I’ve Got Some Good News // Pastor Bobby

Hey, what a great day.

Cool that we get to hang out this morning together and continue our

journey through the Book of Romans,

the letter to the Roman Church.

And I'm excited.

These are the two verses that we dealt with about four weeks ago.

We've kind of already been through the two verses,

but today I want to kind of put them in the context of where Paul is.

And essentially,

I titled the message,

I've got some good news.

You know,

good news is that thing that you don't hesitate to share,

you know,

I mean,

when you've got good news,

you want everybody to know it.

I mean,

I think in my own life,

you know,

going back sometime,

you know,

back in November when Ezekiel was born.

Hey, yeah,

the baby's born.

Yay.

Been waiting all this time,

you know,

you let people know the good things,

right? You want to share some good news.

And so these two verses,

I want to read,

and we'll pray,

and then we'll proceed.

Here we go.

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel,

for it's 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 to faith as it is

written. But the righteous man shall live by faith.

All right,

let's pray.

God, we do thank you for your word.

And thank you,

God, that you have spoken and revealed yourself to us.

And so,

God, as we consider just these two verses,

again, God help us to recognize,

God, that which you want us to know first about you,

God, what is it you're revealing about yourself in these two verses?

And then,

God, what is it that we need to see in ourselves about these two verses?

God, help us to understand that which you want us to know.

And then,

God, help us to submit,

surrender, bow before you,

God, and to be the people that you've called us to be.

And we pray it in Jesus's name.

Amen. All right.

What are you proud of?

Obviously, I mentioned my grandson,

right? You know,

people ask me,

how's the baby?

Well, first thing I do is pull out the latest picture,

and I carry them all in my phone now,

right? I mean,

that's what we do.

We got pictures,

so we're proud of that sort of thing.

And see,

Hannah's down here in front.

Say, I'm going to show her this.

Thank you.

You gave me my illustration this morning.

How about that?

See, this is purple and orange.

It's a tiger paw representing Clemson Tigers.

Right? And Hannah made it for me.

I Typically,

when people ask me about Colleges.

I've always been.

Been a Clemson fan since I was about 8 years old,

actually before that,

because that's where my uncle went to school.

So I pulled for Clemson.

Right. I'm proud.

Some years,

I'm prouder than other years.

Just so you know.

Right. So what are the kind of things that you're proud of?

So as we consider these two verses,

I want you to think about that.

I want to think about the things that you readily share,

the things that you don't hesitate to tell people about yourself,

to tell people regarding things that you know,

things that you've experienced,

things that are a part of who you are.

Okay, see,

In Romans,

Romans 1:1–15

chapter 1,

verses 1 to 15,

here's what we hear.

Paul introduces himself.

He starts out by simply saying,

I am a servant,

a slave of Christ Jesus.

That's the first thing Paul wants us to know about him in this letter to

the Romans.

Right? It's the first thing he wants to say to them.

Then he says,

called as an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.

And we'll come back to that in a minute.

And so what he's doing in this letter,

this epistle to Roman Christians and the congregations that meet

throughout Rome in the surrounding area is he's introducing himself and

he's letting them know that these are the things that are the most

important things you can know about me.

This. Can I go ahead and say it?

This is what I'm proud of,

is what Paul's saying.

This is who I am.

This is me.

Right? So he's letting them know.

Now, the church at Rome,

we know it was more likely house churches and scattered throughout Rome

and the Roman countryside probably by that time,

because the book,

the Letter to the Romans,

was written probably somewhere between 55 and 57.

Most scholars say it was written probably from Corinth.

Some scholars even go so far as to say that.

Phoebe, now,

here you go.

Get ready for this.

Who was a deacon.

Now, I wrote this down.

She was a deacon at Censria.

All right?

And she is probably the one who delivered the letter to the Roman

congregations.

All right?

So you get this picture that Paul is pretty purposely intentionally

sending this letter for a reason and introducing himself.

More than likely,

some of them know who Paul is or who Saul was.

Many of them probably have heard the reputation of the man,

right? And so he's telling them the most important things about himself

that he wants them to know.

All right?

And so my question comes back to.

All right,

the Bible is given to us by inspiration of the Spirit.

Of God.

God's the one who has given this for our understanding.

And then I ask the question,

our understanding of what?

How important is it for you to know Paul?

I mean,

you go shake his hand someday,

well, maybe,

but I mean in the daily life,

walking down the street,

going to the McDonald's,

which I did this week,

rarely anyway,

going wherever you are,

how important is it for you to tell people,

I know the apostle Paul?

They go,

really? I thought he died quite a quite time ago.

Well, I know him by description.

I know him by study and education.

I know him by what he has said about himself.

Well, how important is that?

Can I just go ahead and say,

eh, not so much,

you know,

it's not the priority.

It's not the number one thing.

I go up to people,

hey guys,

I know Paul,

right? That's not the first thing,

right? All right,

so what in the text of the letter to the Romans,

what in the first chapter,

what in these two verses does God want us to know about him?

What is it Paul is inspired to write down so that we have an

understanding about God himself?

That's where we're going to.

So here you go.

What do we need to know about God?

And then what do we need to know about Paul?

Alright, so here's what we need to know about Paul.

We need to know what Paul's priority is.

Because if God has revealed in Paul's life what is Paul's priority,

there's a distinct possibility that it should also be important to us,

right? Something about Paul's life might ought to be important to us.

Okay? That's why these two verses.

When I shared this four weeks ago,

I told you these two verses in my mind hold the thesis for the whole

letter. These two verses kind of tell us,

all right,

here's where we're going.

Here's what we need to pay attention to.

Here's what we need to understand.

All right,

so what's Paul's priority?

Paul's priority is,

look, I'm sold out,

surrendered, sacrificed to Christ Jesus.

Paul is an apostle set apart for the Gospel of God.

All right,

so here you go.

The point of the book to the Roman congregation,

the churches in Rome is the gospel.

It's the good news.

We're going to go through this and we're going to study salvation and

we're going to study justification and we're going to see why those are

necessary things for the world,

but why they are identifying sort of singularly the things that the

people of God need to know and understand salvation.

I Mean,

think about it.

I want to be saved,

right? Justification.

How am I saved?

How is it that God makes a stinker like Bobby Owings?

Okay, how does God make him righteous?

What does justification mean?

What is that?

That transition that God accomplishes?

Because I promise you,

I can't do it.

I can't accomplish that.

So that's where this is all going.

So the gospel of God,

which we see in verse one,

he says,

I'm set apart for the gospel of God.

Remember we looked at that word,

gospel, that it means good news or good tidings or God's good story,

the story of God's goodness.

The news that God is proclaiming to the world.

What is that news?

Well, that news is his.

It says right here,

you ready For I am not ashamed of the good news,

the gospel for it's the power of God for salvation.

Alright, so we've got this bold gospel.

He also mentions in verse nine.

If you look back at verse nine,

he says,

God is my witness,

whom I serve with my spirit.

And telling the good news.

Right? What's the good news?

Yeah, See,

the good news is the work of God in Christ Jesus.

That's the good news.

That's what everybody needs to know and to hear.

To be honest with you,

nobody needs to know about Clemson,

right? Nobody really needs to know that the Quarter Pounder with bacon

tastes different than it used to.

I found that out yesterday.

Just so y'all know.

Don't know what they did to it.

I think a few people need to know about my grandson,

but everybody that I encounter needs to know the gospel,

the good news of Jesus Christ.

Everybody.

I don't care where I run into them.

I don't care how.

What are the circumstances that I run into them.

Everybody needs to know about Jesus.

Now granted,

we live in,

you know,

the Southeast.

Most people have heard,

however, I run into some who haven't had a great conversation this week

with somebody just kind of out of the blue about faith.

Kind of.

We started out really generally about faith and then we sort of narrowed

it down.

What I do.

Okay, thank you.

