Unashamed: The Power of the Gospel

I want to look at Romans chapter 1 verses 16 to 18 today.

Romans 1:16–18

And I want to address the issue of being unashamed of the gospel.

! Have you ever found yourself ashamed of the gospel?

! I imagine if you are a believer, you have had some instance of this.

I remember one time when I was back in college, I was working retail.

I was a relatively new believer, very excited about the Lord,

and very faithful pretty much to share the gospel when I could.

And I was working in retail and just kind of enjoying life

and the fact that I belonged to Jesus.

I was rescued from my sin and so forth.

And I was whistling as I was working.

And then I went over to a customer and I said,

do you need help with anything more?

And he said, yeah. Why are you so happy?

Golden moment, right?

He asked me why you're so happy.

It's my chance to say, and for some reason,

I don't know if I was in, I think I was intimidated by the guy.

He was a big guy.

I came up with a really pathetic answer.

Instead of saying what I ought to, I said, well, I just am.

And it was just the worst answer.

And I felt terrible for it.

I don't know if you've had a moment like that.

That's not my only moment.

But I'm not here to share my bad moments.

There's that reality of being ashamed of the gospel.

And we do it for different reasons.

But God doesn't leave us there in that place of being ashamed and struggling.

He helps us.

He's given us his word.

His word is living and active.

And he wants to minister to us through it.

And to do that even today.

So if you are someone who has struggled like me with being ashamed of the gospel,

I have great hope for you.

Because God has given us his word.

And by his spirit, he wants to speak to us.

So let's pray.

And ask for his help that we might learn and respond to his word.

I'll pray.

And then we can stand to hear God's word read.

Lord, we thank you for you and your word.

And we thank you, Lord, that you are full of mercy and patient.

And Lord, in you is power.

And your word shapes us and changes us and enables us to walk with you and to walk in your way.

So I pray, Lord, as we look at your word today, that we would receive your word.

And you would grant us power to embrace it and to believe and obey.

And I pray you'd help me, Lord.

I feel weak.

I feel especially weak this morning for whatever reason.

But that's good because you're mighty.

And I pray you would show yourself mighty today as we look at your word.

Your life-giving, your true, your faithful word, your eternal word.

And we ask these things in Christ's name.

Amen.

Amen.

Please stand as we read God's word.

Romans 1, 16 through 18.

It says, Paul is speaking in the beginning of this letter.

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 it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith,

as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men

who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Romans 1, 16 through 18.

God's word.

You may be seated.

Paul says plainly here in the beginning of verse 16,

I am not ashamed of the gospel.

Paul says that actually multiple times throughout his writings.

You can find that.

He is someone who is not ashamed of the gospel,

but who also prays for boldness.

He asks the churches to pray for boldness for him.

And really this struggle is at the heart of every believer.

This tendency to be ashamed, to not be bold.

And yet Paul instructs us here in some key ways.

And I want to take a look at these verses because they are Paul's reasons for not being ashamed,

but they are more than just Paul's reasons for not being ashamed.

They are our reasons.

So if you look at these verses, you can see a logic that's here.

First, of course, he says he's not ashamed of the gospel.

And he says because it's the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.

And then he gives the reason or that drives that.

It's because in it a righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.

And then verse 18, the problem behind this is the wrath of God is being revealed

against all the unrighteousness, ungodliness of humanity.

So he's really giving a reverse order.

He says the problem at the end, then the answer,

and then how that drives him not to be ashamed.

And so I want to look at that logic, but the other way around.

So we're going to look at the problem first,

this reality of the wrath of God being revealed.

And then we're going to look at the answer,

the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel,

and then talk about the power of God and then why we're not ashamed.

In all this, at every point that I'm making,

there are reasons in these truths that drive us not being ashamed.

So we'll just walk through it.

So first, we're going to start at the end in verse 18 on the wrath,

God's wrath against our sin.

