Sunday, October 11, 2015

Not Ashamed of the Gospel - Part 1


Romans 1:16-17 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. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

We are like in the fourth or fifth week of the Study series with our Wednesday night middle-sized Bible Study group at church going through the Bible Fluency lessons from Kenneth Berding, a biblical scholar and college professor at Biola University in Southern California. We are currently being taught through the overview themes of the books of Acts & Romans in terms of the gospel message. In that we should not just talk about God, the Bible, the gospel of Jesus Christ and Christianity, but let’s go do something about it for the advancement of the kingdom of heaven. We should ask people about their attitude towards heaven, in hopes of getting into a conversation about what they believe and be courageous about sharing the “Good News” of Jesus Christ. Berding states that the main theme in these two books (Acts and Romans) is that they both focus on the gospel. The Book of Acts continues Luke’s account from his gospel, where Jesus promises that He would send the Holy Spirit and we see the power of boldly proclaiming the “Good News” is simply the power of the Holy Spirit in us. The Holy Spirit is a powerful witness, for the powerful life, for overcoming sin. The gospel is so valuable that it is worth suffering for; even dying for. No one is unreachable by God; not even one who persecutes Christians is outside the realm of who God can reach. The gospel is for everyone and the message of the gospel needs to be taken to everybody. The world mission of reaching everyone for Christ matters immensely, so we take the gospels to the ends of the earth.

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

The gospel is the power of God that brings people to salvation. The way we get in is by faith. Ephesians 2:8-9b “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works.” What if you want to share the gospel with someone else? What does the gospel mean? If someone wants to believe in Jesus Christ, what do they believe in? What is the gift of God? Everyone knows that nobody is perfect. All of us have sinned. The gospel shows God’s righteousness. In Christ, God will justify everyone who believes in Christ as Savior and Lord; we, who died and rose  and live in Christ. The Holy Spirit helps us overcome sin. Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The gospel is “Good News” that counters the “bad news” of our sin.

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”

God is holy and be nothing other than holy. So, if people sin, God must punish sin someway, and that punishment is referred to as the wrath of God against us. Romans 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.If God did not punish sin, He would not be holy or just. For God to maintain His justice and holiness, he must punish sin. And how will that happen? Death. Romans 6:23a For the wages of sin is death.” How is this good news? It’s good news because there is a solution to the whole thing. Until we learn how to repent of this sin problem, and we actually deal with what is wrong, we’ll never get to what is right. That is the solution and it starts with the Cross. Romans 6:23b but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.


 Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Let’s continue this great study of the gospel of Jesus Christ tomorrow.

In Christ, Brian

No comments: