Book of Romans
11-30-2011 Vol. 6 Part 4
Psalms 51:11-19 NKJV Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise. For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise. Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem. Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, With burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar. Father we praise you, we give you all the glory. Father give us the courage and boldness to proclaim your Good News. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth we pray! Amen!
Before I get started with this lesson I want to clarify something. In the last lesson I mentioned that churches are known for many things, but hardly any, if any, are known by their faith in the community. We all know faith is dead without works, and works is defined as spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all. After a lot of thought and in my daily readings I came across the following scripture, which defines what I was trying to say. I think these verses are pretty self explanatory in stating the Thessalonians were spreading the Gospel to anyone that came along. As a result they were known for their faith. 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10 NKJV 6 And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. 8 For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. 9 For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Romans 1:16-17
Romans 1:16-17 NKJV 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. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: Are you ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ? When you first read that question, your answer is probably, no. Why would I be you ask? I believe in Jesus and what he did for me, so no, I’m not ashamed of Jesus. Then let me ask you another question. When was the last time, if ever have you started a conversation with someone you know, or a total stranger, or someone at work, or out shopping, or at a sporting event, etc. and the topic was about Jesus? What about when you go out to eat at a restaurant, do you give thanks for the food you are about to eat before you start eating? Do you tell people on the phone, or at a check out register, or a bank teller to have a nice day and may God bless you? Even little things like this could stir someone to pick up a Bible or start going back to church and get saved. Ok, now that I have you thinking and you are getting convicted by the Holy Spirit, ask yourself that question again. Am I ashamed of Jesus? If I’m not ashamed of Jesus, then why don’t I do these things if I claim to be a Christian?
What is the definition of ashamed? The one we are talking about here is, to have a feeling of fear or shame which prevents a person from doing something. So what is that fear? Is it the fear of not being accepted by people, or talking about something we don’t really know a lot about and might appear ignorant, or if we talk about Jesus we will be categorized as a weirdo Jesus freak? I can’t answer this question for you. You have to look deep inside and answer this question yourself, but don’t feel like the Lone Ranger, because you’re not. I was the same way at the beginning of this past summer when I would go out on Saturday nights to street witness, but by the time Labor Day rolled around I was comfortable with talking to strangers about the Gospel. Actually it was very rewarding and you know what, most people will talk about Jesus, in fact, I found a lot of people had a lot of questions about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
What about the apostles/disciples of Jesus? Were they ashamed of Jesus? We know Paul wasn’t because he was imprisoned in Philippi, chased out of Thessalonica, smuggled out if Damascus and Berea, laughed at in Athens, considered a fool in Corinth, declared a blasphemer and lawbreaker in Jerusalem, stoned and left for dead at Lystra, etc., but kept right on going like the Eveready Rabbit and was anxious to get to Rome and on to Spain. If you want to model yourself after someone, I suggest you chose Paul.
What about Peter? Was he ashamed of Jesus when he denied Him three times. What about Timothy? Paul told Timothy this; 2 Timothy 1:7-8 NKJV For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God. When Paul was in chains other disciples turned away from Paul in fear, but Onesiphorus didn’t. 2 Timothy 1:15-17 NKJV This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. 16 The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain; 17 but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me. You see, being ashamed of Jesus goes back from now to when Jesus walked the earth. It is our human flesh that gets in the way.
for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek: Could another reason why the Gospel isn’t talked about be the convicting words of Jesus about sin and how sinful we are? Jesus words will cut you to the bone. We like to think about ourselves as being good. We compare ourselves to other people to justify our conduct, actions, and language, but God judges us by his Commandments. That is why we are like filthy rags in God’s eyes. Isaiah 64:6 NLT We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. A church that preaches the wrath of God has few members compared to a church that preaches the New Age philosophy. If only the feel good topics are preached, people will believe it is ok to keep living in sin and not come to Jesus. They will think it is ok to have out of wedlock sex, couples living together, using God’s name in vain, pornography, stealing, lying, gossiping, etc. The only thing that comes out of the, “if it feels good do it,” mentality is eternal Hell. Proclaiming the Gospel will put conviction on a person’s lifestyle, making it difficult to proclaiming, therefore they don’t proclaim it. The Gospel is the power of God. After all, who wants to hear they are living in sin if they haven’t given their life to Jesus.
