WWUTT 1157 I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel? (Romans 1:16)

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The Apostle Paul says in Romans 1 .16, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

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You know, when a person thinks they have to dress up the gospel to make it more appealing, they're ashamed of it when we understand the text.

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Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty.

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Visit our website at www .utt .com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

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Thank you, Becky. Well, in our study of the book of Romans, we have come to the pair of verses that are really the thesis statement to this letter, and Paul will use the rest of the letter to unpack what he says here in Romans 1, verses 16 and 17.

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

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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.

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And then we go on from there to verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

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That's a section that we will get more into next week. But for now today, let's look at Romans 1, 16.

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Such a famous verse, very popular. I understand there's a record label that was called 116, and that label came from this verse,

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Romans 1, 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel.

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Now keep this in context with what it is that we read yesterday. The apostle Paul talking to this church in Rome, saying that he longs to come to them and wants to share something with them.

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And they likewise can encourage him in his mission, the work that he's doing for the gospel.

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And he says in verse 14, I am under obligation, both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.

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So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. So Paul has been preaching the gospel to Greeks and to Jews, Gentiles and Jews.

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He's been preaching to Greeks and to barbarians. He has been preaching to the wise and to the foolish.

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And no matter where it is that he goes with the gospel, it has been promised of him by the Holy Spirit that persecutions await him.

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Remember when he was heading back to Jerusalem, he told the brothers at one of his stops on the way,

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I don't know what is gonna happen to me when I get to Jerusalem, but the Holy Spirit has said to me that there are persecutions in every city into which

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I go sharing the gospel. So as he says here in Romans 1 .16, it's not just a standalone verse.

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It's not just something that Paul decided was real pithy and so he's gonna make it like the title of the book of Romans.

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This is in context with what he just said. If you're reading the English standard version, then you'll know verses 16 and 17 are kind of singled out and the headline is the righteous shall live by faith.

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But you gotta pretend that that break isn't there. So verse 16 goes right with what we just read in verse 15.

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I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. I've preached to Jews and Gentiles.

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I've preached to Greeks and barbarians. I've spoken to wise and foolish. So I am eager to come and preach the gospel to you because I am not ashamed of the gospel.

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So therefore I'm gonna preach it to everybody no matter where I go and no matter what persecutions await me when

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I get there, I'm gonna preach the gospel. Why? For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the

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Jew first and also to the Greek. Where previously he was saying the obligation to Greeks and barbarians to the wise and to the foolish.

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He didn't mention Jews there, but then when he does say, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, that's where he mentions to the

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Jew first and also to the Greek. And we know that when the apostle Paul went into a town, he would go to the synagogue first preaching to the

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Jews. And then when they rejected the gospel, he would go to the

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Gentiles. Even if the Jews were receptive of the gospel, though every occasion that we have in the book of Acts has the synagogue rejecting the gospel, but even if they were receptive of it, he was still gonna go to the

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Gentiles for that was the commission that was given to him by God to do, to preach to the

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Gentiles. Christ gave that commission even to his own disciples. You think of Acts 1, 8, where he says there to his disciples that you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

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So it's gonna begin right over here in Jerusalem. Then you're gonna go to Judea, the outlying area around Jerusalem and Samaria, that area to the north of Judea.

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And then you're gonna go to the ends of the earth. You are gonna take the message of the gospel even to the

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Gentiles. So Paul is committed to the preaching of the gospel because this is the power of salvation, not anything else.

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Like you think of what it is that he says to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1. He says, charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations, rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

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The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

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Certain persons by swerving from these have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make their confident assertions.

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Then even toward the end of the letter in 1 Timothy 6, he says something similar there as well.

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He says, teach and urge these things. If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our

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Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.

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He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

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But godliness with contentment is great gain for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world.

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But if we have food and clothing with these, we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction, namely twisting the word into false doctrine to appease the most number of people so that I will gain the most wealth.

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For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils, it says in 1 Timothy 6 .10. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith, the sound teaching of our

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Lord Jesus Christ, and have pierced themselves with many pangs. In the letter that the

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Apostle Paul wrote to Titus, he says the following regarding the qualifications for an elder in Titus 1 .9.

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He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

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For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.

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They must be silenced since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.

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So over and over again throughout the scriptures, the Apostle Paul warns about false doctrine.

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In every letter he writes with the exception of Philemon, I think that's the only one that Paul wrote where he did not warn about false teachers.

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Otherwise, in every letter that he wrote to the churches, he warned them about be wary of those who are wolves in sheep's clothing.

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Outwardly, they look like one of you, but inwardly they're ravenous wolves, just as Jesus warned about in Romans 7.

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The Apostle Paul said this with the elders at Ephesus in Acts 20, that fierce wolves will rise from even among you, desiring to devour the sheep.

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So you must be devoted to the true gospel, the word of God. And as it's described there in 1

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Timothy 6, the teaching that accords with godliness. In other words, preaching the gospel is going to produce in a person godliness.

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You don't produce godliness in a person by giving them a list of do's and don'ts.

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Now, it's not that we don't preach the do's and don'ts. We do preach the do's and don'ts, but you can't just do the do's and don'ts.

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Otherwise, you're setting people up for failure. There's no way for a person to keep the law, if not for the

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Holy Spirit of God that is living within them. For Jesus said through the prophet Ezekiel, that my spirit

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I will put within you and I will take out your heart of stone, I will give you a heart of flesh and I will cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

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Our ability to follow God and do so in a pleasing way comes by the gift of the

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Holy Spirit that has been poured into our hearts. It is by belief in the gospel. It is the power of God that we are able to worship

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God in a way that pleases God, that we are able to live our lives in a way that the father looks upon us as beloved sons and daughters of God.

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All of this by the gift of God, by faith in the gospel. And so it must be in light of the gospel that we hear the do's and don'ts because Jesus has died on the cross for you, because he has purchased you by the spilling of his blood, by the giving of his life, by the taking of the wrath of God upon himself.

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He became sin who knew no sin, that for our sake he might become the righteousness of God in him.

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That is 2 Corinthians 5 21. Jesus did this for us.

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And because he gave himself for us to the glory of God, the father. So therefore we must turn from our sin and follow him by faith in the gospel.

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And it's understanding that the righteousness of God has been imputed to us by faith in Jesus, that we are now able to live in a righteous way.

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Living in righteousness does not mean that you're living in perfection, but you must certainly strive for perfection.

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You desire to attain perfection. As the apostle Paul said to the Philippians, I desire to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

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So we seek for perfection because Christ himself is perfect. And we desire in Christ likeness to be as our savior is.

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And this all comes in light of the gospel. So that's where the do's and don'ts come in. You hear the gospel, you turn from your sin, you walk in the righteousness of Christ.

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And it's by the righteousness that has been given to you by faith that you are now able to live in that way that is pleasing unto the

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Lord. Jesus said that we must. He said to his disciples in John chapter 14, you will show me that you love me when you keep my commandments.

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So absolutely we must keep the commands of God. But following those commandments is not what saves us.

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It is a demonstration of the gospel that saves us, that we believe in that gospel.

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And by faith in the good news of Christ, we now walk by faith for the righteous shall live by faith.

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As it says here in verse 17. That verse we're gonna concentrate more on tomorrow. Today we're mainly here in verse 16.

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I am not ashamed of the gospel, the apostle Paul says, because it's the power of God for salvation.

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Not the do's, not the don'ts. It's believing the gospel. It is repenting and believing the gospel of Jesus Christ by placing faith and trust in him, by desiring with your whole heart

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God through the giving of his son, Jesus. That is our salvation.

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Jesus is our salvation. He is the gospel. So I am not ashamed of the gospel.

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It is the power of God for salvation. So therefore that's what Paul is gonna preach.

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And no matter what dangers he may face in preaching that, he's gonna preach that because that is how a person comes to salvation.

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He does so out of love and affection. God has showed his love for Paul in that while he was yet a sinner,

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Christ died for him, Romans 5 .8. And so Paul desires to demonstrate that same love and affection for others as he goes about preaching the gospel.

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Now, summarizing the gospel can be done a number of different ways because we have various verses in scripture that help us do this.

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The most popular, of course, is John 3 .16. It is such a great one verse summary of the gospel.

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For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

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We have in that verse, the gospel, even the doctrine of justification by faith.

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Whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life.

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In Acts 2 .21, we read, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's a phrase, by the way, that gets repeated again in Romans 10 .13.

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So that itself is also the gospel. Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

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What good news? You're not saved by your works. You're saved by calling upon Christ.

