INTRODUCTION

Romans 1:16-21

• 16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
• 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
• 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
• 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
• 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
• 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

What do we learn about the Gospel, about Salvation, about the Human Heart and Mind, and about the Nature of God from these verses?

Paul's introductory remarks are now over. He has introduced himself to the Roman Christians. They know who he is. They know that he is 100% sold out to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They know that his motives are not self-serving. Now Paul launches into an in-depth explanation of the Gospel that he will continue all the way to the end of Romans chapter eleven. (Romans chapters 12-16 are about Christian living.)

An Outline of Romans 1:16-21

I. Paul's attitude of boldness about the Gospel.

II. Only the Gospel is the Power of God for salvation.
In the Gospel we get God's plan of righteousness, not Man's plan for righteousness.
God's plan is salvation through FAITH, not works.

III. Salvation is for both Jew and Gentile. Chronologically, the Jews got the Gospel first. Then the Gentiles.

IV. God is both a God of mercy and wrath.

V. God's wrath is against people who are...
Godless
Wicked
Truth Suppressors

VI. The Results of Suppressing the Truth about God...
They have no excuses to present on judgment day.
Their thinking is futile.
Their hearts are dark.

Now, let's fill in the outline...

I. Paul's attitude of boldness about the Gospel.

"I am not ashamed of the Gospel."

It is very natural for Christians to be ashamed of the Gospel for two reasons: 1) People who are NOT Christians hate the Gospel, and they hate people who tell them the Gospel (US); and 2) We want everyone to like us (at least I do!)

Have you seen what ridicule used to be heaped on Jerry Falwell, when he would appear on the Phil Donahue Show, ten years ago? Have you seen the ridicule heaped on John MacArthur NOW, when he appears on the Larry King Show? Have you seen the ridicule heaped on real Christians on the Oprah show? We find it difficult to be unpopular, and to be ridiculed. (But what did Jesus endure for us? And how much do we love Him?)

About five years ago, Rush Limbaugh's brother David wrote a book (Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity) about how Christianity is under attack in the United States: He said:

"I believe I make a compelling case in my book that various groups are working to scrub away Christianity from the public square and to reduce religious liberty for Christians....I decided to write about this subject when I continued to see stories in the newspapers almost every other day reporting incidents of discrimination against and mistreatment of Christians. I concluded that the pervasiveness of the assaults was evidence of a systematic attack on Christianity...

"The attack against Christians is occurring in many areas, including public education, the universities, the public square, government property and institutions, the mainstream media, Hollywood, the courts, and even the private sector and in our churches...The overwhelming majority of discrimination in our culture is targeted at Christians and Christianity. The most likely reason is that ... its absolute standards of right and wrong interfere with the advancement of the radical secularist agenda, the homosexual lobby, the feminist movement, and other politically correct nostrums...

"The anti-Christian influence is clearly seen in the controversy over Mel Gibson's Passion. How ironic that when a man tries to stay true to the Biblical and sacred texts in relating the culminating events in the life of the most important man to have ever lived, he is castigated as an anti-Semite and his breathtaking film has difficulty finding a Hollywood producer. Yet when the culture produces plays that blasphemously depict Christ as a homosexual (Corpus Christi), or movies that show him as a sinner (The Last Temptation of Christ), or art that dips the crucifix into a vat of urine or spreads with cow dung images of the Virgin Mary, they are celebrated by the elites. The secularists utter not a word in protest of the offensive nature of these works, nor of the state's endorsement of their anti-Christian themes...

"References to Christianity and to America's Christian heritage have been deliberately excised from most public school textbooks...The Christian influence on our culture is completely ignored...Christian freedom and speech are under assault. In the name of promoting freedom of religion through a strict enforcement of "separation of church and state" the schools are suppressing the free exercise rights of students. Voluntary student Christian religious expression is suppressed. ..

