 The title of our sermon this morning is grant us boldness and this is part two in this text Romans chapter 1 verses 16 through 17 So as we come to this text we return this morning to our study of Paul's epistle to the Romans and we've come now to the end of Paul's opening prologue We're in Paul now turns our attention to his great theme the great theme of this letter Which is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ verse 16 for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ For it the gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek For in it in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written The just shall live by faith now last Lord's day We made note of the unique way in which Paul Determined to make this transition to his subject this transition to his theme He wraps up a general introduction of his plans and purposes concerning them this church at Rome He has had a great desire to visit them He'd often planned to come to them, but has been hindered to this point He wants to bear fruit among them wants to encourage them wants to establish them in the faith and for that reason He says I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also Now what's unique about the transition is the way in which Paul decides to communicate The readiness or the reason for his readiness. I'm ready to preach the gospel to you because I'm not ashamed of it Right, he could have said I'm ready to preach the gospel to you because I have every confidence in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ I want to preach the gospel in Rome to you because I rejoice in the gospel. It's the power of God to salvation Right, I want to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome because I believe in the gospel, but Paul doesn't Word his transition in that way. He says I'm not ashamed of it. All of those reasons would certainly have been true of the apostle Paul But no, it's because Paul says I'm not ashamed of the gospel by stating his assertion in this way Paul implies an obvious temptation Many are ashamed of the gospel Many professing Christians in Rome in the days of the apostle Paul and many professing Christians in our own version of Rome In the midst of our crooked and perverse generation Today act as though they are ashamed of the gospel And why would that be? The gospel exposes sin The gospel pronounces guilt the gospel Confronts the condemned convicts the believer the unbeliever the gospel reveals the wrath of God against sinful man the gospel condemns Human pride the gospel charges all under sin the gospel exposes the sham of human goodness as worthless and defiled and polluted and corrupt We are the cause of all the problems in the world and we have no one to blame but ourselves The gospel would communicate that we are deceitful our hearts deceitful and desperately wicked. We've all turned aside We've all together become worthless The gospel pronounces of men that their throat is an open tomb our tongues spread lies Poison is under our lips cursing and bitterness is in our mouths for all our self-professed wisdom We are a pack of fools. That's what the gospel communicates. Doesn't it? This is what the Bible the Bible says and this is not a popular message Those who love their sin those who love to live life for themselves hate this message And so they heap shame upon the message and they heap shame upon the messenger Well following the example of his Lord before him Paul counted that shame a small thing and Paul bore the marks of that shame in his back He never wavered from his course Paul said I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ at the end of his life We catch a glimpse as to why he may have stated his assertion this way to this particular church at Rome Paul would eventually be imprisoned there He finally gets to visit But when he does it's under the watchful eye of the Roman government as a prisoner under house arrest And Paul knows that his death is at hand. He's going to be executed for preaching the gospel He's gonna be executed for faithfulness to this gospel that he's not ashamed to preach And so he writes to his beloved son in the faith Timothy in second Timothy chapter 4 verse 6 Paul says for I am already being poured out as a drink offering the time of my departure is at hand I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I've kept the faith Finally, there's laid up for me the crown of righteousness Which the Lord the righteous judge will give to me on that day and not to me only but also to all who have loved his appearing So he tells Timothy be diligent to come to me quickly For Demas has forsaken me having loved this present world He's departed for Thessalonica Crescens has departed for Galatia Titus for Dalmatia only Luke is with me In Rome at the end only Luke is with me verse 16 at my first offense No one stood with me, but all for sook me may it not be charged against them the Paul's words there alone at the end Reminiscent of the Lord's words at the cross This world heaping shame upon Jesus Christ at the cross as they murder him without cause The rulers sneered he saved others let him save himself The soldiers mocked if you're king of the Jews then save yourself Criminals on either side of him blasphemed if you are the Christ save yourself and us and Luke records all his Acquaintances and the women who followed him from Galilee stood at a distance Watching these things the disciples had all fled Peter had denied him three times Following him now at a distance Isaiah had said of him that he was despised and rejected by men a man of sorrows acquainted with grief We hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised. We did not esteem him In other words, we were ashamed of him. So whether it's the love of this world They'd deem us preferred or the fear of man that have kept many from standing with Paul at the hour of his need or the despised Visage of a crucified Savior a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks Many many have made shipwreck of their faith ashamed of the gospel The Lord says Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him The son of man also will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with his holy angels So listen brothers and sisters If we're going to face this temptation to be ashamed of the gospel If we are going to stand with the apostle Paul and make the same assertion that he does If you will stand with Paul and say I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ Then you better have good reason to support that position You better have good reason your red your reason had better be clear and well Defined it better be Reason that flows from DNF DNA level heart convictions that you are willing to die for What reason would have Compelled Peter who denied the Lord what reason would have compelled the other disciples who had fled at his arrest They all fled the Lord Jesus Christ What would have compelled them to preach the gospel boldly to their own deaths? What would have compelled them to say I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ? What reason compelled Paul? for or because the gospel is The power of God to salvation for everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek That's the reason that Paul gives and what a great answer. That is a tremendous answer We think for a moment meditate on that answer all that that answer entails all the implications of that answer That answer will serve well to motivate you and I to take the same stand for you and I not to be ashamed of the Gospel for you and I to stand as Paul in the face of temptation and to preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ It is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek We want to lay hold of that truth this morning The gospel is the power of God to salvation notice three facts with me about the gospel from Paul's statement in verse 16 One the purpose of the gospel to the people of the gospel three the power of the gospel The purpose the people and the power first consider with me the purpose of the gospel Paul says I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because the gospel is the power of God to Salvation the purpose of the gospel is salvation the gospel is good news the gospel is glad tidings concerning salvation the gospel of is a message of salvation We cannot be ashamed of this message. It is a message of salvation It is a message of salvation the word salvation presupposes damnation That's why it is in coming upon us brothers and sisters not to be ashamed of this message This is a message of salvation and that message presupposes damnation The Greek word translated salvation in verse 16 refers to being delivered from harm Literally to be snatched by force from some peril or danger That's what it's referring to that word salvation in this case. We know what the harm is We know what the danger is Paul tells us in verse 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness You know men suppose God To be this frail old grandfather like figure Smells like old spice keeps a butterscotch in his pocket Wouldn't harm a fly But that's not the God of the Bible Those apart from Jesus Christ are in real peril if you are here this morning and you've not turned from your sin To put faith in Jesus Christ alone. You're in peril You are in danger. You are under the threat of certain harm When the God of the Bible is a consuming fire who will devour his adversaries God is the one who says vengeance is mine. I will repay God is the one who flooded the earth and Killed every living thing but eight souls on the ark the animals who are with them God is the one who rained down fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah And this word salvation from verse 16 pictures those angels in Genesis chapter 19 Taking lot in his family forcibly by hand dragging them out of the city and safe flee for your life That's what salvation is Salvation carries the sense of God's people safe behind blood-stained Doorways as the angel of death strikes down the firstborn in the house of Egypt Apart from salvation Jonathan Edwards Well described the danger that you are in He said the God that holds you over the pit of hell much as one holds a spider or some loath some insect over the fire abhors you It is dreadfully provoked his wrath towards you burns like fire He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire He is of pure eyes than the bear to have you in his sight You are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours Salvation listen salvation is deliverance from harm Salvation is deliverance from danger Particularly it's deliverance from the harm that God himself intends against you in hell as judgment against your sin You have sinned against the holy God you have offended him with your rebellion That word salvation Encompasses all that is necessary to redeem you and to reconcile you to God to restore you into a right relationship with the one that you've offended with the one who Through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ holds out an offer to rescue you from the danger that you're in through rebellion in your sin Our understanding of the term that term salvation Should first include a five fold deliverance from