Why don't we turn our Bibles to Romans chapter 1, where our main focus today is going to be on verse 16 and 17, but I want to read from verse 8 all the way down to verse 17. So Romans chapter 1, verse 8 through 17. Reading out of the ESV.

"First 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, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that 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 may 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 want you to know, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you, but thus far have been prevented, in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.

I am under obligation both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is a 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 for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.' Let's pray. You are a gracious and loving God, and we've come this morning to worship you, to honor and glorify you. We desire, Lord God, to be faithful to your word, not only in preaching, but to listen and to obey.

We pray, Father God, that the power of the cross would convict and strengthen us this morning. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Alright so our main focus is going to be in verses 16 and 17 and really at the heart of the book of Romans is verse 16 and 17.

And I know that you guys, some of you guys have memorized it. You've heard probably sermons on it, Bible studies. And it is really at the core of what Paul is trying to say through this whole book. So his conclusion or his thesis is summed up in these two verses.

So we talked about how Paul is about to jump in to the heart of the message of the gospel starting from verse 18. But before doing that from verses 1 through 17, he's laying out his ministry. He introduces himself as a servant who has been appointed as an apostle of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And then he talks about this gospel of his son Jesus Christ that was proclaimed and given to the Jews beginning in the Old Testament. And then we talked about his ministry, his attitude, and how personal it was and how he was constantly in prayer wanting to strengthen the church.

And then we looked at it a couple weeks ago how Paul says he was obligated both to the Greeks and to the barbarians. And then we talked about that how sometimes when we think of obligation we think of burden, but instead Paul ends that section by saying, "I am eager." Because of this obligation of the gospel, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

And he continues this thought of him being eager to preach the gospel in verse 16 where he says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel." So in essence he's saying the same thing. Whether you say it by saying, "I am bold. I am eager to preach." Or saying that, "I am not ashamed to preach." In the end what he's saying is, "I am compelled to do this.

That this ministry that I am a part of to spread the gospel is something that is compelling inside of me no matter what. And I am not ashamed." Paul says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel," because that was not the norm. You know typically we think of the early church and we think of thousands of Apostle Pauls running around planting churches everywhere he goes.

But the reason why he says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel," is because there are many people who were ashamed. The typical thing that we see in the church, we often times think that revival breaks out and all these people going out and bearing a lot of fruit.

But if you look at church history from the very beginning of the preaching of the gospel with the Apostles it was typically a few men bearing a lot of fruit instead of a lot of people bearing a few fruit. And so we see Paul encouraging the church to not to be ashamed, to be bold in preaching the gospel because many of them were not.

They claimed the faith in Jesus Christ but they kept it to themselves. They kind of kept it in their little things and they went to church but they weren't bearing fruit. They weren't bold for Christ. In fact at the end of Paul's life, remember when we were studying through 2 Timothy, Paul's primary message to his protege that as he is departing is to plead with his disciple that you would not turn from your faith like all these other men that have gone before you.

That all these people that have traveled with me and preached in the gospel and now that I'm headed to prison and possibly be executed that some of them were ashamed and some of them saw the consequences of what they were doing. They were beginning to fall out. In our generation we have the same issue.

You know exactly what percentage of people who claim to be Christians are actively involved in sharing their faith. Now we can make the mistake in thinking that if you're part of a church that does missions that somehow you are doing missions. That if you're friends or if you're part of a group that we're part of that.

I don't want to get to the exact numbers but we know that it's very small. That very few people even in our generation is actively involved in sharing this message. So what Paul has to say to the Romans, what Paul had to say to the early church and to Timothy is very relevant today.

That we ought not to be ashamed of the gospel. We ought to be eager to preach the gospel. Now why were they ashamed? What are some of the things that caused them to be timid in sharing the gospel? Well let me say right off the bat. They weren't persecuted because they were good people.

Again we have a lot of stirring up in our generation where it's almost a thing to do and thing to say. That social justice is what we ought to be. And so there's been a lot of stirring up in the last 10 to 15 years. This conversation of wanting to help the poor and you know doing building bridges or water pumps and all this stuff.

And all of those things are fantastic. I think it's absolutely necessary because that ought to be the character of a Christian. That we ought to be concerned for people who are suffering. But that was not the reason why the early church was persecuted. When was the last time somebody got persecuted for helping the poor?