"Unfortunately, many Christians do not seem to be fully aware that they are under attack, — the sheer number and variety of the attacks constitutes evidence of a systematic and comprehensive, if not overtly conspiratorial, assault on Christianity and Christian freedom...If we abandon our absolute standards of right and wrong ... in the interest of modern day notions of tolerance and diversity, we'll remove the foundation upon which our liberties are built. Maybe not immediately, but within a few generations or so, our liberties will eventually implode. As that time approaches, it will be too late for alarmism. So let's get into the fight now, while there is still time."

BUT: We want everyone to like us. We don't want to be singled out for ridicule or persecution. The Apostle Peter is the perfect example, because after Jesus was arrested, Peter (out of fear) denied Christ three times.

Jesus spoke to us about not being ashamed in Mark 8:35-38...

• 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
• 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
• 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
• 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels."

And Paul urged Timothy to never be ashamed of Jesus in 2 Timothy 1:7-9...

• 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
• 8 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God,
• 9 who has saved us and called us to a holy life.

II. Only the Gospel is the Power of God for salvation.
In the Gospel we get God's plan of righteousness, not Man's plan for righteousness.
God's plan is salvation through FAITH, not works.

Paul was determined to never be ashamed of Jesus and His Gospel because Paul understood that only Jesus' Gospel is the Power of God for salvation. As we sing in the old Gospel hymn:

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus; What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh! precious is the flow That makes me white as snow; No other fount I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Buddhism cannot wash away my sin. Judaism cannot wash away my sin. Hinduism, Islam, Bahai, whatever religion you name, they cannot wash away sin. Not only that, but "Churchianity" cannot wash away your sin. Baptism, or taking communion, or doing good deeds, or whatever. Nothing can wash away sin but the blood of Jesus. All these man-made religions, or reliance on our good deeds, are powerless. But the Gospel is the power of God for salvation.

God's plan: Jesus died for our sins. By the grace of God we repent. By the grace of God we believe in Jesus Christ. In His mercy and grace God saves us. It is all by His power, and not by ours. That's God's plan of salvation. It's the only plan that works, so Paul is not ashamed of it. It is the power of God.

III. Salvation is for both Jew and Gentile. Chronologically, the Jews got the Gospel first. Then the Gentiles.

When Jesus came to earth, He came as a little Jewish baby. His mom was Jewish. His step-father Joseph was Jewish. He grew up in a Jewish community. He worshipped and studied the Torah in a Jewish synagogue. When He began His ministry He went to the Jews, not the Gentiles. In John 4:22 Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well...

"You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews."

His conversation with the Syro-Phoenician woman who sought healing for her daughter (Matt 15:21-28)...

• 21 ¶ Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
• 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."
• 23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."
• 24 He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
• 25 The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.
• 26 He replied, "It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs."
• 27 "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table."
• 28 Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

Jesus was Jewish. His chosen Apostles were all Jewish. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached the Gospel in Jerusalem to a great crowd of Jews who had come to celebrate the Holy Days. 5000 Jews because Christians. Paul the Apostle was Jewish, but God chose him and sent him to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. So, the Gospel was for the Jews first, but then for the Gentiles. The Jews as a whole rejected the Messiah, and so Paul was sent to the Gentiles. See John 1:11-13...

• 11 He came to that which was his own (the Jews), but his own did not receive him.
• 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
• 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

IV. God is both a God of mercy and wrath.

Our generation is unable to conceive that God might ever be a God of wrath. That is an old-fashioned, out-of-date, repugnant, intolerant view point of a former generation of hell-fire and brimstone holy rollers.

On January 15, 2009, "Father Stephen," an Orthodox Church Priest expressed his view in his web blog:

"For various reasons, some people are determined to make the economy of salvation to be linked with the Wrath of God. If you do not repent, then God will do thus and such-- I have always considered this representation of the gospel to be coercive and contrary to the love of God...It is essential in our witness to the God Who Is, to always relate the fact that He is a loving God, not willing that any should perish. He is not against us but for us. This is utterly essential to the correct proclamation of the Gospel. Those who insist on exalting His wrath as a threat, inevitably misportray God...Theories of the atonement which involve the assuaging of the wrath of God are not worthy of the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I can say it no plainer. Those who persist in such theological accounts do not know --what Spirit they are of--... No matter the chain of verses and the rational explanations attached. (We must) turn away from such portrayals...I also beg other Christians to be done with their imagery of the wrathful God."

