THE GOSPEL THAT GIVES HOPE PART 2

Introduction

-There are obviously a lot of frustrating things about the virus pandemic and the self-isolation that it has caused. But maybe one of the more frustrating aspects is the constant conflicting messages that we receive.

~Now, I do have to make a side note that some of this is to be expected since this is a very new situation for the modern world, and with new information that comes from studying the virus and how it works it is expected that things change.

-Nevertheless, the messages we receive everyday since this crisis began has placed us on a roller coaster. The CDC will say one thing one day, and then the very next day they will contradict themselves. Or, the White House will say one thing, the CDC will say another thing, and then a supposed expert will come on a TV talk show and say something completely different, all on the same day.

-Add to this that everyone seems to be making this a political issue rather than concentrating on it as a medical issue hasn’t helped the situation one bit. Since it has been made political, and each side is putting its own spin on things, there are conflicting messages about what is going on, what can be done about it, and whose fault it is.

-Is it any wonder that people have lost faith with the message from anyone supposedly in charge or anyone who is supposedly an expert. And the result is that people have no hope that this issue will get solved in an intelligent, timely manner.

-Unfortunately, a lot of what has happened with the message about COVID-19 has happened to the gospel message. One person or denomination says that the gospel is this, another person or denomination says that the gospel is that. The supposed experts are contradicting one another. How can there be hope in what Christians are saying, much less in the Christ they talk about, if the message is not clear?

-Thankfully, if you just look at the Bible in its context, you will find what the true gospel message is all about, and why this gospel message is able to give hope in a world that is all topsy-turvy and seemingly ever in flux.

-And that’s what I want to do today—to find the true gospel message and see how it gives hope.

~In our passage, Paul introduces himself to the church in Rome (a church he did not plant and has never visited). In it he highlights the gospel message that he was called to proclaim because that message is the only hope for a sinner’s salvation and a believer’s security.

- My desire is that we would have a deeper understanding and appreciation for the gospel, that it gives us hope in uncertain times, and that we’d be able to articulate the gospel to others if they should ask or inquire

Romans 1:1–7 ESV

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

-Now, I started this study last week (and you can go to our YouTube channel to see the first part of the message), and this study will probably continue over the next few weeks. But let me just highlight my first three points from last week:

1) The particularity of the gospel (v. 1)~~Paul calls it THE gospel message, there is no other true gospel message—it is particular, unique, one of a kind—and so we must be careful not to accept any substitutes.

2) The implication of the gospel (v. 1)~~The word “gospel” means good news—and so the gospel tells us that even though there is bad news that we are sinners under judgment, God sent His Son to pave the way for our forgiveness. That is the only good news a sinner has.

3) The author of the gospel (v. 1)~~The gospel is not a manmade story but has been the plan of Almighty God throughout eternity—God provided the way to bring us back to Himself…

4) The revelation of the gospel (v. 2)

-According to v. 2 the gospel message was promised beforehand through God’s prophets in the holy Scriptures

~Paul is noting that the entire Old Testament is actually God progressively revealing what His plan of redemption was for humanity. The gospel was recorded and pictured and prophesied before any event in the New Testament ever took place.

-All the writers of the books of the Old Testament were prophets in that they proclaimed the message of the Lord. The messages they recorded had significance to the audience at that time, but then at the same time God inspired these prophets to write things that pointed to the future culmination of God’s plan.

-What’s interesting is that each Old Testament author got only a piece of the puzzle, and Peter says in his epistle that these Old Testament prophets were eager to know how and when and through whom God would fulfill this plan…

1 Peter 1:10–12 (ESV)

10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully,

11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.

12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

-We could say that the Old Testament prophets recorded the gospel through prophecies, promises, pictures, types, and shadows; and then the New Testament apostles recorded the fulfillment of all those prophecies, promises, pictures, types, and shadows.

-This again demonstrates that the gospel message of a Savior who would die and rise again to bring life to the spiritually dead was God’s plan all along. The gospel was never some sort of plan that God just made up as time progressed.

~It’s not like right now, the staff and I talk about all the possibilities of what may or may not happen, and what we may or may not do with the church in response—but in the long run we’re just going to have to go with the flow. For a control-freak like me it can be a living nightmare. But since we don’t know what the future holds, that’s all we can do—adjust all of our plans as things pan out.

~The gospel was never treated like that. God knew the future before the foundation of the world, and He already had things in place and in motion.

-The gospel was also never a Plan B. God didn’t say that since Plan A didn’t work out let me do this, and if that doesn’t work out, we will have to go to a plan C.

~The gospel was always the plan, so God prepared the world for the Messiah’s arrival by telling the gospel message beforehand, from Genesis all the way through Malachi and everywhere in between.

~As Steve Lawson said:

The gospel is rooted and grounded in the fertile soil of Old Testament Scripture.

-And what we find is that the gospel was always that salvation would be by grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone. Salvation was never by works or following the law. Salvation is always God’s provision through the sacrifice of His Son given as a gift to those who would receive it.

-So, this is what we see:

Genesis 3:15 (ESV)

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

~Jesus is that seed/offspring that would destroy the work of the devil

Genesis 3:21 (ESV)

21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

~It is pictured that God alone would need to provide a covering for man’s sin, which must come through the shedding of the blood of another.

-God then chose a people through whom the seed/offspring would come. He chose the lineage of Abraham, to whom He promised:

Genesis 12:3 ESV

3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

~According to Galatians 3:14 Jesus is that blessing that comes to the nations

-But then this seed would be a king coming from a lineage of kings, whose reign would be forever, as promised to David:

2 Samuel 7:11–13 (ESV)

11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.

12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

-But this seed would be a Suffering Servant who would suffer and die on behalf of others:

Isaiah 53:4–6 (ESV)

4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

-And yet, this seed/offspring, this suffering servant, would not stay dead:

Psalm 16:10 (ESV)

10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.

-This doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of everything God promised beforehand through the prophets. The gospel message of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus has been the same message given since the beginning. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to believe and accept this message, because the message will never change.

-And by looking at this consistent message throughout the Scripture, this leads to the fact about:

5) The subject of the gospel (vv. 3-4)

-From both the Old Testament and the New Testament there is no doubt who the gospel message is about. The subject of the gospel has not changed one bit.

~According to v. 3 the gospel message CONCERNS GOD’S SON, JESUS CHRIST

~The gospel is about who Jesus is and what Jesus accomplished

-John Calvin said:

The whole gospel is contained in Jesus Christ.

-This may come as a shock to some people because a lot of people think that they are the center of everything that God does. They think that the gospel is all about them. They think that the gospel is all about God thinking that they are so neat that God did what He could to make them the center of the universe.

~I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the gospel isn’t about you or me. God isn’t overly concerned about your glory or mine. The subject and center and focus of the gospel is Jesus Christ.

-And so, what is interesting, is from my earlier point, when we say that the Old Testament told and prophesied the gospel, we are saying that it told and prophesied about Jesus Christ. In fact, that is what all of Scripture is about. From end to end (Genesis to Revelation) Scripture is about Jesus, He is the subject of Scripture, He is the subject of the gospel.

-What does Paul highlight about Jesus concerning the gospel?

~First, he highlights the humanity of Jesus. You see, in order to pay the penalty for sinful humanity He had to be a part of humanity. To intercede with God the Father for humanity, He had to be fully human.

~As John emphasized in his gospel:

John 1:14 (ESV)

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

-So, Paul highlights Jesus’ humanity—Jesus was 100% human with a human body and a human soul and human emotions. And in His humanity, Jesus is descended from David, thereby fulfilling the promise given to David that I emphasized earlier from 2 Samuel that David’s descendant would rule on the thrown forever.

~If He is descended from David that means He is then also descended from Abraham. Jesus’ genealogy is proof of His humanity and that He has the correct lineage to be the Messiah, the Promised One.

-For years I have been working on mine and my wife’s genealogy so that my kids and eventual grandkids would know from whom and from where they came. I found in some cases that certain descendants from certain people formed groups or societies that you can join to celebrate the life and accomplishments of that person in history. But in order to join that group you need to be able to trace your roots to that person.

