Gideon earned the title Jerubbaal (or Jerub-Baal)
after he destroyed his family’s altar of Baal.
"Because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him
the name Jerub-Baal that day, saying,
‘Let Baal contend with him’”
Judges 6:32
The name Jerubbaal means “Baal will contend”
and is a combination of
two Hebrew words: the first is riyb or rub, which
means literally “to grapple” and holds the figurative
meaning “to wrangle” or “to hold a controversy.”
The second is the proper noun Baal, the name of the
Phoenician god that
Gideon picked a fight with.
In Gideon’s day, Israel was rife with idolatry,
and the Lord “gave them into the hands of Midianites”
for seven years (Judges 6:1).
When Israel cried out to God for help (verse 6),
He sent a prophet who reminded the Israelites of
God’s past deliverance and God’s
commands against honoring
false gods
(verse 10).
Israel had disobeyed, and
Baal and Asherah worship was rampant.
It was time for Gideon to become Jerubbaal
To create His Jerubbaal,
God sent the Angel of the Lord
to Gideon,
the son of Joash the Abiezrite.
The angel sat under a tree
watching
Gideon thresh wheat in the winepress
to keep it hidden
from the Midianite raiders.
The angel said to Gideon,
"The Lord is with you, mighty warrior” (Judges 6:12).
Gideon’s reply showed a weak faith:
"If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?
Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said,
‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’
But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian” (verse 13).
The Lord then commissioned Gideon to “save Israel out of Midian’s hand” (verse 14).
The angel confirmed God’s Word with a miracle
(verses 20–22)
and gave Gideon a promise: “I will be with you” (verse 16).
That night, after his meeting with the Lord,
Gideon was ready to transform into Jerubbaal.
Following God’s specific instructions
(Judges 6:25–26),
Gideon and ten of his servants
tore down Baal’s altar on his family’s property and
cut down the Asherah pole next to it.
Gideon then built a proper altar to God,
laid the wood of the Asherah image on top,
and sacrificed a bull to the Lord.
"But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople,
he did it at night” (Judges 6:27).
The next morning, the men of the town discovered that
Gideon had torn down the
altar to Baal,
and they were incensed that someone had disrespected their god.
The men came to Joash, Gideon’s father, and said,
"Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down
Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it”
(Judges 6:30).
Defending his son, Joash replied to the mob,
“
Are you going to plead Baal’s cause?
Are you trying to save him? . . .
If Baal really is a god, he can
defend himself when
someone breaks down his altar” (verse 31).
The logic was irrefutable.
If Baal
was really a god,
then
Baal could save himself
If Gideon should be punished, then let the god he
destroyed punish him personally. After that, Gideon
was called Jerubbaal, or “Let Baal
contend with him” because Gideon had broken
down the altar of Baal (verse 32).
Gideon not only contended with Baal but also with the Midianites.
God was true to His promise,
and Gideon won a decisive victory over the enemy.
Later, Gideon is still being called Jerubbaal
(Judges 7:1; 8:29; 9:1).
Scripture uses the names Gideon and Jerubbaal
interchangeably in those passages.
Baal never did exact vengeance upon Jerubbaal; rather,
God poured
out His blessing on Gideon
People today can often forget that we worship idols too.
They don’t look the same as they did in Gideon’s time.
While we don’t have golden calves in our yards,
we hold wealth, status, time, and many other things as idols.
Anything that separates us from God is an idol.
Gideon has been living in a family that has turned from their God.
They have been worshipping
Baal and most likely, so was Gideon.
After Gideon has realized that it is the sovereign Lord speaking,
he follows the instruction to take down
his father’s altar to Baal and the Asherah pole beside it.
God still asks that we tear down the idols in our lives.
He instructs us to not let anyone or anything come
between Him and us.
Idols were not acceptable then, and they are not acceptable today.
We cannot serve two masters and we
cannot carry out the
work Christ has for us when
we have idols in our lives.
But the Holy Spirit
Prays for
us with groaning that
cannot
Be Expressed in Words
Our love for God
and our
Experience of Receiving
the
Grace of God
Compels us to Proclaim
the
Gospel Message
God,
In His Mercy, has Provided that remedy, a
substitute for us--Jesus Christ--
Who Came to
Pay the penalty for our sin
by
His Sacrifice on the CROSS
This is the
Essence of the Gospel
which
Paul Preached to the Corinthians
In 1 Corinthians 15:2-4, he explains the
Three elements of the
Gospel--
the
Death, Burial
and
Resurrection
of Christ on OUR Behalf.
Our old self died with
Christ on the Cross
and was Buried with Him.
Then we were Resurrected
with Him to anew life
(Romans 6:4-8).
Paul tells us to “Hold Firmly”
to this
True Gospel,
the
ONLY ONE which SAVES
Believing
in
Any Other Gospel
is
To Believe inVain
In Romans 1:16-17, Paul also Declares
that the
True Gospel
is the
Power of God for the Salvation
of
Everyone who Believes”
by which he means
that
Salvation
is Not
Achieved by Mans Efforts,
but by the
GRACE of God through
the
GIFT of FAITH
(Ephesians 2:8-9)
The Life of Jesus Christ
exemplified obedience
He came to earth to
Fulfill His heavenly Father’s Will
no matter how
Painful the Task Set before Him
Nonetheless,
Jesus Spoke Honestly with God
when
Faced with His Crucifixion:
"Father,
If You are Willing,
Please take
This Cup of Suffering away from me”
(Luke 22:42, NLT)
In His HUMAN STATE
Jesus did not want to endure a torturous death.
Yet in the same breath, He prayed,
"Not My Will, but Yours Be Done”
(Luke 22:42).
This scene in Gethsemane records
one of the most desperate hours of anguish
In the life of Christ
(Matthew 26:36–46; Mark 14:32–42; Luke 22:40–46).
He told His disciples,
"My soul is overwhelmed to the point of death”
(Mark 14:34).
Worse than the thought of death, Jesus, in His humanity,
must have dreaded the
thought of bearing the sins of the world (1 Peter 2:24).
In the garden, the Lord fell to the ground flat on His face
and offered God this desperate cry of His soul:
“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.
Yet not as I will, but as you will”
(Matthew 26:39)
Christ’s words and actions here serve as a great comfort to us,
His followers. God wants His children
to pour out their hearts to Him in sincerity
(Psalm 62:8)
HE is our Refuge, our Safe Haven
Like Jesus, we can reveal the deepest longings in our
hearts to our loving Heavenly Father
He knows what we are feeling, and
We can Trust Him to
Carry the burdens of our souls. Facing the
Cross,
Jesus was able to Pray,
Not My Will, but Yours
Be Done
because He was
Wholly Submitted to His Father’s Will.
"My food,”
He had said, “
Is to do the will of HIM who SENT
me and to finish HIS work”
(John 4:34)
By Myself I can do Nothing
explained Jesus,
“For I Seek Not to Please Myself
but
Him Who Sent Me”
(John 5:30).
Obedience to God’s Will
was
Central to Christ’s Mission
He told His disciples,
'For I have come down from heaven not to do my will
but to do the will of him who sent me”
(John 6:38)
Hundreds of years before, Scripture foretold Christ’s destiny
to Come to Earth and do God’s Will
(Hebrews 10:5–7; cf. Psalm 40:6–8)
For Christ’s followers, “Not my will, but yours be done”
is the definitive prayer
that never fails. According to 1 John 5:14–15,
We can Pray with Confidence
“If we Ask According to His Will.”
Praying God’s will guarantees that
He hears us and will grant what we ask.
In fact, one of the
Primary Purposes of prayer is to allow the will of God
to be accomplished and to
Bring Glory and Honor to His Name on earth
Jesus taught His disciples to pray,
“Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name,
Your kingdom Come,
Your Will be Done,
on
Earth as it is in Heaven”
(Matthew 6:9–10)
Those who pray this way, desiring God’s will above all else,
Reveal that they are indeed Christ’s Disciples
(Matthew 7:21; see also Matthew 12:50; Mark 3:35; Luke 8:21; John 15:10; Ephesians 6:6).
The apostle Paul encouraged Christians to
Seek the
Holy Spirit’s help to pray in agreement with
God’s Will:
And the Holy Spirit Helps us in our weakness.
For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for.
But the Holy Spirit Prays for
Us with groanings that
cannot
Be Expressed inWords
And the Father Who KNOWS
all hearts
Knows what the Spirit is Saying,
For the Spirit pleads for us Believers
In Harmony
With God’s own Will”
(Romans 8:26–27, NLT).
Paul also urged Believers to
Learn to Know God’s Will
For their lives because
God’s Will
Is Good and Pleasing and Perfect
(Romans 12:2, NLT).
When Jesus said, “Not my will, but yours be done,”
He surrendered
His own will to God’s,
Fully convinced that His Father
Knew what was Best
When we pray this way, we yield ourselves
to God’s wisdom, trusting Him to work
out what’s best for our lives, too
(Romans 8:28)
Paul’s commitment
to the
Gospel of Jesus Christ
Paul:
Set Apart for the Gospel
The overarching Purpose
of Paul’s writing the letter was to explain
the
Gospel of Jesus Christ
to both Jewish Christians and non-Jewish Christians
who were living in Rome
Look at Romans 1:1-17:
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle
and set apart for the gospel of God--
which he promised beforehand through his prophets in
the Holy Scriptures— concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
who was a descendant of David according to the flesh and was
appointed to be the powerful Son of God according to the
Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead.
Through him we have received grace and apostleship
to bring about the obedience of faith for the
sake of his name among all the Gentiles,
including you who are also
called by Jesus Christ.
To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints.
Grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ
for all of you because the news of your
faith is being reported in all the world.
God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit
in telling the good news about his Son--
that I constantly mention you, always asking in my prayers
that if it is somehow in God’s will, I may now
at last succeed in coming to you. For I want very much to see you,
so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you,
that is, to be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith,
both yours and mine.
Now I don’t want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,
that I often planned to come to you (but was prevented until now)
in order that I might have a fruitful ministry among you,
just as I have had among the rest of the Gentiles.
I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians,
both to the wise and the foolish.
So I am eager to preach the gospel
to you also who are in Rome
For I AM not Ashamed
of the Gospel,
Because it is the
Power of God for Salvation
to everyone who believes,
First to the Jew, and also to the Greek
For in it the Righteousness of God
Is Revealed from Faith to Faith,
Just as it is Written:
The Righteous will Live by Faith
Notice two descriptors that Paul gives for himself.
First, in verse 1,
Paul refers to Himself as a Servant
"Servant; Slave”
Means a person Owned by Another
Paul Considers Himself as Someone
who
Belongs to Jesus;
He is a Slave of Jesus
Remember, Earlier in his Life,
Paul was One
Who
Persecuted Christians
One of his goals in life was to see Christians killed.
However, on
His Way
to
Damascus, Jesus
Met Him on the Road
and radically
Changed his Perspective
You can read about in Acts 9. So, Paul has been
totally changed by Jesus and
He Owes Everything
To Jesus
As those who are
Committed to Jesus and to the
Gospel
of
Jesus Christ,
We must also take the form of a servant. We belong to Jesus
and we must Serve Him and His ways!
Even Jesus said of Himself in Mark 10:45,
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Second, Paul refers to himself in verse 1 as
an Apostle
An “Apostle” is one Sent
with
Delegated Authority
Paul has Been
Given
Authority by God
to Take the Gospel of Jesus
Christ to the Lost World
This was a unique role for a unique time.
Paul and the other apostles were given a
special task for a special time to share the Gospel and
establish the first churches
These men, including Paul,
were people who had
Personal
Eye-Witness Interaction
with Jesus and
Were Sent Directly by Jesus
Paul and the twelve disciples of Jesus
were
“Apostles” with an uppercase “A.”
Paul was Sent
with
Authority to Share
the
Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Paul was one of THE APOSTLES.
So, Paul, a servant and an apostle, is writing
this letter
to the followers of Jesus in Rome.
He wants to see them soon,
but he wants to write to them
first about the
Power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
So, let’s journey
through this passage a little bit more and draw
out three points for us to learn:
First, . . .
The source of the Gospel is Jesus
The emphasis on Jesus in this passage is abundant
First of all, Paul points out in verses 2 and 3 that God
Promised beforehand that this
Gospel would come.
The Prophets spoke
(look in verse 3),
Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord
In other words, the Gospel is not new to Paul.
God had been promising that this would
happen for thousands of years!