It says,

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven

against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men

who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

This statement is what is the background

for everything that Paul is saying in this section.

So notice four things.

It speaks of God's wrath.

God's wrath.

Now, God's wrath is not human anger.

God's wrath is not in personal karma.

It is a settled, holy, judicial response

of a perfectly righteous God towards evil.

Second, it says it's being revealed.

It's ongoing.

God is actually revealing his wrath now.

And of course, it will be ultimately revealed in the final judgments.

But it's happening now.

Third, it says it's from heaven.

It's God's wrath.

It's just.

And it's against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

It's universal in scope.

And it's focused.

It's reasonable.

These are truths that are important to understand.

And Paul actually takes time after verse 18

to go through almost three chapters worth of why this is happening

to explain the background.

So I will just pretty quickly walk through that reasoning

and examine it for us that we might understand

this reality of the wrath of God.

The ground for it is not God just being wrathful for any reason.

And it's because of the unrighteousness and ungodliness of humanity.

God's wrath is being revealed against ungodliness, against unrighteousness.

This unrighteousness is a corporate reality for all of humanity.

Chapter 1, he talks about that.

It's a reality that is for all of us.

It's for the self-righteous who think that they don't qualify,

that they don't fall under this diagnosis.

And ultimately, it confronts every human being.

There's no unrighteous.

No, not one.

It's so important for us to understand this,

to understand this dark background to the glorious gospel of grace.

This dark background is really important to understand

because if you don't get the dark background,

the gospel doesn't look so bright and glorious.

Matter of fact, why do we even need this gospel of grace?

If we don't have a serious problem.

This is the right diagnosis for our own situation,

and we need to face it.

And often, it's the failure to understand this diagnosis of humanity,

all of humanity, and all of us also individually.

That is why we're ashamed of the gospel.

We don't understand how dire the circumstances are.

The reality is for all of humanity, is for us, is for your neighbor, is for your family member.

However, we subscribe to some other diagnosis of humanity often.

There's often compromise.

And we let the worldly ideas about humanity seep in and say,

well, we're okay, actually.

We're more or less good.

But that's not what Romans says.

Paul wants us to understand this dire situation that drives his compulsion

to share the gospel with whomever he can,

and his example for all of us as well,

to follow him as he follows Christ.

So chapter 1 goes at length to explain the situation

that we are unrighteous corporately, culturally, as a civilization, as a species,

even though God has displayed his glory and goodness clearly in creation.

No one has an excuse because it's displayed clearly before all of humanity.

Even though it's displayed, even though we are creatures made in his image,

and therefore we know, all of us, every human, every culture,

all of us knows right and wrong.

It's there.

You can study in terms of sociology all different people groups.

They all know right and wrong at a fundamental level.

They all share common morals.

We know we're made in the image of God,

even though we know right and wrong,

even though we intuitively understand the natural order of things,

even though all these things are there,

we have rejected God and pushed the obvious aside.

That's what Romans 1 teaches us.

Not only have we just merely pushed it aside,

we are actually actively spurting it.

That's what Romans 1 teaches us.

From one degree of corruption to another,

we are actively suppressing the truth,

as we saw Paul's statement in Romans 1.18.

This is who we are.

This is what we do.

We have stricken gratitude and reverence from God

from our songs, our stories, our celebrations.

You see that all around us.

God is the awkward and unwelcome guest in our culture, isn't he?

And Romans 1 says,

this is not by accident.

This is on purpose.

This is the situation.

This is the sorry state of humanity.

This is the ridiculous state of humanity.

Humanity has credited nature rather than the creator.

We've marveled at our own accomplishments

rather than the fact that we can do nothing

apart from the grace of God.

We have ignored and rejected and denied

and even raged against God.

It's a ridiculous and terrible tragedy.

That's what's clear here in Romans 1.

The culmination of our folly is actually

exchanging the glory of God

and all of his goodness and glory

as simply revealed in creation.

We've exchanged that for the creation,

for images made in the image of creation,

mankind, animals, birds, and worse.

