All right, I also forgot to mention the Cripplegate Conference, which is, I think, June 8th to 10th. So if you're interested in going to that as a church, see Caleb over there. Not that Caleb, that Caleb over there. That Caleb is my son. He's not gonna tell you much about that conference. Anyways. So two weeks ago, There was this report coming out from US News and World Report that ranked all 50 states for quality of life. And out of 50 states, any guesses where New Jersey ranked for quality of life? What do you think? 49. 49 out of 50. By the way, 50 was California, which is where our elders are this morning. So I suppose the joke is on them. It could be the long commute or the pollution. I don't know. Actually, I spent about eight years of my life in California. And so basically, the two states that I spent most time in my life in are the 49th and the 50th for quality of life. I don't know what that says about me. You know, this is nothing new. We all know that New Jersey gets a bad rap, doesn't it? Some of you know, of course, I was born and raised in New Jersey, so are my children. And, of course, when I spent my time out in California, I learned that people just love to dump on New Jersey. So they would ask me, you know, where are you from? I would say New Jersey. And then immediately they would say, oh, that's the armpit of the United States. The armpit of the United States, you know, on the map and, well, anyways, you can think about it. But eventually the mocking got so bad that when people asked me where I was from, I just started telling them I was from New York, the New York area, and that would get me some respect. Well, you know, of course, being from New Jersey is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, we should all be proud of it. So don't be ashamed of it. It's okay to tell people you're from New Jersey. But what other things in our lives are we tempted to be ashamed of? Let me tell you, something from my own experience. This is when I was in third grade. And this might surprise you to know, but I wasn't always the best behaved kid in school when I was in third grade. And in addition to getting some bad grades once in a while, I remember that year my teacher had written some very pointed remarks about my behavior in class on my report card. And I remember the day where I had to bring that report card home to my parents. I was sitting on the school bus, and I was kind of so ashamed of what was written on my report card that the thought of bringing it home to my parents filled me with a sense of dread. So much so that as the bus pulled up to my house, I just knew how much trouble I was going to be in. I was terrified. But then I had an idea. My ideas are always good, especially in third grade. And as I got off the bus and I looked to my right, I saw a storm drain. And as I got off the bus, I just casually walked to the storm drain and slipped it down the chute into the storm drain. I thought I was so clever. I went home and tried to act all casual. I tried to act all natural, pretend that the report card never came. Of course, everybody would forget all about it. Everything would be fine. Of course, what I didn't know at the time was that my mom had a habit. And that was that every afternoon when she heard my bus coming down the street, she would go to the picture window and watch me as I came off the bus to make sure that I got home okay. And so she saw the whole thing. And I'll leave the rest to your imagination. But suffice to say, it would have been better off for me if I had just given her the report card and faced the music. Well, is there anything in your life that you're ashamed of? So much so that you would want to hide it away. Let me ask you this. How about the gospel? Is it possible that sometimes You are ashamed of the gospel. Let me tell you how maybe to answer that question. Here's how to know if you're ashamed of the gospel. Ask yourself this question. When was the last time you shared the gospel with an unbeliever? Let's be honest. Most likely, all of us at some time or another we have been ashamed of the gospel. There have been times where God has given us the opportunity to share the gospel with our coworkers or our friends or our family, but then we keep our mouth closed. Or there are times where we easily shrink back at the face of even slight opposition, don't we? And so every once in a while, I think we all need to be reminded not to be ashamed of the gospel. And that's what the Apostle Paul sets out to do for us in one of the most defining passages in the entire New Testament. I'd like to turn to it. It's in Romans chapter one. Let's turn to Romans chapter one, starting at verse 16. And actually it's on page 1,125 in your pew Bibles if you want to. go there. Now more than perhaps any other book in the Bible, the book of Romans delivers the most comprehensive treatment of the gospel or the good news. The good news of course is the gospel is the good news of the Christian faith. And so Romans 1, through the book of Romans, Romans 1 starts out by outlining the reason we need the gospel. It takes us through the unredeemable sinfulness of all humanity and all of us humans. It tells us how we have all in our natural state violated the law of God. And as a result, we're all under the condemnation of God. But then, Later in the book of Romans, it tells us the good news that God sent his son who was sinless into the world. Of course, that would be Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ sacrificed, or God sacrificed his own son on the cross for us so that all who believe in Jesus Christ will have their sins forgiven on the basis of Jesus' sacrifice. So now, Later in the book of Romans, it tells us there is no condemnation anymore for those who are in Christ. No more