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The Gospel of Jesus Christ. So, in saying that, please turn with me in your Bible to the wonderful epistle of Romans. Romans chapter 1. Very familiar text we're looking at this morning, but a very powerful text.
And there's a lot here in Romans 1. But we're going to specifically, basically look at two verses of Scripture. Looking at verses 16 and verse 17 on this Lord's Day morning, and hear the word of the living God.
The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, says this. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. For the Jew first, and also for the Greek.
For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith.
Amen.
May God bless the reading of His inspired word from our ears to our hearts this morning. Please bow and pray with me as we go to the Lord and seek His blessing in the remainder of this worship service.
Our Father in heaven, we have come to you now. We bow in reverence, we tremble at your word, but we rejoice at your word as well. We would pray that you would save us, O God, from apathy, of being over-familiar with this.
Glorious truth.
We have read this text of your wonderful word many, many times, and we even heard it preached and explained many, many times, but Lord again, save us from apathy. Warm our hearts this morning, Lord, by your spirit, through your word.
We pray, Lord, to help us all, Lord, to never, ever let this be old to us. May it be fresh. Pray Lord, as we come before you today, that you would give us fresh eyes to see, to behold the beauty, the gospel of your Son, Jesus Christ.
Give us ears to hear what your spirit says to the church. Speak Lord, for your servant hears. We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. Here within our text, the apostle has just greeted the Christians in Rome.
He's given thanks to God for them. He's told them of his desire to come and visit them. And incidentally, that prayer of the apostle was answered probably not in the way he thought it would be answered.
He was to visit the church in Rome. But as a prisoner now in chains, be very careful what you pray for. God answers those prayers, and here comes Paul, the apostle. He says, basically, in verse 11, For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gifts, so that you may be established.
In verse 12, he says, that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. Notice even the apostle needed encouragement here. He came to encourage them, but he also needed the encouragement.
Verse 13, Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often plan to come to you, but I was hindered until now. Interesting. He was hindered until now, and there were many, many forces that hindered him, but now he comes in chains.
And for the purpose, he says, and he gives us that purpose, that I might have some fruit among you also, just as also the other Gentiles. I'm a debtor to both the Greeks and the barbarians, and both to the wise and to the unwise.
So as much as in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. He was ready to preach this gospel. And then he goes on to express the gospel of Jesus Christ in our text, for I am not.
Ashamed.
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Now, I'm indebted of this, basically this background about Luther I'm about to give you in this introduction about Martin Luther.
Derek Thomas basically wrote this down, and I got it from his book, and he says this about Luther. Now Martin Luther, the German reformer in the year of 1545, he was to die in 1546, by.
The way.
This was at the end of his life. He is writing a preface to the publication of the Latin works, of his Latin works. And as he thinks about the preface, he's thinking back over 25 years or so of how God used him and how God employed him in changing the face of Europe with the gospel.
He was basically a channel. As you well know, the word of God really did the reform. The word of God did the work. Luther was just an obedient, yielded servant of the Lord. And Thomas goes on to say this about Luther, and as he begins to write this preface, he begins to remind himself and his readers that it all began in this chapter with these verses of scripture in Romans.
Because as Martin Luther read these verses, now this is the word of God, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, also to the Greek.
For in it, in the righteousness of God, the righteousness of God is revealed, or as Luther would read it in the Latin Bible, which the Latin translates the righteousness of God as the justice of God. It puts a little bit more light on what the righteousness of God is.
It is God's justice. It's revealed, Thomas goes on to say, and as he writes in the preface, he came to hate the righteousness of God because the righteousness of God for Martin Luther was something that condemned him.
It brought condemnation. In other words, let me put it, let me stop right there, it's easy for children to understand.
And listen.
It's like as Luther would always see the frown of God on his life. He would not see the smile of God. Thomas goes on to say, no matter what he did, no matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried, no matter what self-denial he would engage in, in righteousness and justice of God, he always saw the condemnation of God, that he could never please God.
And he says this, quote, this is Luther, I began to hate. These are his words, his very words. I began to hate the righteousness of God until, until he saw for the first time that the righteousness of God demands a righteousness that, righteousness he provides in the gospel.
