Living the Bold Life!
Romans: Unashamed - Building the Church through the Gospel • Sermon • Submitted
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ENGAGE
Hugh Hewitt in his book “The Embarassed Believer” contends that most Christian are embarrassed believers. They do not talk about their faith or church. They don’t have Bibles on the corner of their desks. They never engage others in spiritual conversations. And the result has been the dramatic increase of pornography and violence over the last five decades. The values of the world today pale in comparison to the values of mid last century. He writes, “From Paul’s imprisonment and martyrdom to this year’s murders of Christians around the globe, there is an ennobling and inspiring thread of courage uniting saint after saint. It is an inheritance of every believer. And it is to this that we are called.” Paul writes, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes...” Romans 1:16 And Jesus said, “ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Too many of us are embarrassed, silent, secret agents for God. Yet we are called to be bold witnesses of Jesus Christ. He closes with these words, “Christians in America trying to save the lost, comfort the suffering, cure the ill, clothe the naked and bring joy to the despairing will not make a significant and lasting impact unless they do so openly and without apology as Christians. The witness must accompany the work or the work will not endure and the world is hungry for our witness.’ Bold witness!
ENCOUNTER
Main Idea - You Can Live Boldly Because the All-Powerful God is For You!
Walk through the CHUNKS of the passage (use good transitions)
1. Live Boldly For a God Who Gives Everything To You (vs. 31-32)
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Explain -
What shall we say to what things? How about the previous verses?
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Paul has labored hard to make something clear to his readers and to you - The salvation you enjoy was not invented by you, designed by you, thought up by you, nor given by you. Your salvation was thought up, invented, designed and accomplished by GOD Himself.
And because of this reality, you are SECURE in your SALVATION!
If Romans 8 teaches us anything, it teaches us that God’s children are secure in Him!
From the very first verse...
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
to verse 30 that calls followers already GLORIFIED (past tense) as if it is already true!
You and I, as followers of Christ, can rest in the fact that the God of the universe, the one who called all things into existence, the one who created you and recreated you is not against you, but for you.
So how can this be true? Especially in light of what Paul has said of Jews and Gentiles through chapters 1 though 4 - In other words, the fact that we are sinners?
Well, Paul answers this powerful rhetorical question in verse 32 and gives definitive proof that God is on your side! (vs. 32)
32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Okay, so do you see what Paul is saying in this verse?
God demonstrates that He is for you in that God the Father offered up His Son, Jesus as the propitiatory (wrath satisfying) sacrifice for humanity.
And for those who have repented of their sin and trusted Christ as their only hope for a right relationship with God - there is the hope of eternal life.
God the Father sent God the Son to the Cross to rescue you from eternal condemnation.
Please notice Paul’s use of the greater to lesser argument here.
If God would rescue His ENEMIES, by sacrificing the Christ on the cross, won’t He do amazing things for His children? And the answer to the rhetorical question is a resounding YES!!
You, because of Christ, are no longer and enemy of God.
You because of Christ are now a child of God.
And because God did spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, He will also give us ALL THINGS!
God gave you Jesus - with Jesus comes everything else.
This truth reminds me of the warning and comforting truth of what C.S. Lewis said so many years ago...
“Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.” - C.S. Lewis
Illustrate - How much freedom and boldness would you have if you were an heir of Bill Gates or Elon Musk?
Without the restrictions of financial dependance, one can become quite confident.
Apply - Okay, so let’s think about this for a minute.
Paul says, Christ died and rose again for you and therefore you are God’s child.
And as His child you own everything that Christ owns which is everything. This is your reality child of God! This is who you are. Yet we continue to live in an impoverished way. Not financially, but emotionally and spiritually. We so easily cower in the corner instead of standing in the great confidence that we are Children of the KING!
IF GOD IS FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US? No one (successfully)! Nothing, nothing, nothing happens to you that doesn’t first pass through the hand of God - your loving heavenly Papa!
IF GOD THE FATHER WILLINGLY HAD HIS SON PUT TO DEATH TO SAVE YOU, DOESN’T IT STAND TO REASON THAT HE WILL GIVE YOU EVERYTHING?
Yet we live such timid lives.
“Many of us appear to be completely overwhelmed by the reality that we (christians) are no longer a majority and our views are no longer considered acceptable or even expressible.” “The prevailing wing is no longer at the back of the sails of professing Bible-believing Christians. Indeed, the wind appears to be blowing hard behind the forces of secularism. I’m no an analyst of culture, and I do not want to overstate this; but I don’t want to understate it, either. I travel a fair bit around the US, and regularly back to the UK too. And I’ve seen that the old days of the ‘Moral majority’ in the US and bravado over all that would be achieved by those endeavors, and the idea of either the UK or the US being a ‘Christian country,’ have gone.”
As Tim Keller describes it:
“We are entering a new era in which there is not only no social benefit to being Christian, but and actual social cost. In many places, culture is becoming increasingly hostile toward faith, and beliefs in God, truth, sin, and the afterlife are disappearing in more and more people. Now culture is producing people for who Christianity is not only offensive, but incomprehensible.” (Brave by Faith, 12)
“Secularism pushes back again and again against what the Bible says about sexual ethics, about salvation, about education, about the role and reach of the state, or about matters of public welfare. Public opinion has turned against Christians.” (14)
“Superstitious bigotry. Suddenly, as a minority group within an increasingly secularized nation, we are finding out how it feels to be outsiders. And we don’t like it. We’re not used to it. And it is easy to become bewildered, angry, defensive, or defeated.” (14)
Is this how the Lord would have those whom he rescued with the blood of His Son act? “Bewildered, angry, defensive, or defeated.”
