The Gospel is Righteousness Revealed
This is an exegetical sermon from Romans 1:16-17. It explains how the gospel has been revealed through Jesus and only his righteousness can protect us from God’s wrath. This sermon was originally preached by Pastor Justin Bragg at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA. Audio unavailable.
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:: The Resolved ::
Justin Bragg (elder)
Romans 1:16-17
“The Gospel is Righteousness Revealed”
1:16-17 “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 for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.”
Why return to this text? We spent seven weeks here before traversing into the past 17 weeks of hell and sin and depravity – so why go back?
As we proclaimed from the beginning, this statement that Paul makes in his introduction is the thesis, the foundation upon which the entirety of Romans, and the entirety of the Bible, and the entirety of all Christendom is built upon. These are the most important words in the Bible
Why? Because in these two brief sentences we find the essence – the heart of belief in the God of the Bible. Here, in these few words we have the message of how it is that any human has ever or ever can be made right with God.
Why is this such a crucial message? why does it matter? if you have been asleep the past four months, or if you are just joining us, in the verses immediately following this statement, we find a massive indictment against us – humans, a proclamation and sentence delivered from a righteous judge that we are not right in ourselves.
All of 1:18-3:20 serves to prove one point – that you and I, as members of the human race, are not right in ourselves. we are in total rebellion against the God of this universe, and we have a total inability to correct ourselves or make ourselves right – because we are polluted by sin. we are perpetrators of an infinite offense against the judge of the universe.
This is very bad news. This is not what immediately comes to mind when Paul proclaims that he is not ashamed of the gospel, the good news. We would expect flowery and friendly language to talk about our buddy Jesus and our loving look the other way when you do wrong and love you despite your failures Father. But we are not given this depiction. Why? Because it is absolutely necessary, for you and I to believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is truly good news, to be made aware of the truly bad news that naturally, in and of ourselves, we are at enmity with God, we are objects of his wrath.
Follow this line of thought:
In the gospel a righteousness of God is revealed and this righteousness is received, and has always been received by faith. This is the thesis, the heart of the message I must communicate tonight, and what Paul must communicate to the 1st century Romans. We do not possess this righteousness. Again, the entirety of 1:18-3:20 holds us culpable for our corruption, proclaiming you and I and the pope and newborn babies, Gandhi and mother Theresa to be objects of God’s wrath and condemnation.
Full exposition of what Paul introduces in 1:17 begins in 3:21, which we will begin to expose next week. I get this because when Paul says in 3:21 “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and prophets bear witness to it… he is referring to Habakkuk, the words “revealed, or made known” and the reference to “the law and the prophets” corresponds to Paul’s citation of the specific statement of the Prophet Habakkuk who as a prophet, had revealed to him the fact that it was not by the law that man is just/right, but it was by faith that man is justified in God, faith that God, in the revelation of Jesus Christ, who is the gospel, we can receive his righteousness and live. The word manifest in 3:21 is an even stronger word than reveal in 1:17, and it is upon this manifestation of righteousness of God in life, that we will learn the precious doctrine of justification by faith alone in the coming weeks.
Why does Paul just not connect 1:17 and 3:21? Why does he feel the need to go on and on to the minutest detail of the circumcision of males’ foreskin about the sinfulness of man? The entire section is a statement of the need for this righteousness of which Paul speaks, introduced by a parallel but deliberate contrast with these two statements. At the start of this section, instead of speaking of any revelation of righteousness,
Paul declares: “The wrath of God is revealed form heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” What Paul says in Rom 1:18-3:20 embraces all persons. No one is excluded, but he develops his thoughts progressively, moving from a description of those who are openly hostile to God and wicked to those who consider themselves to be either moral, and acceptable to God on the basis of their own good works, or else religious, and therefore acceptable on the basis of their religious practices.
J.M. Boice, “this is true of everyone. Left to ourselves, we use our heathen lifestyle, our claims to moral superiority, or our religion to resist the true God.” In all of literature there is no portrait of the human race so realistic, so grim, devastating and hopeless, especially to read, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks after God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (3:10-11)
Yet it makes the wonder of the gospel all the more glorious, for it is against this background that a “righteousness form God” is made known. That is what we have been doing the past 4 months, we have been painfully trying to make the gospel more glorious. It may not have seemed like it, but as preachers, it is our job to show you the hopelessness of your life, of your condition, in order to try to make you see how much you need and want the gospel.
