or maybe something that feels a bit more right now. Maybe we're eager for lunch here in a little bit. I know I am. I didn't have breakfast. One more example. If you're anything like me and you recently discovered the perfect sleeping situation, perfect blanket combo, you are very eager for the end of this day where you will get to just go to sleep. We're all eager about something. And especially in this Advent season, where we remember the eagerness with which the people of God waited for the Savior to be revealed. And in our sermon text today, we heard Paul say that he was eager to preach the gospel. So I ask you, have you ever been eager to do that? And if not, I think it might be your lucky day. Because Paul, more than just saying that he's eager, he explains. his eagerness, and we'll see that the source of Paul's eagerness is available to each of us today. So in our sermon text, Paul's eagerness to preach the gospel is obviously the first thing that takes center stage. And this all sounds normal, but the people that he wants to preach it to can be kind of surprising to us, because he identifies them as beloved, called of God, saints. The people he wants to preach the gospel to are Christians. are people who know the gospel, who know Jesus and trust in him already. It's this eagerness that the rest of the passage is going to explain for us today. So why would Paul be eager to preach the gospel to Christians? What effect does he hope it will have? I think Paul explains his eagerness to preach the gospel, not just so we can look at him and cheer him on, as if his eagerness is something that's only available to apostles or the heroes of the faith or super Christians. But it gives us his argument for his eagerness so that we can join him in being eager to preach the gospel, not just outside this church, but to each other. And so we can use it here. So to that end, I want to give you guys a roadmap. Anyone who's taking notes here can kind of structure what they might note on with these three headings. First, we're going to see what it means to be ashamed of the gospel. Then second, We'll see how to overcome gospel shame by knowing what the gospel uniquely has the power to do. And then third, we'll see how the gospel does it. So that point might sound weird until we get a little bit into the sermon, but we'll see how the gospel does it. So we'll start in verse 16. And you'll notice that I'm going to spend a lot of time in verses 16 and 17, because verses 8 through 15 are kind of like Paul's introduction to saying he is eager to preach the gospel to Roman Christians. But then 16 and 17 are where he really unpacks that for us. So in verse 16, we see Paul say, I am not ashamed of the gospel because, oh, sorry, I'm eager to preach the gospel to the Roman Christians. Why? Because I am not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God to save everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, or we could say to the Gentile, to the non-Jew. So when we read this verse, there's one word that kind of jumps off the page at us and grabs our attention, and that's the word ashamed. Perhaps when you hear that word, you think of the last time you were embarrassed because you did something or had something done to you. Or maybe your mind goes to another place, and you start thinking about what ought I to be ashamed of, things like lying or cheating or stealing. We ought to be ashamed. Should we not? But what's the word ashamed really mean? I think what we'll see if we look at that word is that the Bible readers use it in order to paint the picture of misplaced confidence. If we trust something or someone to be able to do something for us, and it proves to not have the ability to do it, we'd rightly be ashamed. That's kind of the thing that Paul's communicating here. So as an example, imagine either you have a young son, a young toddler, or maybe you know a toddler in your neighborhood, and you just got a brand new car. And you say, you know, I think it's a good idea to let this kid drive this thing. Right? So he gets behind the driver's wheel. And he, very soon after taking off, runs into something. Damages property, damages your brand new truck. And sadly enough, he also ran into somebody. This is a costly mistake. And you'll likely have to answer very soon after this event to judges or to people you're accountable to, why did you trust this kid who's clearly not able to drive to drive, to do this? Why did you trust him? You'll have to give an account for your trust. And so it is with the big things of life, not just this random example, but the big things in life. We'll have to give an account on the last day of what we trusted him. So the goal of the Book of Romans is to reveal the real problems that the people have, that you have, that I have. It gives you your problem and then it tells you the only way that you can fix it. And that's what we see here when Paul says in verse 16, I have not misplaced my confidence, my trust in the gospel. I am not ashamed of the gospel. Remember, that's what that means. Because it is the power of God to save Everyone, it's good beliefs. Now, verses 16 and 17, like I said, we're gonna camp out there for a while, but these verses are kind of like a summary of the entire book of Romans. We have it in seed form here. So even though the verses kind of don't come out and clearly say, this is your problem, and here's how you fix it, we have clues that point to what God says our problem really is. And if we're going to trust the gospel to save us, what's that reveal about us? is that we need to know what we need to save from and why we need to save from it. So that's the way that these verses point to our problem. And if we were to go on reading in the Book of Romans, which is something we're not gonna do today, we'd see from verse 118 to chapter three, verse something, 20, I think, this extended section on the wrath of God that is being revealed against us. God, we've learned in that passage, is angry at sin and Paul tells us that we by our sin offended his holiness and that when we do so we pile up wrath the day when God will pour it out for