I want to begin reading in verse
1, Romans chapter 1 and verse 1. I want to read down through
verse 17. Basically, Paul's introduction
to his Roman epistle. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which
he hath promised to afford by his prophets in the holy scriptures,
This gospel is concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which
was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared
to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by His resurrection from the dead, by whom we have received
grace and apostleship for the obedience to the faith among
all nations for His name. among whom ye also are the called
of Jesus Christ. To all that be at Rome, beloved
of God, called to be saints, grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God
through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken
of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I
serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing
I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request,
if by any means, how at length I might have a prosperous journey
by the will of God to come unto you. For I long to see you, that
I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end you may be established. That is, that I may be comforted
together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. Now
I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oft times I purposed
to come unto you, but was led hitherto, that I might have some
fruit also among you, even as among other Gentiles. I am debtor
both to the Greek and to the barbarians, both to the wise
and to the unwise. So as much as in me is, I am
ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every
one that believeth, to the Jews first and also to the Greek.
For therein in the gospel is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith, as it is written, The just shall live
by faith. He comes here to verse 14, and
he makes this wonderful statement that he's a debtor. I am a debtor. Well, we all can say that, can't
we? We're all debtors. God is no debtor. God's never
been in debt to anybody. If He was, He'd pay His debt.
But you and I are in debt. We're indebted to God who had
mercy upon us and saved us. We're indebted to our poor human
family that has fallen in sin, we have the remedy under God,
the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are indebted to our fellow
man. Go ye unto all the world and
preach the gospel. I am indebted. So he says here
in verse 15, so because I am a debtor to all men, as much
as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are at
Rome." Rome, that was the capital of the Roman Empire. What a city
that was, with their Colosseum and their bathhouses and their
worldly pleasures, the seat of Satan himself, the seat of persecution
against Christians. And yet Paul says here, I'm ready
to preach at that place. I'm ready to preach publicly.
I'm ready to preach house to house. I'm ready to preach the
gospel. I'm ready to preach it to kings
and ready to preach it to runaway slaves in their jail cells. I am ready to preach the gospel. And he says here in verse 16,
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. I'm not ashamed of
Christ. I'm not ashamed of His glorious
person. I'm not ashamed of what He accomplished
in the days of His flesh. I'm not ashamed of where He's
at. I'm not ashamed of what He's doing. I'm not ashamed of what
He's going to do. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ
the Lord. So he says here, I'm ready to
preach this gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is. The gospel is
the mighty power of God. I tell you, no man ever sought
the glory of God or the eternal good of precious souls like this
man did here. And the way he sought the glory
of God and the way he sought the good of his fellow man was
by preaching this gospel. This is the glory of God. This is the wisdom of God. This
is the gospel of God. And I'm ready to preach it to
you who are at Rome. And who's this gospel for? Everyone
that believes it. He preaches it without any discrimination. The Jew or Gentile, God afraid. Governors, senators, kings or
slaves. It's to those who believe it. And then in verse 17, he tells
us how the gospel goes about to save us. It's the power of
God's salvation. And he says here in the gospel,
it revealed that righteousness by which God justifies believing
sinners. There is a righteousness outside
of ourselves. It's called the righteousness
of God. It's called the Lord our righteousness. It is Jesus Christ and His work,
and it's this righteousness that is given to us, imputed to us,
if you will, and it justifies us in God's sight. He clothes
the shame of our nakedness, and that is the righteousness that's
revealed in the Gospel. God hath made Him to be sin for
us. who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him." On Him, of God,
are you in Christ Jesus? Now listen to this amazing verse.
Who of God is made unto us? Jesus is made unto us. Wisdom. Why? Because we are foolish, aren't
we? Because there is none that understands us. So He's made
wisdom. He's made righteousness. Why? Because all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Because all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. So He's made unto us righteousness. He's made unto us wisdom. Why? Because none of us understand.
We're stupid, aren't we? We're poor, stupid, dumb sinners.
But God has made Him righteous. And He's made unto us redemption
because we're in bondage to sin and the devil. So He's made of
God everything we need. And this is what's revealed in
the gospel. In the gospel is revealed everything
that God requires, everything the poor sinner needs. So I am
ready, He said. I am ready. I have the gospel. That's all I need. I'm ready. I'm ready. Now, let's look quickly then
at this thought, two simple thoughts really, in verse 16. And I beg
your patience this morning. I hope you can stay with me.
Sometimes I have problems staying with myself. I'm ready to preach the gospel.
