BOASTING IS OUT!
Preached at Emmanuel, Workington on Sunday morning, 15th January 2006
Now that the Christmas break is over, we return to Paul’s great letter to the Romans. His subject is, Romans 1:1, “the Gospel of God.”
Let us summarize the first 4 chapters of Romans. To do that, I take as my text Romans: 3:27, “Where is boasting then? It is excluded.” The Gospel of God excludes all boasting!
Our problem with the Gospel
As medicine heals the body, so the Gospel heals the soul, the heart of man. Our big problem comes from inside ourselves. Because of it we are alienated from God and so from one another.
The sickness in man’s soul is pride; the essence of sin is ego-centricity; self-worship; thinking too highly of self; putting self in God’s place, that is, boasting! And the only power on earth able to deal with man’s pride is the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
That explains why in the secret place of our hearts we all wrestle against the Gospel! We would love to tone the Gospel down so as to give some wriggle-room for self, for pride, for boasting! In my heart of hearts I want some credit for being a Christian! But the Gospel so humbles us before God that it strips us of any credit and gives all the glory, all the praise for our salvation to God Himself and to His Son, Jesus Christ.
Stage 1: Romans 1:1-
In 11, Paul says that he is separated to the Gospel of God. The purpose of his preaching ministry is, Romans 1:5, “for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name.” That is, the Gospel brings people into submission to God; into obedience to the faith; into ready response to the call of Jesus Christ.
But who wants to obey? We want to please ourselves, not submit! So the Gospel challenges our pride at root.
First, the preacher is humbled - Romans 1:9, Paul serves God with his spirit in the Gospel of His Son. And, Romans 1:14, Paul is a debtor to preach the Gospel – he is constrained by a privilege debt to preach the Gospel to all the world.
And, Romans 1:16, Paul declares that he is not ashamed to preach the Gospel? Why not? It is not because he is good at it! No, but because it is the power of God to salvation!
Many clergy want the power to save for themselves. They claim to save people by giving them food, bread and wine, sacramental food! But the power of God is not in the sacraments; it is in the faithful preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Paul tells us precisely where the power of the Gospel lies in Romans 1:17! It resides in this, that the Gospel reveals the righteousness of God!
Come off it! Today no one thinks like that! Who cares about God’s righteousness? That’s not relevant to modern man! What matters is that God loves me! God’s love is Gospel power! That God loves me, does me a power of good! It soothes my pride! I’m special to God!
Friends, please we aware that ministers are constantly tempted to modify the Gospel here a little, there a little, lest it offend people by putting them in their place before God’s majesty and so humbles us!
Stage 2: Romans 1:18 – 3:20: Paul starts with the wrath of God.
After his introduction, Paul commences preaching the Gospel in way that we dislike! For 66 verses he preaches the wrath of God against the sin of man! Romans 1:18, “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness of men” - all men! That sure puts us in our place!
Paul does not merely mention God’s anger against man’s sin once, in passing, doffing his cap to the point and pressing on quickly to nicer things! No! He labours the point! He hammers it home for 66 verses! He refuses to go further until we accept that our problem is sin in the heart which has provoked the displeasure of God against us!
Today’s preachers, at best, make a passing reference to sin - generally without reference to God’s displeasure. They do not give God’s wrath against man’s sin the prominence that Paul gives it! Few preachers admit that God has ample reason to be angry with us! We don’t give the emphasis to God’s anger against sin that Paul gave!
Here is a massive difference between the Gospel as preached today and the Gospel as preached by the Apostles! Today the Gospel is preached without charging people with sin; without calling them to repentance; without warning them of the wrath to come. I hear you say, ‘Just as well!’ We preach a gentler, less devastating message; a kinder, more comforting and affirming message!
But it means we don’t preach the apostolic Gospel today! We preach a different Gospel! Gal.1:8, “if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.”
The problem with the Gospel of God as preached by Paul is that there is no escaping confession of sin and contrition before God against Whom we sin; there is no avoiding profound guilt. Paul says, 319, “whatever the law says, it says that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.” That leaves us prostrate before God pleading for help, for we cannot save ourselves!
Stage 3: Romans 3:21-26 : the good news at last!
In Romans 3:21-26 , Paul preaches the good news at last! He focuses first on the righteousness of God apart from law through faith in Christ to all who believe. Inevitably, he presentation of the Gospel is preoccupied with the problem of God’s anger against man’s sin. So Paul puts propitiation – to turn away wrath - at the heart of his Gospel.
Since preachers today do not teach that man’s sin provokes God’s anger, there is no need to preach propitiation! The word has been cut out of most Bible translations. For the most part, the Gospel is not preached like that today!
And of course, Paul preaches that propitiation is by the blood of Christ! Romans 3:25 “Jesus Christ Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness.”
Today the idea of blood sacrifice is reckoned crude and primitive! We don’t feel comfortable being cleansed by blood! We would much prefer a bloodless Gospel!
Society says to the preacher: ‘Tell me that God so loved me that His Son died for me on a golden cross – it’s nice and makes me feel special! It demonstrates God’s love for me! But don’t suggest that Christ’s blood is necessary to save me! Don’t claim that His blood is the only way to turn away God’s anger from my sin! Don’t say my offense was so bad that only Christ’s substitutionary atonement can open heaven’s gate to me! Don’t make me out to need the blood of Christ! That humiliating! Our culture likes the cross as a symbol, but not as a reality.
Stage 4: Romans 3:27 – 4:25: the gift of God.
At this point, beings to apply the Gospel to his readers. The Gospel of God excludes all boasting. Romans 3:27, “Where is boasting then? It is excluded.” Paul insists that we are saved, justified by faith in God and not by works, lest we boast.
The point is that we are justified by the works of Jesus Christ in His life and death! Romans 4:25, “Who was delivered up (to death) because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification.” So we are not saved by our own works! All the credit goes to God and to Jesus Christ and we are stripped of all credit in our own salvation. We may not even claim credit for our faith, for that is the gift of God!
First Paul humbles us as unworthy sinners deservedly under the wrath of Almighty God; then in ch.4 he humbles us as believing Christians lest we boast of any credit for our own salvation. He gives all the glory to God for salvation is the gift of God and work of Christ.
My salvation is not my achievement; it is not through my co-operating with God – Jesus doing His part and me doing my part! That robs Christ of His exclusive glory! My salvation is all of God Who so loved us that He gave His Son as King to represent us, as sin-bearer to die for us, as the righteous One to earn heaven for us!
Therefore I am saved by faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, by His precious blood alone, to the glory of God alone! Sure, that is humbling. But it is reality and it is incredibly healing and refreshing! This Gospel is entirely God-honouring and self-abasing. The effect of this Gospel is not that we emerge crushed. On the contrary, we emerge blessed of God and full of joy!
The pressure on preachers to corrupt the Gospel.
Friends, there is enormous pressure today on preachers to preach another Gospel! But our salvation depends on preachers faithfully preaching the old, old story, as Paul preached it, for obedience to the faith.
In the Gospel, as Paul preached it, there is peace with God, hope for eternity and unspeakable joy. This Gospel, once written in our hearts, removes the desire to boast. God has been good to us beyond our comprehension! He has loved us in Jesus Christ His Son.
Oh that God, by His Spirit, might use the preaching of this Gospel of the grace of God to subdue our boasting and to humble our pride and to exalt His Son in us!