But Father Stephen's view (even though it is the most popular view in America today) is wrong and goes against Scripture. I think it takes a lot of nerve for him to write that the idea of the wrath of God is wrong NO MATTER THE CHAIN OF VERSES, which speak of God's wrath!

What does the New Testament say about God's wrath? Here's a chain of verses that Father Stephen won't appreciate!

• Lu 3:7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptised by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
• Joh 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him."
• Ro 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
• Ro 2:5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
• Ro 5:9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
• Eph 5:6 Let no-one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.
• 1Th 1:10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
• 1Th 2:16 in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.
• Re 6:16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
• Re 19:15 Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron sceptre." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.
• 1Th 5:9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is both a God of wrath and a God of mercy. He WILL express His wrath toward unrepentant sinners. But He delights in showing mercy toward all who will receive His Son.

V. God's wrath is against people who are...
Godless
Wicked
Truth Suppressors

"Godless" would describe atheists, and agnostics, and people who say they believe in God but don't really. I wonder how many people give lip service to God's existence, but really live as if He didn't exist?

"Wicked" means people who are immoral, sinful, and proud of it. I'm amazed at the number of people who say that there's no such thing as sin....sin is all in your up-bringing and imagination....or more often simply can't see the sinfulness in what they are doing.

In Matthew chapter five Jesus taught us that the essence of sin goes beyond the actual sinning itself.

• 21 ¶ "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’
• 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
• 27 ¶ "You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’
• 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

There are lots of people stealing who don't consider their deeds to be stealing. For example, taking things home from your office. Or using your work time for private pursuits, thereby stealing time/salary from an employer. Or "fudging" on your income tax. Or not giving any money to God (Malachi 3:8-10) and God's work in the world...

• 8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ "In tithes and offerings.
• 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me.
• 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

"Truth suppressors" are those who know the truth, but bury it, or twist it, or contradict it. They start by denying God's truth to themselves, and end up with consciences that won't work any more. Then they teach others that there is no God, or that Jesus is just a myth, or that the Church threw away the "real Gospels" in a power play of Church politics (such as we found in the book and movie of a few years ago: the Da Vinci Code--which is about to come out on TV).

VI. The Personal Results of Suppressing the Truth about God...
They have no excuses to present on judgment day.
Their thinking is futile.
Their hearts are dark.

There IS a judgment day coming. What will they say to God?

They write books now. They are professors in seminaries, in universities, in divinity schools. They head up things like "The Jesus Project," which tells us that hardly any of what we read in the Gospels was really said by Jesus.

They write magazine articles in TIME and NEWSWEEK and the SMITHSONIAN about how Atheism is really true, and is really good for humanity. They tell us that we all evolved from fish and rodents and ape-like creatures, and that God has nothing to do with our existence.

They tell us that sin doesn't really exist, and it is OK to practice all kinds of immorality. It has something to do with our reptilian brain. It's not our fault. There is no Heaven, and no Hell, so whatever you can get away with in this life is OK. Go for it! I wonder if that's what Bernie Madoff was thinking when he swindled people and charitable organizations out of $50 Billion? If someone tells me he is an atheist, I always watch out for my pocket book, and for my life. For who knows what an atheist may do?

CONCLUSION: What's the application for you and for me? First, if you are not a Christian, this is your chance to repent and believe and get right with God. Think about it! Second, if you are a Christian, and you probably are, this information leads us to praise and give thanks to God. He loved us, and He saved us in Christ, even though we were sinners.

I heard an old, old story, How a Savior came from glory,
How He gave His life on Calvary To save a wretch like me;
I heard about His groaning, Of His precious blood's atoning,
Then I repented of my sins And won the victory.

Chorus
O victory in Jesus,My Savior, forever. He sought me and bought me With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory, Beneath the cleansing flood.