The power of the Gospel
The power of the Gospel
I. Religion is the story of what a sinful man tries to do for a holy God; the gospel is the story of what a holy God has done for sinful men.
II. God is the Gospel and it is a glorious declaration of his mighty acts of rescuing his creation through his eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is like prisoners of war hearing by hidden radio that the allies have landed and rescue is only a matter of time. The guards wonder why all the rejoicing.
This is the difference that news makes. Christians have heard the news that Christ has come into the world and has fought the decisive battle to defeat Satan and death and sin and hell. The war will be over soon, and there is no longer any doubt as to who will win. Christ will win.
By it millions have been redeemed and cheered and comforted and inspired.
III. Romans 1 NIV
Paul was set apart for the gospel. (Ro 1:1) He experienced it, believed it, practiced it, and proclaimed it.
The Gospel is what God does for man and Paul wanted to encourage, strengthen, and build the Romans faith with the Gospel. (1:8-12) / (10:17)
Paul was eager to see growth and spiritual fruit produced in their lives because of the Gospel. (1:13)
IV. There is Power in the Gospel
Many years ago, something unusual happened in a Moscow theatre that illustrates the convicting and transforming power of the Gospel. Matinee idol, Alexander Rostovzev was converted while playing the role of Jesus in a sacrilegious play entitled, Christ In A Tuxedo. He was supposed to read two verses from the Sermon of the Mount, remove his gown, and cry out, Give me my tuxedo and top hat! But as he read the words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted...”
He began to tremble. Instead of following the script, he kept reading from Matthew 5, ignoring the coughs, calls, and foot-stomping of his fellow actors. Finally, recalling a verse he had learned in his childhood in church, he cried, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Before the curtain could be lowered, Rostovzev had prayed to receive Christ as his personal Savior.
V. Purpose of the Gospel
A. Gospel is Salvation, it is not a human plan for reaching up to God, but a divine plan for reaching down to man.
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
By it millions have been redeemed and cheered and comforted and inspired.
B. The Gospel Reveal God
17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
C. The Gospel exposes godlessness
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
The blindness of unbelievers in no way detracts from the clarity of the gospel; the sun is no less bright because blind men do not perceive its light.
D. The Gospel explains the word of God
20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
There is nothing attractive about the gospel to the natural man; the only man who finds the gospel attractive is the man who is convicted of sin. - Oswald Chambers
E. The Gospel protects us from spiritual Blindness
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
A gospel that elevates man and dethrones God is not the gospel.
F. The Gospel protects us from moral depravity
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator who is forever praised. Amen. 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. 28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
G. The Gospel ends in an inner transformation.
If you believe what you like in the gospel, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself. -Augustine
29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
VI. The gospel is good news. But Jesus never said it was easy news.
Many people seem to embrace the good news without embracing God.
There is a living God, and it all ends in one thing: God himself. All the words of the gospel lead to him, or they are not gospel.
For example, salvation is not good news if it only saves from hell and not for God.
Forgiveness is not goodness if it only gives relief from guilt and doesn’t open the way to God.
Justification is not good news if it only makes us legally acceptable to God but doesn’t bring fellowship with God.
Redemption is not good news if it only liberates us from bondage but doesn’t bring us to God.
Adoption is not good news if it only puts us in the Father’s family but not in his arms.
VII. The Gospel is the Gift that keeps on Giving.
VIII. What will you do with the Gospel?