Paul says Jesus was a descendant of David and
Appointed
To be the Powerful Son of God
by the
Resurrection of the dead
Jesus is both human and God, He fulfilled all the prophecies
concerning Him, and
God worked powerfully and miraculously
Through His work on the Cross.
Of Jesus,
Paul says in verse 5,
Through him we
have Received Grace . . .”
Paul says in verse 6, “ . . . you who are also
Called by Jesus Christ.”
Jesus is Foundational to the
Gospel; the Source
of the Gospel is Jesus
The reason there were Christians in Rome,
both Jews and Gentiles,
was
because of Jesus
The reason Paul was no longer a
Persecuted of Christians was because of Jesus
As the Apostle Peter said in Acts 4:11-12,
This Jesus is the Stone rejected by you builders,
which has become the Cornerstone.
There is Salvation in no one else,
for there is
No other name under heaven given to people
by which we Must be Saved
First, the
Source of the Gospel is Jesus. Second, . . .
II. The spread of the Gospel is preaching.
Look at verse 8. Paul says, “ . . . the
news of your faith
is being reported in all the world.”
People were talking about the way that Jesus was
working in the lives of the Romans.
The Gospel was being shared.
The Message of Jesus was being Shared.
When I say that the Gospel is spread through preaching, I don’t just mean a guy standing behind a pulpit on Sunday mornings.
Preaching is the
Proclamation of the Word of God.
Preaching is telling people the
Message of Jesus! People have to
Hear the Gospel
Paul says in verses 14 and 15:
I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians,
both to the wise and the foolish.
So I am eager to preach
the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
Paul said Greeks and Barbarians, meaning those who were
part of the Greco-Roman world and those who weren’t.
Paul said wise and foolish, meaning those who
were sophisticated and educated and those who were not.
The Gospel is for everyone, which is
why it must be preached to everyone!
Every tribe, every tongue,
Every Nation
Needs to Hear the Gospel of
Jesus Christ!
Therefore we must Proclaim it,
we must Preach it!
This was the very reason
that Paul was set apart:
to
Preach the Gospel
So also, Jesus has commissioned us to
develop disciples all over the world,
which begins by
Proclaiming the Gospel
Our love for God
and our
Experience of Receiving
The Grace of God
Compels us to
Proclaim the Gospel Message
The great historic missionary to China, Hudson Taylor,
who gave years of his life to the Chinese people was approached
with the suggestion that the reason he served in
missions so long was because he must really love the Chinese people.
To this, he shook his head and answered,
“No, not because I loved the Chinese, but because I loved God.”
So, church, let your love for God drive you
to spread the Gospel message.
Finally, . . .
III. The Salvation
of the
Gospel is Powerful
verses 16 and 17:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the
power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,
first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.
For in it the righteousness of God is
revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written:
The righteous will live by faith
Church, there is Power in the Gospel!
The actual Power of God is
Seen in the Gospel message
How incredible is that?
Civilizations are changed by
Preaching the TRUE Gospel!
In Paul’s day, it was cool to be a Christian.
Christians were mocked and looked down upon.
However, Paul said, “I am not ashamed!” Why?
Because the Gospel
is
Powerful!
The Greek word used here to describe the
Power of the Gospel is dunamis.
Do you know what word in our English language we get from that word?
Dynamite! dunamis → dynamite; Boom!
There is Power in the Gospel!
There is so Much Power found in the Gospel
Paul says, “ . . . the righteousness of God is
revealed from faith to faith.”
Faith for salvation
and
faith for living in Christ
There is salvation in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
There is righteousness in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
There is power in the Gospel!
Dynamite power!
For Paul,
everything came down to The Gospel!
It changed his life and
he believed that it could change other lives as WELL.
That takes us to our bottom line:
Bottom Line:
Paul believed in
the life-changing power
of the
Gospel of Jesus
“ . . . it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”
This first sermon from Romans introduces us to the book of
Romans and to the central theme of
the book: The Gospel
1. Ask yourself what the Gospel means to you.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ
meant everything to Paul.
What does it mean to you?
Have you experienced the power of the
True
Living Christ?
Are you a servant of Jesus Christ?
