Romans 1:21-32 God's Wrath on all Unrighteousness

 

Paul’s letter to the Romans explains to us how the righteousness of God, a righteousness that we lack (because we are constituted sinners), can be received once again   by the mercy and grace of God when we  look by faith to Jesus. When we look to Jesus, our unrighteousness (our sin) is  exchanged for His righteousness (His sinlessness).  This is the gospel  which  deals  with the greatest need of humanity - how we  may escape the wrath of God  (1:18)  and have  peace with God  (5:1)

Last time, in 1:18-20 we saw that God holds mankind accountable  by  the things that are revealed  in in His Creation. This general revelation (1:20) makes God‘s existence and His truth sufficiently plain.  If people reject this revelation then they will incur the wrath of God.  This means that a hypothetical  man in outer Mongolia, in Asia, Australia or Africa, who has never heard of Christ (God’s special revelation) is still accountable  to God. They will of course be judged by the amount of light that they have received. Later in 2:15 we shall see that God has written His law on the hearts of all people. By this law (which begins with God[1]) people who refuse to own the fact that this universe and all that is in it is the work of a personal Creator God will incur His wrath. They will go to that place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Their sin will be that of idolatry – worshipping created things rather than the Creator.  Again, what is idolatry? It is the exchange of the greater for the lesser. It is the exchange of God for the things that God has made. What does God do when man exchanges the glory of the immortal God  for images resembling mortal man  and birds and animals and creeping things (1:23)?  He reveals His wrath (1:18). Please note  that  God’s wrath is being poured out  not simply  against those that have rejected Jesus – for  in that case  the hypothetical  man in outer  Mongolia, who has never heard of Jesus  may have a case. But no! The man in outer Mongolia will discover that he had superstitiously served his carved or created idols or the sun, moon and stars – whatever! He had chosen to worship created things rather than the Great Being who has made all that is visible. That rejection of God alone constitutes sufficient reason for God judging him to be unrighteous.

And now the big question: How does God respond to this ungodliness, unrighteousness, truth suppressing and all forms of idolatry?  The short answer is this: He gives people up (Gk. paradidomi – to give up, to hand over). Paul uses this word three times cf. 1:24,26,28 – not three stages, but  a repetition  of the same handing over. We must consider now how and in what way God hands ungodly, unrighteous, truth suppressing, idolatrous people over. 

1.      1:24 “He gave them up in the lusts (desires) of their hearts to impurity to the dishonouring (Gr. atimias – lit without honour) of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen.”  When God hands people over (who worship creation rather than Him – that is the great lie!) He  says to them in effect “do as you please”.  When God gives people up He removes any restraints upon what people will do with their bodies which were made originally to reflect His glory. When people are handed over to their own desires, they don’t get better. They get worse. They become like street children. Children that are abandoned to the streets do not become better. They get worse and they are hard to rehabilitate.   This is the loss of God in the life of man.

2.      1:26,27 “For this reason God  gave them up to dishonourable passions…”.  We see that the primary way in which that handing over materializes is through deviant sexual behaviour.  When people are handed over their sexuality (which is designed by God)  becomes ‘unnatural‘ (para phusin- lit. ‘besides nature’) and therefore  contrary to  God’s design. This is precisely what we see in our day with its obsession  on  deviant sexuality. Here Paul raises the matter of the unnatural sexuality of homosexuality. “Women and men exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature”.  Paul calls these ‘shameless’ acts. The Bible teaches here that homosexuality is a supreme example of the degrading of the body. As such then we may  conclude that  a society that  endorses  homosexuality as a legitimate lifestyle  is a sign  of a culture / society being handed  over / given up by God.  One of the causes  given for the fall of the Roman empire  was  this prevalent decline in  sexual morality in many forms, and especially homosexuality

3.      1:28 “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.”  When God gives up a person or a society, the manifestation is a debased mind.  A debased mind  does not only  refuse to acknowledge God, but  at its worst it inverts the truth.  When people begin to call ‘good’ evil and ‘evil’  good, then you must know that God  has handed that society over. The debased mind fundamentally comes from a refusal to acknowledge God. It comes from a refusal to study theology - the doctrines God has set before us so that we might truly live a life that is pleasing to Him. Paul is saying that when God hands the minds of men over, then their lives are filled with an unrighteousness that touches every part of life – and especially sexuality.  

