Only the Gospel Can Fix This Romans
Read Romans 1:18-32
I know it is tempting sometimes to look at the world, to look at society, and to say, “It is too late. The world is going to hell in a hand basket. There is nothing I can do about it. There is nothing I can do to change things. To want to throw in the towel and quit.
When we hear on the news of a man who punched an innocent man in the 70’s, for no reason, and yet is released on bail while his victim is still in a coma in the hospital, it’s tempting to want to quit.
When we cannot stop at an intersection in our area, without someone holding up a sign near our vehicle, wanting a handout; it’s tempting to want to quit.
When we hear of scores of people running into stores, and running off with armloads of stuff they’ve stolen with no remorse and with no fear, it’s tempting to want to quit.
When politicians blatantly lie to us time and time again, and we see those same lying folks being reelected, it’s tempting to want to quit. Anyone who has ever taken an entry-level economics class knows you don’t fight inflation by printing more money and by spending money you don’t have. It’s tempting to want to quit.
When we see folks trying to push a homosexual agenda in our schools; the friendliest place on earth, a place designed for children and families being overrun by homosexuals; when we see drag queens reading to children in our libraries; it’s tempting to want to quit.
When we hear of Maryland, Virginia, Colorado, and California, all pushing bills that would legalize killing babies up to, and in several instances, even after birth, it is tempting to want to quit.
But my friends, I want to tell you that what we are seeing before us today is nothing new. What we see before us today may be shocking to us, it may be demoralizing and discouraging to us, but it is nothing new. There is nothing new under the sun. The devil just rehashes the same sins again and again, generation after generation.
Paul and the Christians in Rome lived during such a time. There was slavery in Rome. Human life was cheap. Crime was widespread. Homosexuality, pediphilia, and adultery were rampant. The politicians did pretty much what they wanted. If you were not in power, it could be a very discouraging time to be alive.
In the midst of this setting, with Christianity being persecuted, and Paul’s life often on the line, He writes in verse 16,
- Read Romans 1:16.
In the midst of all of this, Paul writes, I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.
I am not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.
Those Christians continued to live the Christian life, and they continued to teach their children, and they continued to share the Gospel in the midst of that nastiness, in the midst of persecution, and in 300 years, on February 27, 380 AD, Christianity became of the official religion of Rome.
Why? Because some Christians refused to compromise, refused to quit, and refused to live like the world. Jesus had touched and changed their lives, and they insisted on living out the gospel in front of the world.
As Paul said, “It is the power of God unto salvation.”
Paul wrote to the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 6, beginning in verse 9,
> 1 Corinthians 6:8-11 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Some of the folks in Corinth were just like the folks in Rome, and just like the people in our communities, and just like us, but God changed them through the Gospel. But what is the Gospel?
There is, within this letter Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, something often referred to as the Roman Road. It is an outline of the Gospel we claim and believe. If you have your Bibles with you, I encourage you to mark these verses as we look at them together.
ROMAN ROAD
1. Romans 3:23
- Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
There is no man, no woman, no person who has ever lived, aside from Christ, who has not sinned.
Look there at Romans 3:10-12
- Read Romans 3:10-12
My friend, this powerful, world-changing Gospel Paul speaks of begins with an acknowledgment that we have all sinned.
In Matthew 5:48 Jesus told the folks, “
> Matthew 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Sin is anything in our lives that causes us to fall short of the level of perfection of God the Father and of God the Son.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
There is none righteous, no not one.
The first step on the Roman Road, and is an acknowledgement that we have sinned.
Listen to David’s brokenness over his sin recorded in Psalm 51.
> Psalm 51:1-4, 16-17 Have mercy on me O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only have I sinned and done this evil in Your sight –– …For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart–– These, O God, You will not despise.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
2. The Wages of sin
- Romans 6:23
The wages of sin is death, eternal separation from God.
What is a wage? A wage is something you work for, something you earn.
The Bible tells us that the wage, the payment for our sin, is death. It is eternal separation from God. God does not choose or want us to be separated from Him. That separation is the result of things we have chosen to do.
Some ask, “Well Gene, what about people who have never heard?” How can they be held accountable when they do not know God’s rules?
- Read Amos 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13,
Did you see that? All of those countries may not have had God’s scripture, but they all did something they knew was wrong and God held them accountable for doing what they knew was wrong. There were wages to their wrong doing.
The Gospel,
1. All have sinned
2. There are wages, there is a payment coming for those sins.
3. Salvation is available.
- Romans 6:23
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
- Romans 5:8
While we were still sinners, before we even thought about God, or even thought about turning to Him, God had made a way available for us.
