Romans 1:1-17; The Power of the Gospel

Jason Sterling January 18, 2026 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL Bulletin

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Transcript

Why We’re Studying Romans Now

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Well, hello again. Uh I meant to m mention this earlier, but I want to welcome you, especially if you're visiting. Uh, thank you for being here this morning. Uh, if you're on the inside aisle, look in the seat back in front of you, please pass that black registration pad down. We would love everyone to sign in this morning. Uh, but especially if you're visiting, we'd love the opportunity to thank you for visiting with us this morning. If you look in your bulletin, you'll see a couple announcements I want to highlight. Uh, you'll see the first one there, congregational meeting to receive the budget for 2026. Next Sunday, 1040. Uh, we'll uh get out of our kingdom communities a little early and we'll come into this room to receive the budget. There's an informational meeting tonight. Uh, if you have questions about the budget, it went out this week. Uh, and so if you have questions, tonight is the time to ask those questions. If you have anything uh that you want to know more about, it's at 445 in the fireside room there in the lower level. You'll lastly you'll see the foundations of faith. So we have another new members' class coming up starting next Sunday, January the 25th. If you're interested in that, you'll see the QR code printed in your bulletin. You can also call the church and sign up there as well. If you have a copy of God's Word, turn with me this morning to the book of Romans. Romans chapter 1. We're going to begin this morning our study, uh, which we'll be in for several months, in the book of Romans. If you have been visiting with us, maybe it's the beginning of the year, you've been here for a few weeks. We are a church, we believe the Bible is God's word and the thing that we most need. And so we just preach through books of the Bible. We have a very high view of the scriptures, and so we're just going to walk through the book of Romans, like we did with Ezra and Nehemiah for the next uh few months. And part of this is as we think about, you know, we're we're in a significant season in the life of our church, moving into the sanctuary in a couple of months, this space that in some ways has been 50 years in the making. And this building and this property represents decades of prayer and giving and sacrifice and faithful service. But here's what I want us to understand. As we start thinking that way, and as we get into this new space, the that building, that sanctuary, as beautiful as it is, is not what gives us confidence for the future. This pulpit is not what makes us bold. The building, again, it is beautiful, especially at night if you drive by here. That is not the foundation that we stand on. Our confidence is in something of far more ancient and far more powerful than anything we could build with our hands. What makes us bold is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news of what God has done for us in Jesus. And so as we move into this new season in the life of our church, we want to be deeply rooted in the same gospel and the same theology that has sustained this church for the last 50 years. That's why we're studying Romans. And nowhere is that gospel more clear and more powerfully and comprehensively laid out than in Paul's letter to the Romans. If you look at church history, time after time after time, God has used the book of Romans to grab people's hearts and to get a hold of them and to change them, and you could say, in some ways, to change the direction of the church forever. Think about the story of Martin Luther, terrified of God, because he didn't think he ever measured up to God's righteousness until what? He discovered Romans chapter 1, verse 17, that righteousness is not something you achieve, but it's something given to you and received by faith. He calls it, it was says it was like walking through open doors into paradise. And that one verse and that discovery sparked the Protestant Reformation. Here's my hope and prayer for us is that we begin this series, that we would discover in Romans something, and there would be a lot here to fill our minds with information. Yes. But God's word is living and active, and it's meant, yes, give us knowledge, but true knowledge, what? Changes our lives. That's what we're after as we study this incredible book of Romans in the next few months. May it transform us and change us and change our church. With that introduction, follow along with me as I read Romans chapter 1. This is verses 1 through 17. This is the word of God. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son, who was descended from David according to the flesh, 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, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, to all who 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. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I mention you, always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you, for I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you. That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. 