Fully Persuaded, Part 4

I have a lot of favorite verses
of. Him, but that is probably my
favorite half verse, the way to get away with having an additional
favorite verse. Jesus sought me when a stranger
wandering from the fold of God, and it always reminds me of John
chapter nine, where not only did Jesus give the blind man
sight, But then he went back and sought him out again in order
to restore to him spiritual sight. And in a sense, is my own testimony. And that’s why I love that verse. Paul had promised the Romans,
had intended to visit the Romans, had entertained the Romans and
probably even stirred the Roman church up with his suggestion
that he intended to visit them soon. He had promised them on
more than one occasion that he intended to come and to see them.
And it’s, I suppose, just human nature that. The Romans were probably a little
irritated with Paul, if not suspect, they probably doubted even his
integrity. Having told them more than once
that he intended to be with them and then over the course of 20
years, dropping the ball repeatedly, at least in their perspective.
But what Paul wants them to know more than anything. They can chide his integrity.
It wasn’t because of a lack of integrity and Paul knew that
it was because of God’s program in Paul’s life, something we
all often forget, isn’t it? when we make promises and state
our intentions. But Paul, the very thought that
the reason Paul had not yet visited Rome was because he might be
timid or ashamed of the message that he bore, that that didn’t
sit well with him. That didn’t sit well with Paul
at all. You know, if there’s anything that Paul wants the
Romans to know at the outset of this great epistle. As we
begin to wrap up this, what is considered the introduction.
What Paul wants them to know above all else is that he was
not ashamed of the gospel. There were many other circumstances,
many other factors that impinged his ability to go and visit them.
But a shame. Ashamed of the gospel that that
was not one of them. If you would, I want to go back
to verse 13 of chapter one, we’ll take a running start and wrap
up in verse 17. We’re again, we’ll conclude our
consideration of this introduction this morning. Paul wrote to the Romans, and
I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned
to come to you and have been prevented thus far in order that
I might obtain some fruit among you. Also, even as among the
rest of the Gentiles, I am under obligation both to Jews, pardon
me, both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. Thus, for my part, I am eager
to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not
ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God for
salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. For in it, the righteousness
of God is revealed. From faith to faith as it is
written, but the righteous man shall live by faith. Paul didn’t need any coaxing. Paul didn’t need any convincing,
coercing. Paul was fully persuaded to go
and to preach the gospel wherever God opened the doors. Paul was
not ashamed. Paul was not afraid. Paul did
not desire to hold back on the message that God had given to
him, because as we have been looking, Paul first and foremost
knew that it was the gospel of God. That’s what he called it
in verse one. It’s God’s message. It’s God’s good news. Not only
was it the gospel of God, it bore the power of God. It had
the ability to transform, change lives. And as we began to see
last week, Paul was convinced, he was fully persuaded, he had
a passion to preach the gospel in Rome, not only because it
was the power of God and the gospel of God, but it communicated
the righteousness of God. How sad, then, if it can even be entertained. The
suggestion that I’ve made over the past weeks is that though
the gospel is in great focus in nowadays, and I’m not I’m
not unhappy about that. I’m glad that so many are preaching
the gospel. I’m glad that so many claim to
be gospel centered. There’s nothing wrong with calling
yourself missional as long as you are. There’s nothing wrong
with identifying yourself as being missional, that is having
the intent to promote the gospel. The concern was, though. As I
expressed several weeks ago, I think in many cases this Identifier
of being missional, of being gospel centered, of being all
about the gospel is nothing more than a fad. And I know that’s
a strong statement. But I believe it. Because as
I showed you several weeks ago, so many elements of the true
gospel remain unattached. Uncommunicated in
the current version of the gospel, the gospel is just a shell of
what it ought to be. There is no sin. There is no
wrath of God. There is no passion. To rise
in newness of life, to serve Christ with everything in us,
it is salvation on my terms, it is the Christian life on my
terms and the church itself is optional. Not for Paul. Not for Paul. Paul, from the
very moment of this epistle, has communicated that he was
all out for the gospel, that it is the gospel of God, the
power of God, because it communicates the righteousness of God. And
that’s where we picked up last Lord’s Day. We want to conclude
verse 17 this morning, as we have been considering it last
week, we looked at the simple statement for in it, the righteousness
of God is revealed and we focused first and foremost on righteousness.
