Sermon Series: The Book of Romans 10/31/2004
Don’t Be Ashamed of the Gospel
Text: Romans 1:16-23
Introduction: In Europe there is a book that is a “Christian” bestseller, that is being read by millions of church going people. It is having a major impact in the churches. The book is called Postmodern Christianity. The main premise of the book is that society has changed so much that beliefs that the general public used to believe are no longer believable. There are just certain doctrines that people will not believe about Christianity and the Bible. So the book says that in order for Christians to reach people, and in order for us to fill our churches, we must throw out much of the teachings that we once clung to. The book says we need to quit teaching and preaching about hell, and sin, and the wrath of God. All we need to emphasize is the love of Jesus. This, the book says, this will help us to grow our churches. If it hasn’t reach the US yet, this book will be here soon. Friends as good as that may sound, it is dangerous heresy. You see you may fill up your church like that, because there is nothing threatening about that message, it distorts the gospel message. The gospel tells us that we are sinners, and in danger, and that we need to be saved from the wrath of God. If we do not preach and teach that, than we teach a distorted gospel and we deceive people. So while we may fill our churches, we would be filling our church rolls with lost people. People need the plain and simple gospel without watering it down. It is a message of salvation for all who believe and repent of their sins. So I am not ashamed to preach the whole gospel of Christ. I will not water it down. And this is what Paul preached and taught. He taught the sinfulness of man and the wrath of God to come.
Read with me if you would Romans 1:16-25
Two weeks ago as we began looking into the book of Romans, I told you that I believe the theme verse for Romans is Romans 1:16. Paul told the Romans that he was by no means ashamed of the gospel. And I want to show you today that we likewise must not compromise on the teaching of the gospel. Even though it may be offensive to society we must not be ashamed. Why? Well to answer that question let’s look at three reasons Paul says he was not ashamed of the gospel.
The first reason he was not ashamed of the gospel was because:
The Gospel is the Power of God to Salvation for Everyone Who Believes. (vs. 16)
The Gospel message is very powerful. We looked last week at the incredible power of the gospel to change a person’s life. We saw how such an incredible change took place in Paul’s life. A man that once persecuted the church was apprehended by God and began to be used by God to grow his church.
Paul had first hand experience about the changing power of the gospel. And so he was not going to compromise the message. He would proclaim it full strength and not water it down.
I am afraid that today too many people and churches are watering down the gospel to make it more palatable for people. It no longer is an offense. My friends we must present the gospel message boldly and unashamedly, because it is the only way that man may be saved. The gospel presents the only way for man to be saved.
So that there may be no confusion let me just clarify what I mean when I say the gospel. We toss around so many terms in Christianity as if everybody knows them but we live in a Post-christian Society. You know what that means? That means a society that has moved beyond Christianity.
The gospel message tells us that there is a holy and perfect God whom we all have sinned against. Because of that rebellion against him we deserve his wrath. But he loves us so much that he made a way for that wrath to be taken away. John 3:16 says that “for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus, the eternal son of God, came to earth as a baby, lived a perfect life, died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins, was buried in a tomb. And on the third day he rose again from the dead. He paid the price for our sins to be forgiven but the payment is only applied to our lives as we accept that payment through faith. A faith that acknowledges your sin and lays your life down to follow the Lord Jesus Christ in every area of your life. A faith that is willing to turn from your sin. That is the message of the gospel, and repentance is a major part of it. Without repentance there is no salvation.
If we strip out of the gospel message the idea of sin, and repentance, and the substitutionary atonement of Christ, and the wrath of God, then we have no gospel message. We have no good news to offer mankind. Instead of restoring them to God, we leave them lost in their sinful condition. But praise be to God that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. The gospel is a message that we need to carry to everyone we can. It is a message for all people.
I want to show you a second reason that Paul says that he is unashamed of the gospel. Look at verse 17. What does he mean that the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel? Well he means that:
The Gospel Reveals that Salvation is only through God’s Righteousness. (vs. 17)
It is not through man’s own righteousness or good living that he is saved. In fact later in Romans Paul will remind us that “all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God” and that because of our sin we deserve the judgment of God upon our lives. There is no way that we could ever be good enough to be right with God. (even our most righteous deeds are like filthy rags in his sight because our sins makes them dirty).
I love to read over and over again the classic children’s books called the Chronicles of Narnia, because they have such rich illustrations of the Christian life. In one particular book, I cannot remember which one there is a boy named Eustace who finds himself beside a lake and he looks into the lake and sees his reflection. And to his horror he has been transformed into a dragon. So he tries to take off the dragon skin but every time he removes a layer there is a new layer of dragon skin. Along comes the Christ-like character, the lion Asland, and tells him that the dragon skin can only be removed by him. A great picture of the fact that we are covered with sin and that we can never be righteous enough on our own to be right with God. Instead he must wash us and cover us with his own righteousness.
And that is what Paul tells us. The gospel tells us that we are not perfect but are sinners and in need of Christ’s righteousness applied to our lives. We are all sinful and in need of a righteousness outside of ourselves to be saved. Jesus Christ is perfect and his perfect righteousness is applied to the Christian’s life. Listen no one will ever truly come to Jesus for salvation until they first see how sinful they are and that they need Christ’s righteousness.
That brings me to a third reason that Paul says he is unashamed of the gospel. We find it in verses 18-23. He says that he is not ashamed of the gospel because:
The Gospel Reveals the Unrighteousness of Man and God’s Wrath to Come. (vs. 18-23)
All ungodliness and unrighteousness justly deserves the wrath of God. We must make known to people the bad news before we give them the good news. People must see that if they do not repent of their sin they will experience the wrath of God.