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. I am under obligation, both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to 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, for it is the power of God for the salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. This is God's word. Let me pray and let's ask the Holy Spirit to come and help us. Let's pray together. Father, please come and help us with this amazing book. Help us today, help us in the weeks to come. Show us the glory of the gospel in such a way that we're changed. Only you can do that. Do it today. In Jesus' name. Amen. Have you ever been asked or a Christian this morning about your faith? And in that moment, when you were asked about your faith, you felt in you this hesitation. We've all felt it, that pressure to water down, pressure to soften what we believe, or even to apologize the gospel for the gospel before sharing it. And Paul, in his bold statement in verse 16, tells us something important: that the gospel that he is about to reveal and unfold is radically countercultural. It was then, it is now. It is offensive, it was then. It seems foolish to the world, it was then, and it is now to our modern world. And so Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel. Why? Because it's the power of salvation for everyone who believes. Here's the main idea this morning. The main idea. The gospel is God's powerful answer for humanity's deepest need. And it is worthy of our complete confidence and bold proclamation. With that in mind, three things I want us to look at in this passage: gospel identity, number one, gospel love and mission, number two, gospel power, number three, gospel identity, gospel love and mission, gospel power. That's where we're headed. Let's jump into our text this morning. Look at gospel identities, our first heading. Paul begins by talking a lot about his identity. You pick that up in verse one. If you have a Bible, follow along with me. Also, your bulletin. I mean, this is loaded. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart from the gospel of God. Notice Paul does not lead with his credentials of a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee of Pharisees. Let me tell you, hey, I'm a Roman citizen. We've got something in common. Or let me tell you about all my knowledge and all the things I know and who I trained under and all my degrees. Now he begins and he says, He's a servant. Literally, the word is a slave of Jesus Christ. His identity isn't rooted in what he's accomplished. This is important that as we move forward in this point, but whose he is. And the same is true for us this morning. But what really captures his heart is he's set apart for the gospel of God. Notice it's not Paul's gospel, it's God's gospel. Gospel literally means good news or good announcement. In other words, the gospel, and you hear me say things like this a lot, is not good advice to be followed. Gospel is news about what God has done. And most of us have grown up hearing good advice. Try harder, be better, clean your act up. But you haven't really heard good news. And perhaps that is why some of us this morning are bored to death with Christianity and with Jesus. It might just be that you've been given advice instead of the news that you desperately need. And notice this news is not new. Look at verse 2. Promise beforehand. This goes back to the prophets. This goes back to the beginning of the Bible, even when God made the promises in the garden of a savior and deliverer. And notice the new sinners on the person of Jesus. Look at verses 3 and 4. Jesus is descended from David, the promised king, and declared to be the Son of God by the power of the resurrection. God's eternal Son became a human being, lived as a king, died as our substitute, rose from the dead, declaring victory over sin and death. That is the gospel. That is what creates your identity. Look at verses 6 and 7, including you who were called to belong to Christ, loved by God, called to be a saint. Your identity this morning, if you are a Christian, is that you belong to Jesus. Not because you've earned it, but because he called you. And notice here how he greets them, very intentional. Again, there's no haphazard words in the Bible. Grace and peace. And you know why? Because peace with God is impossible until you get the grace of God, and the grace of God comes to you. You're at peace, not by your performance, but because grace has brought you in and brought you home. So what? We always want to be leading towards application. Why does this matter for you this morning? Well, think about what happens when you put your identity in something else. When you put your identity in what you do and who you are gets wrapped up in what you do. So, for example, the executive whose sense of self is tied up in their title and their company. Or the athlete who is defined by their sport, or the parent who measures their worth by their children and how they turn out. Or the grandparent who feels invisible. They've been needed in serving their whole life and suddenly they feel invisible like they're no longer needed. When your identity is wrapped up in those things, it's fine as long as it's working. But when it stops working and something shifts, for example, when the executive gets laid off, the athlete gets injured, the kids rebel and leave the faith, suddenly you're looking in the mirror and saying, Who in the world am I now? Why? Because you've built your identity on your performance. And when we build our identity on our performance, it is only as stable and solid as our last success. One failure, and the whole thing begins to unravel and crumble and come apart. The gospel identity, rather, loved by God. Not because you're lovable, but because God is loving. Called to be saints, literally holy ones. Set apart. Your worth isn't in what you do for God, it is found in what Christ has done for you. Paul knew that. Where is your identity this morning? You are secure in Christ, loved by God, called to be a saint, a servant of Jesus Christ, and everything else in your life flows out of that truth. Secondly, gospel, love, and mission. When you grasp your gospel identity, the gospel gets a hold of you. Something remarkable happens. It does not turn you inward, it turns you outward to love and mission and service. And you see this happen in Paul's life. Look at verses 8 through 15. Just hang with me here and let's look at a few of these things. He's never met these Roman Christians, and yet, notice what he does. He thanks God for them. He prays for them without ceasing. He longs to visit them. He feels obligated to serve and love them, not for some joyless, dutiful obedience. He feels compelled because of what Christ has given him to share with them and encourage them. Then look at verse 12. I love this. He wants to be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. Even the great apostle Paul was ready to receive and to be encouraged by people that he had never met. The gospel does