We are hell-bent in worshiping anything else but God.

And as we pursue this line,

the choices get more and more bizarre.

This is the reality of humanity.

Paul accurately diagnoses us.

And you just need to look around.

Study our own culture.

Look at history.

It's undeniable.

He is speaking the truth.

We know it's spoken in God's very word.

Therefore, it is true.

But it's confirmed by our own observations around us.

And we do this all right in front of God,

living in his house, his world, his universe.

We do it with images, people, celebrities, ideals,

money, sex, power, entertainment, and self,

and self-image on and on without stopping.

And this is a cosmic crime.

And we are all guilty.

The late theology professor Cornelius Van Til

spoke of humanity as a little girl

sitting on her father's lap.

Slapping him in the face.

Telling him he doesn't exist.

That's what we do.

We sit on God's lap.

We sit in his creation amidst his revelation

of glory and goodness.

And we slap him.

You don't exist or you're mean.

It's a cosmic crime.

It's a sad reality.

And as we do this, Paul talks about the results

in chapter 1 of Romans.

We reject God and our universe,

our world, our culture, our relationships,

they unravel.

And so Paul says three times in chapter 1,

God gave them up in their foolishness,

in mankind's foolishness,

our foolishness.

Gave them up to the lust of their hearts.

Gave them up to dishonorable passions.

Gave them up to a debased mind.

God said, okay, if this is your choice,

I'm going to give you over to it.

And here you go.

And there we go.

Abandoning God results in being abandoned

by God to confusion and moral brokenness.

And the picture is appalling.

And we all know it shouldn't be this way.

Paul says that we are filled

with all manner of unrighteousness,

wickedness, greed, malice,

full of envy, murder, strife, deceit,

malevolence, gossipers, slanderers,

God-haters, insolent, arrogant, boastful,

inventors of evil,

disobedient to parents,

foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

This is humanity.

All of us to one degree or another.

So be careful, by the way.

And I'll talk about this.

Not to say, well, I'm not as bad

as those others who do this.

I can't be that bad.

All of us are indicted by Romans 1 and 2 and 3

to one degree or another.

We are all guilty of these things.

We only need to look around

at our current moral landscape

to recognize this.

Our culture's present sexual ethics

are now governed by desire and preference

with personal identity

locked into these choices.

To value myself or anyone else,

the rule goes,

I must support whatever choices

that person makes.

And society has declared

sexual freedom non-negotiable

and treats anyone who disagrees

as the moral problem.

This is our culture,

hating the truth

and suppressing the truth

of God's word.

And in one way or the other,

we are all guilty

to a degree of related sins.

And God,

in his righteousness,

gives sinners

what they choose.

And this is what we see in humanity.

This is what we see all around us.

This is what we see to some degree

in our own hearts.

See, it's not just out there.

It's not just culture.

It's not just history,

but it's in all of us personally.

And so Paul will take time

in chapter 2

to turn the tables

on those who look at the culture

and say,

oh, it's awful.

It's going downhill fast,

but I'm not that bad.

And he will turn the tables

and say,

you also are guilty.

You who say they ought not to do this,

you do it.

Maybe not in the same way,

maybe not to the same degree,

but you do it as well.

Well, I've never murdered anybody,

but Jesus asks us,

have you ever been bitterly angry

with someone?

Have you ever wished

that person just simply

wasn't in your life anymore?

Is that really that different

than murder?

The same heart

that destroys another human

for our own convenience

is there in all of us.

Maybe you've never committed adultery,

but have you lusted

after someone

wanting them in a way

that doesn't belong to you

and is not appropriate?

We all are guilty.

Well, I've never stolen,

but really, have you?

Have you taken advantage

of anybody else in any way?

Taking something from them

that's not really yours to take?

I don't really lie,

but do you lie about others

or promote lies

and propagating things

that are not verified

and maybe slanderous?

That's kind of what happens

all around us in social media.

We are all guilty.

None of us are innocent in this,

and nothing will help us really.

No heightened activity

in church membership.

No knowing the truth

or being orthodox

in your profession of faith.

No amount of good works.

These things will not rescue us.

They will not undo

the unrighteousness

that is in our hearts.

It's dark,

and we don't even know

the half of it.

Can you imagine?

Maybe this will happen someday.

We invent a brainwave detector

that actually can interpret

what's going on in your brain.

So it's a brain.

Imagine if you had

on your phone this app.

I don't think any of us

would want to have it,

but a brainwave monitor

and interpreter

that could take all the things

you're thinking during the week

and actually create videos

and put those on your computer.

And today, after church,

we're actually going to have

somebody's brainwave

for this past week

on the screen here,

and we're all going to

enjoy it together.

Would anybody enjoy that?

Would the person

whose brainwaves are shown,

whose videos are shown,

enjoy that?

No.

That just shows us

the reality that we don't

like to face,

that we are full

of unrighteousness.

It's at least embarrassing,

if not terribly condemning.

This is the reality.

The story is told

that the London Times

once sent out an inquiry

to famous authors

asking them to write an essay

about what's wrong

with the world,

and the famous author

G.K. Chesterton

wrote his essay

saying simply this,

Dear Sir,

I am yours,

G.K. Chesterton.

I am.

He understood

the biblical truth.

The problem with the world

is not what's out there,

it's what's in here

in my heart.

I am also unrighteous

before a holy God.

This is the reality.

Romans 3 tells us,

For all have sinned,

all have sinned,

and fall short

of the glory of God.

You, friend, brother,

or sister,

fall short

of the glory of God.

None is righteous,

Romans 3, 10 and 11.

No, not one.

No one understands.

No one seeks for God.

This is the reality

for all of us

in our natural state.

We are all unrighteous.

We are all polluted by sin.

We're like glasses of water

into which mud

has been introduced.

Stinky, foul, sewer mud.

And some of us,

maybe the glass

is almost all mud.

And maybe you know it

if that's the case.

Others of us,

it's just a little bit

of stinky sewer mud.

Just a little bit.

And we're certainly

not like those glasses

that are all mud.

But are any of the glasses

fit to drink?

Not one.

We are all unrighteous

before a holy God.

And this diagnosis

is so important.

Understanding this truth.

It's important, of course,

because it's true.

It's the ultimate reality.

It's important to grasp

because the world

will give you

every other diagnosis

but this one.

And that will affect you.

And that will dampen

your zeal

to make

the gospel of grace

known

to those around you.

I know it's uncomfortable.

And believe me,

it's really awkward

for me to come as your guest

and just preach what I did.

But we need to hear it.

And we need to realize

it's true.

And we need to realize

that this diagnosis

is not given to us

to condemn us

but to rescue us.

That's the trajectory

of all this.

This diagnosis

of the dark backdrop

to the gospel

of our sickness,

of our moral sickness

is so important

so that we might understand

how much we need to cure.

But not only you personally,

of course,

that's your first priority.

But all those around you,

and all peoples

throughout the whole globe,

need the cure

that comes

in relationship to this.

Because it's not just

that we're unrighteous

but we're unrighteous

before a holy God.

God is holy.

He is pure.

He is pure goodness.

He is infinitely glorious.

And He is perfectly just.

He's not capricious.

He would never judge anything

in a way that would be

just over the top,

excessive.

Dante's Inferno

is not biblical.

But hell is.

And God's perfect justice is.

The wrath of God

is not narcissism

on God's part.

It's His holy, patient,

determined opposition

to evil

and attitude and action

that leads Him

to a faithful commitment

to respond

and eradicate all evil,

to judge it all.

And there is real evil

all around us,

inside of us.

And God is the creator of all

and Lord of all

who is goodness.

And so He must act.

He must be just.

Now we all understand justice.

We do.

