Holy Scriptures in turn with me this morning to the book of Romans chapter 1. The book of Romans chapter 1. As we're continuing our exposition through this first epistle of the New Testament epistles. The epistle of Paul to the church at Rome. We'll begin reading this morning with verse 16 and go through verse 20 and continue considering this heading of the revealing nature of the gospel. The gospel reveals a number of things. And we looked at the first one last Lord's Day. It reveals the power of God. Romans chapter 1 beginning with verse 16, hear now the word of the living God. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word and give us ears to hear today. Let's pray. Oh Father, giver of the scriptures, once more as we have read your word, give us light, give us understanding, Work deeply in our hearts. Cause us to have dealings with you today. Do not let a single one who is gathered here today leave this place without sensing a divine touch from your hand. Work to your glory. Illuminate your word. Do effectual things. And we will thank you as we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. We began last week considering the revealing nature of the gospel. We have seen that the whole book of Romans is really dealing with the gospel. It's not dealing with so many other things that many evangelicals are caught up with today. But it has this thrust, this theme that will be woven in and out. Beginning last week, we saw concerning the revealing nature of the gospel is that the gospel reveals the power of God. Christianity is not just about some form or ritual. It's not about some ordinance or practice. It's about a live, living encounter with the true and living God. It is about souls who are dead in trespasses and sins coming into an engagement with the true and living God and finding life in Christ. We cannot change people. We cannot make hearts change. I referred to the Cambridge professor, Dr. Hurtado, who wrote this excellent book entitled, Why on Earth Would Anyone Become a Christian in the First Three Centuries? And he deals with the abyss in which Christianity was born. while there was no human reason for anyone to leave their way of living and follow this lowly, obscure rabbi from Nazareth. What caused such a change in people? What caused, on the day of Pentecost, 3,000 souls to turn from their sins, their way of life, and embrace this Jewish Messiah named Jesus? A few days later, an additional 2,000. Within the first week, we had 5,000 Christians. What caused it? Was it the eloquence of Peter? Was it the schmoozing of the apostles? No, there was something actively involved, and it was the power of God Almighty. And Paul says, he is not ashamed of the gospel, because it, the gospel, is the power of God. He didn't say the gospel is accompanied by the power of God, or the power of God attends the gospel. He said that the gospel is the power of God, and the gospel reveals that. Now, what is the next thing that the gospel reveals to us? And it's found here in verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it That's why I said last week, and if there's only one thing you hear from me today, let it be this. Tell this gospel. Tell it. And it has an ancient power within itself that is able to accomplish its ends, right? And so, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation, to everyone who believes. The second thing that the gospel reveals is this. It reveals the way of salvation. Now, for some of us, this may seem like old hat. I mean, Pastor, why don't you study and give me something fresh and something new and something exciting? I'm giving you something that's new and fresh and exciting. By the time the Lord Jesus came, one of the saddest verses in all the Scriptures, John 1, 11-12, He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. The Lord of glory burst in on the scene of humanity, interrupted our state of affairs, and they did not receive him. Well, we shouldn't fault them. That's the way it is today. People still do not receive him. But the setting and the climate in which Jesus was born was this, that everyone was thinking this, if I do this, if I do that, if I do the other, if I live good enough about regarding this or live good enough regarding that, or I'm a Jew, I'm circumcised, Abraham is my father, I'm okay. And all of humanity, to one degree or another, was basing their acceptance of God, or by God, whatever their concept of God may be, was upon something that they did. And here is where the gospel is so radically different than any message that the world offers. Be good. Better watch out. Better not pout. Bear not cry, I'm telling you why. He knows when you're sleeping. No, he doesn't. Santa Claus doesn't, but God does. And the very best, the very best that anyone can do is not good enough. And the gospel revealed a way for us to know the salvation of the Lord. The gospel opened up a vista that we might look and appear and see how is it we're so concerned about people accepting Christ, we need to be more concerned about Christ accepting people. And the gospel opens up for us a vista and shows us the way of God's salvation, the way that we, unjust, unrighteous, mortal human beings can be just and righteous