Who Needs the Gospel? • 11.12.23
Nick Lees   -   November 14, 2023

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Who needs the Gospel?
Romans 1:16-32

The Gospel for us

  1. The Gospel is for saints
  2. The Gospel is for sinners

Good morning church family! And welcome to our guests. My name is Pastor Nick and I have the privilege of studying God’s Word with you this morning. You’re joining us on week 2 of a series called Stewardship of the Gospel.

Dismiss 4th + 5th graders

Ushers + Bibles (Romans 1; page 1116)

As I mentioned last week, the month of November is Stewardship Month in our church, where we focus on the concepts of biblical stewardship. Last week I shared four principles that drive our understanding, do you recall what they are?

  • God owns everything, I own nothing
  • God entrusts me with everything I have
  • I can either be a wise or poor steward of what God has entrusted to me; He wants me to be a wise steward
  • God can call me to give an account at any time and it could be today

We see these principles established in both the Old and New Testament. During this month, we’re specifically seeking to apply this to our understanding of the Gospel. What does it mean to be a wise steward or faithful manager of the Gospel message? Last week we answered the question, “What is the Gospel?” from Romans 3. As part of our answer, we defined the Gospel as follows:

What is the Gospel? The gospel (good news) tells us of God’s plan of salvation for sinful humans from his just wrath through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, all accomplished by God’s own grace and not the sinner’s merit. (Repeat)

God has entrusted to us the most important message in all of creation. The answer for how sinful men/women can be at peace with their holy Creator and have the hope of eternal life with him. The Gospel is the hope of humanity. It is the only way of salvation and eternal life. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that we steward it well. Today we are seeking to answer the question “Who needs the Gospel?” Which is going to take us to Romans 1. Let’s turn our attention there now. Let’s start with the opening of Paul’s letter.

Romans 1:1–7 (ESV)

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Last week we highlighted the content of verses 1-5 regarding Paul’s identity and calling. But today I want to draw your attention to verses 6-7 where Paul speaks about the targeted audience of his message.

6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:

Keep this in mind as we develop our answer for “Who needs the Gospel?” Let’s keep reading through verse 17.

Romans 1:8–17 (ESV)

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

In the first half of chapter 1, Paul has introduced himself, explained his calling, shared his greetings with them, given thanks for their faith, and declared his own eagerness to preach the gospel to them! He clearly views them as fellow Christians who are walking with God. In the introduction he identifies them as “you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ” and “those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints”. Paul desires to visit with them, as he has not been to Rome before nor met any of them, yet he expects that they will be able to mutually encourage one another in the faith! What a sweet letter so far! Brother encouraging brothers and sisters in their faith, even though he hasn’t met them personally!

But did you catch verse 15?

Romans 1:15 (ESV)

15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

Did Paul forget his audience? Paul, they’re already Christians! They don’t need the gospel anymore! Why would Paul, led by God the Holy Spirit, say this? Could it be communicating something incredibly valuable for our lesson today? I believe so, which is why I’m drawing your attention to it. I submit to you this morning that what we see in the pages of Scripture is the understanding that the Gospel is not only for salvation but also for every-day life. (repeat)

As we seek to answer the question “Who needs the Gospel?” our first answer this morning is perhaps the unexpected one…

  1. The Gospel is for saints

By saints, I mean God’s people, more literally his holy ones. That is the word Paul used in verse 7 to describe those called by God. It comes up often as reference to Christians throughout the letter, as well as in many other of Paul’s letters. It describes those who have already experienced salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

But why would such people need the Gospel? If they are already saved from sin and the wrath of God, aren’t they ready to move to bigger and better things in Christianity? Are there bigger and better things than the Gospel?