That's key, folks. In other words, in what he saw that he says, Luther again, it was like the opening of the gates of paradise to him. Folks, we must see this. I really believe at that point Luther was born again of the spirit of God.
God, as he says in his own words, it was like the opening of the gates of paradise. Romans 1, 16 and 17, folks, is critical. It's very critical. We cannot hear this enough. The Apostle Paul's supreme passion was to see men saved.
He cared nothing for personal comfort. As you know, the Apostle Paul gladly suffered for Jesus Christ. He did not care for popularity. He did not care for reputation. He offered no compromise of the gospel because he knew it is the power of God and salvation.
It is the only power, by the way, that's available that can change the lives of people for all eternity. Keep that in mind. Now in our text, verse 16 and 17, Paul uses four key words that are, is very critical to understanding and believing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I'm going to try to keep this as simple where a child can understand this because really the simplicity in Jesus is really simple. It's like Ravenhill says, it's simple but it's profound. It's simply profound.
To use these points, I'm just going to use basically four words here. The first one we'll look at is power, power. Second, when we will see salvation. Third, faith or belief, trust, faith, belief. And the third will be closing and conclusion, righteousness because we want to see what the righteousness of God really is in the gospel because it's revealed in the gospel.
Let's begin.
Power.
Now what's it speaking about power? Paul speaks here in the text, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God. It is the power of God. After Paul has proclaimed that he personally is not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is the power of God.
So what is the gospel? First of all, it is the power of God. The power of God to change lives. Good reference to this is Paul once again, he gives a definition of what the gospel is in 1 Corinthians 15.
That's the resurrection chapter and he begins by defining what the gospel is before he goes through this entire chapter, 58 verses of that incredible chapter. If you want to understand about the implications of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and implications of our resurrection in the future, read chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians.
But how does he begin that chapter? He says this, moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel, which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
What is it? For I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
There it is.
First of all, Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Then he says this in verse 4, and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And that he was seen by Cephas and by the twelve.
And after that he was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to be present, but some have fallen asleep.
Christ died. Christ buried.
Christ rose again according to the scriptures. There is the biblical definition from the apostle Paul through the Holy Spirit of what the gospel is defined as. But it is the power of God unto salvation.
That message is the power of God. It's not about the power of God. It is the power of God. There's a vast difference. It is living, it's powerful, it's sharper than any two-edged sword. God's word is powerful.
It's the same word that God says, let there be light, and there was light. Consider each of these critical terms of the description of the gospel of Jesus Christ. First of all, power. The Greek word for power is dunamis.
That's where we get our word dynamite. Dynamite. It is the dynamite of God, the omnipotence of God, the power of God, that God is omnipotent. He's all-powerful. Now keep in mind, God's power is not like what we think in our mind that it is like filled up to a measure.
It's infinite, folks. There is no limitations to it. When God says he's all-powerful, that means it's omnipotent. It is all-powerful. He is all-powerful. Power is of God. Again, it's the kind of power that he spoke a word, and it happened.
There was light, and there was light. He spoke light into existence, and it came into existence. He spoke the worlds into existence, and it came into existence. He's all-powerful. God does not, again, proclaim the gospel and then sits back hoping that some might believe it and are unable to do so, do anything to ensure that any will.
No, by proclaiming the gospel, he actually generates the faith. He activates the faith. And to be sure, those to whom he elects will believe. God regenerates. He regenerates. There's power in regeneration.
And it's God's power in regeneration. That's what we have to trust in when we pray for our lost loved ones, right? That God will regenerate them and take out a stony heart and put in a heart of flesh and give them a new nature.
We're going to look at that. 1 Peter 1 .23 says, Having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the Word of God. Hear that? Through the Word of God, which lives and abides forever.
Not by mere vibrations upon an eardrum. No, but by the Word of God, accompanied by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God, as explained through the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 37. He speaks about a new nature, a new covenant, a new heart.
Writing his laws on that new heart. Taking out a stony heart and he puts in a heart of flesh. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. It's all through the Word of God. It's through the power of God.
And the power is in the gospel. That's what he's saying. The power is in that gospel. Folks, I'm telling you, when we give people the gospel, make sure of this. It never returns void. People will harden their hearts against it.
