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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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