Look again at verses 16-17:

Romans 1:16–17 (ESV)

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

The gospel is the POWER OF GOD for salvation and in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. The gospel is not only sufficient for salvation, it is also the power and means for your daily walk of faith. Listen to how Paul spoke of the ongoing need to stand firm and hold fast to the truths of the Gospel when writing to other churches. First, we journey to Corinth:

1 Corinthians 15:1–2 (ESV)

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

Now let’s move to Colossae:

Colossians 1:21–23 (ESV)

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Paul is revealing to Christians (saints) the need for the Gospel on an ongoing, day-by-day basis! Those who have believed in Jesus Christ are called to stand firm in the Gospel, hold fast to the hope of the Gospel, and proclaim the truths of the Gospel. Pastor Milton Vincent summarizes it this way:

God did not give us His gospel just so we could embrace it and be converted. Actually, He offers it to us every day as a gift that keeps on giving to us everything we need for life and godliness. The wise believer learns this truth early and becomes proficient in extracting available benefits from the gospel each day. We extract these benefits by being absorbed in the gospel, speaking it to ourselves when necessary, and by daring to reckon it true in all we do. – Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer, 5

Pastor C.J. Mahaney puts it this way in his book The Cross Centered Life:

The gospel isn’t one class among many that you’ll attend during your life as a Christian – the gospel is the whole building that all the classes take place in! Rightly approached, all the topics you’ll study and focus on as a believer will be offered to you ‘within the walls’ of the glorious gospel. – C.J. Mahaney, The Cross Centered Life, 75-76

The point these pastors are making and the point that the texts we just looked at are also making is that the Gospel is not a one and done thing. It is not just that you believe in the Gospel for salvation, but it is also that you take every step of each day in light of that same Gospel. Because Jesus has come and paid the penalty for my sin, I can wake up ready and willing to die to myself and serve the Lord today. Because I am no longer condemned, I will approach my circumstances, whatever they may be, with joy and trust in the Lord. Because the Gospel means that I am free from the wrath that I deserve I will rejoice in any given moment. Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus!

The gospel reveals God’s righteousness and enables/calls us to live by faith in that same righteousness.

Paul’s practice, as seen in multiple of his letters, was to preach the gospel to the churches to which he wrote. These churches were full of Christians who had already believed in the Gospel for salvation, but now Paul lavishes them with wonderful gospel truths. These are often called Gospel indicatives because they reveal the wonderful things that God has done for us in Christ. Indicatives are statements of facts:

  • Gospel indicatives (Statements of fact)
    • God has given us grace (Romans 1:5)
    • God has called you (Romans 1:6)
    • God saved you (Romans 1:16)
    • God justifies you (Romans 3:24)

We could keep going! There are many indicatives in Romans 1-11 that lay out the identity and reality of Christians through faith in Christ. What we find is that when we arrive at Romans 12 Paul turns to focus on Gospel imperatives in chapters 12-16. Imperatives are statements of command. Here is the first one we encounter in verses 1-2:

Romans 12:1–2 (ESV)

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Based on everything that has come before, live this way! Because the Gospel indicatives are true, you are able to live out the Gospel imperatives!

  • Gospel imperatives (Statement of command)
    • Present your bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1)
    • Do not be conformed to this world (Romans 12:2)
    • Be transformed by the renewal of your mind (Romans 12:2)
    • Bless those who persecute you (Romans 12:14)
    • Be subject to governing authorities (Romans 13:1)

This pattern of Gospel indicatives leading into Gospel imperatives is found in multiple letters:

  • Romans 1-11 are the indicatives, 12-16 are the imperatives
  • Ephesians 1-3 are the indicatives, 4-6 are the imperatives
  • Colossians 1-2 are the indicatives, 3-4 are the imperatives

I think you get the idea. The Gospel is for saints! Just because you have believed in Jesus Christ for salvation does not mean you move beyond the Gospel for your daily life. This is still the reality you live and breathe. Every day you must remember that you are a sinner redeemed by God’s extravagant grace. Today is a good day because I am forgiven in Christ!

In his book The Gospel for Real Life author Jerry Bridges encourages his readers to turn to the liberating power of the Cross… every day.

What does it do for you to start your day remembering that you have been forgiven in Christ?

How do you respond differently in the midst of trials when you remind yourself that Jesus has secured an eternal inheritance for you?

How does an interaction with a tough personality transform when you realize that God loved someone difficult like you!?

