Some verses from the word of God, from the first chapter of the epistle to the Romans. Romans chapter one, reading at verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God. unto salvation, to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, that just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them. for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power, and God had. So that they are without excuse, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were hardened, was darkened. professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man, into birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator? who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections. For even their woman did change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the man, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another. Men working with men, that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. to do those things which are not convenient, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful. Oh, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but of pleasure in them that do them. And God shall stamp with his own divine approval, this reading from the infallible book. I want to speak this evening upon the banner of the Reformation, justification by faith alone. just a vacation by faith alone. I want to draw your attention to two verses, verse 17 and verse 18. And in these verses, we have the parallel between the grace of God and the judgment of God. We have the parallel between the revelation of God's righteousness in mercy and the revelation of God's righteousness in wrath. The same righteousness working mercy and then working wrath. This is a day when the righteousness of God is conveniently forgotten. This is a day when man think God is such a one as themselves. But I want to emphasize tonight that God is a righteous God. And God judges man righteously, and God sieves man righteously. Man are not sieved on an unrighteous basis. Justice is not pushed aside in the salvation of man. Thank God the law is magnified. Justice is satisfied and the sinners justified in the great scheme of gospel truth. So if you look at verse 17, you will find that therein is the righteousness of God revealed. Where? In the gospel. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God. And in this gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. In the great scheme for the salvation of man, the righteousness of God is revealed. From faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Now look at the next verse. For the wrath of God is revealed. I want you to notice. A two-fold revelation. God's righteousness working wrath and God's righteousness working grace and pardon in the hearts of man. If ever there was a day that we needed preachers of righteousness, it's today. This is a day when dishonesty is lauded and eulogized, and honesty is discredited and reviled. This is a day when holiness is merely the object of a joke. and when the vilest sins are praised among the sons of men. The Bible tells me that righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Now if you go down this chapter, I read it to you this evening, you will find that there are two things that tell against the righteousness of God and lead to God's wrath in every nation. The first thing is fierce idolatry. And the second thing is fiercer immorality. And a nation characterized by idolatry and characterized by immorality will feel the curse and wrath of God. Make no mistake about it. What's wrong with Britain tonight? She's under the curse of God. That's what's wrong with her. You see, the British governments have been flirting with the people, say, You can't flirt with the Antichrist and of the blessing of Christ, you can't do it. And more and more our nation has been dragged into the vortex of people idolatry. I see the Queen has even appointed the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff to make arrangements for the investing of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales. He's on the committee to make the arrangements, and we have the Royal House linked up with As for Downing Street, it most certainly is going down. When they have to announce that even the car parked outside is taken away, they must have very poor security there. And the whole nation is in a mess. And Mr. Wilson, with his oily tongue, is trying to tell us we have a great opportunity now. And the businessmen and the economic masters say that it's only a short-term policy, and after it's all over, what's going to happen then? And this nation of ours, Fran, is sinking and sinking. Why? Because our nation has left God and left the Bible and left the truth and has gone down into the darkness of people idolatry. And we have this arch-traitor of Canterbury, Cardinal Ramsey. He's busy sending telegrams to His Holiness, hoping that Papa will soon be well again, and he'll be able to go back and kiss him on the big toe and come a little closer to him. Oh, yes. Do you know what it says here? I want you to notice whom God judges first. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. A man, look at it, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Not talking now about a nation that didn't know the truth. He's not talking now about a people that were ignorant of the truth. He's not talking now about a company of people that never were taught the truth. Here is a people that hold the truth, but they hold it in unrighteousness. And the nation knows that there's a God, but behold the truth of the Godhead in unrighteousness. What does God say in his word, professing themselves to be wise? They became fools. Change the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man. unto birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things, idolatry. The true worship of God resisted, repudiated, and rejected. And in its place, a system of idolatry set up. And God says there's wrath from heaven revealed. When a nation goes idolatrous, she also goes immoral. The most immoral nations in the continent of Europe are the Roman Catholic nations. There's more brothels in Spain and in Italy and in France than any other European nation. And my friend, we have had this disgusting bill gone through the House of Commons, a bill that licensed This is what this chapter is about. And in the British House of Commons, when it was passed, they all waved their order papers and congratulated the Labour MP who was successful in steering this bill through the House of Commons. Think of it, the mother of parliaments, licensing the basest act that the human race could indulge in. Do you think Britain could have the blessing of God? Do you think that the God of heaven has closed his eyes? Do you think that heaven hasn't seen the dark cesspool that our nation has fallen into? Is it any wonder there's corruption among our youth? Is it any wonder that there's a dark tide of sin sweeping down upon our nation and carrying this generation down to the depths of the darkest hell? On every side, friend, there is eulogy of sin. and every side man practicing. Are they ashamed? Do they blush? No, they're neither ashamed and they're so coarsened in their conscience that neither do they blush. You know what we need, friend? We need a couple of prophets to come and reveal the sins of our day. We are so conditioned to the age We're so taken up with the age that we don't see it as we ought to see it. May God put the eye salve of the Holy Ghost's anointing on our eyes. May God open our eyes to see how God views this nation tonight. And I want to say from this platform that if the nation goes on in this way, there'll be a greater curse shall fall upon her. You think of it, that the nations that were on their knees at the end of the last war are the strongest nations now in Europe. You take Germany, we're told that the German mark is the strongest currency tonight in the world. Western Germany has built herself into a position of power. You take France that was conquered and was under the heel of the Gestapo and tonight General de Gaulle is sitting clapping his hands in Paris and he's saying we've got Britain now where we want her. And our nation, France, is going down and down. And the leader of the opposition has said tonight, Britain is now an international pauper, running round with her cap in her hand, asking for money to keep the great nation going. And the BBC, it has been announced, refused to give the opposition the democratic right to speak on this question. And so we have a dictatorship arising, We have the nation going down. We have immorality increasing. We have the churches running after idolatry. And then we have this week seen the Synod of Belfast producing the greatest bit of hypocrisy that they ever produce. And they tell us now that according to the Hunt Report, we have got to get everything opened on the Lord's Day of a recreational nature. To stop vandalism, desecrate the Lord's Day. Give them another day to create vandalism and go about their business. I want to tell you, friend, God's Day doesn't belong to the Senate of Belfast. The Lord's Day belongs to the Lord. You put your hand on something that doesn't belong to you and you're a thief. And men should keep their hands of the Lord's Day. And the way to get Ulster blessed is to keep the Lord's Day. And the best generation that this city ever knew was the generation that went to Sabbath school, and learned the Bible, and learned the catechism, and learned to respect the day of the Lord. But of course, these men hold the truth in unrighteousness. Well, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. And let me tell every sinner in this meeting, God's wrath is revealed in you. I know that in this modern age, a preacher that talks about God's wrath is laughter. I know that. But I want to tell you, my friend, God's wrath is revealed from heaven against you. And as you sit in this solemn service, the wrath of God abides on you. And there's only the thickness of your rib and the beating pulse keeping you from hell and from judgment and eternity. You're going to stand before God, every one of us, you know. You'll escape from the judgment. No way out from the awful White Throne! No