From first Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga, here's Dr. Michael Milton. I've asked people how they expected to go to heaven or how they expected to stand before Holy God. If in fact they believed in this God and many times they would answer by being a good husband or being a good father. And I've tried my best. I've done everything I could. I've really tried. I've heard the same thing over and over. I've given money to the church and to other organizations. I've been a good neighbor. One time I cut my neighbor's grass when he was gone. And on I've heard the stories. And I would have to tell them none of that. No good works will cause you to come into a right relationship with God. In fact all of your good works the Bible says are like filthy rags.
The Bible declares faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ. Welcome to Faith for Living with Dr. Michael Milton, the radio outreach ministry of first Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga. A ministry with one great passion and belief that faith comes from proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ as found in God's Word. And that faith in Jesus Christ is faith for living. This week Dr. Milton brings to us a message entitled, the verse that changed the world. As we continue our series, a word from another world, messages from Romans. For years Martin Luther lived under the weight and guilt of his sins. He could only see God as a holy judge who would ultimately condemn him. But one day he came across a Bible verse that transformed him into a bold champion for the Gospel who would eventually change the course of world history. The scripture texts for today's broadcast is from Romans 1 verses 16 through 17. Here again is Dr. Mike Milton with today's message entitled, the verse that changed the world.
Once had a man tell me, he said, I am the freest person you've ever met and he was looking me right now. Now the interesting thing about that statement is I was a chaplain at Levinworth and he was on death row. And he was referring to the fact that, hey, I'm already dead, I'm free man. And that's all a nice metaphor but the truth is I walked out of the joint and he was still in there awaiting his death sentence. Sometimes we can make statements but our lives don't really follow. For instance, I've known Christians to be able to talk about the verse we're reading today and tell you everything about it but their lives don't reveal the freedom that is embedded in this passage. In fact they seem to be living in a sort of prison trying to be good, hoping to please God. Maybe I'm good at church enough, maybe I'm given enough, maybe I can be good enough to earn God's favor. Maybe I can become righteous enough in Paul's day, the church of Rome was critical to be able to fulfill the mission of the church. But the church was divided between you and Gentile on whether your righteousness depended on keeping old covenant ceremonial law or something else. And Paul wants to delineate between the two and say it's the something else that saves you. Your righteousness before God has caught to be a righteousness that is not your own, that is given to you, that is imputed to you. R.C. Sprule, one of the great theologians of our time, said that he asked a first year seminary class, could you tell me what the gospel is? And they begin to say all kind of things but the one thing they didn't say was what was here. They missed the gospel, the gospel that we enter into a right relationship with God and are saved as a result of what he did for us on Calvary when I got his righteousness accounted to me and he took my sin. No one answered that. And yet the gospel, the the kernel of the gospel is simply that a great transfer happened on the cross Jesus takes your sin and you get his life when by faith you receive him. Now that's what this passage is all about and Paul is pretty much saying this is what I'm going to tell you for the rest of this epistle. Now the thing about it is there are a lot of words and when you enter into Romans and even into this one verse there are a lot of powerful words compressed together. Now sometimes we don't like words because we live in an image-based society and I'm just like you, I'm influenced by images as much as anyone. And yet God gave the Ten Commandments, He gave the Ten Words to a people and said you're not to be like the heathen nations who try to imagine a God and represent God by stone and by wood and by trying to make an image. Now you are to think thoughts after me and I'm going to give you ten words to live by, to understand how to relate to me, to follow me after knowing that I've saved you. So words are important to us but words can be scary. Kathleen Norris is from Lemon South Dakota. She wrote a book called Amazing Grace of Vocabulary of Faith. Her book takes what she calls scary words in the Bible and impacts them. You see she left South Dakota and she went to Manhattan pursuing a literary career. She's a brilliant, is a brilliant woman. But she was on a rather prodigal journey having left her little Presbyterian church there in South Dakota now in the big city and finding all the fashionable, trendy intellectual ideas, stimulating but at the end of the day empty. And so she moved with her husband back to South Dakota and they went back to that little Presbyterian church where the organ was kind of off key but she found Jesus there. In the middle of words that communicated to her heart when she understood them and changed her life. Someone asked her recently about these scary words and said should we use