a meeting of Moravian brothers on a commentary of Luther, comes to saving a knowledge even after years that he came to the New World as a preacher, he still did not know the Lord. And he comes to grasp the nature of true salvation. And through church history, friends, we love the Reformation. Well, the foundation of the Reformation has been this letter, a recovery of the Gospel, and among them, chiefly, this opening section of the letter, which sets the stage to the whole panorama of the letter. It sets the stage for the whole discussion of the Gospel, the righteousness of God, and Paul the Apostle introduced this letter, in the verses of this letter, focusing on the Gospel and saying, Christ is the Gospel. He is the centerpiece of the Gospel. And that Gospel message was not something new that just came across the scene in the New Testament times. He says in verses 1 and through as our brother read this morning for us, it has been there in the Old Testament. I'm not bringing you any new message. It was foretold by the prophets. And now he's introducing himself to these believers in Rome as a servant of this gospel, and he has a desire and a burden to come to them. In verse 8 to 15, he shows that burden to come to Rome. And we get that burden even as we look at the Acts of the Apostles. I mean, Paul's journeys were driven by sharing the gospel, but he was eager even to the price of his own life, even with shipwreck, even with chains, even with prison, to preach the gospel, verse 15 says, to those who are in Rome. And that, friends, is the whole reason why I'm here with you this morning. You have before your eyes an Italian fervent ex-Catholic who was raised in the Ferris cycle, Roman Catholicism, close to Rome, engraved in Catholic doctrine, wanting to be a priest. And the sovereign grace of God grabbed me and called me to a lifetime of ministry by His sovereign grace. And so I'm sharing with you the desire, the same eagerness that Paul has in this verse. I eagerly wanted to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome. Paul was under, and we should be under this double obligation described in our text. He's obliged before God, but also before the people in Rome. He has this burden. But not only is he obligated to do that, he's also excited. And those two create this. Wonderful, wonderful match. And now in our text, He is explaining to us what drives this excitement, what drives this burden to be so determined, so eager to preach the gospel right at the heart of the ancient world in Rome and even beyond. He wanted to go to the ends of the earth. He meant Spain, the ends of the earth of what was known at the time as the border of the entire globe. That is the infatigable restlessness of Paul. Here he gives for us the theme of the whole letter. The gospel reveals the righteousness of God. That is what the gospel is. That the gospel message boldly and powerfully saves anyone who trusts in the righteousness from God. That is a righteousness that is not from us. And that is the summary of the whole letter of Romans. I mean, in seminary, we had to find a proposition of a statement in a text. Well, you don't need to do that. Paul lays that out in verse 16 and 17 for you, the theme of the gospel, the proposition of the gospel, which has three P's we want to see this morning. The first one is that the gospel proposition has been preached with boldness. Preached with boldness. That is the first point that we will look at. The fact that it is powerful to save. And finally, that it must be pleaded by faith. And you could say faith alone. So this is the gospel proposition first preached with boldness. And we see that Paul starts his statement in verse 16 by saying, he's without shame. He says, I, this is the first I am of three I am's. The first one we saw, compelled. I am compelled. He said, I am eager. And now he's saying, I am not ashamed. I keep on not being ashamed through this whole process of preaching the gospel. He's saying, I'm not experiencing, though I should, what is a painful feeling of a sense of loss of my status because of the gospel. At face value, the opposite is true for Paul, isn't it? I mean, he's persecuted, he's ridiculed, he has been kicked out of towns as he was in Ephesus. And though through him and other Christians, they are stumbling blocks to Jews and foolishness, considered crazy by those who are non-Jews for this message. I mean, imagine what a shame bringing the gospel right at the heart of the Roman Empire. The shame of being in chains, brought to the Colosseum, like many Christians, mocked and given to the lion. hang on a pole of the streets of Rome, be burning lights to give light to the people who pass by. Isn't that shameful, Paul?" And these believers were frightened. They hoped that perhaps the apostle will speak some good sense to them on what should they do. Should we go in secret? Should we cease to speak? Should we leave the city? And yet here Paul doesn't back down in his own burden. I am not ashamed of the gospel. He comes to the capital to bring the full force of that message he has preached all across the globe. Though he's considered shameful by many, the verb here, ashamed, is a view on an enforced sense of shame. Not just shame, but real sense of strong. He didn't say, I'm