But the Holy Spirit
Prays for
us with groaning that
cannot
Be Expressed in Words
Our love for God
and our
Experience of Receiving
the
Grace of God
Compels us to Proclaim
the
Gospel Message
God,
In His Mercy, has Provided that remedy, a
substitute for us--Jesus Christ--
Who Came to
Pay the penalty for our sin
by
His Sacrifice on the CROSS
This is the
Essence of the Gospel
which
Paul Preached to the Corinthians
In 1 Corinthians 15:2-4, he explains the
Three elements of the
Gospel--
the
Death, Burial
and
Resurrection
of Christ on OUR Behalf.
Our old self died with
Christ on the Cross
and was Buried with Him.
Then we were Resurrected
with Him to anew life
(Romans 6:4-8).
Paul tells us to “Hold Firmly”
to this
True Gospel,
the
ONLY ONE which SAVES
Believing
in
Any Other Gospel
is
To Believe inVain
In Romans 1:16-17, Paul also Declares
that the
True Gospel
is the
Power of God for the Salvation
of
Everyone who Believes”
by which he means
that
Salvation
is Not
Achieved by Mans Efforts,
but by the
GRACE of God through
the
GIFT of FAITH
(Ephesians 2:8-9)
The Life of Jesus Christ
exemplified obedience
He came to earth to
Fulfill His heavenly Father’s Will
no matter how
Painful the Task Set before Him
Nonetheless,
Jesus Spoke Honestly with God
when
Faced with His Crucifixion:
"Father,
If You are Willing,
Please take
This Cup of Suffering away from me”
(Luke 22:42, NLT)
In His HUMAN STATE
Jesus did not want to endure a torturous death.
Yet in the same breath, He prayed,
"Not My Will, but Yours Be Done”
(Luke 22:42).
This scene in Gethsemane records
one of the most desperate hours of anguish
In the life of Christ
(Matthew 26:36–46; Mark 14:32–42; Luke 22:40–46).
He told His disciples,
"My soul is overwhelmed to the point of death”
(Mark 14:34).
Worse than the thought of death, Jesus, in His humanity,
must have dreaded the
thought of bearing the sins of the world (1 Peter 2:24).
In the garden, the Lord fell to the ground flat on His face
and offered God this desperate cry of His soul:
“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.
Yet not as I will, but as you will”
(Matthew 26:39)
Christ’s words and actions here serve as a great comfort to us,
His followers. God wants His children
to pour out their hearts to Him in sincerity
(Psalm 62:8)
HE is our Refuge, our Safe Haven
Like Jesus, we can reveal the deepest longings in our
hearts to our loving Heavenly Father
He knows what we are feeling, and
We can Trust Him to
Carry the burdens of our souls. Facing the
Cross,
Jesus was able to Pray,
Not My Will, but Yours
Be Done
because He was
Wholly Submitted to His Father’s Will.
"My food,”
He had said, “
Is to do the will of HIM who SENT
me and to finish HIS work”
(John 4:34)
By Myself I can do Nothing
explained Jesus,
“For I Seek Not to Please Myself
but
Him Who Sent Me”
(John 5:30).
Obedience to God’s Will
was
Central to Christ’s Mission
He told His disciples,
'For I have come down from heaven not to do my will
but to do the will of him who sent me”
(John 6:38)
Hundreds of years before, Scripture foretold Christ’s destiny
to Come to Earth and do God’s Will
(Hebrews 10:5–7; cf. Psalm 40:6–8)
For Christ’s followers, “Not my will, but yours be done”
is the definitive prayer
that never fails. According to 1 John 5:14–15,
We can Pray with Confidence
“If we Ask According to His Will.”
Praying God’s will guarantees that
He hears us and will grant what we ask.
In fact, one of the
Primary Purposes of prayer is to allow the will of God
to be accomplished and to
Bring Glory and Honor to His Name on earth
Jesus taught His disciples to pray,
“Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name,
Your kingdom Come,
Your Will be Done,
on
Earth as it is in Heaven”
(Matthew 6:9–10)
Those who pray this way, desiring God’s will above all else,
Reveal that they are indeed Christ’s Disciples
(Matthew 7:21; see also Matthew 12:50; Mark 3:35; Luke 8:21; John 15:10; Ephesians 6:6).
The apostle Paul encouraged Christians to
Seek the
Holy Spirit’s help to pray in agreement with
God’s Will:
And the Holy Spirit Helps us in our weakness.