But the Gospel is the Good News, it is by the power of God that salvation for all is possible, if they believe. Gospel is translated from the Greek word “euangelion”, which is made up of “angelia”, meaning message, and the Greek prefix “eu” means well or good. So you see, Gospel means “good message” and it is good news. Here are several other reasons why we need to proclaim the Gospel:
1. It is the proclamation of good news; Jesus died for our sins, He was buried, He rose on the third day, and is now seated at the right hand of God Almighty so that whosoever shall believe will have eternal life. 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4 |
2. It is the explanation of salvation; Salvation is the deliverance of man from the consequences of the fall and of sin. To be saved means to be set free from the greatest evil and placed in possession of the greatest good. |
3. It is the declaration of God’s purpose; Salvation via the Gospel is God’s purpose for lost man. Romans 8:3 NKJV For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, When you share the Gospel with an unsaved person, you bring that person one step closer to realizing why God created them. |
4. It is the demonstration of God’s Power; The Gospel is not about the power of God, it is the power of God. Romans 1:16 The Power of God, the Gospel, is foolishness to man. 1 Corinthians 1:21 NLT Since God in His wisdom saw to it that the world would never know Him through human wisdom, He has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. God’s resurrection power is toward believers, see Ephesians 1:19, 20. We were created by his power, see Ephesians 2:10. By the power of God’s saving grace we are a work in progress toward holiness, see Philippians 1:6. |
5. It is for all mankind; Whosoever believes, see John 3:16; Whosoever calls, see Joel 2:32 and Acts 2:21; Whosoever thirsts, see Revelation 22:17. |
6. It is the Revelation of God’s plan; Only God could invent the plan of salvation, because man would invent something that would make them self-righteous by their works or something that would excuse their behavior so they can commit the evil they desire. Only God with a prefect heart of love could have chosen to redeem man the way he did. |
7. It is what Jesus stands for, Righteousness; We are made in his likeness, by God and for God. Jesus is virtue, morality, justice, decency, honesty, loving, forgiving, humble, etc. Through Jesus the righteousness of God is revealed. Jesus is the only way, truth, and life. |
8. It is the affirmation of Faith; When we share the gospel, it is the love of Jesus being portrayed through us by Him. It is His love for us, that is in us, that we want to share His Gospel out of our love and obedience to Him. |
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.": How is God’s righteousness revealed to non-believers? Do they one day wake up and presto they have the Gospel all figured out? Do they hear about it from a believer? Do they pick up the Bible and start reading, and the Good News is revealed to them by the Holy Spirit? Is it by going to church and Bible studies? The answer is yes to all the above and it might take all of the above to bring a non-believer to that saving Faith. Habakkuk figured out that it was by faith we are saved. Habakkuk 2:4 NKJV "Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith. You see it takes the faith of a believer to share the Gospel and it also take the faith of the recipient to come to Jesus. The non-believer has to have faith in what the believer is witnessing and testifying to in order to place his faith in what Jesus did on the Cross for us. Without Faith, we are lost.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes,
Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Unless you are Born Again, you cannot enter into Heaven, the Kingdom of God."
Bill
Last Week’s Trivia: Is it possible that stones and rocks can talk??????
Answer: Luke 19:37-40 NLT When He reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of His followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen. 38 "Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the LORD! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!" 39 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, "Teacher, rebuke Your followers for saying things like that!" 40 He replied, "If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!"
This week’s Trivia: Did Abraham find favor with God through obedience?
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