The Gospel, God's Power to Save! Romans 1:16-17

A sermon preached at Hebron Baptist Church, Denham Springs, LA on August 2, 2009 by Pastor Joe Alain.

Scripture Reading: Romans 1:16-17

INTRODUCTION
The Blessing of Mutual Encouragement (vv.8-12)
In the opening sections of this chapter, Paul describes how he has longed to share with the believers in Rome. They have been in his prayers (vv.9-10) and Paul has desired to be with them in person. He wants to impart to them “some spiritual gift to make” them strong (v.11). The gift that he desires to bring to the Roman believers is the gift of sharing and encouragement (v.12). Paul envisions that when he arrives in Rome and begins to share with them, both the believers in Rome and Paul will be encouraged by each other’s faith.

That’s how it works among believers and that’s why sharing God’s word and our faith together is so important. As we share with each other and serve alongside with one another, we encourage one another. In what ways are you sharing with other believers? Studying God’s word together? Praying together? Encouraging your fellow believers? Serving in a ministry together? All of these things bring the blessing of mutual encouragement.

Seeing God’s Purposes and Timing (v.13)
Even though Paul has been prevented from coming to share with the Romans, he is not discouraged. He sees this as working out for God’s greater purpose. He knows that God is in control and that having to wait sometimes is for God’s greater glory and for our good. Paul knows that these delays are only going to bring about a greater spiritual harvest when he does come to Rome (v.13).

It’s important for us to understand God’s purposes and His timing. We see unfulfilled dreams, delayed answers to prayers, roadblocks in ministry as hindrances – something that should not be in our lives. But God is at work and we need to grasp by faith that He is in control. Maybe you’ve been dreaming, praying and waiting and you wonder if God is hearing and working. I can assure you that He is. Stay strong in the Lord and keep your eyes on Christ. He will show you His greater purpose and it will always be for His glory and your good.

An Obligation to Preach the Gospel (vv.14-15)
Paul was saved by grace through faith, but Paul felt a deep sense of obligation to serve in the Gospel. The Gospel, the Good News of Christ that He paid for your sins and took your punishment and rose again is complete and the benefits of what God has done are freely given to you by grace through faith. But trusting in Christ leads to a life of gratitude and living out
God’s grace.

Paul said in Philippians 2:12 that we are to continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Not “work for” but “work out.” In other words, God’s salvation is a gift, but our lives our to be grace-filled and lived out in continual gratitude to God for His great gift. This is the new direction of our life – we have been changed on the inside and given a new power to please Him. Paul was saved completely by grace and he lived in complete wonder of that event. However, Paul sensed a deep obligation to all people, “both Greeks and non-Greeks” (v.14). Because of this deep sense of obligation, Paul was eager to “preach the gospel” (v.15).

Paul’s passion for the Gospel is especially seen in our text today (verse 16) when he says, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel.” Why was Paul not ashamed? Because the Gospel “is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” The Gospel is God’s power to save! By trusting in the message of the Gospel, God makes us righteous, something that we are unable to do ourselves. This is why Paul says, “I am not ashamed.” Instead, Paul is saying “I glory in the Gospel and I feel a deep sense of obligation to share its life-changing message with all people.”

As we look at these verses, there are some key words that we need to understand. These words are found throughout the book of Romans and in Paul’s other writings as well.
Key Terms
Gospel – The Gospel is the good news that God Himself has rescued us from our sin and its punishment through Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection. See 1 Cor. 15:3-4.

Salvation – Means to heal, to rescue, specifically to rescue us and free us from our sin which holds us captive. Barclay: Salvation means to rescue from danger (Matt. 8:25), from life’s infection (Acts 2:40), from lostness (Lk. 19:10), from sin (Matt. 1:21), and from God’s wrath (Rom. 5:9).

Righteousness – In the Hebrew mind, righteousness was a legal term and had to do more with legal status than a moral quality. It means to be in the right in relation to God and His law. The same form of the word is found at Matt. 5:20; Gal. 2:21; 3:21; 2 Cor. 5:21. To be righteous is to enter into a new relationship with God, a relationship of love and confidence and friendship, instead of one of separation and enmity and fear. This right relationship with God is a result of a person casting himself on the amazing mercy and love of God.

Note: God’s righteousness is “Revealed” (v.17), a pres., passive, indicative (also at 1:18) which indicates that this righteousness comes from God alone. Man did not come up with the biblical idea of righteousness, it is revealed or unveiled from God.

Faith – Belief, total acceptance, absolute trust. A firm belief in God and His word.

GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS REVEALED (vv.16-17)
These verses form the heart of this chapter and the theme of the book of Romans. Behind the truth of this passage are several realities. The first reality concerns sin, a universal problem.
I. Sin: A Universal Problem
Paul had a world-wide outlook because he knew that sin was a universal problem. The Gospel is universal (for “everyone”) because the need that the Gospel addresses is universal. All people need the Gospel (Rom. 3:10, 23). What we found on our recent mission trip to Nicaragua you will find in every corner of our town and the globe – the universal problem of sin. This is why Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel, it is the answer to man’s problem. We too should not
be ashamed.

To compound our sin problem, we are faced with a second reality; that is, we are totally unable to do anything about our sin.
II. Human Effort: An Insufficient Cure
As intelligent as the human race is, we still have yet to find a cure for what ails the human heart. We’ve learned how to contain evil doers and enact external laws to keep people in some sort of check through human power. But man has still not yet figured out how to deal with the problem of the human heart. We are powerless to cure ourselves but that doesn’t stop us from trying.

