I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel | Henry Schorr | September 12, 2021

two years ago i began a series in romans and i just barely got into it when i was diagnosed with cancer and wasn't able to carry on well starting this weekend i'm going to make another attempt to preach through this fabulous book and ask that you would pray that i'll make it all the way through this time i thought about picking up where i'd left off but because it's been over two years and romans is such an important book and so many new families have joined us the last couple of years i've decided to start at the beginning again my decision is also based on the fact that so much has changed in our lives and in our circumstances the last couple of years uh a large part due to kovid and and i just sense the lord has some new things to say to us through these first couple of chapters for such a time as this as you will notice when i get to the application of this sermon so i ask that you stay with me to the end on this one and just so you know we'll be continuing the fruit of the spirit series this fall on the weeks that were not in the roman series now two years ago when i started the roman series i'd lost a lot of weight and many of you were concerned for me in my health well over the last four weeks as i've been making my way around to our various campuses meeting people praying with people many of you have commented that i look so healthy and some of you are honest enough to tell me what you really meant that i'd gain some weight well you're right it's tough in these times of isolation and so forth not to do that someone explained it to me this way they said brain cells die skin cells die even hair cells die but fat cells they must have put their faith in jesus because they seem to live forever well now you know seriously thank you for your ongoing prayers for me and gwen and my health i recently heard from my doctor and all my tests indicate that i'm well for which i am so grateful so thank you you know i say it often i just love being your senior pastor and it is such an honor to serve alongside our staff and all of you in what i believe to the core of my being is the greatest cause that's ever been given to man bless you for your faithfulness okay so open your bibles or your bible app um to romans chapter one romans deals with all kinds of subjects that are relevant to where we're at today but the overarching theme of this great book is the gospel of jesus christ and its implications for our lives which as we're going to see today in our scripture lesson from verse 1 to 17. so if you're able i invite you to stand with me and join me to um in the reading of a portion of these verses together paul a servant of jesus christ called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of god the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures regarding his son who as to his earthly life was a descendant of david and through the spirit of holiness was appointed the son of god in power by his resurrection from the dead jesus christ our lord verse 7 to all in rome who are loved by god and called to be his holy people grace and peace to you from god our father and from the lord jesus christ page verse 14 i am obligated both to greeks and non-greeks both to the wise and the foolish that is why i am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in rome for i am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of god that brings salvation to everyone who believes first to the jew then the gentile for in the gospel the righteousness of god is revealed a righteousness that is by faith from first to last just as it is written the righteous will live by faith may the lord add his blessing and his understanding to the reading of his word you may be seated so obviously the author of romans is the apostle paul now paul's first vocation was that of a pharisee or a member of the strictest jewish sect of religious leaders paul was a passionate man and when he became aware that christ followers were teaching that jesus was the messiah he became upset and he set out to destroy what he considered to be the christian cult by the way his name at that time wasn't paul it was saul in acts chapter 7 and 8 we read saul arranged for and actually watched the stoning of stephen one of the first christian martyrs paul led a brutal rampage against christians in jerusalem so much so that he caused them to escape for their lives to other communities in israel and in acts 26 we read he even hunted down christians in other cities determined to wipe them out and so you might say he was the most unlikely person ever to become a christ follower so let me ask you ever look at someone and think to yourself that person will never become a christian she'll never change he'll never change his heart is hard as a rock it may be your spouse a child a parent a sibling a co-worker a friend a boss have you been praying for them i mean have you been persistently praying for them years ago i prayed regularly for a couple of family members who were far from god at the time and all confess after a decade of doing so i had pretty much given up that they would ever change and my prayers for them began to wane actually i can recall i just came to a point of saying i just not going to bother praying for them again but then within six months of each other they both became christ followers and through it all christ reminded me that our prayers really matter and that nothing is impossible with god his grace is available to anyone and to everyone so keep praying keep trusting god to do the seemingly impossible in his time and his way in the life of those that he's brought into your life while the seemingly impossible happened to saul he had an encounter with the risen christ in acts chapter 8 we read that saul was on his way to damascus to hunt down more christians there and christ confronted him on the way and that encounter with jesus christ would forever change the