> John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but hath everlasting life.
The Gospel. Gospel means “good news.” The good news is that in spite of the fact that all of have sinned, and in spite of the fact that we deserve to be eternally separated from God, God has made a way for us to be saved from the punishment we deserve so that we can spend eternity with Him.
Tell somebody, “That is good news”!
That is good news.
The prodigal son, the Father was looking for him and let him come home!
The sheep that wandered away? The Shepherd went looking for him!
The coin that was lost? They turned the house upside down until that coin was found! No effort was spared!
And in the fullness of time, God sent His Son Jesus Christ, to come to earth, to live a sinless life, to die on the cross to pay the price for our salvation so we wouldn’t have to.
That’s good news.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord!
1. All have sinned
2. The wages of sin is death
3. Salvation is available
Ya’ll remember that old song from the 70’s? I used to sing it may kids when I’d drive the bus picking them up, or when I’d drive a van picking them up in Mississippi.
You can buy a ticket to Paris
You can buy a ticket to Paris
You can buy a ticket to Rome
You can buy a ticket to Norway
But you can't buy a ticket to that heavenly home
[Chorus]
Jesus is your ticket to Heaven
Lord, it's gonna be so nice
Jesus is your ticket to Heaven
He's already paid the price
You can buy a ticket for a boat
You can buy a ticket for a plane
You can buy a ticket for a subway
But you can't buy a ticket for that heavenly train
Salvation is available!
4. Confess Jesus is Lord
- Romans 10:9, 13
If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.; For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
“You might be thinking, What’s all this talk about counting the cost and wholehearted devotion? It is a red flag if someone says, “I believe in Jesus, but I’m just doing my own thing right now.” Belief as mentioned in John 3:16-17 is describing one point and time action with a continuing life-changing result––not a mere mental assent to who Jesus is and what He accomplished on the cross. A person unwilling to obey The Lord is likely not born again. A true believer will confess with their mouth Jesus as Lord and believe that God has raised Jesus from the dead––and they will be saved.”
The Gospel, the world changing good news, is that we can be saved and changed through Jesus Christ.
My friends, when we look at what is happening in the world, and when we look at what is happening in our country, it appears that the return of Jesus is just around the corner. So how do we respond?
I. PREPARE FOR ARRIVAL
1. Make sure that you are saved, that you have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
She plan of salvation again
> Revelation 3:20
Make sure you’re saved and have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
2. Make sure you’re living and walking what you claim to believe.
- Romans 12:1-2
Prepare for arrival
II. TEACH FOR SURVIVAL
> Deuteronomy 11:18-19 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Oh my friends, the gospel isn’t going to change the world, if it isn’t shared. We need to teach this gospel to our children, to our neighbors. We need to be talking about Jesus when we’re rising up and when we’re lying down. When we’re going out and when we’re coming in.
I don’t know about you, but I have friends that don’t yet know the Lord and I want them to. I want them to be in heaven with me.
And I especially want our family to be with us.
I was recently talking to a girl on line who told me that she and her husband were not telling their children about Jesus, nor were they taking them to church because they didn’t want to force religion on them. They wanted their children to decide for themselves. What kind of reasoning is that?
The world is doing everything in its power to tear your kids down and to distract and destroy them, and you’re not going to do everything within your power to see them saved to see them on the path to heaven?
Look, I’ve been a youth pastor and pastor 32 years. I was a volunteer, on-call chaplain at Fish Hospital for 17 years. During that time I have sat beside many folks who were dying. in that time, in all of those years, I have never had one person tell me they wish they hadn’t become a Christian as young as they did. Not one person has ever told me that. But, I have mad many people tell me they wish they had begun following the Lord younger than they did, because of the pain they endured and because of the time that they wasted.
Before Jesus left, one of the last things He told us, was to go into all the world and to make disciples of all nations.
The charter He gave His church 2000 years ago has not expired. We are still called to share the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation.
Prepare for arrival. Teach for survival.
III. PRAY FOR REVIVAL
Oh my friends, again and again through Holy Scripture, we are encouraged to pray, to call out to God. And I can think of few things, I believe that would please God more, than to see His people praying for revival, to see His people crying out for His working in them, in their churches, in their homes, and in their nation.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
And God can do more in a minute than we can do in a lifetime.
I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation.
Father, you did it in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. You did it in Rome. Father do it in America again. God send a revival.
