GOOD NEWS FOR A CHANGE

“Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle and singled out for God’s good news” (Romans 1:1 HCSB)

It seems like all you hear any more is bad news.   Some of that bad news arrived in Colorado Springs, on Christmas Eve 2009 to Mike Hermanstorfer.   He held his pregnant wife’s hand as it turned ice cold.  Tracy Hermanstorfer’s heart had stopped.  Hospital personnel scrambled to save her life—in an apparently futile attempt.  In the meantime, the baby she carried was taken by C-section, but neither was the baby breathing.  That little lifeless form was placed in Mike’s arms—but, then the infant drew his first breath—and more—Tracy’s heart began to beat again!  It was a Christmas miracle!  The bad news changed to good news.

That’s what happens in the book of Romans.  For three chapters, Paul stands like a prosecuting attorney and presents an indictment of the human race for crimes against God.  The evidence is irrefutable and the verdict is, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom.3:23)  That is bad news. 

But, that is not the end of the story—for in chapter four, the heartbeat of hope begins to beat—and we get good news for a change!  We can be changed by the grace of God through faith in Christ from sinners into saints.  Our destination can be changed from hell to heaven.  Now, that is good news—the greatest news! 

God offers eternal life through His Son. That’s what the book of Romans is about—and the author doesn’t beat around the bush. He goes straight to the point in the opening verses.  This is a book about the Gospel (meaning good news).  This word is found four times in the first 16 verses and some 60 times in the epistle. That is Paul’s theme. 

He begins by indicating THE SOURCE OF THE GOOD NEWS.

“Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle and singled out for God’s good news” (v.1)

There is an interesting parallelism seen here.  We have heavenly and human threads woven together into the fabric of Gospel truth.  God gives the message, but Paul is the messenger (v.1).  The Word is from God, but was proclaimed by the prophets (v.2).  Both the Divine and human come together in the Savior, Jesus Christ (v.3-4).  We learn that salvation is the gracious gift of God, but must be received by faith.  We can’t save ourselves—it is His choice, but we He will not save us apart from our choice.  There is a perfect balance of Divine sovereignty and human responsibility.

  

There is then THE HEAVENLY INITIATIVE, “God’s good news.” The Gospel isn’t a message that Paul, or any other man invented.  It was birthed in the heart of God from eternity. 

Religion can’t offer you good news.  If we look into the faces of the monks and mullahs, it is not joy that we see.   It might be people cramming prayers into the Wailing Wall, flagellating themselves in Islamic ritual, saying the Rosary and washing in the Ganges River—every bit of it an attempt to appease God, but there is no hope in that.

 

A monk by the name of Martin Luther nearly went mad trying to find a way to earn God‘s favor.  No matter how much he did, it never seemed enough.  He said, "If anyone could have gained heaven as a monk, then I would indeed have been among them."  He plunged into the darkness of depression, writing that, "I lost touch with Christ the Savior and Comforter, and made of him the jailor and hangman of my poor soul."  What happened that turned his life around?  The Book of Romans—with its good news that the righteousness God required, He also supplied in His Son.  Luther was not only altered by the message, so was the course of history. That is the power of the Gospel!

The source of the good news is found in the heavenly initiative, but further in THE HUMAN INSTRUMENT, “Paul.”  Paul is the author and that is a miracle in itself, considering his background. He wanted to obliterate the name of Christ from the earth—but then the Lord hunted him down, even as he was hunting down Christians. That is the arresting power of the Gospel!

He identifies himself first as a “slave,” and only after that as an apostle.  He was no big shot—but one who clearly understood that it was grace for him to even be a slave, much less an apostle.  He wasn’t into titles.  In the Roman Empire, at the time Paul wrote these words, there were about 60 million slaves. People were bought and sold in the market.

What Paul realized is that believers have been purchased by the blood of Christ, “Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.” (1 Cor.6:19-20)  He embraced this reality for his life and devoted himself to serving his Master.

Paul was also “an apostle” and that speaks of his authority as one sent from Christ—His ambassador.  As a Pharisee he had been set apart from sinners, and now as a Christian, he has been set apart for sinners!  That was his apostolic assignment—what he refers to as being “called” and “singled out.”

So, from the source of the good news, we turn to THE SURETY OF THE GOOD NEWS.

“which He promised long ago through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures” (v.2)

This is not mere religious speculation or wishful thinking.  It is a message we can be sure of because it is ROOTED IN THE PROMISES OF THE LORD.  “He promised” and we are reminded that God is faithful.  He cannot lie.  What He promises, He performs.  If God promises salvation through faith in His Son, then we can stake our soul on the surety of it!

Then, too this surety is REVEALED THOUGH THE PROPHETS OF THE LORD “through His prophets.”  This wasn’t a novelty.  It wasn’t an afterthought of God.  It wasn’t a back-up plan when the first one didn’t work and man fell into sin. Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. From Genesis 3:15 and the promised seed of woman that would crush the serpent’s head to Malachi 4:5-6 and the prophecy of the herald, John the Baptist, who announced Christ’s coming, the Old Testament has well over 300 prophecies of Christ. It is full of the Gospel!

Although Paul would frequently share his testimony of conversion, Paul doesn’t just appeal to his experience of salvation—powerful and appropriate as that is.  What we find him doing here is appealing to the ultimate authority that validates the testimony—“the Holy Scriptures.”

The Apostle shares with us the source and surety of the good news, but he has something further to say in introducing his theme for the Book of Romans, and that is THE SUBJECT OF THE GOOD NEWS.

“concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh and who has been declared to be the powerful Son of God by the resurrection from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness.” (v.3-4)

The Christian message is unique from the world’s varied religions for it centers in a unique Person—Jesus!  In Buddhism and Confucianism, it is the teaching, not the teacher that matters. Even in Islam, as important as Mohammed is, he is not Allah.   The zealots of Islam would be ready to cut your head off for suggesting such blasphemy.  But, if you take Christ from Christianity you cut off its head—and take out its heart!  

Salvation is in a Person, and in a relationship with Him.  Our entrance into heaven is not earned by any effort of our own, but provided through Christ’s work on our behalf.  No religion in the world presents such a plan of salvation.  Each one—though differing in various ways—all agree that there is something you do to make yourself acceptable to whatever they conceive their deity (or deities) to be.  The Gospel is unique in that it is all about faith in Jesus to do for us what we could never do ourselves.

The subject of the good news then is the One who us THE SEED OF DAVID, “concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh” (v.3) and that has to do with His Incarnation.    Don’t lose sight that the hope for humanity is in a real Man.  Jesus was born as a baby—grew up as a child—and ministered as an adult, dying in the prime of life.  This is the message we celebrate in the Christmas season—that He was conceived of the Spirit in the womb of a virgin.  He was legally and biologically of David’s line—in fulfillment of the Old Covenant.

He is indeed the Seed of David, but Jesus is also THE SON OF GOD, “and who has been declared to be the powerful Son of God by the resurrection from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness.”  (v.4)  This underscores His Resurrection. “  There was never a time that Jesus was not the Son of God.  From eternity—He was and always will be the second person of the Trinity, but He was “declared” to be the Son of God in His resurrection.  This is the Holy Spirit’s testimony to His claim—and what a powerful attestation it was!

So, God did not leave us in our sinful state, but came to us—and salvation is provided in the Son of God.  Death has been defeated by Life.  There’s some good news for a change!