I'd like for you to open your
Bibles this morning to the Book of Romans. I'll be speaking from
the first chapter of the Book of Romans, and I'll be reading
verse 16. This will serve as a text for
the subject, The Revelations of the Gospel. We might call
this sermon, I'm Not Ashamed of the Gospel. Either way, The
Revelations of the Gospel, or I'm Not Ashamed of the Gospel,
for that's exactly the way Paul begins this verse. He says, I
am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Now, Paul knew from personal
experience the opposition and hatred which the true gospel
encountered everywhere. The gospel of Christ and him
crucified was everywhere spoken against, despised and rejected. It is said of our Lord in Isaiah
53, He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians,
to the religious the gospel is offensive, and it's a stumbling
block. And to the pagan, to the heathen,
the gospel is foolishness or sheer nonsense. In other words,
the message of guilt and grace, the message of the fallen Adam
and restoration in Christ, the message of sin and redemption
through a crucified Redeemer, not only met with ridicule and
persecution, but utter complete contempt." In Galatians 5.11,
Paul called it the offense of the cross. He says the cross
is offensive. It's offensive to the natural
man. Now, wherein lieeth the offense of the cross? Why is
the cross, the preaching of the cross, the preaching of the gospel
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Why is that offensive to the
natural man? I want to give you four reasons
why I believe that the preaching of the gospel of substitution,
the gospel of Christ crucified, is offensive to the natural man.
First of all, the gospel addresses all men as sinners. all men as
sinners, and this offends man's dignity." Now, man will admit
that he's not perfect. He'll admit that he's not perfect
in the sight of God or in the sight of the law. But men do
not like being called sinners. They resent being called sinners.
And yet the Word of God is plain. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. There's none good, no, not one.
Every imagination of man's heart is only evil continually. The scripture says Christ came
into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief, that Christ
died for the ungodly. But still, the gospel addressing
all men as sinners, guilty sinners in the sight of God, offends
man's dignity. The second reason why the gospel
of Christ or the gospel of substitution is offensive That is, it comes
as a revelation. The gospel comes as a divine
revelation, and that offends man's wisdom. Oh, how wise and
intelligent we like to feel that we are. And yet the Word of God
plainly declares, the natural man receiveth not the things
of God. They are not understood by him
because they're spiritually discerned, and he cannot understand them.
Our Lord said, No man knoweth the Father, except the Son, and
he to whom the Son will reveal him. Our Lord asked the disciples
one day, Whom do you say that I am? Whom do you say that I,
the Son of man, am? And Peter said, Well, thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. And our Master said, Flesh
and blood did not reveal that to you, but my Father which is
in heaven. So the gospel comes as a divine
revelation. And this offends the wisdom of
natural men. They feel that they're wise and
they're intelligent. And yet our Lord said, the Father
hath hid these things from the wise and the prudent. And the
God of this world hath blinded the minds of natural men. And
then the scripture says that the natural mind, the natural
mind of man, the carnal mind, is enmity against God. It is
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. So
the gospel is a divine revelation, and this is offensive. It offends
the natural man's wisdom. And then the gospel of substitution,
the gospel of the atonement, the gospel of a crucified Savior
in our place instead offends man's pride. Now, if you give
man something religious to do in order to save himself, If
you give him something religious to perform in order to establish
for himself a righteousness, he'll gladly do it. Give him
a law to keep. Give him a ceremony to observe.
Give him a duty to perform, and he'll put forth every effort.
But his pride will not let him come to God as a beggar. His
pride will not let him fall in the dust at the feet of Christ
and sue for mercy. His pride will not let him come
to a full Savior as an empty sinner seeking grace. His pride
will not let him come to Christ as a defiled creature only finding
cleansing in the fountain of blood. And yet the scripture
plainly says it's not by works of righteousness which we've
done, but according to his mercy he hath saved us. The scripture
plainly says that not any flesh is justified by keeping the law.
Peter writes in 1 Peter 1, we're not redeemed with corruptible
things such as silver and gold or works or deeds from our vain
conversation received by tradition from our fathers, but with the
precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot.
But the gospel of substitution, the gospel of works, is not offensive. The gospel of human merit is
not offensive. The gospel of self-righteousness
is not offensive. But the gospel of substitution,
The gospel of divine mercy, the gospel of free grace, offends
man's pride. And then fourthly, the gospel
of sovereign mercy. What do I mean by sovereign mercy?