When we see something done

to an innocent person,

relatively innocent person,

we're shocked and concerned

if we watched

an elderly woman

get knocked to the ground

and robbed in the street.

We probably would chase

after the guy.

We'd be upset at least.

We understand justice.

That's wrong

and we feel it

and we know it

when we hear of

the mistreatment of children

and all these other evil things.

We're indignant,

appropriately so.

We get justice.

We understand it

but we are often good

at applying it to others

and not to ourselves.

And God is perfect

in His justice.

He must judge

those who have sinned

against the innocent one,

God Himself,

in His goodness and glory,

in our rebellion.

He must judge

sin done against one another,

against those made

in the image of God.

We have all fallen short

and sinned in these ways.

This justice is revealed

from heaven

by a perfect God.

not an offended dictator

but the Holy One.

It's not vindictive.

It's not cruel.

It's not partial.

It's perfect.

Actually,

the saints in heaven

recorded in Revelation 15

celebrate His justice

and His judgment.

Great and amazing

are your deeds.

It says,

O Lord God,

the Almighty,

just and true

are your ways,

O King of the nations.

They celebrate

His perfect justice

and His judgment.

And His justice

is exactly appropriate.

And therefore,

it is appropriately severe

for sinners.

The punishment

fits the crime.

Romans 6 tells us

the wages of sin

is death.

Death.

Death.

Eternal separation

from all the goodness

and greatness

of God

and His mercy

and kindness

that we all know

and we all take

for granted.

It is a just reckoning

for those who reject God

and persist in it

who rely on their own

supposed righteousness

instead of running

to Christ for rescue.

That existence

is eternal.

Eternal separation.

We call that

hell.

And Paul teaches

in chapter 2 actually

that those wages

and implications

and the fullness

of God's justice

is accumulating

even now for us

as we continue,

if we do,

continue to reject God.

Romans 2.5,

But because of your hard

and impenitent heart

you are storing up

wrath for yourself

on the day of wrath

when God's righteous judgment

will be revealed.

We are storing it up

if we continue

to live in that place

of sin,

rebellion,

and self-righteousness.

We add to this

terrible treasure chest.

It makes me think

of Marley

in Christmas Carol

as he encounters

Ebenezer.

And Ebenezer

asks about this chain

that Marley

is carrying.

And Marley

says to Scrooge

about the chain

which is

the judgment of God

on Marley

and on Scrooge

he says

it was as full,

as heavy,

and as long

as this

seven Christmas

Eves ago.

You have labored

on it

since.

It is a ponderous

chain.

This is the reality

in God's holiness

and justice.

He will bring

a just reward,

a just punishment

for our sin.

And apart from Christ

we all,

each one,

and all humanity,

each one,

is in serious

trouble.

I take no pleasure

in bringing you

bad news,

but it is the reality.

And I must,

for my own heart's sake,

my own mind's sake,

and for yours,

remind you of this

situation so that you

don't go around

thinking things are

quite alright.

Thank you.

A.W. Tozer warned,

the vague and tenuous

hope that God

is too kind

to punish the ungodly

has become a deadly

opiate

for the consciences

of millions.

And this opiate

is in the air

that we breathe.

In August 2007,

the I-35 bridge

in Minneapolis

collapsed.

Major bridge,

major highway,

killing 13 people.

Part of the tragedy

is that the engineers

knew the bridge

needed repairs.

And because of

budget constraints,

they hadn't gotten

to it in time,

and they assumed

the bridge would

last longer.

They assumed the bridge

would be okay.

Thank you.

And the reality is

that people without Christ,

our beloved family members

and friends and neighbors,

are traveling on a bridge

destined to collapse.

And we, like those engineers,

think, well,

we got time,

and it's not that serious.

They won't really happen.

And we need to recognize,

no,

they're traveling through life

on a collapsing bridge,

and it will collapse.