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How about this one in 1 Corinthians 15 .3 -4? Here is like the historical summary of the gospel.

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Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. He was buried and he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.

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So even as the gospel is spoken to us in the New Testament, 1

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Corinthians 15 .3 -4, it hearkens back to things that were prophesied in the Old Testament.

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Yes, the gospel was preached there also. And the entire Bible is meant to point us to Christ for he and he alone saves.

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Ephesians 2 .8 -9, for by grace you have been saved through faith in our

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Lord Jesus Christ. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast.

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That passage is also the gospel that we are saved by grace through faith.

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Consider these words in Ephesians 1 .10 and Colossians 1 .20, that God is reconciling all things to himself, things in heaven and on earth through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

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It's kind of a one sentence summary of the gospel combining those two verses together there. And then you might also consider this one from 1

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Peter 2 .24. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

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By his wounds, you have been healed. We also consider the gospel as it is proclaimed in the book of Revelation.

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At the end of all things, Revelation 11 .15 and Revelation 22 .5,

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Jesus reigns forever and ever. Amen and amen, right?

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That word gospel means good news, and it's the good news about what?

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Well, as Paul said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1 .15, it is the good news that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.

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We in the presence of a holy God have been separated from God. We are worthy of his wrath and his judgment, but to poor sinners who recognize their sinfulness and need for a savior,

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God has given his son, and whoever looks upon the son will not perish, but be forgiven their sins, and we have right standing with God and the promise of eternal life with him forever in glory.

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That message by itself has the power to change a sinner from being dead to alive in Christ.

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Only the gospel has the power to do that, and the Holy Spirit works that power through a person who by faith believes in the gospel.

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This message is enough to save a person. Paul says it's the power of God for salvation.

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So it doesn't need any help. It doesn't need dressing up. It doesn't need to look like the world in order to attract worldly people.

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Worldly people are always gonna be worldly people unless they're convicted of their sin and recognize their need for a savior, which again can only happen by the preaching of the gospel.

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So you see these videos of people acting crazy in church by dressing up like stormtroopers and doing a stormtrooper dance as though worldly people are gonna come in and go, oh, hey, a church can be hip and love

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Star Wars too. So, well, I can do that. See, what you're attracting there is a person who thinks that they can be married to the world and still have a little bit of saving religion too.

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It's a form of syncretism. And yet the apostle Paul said with the Corinthians, you cannot dine at the table of the

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Lord and at the table of demons. You can't have both. You're gonna convince people that they can be worldly and be sanctified at the same time.

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Eventually they're gonna kick sanctification to the curb and go after the world because that's what they want anyway, the titillation of their flesh.

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This was confronted long ago that doing these kinds of things to attract people as if you can share the gospel with them and save them as long as you give them something attractive that draws them in.

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This was confronted by the apostle Paul 2000 years ago. He said to the Corinthians in 1

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Corinthians 1 .22, Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach

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Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. Doesn't matter how you dress it up.

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Once you get to the gospel, they're gonna stumble all over themselves because they don't wanna believe it.

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They love their flesh. They don't wanna die to themselves and follow Christ. So how do we save a person?

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Not by giving them carnality because as Paul Washer has said, you try to win people with carnal things, it's gonna take carnal things in order to keep them there.

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The gospel doesn't keep them there. It's the worldly stuff you were throwing at them to attract them to you.

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It's the gospel that has the power, doesn't need any help. And those who think that it does need help, who thinks that they need to be attractional or seeker friendly to do something secular in order to draw people in to hear the gospel, they're actually ashamed of the gospel.

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They don't believe it has the power of God to save souls because instead they need to spend tons and tons of money.

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Some of the productions these churches do are ridiculously expensive. They cost more than my house and they will dump thousands, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars a year into these productions to try to draw worldly people to them who aren't gonna believe anyway.

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For as it says in 1 Corinthians 1 .18, the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

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You want to save a person's soul from hell, give them the gospel. Not titillating their flesh, give them the gospel.

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

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Jew first and also to the Greek. And we're gonna come back to this tomorrow as we embark upon verse 17.

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Heavenly father, we thank you that the gospel has come to us and that we believed by faith in the work of Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross for our sins so that we might turn from our sinfulness and walk in righteousness.

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Thank you for saving our souls. Keep us steadfast in the faith to the end. In Jesus name we pray, amen.

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Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog, sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

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You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com. Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's word when we understand the text.