I mean just this. God said, I will show mercy to
whom I will show mercy. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. Man just must obligate God. It's in the nature of the sinner
in some way to try to obligate a sovereign God. But when we
preach the gospel of sovereign mercy, it offends man's concept
of the freedom of his own will. God is sovereign. That's what
the Scripture teaches. Listen to the Word of God. It
is God that justifies. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Listen
to the Scripture. It is not of him that willeth.
It is not of him that runneth, it's of God that showeth mercy.
Listen to John chapter 1. To as many as received him, to
them gave he the privilege to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name, which were born not of fleshly
inheritance, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will
of man, but they're born of God. But this kind of message, the
sovereign mercy of God given to whom he will, offends man's
concept of the freedom of his own will. The Lord Jesus Christ
said, Can I not do with my own what I will? But the sinner wants
to reverse that, and he wants to say to God, Can I not do with
myself what I will? The Lord has sovereign power
over all creatures. When our Lord prayed in John
17, He said, Father, thou hast given me authority over all flesh. that I should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given me." When our Lord was down in
Nazareth in Luke chapter 4, you'll find the record of this event
in the fourth chapter of Luke, he was preaching to a host of
religious people, people who felt they were God's people,
felt that they had a corner on God. This was Israel, and they
felt that God was obligated to them. And our Lord stood before
that that congregation of Israelites, and he said, listen to me, I'm
going to tell you the truth. There were many widows in the
land of Israel in the days of the prophet, but God fed none
of them. He chose to feed a Gentile, a
widow of Sarekta. And he said, as he continued,
there were many lepers in the land of Israel in the days of
the prophet, God healed none of them. but he chose to heal
a man who was a Gentile by the name of Naaman of Syria. And
that crowd grew so angry that they rose up and thrust him out
of the building and led him out to the brow of a cliff, a hill
on which their city was built, and would have cast him off headlong. What offended them? Our Lord
said, I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I will be
gracious to whom I will be gracious. God is not obligated to us in
any way except to show justice. God is only obligated to be just. He will be just. He can be merciful. He will be righteous. He can
be gracious. One day our Lord came down from
the mountain, and when he came down from the mountain, the leper
ran to meet him. And the leper, the scripture
says, fell down and worshiped the master. And looked up and
said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. If you will. And my friend, that's true. If
he will, he can make you clean. If he will, he can save your
soul. If he will, he can put away your
guilt. But it's his will and not yours
upon which it depends. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. So Paul says, I'm not ashamed.
He declares in plain terms, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed
of the gospel which addresses all men as sinners, though it
offends their dignity. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
which comes as a divine revelation, though it offends man's wisdom.
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ crucified, a definite
atonement, a definite sin offering and sacrifice, though it offends
man's pride. And I'm not ashamed of free and
sovereign grace, though it offends man's concept of the freedom
of his will. The will is free to do what it
will. The will is free to act according
to its nature. But our nature is evil and sin. And Christ said, you will not
come to me that you might have life. Now, Paul stating this,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel, enforces upon us this warning. Evidently, there's a danger.
Evidently, there's a danger to those who have heard the gospel
and who have believed the gospel and who have received the gospel
themselves to yield to the pressures of this world. Evidently, there's
a temptation, there's a danger of even those who believe the
gospel to yield to the pressures of the world and be ashamed of
the gospel. That's the reason he keeps saying,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
He said to the Corinthians, I'm determined to know nothing among
you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. I'm determined. And
in 2 Timothy 1.8, he warns Timothy. Perhaps Timothy was his favorite.
Perhaps Timothy was his son in the ministry. Perhaps his mantle
fell upon Timothy. And here he is warning this young
man. He says, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Don't you be ashamed of the gospel.
Evidently, the pressures of the world and the pressures from
the religious groups and all other sorts of pressures brought
to bear upon the minister of Christ or upon the people of
Christ, they might yield to being ashamed of the gospel. In II
Timothy 1.12, right after this, He restates his position. He
says to Timothy, now don't you be ashamed of the testimony of
our Lord. And he says, I suffer persecution. Nevertheless, I
am not ashamed. Here he is saying again, I am
not ashamed. Don't you be ashamed. I'm not
ashamed. I know whom I have believed.
And I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which I've committed
to him against that day. And then on down three or four
verses in verse 16, He compliments a man named Onesiphorus, and
he says this about him, he was not ashamed. He was not ashamed. In Mark 8, verse 38, our Lord
warns us. He says this, Whosoever therefore
shall be ashamed of me, and of my words in this sinful and adulterous
generation, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he
comes in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels. Paul summed
the whole matter up in Galatians 6, verse 14, when he said, God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of God. It's God's gospel. It's not man's gospel. It's not
my gospel. It's God's gospel. I'm not ashamed
of God's gospel because he planned it and he purposed it. I'm not
ashamed because He executed it. He sent His Son into the world,
and He applied it. God, who separated me from my
mother's womb, was pleased to reveal His Son in me. And He
sustains it. We're kept by the power of God
through faith, and He will perfect it, for He is able to raise our
vile bodies in that great day and make them liken to His own
body. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of God. For it is the gospel concerning his Son. Jesus Christ
is the sum of it. He's the essence of the gospel.
