Pillar 3, What Is the Gospel, Romans 1:16-17

Romans 1:16-17 and the Thesis of the Gospel

Romans chapter 1 verses 16 and 17 hear the word of the Lord. 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.

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is written the righteous shall live by faith. May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word. One of the most valuable people today in the business world is the effective salesman.

The sales or marketing is Perhaps the most prized talent in today's economy and developed countries like ours. With a saturation in the market of products and services. What it takes for one company to succeed over another is the ability to sell its product.

You can have the best restaurant or bakery in the world. But if you aren't able to get other people to see that well your business is in trouble. Marketing is the key to survival in today's business world.

So wanting to be a value-added church marketing ourselves. Wanting to give you that little extra. I looked up the keys to effective marketing and I didn't have to look long before I found what I needed or or I that is what you need.

After all one key to a marketing is to get the potential customer. Let's say it's you to see that your product is what they need. Not just to buy it because you know, I need the business don't try to get customers more customers by advertising.

I want a new car. Come by my general Charles chicken because I want a better car. That's just people think well I don't care about your car. I want to know if you have good chicken according to two separate business gurus.

The first key to effective marketing is to quote understand your product or another one said quote know your stuff. One says quote this means having extensive product knowledge. Essentially to be a good salesman.

You need to be something of an expert on whatever it is. You are selling. No one wants to buy a car from a guy who knows no more about cars than where to put the gas. Some purists now was squirm at the thought but the truth is that the church is in some ways in the business of marketing.

Oh someone someone decry that and no, we're not we're just about obeying Jesus. Okay, but the Lord Jesus who were supposed to be obeying told us in the Great Commission to go and Do some marketing after all we can't obey the Jesus's command to go and make disciples.

That has preached the gospel if we're not trying to persuade them to buy with their lives.

What we're offering.

The Gospel as Good News, Not a Half Gospel

Now today there are many church leaders who are bold and innovative and Successful and marketing. I just keep saying this internet ad on Facebook about this one particular church. I won't name him. He's grow huge Churches actually and it's just you know advertising his Insights doing some seminar somewhere, but but I often wonder what I see particularly this man and other people marketing the church marketing the gospel about whether they Know what it is.

They are Supposed to be marketing. Just even to ride around in this area, I know a man who grew a church. Pretty good size. I heard him I heard one part of a sermon and he began by saying the gospel is about how valuable you are.

You're worth so much. Jesus is willing to die for you. It's a statement of your worth and I thought you know if you're gonna grow a church, maybe you need to learn the gospel. Sure, they know how to sell but often they don't appear to know what they are supposed to be selling.

They can attract people to their churches. They have that knack whatever it is, but they don't know what the church is supposed to be. They can gather people Who want to hear them speak? But did they know what the gospel is?

You know they can sell. But they're not experts on what they're selling. The first tip to effective marketing is to know your product. The third pillar of a biblical church we're looking at today is that it knows and proclaims.

The gospel.

Well, what is the gospel then? Well first the word in Greek is when Galilean which simply means good news. Who means good on Galilean means message? It's not it's not a special kind of specific technical word.

You know like gospel is gospel means is one particular thing. It literally just means good news. If you get a letter from the IRS saying that you have a big refund coming. Well, that's good news. That's God.

That's the gospel. All right gospel if you have a tumor, it's good news. Gospel if the doctors find it, it's benign. It's no threat. If you take a legal problem to a lawyer, he might give you good news gospel.

There's really no problem. It's a minor thing. He can clear it up with no or little expense. If you check the sports news, you might find Gospel good news that your team won. So that is the name of the core Christian message it is the good news and that right there is a brilliant marketing technique.

For you know a name for our product that is immediately attractive. I mean if it was called imputed justification. And be technically right, but that would be a harder sell wouldn't it but it's called good news.

You can put that on a bumper sticker. Don't try imputed justification. That would be kind of weird but just no good news. But what is it? Good news about. Well, many people today think the good news is that we are okay and we can just if we can just feel okay about ourselves.

