In the sermon titled 'The Power of God in The Gospel', Jason Dohm highlights the importance of understanding the gospel as an extension of God's power in saving sinners. He discusses Paul's letter to the Romans, specifically focusing on Romans 1:14-17. The sermon emphasizes that the gospel is for everyone, regardless of their background, education, or culture. Paul considers himself a debtor to both Greeks and barbarians, as he has an internal compulsion to preach the gospel to all people. The gospel is a demonstration of God's power, and through it, the righteousness of God is revealed. This righteousness is available to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ, regardless of whether they are Jew or Greek. The sermon calls believers to acknowledge the pressures that may make them ashamed of the gospel and to boldly share the good news with others.

Pray and preach the word. As I said on Wednesday night, I have so many friends here, longtime friends, that it's OK to say it's fun to be here? It's fun to be here. The title of the message this morning is The God of the Gospel. There's a lot of focus on the gospel.

That's good focus. The gospel is worthy of being focused on. But The gospel is not the center of things. God is the center of things. The gospel extends out from God.

The gospel actually reveals to us who this God is. So we love the gospel. We do want to focus on the gospel, we don't want to stop on the gospel, we want to know the God who saves by the gospel. So I'm preaching from Romans. Our text this morning will be in Romans chapter 1.

So Please open to Romans chapter 1. Romans is rightly known as Paul's gospel. He calls it his gospel in chapter 16, So that's safe ground. But it's really Paul revealing God to us. And so we're gonna begin in Romans chapter 1.

Please stand. I'm going to read our sermon text which is Romans chapter 1 verses 14 through 17. Romans 1 14 through 17. Paul writes, I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. God, I thank you for God, I thank you for a day set apart for our bodies to rest, and our minds to rest, and our souls to be fed and rejoice in you. I pray that that would happen today in a marvelous way, that we would be refreshed, that we would know what it is to sit at your feet and receive from you. Thank you for this word that you have given to us.

Thank you for giving us the gospel as a revelation of yourself. Help us to know you. I pray in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. I'm going to break this into subparts.

So I'm going to now reread verses 14 and 15 and then just tackle that subsection. So you'll need to keep a finger in Romans 1 the whole time. Follow along as I reread 14 and 15. Paul says, I'm a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.

These two verses, Paul speaks of his obligation to all the unreached. Paul considers himself to owe a debt. Who does he owe a debt to? Anyone who is unreached. There's some nuance in the Greek here.

I'm not a Greek scholar. I don't know Greek, but I am literate, and I know how to read commentators who know Greek. So I don't want to over-represent what I am, but I am a student, And I think I understand the nuance of the Greek here. This is what the lexicon says of the word that is translated barbarians here. The lexicon says, used by the Greeks of any foreigner ignorant of the Greek language.

So the Greek language at the time of Paul writing to the Romans is the language of education, the global language. You would know your own language. And if you were educated, you would know Greek too, because it's the language of the world at the time. And In usage, the meaning goes well beyond just, can you speak Greek? In usage, the language element was just symbolic of who you were and what you were.

In other words, do you know the language of education so that you have a level of sophistication, you're educated, you are cultured, or do you not know the global language? And that being symbolic that you're a simpleton, that you're ignorant and uneducated, that you're uncultured. In the little time I've spent in Malawi, there is English spoken in the major cities, spoken where people have gone to school, are educated. And then there are the villagers who just speak Chichayawas. So if you grow up anywhere in Malawi, you know Chichayawa.

If you've grown up in the big cities where the education is happening, you also know English. And So it's sort of like that. The people who have grown up in Lilongwe or in Blantyre have been educated, know English, sort of have a way that they look at villagers who don't know English. It's maybe they would be rednecks, the Malawi equivalent of rednecks. So the distinction is between Greek, the global language of the educated, as representative of a level of sophistication, being educated, being cultured, and the opposite of that.

You don't speak the global language, and that's representative that you're a simpleton. You're not educated. You're not cultured. So this extends to the worldly wise and the unwise. So Paul talks about barbarians and Greeks, the unwise and the wise.

And those things are paired up. The barbarians are the unwise. They're not worldly wise. And the Greeks are the worldly wise. So they're the wise here.

It wouldn't be wise and unwise as the Bible would define it. It would be level of culture and education. The message is this, all that to say this. Paul doesn't care which you are. Paul considers himself to owe a debt to you whether you're in this class or that class.

