Well, beloved, won't you turn with me in your Bibles to the gospel of, I mean, gospel to the letter of Romans. So used to preaching through Mark, but we're in the letter of Romans this morning, Romans chapter one. And there are really three chapters or three texts, passages we're going to read. We'll read the first two now and then we'll read the last one right at the last point in my sermon. Romans chapter 1 and I want us to look particularly at verse 16 and 17. While you are turning there let me remind you that tonight we continue in our study on Romans 13 on the Christians responsibility to the government and the title of of that sermon is, as you see in your bulletins, should Caesar always be obeyed? Should Caesar always be obeyed? This is a pressing subject for us, especially at this time of elections and potentially a new presidential, a new president or the old one. But really it is a subject that we as Christians need to understand from the scriptures. We need to have a biblical understanding how we live as Christians with the government. Well, Romans chapter one and verse 16 and 17, and then we'll turn over and we'll read from Romans chapter three, verse 10 to 21. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, The righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. And if you'll turn over with me to chapter three and we'll read. From verse 10 through. To verse 21. As it is written, no one is righteous, no, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good. Not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. in their paths are ruin and misery, the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now, verse 21, the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. Blessed are those who hear the word of the Lord and believe. Well, let's come to this passage of scripture, this sermon, particularly on this important section in Romans, particularly Romans chapter 1 and verse 16 to 17. Now, folks, I've entitled my sermon this morning the epicenter of gospel power, the epicenter of gospel power, or another title is true religion. What is true religion? These verses in Romans chapter 1 and verse 16 to 17 give us, I believe, the most important statement out of the Bible that we could ever find. Not only do they give us the most important statement out of the Bible, but they give us the most important statement in all literature down throughout all the ages. And let me say, beloved, these are the theme. These words are the theme of the book of Romans. In fact, if you were to look for a statement or you were to look for a couple of verses that would sum up the essence of Christianity, it would be these words here in Romans chapter 1 verse 17. This is the very epicenter. This is the very heart of Christianity. If you want to know what Christianity is all about, here it is. And the reason why these verses or these words are so important and why they sum up the very essence of Christianity is because they reveal something very important. What do they reveal to us? They reveal to us how we may be right with God. how we may be right with God. Now, if you know anything about the Bible as you've been reading it, and many of you do, many of you have been reading it for many years, you begin to understand as you read it that every one of us are sinners. What does that mean? Every one of us are estranged from God. Every one of us are alienated. We are polluted by our sin. Our best needs are filthy. Now, when I say we are alienated, we are polluted by sin, I'm not saying that we're as bad as we could be. That's not what I'm saying. But what I'm saying is that sin has touched us in every way. Nothing we ever do is righteous before God. It's like someone has taken a little bit of poison and dropped it into the well, and the whole well system is poisoned. We are polluted by our sin. Our best deeds are as filthy in God's sight. In fact, the Bible tells us, in the book of Habakkuk, that God is of two purer eyes to behold evil. In other words, if we were to stand as we are by nature before God, God would destroy us. Because He is holy and He cannot look upon sin without destroying it. Now can you imagine, Can you imagine, as you come to the awareness of that reality, can you imagine if you were to leave this earth today, if you were to die, and you were to stand before the Living God, can you imagine how grateful that moment would be? It would be an awful moment for every single one of us, unless we had a righteousness which was acceptable to God. And that's what this passage is all about. We are helpless by nature. We are hopeless. We can do nothing ourselves to change this. And it is to sinners, it is to those who rarely see this, that these words, these inspired words from the lips of the Apostle Paul, are a great comfort to our souls. Because as desperate as our condition is, Paul tells us, Paul gives us this good news, God has done something. God has done something wonderful. In fact, God has done precisely what needed to be done. He himself has provided a righteousness that is exactly what we need. Now we spoke about Martin Luther this morning at our Bible class. Martin Luther was a figure that God used in church history to bring the church back to the Bible. But it was this statement found in verse 17. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. And this statement, justification by faith alone, was Martin Luther's great spiritual and theological breakthrough. But friends, I want to say this, as he wrestled with this issue, as he realized there was a righteousness of God and as he stood before God, there was no way he could ever be accepted. He came to this passage in Romans and he realized for the first time that this was a righteousness that God had freely provided for him and for everyone who would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now again let me say this did not come easy for Martin Luther. He had tried everything from sleeping on hot floors and fasting. He had crawled up the staircase in Rome every step of the way praying. He had gone to the monastery. He had flagellated himself. He had disciplined himself. He had gone continually confessing his sins to one of his superiors. He had partaken in masses. There had been absolutions that had taken place. He had done much by way of good works. But in all of this, this man could not find peace. He had no confidence before God, and he was terrified of God. The peace of God eluded him. In fact, if anything, folks, the thought of righteousness haunted him. The thought of God's righteousness terrified him. He hated the very word righteousness. In fact, he realized as he considered the righteousness of God, that if anything, that righteousness provided the grounds by which God would condemn him. Finally, he was sent to the Scriptures and he wrestled with the Word of God. And he meditated on our text, verse 17. And the light dawned on him. And he realized that this perfect righteousness that comes from God is a perfect righteousness which God is freely willing to grant to sinners on the basis of what His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, has done, on the basis of the works of Christ, on the basis of the sufferings of Christ, God was saying to anyone who would receive it, if you will receive this, if you will embrace this, I will give you the righteousness of My Son, and you will be accepted in My presence. Luther saw that the doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone, was the heart of the Gospel. And you know what happened folks, as he embraced this, in his own testimony he says, it was as though the gates of heaven opened before him. It was as though he was able right then and there to go into the very presence of God. Paradise was open to you. It was this phrase, justification by faith alone, that unlocked the Bible for Luther. And each of these four words, justification by faith alone, he came to understand in relation to the others by the light of the scripture in the Spirit. opened the Bible and opened up the kingdom of God to him. And God used him so mightily to set afire and brought the church back on track to the scriptures. Well, let's come to this text more fully. And my first point is God's reality, or let me put it to you this way, God's diagnosis. No one is righteous. No one is righteous. Now, folks, listen to me carefully. It is very easy for us to give a mental assentence and say, yes, no one's righteous. We're all sinners. You walk out in the street and you speak to anyone who, even those who are not churchgoers, and say, do you believe you're a sinner? Of course, we're all sinners. We're all sinners. But do you believe yourself to be a sinner before the living God? Well, everybody else sins. I mean, we all sin. You see, the thing is, it's one thing to recognize we're sinners before God. It's another thing to recognize our responsibility. That we are sinners. That we stand before a holy God. That we cannot escape this holy God. And beloved, in the light of that, let me say to you, if you understand what I'm saying to you, then you begin to realize that the threat facing fallen humanity is not cataclysmic disasters. As terrible as that super storm is going up the East Coast, as terrible and as frightening as that is, that is nothing. That is nothing in comparison to facing a holy and a righteous God with whom you have to do The greatest threat of fallen humanity is standing before this righteous judge. This judge who created you for his glory, who one day will say to you, what have you done with your life? How have you served me? I created you for my glory. How have you served me? How have you honored me? How have you loved me? Let me ask you a question. You may be sitting here this morning, and you may be a morally good person. Well, let me ask you this question. Are you confident that you could stand before a living God, a holy, righteous God, who is more holy, more glorious than you could ever imagine or understand? more holy and glorious that even those angels who were created without sin, who are holy and glorious, have to cover their eyes and cover their feet? Are you confident that in your morality you could stand before this God and be a saint? If you say yes, then you need to go and study the scriptures and see what a holy God is Because I believe that every one of us, without exception, if we have any sobriety in our minds, would say, no ways. No ways. Can you imagine standing before the sun without any protective clothing? Imagine standing before the hot, blazing sun without, just naked. What do you think would happen? You would be absolutely incinerated in sin. In the same way, our sin, alienates us from God. We have no ground to stand before God. We cannot come to God one day and say to Him, but God, I did the best I could