You know you'll be commended. Christians and non-Christians alike. Not just in the United States, all over the world. If you go there to give them physical help, you'll be praised. In fact, even during the time of Jesus, they didn't hate Jesus because of his works. You know, he fed the poor.

He had people who were sick and he would raise them. I mean they didn't hate Jesus for that. In John 10.33, the Jews talking to Jesus says, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy. Because you being a man, make yourself God." He says, "It's not for anything that you've done.

It's what you're saying that's offending us. And it was so offensive to us that we're willing to stone you and kill you." What is so offensive about what he said? What is so offensive of the gospel that it's offensive? Not just today, it's always been offensive. Jesus didn't tell his disciples that, you know, "I'm going to leave and they're going to thank you for bringing the truth." He said, "No, they didn't know me, so they're not going to know you either.

So don't be surprised that as I send you out to preach the gospel, that they reject you. They hate you. They persecute you. Drag you into prison because they did this to me and they will do this to you." What is the offense of the gospel? That so many people who claim to know Jesus and to claim to believe in this truth are unwilling to share this.

Well, the gospel itself, right off the bat, is offensive. Very first thing about the gospel is very offensive. Today, you know, we have this movement of being gospel-centered, but oftentimes when somebody says gospel-centered, they're talking about the very end part of the gospel. You know, they're talking about how we've sinned and no matter what you do, Jesus loves you and He died for you.

It doesn't matter what you do because it's only what He did. And so we're talking about the very end part where He forgives your sin. And so you can do whatever you want. Maybe you shouldn't, but it doesn't matter because God loves you no matter what. Now why would that message be offensive?

Why would the message of universal love, unconditional, no matter what you do, you have a free ticket to Heaven if you say you believe in Jesus? Why would that be so offensive? But when you take a careful look at the gospel, Paul's about to jump in to the depth of the gospel starting from verse 18.

And we're going to get into that next week. But verse 18, he begins a clear and thorough presentation of the gospel by saying, "For the wrath of God is being revealed in Heaven against all ungodliness, unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth." The beginning of the gospel presents and clarifies where we stand before Him.

We are not neutral, the scripture says. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So the first three chapters, Paul digs in to the depth of depravity of mankind. So by the time you get to chapter 3, verse 10, I mean if you haven't been offended by then, you will definitely be offended.

I'm not going to go there now. You may want to look at it later, right? But if you haven't read it, brace yourself because you don't come out good, right? He starts right off the bat. All have sinned. God is not happy with you. God is angry. The wrath of God is being revealed.

Those of you who have the law, you're guilty with the law. Those of you who don't have the law, you're guilty without the law. We're all guilty under God. We're all guilty of judgment. So to a humanist, it is extremely offensive to sit down with somebody and to tell them that God is not happy with you.

When all the message that we are receiving in our generation is just self-esteem, you know, you're good. You know, at the core of who you are, you're good. And that's why God saw something precious in you. And that's why he loved you. That's why he pursued you. But that's not what the Bible says.

The Bible said his pursuit was despite our ugliness, despite our rejection, despite where we stood before God, he came after us. So the very beginning of the message is offensive. At the heart of the gospel message is the identity of Jesus Christ. That Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he is God himself.

He made that very clear. He said, "Before Abraham was I am." He was saying that the God of the Old Testament that these Jews bowed down and worshipped was him. And later on Paul clarifies that everything was made by him and for him. So at the heart of the gospel message is that Jesus Christ is God.

Now that is offensive to all kinds of people. It's offensive to Muslims. It offends Jehovah's Witnesses. If you sit down and talk with them and detail what they mean by that, they're offended by that. In fact a while back I was trying to share the gospel with this Jewish lady and as I was talking I quoted the New Testament.

I said, "The New Testament." And then she just stopped. She said, "Peter, what you said to me was very offensive." And I said, "What do you mean?" She said, "We don't believe in the New Testament. We only read the Old Testament." Obviously she doesn't call it Old Testament. She calls it the Torah.

"We only believe in the Torah. And it's offensive to me when you call it the New Testament." And in the back of my mind I was thinking I'm very offended by what you just said. You know what I mean? I'm offended that you're offended. But just to mention that there's a New Testament, obviously that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all these prophecies was offensive to her.