The big point is this:  The whole world is held accountable to God for either accepting or refusing His general Revelation. If that happens He hands societies over and hence the provocative statement of Romans 1:28.  One of the traits of that decay is the inability to see what is happening. The social conscience  becomes so defective that it no longer has  the  ability  to recognize evil for what it really is.

4.      And then in 1:29 – 32 we see what happens in the minds and behaviour of a people handed over. Paul gives us a 21 point catalogue of unrighteousness – 21 ways of  expressing a debased mind.  Where do these evils in 1:29-31 come from? It all begins with a mind that suppresses the truth (1:18) exchanging the truth about God for a lie (1:25).  

·         A debased mind  complicates everything about the plain facts of creation and hides  the magnificence of creation  under the so called  respectable banner  of science  and  particular  its  horrible  stepmother, the theory of evolution.

·         A debased mind substitutes the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals … (1:23,24). It worships the created rather than the Creator.

·         A debased mind endorses perversions of sex (1:27). In  1:29 - 31 we see it  all heaped up, and  again   we find that   God hands  people over to the logic of  their  desires. “So you want to suppress my truth?  You want to move me out of the centre of your life?  Alright! See what happens!” And then it is like getting into a slow sinking swamp. Sin usually does not overtake us quickly, but slowly and gradually.  A little bit of indulgence in evil, a little coveting, a little strife, a little deceit, a little lying here and there… When God gradually withdraws His common  grace  on society  and gives it over to all sorts of evil and perversion,  then that society is already under the judgment of God.  Note –  that society  is  not on the way to judgement – this is the judgement!  Let's read it again – 1:28b-31. With that in mind we must look at what is happening in our society in general!  The more a people suppress the truth of God, the more God gives a people up to their own unrestrained thinking and the more that society will  find the manifestations of  this catalogue  of sins.

 

So what's the point of listing all these sins?  Paul gives this list as checklist to measure the true health of a  society. 

·         And so if South Africa has one of the highest murder rates, it has to do with God.

·         If our business men are greedy, if our politicians are deceitful, it has to do with the God who hands us over. 

·         If gossip, envy, deceit, maliciousness, slander and boastfulness rule in a church, it has to do with God who has handed the church over to such a mind-set. If such a church does not repent, God will remove her lampstand.   

·         If our radio and TV stations   and our newspapers ooze with arrogance and insolence it has to do with God.

·         If our children are disobedient to parents, it has to do with God who has handed our homes over. If we are untrustworthy and don't keep our marriage vows it has to do with God.

·         If we are blind to obvious wrongs and if we are  unloving and unmerciful, it has to do with God. That's the point of this list. Whenever we see a  society  in the grip of these things, remember that  this is as a result of its suppression of the truth. God has handed that society over.  

 WHAT THEN SHALL WE DO?

1.      We need to recognise these symptoms as judgements from God.

2.      We need to repent and return to God.

a.      we need  the reversal of God's wrath against our unrighteousness.

b.      we need the reversal of God's handing us over to a depraved mind.

c.       we need the reversal of our mind's moral decay so that it can be renewed for right and proper use in God's service.

3.      The good news is that God in Christ has provided every one of those reversals. You do not have to sink any further into this dark hole if you will now embrace God and his provision.  The key verse for each of these reversals of God's wrath is found in Romans 1:17: In the gospel of Christ, "the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'  If we live by faith in God’s provision in Christ, God gives us over to truth and righteousness as much as he once gave us over to sin. And then let us not forget Romans 12:2. "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect". When God has given us his righteousness by faith in Jesus, and when we embrace His truth, then little by little we are transformed in the renewing of our minds and the long list of sins in Romans 1:29-31 gradually dissolves as we grow in the image of God.

This is the gospel.

This is the message that we must take out to our streets, towns, nation and world.

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[1] The very first two first commandments say, “You shall have no other gods before me” and secondly, “you shall not make for yourself a carved image…” (Ex. 20:3,4).

ROMANS 1:18-20 IS GOD ANGRY WITH THIS WORLD?

 

If you had to conduct a survey on our streets asking this question, “Do you think that God is angry with this world?”, you might get some interesting responses. I guarantee you however that most people would say, “I don’t think that God is angry. How can a God of love be angry?”