For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for.
But the Holy Spirit Prays for
Us with groanings that
cannot
Be Expressed inWords
And the Father Who KNOWS
all hearts
Knows what the Spirit is Saying,
For the Spirit pleads for us Believers
In Harmony
With God’s own Will”
(Romans 8:26–27, NLT).
Paul also urged Believers to
Learn to Know God’s Will
For their lives because
God’s Will
Is Good and Pleasing and Perfect
(Romans 12:2, NLT).
When Jesus said, “Not my will, but yours be done,”
He surrendered
His own will to God’s,
Fully convinced that His Father
Knew what was Best
When we pray this way, we yield ourselves
to God’s wisdom, trusting Him to work
out what’s best for our lives, too
(Romans 8:28)
Paul’s commitment
to the
Gospel of Jesus Christ
Paul:
Set Apart for the Gospel
The overarching Purpose
of Paul’s writing the letter was to explain
the
Gospel of Jesus Christ
to both Jewish Christians and non-Jewish Christians
who were living in Rome
Look at Romans 1:1-17:
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle
and set apart for the gospel of God--
which he promised beforehand through his prophets in
the Holy Scriptures— concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
who was a descendant of David according to the flesh and was
appointed to be the powerful Son of God according to the
Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead.
Through him we have received grace and apostleship
to bring about the obedience of faith for the
sake of his name among all the Gentiles,
including you who are also
called by Jesus Christ.
To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints.
Grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ
for all of you because the news of your
faith is being reported in all the world.
God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit
in telling the good news about his Son--
that I constantly mention you, always asking in my prayers
that if it is somehow in God’s will, I may now
at last succeed in coming to you. For I want very much to see you,
so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you,
that is, to be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith,
both yours and mine.
Now I don’t want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,
that I often planned to come to you (but was prevented until now)
in order that I might have a fruitful ministry among you,
just as I have had among the rest of the Gentiles.
I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians,
both to the wise and the foolish.
So I am eager to preach the gospel
to you also who are in Rome
For I AM not Ashamed
of the Gospel,
Because it is the
Power of God for Salvation
to everyone who believes,
First to the Jew, and also to the Greek
For in it the Righteousness of God
Is Revealed from Faith to Faith,
Just as it is Written:
The Righteous will Live by Faith
Notice two descriptors that Paul gives for himself.
First, in verse 1,
Paul refers to Himself as a Servant
"Servant; Slave”
Means a person Owned by Another
Paul Considers Himself as Someone
who
Belongs to Jesus;
He is a Slave of Jesus
Remember, Earlier in his Life,
Paul was One
Who
Persecuted Christians
One of his goals in life was to see Christians killed.
However, on
His Way
to
Damascus, Jesus
Met Him on the Road
and radically
Changed his Perspective
You can read about in Acts 9. So, Paul has been
totally changed by Jesus and
He Owes Everything
To Jesus
As those who are
Committed to Jesus and to the
Gospel
of
Jesus Christ,
We must also take the form of a servant. We belong to Jesus
and we must Serve Him and His ways!
Even Jesus said of Himself in Mark 10:45,
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Second, Paul refers to himself in verse 1 as
an Apostle
An “Apostle” is one Sent
with
Delegated Authority
Paul has Been
Given
Authority by God
to Take the Gospel of Jesus
Christ to the Lost World
This was a unique role for a unique time.
Paul and the other apostles were given a
special task for a special time to share the Gospel and
establish the first churches
These men, including Paul,
were people who had
Personal
Eye-Witness Interaction
with Jesus and
Were Sent Directly by Jesus
Paul and the twelve disciples of Jesus
were
“Apostles” with an uppercase “A.”
Paul was Sent
with
Authority to Share
the
Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Paul was one of THE APOSTLES.
So, Paul, a servant and an apostle, is writing
this letter
to the followers of Jesus in Rome.
He wants to see them soon,
but he wants to write to them
first about the
Power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
So, let’s journey
through this passage a little bit more and draw
out three points for us to learn:
First, . . .
The source of the Gospel is Jesus
The emphasis on Jesus in this passage is abundant
First of all, Paul points out in verses 2 and 3 that God
Promised beforehand that this
Gospel would come.
