So we've just recently completed going through the Book of Romans, but I feel like with the speed that we went through, I felt like we ought to have a little bit more coverage of it. And so today, looking at sort of a little bit of a topic idea, just called The Gospel in Romans. And we've already read the text, which was Romans 3, 21 through 25a. But that's really just one of the texts, because this is topical. So we're going to be going through many different texts. So there's a little outline in your bulletin if you want to write stuff down. You can write it on that outline if you'd like. And we'll have a word of prayer right now. Gracious Heavenly Father, we pray, Lord, that, Lord, these would be your words and not mine, that what we need to hear would be heard by hearing ears by your Spirit's power and apply to our lives for your glory and our good. And we thank you, Lord, for this good news, this gospel in Romans and throughout the Bible, really. We thank you for not only telling us but for implementing it in your Son for us and for your glory in Jesus' name, amen. The Gospel in Romans. Just to distract you a little bit from that first, if you turn over on the other side of the outline, there's another outline, which is just sort of a list of sermons on the book of Romans. Sort of an outline of the Book of Romans that we've just been through. And those are chapter numbers on the left-hand side. Chapters 1 through 2, then chapter 3, a couple sermons on that, et cetera, 4, 5, 6, 7, all the way through chapter 16, the Brotherhood of Fellow Servants. And so that's sort of an outline of the book. Now back to the outline of the sermon. for today centered on Romans 321 through 25a. I want to start out with, first of all, looking at the first chapter of Romans by way of introduction. Paul was writing this book And it was transported to Rome in order to let them know that he wanted to come to Rome, but he was prevented from coming to Rome. But he's eager to go to Rome. Why? Well, he's actually eager to go elsewhere. He's more eager to go elsewhere. That's why he hasn't been there. He wants to go to all the places where there aren't churches first. Rome's got a church. And so he can't go there. But he's still eager to go preach there, even though there is a church. And he says, verse 15, chapter 115. So for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I'm 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. The gospel just means the good news. That's exactly what it means. It's the good news, the gospel, the evangel. You've heard that word, the evangel, in a Christmas carol, the evangel. It just means the good news. Eve is good in Greek, and angel is a messenger or a message. good message, evangel, okay? Evangel. And that's where we get the word evangelist from. The person who spreads the good news is the evangelist, okay? Good newser, the good newser. And that's a good news. It's really a good news. And as we talk about the good news today, we'll see why it's good news, because of what it consists of, okay? First, we want to see that all sinners Rather, all are sinners and deserve God's wrath. We are all sinners and we all deserve God's wrath. Look at chapter 1 verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Some say God is love and that's all he is, but that's not true. Rather, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. There's wrath for unrighteousness for men who are unrighteous, and that's everybody, okay? That's everyone. But man suppresses that truth. Man knows that God exists. Take it from the Bible, okay? Don't take it from me. The Bible says Listen to this, verse 19, because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. People know God exists. People know judgment's coming. Now, they may suppress that, as it says here, in unrighteousness, and they may convince themselves otherwise, but ultimately, in down deep, if they were open-minded about it, they would admit that it's evident. It's obvious that God exists. Everyone knows that God exists and that God will judge, but we worship anything but God, okay? Man worships anything but God, and that's why we're being judged for one thing. Look at verse 25, chapter one, 25. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who's blessed forever, amen. We worship anything but God. Not only do we worship anything but God, we approve of sin. Even Christians approve of sin. You'll see that in a minute. But look at verse 32. And although they know the ordinance of God that those who practice such things are worthy of death, and he had just gone through all kinds of sin, They not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. So man approves of sin, and it may show up in different forms. But I want to bring to your minds, I thought, well, this is one category. Maybe the Christians don't do, no, no, even Christians delve into this sin also, I'm afraid, the approval of sin. Think about it. If you watch a movie, right, and what they try to do in maybe 50% of the movies, not chick flicks now, okay, but the action films or very dramatic films, What do they do? They try to get you to relate to an individual closely so that whatever trouble they feel, you feel. And then when they seek revenge, you are so glad that they got their revenge. Well, that's a sin, okay? And they get you to approve of the sin of revenge, okay? Look at Romans 12, 19. Says, never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Now, you know, I have no problem with justice, right? But it's not for you to take revenge, right? As we know, in this nation, we have a nation of laws, and it's the government's duty to seek justice on your behalf, not to be a vigilante. You're not supposed to be a vigilante on your behalf. There's nothing wrong with self-defense, OK? But I'm just saying, but seeking revenge is a different thing. And that's not approved by God, and it's not approved by the government