These Gospel realities have real impact on our daily lives. How I view my circumstances, how I think about my battle with sin, how I view myself, how I view others, and how I live. Every aspect of a Christian’s life is transformed by the Gospel, and it has continuing lessons and impacts if we avail ourselves of these powerful truths each day.

When you’re struggling with condemnation, preaching the Gospel to yourself reminds you that Christ died for you and that if you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!

If you struggle with self-pity and despair or feeling worthless, preaching the Gospel to yourself reminds you that you are made in God’s image and that he redeemed you at a very high price, the cost of his Son! You are greatly loved by God, and you can live in light of his plan for your life.

In a similar vein, the gospel reminds you that God has good works prepared in advance for you to do. You are a part of God’s grand redemption plan! The things you are able to do matter and they can have an eternal impact on others. This truth challenges us to put off laziness and selfish ambition.

My own walk with God has been greatly influenced by Milton Vincent’s A Gospel Primer, which has 31 daily Gospel meditations in the first part of the book. In the middle of the book is the Gospel in prose format. I have been incredibly blessed by these resources in my own walk with the Lord. At one point I was reading from this little book every day for over a year straight. Milton constantly links his devotionals back to the Word of God to show you where he is applying the truth from. I highly commend this resource to you as a tool to help you learn to preach the Gospel to yourself daily.

Let’s turn our attention back to Romans. I started with the answer “The Gospel is for saints”, because I thought it would be the surprising answer. “Who needs the Gospel?” Christians do. But that’s not all, let’s read verses 18-32 to find another answer to this important question:

Romans 1:18–32 (ESV)

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

This is one of the more terrifying passages of Scripture, in part for how accurately it portrays what we see in the human race. With startling precision, Paul demonstrates the universal and corrupting problem of sin for humans. This is often called the downward spiral of sin.

In this passage, Paul shows how the universal problem of humanity is our ungodliness and unrighteousness. We suppress the truth about God, even though it has been made known quite plainly in the incredible design of the universe all around us. This wicked response to God invites his just wrath against us. And it only gets worse from there, as we already heard. We don’t just pretend God doesn’t exist, we willingly and knowingly rebel against him and live in an increasingly perverse and corrupt manner that flies in the face of what he intended. By “we” I am speaking of humanity at large that is opposed to God and not Christians who have been convicted of sin and turned to Christ in faith.

When we consider the question, “Who needs the Gospel?” not only is it for saints, but also…

  1. The Gospel is for sinners

As mentioned last week, from 1:18-3:20 Paul is helping both the Jews and the Gentiles understand how lost and dead in their sins they truly are. The resounding cry of Romans 3:9-23, which we studied last week, is that all of us stand condemned outside of faith in Jesus Christ. Before anyone is a saint, they are first a sinner.

And thank God the Gospel is for sinners! Because otherwise we would be left for dead in our sin. There would be no hope of escape from the terrible wrath of God that is coming against our sin. Apart from the hope of the gospel’s rescue and redemption for sinners, we would all remain stuck in this downward sin spiral of Romans 1. But praise God for his glorious grace!

The gospel being for sinners means that it calls us out of darkness into marvelous light through faith in Jesus Christ. This is a wonderful rescue from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light! Listen to Paul rehearse this beautiful Gospel truth to the Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (ESV)

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

And such were some of you… Past tense. But you were washed… You were sanctified… you were justified… What incredible, hope-filled words! Sinners become saints through faith in Jesus Christ by the grace and power of God!

Paul writes again about this beautiful reality in his letter to the Colossians:

Colossians 1:13–14 (ESV)

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Gospel message is consistent. We are born dead in our sin, rebels against a holy God. Left to ourselves, we will remain in our sin, and, in fact, as Romans 1 revealed, we will spiral downward into more and more sin. This downward spiral produces corruption, moral and societal decay, and incredible pain and darkness in our lives. It is the Gospel that saves and transfers us from darkness to light. Faith in the Son of God who died in your place and bore the wrath of God meant for you. It is imperative that you trust in Christ alone for redemption from your sin debt and for the forgiveness of your sins.