condemnation. Those of us who have believed in our hearts and confessed in our mouths that Jesus is Lord, Jesus has paid in full for the condemnation that you deserve. So instead of condemnation, a believer can look forward to eternity in paradise. And that's the gospel, of course, in a nutshell. One of the primary purposes of the Book of Romans is to explain the gospel and to answer all of the questions that arise from it. And if you ever have questions about the gospel, it's probably answered somewhere in the Book of Romans. But our passage today is the thesis statement of the Book of Romans. And in many ways, the rest of the Book of Romans is an exposition of this very verse. In fact, it's such an awesome verse that we put it on the back of your T-shirts. I ask you to wear it today if you had one. Thank you for doing that. Let's read it together. Of course, I'd like for you to turn to it, but for your convenience, I'll also put it on the screen here. It says this, 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. Let's pause for a moment to ask God's blessing. Father, as we examine your words this morning, please help us to understand them. And help our ears be attentive as you speak to us through your word. And help us to understand how to apply this to our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, now let's break down this passage together. The Apostle Paul first starts out with the declaration, I am not ashamed of the gospel. And you may ask, why would anybody be ashamed of good news, right? I think there are at least two reasons why we are frequently tempted to be ashamed of the gospel. First, the gospel is inherently an offensive message. It's an offensive message. Because the gospel requires you to start by telling people they are sinners. They are not the good people they think they are, but they stand condemned before God. Indeed, everyone stands condemned before God because God's standard for goodness is what? It's perfection. Nobody meets that standard. And you can't have the good news. until you have the bad news, right? You have to come to a place where you understand that you are in absolute trouble with God. But the problem is everybody thinks that they are good people, right? Everybody likes to think that. And to tell people who think that they are good people and have thought that all their lives, to tell them that they are actually condemned because of their sin threatens their very perception of their identity at the core of their being. And of course, ironically, this can infuriate some people to the point of physical violence or even murder, which kind of just proves your point. But that's what happens to Jesus, right, in the New Testament. So the gospel is an offensive message. We offend people by giving that. But not only are we tempted to be ashamed of the gospel because it's offensive, we're also tempted to be ashamed of the gospel because it is a foolish message. It's foolish. Because let's face it, it's now considered backwards to believe in an afterlife at all, isn't it? Considered unscientific. And wasn't the universe created by a big bang, says the scientist, and not by God? And you really want me to believe that a mere carpenter who lived 2,000 years ago was born of a virgin? Does that happen? And he performed actual miracles, like raising the dead? And then he was resurrected? And then he floated up into heaven? I mean, all of these things can be hard to swallow, can't they? And you better understand that if you're going to be giving the gospel to people today, you're going to be labeled a kook. You're going to be labeled gullible. People are going to say you are superstitious, unsophisticated, uncultured, and foolish. You're not going to fit in. you will be laughed at and ridiculed. They will call you a brainwashed nut. Many of us have been called those things here. Indeed, 1 Corinthians 1.18 says this, that the word of the cross is what? Foolishness. It's foolishness, of course, to those who are perishing, perishing. See, God knows that. God knows the word of the gospel, the word of the cross is foolishness, and it's not by accident. In fact, God made it foolish on purpose, didn't he? Actually, keep your finger on Romans 1, and just turn over one book to 1 Corinthians 1 for a moment, and I just want you to see this truth. In 1 Corinthians 1, we'll pick up in verse 27. Why did God make the gospel foolish and difficult to believe? 1 Corinthians 1.27 reads this, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world, and the despise God has chosen. the things that are not, so that he may nullify the things that are. And here it is, here's the reason. So that, what? No man may boast before God. You see, God wanted to make it clear through the foolishness of the gospel that when you are saved, you are not saved because you are clever enough, or you are strong enough, or you are wise enough, you are popular enough. He made the gospel foolish that no one could claim. No one could boast in themselves. So you see, it's by design that God did this. The gospel is not cool. It is not respected by the intellectual elite or the academics or the trendsetters. And it seems backwards and unsophisticated on purpose. Why? So that no one can look at your faith and say anything other than, wow, that message is so against human wisdom and so uncool. That must have been the work of God that he would believe that. So God gets all the glory. So the gospel is offensive as well as foolish, but our job, and listen carefully, our job as the church is to share that gospel despite its offensiveness and its foolishness. That's our job. We need to understand that sharing the gospel will never be cool or fashionable or acceptable, and some people will always think you're nuts, and that's okay. That's how it should be. Okay, now let's head back to Romans 1 verse 16. Paul tells us he is not ashamed of the gospel, regardless of how offensive it is, regardless of how foolish it is. And honestly, looking in the Bible, I can't recall a time where Paul was even remotely ashamed of the gospel, not even a little bit. Remember what Paul had gone through. to share the gospel. He had been ridiculed, criticized, mocked, confronted, physically assaulted, imprisoned, shipwrecked, chased, forced into hiding, and they even tried to stone him. So you ask, what is Paul's secret? How can he be so unashamed of the gospel? Well, in the rest of our time today, Paul will tell us three reasons why we should be unashamed of the gospel. Three reasons to not be ashamed of the gospel. And the first reason, if you look back at verse 16, is this. The gospel is the awesome power of God to save. The gospel is the power of God to save. Let's see it from our text. In verse 16 of Romans 1, it says, of course, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God. Now, this word power in the Greek is a very interesting word. It's the word dunamis, from where we get the English word dynamite. Dynamite. The gospel, Paul says, is the dynamite of God. The gospel is like a grenade, full of the explosive power of God. And of course, whose job is it to pull the pin of that grenade and to unleash that power? Whose job is it? It's your job. And it's my job. And if you are ashamed of the gospel, it's like you're carrying around a grenade, but nobody's ever gonna pull the pin. You're carrying God's power around without ever unleashing it. But brethren, you see, your mission, as a Christian, is to unleash the power of God. How do you do that? By telling the gospel to whoever will listen to you. That's up to you to do that. And when you do, God's incredible power, the power that created the heavens and the earth, the power that raised Jesus from the dead, the power that one day will destroy the universe and make it anew, that power will explode out in glory and decimate the powers of darkness that hold sinners in bondage. But if you are ashamed of the gospel, that power will stay bottled up in you and never see it the light of day. See, the gospel is the power of God, but your mouth is the instrument through which the gospel flows forth in all of his explosive power. And what Satan wants and the evil one wants is to make you ashamed of the gospel so the power never goes forth. But the gospel is all of God's power deployed, not for destruction, but for what? For salvation. For salvation, that's what the verse says. Salvation means, of course, to save. It's God's power to rescue sinners And when I was studying this verse, my question was, why does it take this much power to save a sinner? Why does it take this much power? To understand this, we need to understand what a sinner is saved from. It's true, of course, that a sinner has to be saved from, first, his own evil nature. The Bible teaches us that, as human beings, our nature is to be in constant rebellion against God. Jeremiah 17.9 says our hearts are knowingly deceitful, of course, and wicked by our very nature. And, of course, this is not something we can change on our own. Jeremiah 13, 23 tells us, of course, that no more can we change our sinful nature as a leopard could change his own spots. So the sinner then has to be rescued from himself. And it's also true that the sinner needs to be rescued from spiritual and demonic forces, which currently control the world and hold us in bondage. These demonic forces are incredibly strong. 2 Corinthians 4.4 calls Satan the God of this world and explains that he has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. See, 1 John 5.19 tells us that the whole world lies in the power of who? The evil one. So make no mistake, Satan is at work controlling the spirit of the age, promoting false ideology, false religion, and false philosophies, all so that people would not hear the gospel and believe. So not only does a sinner need to be rescued from themselves, not only does a sinner need to be rescued from demonic forces, but if it were just those two things, maybe we wouldn't need the power of the dynamite of God. There is one more problem that the sinner needs to be delivered from. One power that makes those look puny by comparison. And that is God himself. Because you see the most formidable force against the sinner is the full force of the wrath of an omnipotent God. His holiness and justice align straight at the sinner's soul. And that's why the situation is so hopeless. How could anyone stand against the wrath of the creator and destroyer of the universe? It's hopeless. The sinner is up against the very power of God himself. But lucky for you, the gospel is also God's power. You see? Only God's power is enough to save you from the power of God. When it's God's wrath you're up against, it's God himself who can provide you the way out. In fact, Psalm 133 to four sums it up. It reads like this. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? No one can stand against the power of God. The next verse says this. But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. You see? The wrath of God and the forgiveness of God come together and collide at the cross. Overwhelmingly powerful forces. See, that's why salvation, your salvation, needs the dynamite of God. That's the power to save that is in the gospel. But again, this power only manifests when you are not ashamed to share it. Don't be ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God to save. But notice there's a second reason why Paul gives us that we ought not to be ashamed of the gospel. And that is that the message of the gospel is applicable to everyone. The gospel is applicable to everyone. Look again at verse 16, the second half. It says, it is a power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And of course, by using the term Greek here, Paul is referring to all non-Jews. In other words, Paul is saying that the offer of the gospel is open to everyone who believes. It doesn't matter your nationality. It doesn't matter your previous religious identification. It doesn't matter what your race is or what your background is. The gospel is an open invitation to you. And of course, we talked about this a little in Sunday school this morning. It's true that the gospel came to the Jews first. That's why Paul calls that out here in this verse. The whole nation of Israel was chosen by God and Jesus Christ himself came through the Jews. So it was to the Jews first, but of course the plan all along was to make salvation open to the whole world. And that's always been clear, even in the Old Testament, that it came through the Jews and it was offered to them first. And that's why it's to the Jews first. But of course, Paul explicitly says is available to both the Jews and also to the non-Jews, the Greek. Why does he have to call that out so explicitly? And the answer is that, you know, Paul's readers, even we talked about this a little in Sunday school, Paul's readers at the time were tempted to be ashamed of the gospel because it was too inclusive. It didn't discriminate enough against groups that they didn't like. That's why they were ashamed of the gospel. And to understand why that's a problem, we need to understand that, of course, the Jews and the non-Jews didn't always get along in New Testament times, did they? Sometimes even we see this conflict within the church itself. The Jews often thought of Gentiles as lawless profaners, unclean, who had illegally come in and invaded their land and occupied their land. And on the other hand, the Gentiles thought the Jews were pretentious and legalistic and separatist. And these groups, of course, were both thinking the same thing, that the gospel could not possibly be for somebody like that. And what that amounts to is basically a sophisticated, religiously-tinned type of racism, right? Part of the miracle of the gospel is that it unites people, groups of people together, who would ordinarily have nothing to do with each other, right? and it unites all these people in one church. And that's the beauty of the gospel. It's something I've always been proud about this church, that our church has always been made out of a multiplicity of ethnicities. And look around, you'll see every type of nation, every type of race represented. And if you ever, by the way, if you ever find yourself in a church where everyone looks too much the same, then I think you should be a little bit careful. Because part of the gospel, the power of the gospel, is that it ought to unite the people whose society would divide, right? The gospel is for and applicable to everyone. But not only is it applicable to all races, I want you to go back a few verses to verse 14 and take a look at what Paul says right before this verse. Paul says this in verse 14 of Romans 1. He says, I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and to the what? The foolish. See, not only does the gospel save equally without discrimination those who are of different races, it also is applicable to those who are wise and those who are foolish. Those who are educated and those who are uneducated. Those who are rich and those who are poor. And sometimes I think that maybe subtly and on a subconscious level, we fail to believe this. I think we fail to believe this. And this is what I mean. We probably don't out loud say that the gospel is not for this group of people or for that group of people. But think about this. When the opportunity arises to share the gospel with somebody of a different group, Maybe we simply don't open our mouths. Maybe we simply don't share the gospel with people who don't fit our mold of what a Christian looks like, that we've created in our minds. And have you ever had the opportunity to share the gospel, but then said to yourself, oh, he's a scientist, he's too educated, he would never believe. Or, you know, he's a homosexual, he would never believe the gospel. Or, Muslim, he's a Muslim, he would never believe the gospel. What's the point? Or, you know, he's too old to change. He would never believe. Or, this man, he's too rich. I won't waste my time. And so, you see, we simply don't share the gospel with people who don't fit our stereotype, right? And when we don't open our mouths, what are we really saying? We're saying that The gospel doesn't apply to people like that. It doesn't apply to you. But friends, hear what the apostle Paul is saying here. He's saying the gospel is for everyone. It's not for us to limit it, but it's up to us to speak it. And you know, when you share the gospel, what this verse is saying is that you can be confident that the gospel will always apply to the person you are speaking to, without exception. It doesn't matter what their upbringing is. It doesn't matter what their political views are. It doesn't matter what form of religion they are or what sins they are involved in. The gospel can save them. They need the gospel. And it's up to you to share it. Let God worry about whether they'll believe or not. So don't be ashamed of the gospel because it applies to everybody. Don't be ashamed. Finally, there's a third reason not to be ashamed of the gospel. And the third reason is that the gospel is absolutely free. It's absolutely free. See, we're not trying to sell anyone anything. You're not trying to get anything from anyone, right? You're not a door-to-door salesman in any way here. but you're simply giving them a gift. That's all you're doing. And let's see that from verse 17. It says, for in it, what? What's