The Message That Must Be Heard

Transcript

GRM 1152
03/27/2016
The Message That Must Be Heard
Romans 1-4; Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

As we are often reminded, the events that we celebrate around this week are the most important events that have ever happened in history or ever will happen throughout all eternity. This is the focal point of God's work in His creation. This is the foundation for all He will do for us for all eternity. It is the most important issue for you to face in your life that you will ever have to deal with. Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection have everything to do with your eternity. This is so important that Jesus Himself, as He concluded His earthly ministry said the responsibility of His followers was to go and tell people what He has done. We sometimes refer to this as the Great Commission. It is recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the beginning of the book of Acts. And everything subsequent is a response to that.

Turn in your Bibles to Luke 24. It's recorded, as I said, in the other gospels as well as Acts, sometimes a little fuller, sometimes more briefly. But the main point is still the same. Jesus is meeting with His disciples after His resurrection from the dead. And He opens their eyes to understand that the Old Testament Scriptures had prophesied that the Son of Man, the Messiah of Israel, the Son of God would come and suffer and die and be raised from the dead. Here is what He says in Luke 24:45. “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, thus it is written that the Christ,” the Messiah, the Anointed One, “would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day.” Peter picks up on that and on the day of Pentecost in the book of Acts he will take the listeners' attention back to the Old Testament and show them what Christ had just made clear to him, that the Old Testament Scriptures prophesied that the Messiah of Israel would suffer and die to pay the penalty for sin. He would be raised from the dead, now note this, “and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

You know that was a startling statement to the Jews, even the apostles listening to it didn't fully understand it. To say that the work that Christ did in dying on the cross and His subsequent resurrection would be a message that was to be proclaimed to all the nations beginning at Jerusalem was something totally foreign to the Jews. For the Jews, they thought that God is only concerned about us and our nation. That was the focal point of what God was doing in the world up to this point. You know in the Old Testament there was no evangelism program, there was no missions program. Even during Jesus' earthly life, remember when the Canaanite woman came to talk to Him, a non-Jewish woman? He says I can't give the bread to the dogs. He made clear, I have only come to the house of Israel. But all that changes as Israel has rejected their Messiah. Now this message of forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed worldwide. And do you know what? Two thousand years later here we sit to hear the message that Jesus Christ has died for sin, is raised from the dead. And this audience and multitudes of millions of people around the world are hearing what God said must be proclaimed to them. There is forgiveness of sins provided by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Come over to Acts 1, and in the first chapter of the book of Acts Jesus is meeting with Peter and the other disciples, and He gives them a final word before He ascends to heaven. And He tells them in verse 8, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses.” You'll go and represent Me, testify what I have done. You'll do it in Jerusalem, you'll do it in Judea, which was the tribe, the area in which Jerusalem is located. You'll reach out beyond that to Samaria. The Samaritans were mixed blood, Jews who had intermarried with other nations. But it won't stop there. You'll go even to “the remotest parts of the earth” with the message of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Think about it. They had no concept of the part of the earth we are living in, but this message of Jesus Christ has permeated to here. Here we are so far away from the physical land of Israel where Jesus was when He spoke these words. And this message of His death and resurrection has come all the way to us. Two thousand years later nothing has changed, this is still the message that must be heard.

Keep going past the book of Acts to the book of Romans. We have heard the message proclaimed so clearly in song this morning, I just want to repeat it, looking at the opening chapter of the book of Romans. In the opening chapter of the book of Romans the Apostle Paul summarizes what is called the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Gospel. And he begins this letter to the Romans, a Gentile church far removed outside of the land of Israel. But the Gospel has been carried here. Paul said he was “a slave of Jesus Christ, called as an apostle, set apart for the Gospel of God.” He was called and commissioned by God to do one prime thing—take this message of the death and resurrection of Christ to Gentile parts of the world. The message he had to proclaim was the same one that was found in the Old Testament, like Jesus told His disciples and we read in Luke 24. It was promised beforehand in the Old Testament Scriptures, it concerns His Son who was born a descendant of David according to the flesh. When He was born at Bethlehem He was in the line of David, a descendant of David. That was His physical heritage, He was a true man, a true human being. His favorite name for Himself during His earthly ministry was Son of Man because He became a man when He was born at Bethlehem.

Verse 4 said He was “declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.” What the resurrection of Jesus Christ says is this is not just One who is a man, He is much more than just a human man. He is the Son of God, fully God, fully man, the God/Man. This is the message that we are proclaiming, that this One born at Bethlehem is a descendant of David who died on the cross. His resurrection from the dead declares Him to be more than just a man.

So Paul goes on down talking about the ministry he has to carry the Gospel to other places. Verse 14, “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians.” The Greeks, the more civilized civilization; the barbarians, the uncouth, the uncivilized, the wise, the foolish. “For I am eager to preach the Gospel also to you in Rome.” They had heard it from others, Paul wants to come and declare it to that capital city of the world. “I am not ashamed of the Gospel,” now note this, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel,” the good news concerning Jesus Christ; who He is—Son of man, Son of God; what He has done—died on the cross, been raised from the dead. “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” There can be no more important statement. This message of Jesus Christ is God's power for salvation. God's power will not save you in any other way than your hearing the message of Jesus Christ, and note, “it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,” not everyone who hears. Some of you have heard this message many times and you have never believed it. Hearing it is not enough for the power of God to work in your life in a supernatural way. It's only when you hear that message and recognize I am a sinner for whom Christ died, unworthy, guilty. But I'm going to place my faith in Him and His death for me.

For in it, in this Gospel message the righteousness of God is revealed. What is made known here is how a sinful person can be declared righteous by a holy God. That's the amazing supernatural thing that must take place. And Paul immediately launches in, in verse 18 to say, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” You'll note verse 17 says “the righteousness of God is revealed.” Verse 18 says “the wrath of God is revealed.” Both God's righteousness and God's wrath are revealed in the good news concerning Jesus Christ. Why do you think Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross? Because of the wrath of God. Why were we under the wrath of God? Because we are unrighteous sinners, ungodly. Now people have to be convinced of that, and that's what Paul does for the next two chapters. He is going to talk about the pagan religious and the very Jewish religious and all of them fail to obtain righteousness before God.

The rest of Romans 1 down through verse 32 talks about characteristic sins of the world. God revealed Himself in creation, but men don't turn and recognize there is a solemn awesome God to whom I am accountable and responsible and I must bow in obedience before Him. They reject Him. They create their own religious systems, he goes on to say, their own worship systems. They place their faith in what they have created, they turn to practice all kinds of sinful deeds, immorality of all kinds, even to the extent of denying what the Creator has done in making man as male and female, denying the truth of the distinction God has made. Their sins don't stop there, they go to all kinds of areas. He gives some examples of their depraved mind. Down in verse 29 and following, “They are filled with unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, envy, murder, strife, deceit. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, arrogant, disobedient to parents.” And you'll note there is a mixture here. We say is gossiping on the same level as murder? Well from God's perspective these are all just manifestations of people who are in rebellion against Him. It's not the particular sin, because we look at it and say, I may have gossiped but I never murdered anyone. But sin is a manifestation of a rebellion, a rejection of God and His authority in a life.

So he concludes with verse 32, “Although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same but give hearty approval to those who practice them.” And we see that going on in the world today. We even pass laws to help promote sinful activity because we refuse to acknowledge there is a God who has supreme authority over His creation.

Then we come to the very religious people. The Jews were the most religious of the religious, they had the Old Testament Scriptures, the Law God gave to Moses for Israel, the Ten Commandments, the over 600 commandments that are contained in the Law, instructions regarding worship and sacrifice. What Paul is going to show, they are just as lost as everyone else. Just like if you talk to someone who comes out of a Protestant church, a Catholic church or another religious group today and they say yes, we were there, it's Easter, resurrection of Christ. They have information but that's as far as it goes.

Paul began this chapter by saying you understand, you recognize right and wrong. You know sin has corrupted us but it has not annihilated the image of God in us. We have been created in the image of God. Even fallen people without religious convictions recognize certain things are wrong, certain things are right. And in God's common grace there are remnants of His image in us. There is a recognition of right and wrong, and we are ready to exercise judgment for those who do sins that we see as serious. We still say murder is something that is wrong, sinful, ought to be punished. That kind of recognition Paul says here is an indication that we have an awareness of a God of judgment.

So he said verse 4, “Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubborn and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” Serious matter. People think nothing has happened, the world just goes on and grinds on. It is storing up wrath, people are storing up wrath. You cannot avoid the living God, you cannot avoid Jesus Christ, His Son who came to deal with the issue of sin.

So he goes on to tell these very religious Jews who had their confidence and faith in their religion. Verse 11, “There is no partiality with God.” Verse 16, there will come a day when the Gospel is preached, indicates “God will judge the secrets of men through Jesus Christ.” Awesome truths. The Jews thought they were Jews, we're very meticulous about obeying the Law, following the Law, doing the sacrifices. God never said you could be saved by doing that. There are people confused today. You talk about it and they say I go to this church, I practice these things. Well God never said you could be saved by doing that. Where did we get that idea? You think you can come to this church and because you come to this church you are saved, I have important news for you. You may have been baptized in this baptistry up here, all you did was get wet in warm water. You can't wash away the sin of your heart with physical baptism.\

I was baptized as a baby, my parents didn't know any better. What should you do with a baby? Baptize them. Why? I guess that's what God wants you to do. All it did was make me cry, I guess, I don't remember.

All these things that people put their faith in. The Jews put their faith in their religion. Their faith had to be in the God who revealed Himself. That's what he says in verses 28-29. Being a Jew outwardly, a physical Jew, is not enough. You must be one who has had his heart changed and cleansed and made new.

So he comes down to the conclusion of all this. And you ought to note verse 4, “Let God be found true though every man be found a liar. As it is written,” and he quotes from the Old Testament Scriptures. Doesn't matter how you were raised, doesn't matter what your parents taught you or didn't teach you, doesn't matter what someone else told you. God is true. Anything told you that is contrary to what God has said is a lie. Doesn't matter if you get 99.9% of the people to agree with you, you are still believing a lie.

So he goes on, verse 9, “Are we Jews better than those Gentiles? Not at all, we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks, all are under sin. There is none righteous, not even one, none who understands, none who seeks God. Everybody turns aside, there is none that does good.” I think I'm a pretty good person. See, you are in rebellion against God. God says you are not. Who is right, you or God? Well, I don't think I would deserve to be the object of God's wrath. There is another statement of rebellion. God says you are. That’s why He says let every many be found a liar, but God is true. Understand what God says is it. How sad, people know facts about Jesus Christ—He died on the cross, He was raised from the dead. Most Protestants and Catholics can talk about that and they have their confidence in what their church tells them will save them. We have to go to the Bible and find out what God says. He says no religious activity will save you. That's what he has made the conclusion. He says under the direction of God, what he has said is “so that every mouth may be closed,” the end of verse 19, “and all the world may become accountable before God.” You note that. We are all guilty. So we will stand before God, our mouths will be closed. We will have no argument, we'll have no defense, we will have been demonstrated guilty.

So you pick up with verse 21, “Now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested.” In saying this, he’s saying all this is not through trying to obey certain religious rituals or forms. The righteousness of God has been revealed. Back in Romans 1:18 we were told “the wrath of God is revealed,” and in Romans 1:17, “the righteousness of God is revealed.” Now we are in Romans 3:21, “the righteousness of God has been revealed,” and it is apart from some kind of religious activity. If you can't be saved by following the requirements of the Law, how could you be saved? Well you never could be saved by keeping the Law. The righteousness of God is revealed, it has been manifested, it has been made known. It's the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, and it's for all those who will believe. The simplicity of it blows right by people. They close their minds. You try to talk about it, I have my church, I have my way of believing. And you'll note here, it is not faith that saves you. We talk about people of faith, they'll say you have your faith and I have my faith. I believe what my church teaches, I believe what my priest teaches. I believe what my pastor teaches. Do you know what we need to hear? I believe what God teaches. They are not necessarily the same thing. As soon as we move away from the authority of the Word we subject ourselves to the authority of man. That is a rebellion against God. The righteousness of God, the righteousness which God provides is through faith in Jesus Christ and His work of death and resurrection.

It's for “all who believe,” there is no distinction for “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We are 'justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Jesus Christ whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.” Do you know what is going to happen here? This afternoon go home, take time if you haven't done it and start with verse 22 and mark the word faith or believe every time it appears in the rest of Romans 3, all of Romans 4 down to the first two verses of Romans 5. In Greek believe and faith are basically the same word, a verb form and a noun form but they are the same basic word. We translate them with two words, we don't see the connection necessarily. They are the same basic Greek word with different endings. You have to believe, you have to have faith. We all have sinned, we fall short of the glory of God. Doesn't matter if I am better than you in the sense I don't commit the same terrible sins as someone else. I'm just as sinful, just as guilty, just as lost.

We are justified as a gift by His grace. A gift is something you don't earn. I mean, if you work hard for 45 hours of the week and they give you your paycheck and they say here is your gift. That's not my gift, I earned that, I worked for that. But if you stayed home and slept all week and they came and gave you a nice pile of cash and said here is a gift, that's a gift. Do you know what grace is? It is something not deserved. How many times does God say you can't earn this, you can't deserve it. “It is given as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God publicly displayed as a propitiation.” We have three great words. Remember when you started school and you had to learn a new word and its meaning? Well, welcome to Easter Sunday. Three words and test each other after you have had time to work on it. There are three words here, I want to just note—justified in verse 24, redemption in verse 24 and propitiation.