not hesitant. He didn't say, I'm shy about it. No, he's not intimidated by the cost that this might be for his life. And that means he has a complete confidence. The opposite is true. If I'm not ashamed, it means I have complete boldness and confidence in the gospel. I am so fired up about the gospel. I'm most proud to proclaim the gospel. And remember that Jesus warns his followers about shame, doesn't he? He says in Mark 8 38, whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed. Paul warned Timothy elsewhere, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings of the gospel according to the power of God we shall see. 2 Timothy 1.8. Paul is not ashamed because he knows in whom he has believed. He knows. According to Paul, the only thing that a believer should be ashamed of is his past sinful lifestyle, says Romans 6.21. And Hebrews 11.16 says, God is not ashamed to be called the God of believers. And so what is the reason? of this unashamedness. Why is Paul not ashamed of the gospel? Because the gospel that is the good news of Christ, is about Christ, is the power of God we shall see. His anointed Messiah. Christ is the content of the gospel, notice. It is not me and you. It is not about what me and you receive, but it's chiefly about the righteousness of God, His work, His glory. And so, friends, this is a challenge for us, is that as Christianity becomes more and more shameful in our present society, even in North America, if you are a true servant of Christ, You are to proclaim the gospel all the more boldly. That is what Paul says to these Christians, that we are living in times that are full of shame and we have to be unashamed of the gospel. So far in America, being a Christian has been a very respectable thing to be. To go to church, sitting in comfortable seats and having a cross neckle, putting a bumper sticker on the back of your car. Actually being a Christian is a respectable citizen. But Paul is saying, that is not the case. And I don't know if you realize, but times are quickly changing before our eyes. That is no longer the case. And as time will move on, in a culture where the gospel will be despised, in a culture where you'll be marginalized for your belief, are we ready for this as the church of Jesus Christ? Are we ready to face this shame? When you experience shame for the gospel, the peers in the school, or from your colleagues at work, and your job stability might become a risk if you stand up for that message, and freedom of religion will be taken away from you, and you might be arrested for preaching such gospel. Will you be counting the cost of being a disciple? Or will you be ashamed for this gospel? And that applies also to our evangelism, that we need to be unashamed. I mean, some of us might be intimidated by evangelism. We want to be accepted by others. That is our nature as a human being. We don't want to be laughed at. We don't want to be rejected as the outcast. But think of what risk Paul was going through. Think of the risk of the first Christians. And what are our fears in comparison to that? They are just gone. And so the question is, are you prepared to bear the reproach that this gospel brings, the cross of Christ? Especially now as scoffers abound, ungodliness abounds. Christians need to ask this question. But again, we are not just commanded to do this, to evangelize, to share the gospel. Paul says, woe if I do not preach the gospel, woe to me. But there's also an excitement, isn't there? And that is what Paul is after. Excitement to share this gospel. And so may that be the fuel that gets you through the challenging, shameful times. But that also applies to the mission. And that is the reason we are here this morning, that we need to be unashamed in the mission of God. That was the whole driving force of Paul the Apostle. Paul here and already in verse 5 has stated that the gospel is for everyone. Every nation under heaven. It doesn't matter where you are from. It doesn't matter if you're part of the elite or if you're not. This is a message for everyone. This virus, I think, has brought Christians to be more on the defensive side. to shut down, to be afraid in their homes instead of going out. And the last thing in your mind perhaps might be to be even thinking about missions in this season. The church is afraid. We don't know what's coming. And think of the first century. Think of the first Christians. Think of Paul the Apostle and the cost that was before their eyes. And yet one thing was in their mind, the advancement of the kingdom of God, even striking right at the heart of the... a whole ancient world. That is the example we see. Amidst obstacles that were far greater than ours. And that is the gospel preached with boldness. But secondly, it is powerful to save. The gospel is powerful to save. Here Paul describes the process of salvation for It is the power of God for salvation. Which means, let me clarify for you why I have no shame in preaching the gospel. It is and continues to be in our present time until Christ comes back, the power of God. That is the gospel. That same word is the same word for dynamite in the original. Now dynamite didn't exist in the first century. But what we have is definitely Rome as the center of the power of the ancient world. And