Over the past decade of being a biblical counselor, I’ve met with many people. Not everyone was a follower of Christ. Do you want to guess where I began our counseling? With the Gospel. Why? Because until you are set free from sin and death, you cannot walk in the light and experience the joy and freedom that comes from union with Christ. It will do no good to try to apply these Gospel imperatives if you are not made new in Christ. In fact, it will be an incredibly frustrating experience. You will try, by your own strength, to do better, to be better… but you will inevitably fall short. You will think that it will never work. But that is because you’re not doing it God’s way. You are doing it your way.

God has made a way of salvation for you through His Son. Will you lay down your pride and trust in His plan of salvation for you? You don’t know better than God.

Let me lay out the Gospel message from the book of Romans in a straightforward way:

Romans 3:23 (ESV)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23a (ESV)

23 For the wages of sin is death…

Romans 5:8 (ESV)

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 10:9–10 (ESV)

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Romans 6:16–22 (ESV)

16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations.

For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

Salvation is a gift from God and our calling as Christians is to share this Gospel hope/gift with as many people as possible. Frasier will talk more about that next week when he answers the question, “How do we spread the Gospel?” For today, I wanted to emphasize that the Gospel is for saints and sinners. It turns sinners into saints (all of us are/were sinners, none are better than the rest) and saints into slaves of righteousness/God. Do not think that this is simply about obtaining your “get out of hell free card” and going on to live however you want. Following Christ is a call to come and die to selfish ambition and vain conceit. It is about a life of joyful servitude to the Creator King of the Universe. It is about finding fulfillment in the reason He made you rather than in the superficial, temporary pleasures of this world.

“Who needs the Gospel?” We all do. It is the source of eternal life and daily transformation. May we join our voices with Paul in declaring, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel!” It is the power of salvation to everyone who believes, and it is our privilege to be entrusted with stewarding this Gospel in our own lives and in the lives of our community. *Pause*

Today we are going to end our services by worshiping the Lord through the celebration of communion or the Lord’s table.

As we talk about Stewardship of the Gospel, communion is an opportunity for Christians to remember all that the Lord has done for us through his death, burial, and resurrection. What a privilege to slow down and give thanks for the finished work of Jesus!

We will celebrate by partaking of both the bread and the cup as a symbol and reminder of Jesus’ body broken in our place and his blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins. Communion is an opportunity to remember how great a price was paid so that we could be saved from our sin. It is a sobering, yet joyful celebration for Christians. Sobering that the Son of God would give himself for us as a ransom. Joyful that he did, and the result was a living hope that cannot be taken from us! Jesus is victorious; therefore, we have the hope of heaven with Him!

At this time, I’d like to invite the ushers forward with the elements.

Before we pass them, I want to share the biblical requirements for joining in this celebration.

This celebration was given by Jesus to his followers. We invite anyone who has trusted in Jesus Christ alone for salvation to join us in this celebration today. If your faith is not in Jesus Christ alone, then we would encourage you to let the elements pass by you and simply consider what you’ve heard so far during the service this morning and reflect on what is keeping you from trusting him.

The second requirement we see in Scripture is a call to examine ourselves. This is the idea of making sure that you’ve confessed any known sins and sought to turn away from it. It would not be wise to partake of the table if you have sin in your life for which you are not repentant. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11 that taking the table while living in sin is eating and drinking judgment on yourself. I would ask you not to do that, for your sake and the sake of God’s glory. Instead, I would encourage you to use this time to confess that sin and make a plan to address it right away. If you know you need to be reconciled to someone else in this church, please take care of that during this time. The table is time to protect the unity of the church.

The ushers are going to pass the elements now as we have a time of silent reflection and prayer to prepare for the table. Please use this time to reflect on all that we’ve talked about today and to prepare yourself to take communion by confessing and repenting of any known sin. After the elements have been passed, I’ll lead us in prayer and taking communion together.

Ushers pass elements

Silent prayer. Corporate prayer.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 (ESV)

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Take bread.

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Take cup

Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus!