Digging In Video, Take 2
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The Why
The Why
Welcome to another episode of Digging In
Last week Terry did a great job of helping us answer the question from our non-believing friends, “what is this gospel you talk about?”
He gave us the Good News of God” from the first 6 versus of Romans chapter 1 and 3 words to help us communicate it.
Christ, King, and Resurrection
Jesus is the Christ, the Jewish Messiah, the promised king of Israel from the line of David who will sit on the throne forever.
That Jesus the King is also the Son of God, God in the flesh, who is King over all of creation
And that Jesus resurrected from the dead, proving His sacrifice was acceptable and that He is God not just some human claiming to be the Son of God.
Well now I’d like to help answer the next question that I think our non-believing friend would ask.
“Well why was this necessary, why do we need this gospel, or what does this have to do with me?”
Starting where Terry left off, I will continue in Romans, giving us some verses or passages to reference, some of which will be what we read last week and some from the week before
I will also give us 3 words or phrases to help us remember and communicate the gospel
In Romans 1, versus 16 and 17 is a great place to start
Paul writes this,
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. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
What is Gospel from these verses in 3 Words?
First, Power it’s the power of God
Second, Salvation it’s for salvation
Third, Righteousness, it’s the revealed righteousness of God, the revealed way of being made right with God.
I’m going to start with the second word, that it’s for salvation
If it is for salvation, then saving is needed. This gospel is to save us.
So why do we need salvation?
Well, as Paul continues in chapter 1 he points out a major problem, one that is highlighted in verse 25
because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Now chapter 1 verses 18-32 seems to be talking about pagans Gentiles, non-Jews,
but Paul also lists a litany of sins of which the Jews and honestly all of us are guilty of at least a few.
People, since the Garden of Eden have exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served created things rather than the creator.
Now the fact that God is creator is significant,
He alone as creator has the right to determine right and wrong,
to hold us accountable as His creation to upholding His standards.
Chapter 2 then introduces a consequence for this disobedience, and that consequence is judgment.
God our creator is also our judge, our holy and righteous judge
who will judge all of humanity according to His holy standards.
And Paul writes in chapter 2 to the religious Jews and says
Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?
So what do we need saving from, we need saving from this judgment of God.
Again, God as our creator has given us His guidelines to live by, but we have all broken them and will be judged accordingly.
His Laws, His commands, etc. His standards are perfection.
For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
This takes us to the Righteousness of God
Since none are able to completely keep God’s laws, we are unable to be righteous in His sight.
Listen to Romans 3 verses 10-12
as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
None is righteous, no one seeks God, all have turned aside
But then listen to what Paul writes in verses 21-25 of chapter 3
English Standard Version Chapter 3
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness,
Since none are able to be right with God on our own, we needed what is called an alien righteousness,
a way to have right standing with God that comes from outside of ourselves.
So Paul writes,
But a way to be made right with God has been shown to us, it’s by placing our faith in Jesus Christ
In Jesus who lived the perfect sinless life on our behalf.
Jesus who freed us from the penalty of sin because God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sins, He died the death that we deserved.
We all have sinned, fallen short of God’s glorious standards and yet God freely makes us right in His sight through His free gift of Jesus Christ to us
This is the Righteousness of God in Jesus and given to us who believe
Why did God do this?
Well Romans 5 verse 8 tells us
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Now Power, the Power of God
Jesus life and death didn’t just free us from future judgment and open up eternal life with God for us.
It has also freed us from the power of sin and death in our lives here and now.
Listen to what Paul writes in chapter 6 of Romans verses 5-11
New Living Translation Chapter 6
5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
Through God’s power we have been raised to new life now
Sin has lost its power over us and we have been freed and empowered through the indwelling Holy Spirit to live for the glory of God
Through God’s power we will also be raised to life, eternal life with God
Death no longer has power over us, we don’t have to fear death because if Jesus was resurrected from the dead by the power of God, we too will also be resurrected and live with Him for all of eternity.
This is the Gospel,
it is the power of God
for salvation
and
in it is the revealed righteousness of God, or way to be made right with God,
and this is for all who believe.