And we are called

as ones who,

if you know the good news,

to come to the rescue

and sharing that good news,

to have that heart,

to have a heart of compassion

for those who are traveling

on this bridge,

even as Christ had compassion

on sinners.

sinners.

This is the heart

we all need.

This is the heart you need

on Tuesday at the office,

Wednesday around the dinner table,

Thursday with the neighbor

across the way,

each day of the week

as we interact

with those around us,

to have the same heart.

Well,

that's the backdrop.

That's the situation.

That's the diagnosis.

It's not the end of the story.

Thank God.

God has provided

a way of escape

from His just judgment.

And His provided way

actually is also

perfectly just,

perfectly righteous.

He does not compromise

His justice one bit

in His solution

for our unrighteousness.

And Romans 1.17

speaks of it,

for in it the righteousness

of God in the gospel

is revealed

from faith for faith.

As it is written,

the righteous

shall live by faith.

The righteousness of God here

certainly involves

His justice towards sin.

It involves

His perfect character.

But it's speaking

of a righteousness

that comes to us,

revealed from faith

for faith,

that would be given

to those who live by faith.

It's a righteous declaration

given by God,

a verdict in righteousness

of not guilty,

fully approved,

accepted.

And He grants this

to sinners

on the basis

of the righteousness

of another.

Romans 3.

After Paul has spent

all this time

talking about this

dark backdrop,

that is so important

to understand

and apply to our lives.

He transitions

once we recognize

we don't have anything

to stand on ourselves.

He transitions

to God's answer.

But now,

the righteousness

of God

has been manifested

apart from the law,

although the law

and prophets

bear witness to it.

The righteousness

of God

through faith

in Jesus Christ

for all who believe

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.

First,

I just want you

to recognize

and we'll talk about

how this all works,

but to recognize

that the center

of this righteousness

is not an idea,

it's not a method,

it's not a system.

It is a person.

His name is Jesus.

He is the righteousness

of God

as we read earlier,

because of Him

you are in Christ Jesus

who became to us

wisdom from God,

righteousness,

sanctification,

and redemption.

It's the person of Jesus.

Jesus Christ

is God Himself

who took on flesh

to rescue us,

to be the fulfillment

of all righteousness

in His life,

in His faith,

in His obedience

as the perfect human being,

to fulfill the promises

of God

that are throughout

the Scriptures,

and then to take

that righteous,

worthy,

perfect life,

that beautiful,

glorious life,

and then lay it down

on the cross

to die for sin.

He who knew no sin

became sin for us

so that in Him

we might become

the righteousness of God.

He became sin.

He took upon Himself

our sins,

our unrighteousness,

the fullness of it,

all the evil,

all the disgusting details

that God knows

in fullness

were all put on Christ,

the Holy One,

bore our sin

on the cross,

and then the Holy One,

the Father,

poured out

holy justice on Him.

God Himself,

Father, Son,

and Holy Spirit,

put forward Christ

as this offering

so that He Himself

would receive

perfect,

complete,

final justice

for your sins,

for all who would believe,

all and any,

whosoever.

And if you're hearing this

today,

maybe for the first time,

that includes you.

The invitation is to

whosoever would believe.

This is an offer done.

In history,

it's real.

And God verified

its historical truth

by what we know

from the Scriptures,

but through the resurrection

of Christ,

it is real

and it is offered

whosoever should believe.

Our sins are placed

on Him

and He pays the penalty.

He is a propitiation.

That word is a word

we don't use much.

It's an offering

to appease wrath,

but in the case of God,

it's holy,

just wrath.

Who put forward

Jesus?

God Himself.

Who is the one

who is perfectly

just punishing?

God Himself.

He offered

the offering Himself

to rescue us.

By His blood,

He died on the cross

in our place

and He bore

the full wrath of God.

God's wrath burned

white-hot in holiness

toward His Son

and He released

perfect vengeance

for our evil

on Jesus.

He is the righteousness

of God in every way,

fulfilling our righteousness

and our righteousness

because when we trust

in Him,

we are forgiven.

