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  Suppressing the Truth: The Great Exchange, part 2 (Romans 1:18-23)

THE POEM TREE

In my preparation for today’s message, I was specifically looking for an image of a poem carved in a tree. I was thinking how lovers will often carve their names into a tree, along with a little heart. And I wondered if perhaps I could find where someone carved an entire love poem into a tree.

And I came across this tree that called the Poem Tree, fitting enough. The Poem Tree was a 300 year old beech tree in Oxfordshire, England, where sometime in the 1840s a man by the name of Joseph Tubb carved a 20-line poem into its trunk. 

The tree is now old and decaying. But here’s the thing. For there to be a poem carved into a tree, obviously, it didn’t get there by chance. There had to have been a poet. Someone had to have taken the time to carve each and every letter. 

Why do I bring this up? Because one of the things we’re looking at this morning is the evidence of God’s glory in creation, and how, despite all the evidence, we tend to suppress the truth, as if we could look at a tree with a 20-line poem carved into it and deny the fact that there’s some great poet that put that there. 

But that’s our condition. That’s a part of every human being’s fallen condition. We tend to suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

READ: (Romans 1:18-23)
A HARSH ACCUSATION

It seems strange that Paul would accuse the entire human race of suppressing the truth. I mean, if anything, isn’t mankind all about finding, discovering, and knowing the truth? 

Isn’t that why we set up universities? To know and teach students truth? 

Take Harvard University. It’s logo is a shield with the word “VERITAS”, which is Latin for TRUTH. Of course, Harvard began, as most American universities, as a Christian institution. It was established by Puritans for the sake of training and educating clergy. But over time, how many such universities have strayed from the truth they once proclaimed?

FAULTY PREMISE

Far from suppressing the truth, we want the truth. Don’t we?

So, it seems Paul begins his entire argument for the case set against mankind with a faulty premise. And if the premise is wrong, then there’s really no need for us to continue with the verses that follow. Is there?

But let me ask. Do we always want the truth? Aren’t there times when we’d prefer not to know the truth? 

BEST MOM EVER!

It’s Mother’s Day. Let me ask you mothers out there. Moms, how objective do you ant your child to be in critiquing the job you’ve done so far? Not very! Just give me that “Best Mom Ever!” card, and let’s move on. Right?

Dad’s? Same thing.

But we know, while we may have been better mommys and daddys than others, we know “best ever” is at a minimum an exaggeration, if not a lie.

We’re aware of so many of our failures. We don’t want to be reminded of them. Let’s set them aside and not bring them up.

HIGH CALLING OF MOTHERHOOD

Let me pause and say, “Moms, I’m thankful for you all. Your calling is high calling. It’s nothing less than a reflection of Christ’s church, the Bride of Christ who raises up godly offspring for none less than the King of Creation, the Lord Jesus. That’s certainly something we should commend and celebrate!

PARENTAL FAILURES

Still, our failures as mothers and fathers is a reminder of how desperately we all need grace. And kids, just so you know, “Best Son or Daughter Ever” — same thing. 

We can all express our love and appreciation for one another without the nonsense. Because you know, and they know. We all know. 

There’s only one best Father ever, and there’s only one best Son ever; and that’s in the Trinity! Anyone else comes in at a distant second at best — an infinitely distant second, which is nothing to boast about.

DON’T WANT TO KNOW

So, we know, there are occasions, at least, when we really don’t want to confront the truth or deal with the truth. We’d rather hold to a lie.

NO DOCTORS, PLEASE

For some of you, you don’t want the Doctor to diagnose your symptoms. You’d rather believe it’s nothing. Whatever it is, it’s likely benign … harmless … nothing to worry about. But without the diagnosis, you can’t get the treatment needed. There’s no prescription for an undiagnosed ailment. 

CANCER OF THE SOUL

Paul wants nothing to do with such cover-ups. He wants to expose the disease for what it is, so you and I can be healed, so we can receive the remedy for our most dreadful condition — cancer of the soul.

JUST TELL ME THE TRUTH

Much of the time, when someone begins: “Just tell me the truth.” They don’t actually want the truth. What they are fishing for is confirmation, validation, assurance — a version of reality they feel they can live with or that will at least make them feel better.

The only truth we tend to want is that which fits neatly into our current worldview and doesn’t wreak havoc on our current desires and wants.

PERVERTING THE TRUTH

If there’s ever been an age when the suppression of truth has become more and more apparent, it’s the age and culture we’re living in right now. 

We’ll call the child in the womb a fetus or a clump of cells, but what one cannot do is call him or her a baby. 

What about pronouns? Referring to girls as “him” and guys as “her” or an individual as “they.” 

If that’s not suppressing the truth, then what is?

But listen loved ones. These things are only the symptoms of a far greater suppression of the truth. Far from a false premise, Paul hits what is at the core of our every moral distortion and perversion — and that is: the suppression of the truth about God. 

NOT AN ATTACK, A DIAGNOSIS

Now, it’s important to remind us that Paul is writing to believers. He’s not writing this as an attack against culture or the world. He is writing this as a diagnosis of a disease. Whose disease? The entire human race, which included the believers in Rome, and it includes all who are in this room right now. 

But without the diagnosis, there’s no healing. 

And that doesn’t just go for the unbeliever. You and I still need to be reminded of this. Because every time we sin, we are suppressing the truth about God for a lie. We need the reminder of this diagnosis, so we continue the health regimen the Great Physician has prescribed.

BAPTIZED DAILY

In other words, Elijah, it’s not sufficient for you to be baptized this morning — a picture of dying to self and being raised to new life in Christ. And, well, now you can go right back to living however. You have to die to self daily. That’s part of the regimen. 

As Paul says, “I die daily.” That’s Scripture’s prescription for all of us in this fallen world. Or to quote Jesus himself: If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Taking up your cross means dying to self.

TO HEAL AND EQUIP

So, as we walk through this diagnosis of our fallen human nature, know that we are walking through this for your healing, — AND — for you to be equipped to share the diagnosis with your friends and family, so they too might come to the Great Physician and receive healing.

RESTRAIN THE TRUTH IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS

So, back to our text. Verse 18.  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Literally, they hold back or restrain the truth in unrighteousness. 

Unrighteousness, as we looked at last week, is everything that is contrary to God’s character, which flows from a failure to worship God in truth.
(Hence, ungodliness.)

It’s one’s unrighteousness that seeks to restrain the truth, that seeks to avoid coming to terms with the truth. What truth? Particularly, the truth about God.

Verse 19. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.

WHAT CAN BE KNOWN?

What can be known about God. What is Paul claiming here? That we can know everything possible there is to know about God? No. In fact, God is incomprehensible in that God cannot be fully or exhaustively known. 

Remember, God is an infinite being, and we are finite creatures. It would take an eternity to know God with such knowledge, meaning, we will never reach an exhaustive knowledge of God. 

(And that’s good news. That’s why heaven could never be boring!)

NOT EXHAUSTIVE BUT ESSENTIAL

But while we can’t know God exhaustively, the argument of Scripture is that we can know somethings about God. Indeed, we can know what is most essential for us to know about God.

MADE PLAIN

And how can we know? Because God has made it plain to all. God has made it plain in them and among them. (That’s the preposition Paul uses.) It’s not just that what is knowable of God is plain, but that God has manifested that knowledge both within us and among us. 

We look outside ourselves, and all the evidence is not just there; it’s apparent; it’s plain; it’s clear. We look inside ourselves, and the evidence is there too. From outward creation to man’s inner conscience, God has made himself known.

WHAT HAS BEEN MADE KNOWN

But what exactly has God made known to us?

Verse 20. For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So, they are without excuse. 

GENERAL REVALTION

Theologians call this general revelation. General because God has revealed it to everyone without exception. So, what does general revelation reveal about God? Two things: 

1) God’s eternal power (or the eternal nature of His power)
and
2) God’s divine nature (or we might say, God’s divinity or God-ness.)

Eternal Nature of His power: 

First, the eternal nature of God’s power:
For anything to exist, there must be a non-contingent unchanging eternal being who is God. God’s power is from all eternity. 

(Unpack)

God’s Divine Nature (or God-ness):

Second, God’s divine nature or God-ness:
This would cover every necessary attribute of God. From His holiness, His omnipotence, His omniscience, His omnipresence, His immutability, For God not to be any one of these would be for Him to be something other than God.  

PLAIN DESPITE DISTORTION

The argument is not that we can know everything about God through general revelation. But at a minimum, many of God’s attributes are revealed, if not all of them, in this general revelation available to all. 

And these attributes are not simply revealed, but they are plain, obvious, clear. 

ATTRIBUTES REVEALED

In creation, we see that God is omnipotent (that is all-powerful), that God is omniscient (that is, all-wise), and that God is omnipresent (that is, God transcends time and creation, he is not limited to time or space). 

But in general revelation, we also witness God’s goodness; His provision to both the just and unjust; His kindness in His care for His creatures (as read in Psalm 104). 

As our text stated, even His wrath is revealed, which means there’s evidence of His righteousness. 

EVIDENCE WITHIN

But we need not look outside only. The evidence is imprinted upon our hearts. Every human being, regardless of how corrupt their hearts may be, has a sense of oughtness within them.

SOMETHING OR ANYTHING

The fact that there’s something rather than nothing; that there’s life, order, provision — all serves as evidence that Scripture declares makes God knowable. 

Our human nature knows emotions, taste, sight, sound, feeling, aromas. And these are varied — some pleasant, some foul — some are a delight, and because of the Fall, some are distasteful at times. 

NO EXCUSE

People may seek to excuse themselves from judgment but not only is Scripture clear; Paul says that general revelation is clear. They are without excuse. Why? Because they all know. 

NO ATHEISTS ALLOWED

There’s no genuine atheist. There are only those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. The truth is so obvious to them. But because they don’t want to know God, they seek to convince themselves — or at least, have come up with a framework that suggests rather foolishly that it’s possible for God to be NOT!

They have sought closed consistent worldviews and philosophies — consistent to themselves, or so they think — that exclude God from the equation. 

THE FOOL

As the psalmist pens: The fool says in his heart, there is no God!

It’s utter foolishness to believe that all of this came from nothing. Fraulein Maria had it right. Nothing comes from nothing. Nothing ever could. 

“Well,” says the fool, “perhaps the universe is eternal.” It may sound reasonable enough. But we know the impossibility of that. And no professing atheist truly believes that. 

CHANGE REQUIRES BEGINNING

Anything that changes, anything that is mutable, cannot be eternal. Change necessarily has a beginning. 

The first part of Newton’s Law of Motion: "An object at rest stays at rest.” Well, that’s true for everything that’s physical. 

For an object to move or transform or change in any way, something else has to act upon it.

TIME AND ETERNITY

Not even time can be eternal. Why? Because time changes. If time was eternal, we could never reach today. Time demands a beginning. 

But isn’t that what we see that in Genesis 1, when God said, “Let there be light.” And it was. Day one.

We could look at so many other reasons why the universe (or matter, as some will seek to argue) can’t be eternal — from it’s expanding, wearing out, losing energy. It all points to a beginning. And for there to be a beginning, a personal force must decide to bring it to a beginning.

DESIGNER’S FLAW?

Then we have design. It’s not simply that the universe must have a beginning. There’s an obvious design to it all.

Well, says the skeptic, it’s a poor one! Look at how much is broken. Look at the pain and suffering. 

Well, none of that argues against design. If anything, it proclaims the fact that the world has been subjected to futility because of man’s unrighteousness. It’s evidence of God’s judgment. For the wrath of God is revealed. O His kindness and mercy continue to be displayed as well.

It’s impossible to honestly deny that there is a design. And if there’s a design, there must be a designer.

DIVINE CONCLUSION

We cannot light our eyes upon anything, hear a sound, smell an aroma, taste the sweetness or bitterness, feel a touch upon our skin — without concluding that there is a cause for such. And that’s just the physical.

LAWGIVER

What about the spiritual? The internal? That which can’t be seen, or heard, smelled, tasted, touched? What about the conscience? 

The fact that we have a sense of ought demands that there be a Lawgiver. 

We know. Everyone knows. Mankind just seeks to suppress what he knows because this Law stands against our flesh — our sinful desires. 

Surely, we would never willingly put such there! Therefore, it’s apparent that such must have been sown there by some hand more powerful. 

PRINTER AND PROGRAMMER

The notion of a Lawgiver is as natural as the notion of a printer when you hold a newspaper in your hand. What’s a newspaper? Okay. The notion of a Lawgiver is as plain as the notion of a programmer when you use that app on your smartphone or tablet.

When you walk by a tree with two names carved in it along with a heart, you don’t conclude that it was random chance, but that someone must have carved it. It required, not just some external force, but a personal force.

POEM

The word near the end of verse 20 is important in regard to this, and the ESV doesn’t quite do it justice. 

It reads: For His invisible attributes have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. 

“Have been made” is simply a single word. It only shows up one other time in the New Testament, and that is Ephesians 2:10. For we are his workmanship.

Workmanship, that’s the word. The Greek word is ποίημα. It’s where we get our English word poem. 

It’s not simply something made, but something crafted — something artistically fashioned.

All of creation is like a beautiful poem proclaiming the glory of God. The Triune God crafted a poem when He spoke the universe into existence. Let there be light!

PSALM 19

Isn’t that what we read in Psalm 19?
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, there voice is not heard.

And yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

All of creation is like a poem that discloses God. All of creation makes public the glory of the God who is invisible.