that great and awesome last day when he comes in judgment and it's from this wrath that God says through Paul that the gospel has the power to save us so the reason God's wrath is pointed at us in the first place like I just said we have sinned We are sinners, and we offend God's holiness, and God is holy and righteous and good, and that demands that he justly pay back sin. He pour out his wrath in it, he punishes it. So where else in the Bible do we see this problem created of God's holiness in human sin? We see it in Psalm 7, 11. It says this, God is a righteous judge who feels indignation towards sin every day. We see it also in Psalm 5.5 that says this, that God hates all workers of iniquity. And then in Habakkuk 1.13, which is from our first scripture reading, we saw that God is said to be too pure to look upon sin. So what these verses do is that they create what I call a chasm. And this chasm, you can understand what I'm saying is here, is these verses, Show us the divide between us and God, that our sin has created. That's what I mean by chasm. So on the sinner's side of the chasm, God will pour out wrath and indignation. We saw that. But on his side of the chasm, he'll pour out eternal life, blessings, and peace. And the obvious question that this problem presents to us is, how can I get on God's side of the chasm? Is there any way to do that? How can the distance that my sin has created between me and God be dealt with? Or, as our Confession of Faith puts it, is there any means to escape the wrath and curse of God that is due to us for sin? And I just want to give you a very happy answer. And that's yes! It's the Gospel. That's what verse 16 says. Paul has guided our expectations by saying that he has not misplaced his confidence in the Gospel because it alone has the power to save sinners from the wrath of God that is to be revealed on that last day. But here's the question. How does it do it? So verse 17 goes on to explain the how. And I'm just going to reread that real quick, just so we have it before us. For in it, that is in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous man shall live by his faith. So this is saying that the gospel is worthy of your confidence because it's able it has got power behind it to actually deliver you from the wrath to come because it reveals his righteousness for faith. So so far we've seen our need according to the book of Romans. We must be delivered from that coming wrath and we've seen the solution that Paul has provided so far which is ongoing belief in this gospel that has the power to say but here We are introduced to the why, and upon first glance, it can be a really weird or bizarre why. The gospel is God's powerful way to save believers because it reveals God's righteousness. Why would the righteousness of God be a good revelation? Why would it be good news to sinners? Has not Paul just spent all the time that I've been talking arguing that the righteousness of God is what created our problem in the first place. It's what established that chasm. So why would it be good news? And this is how one popular theologian from history has thought about this question. So Martin Luther, when he originally started interacting with these verses, he was overcome with great kind of sorrow or even anger at God when he saw the phrase the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel. And that's because he understood what that verse was saying to be this that God is righteous and he uses the righteousness that he has to punish everyone who's not righteous. So obviously the revelation of the righteousness of God would not be good news if that's what it's saying. But Luther said, after much study of these verses and their context, that he was able to look at this phrase in a whole new light. He said, understanding the context transformed his terror at these verses into gates into paradise. And that's what I hope the context being revealed today will do for us, that we will be able to think about Romans 1, 16, and 17 as gates into paradise. So, what is that context that Luther said was so important? We see it right there in verse 17, which once again, I'll read again, this is why I wanted you to keep the Bibles open. For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. So in verse 17, we see a comparison drawn, using the word as, between a verse from Habakkuk and what Paul has been saying or arguing in Romans 1 so far. So we need to take a look at Habakkuk to see why Paul would do this. So in the book of Habakkuk, which we saw a little portion of read by Tyler just a little bit ago, basically what we see is God has promised, announced his coming judgment. He is coming to judge the wicked nations, but his own people Judah haven't escaped this. He is coming to judge even them. So the prophet Habakkuk goes up in the tower, like we heard, and he waits for God to answer his pivotal question, which is this. Is salvation possible? Is there a way for us to live through the wrath that is coming? Does that sound familiar? Paul's already been working with these ideas. He's been structuring what he's been saying in Romans so far according to Habakkuk. So in Habakkuk 1.13, God creates that problem of sin and holiness. revealing that his wrath is coming, but in Habakkuk 2.4, which is the last verse from our first scripture reading, he says this, the righteous man shall live, that is, be saved through the wrath of God to come by his faith. So in Habakkuk 2.4 in Romans 17, faith is obviously central, right? We're saved by faith. But there's a slight difference between these two passages, and maybe you didn't catch it. I know it took me so many times reading it to catch it. Habakkuk 2.4 talks about the righteousness of a man. The righteous man shall live by faith. And Romans 1.17 says the gospel reveals the righteousness of God. So we are presented with what appears to be two different types of righteousness. But are there really two? Are they different? And I think Paul's answer to this question is no. So the man in Habakkuk who is saved from the coming wrath of God and is counted righteous is counted righteous because he believes