Podcasts about romans 1:16-17

In this episode Pastor Rachel teach about living life in the SpiritRomans 1:16-17Rom. 3:23Rom. 8:1Rom. 8:2Rom. 6:14Rom. 8:11Rom. 8:14-16Rom. 8:28Rom. 8:31

The Foundation for our being, character and life is the PERSON of CHRIST Himself (1Cor 3:11, Isa 28:16, Col 2:6-7). Christ is not just the Foundation for our eternal salvation, but for our very being and everyday living (Ro 1:16-17). "The RIGHTEOUSNESS of God is revealed from (saving) FAITH to (living) FAITH; as it is written: “(1) The JUST (by FAITH) shall (2) LIVE by FAITH” (v17). (1) First we are JUSTIFIED (made righteous) by FAITH. When we trust in Christ, His perfect RIGHTEOUSNESS is IMPUTED to us (put to our account) - a legal transaction based on the Great Exchange accomplished on the Cross. We stand before God on the basis of His perfect righteousness, so God accepts us, just as He accepts Jesus. Christ and His imputed righteousness is our forever, firm foundation for our eternal salvation, and our life today, and it ensures our eternal life. On this legal basis God instantly gave us the New Birth. The imparted righteousness of Christ was applied to our spirit. Now we are justified by faith, we are now to LIVE by FAITH in Christ, our living Foundation, looking to Him and leaning on Him as our Source of life, rather than trusting in our own soul. As we trust in His Life in us, He sanctifies us by His Spirit, and we receive His imparted righteousness (grace) into our souls, inspiring and empowering us to do His will (Phil 2:13). The more we submit to Him and trust in Him as our Foundation, the more He fills us with His love and empowers us with His grace. Thus He is our Foundation for our everyday life. Living by faith starts by submitting to the Lordship of Christ and opening our hearts to receive His love-gift of His Spirit and His Word to us. Then by depending on the Spirit of grace, we must put His Word into practice (Matthew 7:24-25). The first 2 Foundational Doctrines of Christ are (1) REPENTANCE from dead works and (2) FAITH toward God (Heb 6:1-2). They describe the necessary attitude of our hearts, to live our lives on Christ, living from the supply of His grace, trusting in Him as our base of operation. We must REPENT from the old way of operating from our independent soul-life, trusting in self, which only produces dead works, and instead embrace the new way of trusting in Christ as our life, which produces the fruit of the Spirit (Matt 10:39, Rom 7:6, John 6:63). The new way is living under grace, by faith in the life of Christ within us. He is the only One who can save us from the penalty, power and presence of sin. In the old way of living under law, we make laws and principles our basis for living, and try to live them out from our own soul. Sin is the opposite of holiness and righteousness. Living under righteousness brings life, but living under sin brings death. God designed us to be holy to God, filled with His Spirit of righteousness, empowering us to live a life of righteousness by trusting Him as our Source, and thereby producing good works. The essence of sin is rejecting this way of depending on God, and instead going our own way, living out from self as the centre. Our own soul-life, rather than God's life, becomes our base of operation (Isaiah 53:6). The problem of sin is on 3 dimensions. *Level 1 of SIN is the STATE of SIN (imputed sin), which is due to Adam's original sin, the representative head of the human race. When he sinned, we all sinned in Adam. This is IMPUTED SIN (Adam's sin was put to our account). All mankind are born legally in a State of Sin, simply because of being in Adam. As a result spiritual and physical death came on all men (Romans 5:12-21). *Level 2 of SIN is the SIN-NATURE or IMPARTED SIN. When Adam sinned (1) his spirit died (disconnected from God's life), (2) he received a sin-nature in his flesh (imparted sin), replacing his spirit as the controlling power over his soul, causing his soul to operate in pride, independently from God (the independent soul-life). The sin-nature is called sin (1Jn 1:8, Ro 6:6,7,11,12,14), sin in the flesh (Ro 8:3), the body of sin (Ro 6:6). We inherited a sin-nature in our flesh from Adam through physical birth (John 3:6).We were born slaves to sin (the sin-nature), and cannot set ourselves free. *Level 3 of SIN is PERSONAL SINS. We commit sins when we yield to the sin-nature in our flesh (John 8:34). Through the Cross, Christ provided the answer for all 3 dimensions of SIN. Daniel 9:24 predicts Christ will: "(1) finish the TRANSGRESSION (Adam's original sin), (2) make an end of SINS (forgiveness for personal sins), (3) make atonement for INIQUITY (our sin-nature).” (1) Jesus dealt with our STATE of SIN in Adam, by coming as the righteous 2nd Adam, offering Himself to us as our new Head. When we receive Him as our Lord, God takes us out of Adam and puts us into Christ, and His perfect righteousness is imputed to us as a free-gift. Instead of the imputed sin of Adam, we now have the imputed righteousness of Christ, and on that basis God declares us forgiven and righteous (justified by faith).

Faith

 In part 2 of What is the Gospel? we look at the gospel according to Paul. What is it and what is the righteousness that is by faith? We then take a look at the gospel message of obedience. Join us as we examine these questions in further detail continuing our journey in understanding all of the gospel. (Please Note: This is now Part 2 of 5, different from the original version of the What is the Gospel Teaching)

Romans 1:16-17

Romans 1:16-17

Jonathan Smith preaches from Romans 1:16-17 - Not ashamed of the gospel

David Donovan

David Donovan

In this message, Dr. David Jordan shares with us from Romans 1:16-17 in a message about the Reformation, Martin Luther, and the effects that changes in perspectives can have on us and the world. — FBC Decatur is a vibrant and progressive community of faith located in the heart of Decatur, GA. Here you will find people who are: learning to follow Jesus in everyday life; encountering community through authentic relationships; finding meaning by learning how to believe not just what to believe; and in learning how to believe discovering purpose through making intentional, impactful contributions to the world around them It’s our hope that your story intersects with our story at FBCD, and that with God’s help, we might write something new and meaningful together. Visit our website Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

This is a condensed service recording of Saint Athanasius Reformed Catholic Church in Fort Collins, CO on November 5, 2017. It consists of a confession exhortation, sermon, eucharist exhortation, and charge. The minister is Pr. Jack Shannon. For more information on Saint Athanasius Church see here: https://www.saintathanasiusfc.com/

"Faith Alone: The Door To Paradise", Pastor Chris Hodge

This sermon is from Saturday, January 5, 2013, our first communion service of the year.

