The Gospel, Our Message Romans 1:1-7
Romans Series (Part 1)
Sermon by Don Emmitte, Grace Restoration Ministries
Today we begin a study one of the most important books in the Bible. In the prologue of the 1534 edition of his English New Testament, William Tyndale calls the letter to the Romans “the principal and most excellent part of the New Testament” and “an introduction unto all the Old Testament.” There are two reasons for such a broad statement. First, Romans is the most thorough statement of the gospel that God has given us; and, second, it draws together the whole intent of the Old Testament.
Tyndale goes on to say, “No man verily can read it too oft or study it too well: for the more groundly it is searched the preciouser things are found in it, so great treasure of spiritual things lieth hid therein.” Our beginning this exposition will be a journey taking us into the depths of the heart of the Apostle Paul and the mind of God. It is a book with tremendous application for all Christians everywhere!
Take Your Bibles Please…
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:1-7 ESV).
Paul Harvey once was quoted as saying: “Too many Churches have become keepers of the aquarium instead of fishermen.” We have been given a message for the world. We are a company of believers set apart from the rest of the world in order to share this message with them. We are called to a stewardship of the Gospel. That Gospel is the news that while we are worse than we ever dared to believe; Jesus is better than we ever dared to hope!
Paul understood this stewardship in a very personal way. He begins his letter to the Church at Rome introducing himself as “a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Gospel of God.” The verb translated “separated” is a word that literally means “to mark off from a boundary.” God is the subject of the verb which means this is an act of God’s sovereign will. He had set Paul aside, marked him out from mankind permanently so that he might share the gospel with others. He was given a task of great importance, an appointment with great responsibility. The message is of vital importance to the world. In these first verses of the letter, the Apostle Paul points out to the Roman Church the importance of understanding this message.
It is interesting to note that in this day of incredible emphasis on reaching others through every means and method, renaming our denomination to become known as “Great Commission Baptists,” I fear we may have missed the motivation for these missions and programs. I am absolutely convinced we don’t need more programs. We need the One who calls us to those programs. We don’t need more ministries as much as we need the One who calls us to those ministries. We need Jesus Christ to fill and empower our churches. Then we will see real awakening and revival as the Holy Spirit moves among His people.
Since the Gospel is the message in this work, the Apostle Paul outlines three essential truths about the Gospel.
First, the Gospel Originated With God (v. 1).
Paul specifically calls it “the Gospel of God.” In fact, it is only rarely that he calls it his gospel; and, then only being his because he has the privilege of proclaiming it. Most of the religious messages of the world originate with man. The world’s great religious leaders like Mohammed, Confucius, and Buddha never claimed to be more than men. Our Gospel is different. It found its beginning in the activity of God among me. From beginning to end, from start to finish, the gospel is of God. Since this is true, it still belongs to God. While God gives this message so that we may proclaim it, it is still the Gospel of God. Jesus illustrated truth with the Parable of the Pounds:
As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. He said therefore, “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come.’ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.’ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’ And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’ And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ Then another came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ He said to him, ‘I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’ And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’” (Luke 19:11-27 ESV).
It is easy to confuse this parable with that of the talents, but they are different. In both parables, a deposit is left with the servants by an absent Lord. However, in the Parable of the Pounds, each servant receives the same amount and each is given the instruction to “engage in business until he returns.” The word means to “occupy,” or to “participate.” Among many truths of this parable, we ought to understand that while we may be given differing gifts and talents, we all have been given the same message. We all possess the same amount of Gospel. It is still God’s gospel and does expect us to engage in it!
Second, the Gospel Was Promised in the Scripture (v. 2).
The gospel God has placed in our hands is the very one promised from the beginning. It can be found in Genesis through the Prophets. This means that the gospel is not a novelty. It is not something that happened as an afterthought. It did not surprise God. God promised that the message would come long before it came. For centuries God moved in a specific special way toward the climactic revelation of His grace in Jesus. The writer of Hebrews expresses this truth clearly:
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. (Hebrews 1:1-2 ESV).
This truth has application for us today. The prophets who delivered this message of God were God’s inspired spokesman. Moses and Isaiah would be among those who spoke the message. So were Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, all the minor prophets, David, the writers of the Psalms; all of these were inspired of God to speak the Gospel to others. Do you see the implication? There are many today who would question the validity of the Old Testament, as if it was somehow less important than the revelation of the New Testament. Without hesitation Paul denies this. He declares ALL of the writings of Scripture to be a revelation of the Gospel of God. It all points to the work of grace in Jesus. They are the “holy scriptures.” Even as God is holy, so is his revelation.
Further, these truths are present throughout the Old Testament. God did not just recently reveal his message of grace and redemption. Instead, he carefully prepared a people for the gospel. The good news of Christ is a prophesied and promised word from God. God was not caught by surprise by the development of mankind. He was prepared from the beginning of creation to redeem man. Long before Adam and Even chose to bring death into God’s creation, God was prepared to bring life. That preparation was in His Son, Jesus. There has never been another way, and there will never be another way.
In the first century BC there was a famous inventor and mathematician named Archimedes. Students of physics are familiar with his statement, “Give me a lever long enough, a fulcrum strong enough and I will single-handedly move the world.” In our day, the famous author, Joseph Conrad, commented on the truth contained in that statement, saying, “Don’t speak to me of Archimedes’ lever. Just give me the right word and I and I will move the world.”