And here’s the thing. All of it — every bit of it — should evoke worship and thanksgiving. (But that’s next week.)

PHARISEES DEMAND SIGNS

But no evidence is ever enough for those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. 

The Pharisees demanded signs. Yet the sky itself, which they supposedly knew how to interpret, served as a constant sign. Not to mention their sitting in Moses’ seat with the Law and Prophets all mercifully in their possession — all of which pointed to the Christ. 

And yet, the promised One stood right before their eyes, and they recognized Him not. (Or rather, they chose not to recognize Him.) 

Why? Because Jesus wasn’t the Messiah they wanted. And that’s everyone’s issue when it comes to unbelief. 

God is not the God we want. We can’t do without Him. But we really don’t want anything to do with Him either. So we’ll craft substitute gods of our own.

RICH MAN AND LAZARUS

How much evidence is necessary? Loved ones. No amount will ever suffice for the one who suppresses the truth in unrighteousness. 

Eli read for us the passage of the rich glutton and Lazarus. The rich man enjoyed all the good he could possibly know here. He withheld nothing from himself. (Just as Adam and Eve refused to withhold the tree from themselves.) 

While poor Lazarus desired to be fed with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table.

Afterwards, the rich man went to Hades, and Lazarus was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. 

But in his suffering the rich man pleaded with Abraham to have Lazarus dip the end of his finger in water and cool his tongue for he was in agony because of the flame. 

Sorry, replied Abraham. There’s no crossing over from here to there or there to here. 

Well, then at least send Lazarus to my father’s house to warn my brothers!

Again, Abraham replied. They have Moses and the Prophets. Let them hear them.

No, pleaded the rich man. But if someone goes to them from the dead, then they will repent. 

Abraham’s final reply. Listen. If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.

BACK FROM THE DEAD

A few years ago, we actually had a similar conversation in our home with a young man. If God truly wanted us to believe in Him, he’d send someone back from the dead who knows and could testify. Chase and Cheyenne, being much younger, cracked up over just how true and relevant Scripture is. 

Listen loved ones. God did raise One from the dead. His only Son, Jesus Christ, who died in the place of sinners like you and me.

And the world continues to refuse to listen to Him. No sign will ever suffice, because signs and wonders are not the issue. It’s the heart the suppresses the truth in unrighteousness.

IGNORANT IMPOSSIBILITY

While God is, in a sense, inaccessible, in that He is so far beyond us we can never know Him perfectly or comprehensively — yet, there is so much evidence, so much LIGHT, that it is impossible to be truly ignorant of Him — but only willfully ignorant. 

DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE

Consider the difficulty for one to believe in the God he has no desire or affection for, but only a slavish fear. Or what about the person who despises God for His God-ness, simply because such a person longs for a sort of freedom that doesn’t exist — nor ever could exist. 

IMPOSSILBE TO BELIEVE

For such individuals, their hearts make it impossible to believe God — to trust God. So, they distort the reality of who God is. 

Their desire is that God not exist. They suppress and exchange the truth about God for a lie. Why? Because fallen man is not indifferent to God; fallen man hates God.

WHAT FALLEN MAN HATES

What does fallen man hate about God? Everything. Everything that makes God God. 

They hate His holiness, His omnipotence, His omniscience, His omnipresence, His immutability.

Josh, don’t you think this is a bit of an exaggeration. People don’t hate God — or at least most don’t. Most worship God or a god of some kind or another. Well, we’ll look more closely in the next weeks, that counterfeit worship of false gods is actually an attempt to hide from the one true God.

HATING PERFECTION

Far from drawing mankind closer to God, with all this evidence manifested by the light of nature, man has become all the more hostile toward God.

Why? Because, in part, it’s the perfections of God revealed in creation, that fallen man hates. 

JONATHAN EDWARDS

To paraphrase Jonathan Edwards: natural man is at greater enmity with God than toward any other being whatsoever. They may hate their fellow creatures but not so great as they hate God. For there is no other being that so much stands in the sinner’s way — who stands in the way of those things man’s heart is set chiefly upon — than God Himself.

Man hates his enemies in proportion to two things: 1) their opposition to what man looks upon to be his interest, and 2) their power and ability to oppose him. 

So, the question is: who opposes natural man’s desire more than God?  No one.

Who is more powerful in opposing natural man’s desire than God? No one.

Just to hit a few of God’s attributes that fallen man hates:

HOLINESS

First, God’s holiness. God is distinct, not just from every creature, but from man. God will always be set apart from man. So vast is the gulf between that of creature and Creator that man could never close upon. 

O to be like God in so many ways — created to image God. But only an image. Man could never be fully like God. Wasn’t that the bait of the serpent. “O but you can be like God.” Fallen man hates God’s holiness.

SOVEREIGNTY / OMNIPOTENCE

What about God’s omnipotence, or sovereignty? Why would man hate that? Because as much sovereignty and dominion as God bestowed on man, there remained an all-powerful sovereign over him, namely God. 

And the tree in the midst of the Garden stood as a testimony to that fact. 

Every other tree, man could eat from — every tree to the north, to the south, to the east, and to the west — but this one tree was forbidden. It was a declaration of God’s sovereignty and man’s submission.

O to be told, “No! You cannot do something.” Our pride seethes. “I’ll show you!”

Whatever this dying might be, there was but one way for man to exalt his autonomy. And that was to eat. 

And in eating, Adam proclaimed, No, God! You won’t be sovereign over me. I’ll call my own shots as to what’s good and evil. 

When Adam ate, their was a deliberate act of rebellion that took place. I’d rather face whatever this dying might consist of than have anything or anyone rule over me. 

We hate God’s sovereignty

OMNISCIENCE and OMNIPRESENCE

What about God’s omniscience, that He knows all things — and His omnipresence, that God is anywhere and everywhere all at once? What’s so bad about that? 

Because mankind’s works are evil. So, he longs to hide in the darkness. But there’s no place to hide from God. 

God sees everything and knows everything — not only what is outwardly manifest, but the very thoughts and intentions of the heart. 

That’s what man hates — that there’s no escaping God’s holy gaze.

IMMUTABILITY

And natural man hates God’s immutability — that God never changes. Why would mankind hate God’s immutability? Because, to quote Edwards, God will never be and can never be otherwise than He is — the infinitely holy God. 

God never takes a day off to leave you on your own. God will never retire allowing you to succeed Him. God’s sovereignty and all of His other attributes will continue just as they are. 

His justice will forever be a holy justice.
His mercy will always be a holy mercy.
His goodness will always be a holy goodness.
And they aren’t the justice, mercy, and goodness fallen man approves of or desires.

Why does mankind suppress the truth about God for a lie? Because man has a distaste for the very perfections of God. They’d much prefer a less than perfect God. So they seek to fashion their own.

INEXCUSABLE

Okay, Josh. I get it. Some people are without excuse. They have Paul’s letter, and they can read it. And upon reading it they have to deal with it. I get that. 

But what about those who don’t have your Bible? What about those who would come to a different conclusion than Paul came to?

Surely they can’t be accountable for coming to the wrong conclusion — for misreading the evidence — can they?

NOT ENOUGH

In other words, what about the agnostic, the one who says, you know, man, I just don’t know. I’m not sure there’s enough evidence to know. (We’ll look at that more closely next week, but for now … )

For starters, they aren’t agnostic about other things.
So, it’s a selective agnosticism. 

Second, to claim that there just isn’t enough evidence to know is a direct attack against the God who claims He has provided all the evidence you need — not only that, He has made it plain — obvious to you and within you.

ORIGIN OF AGNOSTICISM

Where does agnosticism originate? It originates in the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. It’s that simple. 

NO ACCESS

Okay. But what about those who never even heard of Jesus? Those who haven’t had access to the gospel? Surely, God can’t hold them accountable, can He?

Well, here’s another distortion of the truth in unrighteousness. No one is charged with failure to make the most of evidence they do not have, but for denying the evidence plainly set before them. 

God sends no one to hell for not having heard of Jesus or the gospel. He sends people to hell for denying the truth He has placed plainly before them — the truth they suppress in unrighteousness. 

PROCLAIMING THE GOSPEL

Why is it important that we proclaim the gospel to everyone? Not so they are somehow more accountable to the truth, but so they might be saved. 

There’s enough evidence in the smallest slice of creation to make man accountable to God. But that evidence holds no power to save. 

Only in knowing Jesus, does anyone escape the just judgment of God we all deserve.

PERSONAL HOSTILITY

I recall years ago, long before I was a believer. And I remember my hostility toward the idea that God would send someone to hell simply for not believing in His Son. That, I said, is a God I could never worship! That is a God unworthy of worship.

CONVINCED OF GOODNESS?

I tried to convince myself that I could be a good person apart from God. But as we saw last week, that’s impossible. Righteousness flows from godliness — worshiping God in truth. Likewise, unrighteousness flows from ungodliness. 

Deep down I knew any supposed goodness I thought I had was at best a comparative goodness — and that only in certain areas. 

RUNNING FROM PERFECTION

You see. I was suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. I was far from the Lord. And not at all because He sent me into exile far from Him. 

I was far from Him because I was running from Him. I wanted nothing to do with Him. I hated the very God-ness of God. 

SEEKING GOD

But don’t you love it that our God is a seeking God.

In His mercy, He opened my blind eyes — eyes that were willfully blind due to my hatred of Him. 

UNDESERVED MERCY

And loved ones, I need you to understand this. The Lord did not have mercy on me because I had somehow softened my stance toward Him. Nor because I had become a more outwardly moral person. Far from it. 

God was merciful to me because in that sovereignty I once hated, He chose to be merciful to me. I was undeserving of all of it. The only thing I deserved and still deserve is His just wrath for my rebellion. 

PROMPTING CHANGE

There was no change in me that merited God’s mercy. Any change in me was solely due to that mercy. Mercy came first. It always comes first.

So, what did God reveal to me? He showed me my sin nailed to an old gnarly cross — stained by someone else’s blood — not mine — though it should have been mine. 

LOVING ATTRIBUTES

And all those attributes of God I once hated, I began to love — because they belonged to the God I had come to love — this God who first loved me.

O how difficult it is to suppress the truth when it is spoken with such love — with such beauty, with such poetry, as the cross of Jesus Christ. 

How many miss the beauty of the poem of creation because they want nothing to do with the Poet? 

MOST BEAUTIFUL POEM

But creation wasn’t the Poet’s greatest poem.

Remember the Poem Tree? The greatest poem ever was indeed written upon a tree. You see. The Poet came down and entered His creation, and wrote out the greatest poem ever — with His own blood.

And that loved ones (I pray the Lord opens your eyes to see) is the only thing that will transform a rebellious heart that suppresses the truth in unrighteousness. O to see the love of God written out in crimson red upon the tree. This is the greatest love poem ever. Do you know that love? I plead with you, don’t close your heart to this most beautiful of all poems?

https://youtu.be/5ubftGfIWfI

   The Great Exchange: The Wrath of God Revealed (Romans 1:18) 

THE NEED FOR A NEW ROOF

Several years ago, while I was at work, a roofing company showed up at our house and offered my wife a free roof inspection. We had recently had some severe storms come through the area. So, they were making their rounds as a friendly service to help take care of our needs. 

So, while I’m not at home, my wife agrees. Sure, you climb up there and check it out. Well, sure enough, this salesman found plenty of roof damage. But don’t be alarmed. He would help us file a claim with our insurance company so that the new roof wouldn’t cost us anything.

When I got home, I was not too pleased to say the least. But the last thing I was going to do was purchase a roof from a fly-by-night roofing company who chases storms and won’t be around 5 years from now should there be any warranty issues.

So, we call out a couple more established roofing companies. And it turns out, we didn’t have any storm damage to our roof. We had vandalism. The roofing company showed me how the guy my wife let on our roof had folded back the shingles to mimic wind damage. And how he had used a quarter to mimic hail damage. 

So, instead of submitting storm damage to our insurance company, we submitted a claim for vandalism. 

THE RULE OF SALES

The first rule in sales is to create a need. When you learn sales, which prior to knowing Christ, I went to countless seminars and read many books, that’s what they train you on. You have to create a need if you’re going to sell anything. 

Of course, this storm chaser took that to the extreme. But isn’t that the ungodly, unrighteous world in which we live. 

When it comes to the gospel, we don’t have to create the need. It’s already there. And everyone inwardly knows. They just seek to suppress the truth of their predicament.

INTRODUCTION TO VERSE 18

We’ve moved slowly through Paul’s introduction. 

With verse 18, Paul begins to articulate this gospel he isn’t ashamed of — this gospel that reveals the righteousness of God — this gospel that he longs to proclaim to all those in Rome…

It’s important for us to recognize that this is where Paul begins his presentation of the gospel. Verses 16 and 17 set the theme for the letter — which is God’s righteousness revealed in the gospel of His Son. But here is where the gospel begins. 

It begins with mankind’s great need.

READ: Romans 1:18-23

NOT A PEDDLER

I’m not fond of salesmen. Why? Because they spend most of their time trying to convince you that you need something you really don’t need. And some of you are a little more easily sold than others. O yeah. I do need that.

But Paul isn’t a salesman. He’s not a peddler of God’s Word (as he’ll write to the Corinthians). He’s not trying to convince you to buy something. He’s not attempting to convince you that you need something you don’t. He’s presenting the verdict that stands against you and me and the entire human race.