He's got the sound board in his hand.

I don't know what I've done.

But you narrow it down from faith to what?

To faith in what?

You see what I mean?

Because we live in a world where there's a whole lot of faith in a whole

lot of things.

So what is there that has proven for us to have faith in?

Can I just be honest?

Can you have faith in Clemson?

Right.

Don't want to have a lot of faith in McDonald's.

Just kidding.

I don't mind McDonald's.

I just don't eat it very much anymore.

But as I look at this,

the gospel,

he says,

I am not ashamed of the gospel.

Can you flip that sentence around and hear Paul say,

I am proud of the good news of Jesus Christ?

Because like I read to you last week or the week before,

whenever it was on the road to Damascus,

in Acts 22,

Paul gives the testimony of God threw me to the ground and changed me,

changed my life,

changed my priorities,

changed my agenda,

changed who I am.

And I am proud of what God has done in my life.

See, that now,

I am admittedly.

I said it a minute ago.

I am admittedly a stinker,

okay? I have been.

And yet God has changed who I am.

You know,

I've told y'all before,

if Bobby shows up,

it's a bad day.

But if Bobby shows up and it looks like Jesus,

it could go all right.

See what I mean?

My point is,

is that God changes who we are.

It changes our whole.

Not just priorities and agendas,

but it's fundamental to our identity that when we encounter others,

the priority of our sharing ourselves with other people is Jesus.

And so when we look at it,

verse 15 uses the word gospel,

too, says,

so I am eager to.

To preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

So the story is already,

you know,

Paul has already been traveling all around the Aegean Sea,

sharing the gospel,

all these little villages and towns and areas and regions,

and he's gone all over the place because of the spirit of God leading

him. Remember Acts 22.

That's what was assigned to him.

What does that mean?

Does that mean that was the area that was assigned to him?

Was that the town that was assigned to him?

That. That's why I asked you a few weeks ago,

what did God assign you?

Did he assign you your home,

your street,

your community,

your workplace,

your what?

What is your assignment?

What is my assignment?

Right. Be honest.

I had an assignment Thursday.

There was a place where I got to sit with a captive audience,

one person.

But we got to talk about faith,

right? And how the Bible is really very simple,

right? I mean,

salvation is,

like Nick says,

being a Christian,

simple. It's just not easy.

You see,

the point is that Christ is our salvation.

And so I used a big word on the second point in today's message.

Bold gospel.

We're to be bold with the gospel,

the good news of Jesus Christ.

Secondly is salvific power.

How many of you ever heard the word Salvific before.

Yeah, see,

I didn't.

A couple of you have.

Right. It's a theology word,

Right.

Salvific. Power.

The fact that the gospel reveals to us the power of God for salvation to

everyone who.

Who believes to the Jew first,

because God sent the gospel to the Jews first and then to everyone,

and also to the Greek,

all the Gentiles,

and everywhere else.

And Paul being called as an apostle,

as the evangelist to the Gentiles,

to the Roman Empire,

you see?

And so when we see this verse,

Paul is saying in verse 15,

I'm eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

For I am not ashamed of the good news of Jesus Christ.

Matter of fact,

I am proud of what God accomplished in my life through Jesus Christ.

See that.

Wow.

What if Christians were as bold.

And I'm not talking about y'all,

because I know y'all are.

Y'all get a pass.

What if Christians were as bold about the gospel?

They are about other things in their life.

Right? One of the first things out of our mouths.

Was Bobby a slave of Jesus Christ.

Was that the first thing out of my mouth when I meet somebody?

That's what Paul's doing.

Paul's telling us what his first and utmost priority is.

What are you proud of,

Paul? That God changed my life in the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

I'm like,

whoa. So that's that.

Salvation. The power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.

First to the Jew,

also to the Greek.

And then verse 17 kind of brings in the.

This is the hint in my mind of what the next 15 chapters is going to be

about.

For in it,

the righteousness of God is revealed.

From faith to faith.