Justified, that just means declared righteous. Again it's the same word translated righteousness, basically they are the same Greek word with a different ending, justified. You could translate it declared righteous, the word justified. So that's what being justified, being declared righteous. We who because of our sin were under the wrath of God destined for condemnation now can be declared righteous by God. Through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Redemption means to set someone free by paying the price. That's what Jesus Christ was doing on the cross. He was paying the penalty for our sin which is death so that we might be set free from the penalty and power of sin. Verse 25, “whom God displayed as a propitiation.” That word means to turn away the wrath from someone. We were the objects of God's wrath. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven we saw in Romans 1. In Romans 2 you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath. But Jesus Christ in His death on the cross did what? He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. He turned away God's wrath from us.

But do you know how that becomes my benefit? How that gets credited to my account? By faith. God did this, verse 26, “to demonstrate His righteousness” at the present time so He would be just. Some people think God sees I'm a good person with good intentions, I've tried to keep the Ten Commandments, I've gone to church, I've been a good parent, a good worker, a good (fill in the blank). What would it be like? I murder six people and I stand before the judge and he says, Gil, that's only a small segment of your life. For most of your life you have been good worker, good this, good that. It was only over a 3-day period you killed six people, we'll just say that's okay. You'd say that's a terrible miscarriage of justice, that's not just. People have the idea you are going to stand before God and God is going to be that grandfatherly figure with a mustache and beard and white hair and say it's okay, like we grandparents get to do. When you are a parent you have to discipline your kid, when you are a grandparent you say that's not so bad, go ahead. But that's not the way God is, He's not that grandfather in the sky. He is a God of wrath. But He has provided a way that He can be just and still declare us just, righteous. He has provided it in Jesus Christ.

The rest of Romans 4 talks about God's faith and you know how it concludes over in Romans 4:24. All that was written about faith and Abraham's faith and being justified by faith was written “for our sake, to whom it will be credited as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” Christ was delivered over to death for our transgressions, He was raised because He had completed what was necessary for us to be declared righteous by God.

So Romans 5 can begin, “Therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” That's the message of Easter, that's the message of the death and resurrection of Christ.

We have to conclude with John 3, the most familiar verse in all the Bible. John 3:16, many of you could quote it. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,” now note this, “in order that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Verse 18, “He who believes in Him is not judged.” You are not under God's judging wrath anymore. “He who does not believe has been judged already.” People think I'll take my chances. You are a fool, the verdict has already been rendered, you are guilty and on your way to hell. You are judged already, that's what the Scripture said; we read a portion of it. You are not taking a risk, you are a fool. The game is over, the judgment has been rendered—guilty. The only escape is believing in Christ. You are judged because you haven't believed in Christ. You see we are already guilty, we are already condemned; we are already under God's wrath. But He provided His Son so we could be delivered, so my account as a sinner stamped “Paid in Full,” I declare you righteous.

Look at verse 36, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life, he who does not obey the Son will not see life but the wrath of God abides on him,” remains on him. That's it. How sad to come and celebrate the resurrection of Christ and sit here as a condemned sinner who doesn't believe. God says here is your pardon, paid in full, complete. You say I have my own religion, thank you. No, you don't understand, there is no other way. I'll take my chances. You don't understand, the verdict has already been declared, your only hope of escaping is to accept what God has done by believing in His provision, Jesus Christ. The beautiful thing is it's free. If I could tell you well, if you'll commit to give $1000 a month for the next ten years to this church and my salary, you can be forgiven. You say that's a bargain, I'm wealthy enough to do that. It would be a lie. Realize there is no other way. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.” That's what God says. The beautiful thing is we don't need any other way. We just keep fighting against God's way. We think if we ignore it, it will go away. God has provided the only way, but it's a way for everyone who will come. Jesus said “come unto Me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” Some choose to persist in their own way. This is a day of salvation 2,000 years after Jesus Christ paid the penalty for your sin. His purpose and plan still continues that you would come and hear this message today from His Word to tell you 2,000 years ago Jesus Christ paid your penalty and this day you could turn from your sin, place your faith in Him and experience the joy of forgiveness of sins.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your grace. How great is Your love that You should send Your Son to die for those who are undeserving and unworthy. We were justly under Your wrath, we deserve to be condemned. We thought we were okay, that was just a manifestation of our rebellion. But Your love sent Your Son to die for us while we were lost in our sin. And then You offer at no cost to us but at great cost to Yourself forgiveness and cleansing and new life. I pray for any who are here today, maybe they attend this church regularly, maybe they are visiting. You know our hearts as we are gathered before You. Any who have not placed their faith in You, may this be a day of salvation for them. For those of us who have, may our hearts continually be filled with gratitude to You for the greatness of Your love and the provision of Your Son, in whose name we pray. Amen.