MARKETING JESUS

Sadly, many present Christianity and even Jesus as nothing more than marketers. Perhaps influenced by our heavily commercialized culture. We even seek to sell church. And perhaps part of the issue is that we are consumers. So, it’s no surprise the modern church has bought into this.

We should not be surprised that the church that uses the world’s marketing ploys to fill seats and get people in their doors, also markets Jesus and his gospel with the same gimmicks and tactics. Try Jesus. You might like him. Try him and you may I say. Sounds a little Dr. Seuss to me. 

O to reduce the pearl of great price to such salesmanship.

BAIT AND SWITCH

A friend of mine in youth ministry once told me, and I pulled up his message this morning so I wouldn’t misquote him. This is what he said: 

“It sounds terrible but I’m not going to be able to get kids to come on Wednesdays if we do any kind of Bible study or worship. It has to be camp type stuff. It has to be fun stuff on the front in to get nonbelievers to come. Looking at every church formula, camp etc . There is a bait and switch we all don’t want to admit is there but I don’t shy away from what we are doing either. If it means the kids hear the gospel 5 extra times that they would have otherwise had the fun(bait) not been there.”

You hold these events to draw people in with fun and excitement, and then, you know, at some point, you’ve got to sell Jesus.

Now, I understand where he’s coming from. This is the tactic so many use. It’s the tactic he was taught. It’s what the “experts” promote. How could he not feel that it’s all bait and switch? 

Loved ones, it doesn’t have to be that way. It wasn’t Paul’s way.

HERALD

Paul isn’t a salesman but a herald. “You’re in grave danger! Flee from the wrath to come!” Flee where? “Flee to Jesus! And let me tell you why. Let me tell you what Jesus has accomplished. Let me tell you who he is.”

It’s a little harder to have that conversation when you invited people to come have a fun time bouncing on a bunch of inflatables. And by the way, while you’re jumping around, let me tell you about Jesus. 

There’s a major disconnect with that. I mean, how serious are we about the gospel?

TRIAL LAWYER

Far from marketing, Paul comes as a trial lawyer laying out the facts of the case. Over the next 64 verses, Paul is going to lay out the case against all of humanity. And let me assure you, no one escapes this verdict. It is airtight. Paul will leave no wiggle room. By the time Paul is finished, none of us will have anything to offer in our defense. 

Thankfully, just as the prosecution is about to rest, Paul calls one final witness to the stand. The Judge Himself. Who offers a plea bargain — a full pardon for all who repent. How is the Judge able to offer this pardon? By placing the sentence you and I deserve upon His one and only Son instead of us.

WHERE THE GOSPEL BEGINS

But we don’t have a gospel unless we begin here — where Paul does. As unpopular as it may be, we begin with man’s dilemma — man’s great need — mankind under the wrath of God. 

Now, I want to be careful in how I nuance this. There are many ways to get here. We can approach people with the gospel in any and every situation. Our first sentence doesn’t have to be “Flee from the wrath to come.” What I mean is that here is where the gospel actually begins. Before the fall there was no need for the gospel. It’s only because of sin and God’s necessary wrath towards sin that there is a gospel.

But why begin here? Why does Paul begin the gospel at verse 18 with our pitiful situation beneath the wrath of God? Why? Because without acknowledging such, there’s no need for a gospel at all. 

MODERN SENSITIVITIES

Now, most of the modern church doesn’t begin here, if they even ever get here. Why? Because the wrath of God is almost certain to turn people away before they ever hear the gospel. 

So, clearly, the educated, the surveyors, those who have studied these things warn, whatever you do, you can’t begin here. If you feel somewhat obligated to even mention the wrath of God, you’ll need to back it in, somewhat covertly. You know … sneak the wrath of God in through the back door, if you even mention it at all, after they’ve had a chance to give Jesus a try. 

ACCEPTING JESUS

Instead, begin with Jesus — how accepting he is — Jesus meek and mild. A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. (That’s from Isaiah 42:3. And if you stop half way through the verse, you don’t even have to mention the fact that he will faithfully bring forth justice.)

That’s a gospel you can sell. That’s a Jesus you can sell to people. A Jesus who accepts you as you are, who accepts your lifestyle and those things you worship. He’s not offended by any of that. He understands. That’s just who you are. 

And of course, he made you, didn’t he? So, how could he possibly be offended by any supposed sin of mine.

Begin there. But whatever you do, don’t begin with wrath and judgment. 

We wonder why the modern church hardly even has a gospel to share. Try Jesus, and he’ll help you achieve your best life now. I assure you, nothing about Jesus lines up with the world’s idea of one’s best life now — at least not the Jesus disclosed in the Scriptures.

Listen loved ones. Who needs Jesus if not sinners under the wrath of God?

A JOHN 3:16 KIND OF GOSPEL

But instead of mentioning anything about the wrath of God, let’s just, you know, offer a John 3:16 kind of gospel — a gospel of God so loved the world. That’s a gospel they’ll buy. A gospel that’s all love and no wrath.

I wonder if they even know John 3:16. Do they even understand the verse? I think probably not. Why? Because the wrath of God is most certainly implied in what’s possibly the most popular and most loved verse in all of Scripture. 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish!

Shall not perish! What’s that all about? That’s about God’s wrath. And yet most miss it. Why? Because they want nothing of it. The eternal life bit — we like that. But will skip right over whatever this whole “perish” thing is all about. 

PERISH IS NICE AND SUBTLE

Or it could be, John 3:16, well, it’s nice a subtle. It’s non-offensive so long as we don’t define what’s meant by “perish”. 

All they need is to keep reading the next couple verses — as Samuel read for us. 

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Saved from what? From condemnation!

Verse 18. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. They stand condemned already. Far from Jesus being unoffensive — one’s response to Jesus is the difference between condemnation and salvation.

Or the last verse in John 3. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. The wrath of God remains. 

THE CROSS PROCLAIMS GOD’S WRATH

Loved ones. The whole world is already under God’s wrath. There is no sugar coating it. To do so is to be part of the problem. 

It’s to align oneself with the serpent who deceived the woman. How did the serpent deceive the woman? By saying, “Don’t worry about God’s wrath. You won’t surely die. In other words, don’t fear God. In fact, don’t pay Him any mind at all.”

The cross is utterly ridiculous apart from God’s wrath. If sin is no big deal, why did Jesus have to die on a gruesome bloody cross? Remove God’s wrath from the gospel, and Jesus died for nothing. 

While the cross, no doubt, proclaims God’s love louder than anything ever could, don’t miss that it also proclaims God’s wrath. And that wrath you and I deserved was poured out on His Son instead of on us. That’s the gospel.

But you can’t know God’s love in Christ, if you don’t know the wrath Jesus saved you from. And neither can those we share the gospel with, if we sideline God’s wrath from our gospel — if we can even call it the gospel.

UNOFFENSIVE CALLING

I recall being part of a Q and A for a potential pastor a few years back. He shared a message, which was nice, it was light, certainly non-offensive. And of course, we don’t want to be offensive for the sake of being offensive. I get that. But the gospel is necessarily offensive.

So, I asked, what should be the easiest question for any pastor to answer: What is the gospel? There’s many ways you and I can articulate the gospel. But there are certain aspects that are necessary to the gospel. One of which is God’s wrath. You can use different terms, but the idea has to be there. 

So, I listened intently. And he spoke about eternal life and abundant life. He used the word gospel multiple times. He spoke of how Jesus saves us, but from what, who knows. He spoke of us becoming better individuals, to be like Christ. And all of that’s nice. And it’s true. 

WHERE IS HELL

But there was absolutely no mention of sin or repentance or judgment or anything close. So, I asked him point blank. What does Jesus actually save us from? And he pretty much repeated something to the effect of us living up to our full potential. 

I tried with a couple more questions trying to fish the answer out, but nothing. Finally, I asked, “Do you believe in hell?” And there was a pause. And he said, “Well, yes, of course. Jesus saves us from that.”

NOT AN ATTACK

I don’t mention this as an attack on an individual. He’s a nice guy. 

I mention it because 1) this is where much of the church is today. We want to avoid the subject of God’s judgment at all costs, because it’s offensive. 

2) This is where you and I can find ourselves. Why? Because if we’re honest, the fear of man will silence us from sharing the full gospel. 

But listen, a half gospel isn’t the gospel. The gospel, to be good news, must save us from something.

SAVED FROM WRATH

A couple weeks ago, we noted that what we need salvation from is sin — sin’s penalty, sin’s power, and sin’s pollution. And all that is true. Here, Paul homes in on sin’s penalty. Man’s great dilemma is that because of sin, he justly stands under the wrath of God. That’s our predicament. That’s what we all need saved from.

We need saved from God! And the only one capable of saving us from God is God Himself.

WRATH, A NECESSARY RESPONSE

It might be helpful to understand that wrath is a necessary response from God. While wrath is not an attribute of God, wrath necessarily flows from God’s attributes of righteousness, goodness, faithfulness, and even love. 

God’s wrath is, in a very real sense, good news. Not good news in the way the gospel is good news, but good news, nonetheless. 

ALTERNATIVE TO WRATH

Here’s what I mean. Consider the alternative to wrath. A God who does nothing, but rather let’s sin prevail without restraint, without ever calling sin to account. We call that injustice. But God’s wrath is the guarantee that justice will prevail. 

GOSPEL DOESN’T DO AWAY WITH WRATH

In fact, the gospel doesn’t do away with God’s wrath. Rather, it highlights it. The cross is the greatest display of God’s wrath ever. And He poured it out on His Son so that He need not pour it out on you. 

The gospel doesn’t do away with God’s wrath. Yes, it removes God’s wrath from those who trust in Christ. But for those who don’t, they will know God’s wrath for eternity. That’s what hell is.

SOCIETY’S WRATH

It would be wrong to suggest society doesn’t believe in wrath. It just doesn’t like the idea of God’s wrath.

Consider the outrage of society when an innocent individual is brutally harmed or even murdered. Outrage is part of society’s wrath. In fact, it would be an even greater outrage to ignore or make little of such harm. So, know that our culture has no problem with wrath. Society expresses its wrath all the time. 

A CORRUPT STANDARD OF JUSTICE

Yet, society’s standard, due to the Fall, is greatly distorted. How do we know? Because more than half of our society shows, not only no outrage, but no concern for brutal harm done to the most innocent of all — the countless innocent babes in their mother’s womb. 

O they’ll show outrage toward those who don’t celebrate someone’s perverted lifestyle that goes against God’s design. They’ll show outrage for an individual shot while interfering with police officers doing their job. But they show no outrage for the little one who has been brutally harmed — indeed murdered. Because that’s exactly what abortion is.

O the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth. 

GOOD NEWS OF WRATH

Well, God will not be silent regarding the harm done to His image-bearers. In His righteousness His wrath will be fully revealed. And that loved ones is good news. 

Realize, God’s wrath is necessary only because of sin. But for God to fail to display His wrath against sin, He wouldn’t be righteous, or faithful, or loving, or good. God’s wrath is necessary.

INSISTS ON WRATH

God’s character — who God is — from His holiness, His righteousness, to even His goodness — all of who God is insists upon the doctrine of the wrath of God. Without it, God can’t be holy or righteous or good.

PURPOSEFUL WRATH

But understand, God’s wrath is purposeful. God is not some angry god because He’s easily frustrated and displeased. He’s not irritable, resentful, or impatient. God’s wrath concerns one thing — sin. God’s wrath is directed at evil and injustice and those things which are malicious and cause harm. 

What does our text say? God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness … all of it … and necessarily so. 

RIGHTEOUSNESS AND GODLINESS

Righteousness and godliness always go together. You can’t have righteousness — at least not true righteousness — apart from godliness. And it’s godliness Paul lists first. And he does so purposefully. 

WHAT IS GODLINESS

What is godliness? I would argue, it’s reflecting God.
So, what would ungodliness be? Falling short of the glory of God.
Paul will bookend this strongest case of mankind’s guilt before God with this idea of ungodliness and falling short of the glory of God (3:23). 

RIGHTEOUESNESS WITHOUT GODLINESS?

You can’t have genuine righteousness without godliness — without reflecting the character of God. This is why the social gospel fails to promote any true righteousness — because it lacks godliness. It lacks God. It seeks to promote righteous works as the main thing, without necessarily having a need for godliness. 

MODEL JESUS

O it’s alright if you buy into those things about God in the Scripture. It’s okay if you buy the virgin birth and resurrection. But what really matters is the example of Jesus. Model that.

But what is it that Jesus modeled? Jesus modeled honoring His Father above everything else. And what dishonors His Father? Sin. 

Jesus never winked his eye at sin. He died on account of it. He laid down his life for your sin, for my sin, for the world’s sin. Model that!

IMAGING GOD

Ungodliness, therefore, is the core issue. Man was created to image God. But man has failed to image God and His glory. We might say, he who was created to be godly is not. 

Man is ungodly. Hence, he does not image God. And he does not image God because he fails to actually worship God, or at least he fails to worship God in truth. 

UNGODLINESS

Ungodliness — is the Greek form of godliness with what’s called the alpha privative — sort of like our putting “un” in front of our word “godly”. Same idea. So, to understand ungodliness, it’s helpful to understand godliness.

The Greek root means to worship, revere, venerate as holy.

WORSHIP AND IMAGING

What does worship and imaging have in common? We become like what we worship.

What does that mean? Everything about our lives will gravitate toward that which we worship. We will seek to order our lives towards that end, in which we reflect that which most captures our gaze.

PSALM 115

Take the psalmist’s words in Psalm 115. He contrasts worship of the Lord to that which the nations worship.

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths but do not speak; eyes but do not see. They have ears but do not hear; noses but do not smell. They have hands but do not feel; feet but do not walk, and they do not make a sound in their throat. Now listen. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.

Those who worship idols become like them.

DEAD IDOLS

Notice the description of the idol. It seems to have all that is necessary and desirable. They have mouths, eyes, ears, noses, hands, feet, and even a throat with which to breathe. But they are mute, blind, deaf, senseless, unfeeling, lame, and dead because they lack the breath of life.

They’re made of costly and beautiful material, but what’s beautiful in worshiping something that’s dead. What’s the value in something that’s dead?

They are fashioned by the hands of men, and then those same men are going to put their trust and hope in them? Do you see the foolishness. How utterly ridiculous! The creator worshiping its creation — trusting in its own creation!

DEAD LIKE ONE’S IDOLS

What they have made is a fiction — a falsehood — a lie. Those who make them and trust in them and worship them become like them. 

The idol worshiper worships a lie, and they become a lie. The idol worshiper was given eyes by the Creator, but in their ungodliness, they are blind. And we could go down the list. Fallen man is mute, deaf, senseless, unfeeling, lame, and dead. 

Those who worship idols become like them. But listen loed ones. The same is true of those who worship God in Christ Jesus.

BEHOLDING TRUE GLORY

This is why 2 Corinthians 3:18 is so vital. Beholding the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. Where do we behold the glory of God? Well, the heavens declare the glory of God. But because of sin, we suppress and distort the truth about God. 

We need a more exact representation of God’s glory. Where do we see that? One place — in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6. For the God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

So, failing to worship the God we’re imaged after not only dishonors God, it belittles His image; it corrupts God’s image in the image-bearer.

Falling short of true glory — the glory of God — and that of ungodliness go hand-in-hand.

VERTICAL AND INTERNAL

Ungodliness is fundamentally vertical with respect to God. But it plays itself out horizontally in unrighteousness. 

Note that Paul places ungodliness before unrighteousness. That’s not accidental. The one leads to the other.

Ungodliness is internal because worship is foremost internal. Never confuse the supposed outward displays of worship with that of the genuine worship of the heart. Worship takes place inside … in here … in the heart. 

Ungodliness is internal because reverence is internal. Yes, it displays itself outwardly, but it is first a matter of the heart.

Ungodliness is internal because veneration is internal. Veneration is a heart disposition. What does it mean to venerate? It means to regard and consider someone or something with profound respect, reverence, admiration; to regard or hold in one’s heart something as holy or set-apart. 

UNRIGHTEOUSNESS

Where ungodliness is primarily associated with one’s worship, and hence failure to reflect the glory of God, unrighteousness is primarily associated with one’s character and the outward display of one’s character in his or her deeds. 

Unrighteousness is that which is not aligned with God’s character.

UNRIGHTEOUSNESS AND UNBELIEF

To be righteous — and we touched on this last week — is to be right with God. Scripture portrays one is right with God when one believes God and hence trust Him. We call that faith. And it will naturally display itself in a person’s life. 

Unrighteousness fails to believe God. It fails to trust God’s character or His Word. 

UNRIGHTEOUSNESS AND WORSHIP

Ultimately, we trust — or have faith in — those things we worship / venerate / and revere — because we believe that these things will grant us our heart’s desire. 

The only reason one commits adultery is because he thinks it will ultimately satisfy something that faithfulness will not. 

The adulterer worships something other than God. That’s the only reason why adultery ever occurs. The same is true of gluttony, greed, envy, self-exaltation, slander, gossip, and any number of sins.

ONE UMBRELLA

All sin rightly falls under the umbrella of these two words simultaneously because both ungodliness and unrighteousness go hand-in-hand.

All sin not only offends and dishonors God, but it also harms His image-bearers. Ungodliness always leads to unrighteousness, which is why society’s attempt to separate righteousness from the need for godliness will always fall short.

NOT SINS BUT SIN

The issue Paul raises is not so much sins, as in particular sins, but sin. The world has no problem talking about sins. They might not agree with God’s list, but they certainly have their own. They might not prefer the word sin, but they have no problem calling out what they believe to be the transgressions of others. 

So, the issue is not so much sins people take issue with but the idea of sin in general. They reject it. Because where sins may be against one’s neighbor, sin is against God. 

DAVID’S SIN

When David prays in Psalm 51, he doesn’t pray: my sins are ever before me, but my sin is ever before me.Against you, you only, have I sinned. 

David committed multiple sins against Uriah, and Bathsheba, and Joab, and his military, and against the nation he was supposed to lead in righteousness. But his sin was against God. 

DEFINING SIN AS UNGODLINESS AND UNRIGHTEOUSNESS

One way we might define sin is with Paul’s words here. All ungodliness and unrighteousness is sin. 

DECALOGUE

It could be that the first relates primarily toward God and the second toward man. And that might even be helpful — sort of like understanding the decalogue, the Ten Commandments. 

The first table, many suggest, is man’s responsibility toward God and the second table man’s responsibility toward neighbor. But as we looked at Wednesday, both tables of the Ten Commandments deal with man’s relationship with both God and man. 

Murder, adultery, stealing, bearing false witness, and covetousness — they all deal with that of worship — misplaced worship. Hence, they all fall under this idea of ungodliness.

GROUNDED IN GOD’S CHARACTER

They are also each a matter of righteousness — that which reflects God’s character.

All Ten Commandments are grounded in who God is — His character which we are to reflect. Thou shall not murder is grounded in God’s character — not simply that God created man in His image, which He did and to murder is to murder the image of God — but that God is life; He breathes life into His creatures and image bearers, and He sustains that life. Murder runs contrary to God’s character.

Likewise, adultery runs contrary to the God who is faithful. Stealing runs contrary to the God who is generous. Bearing false witness runs contrary to the God who is truth. 

Where ungodliness fails to worship rightly, unrighteousness fails to reflect God’s character. Where godliness is compromised, righteousness quickly follows suit. 

Try as people may, you can’t have one without the other … 

Every attempt will fail, because righteousness flows from godliness — from right worship. 

Likewise, unrighteousness flows from ungodliness — worshiping anything other than God. 

And unrighteousness and ungodliness they create grave harm. God can’t overlook it. He must call it to account. He must punish it. 

NOTHING TO SELL

Listen loved ones. We don’t raise the issue of God’s wrath to sell the gospel. We raise the issue of God’s wrath to save souls.

That’s why Paul begins where he does. That’s why we must begin there too. 

Because we’re not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes.

DOESN’T END HERE

This is where the gospel begins. It begins with God’s wrath revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men 

The gospel begins here, but praise God it doesn’t end here. 

WRATH UPON THE SON

If you are still struggling to come to terms with this idea of God’s wrath, if you still fail to see why it’s paramount we don’t leave this out of our gospel presentations — understand this. 

No one endured God’s wrath like Jesus. And he bore it, not for any sin of his own, but for ours — for our ungodliness — our unrighteousness — that we might become godly and righteous before God.

If we leave out wrath, we will never be able to present the glories of Christ. Because the cross which bore God’s wrath was the Son of God’s most glorious moment.

A BETTER COVERING

Far from needing someone to sell us on a new roof, we need a better covering than any salesman could ever offer. We need a covering to shield us from the just wrath of a holy God. God HImself provided that covering for us in His Son's precious blood that was shed for all who believe. You and I can't buy it. He offers it without cost to you. He paid the price in full Himself.

DAMASCUS TO WITTENBERG

We’re quite familiar with Paul’s Damascus Road experience. It is recounted multiple times in the book of Acts. I doubt there’s ever been a conversion experience that has impacted so many. I mean, we wouldn’t be reading and pondering Paul’s letter to the Romans apart from Paul’s experience.

The verse we are looking at today, Romans 1:17, reminds me of another man’s conversion that has impacted perhaps more than any in the past half century as concerns the gospel. His name is Martin Luther.

MARTIN LUTHER – A RASH VOW

Luther was perhaps the most miserable monk ever. He became a monk after a rash vow he made during a severe thunderstorm. The theme of damnation and salvation was part and parcel of the time in which Luther lived. Such was his fear of death and hell, that Luther promised St. Anne to become a monk. 

(Luther, like the rest of us, had to begin where he was. Which meant beginning with a very faulty theology.)

While Luther’s vow may have been rash, Luther was convinced he had made a wise decision, that he was now at peace with God. Luther didn’t begin as a most miserable monk. It was only when he later became a priest, in celebrating his first mass, that the terror of God’s righteousness began to overwhelm him. 

A SEVERE JUDGE

Luther saw God as a severe Judge. All the means of “grace” afforded by the church could never suffice to make him right before this holy God. If sins had to be confessed to be forgiven, what about sins he had forgotten or left out. As diligently as Luther sought to be right before God, he was well aware of just how short he fell from such righteousness. Where the sacrament of penance was supposed to bring relief, instead all it did was leave Luther in despair.

This sense of despair continued for nearly a decade, until Luther began lecturing on Paul’s letter to the Romans, and he came to this verse. For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “The righteous one shall live by faith.”

THE PROBLEM OF GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS

The problem for Luther was the righteousness God. If the gospel is the revelation of God’s righteousness, how could anyone suggest it to be good news — or even news at all? What could possibly be new about God’s righteousness? God has always been just to condemn sin. 

For Luther, if anything was to be good news it would be that God is not righteous, that God simply overlooks sin, that God does not judge sinners. 

INSEPARABLE — JUSTICE AND GOSPEL

And yet, here, Luther found, the apostle Paul insisted that the justice of God and the good news of the gospel were inseparable. So, what could Luther have been missing. It was then, Luther realized the righteousness of God was not something he had to live up to to be saved, but that it was a gift that God Himself gives to those who live by faith. 

Well, it’s here Luther records, “I felt that I had been born anew and that the gates of heaven had been opened. The whole of Scripture gained new meaning. And from that point on the phrase “the justice of God” no longer filled me with hatred but rather became sweet by virtue of a great love.”

READ (Romans 1:16-17)

RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD — WHAT IS IT?

Scholars have long wrestled with this phrase in verse 17, the righteousness of God. It shows up 8 times in Romans alone. Does it mean: 1) the righteousness belonging to God, or 2) the righteous works of God, or 3) the righteousness God bestows in what’s know as justification?

Or to put it more simply, when referring to the righteousness of God, is Paul referring to an attribute of God, and activity of God, or a status God gives to believers? 

All three of these are certainly in view throughout Paul’s letter. And the three aren’t so easily separated. The attribute leads to the activity that grants the status. 

In other words, because God is righteous in Himself, all that He does is righteous. It’s also true that the righteous status God grants to believers is an overflow of His righteous character that displays itself in His works. And the greatest display of God’s righteousness — is that through the cross of Jesus Christ, God has made a way for sinners to be reckoned right before God. 

To separate the three categories is to do an injustice to the righteousness of God. God declares sinners who have no righteousness of their own to be right before Him. This status is granted because of God’s righteous activity in sending Jesus to pay the penalty of sin in our place, and that such was to display God’s righteousness before all of creation. So, the three are connected. And I believe all three are in view.

CORRUPTED ATTRIBUTES

When we consider the righteousness of God as an attribute, Scripture often contrasts God’s righteousness with that of the unrighteousness or ungodliness of men. Though created in God’s likeness to possess some degree of His attributes, the Fall has severely corrupted those attributes so that fallen man is often described as the opposite of God’s attributes. 

Rather than righteous, fallen man is unrighteous.
Rather than good, fallen man is evil.
Instead of just, we tend to be unjust.
Where God is wise, we tend to be foolish.
God is humble, fallen man proud.
God is loving, mankind goes about hating one another.

God is merciful; we tend to be merciless.
God is always faithful, but how often Scripture portrays even God’s people as faithless.
Patient versus impatient; holy versus unholy; selfless versus selfish.

Indeed, the godliness of God is contrasted with the ungodliness of men at every level, utterly marring the image of God in our lives.

LUTHER’S PREDICAMENT – A CONDEMNING RIGHTEOUSNESS

You see the predicament? You see why Luther’s soul was in such turmoil and why he hated the righteousness of God? And far from Luther being licentious or immoral, Luther sought to obey his monastic vows to the fullest. 

But Luther knew righteousness went beyond outward duties. Failing to love God with all of one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength was to fall infinitely short of the righteousness of the God who fashioned mankind in His own likeness.

Luther, therefore, saw God’s righteousness as nothing more than a condemning righteousness, which drove him to despair. 

Of course, that is one of Satan’s greatest deceptions. It’s what led Adam and Eve to hide from God after they sinned. It’s why mankind has long sought gods of their own making — because who can stand before this Holy God? 

GRASPING GRACE

Only when Luther came to these verses and deeply contemplated these verses was he freed at last. Because he finally understood the power of the gospel to save. For the first time, Luther understood GRACE!

Grace is what sets Christianity apart form every other worldview and religion. Others may use the term, but they are nothing more than works-righteousness dressed up as grace. (Hence Luther’s break with the Roman Catholic Church.)

Grace comes solely through Jesus Christ’s righteousness imputed — or ascribed — to us as a gift, because our sins were imputed to Him.

When Luther came to realize that it is by faith and through faith that God grants righteousness to the person, Luther was finally set free. 

In fact, this most foundational doctrine is the doctrine upon which Luther would take his stand against the world. Like Paul, For I am not ashamed …

NOT WORKS BUT FAITH

The breakthrough for Luther is that our righteousness is found, not in doing, but in trusting. That’s what faith is. We trust that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is a fully sufficient payment for sin — all our sin past, present, future.

In other words, the righteousness of God here is not a transformative righteousness, where we become righteous in ourselves and because of our own righteousness, we are now righteous before God. 

Grace transforms to be sure. But we are not saved by our being transformed. That’s to not only get the gospel backwards, but to gut the gospel of its power to save, and instead bring us to the despair Luther was in.

Our sanctification doesn’t save us so much as it prepares us for living in God’s holy presence. 

A RIGHTEOUSNESS NOT OUR OWN

Without righteousness, no one shall approach the holy God. But by faith, it is possible for sinful man to truly stand righteous before God. This righteousness, however, is not a righteousness of our own, but the righteousness of another. 

So long as we seek to rest in any righteousness of our own, trying to muster God’s favor in and through ourselves — whether that be greater penitence or greater works — we will remain far from God and this great salvation. 

Why? Because deep down we know we are far from being righteous in ourselves. All we need to do is replay our thoughts from the past 24 hours. Stand before God with that!

But in Christ, we boldly approach the throne of God’s grace. 

No other religion or worldview allows one to stand blameless before the Holy God. Either you have Judaism and Islam in which no one would ever dare approach God’s immediate presence — or God must be reduced to something other than the holy righteous God He is.

CONTEMPORARY HATRED

Where Luther lived in a time where damnation and salvation were very much the air one breathed, much of our culture has done everything possible to numb itself to the idea of eternal judgment. 

But where the cultural air may be different, the same resentment and hostility exists. The world hates God, in part, precisely because He is righteous.

Luther hated God because he couldn’t live up to the righteousness of God. Our culture hates God because how dare His righteousness interfere with our autonomy. Either way, God’s holiness — or we might say — the righteousness revealed in God’s holiness is what mankind hates most about God.

UNPOPULARLY GOOD NEWS

As unpopular as the righteousness of God is, as Christ’s ambassadors, we must take care never to minimize God’s righteousness. That God will call every individual to account. As Hebrews says: it’s appointed for man to die once then comes judgment.

But listen loved ones. This is precisely where the gospel comes in. God sent his Son to receive our judgment in our place. So, when we stand before the judgment throne, for all who have placed their faith in Jesus — his work and his worth — we are judged: NOT GUILTY. Because Jesus’ righteousness is credited to us.

But we have no gospel to share if we minimize the righteousness of God, as if God is not concerned with righteousness. 

RIGHT WITH GOD

So, what makes a person right before God?

First, and we best not miss this because Paul will use a large chunk of these first three chapters to make his case — the gospel reveals our sinful condition. Our sin has not merely separated us from God but has placed us under His righteous judgment. 

And yet, God has provided a way for us — who are justly under such judgment to actually be in the right before Him. 

Second, the gospel vindicates God’s righteousness in the very act of declaring sinners righteous. Paul will address this at the end of Romans 3. But I would argue that this is the foundation of the gospel. 

Because God did not punish sin to the full degree it deserved — but instead showed mercy — God was seen to be unjust. In fact, God began making promises to His people that seemed to run contrary to what justice demanded. How on earth could God bless sinners — those who had committed treason against the Lord of all the universe? 

Well, the gospel reveals the righteousness of God in declaring sinners to be righteous. [There’s so much more to say here, but we’ll save this for the end of chapter 3 for when we get there, Lord willing.]

LIVE BY FAITH

So, what makes a person right before God? Who are the righteous? The righteous are those declared righteous by God through their faith. 

The verse quoted by Paul comes from Habakkuk 2. The righteous shall live by faith. 

Is faith, here, the manner of one’s life, as in the way one orders their steps? Or does this mean that those who are righteous by means of their faith will ultimately live? 

The Greek isn’t any more helpful than our English. We could just as easily (and perhaps more literally) translate it like this: But the righteous one, by means of faith, will live.But that leaves us with the exact same question.

Here’s the thing. I don’t think we have to chose between the two interpretations. Both are true. The righteous are those declared righteous by God by means of their faith, and hence, they receive eternal life. But it’s also true that those who are declared righteous by God will order their lives by faith. 

Faith is both that which marks the lives of the righteous, as well as the means by which they are declared righteous and thus live. They know life rather than death. 

These two ideas are not compartmentalized from each other, as if Paul has a narrow view of life. Paul means life in its fullest sense. Eternal life isn’t merely something future. It begins when one believes. 

It is those who are righteous through faith who will be saved in the ultimate sense. And the life they live now is marked by that same faith by which God declares them to be righteous. 

RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN THE GOSPEL

The righteousness of God in the gospel was promised long ago. (That’s verse 2). But only in Christ is this righteousness finally truly and fully revealed — made manifest.

Prior to the cross, the trust and hope of those with faith was that God would provide the Lamb for the burnt offering — that God would provide the substitute for sin — that God would provide the covering needed for sinners to dwell in His presence — that God, in a mystery known only to Himself at the time, would reckon belief and faith as righteousness. 

How? Well, now that Jesus has come, the answer becomes clear. That in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting men’s sins against them, but against him — against his Son. Jesus came as the Lamb, as the substitute, as the covering, as our every provision to be made righteous before God.

RIGHTEOUSNESS NOT SET ASIDE

Now we need to be careful in how we understand this. The gospel doesn’t somehow set aside God’s righteousness. Luther, in all his despair, understood at least this much. That’s what was so despairing.

Jesus didn’t come to set aside God’s righteousness. Jesus didn’t come to relax God’s righteousness as found in the Law. Rather, Jesus pressed the Law to its fullest. Jesus equated hate with murder. Lust was equivalent to adultery. 

In fact, listen to Jesus’ own words: Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

You see why Luther failed to see the gospel as good news? Jesus upped the ante. I couldn’t measure up to God’s righteousness before. And here comes Jesus elevating the standard of God’s righteousness. Measuring up just became exponentially harder!

A SURPASSING RIGHTEOUSNESS

So, what’s the solution? What is the righteousness of God found in the gospel? It’s a righteousness that comes from God and a righteousness that satisfies God. 

Why does this matter? Because the gospel is just as concerned about righteousness as the Law was. Jesus is clear. Your righteousness must surpass that of the religious elite in order to be saved. Why? Because their supposed righteousness didn’t make them right before God. Far from it!

NOT THOSE WHO DEEM THEMSELVES TO BE RIGHTEOUS

The righteous in God’s sight, however, are not those who deem themselves to be so. Jesus tells a parable about those who trusted that they were themselves righteous. 

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

What’s Jesus’ verdict: I tell you, this man, the tax collector, went down to his house justified —rather than the Pharisee who thought himself to be righteous.

The Pharisee had faith in himself. Sounds like the world’s refrain — you’ve got to believe in yourself.

The tax collector had faith in God and His great mercy.

FAITH TRUSTS

Faith trusts God’s full word, not part of it. Meaning, faith trusts God’s verdict on one’s life, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Faith trusts that we could never perform enough works to be deemed righteous before God in ourselves. Faith trusts that God Himself must declare us to be righteous through the righteousness of another — His Son. 

HABAKKUK

The righteous shall live by faith is not new. Hence, Paul quotes from Habakkuk 2:4. 

To summarize: Habakkuk, the prophet is greatly troubled by the violence in Judah, and how the Law seems paralyzed to do anything about it. How long, O Lord, must I cry to you, “Violence!” and you do not hear. 

Well, the Lord has a response. I’m sending the Chaldeans —the Babylonians — as a judgment. 

If Habakkuk was troubled before, he is really troubled now. Lord, You are too pure to look upon evil, and here You are sending them as a judgment against us? 

Habakkuk can’t understand how God could use a nation even more wicked to deal with His own people’s wickedness. 

So, what is the Lord’s response? (Habakkuk 2:4, the very verse Paul cites.)

Habakkuk, I know. Their souls are puffed up. They are not upright in the least. But listen. The righteous shall live by his faith. 

In other words, Habakkuk, don’t fear … but trust.

Habakkuk 2:4 contrasts the righteous with those who are not upright. The righteous will be sustained through the coming trial. How? Through their faith. 

HABAKKUK’S SONG

This helps us to make sense of Habakkuk’s song in 3:17-19. 

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fall, the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.

Habakkuk trusts in God’s character and God’s ability and willingness to save — to sustain — to preserve — even should all other means of sustenance perish! That’s faith!

HEBREWS AND HABAKKUK

The author of Hebrews takes up Paul’s verse from Habakkuk, immediately before Hebrews 11 and the Great Hall of Faith. Hebrews 10:37-39.

“Yet a little while and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith (and listen to this) and preserve their souls.

Did you catch that? Readers are to remain faithful under trial, because through their faith they will preserve their souls. Perseverance is tied to one’s faith.

It’s only those who trust in God’s character and promise who ultimately persevere. Faith sustains the godly. They will live and not finally perish.

FAITH TO FAITH

I think this helps us to make sense of the phrase — from faith to faith. Receiving the revelation of God’s righteousness revealed in the gospel comes through faith. AND… it encourages and leads to a life of faith. The gospel is received by faith, it leads to faith, and it preserves by faith — faith from beginning to end. 

By quoting Habakkuk, Paul shows the continuity of the gospel with the Old Testament. God’s way of salvation has always been by faith, both before and after Christ. 

In Habakkuk, the righteous Israelite would be preserved through the judgment of the Babylonian invasion by his or her faith. 

In the Gospel, the righteous will be preserved through final judgment by his or her faith.

Where Habakkuk’s message concerned deliverance through the judgment of the Babylonian army, Paul’s gospel concerns deliverance through the judgment of God upon the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth about God for a lie. 

NOT NEW

So, righteousness by faith is not new. It has always been the case. Paul will later use Abraham as an example. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Hebrews will go back as far as Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, each of whom was commended for his faith.

For Adam and Eve, it was a lack of faith that led to the Fall. Far from works righteousness, their works displayed their lack of faith — their lack of trust in God’s Word. Rather than believing God, rather than trusting the Creator, Adam and Eve listened to the voice of another and ate. 

But get this! As soon as they ate, they were aware. They were aware that they had no righteousness of their own with which to stand before God. So they hid. 

Faith is not opposed to works. Works, as James points out, are the display of faith. But one’s works doesn’t make one right with God. 

So where being declared righteous by faith is not new in itself, the gospel is new in that the object of faith is finally fully disclosed — namely Jesus Christ. 

MISPLACED FAITH AND THE CHAIR

Part of the problem with our fallen condition is that we so often place our faith in lesser things. 

Take the popular chair analogy that so many have used to describe faith. You look at the chair, you see others sitting in similar chairs. Perhaps you’ve seen someone sit in this exact chair before. Maybe you’ve even sat in this chair before. You trust the chair will hold, and so by faith you take your seat in that chair. 

Of course, your faith makes no difference in the chair’s actual ability to hold you. You may have sat in it yesterday. But between then and now, a screw may have loosened just enough that no amount of faith will cause that chair to support you. 

Why? Because it’s the object of one’s faith that matters; not the amount of faith one has in the object.

UPHELD BY SOMETHING GREATER

But let’s continue with the chair. The chair is upheld by something greater than itself.
It’s upheld by the quality of the materials its fashioned from.
It’s upheld by the quality of craftsmanship that went into it.
It’s upheld by the quality of the architect’s design.

But we can and should go further. Those materials didn’t come from nowhere. Someone crafted those materials — and I’m not speaking simply of the mill or the blacksmith — or even the tree farmer and his tree grove. The raw materials for the chair all come from the Creator.

We also have the skill of the one who fashioned the chair. That skill didn’t come from nowhere. Men only have the skills they have due to the lovingkindness of the gracious God who assigns those skills.

And what about the quality of the architect’s design. A greater Architect put the laws of gravity and friction and tension and density and so on — all in place. Mankind merely discovers them. And that discovery is also a gift from God.

THE PROPER END OF FAITH

So if we trace it to its proper end, that which upholds the chair is completely dependent on God Himself. 

One aspect of sin is that we have taken trusting eyes off the God who upholds and sustains and instead fixed them on something less. So, when you sit in a chair, far from placing your faith in the chair, your faith should be in the God upholds all things according to His will. 

And it’s this God who will ultimately uphold you.

WHERE’S YOUR FAITH?

Is your faith in Him? Or is it in something less? Is it in His provision for you in Christ? Or are you still convinced you can muster a righteousness of your own?

It is those who are righteous by faith who shall live.

KICKING THE CHAIR OUT

If you are still convinced that you have any righteousness of your own apart from Christ — in the following verses, Paul is about to kick that flimsy chair out from under you.

Through the rest of chapter 1, all of 2, and the first half of 3, Paul is going to present the strongest case ever penned to prove that none is righteous in themselves, not even one.

But listen loved ones, if you embrace the truth of your predicament before God, that apart from Christ, you are utterly defenseless and deserving of judgment, then, like Luther, you will come to absolutely cherish verses 16 and 17. 

But if you somehow think, “ou know, verses 18 and following might be a true assessment of some but not me. In fact, I consider myself to be fairly godly person”, then verses 16 and 17 will seem somewhat dull. And at the end of the age, the righteousness of God will be utterly terrifying.

You and I need what follows, that we might know Luther’s experience, that outside of Christ the righteousness of God is utterly terrifying. 