sin Salvation would include a five fold deliverance from sin first Through salvation were delivered from the guilt of sin All men are born under a state of condemnation David said I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me Listen, we are born under the law and being born under the law We're born under the condemnation of the law. We were born under a sentence of death The proof of that is that every man dies That's not just some Arbitrary event that takes place at the end of life Men die because of sin Romans chapter 3 verse 19 we know that whatever the law says it says to those who are under the law that Every mouth may be stopped in all the world may become guilty before God And through salvation we are delivered from the guilt of sin There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus second Through salvation. We are delivered from the power of sin Our trouble isn't merely that we are guilty of sin. We are enslaved to sin Jesus Christ himself in John chapter 8 verse 34 most assuredly I say to you whoever commits sin is a slave of sin and brothers and sisters That's because our nature is apart from Jesus Christ apart from a new creation apart from the spirit of God Causing us to be born again. We are by nature Children of wrath by nature sons and daughters of disobedience by nature of our fathers the devil Someone says I have free will Yes, you are free to sin in any number of ways in keeping with your own depraved nature Romans chapter 6 verse 16 Do you not know that whom you present yourselves slaves to obey you are that one slaves whom you obey Whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness, which is exchanging one form of slavery for another Having been set free from sin in salvation Paul says by the grace of God we become slaves of righteousness Third we are delivered from the pollution of sin from the corruption That is the effect of sin in your life Peter says that through exceedingly great and Precious promises we are made partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust But not merely or only in the world does that corruption exist Paul describes this corruption as Another principle within our own members. It lies within our own flesh Romans chapter 7 verse 21 Paul says I find then a law that evil is present with me the one who wills to do good I delight in the law of God according to the inward man But I see this other law this other principle in my members that wars against the law of my mind and Brings me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Oh Wretched man that I am you ever thought that way before Your own inward corruption your own inward pollution the remaining effects and consequences and Perversions of sin within our own flesh. Oh Wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death. I Thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord who sets us free from that pollution Salvation must deal with the corruption of our very natures that we are depraved fourth We are being gradually delivered from the presence of sin Hebrews chapter 10 verse 14 explains that through one offering Jesus Christ has perfected forever those who are being that word is present active it's ongoing Being sanctified Jesus Christ has perfected forever those who are being sanctified in other words further and further and further more and more progressively set apart to holiness through a present ongoing work of the spirit of God and one day and that will come to a Glorious end when we ourselves will be glorified Not merely as we've talked about before not merely passe non-pecari or able not to sin But brothers and sisters we will be non passe picari not able to sin praise God Salvation must fully must finally and will Eventually deal with the presence of sin altogether in the life of a believer in the life of one who is his And finally salvation must deliver us from the penalty of sin Romans chapter 6 verse 22 having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God We have our fruit to holiness and to the end. What is it? everlasting life everlasting life Fully and finally delivered from the penalty of sin thinking of salvation that word salvation in These terms also highlights salvation doesn't it as a past Present and future reality Right thinking of salvation that term in all that it entails Also involves for us salvation as a past present and future reality many people when they think of salvation I did growing up Often think of it as a single one-time occurrence when ordinarily you did something in the past and now based upon your so-called sincerity and doing whatever that thing was you're now saved with no further concern for anything else in the future right and Lot of times they will tell you if you doubt your salvation go back and look at the date Go back and look at what you did boy. Where's your faith when you do that right? It's not in Jesus Christ Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 for by grace you have been saved Past through faith that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God not of works less. Anyone should boast There is an aspect of salvation that is past never to be repeated never to be undone And Paul says having been justified by faith. That's an heiress passive for folks who are considering Greek It's a snapshot of an event that took place in the past and now has ongoing Implications in the present and in the future, but it took place in the past Paul says having been Justified by faith we have now peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Can you see past? occurrence having been justified Current realities peace with God you see We have been forgiven of all our sin our sin Imputed to Jesus Christ the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ Imputed or credited given to us as a free gift of God's grace and we are declared to be Righteous we are reconciled to God. We are adopted into the household of God and we present tense have Eternal life and now you and I rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Amen There's an aspect of our salvation that is past never to be repeated never to be undone Those who are saved by Jesus Christ Continue to experience salvation first Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are present active perishing But to us who are being saved Present passive It is the power of God Notice it is not the power of man To those of you who are saving yourselves by turning to Christ in faith or walking an hour saying a prayer taking the mass or Whatever it is this mindless ritual heartless thing you do. No, it doesn't say that But to us who are being say it's called the divine passive for a reason It's a divine passive because God is the one who is working in power to bring it about right to us who are being saved Present passive it is the power of God salvation in this sense Is an ongoing present process as much as it is a past reality? We are those Being sanctified while we are being preserved by God to the end sanctification and perseverance We aren't fully Separated from sin yet. Are we? There's work left to be done in us. Isn't there a Lot our old man has been crucified That's true. We have become as Paul would say a new lump That's true, but now we must purge out the old leaven Now we must put on the new man renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him Romans chapter 13 verse 11 praise God Paul says our salvation is Nearer than when we first believed if you're used to thinking about salvation in terms of only a past Tense occurrence at some point in your life and that statement of Paul makes absolutely no sense How is it that our salvation is nearer than when we first believe praise God is near Those who have been saved by grace through faith in the past Those who are being saved through sanctification by the spirit in the present will one day Certainly experience a fully consummated and final salvation in the future Romans chapter 5 verse 9 Much more than having now been justified by his blood We shall be saved future passive passive again Shall be saved from wrath through him For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son much more having been Reconciled past we shall be saved future by his life. Do you see? Romans chapter 8 verse 23 not only that But we also who have the first fruits of the spirit even we ourselves grown within ourselves Eagerly awaiting for the adoption the redemption of our body. I thought we were already adopted. I thought we were already redeemed Inaugurated yes redeemed. Yes adopted. Yes the fullness of that still awaits For we are saved in this hope But hope that is seen is not hope for why does one still hope for what he sees? There's we don't have the fullness of it yet But if we hope for what we do not see we eagerly wait for it with perseverance If this is your best life now, then what hope do you have? Where is your hope? We hope for something greater We hope for what we do not see and so we wait eagerly for it with perseverance Jude verse 24 Now to him who was able to keep you from stumbling and to present you Faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy To God our Savior who alone is wise be glory and majesty dominion and power both now and forever Amen the notice all Aspects of Salvation that word past present and future Described using the passive voice Described using the passive voice That doesn't negate the necessity of working out our own salvation with fear and trembling does it doesn't render those commands of scripture useless or Hypothetical or unnecessary But it does communicate that even as we do that even as we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling It is God who is the one who has it work in us to will and to do according to his good pleasure Our salvation past present future is all a work of grace God is the one who saves That doesn't negate our laboring our striving our running our working That doesn't negate the means that God uses to bring about that Sanctification that perseverance But it does not negate the fact that God is the one who saves Furthermore Notice it's not only that we are saved from harm Or that we are saved from danger from sin from the wrath of God Note with me what we are saved to we are reconciled to God We are saved to Eternal life we are delivered to a glorious hope to the presence of his glory with exceeding joy Herein lies the purpose of the gospel Salvation is a five-fold deliverance salvation is a three-tenths reality Salvation which is all of grace the work of God reconciling sinners to himself in love and in joy and in hope That's what Paul has in mind here when he says that He is not ashamed of the gospel because the gospel is the power of God to salvation to you the gospel was a message of this salvation a Glorious hope a glorious joy and Almost unspeakable unimaginable gift Forgiveness of all your sin and reconciliation with God peace with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ I don't have to do anything, but believe upon him who gave himself for me. Yes, believe upon him and be saved What a gift what a tremendous message and there are people Perishing continuously without it. It is the power of God to salvation It is the gospel that was the power of God for our salvation