-Jesus’ humanity traced His roots through David all the way to Abraham, demonstrating that He has the right to claim He is the fulfillment of the promises given to them by God.

-But not only does Paul emphasize Jesus’ humanity, He emphasizes Jesus’ divinity. In v. 4 Paul says that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God. In ancient days, to call someone the Son of anybody meant that that person shared in the nature with that person. So, for Jesus to be declared the SON OF GOD means that Jesus shared in the nature and existence and essence of God Himself.

~If Jesus was to be the mediator between God and man then Jesus would need to be God, otherwise He couldn’t represent God for humanity. And if Jesus weren’t divine, He would not have been able to endure the eternal wrath of God for sin. Only an eternal God can endure an eternal wrath on behalf of others.

-And to give proof of Jesus’ divinity, Paul says that He is declared to be the Son of God in power—Jesus Christ has all power and authority as God. How do we know that? The proof is in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

~The way we know that Jesus is God the Son is because He died for sins but then He rose from the dead. Without a resurrection Jesus just would have been another person who died along with the rest of humanity. But He rose from the dead to demonstrate that He is so much more.

-Steve Lawson explained the importance of both natures of Jesus—he said:

Jesus Christ had to be truly God, truly man in order to be our mediator. A mediator stands between two parties who have had a falling out in order to make peace between the two offended sides. These two parties are at enmity with one another. Or worse, they are at war with one another. In order to make reconciliation, a mediator has to be equal to both sides. There can be no partiality toward either side. Jesus had to be truly God if He was to represent God to us. And He had to be truly man if He was to represent us before God. No one else could have stood between God and the human race and mediated reconciliation between the two separated parties. No one else could have propitiated the righteous anger of God toward us. No one else could have redeemed us out of the slave-market of sin. No one except one who was truly God and truly man.

-Thus, the gospel is not merely about a human Jesus or a divine Jesus, the subject of the gospel is the God-Man Jesus Christ. Without both mankind would still be dead in sin.

-But I want to make mention of one other word in the passage. At the end of v. 4 He is declared Jesus Christ our LORD. I want you to look at that word LORD. That is so important.

~This is a recognition of Jesus’ sovereignty, His rulership—that He is the King of kings.

-Many people say: “You’re preaching a Lordship salvation” like that’s a bad thing. You see, the Bible’s gospel message includes a recognition that Jesus is Lord.

~This means you recognize Jesus’ divinity—He is the Yahweh of the Old Testament.

~But it’s also a recognition of Jesus’ authority—Jesus is the eternal King

-Consider some of our favorite Bible verses about salvation:

Acts 16:31 (ESV)

31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Philippians 2:10–11 (ESV)

10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

-For a complete understanding of Jesus so that you come to Jesus rightly you need understand that He is Savior but He is also LORD—He has rightful authority over us.

~You know, my kids might think of me as the guy who puts a roof over their head and the guy that pays for their food and the guy that gets them all their electronic gadgets, but unless they also understand that I am the authority in the household then they do not have a full grasp on who I am.

-The gospel is a recognition of who Jesus is as its subject. He is descended from David. He is the resurrected Son of God. He is LORD.

Conclusion

-My question to you is if Jesus is that in your life. Have you believed a gospel message that preaches a full version of Jesus Christ or did you believe a gospel where you were the center and the star of the show?

~The only gospel that saves is a gospel found all throughout Scripture that centers in on Jesus Christ as the Sovereign God-Man, who died for you, who rose again, and who will return.

~If you have never…

-Christian, I ask you—what Jesus are you following? What Jesus are you emulating? What Jesus are you hoping upon for your eternal security?

~I’ve mentioned that there are a lot of messages out there claiming to be the gospel, and what distinguishes them is the Jesus that they preach. Without a biblical Jesus, you don’t have a biblical gospel.

~Paul enjoins us to check ourselves to see if we are in the faith. So, today might be a good day for some soul searching…