Unashamed, Part 1

My text today comes from Romans 1:15-16: “So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.  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. 

The Rome of Paul’s day was the capital of the vast empire. It was a prosperous, wealthy, religious – and contemptibly decadent city. As such, it was not in the least dissimilar to any major city in America today. Those who lived in Rome were as spiritually lost and spiritually hungry as any city and town in America and in the world today.

But despite their egregious sins, God loved those who lived in Rome. And He longed to reconcile them to Himself, to change their lives for the better, to bring them out of darkness and into His healing light.

That’s why God sent the apostle Paul to preach the good news that God’s POWER can change anyone who wants to be changed, who wants a clean slate, who wants a new start – both Jew and Gentile.

And what is the good news message sent to us from heaven that has the power to change harlots and thieves, the self-righteous and profligates – what is that message that can change sinners into saints?

Let me first say this: The good news message is NOT about the church, any church, your church, my church. The gospel message is about Jesus Christ. Period. Full stop.

Some time ago I spoke with a young man from a church my wife and I used to attend. He asked my opinion about a program he wanted to develop whose purpose would be to help others become better citizens – compassionate, empathetic, self-sacrificing.

I listened for about 10 minutes and then asked why he hadn’t yet mentioned a word related to Christ – who alone can change a person’s heart.

He responded, “But I can’t tell a Buddhist about the church.” His answer made me wonder if he really KNOWS the gospel message. And so I said, “I’m not talking about a church. I’m talking about Jesus. You don’t need to talk with a Buddhist, or a Jew, or a Muslim, or an atheist about a ‘church.’  We need to talk to them about Jesus.”

My brothers and sisters, St. Paul’s routine practice, whether in Athens, or Rome, or Corinth, or everywhere else he went, his practice should be our practice: “And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-2)

St. Paul was NOT ashamed of the gospel. Why? Because it is the ONLY “power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” But his comment begs a question: Why would anyone be ashamed of the gospel message?

Here is one reason: “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. . . . Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18-24 

Have you ever wondered why some in your families – intelligent men and women, all of them – scoff at the good news message of Jesus?  Have you wondered why so many you have met in your walk – intelligent men and women -- scoffed at and reject the good news message of Jesus?

Certainly, one reason is because the gospel is foolishness to those who have hardened their hearts against God’s message of sin and judgment. That’s why so many pastors and Bible class teachers and the regular person in the pew have become ashamed to talk about the Jesus of the Bible, because the Bible tells us things most people do not want to hear – and that includes those pastors, teachers, and people in the pew.

Oh, God, HELP US to never be ashamed of the gospel message – which is the ONLY message that can save a soul from hell on earth and hell in eternity.

The gospel was and will always be the good news of God’s power to change lives from the inside out, both in Rome, and in Atlanta, and New York, and London, and Jerusalem, and in every city and town across the globe.

Again, what is the gospel? Here is how St. Paul summarized the gospel in his letter to the Corinthians: “For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures . . ..” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) 

In this short passage, Paul lays out three essential elements of the gospel message. First, Jesus “died for our sins, according to the Scriptures.” And as a quick aside, I hope you recognize how all the writers of the New Testament appealed time and again to the Scriptures to support their points.

It is from one end of the Scriptures to the other that even the casual reader finds that God requires perfection and holiness from everyone who hopes to enter heaven. Therefore, St Peter tells us, “[B]e holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written: “You shall be Holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15,16, quoting Leviticus 11:44, and also chapters 19 and 20).

But the really bad news for everyone is that Scripture also tell us, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). And please take note – this text in Romans 3 does not separate little sins from big sins, or as some call them, venial sins from mortal sins. No. Scripture tells us all sin, every sin, any sin makes us guilty before an utterly holy God.

And it’s because of God’s utter holiness and His irreversible requirement that only those who are holy can enter heaven, God implemented the sacrificial system in the Law of Moses to atone for sins.

We do not have time now to look in any detail regarding that sacrificial system except to say that in so doing, God could be righteous and impartial when it comes to judging sin – that being eternal death (Romans 6:23) – but He could at the same time be merciful to the sinner who trusted in those atoning sacrifices.