How do people attempt to deal with their sin problem? There are some of course who deny the reality of sin. What we call sin is termed a sickness, a psychological problem, some deficiency that can be explained by medical science. Other people simply are swallowed up by sin. They know they have a sin problem but they have resigned themselves to being overcome by it. Then there are others who know that sin is a problem and they try to deal with it in some religious way. For example, . . .
* By keeping the 10 commandments or living a moral life.
* By doing good or living a good life.
* By undergoing some type of religious observance such as baptism or communion.
* By joining a church.
These things are not bad, they are good things. However, none of these things can do what Paul says God’s power can do; mainly, rescue us from sin and make us right with God.
What’s Wrong with a Salvation by Human Effort?
1. Assumes man’s efforts are what is required. I am making salvation a work, something that I do to please God, when just the opposite is true. God is pleased with the work of Christ on the cross. He simply wants me to trust in that finished work.

2. Assumes sin is an external problem. I wrongly assume that when the outside appearance (problem) is fixed, the work is done. Only stressing outward acts does nothing to address the inward heart but that is exactly where the problem lies. Common sense tells us that. You can take a pig out of the pigpen and clean him up and 10 minutes later he’s back in the pig pen. Why? He’s still a pig, you’ve only cleaned him up on the outside. His basic nature has not changed.

3. Limits God’s salvation. A salvation by works by its very nature limits salvation to those who are able to “do”something or measure up to some artificial human standard. What about the rest of us who don’t measure up to that standard? Is there no hope for us?

4. No faith or God is required. If I can fix my problem I certainly don’t need faith. No need for a crucified savior here! And even worse, I don’t need God. A works salvation breeds pride, hypocrisy and a check list mentality of salvation. Remember Jesus and the Pharisees?

The third reality brings us back to the truth of our passage. God’s power contained in the Gospel is the only cure for our condition.
III. The Gospel: God’s Power to Save
This word “power” (“dunamis” also at 1 Cor. 1:18) is an interesting way to express God’s salvation, especially since Paul is in Rome, the supreme earthly “power” of the ancient world. In Rome as now, the cross was offensive, it was a stumblingblock. Why? Because the cross glorifies the weak, the powerless, the foolish. People might understand a man who would give his life for some honorable and good person, but not a person who would give his life for a sinner. That’s what Jesus did. The world then and now views power as the right to control others or the power to destroy, but from God’s perspective, creation is the measure for power. The Gospel, the death and resurrection of Jesus, rescues us from sin and creates a new relationship and a new nature inside (2 Cor. 5:17).

What Takes Place in Salvation? These verses highlight two very important aspects to what occurs when we believe the Gospel.

1. God Rescues Us from Our Sin, “Salvation”
This is the heart of the meaning of the word “salvation.”

2. God Initiates a New Standing, “Righteous”
This is the heart of the meaning of the word “righteous.” But the question is raised, “How can the Gospel be good news when the righteousness of God (or rather my unrighteousness) is our problem? My unrighteousness is why I am separated from God and under His wrath. So how is this good news – that the righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel? Here’s the answer: John Piper writes, “What is revealed in the Gospel is the righteousness of God for us that He demands from us. What we had to have, but could not create or supply or perform, God gives us freely, namely, His own righteousness, the righteousness of God. This is how God saves us. God reveals as a gift in Christ Jesus what was once only a demand.”

Another Question: Why then did God chose to reveal His righteousness in the Gospel? Why this way, through a cross?
1. So that Salvation Is Completely of the Lord. If you and I are going to be made right with God, He is going to have to do it and He will!

2. So that Salvation Would be by Faith. This is what Paul is emphasizing in these verses. “Everyone who believes” (v.16) and “The righteous will live by faith” (v.17). A better translation is, “He who through faith is righteous shall live,” (v.17). God wants us to relate to Him on a personal level, that’s why it’s by faith because faith involves believing God, trusting in Him.

3. So that Salvation Would be Possible for All People
The ground at the cross is truly level. Because righteousness comes by faith in the Gospel, its message is available to all people for all times.

When Does Salvation Take Place? The Paradox of Power
The paradox of power is that God’s power to save is only activated or realized when we realize our utter inability to save ourselves. Literally, we must become powerless, so that God’s power may be experienced. The problem is that we want to help ourselves or help God out. However, His power contained in the Gospel is only activated when we cease trying to save ourselves through human effort.

William Barclay writes about the Steps in Faith: He says that Faith begins with receptivity, then leads to mental assent, and ultimately absolute trust. The ability to be receptive, give mental assent, and ultimately absolutely surrender is from God Himself. See Acts 3:16, “The faith that comes through Him.”

Two Practical Applications
1. Gratitude for God’s Grace
Look what He’s done for us! If you are a believer, God has rescued you from your sin and He has initiated a new relationship with Him. The realization of this should move us to a great sense of gratitude to God. If that sense of gratitude is not present in your life, have you truly believed in Christ? Or are you trusting in something else? Is God perhaps moving in your heart today to give you the faith to believe in Him? Your receptive and your giving mental assent to what God is saying, now go the distance – fully surrender to Him!

2. Burden to Share God’s Gospel
As Paul, we are obligated to preach the Gospel to all people. Like Paul, we too should never be ashamed of the Gospel for it is God’s power to save! We are God’s heralds of the good news of the Gospel, the message that God will rescue people from their sins and make them right with God. While in Nicaragua, I observed open bed trucks going through the city streets announcing something over the loudspeakers set up on their truck. I asked our group leader what they were saying. He told me that since they do not have any mass way of communicating news, this is how they announce the death of someone. Think about it. You and I have a message to announce, to preach, to teach, to share, to shout from the housetops (or even flat bed trucks), but it is not a message of death, but a message of life! This is why we are not ashamed of the Gospel, for it truly “is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” This is both our burden and our joy!