God's Power for Salvation

Last week, focused on the first phrase of verse 16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel”. And we looked at the difference between being SHAMED FOR and ASHAMED OF the gospel - the good news of Jesus Christ.

If you are a Christian - you WILL be SHAMED for the gospel

God’s Power for Salvation

When we arrive at , we come to the thesis statement of the whole letter.

LADDER:

Now Paul lays out his theme in a way that reminds us of climbing a stairway:

“I am not ashamed of the gospel ....”

WHY? … “for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes ...”

“to the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

How can you say that? … “For in (the gospel) a righteousness from God is revealed”

What kind of righteousness? “from faith for faith … as it is written, ‘the righteous shall live by faith.”

One of the great problems of the church in our day, is the idea that the gospel is like elementary school. You hear the Good News about Jesus Christ … you understand it. You check that off the list … and then you move on to deeper, more relevant things. “Yup, I accepted Christ … now I can leave the gospel behind and live the Christian life, “Be nice, take out the trash, stop nagging your spouse, try to spend more time with the kids, don’t get into credit card debt, lose some weight, get some exercise and make sure you are emotionally healthy.”

There are far too many Christians who live in what has been termed, “A Moralistic, Therapeutic, Deism”. As if the point of Christianity is to get people to be better … to improve their lives and impress a distant God, ‘Up There’.

If that’s the grand total of the message the Church has for the world – then is it any wonder that people – especially young people – are bored by it? There is so much more for us than that self-help religion. And ironically, the more comes by going back to the very place we sometimes think we’ve moved past – going back to the gospel.

“I am not ashamed of the Gospel (of Jesus Christ) – for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” We never … never … outgrow our need for the Gospel. This morning, I want us to dig into v. 16 – What is this ‘salvation’ that Paul is talking about.

1 POWER THAT SAVES

When you read or hear somebody use the word, ‘salvation’, what do you understand? “Salvation” is one of those words like ‘Gospel’ .... everyone has heard the word so often that whenever it comes up, they say, “Of course I know what it means … I’ve been hearing it and using it since I was a kid.” But the word means so many different things to different people … We need to be sure that we are understanding the right meaning when we hear the word. We need to be clear on what Paul is talking about when he uses the word ‘salvation’.

Are you ‘saved?’ What does that mean? For many people, it means, “Did you raise your hand when the preacher called for people to do that if they wanted to receive Jesus?”

“Did you pray and ask Jesus into your heart, when you were 6 years old, beside your bed (like I did) - or when you were 12 years old, away at summer camp, beside the campfire … with emotions running high?

Is salvation like a bank card? If someone asked you, “How do you know that you’re saved?” What would you say?

“Because I joined the club! The ‘sins-forgiven, going to heaven club’. I signed up when I was 6 and they gave me this card!” And as long as you have the card in your wallet - you’re part of the club. Is that what salvation means to you?

Does salvation equal ‘making converts’? When Paul says that the gospel is the ‘power of God for salvation ...’, does he mean that the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ’s finished work is powerful enough to get decisions for Jesus?

Well, it does mean that. But this morning, I want to explain to you that it also means so much more than that!

Other religions make converts. When the Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses come around to your door - they’re doing that because they want to make converts to their religion - and past experience has shown that if they knock on enough doors - - and say the things they have been told to say … .they will get some converts. Eventually. The goal of every other religion – every philosophy of life, is to win people over to their faith - to convert people to their way of thinking. Does that mean that their religion has the power for salvation?

Reminds me of the vacuum cleaner salesman that I heard about. He went out to a farmhouse way out in the country. And he walked in there with his typical motor-mouth approach and didn’t wait for the lady to say a word. She opened the door and he was in the living room. And he said, “Ma’am, I want to tell you about this vacuum cleaner. It will suck up everything in this house. You have to be careful you might even lose your floor it’s so powerful. And I’m going to - ” And she started, “Well, wait a - ” And he just kept going. He said, “I’m going to show you how much this will do.”

And he dumped ashes in the middle of the floor out of his bag, and garbage, and junk, and everything. And he said, “Ma’am, if this vacuum doesn’t suck this up in two minutes, I’ll eat it with a spoon.” And finally she got an opportunity to speak and she said, “Well, you’d better start eating. We ain’t got no electricity.”

Before you sell the product you better know whether there’s any power to make it operate.

No. When Paul says that the Gospel IS the POWER of God for salvation … he means exactly what he says: “It is the power that actually DOES save.” “You shouldn’t be ashamed of the Gospel because it doesn’t just make converts … it completely saves the people it converts.”