different words? I mean we have words like salvation and words like righteousness, words like faith, all in this one passage. Much less all the other words of scripture. Kathleen Norris for her part said no these are our words. I didn't know them and didn't understand them before but now I cherish them. They're different and unique. They're like nothing else. They don't make a whole lot of sense outside of the context and the meaning of scripture. Now we shouldn't get rid of them. They're family words. They're words that tell our story. And this morning in this great passage so many ways that we could approach this passage but this morning I want to look at some scary words and scary phrases with you. Words that can be unintelligible to some of the words that can sound just like big theological words that don't have any meaning. We're not only to grasp these words with our minds but if we really come to understand what the word means there is power in the words that will grip your heart and then change your life. That's what God wants to do with all of us this morning from this word. This most important verse in the Bible. Let's look first of all at a phrase for I am not ashamed of the gospel. What did Paul mean by that? Well Paul could have meant with that word shame what Jesus talked about in chapter 8 of Mark, verse 38 when he said for whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and simple generation of him. Well the son of man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with the Holy Angels. That's pretty big. If your Jesus says you're ashamed of me here I'm going to be ashamed of you on judgment day. Is that what Paul meant? Paul says here I am not ashamed of the gospel. I think Paul actually meant something else. I think he didn't just mean I'm on ashamed of Jesus. He meant I'm on ashamed of the message of Jesus in the presence of religions that are demanding that you do this in that in order to make yourself righteous before God. I proclaim to you a message that says you believe in Jesus and you're going to have his righteousness on your life covering you before Holy God. It's that and nothing else. Jesus Christ faith in him plus nothing else will receive the righteousness of God and you'll enter into a right relationship and not only be able to stand before God on judgment day but you're going to be empowered today to live the life of faith. Jesus plus nothing else. Paul is saying I am not ashamed of that because in the church at Rome there apparently were some who were requiring that you do certain Old Testament ceremonial signs which were always intended as signs to signify something there was no power in and of themselves. They were pointing to Jesus. Jesus says in Luke 24 everything is about him in the Bible. It's all Jesus. It's all Jesus from beginning to end. Paul saying I'm not ashamed of that. I once had a conversation with a very good man. He was a Muslim. He was a very moral man and he was a very good and very pleasant man I must say. I shared with him the gospel and we were okay talking about Jesus and he said he believed Jesus although he believed he was a prophet but he revered him and he wasn't put off by me talking about Jesus but when I said that Jesus is God and to have faith in Jesus Christ will bring you into a right relationship with God. He said that's crazy. He said you mean that you can get rid of all of your guilt and you can satisfy God by simply believing in Jesus and that's it. Nothing else. No good works. I said right. He said that's crazy. Now that was a Muslim man. I've heard the same thing over and over. I've asked people how they expected to go to heaven or how they expected to stand before a holy God if in fact they believed in this God and many times they would answer by being a good husband or being a good father. And I've tried my best. I've done everything I could. I've really tried. I've given money to the church and to other organizations. I've been a good neighbor. One time I cut my neighbor's grass when he was gone and on I've heard the stories and I would have to tell them none of that will cause you to come into a right relationship with God. In fact all of your good works the Bible says are like filthy rags. Well how do you do it? Through faith in Jesus Christ. And nothing else. Now that may sound crazy but you see that's the good news. It doesn't calculate it doesn't make sense humanly but this word is a word from another world. It makes sense to me that God would be born in a manger or that God who created the heavens and the earth would have no place to lay his head at night. It makes no sense to me. It's absolutely crazy that God the creator of heaven and earth should be crucified by the very people he created. It makes no sense whatsoever to me that Almighty God on a cross stapled to an old tree in a city called Holy looks down at people and says Father forgive them they know not what they do forgiveness is crazy it makes no sense to me. But this is not about me and it's not about what I think or you think it's about the goodness and glory of God and loves you. You say well I'm not ashamed of him and I'm not ashamed of this message or you so unashamed of the gospel that today you will release all of the other reasons and claim to him along. You say well I'm not ashamed of the gospel or you so unashamed then that you who have received God's grace will now give it to your children or to your wife or to your husband. Will you now release God's grace and that dangerous grace which came into your life and saved you in a center. Will you now believe God that