But God has made a way for His Son’s righteousness to be counted as our own — and that is through faith. 

THE RIGHTEOUS BY FAITH ALONE WILL LIVE

Those who are righteous by faith will live — and them alone. Everyone else remains under the just wrath of God.
That’s what verses 16 and 17 save us from. 

But only if we are those who are among the righteous.
How? By faith and faith alone. By faith in Jesus Christ —
his life and death — his person and work —
his worth and satisfaction for our sin.

When understood rightly, this is the most glorious news ever. That those who were once under wrath, God has made a way through His Son for them to be right before Him — righteous by faith in Jesus Christ the righteous one. 

The glorious news of the gospel is that those who are right before God through faith shall ultimately live — they will know the fullness of life — and they will know it forever. And what glorious news it is. 

Not Ashamed of the Gospel (Romans 1:16)

INTRODUCTION:

Can you imagine a world without shame? Why is shame and guilt even such a thing in the first place? When God created the world, everything was good. Shame would have been an utterly foreign concept. But as it is, with the introducing of sin, man and woman who were once naked and unashamed, now know shame.

But the gospel — and the gospel alone — decisively deals with that shame.

READ (Romans 1:16-17)

NEGATIVE

We ended last week in verse 15, with Paul’s eagerness to preach the gospel to those in Rome and wherever else the Lord might send him. Why? Verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel. 

Why put it this way. Why begin with such negative phrasing. Why not, backing up to verse 15, So, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am honored to preach the gospel.

Why not: I am confident to preach the gospel.  Why not: I praise God that He has enlisted me to preach the gospel, and that He allows me to participate in such a ministry.. 

Well, Paul is honored to participate in such a ministry. Indeed, he’ll say just that in chapter 15. In Christ Jesus, I have reason to be proud of (or boast in) my work for God. Paul boasted in this gospel, boasted in his Lord, not in himself.

So, why here, “I am not ashamed of the gospel?” Because the world as a whole holds this gospel in contempt. While many respond positively to the message, the overwhelming majority do not! They see it as foolishness … as weakness.

TEMPTATION

In other words, there’s a genuine temptation to be ashamed of this gospel. Such is the temptation to be ashamed that Paul writes to young Timothy (2 Timothy 1:8). Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.

But Paul isn’t the only one who had to warn against this temptation to be ashamed. The Lord Jesus warned the disciples (in the passage Chase read from Mark 8.)

Right after Peter confesses Jesus to be the Christ, Jesus began to teach them that he must suffer … and be rejected … and be killed.

What’s Peter’s reaction? Peter rebukes Jesus. In Matthews account, Peter is recorded as saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”

O the absurdity! A rejected and crucified Messiah! How shameful!

Well, the Lord has a rebuke for Peter. Get behind me Satan! Why? Because Peter was not setting his mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

Then to make sure all the disciples understood, Jesus informs them of just what it will take to follow Him. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the sake of the gospel will save it. 

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? 

And listen. For,Jesus says, whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Listen loved ones, the temptation is real.

THE PROUD GOSPEL

Now, if you’ve never known this temptation, my response to you isn’t, “well, good. Keep on in that rock solid faith of yours!” No. instead, I’d ask you to question why it is you’ve never known such a temptation?

There’s a gospel that receives little to no push back form the world:

A distorted gospel has no problem cozying up to the world — a gospel of self-improvement — a gospel of tolerance — a gospel where accepting others lifestyles and worldviews is deemed as the most loving thing one can do — a gospel of prosperity and good fortune — a gospel of waging war against corruption while failing to rightly define such by God’s terms, that it’s our flesh that’s corrupt — a gospel of peace, not so much with God but with the world and, worse, with one’s own sin — a gospel of self-exaltation and self-image. 

The flesh finds no shame in any of the perversions of the gospel. But a perverted gospel is not the gospel. A perverted gospel can’t even pass itself off as any good news worth proclaiming!

If your gospel doesn’t face ridicule or contempt from the average unbeliever, either they have a distorted view of the gospel you hold to, or you have a distorted view of the gospel you communicate.

THE WEAK AND FOOLISH GOSPEL

Why was Paul not ashamed of the gospel despite all the hostility, ridicule, and sufferings he endured? Because he knew the great depths God condescended to save him, and the infinite cost that salvation required. 

O how foolish and weak the gospel looks. How foolish and weak Jesus Christ, the subject of the gospel, looked on that cross! And how foolish to the world those who hold to such a gospel must look.

The gospel humbles to the core and leaves no room for the least amount of self-pride.

Just think of Paul. How wise and sophisticated and brazen in the world’s eyes he must have seemed before he bought into this “foolishness,” this “weakness.” The mighty Saul, persecutor of the church, now taking hold of the crutches of the church.

But for some reason, this weak organization of weak individuals who hold to this weak and foolish message is still standing 2000 years later. Why? Because the founder of our faith, while he became weak for our sake, is not weak in Himself, but is Almighty God! And he has chosen to uphold his church by this weak and foolish message. (But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.)

POWER TO SAVE

So we never reduce the gospel to make it somehow more palatable. Because a reduced gospel cannot save. Instead, we proclaim the unadulterated gospel boldly and confidently knowing that it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

The only way you and I overcome the temptation of being ashamed of the gospel is like Paul — reminding ourselves of this truth! Paul recognized that this same gospel power that arrested him on the road to Damascus was mighty to save anyone!

If the Lord can save me, as hardened as I was, then there is absolutely no one too far from His saving reach. And this, loved ones, is true for you too.

So, Paul was not ashamed of this gospel — and neither should we be.

WHAT IS SHAME

But what exactly is this shame Paul’s referring to? Most simply, shame is disgrace due to misplaced confidence. Society likes to shame Christians for being on the wrong side of history. History is moving forward without them and leaving their parochial ways behind. 

Of course, when Christ returns, it will be apparent who was on the wong side of history and who was not. 

The word Paul uses here in verse 16, is ἐπαισχύνομαι. It’s the verb form for shame, with a prefix that underlines that this shame comes upon a person. 

Properly, the Greek word for shame means to disfigure, such as a disfigured face or appearance. When one is shamed, they are dishonored, disgraced, their good appearance is marred and disfigured before others.

We have an idiom, “you’ve got cake on your face,” which refers to the embarrassment one faces when proven wrong. Well, this sort of shame isn’t just cake on one’s face, that can be wiped away. This is a disfigurement of one’s good appearance before others, that is not so easily rectified. 

Jesus bore the ultimate shame on the cross. The disgrace mankind has faced since being expelled from the Garden. We had marred, disfigured the glorious image of the God whose image we were fashioned after. 

To cover the shame of our sin, the eternal Son, who is the exact imprint of God, would be publicly marred and disfigured on the cross. Isaiah 52:14. As many as were appalled at him — his appearance was so disfigured beyond any human semblance, and his form marred beyond that of the children of mankind. 

But in being marred and disfigured in our place, Jesus provides us with his righteousness to cover our shame.

THE POWER OF GOD

Why is Paul so eager to preach the Gospel to those in Rome? Why is Paul not ashamed of this Gospel? It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. 

Notice, what exactly is the power of God here. Undoubtedly, the subject here is the Gospel itself. In other words, the power of God for salvation is found in a message. For that’s what the Gospel is. It’s news. Good news. That’s what the word means. 

I find that fascinating when I think about it. The Almighty God saves people through a message — a particular message — but no less a message. 

It’s important we don’t miss this. Because we often see power in muscles and manpower, swords and shields, arms and armaments, missiles and nuclear weapons. But nothing in all of creation is as powerful as communication. (That’s why the curse of Babel was so devastating!) By the way, it takes communication to instruct and command an army to war.

But the omnipotent all-powerful God needs nothing — He does all things through the Word of His power. He commands and creation comes into being. And with a command, He can bring any or all of it to nothing.

The whole, sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never harm me, is nonsense. Words do the most harm. But words are also powerful to do the most good. The most a sword can do is physically kill you. But that’s it. But o the destruction words cause. 

POWER OF A MESSAGE

The power of God for salvation is a message — a message that finally and fully discloses God’s righteousness in Christ. (That’s next week.)

This message alone possesses the power of salvation Because only in the message of the Gospel do we finally see God rightly; do we finally see ourselves rightly, and do we finally see our Saviour. 

This in no way suggests that God is not all-powerful apart from the Gospel. You need only look at creation to see His power. The power to create — order — sustain — His kind provision for His creatures. 

But because of our rebellion, we placed ourselves under the just wrath of God. Though creation displays God’s power, there’s no power of salvation found in creation. Creation moves us not one inch closer to being saved. If anything, apart from the Gospel, the only thing that gazing upon God’s power displayed in creation does is make us all the more liable to judgment. 

The gospel alone is God’s power to save. 

POWER OF THE SPIRIT

Well, one might ask: what about the Spirit? 

God’s Spirit always works in tandem with His Word. The Spirit saves by applying the message of the Gospel. The Spirit doesn’t zap people into salvation. The Spirit penetrates hearts to receive the Gospel message. A person will not trust the message of the Gospel apart from the Spirit’s work. But it’s equally true that the Spirit saves no one apart from this same Gospel. 

Why is that? Well, one of the Spirit’s primary roles is to glorify the Son. Now tell me, how is the Son glorified if the Spirit saved anyone apart from the gospel of the Son, the gospel that brings the greatest glory to the Son? 

And according to God’s all-wise plan and purpose, the Gospel does not merely make salvation possible but actually effects salvation in those who are called and thus believe. 

1 Thessalonians 1:4-5. For we know, brothers, loved by God, that He has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. 

Or 1 Corinthians 2:4-5. My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom (that is, according to the world’s standards), but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. The Spirit takes this message that is weak and foolish in the eyes of the world, and it applies it with power to the hearer. 

SAVED FROM WHAT

Now, it’s important that we cover this whole salvation thing, because we can speak a lot about the gospel without ever actually articulating the gospel. 

Salvation is always qualified. If I say, “Honey, I saved the toast.” What do you think I saved it from? I saved it from burning. 

If my wife says, “I saved you a plate of spaghetti.”? Either she saved it from someone else devouring it or from going in the trash. 

Someone who saves the game, saves it from being a loss. Save the date — save it from being filled up with something else. For someone who doesn’t play well with technology, I like it when my work is saved, rather than a program running into a glitch and losing it.

THREE-FOLD DELIVERANCE

But salvation in the Bible most often deals with saving from great harm or loss, such as God saving His people from Egypt. But every deliverance in Scripture served to point to a far greater deliverance, a far greater salvation, all of humanity is in need of … saved from penalty, the oppression, and the pollution of sin. 

Now, it’s right to speak of salvation as being saved from God — specifically, from God’s wrath. But we only need saved from God’s wrath because of sin — our sin.

So when we speak of the salvation found in the Gospel, I find it helpful to think of it in a 3-fold deliverance from sin’s penalty, sin’s oppression, and sin’s pollution.

PENALTY

When we believe the gospel, we are immediately saved from the penalty of sin. How? We trust that Jesus bore that penalty in our place, which is what he accomplished on the cross. (We’ll look at faith more closely next week and how it attaches us to Christ. But for now…) There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

OPPRESSION / POWER

We have been saved from the penalty of sin, and we are being saved from the oppression of sin — or the power of sin. This same gospel that is the power of God for salvation to deliver us from the penalty of sin, is also the same gospel that is the power of God to deliver us from the oppression of sin. 

This is why we never grow past the need to hear the gospel proclaimed. We need reminded of what Christ has done in our behalf. The gospel exposes sin for what it is. The gospel also enables us to finally see God rightly, so we are no longer persuaded by sin’s deception.

POLLUTION / PRESENCE

Finally, the day is coming when we will be saved from the very pollution of sin — or we might say, the presence of sin. No sin or cause of sin will be found in the New Creation. This is the only way we can be confident of eternal bliss. 

ALREADY / NOT YET

In other words, salvation has what we might call “an already but not yet” dimension to it. In Christ, we have been saved and are being saved, but the fullness of this salvation is yet on the horizon — it’s future. 

SAVED TO

Now, the gospel does more than save us from something. The gospel also saves us to something. Where we were once enemies, the gospel reconciles us to God. It restores us to communion — or we might say, to enjoy fellowship — with God. 

ALL THE PROMISES OF GOD

This salvation should not be disconnected from the saving promises made to Israel in the Old Testament. All of God’s promises find their yes in Christ. All the covenant promises pointed to and are ultimately fulfilled in Christ and those who belong to him. 

As Paul says, the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also the Greek. In other words, both Jews and Greeks are saved by the same gospel. 

COMPLETELY SAVED

Just how powerful is this gospel? Those saved are saved completely — not partly, but fully. Personally, I’m not a fan of the sayings, “once saved always saved” or “can one lose their salvation?” I know what people are asking. They’re seeking assurance. 

The problem is one equates salvation with a human act that may or may not have been genuine or sincere, “but hey, they at least went through the motions.” Scripture is clear, only those who endure to the end will be saved. But it’s also true that we are to have assurance in this salvation. This isn’t some fragile salvation that can easily be broken. 

NO CONTRIBUTION

No one is saved based on anything in themselves. You contributed no power to this gospel. You simply trusted in God’s saving power. Those with more faith aren’t more fully saved than those with a mustard seed of faith. 

We aren’t the power, nor is our faith the power. But the gospel of God is the power, laying bare the fact that you brought nothing into this salvation but your own sin. 