That raises another question: “What does ‘salvation’ mean?” “What does it mean to ‘be saved’?”

“Today is the day of salvation.” If someone today were to ask you, “What does it mean to be saved?” How would you answer?

Oh Christian, don’t have a miniature understanding of the glory of salvation.

“Salvation … that means my sins are forgiven. “Now I have a clean slate. I can start fresh in life.” That feels great on the day when you experience forgiveness … but what about 2 weeks later? .... 2 Years later, when you blow it big time? How much rest do you have then?

1 THE POWER OF SALVATION PAST

FIRST - Salvation DOES mean forgiveness of sins. You get that. We need that. You can’t understand salvation until you understand what humanity is. The Bible gives the ultimate dignity to the human race: Male and Female are the height … the climax of creation. Everything else in the universe, God creates by His word alone - speaks and the sun and moon - the solar system comes into obedient existence. Humanity is different - The human race is created by the hand of God, created in the image of God. Created for fellowship with God. Created for enjoyment in paradise.

What other religion or philosophy gives such dignity to the human race? Every other religion has a story of how the human race came about - examine them all. Evolution - says that our ancestors crawled out of the slime and are always evolving … never arriving … in fact, how do we know what it is to be human? We are always in a state of flux … straining for the next step in evolutionary progress.

The Bible says: Image of God! Communion with God. But when Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God … Our ancestors plunged our human race into ruin. A virus more deadly than Corona Virus was introduced into the race and everyone is infected.

Salvation is deliverance from sin. It can never be less than that. We were DEAD in our trespasses and sins. The Gospel is that Christ has taken our guilt on himself … that the Son of God has paid our debt on the cross, has been raised for our justification and life – clothed us with His own righteousness and is, right now, interceding for us at the Father’s right hand.

By grace are you saved (you have been saved!)

, “Therefore, since we HAVE BEEN justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

You have been saved, Christian. There is, therefore, now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Guilt is finished with. You have died with Christ … you have been raised with him. Have you BEEN saved? If you belong to Christ, you can say “YES” — “IT’s done.” That’s the power of the Gospel.

If you are here this morning and you are a Christian - you are saved because God sent someone to you with the message of Jesus Christ – the Gospel. He broke down you defenses, brought to life your stony, dead heart - gave you the ability to see your need and to see Christ as precious and gave you the faith to trust him.

There is nobody here saved by any other way …

- “… since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God … (25) .. And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”

We were saved - born of God, by hearing the powerful word of God, the gospel.

And this conversion is called ‘salvation’ in the New Testament.

,, “For by grace you HAVE BEEN SAVED through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, (9) not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

So, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, this morning - you HAVE BEEN SAVED.

2 THE POWER OF SALVATION PRESENT

But that’s not the end of the salvation story. It’s just as true to say, if you belong to Jesus Christ, “I AM BEING saved.” there is a sense in which your salvation isn’t completed yet. “I am not ashamed of the gospel,” Paul says, “… for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes ...”. You need to hear this, Christian.

, “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. (22) For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, (23) but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.” Paul is saying, “I’m a Christian - I DELIGHT in the law of God, at the very core of my being.” You can’t say that if you don’t have a right relationship with God - if you haven’t BEEN saved. But even, as a Christian … there’s a war going on inside - Can you identify, Christian?

, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

As long as this life continues, if you are a Christian, you are going to fail. Pride is going to creep in, lovelessness is going to grab at you … memories of very real hurts are going to haunt you and bitterness is going to knock at the door .... and you’re going to catch yourself - when it’s too late.

I can understand why R.C’s invented the doctrine of purgatory - - where Christians go after death to have the rest of their sins burned away. If Jesus died to purchase ME for Himself … then I’ve made him a lousy investment. What is there in me that He could possibly find delight in?! Could it be that what I need is some time after death, in the fires of suffering, so that I can shine better for the One who died for me? The problem with Purgatory - one of the problems … is that you are looking to the wrong place to solve your sin problem … you’re looking at yourself. “I need to make myself better! I need to get pure.” “You aren’t strong enough to do that yourself!”

Paul is preparing us to deal with this desperate cry of , all the way back here in 1:16: “The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”. “I believe, Lord … but I’m so, so weak!”

, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” The very next verse …

- “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord”.

The powerful good news of the gospel is that … God saved you FROM sin; God IS SAVING you now - - salvation is going on … He is sanctifying you:

, “Those He foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.”

That’s life in the real world. Every day, as a Christian, you are going to fail, sorrow, repentance … and a fresh embrace from the Savior as God shapes you more and more into the image of His perfect Son. “He Who began a good work in you, WILL carry it on to completion.”