In fact, again at the heart of the gospel message and why these things are necessary that all have sin and that Jesus Christ the Son of God and the crux of this gospel message is that Jesus Christ crucified is the only salvation for mankind. Only salvation. If you say that Jesus Christ is a Savior that doesn't offend a lot of people.

It's like, "Oh, that works for you." Right? And I'm glad that you believe that. But once you begin to proclaim what Jesus meant by it when He said, "I am the way and the truth and life. Nobody comes to the Father but through me." In Acts chapter 4, 12, "And there is salvation in no one else.

For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." In our pluralistic, relativistic society to make an absolute claim of Jesus being the only way. Maybe there's some of you sitting here thinking, "You know what? You can preach Jesus. You can preach about what He did.

You can preach about His love and even His holiness. But once you begin to say that He's the exclusive only way of salvation, that's arrogant. Maybe you can say, you know, that, "Maybe the Bible says this but I'm not really that convinced." Or maybe, you know, who knows God's going to be the judge and that seems to be the popular way that a lot of these televangelists seems to answer questions.

You know, "Do you really believe that a Muslim can't be saved or a Jehovah Witness or a Buddhist can't be saved?" And a lot of the way that these people answer these questions because they know the kind of response they're going to get from the world. "Oh, you know, we preach the love of Christ but I don't want to be the judge.

I'm going to leave the judgment to God." Well, God did make a judgment and that's why we have the Word of God. And Scripture made that absolutely crystal clear. So at the core of the Gospel, when you are preaching and teaching what it says, it is very offensive. And the moment you try to make the Gospel less offensive by tweaking the Gospel in such a way that it doesn't sound as offensive is no longer the Gospel.

And so I have to say in many circles, even under the term evangelical Christians, that this has happened because we're trying very hard not to make the offense. We can talk about Jesus without offending people. We can talk about salvation of sin without offending people. We can talk about the exclusivicity of Christ without offending people, if that was even possible.

See, this preaching of the Gospel has never been accepted by the majority. It's never been a situation where all people who are claiming to be Christians were out there proclaiming the Gospel and a lot of fruit came from a lot of people. If you look at church history, you'll always find a few people who are not ashamed of the Gospel bearing a lot of fruit.

And that's what's happening here with Paul. Paul's trying to encourage this church and the early church to gear up for this struggle. And so Paul says, again at the end of verse 13, he says, "I'm eager to preach the Gospel." And then he, verse 16, he says the same thing the opposite way, "I am not ashamed of preaching the Gospel." In other words, he's declaring that this is why I'm so bold.

This is why I'm willing to go to prison and even die in preaching this Gospel. So what I want to look at this morning, and I'm going to spend bulk of the time in the first point and then sometime at the latter point, why was Paul able to be so bold?

What gave him this boldness? And what gives us this boldness to preach the Gospel? First thing, boldness comes from knowing the truth and being convicted of it. Let me say it again. Boldness comes from knowing the truth and being convicted of it. As an example, if you go into a doctor's office, the information they give you typically is not wishy-washy, because it doesn't help.

If somebody says, "I think you're sick. I think your leg is broken." No, they got to give you a definitive answer. You go and get an x-ray and they look at it and say, "It's broken." And they'll show you why it's broken. Here's the symptoms of broken. And then they'll tell you how to fix it.

You go to a doctor's office, "It could be broken." "What do I do about it?" "You could do this, you could do that." Right? And if you're not clear, the reason why they're able to be bold is because they look at it and from their experience, from their education, they look at it and say, "Well, this is the truth.

This is what's going on." "Oh, it's so inconvenient. If my leg is broken, it'd be so inconvenient. I can't go to work and I got to put this cast on and I got a basketball game coming up." And it's like, "Okay, okay. You know, I don't want to offend you.

I don't want to make your life uncomfortable." It's like, "No, the doctor's going to tell you. You're going to have to quit work, even if you can't go in and make a living. They have to tell you because they know that this is true. And this is true of you." Engineer walks in, looks at the building and says, "You know what, engineer, the structure is not safe and everybody needs to move out." And say, "Wait a second.

If this happens, we can't meet. We have over 400 people at the church and where are we going to move them?" It's like, "I don't know where you're going to move them. I'm just telling you that this is what I know, you know. And we'll deal with the consequences, but I'm telling you what I know is that this building is unsafe." He has to speak with conviction.

You might be a lawyer, right? And somebody comes in and asks about this contract and you're reading it and they say, you know, and say, "Well, is it safe? Is this okay for us to enter this contract?" "Yeah." You know. "You might get sued. You might lose your house." "Yeah, I don't know." You know.

No, they speak with clarity because that's what they know. Paul speaks with clarity and with conviction and boldness because he's absolutely convinced that this is true. And he understands the consequences. So Paul says 2 Corinthians 2, 17, "For we are not like so many peddlers of the Word of God.

But as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, the side of God, we speak in Christ." So think about that. Even in the early church, there were people who were peddling the Word of God. Some of them were preaching the gospel for their own personal gain. Does that happen today?

I'm pretty sure it does happen. But people who peddle the Word of God as soon as the benefit that comes from preaching the Word of God is no longer worthy of pursuit, they're gone. As soon as it's hard to take care of family or difficulties or whatever, they'll pack up and they'll leave.

And I think that's the first thing that disqualifies somebody from a gospel preacher. That if we are not convicted that this is the truth, and at all costs that this must go out where Paul says, "I'm compelled to do this." 2 Corinthians 3, 12, after Paul presents to the Corinthians that here's the truth of the gospel, how the glory of Christ, the revelation of this is causing this for people to grow and to come to him.

After giving a thorough presentation of the gospel in 2 Corinthians 3, 12 it says, "Since we have such a hope, we are very bold." Paul says his boldness comes from knowing and being convicted of this truth. In fact, in the book of Acts chapter 4, 13, Peter preaches the first gospel.

And in this first gospel, he remember he's preaching in front of the very same people who declared, "Crucify him, crucify him." The leaders who made the decision to get rid of Jesus that Peter was afraid of, that all the other disciples were afraid of it, and they were hiding before Jesus went to the cross.

But after the cross, he's standing in front of the same people and he begins to preach the gospel, convicting them, "You crucified the author of life." And they were amazed. This is what they say, Acts 4, 13, "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished and they recognized that they had been with Jesus." They were so dumbfounded by their boldness.

Don't these guys know that just as if we were able to kill Jesus, I mean, killing them would be nothing. You know? If these guys were able to get rid of Jesus who was being followed around by thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of his disciples in that area, why would they think that this is not going to happen to them?

Where did they get their boldness? It wasn't because all of a sudden Peter realized, "Ah, he can't touch me, I have the Holy Spirit." That's not where his boldness was coming from. He was confused. When Jesus was saying that he was going to go to the cross, all his disciples were hearing, "Okay, I don't get why you're going to the cross, but after the Kingdom comes, will you let me sit to the left or to the right?

Who's going to be the greatest?" They were thinking about the benefit. But after the cross, everything, all the bits and pieces, the puzzles that they were hearing from Jesus came together and all of a sudden it became clear. Everything that Jesus said. They were already convinced about Jesus, they just weren't convinced about what he was saying.

And all of a sudden, they became bold. They realized that even in death, that there's life. Boldness comes from knowing and being convicted of this truth. If we're not convinced that this is true, we will not be bold. How can you be bold about saying this to anybody? You can't casually preach the Gospel.

No more than you can casually come into a room and say, "If you don't leave, this room is going to burn down." You can't casually tell somebody you have cancer. You can't casually tell somebody, "Pack up your bags and get out of this building because it's going to collapse." You can't casually say that unless it's true.

You cannot casually commit to preaching the Gospel. What it claims is too serious and too intense. And that's why Paul says, "I am not ashamed because I am convinced that it is the power of God for salvation." The Gospel is the power that saves. Think about all the advancements in the last hundred years.

Every time I use my smartphone, I'm amazed. I know some of you guys are kind of amazed. It's just a phone. Right? And again, I didn't have a cell phone until I was 30 years old. Internet probably, what, about the same time. And my smartphone probably, what, I had what, the last two years now?

And so now every once in a while, I use a smartphone and I'm talking to Pastor Alex in China and I'm texting him. It's like, "Oh my gosh, I'm talking to this guy. This guy's in China right now." I mean, not seem like a big deal, but the very first time I went out to China, I mean, to make one phone call was a big, big ordeal.

Right? The fact that I can look up something, I can say, "Oh, I wonder if that's true." You know? Before, when I used to have that thought, I'd have to, "Okay, I think I'm available Tuesday morning. I'm going to clear my schedule, drive to Biola, look up these reference books." And I had to make about a four or five hour commitment next Tuesday to see if I can get an answer to this question.

