Well, I'm so glad to see you all. So many of you for several times having been
here, and to be able to look together with you into the Word of God. And so I'd like to begin this morning by reading
the first few verses of the introduction that Paul gives us to his epistle, to the church
at Rome. Beginning in chapter 1 verse 1 and reading
through verse seven. "Paul," excuse me if I change the translation
a little bit, "a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel
of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning
His Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son
of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness, by His resurrection from the dead,
Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about
the obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations, including you
who are called to belong to Jesus Christ; to all those in Rome who are loved by God
and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ." And then, let me move down to verse 16 where
the apostle writes these words, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power
of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed
from faith for faith; as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith." Let's pray, shall we? Our Father and our God, we have read and heard
these words countless times in the past, and that each time that we hear them, our souls
are pierced by their beauty and by their truth, and by the promise that we hear from God Himself
in these words. We pray now that as we explore the significance
and transforming power of this gospel to which Paul was called to preach, that You would
give us understanding of Your words by the illumination of the Holy Spirit who is indeed
the Spirit of truth. For we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen. At the very beginning of this magisterial
epistle, Paul's magnum opus, his letter to the Romans, he introduces not only himself
and describes himself as a servant, one who has been purchased by Christ, but he indicates
the significance for his ministry, where he says, "Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called
to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God," comma. Let me pause for a moment at the comma, where
he says that he has been sanctified, consecrated, ordained, set apart for a particular task,
and that task is for the gospel of God. Now, when we read those words in the Greek,
we know that they are capable of being interpreted or translated by more than one way. When Paul speaks about the gospel of God,
he could be referring here simply to that message, which is about God or concerning
God, that being as it is written here, in the genitive, I think that a better translation
or interpretation would be this: that when he says that he is set apart for the gospel
of God, what he is declaring is that this gospel belongs to God. It's God's gospel. God has initiated this message. He has composed this message. He has called the apostle and their followers
to proclaim this message. But in the first place, he is telling us whose
gospel, whose message, this is. And if it indeed is understood that the gospel
is God's invention, by His composition, and that which He owns by Himself, the first thing
we need to understand, therefore, is that whatever else we do with this gospel, we must
never, ever, ever, ever, ever mess with it, because -- I'll wait. We are going to make the Reformed faith great
again. We simply must never mess with this gospel
because it's His gospel. He owns it. We respond to it, but we don't ever mess with
it. Now, when Martin Luther preached his last
sermon in February of 1546, just a few days before he died, he mentioned in that sermon
that of all the beings in the universe, the one who is the most impoverished as a teacher
is God Himself because he said it seems as if everybody wants to be His guidance counselor. Everybody wants God to be their student because
everybody wants to improve on this gospel that is declared, possessed, and owned by
God. And, in a sense, that statement was a recapitulation
of the entire history of the church because in every generation, there are those who are
simply not satisfied with God's gospel, and they would prefer to give us another gospel. Paul referred to those Galatians who were
endeavoring to do just that as being foolish and bewitched, that they would so soon be
removed from that gospel that they had heard from the apostle Paul to what Paul says is
another gospel. And then, as if the Holy Spirit superintending
his comments at that point, corrects himself by saying that there is not another gospel. And then he warns us that if anyone preaches
any other gospel that you have received from God, let him be anathema, 'anathema,' 'damned,'
'cursed.' And then he repeats himself by saying, "If
anyone preaches any other gospel than that one which you have received from God Himself,
even an angel from heaven, let him be anathema." That apostolic 'anathema' fills the church
in our age because we hear so frequently messages that claim to be the gospel that have nothing
to do with the gospel because we continue impenitently to mess with the gospel of God. And God will not hold us guiltless when we
seek to improve on His gospel. There is only one gospel. It's God's gospel, and it is our duty to believe
it and to proclaim it in a pure and unvarnished fidelity to it. But why is it that we are so eager to improve
on this gospel? I'm sure there are many reasons that motivate
us to try to change the gospel because we perceive the gospel to be not good news, but
