The Gospel is Radically Different from Religion and Spirituality

Father, we ask that you gently but deeply pour out your Holy Spirit upon us so that we might hear your word, understand your word, that your word might enter deeply into our lives, and that as your word enters deeply into our lives, not only will we know more of your grace and freedom, but we will bear much fruit for your glory to the ends of the earth.

And this we ask in Jesus' name, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Amen. Please be seated. Oh, sorry, I'm trained.

But we're going to talk about ritual and all that in a moment, but you can see I have been trained.

If you're a guest here this morning, normally you're all standing because of the creed, and so I just instantly go into saying the same words.

So here's the thing. This past Monday, this is not going to surprise people who are regular here in the church.

I was at a Starbucks. I was leaving the Starbucks. I was going to go one way, and then I thought, no, I'll go the other way.

And as I go, one of the baristas that I've talked to a fair bit over the years, she's putting some cups and all there, and I'm just going to throw my cup out.

And I say, you know, how's it going? You know, how's it going? You know, you say, how's it going? What's the response?

Oh, it's fine. How's it going with you? Oh, it's fine. It doesn't matter.

And I ask her, how's it going? And she says, my life is terrible. My life sucks. I hate myself. I feel like killing myself. Everything is terrible.

And I'm saying it with a smile, but she did not say it with a smile. She said it with seriousness.

And so, you know, I'm a pastor. I should do something religious.

When somebody says that, I felt like saying, let's take a collection because that's pretty religious.

But instead, you know, I try to say something hopeful, you know, or whatever.

And she cuts me off after I'm trying to do my hopeful bit.

And she said, you know, there's these born-again Christian types. Have you heard of them?

I said, well, that actually would probably be me. I'm one of those types.

And she said, well, those born-again types, those born-again types, don't they believe that if Hitler, just before he died,

if he gave his life to Jesus, he'd go to heaven?

What do you think of that?

Well, I'm going to tell you roughly what I said in a few moments, but our text today talks about that.

And so it would be very helpful for me if you'd get your Bible.

And if you don't have a Bible of your own and you'd like to follow,

we're looking at the Book of Romans, which John just read a couple of moments ago.

There's always extra Bibles here at the front.

You can take them as a gift or you can bring them back afterwards.

And I tried in my sputtering best, very imperfectly, you know, if somebody had been videotaping this interchange,

it would not have ended up wanting to be in my great moments of conversation with people.

I stumbled through some things, but it's been on my mind all week.

And it's really appropriate that this is also the same week that we're looking at Romans 1.

And if you're wondering, today is the first Sunday in a sermon series.

We're going to go all the way through the Book of Romans.

And, you know, maybe I'll put on the webpage this week the different texts,

at least over the next few weeks that we'll be looking at.

And the sermon series is called Grace-Filled Life, Grace-Filled Life.

But that's, so, so, Hitler dying just before he dies.

He gives his life to Jesus.

He goes to heaven.

Like, what do you think about that?

And so here's how the text goes.

Verse 1 of Romans, chapter 1, verse 1.

Romans 1:1

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.

Now, just pause right here.

This is actually the first seven verses or one long sentence in the original language.

And so it's almost a little bit like once you get on it, it's almost like a water slide.

You can hardly even catch your breath, and it just sort of zooms you right down to the end.

But I just want to pause here before we read any further.

And, Andrew, if you could put up the first point.

Here's the first thing that we've got to see.

The gospel is good news from God.

Good news.

And if I should have bolded news or put it underlined or something.

The gospel is good news from God to ordinary people.

That's what it says here in verse 1.

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.

And the word gospel means good news.

And when it says gospel of God, it means it's good news from God.

And as we're going to see that it's good news from God to ordinary people like you and me.

Not just to religious people or spiritual people.

It's good news to Muslims, to Jews, to Africans, to Asians, to Canadians, to rich people, to poor people, to people who have same-sex attraction, to those who don't like those who have same-sex attraction, to well-educated and poor-educated, to people who go to bars a lot and people who absolutely never go to a bar.

It's the gospel is good news from God to ordinary people.

And it's really important.

The reason I wanted to have news bolded is because, and the reason the sermon series, today's sermon, I wanted to try to say that the gospel is radically different than either religion or spirituality.