Today, like, "Oh, I wonder. Is this true?" Boom. Right? With all the technological advancements that we have, right? Set somebody to the moon, creating the atomic bomb, atomic energy, airplanes, automobiles. You know, 14 years ago, had the huge tin towers, the terrorist attack. And then now you go back over there and they built this tower even more magnificent than before.

Robotics and other talk about artificial intelligence. Why not? Considering everything that we were able to advance in. But one thing has always been true, will always remain true. That the core of who man is, you can advance yourself to make yourself more knowledgeable, more honored, more wealth, more comfortable, more influence.

Whether you are the richest man on earth or the poorest man on earth, you cannot change the nature of your being. The scripture says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." This corrupt nature that hangs with us, even in your wildest dreams coming true, at the core of the problem of who we are, there's nothing that you and I could do about it.

No amount of human advancement can ever touch this. That's why in chapter 3, the paralytic come into Jesus and they wanted him to heal them. Jesus said, "Your sins are forgiven." And they were offended. And they were right to be offended because they understood, "Who can dare say this?

Only God could forgive sins. Even Moses can't say that. Elijah can't say that. David can't say that. How dare you say that?" Jesus turns to them and says, "Which is harder to do? To say your sins are forgiven or get up and walk?" You have to remember, Jesus is the Son of God.

He declared to be God Himself. The scripture says that everything was made by Him and for Him. He made the whole universe by His words. So what is it to Him to tell Him, "Your sins are forgiven." I mean, to get up and walk. Nothing. He could create a whole new being from dust to just fix a crooked leg.

A broken spine to Him is nothing. In other words, what was Jesus saying? His display of power was not in feeding of the 5,000. His display of power was not to get the lame to walk or walking on the shores in the storm. That was not the display of His power.

His display of His power was to say, "Your sins are forgiven." That's the greatest display. That's why in Romans chapter 10, 17, "So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ." The only thing that can change an individual and transform his destiny for eternal, eternity, is Christ crucified.

Preaching of Christ crucified. And when somebody hears the Word of Christ and believes it, it has the power to save him, transform him inside and out. That's why 1 Corinthians 1, 18, Paul says again, "For the Word of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." It is a mistake to think that in the church, that if we are organized enough, if we have a certain way of doing things, and if we have this help and that help, if we have some kind of accountability, people don't change because they meet the right people.

If I'm surrounded by certain people, I change. Superficially, yes. Nothing has the power to transform and to save a soul. No amount of money, no amount of technology, no amount of influence is able to save souls. Scripture says, "My sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me." Christ crucified.

And again, in 1 Corinthians 15, 1, it says, "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preach to you, which you received and which you stand, and by which you are being saved." Not only were you saved, but a Christian who is genuinely saved is in the process of being saved.

He's being transformed from one kingdom to another. We talked about a couple weeks ago. And if you hold fast to the Word, I preach to you, unless you believed in vain. In other words, unless your faith was not real, right? You just professed because you wanted to belong. Only the clear preaching of the Word of God, clear preaching of Christ, can save people.

Despite the organization, despite the lack of ability, despite the money, despite the training. Travel anywhere outside the United States who doesn't have even the tenth of the resources that you and I have. And the church is strong. Evangelists are powerful. The gospel is spreading in force. And yet, you come to the United States where we have all the resources that in the last 2,000 years put together could not match with the resources that you and I have.

And yet, we don't have the same power. Because the power is not with the resources. The power is in the gospel. That's why Paul says he is not ashamed. He is absolutely convinced of this truth. For the gospel, he says in verse 17, not only does it save, he says it reveals the righteousness of God from faith to faith.

Typically, when we think about the gospel, we think it reveals His mercy, right? It's like, "Ah, you know, the gospel shows His mercy and His grace and His patience with sinners." But we don't typically think about righteousness being displayed by the gospel, right? We think of grace, mercy. So what does he mean when he says the gospel is the revelation of God's righteousness?

What does that mean? God's righteousness is displayed in two ways. One, the gospel, the cross, reveals His nature of righteousness. Let me explain what I mean by that. The scripture says very clearly that God's nature cannot be changed. In fact, Hebrews 6, 17-18, let me read that for you.

"So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of His purpose, He guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before." So let me summarize what he says here.

There's two things that he cannot do. One, he cannot change his nature and he cannot lie, which in essence is the same thing. God is immutable in what He says and God is immutable in who He is. The reason why he says that is that the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament.

He didn't all of a sudden decide, you know what, I'm just going to forget about it. All the warnings that he gave to the Old Testament believers and saying, you know what, if you obey my commands, here's some blessing that's going to come to you. And if you disobey my commands, here's some curses that's going to come to you.

And all of a sudden Jesus shows up and He says, you know what, I know I said all of these things, just forget about it. Just forget. I'm just going to be gracious and I'm just going to forget about it. Which a lot of people think that that's what the gospel is, right?

Just forget about it, right? And I'm just going to display my mercy. So we have a tendency to think that in the Old Testament God was very harsh and He was judgmental and He was righteous and He's angry. He comes to the New Testament, He's just like, He's almost like we have a sanctified God, right?

He's sanctified. He grew. He matured. You know what I mean? So now He's not so angry. He's just gracious. But that's not what Paul says. He says the gospel actually is a display of His righteousness, of His nature. You have to understand the primary understanding of the Jews after they receive all that.

Remember Jonah? Remember why he didn't want to go to Nineveh? And he didn't want to go to Nineveh because he was afraid that if he warned them about the judgment coming and they repent that God would forgive them. And that's exactly what happens. He goes back and he reluctantly warns them and they all repent, even the king.

And then he gets angry. He said, I knew it. I knew it. I knew you were gracious and I knew you were merciful and I knew you would forgive their sins. See the Jews already knew that. Jews already knew how merciful and how patient God was with that nation.

They should have been wiped out a long time ago. But how was God going to save and be merciful and yet not forfeit who He is? See that's the cross. He didn't just simply say, he snapped fingers and said, okay, okay, you know, I'm just going to forget about all your sins.

God cannot deny Himself. There's nothing that He does where His holiness and His love is in somehow contradiction. See at the cross is where His holiness and His love is displayed to the greatest. Let me explain. When Jesus was going to the cross, Jesus said, I'm going to glorify you.

And Father, it's time for you to glorify the Son. So at the cross, God is glorified and the Son is glorified. And how was He being glorified? There's two natures, nature of God. And really it's the same nature, but it's a two nature displayed where His holiness and His love.

It says God is holy. God is love. Now sometimes we think, well, either you're love or you're holy, you can't go hand in hand. But the cross was the perfect display of His holiness. So when we think about His holiness, where is His holiness in the greatest of display?

It's at the cross. Because at the cross where all of His wrath, all of the judgment of mankind, past, present and future that He has elected was at display, putting it upon Jesus. You remember when Jesus, when God was angry with the nations and He was angry with them and He brought the flood?

Yeah, I mean we would think, well, that's the greatest display of His righteous anger. But that was only anger for them. That was only justice for them. At the cross, Jesus took upon Himself the wrath of past, present and future of all generations. So it is at the cross where we see the greatest display of His righteousness.

And as it's being displayed, on the flip side of that, that as He absorbs it, the greatest display of His love. You know, we often think about Jesus, how He humbled Himself and He washed the disciples' feet. And yes, I mean, yes, that was very humble and it was a very great display.

But that was for the disciples. That was for them at that time. But the greatest display of His grace and mercy was at the cross, when it was the darkest. And so when we think about, well, who is God? What is the greatest thing that you and I ought to think of?

It's the cross. Let me give you an example. You know, we talk about, you know, I don't remember the details, but there are some games that Michael Jordan played. And I know some of you guys say, "Oh, it's Kobe, Michael Jordan." All right, so let's end this debate now, okay?

It's Michael Jordan. All right, so there's some games that Michael Jordan played that it was just ridiculous. And I don't remember the details, but when you think about and say, "Hey, what's the display?" When there's this argument between Kobe and Michael Jordan, like, okay, so you say he's the greatest.

Well, prove it, right? Well, how do you prove it? You look at the game that he played that magnifies his skills, right? And the greater the opposition, well, you know, Michael Jordan came into this game and this other team, they had the best record of that season. Everybody thought that they were going to win.