bad news, or at least if it's not good news, it's not the best news, and we can improve
it and make it better than the gospel that it is. Maybe that's what motivates us. Maybe it's because the gospel reduces us to
shame, and we can't stand that shame, and so we want to change it. Or we see it as a stumbling block, and people
are hostile to it, and so we figure that a little spoonful of sugar might make the medicine
go down and so we soften it. We delude it in our attempt to improve upon
it. There are many reasons for this, but I think
the biggest problem we have with the gospel is the part that he states in verse 16, "I
am not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power of God to salvation." I don't know what the exact numbers are. I'm just making a guess. It's an educated guess. It's not one that's just taken out of thin
air. It has some experience behind it. But I doubt very much if there are five percent
of ordained ministers in this country who believe that the gospel is the power of God
for salvation. This is the place where we really seek the
improvement. We don't think the gospel works. We don't think that God has endowed power
into this gospel. As Luther complained in 1546, he saw that
the people were returning from their fresh understanding of the gospel to their old habits
of trusting in relics and the pants of Joseph or milk from the breast of the Holy Mother,
and Luther said if you really want power in your ministry, go to Aachen or Trier. Where they have the pants of Joseph, there
is the power, because it certainly isn't in the gospel. So we seek methods and programs hoping that
we've been able to find where the real power is to transform the lives of our people. And again, going back to percentages, I really
doubt if there is as many as five percent of preachers in this country who believe that
where the power is is in the gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, I would be willing to bet that if
we had five percent of preachers in America who believed that the gospel was the power
of God unto salvation, that an unprecedented revival, awakening, and reformation would
come to the shores of our country and throughout the world. But we don't believe that that's where the
power is, and so we mess with the gospel and try to find a more powerful tool for changing
lives. But when we look at the concept of the gospel,
we have -- we know whose it is. It belongs to God. We know where the power is. It comes from God. But then we have to ask, "What is the gospel?" And when you look at that word 'gospel,' euangelion
in the Greek New Testament, you know that it simply means a message that is described
as being a good message. We use that prefix 'eu' from the Greek language
where we talk about that which is 'euphonious,' it sounds good, or 'euphorious,' makes us
feel good, but here in this case it's a 'euangelion,' a good message. But when we see how that word is used in the
New Testament, there are at least three different ways in which the term 'gospel' is used in
the Bible. The obvious way is when we refer to a particular
literary genre. We talk about the Gospel of Mathew, the Gospel
of Mark, the Gospel of Luther -- just wanted to see if you were listening. The Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of John,
we talk about these biographical statements about the person and work, the life, of Jesus
that are given in a synoptic way for the most part. And we refer to those as Gospels, books that
are written about Jesus. But there are two other ways that the term
gospel is used and we often overlook the primary way in which God's gospel or God's message
is introduced on the pages of the New Testament. The first one who introduces this gospel publicly,
by way of public ministry, is John the Baptist. Some like to think that he was a Presbyterian,
but the New Testament calls him the Baptist, and that's good enough for me. But notice how John the Baptist comes on the
scene initially in world history with an announcement of a message, and that message is defined
in terms of the gospel of the kingdom. It is the gospel, the good news, about the
kingdom of God. And shortly thereafter, when Jesus begins
His public ministry, He borrows that same introduction from John, where He says, "Repent,
for the kingdom of God is at hand." And throughout the earthly ministry of Jesus,
He preaches and focuses that preaching and teaching on the gospel of the kingdom, where
frequently by use of parable and other devices, He will say, "the gospel," or the kingdom
of God, "is like unto this," and gives us all kinds of parabolic illustrations that
we might understand the content of the gospel. But initially, the descriptive term is that
it is the gospel of, and in this case about, the kingdom of God. And if there is any strand or theme that ties
both Testaments, the Old Testament and the New Testament, together it is that single
message of the coming and the future promise of the kingdom of God in its earthly manifestation. Now, before I go any further, let me say that
before John the Baptist announces this gospel of the kingdom and before Jesus announces
the gospel of the kingdom, both of them preface their announcement by an imperative, which
imperative comes ultimately from God. You know what it is: Repent because the kingdom
of God is at hand. It's on the very edge of history. It is a time of profound urgency. John the Baptist comes and he says, "Repent,
for the kingdom of God is at hand. The axe is laid at the root of the tree. His fan is in His hand." There is this immediate urgency in the announcement