Because, you see, one of the things that characterizes religion and characterizes spirituality is that they're basically all about advice.

They're basically about advice, about how you need to live or what you need to do, what yoga postures you need to accomplish, what mantras you've got to say, what dietary laws you've got to follow, when you can get drunk, when you should never get drunk.

But whatever it is, maybe religion is sort of mean and cold and hard and means going to terrible, boring places like churches.

And spirituality means that you can play golf on a Sunday morning and then go to yoga and never go to church.

And the rules are maybe very more relaxed, that you eat local and think global and all that type of stuff, as opposed to, you know, mean religion.

But whatever it is, they all ultimately give you advice, tell you what to do.

But the gospel means, in Greek, it means good news.

And so, in fact, one of the hard parts it is, even for Christians, is that Christians want to try to keep turning the gospel into good advice.

But the gospel is about news that comes from God to ordinary people, and it's good news.

And when it says that it's coming from God, and we'll talk about this more a little bit in a few moments,

it means that it's not coming from my culture, my race, my sex, from a certain sexual orientation.

It's not coming from an institution.

It's not coming from a time which is sort of bounded, you know, like only the first century.

It's good news from God to ordinary people like you and me.

Now, some of you might say, George, you don't really think that's true.

Christians don't really think that's true.

I bet you any money, George, that as part of, I know you didn't say let's take up a collection, okay?

Although that's a very religious thing to do, and it's sort of neat that you're making fun about it.

But I bet you invited that young woman to church, didn't you?

And I did.

I did.

Right?

So, George, you're contradicting yourself.

You're not being consistent, are you?

Well, that's a really, really, really good question.

Well, let's look at it.

Let's go back to reading.

And I'll tell you, because the text talks about that.

And so go back to verse 1, and then we'll go to the long water slide,

and then we'll come back, and I'll sort of draw something out of it, right?

So, Paul, verse 1.

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son,

who was descended from David according to the flesh,

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, 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.

That means among every single people group.

The gay people group, lost tribes in the Amazon, including you, that's you and I, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

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.

And from a literary point of view, Paul, almost all of the rest, a lot of the, he brings up all these themes he's going to develop later on in the book.

But here's the thing.

If you could have the second point up, Andrew, to sort of bring out like a little highlight here.

The good news from God.

Remember, the first point is that the gospel is good news from God to ordinary people.

The second thing is that the good news from God is about a person.

Jesus, Messiah, and Lord.

It's good news about a person.

Jesus, Messiah, and Lord.

That's what it says here in verse 2.

You see, it goes, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son.

The gospel is concerning his son, who is descended from David, according to the flesh.

In other words, he's a real human being.

He's not just a disembodied person.

He's not just an idea of a person.

He's not just like an archetype of a person.

That this is a story.

The good news is about God's son, who is also a human being.

He's a person.

The good news is about a person.

And that means that the good news is not about the institution of the Anglican church.

It's not about the church of the Messiah.

It's not about rituals.

It's not about liturgies.

It's not about rules.

It's not about politics.

It's not about culture.

It's good news about a person.

That's what it's all about.

Now, some of you are saying, well, George, didn't you?

Okay, here's the thing.

People naturally have habits and naturally create institutions.

They naturally have rhythms.

You just saw it, evidence, a few moments ago when I was assuming you were all standing.

I'm just sort of programmed.

It's like my ritual after I ask you to pray is you all be seated.

But we all have rituals.

We all have different ways that we wake up in the morning.

Many of us maybe have the same thing for breakfast in the morning.

But people change our rituals.

I don't think John would mind me saying that.

But a little while ago, for four or five years, we had a really fine administrator by the name of John.

And it was very interesting.

John was, I think, in his early 30s, and he ate like a typical man in his early 30s.

Crappy.

And all of a sudden, he started to get interested in this young woman named Joanne.

And all of a sudden, fries consumption started to decline.

Green leafy consumption started to rise.

Ketchup on fries declines.

Tomatoes with the green leafy stuff starts to rise.

Less fried food.

More steamed food.

You get the point.

People change our rituals and our habits.

One of the hard things for me when I got married, it's a very common thing.

