The Gospel Applied (Salvation)

Romans chapter 1. of Biblical salvation. I could say characteristics of genuine salvation. Salvation as it is described in the pages of the Scriptures. Salvation not as it is defined by the Church of Bynum, but salvation as it is contained in the Scriptures.

And we're going to be addressing that from verses 16 and 17 of the Word of the Lord. So let us read together. Let us read from verse 8. to verse 17 of Romans chapter one. This is the word of the Lord.

Romans chapter one, verse eight. First, the apostle Paul says, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, he may serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son. Without ceasing, I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you. for I long to see you, that I might impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.

I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I have often intended to come to you, but thus far have been prevented, in order that I might reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to reap So I am eager, or I am ready, to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. Why is he ready to preach the gospel? Verse 16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jews first and also to the Greeks. For in it, that is this gospel, for in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith, for faith, or to faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

Amen. This is the reading of God's word. Now, brother and sister, as I said, I want us to consider, I hope by the grace of the Lord, characteristics of biblical salvation. characteristics of salvation as it is described in the scriptures. And perhaps you're asking yourself, why are we, brother, going to speak about characteristics of biblical salvation from verses 17 and 16 and 17 if what seems to be there, the main topic, is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Actually, most of the sermons that we've heard of sermons that have been preached from verses 16 and 17 are about the gospel and the importance of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the gospel is to be preached to all the nations. Why are we going to speak about characteristics of biblical salvation? The reason why we are going to be doing so, it is because even though the Apostle is speaking in a general way of the Gospel, principally and more importantly, the Apostle is speaking about the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as it is applied to the person who believes. The Apostle is not speaking about the Gospel in a general way as a message just there that is describing what Jesus Christ has done.

The Apostle is speaking about the Gospel when the Gospel is applied to the person who believes. That's why he says in verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Why? Because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is the power of God for salvation.

For who? For the person who believes, independently where they come from. If they are Jews or if they are Greeks, if they are Colombian, Chinese, Argentinian, or Australian, wherever they come from, This gospel, when it is applied, brings salvation. The one who believes is saved. And he has been saved because he has had an encounter with this gospel that is the power of God.

So when the apostle speaks in verse 17 of the gospel, we are not to understand the gospel just simply as the message that we know as the gospel, but rather as the message of the gospel that has been applied to the one who believes. The message of the gospel, once it is applied to the heart, reveals the righteousness of God. So, my dear brother and sister, I want us to consider, from these two verses, characteristics of biblical salvation. In other words, I could say, characteristics of what happens when the gospel, that is the power of God, is applied to the person who believes. What happens when the Jew, or the Greek, or the Colombian, Chinese, Argentinian, or Australian, believes in the gospel, that person is saved?

And we see here some characteristics that I think the Apostle has in mind that he's going to open up in further chapters. Now, I'm going to present to you three important characteristics of biblical salvation that I hope that by God's grace we can see in the text and in the Book of Romans. Three important characteristics of biblical salvation according to the Scriptures. The first one is that biblical salvation requires an encounter with the power of God. We have that in verse 16.

That when the gospel, that is the power of God to salvation, that finds the person that believes, there's an encounter between the one that believes and the gospel that is the power of God. The one who believes, independently if he's a Jew or a Greek, when he believes or she believes, they are saved. And they are saved because they have had an encounter with the gospel that is the power of God and His salvation. Biblical salvation requires an encounter with the power of God that is found in the gospel. That is the first thing.

Second thing that I want us to consider from this is that when a person has had an encounter with that gospel that is the power of God, when that person has had faith, and when that person has been saved, then what happened there, the application of that gospel, that gospel applied, reveals the righteousness of God. Second characteristic, biblical salvation, or the gospel applied, reveals the righteousness of God. And third, what I want us to see is what follows in verse 17, that this righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just or the righteous shall live by faith. And that is that biblical salvation, by faith. These are the three things that I want us to consider in light of biblical salvation, my dear brother and sister.

And please consider that the topic that we have in front of us is the most important topic for any human being. It does not matter what happens in our lives. It does not matter how much money we have and what our future holds. Salvation is the most important thing that a person should address and give an answer for. The Lord Jesus Christ says in Matthew 16, verse 26, what does he profit?