Paul's perspective is if you're worldly wise or not, if you're educated or not, if you're sophisticated or not, if you're cultured or not, the gospel is for you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. The educated, sophisticated, cultured are not above the gospel. No one is above the gospel. The unsophisticated, the simpletons, the uneducated, the uncultured are not below the gospel.

There's no such thing as below the gospel. If you're a son of Adam or a daughter of Adam, Paul considers himself to be a debtor to you to get the gospel to you. Here's an example from our church. I grew up the son of a medical school professor. We have a deacon at our church, Jim Santos, who grew up the son of a lightly educated man who gave his life to pleasure and entertainment.

He doesn't need the gospel more than me, I don't need the gospel more than him. I can't be anything without the gospel, he can't be anything without the gospel. I grew up in a home with a level of sophistication. Educational opportunities were put on a silver platter for me. It involved global travel for me.

It opened my eyes to a broad world. Our deacon Jim Santels grew up in the home of a man who didn't have much education and who gave his life to entertainment and pleasure. Paul doesn't care. Paul knows that unless I get the good news of Jesus Christ, I'm lost. And if Jim Santel's, unless he gets the good news of Jesus Christ, he's lost.

Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9 16. This is just another letter from Paul. 1 Corinthians 9 16, Paul says, for if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. It's saying the same thing in a different way.

I owe a debt to the sons and daughters of Adam to get them the good news of Jesus Christ. It's necessity. There's nothing praiseworthy to me if I preach the gospel, I'm only answering this pressing internal compulsion that I have to speak of the goodness of God toward sinners. Paul had this pressing internal obligation, this pressing internal compulsion, and he wasn't going to be able to help it. He owed a debt, and he had to discharge the debt, having received the gospel, having received freely.

He knew it was his obligation to give freely. Before we move on, let's apply. We aren't an apostles. Have we got any apostles here? I don't think this is that kind of church.

There are some out there that claim to have apostles, I don't think They do. But we are entrusted with the Great Commission. So I ask you this. Do you know anything of Paul's internal compulsion? I don't think that's an internal compulsion just for Paul.

I think that is an internal compulsion that God gives to the recipients of his grace. When God makes you a trophy of his grace and he takes you from death to life, when he takes you from filth to righteousness, You ought to have an internal compulsion that demands to be answered to preach to barbarians and Greeks, to preach the goodness of Jesus Christ, what he has done for sinners, to people who are unsophisticated and people who are sophisticated, to people who are uneducated and the people who are educated, to the people who are uncultured and to people who are cultured. Here's a corollary question. Do you write off the wise, the worldly wise? They're so educated, they're so sophisticated, they're so highbrow, they would only scoff at this gospel of Jesus for sinners.

You know, they'll be lost if they don't get the gospel of what Jesus has done for sinners. Do you write off the barbarians? I think we're even more likely to write off the barbarians. This is a lost cause. Paul didn't think in those terms.

They're too far down the track to bring back." That's not true. Paul didn't think in those terms. They're too uneducated. They've wallowed too long in scandalous sin. Paul didn't think in those terms.

He only thought of sons of Adam, daughters of Adam, who are on a broad road that leads to destruction, knowing that he had a gospel that would put them on the road to life. Verse 16. The next verse, verse 16. Follow along as I reread. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.

Here Paul is saying he's speaking of the God who extends his power to save believers through the gospel. So Paul is connecting the gospel to God. Gospel is not just a story, not just a group of facts. The gospel is extended by God. The gospel only has meaning because God is God, and God has done what God has done.

God has done. God extends his power, uses his power, exerts his power to save believers by the gospel, through the gospel. Paul begins by declaring that he's not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. So we have this phrase here, the gospel of Christ. You know this, but I'll say it anyway, gospel is just a term that means good news or glad tidings.

So it is good news of Christ. What is Christ? Jesus's last name? Jesus Christ? No.

It is a title in an office. It just means the anointed. You anoint to set apart to a specific work, to consecrate to a work. I set you apart to this work. I anoint you, symbolically setting you aside to a work.

Jesus was set aside to save sinners, set apart to do a work that he then did. It is the good news or the glad tidings of Christ, of one who was set apart for the saving of sinners. As believers, we think of the gospel as such a wonderful thing that we can wonder, who would ever be ashamed of the gospel? Why would you even need to say, I'm not ashamed of the gospel? No one would be ashamed of the gospel.

It's good news! It's good news of one who was anointed to save sinners. Who could ever be ashamed of that? But understand, in most of the world The gospel is despised in most of the world. The gospel is a subject of contempt.

And why is that? Because the good news sits upon a foundation of bad news. And until you embrace the bad news, the good news offers you nothing. The gospel lays us low and requires us to abandon our human pride. And human beings will not do that unless God exerts his power.

You will never lay aside your human pride and agree with the Bible about you. The Bible says very unflattering things about you, did you know that? Have you been reading your Bible? The Word of God is not here to flatter us. The Word of God is here to tell truth about us.

And until you can swallow that pill, the gospel has no offer for you. 1 Corinthians 1 Paul says it is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks. The gospel it's a stumbling block to Jews. Why? Because they don't want to be parted from their pride.

They want to think that their law keeping has them in a right relationship with God, But it doesn't. Why is it foolishness to Greeks? Because the Greeks want to think in their own understanding that they've got it all in hand. They don't have it all in hand. That's what the Bible says.

Jews, your righteousness isn't righteousness at all. Greeks your wisdom isn't wise at all. Can you be parted from your self-righteousness? Can you be parted from your self wisdom if not the gospel has no offer for you? If you cannot submit to the bad news of scripture, the unflattering things, the many unflattering things that scripture says about you, the gospel is not for you.

But it is for Paul so he's not ashamed of it. Listen to what John MacArthur says in just the study notes of the MacArthur study Bible. He, Paul, had been imprisoned in Philippi, Acts 16, chased out of Thessalonica, Acts 17, smuggled out of Berea, Acts 17, laughed at in Athens, Acts 17, regarded as a fool in Corinth, 1 Corinthians 1, and stoned in Galatia, Acts 14. Neither ridicule, criticism, nor physical persecution could curb his boldness. That's the punchline.

Neither ridicule, being made fun of for this foolish thing he's preaching, nor criticism, we don't like you, you're not teaching true things, or physical persecution, he was stoned and left for dead, could curb his boldness. As you read the book of Acts, it just seems like all these things that are against him make him more bold, not less bold. He's not ashamed of the gospel. Why isn't Paul ashamed of the gospel of Christ? The verse tells us, for or because it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.

It's the power of God. It's God exerting his power to save sinners. The gospel is God's power extended, exerted to save anyone and everyone who believes in Jesus Christ. Anyone and everyone. If you believe, it's because God exerted his power to save you through the gospel.

Now a few things should be said based on this. I'm gonna say four. I don't know how long the list should be, I just know how long the list is. Four. One, we need to be saved.

We need to be saved. We cannot save ourselves, we never would save ourselves. We need to be rescued or we'll be lost. God has to come get us or we will not be God. God has to exert his power or we throw ourselves into destruction.

The perfections of God and our rebellion against such a perfect God leaves us in this desperate condition. There's only one solution. God rescues you. Two, our rescue requires nothing less than the power of God. Our rescue was no small thing.

It actually requires the raising from the dead. How do you like that? Nothing short of raising you from the dead will rescue you. It requires nothing less than the power of God. Turn to Matthew 19.

Matthew 19. Jesus speaks of this. He's in a dialogue with his disciples, he says surprising things, that happens a lot in the Gospels. His disciples are often surprised about what he says, need clarification, so it is here in Matthew 19. I'll be reading Matthew 19 23 through 26.

Matthew 19 23 through 26. Follow along. Then Jesus said to his disciples, surely I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. When the disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, who then can be saved?

If rich guys can't be saved, who can be saved? But Jesus looked at them and said, with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Why a rich man? Why is the rich man the object lesson here? The text doesn't say, so I'll speculate.

I think it's because we take the accumulation of wealth, the ability to do what it takes to accumulate wealth as a sign of having your act together. And? Or a sign of God's blessing. How did he get rich if God didn't bless him? How did he get rich if he doesn't have his act together?

So the disciples think they must be teetering on the edge of being saved. How could they not? They have their act together. They have the sign of God's blessing on their life. And Jesus says, it's not either.

It's not either. The self-discipline needed to make yourself do the things required to accumulate wealth does not mean you have your act together in God's eyes. In fact, sometimes it is a very sophisticated form of rebellion against God, sustaining yourself against God, propagating autonomy against God in your life. It's as likely that as being near God, more likely. Is wealth a More likely.