Or the Word of God will penetrate and cut and pierce so hard that it will not leave them alone until they come to repent and believe the gospel. And even that is the power of God. You see, the gospel of Christ is sufficient.
It is effective. It is transforming power by God Himself acting and working on the human soul. Nothing else can do that, folks. Psychology cannot do that. Only the power of God can penetrate into a heart, as Brother Keith read this morning, or prayed this morning, create in me a clean heart.
Oh, God.
God can create. Only God can create. And we must keep that in mind when we witness to our lost loved ones and witness to the lost and dying world. We are just channels to transfer what the good news is.
And we're beggars pointing other beggars where to find bread. But the power of God, the gospel, imparts life to the dead. Keep this in mind. Dead soul. Light to those in darkness. Give an understanding to the ignorant.
Wisdom to the foolish. And belief to the unbelieving. That's what the gospel does. All which are aspects of regeneration, by the way, the new birth when Jesus said to Nicodemus, a very religious man, by the way, you must be born again.
1 Corinthians 1 .18, Paul says this, For the word, that means the preaching of the cross, is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. I have overheard people talk down about the Christian life and basically saying, oh, it's just a crutch and it's just cookie cutter stuff.
And they go to church and it's like playing church and there's nothing to it. Think again. We know better.
But why I say that is,.
Notice, it's to those that are perishing. The gospel is foolishness. That's what they're saying. Foolishness. Foolishness. Moronic. Through Jeremiah the prophet in Jeremiah 13 .23, the Lord said this.
Listen to this. This is a question. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good who are accustomed to do evil. You see, it is not within man's power to change himself.
He cannot change his own nature. It's like changing the nature of a lion. The lion loves to eat little lambs. He likes to eat meat. He eat a hyena. He hunts.
He prays.
He does that because it's his nature. In Rebuke of the Sadducees, Jesus, the Sadducees tried to entrap Jesus. And Jesus said to them in Matthew 22, 29, you are mistaken not understanding the scriptures or the power of God.
He said, you don't understand the power of God. You don't understand the scriptures, nor do you understand the power of God. These were the religious people. These were the so-called theologians of the day.
The only power of God is able to change man's sinful nature. In part, spiritual life. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ has that power to change man and take them from sin, from Satan, from judgment, from death, from hell, to salvation, to Christ, to freedom, to life, to heaven.
It does the opposite. Brings them out of the power of Satan to the power of God. Brings them from judgment to freedom in Jesus Christ. From death to life, from hell to heaven, to the life of God. This is what the power of God can do.
And only through the word of God, through the gospel. We must keep that in mind. The Bible says that some men believe they can be changed by doing good works, by keeping the deeds of the law. We know better because the Bible says the opposite.
As we well know, the law cannot save, only the law condemns. Now Paul says that that doesn't mean the law is bad. He said it's good and it's holy. There's a purpose for the law. It's a tutor to bring us to Christ.
It shows us our sin. And folks, can I tell you this about Luther as we're talking about Luther? He understood this. He knew the condemnation upon his soul. He knew he was guilty. His problem was he could not find the relief.
He could not find the justification. He could not find the freedom and the peace with Almighty God. Until he found it in Romans 1, 16 and 17. And God, the Holy Spirit, showed it to him by the way. You know, the Bible says only the Lord can save.
Keep that in mind. Only the Lord is our salvation, not church.
You can go to church.
There's people, folks, I'm going to tell you, you go to church and don't believe me. I believe when you are saved, you should go to church. Basically, it tells us in Hebrews 10, 25, not to forsake to assemble ourselves together as the lack of many are.
But it is a command. But church doesn't save us, does it? Jesus Christ saves us. Even baptism does not save us. It's a sign of what salvation is. Baptism is a command. God says, the Lord Jesus Christ says, he basically says, go and baptize in the name of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit.
The first command there actually is to make disciples. But keep in mind, religion doesn't save us. Church doesn't save us. Baptism doesn't save us. Knowing the word of God in our brains does not save us, as important that is.
We must have it in our heart. A man believes with his heart unto righteousness, right? Then what can save? The power of God. And by the way, that power is unleashed in the gospel. That power is unleashed.