way to avoid the Great Appointment! It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this, the judgment, the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven! You need to wake an oxen. for God's wrath is revealed against you. Now it was in an age when God's wrath was revealed that God sent the great reformation. Thank God he can do the same in our day. The only hope for Britain is an intervention of God Almighty. The only hope for Ulster is an intervention of God Almighty. The only hope for you, sinner, is a personal intervention of God tonight in your life. That's the only hope for you. And you know, the Bible says this, the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel. You say, preacher, is that the same righteousness that's revealed in wrath? Yes, sir. The same righteousness that poured out wrath upon wicked man is revealed in the operation of grace in the gospel. You say, how can that be? My friend, the very center of the gospel, the very heart of the gospel lying at the very basis and foundation of the gospel is the cross of Jesus. Why the cross? Why the agony? Why the pain? Why the awful blood shedding on Golgotha's brow? because in Golgotha the wrath of God was revealed against him. God in righteousness is just, but he's the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. Sin is not covered. Sin is judged. Sin is not pardoned on the base of mercy. Sin is pardoned on the basis of justice. God made his son the substitute of his people. What does that mean? It means that that sacrifice on Calvary was an instead of me sacrifice. That instead of me going to the cross, Jesus went to the cross. Instead of me having hell forever, Jesus endured my pangs at Calvary. When I stand under the shadow of the cross, and I see the clouds of darkness, and I see all the clouds of wrath that fall upon them, as I see that, friend, I remember that God's wrath is revealed from heaven. God's wrath. And you know tonight, if I didn't believe in hell, When I come to Calvary I'll believe in it. The greatest proof I have of eternal punishment is the cross. That God couldn't pardon me except he put his Son upon the cross and poured out his wrath upon that Son. Down in hell tonight The souls of the damned are crying with unquenchable thirst. In the midst of the sufferings of the cross, the God-man cries, I thirst. Why is suffering hell upon the cross for you and me? At the very height of the sufferings of Jesus, he cries, My God! My God! Why hast thou forsaken me? Why? Because, friend, he's down in the depths. He's down in the darkness. He's down, friend, in the damnation of hell at Calvary. Who can ever tell what Jesus suffered? Who can ever describe his pangs, his groanings, his agonies, his passion? Oh, you say, Preacher, he wore a crown of thorns. There were greater thorns in his soul than ever pierced his brow. You say, Preacher, he was kneeled with kneels. There were greater kneels in his heart than ever were in his hand. You say, Preacher, his side was driven in with a spear. There was a greater spear in the depths of his being, in his human soul, as the God-man on the cross, than you could ever see that pierced his side. Help me to understand it. Help me to take it in. What it meant for thee, the Holy One, to bear away my sin. What's Jesus doing at Calvary? Man and woman, I'll tell you what he's doing. He's making a perfect grove of righteousness for me. Down in the darkness! Down in the agony of suffering, Jesus Christ is preparing a robe of righteousness by His blood and agony and obedience to cover me. And when I come to the cross, I have nothing. Theism, F for shaking, A for all. I for I, T for trust, H for him. And when I stand at Calvary, I forsake all, and I just trust him." That's the way you're saying it. This is justification by leaving the Lord. Does that mean forsaking faith in the church? It certainly does. Does that mean forsaking faith in your baptism? It certainly does. Does that mean forsaking faith in your confirmation? It certainly does. Does that mean forsaking faith in everything and all things? Yes, sir! You forsake all and trust Jesus! The day you do that, praise God you're saved. This is God's salvation. This is not on the basis of pure mercy. This is on the basis, friend, of pure righteousness. God has mercy on men in a righteous manner. I sat with a man this evening, came into the meeting. Some years ago, he lost both his legs in a thrashing machine, his artificial limbs. He walked out the aisle. He sat down. He said, Mr. Peasley, I would like to be seen. I said, I'm glad. He says, I've been at every meeting but two. And he says, I couldn't go home this afternoon. I had to come and get saved. And I said, you know, friend, it's very simple. So I let that hand there just represent you. There's you. And I put a book on it. I said, you're burdened with sin. Here's your sin. I said, this hand represents Christ. He came from heaven. He had no sin. And he came to where you were. And he took your sin, and he took it away to Calvary. And I turned up Isaiah. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was laid on him. and by his stripes we are healed. I said, if Jesus lifted your sin, friend, and carried it to Calvary and paid the price of it, what's left for you to carry? He says, Mr. Paisley, I see it, nothing. I said, you're right, friend. That's the gospel. Nothing! It's salvation by faith alone! We just trust him. And we got down and we prayed. And he went away rejoicing. He says, I'm saved. I said, you're saved. God says it. You'll not feel it. Sure, if you did feel it and went home and the wife gave you an ill-cooked tea and you didn't digest it, you wouldn't feel saved after you ate that tea. You would feel no more saved than the old seat you sit on. But my salvation doesn't depend on my feeling. Do you think every time I have heartburn, I'm not saved, do you? I wouldn't be saved very often for I suffer from it. Not because my wife's not a good cook, don't think that, but because just I eat my meals so fast that I can't help it. It's just part of me. Friend, there was an old monk, a young monk, he wasn't old. He was a member of the Augustinian order in Germany and he wanted to be saved. And so in his benighted Romanism he cut his breast. He lay upon kneels. He walked with hard pebbles in his shoes. He prayed and he fasted and he wept. He stood before the crucifix for hours in solemn meditation. He vowed he would speak to no man and for months he went around in silence. Did he find peace? Nay, verily, He found nothing but agony. He went on a visit to Rome, and in Rome there is the Scala Sanctum, the holy stairway, supposed to be the stairway up which Jesus walked the night he was crucified. I saw it when I was in Rome. And if you go up that on your knees, you get so many days out of purgatory. So this poor monk, they're still going up on their knees even tonight. This poor monk started on his knees to go up the steps. And the word that he had read in the library of his monastic place of abode, the monastery was this, the just shall live by faith. And as he was going up those stairs, God spoke and said, the just shall live not by penance, But by faith! And he went up another stair, and God said it to him again. And he went up the third stair, kneeling, and God shook him! And he stood up! And he said, I'll do penance no more! I'll trust in Jesus alone! That was Martin Luther, and God saved him there. God saved them in the people's stairway in Rome and showed them it was just a vacation by faith alone. The work's done. Away with your penance. Away with your priestcraft. Away with your religion. Away with your ordinances. Away with your sacraments. They're all unappealing in regard to salvation. Be it as the baptism of your youth. Be it as the confirmation of your young manhood. The end are all things, but a living faith in the living Christ is the only thing can save you. And if you've got that, friend, you're saved and safe for all eternity. Now let me ask you, have you got that tonight? Have you Jesus Christ? Him alone, therein is the righteousness of God. From faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. There's three things there, isn't there? There's the principle, faith. There's the power, shall live. And there's the people, the just. So you have the principle, it's by faith, not by anything else. I used to be very worried about faith when I was a boy after I came to Christ. I had a lot of doubts. And if there's some doubting people here tonight, let me tell you what Spurgeon said. He said he doubted the man never doubted. And if a man came to me and said, I never doubted, I would look at him. I believe everybody has a doubts and fears and trials. I used to wonder. Did I exercise faith aright? That's what worried me. I knew it was by faith, but have I saving faith? One day I was walking home from school. I could take you to the very flagstone on the pavement where this happened. And God made good to me a word from John 1 and verse 12. Listen to it. For as many as received him, to them gave he power to be called the sons of God. Listen. Even to them that believe on his name. And I saw something. That receiving Christ and believing Christ were the same. And I had received them. I had said, Lord Jesus, I receive you as my Savior. And Jesus had said, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And Jesus had said something more. He had said this, and this is a wonderful thing. He has said, him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. I had received him. And that's the same as faith. has two eyes, but those eyes look to Jesus alone. Faith has two feet, but those feet carry you to Jesus alone. Faith has two empty hands, and those hands are never filled, but when they clasp Jesus alone. Have you got this faith? Praise God you can receive him tonight and you can go away rejoicing. May God help sinners to receive Jesus this night for Christ's sake. Let's bow our heads. Our God and Father, we thank thee this evening for thy word. It's a simple word. It's a plain word. It's a crystal clear word. And now, Lord, we pray that sinners may come to Christ. Lord, may man receive thee. Oh God, work the miracle of grace tonight in this meeting.