Session 7 - The Gospel Is (Romans 1:16-17)

Kootenai Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

This session is titled, thankfully the gospel is. We're going to talk about the real gospel and I believe that I have exhausted all of us with what is false and it is time to relish in the truth.

00:19

If you want to turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 1, that's where we'll start. Romans 1 verse 16, we'll meditate on three particular truths, that the gospel is powerful, the gospel is propitiation, and that the gospel is then proclaimed.

00:43

Those three things will send us off with our charge of duty and relishing in the gospel, what could be better.

00:52

Paul writes in Romans chapter 1 verse 16, beginning there, we'll read through 17.

00:59

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God, for salvation to everyone who believes, to the

01:07

Jew first and also to the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, but the righteous man shall live by faith.

01:20

That is God's word to us. Let's go to Him together in prayer and then reflect on the power of the gospel.

01:27

Father, thank you for your Son Jesus, for saving us, for calling us, for your word, and for our time together.

01:34

I pray that in this last session we would relish in your gospel, we would be reminded and even perhaps taught about the power and what propitiation means, and then why we proclaim it and the need for it.

01:55

Perhaps there are those in this room that would say, oh I believe the gospel, and I yeah, I know the gospel, but if they were charged with the task of sharing it, they wouldn't be as sharp as they wished they would be.

02:10

Use this session to equip and to strengthen their gospel understanding and their gospel delivery, and we pray that we would be convicted so strongly, should we ever think that we have graduated from the gospel, that we heard it enough.

02:29

It is so good, it is so perfect, and you are so gracious in it to save us through it.

02:38

I pray all this and ask in the name of Christ Jesus, amen. In a seminary missions class,

02:47

Herbert Jackson told how as a new missionary, he was assigned a car that would not start without a push, and after pondering his problem, he devised a plan.

02:57

He went to the school near his home, he got permission to take some children out of class, and he had them push his car off.

03:05

As he made his rounds, he would either park on a hill or he would leave the engine running.

03:11

He used this ingenious procedure for two years on the mission field.

03:18

Ill health forced the Jackson family to leave, and a new missionary came to that station.

03:24

When Jackson proudly began to explain his arrangement for getting the car started and to keep it running, the new missionary began looking under the hood.

03:35

Before the explanation was complete, the new missionary interrupted, why

03:40

Dr. Jackson, I believe the only trouble is this loose cable. He gave the cable a twist, stepped into the car, pushed the switch, and to Jackson's astonishment, the engine roared to life.

03:57

For two years, needless trouble became routine.

04:03

The power was there all along, but a loose connection was the culprit.

04:10

The loose connection kept Jackson from putting that power to work. I think there's a lot of people in the body of Christ today that are not using the gospel and its power the way they ought to.

04:24

There's a loose connection with it. Oh, I know the gospel. I've heard the gospel. Oh yeah, the gospel.

04:29

Sure, the gospel. But the loose connection is costing them. They don't appreciate the gospel for all it's worth.

04:38

Perhaps this is why many people sit in churches for decades with little to no change. You have students or young people that are raised in churches where they have a great time in youth ministry.

04:49

They play lots of games. They enjoy friends. They listen to loud music or whatever else they do to come up with ways to get kids to show up.

04:57

But they're not really plugged into the power source, and then they lose their faith or go prodigal in the college years, which is really just the

05:05

American experiment for, hey, go away from home and away from your church, live alone, do whatever you want for four years and find yourself, and then come home and then start being an adult.

05:17

That experiment's not working, by the way, but it's a byproduct of delayed adolescence.

05:27

And so many people in the church today are operating with delayed adolescence when it comes to the gospel.

05:35

They've never really understood it fully or walked in its power fully.

05:40

They went to the 30 -minute Ted Talk on Sunday. They drank their snobby latte that they got in the lobby.

05:46

They enjoyed the music, but nothing changed. The true gospel is the power of God to change people for His glory.

05:58

It works, so we should use it and understand it and appreciate it. Three particular truths. Number one, the gospel is powerful.

06:06

You should trust it to do the job that God intends it to do. Paul says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation.

06:17

The power and strength and ability and force and mighty deed. So here it's the miraculous power of God through His mighty deed of salvation,

06:26

His ability to save, the power of God for salvation. The word soteria means to ransom, to rescue, it's deliverance, it's safety.