with what I had. But God, look at that man over there. I'm better than him. Well, folks, listen to what Jesus said. Jesus dealt with His disciples. And His disciples were in awe in many ways of the Pharisees, because they were the most righteous people. They were the most religious people. Now listen to what Jesus says to them, because He drops a bombshell on them. He says to them, Matthew 5 verse 20, He says, for I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Let's put this in context. Imagine for a moment, that you found yourself in a situation with a very religious and a very righteous man. He always read the Bible. He always prayed. Prayed long prayers. He was always doing good things for people. He never heard a bad word come out of his mouth. He never spoke evil. He was, to all intents and purposes, as you could see, a good man. And Jesus turns around to you and says, unless your righteousness exceeds that man, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, beloved friends, I want to say to you, that was earth shattering for these disciples, because it brought about this logical conclusion. Well, if they're not righteous, then who can be righteous? And that was exactly the point. There's nothing we can do. There is no goodness we can do that will ever be accepted before God. Paul put it this way. Paul was very emphatic, and in chapter 3 verse 12, he says this. Listen to what he says. All, he doesn't say some, he says all have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Now folks, listen to me. Without Christ, that applies to everyone. None of us, none of us, all have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Oh, but pastor, how can you say that? These people try and do good things. But you fail to remember that God sees the heart. And you fail to remember that the Lord judges the very intentions and the thoughts of the heart. And you fail to remember that God looks at the inner being of a person and says, that's where the sin is. Because ultimately, all we do is we serve ourselves. Ultimately, even our best deeds are really to serve ourselves. They are not to serve God. And they will never be accepted in God's sight. Beloved, listen to me. Paul opens his letter to the Romans. And he opens his letter with the good news of a gospel of God's righteousness by faith. Why? Because Paul knows he was a Pharisee. He was a righteous man in terms of human standards. And he knows that when God brings out the balance sheets, every one of us is going to fall woefully short. When God does His accounting, and remember, beloved, God is the grand accountant. Not a single sin will be left unturned. In fact, if we look through the Old Testament and read what David had to say about it, David said this, he says, we are born dead in our sins and trespasses. Again, in Psalm 58 verse 3, David says this, we go astray from God from our mother's womb. The truth of the matter is, friends, and it's the truth that I feel and I believe every true child of God feels passionate about at the bottom of the ledger of all humanity. It is written bankrupt, corrupt. But again, let's go to the good news. Look at verse 7. Just look at these words. These words are precious. Look at them. For in it, that is in this gospel, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. And he says it again. He goes on in chapter 3 verse 21 when he says, But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. So right off the bat, Paul says, listen to me, don't run to your own defense and think, well, you know, I've got this and I've done that. Paul says no. If you are going to receive forgiveness and freedom from God, you must receive His gift, His gift of salvation by faith. Paul realizes and he anticipates that there are going to be arguments against this gospel, this free gospel. And so he goes from verse 18 right through to chapter 3 and verse 20. And what he does here is, it's astounding. Beloved, he blows away every argument of self-righteousness. He starts with verse 18 of Romans chapter 1. He says, The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. And when he starts in verse 18 and goes through to chapter 3 verse 20, he includes all people. Paul, like an attorney, realizes eternity is at stake here. And he doesn't want anyone to think that they can slip through the net of God's righteousness. Because the pagan is judged under God's righteousness. But the moral person is judged under God's righteousness. The religious person is judged under God's righteousness. If anything, every single one of us are absolutely naked before God. And Paul says, whether we are heathen in lifestyle, or very moral people, yes, even religious people, by nature we resist and reject. the true and living God. You see, friends, when we understand that, then this answer that we hear from people who we speak to on the streets, well, I'm not a religious person. I'm not a religious person. That doesn't stay, because whether you are a religious person or whether you're not a religious person, you still have the same problem. The problem is this. You have to face this God. And the problem is this, that when you stand before Him, He will judge you for your sins and He will consign you to an eternal damnation under His fiery wrath for the rest of eternity. In fact, Paul says, even nature revelation, which speaks of God and which would lead us to seek Him out, We actually