The gospel exposes our utter weakness and helplessness to save ourselves. This is why so many despise the gospel. “I’m not about to parade my weakness and helplessness around before the watching world. I want a gospel that shows me to be strong — a gospel in which I somehow contribute at least a little something to my salvation.”

ONLY ASSURANCE

But here’s the problem with that. If the gospel takes your contribution, you and I could never have assurance of salvation. The only assurance we could have is that if any part of this salvation is up to me, then I’m a goner. 

But because we contributed nothing to this great salvation, what makes you think you can contribute anything to derail your salvation. 

What can break this mighty power of God found in the gospel? Your sin? O don’t think so highly of yourself! Rather, it’s the power of God in the gospel that breaks the power of your sin!

For everyone who truly comes to believe this gospel — the belief itself being the mighty working of God — everyone who believes this gospel may have confidence in its power to save — and save to the uttermost it will. 

SALVATION FOR WHOM

So, who is this salvation for? The Jew first and also the Greek. Greek, here, is likely a stand in for Gentile, meaning those who are not Jews. The Jew first, because it fulfills God’s covenants and promises. But the Greek also because the nations were always in the picture of those same promises. 

In other words, the good news is for all. Jew and Gentile alike are desperately in need of this same powerful gospel. The greatness of one’s sins doesn’t matter in the least. Nor does any amount of supposed righteous works. We are all more guilty than we could ever fathom. 

Outside of Christ, all are equally lost. But get this. The Gospel is equally powerful to save all. No one is too far off. 

EQUALLY FAR – EQUALLY POWERFUL

Think of the most hardened evil person you know. (For some of you, it didn’t take a second for someone to come to mind.) Now think of the sweetest person you know who doesn’t know Jesus. Okay. You’ve got them both in your mind? Now listen loved ones. Outside of Christ, they are equally far from salvation. 

The sweet ole lady or man is in no better position to receive salvation than the most hardened criminal who has done far greater evils and atrocities. The gospel is equally powerful to save both. And if the hardened criminal believes and trust in Christ, he will be saved. And if the sweet ole lady refuses to trust in Jesus, she will not be. The wrath of God will remain on her. 

HARD TO SWALLOW

Now, for most, that’s hard to swallow. It rubs against our flesh that likes to boast in our works. 

But the only reason that’s hard to swallow is because we fail to recognize God’s holiness, and just what is the greatest of all evils — rebelling against and blaspheming the holy God who did nothing but provide undeserving creatures with every good thing they’ve ever enjoyed. 

And in her blasphemy of God, she leads others astray from their greatest good, regardless of how sweet she might speak in doing so. Don’t be fooled. God is not mocked.

This gospel is powerful enough to save absolutely anyone. But apart from one believing this gospel — trusting in Christ, the subject of the gospel — they are lost and will remain so.

WHY IT MATTERS

Why does getting this right matter? Why does it matter that the gospel alone is the power of God for salvation? 

Because if we are the least inclined to think there might be another way of salvation — perhaps one’s good works could suffice — perhaps a vague belief in God is sufficient — perhaps believing Jesus to be a good person — an example to follow, but the whole cross and resurrection, well, I’m not so sure about that — perhaps the Spirit could simply zap people into being righteous before God without the gospel. “You know, I’ve heard about Muslims having dreams about Jesus and being saved without ever hearing the gospel.” 

You know why I don’t buy into any of that? It flatly contradicts God’s Word — every one of these “perhaps.”

So long as we are inclined to think there might be another way, we are going to be hesitant to share the gospel with others — indeed, we’ll be ashamed to share the gospel. Because to the flesh and to the world, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the most unpopular message there is. 

WHAT THE GOSPEL COMMUNICATES

How is that? Because the gospel, when faithfully communicated, announces that we are sinners — not in the sense that nobody’s perfect, and we all make mistakes — but in the most drastic sense that we have raised our fists against the God who created us — we have spit in His face — and condemned Him — we placed Him on trial and found Him unfit — and we proclaim at the top of our lungs “I did it my way!”

The Gospel announces our condition to be so vile, we are justly under God’s righteous wrath, and the sentence is eternal. 

The Gospel shows our utter helplessness — that we can’t lift a single finger in our defense to save ourselves. 

WHAT THE GOSPEL REQUIRED

And the Gospel proclaims that it took nothing less than God’s only Son stepping down out of heaven, bearing the likeness of our sinful flesh, and being beaten and whipped until the image of fallen man was so shamed — so disfigured and marred that people were appalled, as he bore the penalty for our sin in our place. 

O how horrific the payment — that gruesome bloody cross. That’s what it took to save you. That’s what it takes to save any of us. That’s the price it took to save — not the world — but you alone.
That’s how vile your treason was.

HOW GREAT A LOVE

But o don’t miss this. That’s how much you are loved. That God willingly paid that price to save you! 

And He did it that way because 1) it was the absolute only way! 2) Because it’s the only thing that will crush our rebellion. And 3) because in this gospel and this gospel alone, does anyone begin to fathom the depth of the love of God — that the enemy had distorted.

And that, loved ones, is the power of the gospel. The gospel takes those who were once the vilest of rebels against their King and turns them into willing subjects, servants, who adore and worship this King with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. 

KNOWING LOVE

But someone might ask: don’t people know the love of God apart from the gospel? In a sense, people know the benevolent love of God — that He gives good gifts and provision to the just and unjust alike. 

But at the same time — and this sits at the core of the issue — they see God as withholding much of that good, which He could easily dispense if He was as truly loving as we say He is. 

Every time we grumble, if we trace that grumbling to its proper end, its grumbling ultimately against the Sovereign God’s goodness. 

So, no. People do not, nor can they, truly know the love of God aright apart from the gospel. O they can have an idea. There are shadows and hints. But those shadows and hints are all quickly tarnished by the deception of sin. 

Only in the gospel do we rightly know God’s love. Only in gazing upon God’s love — spelled out in crimson letters upon a rugged beam of wood — engraved with iron nails through the palms of His Son’s hands — etched with sharp thorns around the circumference of His Son’s beautiful brow — painted on the desert clay with the blood that poured from His Son’s pierced side. 

Only then do we come to know God’s love rightly. It’s this love displayed in the gospel — that is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

HISTORY’S END

At the end of history, there will be one thing and one thing only in which to be ashamed. And that my friends, is sin — our own sin — and no one else’s. 

Revelation describes it like this. Silence! 

When the pure undimmed glory of Christ breaks through in His return — and the final seal is broken from the scroll — and all is disclosed — all is uncovered — the hearts of every human being exposed — not simply the acts, as horrific as they might be, but the thoughts and intents of the hearts behind every act — even those acts that by God’s grace were greatly restrained. All of it will be laid bare before creation. 

Then, for everyone who was so proud that they thought they might hide from shame by seeking to cover their sin on their own — they will know what true shame really is. 

O, but for those who have trusted Christ, they have a covering — that shame was already exposed on the cross — where Jesus himself, the exact imprint of God, was marred and disfigured, exposing the shame of our sin — and paying for that shame in full.

Rather than shame, those who trust Christ will know glory — beautiful unending glory — clothed in the glory of the One they were not ashamed to trust, proclaim, and represent. 

PARTING WORDS

At the end of his life, having faced great suffering and persecution and now in a Roman prison cell, Paul wrote to young Timothy, calling him to share in suffering for the sake of the gospel, just as Paul himself had suffered. And he writes these words, and I would encourage you to make them yours. 2 Timothy 2:12. 

But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.

Loved ones, you’ve been entrusted with the gospel, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Do not be ashamed. But hold to it and boldly proclaim it, that others might know this same power.

https://youtu.be/2VL5CqTbpbQ

Hindered and Harvesting, Obligated and Obedient (Romans 1:13-15)

INTRODUCTION

We’ve been working through the opening of Paul’s letter to the Romans, and with the exception of the end of his letter, this is the most personal and personalized section until we get to the end of chapter 15. 

Paul has long desired to come to Rome. Verse 12. Paul wants to be an encouragement to them, and he wants to be encouraged by them.
Verse 11. He wants to impart to them some spiritual gift to strengthen them — to see them strengthened in their faith.

Yet undergirding all of this is an even greater why — a greater purpose.
Why is it Paul wants to see their faith strengthened through his preaching of the gospel?
What is it about the mutual encouragement of each other’s faith that Paul so longs for?
I would argue, it’s the glory of the God whom Paul serves.
Paul longs for the harvest that redounds— or overflows — to God’s glory.

Verse 13. That I might reap some harvest from among you.
What is this harvest? What does this have to do with God’s glory?
Well, that’s what we’re looking at this morning.

READ (Romans 1:13-15; Acts 8:26-40)

INTENTIONS

Verse 13 begins with Paul’s intention to come to Rome. And he wants the believers to know his earnestness in his intent. I do not want you to be unaware brothers, that I have often intended to come to you. 

The word intended, means to “set forth” or “set before”. Here, it’s used in the middle voice, meaning Paul has often set coming to Rome before himself. But up to this point he has been prevented from coming. 

It’s not that Paul had his itinerary laid out, hotels booked, and at the last minute, each time, the flight was cancelled. 

What Paul is seeking to convey, in line with verse 10, is that he’s had a deep desire to come to Rome, so much so that he has been praying to that end. 

Unlike many, Paul doesn’t vacillate on his intentions. Well, maybe it’d be nice to go to Rome. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a good idea.

OPPORTUNITY HASN’T KNOCKED

While the tickets aren’t yet purchased, he is earnestly looking for the Lord to open a door to that end without neglecting the work to which he is currently called. As of yet, the opportunity has not availed itself. 

Paul has thus far been prevented. This word prevent comes from a term that means cut-off, cut-short, or more graphicly, lopped-off. 

Now, before we look into what exactly is preventing or cutting short Paul’s trip to Rome, it’s probably helpful if we look at what this harvest is Paul’s referring to. 

RIPE FOR HARVEST

Paul wants to visit Rome… in order that I might reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 

Paul’s purpose here is two-fold: reap a harvest among those in Rome. Also in getting to Rome, Paul hopes to reap a harvest among those beyond Rome. 

The word translated harvest is simply the word “fruit.” A more literal translation would read, “that I might have some fruit from among you.”
Paul longs to visit that he might reap some fruit. But what is this fruit?

Many commentators suggest that fruit here refers to making converts through his preaching of the gospel. While that is likely part of what’s involved, we need to take care not to disconnect verse 13 from verses 11 and 12. Paul longs to strengthen and encourage those who are already believers.

More than simply adding to their numbers, Paul wants to see their faith strengthened — their resolve to live out this faith strengthened. Because living out the Christian life is no cakewalk in a culture that is opposed to God and His people. And there has never been a time that hasn’t been the case…

BE FRUITFUL 

So, then, what is this harvest or fruit Paul is referring to?

This idea of fruit goes all the way back to Genesis 1. God created vegetation in which the plants and trees bore seed and fruit according to its kind. And God did the same with the birds in the air, and the fish in the sea, and every creature that walked on the earth. Each was to produce and multiply according to its kind. 

And then God did something most amazing. He created a creature in His own likeness — in his image — to have dominion over this creation the Lord God had made. And do you know what the very first command in all of Scripture is? Genesis 1:28. Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth… What was mankind supposed to fill the earth with? God’s image. Mankind was to reflect God’s righteous rule throughout creation. That’s the fruit mankind was to produce … according to its kind.

GARDEN IMAGERY

It’s not accidental that Jesus used Garden imagery in so many of his teachings and parables. You’ll hear some explain that the culture in Jesus’ day was an agrarian society. So he was searching for the easiest illustrations in which the people could understand. 

In other words, it was the clearest way to communicate. 

Of course, Jesus gives an entirely different reason for teaching in parables. Mark 4:11. To you, Jesus says, has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything is in parables, so that they may indeed see but not perceive … hear but not understand.

For the parables being so much more accessible, Jesus sure did have to explain the parables to his disciples. Mark 4:34. Jesus did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

So, it raises the question, perhaps there was something more than clarity that Jesus had in mind. Jesus used Garden Imagery to keep the Garden in view. Jesus used Garden Imagery because he is the Grand Gardener we looked at last week. 

TENANTS

One of the most prominent parables Jesus tells is that of the tenants who failed to produce fruit. The owner of the vineyard sends his son to the tenants to get his fruit — or to use Paul’s phrase in in verse 13 — to reap a harvest among them. (Very similar wording.) 

But the tenants threw the son out of the vineyard and killed him. So, Jesus asks, what will the owner of the vineyard do when he comes? Answer: He will put those wretches to a miserable death [and listen, here it is] and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their season.

REFLECTION

All of humanity failed to produce the fruit we were created to produce. While mankind was fruitful and multiplied and filled the earth, it was the wrong sort of fruit. Mankind was supposed to fill the earth with God’s righteous rule. That’s the fruit — God’s righteous character produced in God’s people. That’s what being made in God’s image is all about — it’s reflecting Him. 

That’s why conversion, or at least the way most understand it, is not at all what Paul is seeking among those in Rome. Paul’s not looking for people to raise their hand, say a prayer, walk and aisle, and get wet. 

Paul’s not seeking a people who simply call themselves Christians yet fail to actual follow and reflect Christ.
Paul received grace and apostleship (verse 5)  to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of Jesus’ name among all the nations.