Amen. If he wins the whole world, and yet that person loses his own soul, What does it profit that someone will win everything that is in this world, yet lose their own soul? There's absolutely nothing valuable in this world that compares to the value of your soul. So the topic that we're going to be addressing, that of salvation, is very important. It would be foolish for a person to give themselves in pursuit of the things of this world while they reject their soul.

Because in the end they will realize that what they have lost is a greater value of whatever they pursue in this world. There is absolutely no point in living a life that is rich with all the things that this life has to offer if one is not found in the person of Jesus Christ. And because that salvation only happens through the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, If we forget the Gospel as it is described in the Scriptures, then we forsake also Biblical salvation. Because genuine Biblical salvation can only happen through the proclamation of the Gospel, which is the power of God to save. If we forsake the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are forsaking Biblical salvation.

We may say many things that are true according to the Scripture. We might have a Church that has many things, but if the Church forsakes the Gospel, we forsake Biblical salvation. And Satan and the world, they want the Church to forsake the Biblical Gospel. Because the Biblical Gospel, my dear brothers and sisters, In the Biblical Gospel, we are presented as sinners, who are under God's wrath, that we are children of disobedience, that we are in this world, that following the stream and the course of this world, under the Prince of the Lord of the Earth. That is what the Biblical Gospel says, that we are sinners, and that because we are sinners, we are under God's wrath, and that the only way that we can be saved is through the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died upon the cross, to take the fullness of the cup of wrath of God, so that we will be forgiven by faith, and we will not receive the punishment that we deserve.

But beyond that, this glorious gospel of the scripture says that once a person by grace through faith has been saved, the work of God is one of conformity, of making that person to die to self and to become like Jesus Christ. And let me tell you, my dear brother and sister, that it's in this last part of the gospel that many churches fail, that they don't want to proclaim that we are to take up our crosses and to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, that we are not to die to self, and to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. That we are not to die to the things of the world and to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. If we do not have the biblical gospel, how are we going to expect to have biblical salvation? If we forsake the gospel in the scriptures, we will forsake the genuine power of God operating in the local church and in our lives.

And Satan is in that business. And the apostle Paul knew that the church, even though they had the apostolic letters, that even though they have prophets among them, that even though the church had seen all the mighty works of the apostles and the prophets, that the church was prone to wander and to go through different, you know, philosophies and teachings of men. That's why the Apostle Paul, when you read carefully the letters to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, you can realize of all the struggles that the Apostle had for those people in the church. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 3 and 4, he says, I fear, brethren, 2 Corinthians 11, 3 and 4, I fear, my dear brother and sister, speaking to the church of Corinth, that you may be deceived so easily, just like Eve was deceived in the garden by the serpent. I fear that if someone else comes to preach you a different gospel, that someone comes and brings a different spirit, that someone comes and brings a different thing than that which I have preached to you, that you may receive it so easily and happily.

The Apostle knew that the Church was going to be tempted to deviate from the Biblical Gospel, not that there is another Gospel, but that men will try to bring different teachings into the context of the Church. Because when we forsake the Gospel, brethren, we are powerless. When we forsake Christ, we are powerless. Perhaps men may be able to build empires with their names, thousands of people that follow them, but that that is not the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the follower of Christ is transformed initially in the heart to then to build his church.

That's why we are to be very, very careful with our gospel, brother and sister, because if we forsake the gospel, they were going to forsake biblical salvation. There will be a time, Apostle says 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 3 and 4, there will be a time in which people will not endure sound doctrine. You know the text, right? There will be a time in which people will not endure sound teaching and sound doctrine, but having each in ears, they will accumulate unto themselves teachers that will teach according to their passions. The apostle is not speaking about things that happen outside the church.

The apostle is speaking about things that happen within the context of the visible church. There will be times in which the, yoke of Jesus Christ, that is easy for the person who has the Spirit, in which the burden of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is light for the person who has the Spirit of God in them, will become a yoke that is difficult, and a burden that is heavy, because they try to carry it in their flesh. And hence, they will be offended by the Jesus Christ that is portrayed in the Scriptures. They will be offended by the teachings of Christ that are contained in the Scriptures. And having been offended, they will try to accumulate unto themselves teachers that speak according to their own passions.