It's let loose like a lion. That's why Spurgeon says, let the word out. Let the lion out and let him do his work. Paul says, well, I believe it's Luke and Acts. For neither is there salvation in any other name, for none other name under heaven is given among men, whereby we must be saved than the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Only the power of God can change people. There is no other way. Romans 5, 6, when we were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly, for the ungodly. In other words, man is powerless. He cannot change himself.
We cannot change himself. As the world tells you, turn over a new leaf. You do this, you do that. That's not going to work, folks. It may work for a small tiny bit of just reform, but there has to be a transformation within the heart of man, deep within his soul, and only the spirit of God can reach us there through the power of God in his worth or his word.
So man cannot change himself. He is utterly trapped and unable to do a thing about it. He's not capable of doing it. But aren't you glad for the gospel? This is why it's good news, right? It's the greatest news in the world.
In the 8th chapter of Romans and the 3rd verse, listen to this. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son was able to do it. In other words, you can take man and give him a good standard.
You can give him good rules. You can give him good principles. But he cannot change himself. It cannot be done. That's the frustration of man. James 1 verse 18 says this, Of his own will, who's his own will?
The will of God. He brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Of his own will. John 1. But as many as received him, speaking of Christ, to them he gave the right.
You know what that word means? The right, the power, the privilege to become the children of God. To those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.
See that?
God has to do it. It's not of your willpower. It's not of being traditionally born in a good family. That's a Christian family that makes you saved.
It's of God.
It's of God. It's of his own will. In other words, what man cannot do for himself, God can do for man through the gospel. For with man, Jesus says, salvation is impossible. Impossible. But with God, all things are possible.
Folks, we may be looking at, you may be seeing loved ones that you love so much and they are desperately dying and going to hell. And oh, how you desire to see them changed. That's why we pray. We pray, oh God, you do the work.
You regenerate. And we need to pray more for them because really your prayers is all they really have outside of the intervention of God almighty. But you need to pray for them that God would intervene and have mercy on them.
And keep in mind, God does not owe them salvation like he doesn't owe us salvation. Actually, what he does owe us is righteousness, justice. I like what R .C. Sproul says, God is not obliged to show us mercy.
And you read that in scripture in Romans chapter 9 that God will have mercy on whom he desires to have mercy and he will have compassion on whom he have compassion. Isn't that humbling? Oh, my soul, God's word can do what we cannot do for ourselves.
That's why we need to lovingly give them the word of God and pray for their souls. My beloved, that's the basic principle of the gospel. Man is sinful, unable to give himself the remedy of his condition.
He does not have the remedy. The gospel is the remedy. And can I say this? The gospel is the only remedy. As Jesus said of himself, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but through me.
Basically, what he's saying, he's it. He is absolute truth. There is no other truth outside of Jesus Christ. Man is totally, completely unable.
Why?
Because man is totally corrupt. He is totally depraved. He is totally fallen. Then the gospel comes with all of its power and all of its capabilities. I think like the word dunamis. It's like throwing a piece of dynamite right there and let God do the work.
It's the power of God, of himself, the source, the right arm of God. It makes me think of Isaiah chapter 53. Who has believed our report? Listen to this. And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
And that whole chapter talks about Jesus Christ to the Jewish nation of Israel. It's a prophecy of Christ. And they don't know that. They didn't know that. They rejected Christ. But think of what it says there.
The arm of the Lord? What is the arm of the Lord? The power of God. God's power is in His arm. And it's through the gospel. Job 42, 1 and verse 2. Then Job answered the Lord and says, I know that you can do everything and that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you.
1 Corinthians 4, 20. The kingdom of God is not in word but in power. So behind the gospel of Jesus Christ is the very power of God. How much power is behind the gospel? I'm going to give you a little illustration, a little foretaste here from the word of God.
The Bible says this. God has great power. Psalm 79, 11. The Bible says God has strong power. Psalm 89, 13. The Bible says God has glorious power. Exodus 15, 6. He has mighty power. Job 9, 4. He has everlasting power.
Isaiah 26, 4. He has sovereign power. Romans 9, 21. He has effectual power. Isaiah 43, 13. He has irresistible power. Deuteronomy 32, 39. He has incomparable power. Psalm 89, 8. He has unsearchable power.
Job 5, 9. Folks, God has all power. Do we believe that? Do you believe that? Jeremiah 10, verse 12. It is He who made the earth by His power. Jeremiah 27, 5. It is I who by my great power in my outstretched arm have made the earth.