Is wealth a sign of God's blessing? By definition, it always is. Of course not. Now, God does prosper some of his people. That's true, but that's totally different than saying if you're wealthy it therefore must mean by definition that God is blessing you.

You know any cursed people who have resources? Yes. Yeah. It is impossible for a man, woman, boy, or girl to be saved without God extending his power to rescue them. Impossible.

We never could and we never would without God extending his power through the gospel to save us. Three, we are rescued through belief in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It has to be that person. I can't die for you, you can't die for me, we have our own sins to die for, that won't work. Jesus has none of his own sins to die for, and his blood is of infinite value so he can die for all of us.

The person of Jesus and the work of Jesus going to the cross to stand as a substitute for sinners so that the wages of sin, all of those wages are paid in full. All of them paid in full. None left for me to pay. The person of Jesus, it has to be him. The work of Jesus, he has to stand as a substitute because God will not forfeit his justice for me or you.

Faith, by grace alone, it's a gift through faith alone. It is the channel for salvation. Four, rescue is the universal result of believing in Jesus. The universal result of believing in Jesus. If you believe in Jesus, no matter who you are, you can be a barbarian or a Greek or something in between, if you believe in Jesus you will be saved.

John 6 35, Jesus says, He who believes in me shall never thirst. Two verses later in John 6 37 he says, The one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. I will by no means cast out. If you go to Jesus for salvation, I'll say it. I'll say it.

There are counterfeits. We all know there are counterfeits. People who say they've gone to Jesus but have never gone to Jesus, okay, but if you go to Jesus to be saved, he will save you. He will save you. The one who comes to me I will by no means cast out.

Then verse 16 concludes this way, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. The gospel is God's power extended to save everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Now why do the Jew first? Why even say this? If everyone who believes is saved, why make a distinction between Jews and non-Jews?

We're back in Romans 1. Let's look at the first three verses. How does Paul introduce his letter to the Romans in this way? Romans 1 1 through 3. Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh.

The gospel is the fulfilling of promises. God made the promises, God kept the promises. Those were promises made by God through Jewish prophets overwhelmingly to Jews and fulfilled in a Jew, the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of David. Genesis 12 is a good representation of those promises, meaning there are promises all over the Old Testament. Genesis 12 is just, we can look at that and say that's a good representative of the batch.

Genesis 2, 2, I will bless you and you shall be a blessing. Genesis 12 3, did I say 2? I meant 12. Genesis 12 3, in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Then Abraham, then David, then the son of David, the promises are kept.

So the Jews enjoyed a place of priority which would eventually be the foundation of the worldwide offer of peace with God through this Jewish savior. We should be glad that those promises were made to the Jews and fulfilled to the Jews, not think we're second class citizens as Gentiles. That's not what's being taught at all. But God made promises to them to use them as a blessing to the world and they were fulfilled in their family line. So in Jesus's life and ministry we see that Jesus was sent overwhelmingly to the lost sheep of Israel.

Jesus says that himself in Matthew 15 24. And even Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles had the practice of entering a city and preaching Christ to the Jews in the synagogue until they made him leave. And finally he hit a point that says, I'm wiping the dust off of my feet, I'm going to the Gentiles. But city after city after city, he starts in the synagogue until they press him out. In the end, no one should be troubled by this priority that the Jews enjoy.

Everyone who believes in Jesus will be saved, and the priority of the Jews simply means that God keeps his promises. Are you okay with that? Do you like that message? God keeps his promises to Jews. What does that mean?

He keeps his promises to the Gentiles too. He's a promise-keeping God, that's what that means. For the Jew first. Amen! You promise-keeping God, keep those promises.

It's the foundation for the salvation of the whole world, all who will believe in Jesus. It does not in any way create two classes in the kingdom, not in any way. Let's apply this as we go. I'll give you two applications here. One, let's acknowledge the tremendous pressures that exist to make us ashamed of the gospel and to make us be quiet when we should speak up.

It's a glorious day to be a gospel preacher. As things get darker and darker, the glory of being a gospel preacher increases. It's not time to be quiet, it's time to be loud with the gospel. We have what they need. We have the life, they're dying.

