Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church located in Kernersville, North Carolina.
This is the first time my stubborn streak ends, alright? Look at verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God. There's our sermon title this morning. The gospel of Christ, the power of God. Do you understand that the gospel is the power of God? The power of God is what makes the gospel the gospel to you and I.
And you're going to understand that hope a little bit better this morning. For it is the power of God unto everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written the just shall live by faith.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. If we at Kerwin are going to be a Christ-centered church and a gospel-motivated church, then we've got to understand, fully understand, not just what the gospel is, but we have to understand what it means, what it does for us, why it is needed, how are we to depend on that. Listen, if we're going to be a gospel-motivated church, we have to understand the gospel. And if we are going to be a Christ-centered church, we have to understand what it means to be centered on Christ and what it means to be motivated by the gospel.
Because the gospel is not just for salvation, it is literally the motivation of our Christian life. And we're going to keep digging into it. Hope it'll be a blessing to you. Let's pray. Lord, I love you. Thank you for all you've done. Lord, I need your help today as I always do. In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen. I would like to kind of look at this verse and many of you know I talk to you about it. Sometimes people come up and say, you know, how can I study the Bible better? There are numerous methods. I don't know all of them. I know many of them.
I've used a majority of them at different times. There's Bible numerology. There's even a man that my dad actually went to college with years and years ago, Mike Kakouris. And he literally developed a study in the Bible on how to study the Bible. Everything's laid up by literally by a chapter number and verse number. You can kind of know what theme is going to be talked about. It's really interesting stuff. I don't understand it all. And I need to.
I'm going to hopefully one day. But it's neat how the Bible is not just a book. It is the living Word of God.
It is God. And so there's a lot of ways. But one of the best ways is phraseology. In other words, you look at a verse and you say, what are the key phrases in this verse? And it helps you to kind of automatically outline, not necessarily alliterate an outline, but to outline that verse. So, okay, let me take these key phrases out of a verse. And that helps me to understand what this passage in its context is teaching.
So that's what I want to do today for you as we look at this, as we continue to dissect here in Romans chapter one. Notice number one, he says this, I am not ashamed. I am not ashamed.
Now that's our theme for this year. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. So what does that mean? It means first that Paul is saying, I'm not ashamed of the truth.
I'm not ashamed of the truth. Now listen, although the gospel, now listen to me, I want you to get this. Although the gospel is literally the good news, there are some ingredients in the gospel and some things in the gospel that aren't real good.
Do you understand that? The gospel in its entirety is good news for us. But there's some things in it that weren't really good. Like the beating of Jesus Christ. Like what he went through on the cross and leading up to the cross.
That's not real pretty. It's not like we can go walking around and say, well, let me tell you about the gospel. Everything's wonderful, lovely, the love of God. Let me just say, you know, this flowery God.
No, no, no, no. When you talk about the gospel, it's good news for us, but it's not necessarily full of just really good things. To understand the gospel, we have to understand the literally the sacrifice that Jesus went through to make this available.
And Paul says this, I'm not ashamed of it. I mean, literally it ought to be a shame literally to you and me to think that we, we put Jesus on the cross. Our sin, not only did we put him on the cross, but we're the ones that scourged him and we're the ones that spit on him. And we're the ones that put the crown of thorns on him. And it is literally because of us, but it is good news to us, but it isn't always good. And Paul said, I'm not ashamed of that because it's the truth. It's the truth.
You know what? It's not real fun to go look at people and say, Hey, listen, you put Jesus on the cross. He would have died just for your sins. He died for everyone's sins.
But if you were the only person alive, he would have died for you. It's not real fun to say, but it's the truth. Paul said, I'm not ashamed. You know, believing that this is the only way to heaven, believing that this is the only means of salvation is through the gospel.
That's not real popular. But Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the truth. And dear friend, you and I have to understand when it comes to the gospel, we can't be ashamed of it. Just because, Hey, we have some friends in our network and just because maybe we have some family that, you know, Hey, they believe different. That's true.
And you know what? We're not to be mean. We're not to be core, but we are to be truthful. And when it comes to the gospel, we should not be ashamed of that. So Paul says first, I'm not ashamed. What does it mean? He says, I'm not ashamed of the truth.
Secondly, he's meaning this. I'm not ashamed to tell the truth. That's why he said in the verses before, I'm ready to preach the gospel.
Even to Rome, even where it's going to be difficult and even where they're not going to like it. I'm not ashamed of the truth, which means I'm not ashamed to tell the truth. You know, it's one thing to say, well, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I believe it.
