Romans 1:13-25

There is just one more announcement. If you have a bulletin this morning, you'll notice down in Notes of Interest that John Matson has put a little note here for us. John is now the new area manager for the Emmaus Correspondence School, and Emmaus offers a wide variety of Bible correspondence courses for all ages, and they can be used for personal Bible study, home Bible study, Bible classes, and so forth.

We urge each of you to take advantage of this opportunity to increase your Bible knowledge. Then, of course, we have John's address there. John has told me that he's put some cards on the little table back at the back, it's a pocket calendar, and you're welcome to take some of these.

You have his address on there. In the little cabinet at the back, we do have some samples of the Emmaus Bible courses. If you've never taken one of these Bible courses, try one.

I think you'll like it, and it'll enrich your life spiritually. Lay for us this morning to look in the book of Romans, chapter 1. We'll read from verse 12, verse 13. Now, I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, but was prevented thus far, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

For in it is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness.

Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath shown it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore, God also gave them up to uncleanliness through the lust of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

We thank thee for thy holy word and for the divine enlightenment that you can shed upon it for our hearts' need. Grant, we pray thee, that each one shall be furnished with that enlightenment this day, that our lives will be enriched and that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will be indeed endeared to our hearts. We pray in his lovely name, giving thanks.

Amen. When you read a passage like Romans 1, you are dealing with that which is absolutely basic and essential to our Christian faith, the establishment of a principle that tells us that God has one means and one way of righteousness. And that way of righteousness is found in the person of Jesus Christ, God's Son.

So often in the world in which we live, we are led to believe more and more that there are a multitude of ways whereby people might be made righteous before God. And yet just a casual look at the word of God and a consideration of the truth that God reveals would tell us that there is only one way. And it is not by any endeavor on our part as far as meriting this favor of God and the righteousness of God.

It is believing in what God has already provided. So it seems so futile, it seems so empty and vain, when we discover that people are still searching for the way of acceptance with God when it seems so clearly presented in the word of God. The righteousness of God, he wants to put it to our account.

He wants each one of us as part of his great creation, created by God and with a divine purpose in view, that each one of us would glorify God in our lives. And yet that can never be attained. The first step in that direction is to know God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

The Apostle Paul was a man that had one message, one message only. And the message that he brings is not the one that sometimes is so popular in the world. He believed in that historic concept of Bible Christianity that tells us that man is a sinner.

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And Paul unhesitatingly makes this announcement, and in this passage that we have read, puts all men in a position of being guilty before God. No excuse, no excuse allowed.

That's what Paul believed concerning sin. Concerning the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the cross of Jesus Christ, it stands between God and man, not to hinder man, not that man might be discouraged, but that rather he would find hope and he would find relief for this dreaded condition called sin in his life. And the cross of Jesus Christ must be passed by all that would come into the presence of God.

And if we are to pass by that cross, there is something that we must do. We must fast, we must believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was crucified upon that cross, shed his blood, died there personally for you and for me, for the whole world, because God loves the whole world. And whosoever would believe upon Jesus Christ will be saved.

This is the purpose, the plan of God. But we must bow the knee in his presence. It's just a matter of when we will do it.

Ultimately, all will do it. For every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, our heavenly Father. These announcements, these clear announcements of the purpose and plan of God for human life, for human beings, is something that reminds us of the tragic circumstances in which we find ourselves in the world today.

Not everyone agrees with this. Many people have great difficulty even accepting the Bible as the Word of God, struggles that are going on within the hearts of men. And yet this clear message, this message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, is something that is unchangeable.

And any digression on the part of man away from these clear statements that we find in the Word of God as far as how to attain the righteousness of God and be accepted in the presence of God and be accounted as righteous in the presence of God, is something that we must believe. We must accept this, and we must accept it as it is presented. The Apostle Paul was a man that, as far as devotedness, as far as his loyalty to the person of Jesus Christ, I think that goes unchallenged.

You read of his life, and you've read of a man that was in love with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was his life. Jesus Christ was his all in all.

He could see something in Christ that, were it to God, all of us could see in Christ. Not just my Savior, but my Lord, the one that at infinite cost to himself has provided deliverance, a means whereby acceptance with God can be something that I'm sure of. Not that I hope for, I'm sure of it because of what Christ has done for me.

He felt this so keenly that he proved it in a very practical way in his life. He considered himself a detour, one that was deeply indebted to tell every man the message of the gospel. The glad tidings through the lips of Paul were announced to the world everywhere he went.

He purposed in many cases to know nothing among people that he visited save the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, Christ and him crucified. This is basic. This is a foundation.

There is no other foundation laid whereby men may safely put their souls upon it and trust in it for the salvation of their souls. Anything else is a sham. Anything else that we trust in for the salvation of our souls, one day we will learn tragically too late that our hope and our faith was upon the shifting sands of time itself and find ourselves one day in the presence of God and unprepared to meet God because we fail to respond to the provision that God has made in the person of Jesus Christ.

Paul knew this. He sensed this. This meant everything to him.

Men may have accused him, as they have so many in the past, that have gone to mission fields far away and soon people detected they had one message, and that message was the gospel of Christ. Jesus Christ personally died for sinners, and only sinners, only sinners. As Christ Jesus came into the world to die for sinners, and the greatest pretense of attaining to this righteousness that we know anything about, as is presented in the word of God, was by people who, because of a really profound and sincere belief in a religious system, believed they could attain to this standard of righteousness on their own, by their own effort.

These people were called Pharisees. That word is with us today. Every time you hear that word, he's a Pharisee, it bespeaks of someone that may have deep sincerity of soul, and yet that individual may be clothed with an air of pride, and although he may present himself with dignity in respect to the religious system that he believes in, yet that person is wrong.

And the Pharisees in the day that our Lord Jesus Christ lived here upon this earth were his strongest opponents. Paul himself could announce and say, I was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, but a man delivered out of this dilemma, one that thought he was righteous in the sight of God, and yet discovered one day that Jesus Christ was the only way that a man might be counted righteous in the presence of God. But he could see himself as a debtor to this whole world.

And I'd like to say to each one of us this morning, as believers in Jesus Christ, this has been upon my heart and mine since that first Sunday that we met together here this year, those words spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ, Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. You will be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, in Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the world. I think we have a similar responsibility as Christians, men and women, to share in this same allegiance.

Are we sure that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the need of every human being in this world in which we live? Are we absolutely persuaded in our own minds that every person in this world needs the gospel? Well, it would appear, if we really believed that, we would do more about it. And preaching is one thing where you have a captive audience as we have this morning. But when we are out in the marketplace of the world and when we are in our social contact with other people, those are the people so often that need that message, that do not even expose themselves to the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ in a church gathering as we have this morning.

Men and women that are out in the highways and the byways of this life, and Christians have a solemn responsibility. We are debtors to God. He has favored us with His grace and with His mercy, His longsuffering.

And He has given to us this message, and we bask in all of the assurance of His love upon us and His grace upon us. We cherish it. We say it means everything to us.

Paul says, if it means everything to you, tell it to someone else. They need it just as badly as you did. Paul could say there is one element that is involved here that each one needs to take into account.

There may be a certain amount of reproach associated with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't know how many conversations you have with people that are not of this persuasion, but I find more and more in my own contact in witnessing to individuals that are not of this persuasion that they look down upon those that hold to this biblical position concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ. And no one likes to be looked down upon.

No one likes to be called a stupid clod, an ignorant person. Yet so often in the world today, even with the new popularity that the expression, born again, has gained in the world, still those that stick to this one truth that the righteousness of God can only come through believing the gospel of Jesus Christ are looked upon as being too strict, being too narrow-minded, having contracted minds concerning the love and the grace of God. God made it that way.

God wants you and me to believe it that way. And the Apostle Paul must have been confronted with some of that himself. He said, I have purpose, that I will not be ashamed, I will not be affected by the reproach of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Come what may, regardless of what men think about it, I believe it, and I'm going to shout it from the housetops. And he did. He did.

Thank God today for every person that's a believer in Jesus Christ that shares that faith in Christ with someone else. That's the only way we'll ever get the job done. We won't get it done by just sitting in an auditorium like we are this morning, and again reviewing these truths and saying they're dear, they're precious, unless we leave this place and go out and tell others about Christ.

If this is our concept of the extent of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to just share it in our public gatherings, we've missed the point. We've got to go further afield. We've got to sense the urgency of the hour.

And I ask you, dear Christian, are you sharing your faith with someone else where you work, in your neighborhood? Are you sharing your faith, are you sharing Christ with someone else? If you're not, you're not fulfilling God's plan and purpose for your life. He wants you to be a witness. He wants others to hear from your lips your confession of Christ.

It's not something that you do by running down to the front when an invitation is given. We confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus to the world around us. That's public.

That's open confession of Christ. And if that hasn't been realized in your life, you need to get down before God and solemnly determine that this is a message that is so important that you dare not keep it in your soul. It's too great, it's too wonderful.

Jesus Christ is to be shared with others. And the Apostle Paul knew that. And regardless of what the conditions were, if there was rebuke, if there were trials, if there were persecutions, regardless of what came his way, I will not be ashamed of that message.

It is the power of God and the power of God. How could I ever withhold this message of life from a world that is lost and dying? It's God's power, the power of God. The death of Jesus Christ can provide life.

That seed of corn that has fallen into the ground, it had to die so that it could bring forth fruit, has brought forth fruit. And many in the world today that gladly say, yes, I have accepted Christ as my Savior. I have believed the word of the living God.

And that's what it means to accept Christ, to believe the word of God. Do you believe John 3.16? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. It's believing the word of God, because it tells you about a person.

You will never go wrong believing the word of God and accepting this message. That was Paul's message. And yet, as he writes this letter, he is aware of many things that are a constant threat to men accepting this.

There has been such a revival of interest in the last few years concerning clean air and the preservation of our natural resources, the forest lands. All of these things are good because God knows if you go by some of these places where they have industrial plants and you watch some of the things that they are emptying into the little creeks and the streams that flow down into the rivers, it's just a picture of how man pollutes and defiles everything that he puts his hand upon. So we are in favor of that.

Nature is beautiful. Everything that God has created is beautiful and is perfect. There is just one thing that has faulted.

It's a three-letter word, and it's S-I-N. That has spoiled everything. Man, created in the image and likeness of God, living in a perfect environment, in perfect circumstances, he forfeited his right to all of that for one moment in which he exercised his own will contrary to the will of God.

And all of creation is brought under the curse of sin. And we read in the word of God that the whole creation, groaneth. Trees, the meadow, the flower, everything in creation groaneth because of sin.

It's been defiled. And you and I are part of that creation. We've been defiled.

There's only one way for us to correct that condition, remedy that defilement. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, can cleanse us from all sin and its defiling influences. Delivered from the penalty of sin, delivered from the power of sin over our individual lives.

That alone should challenge us to share this message with people that are in the world that are no longer happy, not even happy in sin. And they need something. They need the gospel.

And it can deliver them from the power of sin over their individual lives. And praise God, whether we're going to be delivered from the very presence of sin, you're not going to live eternally down here upon this earth as things are now. You wouldn't want to, in that body of yours that is going to be attacked by sickness, frailty, disease, all the things that can attack these physical bodies of ours.

You wouldn't want to live in that body throughout all eternity, would you? Because it aches, it hurts, this pain there. And there are tears and there is sadness and so many distressing things that happen to us in this life. You want a remedy for that.

You want a hope beyond this life. And it's in Christ. Where some people area this, and Paul mentions this, they look out and they see all that God has created, and they say, it's beautiful.

They may even acknowledge that God created it. And you know, it amazes you how that a fellow could go out into the woods and hew down a tree and fashion something that he thought looked like God. It may be in the form of a human being, or it may be a bird or a beast.

And having fashioned this thing with his own hands, then bow down and worship the very thing that is the creation of his own hands. Or some that peer into the heavens and look around in creation and say, it's beautiful. And presently they are worshiping the stars and they are worshiping creation.

They've fallen short. They worship creation rather than the Creator. That's tragic.

God says these things will help you to see that there's one greater than you are. There is a power in the world that's greater than anything that perhaps you've ever been able to conceive of before. But you don't just look at those things that have been created.

You look beyond all this, and that's the value of the word of God. Because I'll tell you what will happen in your life if you stop short and if you compromise and accept anything short of believing the gospel of Jesus Christ. You'll find yourself entering into some of the experiences that Paul relates for us here.

That false god and idol that you may be worshiping, he'll have a degrading effect upon your life. It happens. It's been observed throughout the world where there are those that bow down to false idols.

The worship of that idol, it has a defiling effect upon the individual life. And yet faith in Jesus Christ lifts us up above all of that. We're new creatures in Christ Jesus.

We have power. We have the inner witness of the power of God in the Spirit of God. And we can be God-like because we have Christ.

Paul recognized all this. But men and women that persist, men and women that say, I'm going to have my own way, come what may. You may be one of those that it's recorded in this letter, God gave them over.

God gave them over. You say you want your way in this life, God may let you have it. He may let you do what you want to do with your life.

And that will be the worst thing that ever happened to you. If you do what you want to do with your life, and if you neglect to respond to this message of the gospel, the righteousness of God can only come into your soul and be put to your account by accepting Christ, who is the righteousness of God. He that knew no sin, but was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Don't have your own way. Have God's way for your life. And so often as we examine our own personal testimony and our own experience, we say, you know, it took a lot to wake me up to this fact.

It took a whole lot to wake me up. Some people are very light sleepers. Just a little mouse running across the floor can awake them.

That's how lightly they sleep. Some people are like that spiritually. I've heard testimonies of people that said, the first time I heard that I needed Christ as my Savior and that God loved me, I responded to it.

I say, praise God for it. It took more than that to break my old stony heart, I'll tell you that. I heard it many times, and I didn't respond to it.

I can remember that illustration that Worth uses so often. It's about hitting that mule right between the eyes with a two-by-four. And the poor farmer says, what are you trying to do? And the fellow says, I've got to get his attention first before we can do anything with him.

God seeks to get our attention. He wants to wake us up to our need of Jesus Christ. God takes dead people and makes live people out of them.

We are dead in trespasses and sin, and only God can make us alive. And eternal life is in Christ. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

How can we escape if we neglect so great salvation? It's God's salvation, and His beloved Son died under the weight of your sin and my sin so that we might live. Without Christ, we are dead, dead to God. We may be very alive to this world and may be entertaining so many things that bring fleeting moments of pleasure, but they are nothing compared to eternity.

To be made eternally alive, alive unto God, sins forgiven, my name recorded in the Lamb's book of life. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation.

And Christian, go tell someone about that. Tell them that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only power of God unto salvation. Anything else is a sham.

Anything else is a delusion. Anything else is a lie. I think this morning it would be good, as we part, to give anyone the opportunity that would like to say this morning, I will receive Christ.

Perhaps you've received the Lord Jesus Christ, and you've never openly and boldly announced to a company of people like this that you've trusted in the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you'd like to do it this morning. David's going to come, he's going to lead us in a hymn, and this will be your opportunity. It will strengthen you spiritually, and it will be stronger as a result of taking a stand before other people.

I'm reminded in the gospel that the Lord Jesus said, you know, men that deny me and are ashamed of me in this life, I will deny them before my Father. I don't want the Lord to deny me. My acceptance in Christ and the opportunity to share that faith with others is the greatest thing that ever happened to any man.

The greatest thing that ever happened to any man is to receive Jesus Christ as his Savior. And if you want to make it known this morning, I'm going to be at the front, right down here. David's going to lead us in a hymn.

You come forth, and you say, Brother, I've accepted Christ as my Savior, and I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation, and I'm alive spiritually today because I accepted Christ as my personal Savior. Let us have a word of prayer as David comes.