Gospel Revealed

Romans 1:16–17 CSB

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.

Intro

Purpose - reason for writing the letter

theme - the main truth the author uses to address the purpose.

Having different types of people with different values worshipping together in the church can be difficult, so what we tend to do is seperate them to make life easier instead of working together. What if I told you though that this is an age old problem that has been going on since the time of paul the apostle. There was a problem in the church, they where having troubles being united. We can also see this in the book of Acts. The Jews where having some troubles realizing the OT covenant was fulfilled in jesus, so when the Gentiles who believed did not do the same thing the struggled to work together because the Jews had been doing it for generations.

We sometimes struggle like this, but not quite in the same way usually. When I went to church as a kid we sand hymns out of hymn books with someone playing the organ and a piano. It sounded beautiful but it was a struggle when we made the switch to add a guitar, and then drums and a bass. There was push back. After all why change. same thing at camp. We sand the good old songs with just a piano and then one director came to help who could play the guitar and things started to shift. The program directer of the camp wasnt a fan, he didnt like the new music so often he would step out during chapels.

There are many different struggles we face that cause us to wonder if we can work together. Raising our hands in worship or keeping them in our pockets. Bible translations, kids running and playing in what we sometimes see as a sanctuary.

How about how can people from many different denominations work together for the glory of God at a bible camp? what is it that holds us togther?

Paul tells us that the reason we work together, why we can put aside the things that do not really matter is the Gospel. The gospel tells us We are all are under sin, and must be justified by grace through faith in Christ; and because we are saved by the same gospel, we are called to live together in transformed love for the glory of God.

The gospel and the word of God is what holds us together as the children of God. Some of the other things are preferences, maybe secondary issues that dont pertain to salvation. But what we can learn about is the saving power of the gospel and how it should change our lives. so then are we allowing the gospel to change our lives?

All this is revealed in the main theme at the beginning of the letter,

Main Argument - God’s gospel reveals Christ’s righteousness for all who believe.

1:1-7 - Jesus is the gospel

Something I want to start out by pointing out to is a basic outline of tthe book of Romans. Chapters 1-11 of Romans are the theological foundation of the gospel in the revelation of God’s righteousness. Chapters 12-15 are specific and practical calls for transformed living in faith based on those mercies of God. This is important to remember as we go through this.

Right from the very beginning we see Paul dig into the theological foundation for the gospel. We see the foundation for the gospel is Jesus.

Romans 1:1 CSB

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—

The letter we see is written from Paul through a scribe named Tertius, and here, as is normal he tells us his credentials, that he is writing on behalf of Jesus.

Who is Paul? Bondservant of Jesus. a bondservant is one who is subservient to, and entirely at the disposal of, his master; a slave. It could be someone that was a servant by choice but nevertheless their lives are not their own. Paul is saying that He is obsolutley and permanently devoted to Jesus.

Called an apostle - His prior life as a persecutor and his unorthodox beginning in faith led some to question his authority So Paul frequently reminds his readers of his authority given him by God

Set apart for the gospel - Paul is claiming that his life is totally dedicated to God’s act of salvation in Christ—a dedication that involves both his own belief in, and obedience to, that message as well as his apostolic proclamation of it.

Romans 1:2–3 CSB

2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures— 3 concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh

The gospel has been proclaimed through the whole word of God, not just the apostles writings but through the prophets and the rest of the word of God. so two major themes. The gospel message and Paul’s authority on behalf of Jesus to Proclaim it.

The gospel concerns the son of God, who is Jesus. That is why we can proclaim the message of Jesus through the whole word of God. Because all of it provclaims who Jesus is

the gospel is centered on the preexistent Son who fulfills what Scripture promised. He is the seed of David, that is God literally became flesh in the line of David.

Romans 1:4–7 CSB

4 and was appointed to be the powerful Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead. 5 Through him we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the Gentiles, 6 including you who are also called by Jesus Christ. 7 To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

His coronation then is seen in His rising from the dead.

Through all this, the son of God we have built our life, we live in obedience to the truth that is presented to us. At that time the apostles where given the authority, to speak on behalf of Jesus, given to them by jesus in the flesh. There goal, to preach the gospel among the gentiles.

Application -

Build your life on Jesus.

If the cornerstone of the Gospel is Jesus, then we must strive to build our lives upon Him. We must take what we learn from the gospel, the whole word of God and allow it to change your heart and your mind. We must do this together.

1:8-15 - We must preach the gospel

As we build our lives upon Jesus we must then preach the word of God. The beginning of the book of Romans contains the foundation for the rest of the book, and this foundation speaks of our gospel foundation. It was the goal of the apsotle Paul and it needs to be our goal as well.

Romans 1:8 CSB

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because the news of your faith is being reported in all the world.

It must be our prayer as well that our faith is what is klnown about this, not anything we have done or ourselves. But our faith In Jesus.

Romans 1:9–12 CSB

9 God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in telling the good news about his Son—that I constantly mention you, 10 always asking in my prayers that if it is somehow in God’s will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For I want very much to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, 12 that is, to be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.

In order to preach the gospel, as our lives are built on it and we are known for the gospel we preach we must pray for eachother and that we would be known for people of faith. Any gospel revival is built upon the prayer of saints

Romans 1:13–15 CSB

13 Now I don’t want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I often planned to come to you (but was prevented until now) in order that I might have a fruitful ministry among you, just as I have had among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

his readers where true believers or were expected to be. His mission from the beginning, the gentiles who needed to come to faith. Because some people do not have a true recognition of their guilt before God so, therefore. Believing Jesus is important and necessary. But what we also need is commitment and reliance on God. The human responsibility of faith.

How Eager are you to preach the gospel

We are all called by jesus, not anymore as apostles, but as disciples called to build our lives upon Jesus. when we do that we are devote our lives to pray for one another and the furthering of the gospel. And then we must be eager to preach the gospel. For if it is life changing, if it is something that we build our ives upon then we must, in all eagerness preach the gospel to those around us. Our lives are built upon the gospel our goal is for theirs to be as well.

1:16-17 - The Righteoussness of the Gospel

Lastley we move to the main theme of the book of Romans. One of the main problems in te book was their disunity because they could not get along, because they had problems. But there is one thing that should unite them under the essentials of the word of God, and that is the righteoussness of God revealed in the gospel.

Romans 1:16–17 CSB

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.

For I am Not ashamed of the gospel

We have seen that the gospel, the word of God is the cornerstone of our lives and our faith but sometimes I fear we are ashamed of it. Or maybe we used to be. I remember being in school, I was a young believer, or at least pretended to be while I was in church and at home. But i began to be ashamed of the gospel in front of my so called feriends for to them it was foolishness. I began to see it as foolish as well for I wanted to fit in. But as I grew and learned I began to see the gospel for what it was, life changing, hope, salvation that is offered in the gospel.

Never be ashamed of the life changing power of the gospel, for in it is our eternal hope, our great gift of mercy.

The gospel offers salvation to all who believe by faith. It has the power to change us into children of God, to dramatically change our hearts.

First to the Jew.

We must not forget the importance of the jewish origins of the gospel. The gospel came first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. Tere are promises mentioned for Jews, though not everyone believes this. This does not makle them better then us just different.

From faith to faith – idea of movement from old to new. Death to life. The sin that separates is a broken relationship with God.

Righteoussness revealed.

The word righteoussness is one of those Christian words that we may not understand. Righteoussness is a state of being, a change of legal status that declares us as having satisfied the moral requirements of the law of God. Because of our belief and faith in Jesus, He has changed our hearts and made us all into His children.

Children of God are united under the Gospel of God

We are all are under sin, and must be justified by grace through faith in Christ; and because we are saved by the same gospel, we are called to live together in transformed love for the glory of God.

We struggle to work together when we focus on our own human limitations. we struggle but we are united under one cause, the message of the gospel.

¨ From faith to faith – idea of movement from old to new. Death to life. The sin that separates is a broken relationship with God.

When people respond in faith to the message of the good news, God “justifies” them; that is, he declares them innocent before him, removing the barrier that exists between all human beings in their natural state and God. Everything else in the Christian life flows from this marvelous experience.

Yet many people do not hear this good news, and many Christians do not understand what has happened to them.Christians who struggle to think of themselves as “worthy” to be in relationship with God need especially to understand this truth. We, in ourselves, are never worthy, not the best one of us. The gospel is precisely “good news” (the lit. meaning of the Gk. word euangelion) because it announces that God accepts us anyway; all that we have to do is receive his offer in faith—to be sure, a faith that must, by its very nature, always be accompanied by obedience (cf. 1:5). Justification reminds us that our standing with God is by grace and that thankfulness should be the hallmark in all our dealings with him

Not all of us will be called to engage in evangelism full-time; we may have a tough time deciding whether we have a “call” to ministry and where that call should be discharged. We will struggle as well to balance the demands of life with those of evangelism. But every Christian should have the same sense of obligation that Paul speaks of in Romans 1:14–15. We must pray that God will impress on our hearts such an obligation so as to becomeJesus and a spreader of the gospel that has so changed our lives.