3 THE POWER OF SALVATION FUTURE

Salvation is Past - “We have been saved”; Salvation is present, “We are being saved” … and, thirdly, there is a sense in which Salvation is in the future.

On holidays …

, “…Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” We were saved, and God is growing us more and more as the days go by …. but we are always looking forward to the salvation that is still to come.

, “Christ … will appear (future tense) a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” So Jesus is coming back a second time … for what? TO SAVE! To save those who are eagerly waiting for him … to Save the already saved.

, tells us that if you are in Christ, ‘by God’s power (you ) are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” You are protected by God’s power, through faith … FOR SALVATION that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

That’s what we long for .... don’t we? We have so much sickness in our church family. So much SERIOUS sickness. We just had the funeral for Marc, this past Friday. A number of you were here. Thank you so much for coming to support Lorna and the family. It was hard to say goodbye to Marc, from our perspective. He’s been sick for several years … battling that awful cancer … treatment after treatment, never giving up. He wanted so badly to keep fighting and make it to his 50th wedding anniversary. He gave it everything he had … but he didn’t make it. Just didn’t have the strength.

1 POWER THAT SAVES

Don’t you want to know for sure that when your time draws near … when your health breaks … when your strength is gone and you just don’t have it in you to push on anymore … don’t you want to know beyond the shadow of a doubt - - that your rescue is coming? That your groaning WILL BE swallowed up by joy - never ending, ever increasing … that there is paradise coming in the presence of God, the fountain of joy?!

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation ...”. Every other religion … every other philosophy preaches the power of YOU for salvation. There is no rescuer stepping in from heaven … no power of a loving God at work to save you .... it is ALL YOU.

Is that good enough for you? It sure isn’t good enough for me.

Oh when death is knocking at the door - we need a GOSPEL - that is powerful enough NOT JUST to wash away my past sins … but to carry me, unfailingly to everlasting security and joy in God’s Presence. That’s why Paul is anything BUT ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: “… for it is the POWER of God for salvation - - past, present and future.”

Marc had that … “Can I get you anything?” “A new body”. “You’re getting a new body.” “I’m getting a new body! I’m getting a new body!” I want you to be able to die with that rest and assurance. There is one and only one place that can give you that confidence … So I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He will wash away your sins and get you safely through to glory … you can count on him.”

2. HOW WE CONNECT TO THE GOSPEL

In the rest of our time, this morning, I want us to look at the rest of v. 16, because it answers a critical question for us. The critical question is, “How do I connect to that Gospel?” You know that not everyone experiences the power of God for salvation. Not everyone is saved. “So how do I get saved?”

Verse 16, “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.”

This is a power for everyone who believes. We’ve talked about that already - “By grace you are saved through faith, not of works.” You get that, I hope. But let’s flesh out what v. 16 says about saving faith.

First - you need to notice that this is the ONLY way to be saved. When Paul says, “to the Jew first and also to the Greek”, he is covering the entire human race. In the Jewish mind there is Jew and Gentile … Jews the people who are inside the covenant relationship with God - His treasured possession .... and then there is everyone on the outside. Paul says, “The Gospel is for everyone … and Everyone NEEDS the gospel.”

If you hear a preacher tell you that there is a way for a Jewish person to be saved without believing in Christ’s finished work for them alone … they are not preaching the Bible - They aren’t preaching

. The only say to be saved is by believing in Jesus Christ.

But even here, we need to be careful to understand clearly. When Paul says in our verse, “It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who BELIEVES ...”, notice the tense of the verb ‘believes’ is important. You can put it literally, “Salvation for everyone who is believing.”

Every day you need to be believing. Every day you need to feed your soul on the Gospel. Every day you need to throw yourself at the foot of the cross, trusting in the truth and power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Every day, when you fail .... you need the gospel, friend.

We don’t ever leave the gospel behind. We cling to it every day as our present power that God is using to save us and carry us unfailingly to heaven.

When someone asks, “How do you know you’re saved?” You don’t pull out your card. You don’t say, “I know I’m saved because I joined up when I was 8. I came up with an act of faith then.”

When you read or hear somebody use the word, ‘salvation’, what do you understand? “Salvation” is one of those words like ‘Gospel’ .... everyone has heard the word so often that whenever it comes up, they say, “Of course I know what it means … I’ve been hearing it and using it since I was a kid.” But the word means so many different things to different people … We need to be sure that we are understanding the right meaning when we hear the word. We need to be clear on what Paul is talking about when he uses the word ‘salvation’.