trajectory of saul's life this persecutor of christians became a major leader in the early christian church and god changed his name to paul now paul starts out in verse 1 with a longer than usual introduction of himself and that's likely because he's never been to rome and given his past brutal behavior toward christians undoubtedly he was concerned that he might have a bit of a credibility problem with the believers in rome and it was important to him um that their misgivings about his character and about his motives would not cause them to not read the most important letter that he had written this most important letter under the inspiration of god and so when paul introduces himself here he's saying i'm no longer the saul you heard about i'm no longer saul the persecutor of christians the abuser the legalist the arrogant one no he says in verse one i'm paul a servant of jesus christ called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of god paul was a great theologian master of the old testament scriptures highly educated a gifted leader with a brilliant mind and yet he refers to himself here as a servant of christ you see when he met christ his identity was utterly transformed by christ so much so that he now saw himself both as a love child of god but also as a servant or a slave of jesus christ and church this is the kind of heart change and life change that happens when we entrust our lives to jesus christ we are no longer the same the old is gone the new has come thank you jesus we have a new king in whom we trust and whom we follow and then he adds i'm called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of god paul wants the christians at rome to know that he is not a self-appointed apostles no he's called by jesus himself to be an apostle now to be set apart means to be separated it means to move away from everything else paul was set apart he was sent specifically to share the gospel with those who hadn't heard it was the one thing one overriding focus of his life think about an athlete that's preparing for the olympics he or she simplifies and removes anything in their life which will hinder or distract them from accomplishing their goal while in the same way paul is called to order his life in such a way that he is free to focus on one main thing spreading the good news of the lord now this is instructive for us even though we have different jobs and we do different work as christ followers we all have the same vocation the same calling from the lord and that is to be his representative wherever it is we find ourselves whether i'm a pastor or i'm a plumber or a carpenter or a teacher or a physician the central focus in my life needs to be my vocation god's call on my life to and to invite him daily to be part of my day and as his representative to consciously and intentionally do what he calls me to do now after deucing himself paul goes on to give the reader's digest version of the gospel in one long sentence first of all he says the gospel was promised beforehand through the prophets in the holy scriptures that's referring to the old testament prophets and also the old testament scriptures paul says the good news of the gospel didn't begin with jesus it didn't begin with the new testament rather it's woven throughout the old testament as well look down at verse 17. paul writes for in the gospel the righteousness of god is revealed a righteousness that is by faith from the first to the last he's saying the gospel of grace by faith is taught not only in the new testament but was also taught in the old testament for example it's estimated that the old testament contains at least 332 prophecies or predictions concerning the messiah many of which were fulfilled in christ when he came as paul indicates here hundreds of years before christ came to our planet prophets predicted that jesus would be born a virgin from a family from the family line of king david they prophesied that he would be born in bethlehem and even that he would die on a cross outside the city of jerusalem a form of execution that was invented by the romans and didn't even exist as a form of execution when the prophet prophecy was made hundreds of years previous and so first the gospel of grace by faith is taught all the way through the scriptures secondly in verse three paul says the gospel is about jesus christ who was fully human born into a human family and jesus is also pointed to all the way through the scriptures but in verse 4 he uh paul adds that jesus was also fully god is also fully god which was proven by his resurrection from the dead paul's life and the disciples lives were radically changed because this personally because because these people personally met the resurrected christ after he was crucified and buried and that was a defining moment in their life they lived passionately and sacrificially for christ from that point on and never wavered from their faith even when they face torture and cruel death this is one of the greatest evidences that christ did in fact rise from the grave and is the lord and god that he claimed to be paul writes this gospel of grace by faith is not only taught throughout the scriptures is centered on the god man jesus christ but thirdly it is the gospel of grace in verse 5 we read through him and for his name's sake we receive grace is unmerited favor for or giving someone what they need rather than what they deserve and this gospel of grace says paul is for everyone regardless of one's race or standing in society in fact down in verse 16 when paul says the gospel is first for the jew and then the gentile he's not giving uh preference to jewish people in that statement no he's simply pointing out the way things happened yes the gospel was first introduced to the jews but it's for everyone well following a rather lengthy introduction of himself and then talking about the essence of the gospel in verse to 13 paul greets the believers in rome encouraging them and reminding them of