God’s Perfect Plan (Part 4)

SERMON:             GM15-054

SERIES:              Renewal Through Romans: The Gospel Defined, Explained &           Applied

SETTING:          North Kelso Baptist Church

SERVICE:          Sunday AM (April 19, 2015)

SECTION:          The Prologue to Righteousness (Romans 1:1-17)

SUBTITLE:        God’s Perfect Plan (Part 4)

SCRIPTURE:     Romans1:16b

SUBJECT:          God’s saves sinners through the gospel

SUMMARY:       You must believe in the Gospel’s ability to deliver you from your                              sins through the gospel

SCHEME:           That each member of NKBC fully understands the ability, or the                                 capability of God to deliver His people from their sins through the                                  gospel.

_____________________________________________________________

Our theme continues to be: God saves through the gospel   

This is still a good reminder for us all to remember that the gospel is designated as the only means of effective salvation.

 Proposition:  You must understand the ability of God to deliver His people from their sin through the gospel. 

Interrogatory Sentence:  What does the text reveal to us about the power of the gospel?

Transitional Sentence: From our passage we learn two very important truths about the power contained in the gospel:

·        …the gospel produces saving faith in sinners

·        …the gospel produces sanctifying faith in saints

God’s Perfect Plan

 Romans 1:16b

(Part 4)

3A     God’s Perfect Plan

Objective:  That each member of NKBC fully understands the ability, or the capability of God to deliver His people from their sins through the gospel.

Translation:

“…for it is the power of God unto salvation for all who are believing….” (Romans 1:16b, GDM)

INTRODUCTION

The gospel is for "everyone" (v. 16) including Jew and Gentile. God sent His Son into the world to make it possible for all men, everywhere, to be saved. There is no racial barrier to hinder anyone from accepting the gospel (Romans 10:12-13); there is no social barrier to hinder anyone from accepting the gospel (Matthew 11:28); there is no age barrier-for the young may come and the old may come; there is no moral barrier or the "good;" there is no national barrier because all may come (Revelation 22:17). The gospel invitation is to all people everywhere. God loves everybody and the Lord Jesus can save anybody! (Isaiah 55:1). This glorious gospel, which is "the power of God unto salvation" is good news for you.

The only qualification is the fact that you are a sinner.

Our theme is: God saves through the gospel    

This is a good reminder for us all to remember that the gospel is designated as the only means of effective salvation.

 Proposition:  You must understand the ability of God to deliver His people from their sin through the gospel. 

Interrogatory Sentence:  What does the text reveal to us about the power of the gospel?

Transitional Sentence: From our passage we learn two very important truths about the power contained in the gospel:

·        …the gospel produces saving faith in sinners

·        …the gospel produces sanctifying faith in saints

We have been looking at God’s Perfect Plan.

[Before we continue to dig in to this perfect plan of God, let’s take a minute and…]

REVIEW

 [We began examining the first disclosure of Paul’s declaration and that was…]

1F     THE RESOURCE OF SAVING FAITH

          “…for it is the power of God unto salvation…”

We began looking at the first element of the resource of saving faith: The Gospel Rescues Us

1G     The Gospel Rescues Us

We said that there were five aspects of the fact that the gospel rescues us they were:

The gospel’s substance, the gospel’s strategy, the gospel’s source, the gospel’s sufficiency, and the gospel’s scope.

[Last week we looked at the fourth aspect which was…]

The Gospel’s Sufficiency

The gospel is a powerful gospel! As a matter of fact Paul says, “…for it is the power of God unto salvation.”

Paul is stating emphatically that the gospel is God’s power unto salvation. We must understand that salvation is a powerful action on God’s part and not on the action of mankind in any fashion.

[In order to understand what Paul meant by calling the gospel a “power,” we began by…]

  

DESCRIBING THE POWER OF GOD

[To describe the power of God we first looked at it…]

Negatively – we started by determining what Paul was not saying or what he did not

mean.

·        The gospel is not about God’s power; it is God’s power.

·        This is not a simple description about God’s power. The gospel is the power of God.

·        Paul is not telling his readers, nor us, that we have to do anything for salvation.

·        Paul is not saying that God has done something about salvation, or has told us something about salvation.