He's the substance of the gospel. He's the Savior, and He is the
only High Priest and the Great Mediator. And of God, Jesus Christ
is made unto us all that we need, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. He is the gospel. The gospel
is concerning God's Son. And over here in the book of
Colossians, it says, In Christ dwelleth all the fullness of
God, the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete
in Christ. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. Now, then Paul gives us, and
I want to take the time this morning to give you these four
things. He gives us four reasons. I want
you to listen carefully to them. If you'd like to, write them
down. But this message will be on tape. You can order the tape
of the message, but if you don't get the tape, write down these
four things. Or follow me in your Bible, Romans 1, 16, 17,
18, and 19. He gives four reasons why he's
not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, here's the
first one. He says, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ. Far, far, that gospel, that gospel
which addresses all men as sinners, that gospel, of divine revelation,
that gospel of the sin offering, a sacrifice, a substitute, a
mediator, that gospel of God's sovereign mercy is the power
of God unto salvation. Why is it the power of God? The
word power there is dunamis, or dynamite. It's the dynamite
of God. It's the power of God. This gospel
is the power of God unto salvation. Why? Well, first of all, because
it is the sacrifice of Christ presented in the gospel, which
enables God to be both just and justifier of them who believe
in Christ. All sacrifices in the Old Testament,
the sacrifices of the lamb and the rams and so forth, the sheep
and so forth, all of those sacrifices were directed toward God. The
lamb was slain before the Lord. The ram was slain before the
Lord. The bullock was slain before the Lord. The blood was poured
out upon the altar before the Lord. Because God Almighty must
have a sacrifice. And all of those lambs and bullocks
and so forth were pictures of Christ. So Christ's sin offering
and Christ's sacrifice and Christ's atonement is before the Lord.
It's in order that God's justice might be satisfied. Our Lord
came down here and obeyed the law that the law might be honored,
and he died on the cross that God's justice might be satisfied.
So this gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believe it, because it honors God's law, because it satisfies
God's justice, because it enables a holy God to be true to his
divine attributes and pardon guilty men. And then not only
that, but the word of the gospel begets life. That's right, begets
life in the dead sinner. James wrote this, of his own
will beget he us with the word of truth. And then Peter said
this, we're begotten again, not with corruptible seed, but of
the incorruptible seed, which is the word of God. It's the
word of God that awakens. the Holy Spirit using the Word
of God. It is the Word of God that convicts
men of sin. It's the Word of God that shuts
men up to the mercy of God in Christ. It is the Word of the
Gospel that begets faith in the sinner's heart. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, but how shall
they call on him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they
believe in him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? So Paul says, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel. It's essential. It's imperative. It's absolutely necessary. Because
the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It's that word
of the gospel that quickens dead sinners, that begets faith, that
leads sinners to look to Christ. It's the gospel that justifies
God. enables God to be just and justified. And it's the gospel that opens
blind eyes, that unstops deaf ears, that softens hard hearts,
that sets free the captive, that calls men to Christ. So I say
with Paul today, I'm not ashamed of the gospel either. It's the
power of God unto salvation. Now, secondly, look at verse
17. He says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Because
therein, that is, in the gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed,
or the holiness of God. Now, we're not talking here,
Paul's not talking here, of God's personal, essential righteousness
and holiness. God is holy. God is holy. And we know that he's holy. The
Word says he's holy. He's revealed himself as holy.
And his essential and personal holiness is revealed in the gospel. Almighty God is revealing here
in the Gospel that holiness and that righteousness which He has
been pleased to give to sinners through the sacrifice and obedience
of His Son. That's the holiness we're talking
about. Our Lord Jesus Christ said this to His disciples, except
your righteousness, your holiness, exceed the holiness of the best
men on this earth, the scribes and the Pharisees, you won't
enter the kingdom of heaven. Well, that holiness, that righteousness
is revealed right here in this gospel. The scripture says, without
holiness no man will see the Lord. Now, we don't have that
kind of holiness by nature. We don't have that kind of holiness
in this flesh. In the flesh dwelleth no good
thing. In the flesh no man can please God. Still it's true,
without holiness no man will see the Lord. So where can I
find this holiness? It's revealed in the gospel.
That's what he's saying here. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. For therein, in the gospel, is the righteousness,
the holiness of God. Not God's essential personal
holiness, but the righteousness of God which is Christ, which
is imputed to sinners, which is reckoned to our count, which
is given to us through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen
to some scripture, Galatians 4. In the fullness of time God
sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem
them that were born under the law. That's why he came. That's
why he was made of a woman. Why he became a man. Why he was
made under the law. To redeem us. To give us a holiness. To give us acceptance with God.
Listen to this scripture. Christ is the end of the law.
The goal or consummation of the law to everyone that believe
it. For righteousness. For righteousness. Christ is
our righteousness. Listen to this. By the disobedience
of Adam, we became sinners. By the obedience of Christ, we're
made righteous. Listen to this scripture, 2 Corinthians
5.21. He was made sin for us who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. So Paul says, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of substitution, the gospel of grace, for right
there in that gospel, not in the law, the law doesn't reveal
righteousness, that God will accept. The law doesn't live
in our works, it's in the gospel. That's where it's revealed, the
holiness of God, the righteousness of God for sinners. And it might
be considered in three ways. First of all, when God purposed
it from the foundation of the world, when God provided it when
Christ came into the world, when God revealed it when he revealed
it in us, and to us, and made us partakers by faith of his
righteousness, that he might be just and justifier of all
who believe on Christ. Why did Christ come to the world?
Why did he live here 34 years? Why did he die on the cross,
in the flesh, that we might have a perfect righteousness? Not
that righteousness which we have worked out, but which he worked
out by his obedience. You see what I'm saying? It's
in the gospel that that holiness is revealed. Thirdly, Paul, in
verse 18, says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for therein is
the wrath of God revealed. Now, the wrath of God is revealed
in the sentence of death upon Adam. I know that, when God cast
him out of the garden. The wrath of God is revealed
in the flood, when he sent judgment upon the whole world. I know
that. The wrath of God is revealed in the fires of Sodom and Gomorrah. I know that. But, my friend,
nowhere I don't believe you can find anywhere that the wrath
of God is revealed against sin any more than Calvary. At Calvary,
there God spared not his own son. And his son was not dying
on that cross for his own sins. He had no sins. He was bearing
our iniquities, our transgressions, our guilt, our sicknesses, our
sorrows, our grief. He was bearing our sins as a
substitute, and God's wrath and judgment fell upon him in unparalleled
grief. God spare not his son. I say
that Calvary is a clear demonstration of God's wrath against sin. Will God punish sin? You say,
well, He did it. He did in the flood. In the cities
of the plains, he did here and there on Jerusalem in 70 A.D.,
yes, and he punished it at Calvary. And Calvary is a greater proof
and a better example of the judgment and wrath of God, for there he
spared not his own son. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
In the gospel is the wrath of God revealed. Now, fourthly,
in closing, verse 19, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for that
which may be known of God is manifested. That which may be
known of God is manifested. How can I know God? The disciples
asked that question. They said to the Master, Show
us the Father. Show us the Father. And the Master
said, Have I been so long time with you, and yet you don't know
me? He that has seen has seen my Father." He that has seen
Christ with eyes of faith, recorded in the Word, revealed by the
Holy Spirit, has seen the Father. Will God show mercy to sinners?
Christ was merciful. He said He came to seek and to
save sinners. He came to call not the righteous
but sinners to repent. Will God show mercy to guilty
sinners? Will God show grace? Can He be
clean as born of a woman? How can man be just with God?
This is all revealed in the Gospel. He can be just with God in the
person of a substitute, in the person of one who died in his
stead, and in the person of one who obeyed perfectly God's divine
and holy law, imputing unto that sinner a righteousness with which
God will be pleased. So here's what Paul's saying.
I'm not ashamed of the gospel, the gospel of Christ, though
he were crucified, for it's the power of God to everyone that
believes it. to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. And in that gospel is the righteousness, the holiness
of God revealed. That's where it's manifested,
right there in the gospel. And in that gospel, we see the
wrath and judgment of God. And in that gospel, all that
may be known of God is manifested. Now, I have this message on cassette
tape. One tape, two messages on the
same tape. On one side is this message,
the revelations of the gospel. On the other side is a message
entitled, Thank God. I'll preach it next Sunday, but
both on the same tape. If you want the tape, write to
me. The address will be given to you. Send $2. That's what
it cost us to make it and send it to you. Join us next Sunday
at 11 o'clock over this channel. Until then, God bless you, everyone.