Sermon notes from 19 March 2017
Romans 1 verses 13 - 18
The gospel message is a message of alarm. God wants to waken you, to make you aware of the danger of dying in your sin. It is God`s siren to us. We have read that great servant Paul when he said "I am ready to preach the gospel". Paul is ready to preach the gospel. It is the gospel of Christ. Why - because first of all he loves the message. Paul says I love to preach the message because I love the Saviour. He had a desire in his heart to preach this great message. It didn`t matter where he went - going down the street and a little girl following him shouting "these men are servants of the most high God which show unto us the way of salvation" (Acts 16 verse 17), he preached in the open air, in the markets, at the river side, in the prison house, in palaces, in the great auditorium in Rome. Paul was ready to preach the gospel because he loved it. Paul was stoned out of towns, beaten, put in prison but he just went to the next town and started to preach again. Why - simply because he loved the God of heaven. He believed it to be the power of God unto salvation. He believed through the foolishness of preaching that God would save those who believed on it. "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." (1 Corinthians 1 verse 21) Paul also encouraged others do the same thing. He told Timothy "preach the word, be instant in season, out of season" (2 Timothy 4 verse 2). Whether men like it or not, it will transform them. It doesn`t matter, it comes with newness every time we hear it because it is a living message. Paul was loyal to the message, ready for the defense of the gospel, ready to lay down his life for. "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gosspel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." (Galatians 1 verse 8) Paul loved it and was loyal to it. There was something about Paul`s life - you could see he was a man of God. "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." "It is no longer I that liveth but Christ that liveth in me." Paul said to Timothy "Let your conversation be as it is becometh the gospel of Christ" (Philippians 1 verse 27) There has to be a mark of a difference that marks us out. People were first called Christians at Antioch. They loved the message so much. Paul longed others to hear it too. In verse 14 we read of the Greeks. Throughout scripture the Greeks loved to seek after wisdom, almost trying to come to an understanding, could never rationalise or reason it out. How could someone die on the cross let alone save anyone? The Greeks who tried to reason it out in their minds. The Barbarians were a radical people. You couldn`t talk to them. They just didn`t listen. Paul says "I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, both to the wise and the unwise." To the uneducated and educated, to the civilised or whatever. He was a debtor, did that mean he owed something to them? No, because of all of heaven has done for me. The least I could do is share the gospel with them. A debtor to all human race and everyone. They deserved to hear the gospel at least once. He loves the gospel and longs others might come to know it. "It is the power of God unto salvation." Nothing changes a man`s life like the gospel message. When a man believes the gospel he becomes a new creature. There is a tremendous difference because he is no longer a child of the devil. Paul loved to preach the gospel.
Paul speaks of the person of the gospel. "Concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord" (verse 3) It is all about him. It is about Christ and him alone. Acts 4 verse 12 "neither is there salvation in any other for there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved." "Thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1 verse 21) God sent his son into the world to be the Saviour of the world. Galatians "when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law to deem them that were under the law." (Galatians 4 verses 4 and 5) God sent him from heaven, from those great mansions in the sky, where the streets were made of gold, a place of perfect peace. God sent him down into the world that rejected him. John 1 verse 10 "he was in the world, the world was made by him and the world knew him not." Many today do not know the Saviour. The one born in the manger of Bethlehem, sent to be the Saviour of the world. "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." Right throughout scripture we read how much he says of the gospel. Romans 2 verse 16 "In the days when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to the gospel." Christ is not here to condemn the world. He wants you to understand something of God`s great plan of salvation. He came into the world to save sinners. We are all sinners. No difference in any of us - I am only a sinner saved by grace. This message is about the sending of his son. Romans 8 verse 32 "God spared not his own son." God sent him to go to Calvary. He knew he would be rejected, bruised yet he sent him. God spared not his own son but delivered him up freely for us. When the soldiers came to arrest him in the garden, God in heaven turned away. He could have delivered him even at that moment but he didn`t. When he went into Pilate`s judgment hall, when he was beaten, when a crown of thorns was placed on his head, when he was mocked and when they shouted "hail king of the Jews" God and all of heaven turned away. When they took him out to Calvary`s cross and nailed him by the hands and feet, when every bone in his body was out of joint, God spared not his son. The God of heaven turned his back on his son. In those 3 dark hours at Calvary God closed heaven altogether. Laid on him the iniquity of us all. God spared not his son. God slew his son. He took up the offering made on Calvary and consumed it to the very end. God slew his son at Calvary. The Father who spared not his son slew his son is seeking us as his sons. He is not a dead Saviour. He is alive for ever. In 1 Corinthians 15 we read of resurrection of Christ. Christ died - that is a historical fact. You could go to the history books and read of a man crucified outside Jerusalem. He died for our sins. That is a theological fact. That is what makes his death different to every other death. It makes him our substitute. He rose again the third day. That is a supernatural fact. There is evidence for the resurrection. At the tomb he was seen, on the road to Emmaeus he talked with 2 men, he was seen by the disciples, by 500 men, by Cephas and by Paul himself. God spared not his son. He spared not the fallen angels who left their eternal state because of sin. He spared not the whole world from his wrath and judgment on the flood in the time of Noah. It says in verse 18 "for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. " You could read through this book and through the Old Testament that the wrath of God has been revealed against sin. You can see it from the beginning to the end upon the angels and his son on the cross. Why did he not spare his son? How is God going to spare you if you turn your back on Christ? You cannot. God is a God who is holy. The soul that sins shall die. There is an eternal punishment for the soul that sins. "He that hath the son hath eternal life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." (1 John 5 verse 12) God sent his son into a world of sorrow, sin and woe. Never forget God loves you. He is not willing that any shall perish. He is a holy God who is just and must punish sin. If your sin is not dealt with by Jesus on the cross it will be dealt with by Jesus on the throne. The only place you can be is with Christ.
The power of the gospel. It is the same word we get our word dynamite from today. Such is the power of God. The preaching of the cross is foolishness unto you who believe.
The purpose of the gospel - to bring salvation. It is great because of the person who planned it. It is great because of the people it reaches - to all men. "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." John 3 verse 16 He gave his only son for me. That if I believe I will have eternal life. God has not made salvation difficult, that you will have to pay for it, that only able bodied people can believe. The purpose of the gospel is to bring salvation. We are not here to put pressure on you, to button hole you. A simple gospel message. If you believe you can leave here saved by the grace of God in a moment of time.
The plan of the gospel - believe. Paul said to the Philippian jailer when asked "what must I do to be saved" - "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." He was not told to change his lifestyle, become a better person but simply believe on the Lord. It cannot be any simpler. Do you want to be saved, to trust in Christ? Then simply believe on Christ.
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