What those people are saying is that God cannot be angry and loving at the same time.  Is that true? Before we answer this question let us do a quick revision to see where we have come from.

In 1:1-7, Paul, the author of this letter to the Romans, identifies himself as an apostle tasked with preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

In 1:8-15, he expresses his gratitude to God for the church in Rome. He conveys his intention to preach the gospel to them and, indeed, to all people. 

In 1:16-17, Paul articulates his purpose for writing to the Romans, which is to proclaim the gospel to them. He emphasizes the transformative power of the gospel. He asserts that the gospel has the ability to save everyone who believes, regardless of whether they are Jew or Greek. This salvation occurs when individuals place their faith in God's Word and His Messiah.

An important question then arises: What must we be saved from? What is at stake? 

Paul addresses this question in 1:18-3:20. There he discusses the universal problem of sin. He examines the sin and guilt of the gentiles before God (1:18-32), followed by the Jews' own sin and guilt (2:1-3:8), concluding that all of mankind is guilty before God (3:9-20). 

This highlights the severity of the situation—the bad news. And this section begins with these words...” For the wrath (or the anger) of God is revealed from heaven...” . God is angry! But I don’t want to leave you hanging there and provide you with more context. After having told us that He is angry with the whole world, Paul in 3:21-5:21 explains how God deals with that anger towards us. This is the Gospel. He explains how the Good News is applied to those who receive it with faith, circling back to 1:16-17. There, he notes that it is the instrumentality of faith that leads us to the gospel- hence away from the wrath of God. 

The definition of faith is best captured in Hebrews 11:6: "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." Faith encompasses believing, being convinced of His existence and diligently seeking Him. Faith requires not only belief but also persuasion and active pursuit of God.

Paul builds his letter on the foundational truth that "The righteous shall live by faith" (1:17). Hence, the  next verse  - 1:18 must be viewed in this context.

Here’s the BIG QUESTION: What about the unrighteous- those that have no faith in God and in  His provision- those who ignore the gospel?  The Bible says that  God is angry with them.

1:18 “… For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”  

This summarizes 1:18 - 3:20 about the dilemma of the unrighteous.  The whole world is in trouble with God. This is concisely stated in Romans 3:9 – 20. ALL have sinned. No-one is righteous. Paul’s argument is rooted in the  Old Testament Scriptures [Rom. 3:10 -12 - Psalm 14:1-3; 53:1-3; Eccl 7:20;  Rom. 3:13a - Ps 5:9;  Rom. 3:13b - Ps.140:3;  Rom. 3:14 - Ps 10:7; Rom. 3:15 – 17- Isa. 59:7,8;  Rom. 3:18 - Ps 36:1].

He shows us that 

(i) the gentiles are under God's wrath (1:18 - 32) 

(ii) The Jews (who claim to be God's people) likewise are under God's wrath, if  they have not obtained personal righteousness and prove this by living a life of faith (2:1 - 3:8).  

[NOTE: Jews and Gentiles  are synonymous for 'the whole world' and so he arrives at the conclusion in Rom 3:9 - 20: "All have sinned…."]

Can you see why Paul considers himself so privileged to be the bearer of the Gospel (the Good News) to a world that is sunken in sin, and subject to God’s wrath, God’s anger and God's righteous judgement. Here is an incredible message. Blessed are they that hear and receive this good news by faith in God’s Word. Please note, that the effective reception of the good news must begin with the acceptance of the bad news.

1: 18 How Is The Bad News Manifested? 

“The wrath (Gr.orge) of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men”.  

God’s judgement is not limited to the future.  It will be so on that final day at Christ’s appearing when we ALL shall all be gathered before the Great White Judgement throne. But let’s be clear on this. In this very present moment, as is true of the  past, God’s wrath – His righteous anger is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. He was not pleased with his people in the Exodus when they grumbled, and when His wrath was revealed in that context. In our own day God is not pleased when He see the ungodliness and wickedness of our own generation.  We shall see this as we continue  to exposit this passage next time,  as  we find that God “hands them over“.

But what is it about the unrighteousness and ungodliness of men that makes God angry?

It is the suppression of the truth. The Greek word used here (katakein)  means  to press down with force.   Paul is saying here that people deliberately   push the truth down.   They are like children who are hearing something true said about them, and they close their ears with both their hands, whilst yelling at the top of their voice, “I can’t hear you… I can’t hear you… I don’t want to hear you.”