Recorded Sun, 01 Jul 2012 10:30:00 -0400

I. The Gospel is the Power of God for Salvation Good morning. Why don't you open your Bibles to Romans 1:16-17. Two weeks ago, we had a select group of people that, I think, walked here or came by dog sled and we looked at Romans 1:16. Today, what I would like to do is try to explain some of what we said that day, but I want to concentrate on Romans 1:17. "I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith." After I graduated from college, I took a trip across the country with a friend of mine and we came to Yosemite National Park, spectacular place, and it's a favorite place for rock climbers. Now I would never involve myself in that kind of activity, especially after talking to one rock climber in particular who was a self-called free soloist. Now, I don't know if you know what free solo rock climbing is, but it involves climbing up rocks that sometimes might take two full days to get up to the top with no equipment at all. No ropes, nothing, just your hands and your feet, and your strength, and your skill. And if it takes two full days to climb up, you can imagine, after a couple of hours, you're high enough so that if you slip, no one will ever talk to you again. It's a very dangerous thing to do. And I thought to myself, "How foolish can that be? How foolish to risk your life for that kind of fun or entertainment, to risk your life for it?" But he claimed that he was good at what he did, he had a great deal of skill at it. And I would imagine so since I was talking to him and he was talking back, he was still alive. So apparently he had enough skill to survive one or two of those trips anyway. But is his foolhardiness any greater than that of somebody who walks around without the righteousness of God? Somebody who walks around apart from Jesus Christ? I would submit that that is far greater foolhardiness, and it's my goal today to explain that to you. I want you to understand the connection between Romans 1:16 and Romans 1:17. Just that simple, it's the only verses we're looking at today. I want you to understand the righteousness of God in verse 17. Now last time, we talked about the gospel. Now the gospel provides an occasion for shaming. Paul says, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel." And the reason it does is that the gospel brings out a shaming reaction in the people who hear it and don't want to hear its message. It makes you feel guilty. There's conviction, sin is discussed, judgement and the righteousness of God... And so, as a defense mechanism, an unbeliever is going to create a shaming opportunity and try to make you feel ashamed. We talked about that. But Paul says, "My freedom from shame comes from the gospel itself. I'm not ashamed of the Gospel because of the nature of the message I'm bringing. This is a glorious message, it's a great message I love this gospel message because it's the power of God for the salvation of the people who are trying to put me to shame. And so I'm not ashamed. As a matter of fact, just like Jesus Christ, I look beyond the shame to the goal, I look beyond the shame to what's on the other side." Jesus, in Hebrews 12, it says, "For the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of God." "Despising" there, in Hebrews 12, means He thought little of it. It meant nothing to Him, the shame meant nothing to Him. And what shame it was to be beaten and mocked and rejected by His people, and walk through the streets, and nailed to the cross. There was a tremendous opportunity to feel ashamed, but Christ did not feel ashamed. He despised the shame, thought little of it because there was something on the other side. It was worth it to Him to pay the price, worth it to Him. And that's the way it was for Paul, he said, "I'm not ashamed. It doesn't matter if I'm beaten in the city square and dragged into the center of the jail to spend the night. It doesn't matter, I'm not ashamed. I love this gospel message. " So we discuss that. But the center of verse 16 is that the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. And I ask, does salvation take power? Is there a power necessary for salvation? Well, there is if you understand it properly. According to Ephesians 2, all of us, apart from Christ, are dead in our transgressions and sins. Now you see the need for power. Who among us can raise ourselves from the dead? We need the supernatural power of God to raise us up, and the gospel is that power. It's power for spiritual resurrection and even more. He says, "It is the power of God for the salvation of those who believe." I did not say justification. Oh, that's part of it, yes, that's the beginning of the journey, complete forgiveness of all of your sins. What a blessed thought is that? How many are there? Do you really know how many sins you've committed in your life? You don't have the first idea. You do not know the measure of your salvation. You don't know how much God has forgiven or how much, when all is said and done, he will have forgiven you. But it's all forgiven, cleansed, if you believe this message. Power of God, for justification? No, for the whole journey, because it's the power of God also to take you from that first moment of faith when you're justified and move you along in that journey of sanctification, growing daily in holiness, moment by moment more like Jesus. It's a whole journey. It's not just the beginning. And it's the gospel that takes you there. It is powerful. It's not going to leave you the way it found you. It's transforming you. It's changing. It's the power of God for salvation. For everyone who believes, not just for the Jew, but also for the Gentile, for everybody. Let me discuss first for the Jew, then for the Gentile, and there is a certain order there, but ultimately, all of us are justified the same way by faith in Jesus Christ, Jew and Gentile. That's Romans 1:16. You got the sermon from two weeks ago in three minutes. Now some of you wonder why I can't do that every week, three minutes... But there is value to taking time, and I want to take time now in verse 17, because Paul explains in verse 17 what he meant in verse 16, why he is not ashamed and why the gospel is the power of God for salvation. He begins in verse 17 with the word "for" or "because." I'm not ashamed of the gospel because, in the gospel, the righteousness from God is revealed, the righteousness that is by faith or from faith to faith, just as it is written, and the righteous will live by faith. And so we have to ask our question. We talked about this earlier, but we have to understand it. verse 16 talks about power for salvation, the question is salvation from what? Salvation from what? II. Our Greatest Problem: The Righteousness of God Now we use a strong word like "salvation," we're talking about a great danger, aren't we? You don't use salvation for anything but a danger, and there is a great danger. Now what is the danger? And what I'm contending to you is that, interestingly enough, in one verse, we have contained both our greatest danger and our only hope, in one phrase, "The righteousness of God." It is both our greatest danger and our only hope. I'm going to explain that. One thing that I like, John Piper took this verse and rearranged it, and I like what he does. He's trying to explain to us here, in Romans 1:16-17, something we tend to miss when we think of the gospel. And he does it in an interesting way, clever way. He says, "What I'm going to do is I'm going to translate it wrongly. Actually it's not even a translation, I'm just going to put in a different word than Paul uses to try to underscore something that we need underscored." And his mistranslation reads like this, "I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile, for in the gospel the 'love' of God is revealed." The love of God is revealed. Is that what Paul says? No, it's not. Now, is the love of God revealed in the gospel? Oh, yes. I contend there's no greater demonstration of the love of God than in the gospel. Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates or displays His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners Christ died for us." You want to measure of the love of God, look at the cross, look at the cross. But Paul is not talking about love here, is he? And here's the point, we tend to think of the love of God wrongly, as though, in effect, God is saying, "I'm a loving God. I'm a kind God. I feel kind toward you, I want you to be with me, come and live with me forever in heaven." Is that the gospel message? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Does the love of God take all our unrighteousness, all our sin, and sweep it under the rug, and pretend it's not there? Is that what the gospel does? No, it does not. And therefore, this verse does not talk about the love of God. It talks about the righteousness, the righteousness of God. If it were like that, that God just says, "I'm a kind God. I'm a good God. I love you, come and be with me," this would have been a very short book. I don't just mean Romans, I mean the whole Bible. It'd be very short. Especially in Romans, you wouldn't need 16 chapters, and we certainly could skip the gruesome story of the death of the Son of God. Skip it. Wouldn't even have happened. God would just welcome all of us into heaven, everyone of us, because He's a loving God, a kind God. But there's a problem, isn't there? And the problem is the righteousness of God. He can't do that. He won't do it, because He is righteous. The Righteousness of God / The Holiness of God Now, when we are talking about the righteousness of God, there's another way to say it. We're talking about the holiness of God, His love for what is right, that righteousness is the scepter, the foundation of His throne, the holiness of God. And this is one of the major central things in the Bible, isn't it? God has to communicate to us His holiness. Does God ever tell us that He is love? Does He ever say, "God is love?" Yes, He does. Yes, He does. But He also says that He's holy. And He doesn't actually just say that He's holy, actually He says that He's holy, holy, holy. Now, is He any more holy than He is love? No. But we need to hear the "holy" three times because of who we are. We've got to hear it. We need to understand what it means. "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke." And what did Isaiah say? "Woe is me." "Woe is me. I'm ruined! For I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." Do you think that Isaiah was thinking about the love of God at that point? I think he was thinking about the holiness, the purity, the righteousness of God. Now don't misunderstand me, the love and the holiness are not arguing with each other. Oh, no. They come together beautifully in the gospel. There's no conflict in God that He is righteous and He is holy. Now what is holiness? Holiness is separation. God is separate from His creation. He's utterly unlike His creation. There's nothing in His creation that you can use to compare to Him. He said that in Isaiah, He said, "What are you going to use to compare to me? What image will you make that looks like me?" Nothing. Separate and above. But that's not the holiness I have in mind. The separation here is separation from evil, separation from sin. He says in Habakkuk 1:13, "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong." He can't even look at evil, then how in the world is He going to let us into heaven? And if you're not sure what "us" we're talking about, we'll get to it the rest of Romans 1. You'll find yourself there. That's the "us" that He's going to let into heaven. Sinful, unrighteous, unholy, filled with all kinds of evil and greed, those are the people that get into heaven. Now my questions is, "How? How do they get there?" Romans 1:17 answers the question, it answers. And so the bottom line is we depend, don't we, we absolutely depend on God's hatred of evil. You may not even know it, but you do. Suppose God didn't hate evil, suppose He loved evil, what kind of world would this be? I can't even describe it to you. What kind of demonic place we would live in? Totally devoid of anything good. But our God hates evil, and we depend on it. We're glad that He hates evil. But the fact that God hates evil ends up threatening us eternally. Do you realize that? It threatens us. Because we don't think of ourselves properly, but if God hates evil, and if we're unrighteous, His hatred of evil threatens us eternally. There's a threat involved here. Now, we'll get to understand that more fully as we go through the rest of Romans 1. But Romans 1,2 and 3 unfolds the ungodliness that we're talking about. Romans 1:18 says, "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness," or unrighteousness. And then Romans 3:10, "There is no one righteous, not even one." Do you find yourself there, in Romans 3:10? Do you see yourself there? "There is no one righteous, not even one?" "Well, except me though, Lord. I'm the one exception to Romans 3:10." No, you're not. There is no one righteous. Not the preacher, not the hearer. There is no one righteous, not even one. All right? But what does that mean? Well, according to the gospel that we're preaching here, it means that we're in trouble. It means that we're threatened, we're under wrath, we're under judgement. It's a dangerous situation. Romans 2:8, just look there "For those who are self-seeking, who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger." That's a promise, that's a gospel promise. All right? How about Romans 2:5? "But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed." There is a day coming. Romans 2:5 calls it "the day of God's wrath." It is the day when all accounts will be settled properly, everything done justly. God's kindness, tolerance and patience will end. It's over. It's the day of judgment. And that will be a day of trouble, distress, wrath and anger for everyone who is ungodly. It says in John 3:36, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." We're already there. We're already under the wrath of God. It's not like we're going to come into the wrath of God, we're already under the wrath of God. Already there. It's not a journey we make, we're there. We need to come out from under the wrath of God, we're already there. John 3:18, Jesus himself said this, Jesus himself. We should have no more authority than Paul saying it, but I'm saying it anyway. Jesus said this, He said, "Whoever does not believe in the Son stands condemned already." Already condemned. You're already under the wrath of God if you don't believe. Jesus gave us warning after warning about this. Matthew 10:28, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Be afraid of Him. Now, 21st Century Americans, and that's what we are, 21st Century Americans grossly underestimate judgment day. Grossly underestimate it. Christians and non-Christians alike, I'm only beginning to understand all the things that will happen that day. But I have preached the gospel before, and I have said this to somebody. I have explained to them the righteousness of God, I've explained to them the judgment to come, I've explained to them the forgiveness of sins available through faith in Christ, and they say, "I don't want to hear all that. I'm going to take my chances on judgment day." Now, I've set two images before you so far today, that of the free soloist rock climber and that of the man who says, "I'm going to take my chances on judgment day." Which of those two is more foolish? Do not be afraid of the one who can kill the body and after that can do nothing to you. Be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Free soloist slips and falls, he dies physically. Okay? But the other person who takes his chances on judgment day and has no interest in Jesus Christ, they fall eternally, eternally. III. Our Only Salvation: The Revealed Righteousness of God Martin Luther’s Salvation And so what I'm saying to you is simply this: Our greatest danger is the righteousness of God. Do you see it? Do you understand it? Our greatest danger is the righteousness of God. But the good news of the gospel is that our greatest hope, in fact, our only hope is the righteousness of God, in verse 17 of Romans Chapter 1. Isn't that incredible? The righteousness of God actually saves you in this verse. Now how in the world can that be? How can the righteousness, which was your greatest danger, suddenly become your only hope? Romans 1:17 explains it. This is exactly why the gospel was good news. Let's go back about 500 years. We've talked about Martin Luther before, but let's talk about him, because Martin Luther got saved on Romans 1:17. I prayed this morning openly that somebody here at First Baptist would also get saved on Romans 1:17. Can I ask the believers in the room to be praying silently that that would happen? Pray right now, that someone here would be saved by hearing and understanding the same message that saved Martin Luther 500 years ago, the righteousness of God. Pray with me. Pray silently in your heart, all you believers. But this is what happened to Martin Luther, struggling, wrestling, wrestling with his sinfulness, a sense of the judgment of God, the sentence against him, in his heart that he was under the wrath of God. And was he? Yes, he was. He wasn't wrong, but he was wrestling through his own good works. He was trying by his fasting, and by his prayer, and by going to Johann Staupitz who was his father confessor, confessing sin after sin until Staupitz didn't want to see him anymore. He said, "Bring something real to me. I don't want any more of these little sins. Bring the big ones." He was tired of seeing Luther. Luther had an overactive conscience, but he could not escape the sense of the judgment of God, and this is what he writes. This is his testimony. He says, "I greatly longed to understand Paul's Epistle to the Romans and nothing stood in the way but this one expression, the justice of God. It's the same thing, the righteousness of God, because I took it to mean that justice, whereby God is just and deals justly in punishing the unjust." He said, "I looked at it as judgment day justice, and I saw no hope for myself. I couldn't escape. There was no way out," said Martin Luther. "My situation was, that although an impeccable monk, I stood before God as a sinner troubled in conscience, and I had no confidence that my merit would take away my guilts." I am glad he had no confidence. He said, "I can't get rid of it. And therefore," listen to this, "I did not love a just and angry God, but rather hated and murmured against him." He actually said to Staupitz, "I hate God," because he couldn't escape. He found no way out. Staupitz was scandalized, stunned, and didn't know what to say. "I hate God," he said. "And yet, I clung to that dear Paul because I thought that there was something in these verses for me, something here that would save me. I didn't know what. I clung to the dear Paul, and I had a great yearning to know what he meant by the statement. Night and day I pondered until at last, I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement the just shall live by his faith." It's the end of verse 17, "The just shall live by his faith." "Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness, by which through grace and sheer mercy, God justifies us through faith. Thereupon, I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise, the whole of scripture took on a new meaning. And whereas before the justice of God had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This one passage of Paul became for me the gate to heaven." Isn't that incredible? Now what did he discover? He discovered that the very righteousness that God will require of every one of you and me, the very righteousness he requires on judgment day, he will give us as a free gift, if we receive it by faith. Do you see it? That's the gateway, this justice, this righteousness of God saves you. You put it on like a robe. It covers you. And it will cover you successfully on judgment day. It's incredible. I've just spoken the gospel to you. If you believe, you'll be covered with it, covered with it, just like Luther was. Augustine’s Struggle Saint Augustine made the same discovery hundreds of years before that. Remember Augustine, he was enslaved by passion, and lust, could not escape sexual immorality, couldn't get away from it. He knew he was under the judgment of God, he knew he was unrighteous, he could not break the power of sin in his life. And he made a startling discovery. God commands sexual purity, Romans 13:14, but in the command came something he had noticed, too. "Not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy, rather clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. What does that mean? "Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ." And this is what he wrote in his confessions. Great passage. Speaking directly, confessions. It's like one long prayer. He's just speaking to God, talking to God about his own conversion. This is his story, but he's speaking it to God. And this is what Augustine said to God, "And my only hope, my whole hope is only in your exceeding great mercy." Can all of you say that, by the way, "My only hope is in your exceeding great mercy?" If you can't, you're trusting your own righteousness. Don't cling to it, it will do you no good on judgement day. This is what Augustine said, "My only hope is in your exceeding great mercy." Now listen to this, "Give what you command and command whatever you will. You impose sexual purity on us, nevertheless when I perceived said someone that I could not otherwise obtain her except that God gave her to me, that was a point of wisdom also, to know whose gift she was." Sexual purity was going to be given to me as a gift by God. He commanded it, and then He's going to give it as a gift. "Oh, charity, my God, kindle me. You command sexual purity, give what you command, and command what you will." Do you understand that? God commands all kinds of things, doesn't he? More than you can count. Go through the Bible, 66 books, and count the commands from God. There's more than 10, lots more than 10. What did Augustine discover? Give what you command and command what you will. Righteousness of God comes as a gift. Here's a command from God, command right from the mouth of our Lord, "Be perfect therefore as your Heavenly Father is perfect." "Be perfect therefore as your Heavenly Father is perfect." Now, how are you going to work that one out? What labor, what struggle are you going to do to accomplish that command. "Give what you command, Lord, and command what you will." He will give you perfection in the gospel. Imputed Righteousness – Three Images That's what Romans 1:17 is all about. How does the gospel save believers? Romans 1:17 tells us, it's by imputed righteousness. Uh-oh, now we're into theology. This is serious. When we get into big words like imputed righteousness, it means it's given to you as a gift, that's all. The righteousness that God requires on judgment day, He simply gives you as a gift by faith. Now what is this righteousness? There's different possibilities. Could be the righteousness of God whereby He displays himself to be righteous and letting sinners like us into heaven by having Jesus die in the cross in our place. Do you see that? He's got to display His righteousness. That's Romans 3, we'll get to that. Or it could be the righteousness, whereby your sins are forgiven and you don't stand under the judgment of God, the righteousness of justification. Or it could be that righteousness that comes to you as you walk by faith and grow, and grow until at last you're glorified and become exactly like Jesus righteously speaking. Actually, the Gospel covers all of that. The righteousness of God is the whole thing. The whole thing is given to you as a gift by faith. Now, when we think about the righteousness of God, it's a moral quality or attribute of God, God is perfect, holy in all His ways. God is light and in Him there is, what, no darkness at all. Do you know that if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, someday that will be true of you? No darkness at all. None. Aren't you waiting for that day? Oh, I'm hungry for it. I want it. I want to be free from all darkness, within and without, too. All right? So, the righteous person, it says, is going to live by what? "The righteous will live by faith." But wait, wait, wait. I already quoted Romans 3:10, "There is no one righteous, not even one." And yet here's this righteous person in Romans 1:17. How do they get to be righteous? The righteousness of God comes. God makes them righteous and then they live by faith. It's the gospel. Now, I'm going to give you one clear verse that teaches this and three images from scripture, so you can hold on to this, so you can understand it. One clear verse, write this one down, it's probably in there, but I didn't put out the text. 2 Corinthians 5:21, you got to look it up. "God made Him, [Christ] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." It's the same righteousness of God. God made Christ who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. When did God make Christ sin for us? On the cross, on the cross, he took our sin. He didn't commit any sin Himself, no, morally pure, perfect. But God took our sin and put it on Jesus, and He extinguished the wrath of God when He died under the judgment of God for us, in our place. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become, what? Righteousness of God. There's an exchange. He takes your sin, your filth, your wickedness, your unrighteousness, 70, 80, 90 years of it, takes it all unto Himself. And what does He give you as an exchange? His own holiness, His own righteousness. That's the gospel. All right, that's one clear verse. What are the pictures? First one, Zechariah Chapter 3, just listen to these verses, Zechariah 3:1-5, "Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?'" "I saved him. You stop rebuking or you stop accusing." So God rebuked Satan, and then it says this, "Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, 'Take off those filthy clothes.' Then he said to Joshua, 'See, I've taken away your sin and I will put rich garments on you.'" Isn’t that beautiful? "I will clothe you richly, I'll put rich garments on you." "Then I said, 'Put a clean turban on his head.' So they put a clean turban on his head, and they clothe him while the angel of the Lord stood by." Those are sweet verses. It's a picture of judgment day, Satan there to accuse. And God shuts Satan up, shuts the accusation, takes the filth off, puts the rich robe on, picture number one. Picture number two, there was once a father who had two sons. One of the sons said, "Give me my share of the inheritance." And what does he do? Goes off and squanders it in loose living. You remember the story, "Prodigal Son." Now, what happened to the prodigal son? Well, he found himself at a very low point. You remember that? Very low point. There was a famine in the land, he couldn't get food, he couldn't do anything. And so he found himself feeding pigs, and he longed to feed himself on the food he was giving to the pigs. That is low. And that is what sin will do to you. You may already feel that, to some degree. You may see it, perhaps, in your life. Maybe not, but that's what sin does. It brings you very far from your father's house. And then suddenly, he came to himself and he said, "It's better in my father's house. I'm going to go and repent, and I'm going to ask not that I be a son but that I just be a servant in my father's house." And so he began and started on his way. I'm going to read, "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. And he ran to his son, and he threw his arms around him." What clothes do you think the son was wearing at that moment? Oh, my goodness. The clothes of a pig feeder. They must have stunk. And the father threw his arms around the son, and the son said to him, "'Father, I have sinned against heaven, against you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to the servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger, sandals on his feet.'" That's image number two. Third image, another parable of Jesus, Matthew 22. There was a king who wanted to throw a wedding banquet for his son, and he went out and told those people who were invited to the banquet to come, but they said, "I'm too busy. I've got economic responsibilities. I'm not going to come to your banquet." And he was shocked, and well should he be shocked. That was going to be a great party. You don't want to miss it. It's going to be a great banquet, a great feast. Don't miss it. And so he said, "All right. Then go out in all the streets and gather everybody you can find. Just fill the place." But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. "'Friend," he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless. And the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called but few are chosen.'" Now, I didn't make that parable up. I'm just explaining it to you. I think that that is talking about the righteousness of God. And if you're not clothed with it on judgment day, what is going to happen to you? "Tie him hand and foot and throw him outside in the darkness where there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth." You need the righteousness of God on judgment day or you will not survive. You will not survive that day without the righteousness of God. I have given you one clear verse. Second Corinthians 5:21, I've given you three clear pictures. Zechariah 3, the high priest covered in filthy robes and God says, "Put a clean robe on him." Remember? And the prodigal son covered with pig stuff, covered with mess, and the father says, "Clothe him with the best, best robe." And the third picture, the wedding banquet in which someone didn't have the proper clothes and he's thrown outside. IV. From faith to faith Verse 17 of Romans 1 says that this righteousness is a revealed righteousness. "For in the gospel the righteousness from God is being revealed." the Greek tense is that it's continually presently being revealed. You know how it's being revealed? By people like me explaining it, preaching it, that's how it's being revealed. You start to understand. You can't see this righteousness in the rising sun. You can learn other things about God when the sun comes up, but you can't see the righteousness of God that way. You have to have it revealed to you by the preaching of the gospel. In the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. Whenever the gospel is preached, the righteousness of God starts coming up in your mind and you start being hungry for it, you want it, you want to be clothed with God's righteousness, you know that your filthy rags will never do you on judgment day, and you would love an exchange. Oh, if you could just have an exchange. It's available. It's available simply by faith. Verse 17, it says, "In the gospel the righteousness from God is being revealed, the righteousness from faith to faith." This righteousness from God comes simply by faith, just believing. Faith. Romans 3:21-22, "But now righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ to everyone who believes. There is no difference, for all have sinned and lacked the glory of God." There's no difference. You all get it by faith in Jesus Christ alone. It says the same thing in Philippians 3:9, talks about this, he says, "That I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own which comes from the law, but a righteousness which is through faith in Christ, a righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." Do you see the consistent lesson? It's a gift of righteousness. It comes by faith alone. Now, listen, if the righteousness comes from God as a gift to the helpless, and if the helpless must have faith to receive it, then faith is part of the gift. Do you understand that? Faith is part of the gift. Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace are you saved through faith, and this not from yourselves." It is what? It's a gift of God. The faith that saves is a strong, powerful, enduring thing. It will survive anything. It cannot be extinguished by anything because it's from God. It's strong, it's powerful, and it saves. It comes through hearing the message, "Faith comes from hearing," Romans 10:17, but it's coming as a gift from God and it's strong. V. The Righteous Will Live by Faith And this message is for believers, too. I asked you earlier to pray, you believers, for someone who is not yet a believer, didn't I? Now pray for yourselves, because the Bible says that it's from faith to faith. In other words, step by step. By hearing this message, you grow in righteousness. By hearing this message, you grow up in your salvation. So pray for yourselves now, that you may have the faith to take the next step in your Christian life wherever you are. By faith, growing in holiness, more and more like Jesus. It says in Verse 17, "As it is written, the righteous will live by faith." Step by step, you're going to live by faith. Then pray for yourselves, "God give me faith. Strengthen my faith." And you know what he'll say? "Hear the word. Hear it again. Hear it again. Saturate your life, and your faith will grow and so will the holiness in your life. Hear this book. Hear this word. Understand and you'll grow." Ongoing faith is required. Not starting faith, but not finishing faith. The whole thing, a faith that is strong enough to survive the whole thing. It's a gift from God. First Corinthians 15:1-2, He says "Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you have received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preach to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain." Oh, there's a vain belief. Oh, yes, of course, there's a vain belief. It's a counterfeit belief. But the faith that God gives, it's not counterfeit. It will survive and endure every trial, every temptation. And it says, "The righteous will live by faith." In Habakkuk's day... That was a quote from Habakkuk. In Habakkuk's day, the threat was judgment from God by an army. An army was going to come and break down Jerusalem's walls. The army was going to come and torch Jerusalem's homes. The army was going to kill and loot and plunder. But the righteous would survive that day by faith. So will you survive that coming day, coming day of judgement, coming day of wrath? By faith in Jesus, you will stand on that day. You will survive, and you will be clothed with righteousness. It's a righteousness that doesn't belong to you. It's Jesus's. He bought it with His own blood, and He wants to give it to you. Put it on. Despair in your own righteousness. Turn your back on your own good deeds. Stop saying, "I'm basically a good person." Turn away from all of that which will drag you to hell. Put on the robe of righteousness which will take you to heaven. It's a gift, a free gift, from Jesus Christ. VI. Review and Application We've seen that our greatest problem, our greatest danger, is the righteousness of God. We've seen also that our only solution is the righteousness of God. I just want to ask you, will you believe? Will you believe? I have some other applications, read them, take them home, enjoy them. That's why I give you these little slips, but I want to step aside from that, and I want to speak directly to you. Some day, maybe in some of your cases very soon, you're going to be laying in a hospital bed and the doctor is going to come in with a certain look on his face. It's not the look you were hoping for. Your test results are in. And actually, at that moment, you've decided you really don't want to hear what he has to say, so you just simply ask, "How long? How long do I have?" And he says, "I don't know. A week, a month, I don't know. It's not good." And when he walks out of the room, you'll put your head back on your pillow, and what will you cling to then? Very soon you will see the God that I've described, holy, pure and righteous. What are you going to cling to then? Now, I may be your pastor, and I may come and try to explain some things to you. Listen now. Listen now. It's coming sooner than you think. Cling to the righteousness from God, which he offers by faith in Jesus Christ alone. Will you pray with me?

The French and Swiss reformer John Calvin said that a proper understanding of the Book of Romans opened a door to the treasure into all of Scripture. In other words, if you understand Romans properly, you get it. You get what Scripture has to offer. Another scholar said that these two verses, verses 16-17, are the thesis statement of the entire Book of Romans. So therefore, if those two ideas are true, then we're looking at two of the most significant verses you can find in all of Scripture, Romans 1:16-17. Paul says, "I'm not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the gentile. For in the Gospel, righteousness from God is revealed. A righteousness that is by faith from first to last. Just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith." That is a summary of everything that Paul wants to say in the Book of Romans. I. The Powerful Weapon of Shame, More Powerful Gospel of God And Paul begins by talking about the issue of shame. In verse 16 he says, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel." Have you ever felt ashamed of the Gospel before? Have you ever been in a situation where you're witnessing or you wanted to express to somebody, a relative, a friend, who you really were in Christ and you felt something kind of grabbing hold of you and you couldn't tell them, couldn't speak the way you wanted to? Well, I think it's good for us as Christians to try to understand what's going on at that moment, but what is this shame that we feel? Recently the Southern Baptist Convention has put out a number of prayer guides. I don't know if you've heard anything about that. They've become very much the topic of conversation. There was a prayer guide for Muslims, prayer guide for Hindus, prayer guide for Jews as well. Recently, the representative Jim McDermott, who is a congressman from the 7th district of the state of Washington got hold of the prayer guide in regard to the Hindus and he was outraged by it and he took a piece of congressional stationary and wrote an open letter to all the other representatives, congressmen, in regard to this prayer guide. And this is what he said. In an October 28th "Dear Colleague" letter, sent to all 434 of his fellow House members, McDermott charged that the Southern Baptists had an "Aggressive intolerant approach. An intolerant view that has inflamed Hindu communities worldwide." And he called on the Southern Baptists to, "End your conversion campaign directed to members of the Hindu faith." He went on to write, "We cannot understand how men and women raised and educated in the world's bastion of religious freedom and tolerance can characterize another religion as spiritually dark and false. The lack of respect that this statement shows for the basic rights of an individual to believe in whatever faith they choose, is perhaps the most disturbing." Well, I suppose that depends on your perspective. To me, what's disturbing is that an elected representative of our government would attack conversion efforts in the name of Christ. He doesn't know history very well. He doesn't know for example that the framers of the constitution were influenced in a major way by Baptists to put in religious freedom, not just tolerance but religious freedom. But yet those Baptists were active in preaching the Gospel and seeking to reach out to people through Jesus Christ. But you see what's going on in our culture today. What's going on is that tolerance has become the major ethic of our day. And if you show any intolerance at all, you have committed the sin there is to commit, and it takes a great deal of courage to stand for Christ these days in that circumstance. Now I don't know what the future holds. I don't know when the Lord will return. But if you take this attitude, this elected official taking a piece of paper and writing on it that we should not seek to convert people to faith in Jesus Christ, where will we be in 50 years? Not one of us is afraid that government officials are going to break down the doors right now and come in and stop us from worshipping. But how do we know what'll happen in the next generation or the one that follows? It's fascinating. But either way, understand that in church history, Christians have been called on to stand firm and to show courage despite prevailing attitudes in their culture. We have to some degree been lulled into a false sense of security, a feeling that we should kind of get along with the world around us, and that's just because of the unique place of America in the flow of world history. For the most part, Christians have taken their very lives in their hands when they stood firm for Christ. And there is a temptation in all of this to be ashamed, isn't there? To be ashamed of the Gospel like there's something wrong with it. Now these prayer guides put out by the International Mission Board are just informational guides on how you can pray for people of the Hindu faith, Muslim faith and how they can come to personal faith in Christ. Now what you think about that probably depends on what you think is the basic status of a human being apart from Christ. If they're basically okay, if people are basically alright and if religion just comes and helps us in our lives, then maybe there might be a reason to be inflamed or angry about one group that seemed to have the truth when there really is no truth available. Maybe that would be true, but if you believe what Romans says, that apart from God, apart from Christ, we're under wrath and under judgment and that only Jesus Christ and His death on the cross can atone for our sins, then everything changes. And further more, if Jesus is Lord and commands us to go and preach the Gospel, everything changes as well. So I think we as Christians need to come face to face with this history of shame and try to understand what it is and how much of a powerful weapon it is in the hands of Satan to stop us from doing our duty, to stop us from preaching the Gospel. Now when you think of being ashamed, of feeling shame, what pops in your mind? Suppose for example you took out a friend to lunch and you said, "Listen, I want you to get anything you want. This one's on me. I want you to enjoy yourself, have whatever you want." It's a nice restaurant, expensive restaurant, and so he said, "I don't feel right about this." You say, "Go ahead, listen, I just want to... It's my way of saying thank you." Just to help him out, you order the most expensive thing on the menu yourself, etcetera. Time comes to pay and you can't find your wallet anywhere. What do you think you'll feel at that moment? Shame. And also a bit of anxiety about how many dishes you're going to have to wash to get out of that restaurant that day. Shame. Well how about this, suppose... Picture a 12-year old boy who's the best basketball player in his class and he's used to boasting about it. And suppose a new kid comes in from out of state and he starts talking and begins boasting over this other new guy. And so the other guy says, "Well, I like to play basketball. Why don't we get together and play?" And so the braggart sends word around, everybody shows up and this new kid in a very humble way, wipes up the court with him. How do you think that that 12-year old is going to feel? He's going to feel a sense of shame. Or how about this, suppose you're the lead in a play. And the time comes for you to step out, it's your first real play and the flood lights are on and you open your mouth and nothing comes out, nothing. Your mind is blank. And you know that you should be saying something because everyone's looking at you kind of funny. And they know you should be saying something too. What are you going to feel at that moment? I'd feel a sense of shame. Or how about if a family member gets arrested for a crime and the family name is dragged through the mud. And you are shown on TV standing near this person, maybe a father or mother, child, son or daughter, feel a sense of shame. Now what's the common denominator in all those four cases? I think it's the audience, isn't it? It's someone watching. And not only that, but they're assessing, they're weighing you. And from childhood, even from infancy, you have a sense of that audience, don't you? A sense of people around you who are assessing your behavior, assessing what you're saying. And when we start to feel shame when certain things come on us, we decide we don't like that feeling, we hate the feeling of shame. And so we begin to work in a kind of a coping mechanism way. And what is it? It's to never put ourselves in a position to be ashamed. We're never going to say something that isn't pleasing. We're never going to fail to satisfy. We're always going to please the audience. Well in many cases, that's just being socially adept. There's nothing wrong with that. Except when it comes to this issue of the Gospel. And so we need to understand how it is that Satan uses this sense of shame to hold us back. I think as we read the Scriptures, the greatest occasion for shame is not the preaching of the Gospel, this power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, it's not that at all. It's Judgment Day. When everything we've ever said and done, when the secrets of the heart will be exposed and revealed before a just and holy God. Now imagine that as an audience. Imagine the Holy of Holies, the holiest place, and all of God's holy angels standing there, and Jesus Christ in His righteousness, opening the books. Imagine that. Now it says in Romans 6:21, that all of our sin now is cause for shame even now. It says in Romans 6:21, "What benefit did you reap at that time from those things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death." Now that we've been trained by the Gospel, we understand sin properly and it makes us feel ashamed. It's the very same thing that Adam and Eve felt when they were caught in their sin and wanted to hide from God, a sense of shame connected with sin. But how about this one, in Mark 8:38, Jesus spoke in this way, "If anyone is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His Father's glory with all His holy angels." In other words, if you're ashamed of Me, I'll be ashamed of you. Very plain, Jesus speaking very plainly. We are not to be ashamed of Him in this corrupt world, we're not to be ashamed of Him and His words, for He is holy and He is righteous. And he has brought, a Gospel message of salvation to the world. I think there's an exhortation in 1 John 2:28, which I know the college and career class had the chance to look at earlier. 1 John 2:28 says, "And now dear children, continue in Him so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed of His appearing." Confident and unashamed. So we're supposed to walk with Jesus step by step, so that we will not feel ashamed when Jesus returns. But the best part of all is the fact that the Gospel, this power of salvation, removes all of our shame. Isn't that marvelous? Romans 9:33 says, "See I lay a stone in Zion that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. But he who trusts in Him will never be put to shame." Isn't that beautiful? Trust in Jesus Christ means you'll never be put to shame. And that includes on Judgment Day, when the Lord returns. Jesus Christ is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to those who do not believe. But for us He is precious, isn't He? He is that which removes all of our shame. And the most, perhaps, shocking aspect of this whole thing is in Hebrews 2:11, that Jesus Christ, it says here, "Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers." Isn't that amazing that Jesus isn't ashamed to call you by name? Say "I know him. I know her. They're adopted into My family, not ashamed of them." Isn't that marvelous? Now, He would have every reason to be ashamed of us in Holy Heaven, but He's not because of the atoning sacrifice which He gave. But in this present world, that Jesus, in all of His perfection and power and all of His love, is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Now last week, I talked about Paul's obligation, remember? Paul had a sense of indebtedness. He felt himself indebted, not to God. Not to God in that verse. Remember that if we try to work out our debt, we are actually paying off our salvation on mortgage, we can't do that. We can't earn our salvation either beforehand or afterwards, either way. But he felt an obligation or debt to gentiles of all different kinds, both the wise and the foolish, the cultured and the un-cultured, and the debt of obligation was the Gospel message. He wanted to give them the Gospel so that they might be saved. But the fascinating thing is, as he goes in here and describes in verse 16, that he's not ashamed. He knows very well that not everyone to whom he owes the Gospel, is going to be very appreciative when he discharges his debt. They're actually going to heap shame and abuse on him. They're going to seek to shame him. Shaming behavior is part of a sinful response to the Gospel and it's something that you have to be ready for. Now Paul knew very well. He said, "We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks." Not everyone's going to respond well. Not everybody is going to be enjoying this Gospel message. Some of them will even persecute him openly. They'll take that shaming behavior and try to pour it on him in terms of persecution. In Acts 16:22 and following, it says “The crowd joined the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten.” The shame to be stripped and beaten in front of everybody. “After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.” Were Paul and Silas ashamed? Oh, they were shamed, but they were not ashamed, because that very night, they were singing praise and worship songs to God in that Philippian jail. They didn't have any sense of shame inside their hearts. There were external shames being heaped on them, but it didn't take root inside them. They were not ashamed. Paul says, "I'm not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God for salvation." But understand that shaming behavior is intrinsic to the rejection of the Gospel. When you take this Gospel message out there, try to share it with your friends, with your relatives, with non-Christians all around you, they're going to try to heap abuse on you. They're going to try to shame you. It's their defense mechanism. Why? Because the Gospel message makes them feel guilty. The conviction comes and they need to shift the blame, they need to move it to someone else and they heap it on you. They bring that shame and they bring it down to you. In the cultural revolution in China in the 1960s, Christians were made to wear dunce caps and wear these humiliating signs and they were paraded through the streets. And the crowds were whipped into frenzy because there were communists, young communists, in the crowds and basically observing everybody who wouldn't heap abuse and shame on the Christians. And if you were included with them, you were pushed out and you had a dunce cap pretty soon. So just out of fear, they would heap abuse. Can you imagine what it would feel like to walk through the streets with that kind of shame being heaped on you? But Paul says, even if that happens to you, you don't need to be ashamed. You don't need to feel the shame within. They will heap the abuse on you, but you don't have to feel the shame. I remember when I was just... On a biographical note. When I was a unbeliever, my junior year at MIT, there was a guy who was trying to lead me to faith in Christ, and his name was Steve, and Steve was a faithful witness. Invited me to a number of Campus Crusade for Christ activities, a number of things. And as he did, I grew more and more... I didn't like him, I guess more and more as time went on. And finally the time came when he would come to sit near me at a meal and I would get up and move my plate to another place, and I'd come back and get my silverware and move that and I'd get my glass and move it. It took three trips. I wanted it to take five or six. I was trying to shame him. I wanted him to feel badly. Why? Because of my own guilt before God. Steve bore it so patiently. Ultimately he led me to Christ. It's just intrinsic to non-Christians to take that feeling they have and to heap abuse and shame on those who seek to lead them to Christ. But how do we triumph over it? Well, we triumph over it by understanding what it is we're about. Understanding the Gospel. I'm not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. Preaching the Gospel creates shaming opportunities, but it does not create shame on the part of the one who brings it, because the Gospel gives freedom from shame. The Gospel gives freedom from our own shame and guilt, but it also helps us to understand what that person is going through. It helps us to understand where they're at spiritually and how much they need the Gospel message. The best example of all is Jesus Christ. In Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2, he says, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising its shame and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in Heaven." It's very interesting. Jesus received the shaming behavior, didn't He? They sought to heap shame on Him. Think of all the things He went through. He went through a mockery of a trial in which His own people disowned Him, said, "We will not have this man rule over us." And they chose Barabbas instead of Him. They wove a crown of thorns and put it on His head. They put a cheap robe on Him and the Romans played their usual game of setting up, as they believe, a dunce to be an emperor and they would mock worship Him. They were mocking Him. They were trying to shame Him. They beat Him. Ultimately He was, just like the Chinese Christians many centuries later, led through the streets and mocked and shamed and ultimately crucified. A sense of shame being poured on Him, but was He ashamed? No, He was not. It says in this verse that, "Jesus for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and sat down at the right hand of God." So He looked beyond the cross, He looked beyond all the shame to what He was achieving, what He was accomplishing. The joy set before Him. And you know the joy? It was His joy in your joy. That's what it was. It was His joy in your salvation. His joy in the look that will be on your face when you're welcomed into Heaven, forgiven of all your sins. It was worth it to Him. And so therefore it says that He despised the shame. Now the word 'despise' is interesting. You can take it this way. He hated the shame. You can say, "I despise this, or I despise that. I despise this certain kind of food," means you hate it. You have a strong negative aversion to it. Well, it's possible that that's what it means there in Hebrews. That Jesus, to some degree, was looking at shame as a messenger from Satan, looking at shame as an instrument of the devil to keep Him from fulfilling His mission on the cross. But I think actually it's... We take the word despise a little bit differently there. To despise could also mean to think little of. To look at and say, "I just think very little, I think lightly of you. I think lightly of this issue." To despise means to think in a light way, to assess it away and say, "It's light, it's not even worth considering." Not even worth weighing compared to what's going on here. I think that's what Jesus did, He looked at the shame and He thought little of it for the joy that was set before Him, He was willing to bear under it. That's the secret to overcoming shame. You are going to bring the Gospel to people who will try to shame you. You don't need to be ashamed, it's a glorious Gospel. It's the power of God for salvation. You understand why they're heaping shame on you, you may have done the very same thing. You may have done the same thing when somebody tried to lead you to Christ, you understand it. You look beyond it for the joy set before you that you might see someone come to faith in Christ. And it gives you the courage to continue preaching the Gospel. Back in the '60s, Alistair Begg, preacher in Cleveland area, said that the shaming behavior ran like this, in the '60s it was something like this. "I can't believe you think this is really true. I can't believe you think this is true." And so back then, Christians spent a lot of time on what we call apologetics. You know, learning ways to defend the Bible, the resurrection, all the evidence, Josh McDowell was big in this. And that's all still true and valid. But we're not saying that anymore, that's not the shaming behavior of the '90s. Now it's, "I can't believe you think there is truth. I can't believe you are so arrogant to think you have the truth." That you are some kind of intolerant bigot if you really claim that you have the truth. That's the shaming behavior of the '90s now into the year 2000. We have to understand that. The world around us is going to try to do that, we have to get past it in that same way that Jesus did. II. How is the Gospel the Power of God for Salvation? Well now we have to understand in what way is the Gospel the power of God for salvation. It says, "I'm not ashamed of the Gospel because it's the power of God for salvation." Well, first we have to ask, what is the salvation that Paul has in mind here? Many of us, even Evangelicals, tend to think of salvation as equal to justification. The moment that we are converted, the moment we become Christians, we're born again, that is salvation. So we have a kind of static view of salvation. In other words, once saved, always saved. We go up to somebody and say, "Are you saved, brother?" this kind of thing. And instead we neglect the fact that there's a dynamic aspect to salvation. Justification is once for all time. There's a moment that we give our lives to Jesus and all of our sins, the guilt for all of our sins, the record of all of our sins, is thrown into the deepest ocean, gone forever. If you're a Christian today, all of the guilt of your sins is taken away forever. Praise God! But that's not all there is to salvation. There's more to salvation, there's something after it. Sanctification, walking with Jesus, growing in holiness. And so it says in Philippians 2:12 that we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in us. What is He working in us? To finish salvation, it's not done yet. If you're alive now on earth, it's not done yet. And as a matter of fact, for every human being that ever lived, it's not done yet because you don't have your resurrection body yet. Salvation takes you from dead in transgressions and sins, through justification, through growth and holiness and sanctification on into perfection, in Heaven, with a resurrection body. That's salvation. I quoted a verse earlier, which I love, "Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed." Doesn't that show you that there's still yet some salvation to come? And that salvation will be fully revealed to you on Judgment Day when you see Him face to face. Well, does all this take power? In what sense does it take power? Well we use the word power as a creative force. We think of God saying, "Let there be light!" And there was light. That takes power, doesn't it? Did God show His power when He created the universe? Oh yes He did, you can't even imagine. We've only begun to unlock the power even just of the atom, for example. There's tremendous power in creation, but there's also power in redemption, in the salvation that God has given us. Power. Power, we use that word as something which affects a change which transforms a situation. And that's exactly what salvation is. Now what was our situation? Well, this brings us back to the prayer guides. If we're basically okay, if we're basically good, then it doesn't really take much power. But if Ephesians, for example, 2:1 is true, that we are dead in our transgressions and sins in which we used to live as we followed the ways of the world, and the ruler of the kingdom of the air. If that's who we were, dead in transgressions and sins while we lived, living dead spiritually, then you can see the power it takes for salvation. The best picture of salvation, I think, that I've ever found in the Bible is the resurrection of Lazarus in John Chapter 11. The resurrection of a dead man, dead four days, no hope, without hope. He's dead. And yet Jesus comes and now he's alive. That's power. And I'm telling you, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, all those Mesopotamian cultures, through the Romans and the Greeks, all the cultures that have ever been in history have no power over death and the grave, do they? They have been shown singularly powerless before the grave but one man has shown power over the grave and that's Jesus Christ. And so in Ephesians 1 and 2, there's a picture of power, just as Jesus was raised from the dead and now went through the heavens and sits at the right hand of God. So also you, united with Christ, raised from the dead spiritually, moving through life inexorably, unstoppably, you are going to be moved on through sanctification, into glorification, and that takes power. And according to Romans 1:16 the power comes from the Gospel message. As you hear the Gospel message even as a believer, as you hear the Gospel message you are moved along in your salvation and you continue. If you're dead in your transgressions and sins, just like Spurgeon, you hear and you believe and you're saved, that's power. It says in 1 Corinthians 15 this is what you have to look forward to. If you're a believer in Christ, listen to these verses, this is your future. 1 Corinthians 15:42-43, "So it will be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, the body that is raised is incorruptible." Isn't that great. It is sown in dishonor, no matter what we try to do at a graveside service there's a sense of dishonor. There's mud there and sometimes it rains and there's grief, there's a sense of emptiness and dishonor. But it's sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in what? Power. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ that's the power of the Gospel. It's going to get you up out of the grave. Now that's a powerful message. How can we be ashamed of that message, we're going to people who are dead in their transgressions and sins and we're offering them eternal life in the name of Jesus Christ. Power. Well, there's a second way to understand power and that is authority. For example a magistrate has the power to do this, a senator has the power to do that, a king or dictator has all power in his land, etcetera. All right, well how is salvation or the Gospel a declaration of God's authority and power? Well, He is the judge is He not? He is the one who's going to sit on Judgment Day. And He's the only one who matters. If He says that you're righteous, you're righteous. And if He says that you're holy, you're holy. And if He declares you to be a child of God, you're a child of God. He has the authority to do that. And Jesus uses the word power in this way in Mark's Gospel, he says "The Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins." That's authority. He has the right to say, "Your sins are forgiven." And that's the Gospel message. So we go out with a authoritative message. "You believe this message, I have the authority given to me by Jesus Christ to declare that your sins, all of them, are forgiven." That's a powerful message, the Gospel is the power of God for salvation. Well, who is it a power for? It's a power for salvation to those who believe, and actually the Greek should be translated better, it's the power of God for the salvation of everyone who is believing. Is believing. It's a better translation. In other words ongoing faith is the condition for the salvation. Faith comes by the hearing of the Gospel message. As I stand and speak the Gospel message to you, faith is strengthened. Faith comes from hearing the Gospel. And as you hear this Gospel message and the faith comes, it comes as a gift from God, doesn't it? Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace are you saved through faith and the faith is not of yourselves it, namely the faith, is a gift of God. Not by works so that no one can boast." So the faith comes and it comes through hearing the message. So you Christians, you keep listening to the Gospel message and what happens, your faith gets stronger. You say, "Wow, I want to fight sin, I want to get out there and fight, I'm ready to go. Let me go." That's why I wanted you to come today. I couldn't cancel this. You've got a week full of temptation ahead of you, do you understand what temptations are going to face you this week? Are you ready? Are you ready? This message gets you ready. You need to fight and stand firm and say no to sin. And as you listen to the Gospel message you get ready, you are prepared, faith is strengthened. That's why Paul says in verse 15, "That's why I'm eager to preach the Gospel to you who are at Rome." Eager to do it. Even if it is a blizzard, a North Carolina blizzard, I'm eager to preach. I'm eager that you might have the faith to stand firm and to grow in your salvation. A faith that starts but doesn't finish is vain, it's a vain faith. 