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 16th 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?
[1] see
also 1 Cor. 9:6 - “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel”
[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
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