I think it's often harder for men than it is for women.

One of the hard things for me when I got married is that Louise very rightly would say,

like, I don't know, I'd have my own rhythms, right?

And when you're dating somebody, well, you can have your own rhythms.

And you make an appointment to meet.

But when you marry, the other person has a say in your 24-7 life, right?

So, therefore, if after you finish your class, you can't just go for this or just can't do that or just can't do that

because the other person has a say in it.

So, it's not that after you get to know your girlfriend or after I'm married that all of a sudden I move into a realm

where I have no institutions, no habits, no rhythms.

It is that the person changes it.

And that's why it's so significant.

You see, why did I invite the young woman to church?

I invited the young woman to church because I believe that what happens here on a Sunday morning

is that Jesus' people get to meet Jesus in the company of each other.

That's why I'm here.

I want to meet with Jesus.

And I want to meet with Jesus in the presence of his people.

I want to meet with Jesus in the presence of his people, in the power of his Holy Spirit.

And I want to try to introduce that person to Jesus.

That's why I invited her here.

That's why you should invite somebody.

Don't invite them because the band is hot or the speaker is great or anything like that.

Lord have mercy.

Christ have mercy.

Lord have mercy.

Don't do that.

But it's all about a person.

And the other thing which is so neat about this, you see,

is that much spiritual thinking and religious thinking is impersonal.

It leads us to impersonal things.

In fact, many of the images that we have is of energy and it's impersonal images.

And we crave, as human beings, personal contact.

Even when we're depressed, even when we feel that no one loves us,

we're depressed because we feel that no one loves us.

Even when we're grieving because somebody has died,

we're grieving because we miss that personal contact.

Even within a marriage, when one of the couple or both of them are feeling very, very alone

and maybe even very, very trapped,

they feel alone and trapped because they want to have that deeper personal contact

and a real contact and it's just not happening.

But we crave the personal.

And the good news, the good news from God is about a person,

Jesus, the Messiah, and the Lord.

And throughout the rest of the book of Romans,

Paul is going to explain what it means that Jesus is the Messiah,

the Jewish Messiah and the Lord.

He's going to explain it.

Now, some of you might be saying,

okay, George, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Good news from God.

Come on.

George, I bet you if you went on the internet

and you Googled people who have God speaking through them,

I bet you'd get millions of responses.

I bet you'd get all sorts of YouTube videos

of people claiming to speak for God.

Every religion does it.

How on earth could you make such a claim

that the gospel is good news from God to ordinary people,

that it's good news about a person, Jesus?

Like, how on earth, in a world like that,

with all, you know, there's like all this thing going on,

how on earth could you possibly make such a claim?

That's a really good question as well, isn't it?

Well, Paul talks about that here.

Remember that big, long sentence that we went through?

If you go back and look here at verse 4,

it's a very sort of odd type of phrase,

and it's a very dense sentence, right?

So that's where we're going to pause.

Actually, if you put up a point, Andrew,

but I'll read this, the verse 4.

And was declared or appointed or inaugurated

or authenticated to be the Son of God in power, okay?

In other words, how is he appointed or authenticated

to be the Son of God in power,

according to the Spirit of holiness,

by his resurrection from the dead?

And then once again, he says, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Here's what Paul is saying.

The good news from God is authenticated

by the witness of the Holy Spirit

and the resurrection of Jesus.

That is how it is authenticated,

that it is news from God,

not from an institution, not from Paul,

not from a culture, not from a time period,

not by a guy who has particular brilliance

in writing or anything like that.

How is it that if we know that it comes from God,

that it's real, not counterfeit,

it's authenticated by the witness of the Holy Spirit

and the resurrection of Jesus?

And it's very, very interesting.

It shows one of the very spectacular things

about the gospel,

how it is that we are to respond to the good news.

Because you see, if you think about that,

if you think about what Paul's saying,

he's saying that it involves both the intellect

and our ability to ask questions

and seek and try to discover,

but it also is something deeply personal

within that we are to receive.

So with the resurrection,

that's an historical question.

Did Jesus really exist?

Did he really die upon the cross?

Was the tomb empty?

Do they have the body?

Were there witnesses to the fact

not only that the tomb was empty,

but that he claimed to be alive

and had defeated death?

Are there witnesses to this?

Are there historical records?

Are there historical traces?

Are they just in Jewish literature

or Christian literature

or pagan literature?

And you can get answers

to all of those questions.

You can actually say,

you could say,

George, I'd like to begin that search.

Do you have some scholarly work

that you could point me to

that I could go to start to read

and that I could follow the footnotes

and I could ask these questions

and I could start to give you that.

Others in the congregation

could not do it

and you could use your mind

to try to figure those things out.

And if you do,

you would come to the conclusion,

like myself and many other people,

that there actually is good historical evidence

and reasons to believe

that Jesus died on a Friday,

that every single person that he knew

believed that he had died

and was discredited,

and that on Easter Sunday,

the grave was empty,

the tomb was empty,

the body was gone,

and that people said they'd seen Jesus

and now rather than him being discredited,

they now believe that he was the Savior

and the Lord,

that he was the Messiah

long promised by God

in the scriptures of the first covenant.

And you can look for that.

You can seek that out.

You can use your mind.

But at the same time,

there's also this witness of the Holy Spirit,

which is a different type of thing.

It's an internal pressure.

It's like I became a Christian

when I was in grade 12.

And let me tell you

that what launched my quest for Jesus

wasn't that I had come to a faith

and trust in the resurrection.

It was when I'd seen people

whose lives had been changed by Jesus

and I had a sense of emptiness in my own life

and I had a sense that there must be more.

And I had a sense connected to these people

who were connected to Jesus

that there was something more.

And I went to events

and I was with them

and I heard them talk

and increasingly inside of myself,

there was a pressure.

It was as if there was almost a person

pushing on me

to surrender,

to humble myself,

to no longer push that pressure aside,

but to remove my arms

which were pushing that pressure aside

and to stand like this

and to let it come in.

The witness of the Holy Spirit.

The witness of the Holy Spirit

that authenticates it.

And just one other thing about this.

If I was to offer you counterfeit grass,

you'd go,

counterfeit grass?

Sorry, grass clippings.

If I was to go around the suburbs

and say,

I have some counterfeit grass clippings,

would you like to have it?

I'll sell it to you real cheap.

I'd go,

what do you mean?

Grass?

I have a problem getting rid of my grass clippings.

If you went around to the suburbs

and say,

I have counterfeit dandelions to sell you,

nobody would take them.

Unless they wanted them as a joke

to put on their neighbor's lawn

to harass them.

Counterfeits imply truth and value.

I try to pass off

a counterfeit $100 US bill.

That has an attraction

because there are real $100 US bills

and they're worth a lot of money,

$100 US.

Some parts of the world in Kenya,

they'd give you a lot more

than the $100 was worth

because it had a special significance

in Kenya when I was there.

It's one of the things

the guidebooks told you.

So all the things,

all of the religions,

all of the people talking

as if they talked from God,

rather than disproving

that God speaks,

it probably shows

that there is a God

who does speak.

That there's something human

to both desire it

and to try to twist it.

Counterfeits imply the real.

Well, some of you might say,

George,

words from God

to ordinary people.

Listen, George,

you know,

when you see cultures

that seem to have accepted

this God-speaking thing,

it just seems to consume them.

Like, George,

look at Islam.

Look at those devout Islam.

Not only does it lead them

to do murderous things,

it just seems to swallow up the person.

And it means that they start

dressing weird

and doing weird things

and doing murderous things.

And God always seems

to swallow the ordinary.

George,

isn't that what happens

when you think that God speaks?

Don't you think

that's what would happen to me

if I was to take your word for it

and to think that God

actually speaks to me?

That the gospel

is good news,

good words from God

to ordinary people?

That even though

it's authenticated

by the Holy Spirit

and about a person,

don't you think

that would just swallow me up?

Well, that's one of the reasons

why the next few verses

are so important

in Paul's letter.

Because the way Paul

writes this letter,

and by the way,

he's writing it about

20, 25 years

after the death

and resurrection of Jesus.

He's writing it

to a group of people

he's never met.

And it's just all of a sudden

he's given his sort of like

his powerful,

long sentence greeting.