We've received freely, We should give freely. This is no time to be ashamed of the gospel. There is no time to be ashamed of the gospel, but if there were one this wouldn't be it. Ashamed of the gospel, the gospel is God extending his power to save sinners. Two, second application, it is for anyone and everyone who believes.

No one is above the gospel. No Greek, sophisticated, educated, cultured person is above the gospel. Not a single one. No one is below the gospel. No savage, barbarian, uneducated, uncultured, unsophisticated person is below the gospel.

It's not possible. Every human being needs rescue. They will only be rescued if God exerts his power to rescue them. Our last verse, verse 17. For in it, we're back in Romans 1, we're still in Romans 1, 1.17.

For in it, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. Here in verse 17 we have the revelation of God's righteousness. He puts His righteousness on display. He reveals it.

In the gospel, in these glad tidings, the righteousness that comes from God, the righteousness of God, coming from God, is revealed. It is made known. It is made effective. It is put on display. It does its work to all who believe in Jesus.

Let's unpack that. Verse 17 begins with for or we could say because. All this is said and taught and now for or because. This is an explanation of the gospel being God extending his power to rescue everyone who believes. We ask Paul how does that work?

The righteousness of God, that phrase righteousness of God, is not simply a description of God being perfectly righteous. He is perfectly righteous, that's true, but that's not what Paul's getting at here. Paul's getting at that it is a righteousness given by God. It is His righteousness given to the believer, the righteousness of proceeding from God. And because this righteousness is not our righteousness, which is self-righteousness, which is fake righteousness, which is not really righteousness at all in the sight of one who is really righteous, it is sufficient to put us in a right standing with this perfectly righteous God.

In other words, His righteousness is so perfect that the only righteousness he can accept is perfect righteousness. He doesn't accept this half-hearted righteousness that we can muster up with the best of our efforts. Do you believe that? The best of your efforts outputs, results in half-hearted, sickly form of righteousness that if you were perfect righteousness, if you were perfectly righteous, you wouldn't look on it as righteousness at all, you would say, that's filthy rags. That's actually what the Bible teaches.

Isaiah 64 verse 6, all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. So don't misunderstand that, that's easily translated into nobody's perfect. That's not what that verse means. All of our righteousnesses, our filthy rags, isn't we're all sinners, okay? The man on the street is so comfortable with that.

We're all sinners. Right on, they say. Nobody's perfect. Right on. And I'll give you permission for your imperfections, and you'll give—it's a wink and a nod— you'll give me permission for your imperfections, and we'll all agree that none of us are perfect, and we'll just keep moving.

What's God really saying in Isaiah 64 verse 6? All of our righteousness. He's saying, I'm not talking to the things you're ashamed of. I'm not talking about your imperfections. I'm willing to let you put all of the things that you're ashamed of behind your back.

Out of sight. Okay? Thought experiment. God offers you a thought experiment. You can put all of the things that you're ashamed of in the slightest behind your back and pick out the best of the best of the best of the best of your whole life and then offer them to me for a rendering the best of the best anything you think has a tinge of bad motive or anything just put that behind your back out of sight Take the best of the best and offer it to me.

That is filthy. That's what God, that's what Isaiah 64 6 means. Not, I hate what you think are your sins, I hate what you think is righteous in your life. I hate it, it's filthy. That's why you have to have a righteousness that comes from outside of yourself.

God's righteousness put into your account. Abraham believed God and he credited it or reckoned it or accounted it to him he put it into Abraham's account as Abraham's righteousness but it was really God's righteousness so it was really righteous Not this half-hearted stuff that we come up with with the best of our efforts. It's tainted with sin in every part. Now, what is the channel for God's righteousness being applied to a person? God takes his righteousness and puts it into my account.

What's the channel for that? Faith. If we knew Greek, it would be immediately obvious just by looking at the words that believes in verse 16, salvation for everyone who believes and faith in 17 from faith to faith are part of a single word group. The root of the word looks exactly the same in a transliteration of the Greek words. They're just different forms.

In verse 16, it's the verb form. In verse 17, it's the noun form. But they have exactly the same Greek word. So to keep the continuity, we could translate it from believing to believing, just to keep it the same in both verses because they have the identical Greek group. So either way you switch it, you could switch it to faith in verse 16 if you wanted to, but just to keep continuity so that you could see that really he's getting at the same thing in verse 16 and 17.