We are credited

as if we had never sinned

and our sins

are taken away by Him.

He is our righteousness

in every way

and to Him

be the glory alone.

and it is through simple faith

that righteousness

is from faith

for faith.

It's trusting

in another,

trusting in Him,

trusting in Christ

through simple faith.

What does that faith

look like?

Simply turning away

from our sin,

turning away

from self-righteousness

and trusting

in God's solution

for our unrighteousness

and for our sin.

This is the answer

and this is the only answer

for the terrible predicament

of humanity.

It is the most important thing

that you could tell

anybody you know

because their biggest need,

gravest concern,

ultimate,

ultimate issue

is not how successful they are,

not how their family's doing

as important as that is,

not how well they're being fed

as important as that is.

All those things

have their place.

They're important

but the biggest issue

is they're a separation

from God by their sin

and the solution is Jesus.

They are in dire need

of that solution.

We all are

and that solution

has been provided fully

in God through Christ

and is offered

to any and all.

So your coworkers,

your friends,

your neighbors,

your family members

and the countless tribes

throughout the globe

need this answer

and he is the answer fully.

So stop thinking

that some other issue

and other answer

is more important.

This is part of why

we're ashamed at times

and it just can't be

that important.

This person will be insulted

or whatever it might be.

No, there's nothing

more important.

Their predicament

is their biggest issue

and the answer of Christ

is their biggest solution

that they need to hear

and know.

And so this motivates Paul

because the gospel

is the power of God.

The gospel

is the power of God.

There are lots of things

that are the power of God.

God's power is all around us.

We see it in creation.

It's amazing to think

about the power

that's out there

and things like this.

And I have a science background

and maybe this is why

I'm just geeky.

I just drive around

at times and just think

like that is a continuous

fusion explosion

in the sky.

It's massive

and it heats us

and we love it.

It's amazing.

So it's powerful.

There's lots of things

that are God's power

but the gospel

ultimately

is the power of God.

the most important power

of God

for the salvation

of all who believe.

To the Jew first

and also to the Greek

really for everybody

every type of person

every human

throughout the globe

throughout history

it is for them

the salvation

that God provides.

It's the power of God

for their salvation

in every way

from the penalty of sin

because Christ

takes on himself

that penalty.

No more penalty

when we run to Jesus

and trust in him.

The believer

finds in Jesus

the penalty of sin

paid for

but not just the penalty

but the power of sin.

Paul is going to

go on in Romans

and talk about this.

The power of sin

is broken.

In chapter 5

he just talks about

the wonder of the grace

of God

that the penalty

is taken care of

and then in chapter 6

it says

and the reason that

we don't just go out

and sin

is because

we are now united

with Christ.

We belong to him

through faith

and sin is broken

we don't want to

live that way anymore

and he's given us

his spirit

so sin doesn't have

to dominate us

anymore

we are free

in the gospel.

And then

chapter 8

he talks about

the reality

that ultimately

we are growing

in our walk with God

and putting sin away

and then there will be

a day when we go

to be with him

in glory

and sin's presence

will be permanently

eradicated from our lives

and then in the new creation.

This is the salvation

that is ours in Jesus

and this is

the goodness

of God

this is the power

of God

for salvation.

The gospel

is powerful

it's the most

powerful thing

that you can ever handle.

This room

is full

of miracles

full of those

who have been

raised from the dead.

If you are a believer

you've been raised

from the dead

spiritually already.

How did it happen?

Well the spirit

of God came in

and did it

but how did it happen?

You heard

the word

of truth.

You heard

the word

somebody

was unashamed

enough

to share it

with you

and you heard

this proclamation

of the forgiveness

of God

in Christ

and at that moment

something happened

that changed

your eternity.

Your dead soul

your dead spirit

was raised

to life.

You were given

a new heart

and you received

eternal life

at that moment

and that life

will never perish

and you now

are alive

and hearing the word

and responding

because of the

resurrection life

that's in you.