God. But how does that work? Habakkuk kind of sort of leaves us with a cliffhanger. But I think Paul picks up right where he left off to complete the picture for us. So the man in Habakkuk wasn't righteous before God because he tried hard enough and he became a good person. He was righteous because God was willing to call him righteous when he trusted in God. So hasn't God always worked this way? When you read in the scriptures, don't you see that it is said of Abraham, Abraham believed God and was counted righteous. The same is said of Noah and David and really any saint we read in the scriptures. So how can God do this? How doesn't this make God unrighteous? Isn't he just sweeping people's sins under the rug? This can't be right. But the answer to all these questions is that God has made a way to be both just or righteous and the one who makes people righteous or declares them righteous. Just in the justifier of the one who believes. So when people trust God, they're given the very righteousness of God as a gift. So that's what we saw with that word as. Paul quotes the verse from Habakkuk as the support and says, basically, as you see it in the book of Habakkuk, so it is right now, that righteous man has the righteousness of God. That's the connection he's trying to make there. Let me see where I just left off. Sorry. So this means that when a sinner is saved, he is saved from the coming wrath of God due to the grace of God. This destroys boasting and it gifts God all the glory and salvation. When you believe in God and are declared righteous in Him, It is because God covers you, not with a righteousness which you'll build up from that point forward and use to represent yourself, but it's a righteousness that He supplies to you and covers you with. It's His very own righteousness. When He sees you, He sees the standard of righteousness that He demands from you, to let you into His presence. Theologians call this the doctrine of imputation. You probably heard that word when we were doing the confession of faith on what is justification. that were popped up a few times. The concept of just becoming amputation is that God gives us the righteousness that he demands from us and he takes our sins and pays for them. So this ultimately draws us to the life of Jesus. We have seen that people who trust in God are declared to possess the very righteousness of God is given to them as a gift. But in what sense does the gospel reveal this righteousness. Again that's the language from verse 17. For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith. So how does the gospel reveal this? How does the gospel reveal this? The gospel reveals this because Jesus came, and he lived the perfect, God-satisfying life that all of us fail to live every single day. He never sinned. He submitted himself to the Father at every point. He always exercised perfect love for God, and then he willingly went to the cross. such that he could pay for the sins of his people with his very blood, draining all the wrath that we've been piling up by our sin that God had for us. So therefore, in the Gospel, we see God being declared righteous. And that might seem like weird language, but remember the problem. God has been declaring people righteous even before the coming of Jesus. So how, and you know, like we said, that brings charges against the righteousness of God. How can he do this? Isn't this like sweeping sins under the rug, not dealing with them, not being just? But that's not what we see here. In the gospel, we see God being declared righteous, for just like Romans 3.24 says, if we were to go there, God passed over the sins of those who trusted him, even before Jesus' coming, declaring them righteous with a righteousness that wasn't theirs. And we know that this righteousness wasn't theirs, Because God demands perfect righteousness to accept us into his presence. And the saints of old, they're just like us. We see this if we read any amount of time in the Old Testament. They struggle to obey, right? They have slip-ups. And they are imperfect. And these imperfections must be paid for. This isn't a righteousness that is worth trusting in, this righteousness that we can have on ourselves. The gospel shows God to be in the right, because until Jesus came, that perfect, God-satisfying life had not been lived out by a true human being yet that could stand in our place, could act as our substitute. But now that Christ has come, the great mystery of how God, sorry, the great mystery of men being righteous by faith is resolved. for it is clear that the righteousness of Christ is the very righteousness of God available to people who trust in him. He takes our sins and he gives us his righteousness. So the gospel is the power of God for salvation of those who go on believing because those who go on believing constantly look not to themselves but to the provision of righteousness that God has made for them in his son. This righteousness is received by faith alone. So Paul says of this righteousness and Philippians chapter 3, I'm going to quote. I want to be found in Jesus not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ the righteousness from God that depends on faith. Did you catch that last part righteousness from God that depends on faith or one could say righteousness from God that is offered to And that explains that kind of weird wording that you might have saw in Romans 117 that says, for in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, from faith to faith. Some of your translations say it a little differently, but this is a righteousness from God that is offered to faith. So in summary, what we've seen so far is that the gospel is worthy of our confidence if we expect it to deliver us from the wrath of God by providing the very righteousness of God for us to wear as a cover. And the righteousness was accomplished by Jesus in time, and thus when we believe in Jesus, we receive nothing less than the righteousness of God as a gift. So now, understanding all that, seeing all of it, we can go back to answer the very first question I posed when I got up here. Why is Paul so eager to preach this