ROMANS 1. V.16/17

 

This week’s sermon is based on Romans 1 v16/17

 

I fear there is an awful lot of false teaching being given in our Churches as clergy, and lay preachers, skirt round social and moral issues from fear of offending and thereby being labelled a bigot, or having some form of the many kinds of phobias which now have been created, or amend the biblical teaching to accommodate the standards and culture of society, a practice totally unacceptable.

 

Paul is writing to Christians in Rome, the mightiest city of the day, a city full of learning, yet also full of immorality, where Christianity would not be appreciated, and he was ready and eager to go and preach the gospel no matter what the cost, even though Christians were in danger of persecution; a sort of London of the day. He had been beaten, stoned and left for dead as a result of his preaching, but never gave up; now he is in the most powerful city in the then world. We need to look at particular words in the passage.

 The Bible states, ‘preach the Word’, by which is meant preach what God has laid down in Scripture.

 

The Bible also states, ‘ALL Scripture is inspired by God,’ and warns that nothing should be added or taken away. There is no pick and mix option.

Two of the most of the significant verses and perhaps most encouraging in the Bible, are those in the first chapter of Paul’s Letter to the Romans.

‘I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. 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 shall live by faith’.

 

Paul says he was not ashamed, in fact he glorified in the gospel and that is what all Christians should do. But sadly, I fear we all do not. How many Church members are embarrassed when asked if they believe? Indeed, how many are ready to acknowledge they attend Church? How would we answer is asked to give our opinion on moral questions?

 

If you are not ashamed you are ready to speak out about your faith. Some people are fearful of their friends finding out they attend Church in case they get mocked, or because it might restrict the way they want to behave. Some will worry will they be called narrow minded or old fashioned. Remember the words of Jesus, ‘for whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this sinful and adulterous generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when He comes in the glory of the Father’.

 

These verses were what sparked the most important event in Christian history after the birth of the Church, the Protestant Reformation. An obscure Monk in Germany posted a set of 95 theses on a Church door intending to initiate a theological debate, without any conception as to what would follow. There was a religious firestorm which swept across Europe when he made the statement which should be proclaimed from every Church pulpit, ‘the true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God’.  Any other issue must be considered secondary, the gospel is central, and anything which threatens to challenge the gospel must be ignored.

 

We may offer what is hard for sceptics to believe, but that should not stop us telling it. When we tell how God took a young Jewish girl, and caused her to conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit; that when this child became man He performed miraculous deeds and eventually gave His life by a cruel death on a Cross, in order that God would forgive people of their sins: that three days late would rise from the dead as a sign that one day all who believe in Him and accept Him as Saviour, would live eventually with Him in heaven.

 

The gospel is the story of Jesus Christ who gave Himself to be crucified for

our sins in order to reconcile us to God. Why should anyone be ashamed to tell that story? We all no doubt are ashamed of things we have done in our lives, and the things we have said but wished we hadn’t, and that is understandable. But we allow ourselves to become ashamed of something for which there is no need to be ashamed of.

 

For it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes

This power is for everyone who believes. This means more than just believing there is a God; the devil accepts that; believing means making a commitment. Too many say they believe but do nothing, which is why regular preaching of the gospel is important so that people may come to live by the Scriptures.

Some are religious and even show some outward inclinations toward Christianity. They come from a Christian background. They think that Jesus was a great religious figure. But they have not believed in Christ. Though the gospel is God's power for salvation, because they have not believed, they have not experienced this power nor have they known the gospel for what it truly is.

 

The reason so many people are not willing to accept the Bible they are more ready to listen to the strident outpourings of nauseating, insulting, self-indulgent secularists. For others accepting the gospel would mean a change of hedonistic lifestyle. It means accepting a standard of morality they are not prepared to accept.

 

God’s purpose for the Church is to lead people to salvation; to proclaim the gospel story to an unbelieving world. In order to help us do this according to his wishes, God created spiritual boundaries and we should not wander beyond what the Bible sets out for us.

 

There is false teaching being given from within the Church that all will go to heaven. It is said that God would not send anyone to hell, and that is right, but people choose to go there by their own neglect.

 

To believe as some do and preach that everyone will go to heaven is nowhere stated, nor can be found in the Bible, and is totally misleading. This perpetuates the belief, that as long as someone is kind and honest, they must be a good Christian and will go to heaven. Atheists and people of other faiths are kind and honest, but would be offended to be called Christians.

Never give up studying God’s Word and meeting other Christians, there is always someone who can help you. During the years of my ministry I have had the joy of knowing I have led people to know Jesus, and it has made all the effort worth- while, and I have been on the other side and led by the most devoted man I personally  knew in East Africa.

We cannot make ourselves righteous before God, but we can be through Jesus’ atoning death. Jesus acts as a bridge between God and us, putting us in good standing in God’s eyes, making it thus possible for us to be acceptable to God. This is God’s powerful way of bringing all who believe to heaven. It’s what our Lord achieved when he died and rose from the dead. We are saved by grace (Great Riches At Christ’s Expense) through faith. The gospel is the power that gives us salvation. But the gospel is bad news for non-believers, for it offers no future hope.

This righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: the

 righteousness is not ours. We receive it by faith as a free gift from God. All you have to do is reach out with the empty hands of faith, and cling to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you dare to let go of your good works and come with empty hands to the Saviour, Jesus will meet you with open arms. That's how you receive the righteousness of God. It is by faith from first to last.

You must have faith and believe. We are prepared to place our faith in many people, but reluctant to trust in God.

 

We have to accept we live in a country where moral absolutes have been abandoned, and the country is being influenced to follow an agenda by atheists, secularists who want to force Christianity from the public arena, and especially from aggressive activists in the LGBT Lobby who want their ways of life generally adopted and accepted, without any dissent..

 

How individual people lead their lives is a matter entirely up to each person, but the activists are deliberately creating situations which intrude on other lives. There is objection to any alternative opinion being expressed, but the Church must be given freedom to state what the Bible teaches. However, even that is becoming difficult for a Court in Bristol fined two street pastors £2000 each plus costs for quoting from the King James Version of the Bible.  Fortunately, this was reversed on appeal, which a charity funded.

 

Do you believe the Church is at the present time is able to face up to such pressures? Is it not a fact that the mainline denominations have bought into what is being put forward from outside? God set out guidelines in the Bible as to what He expects us to teach, and the Church has gone beyond that teaching.  

It is not too strong to say, immorality is permeating into Churches. People are not being taught the thoughts of God, but following blindly after the culture of society. 

 

To preach, fundamental truth will inevitably cause some upset. But let us take heart from Paul, who faced all that could be put against him, and so caused Christianity to spread throughout the ancient world. The Bible states, ‘preach the Word’ and those whose responsibility is to do so will one day have to account before the Lord for betrayal. Preachers should remember they are called to preach the gospel and abandon sin, not preach sin and abandon the gospel.

 

The Bible states, everyone is on one of two roads to eternity, either the narrow road, which fewer choose, is the one which leads to heaven by faith in Jesus Christ; or the broad one, which is always overcrowded, and leads to hell.

If you are on the broad road, you should change direction by turning around, and get on the highway to heaven, like Martin Luther and millions of others who chose the Jesus Christ highway.

 

Martin Luther was so inspired by this passage, it caused him to start the Protestant Reformation, and if all preachers were inspired similarly there would be fewer empty seats in Churches.

 

We have to accept that if you state you believe in the full authority of the Bible, ,you will find many will oppose you, and even those close to you will challenge you, perhaps within your own family. You will be called narrow minded, bigoted or of having some kind of phobia. How disheartening to hear from pulpits that we must not take the Bible too literally; or that there will be atheists in heaven.  The time may come, when those of us who stand firmly on the Bible will be frozen out, and attempts will be made to silence us. It has already begun.

 

The greatest revival in the history of this country took place under the ministry of Charles and John Wesley. The once great Methodist Church was built on a strong Biblical foundation. If they were alive today they would have much to say at the way the Church has failed to proclaim the message they left, that salvation was through Christ alone, the value of a person’s life was measured by their faith; by the manner in which they lived their lives, and the doctrine of heaven and hell.

 

The Wesley’s’ legacy has been passed down through the ages to the Church they founded. This should not be betrayed. Charles was one who wrote as he thought, and he saw the importance of conversion and a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. He became vividly convinced of the message of salvation, and saw clearer than ever before how faith in Jesus Christ could change a person’s life. This was the message he would take to as many people as he could, particularly to the poorer classes.

 

I was shocked to read one week, of a meeting being widely advertised to take place at the original chapel of John Wesley in Bristol, the oldest Methodist building in the world, to celebrate what is called ‘gay pride’. If John Wesley could know about this, can you imagine his reaction? I can tell you what he said, when preaching from the same chapter . His words were ‘such conduct was as horrible dishonour to the body as was their idolatry to God.’  I am amazed at the betrayal of honour to the founder of Methodism at his cherished chapel.

I do not bear any ill will to anyone. But my respect and admiration for both Wesley brothers is such, I am disappointed that they should have not thought or have concern for those who created Methodism. To act in direct rejection of the Words of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, would horrify the Church’s once great servants of Charles and John Wesley and their evangelical preaching.

 

Let us as Christians be as proud of our faith as other Faiths are of theirs. Remembering, there is salvation in no other name than Jesus under heaven given among men by which we can be saved.

 

All Christians at this perilous time, need to think of what we can offer to God. To paraphrase a famous saying, ‘think not what God can do for me, but what can I do for God’.

 

Let us proceed by faith and never be ashamed of being a Christian. Paul said he was not ashamed, and nor am I, but what about you?

 

May we be always true to God’s Holy Word and His Holy Name be praised and glorified.