The Power of the Gospel
Our scripture lesson is taken from Romans 1:16-18, “ΒΆ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;”
I want to share from this text because we want to move towards becoming an evangelistic church. We want to become a church family that freely witnesses, testifies and spread the gospel message for Christ and his kingdom. Paul writes this young church at Rome to encourage them as they live for God in a hostile environment. In this text, Apostle Paul testifies to his commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Many Disciples of Christ had scattered from Jerusalem because of the severe persecution. Paul never actually walked with the disciples during the earthly ministry of Christ, but since his conversion and subsequent calling, he was very zealous for the cause of Christ. When Paul writes this letter, the Christian church had spread to Rome, the capitol of the civilized world. Paul had heard of the church at Rome, but he had never been there, nor had any of the other apostles. Some believe that the Jews, who had come to faith at Pentecost, subsequently brought that faith back to Rome. Paul writes this letter to introduce himself as a leader in the Church of Christ and to introduce himself to the church at Rome. He wanted to clearly declare an understanding of what faith in Christ really was. The early church was operating under heavy persecution and ridicule. The Greek considered Christianity as foolishness and the Jews sought for a sign. Paul declares that the Gospel is really the power of God to those who believe.
At first glance, it seems like an extraordinary thing that Paul should say that he is not ashamed of the gospel. For when we read that statement you might ask, "Why would the apostle ever think that anybody would be ashamed of something as grand as the gospel of Christ?" Why do you think people are ashamed of the gospel today? Have you ever been ashamed of the gospel? Paul had every reason to say this because he had stood boldly for the cause of Christ in spite of great opposition. He had stood for the Christ Jesus in spite of the suspicion of the other apostles, the ridicule of the Jews and the rejection of his family. The reason many are ashamed of the gospel today is that the world opposes the gospel message and ridicules the messengers. There is a desire in believers to live in harmony with the world culture instead of living in opposition to it. Today's culture seems to simply tolerate Christians, but the world is still the world. The world is always hostile towards God and his church. Regardless of the hostility, Paul was ready to preach the gospel in Rome, in the very pinnacle of heathenistic pride and power. If there was any place where one would be ashamed of a crucified Savior that place was Rome, the center of power. In Rome, the emperor Nero had literally declared war against the Christians, at that very time Nero was feeding Christians to the lions. He ridiculed their faith, belittled them and made sport of the Christians during his reign. Even though in America, Christianity enjoys a measure of liberty, we must not forget that the world is an enemy of Grace. We are living in a hostile environment; surrounded by the devil and all those he has enlisted to assist him in his war against the church. The world will never be a friend of Grace. Every time we take a stand for the word of God or the standard of God we will face opposition. We are in a hostile environment. The people on our jobs tolerate us, they don’t mind us going to church on Sunday, but when we must take a stand, they will quickly be irritated with us. Their irritation is a reminder that we are different, we march to the beat of a different drummer. We follow the orders of a different General, the Lord Jesus Christ!
Let's read the text again,
Romans 1:16-18 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
In this powerful text, Paul gives several reasons why he is not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. First of all, He is not ashamed because of what the Gospel is; secondly, he is not ashamed of the gospel because of what it requires; thirdly, he is not ashamed because of what the Gospel can do; then, he is not ashamed because of the hope it brings to all and finally, he is not ashamed because of what the Gospel reveals.
What the Gospel Is
First of all, let’s consider the fact of what the Gospel is. Paul was not ashamed because of what the Gospel is - Good News! We should not be ashamed of the gospel because the gospel is "good news." The word "gospel" means "good news." The gospel is God's plan of salvation in Christ. The three great facts of the Gospel are the death, burial, and the resurrection of Christ. But more than that, it is the good news of Christ ascending to the Father after completing His earthly ministry and sending the gift of the Holy Spirit to us. It is the good news of the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is God's only appointed means of salvation. The name of Jesus Christ is the only name ... whereby we must be saved" [Ac 4:12]. All God's saving power is manifested through the gospel. Even though men may ignore it, scorn it and turn their backs on it, the gospel is God's only means of Salvation. How dare we be ashamed of a Gospel so powerful! The Greeks were depending on culture and philosophy for salvation; while the Jews were depending on keeping rules and regulations for salvation, both fail short. Those things had no power to save. How can we be ashamed when the Gospel provides the only way to salvation? Can you imagine anyone withholding such a needed message because they fear embarrassment?
