Welcome to the Susquehanna Valley Baptist Pulpit, preaching a life worth living, abundant life in Christ, and now the message. We continue this morning in our study that we have here in Romans chapter 1, Paul proclaiming in verse 16, it's something of our theme. He says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, that it is written, the just shall live by faith. And over the last several weeks, we've examined these passages. We looked at a couple of key words. One of the first words was the word ashamed. And as you think of the Apostle Paul, he makes some half a dozen or so, a dozen and a half statements in chapter one, where he speaks of himself using the word I. Now we can read into that sometimes. And certainly I would hope that it's our desire to make application on some of them. Some of them cannot really be made pertinent application to us. I think particularly where he's talking in verse 15, he said, I'm ready to preach. I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are in Rome. Well, if I'm going to make a direct application to that in my life, then I'm going to have to say that I need to go to Rome to preach. But a general application is there is a desire among those that have been called to preach, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. But these are Paul's personal, heartfelt mindsets towards things that are preserved for us in scriptures because the Holy Spirit of God And he uses this word, I'm not ashamed. This word ashamed, it's the idea of being embarrassed or feeling guilty because of one's actions or characteristics or dissociations and certainly if ever there was an individual that was going to be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it would be the Apostle Paul, the prolific missionary man who spent significant portions of his life and of his resources, time, and talent in the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ from the Middle Eastern area of Jerusalem to Antioch and to Asia Minor, the regions of Galatia and Ephesus, clean on into Greece, where there he would be in Athens and Corinth and even And later in this very book, chapter 16, his desire was even to go to Spain, even though he would make it as far as Rome. This is a man that traveled and met all manner of people. He met Stoics and Epicureans and philosophers. He was not bewildered at their expressions of the Sophia, that is the idea of wisdom for which the Greeks sought. And in his dialogue with them of the gospel of Jesus Christ, He summarized it in 1 Corinthians 1. He said that they seek for wisdom and they look at the cross of Christ as though it is naught but foolishness. And of course it's the case. The Stoics and the Epicureans and others, the hedonists that would be present there on Mars Hill would certainly attribute human wisdom to being the way to achieve the highest level of wisdom in life and looking at these things. Well, you and I know that all wisdom comes from the God of all wisdom. And that that wisdom, that great discernment of truth is held by receiving the truth. There's Pontius Pilate, a Gentile there at the time of Christ who, looking at Christ, beheld him and said, what is truth? There's a man that had at his fingertips knowledge, a man that had at his fingertips wealth and power, And yet, when the moment in time came, it was a man that had no true understanding of truth. You know, that's an easy thing to come across today in our life. Individuals that have great wisdom, I would note that I think historically in at least one measurement, our society and many other societies of this day are some of the most wise in the sense of learned societies the world over. You think about the level of literacy that our society has today. I know that sometimes we might joke about text messages and abbreviations that we have coined and someone was telling me just recently about the dictionary publishers of the world adding so many hundreds of new words and abbreviation of words with each passing year because they're seemingly coined on a regular basis in our society. We have a very literate society. And not only a literate society, but a society that has access to voluminous numbers of books and libraries. I mean, there was a time, even in this country, around the 1700s, that if you had a library of 50 to 100 books, then that was a sizable library. I dare say, if we could count digital devices and other libraries, you'd look at really saying that 50 to 100 books really isn't that much at all. I was out on a visit some time ago in a retirement home and looked and the people that I was visiting, I noticed that every one of them had a half a dozen, six books by their bedside. It speaks of what I'm trying to say. Our society has learnedness in many things. But there's a great difference to the learning apparatus that our society has and to understanding the truths eternal that come from the God of truth. Paul was not at all bewildered nor ashamed as he preached the glorious gospel even into the face of the most literate, learned society of his time, the Romans. He was not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ when he would face the barbarous torture that would be placed upon him by the Roman government. He would not be ashamed as though he would be traveling on his journeys preaching the gospel, though he'd be beaten at the gates of Lystra, though he'd be stoned in other places. Though all of this would fall upon him, his message was singularly the same, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh, that we really could quote verse number 16 personal to our own life. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh, when it came time to speak of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the marvelous gospel, I would be ready with hope in my heart for the great joy that He has given me and that He has redeemed me unto Himself to proclaim boldly and clearly the great wonders that Christ has brought through salvation. Oh, that that truly would be our desire and our heartfelt motivation in this day. And upon this we have discovered, and today we'll be on the fourth one, but particularly four specific elements about this gospel that Paul wasn't ashamed of. You'll have them here in verse number 15, or rather verse 16 into verse 17. The first of those, he speaks of the gospel strength. Why is it that Paul was not ashamed of the gospel? Because of the strength that it conveyed. It demonstrates God's glorious power. Now, I don't want to go back and re-preach the message, you know, retread the tire, as it were, but I'll be honest, friend, you want to see how efficacious the gospel of Jesus Christ? Look back over the centuries that have preceded us at the extent to which the power of God has been made manifested in the glorious change it's made in the lives of those that have received it. There have been kings, academics, There have been murderers that have come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And so wondrous was the power of God that it transformed their life completely. You know, there may be some things in this life that the Apostle Paul was ashamed of. In fact, I can give you some. In 1 Timothy, he speaks about some of his past actions. He said, who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor, injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundantly with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. There were certainly some things that the Apostle Paul was ashamed of. But boy, when he looked at the full face of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it manifested its clear power. It transformed him. It's hard to imagine Paul being a blasphemer. as he sings the praises of God in prison, or as he sings the praises of God on his many journeys. It's hard to think of him as being a persecutor when he labored with his own hands to aid others, including others' churches. It's hard to consider those aspects because the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, its strength, was made fully manifested in him. You know, there might be some things in our past life we're ashamed of. You there in Titus? Look in Titus chapter 3. Look in Titus chapter 3. These may not on first glance be universally applicable to our life, but it's where God saw you and I. Look in Titus chapter 3. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish. that has the idea of no knowledge. Remember that time before salvation you were foolish? We talk about being foolish afterwards and we certainly can have folly in our life as a believer. But there was a time before Christ we were foolish. I mean we were foolish enough to believe that salvation came through good works. We were foolish enough to think that we could provide our own salvation. We were foolish. He goes on and we were disobedient. As the time passed in your life as a believer You did what you wanted to do and you didn't think at all what God wanted. And now having demonstrated His love and His power to me through salvation and the following sanctification in my Christian life, I have a Lord. I have a master. I have someone who has a direct, tangible claim on my life. It should matter to me the decisions I do. The mark of disobedience, in fact, in Ephesians chapter 5, that's what the unbelievers called a child of disobedience. He said we were deceived. Oh, I think of 2 Corinthians chapter 4. The God of this world hath blinded the eyes of those that were out to receive not the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. I think of the deceptive hand of Satan that is seen in the daily forces of men. It's past week. The murder out there in Utah, you know part of that is a young man. the murderer that's ultimately deceived. You say, well where'd that come from? Because he's deceived. There's a part of his life that's either operating out of abysmal hate or a definite belief that in an ulterior means he was really doing good despite defying God's exact pronouncement in his word that thou shalt not kill. Deception. Serving divers lust. Oh, that's an easy thing to witness in lives. We flitter about with our life doing everything we want to. What about God's claim on us? What about the fact that your body is a temple of God? He's bought you with a price, wherefore glorify God and your members. What about yield not your members? as members of unrighteousness, but rather to righteousness sake. That's Romans chapter 6 verse 13. There's a time in our life we didn't give a thought at all. We simply did what we wanted to do. He goes on, he talks about we living in pleasures. Oh, there's a thing today. And I only say today because it's contemporary to where we are. It's been this way. The human nature. We live to, we work and live for pleasures. Now I'm not supposing at all that it's wrong to enjoy life. That would be contrary to 1 Timothy chapter 6. But in 1 Timothy chapter 6 where the direction of giving, that He has given us all things to enjoy, it's under the headship and the governance of the Almighty God. It's so easy, isn't it, to put the pleasures of this life and give it the top billet in our life. You know what a billet is. You ever watched a musical or a a show or something like that and at the end or maybe even at the beginning they begin to list the stars that starred in the movie. The bigger the star the bigger their name. I'm going to submit to you there's a lot of Christians that if their life could be put in a movie role and you would talk about the greatest influences their life I don't think the largest block letter truly by how they live their life would be the Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn't get top billet. We want all the benefits that come with Jesus Christ. We want eternal life. We want peace. We want hope. We want love. We want joy. We want all of those wonderful things that come directly from the gift of salvation that comes exclusively through Jesus Christ. But then when we look at our lives, we got a host of things in far larger marginal font. than the Lord Jesus, God, the Lord Jesus Christ being our all in all. He talks about living in malice, envy, hate and hating one another. That from God's perspective was me. It was you. Notice verse four. But after that, the kindness and love of our love of God, our savior towards man appeared. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. By the washing of regeneration, the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Speaking of that salvation which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. You want to talk about the strength of salvation. It can transform. Then we took some time and we looked at the gospel salvation. It can save, it can rescue. Then we took time the other week and we looked at the gospel subjects and the reality there, he that believeth. The passage says in verse 16, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Several reasons the Apostle Paul was not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this morning I want to draw your attention to the fourth reason in verse number 17, found really in that first half of verse 17. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. I want to speak to you this morning in the time that we have on the gospel's supply. What is it that the gospel of Jesus Christ that is the power of God unto salvation, that does save and is available to anybody by faith and belief in Jesus Christ, it will provide. And what is it that the gospel provides That's what I mean by the gospel supply. What is it the gospel of Jesus Christ supplies? Now, at first mention, we might say, well, it provides us eternal life. Well, that's true. That is true. In John chapter three, for whosoever or rather for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So is it true the gospel provides eternal life? Yes, but let's think about this biblically for a moment. Is that all the gospel is? Is that all? In reality, are there only two choices in reality? I'm going to get saved and live forever or I'm not going to get saved and I won't live anymore? Those that reject the marvelous gift of salvation, do they cease to exist then? Do they just die and the grave's the end? No, that eternal life carries far with it more than just the initial thoughts of eternal life. It's an eternity with Christ. To reject Jesus Christ is an eternity without Christ. First in hell and then later, Revelation chapter 20, in the lake of fire forever and ever and ever. We don't think about the eternity falling out applicable to all people. You'll exist eternally with or without Christ. But you'll only exist eternally with Christ through the gospel of Christ. That's the only way it occurs. By the way, you know, you're not guaranteed tomorrow. I know they tell us the average life expectancy, you know, about 70, 80 years old. The psalmist talks about that. It's interesting, I read an article some time ago, and they're trying to figure out what changes to make to the Social Security Administration with retirement. And they said when they initially installed this thing back in the 30s, if someone lived to be approximately 70 years old, then that was a pretty good life. And so retirement was set to start somewhere around that 62. And so the problem is that people are living longer. And I said, that's the problem, the problem, people living longer. And working, people can work their health to work to 70 years old now. I had a neighbor of mine for many years when I met him, we got to talking and he said, you know, you won't meet many people like me. And I said, I won't meet many people like you. I don't want to ask him what made him so special, but I said, why is that? And he said, well, he said, you know, he said, I got out of the military and got a job and I retired at 55 years old. He said, correctly, my company went through a merger and they bought me out and I retired at 55. And between my pension and social security, I've now been retired longer than I ever worked. He said, I worked 35 years and at this time he was right at 36 years retired. And I looked at him and said, now that's the American dream. That's the American dream right there. But long life is interesting, isn't it? Adam lives 900 some years. Methuselah, 969 years. And yes, I believe that the Bible means those as individual calendar years. That's a long time to live. That's not until a thousand years. It's almost a millennium. The amount of human history that could be encapsulated in a thousand years. The gospel does not promise you a longer life. Your life could be cut short because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. An accident could befall you today. Your life could be cut short because of the sin of someone else. My friend, what is it that the gospel provides? It's more than just eternal life. It's what promotes or produces that eternal life. Notice if it is in verse 17 and we find our fourth word. For therein is the," here's our word here, that fourth one that we're looking at, righteousness. The gospel of Jesus Christ ultimately provides or supplies to the individual that by faith receives it the righteousness of God. He said it's through this gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. The word righteousness is used 306 times. You'll find it in a total of 289 verses both in the Old and New Testament. In the Old Testament it's found 71 times in the book of Psalms and 52 times in the book of Isaiah. The first time you find it in the scriptures is referenced into Abraham and you'll find it two times in the New Testament hearkening back to this very passage. And what that tells me is there is a whole connection with righteousness both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. But the first time you'll find the word righteousness in the Old Testament