Then why do these adjectives seem to describe the church of Jesus Christ so well.
I’m shocked at the public attitude Christians portray online.
Folks, we are to speak the truth in love. We are not to be venomous, angry, and holier than thou!
Do you remember what you have been rescued from? This fact alone should humble every Christian to their core and change their approach to a world who is desperately lost.
We are to BOLDLY engage our culture with LOVE.
Not RETREAT from the culture for SELF-PRESERVATION in ANGER and HATE!
The later is rooted in fear.
The former is founded on the love of God.
And we, my friends are to be known by our love.
So what does boldness as a believer look like?
It looks like Jesus!
Please notice in the life of Jesus that He was kind, patient and gracious to those lost in their sin.
Please notice that with the religious, on the other hand, Jesus was blunt, caustic, and harsh.
He engaged the lost. spent time with them. Loved them. Got a reputation because the time He spent with them...
19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”
In either case, Jesus was bold.
Why was Jesus bold? Because He is God very God.
Why can you be bold? Because you are His and He is yours.
Review - You Can Live Boldly Because the All-Powerful God is For You!
Live Boldly For a God Who Gives Everything To You
Transition -
2. Live Boldly For a God Who Holds Nothing Against You (vs. 33-34)
33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
Explain -
You are free from accusation if you are His because of Justification -
9 Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.
Good news, folks! Believers in Jesus Christ may have charges brought against them, but these charges won’t stick because not because you or I are innocent, but because of the teaching of JUSTIFICATION!
Our natural bent is to rationalize and justify ourselves and our behavior.
Jesus told a parable about such a situation.
In the parable are two contrasting people.
The pharisee and the tax collector.
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The one who tried to justify himself failed.
The one who appealed to the justification of God walked away justified that day.
And because you are justified - you are free from accusation.
Sometimes it has been said that Justification is Just as if you didn’t sin.
That’s pretty good.
Don’t be mistaken, you did sin and you sinned big-time!
But because of what Christ accomplished on the cross, He could legitimately declare you righteous! Wow!
And as good as this is, Paul does not stop with the reasons that no accusations can stick to us who are believers in Christ.
Look at verse 34...
Why are you free from condemnation and guilt? Four profound reasons...
34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
1. Jesus Christ died for you!
Penal Substitutionary Atonement - “In the simplest possible terms, the biblical doctrine of penal substitution holds that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross takes the place of the punishment we ought to suffer for our sins. As a result, God’s justice is satisfied, and those who accept Christ can be forgiven and reconciled to God.” https://www.gotquestions.org/penal-substitution.html
“The word penal means “related to punishment for offenses,” and substitution means “the act of a person taking the place of another.” So, penal substitution is the act of a person taking the punishment for someone else’s offenses. In Christian theology, Jesus Christ is the Substitute, and the punishment He took (at the cross) was ours, based on our sin.” https://www.gotquestions.org/penal-substitution.html
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
Why are you free from condemnation and guilt?
Jesus Christ died for you...
2. Jesus Christ rose from the dead!
Resurrection power/first fruits.
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Why are you free from condemnation and guilt?
3. Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father!
Authority
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
Why are you free from condemnation and guilt?
4. Jesus Christ prays for you constantly!
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
Why are you free from condemnation and guilt?
10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.
1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.
Live Boldly For a God Who Holds Nothing Against You
He has nothing against you because He poured his wrath on His son instead of you.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
And so you are free!
Illustrate - God is the source of love; Christ is the proof of love; Service is the expression of love; Boldness is the outcome of love. (Source Unknown, Lou Nicholes - Missionary/Author).
Apply - Boldness is the outcome of love.
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
You have nothing to worry about. God solved your greatest problem through Jesus Christ.
So if your biggest problem is solved by God, why not be bold for God.
There is so much to be done for His glory in the church and in this community.
I want to be a part of a church that is lovingly bold.
Review - You Can Live Boldly Because the All-Powerful God is For You!
Live Boldly For a God Who Gives Everything To You
Live Boldly For a God Who Holds Nothing Against You
Transition -
EMPOWER
The Boldness of Hugh Lattimer
Hugh Lattimer once preached before King Henry VIII. Henry was greatly displeased by the boldness in the sermon and ordered Lattimer to preach again on the following Sunday and apologize for the offensive way he had given his message. The next Sunday, after reading his text, he thus began his sermon: “Hugh Lattimer, do you know before whom you are this day to speak? To the high and mighty monarch, the king’s most excellent majesty, who can take away your life, if you offend him. Therefore, take heed that you speak not a word that may displease. But then consider well, Hugh, don’t you know from where you have come and with whose message you are sent? Even by the great and mighty God, who is all-present and who-knows all things and who is able to cast thy soul into hell! Therefore, take care that you deliver this message faithfully. “He then preached the same sermon he had preached the preceding Sunday—and with considerably more energy. (Evangelism, A Biblical Approach, M. Cocoris, Moody, 1984, p. 126)
Combination of Exhortation, Animation, and ultimately Application of the preacher’s words to make space for God’s power to flow.
You don’t tell them about a truth: you give an experience of it.
Don’t turn into powerless moralism
In the life of Jesus, those hypotheticals become actuals
Jesus becomes the stories he tells
The message becomes about Jesus
Connection Group Reflection Questions
1.