1 Corinthians 15:1-2, "Now brothers I want to remind you of the Gospel I preached to you, which you have received and on which you have taken your stand, by this Gospel you are saved if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you, otherwise you have believed in vain." A faith that starts but doesn't finish isn't from God. It's not that Ephesians 2:8-9 faith that is the gift of God. That faith finishes 'cause it's from God. The faith that starts and doesn't finish is not from God. It's a vain faith. We need to keep believing, and what keeps us believing is a hearing of the Gospel. III. The Priority of the Jews: What It Means, What It Doesn’t Mean And who is it for? It's for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and then for the Greek or the Gentiles, for everyone it's not just for Jews, it's for us too. Amen? You're not Jews and yet here you are hearing about this Gospel message, it's for you. It's for everyone who believes. Barbarians, Scythians, slave or free, doesn't matter. Male or female that doesn't... No category is excluded, but there's people... There will be people represented from every tribe and language and people and nation, believing the same Gospel message. It's for everyone who believes, everyone. Now what does Paul mean by, "First for the Jew, then for the Gentile"? What is this priority of the Jews. Well there's a different sense in which the Jews are first, first of all they were the chosen people of God, you've heard of that before. Deuteronomy 14:2, "You are a people holy to the Lord. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth the Lord has chosen you to be His treasured possession." Deuteronomy 7:7, "I did not choose you because you were the most numerous people on earth." Well we could add, "Nor the most godly, or the most attractive, or any of that. But I chose you because I loved you. Sovereign love, I just set my love on you, that's why I chose you." And then it says, and I love this in Amos 3:2, "You only have I chosen of all the families on the earth." They're His chosen people. One of those Prayer Guides was for the Jews, have you heard about that one? Yeah. Maybe you have. Recently the president of Southern Seminary, Albert Mohler was on Larry King Live. Last week I think it was. And he had to answer certain charges that he was preaching the Gospel to the Jews. Yes he was. He was guilty as charged. So is the Apostle Paul. To the Jew first and also the Gentile. "I preach the Gospel to Jews," says Paul, they need it. And this is what Dr. Mohler said and he was facing some incredible antagonism, even hatred, shame shall I say, heaped, with millions of observers. "Are you saying that, Dr. Mohler, that if everybody doesn't believe exactly what you believe, they're going to burn in hell forever and ever?" And how would you as a Christian answer that one? Knowing... "Yes sir, that's what I believe." What he said was... And he's just able to communicate so well. He said, "First of all, we did not make up this Gospel. We have come to believe it. It was given to us and we believed it and we're preaching it in obedience." That's a good answer. But the fact of the matter is that shaming behavior comes even in relation to preaching to the Jews. But what Dr. Mohler said is we are not saying that the Jews are more needful of the Gospel than any other group, just not less needful either. You see, they need the Gospel just like we do, we all need it. To the Jew first and then to the Gentile. And the Jews are also guardians of the Old Testament Scripture. In Romans 3:1 it says "What advantage then is there in being a Jew or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way. First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God." What are the very words of God in Romans 3:1? The Old Testament. They were given the prophets, they were given Moses, they were given Jeremiah and Isaiah. They were entrusted and they took care of them, didn't they? They copied letter by letter. They guarded the scriptures, they just didn't understand them, they weren't ready for the Messiah that came but they were entrusted with the scriptures. And it also is true that the Gospel came first to them chronologically because they had the message of the prophets, they received this message first, chronologically. And Jesus himself said in John 4:22, "Salvation is from the Jews." He's speaking to the Samaritan woman, remember. He said salvation is from the Jews. In other words, the Messiah for the world, the Savior for the world is Jewish, He's Jewish. Jesus Christ was a descendant of David, descendant of Abraham. He kept the law in Galatians 4. He was Jewish and so salvation is from the Jews. First from the Jews and therefore the Gentiles, you Gentiles are seen to be grafted into a Jewish olive tree. We'll get to that in Romans 11. You grafted in, grafted in as a wild olive shoot into a Jewish olive tree. You are saved by a Jewish faith. The fulfillment of the Jewish faith. To the Jews first. And then strategically the Jews... I mean the apostle Paul began in Jerusalem, started in a Jewish land and moved out, and everywhere that Paul went as an apostle in every community, where did he go first? He went first to the synagogue, right? To the Jew first and when they rejected, he says in Acts 13, "It was necessary for us to speak the Word of God to you first. But since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life we now turn to the Gentiles." But their strategy was always go to Jews first, to the Jews first. And then finally, there's a priority of the Jews on Judgment Day for both blessings and curses. They get it first, whatever they're going to get. This is very interesting. In Romans chapter two verse nine and 10 it says, "There'll be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. But glory, honor and peace for everyone who does right." First for the Jew, then for the Gentile." Priority on Judgment Day, either way, whether for blessings or curses they get it first. "To him who has been given much, much is expected," says God. They get it first, either way. In what way do the Jews not have priority? First of all, there is no priority in merit before God. Romans 3:9, "What shall we conclude then, are we any better we Jews, are we any better? Not at all. We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin." That's what Romans 3:23 says. Romans 3:22 says, "There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." There is no difference between what and what? Between Jew and Gentile. We're all under sin. Secondly there's no priority in how they were saved. Is God the God of Jews only? Romans 3:29 and 30, "Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too. Since there's only one God who will justify the Jews, the circumcised by faith and the non-Jews through that same faith." We get saved the same way. We get saved the same way, Romans 10:12-13,"For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him, for everyone, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." So there's no difference in terms of how they're saved, no difference in sinfulness, no difference in how they get out of their sinfulness, same way. And finally no difference in terms of covenant blessings now. There's been a dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile, it's removed. There were distinctions before, they're gone now. And so it says in Ephesians 3:6,"This mystery is that through the Gospel, the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body and shares together in the promise in Christ Jesus." There's no difference in the blessings either, we all get the same, isn't that great? So we've explained, to the Jew first and also the Gentile, in what sense are they first and what sense are they not first. IV. Summary and Application So far as we've looked at Romans 1:16, we've seen, number one, that we are not to be ashamed of the Gospel. The Gospel produces shaming behavior in those who will not believe its message. Be ready for it, understand what's going on and realize that on the other side of it, there's joy, on the other side of it, is salvation. Despise the shame, think nothing of it. Pay the price and see people saved as we preach the Gospel. The Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of believers, the Gospel alone has power to present you holy before God on Judgment Day. Salvation is not just conversion, but it's a whole journey that takes you from the spiritual grave to the spiritual heights of reigning with Christ. It has power to change you, the Gospel has power to transform you and the Gospel has authority to declare you righteous on Judgment Day. And therefore believers are to continue believing its message, they're to feed on the message daily, they're to take it in, they're to come to church, hear the message preached and be strengthened by it so that they can continue growing in their salvation. And we've also come to understand what the Jew first means, priority of the Jews, they're a chosen people of God, guardians of Scripture. Chronologically they were first. Salvation is from the Jews, announced first to the world by Jewish apostles and then ultimately Jews will be first on Judgment Day for receiving both blessings and curses. We've also seen what it does not mean. It does not mean that they are first in righteousness before God for all have sinned. It doesn't make a difference in terms of how they are saved, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And it has no difference in terms of covenant blessings, for we all get the same blessings in Christ. Now how do we apply this to ourselves? At first is to ask yourself a question, "Are you now or have you ever been ashamed of the Gospel? Have you ever been ashamed of the Gospel?" Immerse yourself in this message, understand what a glorious message this is. And by faith, with a vision past this moment, past this uncomfortable interaction with a boss or coworker or relative, past and see Judgment Day and see the glory that waits anyone who believes the message that gets you past the shame. Are you feeding on the Gospel daily? Are you feeling your strength, through faith growing, so you can put sin to death. Ultimately have you come to faith in Christ yourself? Have you given your life to Him? He died on the cross. As I said at the beginning, "Look to Him and be saved all you ends of the earth." Put your trust in Him and realize that the Jews and the Hindus and the Muslims, no one group, has any less need for a salvation through the same Gospel message than anyone else. Stand firm for that. Understand there is no other name under heaven given to man by which must be saved. Let's close in prayer.