encouraging. We're in Romans chapter 1, we're going to begin in verse 1, we're going to get to the thesis of the letter to the Romans. If you could sum up his entire letter you can do it in verse 16 and 17. And I'm going to read getting to that, then we're going to look at just an introduction of that this week, and then begin to break it down. But really the struggle I have with expounding verse 16 and 17 is that's what Romans is doing from verse 18 all the way to the end of Romans. So, for me to expound those two verses, I'm basically going to teach Romans. So, I may just lightly do that next week, and then Paul begins to defend his thesis statement that is found in verse 16. But let's read verse 1, because this flows together, and sometimes we miss that flow. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an set apart for the Gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh, and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness, by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God, through Jesus Christ, for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you, always in my prayers, asking that somehow God's will I may know at last succeed in coming to you. for I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you. That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. Stop right there real quick. It will be a good day in your Christian life when you can be mutually encouraged by another Christian's faith. We're very quick to segregate amongst denominations. And please, I don't want to sound, you guys know me enough, almost, it's been 21 years. But you, there's a mutual encouragement that comes when you hear someone's faith. I was, this was first thing in the morning when I had the conversation at work. It was encouraging the rest of the day, and we kind of would see each other and make, say little statements and comments throughout the day after that conversation. I was sharing it with another guy at work who is a believer, and he says, man, that's awesome. I've had conversation with so-and-so and this person, and he says, maybe we ought to, like, after briefing, go in a room, and we want to, we can have prayer for the day for our people and our work and that. That brother is charismatic. He asked me one time, are you one of those ones that, you know, saved, always saved? I'm like, well, I believe that once you're in God's hand, no one can pluck you out of God's hand. So there's some differences there, but we mutually encourage one another. In the line of work I'm in, there's times I'll get mad and he goes, hey, hey, hey, hey, Pastor. careful." I'm like, yeah, you're right. You're right. And I'll say, hey, brother, you're working with the teens. He'll say, I know the teens, I can't. I mean there is that encouragement. Listen to what he says, that we would come together. He says, I want to impart a spiritual gift to you. I think there is something there with His Apostleship. But you between believers impart spiritual gifts. But then he says that is that we may mutually be encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you, but thus far have been prevented, in order that I may reap some harvest among you, as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to foolish, so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also, who are in Rome. Now, here comes this thesis statement, For I, why would Paul do this? Why is Paul so eager to do this? Why is Paul seeking to do this? Because 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 for faith, As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the letter to the Romans. And as we work through this letter, for sure it'll be for over a year, as we begin to just develop and see the great truth that it's gonna unfold, may we grasp this thesis statement that the gospel is powerful. and it's powerful to all those who believe. And it is through the gospel that the righteousness of God is revealed in us, that we have the imputed righteousness of Christ, and this is done so by faith. May we not be ashamed of Christ. May we not turn back. May we not be embarrassed. May we not cower. Especially, Father, in a day when there's absolute confusion and chaos, And people are asking questions and wondering what is going on, and others we see are completely given over to strong delusions of things that they deny even the basics of nature, of natural wisdom. Yet Father, through that chaos, many are stepping and saying, where is God? This is insane. This is not right. And may we not be ashamed of the power of the gospel as we share it with them. And we thank you for this in Christ's name we pray, amen. Heaven established himself as a servant of Christ. authority as an apostle in the first part of this chapter. And then he's connecting to his reader as one that was a servant to them, and desiring to grant them some grace. Paul now gives his thesis statement to the letter. Paul completes his personal reference of himself to the Church. What Paul expresses in these two verses, he will expound on for the remainder of the letter. That's why it's going to be hard to really break these two verses down, because I would basically be using the rest of the Romans. So, we'll probably lightly touch it next week. And then, verse 18, he begins to start with, All men are guilty. There is none righteous, no, not one. here is the righteousness of God revealed. Here is the propitiation of Jesus Christ for our sins. And He begins to build upon that. Not only does He build upon that, then in chapter 6 He begins to build upon the Spirit-filled life, and the power of the Gospel, and building on. And then chapter 12 He gets into the practical aspects of the Christian life. It is the righteousness of God. And it is by faith that we receive Jesus Christ. The transition begins here with the word for, which is in support of the why. He is under obligation to preach the Gospel. Why would Paul need to go to Rome? And why is he under obligation, as he says in verse 14, to preach the Gospel? Why is he so eager to preach the Gospel? Why? Because it is the power of God. He must do so. He's not ashamed of the message of the gospel. This transition builds here and it's culminating. He goes, I want you to understand right at the beginning of this letter, I am not ashamed of the gospel. Why am I not ashamed of the gospel? Because it is the power of God. Lloyd-Jones said in his commentary, in other words, he is saying that as he was ready to preach the Gospel to Greeks and barbarians, wise and unwise, in the same way exactly he is ready to preach it in Rome. And of course, in doing so, he incidentally tells them, tells us through them, tells Christians everywhere what is, after all, the great theme with which he consistently dealt, the power of the Gospel. In verse 16, Paul gives the theme. In verse 17, he gives the basic exposition of it. Once Paul builds upon his presentation by injecting the word for, he's creating truth blocks. It's like he's building a house and he is, here's the first truth block. Then here's the next truth block. Then here's the next truth block. And he does that quickly in this thesis statement, but then he's gonna slowly develop that throughout the rest of the chapters. And so he's building upon building, he says, for I am not ashamed, for it is the power of God, for therein is the righteousness of God, for the wrath of God is revealed, verse 18. These two verses are the foundation of what became the Protestant Reformation. It is what caused dissenters throughout the dark ages to stand true, even at their own peril of their life, that the Gospel is a work of God received by faith, not by works of any sacrament. Everything that exists in Paul compels him to preach the Gospel to those in Rome. Why? Because it is the power of God. The use of the word ashamed here that he uses is very interesting. The word ashamed shows us that Paul is not saying that I'm proud of the Gospel or I like the Gospel, but the very nature of this word that Paul actually glories in the Gospel. He is not embarrassed by it. And in some sense, He is condemning those that are embarrassed. They are actually ashamed of it. It is embarrassing to them to mention the gospel. Paul's challenge to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1, verse 7 and 8. Remember when he writes to them in verse 7, he said, For God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power, and love, and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me as prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel. by the power of God. Verse 16, May the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus for he offered fresh meat and was not ashamed of my chains. The idea is that we are willing to go in peril. We are willing to accept the scorn of those around us because we are not ashamed of this. It is the power of God. There is no way to do this apart from being counter-cultural. of promoting a worldview that is radically different than the culture. We have this idea, and we've been blessed in America to have a Christian Judeo-Christian woven laws and principles that we grew up in, and it provided some blending of the two. But there's nowhere in Scripture does he ever teach Christianity is compatible with the culture, or that the culture is compatible with the Christianity. The two do not coincide together well. The one preaches a message that condemns the other. The other looks at that message and said, they're fools, they're ignorant people, they're nonsense, they've gone mad. Paul makes the believer choose. To be informed that the message of Christ is foolish, is embarrassing in the flesh, and is anti-normative. In 1 Corinthians 1, as he's writing to this church, and he begins in verse 18 to expound upon this understanding, he says, For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who are believed." It's interesting there, people would often say, preaching is foolish. No, it's the message that's foolish. For Jews demand signs, and Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews, and folly to Gentiles. But those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For considering your calling, brothers, not many of you were wise, according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong God chose what is low and despise in the world even things that are not to bring to nothing things that are So that no human being might boast in the presence of God and because of him You are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God righteousness and sanctification and redemption So that it is written. Let no one boast boast in the Lord The very message of the gospel, the very message of Christianity is anti-normative. It's not acceptable in the culture. Consider the message we are embracing, though, in churches today, that men, proud men, self-loving men, we go to them