The Gospel
Notes
Transcript
Big Idea
Big Idea
Tension: Why is Paul not ashamed of the gospel?
Resolution: It is the power of God to salvation because he has revealed his saving righteousness for the one who has faith in Jesus.
Exegetical Idea: Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God to salvation because he has revealed his saving righteousness for the one who has faith in Jesus.
Theological Idea: The Gospel is how God saves those who have faith, and therefore, they need not have shame.
Homiletical Idea: Because God’s power to save you is in the gospel, have no more shame.
Outline
Outline
Introduction: Why not be ashamed of the gospel? Paul is obsessed with this idea.
1. The Gospel
Gospel as good news - joyful tidings.
The events of the Gospel - What strikes me as so interesting about these two verses, is that they do not explicitly speak of any of the events of the gospel. Right? WHy is that? Is it that Paul doesn’t actually believe in the cross and resurrection? Well of course not, in the letter to the Romans alone, Paul affirms the virgin birth of Christ, the incarnation, the resurrection, the crucifixion, the ascension, the return. Paul believes in the events of the gospel. But what he draws attention to is the fact that behind these events, God is doing something. God is up to something. God is not absent.
The Gospel is God’s Working - Immediately this is offensive to us, because we like to think that the gospel is our work. We like to think, I became a Christian because I did something right. We like to think that I chose God. We like to think that it was up to me. But the reality is that the Gospel is God’s work.
Objection: I don’t need God to save me. I'm a self-made man or woman.
Answer: But if you just do a little bit of self investigation, you know that’s not true. We have so little actual control over our lives. Illustration: Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers. Illustration: How many of you take pride in the Patriots? How many of you influence their decisions? The reality is that so much of what we take pride in is something that we have so little control over. How much more true is that of eternity? The Gospel is God’s work, God’s power, God’s might, God’s “arm” as we saw in our Scripture reading. The gospel is first and foremost about the power, the might, the glory of God.
And this is means it is all of grace. God does not have to put himself to work fo ryou, he is not obligated to you to show you his might, he doesn’t owe you his power. But he chooses to. He wants to. He’s decided to go to work for you.
Transition: And what does God’s work do? WEll it is “for salvation.”
For salvation - Now immediately, when I see that it is the power of GOd “for salvation,” I want to think, “Well, why do I need to be saved?” And I might further define that as, “What do I need to be saved from?” That’s an important question. But probably a more important question, is
“What do I need to be saved for?” And here’s how the Apostle answers that in the letter to the Romans:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 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? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 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. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You see, what God is saving you for is himself. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He wants to give you infinite fellowship, infinite love, infinite communion. The Gospel is how the Father takes you as his own son or daughter, how the Son brings you to the Father, how the Spirit fills you with the love of God. The Gospel is how God gives you all that he is and all that he has. The Gospel is how God says, “I am for you, so who can be against you” This is what GOd is saving you for. This is what salvation is meant to do so that God can give you all of who he is. This is what the goal of the gospel is, that God would give you himself.
Now, maybe you are thinking, Well, if I could have that, that sounds pretty good. But the reality is that there is something that is holding us back from that. There is something that is keeping us from God and all that he has for us. There is something that we need to be saved from. So, what do I need to be saved from? Well, the answer Paul gives is actually pretty clear. We need to be saved from ourselves. Look at what Paul says in the very next verse…
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Have you ever considered just how tragic this is, that God gave our first father Adam and our first mother Eve himself? And they didn’t want him. And maybe you think that you wouldn’t have made that choice, but the reality is that you and I are no different. How many times have you made excuses for your sin, covered yourself up with a fig leaf? How many times have you chosen something else above God? How many times have you said, “God, I know you want to be on the throne of my life, but I”m going to sit there instead.” or “God, I know I should go to church, but there’s this other thing going on” or, “I know I should read my Bible, but I’d rather sleep in.” The reality is that each of us has gladly, willingly, happily exchanged the immortal, invisible glory of God for something else. And because of this, we have, “fallen short” of the glory of God. Because we have abandoned God and his ways, we are not worthy of him. In fact, we are outright damnable, treasonous, criminals for our crimes against the King of heaven, for our hatred of infinite love. So here’s the reality, God wants to give us himself, but we have spurned him, and run away from him, we’ve run up a tab which we can never repay.
For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed.... Now here is the truly astonishing thing. Is that the Bible, starting from the very beginning, running through Adam and Noah and Abraham and everyone in between affirms this reality, that God justifies the ungodly. God makes us worthy. He puts onto us, he reckons us “as righteous.” This is what this phrase “the righteousness of GOd” means. It means God’s righteousness. He considers us as lawkeepers when we are really law breakers. He calls us faithful when we are faithless. He calls us righteous. He restores us to relationshiop with him so he can give us himself. As Paul will say in Romans 4:5, God justifies the ungodly.
Why? Why would someone do that? How does he do that? Well, that’s why the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel. Because in the gospel, that is in the life, death, resurrection, and ascesnsion of Christ, God shows us how he could possibly consider us as righteous. And it comes because he punishes his son, Jesus, in our place for our sins. Look at what he says in Romans 3:21-26
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 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. 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.
God has made you righteous because he made his son unrighteous. God restores you into relationship with him only by casting his son out instead. We are forgiven, because he was forsaken. We are reconciled because he was estranged. We are alive because he died. We are adopted because we are orphaned. It is because Jesus has taken the wrath of God on himself that you and I can have eternal life.