In Psalm 33, 8. Verse 9, it says this. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in all of Him. For He spoke and it came to be.
Such power.
Psalm 62, 11. God has spoken once. Twice I have heard this. That power belongs to God. By the same powerful command the Lord maintains the universe, by the way. He made the universe. He made the worlds.
And by the way, Scripture says He upholds it by the word of His power. Behind each miracle in the Bible there was the mighty power of God. God can part the sea. God can bring food from heaven. As we just looked in John chapter 6, God through Jesus Christ multiplied the bread and the fish.
God can make the axe head swim as it did in the days of Elisha. The prophet, He can make the donkey speak as before Balaam. Jesus can cause the dumb to speak, the blind eyes to see, the lame to walk, the dead to be raised.
He has the power to do all things, beloved. And think about this. He has the power and the greatest expression is through His mighty power that's found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel to transform lives, change their nature, give them a new heart of flesh, take out a heart of stone and change them in time and for eternity.
Folks, do we believe this through the gospel? Psalm 106, 8, 9. He saved them for His namesake. Listen to that. For His namesake, that He might make known His mighty power. The manifestation of His power comes in salvation.
And by the way, salvation is of the Lord, period. 100 God, 0 of man. And here at Redeeming Grace Church, because the Bible says it, not because Redeeming Grace Church says it, but because the Bible says it.
We believe that salvation is all of the sovereign power of God, not of man's free, quote-unquote, free will. I like what MacArthur says. Man does have a free will and he has a free will to sin. That's it.
Nothing else.
Well, there's power in God. Jesus said it. There's power in His word. Matthew 28, 18. Jesus the Lord says, all power, all authority is given unto me. Christ has the power to cast out demons. He has the power over sickness.
He has the power over illness to heal. He has the power over the universe. He provides the needs of the people. He had the power to still the storms, the power to walk on water. He had His power over death and hell and the grave.
He called Lazarus out of the grave. He gave life to the dead son at a funeral, a widow of Nain. He gave life to the daughter of Jairus. He raised Himself from the dead. Jesus Christ has all power. In Romans 1, 16, He has the power of God unto salvation.
The gospel through Jesus Christ. He has the power to save to the uttermost, to those who come to Him. So there, that's the first word, power. The second word is salvation. And notice, it's the power of God unto salvation.
Let's look at this. The power of God unto salvation. What a marvelous word. Power is seen in salvation. Ephesians chapter 2, dead, dead men live. He causes the dead to come alive. He quickens. As Brother Keith has been bringing out in Psalm 119.
Salvation is the act of God, makes alive, lives forever, cleanses from sin, forgives of our sin, makes us ready for heaven through the merits and the works of Jesus Christ alone and nothing else. And it's by faith alone.
Faith is the instrument by which God uses. And that's a gift, by the way. By grace are you saved through faith. That through faith means it is the gift of God. Is grace the gift or faith the gift? I believe both is.
Grace is unmerited favor to the undeserving. Faith is the gift of God in order to trust in Him. We don't have the capability and the power to trust in God, do we? So God gives us this as He grants repentance, which is a gift as well.
But faith is an instrument. It's like, here's the instrument, play it now, use it. And it allows us to lay hold of Jesus Christ. The word salvation is used 18 times by Paul. Five times in Romans and in the verb form, 20, 29 times by Paul.
Eight times in Romans. And the very key word to the gospel and salvation literally means deliverance. Deliverance. God is a God of deliverance. Now, the word deliverance can be made whole. Salvation can mean He makes us whole or delivers us.
It means both, actually. It just depends whereabouts where it says in the Greek in the text. But it means to deliver. God is a God of deliverance. He brings us out of captivity. He redeems us. He brings us out and He does for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
Surely the greatest manifestation of the power of God is that bringing men to salvation. He delivers them, transforms their nature, giving them eternal life through His Son. So we learn from the psalmist, despite the rebelliousness, God saved His chosen people for His namesake, for the sake of His name, that He might make His power known throughout the whole earth.
As God incarnate through Jesus Christ manifesting a divine power, healing diseases, restoring the crippled limbs, stilling the storms and raising the dead, Jesus Christ came to rescue, to deliver His people from the ultimate penalty of sin, which is the spiritual death, eternal death, extended into torment, eternal separation from God.