and we say, you should repent and turn to a man named Jesus that was an insignificant upbringing, that not only that, but was in reality the Son of God. Our message is absolute foolishness. It's maddening. It should not be accepted in the normal culture of wisdom and philosophy. It makes no sense. And yet that's the message that is preached. Lloyd-Jones continued with that thought. He said, One who was born in utter abject poverty, referring to Christ, born in a stable, no room at the end, brought up in a little village, trained as a carpenter, that is the one we preach, that is the one we hold before the world, one who was crucified in an apparent weakness. Having made exalted claims for himself, he is taken in utter helplessness. He is nailed to a tree and dies while the mob jeers at him and derides him, saying, he saved others, let him save himself. If he be the Christ chosen of God, that is the message we actually are proclaiming. And it's madness, it's foolishness to the world. It doesn't blend with the culture of selfism, of materialism, of selfishness. The flesh despises it because there's no boasting in it, just in the Lord. Of course the world scoffs. Of course they mock. Of course our message is anti-normative. Of course our message is not accepted. We do not preach philosophy or an idea. We preach a series of facts that call on men to repent and follow Jesus Christ. In Acts 17, Paul stands before the philosophers, the wise men to declare Christ, and they refer to him as a babbler, one that spoke of a strange God. They said, this is nonsense. What kind of God would allow people to nail him to a cross? What kind of God would allow people to spit upon him? What kind of God would die before our very presence? And so, Paul preached. Jeffrey Wilson described it, not our Jeffrey Wilson, a different one. The unpopularity of a crucified Christ has prompted many to present a message which is more palatable to the believer. But the removal of the offense of the cross always renders the message ineffective. An inoffensive gospel is also an inoperative gospel. Thus, Christianity is wounded most in the house of its own friends. He says, I'm ready to preach the gospel because it's the power of God. I'm not ashamed of this message. I'm not ashamed of the fact that I am preaching to them that this one that came to the earth was rejected, was nailed to the cross. I'm not ashamed to preach to this one that says, I must repent of my sin, that I do not trust in works. I do not trust in sacraments. I simply trust in the faith in the gospel. As long as we preach a message of humanism, Message that lifts up the pride of creation, that lifts Christ up to be the provider of our best life now, then we'll be accepted into culture and move along the course of this life. First of all, the gospel does not change our destination after death, but redirects us against the direction of the world. Most people present the gospel as, hey, do you want to go to heaven when you die? Dumb question, yes. Or do you want to go to hell and burn forever? No. then you need to say this prayer and trust Jesus as your Savior, and you get to go to Heaven. There's no understanding, there's no idea here that what is actually taking place in the Gospel is not a change in my destination, but it's a redirection of my life that will put me in direct opposition to the world. Ephesians 2, verse 2 to 7 explains this very clearly for us. Before salvation we once walked according, following the course of this world, following the prince and power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. This is the world we lived in. among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind." That is the course. That is the evil. That is the God of this world that directed us. But what did the Gospel do? It didn't just change my destiny. It changed my entire direction and my course of life. To use a scientific word, it changed my entire worldview. But God being rich in mercy. Because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved and raised up with him and seated us with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages, he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. Christianity is not compatible with the world. Christianity has a choice, be submissive to the world or conquer the world. But they'll never be equally blended together in the world. What is called a culture war today, a political difference or a philosophical ideology is in fact a battle of good and evil. When he wrote in Ephesians to the church, he says, grace to you and peace from God, our father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age. He delivered us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Paul says, Paul recognizes that the gospel is so powerful that he's coming to preach a message that literally is gonna take men and redirect them to be completely against the culture they live in. He knows the message He's preaching is not accepted by the Greeks. It's foolishness to them. It's nonsense to them that there would be a God that would allow mankind to nail Him to the cross. And He knows the message He preaches to the Jews is just nonsense to them, because the Messiah would never allow that to take place. But to those that have received Christ, those that have believed, we recognize that this is the very power of God that has brought the righteousness of God into our lives. Paul's thesis is that the