How do you know you’re saved? “Because I BELIEVE in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Today! What’s getting me through today … is the power of God that He promised in the Gospel … and I’m believing in Him … TODAY!”

Nobody loses salvation.

Are you ‘saved?’ What does that mean? For many people, it means, “Did you raise your hand when the preacher called for people to do that if they wanted to receive Jesus?”

, “ALL those He called he also justified and ALL those He justified, He also glorified.” There is not a single soul in all of history, who has ever or ever will slip through the cracks. They got saved … but couldn’t quite make it through to the end. “I WILL LOSE NONE OF THOSE He has given me, but will raise them up on the last day.” That’s what Jesus said.

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone WHO IS BELIEVING.”

“Did you pray and ask Jesus into your heart, when you were 6 years old, beside your bed (like I did) - or when you were 12 years old, away at summer camp, beside the campfire … with emotions running high?

Nobody loses salvation. But you can deceive yourself. You can convince yourself that you once believed, when you never believed.

In , Paul says, “I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, (2) and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you - unless you believed in vain.”

Is salvation like a bank card? “How do you know that you’re saved?” “Because I joined the club! The ‘sins-forgiven, going to heaven club’. I signed up when I was 6 and they gave me this card!” And as long as you have the card in your wallet - you’re part of the club. Is that what salvation means to you?

Unless you believed in vain. If you stop standing on the Gospel. If you stop trusting in Christ, if you turn your back on the cross and reject the resurrection - stop clinging to Christ .... If your faith doesn’t hold fast - doesn’t persevere - You believed in vain. that is a faith that was empty - it was always a ‘dead faith’. You were NEVER saved.

Does salvation equal ‘making converts’? When Paul says that the gospel is the ‘power of God for salvation ...’, doe he mean that the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ’s finished work is powerful enough to get decisions for Jesus?

There is such a thing as backsliding.

Some of you have loved ones who started out so well in the faith. Expressed love for the Lord - Gave life to Jesus Christ … was baptized even … but now, so far off the rails and wandering further and further from Jesus. Don’t give up hope. Don’t ever stop praying and counselling.

Well, it does mean that. But this morning, I want to explain to you that it also means so much more than that!

You don’t counsel that person by saying, “It’s okay - you’re fine - you made that commitment to Christ all those years ago. I remember watching you go through the waters of baptism. Once saved, always saved.” Don’t counsel in that way.

What you say is, “Come back! It may not have been real! COME BACK! MAKE YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE! Come back!” You warn them.

You see, other religions make converts. When the Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses come around to your door - they’re doing that because they want to make converts to their religion - and past experience has shown that if they knock on enough doors - - and say the things they have been told to say … .they will get some converts. Eventually. The goal of every other religion is to win people over to their faith - to convert people to their way of thinking. Does that mean that their religion has the power for salvation?

, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” God’s word could not be more clear - - when a person turns from the Lord, goes their own way and never comes back in humble repentance … that is proof that they NEVER had saving faith.

Reminds me of the vacuum cleaner salesman that I heard about. He went out to a farmhouse way out in the country. And he walked in there with his typical motor-mouth approach and didn’t wait for the lady to say a word. She opened the door and he was in the living room. And he said, “Ma’am, I want to tell you about this vacuum cleaner. It will suck up everything in this house. You have to be careful you might even lose your floor it’s so powerful. And I’m going to - ” And she started, “Well, wait a - ” And he just kept going. He said, “I’m going to show you how much this will do.”

And he dumped ashes in the middle of the floor out of his bag, and garbage, and junk, and everything. And he said, “Ma’am, if this vacuum doesn’t suck this up in two minutes, I’ll eat it with a spoon.” And finally she got an opportunity to speak and she said, “Well, you’d better start eating. We ain’t got no electricity.”

So if you want to make sure that you never have to deal with that question in your own life … Live in ongoing, day after day BELIEF. Trust in the power of the Gospel

Before you sell the product you better know whether there’s any power to make it operate, right?

No. When Paul says that the Gospel IS the POWER of God for salvation … he means exactly what he says: “It is the power that actually DOES save.” “You shouldn’t be ashamed of the Gospel because it doesn’t just make converts … it completely saves the people it converts.”

, “I am eager to preach the gospel to you also, who are in Rome.” Did you notice that before? That Paul is writing to a church in Rome and says to the Christians - “I am eager to preach the gospel to you also?!”

You never outgrow your need for the gospel. You never graduate to a course where the gospel should not be the center of the curriculum. There’s no post-gospel graduate school in the Christian life. The center of every ongoing growth in knowledge has Christ crucified, risen, received by faith alone like a little child at the center of the curriculum.