06:39

And so you could say, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the miraculous and mighty ability of God to ransom people.

06:45

From what? Well, from the damnation of sin and from the wrath of God.

06:54

You are held hostage by sin and the gospel sets you free, believing in Christ for salvation.

07:06

You were sinning, couldn't stop sinning, you were dead in that sin, couldn't raise your own dead heart to life, but the gospel was preached.

07:15

Literally the good news that sin is powerful, but Christ, a more powerful

07:23

Savior, that living for yourself is a dead end road.

07:31

But life in Christ leads to life eternal. The gospel is powerful.

07:39

Ephesians 2 .10 is the result. Yes, where is workmanship? Creating Christ Jesus for good works, that we would walk in them, but what started that process or led to it?

07:49

That you were dead and now you are alive. The gospel works.

07:55

This is why Paul, who could have preached philosophy, he could have stuck with Judaism, he was a smart man, he preached the gospel.

08:05

He chose that which the world would consider foolishness. Why? Because while the cross is foolishness to the perishing, it is the power of God to us who believe.

08:18

The gospel takes you from spiritual death to spiritual life, from aimless wandering and empty sin to thriving in your purpose on this planet as a worshiper and a witness for the glory of God.

08:33

The Apostle Paul was a walking example of the power of the gospel. He went from breathing threats and murderous agendas towards Christians in Acts 9 .1

08:46

and 2 to proclaiming Jesus Christ as the Son of God in Acts 9 .19 to 22.

08:53

In Iconium, Paul spoke in such a manner that a multitude believed,

08:59

Acts 14 .1 tells us. He proclaimed in Philippi the gospel and it opened

09:07

Lydia's heart and the church at Philippi, the Philippian church was birthed.

09:13

Why? Because the gospel. In Athens, gospel power shattered the thinking of ignorant people.

09:20

The Bible says, some believed. In Ephesus, one of my favorite stories of gospel power, the idol makers were going out of business because nobody needed their idols anymore.

09:34

In Acts 19 .18 -27 tells the story. They really got together and said, hey, this isn't good for business.

09:40

This isn't going well. We need to get rid of this guy. Why? Gospel power.

09:47

Over and over again, Paul relied on one thing. This is why he says in 1

09:52

Corinthians 2 .1 -2, I determined to know nothing among you except Christ and Him crucified.

09:58

Why? Because the gospel works every time in ways that no pragmatic church growth strategy will work, in ways that no personality will ever work.

10:10

This is why often some of our favorite preachers or favorite ministries is just a simple man opening a simple book to preach a simple message and amazing things happen.

10:23

And people say, him? How? Why? Because the gospel is powerful.

10:31

Paul didn't come with clever words and all his physical stature. History tells us that Paul was short, balding down the middle with a bit of a hook nose.

10:44

The gospel is powerful. He was not a clever man, though he was smart.

10:53

He wasn't the tallest and best looking man. It wasn't because he was athletic or relatable. It wasn't because he was an influencer and cool.

11:04

It was because the gospel was powerful and he was willing to be poured out as a drink offering and lay down his life for the gospel.

11:13

So many professing Christians wonder, why is my life not changing? Why am I still enslaved to sin?

11:19

There doesn't seem to be spiritual vitality in my life. Perhaps because the gospel is not an altar call at the end of VBS in fifth grade.

11:31

It's not just attending a church, working your job, having your ticket punched to heaven, and then getting on with it.

11:38

No, the gospel is powerful. It is a daily thing.

11:45

Every day you need the gospel. Every day you ought to be reminded of the gospel. When you sin as a saint, you're reminded of how thankful we are because the gospel.

11:57

You don't play games with the gospel. You don't graduate from the gospel. It is powerful. And I'll tell you, it's easy and we can do it, pick on prosperity preachers and people who preach a false gospel, but we do well to flip the script on ourselves and ask, are we using the greatest tool available at our disposal?

12:19

God has given us the message of reconciliation to preach to all, and he will save.

12:26

Only the gospel will change the world if you will, by changing the lives of God's people.

12:34

Is it a narrow way still? Yeah. Will only few find it? Yeah. Are we ever going to win the popularity contest?

12:42

No. But that doesn't change our mission and our purpose. The target is clear.

12:51

The marching orders are clear, and the weapons of our warfare, they work just fine.