I urge you to read chapters seven through ten in the New Testament book of Hebrews to better understand how and why Jesus’ death made that sacrificial system obsolete. But let me simply say God placed on Jesus each and every sin of the penitent man and woman who seeks forgiveness and a new life, and clean slate – who wants to be born again.

And the good news continues: Having placed our sins on Christ, God then placed Christ’s sinless righteousness on the penitent.

Here are only two Scriptures to demonstrate that good news truth: The first is from Isaiah 53 which tells us Messiah would be “wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed . . . and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”  (verses 5,6b)

And then in 2 Corinthians 5:21 “[God] made [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

THAT is how the Holy, Just, and Merciful God can welcome every unrighteous sinner into His presence – through their faith in the substitutional and sacrificial atonement Jesus paid for our sins.

And so, the first element of the gospel message is this: Christ died for our sins. Here is the second: [Christ] was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures . . ..” (1 Corinthians 15:4)

I know I keep circling around to these points of Jesus’ sacrificial death and of His resurrection, but I do that because the resurrection of Christ is the lynchpin of God’s entire plan of salvation. Without the resurrection, Christianity crashes to the ground in a pile of rubble. That’s why so many godless theologians and pastors and philosophers and educators mock the historical account of that resurrection.

But Jesus’ physical resurrection from death proves not only the power of God, but also proves that you and I CAN have a new life, a clean slate – to be FOREVER and EVER forgiven of whatever sins we have ever committed, regardless of their depravity. The resurrection is God’s unfailing and eternally trustworthy PROMISE of forgiveness to the penitent.

Finally, for today, Paul closes verse 16 focusing on the requisite element of salvation. He tells them – and us – the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.  

We will not spend a lot of time on this point because Paul finishes his thought in the next verse, verse 17. That verse far too important for us to give it only a superficial mention, and so we will look more closely at it next time. But for now, let me simply say that Scripture tells us again and again Salvation is a free gift offered to us by God. Here is Romans 6:23 -  “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We MUST understand this. We did nothing to earn salvation. Indeed! We could not do anything to earn our salvation because we were dead in our sins (see Ephesians 2:1). The Greek word Paul used in Ephesians 2:1 is the word from which we get the English, ‘necrotic.’  And dead people can do nothing for themselves – because they are dead.

No, we were not diamonds covered with mud, as I have heard some pastors describe it. We need to believe St. Paul over today’s pastors and teachers. We were not diamonds covered with mud. We were dead.

Necrotic dead.

But Paul continued in that Ephesian passage: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ . . . . . For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (2:4-9)

Paul writes further to Titus (3:4-7): “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 

So why is it that so many Christians convince themselves that although they did not do any works to BE saved, they now have to do works to STAY saved? That was the very error St. Paul had to address with the Christians at Galatia. Here is what he wrote in chapter three of that letter: “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed  as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? . . . Even so Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. (verses 1-6)

As I said, we cannot spend much time developing this crucial point about faith, works, and salvation. We will come back to it next week. But let me close this message in this way:

How can a person be SURE of his or her salvation? Let me explain it as simply as the Scriptures explain it. I call it God’s GPS for heaven’s address – GPS is God’s Plan of Salvation. Some call this the Roman Road to heaven:

1. Confess to God that you are a sinner. Don’t nitpick with yourself about small and big sins, about venial and mortal sins. Admit to Him that you are a sinner, and that for ANY of your sins, you deserve the wrathful judgment of a HOLY God. As Scripture tells us: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” – Romans 3:23

2. Believe that God is deadly serious when He said, “The wages of sin is death, but the FREE gift of God is eternal life [only] IN Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 6:23 

3. Believe God LOVES you. He is NOT looking for ways to send you to hell. Believe the Holy Spirit when He tells us, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8

4. And finally, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”  – Romans 10:9-10

Now please pay attention. This is IMPORTANT: To confess Jesus as your LORD means you will be baptized as He directed (See Mark 16:16; Acts 2:37-42), and then you will follow His commandments for the rest of your life). Obedience to Christ’s commandments is the only evidence that Jesus is truly your LORD.

We continue our examination of this text next week.