Title: Righteousness, the Revelation of God in Me
Scripture: Romans 1:16-17
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
Many people grow up remembering how their parents raised them. Many can remember that their parents never spanked them or punished them in any way. It was enough to know that their father or mother was disappointed in something that they did. Those same people will tell you that they would have gladly suffered through any form of punishment for their wrongdoing, instead of disappointing their parents. They will tell you that it was a works relationship. A relationship that always depended on good and right things being done. A cause and effect relationship that waited to see if you had done the right thing.
Our relationship with God is nothing like that. Our relationship with God is a relationship that finds its beginning and its end totally in HIM. Our verses today, Romans 1:16 & 17, explain in very simple terms how we need to let God maintain our relationship with Him, and with others as well.
We have three points:
I. Ashamed or Feeling Guilty
II. The Gospel, the Power of God
III. Righteousness, Revealed with Power
I. Ashamed or Feeling Guilty
When most people are growing up, they reach an age at which they would rather be punished physically, than being an embarrassment to their friends or family. The punishment is over and done with, while the feelings of embarrassment, the feelings of shame, are difficult to overcome and usually last a long time.
Forgiveness is hard to get hold of, forgiveness is hard to ask for, because forgiveness admits a measure of guilt. And, sometimes we are not willing to go the full length, sometimes we’re not willing to travel the distance which would require an admission of guilt.
Yet, in Christ, the eyes of our hearts have been opened to the fact that we are guilty of sin. We know that we are sinners because we know sin. That fact was revealed in Genesis chapter three. But, praise God, that sin has been washed away by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
In John 9:41 “Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”
If we were not aware of Genesis 3, if we were not aware of evil, there would be no guilt. But, Paul tells us in Romans, chapter one, that everyone is aware.
(Romans 1:20) For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Now, since we know sin, since the eyes of our hearts are open to the fact of sin in our hearts and minds, we know we are guilty and we are miserable. We chase rainbows, we chase dreams, we chase a world that is selfish and concentrates on the selfishness being revealed in it. But, when we came to the Bible, when we came face to face with Jesus, a new realization took place. We are humbled and brought low in His sight. We are guilty! But, it doesn’t end there. Now that we know we are guilty, we also know that we have a propitiation for those sins. We have a substitute:
(2 Corinthians 5:21) God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
We have a substitute and that substitute is Jesus Christ. When we put our faith in Him, our lives changed. When we put our faith in Him, the sin was taken away. The Bible says (2 Corinthians 5:17) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” Our sins are no longer remembered. When we put our faith in Jesus, that sin is removed by God and is remembered no more:
Psalm 103:9-12
9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
That all happened in the beginning. That all happened when we put our faith in Jesus Christ, the one who paid the debt for you. But, that may have been some time ago. And, as time goes by, Satan begins to work. He begins by getting you too busy. Busy is just another term for
B=eing
U=nder
S=atan’s
Y=oke.
B.U.S.Y.
Maybe you’re too busy and you stop praying as much, or maybe you’re too busy and you stop reading the Bible everyday. Maybe you woke up late because you were too busy yesterday. Maybe you were busy and you missed your quiet time a couple of times. You get too busy with life and you miss church once or twice a month, or maybe you stop fellowshipping. Maybe you’re too busy and you stop going to Bible study. What happens? Satan has got you busy and he sees your lack of diligence. Satan has got you busy and he sees your lack of commitment to the Lord. He begins to sow those seeds of doubt in those areas of your untended heart. Satan quickly begins to plant within your malnourished heart all kinds of things: hesitation, uncertainty, reservation, misgiving, distrust, disbelief, suspicions, or skepticism. We begin to be ashamed in three ways. (1) We’re ashamed before the Lord for what we’ve done, but, also, (2) We’re ashamed to re-commit to the Lord and (3) We’re ashamed of Him before others.