I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Therefore, the question is, what
is the gospel. That's a good question, isn't
it? If it's the power of God's salvation, what is it? Paul said,
I preach it. Another place he said, I proclaim
it. So it's something that can be
explained. It's something that can be proclaimed. It's something that must come
in word. The gospel came to you, he said,
in word." So first of all, let's see then this morning what this
gospel is in word. Let's try, if we can, to think
about defining the gospel. What is the gospel? Well, here in verse 3 and verse
4 that I read to you, verses 1, Paul talked about being separated
into the gospel of God. And then in verse 3, he tells
what that gospel is. Concerning His Son, Jesus Christ
our Lord. What is the gospel? It's those
things which concern Jesus Christ our Lord. The gospel includes
everything. And when I say it includes everything,
I mean everything that's in the scriptures. And we've got no
sense if we get outside the Scripture. We don't know anything apart
from the Word of God. But it includes everything that
pertains to the person and work of the Son of God, Jesus Christ
our Lord, especially that eternal redemption which is in Him and
which is by Him. Now, I said a mouthful of it.
That's a mouthful. What is the gospel? It is concerning
Jesus Christ, the dear and blessed Son of God. Everything there
is about Him and that work of redemption which He's accomplished,
that's the gospel. Wherever you find the Son of
God, you'll find the gospel. Because the gospel is concerning
Him. If you find a place where He's
not, then you won't find the gospel. But when you find Him,
there you'll find the gospel, because the gospel is concerning
Jesus Christ the Lord. That makes the gospel far-reaching. That makes it incomprehensible
as far as the depth of it is concerned and the breadth of
it and the length of it is concerned. Some of us have given our lives.
Ever since I was 23 years old, by God's help and God's grace
and an interest I think He's given me, I have been studying
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And while, and you can
relate to this, while a simple childlike faith can enter into
the knowledge of it and the assurance of it, I tell you, in and of
itself, in its death and breath, there is a mystery in it that
no man can enter into. Even angels' minds, their heavenly
minds, inquire into this gospel. What is the gospel? Well, it
is concerning Jesus Christ, the Lord, and His work of redemption. You and I mainly concentrate,
when we talk about the gospel, we mainly concentrate on this
aspect of it, pertaining to the work of the Lord Jesus, His person
and work upon this earth. That's what we concentrate on
a lot, and, well, we should. We call that sometimes the essential
aspect of the gospel, what we sometimes say that we must share,
we must know that we must believe. We talk a lot about His virgin
birth, don't we? The Holy Ghost coming upon the
virgin and the Son of God being conceived in her womb. We talk about these two natures
being united, the heavenly and the earthly, God and man in one,
in one perfect person, Jesus Christ our Lord. That's the gospel. That's the good news, isn't it?
I bring you good tidings of great joy. That's the gospel. Unto
you is born in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the
Lord. When we look at His coming into
this world, joining Himself to our humanity, that's the gospel
pertaining to God's Son. You and I concentrate a lot on
His life. We studied that Wednesday night
in our prayer service, the flower offering. The life of the Son
of God, His miracles, His trials, His preaching, His temptations,
His suffering in the garden, His suffering in the judgment
hall. We concentrate as well as we
should in glory in the cross of Jesus Christ, where He took
our sins and our sorrows and made them His very own. And in
His lifeblood being poured out, He obtained for us eternal redemption. Oh, we concentrate there, don't
we? Why? Because that's the gospel pertaining
to the Son of God, concerning Him. Paul said in I Corinthians
15, I preach unto you the gospel, this aspect of it. Christ died
for our sins. Oh, that's the gospel. That's
the gospel. But the gospel cannot be limited
to the work of Jesus Christ upon this earth as vital and as necessary
and as critical as that is. But the gospel reaches back before
time because we find Jesus there in eternity. There must be that
aspect of the gospel which will extend into eternity that is
to come. For Jesus Christ is alive forevermore. He was with the Father before
the world, so the gospel extends there. He came to this earth
to do His great work, so the gospel is here. He will be in
eternity, so the gospel is there. The Gospel is not just what the
Lord Jesus has done. It's not just what He's doing
now or will do, but the Gospel includes everything that God
has promised to do in the Old Testament Scripture. You find Jesus Christ. You find
the Gospel all through the Old Testament. When Paul stood before
Griffin and was preaching the gospel to him, king of Griffin,
he said, Griffin, I say none other thing than what Moses and
the prophets said should come, that Christ should suffer. So
we've got the gospel in the Old Testament before the Son of God
ever came to this world in His humanity. It was preached in
types. It was preached in pictures.