is Genesis chapter 15 and verse 6. Speaking of Abraham, it says he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness. You know, look at verse 16 again. How does one receive the gospel? It's available to everyone that what? But they didn't really change, did it? The same way that Abraham came to salvation is the same way I come to salvation. I believe and turn to him in faith and he imputes. That's a word. He gives to me his righteousness. and he takes my filthy sinful rags to himself and he paid that sin debt. That's exactly what happened to Abraham. Abraham grew up in an idolatrous city, Ur of the Chaldees. they had ziggurats. They were steeped-looking pyramids. In fact, the historical renderings that you'll find of the ziggurats from the Mesopotamian era are keenly close to what you'll find down in Mexico with the Aztecs and other places in Central America with the Inca Indians. You'll find these kind of steeped, triangular-looking pyramids that exist. They're ironically very similar, thousands of years separate on the annals of human history. The ziggurats existed really before many of the pyramids is my understanding. What is interesting, not about the pyramids, but these ziggurats, is you know what happened at the very pinnacle? Well, in the Incan Aztecs world, that's where they offered their human sacrifices. Where do you think they got that idea? I can't prove it, but historically it makes an interesting association to the pagan idolatry to which Abraham was called out. But let me ask you a question. Did God yank Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees by force? No. He called him. And what did Abraham do? One word. You can summarize it in one word. He obeyed. You know what the Lord Jesus Christ is doing today? He's calling men to repentance. And by fate some will be like Abraham of old and they'll obey. And God will count their obedience to salvation and impute His righteousness. And then there's a whole mess of them that hear the gospel and say it's foolish, it's stupid, it won't work, and to them his righteousness is not imputed. I'm getting a little ahead of myself but let me tell you this, God's supply of righteousness is greater than the capacity of humanity to sin. There have been times, I've been at a banquet or something like that and been at the back of the line Things were getting kind of sparse because the folks that preceded me. I heard a guy years ago, he talked about one of his first communion services and he said we passed a loaf of bread. You know each side had their own loaf. He said, did it one time, I'll never do it a second time. He said three-quarters way through some deacons came up to me and said, hey, we got a problem. I said, what's the problem? We've run out of bread. The people up front took a little bit more generous portion and by time it got to the back row Baptist. which were most the people were, you know. There was nothing left. I've been at some picnics like that. But friend, when it comes to the great glorious provision of saving grace that is found in Jesus Christ, I'm gonna tell you, there's more than abundant supply of his righteousness available. All that must have is the obedience and faith of believers. The first time, Genesis 15 and verse 6, It's interesting, this idea of righteousness found in Genesis. It's mentioned in James, too, about Abraham. It says, And the Scriptures was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, for it's called the friend of God. And in Romans chapter 4 and verse 3, the same thought. What saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 306 times in 289 verses throughout the Bible. When you come to the New Testament, you'll find that the word righteousness is used 91 times. And 39, a little under half, are found in the Epistle to the Romans. And you know what I found interesting in the study of this? The word righteousness is mentioned eight times in the fourth chapter. Now don't look ahead. Don't look ahead. But anybody knows what the What the theme of the fourth chapter of Romans is? It's Abraham and salvation. God saturated salvation's plan in the book of Romans. And when he wanted to identify how someone gains this righteousness, Abraham is the human example given. Now you know how many commandments were in Abraham's Bible. If your answer was 10, I just want to let you know, I'm glad you didn't yell it out because that was a trick question. Moses was a descendant of Abraham. There was no 10 commandments yet given on the mountain of God. There was no Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There was no epistle to the Romans. In fact, there wasn't even the book of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, etc. written. That begs an interesting question, doesn't it? How did he come to faith in God? Well, that speaks of revelation. Listen, he could look to the heavens and he could behold the glorious work of God. He could look to those around that knew of the glorious gospel of Christ. Men that really in timeline of humanity preceded him only a few years before death like Noah. Friend, he could look in prayer to what God had already written on his very heart. By the way, with the exception of the Noah one, all those are available today, plus God's given us of the marvelous canon of scripture. The problem isn't has God made himself aware unto man. The problem is man's unwillingness to submit to the gospel of Jesus Christ. eight times in the fourth chapter, the word righteousness. This word righteousness, its idea has to do with, and particularly in this passage, it has to deal with that which flows from one who is upright. The phrase in this passage where it talks about the righteousness of God is not simply referencing the attributes of His nature. It's rather referencing that redeeming quality that can come only from one that is right. It's interesting in 1 Timothy chapter 6, the scripture will note of this, it