that the kingdom of God is about to break into time and space and you're not ready for
it. And the necessary condition to respond to
this gospel is repentance. I mentioned in the Q&A yesterday a couple
of things about this whole idea of repentance. I have a good friend who's a pagan. He's as pagan as they come. He's one of the most profane individuals I've
ever known. His vocabulary would make a sailor blush. And even his pagan friends sometimes are annoyed
and frustrated by his unending stream of profanities. And this year, he decided to change his ways
and to stop using the profanities for which he is so famous, and he decided to turn over
a new leaf. And I find that somewhat interesting because
in one sense we may think that that's an indication of repentance because the New Testament defines
repentance, metanoia, as a change of mind. "My mind used to work in this way. I used to believe in this way. I used to act in this fashion, but now I'm
going to change my mind, and therefore I'm going to change my ways," and therefore we
understand that repentance has to do with a resolve to act and to behave in a different
way. Well, it does include all of those things,
but that doesn't get to the heart and to the soul of what real repentance is. When we study the concept of repentance, both
in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, we see that not only must there be a resolve
to change, to turn over the new leaf, but that resolve must be accompanied by a heartfelt
godly sorrow for how we have behaved yesterday and the day before. So when we hear John coming and saying, "Repent,
because the kingdom of God is at hand," and we hear Jesus echoing the same message, "Repent,
because the kingdom of God is at hand," he is calling us to contrition, not simply to
seek a ticket out of hell or find a way of escape from the wrath that is to come, a repentance
that is motivated by a fear of punishment, but godly repentance begins in the soul and
in the heart with an awakening to the severity of the way in which we have offended a Holy
God. One of the things my wife likes to do is to
watch these TV programs that have to do with property renovations and, like the Property
Brothers, those twin guys that make all kinds of renovations. And there is this one program where the people
go away for so many days and the workers come in and destroy all the stuff that was there
and make a magnificent change and redo the whole house. And then the surprise moment comes when the
husband and the wife are able to look for the first time at the beautiful renovations
that have been made. And you can take it to the bank that the woman
is going to say, 95 out of a hundred times on television, their first words out of their
mouth -- we even have a shorthand version for Facebook, OMG! Oh my God! And you know what, when I hear that, I know
-- I just know that those people have no idea how offensive that is to God. They've no thought or awareness that they
have just violated one of the top ten laws that God has legislated. Or the very first petition that our Lord taught
us to pray for in the Lord's prayer, when He said, when you pray, pray like this, "Hallowed
be My name." My name is Holy. And Jesus had to listen to people every five
minutes, in a casual, cavalier way saying, "Oh my God!" Not because they were trying to curse, not
because they were trying to commit blasphemy. And the very fact that they weren't conscious
of committing blasphemy underscores the severity of that offense. I know there are hundreds of people in this
room right now that had this offense before God everyday and think nothing of it. My friend that I mentioned to you a few moments
ago will say on a regular basis, "God damn it!" And then he'll look at me and feel guilty
because I'm a preacher, and he'll say, "Oh I mean, God darn it." He doesn't have a clue. Cursing, vulgarities are nothing compared
to blasphemy. But we're inured, we're immunized to the severity
of offending the holiness of God by how we talk about Him in our daily conversation,
and that daily conversation reveals more clearly and manifestly the seriousness of our sin
more than we can imagine. But if we're going to repent, we start with
repenting about how our souls have fled from reverence and adoration for God. Hallowed be His name. Not because names are magical, but when Jesus
said what I want you to pray for first of all is that My Father's name may be treated
with reverence and awe because He is Holy. But nothing reflects how little attention
we have to the divine holiness than how we speak about God. But again, this is not just something new
in our generation. It's just the same thing that was going on
in the first century. And when John says, "Repent, for the Kingdom
of God is at hand" in Matthew's Gospel, it's different. It's "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand," because Matthew was so sensitive and so concerned as a Jewish person to not
ever in any way use the name of God in a flippant manner that they invented what's called periphrasis
or circumlocution, and rather than to speak of the kingdom of God, they would speak of
the kingdom of heaven, lest they would be guilty of taking the sacred name in vain. But how many of us have agonized in our souls
about how we use the name of God? You know, as I said yesterday, when David
was pouring out his soul in contrition, he said, "If You desired sacrifices," -- the
Lord doesn't desire sacrifices -- "else I would give them. But the sacrifices of God are a broken and
contrite heart." I know I have never in my life, to this moment,
reached the level of contrition and godly sorrow that God's command of repentance demands. And I don't expect to reach that level anytime
before glory. Finally, the gospel of the kingdom in the
letters, in the epistles, particularly in Paul's epistles, morphs from the gospel of
the kingdom to the gospel of the King, to the good news of the gospel, the person and
work of Jesus Christ. Let me tell you what the gospel isn't. The gospel is not your personal testimony. I think personal testimonies are a good thing
and we are called to testify to the greatness of Christ and what He has meant for us in
our lives. It's a wonderful thing. But giving your personal testimony is pre-evangelism;
it's not evangelism. Evangelism is proclaiming the gospel. And to say that God loves all people unconditionally
is not the gospel; it's not even true. Or to say that God loves you and has a wonderful
plan for your life; that's not the gospel. The gospel in the New Testament is the gospel
about Jesus, His person, who He is, His work, what He has done. For many, many years I've taught in the seminary
and taught, among other courses, courses on the gospel. And in order to work in the Doctor of Ministry
program of seminaries, usually it's required that a person will have been -- finished their
basic seminary training and be ordained, be in the ministry for at least five years before
they can enter into a Doctor of Ministry program. And when I teach on these questions, it would
be my custom to stand in front of the room with the chalkboard and a piece of chalk in
my hand with the first class of our students and say, "Let's start here, the ABC's. How many of you've been ordained to the gospel
ministry?" and they all raise their hands. I'll say, "Okay. Let me write on the blackboard the definition
of the gospel. What is the gospel?" And these are usually conservative pastors,
evangelical pastors. In my experience, it's anecdotal, not absolute,
not scientific, not one in ten have been able to give an adequate definition of the gospel. They'll say the gospel means that I can be
forgiven of my sins. Yes, it does. The gospel means that I can have a meaningful
life. Yes, it does. But those are consequences, the results of
it. They are not the gospel. The gospel is a clearly defined message. If you want to see what it is, go to the sermons
in the preaching of the book of Acts and notice and underscore the content of those sermons. And there you will discover what the gospel
is. It's about Jesus who was born according to
the Scriptures and who lived a sinless life and who died an atoning death on the cross,
and for our righteousness God raised Him from the dead and carried Him in glory to heaven
for His coronation as our King and for His installation as our great High Priest, who
ministers for us everyday and who will come again at the end of history to bring the fullness
of His kingdom, which has begun already, but will not be completely manifested and consummated
until His return. Those -- that's the objective data of the
gospel, but it's only part of the gospel. The rest is the question of the subjective
appropriation of the benefits of Christ that accrue to us. So the objective data is the data concerning
the person and work of Jesus that is to be received savingly by faith and by faith alone. Rome understood the data, the historical data,
believed in the virgin birth, believed in the atonement, believed in the miracles, believed
all that, but in the 16th century, when it came to the subjective side of the appropriation
of the benefits of the person and work of Christ, they condemned the gospel, anathematized
the gospel and stopped being a church. What greater sin is there than to deny how
we are saved by and through the gospel? That's why Paul said, "There's no other gospel." And that gospel has its fullness that includes
how we're justified by faith and by faith alone. As he concludes this passage here when he
speaks of the righteousness of God, not that righteousness by which God Himself is righteous,
but that righteousness by which we are justified in His presence. Therefore, he comes to the conclusion at the
end of this prologue, the just shall live by faith. Therein is the transforming power of the gospel,
which begins in the mind of God, accomplished by the Son of God and applied by the power
of God in His Holy Spirit. How can you possibly improve on that gospel? If there ever was a fool's errand, it was
the errand that people chase when they think they can come up with a better gospel. It's the gospel of God. He composed it and He commanded it for us
and for our people and our children forever. It's His gospel, empowered by His Spirit that
transforms our lives that must be received in repentance and in faith. Let's pray: Our Father and our God, what a
great gospel it is. If you would mark iniquities, who would stand? We know the answer to that question. Not one of us could possibly stand by Your
judgment, but for us and for our salvation You have, as the prophets told in antiquity,
You have sent Your Son, Your only Son, the Son in whom You are well pleased, through
whom and by whom we can be reconciled to You that we may be saved now and forevermore. Father, raise up Christians who believe Your
gospel, who know Your gospel and take assurance in the power of that gospel. And forgive us for ever imagining for a second
that we could ever improve on it, for we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.