And now,

before he's going to get

into his letter,

he turns to personal matters,

ordinary matters.

Like, listen along.

Verse 8.

First,

I thank my God

through Jesus Christ

for all of you

because your faith

is proclaimed

in all the world.

Oh, just pause here

for a second.

You know what's so cool

about this word first?

When I say

that the gospel

is good news from God,

don't make the mistake

of thinking then

that that somehow means

that the Bible

is a perfect book

or that it's the best

literature ever written.

What makes it

words from God

is that ultimately

the words that are here

are the words

that God wanted.

And this is actually written

in common

working class Greek,

not excellent Greek.

And you know what?

Here's a literary mistake

that Paul's make right here.

If you get a letter

and you say first,

you're expecting later on

you'll see second,

third, fourth.

There's no second,

third, and fourth.

He forgot to put them in.

It's not perfect literature.

We don't listen to this

because it's perfect.

We listen to it ultimately

because we believe

that it comes from God.

It's authenticated

by the resurrection

of Jesus from the dead

and the witness

of the Holy Spirit within.

But that was a digression.

Back to this.

Verse eight again.

First,

I thank my God

through Jesus Christ

for all of you

because your faith

is proclaimed

in all the world.

For God is my witness

whom I serve

with my spirit

and the gospel

of his son

that without ceasing

I mention you

always in my prayers

asking that somehow

by God's will

I may now at last

succeed in coming to you

for I long to see you

that I may impart to you

some spiritual gift

to strengthen you

that is

that we may be

mutually encouraged

by each other's faith

both yours and mine.

I want you to know

brothers and sisters

that I have often

intended to come to you

but thus far

have been prevented

in order that I may

reap some harvest

among you

as well as among

the rest of the pagans.

I am under obligation

both to Greeks

and to barbarians

both to the wise

and to the foolish

so I am eager

to preach the gospel

to you also

who are in Rome.

Don't you get this

just sense of this

personal and thankfulness

and mutual encouragement?

Paul is not swallowed up

obliterated by God

not even remotely.

You see the ordinariness

of it

of just being thankful

and of gratitude

and this idea

that they can spend

time together

and as a result

of just spending time together

that both will end up

being encouraged

that both will be stronger

and better off for it

and it's really interesting

here.

One other thing here

do you notice

he says here

in verse 14

I am under obligation

both to Greeks

and to the barbarians?

Actually literally

it's debtor

that he's in debt

to Greeks

and to barbarians.

so what on earth

does Paul mean

by saying

that he's in debt

to them?

Here's a very important thing

for those of us

who are Christians

to understand.

I'm going to get back

in a few moments

to my friend

and her question

about

could Hitler

have gone to heaven?

And I've already

shared with you

that we talked

for about 10-15 minutes

I tried to share

the gospel with her.

I probably did

a very very poor job.

I really

it really struck me

afterwards

that you know

it's not about you

George

and maybe

the point

of the conversation

wasn't that I would

do such a spectacular job

but that afterwards

I realized

I hadn't done

a good job

and I would pray

for her.

And

you know

so I have been

every day

I've been praying

for her

and that's maybe

the witness

of the Holy Spirit

not the witness

of George

but I made

my stumbling attempts

but here's the thing

how on earth

is Paul in debt?

What this is saying here

is that I actually

owe it

to her

I actually

owe it

to her

to tell

the gospel.

How is it

that I could be

in debt

to her?

Well

there's two different ways

that you can be in debt

to another person.

One way

that you could be in debt

to another person

is I could lend them

that they could lend me

$10,000

make it more

they could lend me

$25,000

even for rich people

that's serious change.

Donald Trump

didn't become Donald Trump

by ignoring 25k

okay

counts them up.

So let's say

this other person

gave me

lend me 25k

now I'm in debt

to them

to pay them back

the 25k

but there's another way

that I could be in debt

to the other person

it could be

that one of you

gives me 25k

to carry

and to give

to another person

and now

I am

under obligation

to pass on

that $25,000

to the other person

and wouldn't you all

be upset

if I kept

that $25,000

and didn't pass it on

to another person?

Doesn't every single

one of these people

of us in the room

and probably wouldn't

every one of our neighbors

appreciate

$25,000?