says, What is righteousness defined? It is the virtue, or quality, or state of one that has been declared righteous. Now, as you deal with the righteousness of God, or the righteousness that's found in the New Testament, there's a couple different ways in which it's showcased. Sometimes it references the attribute of God, that He is right, holy, just, etc. Sometimes it references the attributes that should be held by one that has been made righteous by God. For instance, in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 9 it said, Or in 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 22 where Paul is instructing by inspiration. Timothy, he says, Sometimes righteousness is the characteristics of God that a child of God pursues in their life. Yes, as a child of God, I have had God's righteousness placed on me, and a preeminent concern of my life should be to pursue righteousness in this life. In the writings of the Apostle Paul, in the book of Romans and Galatians and others. It has a particular meaning. It's the opposed views of the Jews and the Judaizing Christians who felt that righteousness came through the keeping of the law. And he contrasts that with Abraham's righteousness which came by faith. In fact, time will not allow me to go into great detail with this, but as Paul considered these things in contrast to the Jews that believed they were righteous because of their birth, their descendancy and in fact because they kept the law and the Judaizing Christians were Jews that were believers that believed that they were kept righteous because they kept all the Old Testament commandments. That's why there was such a stringent pressure upon Timothy who was the descendant of a Greek to become circumcised which was the right of the Jew under the law of God. They felt that if he wasn't he couldn't get saved. Well, I'm going to tell you something, friend. In Romans chapter 3, it puts it this way. It contrasts the godless. It contrasts the Judaizer. It contrasts the Jew and comes to this conclusion in Romans chapter 3 and verse 10, which is a reflection back to Psalm 14. As it is written, there is none righteous. No, not one. Listen, you could keep all ten of the commandments and you still have a problem. you're unrighteous. Your righteousness is not as good as the righteousness God demands. If I study this morning the primary definition of righteousness it is that state acceptable to God which becomes the sinner's possession through faith by which he embraces the grace of God's marvelous gift. And that grace comes to the death of Jesus Christ. That's the Bible standard of the righteousness required for salvation. That's what this righteousness is. It is the supply of God's gift that's received by you and I, the sinner, by faith. And it is possessed eternally by us and provided through His death on the cross. Now, let me note a second thing about this righteousness that the gospel supplies, and that is the righteousness is demanded. Notice, if you will, just turn the page to verse 18. I'm in Romans 1. He talks about two revelations here. This is marvelous, and I love how the authorized version has it here, as I mostly love and on every case how the authorized version has it. But I like the alliteration here. Notice what it says, the word of God. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed. That's verse 17. It's two revelations. The righteousness of God is revealed. The Greek word there is apocalyptos. We get revelation, revealing. But there's something else revealed. Look in verse 18. For the wrath of God is what? It's two things God is not hiding from humanity. There's a lot of things you might discover in life, but there are two things that God has painted in bold colors across the heavens above. His salvation and His wrath. In fact, you don't need the former if you don't have the latter. The reason why Paul was not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, in addition to its strength and its supply and its salvation, was because it's the most needed thing. The Jew needs it. Why? He's under the wrath of God. The Gentile needs it. He's under the wrath of God. The moralist needs it. He's under the wrath of God. There's not been a poor person born to Adam's race that wasn't under the wrath of God. You're under the wrath of God by virtue of being born. From birth, we're born liars. From birth, we have proclivities to move against God's express holy commands. And we do them and we at times love to do them. And we are condemned by our own actions. And God says, if there is going to be an eternity with me, there must be righteousness. It's demanded. It goes on in verse number 19. He says, because that which may be known of God is manifested in them. That word manifest, made apparent. For God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are what? What's the word say? I don't think we quite understand this. Every great while you'll have somebody talk about that God only died for some people because after all, what do you do with the people like that live in the Amazon basin? Or what do you do with that one group of people that live off of the island of the peninsula of the nation of India that are out there that can have no interaction with other people? Aha, what do you do with them? You point them to Romans chapter one. Do they know of the creation? Do they know that there's a heaven? God said, that's enough. That's enough. Now listen, if you're sitting here this morning, we've got even greater detail. We've got a church where the word of God is preached in Western society and much of the world. We, one of the sound brethren pulled up some of our analytics from some of our, one of our months this past year and said, look at this, you'll never guess preacher what the number one country listening to messages online from our pulpit was. And then they made me guess it was China. We have 1100 listens to messages in China in a