You don't want that, do you? But unless we repent, Jesus says, you will likewise perish. Through Jesus Christ, Christ alone, men can be saved from sin, from Satan, from judgment, from God's wrath and spiritual death.
Now, regardless of the words people may use to describe their quest, people are continually looking for salvation of one kind or another. Keep this in mind, because this whole world is seeking after something.
They may not know it, they may not verbalize it, but take, for instance, you see in this world today, people never get satisfaction, so they seem to go to one pleasure, to another pleasure. They become engrossed in sexual sins, divisive sins, one sin after another sin, and all they're doing is heaping wrath upon wrath upon them, thinking that somehow that something in this world can satisfy them.
Think of this, some look for economic salvation, others look for political and social salvation. Some people may look for inner salvation from guilt, from frustrations, from devices, unhappiness that makes their lives miserable.
Even before Paul's day, Greek philosophers had turned inward and began to focus in changing man's inner life through moral reform and self-discipline. William Barclay says this, he gives us an example, the commentator, now this is interesting, listen to this, tells us about the Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus, Epictetus, I probably mispronounced that, but called his lecture room the hospital for sick souls.
This was a Greek philosopher, folks. Another famous Greek philosopher named Epicurus, I believe I'm closer there, called his teaching the medicine of salvation. Isn't that interesting? The Greek philosopher Seneca, a Roman statesman, a philosopher of contemporary of Paul in that day, taught that all men were looking for ad salutem, that means meaning toward salvation.
And he taught that all men are overwhelmingly conscious, listen to this, of their weakness and insufficiency in necessary things and that we therefore need, quote, a hand let down to lift us up. Even the philosophers had some kind of idea that all people, all people everywhere needs.
Salvation.
But they were looking in the wrong place. All they had to do is look into the word of God because there's where salvation's revealed. Salvation comes only through Jesus Christ. The person and works of Jesus Christ and the power of his hand that he has let down to lift men up, praise his name.
Aren't you glad? The right hand of the arm of the Lord. You see, it's like people are about in their natural flesh wants to somehow think, somehow I got some part to do with this. But really, it's not what we do by no means that will lead us to hell.
We cannot save ourselves. It's what God has done. Through Jesus Christ, he has come to us. Emmanuel, God with us. God has intervened. He has come to us. In the gospel, and he's provided the way of truth in Jesus Christ for who he is, the truth.
Salvation brings deliverance from spiritual infection. Scripture says in this, be saved from this perverse generation. You remember that when Peter said that in Acts? He blasted forth like a trumpet. Be saved from this perverse generation.
We still need to say it, folks. Boldly. Courageously. From sin, be saved from lostness. I'd like to ask people, if people say they're saved, what do you say from? The scripture says, Jesus, his name shall be called Jesus for he shall, what?
Save his people from their sin. Now, the word his people can mean the Jewish people or his elect people. I would take it his elect. Because he saves them. It's salvation to the uttermost that he saves them from their sin.
It brings deliverance to men from their gross, willful, spiritual ignorance, from their evil self-indulgence, from their darkness of false religion. And only for those who believe in the gospel and believing in Christ alone.
Paul says, in effect, this is my thesis. This is the gospel, the power of God unto salvation. To the Jew first and also for the Greek. To everyone that believes. To everyone that believes. That's our next word.
To believe.
Salvation operates only through faith, folks.
Belief.
Faith.
Notice that's the theme, that's the key word. We're going through the gospel of John. Notice how many times it says believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe. There must be belief. Belief carries with it faith.
Trust.
The power of God is operated through faith. And by the way, faith is the gift. I like a wonderful poem here, speaking about God coming down and believing in Christ. These wonderful words of the good news is found in this text and I wrote this down.
Oh, long and dark, the stair I trod with trembling feet, I find my God. Gaining a foothold bit by bit, then slipping back and losing it. Never progressing, striving still with weakening grasp and faltering will.
Bleeding to climb to God while he serenely smiled and noting me. Then come, then came a certain time when I loosened my hold and fell thereby. Down to the lowest step, my fall as if I had not climbed at all.