It is the gospel that is the power of God to salvation It is the gospel that will be the power of God for our salvation So you and I Let's place ourselves continually under the preaching of the gospel Remember Paul is ready to preach the gospel to this church in Rome Where there are already believers certainly Paul's gonna preach the gospel to the lost But Paul's ready to preach the gospel to this church in Rome beloved of God called to be saints Those whom Paul has said have been justified through faith past tense So you and I we've noted the purpose of the gospel Note then with me the people to whom the power of God in the gospel is directed Note with me the people verse 16 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 Literally verse 16 for everyone who is believing Present tense we're thinking a lot this morning already of these tenses and the grammar of these verses these clauses and that's important It is literally for everyone who is present tense ongoing believing In other words the gospel not only serves as the means through which God initially brings salvation But the gospel is also the means through which God works in power to continue their salvation Through sanctification by the spirit and perseverance in the faith The gospel is not only for the lost in other words the gospel is also for believers those who are present tense believing The gospel is not only that means by which the Lord saves us The gospel is also that means through which he continues to nourish our faith Sustaining our faith encourage our faith mature our faith preserve our faith strengthen our faith Through which God grows us in our knowledge and apprehension of the fullness of the Blessedness that is eternally ours through the person and work of Jesus Christ Many Christians Have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ in response to the gospel and then Those same Christians Begin to live as though the Christian life is then sustained through works of the law Or that favor with God is somehow Merited Favor given by or through works of the law that somehow having been justified freely by his grace The ongoing reality of his favor in my life may only be maintained by my works or by my performance Now certainly think with me now Certainly we would understand the law to be a rule of life for the Christian our confession says as much Our confession describes it as a means through which we are to know and obey the will of God And that is important for the Christian. It is a means The law is a means through which we may examine ourselves Grow in our conviction against sin grow in our hatred towards sin it's through the law that we we cultivate a clearer Site a clearer understanding of our need for the Lord Jesus Christ The law is helpful useful to restrain our sin The law is helpful useful to convict us of sin the law warns us of the consequences of our sin the law in that sense is a means through which God may work to Preserve us in the faith and keep us from the path to apostasy But the law Can never again condemn us of sin never Faced again with the law's demands We are no longer to subject ourselves to the judgment of the law We're no longer to put ourselves back under the condemnation of the law. Why? Because the gospel is the power of God to salvation The gospel is that means through which God Applies the blessings and benefits of the person and work of Jesus Christ by his spirit to preserve us in the faith to mature As in the faith to grow us in the faith and to keep us to the end The gospel we're to live in light of the gospel We are to flee to Christ through the gospel not cower Under the condemnation of the law when there is therefore now no condemnation anymore for those who are in Christ Jesus Paul asked the Galatians having begun in the spirit. Are you now be made perfect by the flesh? I am not to imagine for a moment. I Am not to imagine for a moment That favor with God is somehow earned or merited by my performance Having been justified by faith past tense. I have present tense peace with God through Jesus Christ and I am to continuously Remember that present tense through the gospel It's through those blessed realities expressed in the gospel that we are more than conquerors again guilt under the law isn't awful motivator There's no power in the law To purify us one spec There's no power in the law to transform you one bit The power is in the gospel. Do you see? There's no power in the law that can afford us one ounce of victory over sin The gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who is believing There is no power in the law that can afford us one ounce of peace and affliction It is the gospel that is the power of God to salvation for everyone who is believing There's no power in the law that can make us holy True holiness flows from faith in Jesus Christ through the gospel Adherence to the law is not legalism But that law has no power to transform We know that this is the right way to think and speak right Most who have grown up into the preaching of the gospel and accurate gospel of sound biblical church Would affirm that that is the right way to think and to speak but sometimes there is in the life of the Christian a disconnect in Applying what we say we rightly understand When it comes to application, it can be difficult And those truths can be muddied as we under the conviction of our own sin begin to Inch ourselves back underneath the condemnation that we've been set free from What you'll see in a Christian or in a church with a wrong view of the law what you will see in a Christian or in a church that Seeks to place themselves or the people back under the condemnation of law is a legal temper Illegal temper you'll see self Righteousness you will see spiritual pride Or on the other hand you'll see morbid introspection naval gazing Insecurity hopelessness lack of assurance spiritual depression These are fearful and dangerous ditches on either side of gospel truth If God is for us then who can be against us He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all how shall he not then With him freely give to us all things. Do you believe it? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect it's God who justifies Who is he who condemns it is Christ who died furthermore is also risen Who is even at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us who shall separate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword This is the gospel do you see This is what we're to lay hold of this is what we're to apprehend. This is how we conquer We conquer in the power of his spirit in the blessedness of what Jesus Christ has already accomplished We labor and fight and strive into this power It is the power of God to salvation for everyone who is believing for your sake Paul says we're killed all day long We're accounted for sheep as the slaughter yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us That's the motivation right for I am persuaded Neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth Nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord and I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ It is the power of God to salvation. Do you see? What an awesome reason We'll see all that working through the text of Romans In this everyone who is believing in this Paul didn't have one gospel for Jews and another gospel for Gentiles Paul had one gospel And it is the power of God through which men are saved in believing The gospel is for the Jew first in one sense. It's the Jew first chronologically Lord told the woman at the well in Samaria that salvation was of the Jews. It started with the Jews Right God worked through Abraham and Abraham's seed So when the apostles were sent out they were sent first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and Then to the Gentiles. You see that pattern in Paul's own ministry They were to begin in Jerusalem in Judea and then on to Samaria in the uttermost ends of the earth. So historically Chronologically salvation was to the Jew first. It was also It was also because the Jews were in as much need of the gospel as anyone else We're gonna see that through the rest of chapter one into chapter two And into chapter three. So the next couple of years. We're gonna be talking about that Paul's gonna make that point very clear very clear There's no one outside the scope of the gospel praise God Why because it is the power of God to salvation for? everyone everyone everyone who believes Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because of its purpose. It is the power of God to Salvation Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because of the people that it's for it's for everyone who is believing For the Jew first and also for the Greek And Paul is not ashamed of the gospel Because it is the power of God to salvation The gospel Isn't merely a word about the person in work of Jesus Christ It isn't merely a statement or a message about the power of God to save those who believe the gospel Paul says is The power of God to salvation for everyone who believes now there are Two subtle nuances that I would like for us to draw from this simple statement first The gospel is God's Power is the power of God Through which God works in his power to save in other words not Man's power In other words the gospel is not what God tells us to do so that we may turn and work in our own power To save ourselves Jeremiah chapter 13 verse 23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil? That is the death knell of Arminianism and yet People miss that simple fact We cannot save ourselves. We cannot transform ourselves. We cannot change our spots We cannot change our skin. We cannot change our nature We are powerless to overcome our own sinful proclivities our own sinful nature Self-help may correct temporal habits, but it cannot change the human heart You can go to a 12-step program and be set free so to speak May you may think from some habit that you've sinned your way into but it does a nothing to change your nature and frankly Professing churches all over the place that try to replicate that worldly wisdom Making it somehow under the guise of biblical wisdom. No the gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who is believing The gospel is what transforms the human heart That which the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God did by sending his own son the likeness of sinful flesh so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us Who do not walk according to our flesh, but according to the spirit Salvation will not come through man's wisdom salvation will not come through human arguments worldly philosophy manipulation coercion persuasion reason ingenuity there is a place for Persuasion and pleading in the preaching of God's word, but that in of itself has no power The power is in the gospel to save and God uses means The gospel is God's power and The Simon maguses of the world the Simon maguses of the evangelical world cannot seize it for themselves and Wealed it themselves stir it up for themselves like many try to do right. That's that that's the whole point behind this manipulative approach to worship this manipulative approach to the culture right I'm trying to manipulate them