Picture me throwing a party in my house, people are eating and drinking, the music is playing, but the roof of the house is on fire. There are several persons passing by who can see the roof is burning, but they are too ashamed to disturb the party. They feel like the party goers and host would not appreciate the interruption. Disturb me honey! Throw a brick, do something to get my attention! Tell what I need to know in order to flee from danger and be rescued. We must not be ashamed to give a dying world an option. They may choose to keep on partying, but at least they know the house is on fire. They have a clear option and understand the consequences of their decision. They can choose to be saved or they can choose to ignore the warning. So Paul is not ashamed because the Gospel is really Good News. Paul had experienced the power of the Gospel in his own life, and felt himself a debtor to the unsaved.
Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
What the Gospel Requires
But secondly, Paul is not ashamed of what the gospel requires. The bible teaches that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek...." The requirement is clear, "To everyone that believeth." It is a personal thing. Everyone must believe for themselves. You must believe for yourself. I must believe for myself. My neighbor cannot believe for me. My mother and father cannot believe for me. The gospel only blesses those who believe. The great fundamental fact is the gospel must be believed, in order to experience its saving power. In order to enjoy the saving power of God, you must believe. If you choose not to believe, you cannot receive this grace. We can brag about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the most powerful demonstration of God’s love for us, but unless you believe it, you life will not be affected. All who are saved must believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who was virgin born, suffered, bled and died for our sin, and arose again the third day for our justification. The gospel does not automatically save. The condition is faith to believe. The gospel does not save unconditionally. Belief is a condition, to the Jew first, but then also to the Greeks. Paul uses the terms, Jews and Greeks, which refers to Jews and Gentiles. All can enjoy the same saving power of God on the same condition, faith. All must believe! Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel because of what it is; it's the good news of God's power unto salvation. Then he is not ashamed because of what the gospel requires; it requires all, every person individually who seek salvation to believe. You can be in church and still be lost. You can know about Jesus and still go to hell. Church going does not save. Mental assent will not save. Living in the church will not make you a Christian any more than living in a garage makes you a car! You may try to sound like a car, move like a car, but you are not transformed into a car by sleeping in a garage. We must believe the gospel. The gospel believed and acted upon has power to transform, save and deliver. It works for everyone who believes.
Paul was not ashamed because of what the gospel is, it is good news. He was not ashamed because of what the gospel requires, it is requires all to believe. If we will believe the gospel, it has power to transform, save and deliver us.
What the Gospel Can Do
Then Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel because of what the Gospel can do, the gospel can bring us into right standing with God. “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith...” Do you realize that through believing and receiving the proclamation of the gospel, men are made the righteousness of God by faith? By faith the righteousness of God is imputed to them. Through the transgression of Adam in the Garden of Eden, man lost his rightness with God and stood condemned in the presence of God. Mankind was separated from God, out of fellowship with no way to bridge the gap with his creator. Only God could bridge the gap. Through faith in Christ, God takes away our sin and imputes his righteousness. We receive the righteousness of God in Christ. We who were unacceptable become acceptable. We who were unrighteous become the righteousness of God. We become acceptable to God. We receive a righteousness bestowed only by God's grace. The obedient believer in Christ is forgiven and clothed with Christ's own righteousness. I am not implying that believers have become perfect in their lifestyles because we are still growing to perfection. There are still some spots and wrinkles, but God has placed righteousness on our account. We did not earn it, nor deserve it, but by His grace we are righteous. Obedience to Christ provides the means for forgiveness, acceptance and righteousness. It means that we are clothed in the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
I Co 1:30 But you—and it is all God's doing-are in Christ Jesus: He has become for us a wisdom which is from God, consisting of righteousness and sanctification and deliverance; (WNT)
2 Co 5:21 He (God) has made Him (Jesus) who knew nothing of sin to be sin for us, in order that in Him (Jesus) we may become the righteousness of God. (WNT)
Paul is not ashamed because of what the gospel is, Good News; what it requires, it requires Faith to believe; and then he was not ashamed because of what the gospel could do, it places the believer in right standing with God. People do not have a “goodness problem.” We all were created in the likeness of God and declared to be good and very good. You can be a good person and be lost. You can be a good citizen and be lost. Goodness does not and cannot make us right. It is only through faith in Christ that God takes away our unrighteousness and restores us to righteousness. He alone can take away our sin and give us His Righteousness. He alone covers us with the robe of righteousness through faith in Christ. Many times we desire people to act like Christians, talk like Christians and treat us like Christian should, when they are really not Christians. They have never been transformed. They had never been changed. No matter how much we dress them up as Christian, propped them up to stand, there is no life in them unless they are born again. People cannot be what they are not. They must hear the voice of God. If they hear His voice they shall live. We can be transformed, totally, radically changed by the power of God. When Jesus became victorious over death and the grave, he got up with all power in his hand. That power is available to us by faith. It is a yoke-destroying, burden-removing, life-transforming power for the believer. The believer is in right standing with God and God has made everything needed available to the believer in Christ Jesus.
John 5:25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
God alone causes the dead to live. God alone can make an unclean thing clean. God alone declares believers righteousness. Paul was not ashamed because the Gospel has power to make men righteous.
What the Gospel Gives
Paul was not ashamed because of the hope the gospel brings to all. The gospel brings the hope of salvation to all, not just to the Jews, but to all. The one overwhelming need of perishing mankind was salvation or total deliverance. The Jews thought they could receive all they needed through the Law of Moses. Even though they had received the Law of Moses, they fail to obey the Law. They had a desire to obey, but could not obey the letter of the Law. The Jews had the desire, but lacked the power to obey the Law. On the other hand, the Gentiles were without the Law, but could have known God through His manifest presence in nature. They were convicted by their conscience but they fail to obey the dictates of their own hearts. The gentiles ignored the God of nature and overrode their own conscience. The bible justly declares, “there is none righteous, no not one,” and then it said, “so that they are without excuse:” God created us and placed His light in every man so that all men are without excuse. From the seasoned adult to the child two years old, everyone has a sense of right and wrong. From the deepest philosopher to the common fool, there is instilled in them the sense of right and wrong. God has placed a light in every man. The Jews had the Law, but they were too weak in the flesh to keep the Law. The Gentiles recognized God at work in nature being pricked by their conscience but they overrode their conscience and rebelled against God. All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God. All have sinned against the truth. All deserved judgment and death, but the Gospel came with a message of hope. God is not willing that any should perish, but desires that all would be saved. The gospel brings the hope of peace on earth and goodwill towards men. The gospel brings hope for all of us. Through Christ we can have victory over the world, the flesh and the Devil. God's message of hope for the world was revealed in Christ Jesus. The hope of the Gospel is that God's own power is available to all who believe, to save every soul that embraces the gospel message, giving them victory over the flesh, the world and the devil.
The hymn writer says, 'Rejoice, rejoice O Christian, lift up your voice and sing, eternal Hallelujahs to Jesus Christ the King! The hope of all who seek him; the help of all who find, None other is so loving, good and kind! He lives, He Lives, Christ Jesus Lives today! He walks with me and talks with me along life narrow way. He lives, He Lives, Salvation to impart, you ask me how I know he lives, He lives within my heart."
Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel because of what it is, it is Good News; What it requires, it requires all to believe individually and personally; What it can do, it can make us righteous before God; and What it brings, it brings hope to all who trust and believe. It is so important that we understand that we must personally receive and believe for ourselves. God does not have any grand children, only sons and daughter. There are no inherited positions in heaven, in church maybe, but not in heaven. In life we receive some things because of who our parents where, what our parents did and the like. Salvation is not that way. Salvation is personal. Righteousness is personal. Hope is personal. Heaven is personal.
What the Gospel reveals
Finally, Paul is not ashamed because of the gospel reveals. Read the words of the text again,
“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, "The just shall live by faith." For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;”
Finally, Paul says the gospel reveals the righteousness of God from faith to faith. Paul states the gospel reveals two things: first, the righteousness of God or God’s righteous standard. It is neither my standard nor your standard, it is God’s standard. It’s not how you feel or how I feel. God has a righteous standard. The gospel reveals that standard. And secondly, the wrath of God is revealed. The gospel not only reveals His righteousness, but also His wrath. The wrath of God confirms the fact the God hates sin and will judge every ungodly sinner. God is angry with the unrepentant sinner all day long. God is angry with the ungodly because they hold the truth in unrighteousness. In other words, these men knew the truth, but willfully chose unrighteousness over righteousness. They thoroughly understood God’s standard, but chose to walk in disobedience. When they knew God, they glorified him not as God. We normally do not like to hear about wrath. Wrath seems to be contrary to God’s loving nature. Wrath is an unpleasant subject. Heaven is so much easier to talk about than Hell. The message of blessings just sounds better than a message of judgment. We must be aware that the gospel message reveals both the righteousness of God and the wrath of God. The problem with much of today’s preaching is that the message is incomplete. The early church grew in the fear of God and the comfort the Holy Ghost. We must be careful that our message is a balanced message. The Bible reveal the street of Gold, the Gates of Pearl and the Leaves of the trees that are good for the healing of the nation, but it also reveals the judgment of God and a place of torment where the fire never goes out and the worms never die. Paul was not ashamed of the gospel because in it the righteousness of God and the wrath of God are revealed.
Understand that in and of ourselves we are not the least bit righteous. On the contrary, we are corrupt and rebellious by nature against God. We regularly break God's law. To be saved from condemnation and wrath we need a righteousness that is from God's own nature, a righteousness that comes from God that fully satisfies all of his demands. And that is what the gospel reveals! Paul says in Romans 3:21-23,
"But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"
It does not matter if you were a Jew with the Law or a Gentile without the Law, all have sinned. All were equally condemn before the judgment of God. His righteousness demanded Justice. His Justice demanded death. It's God righteousness and God's standard of rightness that we all needed. That righteousness is only revealed in the Gospel. The gospel also reveals the wrath of God against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. The sinfulness of man is described two ways as ungodliness against the laws of the first table, and unrighteousness against those of the second. Ungodliness is against God while unrighteousness is against our fellowman. God has judge all men guilty who hold the truth in unrighteousness. God caused his light to shine upon every man's heart, they know right from wrong. So, mankind sin with knowledge. All, more or less, do what they know to be wrong, and omit what they know to be right, so none can plea of ignorance before God. All mankind stood guilty before God.
Why is God angry with sinful people? Why does God hate sin? Those who walk around in willful sin have substituted the truth about God with a fantasy of their own imagination. They have stifled the truth God naturally reveals in order to believe anything that supports their own self centered lifestyle. God cannot tolerate sin because of his righteous nature. God cannot condone nor ignore willful rebellion against his righteous standard. His desire is to remove sin and restore every sinner who will believe. But He will judge the unrepentant sinner. I thank God that his standard is clear. It is not just my way or your way, it is God's way from start to finish. We are saved his grace through faith. He gives us faith to believe, faith to receive, and faith to continue from faith to faith. Everything has been given from God, by God and for God’s glory. We owe everything to him. It is not what we have done; it’s what He has done for us.
In this powerful text, Paul gives several reasons why he is not ashamed. He is not ashamed because of what the Gospel is; because of what it requires; because of what the Gospel can do; because of the hope it brings to all and because of what the Gospel reveals. I hope that we all feel the same way.
Paul was not only unashamed, he felt compelled to share the good news. The world still needs to know there is good news, their sin can be forgiven, and right standing with God is available for the asking. They need to know that they can now believe and by faith receive the free gift of God. Not one person need be lost. When you think of the thousands that face eternity without Christ, not one of them need be lost. Every person who ends up in hell will be there against the will of God. God is not willing that any should perish, as a matter of fact He is longsuffering that every person might have an opportunity to be saved. Saints of Old use to sing a song, “Wait a little longer, sweet Jesus. There so many of us still wandering around in sin; if you wait a little sweet Jesus, it will give us a few more days to get our loved ones in.”
They recognized that people without Christ were lost and on their way to a devil’s hell. They need to hear the gospel. The gospel message is good news that saves, we must not be ashamed or afraid to proclaim it. Every Christian ought to be ready to stand up courageously and unashamedly for the Lord. How inconsistent that a person redeemed by the blood of Christ, who have experienced saving power of Christ should be ashamed to speak his name before an unbelieving world! Jesus said, Mark 8:38,
“Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
There are two main reasons that people don't share the gospel, fear and shame. Those who are bound by fear dare not share the message, and those who are ashamed will not share the Gospel. The world needs the gospel. The harvest is plentiful, but the labors are few. Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send forth those who will go and open their mouths for him. We should pray the open prayer. Lord, open a door! Lord, open their hearts! Lord, open our mouth! If we allow fear and shame to stop us, it is evident that we place the praises of men above the approval of God. It means that we put greater value on earthly things than on heavenly things, and we would rather be a friend to the world and an enemy of God. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ it is the power of God unto salvation. Every believer should take their rightful place in the Harvest of God. We must because a dying world is waiting.