Now, when I lay despairing there, listen, listen, a footfall on the stair on that same stair where I afraid faltered and fell and laid dismayed. And lo, when hope had ceased to be, my God came down the stairs to me.
That's the gospel, folks. You see that it's intervention. God comes to us. Through Jesus Christ, the God man and flesh. The gospel of Jesus Christ brings God himself to us. If you want to know God, it's all in Christ.
That's why Christ, that's on that and John chapter 14. I believe it was Philip chose the father and it will basically suffice us. And Jesus looked and says, Philip, have I been so long with you? You've seen me.
When you see me, you've seen the father. He wasn't saying he was the father. He says, but I'm the reflection. I am God in flesh. I am deity. I am God come to you.
Oh, wow.
Isn't it wonderful? He comes in Ephesians 2, 7 and 9. And Paul says this, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace, you've been saved through faith, that not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God.
It's a gift.
That not of yourselves. Not of works, least anyone should boast. I like what Moody said. Dale Moody says, when I get to heaven, I'm so thankful that we're saved by Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone, because I don't want to hear somebody brag about how they got to heaven for all eternity.
And that's the truth. Well, the gospel calls us still to repent and believe the gospel. We are to repent. R .C. Sproul says this of repentance. God himself supplies the necessary condition to come to Jesus.
That's why it is so la grada by grace alone that we are saved. But believing in repentance is like one coin, two different sides. You got to have both. There's belief, there's repentance. That's why Jesus says, repent and believe the gospel.
J .C. Rowell says, beware of repentance without evidence. Sin forsaken is one of the best evidence of sin forgiven. Keep in mind that repentance is not a suggestion from God. It is a command of God. Jesus said, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.
Another translation, it's near. That's why he says, today is the day of salvation. MacArthur says, repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin. To repent is to turn from sin and to believe is to turn to the Savior.
They are inseparable. Acts 17 .30, in times of ignorance, God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 2 Corinthians 7 .10, for godly sorrow, grief, sorrow, godly sorrow produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
Well, I'm heading to my application here. I was hoping to give you something from Spurgeon here. I may not have time, but let me give an application here. Faith, now righteousness. Power, salvation, faith, righteousness.
I think this is the most important. You can ask me about Spurgeon later on. I got the morning and evening right here, so I'm not going to have time to get this in. But I want to get this application in because I really believe that that application is one of the most critical parts of a message.
Look at what Paul says in verse 17, for in it, in what? The gospel. In the gospel, in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Folks, that's what we live by day by day.
It's by faith.
He's quoting from Old Testament Habakkuk chapter and verse there. Keith, I didn't write it down to four. Thank you. And also the writer of Hebrews quotes it, too. You see this quoted quite often, and that's how important it is.
But the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. The just shall live by his faith. So God's righteousness. Let me just give you a quick description of the God's righteousness and help us understand.
This.
And I wrote this down in my study. Describes his holy character, folks. God's holy character. Brother Keith talked about the holiness of God from Isaiah six last week. Folks, we do not understand how holy God is.
Ravenhill says it's hard enough to get a hold of one holy. God is a thrice holy God. Holy, holy, holy. God's righteousness describes his holy character. He always does what is right. He always does what is just.
He always does what is proper and a consistent and he's consistent with all of his other attributes. Now, listen closely. So when we come to see God's righteousness, we mean that there's no wrong in God, no dishonesty to God.
There's no unfairness in God. Whatsoever. He never changes in this. His righteousness is from everlasting to everlasting. His righteousness is like the great mountains, the scripture says. And his righteousness never changes.
It will never change, folks. And his justice, that's what it means. It's immutable. So in and through his son, Jesus Christ, by faith, the instrument by which we lay hold of Christ, God justifies the ungodly.
And he could do this and still be righteous because Jesus, as the sinless substitute, the lamb of God has satisfied all the claims of divine justice. I want you to put a sealer right there that only Christ has satisfied.
The all holy, holy, holy, most holy God. Therefore, the righteousness of God refers to the perfect standing which God provides for those who believe on his beloved son. This is what Luther, this is what changed Luther when he saw it in this text and in and in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.
He saw not only that the righteousness of God condemned him. He says God provided satisfaction through the righteousness of Christ.
