I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel

Romans 1:16; "I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation of everyone who believes - first for the Jew and then for the Gentile".

Now people have got this wrong - they say that Paul was saying; "I am not ashamed of the gospel" and by that they say that he meant he was willing to go out in the street and tell people about the gospel because he was not ashamed of it. Well that's good to tell people about the gospel in the street - but that's not the context of what Paul was saying. Paul was speaking in the context of a society that was dominated by a Judaic moralism with the very idea of someone claiming to be righteous apart from their behaviour or their morality - it was almost blasphemy and sentenced to death!

Even though you fall and make mistakes yet you still claim you are righteous - despite my shortcomings and my failures and the things I am still struggling with - because Paul had not arrived - he said "I still press on ... not that I have attained yet" - so even this great apostle was not totally holy in all his behaviour and attitudes! He was a work in progress! Before he was saved - he said that under law he was a murderer, a violent man and a blasphemer. That's what the law did to him - it stirred up sin in him. Then he meets Christ on the Damascus Road, delivered, set free and saved and he believes he is righteous by faith and faith alone! Even when he can't see that his behaviour is always righteous, faith is the evidence of things not seen - so in his spirit he is saying; "I know that I am righteous" and in a society dominated by hypocrisy, Pharisees, bigots, moralists - in a society where it's practically blasphemous to claim you are righteous apart from your works and behaviour - he says; "I am not afraid or ashamed" in that society to say; "The gospel is the power of God unto salvation".

That word "salvation" is "soterio" - "sozo" - it means; "Peace, prosperity, protection, preservation". Now he gives us the revelation where the power for this gospel comes from. Where does the power for miracles - the power for life-transformation - the power of "soterio" - he tells us in the next verse. Let's read it: (v17);

"For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed".

I want to say to you again - this is a righteousness from God. FROM God. It is not a righteousness from man or from the law or from your obedience or from your holy morality and good efforts. It is a righteousness from God that is revealed in the gospel! Revealed means that it was previously hidden and then revealed. Revelation is an invitation to a supernatural encounter with God's glory. The Holy Spirit has to come to our hearts and supernaturally bypass the head and to your inner spirit reveal to you that you have in Christ a righteousness not from your holiness, your amount of praying, your fasting, your good things - it is not based on how much you sin or don't sin - it has got NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU! It is a righteousness FROM God and that has to be revealed supernaturally until you believe it. Until it's revealed you don't believe it because the grid of your head won't allow it - most education systems, most parenting, most society bases everything on your life on your performance - on what you have earnt and what you deserve.

So when it comes to this - it has to be revealed to you that God's righteousness is what the power of God for salvation comes to you. The more you believe this that is revealed to you, the more God's power comes on you to live this life."

- Rob Rufus sermon excerpt from The Struggle For The Authentic