You see everyone needs to realize that they are accountable to a Holy God. There is no one who has an excuse for not seeking the one true God of this universe. Paul tells us that all are without an excuse. Even the native in remote regions of the world are accountable to God. Why? Because they are sinners and have been given enough light about God to know he exists and that they should worship him. (Look at verses 19-20)
Even the atheist knows there is a God. You cannot go outside and look at creation without being confonted with the existence of God. The other day as I was riding in my car I was flipping around to different radio stations. Sometimes I like to listen to stations I normally do not listen to to hear what kind of music is popular out in the world today. That was what I was doing on this day. I came across a song where I heard the artist sing these words, “I don’t need someone to tell me about God and truth. I can just look out at a sunrise and see.” This musical artist had come to realize an important truth, and that is that God has revealed himself in nature. The problem is that many have suppressed the truth that has been revealed to them in God’s creation. And they refuse to acknowledge and seek God.
The sad thing is that many refuse to acknowledge God. Paul says they “suppress the truth.” They make a choice to reject God and so they are without excuse. I think it is so sad to see how many scientists refuse to believe in the existence of God. Now there are many Christian scientists, but many scientists have chosen to reject the knowledge of God that he has revealed to them. Good science should give us a greater awe of God rather than denying him. But instead many peoples hearts have been darkened to the truth of God.
No wonder people defend the life of a tree or an animal before they would defend the life of a baby. Man has removed God out of the picture so what are they going to worship. The creatures of God’s creation rather than the creator. (vs. 25) And they will face the wrath of God for their suppression of the truth, unless they repent. They have exchanged the truth of God for a lie.
You see why the gospel message is so important. Everyone has seen that there is a God by his very creation. People suppress the truth and will experience God’s wrath because it. In some ways God is already pouring out his wrath, but a greater wrath will come. But the gospel message reveals this to people so that they may have their eyes opened and repent. That is why Paul was not ashamed of the gospel. That is why he was so excited to share the gospel to these Romans.
Let’s make this a little more personal. Paul has primarily been talking about the need for pagans to hear the gospel but in chapter two he says that even the religious people need the gospel.
He says that the godless suppress the truth. I wonder if there are ways that you suppress the truth of God?
I can think of a few ways that even Christians suppress the truth of God. We may believe the gospel, but do we live like atheists in our lives? What you would call practical atheism. John MacArthur tells the story of one of his church members that he saw walking down a city street drinking a coke. When the man finished the coke he looked around to see if anyone was looking, and when the coast was clear he dropped the can and kept on walking. Do we live our lives like that man. Living as a practical atheist. We forget that God sees all.
Or think about all of our superstitions. Do we live as though there were another God out there called chance or luck? Just think about how superstitious athletes are. I remember when I was in high school we used to get dressed the same way before every game or ride in the same seat on the bus. You see baseball players have all kinds of superstitions. Are we trusting in the God of chance or the one true God?
Or maybe we have fashioned God into the image we want to have of him. Have we made God into our own image? Or made him to be a God of our own choosing? A lady the other day said to me my God is not the God of the OT, he is the God of the NT. I told her that she worships another God than the God of the bible because the God of the Bible does not change.
Or maybe we have suppressed the truth through Hypocrisy. Maybe you acknowledge God only when you need him.
My friends if any of these are true of you, you are exchanging the truth of God for a lie and you need to repent. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all unrighteousness and ungodliness. But the good news is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to proclaim it to ourselves. We need to proclaim it to a world dying in sin. It is the hope for all mankind. And we must not be ashamed to proclaim it.
People are trying to strip the heart and soul out of the gospel but they are only going to leave people frustrated and separated from God.
A very popular pastor once wrote these words in a book entitled A Guide to the Understanding of the Bible.
Our understanding of God has evolved. In man’s thinking, God has come from the wrathful and vengeful God of the primitive mind to the God of fatherhood and brotherhood in the teaching of Jesus. The repugnant idea of hell that Jesus had should be abandoned in our upward quest of positive development.”
My friends that is the message that is sweeping across the world. It is a distortion of the message of the gospel and it offers little hope for mankind to escape the wrath of God. We can close our eyes to the truth but that will not make the wrath of God go away. Only the true gospel will lead us in the right direction. May we not be ashamed to proclaim it.
________________________________________
Outline for Bulletin listed below
Sermon Series: The Book of Romans 10/31/2004
Don’t Be Ashamed of the Gospel
Text: Romans 1:16-25
The Gospel is the Power of God to Salvation for Everyone Who Believes (vs. 16)
1. The Gospel message is very __________.
2. Today many people and churches are __________ ______ the gospel message.
3. The Gospel presents the ______ way for man to be saved.
4. The facts of the gospel:
• God is Holy
• All people are sinners
• Our sin deserves God’s wrath
• Jesus lived, died, and rose again as a substitute for us.
• We are saved through faith
The Gospel Reveals that Salvation is only through God’s Righteousness (vs. 17)
1. There is no way that we could ever be ______ enough to be right with God.
2. We are all sinful and in need of a righteousness _________ of ourselves to be saved.
3. The _________ righteousness of Jesus is applied to the Christian’s life through faith.
The Gospel Reveals the Unrighteousness of Man and God’s Wrath to Come. (vs. 18-23)
1. All ungodliness and unrighteousness justly __________ the wrath of God.
2. There is no one who has an ________ for not seeking the one true God of this universe.
3. People __________ the truth and will experience God’s wrath because of it.
4. Are there ways that you suppress the truth of God?
