Fully Persuaded, Part 2

That’s where we began last week.
With a concern. A revisitation, if you will, of
the true and the genuine gospel. We pick it up in verse 15 of
chapter one. And I do that for a reason, if
you will go to verse 15 of Romans one. Thus, for my part, I am
eager to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome. 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 to faith. As it is written that
the righteous man shall live by faith. I put in the Insert
not only the passage that will be considering this morning. But the context of that passage,
which Paul points to, along with some place for notes there. Essentially,
what you have here is Paul reiterating to the Romans that he was fully
persuaded with regards to the nature of the gospel, and as
a result, Paul gives a passion explanation for why he was so
ready to come and to preach there in Rome. He gives us a reason
and really three reasons why he was so eager to preach. His
reasoning runs along these lines, if you will. If you look at verse
15, he tells them he’s eager to preach. And in verse 16, he
gets into his argumentation. The reasons why I’m eager to
preach because I’m not ashamed of the gospel. I’m not ashamed
of the gospel because it’s the power of God. It is the power
of God for salvation because it reveals God’s righteousness. Now, we’ll get there eventually. Into the following verses, verse
17 particular, we won’t make it out of verse 16 this morning,
But that’s where we began last week in a consideration of that
opening statement. We saw, first of all, a surprising
connection. I’m eager to preach for. I’m not ashamed. We saw that
as a surprising connection, what Paul basically says here in very
brief review is that whatever delay he had incurred, whatever
troubles Whatever reason could be assigned as to why he had
not yet visited Rome did not come. From a shame for the gospel,
it simply did not come from some secret fear that he had of proclaiming
the gospel there in Rome, and he wanted them to be absolutely
clear of that. We looked at the word ashamed
and it means exactly what we think it means. To be disgraced,
to be emotionally wrung out by some underhanded ways when we
are found out, as one described it, disgraceful, dishonorable
deeds that produce embarrassment and humiliation. Paul says that
is absolutely not the case. That’s not why I haven’t visited
Rome yet. Paul says, I am not ashamed of
the gospel. We saw not only a surprising
connection and a startling descriptive, but a staggering combination.
Ashamed and the gospel in the same sentence, ashamed as referring
to the gospel. It’s almost so astounding, it
doesn’t need to be said that the fact that Paul says it means
that someone was ashamed. And as I said in our day, many. The content of the good news,
the gospel. The good news of God’s plan of
redemption, a plan conceived by God in eternity past from
the moment the fall of the fall, God began working this plan to
save people. Well. Those elements of that sentence
meant what they meant. They meant exactly what Paul
said, and we are left with not only a surprising connection,
a startling descriptive, a staggering combination, but an utterly shocking
statement. I am not ashamed of the gospel. As I said, sadly, the current. Climate in the Christian community
makes those words all the more unpalatable. As I told you last
week, those words bother me. Because why would Paul say this,
not ashamed, not ashamed of the gospel? The bottom line is that,
frankly, with regards to the gospel, there is much, very much. Potentially about which we could
be ashamed, humanly speaking, there are elements of the gospel
that are shameful. There are elements that do cause
the average person, even a Christian, to blush with shame. Paul, as we looked, wasn’t talking
about the simple tendency that people have to be ashamed to
open their mouths and proclaim the gospel. They’re afraid they’re
chicken. They have a fear of public speaking. What have you? That’s legitimate.