and have immortality forever and ever. Notice these few little words, this little phrase, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. Salvation can neither be bought Inherited? Don't bank on your parents being Christians. Don't think that salvation flows through the blood of your father and mother into your veins. Those who are born are born neither of blood nor the will of the flesh nor the will of man. It cannot be inherited. It cannot be arrived at. Professor Murray reminds us salvation is not accomplished irrespective of faith. I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone. No. For everyone who believes there's a limited action or a limited scope for the gospel. Now, there have been those through the ages who have said, well, John 3, 16, God so loved the world, everybody's going to be saved. They were universalists. No, they're not. Everyone will not be saved. There's a stipulation here for everyone who believes. If you do not believe, you will not be saved. Plain, simple, period. Now, the question must be asked, what is the beliefs spoken of here by Paul? What does it mean to believe? Well, I mean, you believe in the pew, you sit down in it, it sustains you. But that's not the belief that Paul is speaking of here. There are several types of beliefs found in Scripture. There's a historical belief, and many people have a historical belief, and they think that that belief is enough. Well, I believe in Jesus. I believe there was a guy named Jesus who lived and died. I mean, his followers are all around us. Christianity is one of the major religions of the world. Historical belief is not a saving belief. It's no more than what the devils had. The devils believe there's one God, and they tremble. There's a historical faith. Just simply, you ask most people today, are you a Christian? Well, yeah, I'm a Christian. We're born here in the United States. Being born in the United States doesn't make you any more Christian than being born in a zoo makes you an elephant. Right? There's a historical faith. There's a temporary faith. And this is one of the saddest things about Christianity. There were many who initially were excited about what was taking place. I mean, by the time you get to chapter 8 of Acts, many of the Jewish priests are becoming obedient to the faith, to use the words of Luke. I mean, these high-level religious leaders are abandoning Judaism and embracing this Messiah. Christianity is moving forward, and there are myriads of people who are swept up in the wave of excitement. And then, and someone asked me in one of the interviews about persecution, and they said, Persecution came about and I said because God was winnowing, God was thinning out. And all of a sudden, as trials and difficulties, or Jesus even spoke of it, the love of the world, the love of the things of this world, the cares of life begin to wrap around your soul and smother the spiritual life within you. People that I know and have loved and sit beside of in the house of God and worship are no longer even today confessing Christ. But that's not, should not surprise us. It shouldn't shake us. John the Apostle wrote about this. He said, they went out from us. People came and came into the midst and they were there, but they went out from us, he said, because they were what? Not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have doubtly continued with us. I could go down the list. a person after person after person, I know, that made a confession of faith in Jesus Christ. Baptized, joined the church. Don't think that, and then they have turned away. Some have them darken the doors for 20 years or more. Don't think these people are saved. It was only a temporary faith. Not a lasting faith. And that is very real. I remember my old pastor, Dr. Harold Sightler, who's now in glory, and I bless God for him. He said, I've seen so many people make professions of faith and they don't, it no longer excites me. But I'll tell you what does excite me. When I see someone confess Christ and two years on down the road they're still there in the house of God, they're still there with their Bibles, they're still being faithful to Jesus on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, then I start getting exciting and think, that was a real salvation. Don't be carried away. There's a temporary faith that falls short of salvation. There is a true and saving faith. It is a faith that looks beyond ourselves. It's not dependent upon what we have or what we have done. And one of the things that has subtly sneaked back into the church in the last 15 to 20 years is something called the new perspective of Paul. You see, Roman Catholicism, after the Protestant Reformation, at the Council of Trent, the decree of the Council of Trent was that salvation is by faith and by works, works of supererogation. Well, really? How different is that than all the religions of the world? I contend, I contend with my Roman Catholic friends, I contend with my friends that are caught up in cults, I even contend with my Baptist friends, that if there was one work, one good thing that you could do to earn God's favor, then Jesus Christ need not have come. lived a life of perfect obedience to the law of