gospel is not entwined with the culture, but it is the power of God against the world. J. Fescue said in his commentary, Paul's chief point is the power, scope, and nature of the Gospel. What is so special about the Gospel? First, it is the power of God unto salvation. What is the scope of the Gospel? It has been given to all who believe, first to the Jew, then to the Greek. And what is the nature of the Gospel? In the Gospel, God reveals His righteousness. from faith to faith, which is that the righteous shall live not by works, but by faith in the one whom God sent to redeem fallen people from their sins." That is the message. This is what we're going to, in verse 18, begin to unfold until the end of Romans. The very essence, the very power of the Gospel on display. The power of God on display in the Gospel will be presented throughout Paul's letter to the Roman Church. The power that spoke the world into existence. brought down the mightiest of nations, that took twelve ordinary men into the foundation, made them into the foundation of the worldwide church, is the power demonstrated in the gospel. let us not become so caught up, and I think there's a place for it, but I'm concerned that there's people that are getting so wrapped up in that there's a political solution to our problem, and that there's somehow some aspect that if we could just Christianize our government and so forth, that would fix everything. And trust me, I understand that law has to be built on morality, and the only morality you can find is in God's law. And so, I believe that in a but very, very careful because the need today, the thing that Paul is consumed with here is not change in the culture of Rome. His goal, his purpose is to see Rome changed by the power of the Gospel. So, in all those efforts that we'll have, we must make the Gospel the first message that we give. Why? 2 Corinthians explains it so well. In chapter 4, verse 4, in their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers. To keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord. with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who said, let light shine out of darkness, he's referring to creation there, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. In the effort of Satan, the God of this world, the blind minds of unbelievers, let us know that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ is proclaimed but Jesus Christ as Lord. Are we ashamed of the gospel? No, I'm not ashamed of going to heaven when I die, that's not the question, that's not the gospel. Are we ashamed of the gospel? The Gospel states that men are to repent of their sins, turn to God by faith into the Gospel, and receive Jesus Christ as their Savior, to submit to Him as Lord, to follow Jesus Christ. The world wants nothing to do with that message. For them to receive that message will completely change the world. Are we ashamed of the Gospel? The Gospel is not just four points and a prayer. The Gospel is a complete change of life. It's a change of life. It's a change of direction. It's counter-cultural. It rejects the culture. It rejects the God of this world. It rejects the course of this world. It destroys the flesh and is filled with the Spirit. Everything Ephesians 2 lays out that we were before we were saved, the Gospel destroys that. That's the power of the Gospel. That's where we become, we get into the place to be ashamed of it. Are we ashamed of the gospel? Of the gospel that condemns our nation, condemns our politics, condemns our culture? Why would Paul walk away from a life of high society? That's what he had as a Pharisee. Why wouldn't Paul just blend the gospel into the culture a little bit in order to have more opportunity? Because Paul knew the gospel is the power of God, and the power of God never takes a knee to the world. It never submits to the world. John Gill said the reason why he was so ready and willing to preach it, even where he ran the greatest risk of his character and life, was because it was the gospel of Christ. He preached and he was not ashamed of it. Paul says, I'm eager to preach the gospel to you who also are in Rome. Knowing the dangers of preaching the gospel in Rome, knowing what this could mean to him, knowing the message of Christianity, they were actually referred to as atheists because they only believed in one God. That was like atheism. You denied all these Roman gods. They were rejected. Read Acts 17 this afternoon when you go home. He was rejected. Look at his foolishness. This is nonsense. When Paul gets up and claims there's only one God, and that one God sent his son, whom was crucified. What kind of God is that? What kind of God in the Roman mind? What kind of God? They had no place in Rome for weakness in their gods. No place for masculinity that was somehow weakened out. It was a powerful nation. It was a place that was built upon power and prestige. And here Paul's gonna preach and present to them, the Son of God is named Jesus. You're talking about the Jesus that grew up in a family of nobodies and was a carpenter. Mom had him out of wedlock. You mean the Jesus that went around and supposedly to save his people, his own people recognized he was a false God and they even crucified him and he let them do it. That's God? That's salvation? It shouldn't be mocked by the world. But to those of us who have believed, it is the power of God. To take a little kid's song we used to