| Not Ashamed, Romans 1:16 |
Pastor Steve Holt
|
Mountain Springs Church
|
| Download Notes |
Listen to Sermon --> |
|
| 11/04/2007 |
Not Ashamed
Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
- The worst thing about good people is that they are often such cowards.
- All of us love to “fit in,” not make waves.
- The world is constantly looking for men and women of conviction that are not ashamed of all that is noble and true.
- Paul, more than anyone, had reason to be fearful and passive. He was a man beaten for his faith, hounded and hunted like a criminal, who lost his family, and who was hated by the people who once loved him.
- But Paul says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.
- There is, in the heart of all people of the race of Adam, a tendency to be intimidated and easily swayed.
- Ex. Even Peter, the bold and assertive leader of the 12 disciples could not handle the pressure and was ashamed of his Teacher.
- Before a young servant girl in a circle of darkness, Peter was ashamed of Jesus and denied he knew Jesus three times.
- Before a crowd of onlookers, who carried no swords or authority, Peter denied his Friend and Savior.
- When Jesus looked upon Peter after his denial, the Spirit of God brought true repentance to the heart of the erring disciple, and Peter went out and wept.
- Peter was ashamed of his shame!
- But our passage says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.
- And look at the transformation of Peter from being a coward to being a bold witness.
- Let us recognize, it is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can be transformed!
- Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he was transformed from being a fearful, ashamed, coward to being a fearless, bold, and winsome witness of the Gospel.
We have a group of young adults in our fellowship who are not ashamed of the gospel, and I have asked them to come up today and share how God has used them to lead others to Christ:
Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
- Do we give a moderate warning when our neighbor’s house is on fire?
- Do we moderately seek to rescue our child when she is drowning in a river?
- Do we moderately snatch our wife from a gang who would do her harm?
- It is our duty to challenge world systems with the righteousness and boldness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
- Paul was not ashamed of the gospel as he moved ever closer to Rome.
- Rome was a city of 1 million slaves, but Paul did not center his message against slavery.
- It was a city of lust and prostitution, but he did not center his message on moral reform.
- It was a city of economic injustice, but his message was not centered on injustice.
- No. Paul’s message was clear: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.
- It was the gospel that transformed Rome one person at a time!
Let’s bring up some more of our “unashamed” young people to share:
Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
- Power, in the Oxford English Dictionary has 18 major definitions.
- The Greek language has 8 different words, all translated by one English word, “power.”
- For example, there is the word kratos, which means to rule or have dominion.
- There is also exousia, which means power of authority; a permit.
- But, here in our text we have the word dunamis, the word that scientists have adopted in our terms as dynamo, dynamite and dynamic.
- That is the power of the gospel!
- Paul, a poor scholar, with no army, a bound prisoner, a small following, and not a cent to his name, believed that he possessed the mightiest power in the world, the gospel.
- The notion of power to the Romans was a sword and an iron yoke.
- But Paul possessed the power of an idea! Someone has said that “Thought is more powerful than all visible forces.” And that statement is true.
- The gospel is more powerful than all other ideas! This is why the gospel is banned in countries. That is why there are forces banning it from our public schools and increasingly from the public square, because people know…
Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
- Paul shares with us the basic gospel:
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you--unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
- The gospel has three central facts that unleash God’s power:
- That the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins
- That He was buried
- That He rose again from the dead
- Don’t talk about the peripheral unless it is a way to engage someone toward these three central issues.
- The ethical teachings of Jesus are important, but that is not where the power comes from.
- The moral instructions of Jesus are helpful, but that is not power.
- The gospel of Jesus is that He died for our sins, that He was buried, and that He rose again from the dead. This is the power of God for salvation!
God can take the most hopeless and hapless person and mightily transform his or her life.
- Ex. Greg was a boy with 5 fathers, full of anger and resentment. He heard the gospel and he believed. Today, Greg Laurie is the pastor of the mega huge Riverside Harvest Church and is being used around the nation with the Harvest Crusades.
Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
- There is power when we believe! We must put our faith in Christ.
- Salvation power begins when the sinner recognizes the fact that he is less perfect than God and, therefore, under condemnation.
- Ex. It is easy when we have good health, when we are making good money, and we are relatively happy to think we are getting along well in our progress with the world. But the question is: how are we doing in our progress toward God?
- Ex. A man might be an Olympic swimmer, but if he jumps into the Pacific ocean to swim to Hawaii, his Olympic prowess won’t matter much, will it? He might get further than you and I because of his training, but he would still fall well short of the goal.
- God commands all people, whether really good or really bad, to repent.
- Repentance is not an emotional state of being sorry for our sins; it is a Greek military expression that means “right about face.”
- You have been facing and depending on yourself, while Christ has been behind you.
- You must despise and reject your own self righteousness for salvation, and realize that God has done all the work through the Savior and that He requires you to put your trust in Him
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
- Ex. I will never forget that once I shared the gospel with a young man, and he just would not repent. I began to earnestly pray for him. I called for prayer from others. One day while he was riding his bike home from college, a power knocked him off his bike into the mud! He got up out of the mud and believed! From that day forward his life was changed.
· God can do that for you today!
· You can be saved from sin’s penalty: hell.
· You can be saved from sin’s power: the reign of sin.
· You can be saved from sin’s presence: the misery of your sin.
· Sin is a tough taskmaster; it will exact all of your mind, body and soul.
· Come to Jesus and give him your life today! Faith is simply acting upon the Word of God!
This sermon was produced at Mountain Springs Church in Colorado Springs, with Senior Pastor Steve Holt. www.mountainsprings.org
|
Email This Page