Then everything will be okay. Some think the gospel is that Jesus is our good example. And if we can just be like him follow his good example, then we have accepted the gospel for them. Then the gospel is sort of like a Buddhist Eightfold path or maybe it's like Confucianism.

You just follow follow this way this towel and You'll you fix after the gospel apparently something the gospel is a lifeguard yelling out to a drowning man take over the life preserver. Something the gospel is God is love and that's a biblical idea that occurs in 1st John chapter 4, but we hear that a lot.

But what about? The verse we rarely hear about in Hebrews chapter 12. Our God is a consuming fire. Some think the gospel is just a new message of peace instead of the old message of Vengeance, you know make love not war.

Of course what you get with that if you follow that advice is a bunch of kids making war on each other. All of those are the best half Gospels and a half gospel masquerading as the whole gospel is no gospel at all.

What then is the whole gospel the whole truth about the gospel? Well now to answer that question. Let's take apart this passage phrase by phrase. Which is sort of the thesis statement for the whole letter to Romans and it's packed with.

That's what is then unpacked and the rest of the letter here we see three unfolding reasons though in this in these two verses one after another and each signified by the word for or because explaining something first.

The first four first unfolding reason Paul tells us Why he is eager to preach the gospel in Rome and then he tells us why he is not ashamed of the gospel. And then third he tells us why it is the power of God for salvation and through these four to three unfolding wise.

He answers our big what? What is the gospel? First well, why is he eager to preach the gospel in Rome. In verse 16 it begins with for or because this tells us the Sentence flows from that explains what came just before.

In verse 15 he wrote that he is eager to preach the gospel in Rome. Now why. Because. In verse 16, he's not ashamed of the gospel. We should be eager to preach the gospel to evangelize. To share it with people.

To invite people to church where they can hear the gospel. To expose it to our kids. To Jim Jr. To do Jim because we're not ashamed of the shame of the gospel. But why would why would he be ashamed of the gospel?

Why would we be tempted to be ashamed of the gospel? Why would anyone? Be ashamed of the gospel after all we think of the gospel is a good thing. Something to be proud of not something to be ashamed of.

If something is certainly true, you know, we caught we say well That's the gospel truth. A popular style of music around here is gospel music. Who would be ashamed of the gospel then? Well, actually a lot more people would be if they really knew what it was.

At the very next verse after our text after our passage today in verse 18 Paul begins to describe Exactly what the gospel is. With startling arguments particularly artists darling to us he starts describing the good news by describing the wrath of God and the sins of men.

And he continues this theme for for two entire chapters. Concluding with sort of a machine gun like spray of quotes from the book of Psalms. There is no one righteous not even one.

But there.

But that's a hard sell. In our day those truths we like to think of ourselves as well-meaning people. Maybe we make mistakes, but we mean well and we have a cuddly God. This affects how we how we sell the gospel and And how we shape the church.

I once attended a conference on church planting and Denver, Colorado. One speaker there said that the church he planted was built on the principle that people all people deep down. They want God. They love God.

They just don't know anything about him. So then the church then to grow your church is church planting. You only need to provide this knowledge of God tell people about God that these people really already Deep down in their hearts already want they love already.

They desire him. He said so selling the church didn't should be easy. Just tell them about the God. They don't know. But they will just naturally love right if you have a product people will just love what they see it.

Then just show them the product right and if your church is it growing he suggested then it's because you're not marketing. Right to these people who supposedly want God, but just don't know him. The problem with that approach is that that is exactly the opposite Of what Paul says in this chapter in Romans 1 particularly starting in verse 18 verse 19 says what may be known about God is Playing to them the playing to people people know something about God.

He says God has made it known. He's made it known in nature. You can look at the stars the universe. He's made it known in our conscience. So God has made it known that our so that our conscience are and nature itself declares the glory of God.

So it is not that people are without knowledge of God, it's not that they don't know anything about God. It's that they hate God in verse 30. He says people are God haters this chapter verse 30 people are God haters.

They are sinners. Now it's true that the good news is that God through Jesus saves people from their sins. But just telling people that you know, you're saved from your sins. God's gonna save you from your sins.