We’re pricked to the heart by the Word that has been planted in our hearts. But, while we are languishing in our own self-righteousness, while we are pining away in our own self pity, we start beating ourselves up, telling ourselves that we’re no good. That we’re not worthy of God’s love. While listening to our own excuses, while listening to our own justifications for what we’ve done, we continue to punish ourselves to the point that we believe that we might be beyond God’s help. God doesn’t want that. God is a gracious God. He is a forgiving God. When we’ve done something wrong, we turn to Him in 1st John 1:9,
(1 John 1:9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
We can’t let the roots of embarrassment take hold. Shame will creep in like yeast in bread dough. It will soon consume the entire person. We can’t let shame establish itself in the foundation of our belief in God. That’s what GRACE takes care of.
When a someone is carrying a load of books and is unable to open the door, you open the door because they can’t! Not so that they can say THANK-YOU! When a baby is hungry, you feed it because they can not! You don’t feed it so that they will grow up and be in your debt forever! Jesus was sent to this earth to die on the cross as a sacrifice for you and I, not because we asked Him to, but because we couldn’t do it ourselves!
That’s GRACE. The act of God done for an undeserving people, you and me.
Shame has its root in sin. When you sin you are ashamed. Therefore what does He mean when Jesus says, in Mark 8:38,
If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels."
He means that we have turned away from Him, and we are allowing sin to multiply in our hearts to the point that we become ashamed that we call ourselves a Christian. This, in turn, leads us to be ashamed to testify of the Gospel of God’s good grace to others.
Can you imagine the shame that Peter felt when Jesus looked at him after Peter denied Him three times? Can you feel his shame? But, then, read and listen to Peter’s bold preaching in Acts. Can you feel the forgiveness that was freely given to him? The one was more than the other. If the one, forgiveness, had not been more than the other, shame, then Peter would have perished in his own self-pity. But, the grace and love of God covered his multitude of sins to the point he was prompted to write in
(1 Peter 4:8) Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
That’s grace and love! That’s what forgiveness is all about.
“I am not ashamed of the Gospel…” Paul says. The apostle Paul was not ashamed to be associated with Jesus in any circle. I know people who call themselves Christians during the day, then go to bars and drink at night. I know people who call themselves Christians during the day, then watch questionable movies at night. I know people who call themselves Christians during the day, and spend the night on the Internet looking at things that saddens God.
You know, it sometimes it seems we are only Christians when the mood suits us, or it has a direct affect on our pocket books. But, that’s not deserving of God’s righteousness (but that’s another point).
Paul elaborates even more in 2nd Timothy 1:8-12
II Timothy 1:8 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.
Do you believe that? Are you afraid to be seen in public with Jesus? Are you ashamed of taking His Good News, the Gospel of God’s Good Grace to the streets, to the highways, and byways?
If you are, ask for forgiveness for that weakness. For, that’s what it is, a weakness that needs His healing power to overcome.
II. The Gospel, the Power of God
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
Can you believe this proclamation? So much GOD packed into one simple sentence. Let’s look at that.
The Gospel
The word Gospel is used to translate the Greek word for “good news.” In the English, this word has lost its meaning over time. Many times we read right over the word Gospel and right over the meaning, God’s Good News, does not echo in our hearts.
Paul doesn’t want us to just read right over the word Gospel. He wants us to hear in our hearts that he’s not ashamed of God’s good news about the Grace of God.
The Power of God
Paul then tells us that the Gospel is the power of God. He tells us it’s the power of God for the salvation of everyone. But wait! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s go back and say it again, he says the Gospel is the power of God! Okay, I think I’m beginning to understand that. He does not mean the printed words in the Bible are the power, but the power is behind the one Who breathes the words, that is God. The power is displayed in the one Who breathes those words, that is God. The power is evident in the one Who breathes those words, that is God.
To make this easier to understand, let’s look at the Old Testament, and the Hebrew use of the word for good news.