And you think, brother and sister, that we are not to be in Christ. And that today is the day of your salvation, that you will come at the feet of Christ. That when you come to Him, He's not going to reject you. That when you come at His feet, trusting in Him, that He's always faithful to forgive and to save. And thirdly, that for us as a church, brother and sister, we will understand that if we forsake the gospel, we forsake biblical salvation.

If this church forsakes the gospel of Jesus Christ, Then we will have to invent programs and to do things to have people come into our church. But that is not biblical salvation. We don't want a group of people that are joined together, smiling at each other because of the nice things that we do. We want to have a group of people that are rejoicing in the fact that they are saved by grace through faith. If it's 5, 10, 100 to 2,000, it does not matter.

But at the center of the church and at the head of the church is Jesus Christ and his truth. And I'm sorry that perhaps today I'm going to go a little bit longer, but not that very long. Three things that I want us to consider. The first one is that biblical salvation requires an encounter with the power of God. That is the first one.

And pay attention to verse 16. It says, Apostle, that he is not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why? Because the gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. Indistinguishably, the apostle says, indistinguishably, indistinguishably of what they come from, the person who believes has been saved.

And they have been saved because they have had an encounter with the power of God as it is contained in the gospel. Biblical salvation requires an encounter with the power of God. And I'm going to submit to you, my dear brother and sister, that this encounter with the power of God brings about transformation. Biblical salvation requires an encounter with the power of God that is contained in the Gospel, that brings about transformation. This idea of power, as you have it there in verse 16, this idea of power is one that is mostly spoken of and taught by the Apostle Paul.

He is the one that uses this word, power, the most. Every time that the Apostle Paul speaks of power, he's referring to spiritual power. Either spiritual power of God or spiritual power of Satan. Most of the time, the Apostle is speaking about the spiritual power of God. Now, unfortunately, you may have heard definitions or understanding of that word power there in verse 16 through the lenses of the word dynamite.

I was supposed to ask you how to pronounce that before the sermon. How do you say dynamite? Many people understand that power that is contained there in verse 16 through the lenses of that word dynamite. You might have heard that that word dynamite there, or that word power there, is the Greek word dynamis, or dynamis, from which actually we do get the word dynamite. However, that is not the way that we interpret the scriptures.

We do not interpret the scriptures that were written 2,000 years ago through the lenses of a word, an English word, that was created hundreds of years after that. Because that idea of power there being dynamite, or dynamis, has given people this impression that the power of God is this expression. of these things that brings destruction of this power that is uncontrollable and that can not be put into place to the point that many people speak about this dynamics power or dynamics power to even name their churches and many things that they do, dynamics or dynamics churches of this explosive power of the Spirit of God. Actually, the idea of the Apostle Paul is different to that. When the Apostle speaks about power, especially power to salvation, which is only one word, or one sentence there, as we have it in verse 16, it is the Gospel power of God for salvation, the Apostle does not have in mind something that is explosive, and that puts things out of place, but rather, he has in mind the potence of God that brings things into place.

When he's speaking of this power for salvation, he has in mind this potence of God that brings things that are not in place and to bring them into place. If we were going to get an illustration from the Bible, perhaps the best example that we can give is the example of creation. In creation, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and you remember that in verse 1 and 2 we are told that everything was in chaos and in disorder. But then as the power of creation of God was performing His deeds in day 1 through day 6, all the things that God intended to create came into place. So by day 6, the power of creation of God now is manifested in that all things are very good and they are into place.

This idea of the power of God is not this uncontrollable power that just simply brings things in disorder or destruction, but rather the power of God that brings things where they should be. And actually, this is the idea that Paul primarily, from the Apostles, uses in the New Testament to speak about salvation. You may remember the verse in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. But therefore, if anyone is in Christ, you remember that verse? And therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature, a new creation.

All things that pass away, behold, all things have been made new. That is the idea of the power of God that happens in conversion. Not so much that things are going to be exploded and destroyed, and all of this chaos is going to be messy, but rather that when the power of God comes in salvation in the person of Jesus Christ, that which is not passes, and the things that are supposed to become in order, just as it happened in creation, I'm submitting to you that every time the Apostle Paul speaks of this power of God, especially for salvation, it requires a transformation. Biblical salvation requires an encounter of the person with the power of God in the gospel that brings about transformation. The Apostle Paul calls that a new creation, a new creature, not only in 2 Corinthians 5, but also in Galatians 18 6, He's not the only one that has this idea of radical transformation upon an encounter with the gospel.

Peter, in verse Peter chapter one, verse 21 and 22, he speaks that we have been purified in our souls when we obey the word of truth through the Holy Spirit. The idea of the apostle Peter, in verse Peter chapter one, verse 21 and 22, is that when we have an encounter with the gospel, the soul of the person is purified. For the same Apostle, the Apostle Peter, in 2 Peter 1, from verse 3 and onwards, he speaks of this encounter of the Christian with the Gospel as having escaped the corruption of this world. He is not the only one. Also John.

John in 1 John 3, verses 9 and 10. He speaks of this transformation of the person, that once he has had an encounter with the Gospel, not longer is a child of Satan, but is a child of God. Biblical salvation, my dear brother and sister, requires an encounter with the power of God. And this brings about a transformation. How is someone who has had an encounter with the power of God remain the same?

How is someone who may claim to have seen Jesus Christ in the proclamation of the gospel remain unchanged? How is someone who is going to have a spiritual encounter with the Creator of Heaven and Earth remain the same? How is that person's affections and emotions not going to be transformed? How is there not going to be anything that passes and takes place in the life of that person? When a person has a genuine encounter with the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation, there is going to be a new creature, a new creation.

A soul is going to be purified. A child of Satan is going to be made a child of God. The person that lived in the corruption of the world will leave the corruption of the world because of the work of the Spirit that is in that person. Someone may ask them, what does that transformation look like? What is it?

Is it that I didn't go to church before and now I go to church? Or is it perhaps that I did not read the Bible before and now I read the Bible? Or perhaps the transformation is that now I have all of this power to do all of these mighty things by this Spirit that is in me? What does that transformation look like that is the result of that power? Let me submit to you that there is a chapter in the Bible in which the apostle actually explains what this power of the gospel is in more detail.

And it is very interesting because just as we have chapter number one in the book of Romans, chapter number one of the first Corinthians, the apostle explains what this power actually is. If we want to understand what this power looks like and what this transformation looks like, brother and sister, we need to go to the scriptures and the scriptures will explain to us what that power is Verse 16 and 17 of the Book of Romans are explained in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 extensively. We don't need actual preachers. We can just simply go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and read it and the word of God explains itself. You remember that in the church at Corinth there were divisions.

Remember? I am of Apollos, I am of other people. There were divisions there in the church at Corinth. The apostle is now going to bring the reality of the gospel to solve the problem of division at Corinth. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel.

And not with words of eloquent wisdom, let the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. Okay, Paul, thank you. You have now incorporated this concept of the power of the cross, which is the same thing that he's speaking about in Romans 1, verse 16. The power of the gospel. Thank you, Paul.

Now please explain a little bit further, verse 18. For the word of the cross, that is the gospel, is foolishness. It is the power of God. Thank you, Paul. Now you are starting to explain and to speak a little bit more carefully about this, so we understand that the power is found in the gospel.

The same thing that you have said in Romans chapter 1 verse 16, that the power is contained in the gospel. And this is the power of God. Let us continue in verse 19. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. Where is the one who is wise?

Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world, forseating the wisdom of God? The world did not know God through wisdom. It pleased God through the foolishness of what we preach, that is the gospel, the foolishness for the world, to save those The gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes.

What is that power? Is that power to see miraculous signs? Is that power of God, this thin and His do-not-miss power that comes and gives all of these manifestations in the person? Or is perhaps this power answer to the questions that I have? Or is this power just simply every single detail of the wisdom that I want to articulate that comes into the mind of Paul who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Verse 22, for Jews demand signs, miraculous signs. What sign do you show us to say that you are the Son of God? Remember the Gospels? What sign the Jews would say? For Jews demand signs and Greeks, that is Gentiles, seek wisdom.

Verse 23, and we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles, to the Greeks, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks. To anyone who believes, Jew or Greek, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Christ Jesus, the power of God. How is someone going to say that they have had encounter with the Son of God and remain unchanged? How is someone going to say that they have had an encounter with the one who is God and man, with the one who defeated death, with the one who holds the world by the power of his word?

How is someone going to say that that person has had an encounter with Jesus the Christ and remain unchanged? Biblical salvation is an encounter with the power of God as it is proclaiming the gospel. And that power, it is not signs or answers or things, That power is Jesus Christ himself. Because when Christ Jesus takes a vote in the heart of a person, when Christ Jesus is made one with the sinner, and now is forgiven, that Christ Jesus rules that person. And there is a transformation.

So what does that transformation look like? Brother and sister, that transformation looks in Christ-likeness. To die to self, and that Christ is in me. the Christ of the Bible. How am I going to know if I'm being transformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ if I'm ignorant of the Christ of the Bible?

How am I going to be transformed and have the sayings and the deeds of Christ if I'm ignorant of the Bible? If I do not know the Christ of the Scriptures? That's why people end up making for themselves a Jesus Christ that is none other than an idol that preachers teach from pulpits because people don't read their Bibles. That's why people end up just conforming themselves to Christianity rather than to be conformed to Jesus Christ of the Scriptures. Because the problem of churches are not preachers, but are people that accumulate for themselves preachers that have been, each in years, teaching them according to their own passions.

That's why the strength of the church is not in the sermons that are preached, but the strength and the power of the church is the word of God in each one of its members. That's why the power of the church is not found in what we do and the building that we have and how many people are seated in front of us, but it's found in Christ Jesus in the hearts of those who belong to the body. So, brother and sister, have you had an encounter with the biblical Christ? Dear friend, have you had an encounter with Christ Jesus? I'm not asking if we are sitting in a church.

I'm not asking if we are here gathering on a Sunday. Have we had an encounter with Jesus Christ? Have we seen Jesus Christ and Him crucified, dying upon the cross, paying for my sins? Have you seen yourself as being the person whose sins were nailed to the cross at the death of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are we rejoicing in the fact that He completed the work and that it is not mine to do?

Have we had an encounter with this Jesus Christ? Because if we forsake the Gospel, brethren, Let us return to Romans chapter 1. First thing that I wanted to say to you is that biblical salvation requires an encounter with God's power. And that encounter with God's power transforms you. We'll return now to Romans chapter 1 verse 17.

The second thing that I said to you is that a biblical salvation reveals the righteousness of God. And you're going to have to be patient with me here, please. Biblical salvation, brethren, Biblical salvation reveals the righteousness of God. When the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, it has been applied to a person. Not the gospel as an abstract message there that I can just read tonight and put it on my wall.

Not the gospel as you just read out loud, but rather the gospel when it has been applied to the person who believes and that person has been saved. The gospel applied reveals the righteousness That is, the gospel of which Paul is not ashamed, the gospel that brings the power of God, the gospel that saves. For in it, in salvation, in gospel, at night, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. When a person, when a sinner has been genuinely saved, When the Gospel has been proclaimed, and the Spirit has opened the heart of that person, and now that person has been saved by the power of this Gospel, by the power of this Gospel that is Christ Jesus, when that person has had an encounter with Christ, then in that which happens, the righteousness of God is revealed. The righteousness, that means that standard.

to be broken. If the standard is 100%, then righteousness means that it's 100%. It cannot be 99.9, because if it is 99.9, it is not righteous anymore.

This righteousness of God, this standard that cannot be broken, this standard of which we fall short, this standard of the holiness and righteousness of God, this standard of His righteousness, now is revealed. It is manifested. And the reason is, the question that we ask ourselves is, What is the Apostle meaning by it? Is the Apostle meaning that every time that a person comes and reads the Gospel, then that person comes and understands that God is righteous? And if that is what the Apostle means, then what does it mean that that person will come to the understanding that God is righteous?

Why is God interested in revealing His righteousness at all? We have the Scriptures and the Scriptures certainly testify, certainly testify that God is righteous. Let me submit to you, that God is interested, pay attention to this, God is interested in revealing, in manifesting, and proclaiming, which are the words that Paul uses in Romans and also in Philippians, he is interested in proclaiming, revealing, manifesting his righteousness. This idea is more clearly explained in Romans chapter three, if you come with me there please, he will explain it in a better way than I can to you, so come with me to Romans chapter three, The Apostle says in Romans chapter 1 verse 17 that in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. That this standard of perfection that cannot be broken is manifested, is proclaimed, is revealed in Romans chapter 1 verse 17.

The Apostle explains this in Romans chapter 3 verse 21 using similar words. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested, apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, to the righteousness of God. And I understand that that statement is a little bit difficult to understand there, but continue with me in verse 22. The righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus for all who believe. the righteousness of God that is through faith, faith in Christ Jesus for all who believe.

This is the righteousness that is now being revealed, that God is righteous. How is God righteous? God is righteous in this salvation for the believing through the person of Jesus Christ. Verse 23, for there is no distinction, for all have seen and fall short of the glory of God. Verse 24, and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith.

Now pay attention to this, and then we finish with the reading. This was to show Christ Jesus dying upon the cross and those who believe in Him are saved. Verse 25, second half of it. This was to show, or this was to reveal, or this was to proclaim, or this was to manifest God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance, forbearance, forbearance, he had passed over former sins. He passed over former sins.

And by Jesus Christ dying upon the cross and being resurrected on the third day, now God reveals and proclaims His righteousness. Why did God have to do that? Well, because there was a problem in His own law. Come with me please to Proverbs chapter 17. There was a legal problem for God.

There was a very serious legal problem that the Gospel portrays and presents And if there is a difficulty or there is a problem, someone might bring an accusation against what God has done or the forgiveness that we have received. There is a legal problem that even comes not from the accusations of the accuser, Satan, but it comes from the law of God himself. If you go to Proverbs chapter 17, does anyone know the verse that I'm going to read? He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord, brother, sister, and friend. Consider what happened at the cross and in the gospel and read once again this statement there in verse 15.

He who justifies the wicked And he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord. In the gospel, we have a wicked being justified. And in the gospel, we have a righteous one that died the penalty of death. In the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have sinners, wicked people like us, that are being just. And in the gospel, we have the just, who is Jesus Christ, as a sinner, and the law of the Lord says that the person who justifies the wicked is an abomination, and the one who condemns the righteous is also an abomination to the Lord.

How is then the gospel something legal? How is then what happened at the cross something that is acceptable? How is then the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of the wicked something that is just not simply invented by the heart of a loving God, but rather, That is the representation of His justice and His righteousness. One word, glorious, or two words, glorious exchange. A glorious exchange.

And I'm not gonna be able to finish my sermon, but glorious exchange, brethren. A glorious exchange that the same Apostle Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, which I will not cite because I want you to read it with your own eyes. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. A glorious exchange.

I wish we had that song that we have in Spanish and English that speaks about this glorious exchange, brother. It is a glorious exchange. The exchange that happens here in verse 21. Why is God righteous? Why He reveals His righteousness?

He reveals it in this way, verse 21. For our sake, and you very well can change your name there, my dear brother and sister, for your sake, God made Christ to be seen, who knew no sin, so that in Christ Jesus, we might become the righteousness of God. For your sake, for your sake, upon the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ took on your sins, the penalty of your sins, so that the wrath of God will come upon Jesus Christ. And then when He was partly resurrected because He was God and He was not a sinner, and death could not keep Him captive, when He was partly resurrected, Romans chapter 4 verse 25, We receive the life of the victorious, resurrected Jesus Christ. The righteousness of Christ is given to us.

Christ Jesus, who is the righteousness of God himself, and there is a glorious exchange. So that the unjust will pay for that fine, but not in his own ways, will pay in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the one who is now righteous will give back his grace, his righteousness, to the one who believes. A glorious exchange. that happened only at the cross so that there will be no accusation against God.

Please return with me to Romans chapter 3. This is what the apostle says in Romans chapter 3. And I will have to see how I conclude this next week. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 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 whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith.

This was to show God's righteousness. This was to reveal God's righteousness. This was to proclaim God's righteousness. Because in His divine forbearance, He had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he may be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Let me just summarize everything that I've just said with this simple word. There's absolutely no one who will be able to bring an accusation against your name when you are presented before God for the forgiveness that he has given you. So one might come and say, God, didn't you see the sins that this person committed in their previous life? God, what about the sins that they committed when they were Christians? God, what about the sins that they committed even in the context of the church?

What about the things that they have done against your law? Why would you forgive them? It is not good that you will forgive those people who have broken your commandments. Someone would be able to bring an accusation, God. He did not commit any sin, was that upon the cross?

That is child abuse, some people say. That is cosmic abuse, that you will kill your son who did not have any fault upon the cross. On that day, God will be found to be the just and the justifier of the wicked that has been forgiven in Christ Jesus, because upon the cross, there was a glorious exchange. And the forgiveness that he gives you is a forgiveness not that is fictitious, as the Catholics say, forgiveness of the righteousness that gives you it is a valid truthful forgiveness that in Christ Jesus when he says that you have been forgiven you have been forgiven indeed because everything that we want to be paid was paid upon the cross so no one will be able to bring an accusation against God select Romans chapter 8 verse 33 I think no one will be able to bring an accusation against Catholic. Why?

Because it is God the One who justifies. This is the core of the Gospel. This is the heart of what He has done. This is the joy of the life of the Christian. This is what is supposed to move us in our daily lives.

This is what is supposed to propel us into righteousness. This is what is meant to be the reason of our lives. What does it profit if a person wins the entire world and yet loses his own soul? What does it profit if we give ourselves to obtain the things of this world and we lose our own soul? Salvation is the most important thing for the life of a human.

And that salvation is found only in the person of Jesus Christ as He is presented in the Gospel. Because the Gospel is the power of God into salvation that transforms the person who has a genuine encounter with that Gospel. And when that salvation takes place, my dear brother and sister, the righteousness of God is revealed. That the one that cannot be forgiven, cannot be forgiven, now is forgivable in the person of Jesus Christ. That the sin of the person that cannot be removed and dealt with, now is dealt with by the Lord Jesus Christ.

That the one that cannot enter into the presence of heaven and into the presence of God, now can enter into the presence of God because of what Jesus Christ has done. That the one who does not deserve to receive the reward of God, of His love and His presence, now is not only forgiven, receives the love of God that makes us his children. This is the glory of this glorious gospel. If we forsake the gospel, we forsake biblical salvation. And if we forsake biblical salvation, we end up with a church that is comprised not of sons of God, but sons of Satan that are disguised as Christians.

pushing their own agenda and not the agenda of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brother and sister, many more things I wanted to say, and by God's grace, perhaps I will say them next week. But let me just simply say to this to you, my dear brother and sister, rejoice. Rejoice that the masterful mind of God found a way to forgive you in a legal, real way through the person of Jesus Christ. Apart from the cross, we were hopeless.

Apart from the cross, we were hopeless. Rejoice that whatever comes your way, whatever pain comes your way, whatever difficulty comes your way, rejoice in the fact that your name has been written in the book of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Rejoice in that. But to you who are not in Christ, I say and implore to you, today is the day of your salvation. Come to Christ.

He is the only one that can forgive your sins. He is the only one who can pay that. The church cannot do it. The word cannot do it. Your words cannot do it.

Only Jesus Christ can do it. And for us, brothers and sisters in the church, let us be proclaimers of this gospel. Because if there's going to be any good thing that we do today, It's not only the taxes that we pay or the things that we do, but it's that we bring the light of the Gospel to the one that is in darkness. So that the glory will be for Jesus and that we will be found to be faithful servants that are just simply doing what our Master has called us to do. Because He loved us first, He gave Himself for us, what shall we do?

Not just only we should live our lives for Him alone.