It was preached in shadows, it was preached in prophecies, and
it was preached in promises throughout the Old Testament Scriptures.
Listen to Galatians chapter 3 and verse 8. Paul said in the Scriptures,
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached
the gospel unto Abraham. We've got a pretty old gospel,
don't we? It just didn't begin 2,000 years ago. You can trace
it back to Abraham when God preached it to Abraham, and here's the
way He preached it. In you shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed. That's the gospel. That's good
news, isn't it? God says, Abraham, I'm going
to bless. You're going to have a child,
and He's going to have children. And out of your lineage is going
to come the Messiah. And through Him, and by Him,
and in Him, I'm going to bless all the families of the earth.
Brothers and sisters, that's good tidings, ain't it? That's
the gospel. But you can go back farther than
that. Oh, you go back there in the garden, the beautiful garden.
And there stands our parents and their countenance are fallen.
And they weep Him. And you can see the shame on
their face. Because the judgment has come
upon them. And there they stand in their
guilt. But there's the gospel. There's
the gospel in promise. There stands the Lord and He
looks at that serpent and He says, I tell you what I'm going
to do. I'm going to put enmity between you and the woman, between
your seed and her seed. You're going to bruise His heel,
but He's going to give a wound to your head from which you'll
never recover. He's going to destroy you. He's
going to destroy the works of the devil. Brothers and sisters,
ain't that good news? That's the gospel. Paul said,
I'm ready to preach the gospel. But, oh, it's far-reaching, ain't
it? for our nations. But we can go
back even farther. We've got a gospel that's older
than time. I don't like these new gospels
here. These people talk about, give me that old-time religion.
They don't know how old the gospel is. It's older than time. It's older than the world. The
gospel is not only what the Lord is doing and has done and is
going to do, it's what He's promised to do, but it's more than that. It's what He has purposed and
decreed that He will do. The gospel is what God has purposed
to do before He ever does it. One man told me one time, he
said, you ain't telling me that election is the gospel. You're
telling me that election is the gospel? Well, let me ask you
this question. Does it pertain to the Son of
God? You have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you. Is that what he said? God has
chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, then
election must be the gospel. It must be that vital aspect
of the gospel. Oh, you go back before time in
that everlasting covenant of grace, and there you hear the
Father, and He says, Son, I'm giving you a host out of the
human race. for you to go and secure their
salvation, lest they perish forever in their sins. Brothers and sisters,
is that good news? Don't that thrill your heart
to think that He put the names of all His elect in the Lamb's
Book of Life before time, and your name perhaps may be there? Is that good news? Then that's
the gospel. Paul said, He saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace which is given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. I can't preach the gospel anymore
without preaching election. I tell people, I say, you don't
have to hear about election to be saved. I don't say that. The election is vital to be done. And I tell you, if you're a child
of God and you hear about it, you won't kick up against it
either. But I just can't hardly preach
the gospel anymore without preaching it. It is the gospel, isn't it?
I preach the gospel. I'm ready to preach the gospel. It spans back into eternity. Let's turn and go the other direction
for just a minute. When the Lord Jesus had risen
from the dead the third morning and he ascended back to heaven, what did he do there? He sat
down and what did he do? He prayed to the Father. He asked
the Father according to the promise. Send the Spirit to earth. And boy, there He comes as the
sound of a rushing, mighty wind. And He fills the place. And He fills them. And they begin
to preach. And three thousand souls were
regenerated And that was the beginning of the New Testament
church. And that's the gospel. That is
the gospel. And He's still sending the Holy
Spirit. He's sending Him into hearts
to regenerate them, to reveal Christ to their hearts, to bring
them to repentance and faith to give them His graces, the
gift of His Holy Spirit, and to uphold them and guide them
and teach them until they leave this world and go up to heaven
to be with the Lord forever. That's the gospel. That's the
good news. when we die. It doesn't end for
us when we leave this world and go up to heaven to be with our
dear Savior. We read about the hope of the
gospel, don't we? The hope of the gospel. I tell
you, you can have any old religion in this world, and people have
got a bunch of it and they seem to be satisfied with it. But
you can't find another religion that gives you any hope beyond
this life. You only read about the hope
of the Gospel in the Gospel. Paul said, "...for that hope
which is laid up for you in heaven whereof you heard before in the
truth of the Gospel." He said, "...you fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope set before us." The Lord Jesus said, "...the
hour is coming, all that are in the grave, are going to hear
the voice of the Son of God. And they are going to come forth.