either, OK? And it's a sin. So as I say, even as Christians fall into even this sin, And so all are sinners and deserve God's wrath. And not only do we worship anything but God and approve of sin, as I say, it may be subtle in a Christian's life, maybe more obvious in the life of those that are not Christians in their approval of sin. And yet, on top of all that, the world is self-righteous, which is an evil thing, to be self-righteous. Look at chapter two, verse one. Two, one. Therefore, you have no excuse, every one of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you who judge practice the same things. People are self-righteous. We establish rules, And we judge everyone by the rules we establish. They may be good rules, they may not be good rules. But the point is, we judge other people by the rules that we've set up. And then, and I'm speaking mainly from the point of view of the unbeliever now, but we've all been in that situation and we all still fall into that sometimes. And then we break our own rules. We judge everyone by our rules that we made up, and then we break our own rules. And so we're judging ourselves when we judge them, see? So we're self-righteous. So God's judging us. We are being judged because of the fact that we worship everything but God, and we are self-righteous, and we judge others, but that judgment's just gonna fall back on us because we do the same things. On top of that, we don't even seek after God. Chapter 3, verse 10. Chapter 3, verse 10. As it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become useless. There's none who does good. There's not even one. Man of himself is not truly seeking after God. Now we all may invent a God, but that's not the true God. And we all worship all kinds of things besides the true God. That's not God. How did we get in this situation? This is for everybody. Everyone enters this life in this position. And it resulted from the fall of Adam. Turn to chapter 5. Chapter 5, verse 12. Just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. And that word sinned there means that when Adam sinned, I sinned. It doesn't mean that we sin in our practical life every day, that's also true. But in this verse right here, what he's saying is that when Adam sinned, we all sinned. Just like when, I like to illustrate it with the government. When we, through our representatives, form a treaty with a foreign nation, we form the treaty. Each of us, the treaty applies to us. It may just be the president or a prime minister of another country and whatever, ambassador. When there are agreements made, we're making that agreement. Those things apply to us. We suffer the consequences. If we go into war, it may be declared by Congress, but we go to battle and fight in the war. So you may say, how does Adam apply to me? Well, how does your government apply to you? He, Adam represents you, okay? And whatever he did, you did, and you're found guilty of his sin. That's good, actually good for us, okay? I'm gonna explain why that's good for us in just a second. Because God gave Jesus to receive God's wrath in the sinner's place, okay? Look at chapter three, 23 to 25, which is our text. But just starting with verse 23 there, 323, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. I actually meant to read 515 first, and I apologize. But let's just go with this. Verse 25, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation. That means he was a sacrifice of atonement. It means that he died on the cross to turn aside God's wrath for us, okay? It's a propitiation. It means it turns aside God's wrath, okay? It propitiates, it appeases God's wrath. It satisfies his wrath. Look at chapter five, verse 15. So this is right after that part where Adam sinned, so death spread to all men because all sinned. Verse 15, but the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one, that's Adam, the many died. Adam sinned, many died. That's us. Much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. You see? God gave Jesus as a substitute for us so we'd receive his righteousness. So our sin would be laid on him and his righteousness would come to us. We call that the great exchange. We traded our sin for his righteousness, okay, or God did. And if you say to me, I reject the idea that I can suffer for Adam's sin. Well, then why should you benefit from Jesus's obedience? Jesus obeyed, that makes him good, not you. You see, well, Adam disobeyed, that makes him bad. And you say, not you. No, it makes you bad. And Jesus's obedience can make you good. You can't reject the one and try to get Jesus's righteousness onto you. You've got to receive the fact that Adam's unrighteousness has come upon you also first. Praise the Lord, therefore, that God works this way. He works through these representatives, Adam and Christ. You're either in Adam or you're in Christ. If you're in Adam, you must die. All in Adam must die, but all in Christ are alive and will live. You see, it's through faith in Jesus, by God's grace alone, not by our good works, that we receive God's mercy instead of his wrath. Let me just say that again. It's through faith in Jesus, by God's grace alone, not our good works, that we receive God's mercy instead of his wrath. Praise the Lord. Now looking back at Romans 3 again, verse 21. Notice what it says there. But now, apart from the law. Apart from the law. Not based on law, okay? Not based on you obeying laws, okay? You're not gonna get righteous by obeying laws and trying to be good. That's not how you get righteous and become good before God. Apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested. So it's not your righteousness. It's God's righteousness. And this righteousness of God also relates to the fact that he's been forgiving people for millennia. But there hadn't been a sacrifice of Jesus yet. And in order for God to be righteous, Jesus had to die for them. you know, after