The gospel is only good news if you know how bad the news about your situation is. Unless you know that God is righteous, and demands perfect righteousness from his people, and pours out wrath upon them if they do not meet that requirement, then why would you ever care about this “good news” of Christ’s righteousness secured for you through the good news of his death and resurrection on your behalf?
That was all the introduction, trying to tell you why we need to take this trip back to the thesis before moving forward. I needed to show you the connection, to show you why Paul included this painful parenthesis before fully explaining the thesis, which will take us to the end of Romans. Here is the message for tonight: this is what I am attempting to teach – 3 things
1) The righteousness of and from God is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ
2) God offers this righteousness of Jesus Christ freely, apart from any work on our part
3) Faith is the means by which unrighteous sinners receive Christ’s righteousness
1) The righteousness of and from God is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ
What Paul states in 1:17 and picks up in 3:21 for a full exposition is that righteousness comes from faith in Jesus Christ
1st – when I say righteousness, what am I talking about? Theology 101 for you
God’s righteousness means that God always acts in accordance with what is right and He is himself the final standard of what is right.
What is righteousness? Righteousness is that which conforms to God’s moral standard. Righteousness is right standing before the mighty judge of the universe
Why is the gospel, as v 17 says, the revelation of God’s righteousness? Because in the gospel we see that God punished sin appropriately even though he forgave his people their sins.
The good news of the gospel is not that God lessons his strict requirements of right-standing before him, but that he punishes them fully, and while we deserve punishment for our crimes against the almighty, the entirety of his wrath is poured upon his own son who receives our punishment in full. This is justice, this is love. Do not try to reduce justice to elevate love. That is not the gospel. The righteousness of God revealed is both love and justice, and that is the good news.
This is why we refer to the atonement of Christ on our behalf as penal substitution
Penal – he bore the penalty, fully
Substitution – he was our substitute in his death
Vicarious atonement/satisfaction. A vicar is one who stands in the place of another. Christ is our vicar in that he receives the fullness of God’s wrath against unrighteousness. He is our representative who took the penalty we deserve. In view of what Paul says in the opening section of this letter, this is the very righteousness of Christ, which God gives to us. Righteousness is revealed in the gospel – Paul says so – and the gospel concerns Jesus Christ 1:1-3 “the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his Son…”
Christ has this righteousness and it is from Him that we both learn about it and receive it.
Christ possesses this righteousness in 2 ways:
Intrinsic – he is utterly holy and without sin. That is why he could say “I always do what pleases him (God)” (Jn 8:29), or how he could silence his critics and enemies in asking, “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin” (Jn 8:46) leaving them speechless. The nature of Christ is intrinsically righteous
Achieved – Christ also achieved a perfect righteousness by his obedience to God on earth. He fulfilled the demands of the law by living a perfect life without sin.
When Paul says that the right. From God is revealed in the gospel, he means that the gospel shows how we can acquire the righteousness that we need. In Christ we can see that righteousness truly exists and can be offered to us by God
2) God offers this righteousness of Jesus Christ freely, apart from any work on our part
This is the heart of the good news. For unless God were willing to give this righteousness to us, and actually does give it, the mere existence of a perfect right. Would not be good news at all, it would be very bad news because it would increase our sense of condemnation
It would be 1:18-3:20 and end there. The bad news without the good news that follows. it would be a life of futility, condemnation and hopelessness because we would seed that God is righteous and demands righteousness in order not be objects of wrath, but we would be forced to acknowledge that we do not, cannot, and never will meet his righteous demands.
The good news is that God does not reveal his righteousness so that we will strive for it and fail miserably; it is that God reveals his righteousness in Christ as a free gift so that those who come to know and trust him can stop fruitless striving and instead rest on him. Do you hear the good news? You can rest in righteousness, knowing that God gives it to us and we can stand in righteousness before God, not in our own self-righteousness, which is not righteousness at all, but in the very righteousness of God – the righteousness revealed in Christ, by which we can live.
This is imputation – God putting an infinite moral capital of Jesus Christ in our empty bank account and having the riches of heaven at our disposal.
Because of Christ you are no longer deficient and bankrupt in righteousness, but are fully righteous and will be for all of eternity. And this righteousness, according to Paul, is revealed to all. To the Jew first, and then to the Greek, but to all who believe, he displays his power to save.
What is the point of all 1:18-3:20? again, the blatant blasphemer of God, the self-righteous Jew, the moral Gentile, are all in the same sinking titanic in the sea of God’s wrath. And the ones, who are saved, all of them, are the ones who believe, not the ones who try to save themselves, but the ones who believe and receive God’s righteousness in Christ. Which leads to the final point?
3) Faith is the means by which unrighteous sinners receive Christ’s righteousness
The role of faith in receiving the gospel will be fully dealt with in 3:21-31 in which we find the word faith 8x in relation to the reception of Christ’s righteousness.
But what is faith? Faith is believing God. It is opening a hand to receive the righteousness of Christ that God offers. Faith is the intellectual, affectional and volitional trust/commitment to the person and work of Jesus Christ.
CH Spurgeon: “faith is not a blind thing; for faith begins with knowledge. It is not a speculative thing; for faith believes facts of which it is sure. It is not an unpractical, dreamy thing; for faith trusts, and stakes its destiny upon the truth of revelation. Faith is the eye which looks, faith is the hand that grasps, and faith is the mouth which feeds upon Christ.”
Faith is relentless, reckless abandon to our need for human security
Faith is denying our own efforts to save us
Faith is total devotion to the God who saves us apart from any work on our part
Faith is utter trust in the God who never disappoints
Only by faith in the complete work of Christ’s righteousness can we stand before God in the day of judgment and be accepted by him
Paul testifies to this in his own experience
Phil 3:4-6 “though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eight day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness, under the law blameless.”
If Paul were to make a list of his assets and liabilities concerning personal righteousness under the law, he would cite only a long list of personal righteous assets. But what does he do with his attainments?
7-9 “but whatever gain I had, I counted loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as excrement, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes from God that depends on faith
skubala – dung, filth, refuse
expresses depth of feeling Paul had for “advantages” or “assets: that he now only feels shame and worthlessness.
this is a vulgar term, it is slang for excremement
the point, advantages of ‘righteousness’ are actually in fact disadvantages, a total loss.
See, Paul used harsh and “vulgar” language to express biblical truths, we aren’t the only ones, and we feel that we are in pretty good company in using vivid and stark language to express vivid and stunning truths in Scripture.
Vivid personal statement parallel to what he is saying doctrinally in Romans. Remember what was preached last week
3:19-20 – now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”
What Paul finally sees in Christ experientially in Phil, and states here is that he understands what real righteousness is. what he had been calling righteousness, and what the religious Pharisees of his day and today thought was righteousness was keeping them safe and protected from God’s wrath was not righteousness at all, but is filthy rags, pure shit, not an asset before God at all, but the ultimate liability keeping us from Jesus where the only true righteousness can be found. Jesus Christ is the only asset in our defense before God, all else is only a liability used to render us guilty before God
Augustus Toplady, Rock of Ages
Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling; naked, come to thee for dress; helpless, look to thee for grace; foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die. Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee
Turn from your attempts at righteousness, they serve only to condemn you. Instead embrace the Lord Jesus Christ in saving faith. God declares your sins and your sinful nature to be punished fully in Christ and imputes his own perfect righteousness on your behalf. The almighty judge does not see your guilt, but instead sees Christ and his righteousness alone.
This is the gospel. This is righteousness revealed. This is the justified life – his righteousness received by faith. What Paul leaves in 1:16-17, and picks up in 3:21 – the giant “BUT NOW” is that while before wrath was revealed against you, now, in Christ, righteousness is revealed.
Paul starts the whole thing off talking about shame: so here is my Pauline advice concerning shame:
Be ashamed. of your sense of pride in religious accomplishments, in your blatant offenses of wretched sin against a holy God, in your thoughts of having anything to do with your salvation, or your failure to honor Him as Lord of the universe, at your laziness in pursuit of holiness, in your lack of faith for him to be all that you want and need, in your waning and weak affections for him, in your SIN
But be not ashamed, in receiving the righteousness of God revealed in Christ, offered to you, a worthless and evil sinner, desperately in need of the power of God to save you from his wrath. Be unashamed of the gospel. It means to be unashamed of Christ, to proclaim in words and actions a righteousness that is yours now. Say it with passion, say it with joy. Be unashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because in it his righteousness is manifested in you if you receive him by faith