Wouldn't

that's what Paul

is saying here

that God

desires

the great gift

worth

an unbelievable

amount of money

to be told

to offered

to your next door

neighbors

your co-workers

the baristas

who serve you

the gay man

or the gay woman

who's your doctor

or your dentist

or cleans your house

or whatever

that you actually

from God

have an obligation

to with faltering lips

and maybe

with spectacular failure

attempt to share

the gospel with them.

That's what Paul's

saying here.

Friends,

brothers and sisters,

when that first struck me,

that has been haunting me

ever since it struck me.

that that's how I am

to view my neighbors

and the people around me

because it's so easy

to be ashamed

and intimidated

of the gospel,

ashamed of the gospel,

ashamed of Jesus

and it's so easy

to be intimidated

by the culture.

That's exactly

what Paul's going

to go into.

He's going to go into

the whole problem

of our being

intimidated

by our culture.

I haven't seen

the movie,

I think this weekend

in Canada

the movie

The War Room

just started

and it was reviewed

in the secular

papers of Ottawa

and I haven't seen

the movie,

I don't know

if it's a good movie

or a bad movie,

four people,

I know five people

who've seen it

and they really liked it

and I'm going

to encourage you

to go because

it's done by

brothers and sisters

in Christ

so I'm going

to stand with them

and encourage you

to go

but it was reviewed

and this is why

we often

in our culture

can feel

even though

we have freedom

but we can often

feel so intimidated.