gospel to Christians? And what encouraged Paul to talk about being ashamed of the gospel in the first place? We will handle these questions in turn. The first one, why is Paul eager to preach the gospel to Christians? Paul believes that the Holy Spirit uses broken people, like myself and like all of you, to preach the gospel. And by your preaching, he works faith in people who hear it when he wants to. And this is how we all became Christians. If you are a Christian today, it's because the Holy Spirit through the ministry of the word, powerfully gave you life. Gave you life. And nevertheless, this gospel, as it is the key to entering the Christian life, is never something that we leave behind. Multiple times throughout the New Testament, the biblical authors will draw attention to the fact that people very easily can drift from trust in the gospel to trust in some lesser thing. One example of this is where we see in Galatians chapter 3, I believe, Paul says, notice Galatians 1, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, as though there was another gospel. And this was written to Christians who didn't find their daily sustenance on the gospel, who didn't return to it often, preaching it to themselves, believing it, loving it, holding it dear. So Paul says that if we turn away from the true gospel, we will be cursed. So important that we stick with the gospel. And lastly, there's one other reason that Paul was excited or eager to preach the gospel. And we see this starting in verse 11. So we're starting to loop back around to the beginning of our passage. Paul was eager to see the Christians in Rome that he might impart to them some spiritual gift to strengthen them. That is that both he and they might be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. But then, right at the end of that passage, Paul explains what that spiritual gift he hoped to impart to them even was. And remember, this gift has the ability to strengthen Christians and to encourage their faith. What is the gift? The gospel that he was eager to preach. The first street. The gospel doesn't merely save you. It strengthens you, and it encourages your faith. Shouldn't you want to hear it often, then? Shouldn't you want to take every opportunity to see it and to hear it, and shouldn't you pray that God would help you to hear it with faith? Paul says now, in Galatians 3, that God didn't supply the Spirit and work miracles among you by works of the law, but by hearing the gospel with faith. May God give to us this kind of faith. We need his help to have it. And may he protect us from returning again to trusting in things that don't have the power to save you from the wrath on the last day, from things which will only cause you to be ashamed on the last day. Which brings us to our real final point. What will make you ashamed on the last day? We saw in verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel. And this is kind of funny language, but when we think about it, he's saying, this thing will not put me to shame if I trust in it. So what will put you to shame if you trust in it? Paul addresses the concept of shame in the gospel, doubtless because he was being shamed for believing it, for holding fast to it, just like Jesus during his earthly ministry was shamed by people. And just like you, as you attempt to live out the Christian life, are going to be shamed. Maybe you'll hear tomorrow when you attempt to share the gospel, you believe what? I can't believe that. Like, you gotta be kidding me. People still hold fast to stuff like this? How archaic. How old. How not worthy of our attention. Maybe that's what you'll hear. Or, perhaps, at least according to my experience, you're more likely to hear something like this. Yeah, Jesus seems to work good for you. He's helping you to become, you know, better. But I'm perfectly satisfied to just go about my life and be a decent person without interspersing some suffering godman into the mix. And when people say this stuff to you, shame will try to invade your head and your heart. seem to be doing well without it. Remember, that's the people we met in Habakkuk, people who had so much worldly success, people who trusted in themselves for their righteousness, and they're standing before God who weren't terrified of the coming revelation of God's wrath because they didn't recognize God's holiness to be a real threat to sinners. But you must despise this shame and refuse to be ruled by it, choosing rather to believe in the gospel. The gospel is the only thing that provides us with righteousness that God accepts. The only thing. You must constantly remind yourself that you stand before God not because of how good you can become as a Christian, because that's just another form of trusting yourself. Rather, you have to acknowledge that you're standing before God, you receive, once and for all, This is a temptation for us, like this drifting away from trust in the gospel to trust in ourselves. It's a temptation for us, not just because of what people say to us, but because of our own natural tendencies for wanting to justify ourselves, wanting to earn what we get from God. But consider this. The Jews, they want all to trust in the works of the law in order to stand before God and be declared righteous. of the law, and that is something that none of us are able to do. The law wasn't designed to make you righteous by obeying it. The law was designed to point you to a righteous one who would satisfy the law's very demands for you and pay for your failure. The Jews refused to accept Christ because they see in him a stumbling stone that blocks them as they attempt to earn their way to God. are the ones who will be ashamed on the last day, because their sins won't be paid for if they continue to refuse the gospel. And not only this, but righteousness, whatever degree of it they're able to attain in this life, will be imperfect. So those who shame you, therefore, for trusting in the gospel, are the ones who themselves will be ashamed on the last day when they stand before God. So I encourage you, be not ashamed of the gospel, but full of confidence and give it up.