Paul says, I am bringing, you know, the gods of the ancient Romans and all the power of war and power of this, power of that. The gospel is that power, the only power. That is, it has potential for functioning as the force to accomplish salvation. It is capable. He's writing to a church living in a city which is the center of human power of the ancient world. And Paul dares to say that the gospel is that power for those who are saved, though he states foolishness for those who are perishing. I mean, Paul, don't you know that they can put us all into prison? Don't you know that the emperor can kill us by simply pointing the finger down in the Colosseum and we're done? He has that power. But there is a greater power. No, the power of God is with me, says Paul, and therefore I'm not ashamed, I'm not intimidated by anything. And this implies that such power is not necessarily something belonging to religious entourages like the Pharisees. Christ says to the Pharisees, you do not know the Scripture, nor the power of God. It is the power of God, not the wisdom of men, friends, on which our faith rests. Such is the nature of the kingdom of God. The power, not just words, but power. And the gospel is that power. It's God's only powerful method able to bring about the salvation of sinners. The gospel, the only message that is mighty to save, rescuing us from the just condemnation of our sin. And who are the people that are being saved according to our text? Who are the recipients of such salvation? For whom is the gospel power of God resulting to their salvation? It says to everyone, without distinction, whether you're a man or a woman, rich or poor, black or white, living in America or in Timbuktu, The only condition is for you to believe in that gospel, to have faith, because faith is the only mean by which salvation comes. And who are these believers in view here? We have the Jews first, and then the Greek explained to us. And Romans, as a letter, is intended to promote unity between Jews and Greeks in the same church. And this is not so much an order of prominence. The Jewish people are above, and the Gentiles and the non-Jews below. No, it started with the Jewish people. We see that in the Old Testament, it was promised. And now it continues to the whole nations, the whole world through Paul. He wants to go to Rome. So it doesn't matter if you are far or near, if you are inside the circle of Israel or outside. Christ welcomes you in the gospel. All you have to do is believe. That is your only... prerequisite to access the God of Scripture. And so our confidence, friends, is in the power of God. It is in the fact that only the gospel has the ability to bring about salvation to those who believe, regardless of their background, regardless of where they are from. And this, friends, is a divine power. Conversion doesn't come through following certain methods. It cannot be manufactured by human manipulations. It's like, again, seeking to be saved by works. And I think much of Christianity is based on that fleshly effort, man-made schemes. People can feel better about themselves, but they are not dealing with the fundamental issue of sin, the problem of sin. So don't seek for the solution in the wrong place. Seek it in the power of God. The only way the power of God is manifested is through the gospel of Christ. No method can make you right with God, nothing but the gospel. The only power of God that can overcome your sinful nature is that God initiates salvation. And He is able to carry that salvation until the end. That is the power of God. That is a supernatural power. There are masses of stony hearts out there. And from where I come from in Italy, it's plainly clear and evident that Catholicism holds people under the bondage of a false gospel. People who are stony hearts. And it's a people to whom Paul had written this letter to Rome. And 500 years ago, Rome has decided to deny this gospel. They came up with another message. They... abandoned that gospel. And in the face of that challenge, the only power that can break that chain is God turning things around with his gospel. Going back to the original, purest, unadulterated gospel that this letter stands, that is in face to Roman Catholicism. That is the only way that they can find hope. But this is unmerited power. This is not something that they can deserve. And that is the greatest, chiefest trouble among Roman Catholics. The salvation doesn't come by the power of your works. And this is what we have to realize. Salvation doesn't come by our merits, my efforts. In fact, even the law of God, says Romans, it is powerless to save you. It only points to your sin. It is by grace you have been saved. Through faith, not of yourself, not of works. This is a work of God, says Jesus Christ. Believe in God and in Jesus Christ. It is only fine as you cast yourself wholly in the mercy of God that are available to you that God has brought with the gospel. The faith is the only prerequisite for you. Come, therefore, and surrender all that you are to all that God is in Christ. It is undiscriminating. It doesn't matter if you come from one side of society, from one nation to the other, one age group to the other, all the walks of life. There's no racial, ethnic boundaries. They just