What is righteousness? That word that is used of God,
it’s used of the Lord Jesus, it’s used of men to speak of
being virtuous, upright, pure in life, one who conforms to
a standard. the verb form of that, it was
interesting to note, means to declare or pronounce righteous,
which in some people’s mind creates no little confusion since they
believe that they have been declared literally righteous. As we began
to consider and we will review again this morning, it isn’t
us who is suddenly made righteous before God. It’s not us who are
literally righteous in God’s eyes. It is Christ’s righteousness
that comes into view. We are seen as being in Christ,
and Christ is seen as being perfectly righteous, and we are given that
grand privilege of standing behind Him and in Him. Because it’s
precisely in our natural state that righteousness that we lack.
We are not righteous, we are not conformed to the standard
of God’s law and as sinners, just like we talked about for
weeks on end, we are anything but righteous. As a result of the fall of Adam
and Eve. We are inherently sinful. We
have a complete inability from the moment we’re born to please
God. We desperately need God’s righteousness. We desperately need God to step
in and to interpose righteousness of his own. Or we will perish. When we began to consider that
statement, the righteousness of God. We notice the righteousness
of God there cannot just stand coldly as an attribute merely
of God. Because it goes on to point out
that this righteousness is a righteousness that we inherit by faith, that
is a righteousness that is achieved without law, that it is a righteousness
that is a gift of God. Not our own, but from God. And
so we saw that the righteousness spoken of here, the righteousness
of God, is the righteousness of which God is the author. God
set the standard. God is the standard. And God
applies that standard by his grace to us through the Lord
Jesus Christ. God couldn’t ignore or lower
the standard of what was required by sinners. And so he sent his
own son to meet his own perfect standard. He said the Lord Jesus
Christ is that perfect, unblemished, spotless lamb, which lamb we
celebrated last Lord’s Day in communion. The Lord sent the Lord Jesus
Christ. To be our penalty. So that we,
in turn, might become the righteousness of God in him. That’s God’s design. And we saw
that there were a number of views of how one might attain righteousness. You can either start from the
standpoint of the idea that man is basically good and all you
do is practice your righteousness before God until it is perfected.
We saw that that was a hopeless fraud. The Roman Catholic view
is not much better, that God somehow makes us new and we are
made perfect, we are made perfectly righteous before him. That cannot
possibly be the truth. And so we began to consider. What scripture has to say. Believe
the correct position is, as one said, the righteousness for which
we are justified is neither anything done by us nor wrought in us,
but something done for us and imputed to us. It is the righteousness
of God. that is given to us. I called
it last week. I referred to it as so many have
over the years. The great exchange where we put
all of our sins upon the Lord Jesus and he puts all of God’s
righteousness upon us. What a great exchange indeed. And it is there that we left
off last week. And essentially, what we’re considering
As we move forward, this morning is the great doctrine of justification. It’s a doctrine that really.
Gets far too little attention. In our day and age, when you
think that this is, as we talked about last week, this great exchange
where we hand over our sin and we are bequeathed The robe of
righteousness, the righteousness of God because of what Christ
accomplished. No wonder it’s called the great
exchange. It’s the greatest opportunity mankind has ever been given.
In a sense, we should talk about justification every Sunday. We’re
for sure going to talk about it this Sunday, if you would
go back to verse 17. Paul says. For in it, and he’s remember,
he’s stringing together a line of reasoning here, three reasons
in succession of why he was eager to preach. He was eager to preach
because it was the gospel of God, the power of God and the
righteousness of God. For in it, that is in the gospel,
the righteousness of God is revealed. In what sense can it be said
that the gospel of God is the power to salvation? This is where
he provides the answer, because in it, in the gospel, the righteousness
of God is revealed. Now, mind you. Righteousness
had already been in focus for the nation of Israel. They already
knew well of a righteous standard, they knew the law, they had the
law. They knew of God’s holiness,
that God constantly was presented before them as one who was austere
and removed from them, one who was holy in all of his ways. And his just dealings with men,
nobody treated people so justly, so righteously as God did. But
they also knew because of the hundreds of years of their own
human effort that to live perfectly according to the law was an impossible
task. And it left them far short of
God’s righteous standard. And this is where the gospel
enters the scene. To answer this great need, a
new revelation bearing the news that mankind most needed to hear. How to secure God’s righteousness,
how to meet that divine standard. It had been promised by the prophets
for centuries, it had been spoken of, but now it had come to full
revelation by means of the gospel. Jesus Christ had come and the
gospel, the good news of all that he had accomplished, all
that he was, all that he had brought. brought with it the
message, the message that Paul is prepared to boldly proclaim
in it, that is, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. And it’s not just that we get
a further glimpse, it comes into full view. We see the righteousness
of God like it’s never been seen. It’s as if it’s never been seen
at all, that we see it in its such great fullness. Martin Luther,
the great reformer. It is recorded that he one day
realized what was meant by these very words. And he struggled
with the righteousness of God by faith. How is it that one
who was brought up in a system of works, earning his way, crawling
on his knees in pursuits of salvation, He realized that what was meant
here was not God’s retributive justice, but the righteousness
that was freely imputed to the sinner by God’s sovereign grace. It was on the basis of Christ’s
substitutionary atonement, Luther discovered, and it made the sinners
own possession by means of God given faith. That part took Luther
no little time to grasp. But in the end, it is recorded
that God’s gracious verdict of righteousness was pronounced
upon the sinner. God does not want to save us
by our own righteousness, but by an extraneous righteousness,
one that does not originate in ourselves, but comes to us from
beyond ourselves, which does not arise on Earth, but comes
from heaven. See, Luther realized Luther realized
that all of his works, even if he perfected them, would be as
nothing more than filthy rags in God’s eyes. But the righteousness
of Christ, the righteousness of God that was lived out by
the Lord Jesus Christ. Could be bestowed upon the center.
And that it could be received by faith. That is the gospel. As one pastor said it, the righteousness
to which Paul refers is by God freely granted or imputed to
the sinner who by the power of the Holy Spirit accepts it, appropriates
Christ in all his benefits. That’s justification. That righteousness, the righteousness
of God, Bestowed upon us, that is the
doctrine of justification. It is a declaration that a sinner
is now righteous in God’s eyes. What great news that is, what
great news. Let’s ponder for a moment this
morning, the nature I want to just talk about the nature of
justification. What is it? What is it like?
What does it do? What does it accomplish? How
does it do that? First of all, the nature of justification,
and we’ve already alluded to this, this debate that is raged
through the centuries as to whether justification is simply the bestowal
of a righteous status, which is what I’ve been arguing God’s
acquittal of who we are as sinners. Or does it make us righteous? Does it make us morally pure
and righteous and good? Some have argued. the Roman Catholics,
not the least of which they have argued for what is called a moral
regeneration, that we are made new, that we are remade in the
image of God, that we are remade with this holy and righteous,
perfect standard. The reformers came along and
looked at that and they knew better. They knew better because
they knew their own hearts. They knew better because they
knew humanity and they knew God’s word. God’s word doesn’t support
that. That we are made perfectly new. They knew that it’s simply the
word simply meant to acquit, to confer a righteous status
upon that it didn’t present itself with any reference to some kind
of moral transformation. Justification, as one said, is
the declaration. that the individual has been
restored to a righteous to righteousness in God’s sight. Another. Another said it this
way, justification, pardon me, justification is an instantaneous
legal act of God. It is God slamming down the gavel
and pronouncing us as innocent, righteous. It is a legal act
of God in which he thinks of our sins as forgiven as Christ’s
righteousness belonging to us and declares us to be righteous
in his sight. Still another. He declares that
we have no penalty to pay for sin, and what great news is that?
That we have been forgiven of our sin. That we stand before him in the
righteousness of Christ, having been completely forgiven. That
God declares us forgiven from our sins. But as one went on
to point out. That pronouncement of being nearly
forgiven of our sins is only half of the story of justification,
and I don’t want you to get the idea. I don’t want you to get
the idea that justification is some kind of a process. That
first you receive half of your justification, your sins are
forgiven, and then in time. Essentially, what he argues for
is two elements. There’s two elements. Not only
are we forgiven our sins, but we are declared this righteousness.
We go from one sad extreme to the glorious opposite in an instant. In an instant. And that’s the
second observation about justification. Not only does it not change us
internally, not only is it a declaration of God, but justification as
the Bible presents it is instantaneous. We tend a lot of times to think
of justification along the terms of sanctification or glorification. Even salvation, sometimes from
our perspective, is a process. We think that we’re saved in
this moment and we find out years later, no, it was here that you
came to Christ. Sanctification, we know, is an
instantaneous, otherwise we would have had no time of confession
either today or any time this week. We know sanctification
to be a process, and I hope you know that glorification has not
yet arrived. For sure, not with me. But justification. Justification is done in an instant. When we believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, when we place our faith in him, we immediately are transferred
from spiritual death to eternal life. Because we are immediately considered
to be justified before him, we are immediately considered to
be seen in the righteousness of Christ. And for that reason,
justification is an act, not a process, not like sanctification,
a continued work of God. Not only is justification a declarative
act of God, not only is it instantaneous, it is final. Get this. I mean, really think about this.
Justification takes place once for all. There isn’t a progression. There isn’t a person who is more
or less justified. He might be a little bit justified.
You’re either justified, fully justified, standing in the righteousness
of God before him, or you’re not. There are no degrees of
justification. Not only that, it is a declared
righteousness, not an actual righteousness. We’ve already
entered into this discussion in no little detail, but the
focus is there. We’ve got to consider the justification
here that is spoken of is not about us. It benefits us. But it’s not about us. Justification
is a declaration that God makes about the sinner, one said. Justification
takes place in the court of God, not in the sinner’s soul. It
changes the sinner’s status. Not his nature. As another Puritan said, we are
righteous with the righteousness of God, not with our own, which
is a filthy rag, but with that which he has provided, which
consists in infinitely meritorious righteousness of his own dear
son. So justification doesn’t change
us, it changes our position, it changes our status, it changes
the way God sees us and it’s instantaneous. And to make it absolutely clear,
finally, justification means that righteousness is imputed
to us. It’s kind of a funny word, we
don’t use a lot of that, do we? Whereas our sin was imputed to
Christ. Now our righteousness is imputed
to us, we didn’t make Christ a sinner. But he took all of
our sin upon him. Martin Luther knew well this
situation, he knew well this transference of his sin to Christ
in Christ’s righteousness to himself. He said it this way.
Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness. I am your sin. You have taken
upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours. You have
become what you were not so that I may become what I am not. Jesus became sin. He didn’t become
a sinner. He took on the sin of the world,
but he didn’t sin ever. So that we might become what
we were not. Righteous before him. Many have
said that it is a reckoning. Righteousness is reckoned or
considered or credited to the account of those who believe. And so, as they stand before
God, they stand before God, not on their own righteousness, but
on God’s alone. And there’s a final element that
will introduce essentially our second consideration this morning. Not only is this justification
revealed in the gospel. It is received by faith, it is
received by faith. And so often as as commentators,
as theologians, certainly the reformers, as they refer to it,
they refer to it as justification by faith. As over against justification
by works. See, Paul here in verse 17, when
he says the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to
faith. Paul proceeds to immediately
divulge the means, the way that we appropriate this righteousness
of God. Because if we were to stand back
and to ogle and to admire this beautiful attribute of God, it
does us no good at all. We’ve got to take it upon ourselves
like we learned of that guest at the wedding last Lord’s Day. We’ve got to take that mantle,
that robe upon ourselves. We’ve got to have the righteousness
of Christ or there is no heaven. It’s not enough just to hear
about the revelation of God’s righteousness. It’s not enough
just to learn of it. God has broken into the course
of history. He has fulfilled his plan of
redemption with this news, the great news, the gospel. That
the righteousness of God has now been given. Second Corinthians
521 again, he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf
so that we might become the righteousness of God in him, that if all we
ever do is hear of it, or admire it or consider it or
think about it to talk about the gospel, the news that God
has provided righteousness for us. It remains worthless. Unless it is received by faith. And that faith. As you know,
is the nature of personal trust. You take it personally. You believe
in your heart of hearts that the Lord Jesus Christ really
did die on the cross for sinners and not just sinners in general,
but you. He died for you and he died for
you to give you that mantle of righteousness for you. You take
it in faith. It’s a funny way to say it, though,
isn’t it? From faith to faith. And as is so often the case with
those funny statements, the commentators do funny things, all kinds of
ways that commentators interpreted these simple words from faith
to faith. One said that it was from the faith of the Old Testament
to the faith of the new. From one degree of faith to another,
from the faith of the Jew to the faith of the Gentile. To
all who believe. The bottom line, what these words
mean, what these words point to is that the medium for receiving
the righteousness of God is faith. Faith is counted or reckoned
or considered to be righteousness, it is ascribed to those who place
their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The righteousness of God is by
faith From beginning to end, from faith to faith. Just as
we begin in faith, we proceed in faith, we will complete our
course in faith. As one said, from stem to stern,
it is all of faith. As another said, it is by faith
that man lays hold of the gospel and by its latest product, it
is heightened and intensified by faith. We walk by faith. We continue our Christian walk
by faith. We received Christ by faith and
we continue day by day, moment by moment, hour by hour to walk
by faith. From the very start. Of our Christian
life. It is, as the reformers said,
so lucky day by faith alone. They called The reformers did
this doctrine, this doctrine of justification by faith, the
chief article. Did you get that they call this
doctrine the justification by faith, the chief article? Well, now you might not know
exactly what all they meant by that, but you can tell by the
sound of it what they meant by it was that it was very, very
important. How important it is the chief.
This is the main doctrine. It is by the article by which
the church stands or falls. That if we let go of this, if
we let go of justification by faith, there is no alternative.
There is no hope. And how sad it is, then. To reduce
the Christian faith to a set of do’s and don’ts principles which somehow are supposed to
promote success. As one said, there is no gospel
except that of Christ’s substitution in our place, whereby God imputed
to him our sin and he imputed to us his righteousness. There
is no other way. That is the gospel. As one document reads, justification
is by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone
in justification, Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us as the only
possible satisfaction of God’s perfect justice. So our. Ground of justification
isn’t even faith itself, we’re not justified because of our
faith. Works, we know that works don’t
justify it isn’t anything done by us. Ground of justification
is the righteousness of Christ, that’s why we’re able to stand
by God, not because God looks at you and says, oh, you were
such a faithful person. Because faith, if you look at
the nature of faith, Love the way Wayne Grudem defined it.
Wayne Grudem said that faith is the one attitude of heart
that is exact opposite of depending on ourselves. Faith is when we
let go. Faith is when we quit trying.
He says, when we come to Christ in faith, we essentially say,
I give up. I will not depend on myself or
my good works any longer. Faith is the exact opposite of
trusting in Christ alone. So Jesus, through the gospel,
calls us to faith. He calls us to take on the mantle
of righteousness by faith, to place our faith fully and completely
in Him for salvation. No works, nothing in my hand
I bring, simply to the cross I cling. Faith. As one theologian said,
it is the instrument by which we appropriate in his righteousness,
it logically precedes our justification, but Scripture never says we are
justified on account of our faith. The ground of our justification
can be found only in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. So when Paul says from faith
to faith, We’re not saved by our faith. We receive the righteousness
of Christ, which saves us. By our faith. Thirdly. This great doctrine of justification
is considered this morning. This doctrine of justification,
which essentially is the righteousness of God, is revealed in the gospel.
It is received by faith and it is illustrated in scripture.
It is illustrated in Scripture and not just in this passage.
Look at verse 17 again, where Paul says, for in it, in the
gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to
faith as it is written, but the righteous man shall live by faith. You see, Paul isn’t talking about
something new, he’s not springing some new doctrine on us. When
he says, as it is written, he immediately points us where back
to the Old Testament. Back to the prophets, back to
the scriptures. Where he will go on to point
out that righteousness and salvation. Are not new doctrines. They were
constantly presented. to Israel as a treasure that
belongs to God alone to bestow on whomever he will because of
his sovereign goodness. The original statement is found
in Habakkuk chapter two. Paul uses the statement also
in Galatians Galatians three eleven, the one pardon me now
that no one is justified by the law before God is evident for
the righteous man shall live by faith. What he does there
is he uses it to show that salvation is not by adherence to the law,
but by faith. The writer of the book of Hebrews
quotes it as well in Hebrews 1038, but my righteous one shall
live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure
in him. But let’s consider the context
for a moment. Quoted these three times in the New Testament, I
want to take you to the original. Turn to Habakkuk and don’t panic,
right? It’s in the clean part of your
Bible. Go five books back about eight to ten pages, depending
on your translation or your version. Eight to ten pages back from
the Gospel of Matthew. Start in Matthew. Turn to the
left. Clean part of your Bible. A man named Habakkuk. And when
I taught through the minor prophets, I reminded everyone of the little
cartoon that I had hanging on my near my desk for some season. Where it’s a picture of heaven,
you know, a little line drawing of heaven and the man who just
arrived there and he’s greeting a saintly old white bearded character
evidently named Habakkuk. And the young man who’s there
standing in heaven for the first time greets this aged saint and
says, why, no, Mr. Habakkuk, I guess I didn’t get
around to reading your book. Today’s the day. Habakkuk was a prophet during
the reign of evil King Jehoiakim, which was the beginning of a
very dark period. And Habakkuk essentially brings
up a complaint. I mean, how’s that for a prophet
to start with? To bring up a complaint to God.
Look at verse two of chapter one. Where Habakkuk says, How
long, O Lord, will I call for help and you will not hear? I
don’t suggest you try this at home. God can fight his own battles. He allowed Habakkuk out of his
abundant mercy to get away with it this time. I don’t suggest
it. But Habakkuk basically is going before God with a gripe.
Why are you letting our society go the way it is? Why are you
letting all this evil run its course? Why? Look at the rest
of verse two. I cry to you violence, yet you
do not say where are you? As the psalm says, are you asleep?
Why do you make me see iniquity and cause me to look on wickedness?
Yes, destruction and violence are before me. Strife exists,
contention arises. Therefore, the law is ignored
and justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous,
therefore justice comes out perverted, and Habakkuk essentially paints
himself to be more holy than God. Look, I can’t stand it down
here. What are you doing? Habakkuk’s
complaint is not unlike the prayer that many of us offer in our
own day, violence, ungodliness, injustice. And just as Habakkuk,
we often wonder where God is in the midst of us. Why won’t
God respond? Why isn’t he doing something?
Why does he let all these evil people prosper? Why doesn’t he
move? Well, God had an answer for Habakkuk.