Now, we talked about this four weeks ago.

Faith to faith means we begin in faith by believing and trusting,

and our faith is meant to grow,

to mature.

You know,

one of my professors in seminary made the comment.

He said,

you know,

the problem in the church today is you got a lot of babies.

Got a lot of baby Christians.

They heard the gospel,

received the gospel,

trusted Jesus and stayed right there.

Infants, Paul calls it in Corinthians.

He said,

because you're babies,

you can't eat the meat of the word.

You're still sitting around sucking on a bottle.

Okay, milk.

Milk's a good thing at the right time,

but you don't stay on milk.

Sometime you got to grow up.

And so.

So when we look at this thing,

it's like,

all right,

wow. For in it,

the righteousness of God is revealed.

From faith to faith.

The righteousness of God.

The righteousness of God is not in question.

Okay? God is righteous.

God has been righteous.

God will always be righteous.

God is not going to be unrighteous in any way.

So how is it that God is revealing his righteousness?

This is what's cool about the gospel,

because God has chosen to make us righteous.

You can't do it.

You can't earn it.

You can't accomplish it.

It is an imputed or imparted.

It's a righteousness that Christ accomplished that God gives to us.

Right? Whoa.

I don't deserve that.

You know God's answer when you say something like that.

I know.

We didn't deserve it.

And yet God loves us that much.

See that?

For in it,

the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is

written. But the righteous man shall live by faith.

Now, this is the.

I say,

this is the NAS77 version.

So. And many other versions use the same wording.

But some of them say,

but my righteous one shall live by faith.

All right,

so you got to go back to Habakkuk,

Habakkuk 2:4

chapter 2,

verse 4,

to find that phrase that he's quoting right there.

And Habakkuk is the prophet at a time when Babylon is about to be the

means of God's judgment against Judah,

God's people in Judah.

Babylon is about to be God's means of judgment against Judah.

And Habakkuk,

and I marked it.

Here you go.

Habakkuk's talking to God in chapter one.

Habakkuk prays,

God answers.

Habakkuk prays,

God answers.

Habakkuk in chapter two is waiting for God to respond.

And it says,

the Lord answered me.

Write down this vision clearly,

inscribe it on tablets so one may easily read it.

For the vision is yet for the appointed time,

it testifies about the end and will not lie.

Though it delays,

wait for it,

since it will certainly come and not be late.

Look, his ego is inflated.

Now, understand,

prophets speak now and for later.

Whose ego is he talking about?

Now he's talking about Babylon,

but he's also talking about God's people.

See, God's people have put their faith in something other than God

himself. They're worshiping their,

quote, religion,

right? I like to call it their name tag.

It was Judah's own churchianity that they were worshiping.

And so because they've wandered from worshiping God,

Babylon's coming in as judge.

And he's also talking about,

look, his ego is inflated.

He is without integrity.

And then the quote comes in,

but the righteous one will live by faith.

Wow, I looked at that.

Okay, what are you proud of?

Go back and read that.

Look, his ego is inflated.

Look at the world around us.

A lot of pride being tossed around in the world,

isn't it?

These pride groups,

they get hashtags and parades and all kind of stuff these days.

What are you proud of?

Yeah, if y'all think that was offensive,

wait till next week's passage.

We're going to get into the world in sin here in a few minutes.

But you see,

he's talking both about the pride of Babylon.

He's talking about the pride of God's own people and how God is using the

judgment against pride.

See, Judah,

just after Habakkuk says,

these words is going to fall.

And so when I look at this,

I pulled a quote,

and I don't even know where I pulled it from.

Forgive me for not giving the proper whatever.

I'm going to read it to you.

But he whose soul is not right in him places himself in a fortress or

tower to set himself on high there from the enemy and does not return to

God nor seek deliverance of him.

But the righteous has no need to place himself on high in a fortress,

for he shall live by faith.

And that's just a different translation of the Habakkuk 2.

And I didn't.

I printed this out really quickly a minute ago because the wording of

Habakkuk 2:4 is the translating of it.

