Romans 1:16 says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Okay, this verse does not necessarily articulate the gospel, but I don’t know how we can hope to go out and articulate it without having this in our back pocket. This is one of those verses that will reassure our confidence in the power of our message, whilst presenting an example of the boldness we need.
Ite cool. Who’s talking? Here, our good friend Paul is explaining why he is so eager to preach the Gospel to the saints in Rome. To the saints in Rome. The gospel isn’t only for the sinners. It isn’t just about “getting people saved” but should be actively involved in our ongoing day to day salvation from sin, Satan and self.
Little detour…
Too often in modern evangelicalism we think that once the person is regenerated by the Spirit and the power of the Gospel, the Gospel is no longer needed in that new believer’s life.
Most of us have no problem with the teaching that we are saved by faith alone. Simple. But we then begin the walk of sanctification with the misunderstanding that we can do it in our own power. In our mind we have reverted to a performance relationship with God. And so the thinking is as such: “If I had my quiet time and if I haven’t had any lustful thoughts and these kind of things, then I expect God to bless me today.” We want to pay our own way. We want to earn God’s blessings.
This is why we need the gospel just as much after regeneration as before and in both situations, you can say it is “tapped into” by grace through faith. We should want to be faithful; we should want to work hard, but not to earn God’s approval, but because we have God’s approval.
Finally, just as one may describe salvation the first time as a miracle we may also suggest that salvation every day from our filthy flesh (not to mention principalities, powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this age) is just as much a miracle.
Not to get back on track…
We’ve got Paul who was undeniably unashamed. I mean, let’s be real. He faced a lot of problems because of his desire to share the Gospel. There is no way he would endure if he were even a little bit ashamed. It often gets lost when we read the Bible in bits but he had been imprisoned in Philippi (Acts 16:23-24), chased out of Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-9), smuggled out of Berea (Acts 17:10-15), sneered at in Athens (Acts 17:32), regarded as a fool in Corinth (1Cor 1:18-23), and stoned in Galatia (Acts 14:19), but Paul remained eager to preach the Gospel in Rome—the centre of contemporary political power and pagan religion.
We think people misunderstand Christianity today, but this is nothing new. Some pagans of Paul’s day branded Christianity as atheism because it believed in only one God and as being cannibalistic because of a misunderstanding of the Lord’s Supper. Top tier eisegesis.
You see, the Gospel was and still is today, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. However, it is the only way God has provided for the salvation of men, and Paul was both delighted and encouraged by the opportunity to proclaim its truth and power wherever he went.
But this isn’t about Paul. This is about the Gospel and its articulation. To be honest, the Gospel, which some refer to as the good news, is pretty bad news in the eyes of the world.
What do I mean?
Go out and preach the gospel on streets and you soon realise that the Gospel is unattractive, intimidating, and repulsive to the natural, unsaved person and to the ungodly spiritual system dominating the world.
Let’s be frank. The Gospel exposes man’s sin, wickedness, depravity, and lostness, and suggests pride is despicable and trying to be good in hopes of getting into heaven is worthless in God’s sight. To the sinful heart of unbelievers, the Gospel does not appear to be good news but bad, and when they first hear it they often react with contempt against the one introducing it or they may even throw out arguments and theories against it.
From asking around, it appears that the fear of men and of not being able to handle their arguments are some of the greatest hindrances to being a bold witness for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
But…
“When we preach Christ crucified, we have no reason to stammer, or stutter, or hesitate, or apologize; there is nothing in the gospel of which we have any cause to be ashamed.” – Spurgeon
Religion, yes, it has been abused and manipulated. Yes, religion is not always done correctly. But we do not preach “Religion”.
“Religions are man’s search for God; the Gospel is God’s search for man. There are many religions, but one Gospel.” – E. Stanley Jones
We preach the Gospel, not religion, and we should trust in the power which it holds.
J R Miller Illustrates the Power of God – “A Christian left a Bible in a godless home. As the man and his wife sat together in the evenings, the man took up the book, and in reading it , he began to feel its power. “If this book is true,” he said one evening to his wife, “then we are wrong!” He read more, and a few evenings after said again, with deep concern and alarm, “If this book is true—then we are lost.” He read still further, and through the darkness the light began to break, as he caught a glimpse of the cross and the Saviour, and at last he said to his wife with glowing joy, “If this book is true—then we may be saved.” First there is the law-work, which shows us our guilt and hopelessness in ourselves. Then the gospel comes, showing us salvation and life.”
Well, what is there to say about the power of the Gospel. In brief one may say Gospel has the power to: Forgive sins (past), impart new life (present), and admit into heaven (future). But some emphasis needs to be placed on the fact that only the power of God can overcome man’s natural tendency to commit sin and impart supernatural life. The Bible makes it clear that men cannot be spiritually changed or saved by good works (Eph 2:9), by the church, by being raised in a God fearing home, by rituals (including water baptism), or by any other human means. I may get in trouble for that, but it is true.
I want to unpack what it really means to “believe” in another piece, and so avoid this getting too long I will end with this:
Believes (pisteuo) means an adherence to, committal to, faith in, reliance upon or trust in a person or an object, in this case the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This belief involves not only the consent of the mind, but an act of the heart and will. As someone has said (probably someone’s mother) the medicine will not cure you if it is not taken. One must believe the objective facts of the Gospel. To truly believe unto salvation is more than mental assent although it certainly does include use of our reasoning faculties and initial receipt of the truth (e.g., “come let us reason together” in Isa 1:18, “And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard?” Rom 10:14).
Religion can reform but only the Gospel can transform.
My Sunday Skl 