·        Most important, Paul is not saying, “Well, God has done all He can do, it is now up to you. If you do your part, then you will have salvation. Paul, and for that matter, neither is God saying anything like that at all.

Now, on the other hand we looked at what Paul did say from a positive standpoint.

Positive

Paul told his first century readers how God prepared, made, produced, and is working out the salvation that Paul has spoken of. The gospel is God’s way of saving sinners. It is God’s power producing salvation in sinners.

This is way Matthew 1:21 says, “…for He shall save His people from their sins.”

We gave you a number of passages to defend this position:

 (Eph 1:19-20, NKJV)

 (Phil 1:6, NKJV)

 (Phil 2:13, (NKJV)

 (1 Ptr 1:5, NKJV)

So, when Paul tells the Romans that he is not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God unto salvation he is saying that salvation is God’s mighty working in us through and by the means of the gospel.

We spent some time looking at four major thoughts:

·        Paul is referring to all God determined before He created the earth in regards to salvation

·        Paul is referring to all that God planned to accomplish in regards to salvation

·        Paul is referring to all that God has done to accomplish his plans in regards to salvation

·        Paul is referring to all that God will do in Christ through the HS to ensure the salvation of His people

[After describing the power of God from both a negative and positive standpoint, we…]

DEFINIED THE POWER OF GOD

The Greek Word is dunamis. It is used 120 times in the bible. It carries the meaning or gives the idea of: 1) Strength, or ability

It refers to that inherent power, or that power that resides in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth

It is the capability or ability to actually perform what one wants to perform because all that is needed is already within the one who has determined to do something that is fully or totally capable.

In God resides all the capability to save His people because everything needed to accomplish this determination is sufficiently residing in God already.

So, the gospel doesn’t just make salvation possible, the gospel produces salvation in those whom God calls through the HS. God is shown to have the capability in the effective transformation of the sinner. 

Our theme continues to be: God saves through the gospel   

This is a good reminder for us all to remember that the gospel is designated as the only means of effective salvation.

 Proposition:  You must understand the ability of God to deliver His people from their sin through the gospel.

[So, having had our memory refreshed, let’s move to our…]

TRUTH FOR TODAY

Since the substance of the gospel is good news or glad tidings, and the Strategy of the Gospel is a means of salvation, and the Source of the Gospel is God, and the Sufficiency of the Gospel is God’s ability or capability to save His people, we have to ask ourselves the next logical question.

What is the extent or the range or maybe even the effectiveness of the gospel?

Today I hope to finish the fifth and final aspect of the fact that the Gospel Rescues Us. So, today we will examine the…

The Scope of the Gospel

“…for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.”

Here is the fifth reason that Paul is not ashamed of the gospel. It is a gospel for all kinds or types of peoples. Because the gospel is God’s power, or ability or capability it is a gospel for all types of peoples.

Think about – the Gentiles did not have the law of God given by Moses and were absolute sinners. As sinners, Gentiles were in need of salvation.

The Jews who had the Law of God were absolute sinners. They were in need of salvation.

The Scripture is clear that no man can save himself with the law or apart from the law. But Paul says, “The gospel is God’s power unto salvation.”

There is something new here isn’t there? “To the Jew first and also to the Greek, or Gentiles.”

To the Jew first – this is the divinely planned historical order.

For the record, Paul didn’t list the Jews first because they were of greater importance than anybody else. He is simply referring to God’s plan chronologically – it is simply a time relationship.

Remember the Samaritan woman when she said, “Salvation is of the Jews.” It was. God started with the Jews. When the gospel was preached it began in Jerusalem, then it went into Samaria and then to the rest of the known world.

Even Jesus started with the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The Jews were God’s chosen people. So the gospel was to be preached to them first. Paul, when he could, started preaching to the Jews in the Synagogue and then went to the Gentiles.

There is another reason, I think why Paul said to the Jew first and also to the Greeks.

He wanted to make sure no one would think that the gospel was just for the Gentiles. He didn’t want anyone to think that the Jews did not need the gospel. Of course many Jews, particularly the Pharisees thought they did not need this gospel of God from Paul.

But Paul will make it amply clear in chapters 2 and 3 that the Jews are as hopelessly in need of salvation as much as any Gentile sinner.

So, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek!

It is no different today. Many people deny that they need salvation or the gospel. They even become angry at the thought that they need to be converted.

Many will say:

·        I was brought in chapel or SS

·        I was indoctrinated from a little child

·        I have been baptized or christened

·        I have been good and have tried to live by the golden rule

·        I am not that bad

·        God will never reject me

·        I am very moral and live a very moral life

·        I belong to a church body 

We know that apart from Christ the need the gospel. To the Jew first, and then to everybody else. Why? Because no man can save himself!

“Therefore, by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20, NKJV)

Regardless of the sin, and regardless of the type or kind of sinner, the gospel is for all types or kinds of men.

Take note however, the one thing that Paul does not mean when he gives us the scope of the gospel. Paul is not saving salvation is for every man who has ever lived, or who is living now, or who will live one day. He is not implying that the gospel will rescue every Jew or Gentile.

God, through Christ, will save His people, both who are Jews and Gentiles, from their sin. The scope is all types and kinds, both Jews and Gentiles.

So Paul states emphatically, “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.”

The let’s take a minute and look at a phrase in the middle of the clause:

“…to everyone who believes…”

There are at least three (3) things to keep in mind at this point:

The first thing to keep in mind is that Believe and faith are key words in Paul’s letter to the Romans. These words are especially important in 3:21 through 4:25.

To believe is to put one’s full trust in the God who “justifies the ungodly by the means of Christ’s sacrifice and death on the cross.”

It is not merely assenting to, agreeing to, or accepting certain intellectual facts. Thursday, because my friend Mike brought it up, I tried to share with him that merely believing God exists and accepting that intellectual truth is not enough for salvation.

Believing and faith include the necessary surrender of one’s will to God. It is a commitment and reliance upon God.

Faith is not simply agreeing with a set of doctrines but absolute surrender and trust to and in the person of Jesus Christ.

·        When you turn a water faucet on – you trust or rely or belief that good, safe water will come out of the faucet

·        When you drive over a bridge – you trust or rely or belief that it will not collapse underneath of you

Faith is going beyond truth or fact and placing your soul in the care of Christ by relying, trusting and believing that He will keep or save your soul.

The second thing that we have to keep in mind is that although, it is God who has:

·        Elected or predestined a certain number to be saved

·        Has provided an acceptable sacrifice that has appeased His wrath

·        Has provided the HS who regenerates us or gives us life

·        Has given through the HS both the gift of faith and repentance

·        Has through the HS made us to be Christians

We are still required and are responsible to actively believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul faulted the Jews for failing to believe in chapter 9:32-33 and in chapter 10:3-8. Paul called all types of people to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, both Jews and Gentiles. Paul held them responsible for their unbelief.

Don’t forget however, that the gospel is a power that effects salvation and effectively calls people to salvation.

There is a sort of tension between the sovereign work of God and the responsibility of the sinner. Paul will try to explain this tension especially in Chapters 9-11.

The third thing to keep in mind is that faith or believe is not a “work.”  Exercising faith and or believing is not something we do, it is a response to what God Has already done.

Some want to say that we don’t even have to believe or exercise faith otherwise that is a work on our part, and of course we don’t work for our salvation.

John Calvin wrote:  “Faith is a kind of vessel with which we come empty and with the mouth of our soul open to seek God’s grace.” (Institutes 3:11.7)

Believing even though it is a human activity, contains no “merit” or worth for which God is somehow bound to reward us for – salvation from the first to the last act is God’s work!

Why is this so important to Paul? Why should we concern ourselves with the scope of the gospel?

The answer is actual very simple. Paul wants to emphasize the universal scope of the gospel, showing that the gospel reaches both Jews and Gentiles, not just the Jews.

Once the Roman believers understand this, both Jews and Gentiles are included in God’s plan of salvation, Paul hopes that they will support and help him in his quest to preach the gospel to the gentiles in Spain and in the west.

So, as Paul brings the scope of the gospel to the forefront it gives hint to what he will expound about God’s Perfect Plan in the rest of his letter.

Thomas Schreiner made this observation:

“When Paul says that the gospel is to the Jew, he may be reflecting on his missionary practice of using the synagogue as a starting point for the preaching of the gospel since his missionary practice was rooted in his theological conviction that the Jews were specially elected to be God’s people. The priority of the Jews was not merely a historical reality that had now lapsed for Paul. The place of the Jews in the outworking of salvation history was still crucial, and Paul attempts to work out this issue in chapters 9-11.”