It’s a possibility. It’s one part of that. But I believe that what Paul
is talking about here is a shame that was predicated on the nature
of the gospel itself. And we spent no little time looking
at some of those elements last week. Things for which the average
person, humanly speaking, Outside of Christ, we have a tendency
to be ashamed and even as Christians from time to time, we cower because
of some of these elements. We hesitate because of these
things. The fact that the gospel is declared
in the Bible, which so many give absolutely no legitimacy to. A salvation that is by faith
alone, where we’re not able to contribute, we’re not able to
work. In fact, our works are eschewed as worthless. The gospel, the gospel that both
threatens hell and promises ultimately
an escape from it. A place that is viewed by most
people as non-existent. The gospel that proclaims the
great remedy for all of man’s troubles ultimately will come
through a crucified man that was merely the son of a carpenter
from an obscure place called Galilee. And you begin to get
the grasp of what Paul was talking about, that we potentially have
much to be ashamed of, humanly speaking, when we consider those
elements of the gospel that were sinners, that were dead in our
sin, that we need to repent of our sin. There was much potentially to
be ashamed. And that’s why I say for all
the focus and fuss on the gospel, I wonder if it is even the gospel
at all. Where a high view of God is left
on the cutting room floor, a high view of doctrine, a high view
of the church, a high view of preaching, a high view of sanctification. As one pastor said, The reason
provided is a reason which applies to every age. That while in reality,
there is no just cause to be ashamed of the gospel, there
is in it something which is not acceptable and that is generally
hated and despised among men. Robert Haldane, commentator. Whose commentary is is Just so
excellent on the book of Romans, he said this. With regards to
this tendency that we have. To be ashamed. And I want you
to note this, he says that system in which there is nothing of
foolishness in the eyes of the world’s wisdom cannot be the
gospel. Did you hear this? that unless
it has those shameful elements, unless it is viewed by the world
as foolishness, it cannot be the gospel. So why do we try
so hard to remove those elements that are so offensive and considered
to be so foolish by the world? Holden goes on and says, no other
religion is so offensive to the pride of man. No other system
awakens shame in the breast of its devout followers. And yet
every false doctrine has in it more or less of what is potentially
absurd, irrational and disgraceful. It is observable that the more
the gospel is corrupted. And the more is peculiar features
are obscured by error, the less do we observe the shame that
it is calculated to produce. In other words, the more palatable
it is to the world, the more acceptable it is to the world.
The less gospel is in it. He says it is, in fact. The fear
of opposition and contempt that often leads to the corruption
of the gospel. It’s because we’re so afraid
about what other people are going to think you believe that. But for Paul, he said, I am not
ashamed of the gospel of God, instead of being ashamed of the
gospel, he glory in it. Paul had already told the Romans
that he was set apart for the gospel of God in verse one, that
he served God in his spirit and the preaching of his gospel in
verse nine, and that he was eager to preach the gospel to those
who were in Rome. In verse 15, Paul says, I am
not ashamed of the gospel. Now, Paul’s reasoning, the second
of his three reasons, For being so eager to preach in Rome. Not
only was it the gospel of God, but this gospel that he was to
preach was the power of God for salvation. It was the power of
God for salvation, and as I indicated, we won’t make it out of the remainder
of this verse, verse 16, but that’s where we’ll focus this
morning. Paul’s reasoning, I remind you, goes like this. Paul is
eager to preach because he is not ashamed of the gospel, and
he is not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God
for salvation. I am not ashamed of the gospel,
Paul says, for the reason why Paul is not overwhelmed by the
temptation to cower in fear, to give in and to give up On
the true nature of the gospel is that, as one said, he knows
that this apparently weak and few foolish message is really,
in spite of all of its appearances, power. Supreme, divine power,
the almighty power of God himself directed toward the salvation
of men, and that if Paul tinkers with this message. He tinkers
also with the power. He tinkers also with the effectiveness.
The God weaves in. To that foolishness to the world. The gospel isn’t simply a message. That goes out there, it is a
power, it is a powerful force, you might even consider that
moves forward out and upon the land with saving power. Look again at the passage, Paul
says, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of
God. I want to pause and I just want
to look at that phrase right there, the power of God. And really, as we get into the
book of Romans, we will see that this entire epistle will present
itself as one long answer to declare the gospel as being that
power, that power of God. Paul dwells on that thought,
the power of God, as he writes to other churches as well, with
regards to the gospel and its influence in the world. It is
a powerful force. First Corinthians chapter one
says the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power
of God. Later on in that same epistle,
chapter two, verse five, Paul tells them that so that their
faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. Later on in chapter four of that
same epistle, Paul says the kingdom of God does not consist in words,
but in power. Paul was focused, Paul was caught
up. with the reality that the proclamation
of this gospel was a powerful thing. It had behind it almighty
God. When he wrote to the Thessalonians
and commented, noted their response to the gospel, it’s almost as
if Paul says that is as it should be. For our gospel did not come
to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit
with full conviction. When we proclaim the gospel,
when we tell our friends of a savior who died for them, when we tell
our friends that their penalty has been paid already by the
Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. We unleash power. We unleash
the power of Almighty God. And we have no idea who that
message will go on to save. But even back in Isaiah, Isaiah
spoke of that kind of effective power of God that will not. The incomplete. Isaiah, 55, verse
10, says, as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and
do not return there without watering the earth. It’s as if Paul’s
Isaiah here records, it’s as if try to conceive the rain and
the snow coming down out of heaven. And somehow, miraculously, not
ever touching Earth before it goes back up into cloud status,
it’s unthinkable. As the rain and the snow come
down from heaven and do not return without watering the earth and
making it bare and sprouts and furnishing seed to the sower
and bread to the eater, so will my word be which goes forth from
my mouth. It’s the gospel. It is the power
of God behind the gospel, so will my word be which goes forth
from my mouth, it will not return to me empty. Without accomplishing
what I desire, without succeeding for the matter for which I said
it, and it is either for salvation or for the hardening of the heart.
It will not return void. When you begin to think of the
power of God. We speak of God as being omnipotent. Nothing is too difficult for
the Jeremiah says. And so often in the Old Testament
scriptures, particularly God is referred to as being almighty.
Where God lacks no resources to accomplish whatever he sets
his mind to do. God, as such, as presented in
those Old Testament scriptures, has the power to create and sustain,
the power to save and condemn. We don’t add a single volt to
God’s almighty power. The power of God, said Stephen
Sharnock, is that ability and strength whereby he can bring
to pass whatsoever he pleases. And that’s part of what mankind
has such a trouble with. We don’t like God having that
kind of control, that kind of power where he can do whatever
he pleases. Whatsoever his infinite wisdom
may direct, whatsoever the infinite purity of his will may resolve,
God’s power is that which gives life and action to the perfections
of the divine nature. How vain would the eternal counsels
be if power did not step in to execute them. Without power,
his mercy would be that feeble pity. His promise is an empty
sound. His threatening is a mere scarecrow.
But God’s power is like himself, infinite, eternal, incomprehensible. It can neither be checked, restrained,
nor frustrated by the creature. And when Paul invokes God’s power
into this discussion, He pulls out all the stops. He says, look,
God himself, God in all of his might is behind this gospel. He is the driving force behind
this gospel, and it will not return to him void. Paul says, I am not ashamed of
the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation. For salvation. Paul gives us the reason why
he’s not ashamed of the gospel. As one summarized, he’s not ashamed
of the gospel because the gospel has all of God’s omnipotence
behind it. This salvation, in case you’re
wondering, has included in it the delivery from sin All of
all of the spiritual benefits that come with it, as one said,
the whole range of messianic deliverance, a rescuing from
wrath, the imparting of eternal life. It’s not only a salvation
from sin, but it’s a salvation unto something else, namely righteousness. Of life. One other commentator clarified
and said that it is a removal of dangers that are menacing
to life. That’s what salvation means, but it is also a placing
one in favorable conditions, taking them out of a dreadful
storm, perhaps, and placing them in a place of safety. And that’s
the fullness of salvation. It’s not just a rescuing from
God’s wrath. Another said that it is a salvation
from sin, from the wrath of God, from death, from perdition, from
perdition, rather partially realized in the present, but fully completed
only in the future. It is God’s effective power active
in the world to bring about deliverance from wrath in the final judgment
and reinstatement in that glory, which was lost through sin. Is the power of God for salvation? You say, but what is the exercise
of God’s power have anything to do with people’s salvation?