the fact, okay? Otherwise, God would have been unrighteous to historically have forgiven people, okay? So that maintains God's righteousness. So that's the manifestation of God's righteousness, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. So it's through faith in Jesus, it's not, it's apart from the law, although the law is a witness to it, you see. It talks about it, but it's not by obeying the law, but the law just talks about it. And that righteousness we receive through faith. And it applies to everybody, Jews and Greeks, and it's for everyone, and it's for all who believe, but it's needed by everyone for all, verse 23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We receive God's mercy instead of his wrath. It's through faith in Jesus by God's grace alone. Grace alone. Look at verse 24. Being justified, what does that mean? It means declared righteous. You're in a courtroom before God, the judge, and God says, you're righteous, even though you didn't do any good works to deserve it, even though you've done evil all your life, but he justifies you. He declares you righteous, what? As a gift by his grace. It's a gift. You didn't earn it. by His grace. That's just undeserved favor. That's what grace is. It's something God does for you that you didn't deserve through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Jesus paid for it. He bought you. He redeemed you. Okay? Which, and just read the rest of the sentence, whom God displayed. Jesus was displayed by God publicly as a propitiation, in other words, to turn aside His wrath in His blood through faith. Now, like I said, it's through faith in Jesus, by God's grace alone, not our good works, that we receive God's mercy instead of his wrath. Now look at Romans 4, verse 3. Four three, for what does the scripture say? You know, as he just said, it was witnessed by the law and the prophets, right? Let's see what the scripture says in the law and the prophets. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. There it is, there's that witness of the law and the prophets, okay? Look at continuing in chapter four, verse four. Now to the one who works, His wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due, right? If you work, then they pay you, because they owe it to you. But to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, God justifies ungodly people. That's me. He declares me righteous. I'm ungodly. He says, you're righteous. It comes from Jesus. Just like I was born a sinner because of Adam, God declares me righteous because of Jesus through faith. His faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks. of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works. You read that? Look at verse 7. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account. And Paul is explaining that to us. He's saying that means that God credits Jesus' righteousness to you when you trust in Jesus through faith. And as a result, God considers us righteous instead of evil. Chapter 8, verse 1. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And as I said, you're either in Adam or in Jesus. Are you letting Adam represent you? Flee that and run to Jesus. Let Jesus be your representative. Let his righteousness be yours. God considers us righteous instead of evil. Wow. And as I've said in earlier sermons, We're cleansed, which means not only do we not receive punishment, but we can go before him as if we're clean, and we're acceptable to him, and we can go right into his presence. We're cleansed like we were lepers, and now we're cleansed, you see? And we can go. The leper could not go and worship. He was unclean. And he said, unclean, unclean. Why? Not so you wouldn't catch his disease. It was so you wouldn't become unclean if you touched him. And then you wouldn't be able to worship God. You couldn't worship God in the Old Testament times if you were unclean, if you touched a dead thing, you know, or if you touch a leper. The leper himself is clean. Jesus cleansed the leper and Jesus cleanses us. So we're acceptable. We're clean. We can go into his presence and we're priests before God. You don't need a priest. to bring you before God, anyone but Jesus. And now, having received God's mercy, we have a new life in which we follow Jesus's example. Now, some would want to distort the good news, distort the gospel. You see how good this news is, right? Because you don't have to work for your salvation. You don't have to torture yourself. You don't have to pay for every evil deed that you've committed in your life. Even that which was inherited to you from Adam is forgiven. But some want to distort this good news and make it a bad news. They tell you that you've got to follow Jesus in order to receive God's mercy. You've got to be like Jesus. You've got to do this and do that. You've got to do a ceremony. You've got to, I don't know, you've got to do confession. You've got to take communion. You've got to attend church every Sunday or whatever, or else you may go to hell. You've got to do all these things in this distorted view of the gospel in order to be received by God. You've got to please God in your own efforts. And that's a distortion, a total distortion. It puts the engine, it gets it all out of order. The horse, you know what I'm saying. The cart before the horse, there you go. The cart before the horse. The horse is God's mercy. Having received God's mercy already, now we have a new life in which we follow Jesus' example. We don't follow Jesus' example in order to get a new life or in order to receive God's mercy. Look at chapter six. And as I say, this isn't really part and parcel of the good news, but this is about sanctification. And by understanding that, we realize we understand the good news better, because we've understood the whole package. And you will be sanctified. So chapter six, verse four. Therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." Okay? So that's the result. Walking in newness of life is the result. That's not what causes our salvation. Once we're united with Christ, once we're in Christ, now we may walk in a newness of life. Verse 5. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin, for he who has died is freed from sin." You don't not sin in order to be receiving God's mercy and forgiveness and all this. What you do is you receive God's mercy and he gives you a new life. And now you can walk in this new life where you're in Christ and you're dead to those old ways. The old man's been buried with him through baptism into death. We're not talking about water baptism here. We're talking about when you are united to Christ, that baptism, the immersion into the body of Christ. Look at chapter 12, verse one. Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. See, he urges you by God's mercies to present yourself as a living sacrifice. You don't become a living sacrifice in order to receive God's mercy. God gives you mercy, and then he urges you on that basis to be a sacrifice for God's purposes. Chapter 13, verse 14. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Follow the example of Jesus Christ. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't make provision for the flesh and its lusts. This is a result of the mercy that we received. Now we're following in his footsteps. Chapter 15, verses one through three. Now, 15.1, now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification, for even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. And so it goes right back around to the substitutionary death of Jesus. when we're thinking of what we should do, right? What we should do is be like the Jesus who already died for us. Our reproaches fell on him. And that's our root. That's our root. So how, oh how, Do we enter into this union with Christ? And it's by faith. We've already said, it's by faith, it's by believing, it's by trusting. I categorize believing and also confessing in the same category, okay? Because even confessing generally is not an action really, but the rest of our life may be. Romans 10, 13. Romans 10, 13. Let's start back in Romans 10, 8. You know, God spoke to the Israelites. He said, I'm not making it hard for you here, OK? It's right here for you. It's right here for you right now, people that are listening to me, OK? We're not trying to make it difficult, where you have to go to some far-off city or far-off mountain and climb up to receive some special information. And it's a secret, and we're going to whisper it to you. Or you have to exert your efforts to do something amazing. No, no. You know, who's, do you have to ascend into heaven? Verse, back here, verse six. Or do you have to go down into hell and bring Christ up? How are you gonna find salvation? How are you gonna participate in what I'm talking about today? The good news. How do you participate? Is there some magnificent thing? No, we've been saying already, it's by faith, right? Verse eight. But what does it say? Verse eight. The word is near you. In your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith which we are preaching. That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. It's not difficult. I mean, it is difficult. Because, you know, you're born dead in sin, and you don't want to do this, and you're denying that God exists, or that there's even a judgment, and you're self-righteous, and you feel that you're good enough, and you don't need any of this stuff. And you're not guilty of Adam's sin. So it may be difficult for you, but God is really making it as easy as it could be. Praise the Lord, you know. You don't have to go up to heaven and grasp at it, or down to hell, or anything like that. It's the word of faith we're preaching. Here, for with the heart a person believes, verse 10, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the scripture says, whoever believes in him will not be disappointed, for there's no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all. who call on him, for whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Have you called on the name of the Lord in order to be saved? Have you trusted in Jesus Christ wholly, completely? Are you still trusting in what you've done, whether it's good works or ceremonies, or what someone else has done? Or are you trusting completely in Jesus? If you add anything, if you say, I did trust in Jesus, and now I'm doing this also because I think that's gonna benefit me in front of God. Well, that just destroyed your belief in Jesus as the only source of satisfying the wrath of God and really the love of God coming to you, that only route through which the love of God comes to you is through Jesus. Paul says, if I add anything to that good news, that Jesus becomes of no benefit to you. Because you just said that Jesus is not enough. The death of God himself was not enough to save me. I have to do something else on top of that, that I'm good enough to do. You see how that denigrates Jesus? And you're trampling his blood under your feet. Now, trust completely in Jesus. Have you trusted in Jesus? Is that what you're doing today? Then you're saved. You're saved. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for this good news so well spoken of by Paul, by your spirit. Heavenly Father, may each one here truly be putting their faith completely in your son for all the good that he did is now theirs through faith. And we are cleansed before you and received by you on the basis of your only son, whom can never be rejected by you. We're so grateful for your holiness and his holiness, and for your love that saves even a sinner. You justify the ungodly, and that's me, Heavenly Father. You've declared me righteous. not because of my works or any other thing, but Jesus, through faith, we praise you, Heavenly Father, and ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen. Brother Jack.