given month. It's interesting, isn't it? That's available in our world today. That if somebody's searching for truth, they can find it. But friend, that's not God's standard. God's standard is the creation of the world makes it clearly seen. Even his eternal power and Godhood. What's the last phrase? They are without excuse. God says, I demand righteousness. In Philippians chapter three, the apostle Paul writing said, being found of him not having my own righteousness. which of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. I would note at the end of times in Revelation chapter 19 the Lord will descend clad in white upon a white horse and written on his vesture is called faithful and true and the scripture says in righteousness that he judge and make war. When I am in the presence of that great white throne judgment. And I behold the host of people, and heaven and earth has fled away, the great uncreation before the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And he sits there, the manifestation by which he judges is going to be through his righteousness. And unless you have his righteousness, it's not good enough. He demands righteousness. Speaking of our righteousness that I've referenced already, our righteousness is deficient. I think of Matthew chapter 5, for I say unto you in verse 20, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven. It's interesting because they didn't believe by faith the righteousness of God could be maintained. They didn't believe what Father Abraham taught. They believed they'd have righteousness by keeping of the law. Let me tell you something, friend. If you're trusting your church attendance, If you're trusting some work that you've done to gain you eternal life, it needs to be better than the scribes and the Pharisees. And in case you're unaware, these people were so dedicated they never missed a tithing opportunity. They tithed even of their cumin and spices. Now friend, I've been saved a while. I've never tithed my cumin. Every day, almost, I take 3,000 milli-units, or whatever it is, of tumie. You say, why do you take it? Because I can't stand to eat it. So I swallow it whole. But nonetheless, they were so engaged in their religious idolatry, that's really what it was. Hey, get out your old pill jar. If there's a hundred pills, they're going to give one of them to the temple. That's not right, is it? They give ten of them to the temple if there's a hundred pills. See? Can't even count. The same would be true of their spices and of everything they possessed. Their righteousness in their view motivated them to look different than anyone around them. They would wear their phylacteries. It's a little banding about their heads and arms by which they would push up in all these verses so they could say it was bound about thy head and about thine arms. That's a literal interpretation of scripture if I ever had one. They would not shave the corners, keeping these long ringlets. They'd have these robes. And going back historically, at least at some point, there are little shawls that they would hold with 613 knots gathered around it, usually in the colors blue and white. And when they would pray and they'd walk about, they would do this with the hem of their stuff, touching those 613 knots and talking. As Mamamedes did in the 1300, they codified them. In the 613, there was 365 in the negative, one negative for every day. And they had to know all 365 in the negative. And the 200 in balance of it was the positives of the law that thou shalt do. And they could name all the portions of the law and where it could be found and how it was to be applied. And then they created fence laws to go over the law so they would never infringe upon the law at all. So unless your righteousness is better than that, it ain't good enough. Our righteousness is deficient. But that's what the Lord Jesus said in dealing with the Pharisees. Let me show you another passage here in Romans. Look in chapter 10. You know how deficient your righteousness is? If your righteousness can't cause this thing to happen, your righteousness is deficient. You ready? Notice if you go in verse 3. Speaking of his brethren, by the way, he wasn't talking about a church. He's talking about national Israel. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness. And by the way, that's what the Jews are still doing today. They're trying to establish their righteousness. That's why the Jews are so aggressive about defending their land today. You realize a lot of what they're doing they don't have to do today. That's different than saying whether they have the right to or not. They don't have to do it. Ezekiel and Daniel, God's going to do it all for them. But it's all part of them securing their land so they can rebuild their temple and reinitiate their law of their God and offer sacrifices. You want to know the keen thing about it is? They're not offering the same sacrifice Or they're not offering the sacrifice to the same God that has saved you. David put it this way, Thou wantest not a sacrifice, but a broken and contrite spirit, saith the Lord. They're all busy trying to build a temple and establish a foundation, their country and their land and their borders and all of this. They're not a bit interested. and the righteousness of God. That's what Paul's saying. They're going about to establish their own righteousness. And they have not. You'll hear me say this sometimes. We need to obey the gospel of Christ. This is where I get it from. The Jews establishing their own righteousness, the moralists, the religionists have not submitted themselves into the righteousness of God. Let me show you how deficient my righteousness and your righteousness is. Drop your eyes down in verse number six. But the righteous which of faith speaketh on this wise, say not in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the deep, that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead. The