12:58

The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. If you turn a couple of pages over with me to Romans chapter 3, we'll keep on marching down the

13:12

Romans road, if you will. The gospel is propitiation.

13:20

The good news, the gospel is there in Romans 3, 23 to 25, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

13:29

So we have a problem. Sin is rampant. All of us are stained by the sin of Adam.

13:37

Babies are born cute, but they are reprobate, sinful.

13:48

They are. I know they're cute, but if they could mobilize against you, they would.

14:08

The things they would do to you when you don't give them their milk fast enough, God made them clumsy and floppy and weak.

14:22

So that perhaps they would not be able to grab weapons or any other sharp object when you don't feed them on time.

14:33

We've all sinned. We come out sinners with a bent towards rebellion, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom

14:50

God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate

14:57

His righteousness because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed, you need a

15:04

Savior. You need to be justified. There needs to be a substitute, propitiation for the sin that stains all mankind, and God in His mercy has justified the believer.

15:26

Before the foundation of the earth, He called for new.

15:33

He justified. He predestined you to adoption as sons and daughters. He knew you, and how would

15:43

He solve the problem of your sin? How would He, a perfect and holy

15:49

God, allow you to be in fellowship with Him, to be reconciled to Him, and to spend eternity with Him one day through the sacrifice of His Son, who was the perfect substitute, the propitiation for our sins?

16:08

He took the wrath that would be yours and put it on His Son to the fullest extent so that you would be justified, declared in the courtroom of heaven, if you will, not guilty, not condemned.

16:26

Why? Because Christ paid the penalty for your sin.

16:33

Propitiation is a word that also translates in your Bible, atonement. The word atonement is defined as that which appeases anger and brings reconciliation with someone who has a right to be angry.

16:47

God has a right to punish sin and sinners. He has a right to pour out wrath on you and me.

16:57

Doctrinally, what occurred on our behalf is called penal substitutionary atonement, and what is likely with Jim Osman as your pastor, you know what

17:13

I've just said, but let's review. Jesus paid the penalty for sin as our substitute, and He atoned for our sins.

17:23

His blood and death appeased the anger of God, satisfying

17:28

His wrath, taking upon Himself the full punishment in our place, which allows us then to be reconciled to God in relationship with Him, the thing that Adam once ruined, now once again made possible through the second

17:45

Adam. That's why we sing, see the true and better Adam come to save the hell -bound man.

17:52

Now fellowship, restoration, relationship, healing between a holy

17:59

God and sinful men. This demonstrates that Jesus was righteous.

18:06

He was perfect. Why? Because only a perfect, righteous substitute could satisfy the wrath of God, and so Christ is and was our perfect substitute, which demonstrates

18:25

God's mercy towards undeserving sinners, and His grace, which literally is defined as unmerited favor, has been poured out now upon you and me because of Christ.

18:38

So every day is a day to give praise to God for salvation and the gospel.

18:44

Why? Because every day is grace for you, unmerited favor, that God would bless you with salvation, give you eternal life and glory with Him, unmerited favor, that He would choose you and call you.

18:58

That's unmerited favor. You did nothing to earn it, nothing to deserve it.

19:05

There's no arguing with that truth. No one deserved to be saved, and yet God, in His loving kindness and tender mercy, chose to save a people and atone for their sin by the sacrifice of His Son.

19:23

2 Corinthians 5 21 tells us, For our sake He made

19:28

Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

19:36

Propitiation is what has caused God to look upon you and I now and ultimately see the righteousness of Christ.

19:49

What a beautiful reality, and what a reason to give glory and honor to Christ.

19:56

There are many today who hate this doctrine. They would say that what I've just described to you is cosmic child abuse. For God to pour out

20:03

His wrath and punish His Son is unloving. That the God that the Bible teaches about would never do such a thing.

20:10

That He's more of a bloodthirsty, angry, loveless

20:16

God, the God that I've just described, when in fact that's the God that the Bible describes. Why?

20:21

Because He's just. It is only an unjust God who would wink at sin, making

20:27

His Son only a moral example as some have described Christ as, falsely might

20:34

I add, that He was just so loving and His model of love is what we all need to follow.