It's like a doctor coming up to a person who thinks he's in perfect health and says good news. I can cure your cancer. But he doesn't know and will not accept the idea that he has cancer and what's worse He hates the doctor.

You understand that's the situation. We're in now this puts the church in an unusual position. First the good news begins with the bad news that we are sinners and the world's offended by that. It doesn't want to be told it is sinful.

It's just like no one wants to be told that they have cancer so from a business point of view. Think about what we're doing as far as marketing goes a marketing point of view. We're trying to sell something that we know.

That most of our customers almost all our customers don't want. They hate their product and that means the gospel is going to be hard to market and we can't change the product. That's even worse now if the if people suddenly stop liking coca-cola.

They don't want to drink coke anymore. The coca-cola corporation simple. They would just change the product. They would find something else that people like and they would market that it will do whatever it takes to survive in the business world.

To make more money. That's all it's about. But if we do that if we change our message where we change the church just because it makes us more popular more prosperous draws in the crowds. We're in trouble.

The world might like a little religion. But it hates God. And so if we shape our church our worship service, especially our message. Just to win friends to pack in the crowds. We would have allowed people Who hate God?

To dictate to us how to live and how to worship what to say what our message is. So we have a product. Think of our think of this situation from a business point of view. We have a product that people don't want naturally and We can't change it.

What do we do in?

The Power of God for Salvation

First Corinthians Paul says that the gospel was foolishness to the Greeks that that is to the Gentile world that they scoffed at it. It's nonsense this guy saying it was hard to market this message to the Gentiles the non-jewish people.

They didn't believe that they were sinners needing salvation. They thought they just needed maybe they needed ethics. They needed knowledge. Maybe they needed discipline. It was a hard sell and Now Paul plans on going to the capital city Rome like he's writing to them here to prepare his way.

It's the epitome of worldly power and Right in the belly of the beast. He's gonna proclaim this message that they found so offensive but he says I'm not ashamed. Now times have changed. But they seem to have come full circle.

Today, we are surrounded by a culture that doesn't want to hear it's sinful and depraved. It's dead in your trespasses and sins as Paul puts it in Ephesians chapter 2. Oh. We may admit, you know people admit that they need morality improvement.

They need education. Nobody's perfect right everyone. I meant they have imperfections. Maybe they even need enlightenment like in Buddhism or to follow the right path. To be a good family member like in Confucianism or maybe they need to master the right techniques.

They give them power like in Taoism, but salvation. Resurrection from spiritual death. That's not something that they feel they need. No dead people don't feel they need anything. It's one of the symptoms of being dead is you don't feel any needs and then the suggestion that God is angry with them in Their sins that there is such a thing as the wrath of God that needs to be satisfied, you know, talk about an unmarketable idea.

This is a hard sell we're talking about. So the temptation today just as in Paul's day Is to be ashamed of the gospel or at least as least parts of it ashamed that we have to mention sin and Judgment and the anger of God that faith in Jesus is the only way.

Be ashamed of all that the the pastor of the largest Church in America talked about why he never mentioned sin and judgment. He just with a big smile a slick talk. That's just not my style. Yeah, that's why he's the pastor of the largest Church in America.

Understand he knows how to market and he knows that these ideas. Don't sell. He's ashamed of the gospel and in that we're tempted with the same temptation and in that embarrassment that shame. We attempted to hide these hard-to-sell truths, but here in Paul's first unfolding reason.

He says he's not embarrassed by any of it. Why is he not embarrassed of the gospel? Well, that's the second unfolding reason. Why isn't he? Ashamed embarrassed. That he answers in verse 16 for it is the power of God for salvation.

Now unbelievers will scoff. But Paul says he's not embarrassed. Even though it may sound ridiculous to them, but he's not embarrassed because in this good news beginning with such hard-to-market ideas is the power of God.

This thing answers our question. And we have a product. That people naturally don't want but we can't change our product. So what are we to do? What we need is a power That's capable of changing. What people like.

Some kind of power that can actually transform people's hearts so that the God they used to hate. They will now love. Some stories told probably a myth but a story told some salesman come to some Village some tribe way out remote some jungle somewhere and he comes.