1:19 & 20

The truth of the matter is that everybody knows that there is a God -  “For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them …”.  Paul is here referring to the general revelation of God. Theologians distinguish this kind of revelation from ‘special revelation’, which is found only in the Bible, and of which the supreme revelation is the Lord Jesus and His saving work on the cross- the gospel!

Paul asserts that this general revelation which comes from God makes God‘s truth plain. I experienced this as a 16 year old in the Namib desert. Lying in our sleeping bags looking up at the clear desert sky, with the Milky Way in our face, I asked my father, “Is there a God?”  I saw God in His creation. This is the power of the testimony of Creation.  It does not tell us about the work of Christ. That is true. For that information you need the special revelation – the Bible. But Paul asserts in 1:20 that in this general revelation,  God’s invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature have been perceived ever since the creation of this world, in the things that have been made. So, they are without excuse …”

Paul is  thus claiming that God’s general revelation  in what is revealed in Creation is sufficient to hold man accountable. Just as we can look at a painting and know that there is a painter, so we may look at the Universe and know that there is a Creator.

The greatest suppression of the truth in this regard has been the evolutionary theory propounded by Charles Darwin. Evolution has persistently attacked the view that the world is created by God – and instead has, in the name of science replaced creation with the man-made doctrine of random evolution or chance happenings.  Frankly speaking, it takes more faith to believe in random evolution than God’s creation.

It is true that the revelation of God in nature does not provide us with saving knowledge, but it does give us a real awareness that there is a God.  This awareness ought to move us to seek Him   and ask the question, Where can I find Him?  How can I know Him? This quest for truth if we pursue it with all our heart will lead us to God’s special revelation.

“So, they are without excuse…”.

The Bible asserts that there is enough evidence for the existence of God, simply by looking at Creation.  To say that there is insufficient evidence for the existence of God is to call God a liar. It amounts to suppressing the truth.

We are now ready to see how God’s wrath manifests itself against such insolence.  But we are going to have to wait for that until next time.

All I can tell you now is that if anyone deliberately suppresses of the truth about God, this will cause God to abandon such people to their own futile thinking. He will hand such over to their own passions and delusions – and who knows where that will take them?

Not without reason the Bible repeatedly says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of  knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction…”  (Prov. 1:7). 

The God who loves you, warns you. 

Do not fall into the hands of an angry God.

PSALM 1 “Understanding your Standing“

 

“The Psalms can and should be part of the constant practice of the presence of God. Regularly read from beginning to end, they lead us again and again to consider aspects of life and of God’s will that we might not otherwise choose to remember or confront—let alone to embody in our living. Memorized in chunks the Psalms can provide ready response to the pressing realities of our days. When I have wakened in a panic in the darkness of the early morning hours—submerged in fear, self-pity, or self-doubt—the Psalms have often provided the assurance that my anxieties are known by God, who enlightens my dark places. So, I encourage you to make the Psalms your constant companion. Keep a copy at hand, and keep their words in your mind and heart and on your lips as you meet the challenges of your days and nights.” …  so writes Gerald Wilson in the NIV Application Commentary (Psalms Vol. 1)

Preliminary Observations

This Psalm divides all of humanity into two categories: the blessed man and the wicked man.   This is  a  familiar  division in the Scriptures. 

The Bible knows only 2 kinds of people

·       The righteous  and the wicked (as in our Psalm)

·       children of God and children of the devil

·       saved and lost

·       light and darkness

·       sheep and goats

This division is as ancient as the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman in Genesis 3:15.  

We must hold to these two categories in our preaching and at the end of our sermon we must  be very conscious as to what category we belong to. The theme of this Psalm is all about this distinction between the present and future blessedness of the righteous person, and the present and future misery of the wicked person. 

The structure of this Psalm is very simple: it divides into two parts: 

(i) 1:1-3  the blessed man, and 

(ii) 1:4-6  the wicked man. 

The blessed man stands, for he is firmly rooted. The wicked man, though he thinks he stands, will not stand up to the final judgement of God.

1 . THE BLESSED MAN  (1:1-3)

The word “blessed” (Hebr. ‘baruch’) carries the idea of having a deep-seated joy, delight, satisfaction, and contentment in God. It is a “holy happiness.” It is a happiness deeply rooted in knowing our standing with God – hence my title, “Understanding your standing!”  How then is it that a blessed man  or woman finds themselves in this frame of mind?

Negatively:  V.1   What a godly, happy man does not do and where he does not go.

a.  “he does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly” -  the blessed man  is not a follower  of the  counsel or teaching of the  wicked. The basis of our knowledge is very important. What we listen to and what we believe leads to what we do and what we become. (Epistemology always gives birth to ethics).  When we begin in the wrong place we will end up in the wrong place.  Your starting point is important.  The place of departure for a godly person  is the counsel of God, fuelled  by the knowledge of God’s Word.

b.  “he does not stand in the way of sinners” -  the blessed  man  is not one  who desires to hang around  with  the wicked, the sinners, the scoffers. This does not mean that he   spends no time in their company - in that case he would have to leave the world (1Cor. 5:10). It is just that he knows that the counsel of the ungodly is not attractive to him. They find no fundamental agreement with them. With that in mind the godly person will be careful as to what he/ she sees, where they go, what their hearts desire and where they spend their time.

c.  “he does not sit in the seat of scoffers” -  A scoffer is one who  mocks  and despises. Here the Psalmist has in mind those that mock, despise and scoff at   God’s Word, God’s cause in the world and God’s people. A righteous person cannot sit around their fire. He cannot do both, bless God and curse God. Peter tried to do that and found himself weeping bitterly afterwards (Lk 22:62).  It is impossible to bless God and curse God with the same tongue. James wisdom asks, “Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?“  (Jas. 3:11)

Please note that there is a downward progression in verse 1: walk, stand, sit.  You cannot help walking through an ungodly world.  You cannot avoid the wicked man, the sinner and the scoffer.  But when at once you  stand still and sit and  camp among  ungodly people  and when you begin to  take your direction for life  from there,  then you  will be tempted  to  lose  the  experience  of blessedness. This however, we are assured,  is  not where the blessed man finds himself.  

Positively (v.2)

a.  “his delight is in the law of the Lord” -  Again, please note that apart from avoiding the  company of the ungodly, he also does  not first seek  the company of godly   people,  as good as that may be.  His first companion is the God of the Word and the Word of God! Jeremiah writes: “Your words were found and  I ate them, and your words became to me  a joy and the delight of my heart.”  (Jer. 15:16). Psalm 119 is a Psalm of delight in the Word of God: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth” (Ps 119:103). Delighting in God and delighting in the Word of God is essential. What is it essential for?  For our salvation.  If we do not delight in the Word of God at all, we have no reason to believe that we are saved. To delight ourselves in the Lord is essential for our happiness, for our fruitfulness, for our perseverance, and for our prosperity (all in verse 3).   The danger of camping in the company of the godly, without being a healthy feeder yourself, is that you live off the spirituality of others, and the danger is that when they crash, you crash. You yourself must  develop healthy feeding habits  upon the Word of God,   develop  a robust relationship with  the God  of  the Word, so that you can say, “A thousand may fall at your side… because  you have made the LORD your dwelling place, the Most High your refuge… no evil shall be allowed to befall you…” (Psalm 91:7-10).

b.  “on his  law he meditates  day and night ” -  Here that thought is intensified. This man’s life is clearly directed by one Word! All the issues of life are settled for him by this one Word. He makes it his aim to be a man of one word. When you prick him,  you will find that his blood is bibline. This was said of John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim’s Progress!  

The man of God finds many  challenges along life's highway. He faces the the wicked, the sinner and the scoffer, and often he is wounded  in his engagement with the world, but he finds  himself returning (even after failure) to the law - the  Word of God again and again.

c. “This man  is like a tree planted by  streams of  water….”. He is planted in an environment that will produce fruit. This is true biblical prosperity (cf. Lk. 18:29). Dear friend if  you  are rooted in Christ, if you walk daily with Jesus,  even though you have forsaken  all things in order to follow Him, you will lack no good thing in this life and in the age to come, you will inherit  eternal life and heaven will be yours.

2. THE WICKED MAN (1:4-5)

 With regard to this person we observe the following …

a. He is spiritually bankrupt. The wicked  person’s  greatest  deficiency  is not only  in the moral sense  (he walks in the counsel of the wicked; stands in the way of sinners; sits in the seat of scoffers); his greatest deficiency  is his absence of delight in the law of the Lord (the Word of God).

b. The consequence  is that he has no weight  to hold him down  when  the issues of life  begin to  unsettle him. The Psalmist says  that  “he is like chaff that the wind drives away “ (1:4). The New Testament analogy  may be found  in Matthew 7:24-27.   This person’s  foundations are woefully insufficient to withstand the ultimate tests of life. He finds himself unable to stand  because his insufficient  foundations  cannot uphold him. A man or woman may be naturally strong, but  when something happens -  a crisis moment, or perhaps  the day  when their bodies will become frail,  when they will be reduced to nothing,  they will find themselves woefully unprepared for  that final meeting with God  whose law they have spurned in this life.  This leads us to the next thought in 1:5.

c. The downfall of the wicked man: “the wicked will not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous “ (1:5).  Two things are worth considering here:  A  wicked man (better  described as a  godless man), strong and capable as he was in this life, suddenly finds that he has  no advocate  before the  Great White Throne Judgement of Jesus.  He suddenly will find that he has no basis for admission into heaven. He has  no   place in the congregation of the righteous, for the  righteous  on earth  ALONE  will  constitute  the congregation of the righteous  in heaven. The  blood of Christ  - the  sign and seal of the eternal covenant, received by Grace ALONE through Faith  ALONE  provides for our access into  heaven. 

3. THE BOTTOMLINE  (1:6)

The Lord knows the destinies of both – the righteous, blessed man and the  wicked man.

Everything begins  with what we make of the law of God  -  and therefore, what we do with the God of the law - Christ being the end of the law.

If you love  the  world  and worldly ways and worldly wisdom more, you will not stand before God  in the judgement. You will not be found in the congregation of the righteous.  But if you love the law of God and the God of the law – the end which is the Lord Jesus, you  will  stand in the judgement.  

You will not be accused and  you will not  be eternally separated.  You will not hear these words   -  “depart from me you evil doers, into the fire prepared for the devil and his demons…”.  You will stand in the  congregation of  the righteous.

Who  and what is shaping your  thinking?  Where is your heart rooted?

 Your eternal destiny depends upon  an accurate , honest answer  to this question !

ROMANS 1:16,17 HOW DO WE RECEIVE THE GOSPEL?

 

Last time, in Romans 1:8-15,  we saw how the apostle Paul related to the Christians in Rome. 

He was thankful to God for them. He was prayerful on their behalf. He desired see them and to be useful to them. He wanted to be fruitful among them. 

The main vehicle by which he aims to do this is by the preaching of the gospel to them. He tells us in 1:14 that he is under obligation[1] from Jesus to preach the gospel to Greeks and Barbarians.  The Barbarians were to the Greeks and the Romans what the gentiles were to the Jews. The Greeks at that time considered themselves to be the world’s elite. They considered themselves to be ‘wise’. They considered the Barbarians - the Germans and the Goths and all the northern and western tribes as foolish and backward.  Paul, once a proud Jewish Pharisee had a similar worldview before his conversion. He despised and even persecuted Christians. Now that he is a Christian he no longer sees such distinctions. In fact, like the Lord Jesus he now seeks the lost sheep of God everywhere, and in so doing the whole gentile world has now become Paul’s parish. In the words of John Wesley, who wrote in his journals,

“I look upon all the world as my parish; thus far I mean, that, in whatever part of it I am, I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty to declare unto all that are willing to hear, the glad tidings of salvation (i.e. the gospel). This is the work which I know God has called me to; and sure I am that His blessing attends it.[2] “

Ever since Paul’s heart was conquered by the Lord Jesus he sees the world, including these Romans, as his parish. He has their best interest at heart, and the best he can give to them is to preach the gospel to them.  With this in mind we come to 1:16,17. Here is Paul’s  subject- the gospel, and with this grand theme in mind he writes this letter. These two verses were in a sense responsible for the 16^th century Protestant Reformation. When Martin Luther understood the implications of these two verses, expounding them with great power, a revolution  began,  giving rise to the Protestant movement. 

Let’s consider  then how  we are grabbed by the gospel.

1.(1:16)   THE GOSPEL – THE POWER OF GOD

“I am not ashamed of the gospel”.  In 1:1 we have already seen that Paul was set apart for the gospel of God – the Good News from God.  Good news is most meaningful when contrasted with bad news. We shall shortly learn more of this bad news when we get  to 1:18 – 3:20. Paul has already introduced us to God’s solution to this bad news – the gospel in the form of One who was descended from David (fully human) but also One who was the eternal Son of God (fully divine). He is Jesus Christ our Lord (1:4). He is the personification of the Gospel, and concerning Him Paul says: “I am not ashamed of the gospel”.  Why  does Paul  did not  just say,  "I am proud of the gospel”? This form of speech is known as ‘litotes’ - an affirmation which is made in the form of a negative statement. We frequently use this form of speech e.g. when we say “I am not opposed to doing this”, when we could easily say, “I can do this!”   So, why did Paul  say it like this?

Think about it. How did the gospel of God present itself to the world? 

The Gospel first arrived in the form of a baby, born in very humble circumstances. Jesus grew up in humble circumstances, in the household of a humble carpenter with no   formal education, with no credentials and with no political clout. His message and life, though it was uncommonly powerful, became ultimately a stumbling block to Jews and folly to gentiles (1 Cor.1:22). 

He said that He was the Way, the Truth, the Life. 

He said that He was  the Way to God the Father (Jn. 14:6). 

He said that He was the  Light of the world (Jn 9:5). 

He made Himself equal to God (Jn. 5:18). 

Ultimately they rejected Him and His message. And then He was crucified as a common criminal. With all these thoughts in mind it is easy to feel ashamed of Jesus and the gospel. 

But Paul was not ashamed of this gospel. Why?

“…because this gospel is the power of God for salvation, for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek”.  

This despised  person, Jesus, and His despised message is in fact the very means by which  the God, whom we all have offended, saves us. People find it very difficult to accept the good news  about Jesus. Not only does Jesus  not appear  as a superstar, but His message is not a man pleasing message. It sounds foolish to  the common person. And if the truth be told, if we hear it at first, it upsets us. 

The first thing that the gospel  reminds us of is that  there is bad news. And therefore the first thing that we need to hear is not, “smile, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!” No, the first thing that the gospel wants us to know is that we are sinful and guilty and objects of God’s wrath.  You will see that this bad news  is the very first thing that Paul focuses on in this letter, beginning at 1:18-3:20, before he comes to the great ‘but now’ – the turning point in Romans 3:21. 

We must first understand that we all are in need of salvation from the wrath of a righteous, holy God. We all need to understand that we are not automatically on the way to heaven. 

We  all need to hear that  because of that He would be  entirely righteous in  casting us into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:12). 

One  great reason  why  we do not see people repenting of their sin, and why people  are not turning to God  is that  they have no sense of how great and profound  the effects of sin are. And we have no sense of that because we do not take  the law of God seriously. And genereally we do  not  have the law of God preached for fear of legalism.  

BUT, we must not forget that the law has a great purpose. The purpose of the law is to hold up a mirror before our lives, to show us just how far we fall short of God’s righteousness. The bad news will accentuate the good news. Older preachers of another generation understood this. Samuel Bolton (1606-1654) wrote: 

“You must dwell on the subject at length. Exposit the Ten Commandments until men are slain thereby [Romans 7:11]. When you see that men have been wounded by the law, then it is time to pour in the balm of Gospel oil. It is the sharp needle of the law that makes way for the scarlet thread of the Gospel”.[3] 

If you consider the  preaching with the profoundest results in the history of the church, it was that not that preaching  which aimed to make  people feel good about themselves.  No! It was that preaching that first painted the grim picture and predicament in which we all find ourselves,  before  it poured the gospel oil into wounded and repentant souls.  This is the message that the preachers of the Great Awakening in England preached so effectively in the 1800’s,  and along with astonishing results and many conversions, there were also  persecutions and demonic reactions against them[4]. 

People under such gospel preaching fall into two categories: 

(i) They are converted and filled with great joy 

(ii) on the other hand people rise up in anger against this message. 

They become either glad or mad. 

This is what Jesus experienced in His preaching. The disciples experienced that. Paul experienced this. Every true gospel preacher experiences that. It is hard to preach this message, and that is why it is easy to become ashamed of the gospel.   

That is why many preachers opt for soft messages.

And now we must examine the reason why we must not be ashamed of the gospel: 

"…Because it (this despised gospel) is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes...”.