We hear the message, we either believe it or we don’t. Or is that the case? The reason that Paul acknowledges
that the full power of God is absolutely requisite for the
salvation of souls. Is that by himself, according
to his natural abilities, man is utterly incapable of securing
his own salvation. He’s hemmed in and he’s hopeless. The older confessions say it
simply like this man by his fall into a state of sin has wholly
lost all ability of will to to any spiritual good accompanying
salvation so that as a natural man being altogether averse from
that good and dead in sin is not able by his own strength
to convert himself or to prepare himself thereunto. Not only can
we not lay hold of salvation, we can’t even put ourselves in
the right place. If it were a bus station, we
couldn’t get there. What Paul points to by that statement
that it is the power of God to salvation, he points quite clearly
to the fact that God has remedied the great need. Our inability
that was brought on by the fall Genesis three presents the story
of Adam and Eve, real people, a real story in a real garden
with a real disaster. Adam there in the garden was
our representative, and that makes his fall our fall, his
sin, our sin, his guilt, our guilt, his sentence, our sentence. What was his sentence? The sentence
is given in Genesis 6, 3, 16 through 19. And I’ve said it
before, what you get there is four dreadful effects. The first
of all, is that from that point we are inherently sinful. We
walk out of the garden inherently sinful in all of Adam’s progeny
with it. Every person ever born onto the
face of this earth is inherently sinful. We have a tendency, a
proclivity, a love of sinning. It’s who we are. As a result
of that, secondly, we are temporally vexed. That’s where you get the
leaves falling off the tree all over your yard. We can blame
Adam and Eve, but it’s much worse than that. Not just temporal
frustrations, that’s where the toilsomeness of labor comes.
No matter how good your job is, it is toilsome. That’s the nature
of work. It’s frustrating. Inherently sinful, temporally
vexed, physically dying, that’s where death came. I’ve said it
before, I’ll say it again, death is not natural. When you read
in the obituary that so-and-so died of natural causes, don’t
believe them. It’s not true. It isn’t natural. That’s not what God planned.
It’s not what God wants. It’s inevitable now. That’s what
we ought to say. He died of inevitable causes. Inherently sinful, temporally
vexed, physically dying and spiritually dead. Adam’s fall into sin severed
our communion with God. It destroyed that innate ability
that we had to please God, and it left us in a desperate need
of reconciliation. Charles Spurgeon said it this
way. I mean, who could say it more powerfully than him, right?
He said, we declare upon scriptural authority that the human will
is so desperately set on mischief, so depraved and so inclined to
everything that is evil, so disinclined to everything that is good, that
without the powerful, supernatural, irresistible influence of the
Holy Spirit, no human will ever be constrained toward Christ.
Do you hear what he said? We are so dead. We are so lost. We are so utterly under and beneath. The effects of the fall. That
unless the power of God. Unless the power of God be put
forth towards us. There’s no hope. There’s utterly
no hope. Samuel Davies, a early American
Pastor. He echoed Spurgeon’s comment
when he said men are estranged from God and engaged in rebellion
against them. And they love to continue, so
they don’t even know how desperately lost they are. They will not
submit nor return to their duty and allegiance. Hence, there
is need of a superior power. to subdue their stubborn hearts
and sweetly constrain them to subjection, to inspire them with
the love of God and an implacable detestation of all sin. And for
this purpose, the Holy Spirit is sent into the world for this
purpose. He is at work from age to age
upon the hearts of men. It is the power of God or there
is no hope. Peter said it simply this way
when he opened his epistle, blessed be the God and father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, nothing in
us motivated God, according to his great mercy, has caused us
to be born again. We don’t give rebirth to ourselves. He’s talking about the great
truth of regeneration. where the Holy Spirit comes and
infuses us with life. We open our eyes and instantaneously
we see Christ for who he is. We know our sin for what it is.
We believe. We believe. Another pastor said quite powerfully,
the spirit of God must make you knew you must be born again.