He's a he's a shoe salesman and he coming to look for customers for his shoes. And he sees this village and all the people walk around barefoot and so he calls home no business here. No one likes shoes.

So he leaves another salesman come sees the same village everyone walking around barefoot and he calls home great news. Everyone around here need shoes. Right. Now the thing is, of course the what he's gonna have to do is change their love of going around barefoot.

To preferring shoes. Does he have that power? Well here that power is going to take more than just showing them the advantage of shoes here. Appear. Paul says in Romans 1 16 that the gospel contains that power the power of God.

For.

Salvation notice three things about this that phrase the power of God for salvation three things about it first the source the source of the power second the significance of the power and third The salvation the result of the power.

So source significance in salvation first that the power is of God. Means that God is the source Comes from him. The power is in God and in his gospel. He controls it. And so we can't control it. Oh. Even though we might try we can't control it with a with the right prayer the right formula the right invitation him.

And the right manipulation of emotions you give the invitation with tears streaming down your cheeks as the organ softly plays. We can't bring about salvation that way we can't have the right revival meeting that will that will be sure to bring Salvation that's the way people somehow have thought in the past now a lot of what we find now.

There's a kind of there's a new that's the old marketing of salvation. Now. There's a new marketing of the church advertising salesmanship showmanship social media hype. Manipulation maybe fog machines and the right lighting all that all these same techniques that we can employ to get people to buy something else.

That doesn't have the power of God without the gospel. They have no power. To get people to love the God that they naturally hate. But the old ways, you know. They always were just as empty of power. Moralism be good little boys and girls.

Ritualism do the right rituals. Maybe it's like even like baptism you get baptized in our church. You'll be that has the power to save you maybe legalism even legalism. We have a lot of legalism today.

It's just legalism with very low standards. So legalism. You know you do these things you're about you're bound to be saved. We just lower the standards and it all suggests. That the power is in us in our choices and our willpower and our religion and our morality our power is enough.

By the power in us we can live up to a standard of righteousness and so be right with God when the 19th century evangelist Charles Finney again preach a gospel like that of. That is that we had within us the power to change ourselves.

And so make ourselves. Love God and righteousness. Well, at least he had very high standards. You know, he would rebuke people by name for the pulpit. How dare you come to church dressing you look at that fancy suit how much money you spent on that?

Wearing too expensive clothes and the like, you know how you just add to every detail of your life. He could regulate he believed that with the right preaching the manipulation of what he called the anxious bench, which is the first Step toward the invitation system.

We many people have now the right formula of practices that if you follow his formula. We can manage the power of salvation it's within our grasp. Now in our day too many still have the same assumption that the power to change is in us.

But we just lower the standards, you know, basically, you know. Try not to be a mass murderer and you'll you can make it. God will accept you. Well, the problem is the same though. It's still based on what you do.

You're trying not to be a mass murderer, you know, that's great the belief that the power to change in the repent and believe is in us. That we have the power. But here the power is of God. He's the source.

Well second it is it is the power of God. That is it is significant. It's it's power. It's powerful. Paul wrote in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 or 17 that if anyone is in Christ, he is a New-creature. He's not just a new believer in new doctrines.

The power has changed him. Totally is a whole different being the gospel. It's not just a few facts about Jesus that if you agree with him, then you've accepted the gospel. You've changed your mind about a few facts in the in the history of the past.

No, it's more than that not just suggest actually outright say as long as you say you believe these ducks, you know Jesus died for your sins and rose from the dead then you're saved even if your life shows no change whatsoever.

There's no there's no expression of power in your life. It's not made you a new creature that's some people's idea of the gospel that the gospel but here of the gospel is the power of God and When it comes into your life, I power does it makes a significant impact, right?

There's power flowing through these lights. If you touch those wires. The that power would have a significant impact on you the power of God makes us new and that will definitely show in. The way we live will make you perfect yet.

But it will produce fruit results. It will show third. It is the power for Power of God for salvation, you know that last quote from the back to convert 17 Says that those who are right with God, that's the righteous they're right with God.