and you know I I Knew a guy once And shortly after I converted met this Scoundrel Who used to say? Give me five minutes alone with somebody and I'll get you a convert for Christ Right. He had sat down worked out his Presentation to such a degree followed it to in his own mind followed it to perfection Such that you would be stupid if you said no right manipulation manipulation manipulation he claimed it was the power of God Unbelievable and listen that is the testimony of many a professing church The gospel is God's power Through which he works in his power to save secondly The gospel is God's power to salvation Inherent to the gospel message inherent to it is the power of an omnipotent God That power alone is sufficient to save the chief of sinners sufficient to transform and humble the hardest of human hearts Think for a moment with me about the power of God on display in our salvation If you are saved God called you to himself in power If you are saved God called you to himself in his power It was an effectual call an efficacious call. It was a wonder working call it accomplished the purpose for which God intended it when in your in Transigence when in your abstinence you stubbornly resisted all your life When God called you by his spirit you turned to faith in Jesus Christ You couldn't resist any longer could you because Christ was to you now precious It was in power in power that God caused you to be born again It was in power that your life was changed It was in power that you became a new creation in Christ and now whom having not seen you love Though you now you do not see him yet believing you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory Why the power of the living God at work on and in you It is that same power at work in and through you now that is sanctifying you Conforming you to the perfect image of his son. It is that same power at work Enabling you and powering you to obey Have you thought of your self? Considered your experience in those terms When all of those years you were fruitless and hopeless and wallowing in your sin and For God to come in power and to change your wicked heart For God to come in power and to change your wicked affections and change your wicked desires and to transform Them into Christ exalting Christ-loving desires and affections, right? amazing It just changed you Transformed you and now you continue to be changed continue to be transformed Sometimes not at the pace that you and I would like to see Our inward corruption a devilish thing But the Lord at work in us It is that same power by which God now has preserved you all this time in the faith Why is it that you are still? Persevering in the faith and have not as yet turned back to your sin because it is God who in power is Preserving you don't turn back Don't turn back having put your hand to the plow such a one is not fit for the kingdom But God is the one who preserves us. You are held by God's power And it will be by the power of God that you are glorified first Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14 God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the power with which God will raise us up Now we know and we understand the power of God at work in our salvation because his power is effective It is accomplishing an actual work This is not For a moment right the genuine Christian cannot would not say this is some Imaginary fiction you are a new creation if you're in Christ God is at work and you can see the effects of it. It is effectual. It is efficacious. We see the efficacious We see the fruits The gospel quote-unquote without being pragmatic works Why because it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who is believing and Because it is by God's power. It is certain It will end in glorification It will end having begun the work. God will complete the work. It will end in glorification Martin Lloyd-Jones describes it as a prescription Right the power of God in the gospel. He uses the analogy of someone with a terminal condition Going to the doctor this doctor has the cure willing to give him the cure hands him a prescription and the words of that prescription are Powerful as he will submit that prescription and be healed of his malady right the gospel is the Prescription through which God works in power to do what God intends through the gospel Which is to save your wretched soul to save my wretched soul It is efficacious many times over the years in Preaching the gospel to people where in having the conversation with them They are somehow imagining right That simple mental ascent simple agreement with a set of facts is the basis on which they're saved And many times in professing churches That's the manner in which they present the gospel if you agree with these facts then ask Jesus into your heart You're saved don't ever doubt it ABC With no life transformation no are for repentance no Born again none of that Just admit your sinner believe these facts confess Jesus Christ and you're you're saved and then when you talk to them about What is this? Transformative work of the power of God of a life of a genuine believer you are Explaining color to a blind person All right Absolutely no understanding whatsoever of those things remember standing on the driveway with a guy one time and he was about to professing Christian it was on the verge of a divorce with his wife and He said that there's no way it was because of sexual immorality and there was no way that he could control himself Like yeah, you're exactly right. There's no way that you can control yourself The power is not in your flesh to do so the power is in the