his prayers for them and these verses really communicate his pastor's heart he longs to be with them but he knows that the truth that he is sharing with them in this letter that we're going to be looking at matters the most for it is the truth that gives them life and sets them free which brings me to the last three verses that we're looking at today verses 14 to 17 where paul talks about his motivation and passion to share the gospel he says my first motivation to share the gospel is i am obligated to do so look at verse 14. he writes this i am obligated both to greeks and non-greeks both to the wise and the foolish to preach the gospel another word for obligated is indebted let's say that you have an incurable illness someone discovers the cure and gives it to you and as a result you are cured if that person asked you to share it with others in need of it you would not only be indebted to the person who found the cure and saved your life but you would also owe it to those who are in need of it well in the same way paul is essentially saying here in light of the saving grace christ extended to me and the gospel he called me to share with others even if there are times i don't feel like it or times i feel intimidated or lacked the courage the boldness i am indebted to christ to fulfill my calling and to preach the life-changing gospel to all who will listen you know the bible teaches that we're to glorify god in everything we say and everything we do well here's the thing nothing glorifies god more than when we first of all love him with all of our heart but then also when we join him in finding his spiritually lost children loving them serving them and showing them the way back home by sharing the life-changing gospel with them now let me be clear when paul talks about preaching the gospel he's talking about more than what i'm doing up here right now when we put our trust in the spirit of god to lead us and to empower us he will guide us in what to say and what to do in the life of someone that he is working in sometimes he will prompt you to just listen to be kind to establish a friendship with that person to serve them in some way other times to share a bit of your story with that person and the difference that jesus has made in your life other times to share a book or a link to a sermon to address a question or a problem that they're wrestling with or to invite them to church or another event where they will hear the good news of gospel and then of course at the right time the spirit will also prompt you to open the scriptures and to share the way of salvation that's why it's important that we be ready to give an answer for the hope that we have but if you're just freaked out about that the concept of opening the scriptures and so forth you just don't think you're able to do it do what you can to prepare but the most important thing is is be available to the spirit to lead you and guide you and to care for a person listen to a person share with a person invite that person to hear about the jesus that we know and love there's many ways that we can preach and share the gospel the important thing is that next to our love and pursuit of god it needs to be the main thing that we give our lives to because whether people realize it or not whether they believe it or not people need the lord this is what paul is saying here to us we owe it first to christ but also to those who haven't heard now notice in verse 15 paul quickly adds he's actually delighted to preach the gospel while he's indebted to christ he isn't motivated by a sense of obligation or duty he's passionate about this he longs for everyone to experience the life transforming power of god's grace after all it's completely transformed him he is no longer the person he was before he met christ verse 16 he says not only am i eager to share the gospel but i'm not ashamed of the gospel you know down through history the gospel of jesus christ has rarely been popular with contemporary culture brian clark observes that the church has always been tempted to alter to edit to adjust the gospel to make it more socially acceptable people seem to be okay if you bring up god if you talk about the love of god but many people including some christians and churches have little tolerance for teaching from for teaching from the scripture that touches on topics like sin the wrath of god the judgment of god sexual purity or that jesus is the only way and so the temptation is to not talk about these anymore or even in some churches to dismiss the biblical narrative in favor of the cultural narrative which they believe is more progressive acceptable and politically correct but unfortunately is often far from the truth of scripture which raises the question are you ashamed of the gospel when do you find yourself getting uptight nervous do you cringe a little bit when some of these topics are talked about you know either in a conversation or from the pulpit well like all human beings we want to be loved and accepted nobody wants to be laughed at rejected and shunned you can be sure paul didn't like being rejected and laughed at either i'm sure he didn't take great delight in being beaten five times stoned twice and thrown in prison for preaching the gospel but he did now please notice when it came to civil disobedience where paul drew the line was when he was told he couldn't preach the gospel and i believe that is where we need to draw the line too paul writes i am not ashamed of the gospel because you see there's a reason he's not ashamed of the gospel there's a reason he's prepared to take a hit for sharing the gospel because he says it's the power of god that brings salvation to everyone who believes you know i i once heard comedian pen gillette say something like i don't believe in jesus and his claims to be the only way to god if i did i wouldn't hesitate telling other people about him he said if you believe there's a heaven and a hell and people could end up there and you think