Christ, the death of Christ, shows two things. It shows, first
of all, how that God can be righteous and pardon the guilty. It says
in Romans 5, 19, by one man's disobedience, that's Adam's sin,
Adam's fall, Adam's rebellion, many were made sinners. That's
what happened to us. We trace it back to the Garden
of Eden. When our daddy died, we died. When our daddy fell,
we fell. When our daddy rebelled, we rebelled.
By one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. God only created
one man, Adam. The woman came out of Adam, and
everybody since then has come out of Adam. Adam was the only
man created. The word Adam means man, that's
what it is. God created one man, and everybody
else has come out of Adam. And as a result of his corruption,
he only can give birth to corrupt children. The seed of Adam gave
birth to Cain and Abel and Seth, and every one of them were born
of contemptible seed, were born of corruptible seed. When Jesus
Christ was born, he was born not of the seed of Adam or the
seed of man, but the seed of woman by the Holy Spirit. When we are born again into the
Kingdom of God, we are born not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible
seed, the Word of God. So we're born without sin. That
nature that God gives us in the new birth has no sin. It cannot
sin. It's a holy nature. It's born
of the seed of God's Word. It cannot sin. I have a nature
that cannot do good and one that cannot sin. Anyway, by one man's
disobedience we were made sinners. Now watch this next statement.
So by the obedience of one, By the obedience of one, that's
Christ, that's the second Adam, the two Adams, the first Adam
and the second Adam, the fallen Adam and the Adam from heaven,
Jesus Christ. And by His obedience, we're made
righteous. That is, it's an imputed righteousness.
It's reckoned to us. We didn't work it out, He did,
but He did it in our place. He did it as our representative.
as our federal head. He came down here in the flesh
as a man and worked out and completed and perfected a holy righteousness. And God Almighty, the Heavenly
Father, considers us in Christ. What he did, we did. What he
has, we have. What he paid is ours. It's imputed
or charged directly into our account. Blessed is the man to
whom God will not reckon sin, but holiness. And our holiness
is not one which we worked out. Our holiness is not ours, it's
His. And any man's a fool that tries
to stand in his own holiness. Don't tell me you're holy, I
know better. I know better. I've compared with some people
of this world, you might be pretty holy, but compared with God,
you're not even anywhere close to being holy. But we've got
to be holy to stand in His presence. Who shall stand in His presence?
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. I don't have it.
Do you have it? You don't have it either. Who
does? Christ. If He's my representative, if
I stand in Him, if I'm accepted in Him, then I have a holiness. perfect holiness, a perfect righteousness. Turn to Romans 10. Paul said
in Romans 10, verse 1, look at this, he said, brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. Verse 2, Romans 10, I bear them record they are religious,
they got a zeal of God, but it's not according to knowledge, for
they being ignorant of God's righteousness. Who is that? That's
Christ's work as a man. That's Christ's work in the flesh.
That's Christ's work before the law. That's Christ's work as
our representative. That's Christ's work on the cross.
That's Christ's work in the tomb. That's Christ's work at the right
hand of God. They're ignorant of His work,
of His righteousness, and they're going about to establish their
own righteousness. Well, I do my best not to kill
anybody, and I do my best not to steal anything, and I do my
best not to commit adultery, and I do my best not to lie on
somebody, and I do my best to all these things outwardly. What
am I going to do about inwardly? What am I going to do about my
thoughts? What am I going to do about my desires? What am
I going to do about my wishes? What am I going to do about my
wants? God looks on the heart, not on the outward place. So
I go about to establish my own righteousness. which is filthy
rags, God said. And I don't submit to the righteousness
of God, verse 4, for Christ is the end of the law, for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
because therein This gospel, right there, is
the righteousness of God revealed. It's not revealed in the church,
it's not revealed in the law, it's not revealed in the ceremony.
The righteousness with which God will be satisfied, the righteousness
in which I can be clothed, the righteousness by which I can
be accepted, is revealed in the cross. That's the only place. And then the fourth thing, quickly,
Romans 1, 16, 17, 18, for there I'm not ashamed of the gospel,
for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. Romans 1, 18. The gospel reveals the wrath
of God, too. I see God's love in the cross.
I see God's grace in the cross. I see God's mercy in the cross.
But are we being fair to our heroes if we do not call attention
to God's wrath in the cross? God's wrath? For the God's wrath
against sin is certainly revealed at Calvary. What sent Christ
to the cross? What sent Christ to the cross?
He didn't die as an example, he died as a substitute. He didn't
die as a martyr, he died as a sacrifice. But what's sending to the cross?
I'll tell you what's sending to the cross. God's wrath against
my sin. That's what's sending to the
cross. God's wrath against sin is going to send men to hell.
I'm not going to send anybody to hell. You're not going to
send anybody to hell. Nobody's going to send himself
to hell. God's wrath and judgment against sin is going to send
men to hell. And God's wrath and judgment
against my sins, which were on Christ, sins which He voluntarily
bore, sent Him to the cross. And He stayed on that cross till
God's righteousness and justice and wrath was fully satisfied
for all the sins He bore. What put Christ through the agonies
of Calvary? God's wrath. God's justice. God's wrath and justice against
sin sent Christ to the cross. All right, if you're not in Christ,
and if he's not your Lord and Savior, will God spare you, he
that spared not his own son? And then verse 19, the fifth
reason why I'm not ashamed of this gospel. I'm not embarrassed
to declare it. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest. Now I know this is talking about
the wisdom of God, the power of God, the existence of God,
which is revealed in nature. But my friends, that which nature
reveals is not saving. That's what nature tells me about
God is not saving. I cannot look at the heavens.
I can look at them and see the wisdom of God and the power of
God, but not the mercy of God. I can look at the heavens and
I can see the omnipotence of God and the omniscience of God,
but I cannot look at the heavens and the trees and nature and
learn anything about the grace of God. the righteousness of
God, or the mercy of God, or the love of God. I see that in
the cross. Alas, and did my Savior bleed,
and did my Sovereign die, would He devote that sacred head for
such a worm as I at the cross, at the cross where I first saw
the light, the light of covenant mercy, the light of everlasting
love, the light of divine mercy. the light of divine grace, the
light of the atonement, the light of forgiveness, where I first
saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was
there. It was there by faith. that I
receive my sight, and I'm not ashamed of it. It is the gospel
of Christ. It is the instrument by which
God makes a man a new creature. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. Therein is the wrath of God revealed. And at the cross and in the cross
is the mercy of God revealed. God is manifest. That which may
be known of God is manifest. Our Father, use this message
for the glory of our dear Son and for the good of those who
have come to seek the Lord.