Habakkuk 2:4

He whose soul is not right in himself places himself in a fortress or a

tower, the pride of mankind.

You know,

I'm afraid that what we've taught for quite a while is that our faith,

our Christianity,

and you've heard me say it before,

is an add on.

This is my life.

This is my identity.

This is my career.

This is my friend group.

These are my hobbies.

These are the things that I invest myself in,

my faith.

Oh, yeah,

I do that on Sunday morning.

See my point?

When we look at the world around us,

we need to be careful of what we're proud of,

folks. We need to be careful of that which we proclaim.

Because I'll go back to Paul in verse 15.

So I am eager to preach.

I am eager to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

What's your assignment?

Where are you supposed to be proclaiming the gospel?

Where are you going to live out what God has accomplished in you?

Because that's what that next phrase means when it says,

the righteous will live by faith.

Faith is the righteous or just demonstrating through faithful living.

See, so I was listening.

One of the last things I do to get ready on Sunday mornings is Saturdays.

And when I,

when I like I run on Saturday mornings.

I ran four miles yesterday morning.

So one of the things I did was listen to another preacher.

I like listening to other preachers sometimes.

So I was listening to a guy yesterday and the question he asked,

it was an odd question,

but the question he asked and it was kind of going back to Paul's story.

You know,

Paul was beaten,

Paul was stoned,

Paul was shipwrecked,

Paul was left for dead.

And so as he was sharing Paul's life story,

he finally got to the point where he said,

how many times have you been arrested for the gospel,

right? And yet we worry about offending.

If I say that,

I might offend somebody.

You know,

religion's a personal and private thing,

right?

Well, if I say that at my workplace,

I might get fired because religion's a personal and private thing.

Hmm. We've let our culture squeeze our faith into being just a component

of our lives.

When our testimony for the gospel for Christ and what Christ has

accomplished in revealing the righteousness of God and the righteousness

of God,

which is,

we're going to see,

the righteousness of God is not just God being righteous,

it's the righteousness of God imparted and imputed to a lost and sinful

and dying people.

He died in our place.

And God makes us righteous,

man. So see,

I had fun with this.

It's also mentioned In Hebrews chapter 10,

Hebrews 10:38

verse 38,

the righteous will live by faith.

So then you think in scripture,

what's it look like?

Do you know that,

that Abraham's claim to fame was his faith?

You can say it was,

you know,

him leaving ur.

Why did he leave ur faith?

Why did he leave Haran faith?

Why did he settle the land faith?

See now he had some failures,

obviously.

What would David's claim to fame be?

What did he left the sheep in the field when Samuel called him to be

king, Right?

He believed he had faith.

Paul on the road to Damascus,

man, He had power,

authority, wealth,

status, prestige.

He was a respected Pharisee.

What does he say in Philippians?

I count it all as garbage,

waste dung if you want to use King James.

Okay, folks,

what are you proud of?

What do you proclaim?

See, Romans is challenging me.

So guess what?

Every Sunday I get to challenge you.

Alright, what will you do with it?

If you don't know Jesus,

that's where it starts.

And we want you to know Jesus.

We want you to know Jesus.

So if you need to talk to somebody about that,

find us.

Come down here.

I'll be standing here,

but you can find somebody in the room,

say, tell me about Jesus,

and they'll tell you about Jesus.

Alrighty.

Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for today.

Thank you,

God, for your love for us.

God, that it's out of your love that you reached out with intent and

purpose and design to save us.

But not just to save us,

to transform us.

That our lives would become testimonies of your righteousness,

imputed, imparted to us,

given out of your love.

God, help us to live faithfully.

God, let our faith be on display.

God, help us to proclaim good news everywhere we go.

And God,

as we leave today,

as Paul said,

I'm ready to come to Rome to preach the gospel.

God, as we leave this place,

I'm ready to go to the food line and preach the gospel.

God, help us to be ready to share good news wherever we go.

We pray it in Jesus name.

Amen.