He’s not going to like it. Look at verse 5. Look among the
nations, observe, be astonished, wonder, because I am doing something
in your days. You would not believe if you
were told, for behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, the Chaldeans. That fierce and impetuous people
who marched throughout the earth to seize dwelling places which
are not theirs, they’re dreaded and feared their justice and
authority originate with themselves. In other words, they have no
God. They are a God unto themselves. They do whatever they please.
They are evil marauders. Their horses are swifter than
leopards, verse 8, keener than wolves in the evening. Their
horsemen come galloping, their horsemen come from afar. They
fly like an eagle swooping down to devour. Really nice bunch. God says, I’m preparing to move,
I’m going to bring these evil people down upon my own. that God doesn’t leave Habakkuk
to fend for himself. God tells Habakkuk, your only
hope Habakkuk, the godly person’s hope. In the midst of this severe chastening,
your only hope is faith, faith in a sovereign God. Our only
hope. is faith in a sovereign God.
Our only hope for salvation is faith in a sovereign God. As one said, it is his duty and
privilege to trust and to do this, even when he is not able
to figure out the justice of God. We don’t understand a lot
of times what God is doing. And as we talked about several
weeks ago, one of the absurd features, one of the things that
the world considers foolishness is the cross. We don’t understand
that. Why God would send his own son
to die such an ignominious death is to die on a cross. We can’t
figure that out. And that’s where trust steps
in that trust, that faith is salvation, it is our salvation.
And even though the words. that are written here were originally
written with regard to an earthly security of God’s people. Paul
uses the words. To expand the truth. That salvation,
even eternal salvation, is also secured by faith. Paul, when Paul takes up this
statement that the prophet makes. He presented in light of the
gospel itself. He says, look, your situation
is far worse than Judas. Facing the Chaldeans, your situation
is far worse. Because your doom is not just
an earthly doom, your doom is an eternal doom, and unless somebody
steps in and helps you, you’re in deep trouble. Paul says the righteous man shall
live by his faith, and he’s not just talking about temporal life. He’s not just talking about surviving
some political landslide or some brief storm upon the earth, some
temporal misfortune. He’s talking about life itself,
true life, eternal life, everlasting life. Which can only be experienced
by faith. As one said, the righteous man
shall live by faith. He will attain that life which
Christ alone gives, which is spiritual, blessed and everlasting. As Paul cites of Habakkuk under
the old dispensation in the new, the favor of God was always and
ever secured by faith. What a great God. We have been
laying out to us these precious verses, the 17 verses of the
opening of. Paul’s great gospel to the Romans. But. Paul said in that that was
only the first motivating factor for him to preach. The main reason
he wanted to preach was the righteousness of God. And if possible, the second motivating
factor may be even more of a motivation for him to preach than even the
righteousness of God. He certainly spends much more
time discussing it. The second reason that Paul cannot
wait to go and to preach the gospel. Is the sinfulness of
humanity. And that consideration will pick
up in verse 18. It will carry all the way down
through verse 32. Some very difficult verses. We’ll
take it up next week on the Lord’s Day. Father, we thank you and
praise you. What great hope is given. Perhaps it was begun out of defense,
but no sooner had Paul begun to speak of the gospel and of
his passion for the gospel. Lord, we see the great reason
why Paul could not wait to proclaim the Lord Jesus, because it is
the righteousness of God. It is justification by faith,
the great hope for humanity. Lord, we thank you and we praise
you. And father, we come before you on behalf of any. Who do
not have that firm confidence in their heart and in their soul,
who still entertain some idea that maybe they can be good enough
or make themselves good enough. Father, it is by faith alone
in Christ alone. We pray that you would bring
to faith any who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
Bring them to their own knees of repentance as you have with
us. Make them to know the only hope for sinners. That which you have provided
in the Lord Jesus himself. Father, we rejoice to know you.
We pray for the grace to serve you in Jesus name. Amen. God Bless.