God, and went to the cross, and died as a substitute for sin. Your works cannot, in any form or fashion, contribute to your salvation, or keep you saved, or at the end of the day, in the last day, add to your salvation. That's why the Reformers did not stutter. They did not hesitate. They went back to the Scriptures and they saw what Paul was saying here, that he is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it is the power of God to everyone who repents and is baptized and joins the church and lives a good life. Right? No. Everyone who believes. The gospel comes. It operates on hearts. It opens eyes to see and ears to hear. And causes a person, causes you to see that you are not good enough. No matter how good you may think yourself to be. And it shows you the only good and perfect one. And true faith says, I renounce everything that I've done, I renounce everything that I'm trusting in, and I rest in Jesus Christ, His person, His death, His burial, His resurrection for my salvation. I'm casting my soul upon Him. I'm trusting Him and Him alone. This is saving faith. Not that faith saves, but it savingly believes upon Christ. I don't know how many times going through this Highland neighborhood, I've talked with people. They're in bondage to drugs. They're in bondage to alcohol. They're in bondage to sexual uncleanness in so many forms. They're in bondage to this and that and the other, and I hear this, I'm trying to do better. I'm trying to do better. I mean, the first of the year is coming. I'm going to straighten up. I'm going to have my New Year's resolution that lasts about two days. Not the laborer of my hands can fulfill thy law's demands. These for sin cannot atone. Thou must save and thou alone. Naked to that fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die." It shows us the way of salvation and it angers me. I get so upset when I hear this sweeping through our seminaries. It began, it began at Samford University among Southern Baptists of all people. With a man named E.P. Sanders. This new perspective of Paul. You are saved by faith and by works. And that, my friends, is an insult to the cross of Jesus Christ. And if you buy into that, you've drank a poison more deadly than Jim Jones gave in Guyana. If you trust in one single work of yours at any time, my friends, you are deceived. Salvation is by works, by the way. You understand that? By the works of Christ. He did every single thing that God required you and I to do, but could not do. And the way we receive God's salvation is not by being good, not even by repenting, though repentance is necessary, not even by baptism, but baptism does not save. We receive God's salvation when we come spiritually, metaphorically speaking, naked and say, I have nothing to offer you, O God, but my sin. But your Son has done everything that you require, and I am trusting Him and Him alone. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. So the second thing that the gospel reveals is the way of salvation. The third thing that the gospel reveals for us here in this passage, and by the way it says for the Jew first and also for the Greek, that may not seem very radical to us. But in Paul's day, that was very radical. Do you understand that? When you read the Gospel of John and the Jews, you find the word kosmos that's translated world throughout the book of John. For the world, the Jews meant their little kingdom of Judaism. And for John, and of course for Jesus, the world was all sorts of people outside of that kingdom. One of the things that was so stumbling to the Jews is that Gentile peoples, people of different colors, of different races, of different ethnicities, of different languages, would embrace this Jesus. And that was a stumbling block to them. And we're living in that same type world today. I mean we, everybody thinks that their race to one degree or another is superior. I can tell you no race is superior. There's one thing that all races have in common, they need a Jewish Messiah. And so when Paul says to the Jew first, that's the order, and also to the Greek or to the Gentile, The word here in the New Testament is haloi, it's from helenos, Hellenistic Greek culture. The Jews considered these to be dogs. It was radical. The third thing that the Gospel reveals is the righteousness of God. Verse 17, for in it, it being what? Follow with me, in it being what? The gospel. For in it, the what? The righteousness of God is revealed. You remember when I started this section, I asked you, how would you begin a conversation with someone who is not a Christian? How would you initiate a talk about Christ with someone who is not a believer in Christ? We've got so many methodologies out there. I mean, you've heard the most common smile, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life and all that. That's not in the apostles' vocabulary. You want a relationship with God? It's not in the apostle's vocabulary. How does he begin? He talks about the power of God, he talks about the way of salvation, but then he comes to something that makes many people uncomfortable. And yet it's going to be a theme that will be woven throughout this entire epistle, and it is the righteousness. of God. And I want