They that have done evil, yes, to the resurrection of damnation.
But those who have done good in Christ and by His grace, they
are going to come forth to the resurrection of life. That is good news, isn't it?
The Lord Himself is going to descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of an archangel, And the dead in Christ are going
to rise first. Those that are in the grave are
going to be raised. Their corrupt bodies are going
to put on incorruption. Then these mortal bodies that
are alive and remain are going to be changed and given a body
like unto His glorious body. And then what's going to happen?
We're going to forever be with the Lord. before Jesus Christ is going
to be gathered all nations. He's going to bring them in before
Him. He's going to say to the wicked, depart from me ye cursed. Is that the gospel? Could that
be an aspect of the gospel? Paul said he's going to judge
the secrets of everybody according to my gospel. Even the judgment
Everything that pertains to the Son of God is the gospel. Is that good news? It is good
news. You see, now we look upon our
lost loved ones, how people we work with, and our hearts go
out to them. Our hearts are heavy because
they're lost. And we know if the Lord doesn't
save them, they're going to be damned. And I tell you, in this
sympathizing flesh, in our weakness, we can't hardly bear the thoughts
of that, can we? But there's coming a day, there's
coming a day when we're like the Lord. Our minds, our affections,
our bodies, as well as our souls will be so much in His glorious
image when He says to the lost, depart from me, ye cursed. The
church with one united voice will say, Amen, the glory is
yours. The glory is yours. That's good
news, Lord, for your justice reigns. And He'll say to the righteous,
Come, you're blessed of my Father. You're blessed of my Father in
her, the kingdom, prepared for you. The gospel is not limited to
one aspect of Christ's person and His work, but it spans the eternities,
from everlasting to everlasting. Find a time when the Son of God
was not, and that is the only time you will find the gospel,
according to God's eternal purpose, which He purposed in Christ Jesus. Well, you think you've grasped
it all? Well, we've understood it all.
Let's go on to something else. I heard a preacher say one time,
we've got some lost people here this morning, so I want the church
to bear with me. I've got to preach the gospel
this morning. We can get on to something else tonight, since you know it all. The gospel, what is it? It's
concerning the eternal Son of God. And you and I have just
begun to scratch the surface. Those who know Him and His Gospel
best know Him very little. The Gospel. And yet we labor
to preach it. We labor to set forth these glorious
mysteries concerning the Son of God in word. And you leave
the pulpit and you want to go dig a hole and get in it and
beg God's forgiveness for even trying. You know what I'm talking
about, don't you? You that go around witnessing
to people and you feel bad, I know how you feel. You want to tell
it out like it is. Well, it's too deep, dear soul.
It's too awesome. It's too mysterious. Tell what
little bit you know about it and about Him. Scratch around
on the surface and be content with that and remember the angels
feel the same way. The gospel. We preach the gospel. Word. We preach it in word. I'm ready to preach the gospel.
But notice our text again in verse 16. He says something else
now. I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. Here we have two different things.
They're one, but basically they're two things. We have the gospel
in word that can be preached. But Paul says it's even more
than that. It's the power of God unto salvation. Let me see if I can make some
statements here, what I think the Apostle Paul would have said
to us. He said, when I go preaching this Gospel, I see the evidence,
I see it experientially, that it's the power of God. Because
he said, I go preach it to men who are dead in sin, and they
come alive. He says, here I am, and I'm just
preaching the gospel, setting it forth in word. And life comes
to the soul, like those dry bones in Ezekiel's valley. He says,
I go preaching the Bible, the gospel, and I see those who were
at enmity in their minds against God, and they are reconciled. They become friends with God. I see those who were in bondage
to sin and Satan and vile habits, and they are set free to serve
God. I see the ignorant, and I preach
to the base and even the slaves. Those who can't read or even
write their names. Oh, and I see light enter into
their understanding. And they become as clear on the
gospel of Christ as I am. What's the difference? It's not
just in word. Yes, it is word. But it's word
coming with its power. That's the difference. What's
the difference in the gospel in word and the gospel in power? The gospel in word we may have
as a notion in our heads. We may have a degree of understanding
of the gospel in our brains, but notions won't save us. But
the gospel, when it saves us, it must come in its own. Paul talked about the kingdom
of God not being in word, but in power. He said that your faith
should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Let me give you two or three
examples. I don't remember how long it's been now, We used to
gather back here on Sunday afternoons for prayer. Turntz started coming
to church about that time. You remember this, Turntz. I
was six, seven, meeting back there in the prayer room for
prayer. Turntz came into the prayer room. Boy, he's miserable. I bet you remember this, Turntz.