Okay. But it's another thing to say that means now that's going to translate to where we're going to go share it. We're going to proclaim it. Paul said this, I'm willing to be criticized for it. That's what it means when you say I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
Paul is saying, I'm not ashamed of it. I'm willing to be criticized for it. I'm willing to have people reject it and reject me. I am willing to be ridiculed. I am willing to literally be looked like I'm the odd one and I'm the strange one and I'm the crazy one. But that's what you and I are willing to do and go through when we are not ashamed of the truth. Well, that might offend people. And dear friend, listen that while that sounds humble, but you know what? I don't want to offend people.
Guess what? I don't either. But I don't want to offend God. And so I've got to make sure that I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
Notice the second phrase he mentions here. He says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. The gospel of Christ.
What is it he's not ashamed of? The gospel of Christ. Now, our culture has a lot of gospels. Our culture has a lot of ways they say that you can get to God or whoever God is.
But I want you to understand this. Paul is saying this. He says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, which means this. Paul is saying first that Christ is the center of the gospel. The gospel is Jesus Christ.
That's who paid the price for us. And I will tell you that nowadays, you hear me say it all the time that Christ, Jesus Christ is what's a divider in our culture. And Paul says this, it's the gospel of Christ.
I'm not just giving you good news. I'm giving you good news about Jesus Christ. That's where our faith lies. In the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Him and him only. Paul is saying this, it's the gospel of Christ. So that literally Christ is the center of the gospel. What is the center, secondly, of the word of God? Paul is saying this, that Christ is the center of the word of God. You see, the gospel is the central theme of the Bible. And Jesus is the center of the gospel. That means this, that not only is Jesus the center of the gospel, Paul is saying this, that Jesus is literally the center of God's word.
Please get this. And we're going to be getting into this over the next few weeks. But everything in the Bible has to do with Jesus Christ. Everything in the Old Testament, you're like, what about all those weird laws and those weird things? Everything you read, you have to look at when it was written, who was it written to, and it was written for all of us. But it wasn't necessarily written to our people. It was written to our particular people.
Sometimes it's written to this particular people and to this particular people. But everything in the Bible is for us and it's all there because somehow it is putting the pieces together to let us know that we need Jesus. That Jesus is coming. That Jesus came. That Jesus died. That Jesus rose again. That Jesus ascended back into heaven.
That Jesus is preparing a place for us and it's going to happen. Everything in the Bible has to do with that. And if you don't look at everything in the Bible through those eyes, then you're going to pick out little pieces of the Bible and make your own philosophy out of it that is not biblical. See we have people that have created philosophy and even our circles sometimes in years past, preachers have gotten up and they blasted things because they took a verse out of context and instead of looking how this verse points to Jesus, they look at that verse how it points to you. Let me tell you what you need to do and what you need to change because of this verse.
No, no, no. Every verse somehow is pointing to Jesus. And you've got to look at it through those eyes. And if you don't understand that Jesus is the center of the Word of God, you're going to get confused on the Word of God. You're going to look at something like, well bless God, it doesn't say it's a sin. Well that doesn't matter whether it says it's a sin or not.
What matters is how does this apply to me through the eyes of Jesus Christ? What does this have to do with that? Alright, I can tell this is going over great. That stubborn streak is coming up in me now, I'm telling you. Another month of it, that's what this means now.
If you look at me, it's just going to go another month. Remember I have teachers say, you keep looking at me like that, I'm going to go 10 minutes longer. Used to have preachers say, you ever had preachers get up, well bless God the way you all keep, you all keep frowning on me, I'm going to go another 20 minutes. And I used to think as a kid, why would you want to do that?
They're already miserable and you're miserable, why don't you stop now? But that was me as a kid, alright. Paul says the Gospel of Christ, third it means this, that Christ is to be the center of your life. Christ is the center of the Gospel, it's the Gospel of Christ. Christ is the center of the Word of God because the Gospel is the center of the Word of God and Christ is the center of the Gospel. And that means thirdly that Christ is to be the center of your life. That's what it means to wrap around Jesus.
That's what it means to be Christ-centered church. Notice thirdly, he brings up this phrase. He said I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ because it is the power of God. Now this goes a little deeper. Now I want you to listen to me this morning, you say it's kind of hard to be deep at 9.13.
Yes, I'm aware exactly what time it is. Matthew Henry said this, I thought this was a good phrase. The Gospel is through the power of God. Without that power, the Gospel is but a dead letter. If it wasn't for the power of God, the Gospel would not be good news for you or for me. It would just be a good story. But it wouldn't change your life. Paul says this, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.