MY WAY

Why? Because up to this point, the vast majority of humanity, with very few exceptions, instead of the obedience of faith, have sought to go their own way. All we like sheep have gone astray. Each of us after his own way. 

In going our own way, the only thing we have produced is foreign fruit. Like a perfect heirloom cross-pollinated with something undesirable, each generation becomes more and more corrupt and less like pure heirloom from which they were created. 

The glory of God is not produced in the lives of those who have gone their own way. The glory of God is not produced except in those attached to the True Vine who is Jesus Christ. (That’s John 15 that Eli read.)

So, what’s the greatest prevention to our bearing this fruit Paul longs to harvest? Our sin. 

Which takes us back to Paul’s phrase, thus far have been prevented. 

MAN-CENTERED CURSE

It’s a blessing to produce the fruit of God’s glory. (Romans 3:21)
It’s a curse for God to give people up to produce their own man-centered glory. (Romans 1:24)

O we might think much of such glory in our flesh. But all man-centered glory quickly fades, decays, and will soon perish to be remembered no more. 

PREVENTED BY THE SPIRIT

Paul’s being prevented from reaping a harvest in any particular place is, thus, multifold. 

Acts 16:6 says that the Holy Spirit prevented (same word) Paul from speaking the Word in Asia. Then, having come up to Mysia, Paul attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow him. 

God is in no way obligated to send the gospel to anyone. If we ever fail to understand that we confuse grace for entitlement. Sometimes God withholds the gospel as an act of judgment, just as Jesus spoke in parables as a means of hiding the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. So, at times, the Spirit forbids or prevents the gospel going forth as an act of God’s continued judgment on a people for a time.

It’s also true that God sometimes delays sending the gospel so that the harvest, when it does come, will be all the more glorious. (Hold onto that.)

PREVENTED BY SATAN

Another means of hindering comes from the evil one. Paul, writing to the church in Thessalonica was prevented — or cut short — from returning to strengthen the believers there. What prevented his return. 1 Thessalonians 2:18. I, Paul, wanted to come to you again and again, but Satan hindered us.

PREVENTED BY MINISTRY

There’s a third way in which Scripture speaks of Paul being hindered, and that is Paul was busy doing the work of ministry. That’s in Romans 15.
Paul had been fulfilling the ministry of the gospel of Christ… This, Paul writes, is the reason I have so often been hindered from coming to you. 

So, while Paul longs to reap some harvest among the believers in Rome, he recognizes that the Grand Gardener ultimately decides when and where that harvest will take place. 

We are to labor and build, plant and water, but God alone gives the harvest.

DEBTOR TO ALL

But why Rome? Because Paul has an obligation to all. Verse 14 and 15.

I am under obligation both to Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 

Literally, Paul is a debtor — a debtor to all, because Paul is a debtor to God.

Self-righteous Paul had his eyes opened on the road to Damascus. Far from being righteous, far from having no sin from which to repent, Paul came to terms with the fact that he was the chief of all sinners in need of the same grace everyone else needs. 

Paul could never repay the debt Jesus paid in his place. But what Paul could do is live his life entirely for the glory of Jesus Christ. What Paul could do is proclaim this same gospel that saved him, so that more and more sinners would be transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light to produce the fruit that redounds to God’s glory.

CULTURAL ELITES

It didn’t matter their status or culture, whether they were the more educated or the simple, because this good news is no respecter of persons. That’s what’s meant by the two pairs of classes Paul mentions in verse 14.
Greeks and barbarians. The wise and the foolish. 

The word barbarian is an onomatopoeia. To Greek speaking society, the rest of the world seemed to speak unintelligibly. It sounded like – bar bar bar bar Barbra Ann. Wait, that’s the Beach Boys. Well perhaps Brian Wilson would have sounded a little unintelligible as well. 

Anyway. The term was often used derogatively to express an inferiority to those who accepted and conformed to Greek culture. Kind of like some who look down on those from rural Appalachia because they judge their culture as backwards and backwoods. 

Similarly, Paul juxtaposes the wise with the foolish. Here, he’s not referring to Proverbs’ idea of the wise and foolish, but the culture’s. You have your Ivy League elites, and you have those who “didn’t get no additional education.” 

UNIMPRESSED

Listen loved ones, God’s not impressed with any of your cultural or academic accomplishments. Nor is He displeased because you either failed to or chose not to climb society’s expectational ladder. If anything, your supposed status will prove a hindrance, because Jesus saves not the proud but the lowly.

Jesus sums it up best in one of his prayers. Matthew 11:25.
I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 

IMPRESSIVE PAUL

Paul was once among the elites. Pharisee of Pharisees. Kept the Law perfectly — at least in his own eyes. Paul was trained under Gamaliel.
From Acts and Paul’s letters, one would come to the conclusion that Paul was the top of his class. But as top of his class, Paul would never willingly bow the knee to Jesus. He first needed to be brought low to the point where all his achievements were now nothing more than rubbish. 

Paul, who once persecuted Christ and his church, goes from being the fiercest persecutor of the gospel to the most eager to preach the gospel. 

So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. The gospel is the one message that produces the obedience of faith — the fruit Paul so earnestly desires to harvest among those in Rome. 

FRUITFUL TALK

How is the gospel of Christ the only message that will produce such fruit? Because it is the one message that reattaches image-bearers to the Vine. 

Only in being attached to Jesus, the True Vine, can you and I do anything truly meaningful and lasting. That might sound like an overstatement, so maybe it’s better to hear it from Jesus himself. 

John 15. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser (or Gardener). Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit…
As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is who bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

LIKE THE BRANCH

What is this fruit? I think it becomes obvious when we consider that the branches bear the likeness of the vine and produce after the likeness of the vine. 

So, at a bare minimum, the fruit is not so much more converts, but Christ-likeness. The fruit is having the image restored more and more as you and I are conformed after the likeness of the One who is the exact imprint of God Himself.

While we could wrap up here…

ACTS 8

To capture this idea of hindered and harvesting, obligated and obedient, turn to Acts 8, where Luke shares the account of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch.

Acts 8:26. Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And Philip arose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

ELITE CLASS

This court official would certainly qualify as being in the elite class Paul referred to in verse 14. He’s reading from the scroll of Isaiah, so he’s educated. He’s a court official to the queen, so he holds a prominent position of authority. Being over the queen’s treasury, he has incalculable wealth under his care. From a human perspective, this man would be seen a success — living a very fruitful life in the world’s eyes.

CUT OFF

But despite all appearances, this Ethiopian Eunuch is prevented, hindered, cut-off from the people of God. How?

FOREIGN

First, he’s a foreigner. While the law made provisions for foreigners to join themselves to the people of God, for the most part Gentiles were excluded. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians expresses this Ethiopian’s predicament. Remember that at one time you Gentiles (those who are not Jews) were separated from Christ, alienated form the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants and promise, having no hope and without God in the world. He is foreign to the covenants and promises of God.

BARREN

The second thing that has this man severed from God’s people is he’s a Eunuch. Now, the simplest way I know to describe a Eunuch to my kids is that he’s a man who has been made safe to be around the queen. Where the law made provisions for foreigners to join themselves to the people of God, the Law specifically forbade any deformed or emasculated male from entering the assembly of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 23:1)

Part of the issue with being a Eunuch is that it made it impossible to fulfill the very first command given in all of Scripture. Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 

This man is anything but fruitful. He’ll never multiply. He’ll never have a child of his own. He’s like a dry tree. Barren, just like the desert road between Jerusalem and Gaza. What fruitful harvest could possibly come from him?

IGNORANT

The third thing that separates him from God’s people is that he’s ignorant of the promises of God. He holds the scroll of Isaiah in his hands, but he’s unable to understand. Like Jesus’ parables, someone will need to explain it.

Look at Acts 8:31. The Spirit has Philip join the chariot. So, Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah and asked, “Do you understand what you’re reading?” And he said, “How can I unless someone guides me?”

HELP ME, PLEASE!

I hope you hear the humility in that response. I need help. This powerful man riding in back of the queen’s chariot, confessing to a guy who doesn’t even have his own ride, “I need help.” So, he invites Philip to come sit with him.

Loved ones. That is the first step to being able to receive the good news Philip is about to share with this man. This good news that takes a dry tree and makes it fruitful. This same good news that Paul wants to further proclaim to the church in Rome.

A FITTING VERSE

And out of all the passages in Scripture he could be reading, the Ethiopian Eunuch is reading these verses.

Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.

And the Eunuch asks Philip, “About whom, I ask, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”Because, one thing for sure, whoever this passage is referring to, this Ethiopian Eunuch can relate. 

JESUS AND EUNUCHS

Jesus had something to say regarding eunuchs. [In Matthew 19.] There are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.

It is likely this Ethiopian was made a eunuch at the hands of men.
Led like a sheep to the slaughter to be sheared.
Who was he to cry out to? So, he doesn’t open his mouth.
In his humiliation — let me ask, have you known this degree of humiliation?
He was denied justice — literally — justice was lifted or removed from him.
Who can describe his generation? His family? His future heirs? There would be none. No son, no daughter.
His life was lifted from the earth.

NOT ABOUT HIM

Beginning with this passage from Isaiah, Philip tells the eunuch the good news regarding Jesus. This passage, as much as the Eunuch could relate to it, is not about him or the prophet who penned it but about Jesus.

Jesus was the sheep led to the slaughter.
Jesus was the lamb who was silent before his shearers —
 who resolved to remain quite while he was falsely accused and sentenced.
Jesuse was humiliated —
 God of the universe spit upon, mocked, beaten by people he created,
 stripped bare and nailed exposed on a Roman cross for all to gawk at.
Jesus was denied justice.
 Pilate, the governor, repeatedly announced Jesus’ innocence.
 “I find no guilt in him.”
 Yet for fear of the crowd, he sent Jesus to the cross anyway.

The man, Jesus, would never have a biological child of his own — because on that cross, his life was lifted, removed, from the earth. He died without a single heir.

JESUS KNOWS

O Jesus knows the eunuch’s pain, oppression, every injustice ever done to him. And he knows yours. And that’s so important to grasp if you are ever to produce any sort of fruit in your life. 

OUR GREATEST HINDRANCE

But it didn’t matter in the least how much power this Ethiopian official may have had. Second only to the queen, incalculable wealth under his charge, among the academic elites —apart from knowing the One who denied himself of his infinite power, authority, and wealth — an utterly ignorant and foolish act in the world’s eyes — in order to die in this man’s place, the Ethiopian eunuch was hopeless. 

Why? Because the greatest hindrance that had him severed from God and the people of God is the same thing that separates any of us. Sin.

Sin is not merely our greatest barrier; it is the barrier.
Sin makes us foreign to God’s design for our lives.
Sin makes us barren and fruitless.
Sin distorts our knowledge of God… placing us on a desert road far from Him.

BARRIER REMOVED

But Jesus removes the barrier of sin and the brokenness it causes by becoming broken in our place. 

Like the Eunuch, Jesus also came to Jerusalem to worship. Jesus came to worship by making himself a eunuch, in order to remove the barrier of sin that separates us from God — the sin that once left us fruitless.

NO LONGER HINDERED

But you know how the account of this Eunuch ends? Verse 36. Along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”

That word, “prevent”, is the same word in our text — in Romans 1:13. It’s root means, “with a part lopped off.” At one point, this Eunuch was lopped off from the people of God. But no longer. With a little water found along the desert road, indeed Living Water, this once barren man will now produce the fruit of God’s glory.

DEATH AND WATER

Isn’t the whole picture of baptism so perfect for capturing this. Those waters, in one sense, represent death. A seed must fall to the ground and die or it will remain alone, never producing anything. But the seed must also be watered if it’s ever to produce any fruit. Baptism represents both death and new life.

In Rome, seeds have been planted. Yet Paul yearns to come and further water, in order to see the harvest increased.

As for the Ethiopian Eunuch, Isaiah 56 proclaims: Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people.” And let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” … for to those who hold fast my covenant, I will give them a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

PRUNED FOR HARVEST

Loved ones, Jesus is the vine that was pruned — lopped off — in our place, in order that we need never again be severed from God and His people. And attached to this vine, we have the promise of a glorious harvest — not according to world’s eyes but God’s.

Whether Ethiopia or Rome, the harvest of the nations has begun. Whether Philip or Paul, they knew their debt to Christ — that they were obligated to all regardless of status. And they were eager to obey.

WRAP UP

So, what does this have to do with Romans?

Both deal with a temporary hindrance that God Himself sovereignly ordained in order that the harvest would be all the more glorious.

Whether Paul’s delay in getting to and beyond Rome or the Ethiopian foreigner who had so long been prevented all his life from being a part of the people of God.

Both express our obligation — as debtors to Christ — to share this good news with all — regardless of their apparent social status. Don’t be fooled by outward appearances. Outside of Christ, everyone is barren. There is not a soul who is not in desperate need of the Living Water of Christ.—the water of life that poured forth from Jesus’ pierced side to water the thirsty barren ground. 

Paul was hindered from coming to Rome due to fruitful ministry elsewhere. This Ethiopian Eunuch was hindered from the people of God for a time that he might become a part of someone’s fruitful ministry.

In both cases, the Grand Gardener’s timing for sowing and reaping is perfect — watering the once barren land so it produces a harvest that redounds to his glory. 

Don’t be discouraged by the hindrances you meet along the way. The Master Gardener knows what he’s doing. Pruning where he will to produce the most glorious harvest to the praise of His glorious grace.

https://youtu.be/5-nvdVnw2oY

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