it can save someone else. Will you now believe God that he can work in your teenager's life or you ashamed of the gospel is the simple pure news of God's grace. God doing for you what you couldn't do for yourself. I love to tell the story we sing and this is the story. That's kind of a scary phrase I'm not ashamed of the gospel what does that mean but the other word that tells the story of God's grace is the very word gospel. Now gospel is a word in the Greek from which we get the word evangelistic evangelical it means the announcement of something the good news announcement that God has done something for you that you could not do for yourself and in Jesus Christ this good news is fulfilled in him. He is the good news he is the gospel the gospel includes certainly the life of Jesus the birth the birth of the life of ministry and teaching of Jesus his death on across his raising being raised again from the dead his ascension his rule and reign at the right hand of God the gospel includes all of that it includes that if by if you come to him by faith. Then the righteousness of Jesus will cover your life and you're going to come into a right relationship with God it includes all of that but it includes even more. Jesus we're told in Matthew 423 went throughout all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. Jesus saying the kingdom has come the gospel of the kingdom the good news of the kingdom the the evangel of the kingdom is that the rule and reign of Jesus Christ in your life drives away the demons drives away the hurt and the heartache in the midst of this broken world. It says that when he preached this gospel of the kingdom he was healing every disease in every affliction among the people. The good news of the kingdom is the coming of Jesus the announcement of new life and eternal life that he brings. When Jesus comes into your life the gospel is such a comprehensive word the gospel the good news of the kingdom of God comes into your life it affects every part of your life and you begin to be healed. You healed and relate in your soul you healed in your mind your mind is renewed in the gospel and it affects everyone around you to affect your world. That's the story of that scary word gospel is the beautiful coming of Jesus with his kingdom and his beautiful loving rule and reign and with all the gifts of the heart and mind that he brings that changes your world. Another phrase here is the power of God that's the third scary phrase that tells the story of Jesus and his love the power of God we're here in the Greek this word is the same word that we get our word dynamite from. I'll never forget in fact a message by the Lloyd Ogleby the former chaplain of the Senate pastor of Hollywood Presbyterian Church in Hollywood, California and he preached a message on the dynamite of God from this passage. I'll never forget it because it it shook me to my heart as I heard that there is a power in the word of God that can change you. That there is the Holy Spirit himself who inspired that word is in that word and that word is living and alive and can reach down into your heart. It's like a bunker buster that will go through all the rock and all the debris and that dynamite of God to go right into your heart and change you. The power of the gospel can today remove the rock and the debris of unbelief and some of you have unbelief just because not of intellectual reasons you were disappointed in God when he didn't answer the prayer the way you wanted it answered. You were disappointed in others who said they represented God but they didn't to you. This morning is an opportunity for you to open up your heart. Jesus Christ will come and the power of God can cut through those barriers. The power of God can also tear down walls that separate human beings because of prejudice and pride maybe because of jealousy. The power of God is able to tear down things that hurt families. The power of God can destroy addictions that nothing else can touch. The power of God not only gets rid of things but puts things in there gives you a love for others, a love for the poor, a love for Christ, a love for His church. In short, the power of God is the resurrection of Jesus Christ at work in the world, at work in the world, at work in you. It is such a power. What is the power of God? The power of God raised Jesus from the dead and the power of God will reanimate your body when you die and the power of God will deliver your sinful soul from condemnation and bring you into a right relationship and bring you into the presence of God, forgiven, free as you receive Him and trust Him. Another phrase here is the word salvation. The salvation is kind of a scary word. We almost kind of draw back from that and say, let's not talk about that word because unbelievers don't understand it. It just kind of sounds christianese. It's a good word. Saved certainly in the Bible speaks and Paul says, it's the power of God unto salvation. He is speaking as the word of God is speaking about being saved from the wrath of God, being saved from death, being saved from what death can do. Death becomes just a portal for you, perhaps a dirty path to a glorious mansion, but nevertheless a pathway, and that finally will be abolished. Being saved means being acquitted on the day of judgment. Salvation is for now. It's not only when you die, but to be saved is to be saved from the consequences of sin. The consequences of the mistakes you made as a result of sin, it is being saved from the tyranny of legalism. It's being saved to unto freedom and joy and peace to be saved is also to understand that you are now part of the great redemptive work of God that has come into history. Community and even the cosmos, God has started something that he will complete in a new heaven and a new earth. Fifth, the word righteousness tells the story of Jesus and His love. Let's listen to the whole again. 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 will live by faith. And when Paul is preaching here, he is preaching right at the heart of the problem because there were some who were claiming that a righteousness could be had as a result of what you do. They have misunderstood the teaching of the Old Testament. Nowhere in the Old Testament are we told that if you do that alone, you'll be righteous before God. In fact, in chapter 11 of Hebrews, we know that the writer of the Hebrews is dealing with the same thing and so he goes to a hall of heroes from able to Enoch and Abraham and Sarah and Moses and Ray Habby just goes through a tremendous line and says all of them were saved by faith. And so that's the other word, the sixth word that's kind of scary. What does faith mean? Well, that righteousness is a right relationship with God, but it is the instrument that enjoys that and secures that into your life is simply faith, is trusting in Jesus alone for eternal life. And here the Apostle Paul borrows the words of the Old Testament to show that it was nothing new. Habakkuk is used to speak about in chapter 2, verse 4, B, the righteous shall live by faith. Hebrews 11 says that faith is the assurance of things hope for, the conviction of things not seen. Now let me tell you faith means faith in Jesus Christ. We hear today about a community of faith, about people of faith in the Bible. Let's be clear, the faith is in Jesus Christ. The Old Testament saints were saved by looking to Him as you are saved by looking to Him. So it's Jesus who gives you the faith in order to believe in Him and when you believe in Him you are accounted righteous before God because of His righteousness, not because of anything that you did. And that is the old old story. That's the gospel. But there's one more thing before we close. This faith according to the Apostle Paul is a faith that's got to do something. The Apostle Paul, all theology is practical, all doctrine, all teaching is going somewhere in our lives today. And the Apostle Paul quoting Habakkuk says, the just shall live by faith. You should live by faith. We need to not only grasp it with our mind and connect it to our heart, but when that happens it ought to be lived out in our lives. I wonder how many tired of trying to be good, tired of trying to get rid of guilt, tired of drugs, tired of chasing after fame or promotion or prestige or power, tired of the pain. When Jesus is calling to you and He is the priest of God, He waits for you. He is your salvation. He is not asking you to take a leap of faith, but simply to collapse on Him and listen. Those of you who are believers today as a day again to collapse on Jesus and to rest in Him. Some of you are so tired. It's time to rest in Jesus and some of you need to simply rest in Him for your faith and stop struggling. There's no greater joy if you do it. And there's no other way to be saved.
The gospel truth of justification by faith sparked the Reformation and changed the course of history. Have you embraced this glorious truth for yourself? Well, Mike Milton joins us in the studio right now. Dr. Milton in Romans chapter 1 Paul says, but the gospel is a power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Now, why does he say to the Jew first? Because God's covenant of grace which he was going to be for every human being came through Abraham and came through a peculiar people that he chose for himself to bring forward these promises. And so it truly came to the Jew first and then to the Greek. Of course, he mentions this because this was the very matter of division. He is in his letter going to deal with Jewish misunderstandings, false teachings about the gospel about who is really a Jew who is really part of the people of God. And of course, the answer is the Greeks have been engrafted. The Gentiles have been engrafted into the true children of Abraham. But on the other hand, he's going to have to deal with the Greeks and say, now you need to remember that the gospel came first through the Jews. So don't be haughty in your relationship toward them. So both of them are going to have to come toward a center, the gospel center. And so that's what he meant. Well, thank you, Dr. Milton. If you like an audio copy of today's teaching, be sure to call or write and ask the message entitled, the verse that changed the world. Call 423-648-7914. That's 423-648-7914. You can also hear today's teaching on our website at faithforliving.net. This program is now available for downloading onto your iPod through iTunes.com. Faith for Living with Mike Milton is an outreach ministry of first Presbyterian Church or Chattanooga. To learn more about the ministry, visit us on the web at faithforliving.net. Your generous gift sent to faith for living would be of great encouragement and would help us to get the broadcast out to more people. You're invited to send your gift of support to Faith for Living, 554 McColley Avenue, Chattanooga, Tennessee, 37402. Now until next time, on behalf of Mike Milton and first Presbyterian Church or Chattanooga, may you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, with a living faith and a faith for living. I'm Dan Parker and this has been a presentation of first Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga.