The Gospel in a Nutshell
Romans 1:3-7
July 29, 2007
Two weeks ago, we began a study of Paul’s letter to the Romans.
The reason, as I told you then, is to help us better understand the gospel.
There are many in our churches even today,
Who do not understand the gospel, and could not share it.
As we went on our Men’s Retreat
The last night we began to visit about what true salvation is.
And we realized that in the room of ten men.
7 of us had made child hood professions that were not genuine.
7 of us were truly saved later in life.
That is not to say children cannot be saved.
But the point became apparent to us all.
There has spread throughout our churches a dangerous problem.
MANY IN CHURCHES HAVE FAILED TO TAKE THE TIME
TO TRULY UNDERSTAND THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL.
As a result, people are preaching an incomplete gospel message, And people are responding to this incomplete gospel message.
We are studying Romans to learn the message of the gospel,
So that we may accurately apply it to our own lives,
And then accurately preach it to others.
For a church that is confused about the gospel, is in a world of hurt.
WHY?
Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
Romans 10:14 “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”
It is apparent, we must be accurate in regards to the gospel.
We have already seen two points about the gospel.
“The Preacher of the Gospel” (verse 1)
“The Promise of the Gospel” (verse 2)
This morning we take the next step,
And take a brief look at what the gospel really is.
I want to give you “The Gospel in a Nut Shell”.
And there are three things we see here in these 5 verses.
#1 THE PERSON OF THE GOSPEL
Romans 1:3-4
let’s break this point down into two points.
1) THE SUBJECT (3a)
“concerning His Son”
These three words set the boundaries and parameters
By which we measure everything that claims to be the gospel.
If it is the gospel, then it is about Jesus.
If you desire to be a preacher of the gospel, then that means you are a preacher of Jesus, for the gospel is about Him.
It seems our churches, our pulpits, even our daily conversations, Are filled with all sorts of topics,
But if it is not concerning Jesus, it is not the gospel.
Remember what Paul said?
1 Corinthians 9:16 “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.”
But in that letter Paul had already said something else.
1 Corinthians 2:1-2 “And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”
Paul had already said that he preached, “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” Later he said, “woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.”
He had also already said:
1 Corinthians 1:17 “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.”
To Paul, preaching Jesus was preaching the gospel,
And he would be a fool to stray from that.
But it seems like we continually stray from that.
Much of our evangelism today has become
Surface, superficial, light hearted, pleasant, and ineffective.
That style of religious flattery and attraction is eternally ineffective, because the calling of the gospel is not to make friends.
The calling of the gospel is to make disciples.
Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
The point is that when we go, we must preach Jesus.
We are not just inviting people to church…
We are not just trying to make people feel comfortable…
We are telling people they must fully submit their lives to Jesus Christ.
The gospel is all about Jesus.
Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
If it’s not about Jesus, then it’s not the gospel.
For the gospel is “concerning His Son”.
But let’s dig a little deeper than that.
We see the subject
2) THE SPECIFICS (3b-4)
“who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,”
It is true that the gospel is about Jesus,
But today (as we have noted) there are people
Who preach a different Jesus than the Biblical Jesus.
So Paul gets a little more specific about the Jesus that we are preaching.
Now these two specifics do not focus so much on what He did,
But on who He is.
If you fail to correctly understand who He is,
Then what He did loses it’s power.
So Paul wants you to see specifically who He is.
“who was born a descendant of David according to the flesh”
Now let’s just take that statement at face value.
When Jesus was born, He was born in the kingly line of David.
In that, it is apparent, that Jesus was a human (he was born),
And that He has the right to set upon the throne of Israel.
If you look at the two different lineages of Jesus.
Matthew 1 is Joseph’s lineage…
Luke 3 is Mary’s lineage…
You will find that Jesus was of David’s line from both His parents.
Jesus is the rightful King, and Jesus was fully human.
He knows what it is like to be a human.
He knows our pain, He knows our frustrations, He knows our joys.
And that is important to understand.
Hebrews 2:17-18 “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.”
He faced temptation…
He faced tragedy…
He suffered pain…
He experienced death…
He was fully human.
But that is not the only thing Paul wants you to realize.
(4) “who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,”
Of course, after Jesus died, 3 days later, He rose from the dead.
John 2:19-21 “Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body.”
In John 2 Jesus laid down the challenge,
In John 20 Jesus put His money where His mouth was.
He stepped out of His own tomb.
And when this happened Paul said it revealed something.
“who was declared the Son of God with power”
That word “Son” translates HUIOS (hwee-os)
An interesting fact, if you could read John’s gospel in the Greek.
He never uses this word to describe anyone but Jesus.
When speaking of other humans he always uses the word TEKNON
Now here is the difference.
TEKNON gives prominence to the fact of birth.
(This child was born a child of their parent.)
HUIOS does not stress birth, but rather the character of the relationship.
A TEKNON is the child of the father, a HUIOS is just like his father.
(“A chip off the old block”)
WHICH IS WHAT WE LEARN OF JESUS.
He was NOT born of God as we are. Jesus was BORN GOD.
Hebrews 1:1-3 “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”
Colossians 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
And that is why Jesus would say to Thomas.
John 14:9 “Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
The message of the gospel is that Jesus is fully God.
And just in case you had trouble grasping that,
Paul says there is one event that should solidify it.
“was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead”
“power” translates DUNAMIS
It is where we get our word for dynamite.
In other words, the resurrection is extremely powerful evidence
That Jesus is indeed God.
That helps us see who Jesus is.
He is fully man, He is fully God.
He is so much man that He can identify with us,
And so much God that He can save us.
It is the mystery and the miracle of the incarnation.
God veiled in Humanity
Matthew 1:21-23 “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.”
And this is the person of the gospel.
