Title: “Getting the Gospel Right” Part I Script: Romans 1:1-2
Type: Expository Where: GNBC 1-10-21
Intro: What is the best news you’ve ever heard? Birth of child or grandchild. Someone loved you. Team won the big game. Won the lottery. End of the War. Child made it out alive. The late, great British preacher, Martyn Lloyd-Jones opened a sermon on Paul’s phrase, “the gospel of God,” by stating his fear that we are often so familiar with certain words, such as “gospel,” or so academic in our approach to them, that we are not thrilled and moved to the depths of our being by the wonder of it all (Romans: the Gospel of God [Zondervan], p. 55). ). I hope that God uses these verses to move us to deeper love for Him. To answer the question “What is the gospel?” is rather simple. The gospel is Jesus, the person and work of Christ—who Jesus is and what He did. The gospel also describes how the benefits of His ministry are subjectively appropriated. The Gospel is the best news!
Prop: Today we’ll examine Rom. 1:1-2 as an introduction to getting the Gospel right.
BG: 1. Romans has been called “The most profound work in existence.” (Coleridge). Certainly it is Paul’s greatest treatise on the purpose and power of the cross of Christ.
2. The Gospel is the theme of the entire book of Romans.
3.
Prop: Examine w/me Rom.1:1-2 as we introduce the series on getting the Gospel right.
I. The Messenger of the Gospel. v. 1a, b,c
A. The Messenger of the Gospel is a Slave. v.1
1. In Rom. 10:15 Paul quotes Is. 52:7: “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news.” The Gospel is a message that requires a messenger to preach and proclaim.
2. Notice what Paul considered his own status as a messenger of the Gospel: “bond servant”- doulos, someone who is owned and bought w/price. The blood of Christ. Many of our modern day megachurch pastors/tv evangelists live like royalty, have completely forgotten that the 1st century “doulos” was bought with a price and was in the employment of his master’s business. All of his needs were met, but as a slave he owed his master unwavering obedience. Do you recognize that you are to be in complete subjection to Christ as His doulos?
B. The Messenger of the Gospel is a Sent One.
1. Paul declares his apostleship in this passage. As an apostle – apostolos – sent one. Paul was sent by God and sent for God. Ever since Christ confronted Saul in the heavenly vision on the road to Damascus (Acts 9) Paul was the special possession of Christ.
2. Acts 1:21–22 states that for a man to be an apostle, he had to have been an eyewitness of Christ’s resurrection. When Jesus called Paul to be an additional apostle, he had the direct and visible approval of the other apostles. Apostles were able to perform signs and wonders (Acts 2:43, II Cor. 12:11-12) An apostle, in biblical terms, is a plenipotentiary of his master. He speaks with all the authority of the one he represents. It was necessary for God to establish a band of such men in order to ensure the writing of the New Testament and to lay the foundations of the Church. Foundations once laid do not need to be laid again. There is NO office of “Apostle” in the Church today. Period. Why? Canon is closed.
C. The Messenger of the Gospel is Set Apart.
1. Paul was set apart as a messenger of the Gospel. The Greek term translated “set apart” means to “mark off with boundaries.” It is used in Mt 25:32 in reference to setting apart the sheep from the goats in the judgment. “Set apart” – Greek for “horizons” – Illust – Ever notice when taking off on runway not able to see a lot. Yet when get higher up horizon gets larger and see much more? We are separated to Christ. More we see in Him.
2. Illust: In II Tim. 2:3-6 Paul uses 3 expressive metaphors to paint a picture of the Xstian’s total devotion to Christ: Soldier. Athlete. Farmer. A soldier concerns himself w/orders of his commanding officer. Athlete is disciplined in mind and body. Farmer is hard working and self motivated and patient, reaping in a different season from when he sows. Each one has limited his freedom for the sake of his calling. Each one is disciplined, determined, focused..
D. Applic: In v1 Paul makes 3 designations by which he identifies himself: 1. Slave 2. Apostle 3. Set Apart. He clearly states that he is not the author of the Gospel, but simply a messenger of it. That is still our task today.
II. The Meaning of the Gospel v.1e
A. It is the Good News of Salvation.
1. What is the “gospel”? euaggelion- ev- good, angel-messenger – good message. Good news. It is the good news of the Kingdom of God coming thru Salvation in Christ.
2. The most amazing thing about Paul’s authorship of Romans isn’t the rhetorical skill or logic he used in writing the letter, but that justification by faith through grace should be the main focus of this one time persecutor of the church, legalist, and Christ hater. Paul, the converted Pharisee, was the God-ordained, Spirit led author of this marvelous epistle in which he unfolds the gospel of God’s mercy & righteousness. The fact that God used such a man reflects the transforming power He brings through the gospel. In short, Paul’s life was the best example of what he wrote and preached.
B. The Gospel is Good News for Everyone!
1. The good news of God’s plan of salvation, includes justification, redemption, reconciliation, sanctification, and vindication. All this comes to realization through the person and work of his son, Jesus Christ. The term “gospel” was also used in Greek to announce the birth of the child of a king or emperor or his accession to the throne. While good news for some. Not to all. Yet the Gospel of Christ is good news for all men.
a. Under the inspiration of the HS, the biblical authors adopted the term and gave it a multifaceted significance that is fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It became God’s good news, for the gospel is the “gospel of God” (Rom. 1:1). It is a message that originates in Him and that He delivers through His prophets and Apostles. That makes it the most important news anyone will ever hear.
b. As a pastor who ministers in a hostile culture, I am convinced that preaching must boldly proclaim the one-and-only gospel and theologically rich doctrine. When ministering in a hostile context, it is tempting to hold back parts of God’s gospel that we feel are difficult for people to believe. Perhaps in attempts to be sensitive to our hearers and their culture, we may distort or adjust the gospel and unwittingly deceive people. However, holding back truth or being vague regarding what God has made clear is not being sensitive—it is arrogant and unloving.
2. Illust: While pregnant with her son, Jim Lo’s mother escaped Mao’s China by bribing an official so as to take a boat to Taiwan. Her dream was to come to America. Although born in America Jim faced abuse, bullying and prejudice. Anger and bitterness consumed the boy to the point considered suicide. Good friend shared Christ. Was good news! Went to college where met and married wife, Roxie. Faced intolerance. Yet God called to be a missionary…in all places, South Africa at the end of Apartheid. One day while serving in SA car was driving set upon by black gangs. Pulled him from the car. Began to call him racial slurs and ask him if he was Bruce Lee. Began to beat him. At point about to kill him, the pastor of the church Jim helped, rushed onto the scene. “Stop! This is a good man. He is my brother! “He is not your brother, he is a Chinaman and you are black!” “If someone needs to die today, let it be me.” Gang leader: “You are a brave man?” “I am not but my God is powerful and He gives me courage.” A brother in the faith stood up for Jim Lo. His skin color was different, but the Gospel makes family out all kinds of people. (Jim Lo is chaplain at IWU.)
C. Applic: The Gospel is “Good News”! It is God’s Good News of full forgiveness of sin and hope for eternity in Christ our Lord.
III. The Source of the Gospel v.1f
A. It Comes from God.
1. “the Gospel of God” – It comes from God. Do not tamper with it. Do not add to it and do not subtract from it. It is God’s Gospel. It’s not for money. It’s not for show. Its not politics. It is about the KOG.
2. God had to make Himself known if He was to be known.
a. Although all people suppress the knowledge of God in their sin (Rom. 1:18), he has clearly communicated about himself to his creatures through the creation and through human’s being made in the image of God. On top of this general revelation, God communicates about himself to particular people in special revelation, which includes the events of nature and history, human words that are inspired by God and recorded for us in Scripture, and through the person of Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate image of God. In all of these different ways, God reveals himself as Lord, which is comprised of his control, presence, and authority over all things.
b. Illust: CS Lewis said: “When you come to knowing God, the initiative lies on His side. If He does not show Himself, nothing you can do will enable you to find Him. And, in fact, He shows much more of Himself to some people than to others—not because He has favorites, but because it is impossible for Him to show Himself to a man whose whole mind and character are in the wrong condition. Just as sunlight, though it has no favorites, cannot be reflected in a dusty mirror as clearly as in a clean one. You can put this another way by saying that while in other sciences the instruments you use are things external to yourself (things like microscopes and telescopes), the instrument through which you see God is your whole self. And if a man’s self is not kept clean and bright, his glimpse of God will be blurred—like the Moon seen through a dirty telescope. That is why horrible nations have horrible religions: they have been looking at God through a dirty lens. Christ is the lens thru which we see God.” (Mere Christianity, pp. 164-165)
B. The Gospel Concerns God’s Hope for a lost mankind!
1. The Gospel Proclaims Good News Because there was first Bad News.
a. Rom. 1:18 – “the wrath of God” – “God will pour out His wrath on all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men who suppress the truth…” Despite the disinterest of our secular age and many in the evangelical church, the wrath of God is a deeply biblical truth. It affirms God’s righteous displeasure/ sin and his just retribution upon unrepentant sinners.
b. Illust: In the Great Awakening Jonathan Edwards famously preached a sermon entitled “Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God.” The passage is a vivid exposition of Deuteronomy 32:35, which reads, “Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.” Focusing on the second line (“their foot shall slip in due time,” KJV), Edwards illustrates the perilous position of the lost. Those without Christ dangle over the flames of hell, like a spider over a flame. Led to revival cause salvation in the context of God’s holy wrath. (David Schrock, TGC) As a nation we have gone from Jonathan Edwards to Joel Osteen and we wonder why there is no meaningful revival!