That raises another question: “What does ‘salvation’ mean?” “What does it mean to ‘be saved’?”

We need to receive that every day. When you get up in the morning, you preach the gospel to yourself. “My sins are forgiven today. They’re forgiven, not because I’m somebody, but because Jesus was somebody. He died for me. He rose again. He reigns for me. He’s interceding for me. He pleads his blood for me. He’s sovereign over me. He sent the Spirit to me by faith alone.” You preach the gospel to yourself every morning. You receive it over and over again.

“Today is the day of salvation.” If someone today were to ask you, “What does it mean to be saved?” How would you answer?

I’m convinced that far too many Christians have far too small an understanding of the glory of salvation.

“Salvation … that means my sins are forgiven. “Now I have a clean slate. I can start fresh in life.” That feels great on the day when you experience forgiveness … but what about 2 weeks later? .... 2 Years later, when you blow it big time? How much rest do you have then?

1 THE POWER OF SALVATION PAST

FIRST - Salvation DOES mean forgiveness of sins. You get that. We need that. You can’t understand salvation until you understand what humanity is. The Bible gives the ultimate dignity to the human race: Male and Female are the height … the climax of creation. Everything else in the universe, God creates by His word alone - speaks and the sun and moon - the solar system comes into obedient existence. Humanity is different - The human race is created by the hand of God, created in the image of God. Created for fellowship with God. Created for enjoyment in paradise.

What other religion or philosophy gives such dignity to the human race? Every other religion has a story of how the human race came about - examine them all. Evolution - says that our ancestors crawled out of the slime and are always evolving … never arriving … in fact, how do we know what it is to be human? We are always in a state of flux … straining for the next step in evolutionary progress.

The Bible says: Image of God! Communion with God. But when we chose, as as a human race, to rebel against God … Adam and Eve plunged our race into ruin. A virus more deadly than Corona Virus was introduced into the race and everyone is infected.

Salvation is deliverance from sin. It can never be less than that. We were DEAD in our trespasses and sins. By grace are you save (you have been saved!)

, “Therefore, since we HAVE BEEN justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

You have been saved, Christian. There is, therefore, now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Guilt is finished with. You have died with Christ … you have been raised with him. Have you BEEN saved? If you belong to Christ, you can say “YES” — “IT’s done.” That’s the power of the Gospel.

If you are here this morning and you are a Christian - you are saved because God sent someone to you with the message of Jesus Christ … He broke down you defenses, brought to life your stony, dead heart - gave you the ability to see your need and to see Christ as precious and gave you the faith to trust him.

There is nobody here saved by any other way …

- “… since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God … (25) .. And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”

We were saved - born of God, by hearing the powerful word of God, the gospel.

And this conversion is called ‘salvation’ in the New Testament. ,, “For by grace you HAVE BEEN SAVED through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, (9) not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

So, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, this morning - you HAVE BEEN SAVED.

2 THE POWER OF SALVATION PRESENT

But that’s not the end of the salvation story. It’s just as true to say, if you belong to Jesus Christ, “I AM BEING saved.” there is a sense in which your salvation isn’t completed yet. “I am not ashamed of the gospel,” Paul says, “… for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes ...”. You need to hear this, Christian.

, “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. (22) For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, (23) but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.” Paul is saying, “I’m a Christian - I DELIGHT in the law of God, at the very core of my being.” You can’t say that if you don’t have a right relationship with God - if you haven’t BEEN saved. But even, as a Christian … there’s a war going on inside - Can you identify, Christian?

, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

As long as this life continues, if you are a Christian, you are going to fail. Pride is going to creep in, lovelessness is going to grab at you … memories of very real hurts are going to haunt you and bitterness is going to knock at the door .... and you’re going to catch yourself - when it’s too late.

I can understand why R.C’s invented the doctrine of purgatory - - where Christians go after death to have the rest of their sins burned away. If Jesus died to purchase ME for Himself … then I’ve made him a lousy investment. What is there in me that He could possibly find delight in?! Could it be that what I need is some time after death, in the fires of suffering, so that I can shine better for the One who died for me? The problem with Purgatory - one of the problems … is that you are looking to the wrong place to solve your sin problem … you’re looking at yourself. “I need to make myself better! I need to get pure.” “You aren’t strong enough to do that yourself!”

Paul is preparing us to deal with this desperate cry of , all the way back here in 1:16: “The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”. “I believe, Lord … but I’m so, so weak!”

, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” The very next verse of - “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord”.

The powerful good news of the gospel is that … God saved you FROM sin; God IS SAVING you now - - salvation is going on … He is sanctifying you: , “Those He foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.”