Not Ashamed Series

Dr. Bradford Reaves

Crossway Christian Fellowship

Hagerstown, MD

www.mycrossway.org

We’ve come to what I would call the conclusion of Paul’s introduction to the Epistle to the Romans. what is contained within these 2 verses is, in glorious terms, the entirety of the epistle. It is a statement of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What I want to do tonight is bring this home before we get into the meat of the message of the letter. Because what is really before is the entire letter will begin to expand based on these two verses.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16–17)

Can you relate to what Paul is saying? Do you understand what the gospel is and that the gospel is truly the power of God to change people’s lives? And do you understand that the world hates the message of Jesus Christ and stands opposed to all that it teaches? That is why I am not afraid to talk about current issues or even political issues - because they stand opposed to the truth of the gospel. The enemy uses them to lead people astray.

Karl Barth said we should “preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.” You cannot divorce from Scripture or the message of the Gospel, the events of the world. Since when were politics untouchable to the truth of God? Wherever Christ is preached, the community is changed, the policies are changed, and people are changed. But wherever Christ is preached, the gospel will be mocked, so we must decide - are we ashamed of the gospel?

For instance, there are some in the transgender community that have equated their “transformation” with the Transfiguration. Susan Stryker, one of the very early advocates of queer theory, even called her manifesto a “sermon”. She referred to it as “a secular sermon that unabashedly advocates embracing a disruptive and refigurative genderqueer/transgender power as a spiritual resource for social transformation.”

She continues by saying, “If we are to survive, it is time to let go of the old world. It is time for transfigured flesh to dance a new world into being.” (https://harbingersdaily.com/transfigured-or-disfigured-christian-activists-compare-gender-transitions-to-transfiguration-of-christ)

When Paul came to Athens, all the great Greek Philosophers, temples, and religions didn’t intimidate him. He didn’t just say, ‘Well, they have their way of thinking, and I have mine. Who am I to question them?” No! He preached the gospel. He went to cities like Ephesus and Thessalonica and preached the gospel, causing riots because it stood in contrast to everything they believed. He had been imprisoned in Philippi.  He was laughed at in Athens.  He was seen as a fool in Corinth. He was stoned while in Galatia.  And yet he will be eager to preach the gospel at Rome.

Likewise, we face hostility in our own world. We face governmental authorities right here in the United States that oppose biblical Christianity. We face mocking and hatred for standing up for biblical truth. All of this is in a sea of false doctrines and teachers. Prosperity teachers like Joel Osteen, cult-like churches like Bethel Church in Reading, California, and a pastor in Minnesota leading her congregation to recite the ‘sparkle creed.’ And yet, if WE dare to speak up and say, hey, this isn’t biblical, WE are the problem.

Not Paul. Paul preached the Gospel, and it stood in opposition to the ungodliness of the world. He was bold to preach because of what the gospel is, what the gospel does, and Who the gospel is from. His supreme passion was to see men saved. So, within these 2 verses are 4 words we are going to examine tonight: Power, Salvation, Believes, Righteousness.

I. The Gospel is the Power of God

The word for power is dunamis and we get our word dynamite from it. That is the power of God, and the gospel is the power of God. Without the power of God, there is no gospel, and without the gospel, there is no power of God.

There was a vacuum cleaner salesman that went out to the farmhouse. And he walked in there and didn’t wait for the farmer’s wife to say a word. She opened the door, and he was in the living room. And he said, “Ma’am, I want to tell you about this vacuum cleaner.  It will suck up everything in this house.  She started, “Well, wait a - ”  and he just kept going, “I’m going to show you how much this will do.” And he dumped ashes in the middle of the floor and said, “Ma’am, if this vacuum doesn’t suck all of this up in two minutes, I’ll eat it with a spoon.”  And finally, she got an opportunity to speak and said, “Well, you’d better start eating.  We ain’t got no electricity.” (MacArthur).