He's talking about the same thing. Faith and belief are synonyms. From believing to believing. Now, there are a lot of views on exactly what from faith to faith actually means. Commentators are all over the map.

I read a lot of them, and it seemed like no two of them said the same thing. It wasn't quite true, but it's close. What does that mean? After studying it extensively, I resonated most with Thomas Shriner. He's a prominent commentator on Romans and here's what he says, I suggest that a weakness of many interpretations is the attempt to squeeze more meaning out of the phrase than is warranted.

To Thomas Shriner I say, Amen. A lot of these commentators have very complex schemes of what from faith to faith means and I'm thinking, man, if it's that complex we're gonna need a Pope to explain it to us and I don't think that's how the Bible works, you know. I believe Paul is simply saying and saying it emphatically, saying it with gusto by the repetition of the word that faith and faith alone is the channel of God's righteousness being applied to a person. Faith and only faith. The NIV actually translates it this way, by faith from first to last.

Now I have a soft spot for the NIV, because when I first got saved, that was the Bible that I wore out. That was the Bible that I was memorizing. It's not the right way to translate the scriptures. So they do thought for thought. We should be going word for word, because the word is the unit of inspiration.

That's the subject for another sermon. I didn't mean to divert there. My point is, I often find new international version to be bad translation, but really good commentary. Meaning, they ought to be bringing it over word by word for word, they don't, but oftentimes they do get the thought right in their intent to bring over the thought, so it makes for good commentary. I think that's good commentary.

By Thaith, from first to last. Terrible translation, good commentary. Thaith is the alpha and omega of salvation. When you ask the question, what's the channel for God exerting his power, he brings you to a point where you're willing to trust in his son. It's the Alpha and Omega from first to last, from faith to faith, from believing to believing.

Finally Paul quotes Habakkuk 2 verse 4. So he's quoting this minor prophet, more proof that the gospel is just a fulfillment of those promises. And Paul is offering Habakkuk 2.4 as proof from Scripture that this God-righteousness comes through faith. Paul's not offering a new scheme for salvation and he's proving it from the Old Testament scriptures that those who have been saved in in every era and every century and every epic have been saved by faith and only by faith. There was never a period of time where humans were saved by law keeping.

Unless you count Jesus as law keeping, which he perfectly kept on behalf of his people. Similar to what I said earlier, if we knew Greek, it would be immediately obvious that righteous, righteousness earlier in 17, and just, the just shall live by faith, share the same Greek root. And they're just different forms of the same family of words. Where it was translated righteousness, it's the noun form where it's translated as just. The just shall live by faith.

It's the adjective. But they got the same Greek word. It's the same family. So to keep continuity, we could translate it, the righteous shall live by faith. In fact, the New American Standard, English Standard, NIV do translate it that way.

I'm not quibbling with translation, Translation work is hard. In this case, it's reflecting a Hebrew word that has been brought over into Greek and now translated into English. You take a stab at that, see how You do. So I'm not complaining about the translators. I'm just saying there are other ways to view this that help us to understand these word groups that are being repeatedly used.

Now, OK. So we could translate it instead of the just shall live by faith, the righteous shall live by faith, really meaning the same thing. Life, rescue from death, resurrection from the dead, is by faith. If you study Habakkuk 2.4 in depth, you'll come away thinking it means more than just that, but it includes that, and that's really the meaning, the part of the meaning there that Paul is drawing forward. And he does this in other places.

We're about to see that. I want to give you three texts where Paul comments on Paul. I love when Paul comments on Paul. The best commentary on Paul is Paul. So I want to give you three places.

The first place is Galatians 3. So turn to Galatians 3. It's expanded in Galatians 3. It's the same topic, but he says more in Galatians 3 so it throws light on our text. Galatians 3 verses 6 through 11.

Galatians chapter 3 verses 6 through 11, Follow along. Just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand saying, in you all the nations shall be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.

For it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them, but that no one is justified by the law on the side of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith." He quotes Habakkuk 2, 4 again. What's Paul saying here? He's saying, you want to be under the scheme of law keeping? Then continue in it all the time with no breaches from your first breath until your last, then you can be righteous before God. You're under a curse.

When did that train leave the station? It takes one breach. Continue in all the things written for all your life when did that train leave the station? Was it yesterday? Was it last week?

Was it last month? Was it last year? Was it a decade ago? You don't even know and the single breach is just theoretical. How many breaches every hour with your self-love and your pride and your self-sufficiency?

How many breaches every hour? We can't even do the math now. So if you want law keeping to be the scheme, Paul says you're under a curse, because one breach did it, and you can't even remember the first breach. You have to be saved like Abraham was. He believed God and it was credited to him, accounted to him, reckoned to him for righteousness.

God took his own righteousness and put it into Abraham's account as if he was righteous because of faith. Philippians 3. Philippians 3. Philippians 3. I'll be reading Philippians chapter 3 verses 7 through 9.

Paul writes, But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. And be found in him not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith." There it is. Not my own righteousness, which is from law keeping, which isn't really righteousness at all. If you were looking through the lenses of one who's perfectly righteous you would say, oh no that's not righteousness, that's a filthy rag, but the righteousness which is from God by faith in Jesus.

There is law righteousness and there is faith righteousness. The law righteousness train has left the station a long time ago for us. We are left with faith righteousness or no righteousness at all. God must exert his power to rescue you through the gospel, through the glad tidings that Jesus came to die for sinners. Finally, and it's just a single verse so I won't have you turn there, you're welcome to, but I probably have read it by the time you get there, unless you're really fast.

2 Corinthians 5 21, which we should all have memorized. 2 Corinthians 5 21. If you boil the gospel down to where you just can't boil out another half syllable, you end up with 2 Corinthians 5 21. For He, God the Father, made him, God the Son, who knew no sin, Jesus's perfect life, to be sin for us. That we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Union with Christ, giving you his righteousness as if you hadn't done all those things, thought all those things, said all those things, all that wiped away as far as the East is from the West and now it's like you lived his perfectly cheerful thankful obedient life from the first breath that you took to the last breath that you took it's like you did and the treatment that you deserve for all those thoughts words and deeds settled the treatment you deserved Jesus took and the favor that he deserves for His perfect righteousness given to you. It's as if you deserve to be treated like Jesus deserves to be treated! If the Bible didn't say it was true, it would be too good to be true. Could you believe it? If God didn't say it in his word, I couldn't believe it.

It's too good to be true, but it is true. I may be sure you get this. I've said it once, I'll say it again. The contrast is not between divine righteousness, God's righteousness, and human unrighteousness. God's pure we're sinners.

It is between divine righteousness, which God supplies to those who believe in his son Jesus and human righteousness which is filthy rags. In conclusion this is Romans in a nutshell. Scientists start with a hypothesis, they think it might be true, so they assert it and then they try to prove it. This is what Paul is asserting and then he spends Romans proving it. It's wonderful.

It might seem like the gospel is at the center. It seems like that because we like ourselves to be at the center. Okay, the gospel is not at the center. The God who extends his own power that he has is under no obligation to extend for anything outside of his own good pleasure, God chooses to extend his own power to save sinners. Can you believe that?

Isn't God wonderful? This is God revealing himself. Here's who I am. I take my power, you plunged yourself into sin and destruction. I could just let it all happen and you get what you deserve and all of you would plunge yourself into destruction, but that's not who I am.

I am willing, I delight to take my power and exert it to save my enemies. God, thank you for revealing yourself, revealing the revelation of the righteousness of God, thank you for not being content to just give us what we deserve. Because your goodness and your kindness and your mercy has to express itself. Thank you that you do make sinners trophies of your grace to display all your goodness, to make all your goodness pass before us. Thank you in Jesus' name, amen.

I think I'm supposed to do the benediction. Okay, you think that too, That's good. Please stand for our benediction. OK, I'm calling an audible. It was going to be Jude, but now it's going to be numbers.

Why do we do benedictions? Because it's a nice clean way to end a service. No, there's a better reason than that. And it fits with this, actually. It fits with the text and the sermon.

God wants blessing to be pronounced over His people. Why is that? Because we clean up good? No, he loves us, he's given us his own righteousness. That's the only thing we have to plead is his righteousness through union with Christ.

And because he now sees us as righteous, he wants his blessing to be pronounced on us. And so he commands the priests in Numbers chapter 6 to pronounce the blessing over God's people because he wants them to hear, you have my favor. Our benediction is numbers 6 22 through 27. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to Aaron and his son saying, this is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them, the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. So they shall put my name on the children of Israel and I will bless them amen we are we are dismissed Thank you.