sing, this little light of mine, you know, hide it under a bushel. I'm telling you, the church has so hid the power of the gospel. We have so messed with it just so we can be accepted in our culture. Here's the thing with our culture. They are backing the army of Christ into a corner where you'll have no choice but to deny Christ or be unashamed of the gospel. The culture is leaving no room anymore. They're saying, they recognize our message and what it really means. That's why they mock it. That's why they reject it, because they know what it means. They know that it completely goes against everything they love. And to accept it, they would have to abandon what they love. And they're going to leave no opportunity for us to blend it. Paul says he's under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to the foolish, that he's eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. Why, Paul, why would you so eagerly want to do this? Because he's not ashamed of the gospel. Why is he not ashamed of it? Because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. To the Jew first and also to the Greek. Yeah, but why is it the power of God? Because in the gospel is where God demonstrates the righteousness of God through faith. For it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. We will work on those two verses in more detail next week. And then we'll immediately jump into verse 18. So righteous is for, and in it the righteousness of God is revealed. He says, for I'm not ashamed, for it is the power of God. For in it the righteousness of God is not revealed. But let us not misunderstand something here in verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed. from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth." Are we ashamed of the gospel? Not the, do you want to go to heaven when you die gospel? Because that's kind of self-preserving. You can convince people to preserve themselves. That's not it. The gospel redirects your course of life to follow Christ and reject the world. And the world is making it very clear, they're not gonna let you have both anymore. You will decide, you will state. Do you believe in the power of the gospel? Or do you follow the course of the world? They're leaving no middle ground anymore. His thesis, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God. It's the righteousness of God revealed by faith. Now, let me explain to you in detail why that is. How is it the power of God? Verse 1, 2, chapters 1, 2, and 3, 4 deal with this. It is the power of God. It's by faith. It's my belief. How is it the righteousness of God? The end of chapter three addresses that. Because everyone does come to this understanding that to be before God, you have to be righteous. There's no debate on that one. So how do I achieve that? Is it through sacraments? Is it through works? Is it through a purgatory aspect? Is it through some sort of efforts on my part? And Paul says, no, no, the righteousness of God is not revealed in any of those things. It's revealed in the power of the Gospel. Well, how is that possible? Because only God is powerful enough to take sinful man, take the imputed righteousness of His Son, place it upon sinful man, and take the sins of sinful man and punish it upon His Son. He's the only one that can do that. That is the power of God on display. and he'll unfold that in great detail. Chapter one here, he's gonna condemn all. Chapter two, he's gonna deal specifically with the Jews. The Jews are like, yep, that's right, I agree with chapter one, absolutely. Those Gentiles, those Greeks, absolutely, they're wicked, they're evil, they're disgusting, absolutely. The wrath of God should be upon them, because the Jews were good followers of God, you know. It's the modern Christian of today, yep, get them, God, get them, yep, absolutely. So, Paul takes chapter two and he deals specifically with the Jews, that they also are condemned. And after condemning, then in chapter three, the first part, he then makes the universal statement of condemnation. But he doesn't leave them there. He then begins to unfold how God, who has demonstrated that all are condemned, then turns around and makes them righteous. That is the beautiful power of the gospel on display. Are we ashamed of the gospel? Let's pray. Father, thank you for Paul's thesis here, his purpose on display. Help me to teach through it, but to recognize we're going to spend many months working through it. But a simple question for us today is, are we ashamed of the gospel? It does change our lives. It should. And we should repent when our lives do not line up with the gospel, the gospel that's saved, the gospel that is a power of God in the lives of a lost, dead sinner that awakens them, that opens their eyes to see, their ears to hear. How is it it's foolish to some and it's mocked by others, but how is it that we somehow received it? Because the Holy Spirit convicted us, showed us grace and mercy. Father, may you take your word. Break into the hearts, soften the hearts. Those that are lost, that they would see truth. As people are looking for truth and understanding today, may we not just point into some other self-initiative, self-made power or power of positive thinking. Lord, may we preach the gospel to them before the cults get to them. because it is the power of God on display. May we not be ashamed of the gospel. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.