The topic for this month is salvation. Salvation means more than being simply saved from Hell. With this talk we will see that salvation is also deliverance from Hell on earth. We will look at the book of Romans to see what Paul said about what it means to be saved.
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Rom 1:16 NAS).
In the famous verse of Romans 1:16, Paul said that the Gospel is not an embarrassment to him. He was not ashamed of it. The reason he was not ashamed of it was because of the gospel's ability to change lives. Many believers just think the Gospel exists to get them out of Hell. But in reality when you look at the book of Romans, what Paul is so proud of is the Gospel's ability to change lives and to help them to live healthy lives in the midst of a very sick and spiritually dead world.
He told us that the Gospel is the inherent power of God for salvation. The word salvation in Greek means to be delivered from some problem. We must look in the context of the place it appears to see what that problem is. In the book of Romans, the word Hell does not appear once. So the emphasis that Paul has made it is not on deliverance from Hell. Also this deliverance is available to everyone who is continually believing. In verse 16, the word believe is a participle meaning; it is emphasizing the continual process of believing. This was available most to the Jew and the Greek. So what Paul was saying is that deliverance is available for anyone who becomes a Christian and lives a life of faith.
So what is it in the context that Paul said human beings are being delivered from by the Gospel? In Romans chapter 1, Paul described the collapse of human culture due to the embracing of idolatry. Largely all of the ancient world except for the Jews were committed to idolatry. Paul stated that they were resisting the self evident truth that a Creator God existed but instead humanity embraced false gods. That led to a spiritually impoverished world because of God's reaction to idolatry. We can see this in the following verses.
"Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them" (Rom 1:22-24 NAS).
While humanity was stating it was very wise in the embracing of polytheism and idolatry, God considered them to be fools. They exchanged the incorruptible God for idols. Therefore, God gave them over to the appetites of their hearts with the result they dishonored their bodies among them. The word for giving them over is the same word that is used of Judas turning Jesus over to the Romans. God handed humanity over to its own appetites. That is what humanity wanted and that is what God permitted them to do. In effect, he was simply leaving humanity alone to deal with its self-created problems. Then, God permitting humanity to take another step.
"For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural" (Rom 1:25-26 NAS).
Since humanity wanted to worship idols, God handed humanity over to its dishonorable passions. A passion is a powerful emotional mood. It pushes a person to do something to satisfy the dissatisfaction within. A mood is not a desire. A mood is the environment that a desire arises within. A mood may be sexual dissatisfaction which leads to a sexual desire for a same-sex relationship. Notice again that God simply turned people over to what is inside of them. In effect he did not interfere with what they wanted. He left them alone. Why did he do that? He did that so that we would realize that we cannot survive without a relationship with God.
Then, came the third step. Since humanity did not want to have a personal relationship with God, God gave them over to a rejected mind, a mind that chose idolatry.
"And just as they did not see fit to personally know God any longer, God gave them over to a rejected mind, to do those things which are not proper" (Rom 1:28).
The New American Standard Bible has the word "acknowledge," when in Greek it actually means to "personally know." God handed them over to the mind that would make such a foolish decision. Again the New American Standard Bible has the word depraved in front of the word mind, but the Greek word means a rejected mind. The mind was given the test as to realize there was a personal God, and it failed the test. God allowed humanity to be stuck with such a mind.
What was God doing? He was doing what the father of the prodigal son did in Luke 15. The father allowed the son to have his way so that he would learn the folly of his ways. God in Romans one was doing the same thing. The judgment he made idolatry was simply to turn humanity over to its own insides. So that humanity would by getting what it wanted create Hell on earth. Romans one goes on to describe how people morally fell apart. How they murdered and hated each other and created chaos on Earth. God did this so that people would come to their spiritual senses and believe the Gospel.
So why is Paul proud of the Gospel? He is proud of it because of its ability to deliver people from Hell on earth. To deliver people from the chaos of their own inner life and to bring them into relationship with God the Father. He was thrilled. He was not a bit ashamed of the gospel.
What does that mean to us? It means that we should take advantage of the power of the Gospel that changes lives. The Gospel has an amazing ability to do that. That is why discipleship is so important. Discipleship permits us to integrate truth into our lives so that we will be changed: so that we will experience the power of God and enjoy our relationship with God.
We so much enjoy sharing the devotionals with you, may God the Father bless you richly as you get to know him better and better. He is a delivering God.