20:41

And that counteracts sin and we get into God's favor by just being loving. Or the idea of Christus Victor, which is that He died and then rose again to defeat death, and it wasn't so much a sacrificial death that took the wrath of God in our place, but more or less an exclamation of, hey, look what

21:01

I can do. Believe in me and you'll be saved. No. While there is some truth to Christ's morality and His example to us, and there is a reality of His exclamation point of the resurrection being an announcement of,

21:18

I have power over the grave, because how else could you give eternal life unless you could conquer death? Yes.

21:24

Still, that's not how sin was atoned for. Sin is not solved because Jesus was a loving person when

21:32

He was on earth. Sin is not solved because He rose from the dead.

21:39

No. Sin is dealt with through wrath and judgment.

21:45

That is justice. And so we see the gospel, we have to preach the gospel as propitiation and atonement.

22:02

This is why we repent. We change our mind. Our sin, our deeds, our way, we're a way of damnation.

22:16

He died because of sin. Therefore, sin is not a light thing.

22:25

We repent, we turn from our ways, we admit we're spiritually bankrupt, and we look to Jesus and we declare, you are

22:31

God. Your way is better. Your way is true. Thank you for your sacrifice on my behalf.

22:40

I bow to you as my King. I put my trust and my faith in you as my

22:45

Savior and my Lord. I want to obey you and follow you. My life belongs to you.

22:50

Why? Because you laid down your life for me. Repentance is a total change of mind in light of who

23:00

Christ is and what He has done. And you are here to bring

23:07

God glory because you're saved. And you are here to do one thing that you'll never do in heaven.

23:15

You know you'll sing better in heaven. Some of you are really excited about that because you really sing off key, but we're thankful for you.

23:25

And you will, in my eschatological view, you will eat better in heaven.

23:32

I believe there'll be a literal marriage supper of the Lamb. I'm not post mill or all mill.

23:45

I believe you'll have better relationships in heaven, obviously. I think there'll be better enjoyment in the fellowship of the glory of heaven.

23:56

Of course there will be. There's one thing you will not do in heaven.

24:04

You will never evangelize again in heaven. That is something you only get to do here.

24:14

And so while the gospel most certainly is powerful, and you should relish in that, and it is propitiation, and that has been applied to you, and you can praise

24:24

God for that, the gospel is proclaimed. It's proclaimed.

24:30

Why? Because that's why we're here. In Romans chapter 10, if you want to turn a few more pages over and see what happens and on your way, if you want to just pit stop and stare at verse 1 of chapter 8 for two seconds, therefore there's now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

24:48

It's a beautiful truth. Picture it as a little stop on your way over to chapter 10 here on the

24:56

Romans road. You get to chapter 10 and you look at verses 13 to 17 and you see what you're supposed to do now with the good news.

25:08

For whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they've not believed?

25:14

How will they believe in him who they not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent?

25:22

Just as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news.

25:29

However, they did not all heed the good news, for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

25:41

This needs so little exposition. You should just revel in it.

25:49

As ones who believe in the sovereignty of God and salvation, we ought to be the most unapologetically and courageously evangelistic.

25:58

Why? Because we aren't the ones who save people. We just go out and proclaim the message, and he's going to do it. And how is he going to do it?

26:04

Well, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. So you are going to preach the gospel with words because they're necessary.

26:13

There's nothing more unbiblical by way of that type of sentiment than when people say preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.

26:26

As though giving people food who are hungry is the gospel. It's not.

26:32

It's good to do. 1 John has some things to say about seeing your brother in need.

26:41

Yeah. But in the end, you can give somebody a full meal.

26:48

People need water. You can give them a cup of water in Jesus' name, people say. I'm giving a cup of water in Jesus' name.

26:54

But if you do not give Jesus' message, people are still on their way to hell.

26:59

They're just on a full stomach and now hydrated. You've got to give them the gospel.

27:06

You must. I must. Why? Because that's how men will be saved.

27:13

And news is news because it's broadcasted. It's proclaimed. It's printed.

27:19

It's pushed out into the airwaves, and we have the best news of all. Some of you, maybe, don't proclaim the gospel because you've not practiced knowing it or delivering it, but maybe some of you don't proclaim the gospel because you're selfish and disobedient.