The preaching of the Gospel of Jesus, despite having some strong resistance, powerfully changes the lives of those that hear and believe. 

What is it about the gospel that is so convicting and so powerful?  

Paul says that it is the power OF God![5]  The gospel is not a man- made thing. It is from God and belongs to God. The preaching of the gospel is used by God to give new spiritual life to spiritually dead people. Ephesians  1:19,20 asserts that the power of the Gospel by which God awakens dead sinners is exactly  the same power  by which  God  raised Christ  from the dead!

SUMMARY  

(i)               There’s nothing to be ashamed of the gospel because it is a powerful, life changing message.

(ii)                It is the gospel of God. The gospel is not what you do with it. The gospel is what God does with you.

(iii)              The gospel must be believed before it can become a powerful, saving message and as such it is a gospel for the whole world (Jew and gentile). That tells us something about its importance. Everyone must hear this.

2.  (1:17)    THE GOSPEL- RECEIVED BY FAITH ALONE    

“For in it (i.e. the gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written (in Habakkuk 2:4),’The righteous shall live by faith’.“

The Gospel comes by revelation:  “In it… is revealed …” 

The gospel  begins with  a revelation (Gr. apokalupsis - uncovering/ unveiling/ opening up/ making clear). 

What does the Gospel reveal, uncover, open up or clear up?  

It clears up one of the greatest questions of the OT- and indeed in the whole world. How are sinners made right (righteous) with the God whom they have offended?  In the gospel, concealed  in the Old Testament and revealed in the New Testament God opens up  and reveals  the gospel method of salvation from the righteous wrath of God, and  the gospel method  is the revelation of the Messiah. He is the righteousness of God.   

BUT  HOW WOULD WE RECOGNIZE HIM? Our text tells us -  Here  is a quote from the prophet Habakkuk -  “As it is written, the righteous  shall live by faith” (Hab. 2:4)  - 

BY FAITH! 

Faith in whom or in what? This is utterly revolutionary. The whole Jewish system, which was ORIGINALLY  built on a faith relationship with the unseen God  had  collapsed  into becoming a works based system of salvation, which actually worked out to be a system of self-righteousness. By nature we tend to migrate to religious systems of self- righteousness and self- justification, and we think that we are OK with God on the basis of our self - assessment. 

BUT God’s system of salvation does not allow us to do that. God requires us to consider His Gospel method – which means that we must look to His provision for dealing with our sin and guilt. God’s gospel is  BY FAITH  in  THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ALONE –NO OTHER WAY! And if you hope to be righteous – you must look to Him ALONE!

How do we look to Him? BY FAITH ALONE!  The classic definition of faith is found in Hebrews 11:1: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  The application is found in 1 Peter 1:8,9 

"Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though  you do not now seen Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome  of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

Faith is placing our trust in the unseen Jesus, considering His Word to be trustworthy  and  true. Faith has its eyes on  the God who gives the gift of faith  (hence from faith for faith)  and when that happens you instantly see/ comprehend   the only way in which you can be right with God – trusting in Jesus  alone – His person, His work. You imediately  see  that  His righteousness is given in exchange for  your  unrighteousness.  

"The righteous  shall live by faith!... It is this  phrase from Habakkuk, quoted by Paul that freed Martin Luther (1483-1546) when he finally saw  that his unrighteousness could not be cured by  works of the law (working for salvation) but by looking to Jesus - having faith in Jesus ALONE. This delivered him from the Roman Catholic understanding of merit based, works based salvation.  

The  Gospel is believing Christ ALONE, BY GRACE ALONE, THROUGH FAITH ALONE - receiving His righteousness in the place of  our  unrighteousness. Period!

That is the revelation of the gospel.  

That is how we are justified. 

That is how we receive the gospel 

Have you understood that? 

Have you placed your faith entirely in Christ? 

 

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[1] see also  1 Cor. 9:6  - “Woe to me if  I do not preach the gospel”

[2] https://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/journal.vi.iii.v.html

[3] Cited in  “Today’s Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic?” p.45  - Walter Chantry, published by Banner of Truth Trust 

[4] see  Arnold Dallimore’s  biography of George Whitfield  e.g. example of  response to George  Whitfield’s  preaching (Vol 1, p. 287 ) and Charles Wesley’s  preaching  (Vol 1, p. 375).

[5] Genitive – the case of possession