There's a great exchange. What do you see there? Second Corinthians 521. For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. That's the gospel. Those who are not in themselves righteous and we're not righteous in ourselves, right?
Our righteousness is what? Filthy garments, filthy rags. All that we do outside of Jesus Christ is filthy rags.
Are treated.
And listen to this.
Get this.
So in ourselves, we think we're righteous, but we're treated. And then Jesus comes and the great exchange takes place. And then we're treated as if they were righteous because God sees them in his son.
Because his son is perfect. He fulfilled the law. He obeyed the law to its letter, to its tea. Now, folks, this should make you shout for joy because when God sees us now, he doesn't.
See us.
He sees Christ.
And he says, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. That is if you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ alone, right? So in other words, the righteousness of Jesus is imputed to our account.
Double imputation. You hear single imputation in most churches preached that Christ forgives our sins. But I like what R .C. Sproul says right here. If you leave it there, you're just freed from guilt.
That's it.
But what are you going to do to get in heaven? OK, God cleanses us. That's great. I think that's that's half of the gospel. He cleanses us and forgives us. But that's only part of it. We must have a righteousness to stand before a holy God.
Christ is righteousness. Christ takes our filthy rags, our stained garments. We take his perfect robe of righteousness and as if we're dressed in his righteousness alone before his holy throne.
Glory.
Hallelujah. So what is the meaning of verse 17? I believe this is it. The holy, just, righteous of God justifies the sinners by faith alone in Jesus Christ.
Faith in Christ. A good word, Brother Keith. He opened up with that this morning and he knew I was going there today because that's the gospel. Without faith in Christ, there is no double imputation. Well, first, the gospel tells us God's righteousness and demands that sin be punished.
And God will punish sin, by the way. Mark that down. And the penalty, what's the penalty? Eternal death. His wrath. But Jesus took this on the cross, folks. This is what he suffered. This is what God poured on him, his own son.
It pleased the Lord to bruise him. He poured his wrath upon him. Folks, how much God must hate sin to do this? We can't grasp this. And we hear that God's love provided what his righteousness demanded.
This is what Luther saw. And God sent his son to die as a substitute, as the Lamb of God for sinners, paying the penalty in full. And it was paid in full when Jesus says, it is finished. He said it is paid in full.
Folks, it's been paid for. Isn't that glorious? Jesus cried on the cross, taking the full wrath of God on himself in full. What great love, but yet how much a holy God must hate sin to pour his wrath on his own son.
It's beyond our comprehension, folks. Now, because of his righteousness, claims have been fully satisfied. The righteous claims of a holy God has been satisfied. God can righteously save all those who avail themselves in trusting Jesus Christ alone.
Now my time's finished. Let me close with one small poem. And I love this. And in this small poem, and I quote this because I want our children here to understand this, to get this, because it comes from a Puritan by the name of John Bunyan.
And he says it in such a, everybody's heard the poem, Run John Run, right? I close with this. He said this, the Puritan, Bunyan. And a poem that even a child can understand. Run John Run, the law commands, but gives neither feet nor hands.
Hear that? The law commands, but gives neither feet nor hands, but better news the gospel brings.
It bids me fly, gives me wings.
Hallelujah.
That's the gospel. And Paul said it, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. Do you believe today? Do you believe that Christ took your sin, paid your penalty for you?
He loved you that much. Do you believe? For everyone who believes, no exception, for the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith.
Praise his name. Praise the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. Praise you for your word and the simple gospel. Lord, we thank you that there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
As Spurgeon said, once there was fear of hell upon thee, but thou has no fear of it now. For how can there be punishment for the guiltless? He who believeth is not condemned and cannot be punished. And more than all, the privileges thou mightest have enjoyed, if thou hadst never sinned, are thine now are justified.
Lord, we thank you for justification by faith. And it comes all through the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. May this, this never gets old to us, Lord. We can hear this a million times. Help us to preach this to ourselves every day, Lord, by your grace.
To remind ourselves day by day of this wonderful gospel of double imputation, that Christ himself took our sin and we take his righteousness. That we can stand before you one day, Lord, without spot, without blame, because of Jesus Christ loving us all the way to the very end.
We praise you, we thank you, and we bless your most holy name to the praise of the glory of your grace. In Jesus name, I pray.