27:41

You've got your eyes on yourself. Maybe you're worried about what people will think. Maybe you're worried about your job. Maybe you are enjoying the gospel so much, and you're so thankful that you're saved, you have forgotten that you are also to be an agent of salvation, if you will, as the

27:58

Lord uses you to speak the truth, and then he opens eyes and ears and changes hearts because you are faithful.

28:10

It's a bit inconvenient as well to bring up the gospel, isn't it? Because then you're that person. Here you go again.

28:17

I already heard you the first time. I already know. Or you know how

28:23

I feel about religion. Give people what they need the most.

28:31

Give them the gospel. In Acts 16, the Apostle Paul is imprisoned with Silas for preaching the gospel.

28:41

One of my favorite New Testament stories. It's a dark prison.

28:47

You just picture it in your mind. The lights are out. They didn't have switches. It's cold.

28:55

It's wet. The stench of human waste is searing their nostrils undoubtedly.

29:03

There's rotting food. You've got bloodstains, unclean prisoners. You study what prison culture was like in the early church.

29:10

It is not like what you see on some of these prison shows.

29:15

Not even close. You picture the hard stone floor and maybe some slivers from the wooden stocks.

29:28

And if that's not going to keep you up all night, then the back pain from being seated in that position all night will.

29:38

And whenever you seem to get a moment to sleep, maybe the clanking chains of another prisoner wake you up again as they shift, trying to get comfortable.

29:52

It's miserable. It's the worst. And then you're beaten prior.

29:59

So you're in pain. And in the midst of that, in Acts 16, 25, this is what happens.

30:09

But around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God. And the prisoners were listening to them.

30:19

And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's chains were unfastened.

30:31

When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, thinking the prisoners had escaped.

30:37

In those days, if you lost the prisoners who were under your dutiful control, you would be killed.

30:46

So you would kill yourself because you were already a dead man. But Paul called with a loud voice, saying,

30:53

Do not harm yourself. We're all here. And the jailer asked for lights, rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas.

31:03

And after he brought them out, he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

31:10

They said, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.

31:20

Now I am sure that most of us will not be in prison, and because we sang,

31:29

Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery, the prison doors blew open. But I am sure that all of us, no matter what we face, no matter what circumstances of difficulty or fear we find ourselves in, we can all be praying and singing praises to God, faithfully trusting

31:53

Him, pouring out our hearts to Him. Why? Because we believe the same gospel and preach the same gospel that they did and they had.

32:03

This is our example. This is what Christians for millennia have done. They and we have never stood alone in proclaiming the gospel.

32:12

So even though you might feel alone at times when you share the gospel, you are not alone. You stand on the shoulders of Christians throughout all of church history who faithfully preached the gospel.

32:25

Prison can't stop it. Persecution can't stop it. Politics can't stop it. Culture can't stop it.

32:32

Hell can't stop it. The devil himself cannot stop the gospel, which is why

32:38

Paul says in Romans 1 16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation.

32:50

And even in a world where few believe what I've just told you, Jesus is building

32:56

His church. Amen? He's drawing His remnant. He's doing what He promised to do, and the day draws near when

33:04

His kingdom will come and be established on earth forever. So let's be faithful to prepare the way by proclaiming the gospel.

33:14

Let me pray for us. We'll take a short break and do Q &A. Father, thank You for the gospel.

33:20

Thank You for its power, and thank You how it makes a mockery of this world and its attempts to save itself.

33:29

I think of lost people thinking that climate change is the way to save the planet.

33:37

I think of those who think if we just had this politician or that politician, we'd save the world.

33:47

I think of those who compromise the gospel and the truth, thinking we just need to make the church likable.

33:54

We just need to get them in. We just need to lighten up. We just need to love everyone.

33:59

Be more inclusive. All these things, they're foolishness. Why? Because Your gospel is everything.

34:08

It is what saves. Your wisdom is the wisdom above all wisdoms. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for being our substitute, and thank

34:16

You for empowering us and employing us as Your servants.

34:22

Holy Spirit, we thank You for Your filling work,

34:28

Your equipping work, how You gift us to do one thing—to glorify

34:37

Jesus Christ. Help us to honor Your ministry in a world that makes a mockery of You, respecting

34:45

You and honoring You as the third and equal member of the Godhead, knowing that You are in us and we are

34:51

Your temple. Help us, please, to fulfill our mandate here on earth.

34:58

We look forward, mighty King, to Your kingdom to come. In Your name we pray,