The same power which raised Christ Jesus from the dead must be exerted
in raising us from the dead, the same omnipotence without
which angels or worms could not have had a being, must again
step forth from his privy chamber and do as great a work as he
did at the first creation in making us anew in Christ Jesus,
our Lord. He says it’s the same omnipotence,
the same almighty power. That made the world to begin
with. And it still is necessary and requisite in order to bring
life to those who do not know Christ. Paul, as I said, was ever ready
to point out the power of God, which affected the salvation
of souls. Turn, if you would, just briefly
to Ephesians chapter one. In Ephesians chapter one, he
talks about this identical thing. In Ephesians chapter one, look
at verse 18, Paul is praying for them. And he wants them to know this,
there’s a reason behind his prayer request. When he says, I pray,
verse 18, that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. Open
your eyes. I want God to open them. I want
you to see with spiritual eyes so that you may know what is
the hope of his calling. What are the riches of the glory
of his inheritance in the Saints? And what is the surpassing greatness
of his power? Toward us who believe. These
are in accordance in the accordance with the working of the strength
of his might. Paul says, I want you to know
the surpassing greatness of his power. And Paul presses to describe
this power, you piling up terms. The working of the strength of
his might, what one person called a remarkable accumulation of
words. Which was all designed. To express
God’s power in its purest and highest form. There’s the power of God in all
aspects, all phases we speak. We have various different words
for power, energy, work and all kinds of definitions that go
with them. Energy, work, power. But to Paul, observing God at
work in the salvation of souls was so overwhelming, so powerful
that he ponders and he stays here and he just puts words upon
words to try to describe this power of God. When Paul prays that they might
know. The exceeding greatness of the power
that was put forth toward them at their conversion, ultimately
what he wanted them to know and was that God had moved on their
behalf and he wanted them to be humble in view of that humble
in view of. the death that they deserved
and the life that they gained purely because of God’s power
towards them. As one pastor said, as God God
raised Christ from the dead and set him at his own right hand
in heavenly places. So you that were dead in sins,
he has regenerated, raised up together in Christ. They had
undergone a mighty change. They had been brought to life.
They had been raised from the dead by the same almighty power
which God worked in Christ. There was a great as great a
difference between their presence and their former condition as
between Christ in the tomb and Christ at the right hand of God.
What Paul uses there in Ephesians. Is the death of Christ, the resurrection
was a show of God’s almighty power, and what Paul says is. That are bringing of a person
to faith is the same exercise of power. It’s the power of creation. It’s the power of sustaining
God’s creation. It’s the power of the resurrection
and it is the power of salvation. The power of God. Back, if you
went to Romans. The gospel. Paul says his power
in the hands of God, it’s God’s power in God’s hands, which is
easy, easily able to overcome our inability, our deadness and
sin. God is able to bring us to life,
breathe us to life, open our eyes to our own situation and
condition, and he is able to save us forever. And what an encouragement that
should be for all who know the gospel, who have come to know
Christ, purely by his mercy and by his power affecting salvation
in our own hearts. What an encouragement that should
be that it doesn’t come down to us. It doesn’t come down to
how persuasive we are, what formula we use, what booklet we use,
that ultimately, as we begin to open our mouth, we have God’s
power behind those words. Do you know that there is a savior
that has been provided for sin? Do you know that there is a God
who loves this world and sent his son to be a savior in it?
You don’t have to have a formula. You don’t have to have five points. All you need to do is begin to
open your mouth and the power of Almighty God begins to flow. One pastor said, what we Christians
need, especially those of us who have been separated for the
gospel of God, is to rely not on our own learning and culture,
not on the rareness and richness of our style or our depth of
thought or the excellency of our words or our wisdom, but
on the omnipotence of our exalted redeemer and on the divine power
of the gospel. That’s what we need. Paul says,
I am not ashamed of the power of the gospel for it is the power
of God for salvation. And note this note, the universality
of it to everyone who believes. We don’t know who that is. They’re
not marked out for you or for I to see into to grasp ahead
of time. We just know that somewhere out
there, there are those that God, by his power, can and will bring
to faith. If we would only. Have confidence
in the gospel that by opening our mouth, we begin the flow
of God’s almighty power. There’s no discrimination. Of
culture, there’s no discrimination of race in God’s economy. God is willing to to bring any
to faith. As one pastor said, the gospel
is the power of God for salvation to everyone without distinction
of age, sex, condition, birth of country, without accepting
anyone, provided he is a believer in Christ. That’s the condition. Note not only the universality,
but the conditionality of it. The condition is faith. The condition
is faith in God, faith in Christ. The condition is a reception
of the gospel that God sent his son. To be my payment on the
sin. Salvation cannot be granted without
faith. It is, as one said, the appointed
means of people’s union with Jesus Christ. Faith accepts the
promise of God. It is the power of God, but ultimately
it must be received in faith. The only right response, the
appropriate response to the message of the gospel is faith. Falling
on the knees. Faith in Jesus Christ, who is
the content of that gospel. But I want you to know that I
came across the discussion, I’m going to take a moment, it’s a little
bit more lengthy quote, and we’ll talk about it as we go through
it, but I want you to listen to this. Disqualification of faith. when one said that it is not
a qualification which some already possess in themselves, so that
the gospel, when it comes to them, finds them eligible to
receive. In other words, the gospel doesn’t come and find
receptiveness in the hearts of the faithful. Those who are already
conducting themselves faithfully on the earth. Faith can exist only as a response
to the gospel. It is wrongly conceived if it
is thought of as being as a man’s response to the gospel, a contribution
from his side, which, by fulfilling a condition imposed by God, enables
the gospel to be salvation for him. Did you hear what he says?
It’s not our contribution. It’s not something that we do
our part He goes on and says, in that
case, faith would itself be a meritorious work. But it is of the very essence
of faith that it is opposed to all human deserving, all human
establishing of claims upon God. Salvation is altogether God’s
work, and the faith spoken of here is the openness to the gospel,
which God himself creates. God prepares you for the gospel. And when the power of God comes,
faith is the natural response, the human response of surrender
to the judgment and unmerited mercy of God, which God himself
brings about. God, who not only directs the
message to the hearer, but also himself lays open to hear his
heart to that message. And Paul will go on to develop
this truth again and again in Romans. Let me just give you a simple
illustration of how I believe that it happens. Lightning. Lightning. That’s how I believe
that it happens, it’s as spiritual lightning. Here’s how lightning
functions. I looked and did some study on lightning some time
ago. It is a powerful force, hotter
than the surface of the sun in some cases. And a lightning flash
can happen in a split second. Here’s what happens. The cloud. The bottom of the
cloud carries a negative charge. Positive charges begin to collect
on the ground, on a building, on a golf course, on a flagpole,
on top of a mountain. And what ends up happening is
that from the cloud begins to proceed a zigzag pattern. searching
for a positive charge. And when that step ladder. Reaches
about 150 feet from the ground. The positive charge rises to
meet it. The result is. A lightning bolt
which touches off a display called a return stroke. The negative charge. is the gospel
of God’s God’s plan of redemption. That positive charge is the charge
that God builds up on earth that ultimately results in our faith
is God that moves first. Paul says, I am not ashamed of
the gospel. For in it, the power of God For
it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. To
the Jew first and also to the Greek. Paul will go on to develop these
thoughts in great detail. To the Jew first, but not only
first in history, but first, according to God’s plan, we’re
in God’s perspective. Planned out to receive the gospel,
what advantage has the Jew, Paul says in Romans three, Great in
every respect. They were entrusted with the
oracles of God, Romans chapter nine. I wish that I could have myself
a curse separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren who
are Israelites, to whom belongs adoptions of son, the glory,
the covenants, the giving of the law. Paul says, ultimately, the gospel
is not just for the Jews, but for the Gentiles also. It is
the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. And
our great responsibility, yes, our great privilege is to be
as mouthpieces for the almighty power of God. What a profound
thought. That when you begin to speak
to someone else about their great need for a savior, for the forgiveness
of sin that is provided by faith in Christ, You stand as the conduit
for the almighty power of God. Let’s pray for those opportunities,
shall we? Our merciful King. We humble
ourselves at your feet. We thank you for this privilege
that we have in being called as your children. And Lord, Perhaps
even what we didn’t understand, even until this morning, how
it happened, how one day we were cold hearted and hard hearted
towards you. We heard of you. We began to
open our hearts to you. And now we see that it was due
to the mighty influence. The power of God. God grant us
the grace to be faithful. With this true and living message.
The message of a savior that came and paid the penalty, the
sin of the world. Lord, grant us your grace to
be faithful to your calling in our lives. We pray all of these
things in Jesus name. Amen. There’s a life for you