The Full Gospel Of Jesus Christ

Sermon – The Full Gospel of Jesus Christ

Scripture Text - Ro 1:16-22 “16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.[a] 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”[b] 18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.[c] 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. 21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.”

Introduction: The message of Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation. It is good news that God himself has made complete deliverance available for all and to all who believe. Not only by the declarations of the Holy Scriptures, and God’s judgments, but by nature's teachings, and by the human conscience. God’s revelation of himself and his righteousness standards are made so clear, mankind is without excuse.

Much of the gospel preached today is incomplete. Romans does afford us the luxury of hearing an incomplete Gospel message. Paul lifts the idea of Righteousness and Wrath. Both are revealed and should be preached with equal clarity. God’s standard exposes the great aggravation of sin: men willfully sin against the light of their own minds, and rebel against the convictions of their own consciences. The wrath of God is kindled and his judgment is declared against all those that live in the course of sin, rebelling against the Laws of God, the laws of nature and dictates and convictions of their own enlightened consciences. All mankind is without excuse. Faith in Christ provides the only safe haven from the wrath of God. To willfully sin against knowledge, to rebel against the light of thy own mind, to slight the whispers of your heart, to stifle the voice of thy own conscience is inviting the wrath of God. We should seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon while he is near, then reverently and obediently follow the commands of God.

The gospel not only reveals God’s righteousness, but also His wrath. The wrath of God confirms the fact the God hates sin and will judge every ungodly sinner. God is angry with the unrepentant sinner all day long. God is angry with the ungodly because they (suppress) hold the truth in unrighteousness.

In other words, these men knew the truth, but willfully chose unrighteousness over righteousness. They thoroughly understood God’s standard but chose to walk in disobedience. When they knew God, they glorified him not as God. We normally do not like to hear about wrath. Wrath seems to be contrary to God’s loving nature. Wrath is an unpleasant subject. Heaven is so much easier to talk about than Hell. The message of blessings just sounds better than a message of judgment. We must be aware that the gospel message reveals both the righteousness of God and the wrath of God.

The problem with much of today’s preaching is that the message is incomplete. The early church grew in the fear of God and the comfort of the Holy Ghost. We must be careful that our message is a balanced message. The Bible reveals the streets of Gold, the Gates of Pearl and the leaves of the trees that are good for the healing of the nation, but it also reveals the judgment of God and a place of torment where the fire never goes out and the worms never die. Paul was not ashamed of the gospel because in it the righteousness of God and the wrath of God are revealed.

1. Man’s Only Hope is To Be Put Right with God - Understand this, that in and of ourselves we are not the least bit righteous. We are corrupt and rebellious by nature against God. We often break God's law. To be saved from condemnation and wrath we need a righteousness that is from God's own nature, a righteousness that comes from God that fully satisfies all God’s demands. And that is what the gospel reveals! Paul says in Romans 3:21-23,