You were miserable. And he came into the prayer room.
I was a little bit surprised to see him. And what we did in
there, no more than Then five or six in there, we just started
over here, and this fella would pray, and when he was finished,
that fella would pray, and Terrence would sit right in the middle.
And this fella prayed, and that fella prayed, and I thought they'd
just skip over on to this guy. Well, Terrence, he'd come to
Terrence, and Terrence would start praying, Oh God, be merciful
to me. Remember that? You had a notion of the gospel. But I talked to you. You had
a notion of Jesus Christ and who He was. Then why was He praying,
Lord, be merciful to me? He wanted more than a notion.
He wanted the reality, the living reality. Did you ever get that? I never did ask you about that.
I think you did, didn't you? You remember that publican in
the temple? Don't you think he had a reality of God and salvation
in Christ? Well, you know he did. Why was
he standing there then? God, be merciful to me. God, be merciful to me. And he
had his face down to the floor and he wouldn't even look up.
Why was he saying that? He had a notion. He wanted the
reality. He said, I've got it in word.
I must have it in its power. Somebody said, just believe,
just believe, just believe, or try to believe without the power
of God. How do we believe? Ephesians
1. You believe according to the working of His mighty power. There was Lydia. She'd come to
pray with the women. Remember Lydia in Acts 16? They
come to worship. Paul said they came to worship.
They had a notion of salvation. They were seeking salvation.
But she didn't have the reality of it. And while Paul was preaching,
the Bible said, the Lord opened her heart. That's what we're
talking about. That's the difference. I bring
it in word, but as the word comes, it comes in the Power and your
heart is open. And the reality of the Gospel. The living reality of it. Oh,
it's in your soul. And it's life. It's different,
ain't it? It's different then. What happens then? Well, Christ
is precious. Before you could take Him or
leave Him. In or out. Not now, boy. He's precious now. I mean, you've been given grace
to believe. The power of faith has come home to your heart and
He is precious to you who believe. He is precious. God is feared. God is reverenced. God is served. And the gospel
in every aspect of it. As you come to the knowledge
of it, it's good news to you. Just about all you'll probably
know of the gospel, if you're like most of us here, is that
you know the Son of God died for sinners. And you went to
God on those grounds. But boy, when He's made known
to you, you find out different aspects of the gospel. If you
find out He chose you to salvation as well as Savior, I tell you,
you'll love it. And you'll bow to it. Why? The power of God. The power of God. I'm not ashamed,
he said. I'm not ashamed. A man can have
a notion of the gospel and be ashamed of it. But not when he
comes in power. That makes the difference. Joe
and I, after we left the funeral home the other night, Bird and
Steve's brother, Joe and I got home and we were talking about
the funeral and the message. And I said, you know why preachers
won't preach the gospel? Even what they know about the
gospel, they won't preach it. They'll go to funeral homes and
get up and stand before multitudes of people and they lie to them
or they withhold the truth from them. They won't preach it. And
you know why? They're ashamed. They're ashamed. When somebody
gets up and leaves because they don't want to hear you, they
can't take it. When they see disappointment on people's faces
or they see anger, they can't take it. They're ashamed. Why? Because this gospel is not
the power of God to their salvation. That's it. They don't fear God. That's it.
They don't know the Lord. That's it. They don't believe
the gospel. That's it. I'm making no excuses
for those fellows. This ain't the place. This ain't
the place. Oh, this just ain't the time.
When is? No, that's not your trouble.
You make all the excuses you want to. Your trouble is you're
ashamed of the Gospel. And you're ashamed of it because
you don't know Him. You don't fear Him. You don't love the
souls of men. For God's sake, for your own
good, get out of the ministry. Go home. Get a job. Get on your
face and say, Oh God, bring the gospel to my heart in your power. Save me. The Lord Jesus said,
Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous
and sinful generation. Adulterous and sinful generation. And to be ashamed of the gospel,
of him shall I be ashamed. But oh, thank the Lord he said
this, the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed. You're not ashamed of him, you're
not ashamed of his gospel, you're not ashamed of his people. I'm
not ashamed. Let's pray.