suppress that. We reject it. Why, friends? Because the problem is by nature we hate God and we love darkness. And so even when God would speak to us through that beautiful sunset, or that beautiful ocean, or whatever it is, and we would think to ourselves, surely there's a God out there. You know what our flesh does? Nah. We reject Him. We reject Him. We have no... Truth is, let's be honest right now, By nature, none of us have time for God. We're so busy painting our houses, walking on the beach, collecting shells, fixing our cars. Beloved, listen to me. This is the real grounds of God's just wrath against us. Listen, it's not that we have failed to do something that we could not do or refuse to do or believe something that we did not even know about. It is this, that we have rejected the knowledge of God in order to pursue our own wicked ends. That's God's diagnosis. That's God's reality. You may live in your own reality, but at the end of the day, there's only one reality that really means anything, and that's God's reality. Well, let's move on. What is God's prescription? What is God's prescription? It is a righteousness from God. It is a righteousness from God. But dear friends, let me say this to you. You will not understand your need of God's righteousness or God's remedy until you understand how serious your condition is. Who of you in your right mind will go to the physician when you're feeling fine? No one will. So God's Word has to show you. It has to show you truly, realistically, openly and honestly that you are condemned before God. And when we look at chapter 10, I mean, sorry, chapter 3, verse 10 to 18, that's what we have. We have an account so realistic, so grim of our hopeless condition before God. There is none that seek God. No, not one. And you may sit there thinking to yourself, hang on, I've been seeking God since I was a child. Or have you really? Have you really, really been seeking God? Because very often we seek God for our own ends. Very often our motivation for seeking God is for our own ends. And if we were really, truly seeking God, we would not stop. until God found us. But very often, this is what we do. We're in trouble. God, I need your help. And then we walk away. Some crisis comes. Oh, God, please deliver me. Oh, God, you know how it goes. Oh, God, I don't call on you much, but I really need your help right now. Sometimes we even think, oh, we're pretty good people. God will give us a helping hand every now and then. Oh, we're pretty good people. And what does it show for us? It shows us that we don't understand our condition. That by nature, when we peel it back, when we look at it in its cold reality, none of us seek God. And so Paul goes in verse 10 to 18 and he says there are none that seek God. Let's look at that passage. What does it tell us? Look at this. This is God's account of you and me. By nature, none is righteous, no, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongue to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paws are ruin and misery. and the way of peace they have not known. Now listen to this, verse 18. There is no fear of God before their eyes. How many of us make huge decisions in life and the fear of God doesn't factor in in any way. We make decisions about our relationships, we make decisions about our finances, we make decisions about the lives of others and we do not fear God. And that is a terrible, terrible and frightening position to be in. Now it is with that backdrop, it is with that dark backdrop that the Gospel shines out. And it makes the Gospel all the more glorious. Because in that dark background we see a righteousness from God is made known. Now there are three things I want to talk with you about this morning, about this righteousness from God. Firstly, this righteousness from God is the righteousness that comes to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. It comes to us, it is a righteousness from God and it is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says, it is a righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. But what righteousness is this? Where does it come from? Jesus Christ is very God and very man. And it is a righteousness that comes from God from beginning to end. And when we receive it, we receive the righteousness of God. Beloved, it is a righteousness revealed in the gospel. Paul tells us this. And what is at the heart of the gospel? The heart of the gospel is Jesus Christ. It's not about what we do. It's not even about who we are. But it's about who we trust and who we rest in. And we rest in the person Jesus Christ. It's not a system, it's a person. And so it is Christ who has this righteousness. And it is from Him that we both learn about Him and receive it. That is why when we read in Matthew chapter 11, Jesus says, and He says it in the face of many who are submitting to the laws and the regulations of the Pharisees, He says this, come to Me. Come to Me. You. You who are laboring under these laws. You who are laboring under these heavy restraints. Come to Me. I, I, Jesus Christ, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. For you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Beloved, listen to me carefully. It is all about Jesus. It is all about Jesus. And because Jesus is God, He is utterly holy and without sin. He alone could say during the days of His flesh, no person could say