well it's not worth telling this because it might make it kind of socially awkward i might get rejected how much do you have to hate someone to not tell them this truth how much do you have to hate someone to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that he says if i believe that a truck is coming at you and you don't believe it there's a certain point where i'll tackle you and get you out of the way and eternal life is more important than that to sit there and to say nothing would not only be hypocritical but heartless now those are some pretty convicting words coming from someone who doesn't believe in god and who doesn't believe in christ but he's right and that is the point that paul is making here he says i'm not ashamed of the gospel because i not only believe that jesus is lord and king but that the gospel is true i'm not ashamed because it has the power to completely transform a person's life the way my life he says was radically transformed now the word power in the original language here is the same greek word from which we get the word dynamite it's explosive power so let me talk about this explosive power let me talk about what salvation is in a nutshell what the good news of the gospel accomplishes in a person's life salvation is to be forgiven but it is more than that as wonderful as that is it is more than to be freed from all of the weight of sin regret and shame of one's past as life-changing as that is salvation is also more than the assurance of being with jesus in heaven when we die is absolutely amazing that will be the word salvation means wholeness fullness satisfaction and peace it's the peace it's the shalom of god that comes when a relationship is reconciled and restored it's the fullness and satisfaction that comes when the deepest longings of my soul have been met now here's the thing deep within the soul of every person on this planet who doesn't know christ there is a god-given law giving longing for true salvation something anything that will quiet the confusion the turmoil the emptiness the meaninglessness and dissatisfaction within people try to fill it in success in money and possessions fame in a relationship or faithful adherence to the rules and rituals of a certain religion or philosophy many attempt to medicate the raging storm within with destructive addiction addictions and some of these man-made schemes may succeed in making people feel better about themselves for a time they may succeed in bringing focus to their lives for a time but they have no power to remove the guilt the regrets the uncertainties in life and ultimately these people if they are honest they will end up where they started unfulfilled confused about the meaning of life and the next fearful dissatisfied and empty within and some of these people sit next to you at work or at school they live next to you or they're part of your family and what paul is saying is the reason i am not ashamed of the gospel the reason i'm willing to be rejected shunned told where to go and how to get there is because i'm absolutely convinced that the only hope for this inner storm and turmoil and uncertainty is the life-changing power the explosive power of the gospel of jesus christ that's why [Applause] that's why the bible and the scriptures cannot be watered down compromised or explained away because it is what points people not only to eternal life but it provides them with a truly full free and satisfying life here on earth god in christ invades our life and does a miracle within our heart that no person no philosophy no system could ever accomplish only god through christ has the power to transform a person from the inside out he doesn't give us a way of life he doesn't give us a philosophy jesus gives us himself now at this point i'd love to give a closing illustration and bring this sermon to a close especially given the time but as i prepared this message this past week i felt led of god to apply this message to our present day reality as christians which is going to require you to bear with me a little longer today but when i'm done i pray you'll understand why taking this extra time really matters and is important this past year the people of our province have been divided over how health officials and governing authorities have handled and are handling the covet pandemic some people believe that our health officials and governing authorities are doing their best to protect our health and the effects of covid by sincerely calling on us to follow certain protocols which they believe will help and the pandemic and keep us safe other people believe our health officials and governing authorities are using covid which they believe is little more than a bad flu to control us to take away our freedoms and that their protocols are not only ineffective and unnecessary but in some cases dangerous to our health now let me be clear people's health and safety from covid and other health-related dangers is important and so are our religious and our personal freedoms all the people who have died from covet is tragic the reason i bring this up is not to comment on the controversy but to talk about the passion people on both sides of this controversy have displayed and the reasons they have people including some christians have written letters emails have passionately and often persistently challenge people in their families their friendships churches and community groups at work online even through protests all in an attempt to get their point of view across now most if not all of these people have done so because they really believe that their point of view is the truth that others are being deceived either by mainstream media on the one hand or on the flip side they're being deceived by social media which of course brings me to what i've warned us about before we are flirting with anarchy as a nation because no one knows who to trust and believe anymore but here is the point i want to make to those of us who call ourselves