need to put their faith in this good news of Christ. And you might say, no, this is not for me. This is not me. I am not worthy of that. And that is the whole point of the gospel, the good news. That must be only our last point, pleaded by faith. Faith, this is how you plead it. A plea by faith, first of all, for righteousness. Paul explained here what's behind the gospel going from Jerusalem to Samaria to even Rome, breaking boundaries between Jews and Greeks. And that is that it is the righteousness of God. The gospel is the righteousness of God. Righteousness here refers to the quality or the state of, before a judge, you are in a correctness. It's like in the marketplace you can go and buy balances which are, you know, they need to be balanced together. And that is the righteousness, the correctness. And God in the gospel makes that possible for sinful men and women to be right with God. It is focused on the redemptive action of Christ at the cross. That is the righteousness of Christ that makes salvation possible. And later on, Paul will show the qualities of this righteousness, which is not from the law. That is what Roman Catholics really don't see. It is accessible through faith without any difference. God demonstrates to be just and the justifier to the one who has faith and faith alone. The Catholics, they try to establish instead, like the Jewish people, their own righteousness. The construction here on the phrase emphasizes the uniqueness of this righteousness. It is unrighteousness of God, from God. It is bestowed by God. It originates in God. And not from me and you, not from men. The message of the gospel is not primarily about me and you. It is about God declaring Himself to be righteous at the cross. He justly punished sin, but He also transferred the righteousness of Christ to us. That is the righteousness of God, that marvelous provision given to us at the cross. That Christ paid the eternal penalty for all your sins. And He granted you the righteousness that He has lived all of His life. Perfection that you didn't have, now counted, credited, imputed to you and me. You come away from here in this letter exclaiming, God is righteous in all that He does. Righteousness of God is being revealed in the scripture, says our text. It has been unfolded in the plan of God. That is the gospel, which emphatically the gospel is everywhere in this sentence. It is the center, the underlying central subject of this whole theme. The content of the entire Bible is the gospel. But again, it is a plea of righteousness and a plea of faith. This righteousness of God is revealed in one way and one way alone. Our text says, from faith to faith, from faith to faith. That means that it is by faith from first to last. It involves faith from the start to the finish line and every step of the way. It is springing from faith and is leading to faith. And particularly, Paul has in view the transition from Jews, the faith of the Jews, to the faith of the whole world. non-Jews in Rome, and all the nations, they come to the people of God by faith. And so, clearly, this righteousness is a gracious righteousness, a gift of God, unattainable by efforts of obedience to the law, or any merit, or any condition. That's what brought Luther on his knees to realize it is by faith, and faith alone. trusting in Christ, and you become the righteousness of God in Him, in Jesus Christ. And to support this point of righteousness, Paul then quotes an Old Testament passage from the minor prophet Habakkuk, which says, this is how it has been revealed, if you take Habakkuk 2, verse 4, it says, Behold the proud, that is the one that doesn't get this righteousness, the proud, his soul is not upright in him, And there's countless proud people, even in church, but especially in Roman Catholicism. A pride of man is not a pride before God. And that's what they're going to find out when they go before God. I thought I was righteous. I thought I could earn heaven. But here it says, but the just shall live by faith. that just will live by faith. That is the content of the soul gospel. That by faith, this quote from the Old Testament is brought to express the universal truth by Paul, that through the instrument of faith, the just will live in the future, in a transcendent sense, in the glory of the life to come. He will access eternal life. It is by faith that you live. This is the nature of the gospel being the power of God unto salvation. The passage is a reminder again, Paul later in Romans speaks of Abraham who believed in God and this was credited, accounted to him as righteousness. It's not something in itself in Abraham. He was declared. He was not made righteous. He had no righteousness of his own. The same gospel, Old Testament, New Testament, you see? It doesn't mean that if a person is just and righteous, then he will be able to live by adding faith to his righteousness. That is not the case. The condition of being just is not internal to me and you. We are not just. There is no one who is just, says Romans 3. We are not already worthy of ourself. The emphasis here is on the faith, not on the person being justified. It refers to the status of the person before God. He is just, declared just. And without faith, not only the just cannot live, but he can't