to state this, I will enlarge upon it when we get to chapter 3, God willing. I mean, God willing, we will get to chapter 3 if, you know, whenever we get there. But as Paul will end this section beginning right here, it will end in chapter 21. And then he starts this wonderful section of justification by faith, and he starts it by saying, but now the righteousness of God. But now the righteousness of God. And it's all in contrast to the unrighteousness of man. Why does Paul begin with the righteousness of God? Don't you know, Paul, that doesn't make people comfortable. You're not going to grow your church that way. People don't want to hear these things. Correct. But it doesn't matter. He is being faithful to God's truth. What is the righteousness of God? This diakosune from the Greek word dike, justice. What is this righteousness of God? Well, it encompasses three things. It encompasses, first of all, an attribute of God. God is righteous. He is so different than the gods of the time in which Paul lived and our gods today. You look at the gods of Mount Olympus, of Greek mythology, of Roman mythology, of Norse mythology, They're getting drunk, they're committing adultery with each other, they're having sex with mortals and humans. These gods are capricious, they're fickle, they change. And the concept that most people have in the United States of America and in the world is a god similar to that. But right from the start, Paul says, For in it the righteousness of God is revealed." Paul wanted the believers in the Church of Rome to understand the righteousness of God. He wanted them to understand that more than he wanted them to understand the love of God, the grace of God, the kindness of God. All of those are true. But you will never appreciate the love of God and the grace of God and the kindness of God until you understand the righteousness of God. Matter of fact, the love of God is not found in the entire book of Acts. Nowhere, nowhere did the apostles tell people that God loves them, Jesus loves them, or has a wonderful plan for your life. The love of God is not mentioned in the entire book of Acts, and it is not found in the book of Romans until you come to chapter 5, where it says that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. That's the first time the love of God is found in the book of Romans. But the word righteousness, this diakosune, this justice of God, is found so often It is an attribute of God. That's why His love is so wonderful. It is a holy and righteous love. That's why His grace is so sweet. It's a holy and pure grace. That's why His justice is to be feared. It's a righteous justice. It's not a capricious justice. It's not a fickle justice. God is righteous. But not only that, it's the righteous activity that comes from God. Everything that God does is right. That's why we sing that wonderful hymn, Whatever my God ordains is right, wholly His will abide us. But it also has this connotation of a right standing with God. God is righteous. And He makes a way whereby unrighteous people can be made righteous. And it is revealed in the Gospel. And this is the one point that we need to make so often. You know, Jesus said, I came not to call the, come on, righteous, but sinners to repentance. Not that people are righteous in and of themselves, but there's an abundance of self-righteousness out here. And until you see that you are without righteousness, you will never ever have the righteousness of God. And the gospel reveals a way whereby unrighteous people can be made righteous before a thrice righteous God. Unlike the pagan gods so-called that surrounded the early Christians, Paul saw that the chief attribute of this true and living God was that of being righteous or holy. And it is this righteousness that is the Gospel's primary concern, and it's in contrast to humanity's unrighteousness, and it's a word that not many of our evangelical, not many of our Baptist, Southern Baptist churches want to deal with. We want people to feel good, and I do too, but I want them to feel good the right way. And so the gospel reveals the righteousness of God. And then the point that I'm going to stop with today is, the last point of today, is that the gospel reveals the way of the Christian life. In verse 17, For in it, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Now why do I say that the gospel reveals a way of the Christian life? You've heard me say this a few days, I've been ordained 40 years and I cannot tell you how many times across my desk have come things like the secret of the Christian life, the secret to being spiritual. the secret to having a fervent prayer life. And there are all sorts of secrets and all sorts of methods and all sorts of things out there as to how you can be set on fire and have a souped-up Christian life. And at first, I used to look at it, now I just drop them in file 13. Here we find the way of the Christian life and it's found in this little expression, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. What does Paul mean by that expression from faith to faith? I mean he's already talked about that the gospel is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes. Now what does he mean by from faith to