The reviewer said

he pointed out

all of the ridiculous

things in the movie

from his point of view

and he said

he spent almost

the entire movie

doubled over

with laughter

at how ridiculous

every single thing

in the movie was

until he got

to the end

and then he sat up

because he realized

it was unbelievably

scary

in a bad way

like a type

of crazy

religiousness

that's only going

to ruin your life

and he worried

that anybody

would take

its advice

and we all

know in our spirit

that even though

most people

that many people

that we know

wouldn't actually

say that to our face

that's what's going

on in their heads

and their hearts

and so it's very easy

to be intimidated

by our culture

and not have a sense

that there is a debt

that I have

an obligation

to share the gospel

but to feel

intimidated

by my culture

and when I'm

intimidated

by my culture

I am ashamed

and it's made worse

because it seems

so weak

humanly speaking

but what does Paul

say he does

is that Andrew

could you put it up

I'd like you

to all say

these next two verses

the last two verses

of our sermon today

could you say this

with me

actually I can't see it

I'll use it

say it with me

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 the gospel

the righteousness

of God

is revealed

from faith

to faith

as it is written

the righteous

shall live

by faith

friends

every Sunday

while we're going

through Romans

we're going to say

that verse

because this

these two verses

tell you what

the whole book

is about

it tells you

what the gospel

is

and we're going

to look at that

every week

when we're looking

at the weird things

why on earth

is Paul talking

about Israel

why is Paul

being so mean

to gay people

why is Paul

being so insulting

to other people

and why is he

talking about

blood

and why is he

talking about

Adam

and every week

I'm going to

come back

because at a

literary level

anybody you study

talks about the book

at a literary level

Paul in verses

16 and 17

right here

he tells you

what the whole book

is about

and everything

in the book

is going to be

trying to unpack

these two verses

and so every week

we're going to say it

together at least once

and I hope by the end

it's not that you're

sick of the verses

but that you love

the verses

you have it

memorized

that it's changing

your life

it's changing the life

of our church

so just

we're going to say it

one more time

in a moment

but just Andrew

if you could put up

the point

just to sort of

what try to

be our initial thought

about what's going on

in that text

when he says

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 the gospel

the righteousness of God

is revealed

from faith to faith

from faith to faith

as it is written

the righteous shall live

by faith

here's the sort of

the idea you can get

away for today

the gospel

is the power of God

which justifies

sanctifies

and glorifies

all who believe

the gospel

the good news

from God

to ordinary people

the good news

from God

to ordinary people

that's about a person

the person of Jesus

who's the Messiah

and the Lord

the good news

from God

which is authenticated

by the witness

of the Holy Spirit

and by the resurrection

of Jesus

this good news

which is the gospel

is a power

the power

of God

which justifies

sanctifies

and glorifies

every person

who believes

gay and straight

rich and poor

Arab

Jew

Gentile

mentally handicapped

mentally genius

every person

who believes

religious

and irreligious

spiritual

and completely

and utterly

unspiritual

back to

my friend

one of the reasons

I think

I mean

remember I told you

she

my life sucks

my life is horrible

I feel like

killing myself

I'm not sure

if I should kill myself

or kill all the people

who are around me

and she said it

not with a smile

but with real emotion

and

you know

one of the reasons

I think she said that

is because

she is being

beaten up

and bent over

by massive

unfairness

in her life

unfairness at work

unfairness

from her family

unfairness

from boyfriends

unfairness

from significant

from her friends

just

really

really

really

undeservedly

bent

broken

and being

crushed

by unfairness

and you gotta

see where

she's coming

from

if you're being

bent and broken

by all the

significant

relationships

in your life

or many of the

significant

relationships

in your life

and you've been

broken

and been broken

by not just

an unfairness

in a day

but an unfairness

which seems

to just be

a pattern

of your life

that goes on

for a while

to hear

that Hitler

could just

say a prayer

and then

go to heaven

seems

unfair

doesn't it

it seems

unfair

and so

these born again

Christians

my co-workers

are unfair

the institution

is unfair

my family

is unfair

my friends

are unfair

boyfriends

were unfair

and now

you're telling

me God's unfair

well

whoop-de-doo

for you

what does it

mean

when it says

that there's

a righteousness

from God

what this text

is saying

is that God

does

what no human

being cannot

do

he acts

he acts

it's a power

he acts

in a way

which is right

to make us

right

with himself

that God

does

what no human

being can do

he acts

in a way

which is right

to make us

right

with himself

that's what the

Bible is saying

the gospel

that in this

this

you know

if you go

back and read

Genesis chapter

one

God speaks

and it is

God's

God can do

things

his very word

is power

he can create

things

and all the way

through the rest

of the book of Romans

I'm not going to try

to justify God

right now

but that's what

the rest of the book

of Romans

is going to do

he's going to start

to deal with

a whole pile

of moral

and other problems

and at the end

of it

he's going to say

that when you

understand

what God

is doing

how he's acting

to make you right

with himself

that he

you can't make

yourself right

with him

but he can make

you right

with himself

that when you

see how he does

it

and what he has

done

you're going to

say God

did it right

he's not

unfair

it's the opposite

of unfair

that God

has done

something

which blows

your mind

he's been

completely

massively

just

and completely

and massively

full of grace

in Islam

people go

to heaven

most people

don't

but people

go to heaven

but it's just

God just

chooses

it's just

like

you're going

to heaven

you're going

to heaven

you're going

to heaven

you're going

to heaven

the rest

of you

hell

what's next

on my

agenda

we'll see

that that's

not what

happens

with the

gospel

that after

you understand

what it is