We can give the right word. That word is Christ! It is a word promised in the Old Testament. It is a word fulfilled in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ!
Third, the Gospel Centers on Jesus Christ (vv. 3-5).
1. Jesus is the true center of the Gospel message. The position of Jesus is declared by the apostle. Jesus is Lord. As God’s Son, Jesus Christ is the sovereign Lord.
Henry Ironside tells of a popular story among the Jews of Jesus’ day in relation to the building of Solomon’s Temple. The story goes that when the temple was being built, every one of the stones sent up from the quarry below were generally identical in size and shape. One day a stone came up the hill that was quite a bit different from the rest. The workmen looked at it and remarked, “This certainly is a mistake. We can’t use this stone.” And they rejected it, sending it tumbling over the side of the hill down into the valley below. Seven years passed as the builders struggled to implement the plans for this magnificent structure. Near the end of the seventh year, the builders were ready to place the cornerstone. They sent down an order for the stone to the quarry below. After a while a message was returned from the quarry manager, “You already have the cornerstone. We sent it up to you a long time ago.” They looked throughout the building site for the stone and could not find it. Finally, in desperation, an older workman came forward and said, “I remember now. There was a stone different than the rest sent up to us. We thought it was a mistake, so we threw it into the valley below.” The builders went into the Kidron Valley and finally found the stone. It was covered with moss and dirt, but still intact. It was the very stone they had rejected years before. They began the difficult job of hoisting it to the top of the cliff, then back to the builder’s platform and into place. The stone the builders had rejected had become the chief cornerstone.
No wonder when Peter spoke of Jesus being the chief cornerstone, rejected by the builders, the people knew exactly what his reference was! This is the impact of Paul’s reference to the position of Jesus in relation to the gospel. Simply stated, there is no gospel without Jesus being in the center!
2. Jesus’ humanity is also presented in addition to his divinity and lordship. Jesus is descended “from David” (v. 3b). Jesus was as much human as anyone ever born. This is significant in that it declares his ability to provide for us the means through which our sins are forgiven. The atonement was made as Jesus became flesh and gave himself for us. An anonymous author made a striking comparison:
Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40, and Jesus for only 3. Yet the influence of Christ’s 3-year ministry infinitely transcends the impact left by the combined 130 years of teaching from these men, who were the greatest philosophers of all antiquity. Jesus painted no pictures; yet some of the finest paintings of Rafael. Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci received inspiration from him and his life. Jesus wrote no poetry; but Dante, Milton, and scores of the world’s greatest poets were inspired by him. Jesus composed no music; still Hayden, Handel, Beethoven, Bach, and Mendelssohn reached their highest perfection of melody in the hymns, symphonies, and oratorios they composed in his praise. Every sphere of human greatness has been enriched by this humble Carpenter of Nazareth. His unique contribution to the race of men is the salvation of the soul! Philosophy could not accomplish that; nor art; nor literature; nor music. Only Jesus Christ can break the enslaving chains of sin and Satan. He alone can speak peace to the human heart, strengthen the weak, and give life to those who are spiritually dead.
It is important to note that Paul says Jesus was “declared” to be the Son of God. The word carries with it far-reaching implications. It is a word that means “to appoint,” or “to resonate.” The position of Jesus was based on who he was, not what he did. The cross and resurrection of Jesus did not make him the Son of God. He was eternally the Son of God. The cross and resurrection merely pointed to this fact. This is the heart of the message.
3. Jesus is also the source of all grace. Paul writes, “through whom we have received grace and apostleship…” (v. 5a). The gospel presents Jesus as the source of all blessing. This message is the gospel message. There may be other messages, but only this is the gospel message. Jesus is Lord. Jesus redeems. Jesus can give you strength, purpose, and meaning. No wonder Paul will go on to say he is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. How can a man be ashamed of something that comes from the heart and mind of God?
Tim Keller has a wonderful series that deals with the gospel. In one of those sermons he says there is a very important distinction to note about the writings of Scripture. Unlike many other “stories,” none of the Scripture begins with “Once Upon a Time.” The gospel revealed in the Scripture is not a fable or story with some embedded meaning. It is the truth that God is sovereign and has chosen to save us through the work of Jesus Christ!
I have long been a fan of Charles Shultz and his cartoon series, “Peanuts.” In one of those cartoons, Lucy is playing outfield in a game. Of course, Charlie Brown is on the mound playing pitcher. Lucy calls out to him, “Hey, Manager! Ask your catcher if he still loves me!” Charlie Brown interrupts his pitching and says to the catcher, “She wants to know if you still love her.” Then, in the next frame he turns to Lucy and yells, “No!” Then Lucy wants to know why not. He relays the information again: “He says there are so many reasons he can’t remember them all.” This upsets Lucy and she responds, “Really? That’s very depressing.” Finally, Charlie Brown, exasperated, cries out, “Do you mind if we get on with the game?” Lucy’s response is “Game? What game?” “The baseball game!” shouts Charlie Brown, to which Lucy replies, “Oh, that’s right. I was wondering why I was standing out here.”
I fear there are many church members today who need to remember why we have been called to the grace of Jesus Christ. It is to reflect and share this Gospel we have been given. It is to tell the good news of Jesus Christ. We need to get back in the game!