righteous of the faith, tell me about your righteousness of works. Is your righteousness so good that it can ascend to heaven and bring God down? You tell me. How much offerings do you have to give? And how much church attendance do you have to give? And how much of this do you have to do? How many prayers do you have to pray to bring Christ down from heaven to earth? Will 10 do it? Will 100 do it? That's the utter fertility of a works-based salvation. It'll never be enough. And then he goes on as how good is your righteousness? Is it good enough to descend to the deep to bring Christ back from the dead? Is your righteousness good enough to raise the dead? How much righteousness do you need, O Pharisee, O scribe? How much righteousness do you need? To the Brahmins, how many cows do you need not to eat? How many prayers do you need to say to bring about the miracle of salvation? A thousand? I'm getting a little sardonic right now. A little bit like Old Testament Elijah, you know? Maybe your God's asleep and he just didn't hear your prayers. You know the answer? You'll never have enough. Why? Every human's righteousness is deficient. So let me give you the last point this morning. The gospel supply, it supplies adequate righteousness. Let me give you a verse to really cement in your mind, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. For he hath made him, Christ, to be sin for us, who knew no sin, Christ, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. In Romans chapter 3 and verse 22, even the righteous of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe for there is no difference. In Romans chapter 5 verse 17, for if by one man's offense death reign by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of gift of righteousness, note the word gift of righteousness there, shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made into us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. You remember at the beginning I said 91 times in the New Testament the word righteousness is used. 39 times in the Epistle of Romans. Do you remember which chapter in Romans has the most uses of the word righteousness? Do you remember? It's chapter number 4, 8 times. And who does it deal with? Abraham. And the first time righteousness is mentioned it deals with Abraham. In the 15th chapter of Genesis, he was saved by faith and by faith righteousness was added unto him. You know equally in the 4th chapter, 11 times, In that very chapter, 8 times God mentions righteousness, 11 times He introduces the glorious doctrine of imputation. And for an easy synonym, you could think of it as counted. 11 times, 11 times God gave where the righteousness was needed. Friend, that's what happens in the provision that God makes. I by faith and humble obedience and repentance towards God receive His glorious gift and you know what He has promised to do and not fail? He'll take my sin debt and He's going to pay it and He's going to give me His own righteousness. That's the glorious hope of salvation. Once the child of God has been made righteous it's now their heart's joy to pursue practical righteousness in their life. Let's close with that passage I had you turn to at the very end, Ephesians chapter number two. This, if you were keeping notes, would be righteousness directed. Once I've received the glorious gift of God, that eternal righteousness of God, really to lose our salvation what I've got to do is it's God would be God removing righteousness from me. That would make him repent for what he's done. He's not a God that changes his mind whimsically. He's given me righteousness. It's eternally mine, and my desire should then be to pursue practical righteousness in this life. You're there in Ephesians 2. Let's begin reading verse 8. For by what? Well, I'll tell you what grace is and it's works. If you're trying to work your way to heaven, brethren, you'll never have enough works and enough good deeds. You won't have enough to bring God down from heaven and you won't have enough to raise the dead. And so if you're not going to have that much token power in your righteousness, it's an inferior quality of power. It doesn't meet the standard. We're saved by grace and through faith. That not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Romans 5, 17 again. We receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. Verse 9, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Wherefore remember that ye, being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcised by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. Verse 12, that at that time, prior to my salvation, ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, what's our phrase? It's righteousness directed, brought nigh by the blood of Jesus Christ. He's our peace. He's broken down that middle wall of partition. We're made righteous in the sight of God. That is that we have accepted the gift of God and are now acceptable into the family of God. And we are now to be treated righteously by God on account of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. He was made sin. We are now made righteousness. And on the cross of Christ, Jesus was treated as if he were a sinner, though he was perfect, holy, and undefiled. And because of his shed work, we are to be treated righteous, though we once were defiled. Because of what the Lord Jesus has endured on our behalf, we are treated as if we had entirely fulfilled the law of God and had never any exposure to its penalty. We have received this precious gift of righteousness from God and mercy and grace. And I'm reminded of the doxology, to God be the glory, great things he hath done. righteousness of God. This is the gospel supply. I stand with you. Amen. Thank you for listening. If you would like to contact us, please write us at P.O. Box 126-541-Harrisburg, PA 17112 and visit our website at www.svbcpa.org. Until next time,