Why? For it is the power of God. To be ashamed of the Gospel is to be ashamed of God. Wait a minute, now I want you to notice that means what?
And if I can get your heads to wrap around this, it means this. Number one, it means the Gospel is the manifestation of God's power. I'm not ashamed of the Gospel, Paul says, for it is the power of God. That means it's the Gospel is literally a showing. It is showing, it is displaying the power of God. The Gospel is just a manifestation of how powerful God is. The Gospel is the manifestation of the power of God in the earth.
And the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. I mean, the fact of creation, our universe, our solar system, you know, the earth and everything in it and all these things, that shows, that's a manifestation of the power of God. I think about the birth of Jesus. That's a manifestation of the power of God. The fact that Jesus could be born of a virgin. That had to be the power of God.
It's a manifestation of that. I think about the sinless life of Jesus. Only the power of God could do that. I mean, even creation shows the power of God. The birth of Jesus shows the power of God. The life of Jesus shows the power of God.
How about this? The resurrection of Jesus. That is a manifestation of the power of God. And you and I can look at that and see clearly.
Oh, I see. That's the power of God. But dear friend, the Gospel is a manifestation of the power of God. It is the power of God.
Listen to me. The fact that the Gospel changed you shows the power of God. The fact that the Gospel melted your hardened heart.
There are some of you sitting right here in this room. That were hardened to the Gospel. Hardened to church.
Hardened to the word of God. And yet somehow the truth and the power of the Gospel. It was the power of God.
And it began, and by the way, this word here where he says the power of God is the word dunamis. Dynamite. It's like you put dynamite in a rock and a rock is a very, very hard surface. And when that dynamite explodes, it just blows out that rock. That's what it was.
It literally was harder or greater than the hardness. The Gospel is dynamite that breaks up your hard heart. That's the power of God.
Why am I the only one excited about that this morning? Secondly, I want you to get this. This is the manifestation of man's weakness. The Gospel in itself shows how powerful God is. But the Gospel also shows how weak you and I are. When you understand the Gospel, you understand this. I can't save myself.
I don't have enough power to do this. But when you hear the Gospel, you realize that has power that you don't have. Wow.
You see, anything that shows how powerful God is automatically shows how weak you are. What did Job say? Job said, hey, I've heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. I repent. I repent in dust and ashes, he said. Let me go to the next phrase.
Fourth thing is this. He said, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God. But notice this phrase, unto salvation. Now, I want you to understand this verse like you've never understood it before.
You've got to understand the pieces. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the truth. I'm not ashamed to tell the truth. And it's the Gospel of Christ. Christ is the center of the Gospel. Christ is the center of God's word. And Christ should be the center of your life.
And why? It's because it's the power of God. The Gospel itself is literally, it's a sign.
It shows. It's just pouring out the power of God. It took the power of God for Jesus to come down and live a sinless life and die, but to raise again from the grave.
That is God's power. And the whole purpose of it, everything about it was for what? Unto salvation.
Get me this morning, please. Salvation is the ultimate purpose of the Gospel. To accomplish salvation.
To think of all that was done and it was done for you and me. The Gospel leads to something. The Gospel is God showing His power, His ability to be able to save mankind.
Listen, let me put it this way and you've got to get this. The Gospel is what connects man to God. The Gospel is what connects man to God. There was no way for me to connect to God. Until the Gospel.
It was all done unto salvation. I want you to hear this, if you're ready to flex your brain this morning, somebody will be like, no, no, no, no, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it. But if you want to flex your brain just for about 30 seconds, listen to me this morning, okay?
There are often, and I think I've done this in the past and it might sound like semantics. Well, it's just the way you're saying it, but listen to me. There's a lot of people that think that Christ himself is the Gospel, but that's not so. Now listen to me, I want you to get this.
Don't misunderstand me. And we say this reverently, has always been himself. Now listen, what does Hebrews 13 tell us?
Jesus the same yesterday, today, and forever. So Jesus is what He's always been. Now get this, there has not always been the Gospel of salvation, but Jesus has always been. So I want you to get this, the Gospel is not just Jesus, it's what Jesus did.
It means He did something for us. It was unto salvation. Now, please understand this. It's not just what Christ is, it's what He did. That is the Gospel. And here's why I understood it better. I want to read you this quote by Dr. W. W. Martin.