that Jesus

has done

for you

and his

death

upon the

cross

his life

his death

upon the

cross

and his

resurrection

you will

say

God did

it

it's

right

and it's

a relationship

word

righteousness

it doesn't

mean that all

of a sudden

you become

perfect

that you

become

the elite

that you

become

the wise

person

that you

go around

and you

always know

the right

answer

and you

always know

the right

thing to

order on

the menu

and you

always know

the right

interest rate

and you

always know

how to

buy the

right car

and you

always have

the right

perfect

person

it's not

about like

that at

all

it's about

God making

him right

with himself

and ultimately

with the entire

recreated

created order

that God

does this

and we can't

do it

ourselves

and this

word salvation

it's a word

that has

three tenses

it means that

God has done

something to make

us right with

himself in the

past in the

present in the

future that he

justifies that he

sanctifies and

that he glorifies

and that that's

what the gospel

does that's the

good news about

what Jesus has

done for us

on the cross

and in his

resurrection

that as we

hear this

we understand

that he

justifies us

it means in a

sense that

if you have

lived your life

and you have

been completely

and utterly

broken by

unfairness

and maybe you

have been

unfair with

others

that there

is something

that God

does

which makes

you completely

and utterly

new

which deals

with all

that which

is past

and at the

same time

that what he's

going to do

through the

person of his

son is

something that

sanctifies you

that it becomes

something that

starts to change

your life in

terms of how

you live but it

doesn't do it out

of guilt it

doesn't do it out

of rules and it

doesn't do it out

of obligation that

it comes out of

being gripped by

the gospel and

what God has done

for you in the

person of his son

that he does

freely out of

love for you that

he does it because

you cannot do it

for yourself and

as you're gripped

by the gospel all

of a sudden you

are starting to be

able to be nudged

into new ways of

living new ways of

living start to

become reasonable

to you and you

are drawn from

the future that

making these types

of changes that

it's worth it

because the end

is glory as you

are gripped by the

gospel and not

just gripped by the

gospel but the

story but the idea

as you'll see in the

Romans as it unfolds

that Jesus actually

walks with you that

the Holy Spirit

actually who's also

a person actually

indwells you and

that it's God at

work in his power

and then for

anybody who

labors under

unfairness don't

you want to have

the sense and for

any single human

being that even

though there'll be

things that are

really really hard

in life and you

deal with failure

don't you want to

have this sense that

the final word about

you will be one of

welcome and

acceptance and

that's what

glorification is

that's that's what

comes as Paul is

going to unfold in

the book of Romans

that you can know

today not based on

how you've performed

in the past or you

are performing today

that you can know

today God's final

word about you

spoken over your

life and you can

begin to live your

life day by day

moment by moment

in light of God's

final word about

you accomplished

by his work and

his action for you

for your good

what did I tell to

the young woman

I said if Hitler

had not died in

the bunker but

he'd been captured

by the soldiers and

he was put in jail

waiting execution

a chaplain should go

and visit him and

share the gospel with

him and even after

the death of six

million Jews of

gays and gypsies and

of many Christians

if he hears the

news of the gospel

and believes and

gives his life to

Jesus God will

make what have

made him right

with himself

and then Hitler

should have been

executed for the

horrible things he

did because being a

Christian does not

make you part of the

Illuminati it does

not make you now a

ruler of the earth

it does not mean

that you can then

somehow get a free

pass from all of the

terrible things you've

done in your life

but it means you can

be reconciled to God

we don't enter the

elite we're made

right with God

the Christian faith is

one beggar telling

another beggar where

to find bread it's

not about how you

should rule over

others

could you please

stand Andrew could

you put Romans 1 16

17 up again

could you all as you

stand say this with

me one more time

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 the gospel the

righteousness of God is

revealed from faith to

faith as it is written

the righteous shall

live by faith just

going to close my

words in in prayer but

I want to tell you

right now if you have

been coming to this

church where maybe

you've just wandered in

and you there might be

people here today who

like I did many years

ago feel a pressure a

pressure to let Jesus

come into your life and

be your Savior and Lord

and there is no better

time than right now to

put your arm down put

your hands like this and

don't push them away but

let them come in and I'm

not going to risk telling

you some magic formula or

words I just want to

challenge you if that's

happening to you right

now all I want you to do

is look at the screen and

say Jesus I want that

God doesn't listen to

magic formulas he wants

to hear you say that I

want that for the rest of

my life say it in your own

words no better time than

today to give your life to

Jesus let the witness of the

Holy Spirit flood in your

life bow our heads in

prayer

father thank you for Jesus

thank you for sending him

to walk amongst us thank

you that he is the

fulfillment of your centuries

of promises to the Jewish

people thank you that you

kept your word thank you

that you love us thank you

that in Jesus you do for me

and for other people what I

cannot do for myself thank you

that in Jesus and through

Jesus you make me right

with yourself in the past

in the present and into the

eternity and thank you

father that you do it in

Jesus I don't understand

how you do it I'm looking

forward to knowing more but

I thank you I believe that

you've done it and can do it

and will do it in my life and

whatever that says in Romans

1 16 and 17 father I want

that to be me I want that in

my life I want that to be how

I live I want to that father I

I want to have that good

news change me Jesus make me

a disciple gripped by the

gospel who lives for your

glory make us disciples of

Jesus gripped by the gospel

who live for your glory we

ask this in Jesus's name on

them

get you

and