gospel you profess the Lord Jesus Christ and yet in Your acts in your works you deny him. Do you see? The gospel is the power of God to salvation. It is efficacious in the life of everyone who is believing Well, that's the reason that Paul gives Paul says I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it is the power of God to salvation For everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek that reason the reason why Paul is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ can only Be given with respect to the gospel of Jesus Christ You notice that that cannot be said of anything else There is Nothing else that can be claimed to be the power of God to salvation The cults do not have it Roman Catholicism does not have it Islam does not have it Buddha never saw it, right? It is in nothing else, but the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is unique to the gospel alone Frankly any other Reason could be easily and is easily counterfeited counterfeited We're witnessing to a guy one time he was saved because he had spoken in tongues. I know the Lord is with me I know the Spirit is with me because I spoke in tongues Hindus speak in tongues. What are we going to say about Hindus who do not believe in Jesus Christ? Right any other reason can be counterfeited. I feel that God is with me. He's always been with your feelings Fickle counterfeited fleeting fluctuating with every circumstance Any other reason can be counterfeited any other reason that begins or ends with us Cannot be the reason on which you base your convictions in the gospel You cannot say simply because of my experience I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What happens when you misinterpret your experience? What happens when? the Sometimes waning and fleeting highs that accompany that experience are no longer highs any number of worldly philosophies Have employed been employed Attempted to have been employed with the same effect People have said because of the gospel. I'm happier. I have more joy in my life Is that the reason that you're not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ? What happens when your joy? evaporates in the Heat of affliction What happens when you're faced with real suffering? Brother and sisters, what happens what happens if that's your reason if that's your basis For stating I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ and what happens when this world comes pounding on the door of our church The way the lost pounded on the door in the city of Sodom and Sodom right What happens when that persecution comes is that? philosophy Going to be the strength on which you? lean or Is it because the gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes? God at work in power through the gospel to save sinners to himself Is that going to be the reason? Remember witnessing to a lady one time and she said I just I you know really like what you're saying that all makes complete sense to me I'm gonna go back and talk to my priest about that. He's such a nice guy people today professing Christians professing Christians Plague eight a guilty conscience play Kate their sense of need with all kinds of Snake oils and cotton candies But only the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is the power of God to salvation Because it is the power of God to salvation In it the righteousness of God is revealed all of the reasons can be counterfeited our reason on which we are to base our convictions Must be unique must be distinctive To the gospel itself must be only something that a born again recipient of wonder working grace could say One who has been given a new nature one who has been created a new and one who would say that God has done it all Let's root our reason as Paul does in that truth What they believe what they experienced They became eyewitnesses of these things It was that truth that compelled those formerly fleeing Disciples back into the city that crucified their savior to preach the gospel themselves To their own death It is the same compelling reason that constrained Paul to preach the gospel to be to be determined to do nothing among them except Christ and him crucified They all became bold proclaimers of the gospel for this reason the gospel is the power of God to salvation God please grant us that same boldness as we stand unashamed in proclamation of his gospel. Amen. Amen. Let's pray Father in heaven Lord, we praise you we worship you we stand in all of you we magnify your name Because of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is the power of God to salvation for everyone who is believing We praise you and thank you Lord that that gospel treasure has been given to us Through which you have worked in power to redeem us and reconcile us to transform us To sanctify us to grow us to mature us and to give us a hope and A certain inheritance we thank you for that truth We also thank you Lord that you have deposited that great great treasure with earth and vessels now Privileged with a blessing of standing with the apostle Paul and saying I'm not ashamed and Preaching this gospel with boldness knowing that through the gospel you intend to build your church in a safe centers I pray that we would go out in faith Lord in that Certain truth that we would go out in the strength that your spirit supplies And that we would be faithful to you and the proclamation of this good word Help us as we do and I pray God for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ for the encouragement of your saints That you would give us much fruit for your name We thank you for this and pray it in Christ's name. Amen