That's the power

of God.

It changed you

forever

and made it

so that you

could be forgiven

and be formed

in the image

of Christ

and have an

eternity ahead

with God.

That's power.

The greatest

miracle you can

experience

is that

because that miracle

leads to eternal life

and everything else.

The gospel

is the power

of God.

It is the most

powerful thing

you can ever handle

because as you share

God

and his infinite

power and glory

and his purpose

of using the word

works in those

who hear it

to bring life

and it's happening

and I'm sure

it's been happening here.

It's happening

all around the globe.

There are,

we live in an amazing time

as the gospel

is going forward

but yet so many more

need to hear it.

Lives are being changed,

cultures changed,

families changed

in the power

of the gospel.

So that's why

Paul's not ashamed

of it

because he knows

it's the power

of God

for the salvation

of everyone

who believes.

He knows

that in the gospel

is the righteousness

of God

his answer

for our problem

of unrighteousness

and the justice

of God,

the holy wrath

of God.

He knows

that that's

the ultimate truth

and that's

the ultimate thing

that others

need to know.

This gospel.

So,

why?

Why would we ever

be ashamed

of this gospel?

We need to

think about

these truths

by God's grace.

Have them affect us.

Now,

there's lots

of forgiveness

as infinite

forgiveness

in Christ's

atonement.

I'm forgiven

for my pathetic

answer to that guy.

The Lord is gracious

so I don't want you

to live in condemnation

but I want you

as you hear the word

to be motivated.

Lord,

please help me

soak in these things

and propel me

to be unashamed

to share the gospel,

to pray for those neighbors.

Don't,

now,

there are a thousand

qualifiers to this

whole message,

right?

So don't go up

to your neighbor

and be obnoxious.

I'm not saying that.

But,

but,

pray.

Pray for them.

Love them.

Look to do good works

to bless them

because you've been blessed.

Not because you're doing,

like,

if I can just share

the gospel as a result.

We do good works

because of who we are

in God.

But,

but through that,

pray for open doors

for the gospel

and pray like Paul does

who is maybe

the chief unashamed person.

He still said,

please pray for boldness

for me.

Pray for boldness

for one another.

And then be bold.

Be bold

and share the gospel

in those awkward moments.

It's never,

you never get past

the awkwardness

because of these reasons.

Because it's the power

of God

for the salvation

of everyone

who believes.

In it,

the righteousness

of God is revealed

from faith for faith.

The righteous

shall live by faith.

For the wrath of God

is revealed from heaven

against all ungodliness

and unrighteousness

of men

who by their unrighteousness

suppress the truth.

These are all reasons

to be unashamed.

So,

listen to the word.

Stop listening

to the rival gospels

that fill our ears,

the deceptions

that are out there,

the other diagnoses

that are there

that will always

diminish these truths.

There's lots of things

that are out there.

Lots of false gospels

of all sorts.

They come in

dressed as politics

on the left and the right,

as social movements,

twisted virtues,

the American dream,

a Marxist utopia,

religions,

humanism and atheism

dressed in lab coats

to look really nice.

It's all foolishness.

Don't be fooled.

Don't be afraid.

Don't compromise.

Don't let the upside down world

define your reality.

let the truth

of God's word

transform you

so that you

and I together

that we might be

unashamed

of the gospel.

Let's pray.

Thank you, Lord,

for your word.

And we need you

so much, Lord.

And those around us

need you so much.

And you deserve the glory

of our bold proclamation.

So I pray you'd stir us

all up

that we would

not stop praying

and loving

and serving

and not stop looking

for every opportunity

to proclaim

the gospel,

the power of God

for salvation.

Use us,

oh Lord.

Fill us.

Lord,

I pray that there

be many

who come to know you

as a result

of these truths

transforming us

for the glory

of your name.

You are worthy.

We love you, Lord.

And we ask these things

in Christ's name.

Amen.

Amen.