faith? It's been understood in several ways by so many different commentators. Some have looked at it from a historical perspective, meaning they think that Paul is talking about from an Old Testament faith to a New Testament faith. Some have looked at it with an aspect to the future, from present faith to future faith. Others have looked at it, and I remember hearing this as a very young Christian, from the faith of one person to another person through sharing the gospel or witnessing or preaching. One person has faith and they communicate that faith to somebody and they in turn have faith and faith is shared from faith to faith. Another view is that it's talking about God's faithfulness to man's faith, from faith to faith. A fifth view is that what someone has called biographical faith, from the state of an immature believer to a mature believer. You have faith and you grow in faith and it's from faith to faith. Another view, and this was a view held by some very famous people in the late 20th century, and that is from faith to faith means from a propositional or presuppositional to an understanding of things. I don't want to get into all of that, but I'll just quickly go on. And then another view is the faith of one believing to the object of faith. from faith to the object in which I believe. And then there is this view that I think is correct. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by sight. No. The just shall live by the way they feel. Right? The just shall live by the cultural norm of the day. No? The just shall live by what? Faith. I call it emphatic. If I were to literally translate this phrase from the language of the New Testament, from faith to faith, I would translate it literally out of faith into faith, or I think the best translation would be from faith first to last. We are justified by what? Come on. By faith. How is the Christian life carried on? By faith. By faith. You say, oh wait a minute, Pastor, what about sanctification? What about sanctification? I mean, isn't there working in sanctification? Absolutely. Isn't there this pursuit of holiness? Pursue peace with all men and holiness without which no one shall see the Lord? Absolutely. Well then doesn't that make the Christian life a life of works? Absolutely not. The Christian life from beginning to end is by faith including sanctification. Now don't misunderstand me here. Faith sees the commandments of God and says, I believe them because they are God's commandments and I will do them. Faith leads me to obedience. But faith is the thing that sustains us through the Christian life. This is not a pietistic mysticism, nor does it bypass the means that God provides for our good and our health. But it does mean, from the moment we have savingly believed upon Christ as our Lord and Savior, till the moment we close our eyes in death, we are resting in God as He has revealed Himself in His Son. We are trusting His Word. We are receiving His Word by faith. We are living a life of obedience by faith. We are doing all that we do by faith. You follow me? Faith looks beyond. Someone said to me, I remember I was talking to a man near Biola University, and he said, can you prove to me the existence of God? And I said, and he was thinking that I was gonna say, yes, let's sit down and talk. And I said, no, I cannot prove to you the existence of God. Oh, I can give you all sorts of arguments, but it will not win the day. I can give you the ontological argument, I can give you the cosmological argument, and on and on and on and on, why there must be, why there is a God, but I cannot prove to a single person that there is God. And furthermore, God does not try to prove himself either. Genesis 1-1 opens up In the beginning, God. That's enough right there, isn't it? He established his self-existence. He doesn't have to prove himself to anyone, nor do we. But by faith. I said, no, I cannot. I can give you all sorts of arguments. I could spend two or three days with you going through Thomas Aquinas arguments for the existence of God and you would still walk away and say, huh. But by faith. I believe the Word of God. By faith, I believe that God exists, though I have not seen Him, touched Him, felt Him, or even heard His voice. And don't tell me you have either. By faith, I see the Word of God. I believe it. I've cast my soul upon it. I was talking with Heather Ruth. She said, I don't know why. I said, I don't know either. I don't know why things have happened to me the way they have happened to me. I don't know the reason why things have happened to you the way that they have happened to you, or things have happened as they have happened. I do not understand all of those things. I am not skilled to understand what God hath willed, what God hath planned. I only know at his right hand is one who is my Savior. I take him at his word indeed. Christ died for sinners, this I plead, for in my heart I find a need for him to be my Savior. And when I cannot understand what's going on, when I cannot figure out why this took place and that took place and the other took place, I can stand and say, I know that all things work together for good to them who love God and to them who are thee called according to his purpose. As one of the Puritans said, when you cannot trace God, you can trust God. And that's what the whole Christian life is about. It's about believing God and trusting Him. When everything around you says, give up, turn around, surrender, go back. This is the way of the Christian life. Let me tell you about a group of people that maybe you've not heard of or maybe vaguely heard mentioned. Are there any Scotsmen in here? Or Scots blood running through your veins? These Scots folks were hardy souls. Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector, died. Charles II was brought to the throne. Charles II had invested as the Archbishop of Canterbury a man named Laud, L-A-U-D, a wicked and ungodly man, as Charles II himself was a wicked and ungodly king. And they got laws passed through Parliament that in essence was trying to convert the Church of England and the Presbyterian Church of Scotland to Catholicism. And there were a group of ministers in Scotland that rose up and they signed a covenant. Jesus is King, not the Pope. Jesus is King, not the Archbishop. Lex Rex, the law of God rules us, not the law of the king. And these men signed what is known as the Covenant, the Great Covenant. If you go to places in Edinburgh and Glasgow, you'll find reminders of it. And they became known as the Scottish Covenanters. They would not bow down to Archbishop Law and the the rules of the Church of England to convert back to Roman Catholicism. And they were hunted down like animals and slaughtered one by one by one by one. And there are several books on them called the Scottish Biographies of them, Scottish Covenanters. One of the sweetest books is a book called Sweet Believing. And one of the Scottish Covenanters, I can't remember his name, but he wrote on the night before his execution the next morning, he wrote these wonderful words. Listen. Knowing that he will never see his family, his wife, his children. I think it was Lord Archibald Campbell, but I'm not for sure. And he writes this letter. And he said, farewell, beloved sufferers and followers of the Lamb. Farewell, night wanderings, cold and weariness for Christ. Farewell, holy scriptures, wherein my soul has been many a day refreshed. Farewell, reading, praying, singing. Farewell, sweet believing. And when I read that, I thought, wow, farewell, sweet believing. There is a sweetness that comes over our souls that when we can't understand what's going on, we believe the Lord is doing good. Amen? Farewell, sweet believing. Welcome, immediate presence of God and His Son, Jesus Christ. who only has redeemed me with his blood. Farewell." What wonderful words. This morning, if you're not a Christian, let me just say this. There's only one way that God is going to accept you. It's by you trusting, turning from everything else you're trusting in and trusting His Son alone by faith as He is offered in the Gospel. And Christian, in your life, God is righteous. He will not require of you anything that is not either good for you or spiritually wholesome for you. And all of your journey should be marked by faith. The saints in all this glorious war shall conquer though they die. They view the triumph from afar and seize it with their eye. And the eye of faith, this is the way of the Christian life. It is one of faith. How many times have you heard me say this? For the things that are seen are temporary. but the things that are not seen are eternal. The Christian with the eye of faith looks beyond that which is seen and sees that which cannot be seen with the eye, with the eye of faith. We're ending an old year, God willing, and beginning a new year. I don't know what is ahead of us. I don't know what will befall us. But I do know this. I know Him who has the future in His hand, and I will trust Him. As Job said, oh what wonderful words, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. And as Paul ends this section, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith unto faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Who knows where that's found? Found in the Old Testament, not in the New. Sarah, I saw that hand. Habakkuk 2.4. Bacchic 2.4, the justified one by his faith shall live. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. May God grant us this grace of faith this day and all days to come. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for your word so full, so rich, or there was more that I could say. I skipped over things, as you well know. I pray that by your Holy Spirit, you will apply this to our minds and hearts. And may we who know you as our Lord and Savior, may we find a sweetness in believing. a rest, a comfort. Grant us this grace that we will not look at the things that are seen, but look beyond them and see the things that are unseen with the eye of faith. Seal your truth to our hearts and minds and cause it to bring forth fruit that remains. And Father, not just 30-fold, but for all of us that are your people here today, not just 60-fold, make it 100-fold in our lives. And may even as I'm praying that someone who does not know Christ, who has not trusted Him as their Lord and Savior, even this very moment, call upon the name of the Lord and find salvation for Jesus' sake. Amen.