Revealed
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16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed; a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.
27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. -
Revelation
Our Romans reading opening words challenge us ‘I am not ashamed of the Gospel.’ Friends we need to be rooted in this Word more than ever before. The orthodox reading and teaching and understanding of our scriptures is under attack
This word is a revealing word we must adopt it as it is and not adapt it to please the spirit of this age.This is the Revealed Word not a textbook or a bunch of stories. Clearly Romans 1 refer to these scriptures being revealed and 2 Timothy 3:16 says it is God breathed
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”
Picking up on this theme of God’s word revealed, we will highlight three aspects of that from this passage
1. God’s Righteousness Revealed
2. God’s wrath on unrighteousness Revealed
3. The Gospel Revealed
God’s Righteousness Revealed
God’s Righteousness Revealed.
This is a deep statement & worth spending time on it, listen to it again, ‘In the Gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from 1st to last just as it is written the righteous will live by faith (a reference to Habakuk 2:4)
Righteousness basically is being in right standing with God
What is strange about this statement by Paul is that he said of this Righteous from God and not Righteousness of God. Of course, we know about the Righteousness of God, his nature is Holy, all good, always faithful. But this is a righteousness from God which means it is imparted from God to us. Illustr [Partnership law – jointly and severally liable – you get the benefits of all the wealth of your partner, they get your bad debts] Many people come to faith knowing they are forgiven, cleansed, get a 2nd chance, slate wiped clean. And this is enough to melt the hardest heart or vilest offender’ but this verse tells us our salvation is more than forgiveness - we receive righteousness from God when we believe in Jesus &all he has done for us. Revealed means no one would learn it or guess it unless God showed it through his word. Who would have thought that God looks at me as righteous in Christ this revelation means that. God is a holy God Righteous and to be in his presence requires you to be holy. You would be consumed otherwise.
By grace, he gives it as a gift to you out of his love for you. He imparts Christ’s righteousness to you just as he imparted your wretchedness to Christ.
“For he made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”
2 Corinthians 5:21
God’s wrath on unrighteousness Revealed
What can I say about the Wrath of God in a few minutes? It is a topic for a sermon series on its own.
1. It is real, it is revealed here in v18 and throughout God’s word. We need the good news because God’s wrath exists.
2. It is deserved and is against ‘godlessness and wickedness.’ Rom 1:19-21 We suppress the truth that God is revealed through nature.
3. It’s nemesis, it is against godlessness and wichedness
4.It is the resaon why we need the gospel
Romans 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
Romans 1:19-20 Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Sadly today, as in Paul’s day our western godless society ‘suppresses’ this truth even though what may be known about God is plain. Since the beginning of time God’s character and nature and omnipotence have been clearly seen in creation.
‘All this beauty is of God’ a Tennyson quote is the moto of the Isle of Wight council.
They are are Happy with a motto but not to worship the creator or all that beauty.
One thing always happens when people refuse to worship the true God. We make fake gods. We were created to worship the creator but Romans 1:22,23 says, ‘though they claimed to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.’ ( I have a picture of the preened and toned bodies on display on Love Island when I read these last few words - we exchange the glory of god for images of mortals).
Godlessness always leads to worship and serving something. We make fake gods. But those counterfeit gods will not free us, they will control us. They give us meaning and purpose and happiness for a while but we were made to worship God not a created thing.
The created thing will not satisfy us and we will always want more. Paul Merson, ex-Arsenal footballer had fame and fortune and popularity. A gifted England striker who had it all. But he had fake gods of alcohol, drugs, ‘celebrityness’ and he ended up with gambling, drink and drug addictions. None of his fake gods could satisfy. They broke him. That is another outcome of fake gods – character and behaviour breakdown, breakdown of family, social and economic breakdown. Another outcome is being controlled by ‘unnatural sexual desires’ Romans 1:26-27. These are outcomes of godlessness and suppressing the God-given desire to worship the one true God.
Footnote, if you are disappointed that I am not preaching a sermon about homosexuality, I would say that this is the longest passage on homosexuality in the bible (Romans 1:24-28).
I will read it again, listen out for the phrase ‘against nature’ (Greek: para-puson). In this context the teaching is that homosexuality comes from worshipping the creature rather than the creator: idolising same-sex love, you could say.
N.B. This is just one of the outcomes of idolatry. Materialism, perfectionism, beauty and image, and workaholism can get hold of you unhealthily.
Finally, the Gospel Revealed
“I am not ashamed of the Gospel,” says Paul, “because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”
Ashamed has a diff meaning here to the more threatening way we hear it today. In this context ‘Ashamed’ is as a result of acting on a false assumption or misplaced confidence (Reference to Psalm 35:26.
The Gospel is the power of God. Not has power or gives power but IS power. This message is power, it can transform people.
It can change you. It can lift you, can break you, convict you, teach and encourage you. It IS power, is to be experienced, it is not a theology or a philosophy but the power of God. Strange to talk about a message as power but this is the living word. It touches lives when spoken or shared person to person or maybe even preacher to congregation on a good day.
Illustration. I hold up a Chilli. It is waxy, cold odourless but I dare you to eat it. It burns like fire. The Gospel can seem like a theory but taste it and see that the Lord is good, make it personal and it will transform your life.
‘The power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.’ It is open to all but believing is a must (it is a red line). God stands at your heart’s door and knocks but you must invite him in (Revelation 3:20) – that is salvation.
This is the only way that we can know God personally. You can look at nature and see our Lord as author of creation, designer and all in perfect balance. You can look through the James Webb telescope into the universe and see the greatness and magnitude of God but you won’t see his love and his personal longing to know you and be known by you. Nature is brutal, it doesn’t show God’s love. Think of Volcanoes, drought, Tsunamis, Twisters, Lightning.
Neither do Religions don’t show us Gods love, Bhuddism and Hinduism do not. I was in a Chaplaincy team with Muslims they could say God is great and talk about God’s mercy. But a God who is ‘meek and lowly of heart’ (Matthew 11:29) and our lover (Song of Songs), they consider that blasphemy. In our world pick and mix spiritualities pick the love of God but reject the wrath of God. I am a big fan of Olivia Newton-John who died recently and she was a great example of someone who picked and missed their own faith - focussed on a God of love, and that alone.
“Long Long Live Love, Love is for sharing, sharing and caring, Long live love”
The Gospel is the power of God for salvation because it is the only message where God loves the world so much that he gave of himself in the Lord Jesus, the word made flesh, the logos. In him, God’s righteousness is revealed and on him, God’s Wrath on unrighteousness is revealed. God is not just a God of Righteousness but he also demands righteousness. And by grace abounding he counts us as righteous because we gave our lives to Jesus. We booted out the Lord of Self and invited in the Lord of Lords. Friends the only way to know the love of God is to look at the cross. Only the death of the son of God could save you, that is how you can know God. By grace you receive all his purity and he took all your impurity. What a deal.
There is some debate as to why Shakespeare named one of his plays ‘Hamlet.’ Shakespeare’s son Hamnet died tragically at the age of age 11. He was heartbroken. The only way he could cope with his grief and loss was to name the story after him.
God did not just name the Gospel after Jesus, he is the gospel, the power of God for salvation, God’s righteousness revealed and you can know him and by his grace you gain far more than a fresh start you gain righteousness from God. Friends don’t be ashamed of the gospel. Read the word, Tell it to FRANC- Pray