that. It creates the kind of community where mature people and new people and old people and young people and pastors and staff and church members that we all learn from one another. And we are mutually encouraged by one another. And notice there the word eager in verse 15, not reluctant, not embarrassed, eager. Think about that word. Paul could have said, I'm willing to come to you if you need me. Or I'm supposed to do this because I am an apostle. Instead, he says, I'm eager, desperate to get to you. Why? Because the gospel has gripped his heart and it doesn't just secure your identity. The gospel compels you to love and changes you and moves you out so that you start seeing the people around you differently, especially other Christians. They're no longer strangers, they're no longer obligations, they are family, and we are united by the same rescue and united together by what Christ has done for us. And because of that, he can't wait to serve them, encourage them, and share the gospel. Gospel with them. There are two ways that you can live the Christian life. And one way says I need to serve God so that God will accept me. And the other way is that God's already accepted me in Christ. Now I'm free to love and serve because I have been given everything in Jesus. The first way is religion. And if you are serving to get God to love you, it will lead to reluctance. It will lead to burnout and worry and lack of freedom and anxiety will lead to all of those things. Brett Favre, many of you might know the name. He played for the Green Bay Packers years ago. Very interesting, and you get this with athletes. I love to watch Hall of Fame speeches for this reason. He was giving his Hall of Fame speech and he tells a story that he had never told anyone and that no one ever had heard. And he tells a time about when he was overhearing his dad talk to one of his high school coaches after a football game. And he heard his dad say to the coach after a particularly bad game, I can assure you of one thing about my son. He will play better and he will redeem himself. And Brett never told anyone, even his dad, that he overheard that conversation. He told the world in his Hall of Fame induction speech with tears streaming down his face. You know what he said? I never forgot that statement. And then he says, I want you to know, Dad, I spent the rest of my career trying to redeem myself. And I hope I succeeded. Do you hear it? Even at the pinnacle of his success and legendary career, he is wondering if he has done enough. Even at the top, did I redeem myself, Dad? That is what religion produces. Gospel, on the other hand, eagerness and joy and security and love. You are secured because you know that God loves you and that that security changes everything and frees you to no longer be self-seeking in your service, trying to get something, but you're actually free to forget who you are and truly move in and towards other people in love. That's what Paul discovered. That's why he's eager. Saving faith produces grateful, joyful obedience. Not to earn anything, but because you've been rescued by Jesus. You're secure enough in the Father's love that you stop asking, have I done enough? Am I enough? And you start asking, How can I love and serve others out of the love that I have been given in Christ? So what exactly is this gospel that we keep referring to? Why is it so powerful? Paul tells us that's our last point, gospel power. Look at verses 16 and 17. I'm going to spend a little more time here, and we're going to go through this section by section because it's that important. Because this is the heartbeat of everything that the apostle Paul is going to share for the next 15 chapters. And so let's walk through this one phrase at a time. I am not ashamed of the gospel. Why would you have to make a statement like that? Well, to make a statement like that, uh, it's because the gospel genuinely offends the human heart, not in a rude way, but in a way that strikes against our pride and our self-sufficiency that tempts us to be ashamed of it. Here's what I mean. Think about it. It tells, think about what the gospel, how offensive it is. It tells moral people that their morality doesn't give them an advantage with God. It tells moral people that they're not good enough and can never be good enough. It tells enlightened people and smart people that they are so wicked that God had to die for them. And then here's one: it's exclusive, meaning that it tells you that there is only one way to God, and that is through Jesus Christ alone. It's offensive because it demands that you suffer, and it pushes it back against coasting through this life comfortably. Friends, you know that you've heard the real gospel when you are tempted to be ashamed of it. That's how you know. Next phrase. For it is the power of God. That word power is the word we get dynamite from. And so think about that. It's not this gentle influence or good advice, it's explosive, life-changing, powerful. And so the message of the gospel is the power of God in verbal form. And when it's articulated and explained, the power is released. Here's a picture. You remember those candies, the atomic fireballs, those little red candies in the clear wrapper. From the outside, they look just like any other candy. Put that in your mouth. At first, you might think, oh, this is not too bad. And then your mouth is on fire. This innocent-looking candy has completely taken over. That's the gospel. It seems from the outside, just like another religious philosophy, but you take it in, you hear it, it penetrates your heart, it explodes with power in your life. Transformation and change come into your life. For the salvation is for everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. Paul mentions the Jews first because God's salvation plan started with them in Israel's history, but the designation was always for everyone. Everyone who believes. It is for everyone who believes. Because Paul is saying here, we are all in the same desperate condition. That we all need the same thing. That without Christ, we are separated from God under his judgment, helpless to change and fix ourselves. We all need what only Jesus can give. And then here's the question: how does God give? And how does he save everyone who believes? We'll keep reading. Verse 17. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed. Here's the answer. And this is the phrase, again, that unlocked the Reformation for Martin Luther. He discovered that righteousness is not something you achieve, it's something that God reveals. Please hear this. Paul isn't talking about God's trait of being righteous. He is talking about a righteousness from God, a right standing that God gives us. It's positional. It means that your debts have been forgiven, that your record is clear, that you are in good standing with God. Spiritually speaking, your debt to God is infinite. You owe him perfect obedience your entire life, a bill that would take you you could not ever repay, not in a million lifetimes. The gospel comes and says God pays it himself through the cross at infinite cost to himself, and then he credits you with Christ's perfect record of righteousness to your account. Here's a picture. Imagine that you're drowning in student loans, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and you're just making the minimum payment, the balance never gets anywhere. There's no realistic way that you're ever going to pay this off in this lifetime. And then someone walks into the school, the loan office, and pays the entire loan off, not a loan to you, a gift to you. And you get a letter, your debts are forgiven. You owe nothing, and you would rejoice, okay? Because hang with me. Yes, that's great news, but here's even better news. You find out that they have deposited their and they're wealthy people, they have deposited their entire life savings into your account. So you're not just debt-free, you're wealthy. That's the gospel. Debts forgiven, the riches of Jesus deposited into your account. Many of us think the gospel, God just forgives our sin, wipes our slate clean. Yes, not guilty, but don't forget the other part. Made perfectly righteous. In other words, you don't just get the pardon and then just have to earn your way through the rest of life. That's terrible news. No, you get pardon and righteousness as if it were your own, and that changes everything. Because every religion says, provide a righteousness to God. Be enough. Earn it. Only the gospel says, receive a righteousness from God. It is a gift to you. Practically, and then we'll close. What does this mean for you this morning? What does it mean for you tomorrow? When you wake up and you're struggling with the same sin that you've been struggling with over and over and over it again for years: pride, lust, greed, gossip. And you fall into that and you think, when am I ever going to get this right? Here's the difference. If you're living under this idea of providing a righteousness to God, every failure in your life is going to feel like you are jeopardizing your standing. It's going to feel like God's patience is running out. But if you're living under a righteousness that God provides to you, you're free to fight. You're free to stay in the game. Because you have security. You're not working from a place of fear. And so what do you do? You confess your sin. You can tell a friend. You can experience repentance unto life. You can move forward and change and grow, not to regain approval, but because you already have it. How do you receive it? Verse 17. Faith. Notice that quote is from Habakkuk 2, verse 4. This is the way through faith. It's the way God has always saved his people. Some of you are exhausted this morning. You're tired of trying. You've worked really hard to be good enough. And you never quite measure up. This is a call for you to stop and to actually receive the gift. Receive the gift that God has done it all and that your record is clear. When we grasp that and start working from that, you want to talk about change in your life? You actually starting to grow and change. Look out. Maybe you're thinking this morning you're exhausted and you haven't really given up, but you're just here, you're just numb, you're just going through the motions. You've been a Christian for years, and somewhere along the way it just got to be boring and routine, but you just keep doing it. And it's not that you are anxious about your standing, but you're not eager about it either. Can I suggest what has happened? And this might sound obvious, but if that's you this morning, you've lost your wonder. You've lost the glory, the beauty, and the sweetness of what Christ has done for you. And so this is a call for you, maybe to rediscover the goodness of God through the person of Jesus Christ. What does this mean for our church? We are all standing on the same righteousness. Not our own, but Christ. And that levels every distinction. The person that has been a Christian for 40 years in this place, or the person that became a Christian yesterday, same righteousness. We're in a community, and we want to be a community. It's not built on the righteousness that we achieve, but on what Jesus has achieved for us. Our hope as we move into this next season of ministry, it is not in the impressiveness of our building. It is in the power of the gospel. And that building will only be as valuable as it becomes a launching pad for the gospel of Jesus Christ, a place where broken people can come and hear about and receive a righteousness from God. And so will you come to Jesus this morning? Will you trust him? He has provided a way for you to have your sins forgiven and to receive a righteousness that you could not obtain. That is the gospel. That is why we are unashamed. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the gospel. Thank you for providing a righteousness to us, not one we provide to you. Forgive us for the ways that we've tried to earn salvation and what you've freely given us through being exhausted through performing. Give us grace to rest in your work. And Holy Spirit, make us people who are unashamed of the gospel. Do a work in us so that we're eager to share it, to receive it, and to take the good news to the people around us. In Jesus' name, amen.