this, listen to me carefully, He said, I always do what pleases Him. Who was He referring to? He was referring to God the Father. I always do what pleases Him. And one time He said to His enemies, can any one of you prove me guilty of sin? They couldn't find Him guilty of sin, friends. He lived His life openly and plainly before men, and there was no sin. Every word that He spoke left them speechless. And beloved, Jesus is also righteous in that He achieved a perfect righteousness by His obedience to the law. When He was being baptized, the Father said, This is My Son with whom I am well pleased. And when He died on the cross and bore our sin in His body on the cross, He cried out, It is finished! And the temple curtain tore in two. Why do you think that? No one could go between that temple curtain. No one. Except the high priest. And once a year. And then he had to have a rope attached to his ankle. So that if he died there, they had to pull him out. Because if they went in, they'd be struck dead. But here's the thick temple curtain torn in two. It is finished. I have made a living way into the presence of God. When Paul says that a righteousness from God is revealed in the gospel, he means, beloved, that the gospel shows how we can acquire the righteousness we need. In Christ, we can see that righteousness truly exists and can be offered to us by God and is. Well, second, this is a righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ. But what else? God offers this righteousness of Jesus Christ freely. Freely. Apart from any need to work for it on our part. If you were to look at every other religion besides Jesus Christ, There is a price tag on every one of those religions. You must do this. You must do that. You must make sure you're doing this, doing that, etc, etc. What does God say? Come you who have no money. Come. Buy and eat. The Pharisees came to Jesus and said, what must we do to be doing the works of God? Jesus said, this is the work of God. Believe! Believe on the one whom God has sent! For unless God were willing to give this righteousness to us, friends, unless it were a free gift, and He does give it to us when we trust Christ, it would mean nothing to us. In fact, if anything, it would condemn us. It would make us feel the same way Lucifer. Because God would say, that's the righteousness I want. You've got to measure up to that righteousness. And then God would say, now try. And we would give up before we even it would be bad news. In any account or event, it would do one thing. It would increase our sense of condemnation. But beloved, listen to me. When we come to see it by faith, when we realize, as Luther realized, that this righteousness is revealed to us as God's free gift in Christ, so that those who come to know Christ might stop their fruitless striving and instead resting in Him. God gives us peace. Listen to what Isaiah chapter 30 verse 15 says, For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest you shall be saved, in quietness and in trust shall be your strength. those who trust in Christ can rest in Christ's atoning death on their behalf. He died. His blood was spilled for me. They can rest on His atoning death on their behalf since He took the punishment of their sins upon Himself and He paid for them fully so that their sins will never lies up to condemn them again. Now, to be sure, sometime Satan will take those suits, and he'll throw them at you. And he'll remind you of your failings and your shortcomings. But beloved, that can't go very far if you train yourself to look to Christ. Beloved, there is a word that the Bible uses, and it's the word imputation. It is a very important word. And what it means is this. The moment we trust in Jesus and rest only in Him, all of Jesus, all of our sins have been laid upon Christ. And all of Jesus' perfect righteousness is imputed to us. All of His righteousness is imputed to us. It's like, if I can put it this way, some of you have faced debt. Maybe you're facing debt now. Maybe you're facing massive debt. And you know that it's going to catch up with you. And you know you're going to stand before the judge and you know bad things are coming. Now imagine you had this enormous debt and there's no way you could pay it back. But you hear the gospel and you trust Jesus. And Jesus comes and he transfers all of his righteousness into your account. All of your debt is cancelled. And not only is all of your debt cancelled, but all of Christ's righteousness is yours. And when God looks at you, God sees the righteousness of Jesus, and God rejoices over you, and God throws His arm around you, and God loves you. It is having the riches of heaven at our disposal. Well, let me move on. It comes through Jesus Christ. It is free. But thirdly, faith, and this is important, faith is the channel by which sinners receive Christ's righteousness. In Romans chapter 1 verse 17, Paul says this, a righteousness that is by faith. And then if you look at chapter 3 and verse 21 to 31, he refers to faith eight times. Why is this important for you? Well, what is faith? What is faith? Is faith a work? Is it a ceaseless twirl of trying to get to God? Is that what faith is? Faith is not a work. Faith is a gift from God, saving faith, believing faith. It is a gift from God, Ephesians 2. But faith can be quantified like this. It is believing in God. It is trusting God. It is opening a hand to receive the righteousness of Christ that God offered. Listen to this. One man by the name of Horatius Boner wrote this. Faith is not a work, nor a merit, nor effort, but the cessation, in other words, the stopping from all these and the acceptance in place of them of what another has done, done completely and forever. That's what faith is. Let me explain it to you like this. John Gerdau writes about faith. is emptiness filled with Christ's fullness. Did you hear that, friends? Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that exciting? Faith is emptiness filled with Christ's fullness. Faith is impotency lying down on Christ's street. Faith consists of three elements. The first element is faith is marked by knowledge. Faith has knowledge. What do I mean? It's not just an attitude of mind. It involves content. We must have faith in something. In the case of salvation, that content and that object of our knowledge is what? It is the revelation of what God has done for us in Christ. Listen to what Martin Luther says. Faith clasps Christ as a ring clasps a jewel. Faith wraps the soul in Christ's righteousness. It appropriates with a believing heart the perfect righteousness, satisfaction and holiness of Christ. It tastes the efficacy of Christ's blood, righteousness, as the righteousness of God Himself. It weds the soul to Christ's experiences, divine pardon and acceptance in the Beloved, and makes the soul a partaker of every covenant received. Faith is made up of knowledge. I know whom I have believed, said Paul, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him at that same day. But faith also consists of a heart response to the gospel. Why is this important for us? Because faith is not passive. It's not just a nod of the head to a principle that is true, but little or no relationship to it. Here's an important point I want to make. I'm willing, folks, almost in a sense, guarantee that as you walk through our town and many towns like it in the upstate and you speak to people about whether they ask them the question, do you believe in Jesus? Most people say, yes, we believe in Jesus. Does that mean that they have faith in Christ? No. There are many people who say they believe in Christ, but they have no faith. because all their faith is, or what they think is faith, is the nod of a head to a principle that is true. But there is no relationship to that first promise. It involves the love of God for us, saving us through the death of Christ His Son. And beloved, when the love of Christ penetrates our lives, our lives are changed. We are radically transformed. And I want to go as far as to say, unless this touches and moves our hearts, we don't understand the Gospel. We don't have Christ. Someone who says, I believe in Jesus, but lives just like they want to live, lives the life they want to live, doesn't know Christ. And faith consists of commitment. It is commitment to Christ. At this point, beloved, this is my third point under, My second heading, Jesus becomes not merely a saviour in some abstract sense, or even someone else's saviour, but my saviour. Your mum might believe in Jesus, your dad might believe in Jesus, all your cousins might believe in Jesus, and because you live in that family, you may think, well, I believe in Jesus. But let me ask you a question. Is He your Savior? Is He your Savior? Can you go and lay at His feet and pour your heart out? Can you take your trials and your troubles to Him and weep before Him and say, Lord, I don't know how to go on. Help me. Can you turn to Him? when your back is against the wall and you're facing dire consequences and say, God, Lord Jesus, unless you intervene, I'm undone. Is He your Savior? Can you say the Lord is my Savior? Listen to Spurgeon. Spurgeon says this in all of grace. Faith is not a blind thing, for faith begins with knowledge. It is not a speculative or a guessing thing, for faith believes in facts. of which it is sure. It is not an impractical pie-in-the-sky nebulous thing, for faith trusts and stakes its destiny upon the truth of the revelation. Faith is the eye which looks. Faith is the hand which grasps. Faith is the mouth which feeds on Christ Jesus. Well, let me close my sermon. My third point, and this is my last point. God's requirement. What does God require of me? Maybe you're sitting here this morning and you're saying, I know I'm lost. I know I haven't truly trusted Jesus. What do I do, Pastor? I don't want to leave this building in this fearful state because I understand that if my life is taken at this moment, and we all know life is that temporary, this building could fall in on us, friends. A tree could fall on top of you, a car could kill you in the next hour. You don't know. But you may be saying, what do I do? Well, God's requirement is this. Come naked. Don't bring anything. Bring only your sin. If God's interested in your sin, bring your sin. God wants you to bring this, no matter how bad it is, no matter how terrible it is, bring this. This was Paul's practical experience, friends. In fact, he tells of how the grace of God had changed his life. He had been an exceedingly moral man. He was a Pharisee. He was a very legalistic man. He made sure that he ate kosher. He made sure that he dotted his eyes and crossed his teeth. He was a very meticulous man. He followed the Lord to the letter. He came from the tribe of Benjamin. He was circumcised on the 10th day. He sat at the feet of Gamaliel. He had all the pedigree. He had it all. In fact, he says, when he came to Christ, this is how he responded to all his good works. Oh, that I may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Lord. Folks, listen to me. Listen carefully. Young and old need to hear this, because if you don't turn to Christ and let Christ do something about it for you, it may haunt you for the rest of eternity. Are you clinging to your own righteousness? Do you think that your goodness is grounds for you dealing with man? Because if you do, you will never see the face of the Lord. Listen to what this man said. He said, Oh, that I may be found in Him. Listen, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. You see, Paul had understood, he had thought as a legalist, he had thought as a Pharisee, that salvation was all about assets and liabilities. a column of assets and liabilities. And he had all these assets. Oh, he was a Hebrew. He was born of the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised on the day. He had all of these assets. And he fought based on all those assets. Oh God, I've tried to obey your law. I've never murdered anyone. I've never lied. I've never, I've never spoken ill of anyone. Paul said, when he saw the righteousness of Christ, and when he saw that righteousness, when he saw his sin in the light of that righteousness, he took everything in his assets column, and he moved it over to his liabilities. What does that mean, friends? The very things that he thought that was helping him to be right with God was actually standing in his way. Someone put it this way. The doorway to heaven is very low, and you have to crawl on your belly to get in. You have to be naked. And unless we are willing to see that all of what we think are our assets are actually against us, are actually keeping us away from Christ, unless we are willing to see that, we will not know salvation. Paul saw it, and he saw it by divine grace. Mentally, Paul moved his long list of cherished assets to the column of liabilities, for that is what they really were. And under assets, you know what he wrote? Because if you look, let's go to this passage in Philippians. Go with me, and then this will be the last text I read, and then I'll wrap it up. In Philippians, chapter 3. What does he say? He says, though I myself, verse 4, have reason for confidence in the flesh also, if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, the Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisees, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness, under law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, Paul writes this, I count as loss for the sake of Christ. Knowing, indeed, I count everything as loss. Why? Why does he throw it all in the rubbish can? Look at what he says. I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake, I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ." Beloved, under his asset column, after he had moved everything into the other column, to his liabilities, What do you think you wrote under that answer card? Jesus Christ alone. Jesus Christ alone. Many of you know of the hymn, Augustus Proclaims. Do you remember the words of that hymn? Because this is the anthem of every true child of God. Nothing. Nothing. Zipper. Nutter nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling, Naked come to thee for dress, Helpless look to thee for grace. Foul I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Saviour, or I die. Rock of ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself. But I need to ask you this question with life. Have you seen how naked and bankrupt and helpless you are before God? Have you seen your violence and your sinfulness? You cannot go to the cross until you see that. And once you see how naked and how broken and how vile you really are, you can come and receive all the mercy and all the grace and all the love of God in Christ Jesus and God will wrap his arms around you and God according to Zephaniah will sing and rejoice over your salvation. Amen. Our Father, we thank you for these glorious that there is a righteousness from you that comes to us from faith to faith, that the just shall live by faith. We thank you, God, that no matter how hopeless we are, how naked we are, how utterly bankrupt and bereft of any good we see ourselves to be in the light of your Word, at the moment, by your grace, our hearts cry out, help me saving you, that moment where we truly, truly cry out with all our hearts, you by your grace will save us, will save us from our sins, you by your grace will show us Christ who died to save us from all our sins. It is our prayer that if just one lost second will close with Christ this We know that not only will the angels in heaven be rejoicing, but every one of us in this building will rejoice. Oh God, we praise you for the gospel, and we are not ashamed of the gospel, for as Paul says, it is the power of God unto salvation. We praise you and we thank you for the perfect righteousness of Jesus, which is ours, and that the day will come when every one of us, as we stand before your throne, will fling our crowns at your feet and lay on our bellies and praise you Jesus for you are the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world and you alone are worthy to receive all glory, all praise and all honor. We pray this in Jesus name.