I preached this message on a mission trip in the summer of 2002.
Introduction: Everyone likes to hear good news. I don’t care who you are, if someone comes up to you and says that they have good news to tell you, you want to hear what they have to say. Whether the good news is that you had won some money or a new car, or that you had gotten that job that you applied for, or that girl or guy that you liked finally decided that they liked you too. I remember one time specifically that I was greatly anticipating good news. Last May my dad had a heat attack and nearly died. He had to have a quadruple bypass surgery just a couple days after—a pretty major surgery where there was a possibility that he would not make it. I was in the midst of exams at school and waiting to hear back and see how the surgery went. I was relieved when I found out that the surgery was a success. That was good news.
Well, we have traveled thousands of miles all the way over here to tell you some good news. This is not just any good news, but the best good news that you could possibly hear. Our lives are all about this good news—believing it, living it, enjoying it, and proclaiming it to other. You see, when you come across something really good, you can’t just keep it to yourself. So that is why we are here. We have experienced this life-changing good news and want you to experience it too.
So what is this good news that we are here to tell you about. It is the good news of Jesus Christ as found in the Bible. In essence, that is what the whole Bible is all about. The OT points forward to the gospel, and the NT tells all about the gospel. One book especially that is devoted almost exclusively to a full explanation of this good news is the book of Romans. If you really want to know what this good news is, I challenge you to get a hold of a Bible and read this letter to the Romans.
Look with me here in the first chapter of Romans where Paul mentions this gospel 4 times:
Romans 1:1 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
Romans 1:9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you,
Romans 1:15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
Romans 1:16 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.
Now, I already know that many of you feel differently about what I have already begun to talk about. Each of you in this room is in one of the following categories. (1) You believe the gospel as God’s true revelation of the way of salvation and have obeyed its demands to turn from your sin and embrace Christ by faith. Now you are pursuing to know God and obey Him in every area of your life. In other words you are a Christian. While I wish that were the case for everyone in hear, I know it is not. (2) You claim to believe the gospel and have at some point made a profession of faith, but your live has not been changed and you have continued in your sin as you were before. (3) You think that this really is true and something that you certainly need, but you have never come to a place of personally turning from your sin and laying hold of Christ by faith as He is offered in the gospel. (4) You think this may be true, but you don’t think that you are in need of it, because you don’t see yourself as being that bad. (5) You totally reject this message as being true and question whether there is any such God as the one we speak of.
Now I believe that each of you in this room falls into one of these categories. And maybe there could be more, but I think that this basically deals with all the possible attitudes that someone could have toward God and His gospel. What my desire is this morning is that each of you would see where you stand before this good news, and that by God’s grace you would move from your current position to embracing and believing this wonderful truth.
Let’s look first at verses 15 and 17.
Romans 1:15–17 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also 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, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
Paul wanted to come to Rome to preach the gospel to them, and the reason he was ready to preach it is because he was not ashamed of it. In other words, he did not fear being put to shame by proclaiming that message. Why did he not fear being put to shame? Surely some would mock the message and reject him. So why was he ready to preach and unafraid of being put to shame? Read on, the gospel is the power of God. This is God’s message, and it is a message that God will bless. When it is preached, it will succeed, because it is powerful! But this message only shows its powerful in ones who believe it and embrace it. But Paul was confidence that God would do this work in heart, granting to men the faith to believe His message.
What is this gospel? Well, we could spend hours answering that question. But one thing is clear: the gospel is about God’s righteousness. God shows His righteousness in contrast to man’s sinfulness. And this is a righteousness that he will give to people by faith.
Well, you may be wondering, who is in need of this righteousness anyway? Let’s read on.
God’s wrath has been revealed because of man’s sin. Notice what the text says. Men have the truth of God, but because of their sinfulness they suppress the truth. The push it down. They try to cover it up. They pretend it is not so. Now here is where the text is very clear that there is no such thing as an atheist. There are only professed atheists. Verse 20 says that God has revealed Himself to man, and that that revelation is evident. It is clear. Every person alive has received the revelation of God and knows that there is a God.
It goes on to say that you know certain things about God, which you understand by the universe around you. This universe testifies to an all-powerful God. And the Scriptures teach us here that because of the revelation that God has made of Himself in nature, that every person is without excuse. You have no excuse for rejecting God. You are guilty. Why? Because when you knew God, which everyone does, you failed to give Him the supreme place in your life. You did not thank Him for all that you had, and your thoughts were empty. The thinking of the sinner is not logical. But his heart is darkened. Even though those who reject God may claim to be wise, yet God says that they are fools. As a result of this they started to worship anything but God.