even be just at all. That is the point of the just shall live by faith. And that's the realization, the Copernical revolution of Luther, as he was seeking to understand this righteousness of God, thinking that somehow I have to provide it. It has been provided for us in the Gospel, because the same passage of Habakkuk is also quoted in Galatians. And in that case, undisputably, the same point is made, you cannot be counted as righteous without faith in Jesus Christ. And so in context, The righteousness of God revealed is for those who grasp it by faith, who trust in a righteousness which is not yours. It's not yours. It is outside of you, the righteousness of Christ. That is how you can be made right with God in standing for your eternal destiny. If you are believing, you will live because of the righteousness of Christ. That is the heart of the gospel, which is unfolded in our justification. That is the doctrine we believe, which is the core of the gospel, is that we are declared as righteous before God. And that comes, friends, only by faith alone. That is what is denied in our world. and chiefly by Roman Catholicism. This is the clearest death blow to Roman Catholicism as an institution and as a teaching. They declare another gospel. In Galatians, Paul warns, if even an angel from heaven declares another gospel, let him be a curse, let him be anathema. And 500 years ago, after the Reformation, the Catholics came together with the Pope, and they made a council, the Council of Trent, and they said, if you believe that, that you are justified by faith alone to Christ alone, you are accursed. You see that? The demonic nature of that doctrine. They deny the cornerstone of Jesus Christ and the message of the gospel. To even suggest that, to even suggest that, like I keep hearing people say, are Catholic people saved? So you're saying to me, after 500 years and this doctrine is still the cornerstone of their message. that they're saved. I mean, what's the point of sending Ken Wells or me for me to go to Italy? There's no point. They're all saved, right? Half of the world actually is already reached because Catholicism is the greatest religion, one of the greatest religions on earth. And yet you read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, you go to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, even the last edition of it, and still teaches that we are saved by faith and good works. Good works are necessary. Absolutely necessary. If you're a Catholic, you are supposed to believe this. Absolutely necessary for salvation to be justified. And by justification, they understand a process which is accumulated by my internal moral standard of righteousness. I become more righteous. There's a perversion of the gospel and that happens only when you are dead. Unless you're a saint that somehow reaches perfection, you never have any assurance of justification. It remains an empty hope without any right standing before God. And countless people are dying and going to hell and facing the Lord thinking they're righteous and they will be stripped of any of that. and there will be hell to pay. That's why we need to defend justification. Because Martin Luther said, it is the doctrine on which a church stand or fall. In light of this, the Roman church, even in 2020, remains a false church. 1.2 billions of people across the entire globe are under the bondage of a false gospel. And they're headed to hell. Unless someone like you and me goes. How can they believe if no one goes? How can they believe if there is no preacher? If no one goes and preaches the true gospel to them, unashamedly, and they believe it. And we need to start right at the root of this 1.2 billion people. And the root of that is Rome. It is Roman Catholics in Italy. Strike right at the heart of that. Italy. There is a need to go and proclaim to countless who are seeking a righteousness of their own. Countless! To tell them their own effort is pointless. The way a sinner can be made right and just before God, friend, is by virtue of the righteousness of God. You are not the point. God is the point. You must first seek salvation in the righteousness of another or you're not saved at all. And you have no hope of heaven because any salvation apart from the righteousness of God is a failure. It is by faith in Christ's righteousness that we can live. But also remember that justification continues in sanctification. And that is something that we need to realize in North America today. Faith alone is never alone. We're saved by faith alone, yes, but there's never alone. It is accompanied and followed by repentance, by a lifestyle of turning away from sin and living into that righteousness. Faith is not a one-time act. That is challenging for many. Oh yes, I believe 20 years ago I went down the altar, but that is not the nature of saving faith. You live by faith all of your life. And it is shown. It is evident. Because without true faith, and that's where the inch of the gospel is, friend, for you. This gospel remains no power for salvation, but power to damn. Unless you truly believe and repent. Is your faith real? That is the question we need to ask ourselves. Because saving faith leads to persevering faith through the entire life. It leads to a lifestyle from faith to faith. It means that through faith, True believers will never stop believing. We might have downfalls and ups and downs, but our life is characterized by true, genuine faith. We persevere. Why? Because of the power of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's where our strength is, not in ourself. And so we can have a great talk, friends, on justification. We can talk about that a lot and have all the doctrine and all the elements and all the right points. But unless we are born again, we cannot see the kingdom of God. We cannot have that justification applied to us unless God regenerates our heart and he makes it into a heart of flesh and remove the heart of stone. Then this is not true faith. then this is not persevering in faith. All this makes us only more guilty toward God in the end. That we have been exposed to the glory of the gospel and failed to believe. And be safe. And so our fundamental problem, friends, as we look at the news today, is not horizontal. It's not having to deal with this problem of the society or that problem of society. What you see is sin. And it's all over the place. And it's deadly. And our fundamental problem is that we are sinners and we cannot go to God. We cannot access this holy God. We have no righteousness to offer. And unless we go to the root of that problem, Justification is the response of God to that very same problem. God unleashes a power, a power that is able to change your life, change your heart of stone, change your standing before God. And that is available to anyone. There is no distinction, no past sin, no requirement except that you might believe by faith from first to last. And if you struggle to see yourself as worthy, and if you struggle to see yourself acceptable to this Holy God, meditate upon the righteousness of God that comes to you by faith in Jesus Christ. And He clothes you with that righteousness. He sees you through the lens of the righteousness of Christ. You will never be worthy. That is true. No matter how hard you try. See, Christianity is not about trying to be a good person. A good boy, raised, good dressing, good thing. If your heart is still of stone, there's no point of that. Your heart needs to change. And Christ can bring that change. It is not your righteousness. Empty handed I come, only to the cross I cling. Because God accepts me. That is the point of grace. He accepts me even in my sin. He makes me righteous. He declares me. His own. This is how you stand if you trust in His righteousness. So may we be found of a righteousness not of our own. Once we go to that throne of judgment, I have nothing, O God, but You have covered me. And how many will come that day, even my own family in the flesh, My dear mother, who is Catholic, she has no hope. And I'm saying, mom, you're going to stand before the throne of God, the perfect holiness of God, and you're going to have nothing to give, nothing to say. You're going to see your own works, the things you thought you did well, were absolutely from bad motives, and you had no real love. You had no real peace. And you're going to go through that judgment. Without that, it may not be for you and me. may not be, and how can they believe unless one preaches to them? That is the gospel that is missing in the struggle of Roman Catholicism in Italy. May they be set right with God. And so I need your prayer. I need your prayer over this, that the gospel may be proclaimed in a land that has burned people at the stake for believing in this gospel, that has rejected May God be vindicated before their eyes. And may many be turned away from false religion to real fellowship with God, not by their own merits. If you want that, go and get other religions. It's all about how good you can be. Things do and don't. True Christianity is always about what God did. And He has accomplished for His glory, not our own. And so, this is the day of salvation. May this gospel be real in your life. May we share that with many. May we become bold like Paul, not ashamed. And that we might sound this trumpet of the gospel everywhere we go. That people will not be able to get that out of their mind. There's still time, friends. May we not be ashamed of this, because it's the power of God to salvation. To anyone who believes, from faith to faith, as it is written, that just shall live by faith. Let us pray. Oh God, God who is perfect, who is righteous in all that He does, we submit to Your own righteous judgment over our sin, our condemnation, our inability to offer anything good, our works are filthy rags before You. Oh God, we come empty-handed, and we rejoice in this gospel, which is the power of God. And may the power of God be at work even in our hearts this morning, and in many others' lives, and in many nations, regardless of where they come from, Lord, that this trumpet may sound all across the earth, and that Your glory may manifest in your righteousness, not our own. Oh God, open our eyes to the need, and open our eyes to those who are perishing, and that this gospel may be proclaimed through our lips. Here we stand. We can do no other. Not because we are strong in ourselves, not because we have worthiness of our own, but because You make us stand. through your gospel. Be with us, in Jesus' name, Amen.