it? The gospel, right? For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. Let's just stop right there for a second. Now, there's this little phrase, the righteousness of God, and this phrase, the righteousness of God, is perhaps one of the most profound phrases in the entire Bible. Honestly, we could park here for weeks. When I was looking at the commentaries, there were pages and pages on this. We're not gonna be able to exhaust all there is in this phrase, but we'll just skim the surface. Let me just tell you what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean this. It's not speaking of righteous living, right? It's not speaking of ethical righteousness. And it's not saying that, you know, by faith that God is making us sort of a better people in a moral sense or a personal sense. Is it true that a true believer will with time become more morally righteous as he gradually puts off his sin? Is that true? Of course that is true, but that's not something that Paul is talking about here, something he'll deal with later in the Book of Romans. I preached on Romans 6 a few years ago, and that's where Paul talks about that. So you can go back and listen to that if you'd like. That's not what Paul is talking about here. What does the righteousness of God mean here? Well, the reformer Martin Luther famously referred to this as an alien righteousness, alien righteousness. It's a righteousness that did not originate in yourself. It's a righteous standing that comes from outside of yourself, alien to yourself. And Romans 5.17 refers to the same righteousness as a gift. It originated from outside yourself and then is given to you as a gift. This is a gift of righteousness produced by God and then packaged up and given to you for no charge. That's what it's talking about. A lot of people prefer the translation, the righteousness from God. It's the righteousness from God here. We can also understand this to be a type of legal righteousness, a righteous declaration or a verdict of righteousness that you don't deserve. So one day you'll end up, right, in front of God's throne, in his courtroom, And then, of course, there'll be no doubt of your guilt because God knows everything. There's no defense that you could put up against the omniscient God. You're totally guilty. But despite all that clear evidence against you, God, the judge from his throne, will simply declare you righteous. That's the righteousness he's talking about. That's the righteousness of God that is given to you. And you notice from the verse that it says that the righteousness of God is revealed. It's revealed. And actually the tense of the verb revealed here is actually present tense. So here in English it seems to be past tense, but actually in the Greek it's continually being revealed. The sense is that it's being revealed over and over again or continually in the present. And so the meaning of the verse is this, when you preach the gospel and somebody believes, the righteousness of God comes into that person and is revealed in that person. And imagine this happening over and over again. And as we speak, the gospel is continually being preached from person to person around the world. And the lights in the hearts of sinners are going on one by one, all throughout the world. that the righteousness of God is being revealed from person to person all the time. That's an amazing picture, right? I think this is what Paul is thinking to in that next little phrase, from faith to faith. It's faith here from this person here, and then faith over here, and then faith over there. When we open up our mouths to tell out the gospel, illuminate God's righteousness like a Christmas tree. By the way, a lot of ink has been spilled as well about this little phrase from faith to faith. I gave you one interpretation of that, that's what I believe, but there's no real consensus here. There are other commentators who say that this is maybe one You know, one, Paul is talking about the faith for both the Gentile and the Jew. Paul might be talking about faith from the beginning and the end of your life as a believer. But I think whatever the case, Paul is simply saying this, look, salvation is by faith and nothing but faith. It's faith through and through. It's faith for everybody. It's not faith and something else, right? It's not faith plus a little bit of good works. It's not faith plus some minimum amount of church attendance. It's not faith and confessions to the priest. It's not faith and giving a certain amount of money to the church. But rather, how do you obtain the righteousness of God? It's by faith alone. It's only faith, faith through and through. And Paul adds clarity to this later in the book of Romans. Just flip over just for a second in Romans 3. In chapter 3 verse 21, just turn over there briefly. Chapter 3 verse 21, this is just brought out more clearly here. Verse 21 reads this, but now the what? The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. It has nothing to do with works. Although the law and prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through, what? Faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. There's that all again. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, verse 25, whom God has put forth as a propitiation, means atonement, by His blood to be received by faith, you see? And there's another good verse in Philippians 3, 9. You don't have to turn to this one. You can if you like. And here, the Apostle Paul goes through a laundry list of his credentials, right? He basically says, look, I have all these good works. And trust me, whatever good works you think you may have, the Apostle Paul has more good works than you. Credentials far beyond what we would have. But then he says this in Philippians 3.9, he says, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law. That's not what I have. I don't have a righteousness of my own that's derived from works. but that which is through faith in Christ. And listen to this, the righteousness of God, the righteousness which what? Comes from God on the basis of faith. It's the same message, the righteousness from God that comes from God through faith. Bible is absolutely consistent about this. So then if you simply believe the gospel, you get as a gift the righteousness of God. That's insane. That's free righteousness, okay? And look, nobody would turn down free money, right? So if I kind of took out my wallet here and started throwing dollar bills or $100 bills out across the congregation, you guys would all try to catch them, wouldn't you? you would be trying to catch them and nobody would turn down free money. But think about this, free righteousness is better than free money. Righteousness is like the currency of heaven. When you get to the kingdom of heaven and you're at the gate, you pull out your wallet, God's not gonna take that money. But you can buy an entrance ticket to heaven with righteousness. That's heaven's currency. And right now, God is literally throwing free righteousness from heaven, and it's falling down on the earth for your taking. It's totally free righteousness for all who would believe. That's too good to pass up. That's too good. But for those who refuse to believe in spite of God's generosity, I want you to look down back in Romans 1. I want you to look down at verse 18. Romans 1 verse 18, something else will be revealed for those who refuse. And that is this, for the wrath of God is what? Revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. You see, if you do not take the revealed righteousness of God and something else will be revealed for you, and that is the wrath of God. There are only two choices. You will either have the righteousness of God or his wrath. It will display the righteousness or the wrath of God. One or the other will be revealed in every person. Finally, somebody may ask, as in fact, we talked about this in Sunday school too. Somebody may ask, is this free offer of righteousness a new thing that just kind of was invented by Paul? Did the rules kind of change when Paul came along? And to answer this, Paul pulls a quote from the Old Testament to show that salvation by faith was not a new thing he invented, but that it was, in fact, God's plan all along, before Christ, even in the Old Testament. So let's finish up Romans 117 in the last part of that verse, which says, as it is written, but the righteous man shall live by faith. This is a quote from Habakkuk 2.4. In the full quote, the prophet Habakkuk contrasts the proud, the people who would puff themselves up, the people who would trust in themselves, and he contrasts those people with the people who would trust in God. Now back at 2.4, I'll just read you the full quote. It says this, behold, his soul is puffed up It is not upright within him. That's the proud, and then here it goes, it says, but the righteous shall live by his faith. And many translators have advocated that this verse is better translated, the righteous by faith shall live. The righteous by faith shall live. So the proud, those who are trusting in themselves, God is going to destroy. But those who are righteous by virtue of their faith in God, who trust not in themselves but in God, those people will live because of their faith. See, Paul's point is this. God's plan was always, even in the Old Testament, that salvation would come through faith. And for more on that, all of Romans chapter four, in fact, elaborating on that point. So now we've seen, of course, three reasons why we ought not, why we cannot be ashamed of the gospel. We cannot be ashamed of the gospel, first, because it is the awesome power of God to save. And we cannot be ashamed of the gospel because it is applicable to everyone. You don't have to be ashamed about who you preach it to. And finally, we cannot be ashamed of the gospel because it is absolutely free. And brothers, the gospel is awesome news, isn't it? So we cannot, as Christians, close our mouths and be ashamed of the gospel. In fact, far from being ashamed of the gospel, we should be boasting in the gospel. We should be bragging about the gospel to everyone who will listen to us. So as we close, let me ask you, if you are to say that you are not ashamed of the gospel, as Paul is commanding us to be here, then who will you share the gospel with this week? Calvary, go out and proclaim it with your mouth. Do it this week, and as you do, Watch carefully as the power of God goes forth, explodes forth, and for the righteousness of God to be revealed, one faith-filled heart at a time. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the reminder this morning of how powerful your gospel is, how universally applicable it is, and how absolutely free the offer is. How could anyone turn down such a generous gift of righteousness? And how could any Christian be ashamed of such a joyful message? Help us, Lord, to open our mouths even this week and share the gospel to boast of what Christ has done for us in the gospel. And as we do, help us to be able to see your righteousness being revealed in the hearts of sinners through faith. And we know, of course, this is all possible because of what Christ did for us on the cross. Help us to remember this week and not to ever forget your love for us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let's stand as we sing. I hear the Savior say, Thine strength is small. Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in me Thine all in all. Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find Thy power and mine alone. And change the leper's spots And melt the heart of stone