christians the bible repeatedly tells us that this life is fleeting that it is but a heartbeat compared to the next life which is eternal which defined means forever and ever and ever second corinthians chapter 4 verse 18 says this so we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen for what is sin is temporary but what is unseen is eternal while both the earthly realm and the eternal realm are real and they're important to god this verse tells us that we are to focus primarily on the eternal realm the spirit realm that doesn't mean we have a fatalistic mindset you know about life here on earth that we don't care about this planet and we don't care about what's going on it doesn't mean we don't exercise our rights and freedoms to communicate our concerns and convictions and points of view what it means is that these temporary earthly matters as important as they are must not sidetrack us or distract us from the eternal things of god like the spiritual life and the eternal souls of people around us and the main thing that jesus has called us to which is to make disciples to introduce people to jesus it it also means as we deal with these earthly concerns whatever they are including issues around covet we must not allow them to become so big so huge in our lives so important that we tarnish our testimony in the process that we allow issues to divide us as christians or distract us from what paul challenges us right here in this scripture staying focused on the gospel of jesus christ our religious freedoms are important and we need to do what we can within the law and in the spirit of christ to preserve them but our personal and religious freedoms as important as they are will not save people who need the lord no only jesus is the answer to what's fundamentally troubling our world now for the record i do not believe what we're experiencing at this time in north america is persecution just talk to some of our christian brothers and sisters in the middle east and they'll tell you what it means to be persecuted but when i look at the growing tidal wave of opposition that's mounting against christians and in particular against evangelical christians bible-believing christians on many fronts i am not naive enough to think that persecution isn't coming or that the day may come when we lose our religious freedom and may greatly suffer for our faith but here's the thing we are fooling ourselves if we think we can stop it now i know that sounds fatalistic and i'm not suggesting we shouldn't do all we can to slow it down but i believe short of a miraculous intervention of god short of a spiritual revival that sweeps across our land and changes the hearts of millions of people across this nation we won't be able to stop it irwin lutzer pastor emeritus of moody bible church is a canadian by birth but in his most recent book called we will not be silenced he is speaking to his adopted nation the united states and he says the purpose of this book is not to inspire us to take america back he writes we have neither the will or the clout to reverse the laws that restrict religious freedom in a number of areas and what we believe and cherish as christians he says we have crossed too many fault lines and too many barriers have proven to be too weak to withstand the media-driven cultural streams that have flooded our nation what he's saying is the majority of americans and even a greater majority of people in canada have a worldview different from us have a worldview that's actually opposed to us and to the scriptures and therefore will not only oppose us but we'll lobby and vote for things that are contrary to everything we believe in lutzer goes on to write i write not so much to reclaim the culture as to reclaim the church he goes on to challenge his readers to courageously stand against the pressures of our culture in a godly in a life-giving way to not cave in and begin to accept the cultural narrative as a church and in what we communicate in what we believe is a church he challenges us to not be silent but not in the way that we might think when he says we must not be silent he is not saying we use the ruthless tactics that are used by those who oppose the gospel who oppose us as christians and what we stand for such as name calling shaming and stereotyping rather he means and i quote we must interact with individuals and with groups given giving a reason for the hope that is within us and doing it with gentleness and with respect church the only way we are going to change our culture and our world is by first changing hearts through the power of the life-giving message of jesus christ one life at a time by lovingly and courageously proclaiming the truth of the gospel the same way that jesus and the early church did in their way in their day you change the heart and you change the person you change the person and you begin to change the family you change the family and you begin to change the community you change the community and you begin to change the nation that is what jesus the early disciples did and in a couple of centuries they completely transformed the ancient world now as you may know pastor john mcarthur and grace community church defied what they believe were unusually strict pandemic limits on in-person worship services and they did so on the basis of religious freedom but six months later on january 24th macarthur in macarthur said this about religious freedom in one of his sermons i do not believe as a christian that i can support strongly freedom of religion because that would be to violate the first commandment which says have no other gods before me you say well doesn't the church need freedom of religion to move forward no he writes in no way does any political law aid or hinder the church of jesus christ we are a separate kingdom now i don't know what macarthur's intentions or motives were for saying this because it almost sounds contradictory to what he leaned on when they you know basically stood