Listen to this. Our justification is connected with the shedding of Christ's blood. Listen, we are not justified by His incarnation, as wonderful as it is. The fact that Jesus became God is wonderful, and that's the power of God, but that did not redeem us. We are not justified by His life and example, as great as that was.
Spotless and perfect though He was. We are rather not saved by His life or His example, we're condemned by it. We're not saved because Jesus was perfect, we're condemned because Jesus was perfect.
That's a standard we cannot attain to. So the perfection and the righteousness of Christ doesn't save me, it condemns me. It's His death. It's the fact that He shed His blood, that He became the sacrifice for my sin is why I'm saved. The Gospel isn't just Jesus, it's what Jesus did.
Jesus was already Himself, and He is still the same as He's always been. But what changed is you and I now have the Gospel unto salvation because of what Jesus did. It was all unto salvation. That is why Paul said this, but God commended His love toward us. While we were yet sinners, He did something. He died for us. It doesn't say, but God commended His love toward us and that while we were sinners, He was just Himself. That wouldn't have saved me. It's because He died for us unto salvation.
You don't even know how good this is, thank God. That's God's word, isn't it? Alright, let me give you these last two phrases, three phrases, four phrases, whatever, you know, somewhere around in there.
This is about that time of the early service, everybody's like, alright, he's got a couple minutes, alright. Notice this phrase, it's the Gospel, it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Now get this, the Gospel is for everyone, but it's not to everyone.
The Gospel's for everybody, but it is only to those that believe. That means this, and here's what I love it, that phrase everyone, that shows that the Gospel is available, that salvation is available to every person. But that phrase that believeth, that shows that salvation is a choice. That salvation is available to everyone, but it only goes to those that believeth.
That's what in the Bible we call a conditional phrase. That means it's available to everybody, but it is only applied to those that believe it. To everyone that believeth.
Do you believe? Everything we just mentioned, everything we just mentioned, therein is the righteousness of God revealed. The Gospel reveals the righteousness of God.
Now look at me, I want you to get this. The Gospel reveals the righteousness of God, number one. We must first see the righteousness of God condemning. God's righteousness is what condemns us. He's a holy God, and we're not. He's holy, we're sinners. If you understand that, say amen. That's what creates the tension in the story. He's holy, I'm not. Just like in Hallmark. He now works in the country on the farm, she's stuck in the city with her old dud boyfriend. Wonder how this is gonna turn out.
Get this. We see through the righteousness of God that He is holy. We then realize that we cannot approach Him because we're sinners. So the Gospel teaches us that Jesus is God, so He is righteous. And yet the righteous, sinless God sacrificed Himself so that I now could have the righteousness of God.
Do you understand? Look at me, what does it mean, Preacher, in verse 17? For the righteousness of God is revealed.
It's revealed. It means this, that literally the righteousness of God is what showed me that I needed salvation, and yet the righteousness of God is what made it available for Jesus to be the sacrificial lamb. If He wasn't righteous, He wouldn't have been a good enough sacrifice. So the righteousness of God is what reveals to me that I need Christ, and the righteousness of God is what made Him the perfect sacrifice, and now I have the righteousness of God. That's revealed me through the Gospel.
Goodness gracious. Listen, the very righteousness of God that condemns us is that which redeems us through His sacrifice. The very standard that was set that I could not attain, the fact that Jesus was at that standard is the very thing I needed for Him to be my sacrifice.
That standard. So now the righteousness of God is revealed to me because I believed and put my faith in the Gospel. That's why Romans 1 18, look at verse 18 right here in your passage. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. See, because God was righteous, His wrath was revealed against unrighteousness, that was me. Notice this, who hold the truth and unrighteousness.
Now I'm not trying to repeat myself, but just listen. The righteousness of God shows me my unrighteousness. His righteousness makes me now see my unrighteousness. Seeing my unrighteousness shows me now why I need God's righteousness.
Do you get it? His righteousness shows me now that I'm unrighteous. And my unrighteousness now shows me why I need His righteousness. His righteousness revealed to me. Wow. I know it's a lot to take in in the morning.
I'm almost done. Last phrase. Look at verse 17, I love this. Hope it will be a blessing to you. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed. Notice this phrase from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. The just shall live by faith. Now I want to close with this from faith to faith. What does that mean preacher?
Listen, I'm almost done. Salvation comes from putting our faith in the gospel. God's faithfulness becomes that which we put our faith in every day. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192 or via the web at kerwinbaptistchurch.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin broadcast today. God bless you.