Does this mean that we have to earn it?
No, it is “for all who believe,” it is “for all everyone who has faith” it is “for those of faith.” And you’ll notice in these two verses belief or faith is mentioned four different times. If you’ll look down at the bottom, where it says, “the just shall live by faith”, that is a quotation from the book of Habakkuk. I agree with the author Moises Silva, who says that Habakkuk himself was thinking about Abraham, where we’re told in Gen. 15:6, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. And Abraham is such a perfect example because Abraham was given a covenant with God in Genesis 12, and the very first thing Abraham does after receiving this covenant is he goes and breaks it in the seocnd half of Gen. 12. He goes down to Egypt, he tries to claim that his wife is actually his sister, and there’s a whole fiasco. And so I think what we see in Genesis 15 is this genuine angst. Because God speaks to Abraham again and says, “He Abraham, I’m going to make you a mighty nation, come look at all the stars, look at all the sand of the shore, that’s what your descendants will be like.” And Abraham says in Gen 15, “How do I know you’re going to do this?” Read, “God don’t you know I’m a lawbreaker.” And God says, “Regardless, This is what I’m going to do.” And we’re told Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. And maybe you’re thinking, “Why would God do that? Shouldn’t God take the covenant away from him?” And the asnwer is, “No”, because God would deal with that sin, and all the other sins of his people on the cross.
So a good question to ask is, “What does it mean to believe then? How can I be declared righteous, how can I have relationship with God restored?” And for the Bible, belief just means to take hold of Jesus. It means to throw yourself wholeheartedly on him. It means that you say, “Jesus I know that I’m a sinner, I need you to save me. I can’t save myself.” To believe in Christ is to throw yourself wholeheartedly on Jesus, to say, “Jesus I am ungodly. Trust in me.”
But there is also this idea of “continuing to believe.” The word here is a present tense verb, it means to keep on beleiving the gospel. Not just to believe it once, but to continue to throw yourself on the mercy of God.
Transition: And maybe you wonder, “How do I know if I’ve done that?” Here’s how, you will be unashamed of the gospel.
No More Shame
This is where I think, for so long, I have misunderstood these verses. Because for so long, I thought Paul was saying, “Well, if you are really unashamed of the gospel, you’ll go and share it.” After all, Paul will say, in Romans 10:9, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And that is true. But I’m not sure that is exactly what Paul means by this word “unashamed.” Sometimes, I think you hear people use these verses like you’d put a dog’s nose in an accident. So, we sometimes say things like, “Don’t be ashamed of the gospel, so go share it,” or “don’t be ashamed of the gospel, so don’t screw up,” or “don’t be ashamed of the gospel, so you better be a better person.” And maybe that’s not being ashamed of the gospel, but it is being shamed by the gospel, and I have a hard time believing that this is what Paul means here.
You see, what is on offer in the gospel is not shame, but honor. Not condemnation, but justification. Not bieng forsaken, but being forgiven. Not being rejected but being accepted. To not be ashamed of the gospel is to proudly and confidently own all that God has given us. To not be ashamed of the gospel is to joyfully exult in the fact that God has not just given us anything, but that he’s given us himself.
God knew how messed up you were when he bought you. And he does not have buyers’ remorse. You can try to hide behind that fig leaf all you want. But he sees through it, and he still said, “This one is mine.” Here is the miracle of the gospel, God knows that hte worst thing that I’ve ever done is far worse than I could imagine. And yet, he loves me anyway.
This is, what I think, Paul means in the responsive reading from 2 Tim 1:8-12 that we read a few minutes ago.
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.
To not be ashamed of the gospel is to know that if I have been saved by grace, I will be saved by grace. If I was saved by beleiving, I will be saved by believing. In other words, to not be ashamed of the gospel is to say that the gospel is everything. That there is no greater love God could give us, there is no greater hope he could give us, than himself.
Because God has saved you in the gospel, have no more shame.
Which is why this last phrase here is so important when it says the “just shall live.” You see, when Habakkuk was writing this, God had shown him that the place that he loved, his people, his homeland, was about to be taken off into exile. And that was a major difficulty for Habakkuk. How could God do that? Why would God do that? What was he supposed to think about that? And God says, as Habakkuk is seeing the storm cloud on teh hroizon, as he is watching suffering, death, destruciton, horror and atrocity come his way. As he is contemplating all the hardships that are before him, God says to him, “the just shall live by faith.” In other words, “I will give you myself by faith.” And that was enough to sustain him. I think when Paul says, “from faith for faith”, that is what he is talkign about. That God blesses our faith in Christ with more faith that will sustain us through suffering. That beauty of the gospel provides the faith to get through to today and sustain us. Is it enough to sustain us? This is why in Romans 5, and 8, Paul talks about suffering so much. Because we live in a broken a world. A world that yearns like a woman in birth pains. And God says, “I am giving you myself. I am for you, not against you. You are my beloved child, and, because of CHrist, I am well pleased with you.”
Application
It is God’s power to salvation not yours
You must believe
You must keep believing (this is for Christians too)
Do not be ashamed (or, stop hiding)
If God justified you, he also justifies others. (To the Jews first and also to the Greeks).
Never let yourself get over the love of Gospel.
Conclusion: Here is love