Michael Jordan was actually sick that day. He had a 102 fever and he barely was walking that morning. And, you know, and he had tragic things happening in his life and everybody thought that there's no way that he had any chance. And then he comes in and he scores 60 points and then he wins the game winning shot with four guys defending him with his eyes closed.

You know what I mean? So when we talk about the greatness of Michael Jordan and his basketball skills, we look at a particular game where this greatest access is displayed. And that's where we go when we say, "Here's Michael Jordan." And you look at that, that's why we think he's the greatest.

So when we think about God, when we display God, when we present God, where do we go to present God? Where is his greatest attribute at greatest display? It's at the cross. And so that's what Paul is saying, that not only is it the power of God to save, but the righteousness of God, his nature is at the greatest display at the cross.

Not only is his nature displayed, but because of his nature of righteousness being displayed, is that we've been affected. 2 Corinthians 5.21, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." That in his righteousness displayed.

That's the difference between glorifying the world and glorifying Christ. We can glorify Michael Jordan, put him on a pedestal, and we may find some satisfaction in doing that because we're creatures of worship. But at the end of the day, there's emptiness. There's artificial joy. But the scripture says when we magnify Christ and his righteousness, we're affected.

His righteousness becomes imputed to us. Not only do we display his glory, that in displaying his glory, we are affected. And that's why Paul is saying, "I am not ashamed of this gospel. That's why I am bold to proclaim this gospel." So we're bold about Lakers, we're bold about Golden State Warriors, we're bold about some football teams, baseball teams, all artificial, all superficial.

But how about Christ? How about the gospel of Jesus Christ? See, being convicted of this truth is what gives us boldness. Being affected by this truth is what gives us boldness. But let me, I told you that's my first point. The second point, and I'm going to spend a little bit of time on this, is the second reason why he was bold is because he genuinely loved them.

You can have all the truth and be convicted of all of this and just not care. It's like, "Ah, okay, whatever." You know, you're saying, "Oh, you believe it. That's good for you." But maybe you're convicted about it, but you don't care if somebody is saved or not. Paul was bold because he genuinely desired them to be saved.

He was convinced that the only salvation for mankind is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and he desired so much for people to be saved. Romans 9, 1-3, Paul says, "I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh.

I desire so much that even if I was somehow able to trade spaces with the nation of Israel, I would." Love gives us boldness. Love gives us boldness. Let me give you an example. If you knew somebody in your life that was making poor choices. You know, they're spending money frivolously, and they're always, you know, falling short in paying bills, and their eating habits, and their just habits, period.

They're just going down the wrong path, and you're very concerned for them. Now, if they happen to be an acquaintance, you might have a light conversation and say, "You know what? Oh, man, that guy is making poor choices. I hope somebody would say something to them." You know? And if you're bold enough, you'll bring them to me.

You know, because that happens a lot. And I get an email, I say, "Hey, this is happening. Can you please do something?" You know? So, that may be. If there's your acquaintance, you may, you may have some boldness to say something. If that's a friend of yours, depending on the quality of friendship you have, you may be a little bit more bold.

"Hey, let's get together and have lunch. I want to talk to you about something." And you may, you may kind of say it in a way where it's like, "I don't want to offend you, but here's some things I'm concerned because I genuinely care about you, and I feel like I need to say this for your own good." And say, "Hey, hey, hey, don't judge me." You know?

And that may be enough for you to kind of say, "Okay, okay. He didn't want to hear it. I've done my part." Right? If that's a family member, you'd be a little bit more bold. If it's a sister, brother, father, mother, and say, "Hey, you know what? These are consequences.

Maybe you shouldn't be doing that." And they say, "Hey, hey, hey, don't judge me." It's like, "What are you talking about? You know, I just want you to, I want to make sure that you're doing the right thing." And you would be a little bit more bold to speak the truth.

But if that was your child, if that was your son or your daughter making that mistake and going down the wrong path, and it's absolutely unacceptable the consequences that's going to come their way, we will become emboldened to speak to them. Because it's not acceptable, the consequence. You over there, you say, "You know what?

I don't want to be judgmental." And all of a sudden, you will be judgmental. "Oh, I don't want to rock the world. I don't want them to dislike me." It's like, no matter how you feel about me, you can't keep doing this. We become emboldened based upon the degree of love that we have for that individual.

So when Paul says, "I am enduring all things for the sake of the elect," it's because he not only is convicted about these truths, he desired so much for them to come to Christ as well. And that's why he says, "If I'm being selfish, I'd rather die. The only reason why I would stay is because I want you to know this Christ as well." Now, did Paul have this love the moment he met Christ?

No. He hated the Gentiles. In the context of obedience, God gave him love. So it was this love that compelled him. What gives us boldness? First, are you convicted that the gospel is true? And you say, "Oh, yeah, of course I believe it, you know." But really, enough to be uncomfortable, enough to overcome awkwardness?

Are you convinced enough that this is the only salvation, only way that mankind could die and not be in judgment? Are we convinced of this truth? And if we are, when's the last time we pleaded on behalf of this perishing world? You know, there's a story of a monk named Telemachus.

He was an early 5th century monk. Even after the Roman Empire supposedly turned a Christian empire, the Colosseum and the gladiator fights kept on going on. And they fought to the death, as all of us know. So some of these were slaves. Some of these men were valiant warriors that were from another nation and they got conquered so they became gladiators, strictly for the purpose of entertainment.

Well, this monk happened to enter into the Colosseum, Telemachus, and he saw it and he was so grieved by what he saw, he entered and tried to stop it. And the crowd turned on him, saying, "What are you doing? Why are you judging us?" And they ended up stoning him publicly.

Now, being this supposedly, superficially being a Christian empire, seeing a helpless monk stoned to death by this crowd, after it was done, they said there was a dead silence that came over everybody, horrified by what they saw. And as a result of that, the emperor of that period decided this is enough.

There's things happening today in our culture. All of you have probably seen these anti-abortion films that have been coming out, interviewing the executives of Planned Parenthood. And yesterday there was a huge rally, getting together in front of Planned Parenthood and protesting. And again, it's horrific things that's been going on in the last 50, 60 years of US history, all over the world.

And now this collective outrage because of these videos, and rightfully so, it's horrific what we've been seeing. And so many people are outraged and up in arms, and we've been hearing this steady drumbeat on the internet, on television, on the radio, that something needs to be done. This is not just a Christian thing.

It's not just a Republican thing. The Democrats alike, in fact, in our generation, they say that in the last 30 years, the tide toward homosexual marriage and to broad acceptance of homosexuality, we've been losing the war on that. And more and more people are readily accepting of that. But this abortion thing, some positive news, the tide has been turning.

I've read recently that majority of the people in the United States are actually against it. And you don't have to be a Christian to be against it. You just look at some of the pictures. Just logically speaking, how can you say that that's not a human being? So rightfully so, there is this outrage.

We need to do something about this. But let's get some perspective. As horrific as that scene is, and being revealed, being exposed to this revelation of what's going on, there has been a steady drumbeat from the preaching of the Word of God that we neither be ashamed of the Gospel, for in it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

In it is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. And there has been a steady drumbeat for the last 2,000 years that if we are outraged and horrified by babies being mutilated, and yet be so numb as to the souls who are perishing every single day without even hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that you and I confess is the only way of salvation for mankind.

And then to live every single day for the rest of our lives like everybody else. How can we be so outraged over one and be so numb over the other? There has been a steady drumbeat by the preaching of the Word of God, by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, by the groaning of the Holy Spirit.

The world is in darkness that the Son of God came over His throne, being equal with God in every way, did not consider equality with God to be grasped, but became nothing, took on the form of a servant, became one of us, even put to death on a cross, humiliated.

How can that not affect us? So the Scripture screams out, "Do not be ashamed of the Gospel. It is the power of God for salvation." Would you take a minute to pray with me together? I want to ask you bluntly, do you believe this truth? Are you convicted? And if you are, do you care?

Jesus said, "The greatest commandment is love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." So first question, am I convinced of this truth? Do I believe this? There is no half-hearted conviction, there's no half-hearted commitment, either you do or you don't.

To come before the Lord with honest confession, to not to allow ourselves to just drift along with the rest of the generation, valuing what they value, rejoicing over what they rejoice over, being saddened over the same things that they're saddened over, but to come before the Lord in confession, "Forgive me for having a callous heart.

Forgive me for forgetting about the lost. Forgive me for not being affected by what you've done for me." To confess that before the Lord and ask the Lord that the Holy Spirit would continue to grip us, that we would make the same confession. So let's take some time to pray as we invite our praise team to come up and lead us.

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