[There is a second thing that salvation does, salvation completely…]

2G Reconciles Us to God

When God saves us through Christ Jesus, He reconciles us to Himself. God restores the communion and fellowship with Him that was lost in the fall of Adam. Salvation is not merely forgiveness. I think some Christians think this. They think, great I am forgiven and will go to heaven when I die and they think that is it. Now they can live their live how they want. No, God restores a relationship with us. Mankind had fellowship with God, he had communion, but that was lost by Adam.

The Definition

The propitiation or sacrifice of Christ on the cross placed sinners in a changed relationship to God and towards his judgments against us. And so reconciliation shows us the both the price and the value of the cross. The sacrifice of Christ was intended to satisfy God and reconcile God to the sinner.

Christ’s death brings an end to the enmity, the anger, the hostility, the estrangement that God existed between God and sinners. God’s hostility is removed by the death of Christ. By the way, God plays the active role in reconciliation. God reconciles us to Him.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved. And not only that, but we rejoice in God through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” (Romans 5:8-11, NKJV)

“Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (II Corinthians 5:18-19, NKJV)

Reconciliation is the change of God’s attitude toward us who are sinners.

The Illustration

Paul in his writings illustrates this idea of reconciliation with at least four (4) illustrations:

·        Those who were far off are brought near – b4 X, we were far away from God

·        Strangers are made fellow citizens – b4 X we were strangers to God, citizens of heaven

·        The dividing wall is removed – the wall of enmity, hostility, anger, judgment gone

·        Peace with God – God is no longer at “war” with us, peace was declared

So, the result of reconciliation is a right relationship with God that makes both access to God and fellowship with God possible. 

“For He himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” (Ephesians 2:14-18, NKJV)

Quite frankly we are not saved until the communion or relationship with God is restored. This is an essential part of our salvation. Reconciliation is essential and cannot be minimized.

[Thirdly, salvation…]

3B RESTORES TO US THE HOPE OF GLORY

When Adam fell into sin, he and the entire human race came under the wrath of God. The wrath of God in turn sends the guilty to eternal destruction. Men need to be delivered from that eternal destruction that is to come.

Do you remember what John the Baptist preached? “Repent! Save yourselves from this wicked or sinful generation. Flee from the wrath which is to come.”

Man is under the wrath of God. God sends men to hell and men need to be saved or delivered from God’s wrath that condemns men to hell.

In chapter 8 Paul writes, “For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope, for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” (Romans 8:4)

Paul also teaches in Romans that we are waiting for, and actually groaning in anticipation for the redemption of our body. Of course this is all in the future, and that is why we hope

We have a hope. WE have a future. We will one day be saved or delivered from all of this sin and pollution through the salvation of God through Jesus Christ.

So, the first element of the resource of saving faith is its’ substance – the gospel of Jesus Christ. The second element of the resource of saving faith is its’ strategy – it delivers or saves us from sin, it reconciles us to God, and it gives us a hope of glory in the future.

Our theme has been: God saves through the gospel    

This is still a good reminder for us all to remember that the gospel is designated as the only means of effective salvation.

 Proposition:  You must understand the ability of God to deliver His people from their sin through the gospel. 

Interrogatory Sentence:  We have tried to answer the question, “What does the text reveal to us about the power of the gospel?”

Transitional Sentence: From our passage we learned the first of two very important truths about the power contained in the gospel:

…the gospel produces saving faith in sinners!

How does the gospel produce saving faith in sinners? By understanding that…

The Gospel Rescues us

The Gospel Reconciles Us

The Gospel Restores Us

[What do you say we wrap this up, shall we?]

         

CONCLUSION

Let me conclude with this statement - The gospel is good news from God to man!

 So, I exhort you as genuine believers to: live in the light of the fact that you have been rescued, reconciled, and restored by God through his means of salvation, which is the gospel.

Remember, the writer of Hebrews wrote in Hebrews 3:14…

“For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.”  (Hebrews 3:14, NKJV)

  Let’s pray! J

Benediction Blessing:

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. (Philippians 4:23, NKJV)