The Prophets spoke
(look in verse 3),
Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord
In other words, the Gospel is not new to Paul.
God had been promising that this would
happen for thousands of years!
Paul says Jesus was a descendant of David and
Appointed
To be the Powerful Son of God
by the
Resurrection of the dead
Jesus is both human and God, He fulfilled all the prophecies
concerning Him, and
God worked powerfully and miraculously
Through His work on the Cross.
Of Jesus,
Paul says in verse 5,
Through him we
have Received Grace . . .”
Paul says in verse 6, “ . . . you who are also
Called by Jesus Christ.”
Jesus is Foundational to the
Gospel; the Source
of the Gospel is Jesus
The reason there were Christians in Rome,
both Jews and Gentiles,
was
because of Jesus
The reason Paul was no longer a
Persecuted of Christians was because of Jesus
As the Apostle Peter said in Acts 4:11-12,
This Jesus is the Stone rejected by you builders,
which has become the Cornerstone.
There is Salvation in no one else,
for there is
No other name under heaven given to people
by which we Must be Saved
First, the
Source of the Gospel is Jesus. Second, . . .
II. The spread of the Gospel is preaching.
Look at verse 8. Paul says, “ . . . the
news of your faith
is being reported in all the world.”
People were talking about the way that Jesus was
working in the lives of the Romans.
The Gospel was being shared.
The Message of Jesus was being Shared.
When I say that the Gospel is spread through preaching, I don’t just mean a guy standing behind a pulpit on Sunday mornings.
Preaching is the
Proclamation of the Word of God.
Preaching is telling people the
Message of Jesus! People have to
Hear the Gospel
Paul says in verses 14 and 15:
I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians,
both to the wise and the foolish.
So I am eager to preach
the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
Paul said Greeks and Barbarians, meaning those who were
part of the Greco-Roman world and those who weren’t.
Paul said wise and foolish, meaning those who
were sophisticated and educated and those who were not.
The Gospel is for everyone, which is
why it must be preached to everyone!
Every tribe, every tongue,
Every Nation
Needs to Hear the Gospel of
Jesus Christ!
Therefore we must Proclaim it,
we must Preach it!
This was the very reason
that Paul was set apart:
to
Preach the Gospel
So also, Jesus has commissioned us to
develop disciples all over the world,
which begins by
Proclaiming the Gospel
Our love for God
and our
Experience of Receiving
The Grace of God
Compels us to
Proclaim the Gospel Message
The great historic missionary to China, Hudson Taylor,
who gave years of his life to the Chinese people was approached
with the suggestion that the reason he served in
missions so long was because he must really love the Chinese people.
To this, he shook his head and answered,
“No, not because I loved the Chinese, but because I loved God.”
So, church, let your love for God drive you
to spread the Gospel message.
Finally, . . .
III. The Salvation
of the
Gospel is Powerful
verses 16 and 17:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the
power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,
first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.
For in it the righteousness of God is
revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written:
The righteous will live by faith
Church, there is Power in the Gospel!
The actual Power of God is
Seen in the Gospel message
How incredible is that?
Civilizations are changed by
Preaching the TRUE Gospel!
In Paul’s day, it was cool to be a Christian.
Christians were mocked and looked down upon.
However, Paul said, “I am not ashamed!” Why?
Because the Gospel
is
Powerful!
The Greek word used here to describe the
Power of the Gospel is dunamis.
Do you know what word in our English language we get from that word?
Dynamite! dunamis → dynamite; Boom!
There is Power in the Gospel!
There is so Much Power found in the Gospel
Paul says, “ . . . the righteousness of God is
revealed from faith to faith.”
Faith for salvation
and
faith for living in Christ
There is salvation in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
There is righteousness in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
There is power in the Gospel!
Dynamite power!
For Paul,
everything came down to The Gospel!
It changed his life and
he believed that it could change other lives as WELL.
That takes us to our bottom line:
Bottom Line:
Paul believed in
the life-changing power
of the
Gospel of Jesus
“ . . . it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”
This first sermon from Romans introduces us to the book of
Romans and to the central theme of
the book: The Gospel
1. Ask yourself what the Gospel means to you.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ
meant everything to Paul.
What does it mean to you?
Have you experienced the power of the
True
Living Christ?
Are you a servant of Jesus Christ?