2. The Gospel is Good News! Good News at least 3 ways: Historically - it's rooted in something that happened, someone that happened who permanently altered history, opening the way for humanity and creation to be reconciled to God. Personally- The gospel is good news because it “changes who we are. The gospel is a humbling, transforming message of grace.” It is both humbling and freeing. Cosmically – Changes our eternity!
C. Applic: We need to remember the Gospel is God’s Gospel! It is His idea and it is Good News!
IV. The Exclusivity of the Gospel 1d
A. There is only 1 Gospel.
1. “the” Gospel. The Gospel is by nature and by definition exclusive. Paul says it is “the” Gospel.
a. Ilust: Let’s imagine for a moment that it’s Valentine’s Day and you have taken your spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend out to an expensive French restaurant where you can pay inflated prices for small portions of food. 😊 As you enter the establishment the valet takes your car and parks it for you. Have a lovely meal (All guys are thinking what they might eat as a snack when get home.) Nonetheless, as you leave, you say to the valet, “Francois, get the car, please.” Now maybe there are 50 other cars in their lot. When Francois comes back, you expect that he will pull up in your car! (If pulls up in a Porsche don’t tell anyone!) Why does he come back with your car? Exclusive. It defines it. It makes the distinction among the many.
b. Illust: Don Carson has said: ““There is very little doubt in my mind that if current trends continue, you will sooner rather than later find Christians losing their jobs or being fined prodigious amounts simply because they are judged to have already committed the most heinous offense: they are intolerant.” — Don Carson. Yet, we need to realize that truth is not the enemy of tolerance! Truth, by it’s very nature is exclusive. Think about it. I make no bones about it, Jesus said in Jn. 14:6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through the Son.”
2. The Gospel is the only hope for mankind. “The wonder of the good news which the gospel brings to us must never be allowed through familiarity to lose its vigor and fullness. The wonder of the gospel’s announcement is good beyond all human calculation. This is so because of the glory it brings to God who designed and executed it. By and through the gospel God has done what is unique and w/o parallel in making a revelation of Himself to the universe... What glory and what wisdom has the Triune God displayed in the way he has dealt with the sin of man! He has made sin the occasion for the appearance of Himself in man’s nature. He has glorified his justice in punishing that sin in a divine Person. He has devised a method of remitting guilt which safeguards all the claims of his holy nature and the requirements of moral law. At the same time he has provided a righteousness of infinite worth for sinners which they may put on at no cost to themselves and which they may wear both on earth and in heaven eternally…” (Maurice Roberts, BOT, 12-7-18).
B. There is no other Gospel. It is Unique in its Antiquity. v.2
1. The Gospel was Promised Beforehand and Proclaimed by the Prophets–
2a& b – “He promised beforehand” – One Gk word only used here and in II Cor 9:5. It’s because he wants to show that he didn’t make up the gospel. It wasn’t Paul’s idea. Rather, it comes to us right out of the Old Testament, which he refers to as the “holy Scriptures.” God promised the gospel in prototype in Genesis 3:15, right after the fall, when He said that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent. The gospel was implicit in the Old Testament sacrificial system, revealed most thoroughly to Moses but, I believe, even revealed from the outset to Cain and Abel. The wages of our sin is death, but God graciously would accept the blood sacrifice of an acceptable substitute. We see it again in type when God told Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac. God intervened, of course, to provide the ram instead of Isaac. But He was showing what He would literally do by sending His own Son as the necessary offering for our sins. As Isaiah 53 makes plain, Jesus is the lamb of God who was wounded for our transgressions. All of it pointed to Christ. All the prophets pointed to this!
2. The Gospel was Preserved in the Bible 2c
One of the most amazing testimonies to Scripture’s truth is its preservation over thousands of years despite sometimes intense efforts to destroy it. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” Jesus made an amazing prophesy about this preservation of His Word: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Mark 13:31). He believed that God’s Word is indestructible (“And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle [small mark in Hebrew lettering] of the law to fail” Luke 16:17). The discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls in 1947 confirmed that we have the same OT as in Jesus’s day. The survival of 5800 NT manuscripts/parts/portions confirms that the NT writings were also providentially preserved. In contrast, a handful copies have survived from nearly every other classic book, such as Caesar’s Gallic Wars or Herodotus’ Histories. New testament copies exist from as early as AD 125, most other classic books survive in a handful of copies no over 1000 years removed from their writing! Emperor Diocletian’s order to have Christianity outlawed, its leaders killed, and their Bibles burned. As a sign of God’s providence, the next emperor, Constantine, legalized Christianity and paid for fifty new hand-written copies of the Bible! What is the message of that Bible? THE GOSPEL!
C. Applic: Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ibid., pp. 98-99) makes the point that you can have the teachings of Buddhism without the person of Buddha. He is not essential to that religion. The same can be said of all the world’s religions, except Christianity. Christianity is not just the teachings of Jesus. Rather, Christianity is Jesus Christ! You can’t just take His teachings and set Him aside. To be a Christian is to embrace and believe in the person of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