He is the subject of our preaching.
We can talk about all sorts of good things,
But if our preaching is not saturated with the God Man, Jesus Christ, Then we are not preaching the gospel.
He is the Person of the gospel, it is all about Him.
But the gospel is not just informative in nature.
It’s not just meant to serve as an encyclopedia.
The gospel is also loaded with purpose.
There is a reason why the gospel preaches Jesus.
#2 THE PURPOSE OF THE GOSPEL
Romans 1:5
Now Paul begins this verse again explaining to you
WHY HE IS PREACHING THE GOSPEL.
“through whom we have received grace and apostleship”
In other words, it is Jesus who gave us “grace” (ability)
And “apostleship” (authority) to preach this message.
Jesus Himself had commissioned the apostles to carry this message.
BUT WHAT WAS IT’S PURPOSE?
“to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake,”
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE GOSPEL?
Immediately someone would say “obedience”.
That is a noble answer, but that is not the purpose of the gospel.
Someone would then work their way down the verse and say, “faith”.
That too is a noble answer, but still not the purpose of the gospel.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE GOSPEL?
The glory of Jesus.
Paul does all that he does “for His name’s sake.”
The purpose of preaching the gospel,
Is so that Jesus will be glorified.
It is our desire to exalt, and glorify Jesus more than any other,
And to do that, we preach the gospel.
WELL HOW DOES THE GOSPEL GLORIFY JESUS?
It leads to faith.
Romans 1:16-17 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
The gospel leads to faith, AND WHAT DOES FAITH LEAD TO?
Obedience.
In fact, if faith doesn’t have obedience,
Then the Bible tells us it is not real faith.
James 2:18-26 “But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”
We applaud the men of old for their great faith, and rightly so.
But if Noah hadn’t built the boat, would his faith have been real?
If Abraham hadn’t left Ur, would his faith have been real?
If Moses hadn’t left Egypt..?
If Rahab hadn’t hung the scarlet cord…?
If Joshua hadn’t marched around the wall..?
If you don’t obey..?
If you don’t follow..?
You see, faith without works is dead.
That is also why Jesus used obedience
As the chief criteria and evidential fruit of saving faith.
Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell — and great was its fall.”
Romans 2:12-13 “For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.”
That is why Paul calls it here “the obedience of faith”
And it is this obedience by all men that brings glory to Jesus.
WHICH IS THE PURPOSE OF THE GOSPEL
Isaiah 49:5-6 “And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of the LORD, And My God is My strength), He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
That is the purpose of the gospel.
It is NOT to make this church bigger…
It is NOT simply to allow people to go to heaven…
The purpose of the gospel is to turn sinful, wicked, obstinate people Into obedient, submissive, devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
THAT THEN BRINGS GLORY TO JESUS.
THIS IS ANOTHER WAY THE GOSPEL GETS PERVERTED.
First, a perverted gospel messages
Says nothing all about who Jesus is,
But secondly it doesn’t require saving faith;
The kind of faith that is evidenced by obedience.
We seem to think that if we talk about heaven, and forgiveness,
And then tell people to accept it,
That we have preached the gospel, and we are making converts.
WRONG!
A true convert is measured by their love and obedience to Jesus Christ.
If they have not left a life of sin and turned to follow Jesus,
You have not made a disciple.
The purpose of the gospel is simple.
“to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake.”
So first, the person of the gospel
Second, the purpose of the gospel
#3 THE PEOPLE OF THE GOSPEL
Romans 1:6-7
And here is where Paul gets personal.
For he wants the Romans to know that he is not just telling them to examine their preaching, but to first examine their lives.
“among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;”
WHAT DOES HE MEAN “CALLED”?
(7) “To all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints:”
Now please notice that Paul did not say, “called as sinners”
Yet in the church today, you would think that is what God called us to be.
NO, HE CALLED US AS SAINTS.
We were sinners.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”
Ephesians 2:1-7 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
NOW LISTEN CLOSELY
(some of you will scorn this)
I am not a sinner. Now I used to be.
But not any more. Now I am a saint.
That doesn’t mean I don’t sin. I do sin.
But that is not who I am.
Thanks to the blood of Jesus, I am a saint.
And if you have yielded your life to Jesus, so are you.
THAT IS YOUR CALLING.
“Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”
PAUL WANTED THE ROMANS TO KNOW THIS
You have been called as saints.
And before you start examining your message,
Start examining your life.
If your life is still characterized by sin, then you have not accepted the message of the gospel.
THE PEOPLE OF THE GOSPEL ARE THOSE WHO
HAVE HEARD THE MESSAGE, HAVE REPENTED OF THEIR SIN, HAVE BEEN GIVEN NEW LIFE IN CHRIST,
AND NOW WALK IN OBEDIENCE TO HIS COMMANDS.
Is that you?
In the church we have come to embrace this “defeatist attitude” where sin is inevitable.
If sin is inevitable, then the death of Jesus wasn’t very powerful.
DO NOT FALL INTO THE MINDSET THAT SIN IS INEVITABLE,
OR THAT SIN IS ACCEPTABLE.
Neither is true.
First apply that to your life, and then apply that to your message.
The gospel does not allow sinners to stay in sin.
The gospel leads to the obedience of faith.
That is the gospel in a nut shell.
Jesus came, Jesus saves, so you will obey and glorify Him.
Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
My first question to you this morning, is:
IS THAT YOU?
And is that the message you are preaching?
THAT IS WHAT PAUL WANTED FOR THE ROMANS.
(7) “to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as Saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
“Grace” = the ability to do right.
“Peace” = the consequence of doing right.
He wanted them to have it, and that is what I want for you.
This morning, give your heart to Jesus Christ,
And preach the message of the gospel
To the world around you.
