ARE YOU A ROMANS 1:16 CHRISTIAN?

Good morning and God bless…

I was in a Teen Challenge School, sometime last October…I had the privilege and honor of speaking to a group of young men that were enrolled in this great program…

The morning before speaking to the men, I was in a assembly of young people helping them stuff envelopes that were to be sent out all over the world, telling people about the Teen Challenge program…

The Director was in the room where we were stuffing the envelope, as a matter of fact, we were in a part of his office…

He was and is a very brilliant man…He was a Pastor in an Assembly Of God, church…but now He has moved on to be the director of the state wide Teen Challenge program in Alabama…anyway…

After we had filled the envelopes and all that, he asked me to stay so we could talk awhile and get to know each other…

I really enjoyed talking to a real man of God…But my point in saying all this is for this reason…

As we talked he told me, that he could see that I was a Romans 1:16, Christian…

It took me by surprise, so I asked him what he meant…His response was this, "He could see that I was not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ…" and he was right and my question to you is this…

ARE YOU ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST?

If you are a real Christian, you should not be ashamed of the wonderful hope that we have been given to proclaim…

Lets take a little while and expose what these special verses in Romans mean…To the Glory of God…

The Gospel: The Power Of God

ROMANS 1:16-17... "16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith."

I believe these are possibly, the two key verses to the entire Book of Romans… They are essentially an overview of the Gospel itself… The majority of the rest of the book will lay out the specific details; however, this brief summation shows us seven very important factors that we should keep in mind as we read through Romans:

1) POWER OF GOD…
First of all, we should realize, the Gospel itself is a demonstration of God's power… It is actually the most important demonstration of God's power… As awesome, and wonderful as the Universe, the whole of God's Creation is, what God has done through Jesus Christ is His crowning achievement… The Universe in all of its outstanding size testifies to the presence and power of God, yet what He has done through Jesus Christ is even more impressive…

The Gospel is power… The Gospel is the power of God to declare a sinner justified, the power to enable a repentant sinner to become holy, the power to show anyone who will believe it the way to be at peace with God and receive eternal life…

All too often we forget that the Gospel is a Gospel of power… It is filled with the power of God and the Spirit of God Who brings conviction to the hearts of those who hear it..

2) IT’S GOD’S POWER, NOT MAN’S…
I run into people all the time who say, “I saved so and so…I shared Jesus with them and saved them…” But listen, man cannot save another person from the fate of hell…We are saved entirely by the power of God… If any part of our Salvation came through our own efforts, it would be through the power of God AND man… But this is not the case… The Gospel is God's power and His alone… As far as Salvation is concerned, we have only one main responsibility and that is to believe the Gospel…and then go out and share the Gospel with whomever God puts before us…

Although we cannot save anyone, (except maybe from drowning or pulling them from a burning car or house, etc…) we can become the human hands, feet, and mouth pieces of God in serving mankind…That is what He has called us to do by His power…

Likewise, we should remember, that it is God's power in the preaching of the Gospel and our personal witnessing that changes lives, not our own… It is not our eloquence or skills with logic and debate, it is the power of God, present in the Holy Spirit working through the Gospel that we share, that brings a response…

3) IT IS THE POWER OF GOD!

It is THE power of God unto Salvation… This is it; this is the way... There is no other... If you are going to be forgiven of your sins and be justified with God it is going to be through faith in Jesus Christ…

No one will be saved by any other means than the Gospel… Not through a particular church, a certain rite or ritual, by obeying the Ten Commandments, or being a nice person… My friend, this is THE way… Faith in Jesus Christ is the only way… ( John 14:6, Jesus saith unto him, “I am the way the truth and the life…no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me… )

4) EVERYONE THAT BELIEVETH… Salvation is available to everyone that believes… It doesn't matter who you are, anyone can come to God through the Cross-of Jesus Christ…

5) IT CONTAINS RIGHTEOUSNESS FROM GOD!

Before we go any farther, I feel it might be helpful to look at how the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible translates verse 17:

"For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith." (Romans 1:17 NIV)

The wording here is a little clearer and closer to what was intended in the original… When we say, "The righteousness OF God revealed," we can misinterpret this to mean that the Gospel is a revelation of God's perfect righteousness, a righteousness that only He possesses, being revealed in order to pronounce the absolute holiness of God in contrast with our own imperfections… In other words, that God's perfection is being revealed to convict us of our shortcomings and show us how miserably we have failed God's standard...

This is the way that many have interpreted this verse in times past…

A German priest or monk named Martin Luther interpreted it in just this way until the Spirit of God showed him what was really being talked about here and it changed his entire life… In fact, his new understanding of this very verse revolutionized Luther's entire view of Christian doctrine, Salvation, and even God Himself, paving the way for the Protestant Reformation…

We are not talking about God's righteousness at all in this verse, but a righteousness that He imparts to the believer... All of us should realize, like Martin Luther did, that if God's righteousness is the standard to which we must measure up to, we're all in a whole lot of trouble! The righteousness referred to here comes FROM God and is CREDITED to the believer, even though he has not earned it or lived up to it… It is a matter of God declaring the guilty sinner as not guilty, not based on what the sinner has done, but what Christ has done…

6) IT BEGINS AND ENDS WITH FAITH…

Again, I believe that the phrase, "By faith from first to last", is just a little clearer than, "From faith to faith." They both mean exactly the same thing…

This is another extremely important proverb of the Gospel to remember as we proceed from justification, to sanctification and, into daily Christian living…

There is often the tendency for many to begin with faith and conclude with self-effort… To start the Christian walk by God's power, and then try to continue it by their own… Much confusion can be avoided by remembering that God's Salvation in our life begins and ends with faith…

7) IT CAUSES PEOPLE TO LIVE…"

"The just shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17b)...

Although it is true that the believer should "live", in the sense of the way that one conducts their life or behaves, by faith, the word "live" here has to do with the state of being alive…

In other words, those to whom God imparts this righteousness will live and not die…

The Gospel is the power of God and it is a life-giving power...

Without it, we would all suffer ultimate spiritual death and spend eternity in Hell, apart from God…

Therefore, it will be of great benefit to keep these 7 principles of what the Gospel is, in mind as we go through our Christian life and growth…

The Power of the Gospel is…my reason for not being ashamed to share it with others…I see what it has done in and through my life…and will continue to do...

The Apostle Paul’s reason for being unashamed of the gospel…

It is the “Good News” from God Himself…It is the Power of God to save…all who believe…all nationalities, both Jew & Gentile…It is the revelation of God’s righteousness…

The Gospel shows Man’s unrighteousness…

The Gospel shows that the answer is “Faith In Christ…”

How about you? Are you ashamed of the Gospel of Christ?

I hope not, because there is a lot more to being a Christian that just going to church a couple times a week…

We have been blessed with the greatest commission in the world…and that is to…share…

THE WONDERFUL GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST…

When people see you, I hope they can see, hear and then tell you are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ…

Thanks…and remember…

Get around the right people…Associate with positive, goal-oriented people who encourage and inspire you…

Be a life long student of the Gospel…The more you learn the more self-confidence you will have…

Be absolutely clear about who you are and what you stand for…Refuse to compromise…

Truthfulness is the main element of obedient character…

The Gospel is the truth; don’t be ashamed of it…Amen...

Rev. Robert N. Graves, Sr. Fisherman for Christ