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).
You need to understand something. All the morality, all the passion, all the preaching, all the religion, all the charismatic manifestations will not and cannot change a thing without the Gospel because it is what is powerful. The Gospel is the power of God to change lives.
Deep down inside people, they know things are not well with them. They are unhappy, they are depressed, they are hungry, but we are powerless to change things. Only the power of God can do that. In fact, without God, our attempts to “change” only bring destruction.
Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil. (Jeremiah 13:23)
Do you realize that the highest demographic with the highest suicide rate is among transgender people, especially transgender children? They have been fed a demonic lie that told them if they could just change into something they wanted, they would be happy, and when they went through with it, they found nothing but darkness and despair.
But it is not just transgenderism. Men try all kinds of things - good and bad- to change their lives. Doing good works, religiousness, weight loss, altruism, legalism, mission trips, philanthropy, drugs & alcohol, unholy lifestyles, you name it - done to give into the lie that those things will make us a better person.
Do you remember Michael Jackson? He had the world on a string and was probably the most unhappy man in the world. All the money, surgeries, drugs, etc., could not add 1 ounce of everlasting change to his life. Only the power of God can do that.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, (Romans 8:3)
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)
but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, (1 Corinthians 1:23)
And so Paul sees that the world laughs at us, but we know better because this isn’t some self-help program - God's power is transforming us. It is the truth of God’s Word that brings about God power.
But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. (Matthew 22:29)
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27)
It is pretty often that I am blown away by what God does through my preaching. I don’t pretend to be someone dynamic or special, but I have people talk to me or email me with comments like, ‘you sermon changed my life’ or ‘I’m a better person for having you as a pastor.’ I don’t understand that because I know my weaknesses and I know my faults. Yet, somehow, God uses what I do to change someone’s life and their eternity. That’s the power of God.
Let the groans of the prisoners come before you; according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die! (Psalm 79:11)
who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number: (Job 5:9)
It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. (Jeremiah 10:12)
Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power. (Psalm 106:8)
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. (Romans 1:16)
II. The Gospel is Salvation to Men
The word salvation means “deliverance.” Deliverance through the trials of life, deliverance from Divine judgment, deliverance from the curse of death, and into eternal life. the gospel is God’s effective power active in the world to bring about deliverance from God’s wrath, sin, Satan, judgment, and hell. The Gospel is salvation.
Salvation is deliverance from danger or suffering. To save is to deliver or protect. The word carries the idea of victory, health, or preservation. Sometimes, the Bible uses the words saved or salvation to refer to temporal, physical deliverance, such as Paul’s deliverance from prison (Philippians 1:19). So salvation can be both temporal and eternal deliverance. We are saved from the wrath to come (the Tribulation). We are sometimes saved from persecution. We are saved from eternal hell. Jesus’ death on the cross and subsequent resurrection achieved our salvation (Romans 5:10; Ephesians 1:7). Scripture is clear that salvation is the gracious, undeserved gift of God (Ephesians 2:5, 8) and is only available through faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12) (GotQuestions.org).
You know, men can do some great things. In fact, the globalists are promising that if we follow them and do whatever they say, they will save us from the coming climate change disaster. The whole globalist deception is built upon the idea that our sin is based on the worship of the earth. They tell us to eat bugs, live in poverty, live in 15-minute cities, stop driving cars, be locked down, stop having children, and even kill ourselves to worship the green dragon.
Yet, despite anything we do or think we can do it will not add one moment to our lives. We are hopeless apart from the intervention of God. We can never save ourselves. So how are we saved? That brings us to our next word: Believe.
III. The Gospel is Available to All Who Believe
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:9–10)
The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45)
and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. (Acts 15:9)
The more you love the Lord and the things of the Lord the more the love of the things of this world will pass away from you. The reason is that the power of God and the salvation of God is received by belief in him - or faith.
Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4)
We live by faith all the time. You drink a glass of water from your faucet; you have faith it’s safe. You have faith in your doctor or surgeon. Faith is trust. You go to a restaurant or fly on an airplane; you believe that they know what they’re doing. The same is true with God.
Faith is not trusting Christianity, or your baptism, or some kind of moral reform. Faith has nothing to do with getting rich. It is not conforming to rules or being moral. Faith is not self-righteous - in fact, it is the exact opposite. Faith is saying to God, I trust you and you alone for your power and salvation.
Did you notice what Paul said in verse 16, Rom 1:16
to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)
I need to comment on this before we proceed. Any pastor or teacher who teaches that Israel and God’s covenants with Israel are irrelevant or replaced with the Church is teaching false theology and doctrine. If you want to hear more or learn more, I direct you to Jan Markell’s recent podcast on the subject.
Replacement Theology is simply the false teaching that God replaced Israel with the Church for His plan of salvation. The Bible clearly teaches that Israel and the Church is separate, and the terms are never used interchangeably.
The entirety of God’s plan of salvation hinges on His faithfulness to His covenant with Israel. The Jews are not exempt from God’s plan of salvation - they are central to it. So Paul says that it is first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. That does not mean that we need to practice Judaism - that means that the Jews are the vehicle that God brings about his plan of Salvation, and He will continue to do so according to prophecy in the end times.
Do you know that the highest level of hate crimes in the US is not to blacks or Hispanics, but it is antisemitism? Do you know that the preaching of the gospel is to be addressed to the Jews first.
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24)
You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. (John 4:22)
This is not a rejection of the Gentile, but rather it is through the Jews that God issued His law, preserved his Word, and sent the Messiah. Salvation - for both Jew and Gentile - is inextricably connected with Israel. The second coming is the same.
IV The Gospel is God’s Righteousness Revealed
With all the things we’ve just discussed, you would think there is no hope of redemption for man. The Gospel is the power to save those who believe because we do not suddenly become righteous, but rather, the revealed righteousness of God within us takes root in our lives. Faith activates the revelation of the righteousness of God to us. That is the working of God’s regeneration - our rebirth and continued sanctification.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it (Romans 3:21)
Indeed, I count everything as a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith (Philippians 3:8–9)
That’s the gospel. The glory of the gospel is the power of God until salvation is activated by your faith in him instead of yourself, and in that, the righteousness of God is released in your life by God on your behalf to live victoriously now and eternally in His Kingdom.
Paul said that he is not ashamed of that Gospel. He is not going to sugarcoat it. He is not going to alter it to someone else’s liking. It is the power of God for salvation to those who believe, first to the Jew and then to the Greek...”
And did you notice something else? It says from ‘faith to faith.’ In other words, it is a lifetime of trusting in God. It is not a one-time, and you got your ticket. Every day, we come to God. In every situation, we come to Him. ‘I need you, Lord.’
Will you come to Him today?