up against the state however from all i know about him and his theological convictions i believe macarthur wasn't saying that religious freedom isn't important i believe he was warning his church and christians everywhere that we not make our personal and religious freedoms an idol that we not put more of our trust in religious freedom than in jesus christ and the truth of the gospel in another sermon he said to say i support religious freedom is to say i support a idolatry no he says i support the truth i think he's reminding us that even if we lose our religious freedom as the church has in various nations down through time the church and the gospel will prevail providing that we as christ followers continue to keep christ and his life-changing good news uppermost in our lives and as paul says here that we are not ashamed of the gospel and that is fundamentally the question that paul leaves us with here how passionate are we about the gospel earthly concerns like covet the fear of getting coveted our loved ones getting coveted maybe even dying from covet the divisive issues surrounding covid masks vaccines conspiracy theories have consumed many of our thoughts and our conversations the last 18 months and have added to our fears and i don't want to minimize this in any way but how much have we thought about and prayed about the eternal spiritual state of our neighbors our co-workers our fellow students our family members who do not know the lord if they die of covet that's tragic but it's even more tragic if they die without knowing jesus many christians i'm sure have passionately and boldly communicated their convictions around covet they've challenged family and friends and others they care about to give serious thought to what they believe is true and again i don't want to minimize that but when was the last time we shared with someone with the same kind of passion and conviction and boldness our conviction as christians that jesus is the truth that he's the hope of the world and the only way to eternal life you know people have challenged me more than once to courageously take a stand on the controversy that i described earlier surrounding covet and to invite other pastors to join me in taking a stand time and time again i've gone to the scriptures i've gone to the lord in prayer and i said lord what are you saying to me what do you want me to do about it what do you want me to say lord and time and time again the holy spirit has directed me to the way of jesus to the way of the early church that we read about in the gospels and in the book of acts when jesus walked the face of this earth israel was under totality totalitarian rule of rome there was little or no freedom there was a lot of persecution going on and what did jesus do well his disciples and his followers say they wanted him to rise up and bring down rome i mean they saw his power they believed that this could happen this could be done and yet jesus said very little about rome said nothing about bringing it down what he did say in john 18 36 is my kingdom is not of this world you see jesus came to start a revolution that would change the world by first changing people's hearts as people embraced him as their living lord savior and king they were changed from the inside out through the power of the spirit and they in partnership with the lord began to change the world one life at a time through the power of the spirit and the gospel and church if you want to know where i stand this is where i stand i joined paul in saying come what may and trust me i have no doubt persecution and perilous times are coming our way but come what may i am not ashamed of the gospel i will continue to share the truth of the scriptures the life-changing gospel of jesus christ with boldus and make it a high priority in my life because i believe to the core of my being that it is the power of god that br that is not only true but brings life change to everyone who believes and i pray that even while we do what we can within the legal avenues available to us to preserve our freedom and to keep us safe from harm from pandemics and other dangers and other forces that oppose us that our greatest priority in life will be to love our god to love one another and to love those who need the lord by serving them and sharing with them the good news of jesus the one who has changed and transformed us may it be so to the glory of god and for the sake of those who need the jesus that we know and love will you join me in saying amen amen where'd you stand [Applause] just bow your heads just bow your heads for a moment before we respond to god's word through our closing song what is god saying to you what are you going to do about it followers of christ let me ask you are there some attitudes that you've had that aren't christ-like is there a on is there a a spirit that isn't of christ that you need to repent of christ followers is there anyone far from god in your sphere of influence who you need to pray for you need to build a relationship with have you ever thought about inviting them to join you in taking the alpha course which we're offering in a few weeks however god leads you to introduce them to jesus i challenge you to say yes to step out in faith courageously and do what the lord's calling you to do one day you'll be so glad you did and if you know about jesus but you don't really know jesus if you haven't yet embraced and experienced his life changing forgiveness and grace if you're unsure of where you will be moments after you die there are prayer partners they're making their way up here right now who would love to help you and under to understand more fully what it means to put your total trust in jesus and also to pray with you just feel free to make your way up here while we're singing let's join together now responding to our lord you

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Length: 54min 28sec (3268 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 13 2021