They're in a right relationship with God. They shall live. That is they'll be raised up from death. There are resurrected. They are new. The the gospel has the power to rescue people from their sin from death.

For a right relationship with God for life to live right with him the righteous will live by their faith. What is the gospel. Well, this passage says it is the power of God for the salvation for everyone who believes.

But it's not for everyone is it it's not for those who don't believe. Salvation in Romans chapter 1 verse 17 is revealed from faith to faith. We are right with God that is through faith. That is faith is the means that the way the salvation comes through and then salvation builds up our faith.

It is to faith.

Martin Luther.

Defined faith as quota a living daring confidence in God's grace. So sure and certain that a man would stake his life on it a thousand times. Hey like that for a definition of faith faith is the way salvation is shown or Manifest.

To us are displayed to us if we receive the power of God it it shows itself. By our having faith it produces faith, that's what is revealed to us. Right. The righteousness of God is revealed to those who believe.

Our faith demonstrates that we are saved. It's not what many people think it is. It's not faith is not what we muster up within ourselves in order to save ourselves. Salvation is expressed or Manifest displayed by the fact that now we who were once God hating unbelievers Are now God loving believers.

That's what the power has done within us. Salvation then comes through faith, but here we have a problem. At least depending on what you believe it if we are as bad as the Bible says we are. How can we do something as perfectly good as believe God?

Now where's the faith gonna come from. If a heart that hates God you're not gonna believe him. Are you. How could we do something as perfectly good as believe God for dead and sins. How could we have a living daring confidence in God's graces?

There's so sure and certain that we would stake our life on it a thousand times. If we are as the Bible says we are God hating people who are dead in our sins. Belief faith in God. After all is the best work.

If it's a work if it's something he comes from office the best work we could ever do. But if we are as dead and sin as the Bible says we are how can we have the life? That it takes to have that kind of faith in God.

Oh we need power. We need power to believe power to change our dead hearts of stone. Into living hearts of flesh and Paul says he's not ashamed of the gospel. Because it has that power In it in the gospel is the power to save you even to give you the faith that you could not muster up on your own.

Paul here writes that the power of God is for the salvation for everyone who believes notice that he doesn't say what. Many people assume he says he doesn't say that people are saved because they believe.

Rather it says that God's power is for that is working on behalf of its active. For their interest. It's for those who believe. Understand the difference. Notice first that he but he doesn't say he doesn't say what many people today assume.

He he means he doesn't say that we believe it's left all up to us that we muster up the faith all on our own. By our own free will and that makes it possible then for us to access the power of God.

After we've believed.

Remember people dead in sin are not going to believe God. Positively then what does he mean? I believe he means that among other things the power of God enables us To believe in the first place. How do our dead hearts produce faith?

Well the power of God Comes it's been it for our salvation. It gives us faith. The reason why a believer has the power to believe is because God's power is it worked for on behalf of him? But we like to think that we've done something for ourselves.

I've heard this analogy used for the relationship between you know, faith and salvation. How are how are you saved? How what does it mean to believe to be safe? Well, some people say well, this is what it's like.

Someone's drowning drowning their way down by their sin. They're sinking in to hell. They're gonna drown but then Jesus comes along and he like a lifeguard. He throws out the life preserver. Actually a good lifeguard gonna dive in but besides that but in this analogy He throws out the life preserver and the life preserver is the gospel and the proclamation of the gospel is the good news to drowning.

People.

Hey, there's a life preserver. That's the gospel. Some people think. Reach out and grab it but it's up to you. You have to do your part by taking hold of it. That's faith. They say taking hold of the life preserver and that Is how you say by faith?

They say.

There there are some there's some good things about that analogy before I absolutely condemn it. The good things is we do have to believe that part's true and faith is not just a feeling. Faith takes hold of something.

It grasps the gospel and it doesn't let go. You know at least this analogy gets gets that something very important right about faith. It faith is like a clenched hand on a life preserver and faith can't be just an anything.

You know some people think they as long as they believe in any matter what you believe in as long as you believe in something that you're. Okay. Now faith has to be in the right thing. If you're drowning at sea and you grab a shark instead of a life preserver, you know drowning Would be the least of your problems just like you you have to grab the right thing.

Faith has to be in the right thing. It has to be in Christ the true Jesus of the gospel. He's the one we hold on to with our faith. So that analogy gets all that, right? But it gets a lot wrong to. The problem with the life preserver analogy is that the Bible doesn't just say you were in danger of potentially drowning.

That sin is weighing you down and if you don't do something now, you know, you're still alive fighting for your life. But you got to do your part and save yourself. It says that we are doesn't say that it says we are dead in our sins.

And trespasses, we're not it. We're not a drowning man, you know waving our arms help. I'm going down into sin and hell. Asking for help. We're not.

We're a corpse.

Floating face down in the water. Jesus doesn't throw us a life preserver and leave us up leave it up to us to take hold of it. He jumps in and Takes hold of us. He drags us to shore and Then he breathes life into us.

Jesus saves. So in the gospel Salvation is not just made made available. It's not just offered. Like a way a grocer offers milk. It's there if you want to get some it is affected. The gospel is not just a potential power that we unlock.

But with our techniques we say the right prayer. Believe the right doctrine saying, you know doing the right ritual maybe living by the right morality. No, it is real power. It is the power of God for salvation.

Do you really want to know what the gospel is? It's so simple. You can you can really reduce it to a bumper sticker two words. Jesus saves. He doesn't just throw out the life preserver and leave it up to us to quote exercise our faith and so contribute our little bit.

To saving ourselves. The gospel is that Jesus saves. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2 says that Jesus is the the author and the perfecter of our faith author that originates from him. Perfector it it will it will reach his goal with him.

Our faith is authored by him. He just as a writer sits down before you a blank sheet of paper or a computer screen and author is a book. It comes from the author it originates our faith originates from him.

The paper or the computer can't take credit for the book of an author writes. We can't take credit for the the faith that God inspires that he breathed into us after. Rescuing us from our death salvation is from beginning to end all the work of God.

For the glory of God as it says in our text salvation is from faith to faith. Well the flip side of this for the negative side Is described by the Lord Jesus himself in John chapter 10 verses 25 to 26 there.

He tells the Pharisees. You do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep. Think about that statement carefully because it's the opposite of the way many of us were trained to think. From first you do not believe you Pharisees you do not believe.

Because you do not belong to my sheep. Jesus doesn't say like money. Many people think he's saying you do not belong to my sheep. Because you do not believe. That's what many people today would expect Jesus to say but he does it.

He says that people don't believe because they are not his sheep. Belonging to God's flock being one of his sheep is not Dependent on believing. It's not a lack of faith. That puts these in these Pharisees here.

It's not a lack of faith that puts them outside of God's sheep that makes them a non sheep. It's the other way around. Believing is dependent on being a sheep.

Those who are sheep believe.

Sheep believe just what they do. That's how you know, just sheep he believes. There they're not sheep because they believe. They believe because they're sheep. Does that make sense? Belonging to God's flock being one of his sheep experiencing the transforming power of God enables a person to believe and.

This message of the gospel then he says is first to the Jew and then to the Greek. By Greek here. He means All non-jewish people. This is who it's for it's for. Basically for the Jews and for the Greeks the Greeks.

He means all non-jewish people just basically all of us all of our neighbors. The good news is not for one race our culture our nation and not for another. He's saying it's for all people all kinds of people.

So the gospel by its nature and this is good to remember now tomorrow's Martin Luther King Day in this Culture in the society where the bigger in the South where the gospel was proclaimed. But it must have something must have been wrong with it.

Because it was proclaimed in a version of it parts of it in segregated churches. Where people were left out because of their race. You know whereby just by their actions the church was saying This gospel is for our kind of people.

That's unimaginable. To the gospel that Paul is describing here. It's to the Jew first and also to to the great so all kinds of people. So the the gospel allows for no discrimination no isolating of our proclamation to one group and ignoring no ignoring others in Business terms it doesn't allow niche marketing the only one only what you only care about one small group of people you want to reach.