In the Old Testament, the Israelites used the word bisar which could be translated as the proclamation of good news. This word was used to describe the report of victory in battle. Now, because the Israelites believed God was actively involved in their lives (including battles and wars) bisar came to have a religious connotation. This meant that to proclaim the good news of Israel’s success in battle was to proclaim God’s triumph over God’s enemies. The Israelites believed credit for the victory belonged to God, therefore the Israelites’ proclamation of the good news of victory was, in fact, proclamation about God.
Now, transposing that Jewish way of thinking into another language, in this Greek, was done without much difficulty. The difficulty surfaces from Greek to English. Many people simple believe that Gospel means the story of Jesus. But that’s not entirely true. It means much more than that, it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.
III. Righteousness, Revealed with Power
17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
Again we sense the inadequacy of the English language when we use this word righteousness.
As a whole, the word righteousness is the fulfillment of the terms of a covenant between God and humanity or between two people in the full range of human relationship.
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew mind did not understand righteousness to be an attribute of the divine God, that is a characteristic of God’s nature. Rather they believed that God’s righteousness is what God does in fulfillment of the terms of the covenant that God established with the chosen people, Israel. God’s righteousness was not a metaphysical property, but that dimension of the divine God experienced by those within the covenantal community. Meaning, that righteousness was an experience of God working in and through the people of Israel.
In the New Testament, human righteousness is absolute faith in and commitment to God. The one who in faith gives oneself to the doing of God’s will is righteous, doing righteousness, and reckoned righteous by God. The focus of faith in God is the saving activity of God in Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:21-26).
Romans 3:20-22 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. 21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
Paul goes back to the Old Testament use of the word righteousness and says it is no longer valid. He tells us in these verses that righteousness is no longer available through observing the law, but through belief in the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Therefore, we can assume that righteousness is a result and is something that is conferred upon those that have put their faith in Jesus Christ. But, be careful in your understanding, for it is not an end work, it is a dynamic title. It’s an ongoing process, this righteousness from God. Again we go back to our verse from chapter 1 to confirm this
17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
…by faith from first to last. Jesus is the first and the last, and, he is working in us from the first to the last, therefore, righteousness is an ongoing result of the sanctification activity in the heart of the believer. Yes, it is a result. But it is the result of continual faith in the One that that grants the righteousness in the first place.
Maybe it would be better if we used a human emotion to explain it better:
When I am reading the Bible, studying, praying, going to church, fellowshipping, teaching, helping, then the result is that I feel good. When I’m not doing these things, there is no occasion for a result. I don’t feel bad, but I won’t feel the same goodness that I had before.
When you are daily putting (not a finished action!) your faith in Jesus, and following the Spirit of God working God’s will in and through your life, the ongoing result is righteousness. Paul helps us out in the explanation of the Christian life in Philippians 2:12-13:
(Philippians 2:12) Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Therefore, there is no other way to end verse 17 of Romans, chapter one, than by saying:
17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
The righteous will live by faith! If you are not living by faith, then, to put it in simple terms, you are not righteous. That may come as a sudden revelation to you, but, that’s what he is saying. If you are not living your day to day life in the constant, active belief that Jesus died for your sins and you are forgiven, then you are not righteous.
Conclusion:
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
Every little bit of shame, every little bit of sin that takes place in your life will distract you from the goal, righteousness in His sight. And, you may say, “It’s impossible to live a life like that!” and, you’re right. It is impossible to live a life like that. That’s why Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit. He sent the Comforter to perform, through you, the good work that you are called by God to do. He has sent the one that, in the Greek, is described as the one that has been called alongside you to help you, the parakletos.
In Romans 8, the entire chapter is devoted to explaining the Spirit of God working in and through the believer of Jesus Christ. Here is a short excerpt from that chapter, beginning with verse nine:
9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
Isn’t that glorious? Take some time and review your own righteousness in Jesus Christ. Take some time and review your ongoing commitment to Jesus. Take some time and review whether the Spirit has been working in your life. You might be surprised at what you find there.
