The Good News! | Romans 1:16 CSB | Pastor Ray Ruffin Jr.

Romans chapter 1 uh we got one verse today Burbridge amen so the Bible says it this way in Romans chapter 1 I'm reading from the Christian Standard Bible for I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes first to the Jew and also to the Greek amen uh I want to talk to y'all today about the good news Heavenly Father we thank you for your love and your mercy you've shown us we thank you so much oh God for your permissive will we thank you so much oh God for your longsuffering father God that you allow us father God to take more than we thought we could take we thank you Lord God for being a heart fixer we pray Lord God that you take Britney's heart dear father in the palm of your hand Lord God and you put it back together I pray Lord God that you bless our daughters father God as they're mourning father God this this Sunday but father God you brought them to the house of the Lord amongst the people of God so I pray in Jesus name Lord God that you menend the only way that you can father God our words are Hollow father God and our love our hugs father God are sometimes insincere but Lord God you know what she needs oh God in this season I thank you Lord God for her giving dear father that young man The Plan of Salvation father God with courage and With Tears In Her Eyes Lord God I thank you for giving her courage to whisper in his ears the Father the words the father of Jesus Christ the good news so Lord God today somebody father God that still has blood running warm in their veins father God I pray you give them ears to hear and a heart de father to receive dear father the good news hide me behind your cross dear Lord touch my mind my mouth and my meditations oh God let them be pleasing in your sight this is my prayer in Jesus Holy Name the church said amen please take your seats in the presence of Our Lord touch your neighbor closest to you and say the good news um often today's days when you watch the news for information when you watch the news even to find out what the weather may be often times you are met with all types of bad news you'll find out that somebody went into somebody else's dwelling place and they shot that place up bad news you'll turn on the news and find out something about the election and you hear lie after lie after lie after lie bad news sometimes you can go to the family reunion and you know that relative that you want to stay away from because you don't know what they going to talk about um but when they find themselves cornering you and you listening and you trying your best to be a good good Christian and everything that come out of their mouth is bad news you can't tell them nothing about an ailment that you got because they know somebody that died from what you got it's unfortunate that today we are bombarded with bad news but can I introduce to you the bad news and the worst news that all of us were born with but I want to understand you this that in order to appreciate good news you have to understand the bad news that we were born with the Bible says that Adam the first man rebelled against God's Authority that resulted in a threefold piece in in Adam's mind was a dethronement of God not only in Adam but also in The Descendants that God was not the highest and he wasn't the highest most highest because now Adam played God by making decisions for himself when God told him to go a different way so if you want to know what disobedience is I'll make it bigger for you it's called dethronement of God secondly it was the degradation of humanity so the degradation of humanity and ultimately the defilement of creation that creation was put in a space where God called it good but after Adam's sin the whole creation was cursed that things happened in a manner that which God didn't ordain until the Man became a man God and when we become man God we try to play God and we don't have the bandwidth or the Holiness to be God but all we have is a free will to disobey God so this very different view of history is what evolutionists and humanists take and they want us to understand that I'm equal to God I can do it the way I want to but man because of this thought process lost his scepter he lost the authority that God had given him in this particular instant the peace that everything that was his he forfeited it for Temptation his right to rule because he rebelled against God's scepter his right to rule was given up because he didn't want to submit to what God told him what to do I'm still talking about Adam I'm not talking about you two other individuals specially significant in the history that Paul talks about in Rome is Father Abraham as well as Jesus Christ now I just had to give you this background so you can understand what's going on in this context that Paul wrote this letter to the Believers in Rome God called Abraham to be the channel of a blessing to the world you can find that in Genesis 12 when Abram was was called away from his kin folk and people that he was accustomed to that he says if you follow my decrees I Will Bless everywhere you go I'm not going to show you the whole plan I just need you to take one step of obedience Christ is the greatest blessing that we all could ever receive young women I often tell them be afraid of a man who says he loves God not just because he loves God but that's not enough detail is he a man who loves God that is the father God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob because that is the lineage in which Jesus came from that's a difference in just saying I love God I love God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob is Jesus your lord and your personal savior well I believe in God but your your fancy Pastor can't tell me nothing you've heard this before that many people have a rebellious Spirit to submission and it come from our father Adam y'all can preach back to me today if you can I'm almost in my seat but Rebellion comes from birth you don't have to teach your baby to be stingy uh you don't have to teach your teenagers how to talk back um um you don't have to teach anybody to speak under their breath but there's something in us that bucks against Authority and we don't like nobody to tell tell me nothing I like to put it this way who going to check me boo um when we get into that aspect and we dealing with God we have to be careful that he is the one who created us from the dust of the earth um he is the one that gave us the ability to go out and get a job um he is the one that woke us up in the morning we didn't have to wind up our hearts our heart just do what it was supposed to do because God told it to do that sometimes we take God for granted because of all the things he always does for us but even with God being that good we don't want to follow his instructions cuz we want to have it our own way through Jesus Christ man was restored unto God because our relationship was broken to God because of Disobedience Rebellion all the other big words that says we don't want to follow rules but Jesus came as the the portion that was given up so we can be restored to God some would say a bridge back to the father he gave up everything so we can be back restored somebody say restored restored to the way the father wants us to be in his presence the Bible says for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son who soever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life Romans may not be the best biblical book to put in the hands of a unsaved person to lead them to Salvation John is better for that purpose however Romans is the best book to put in the hands of a saved person to leave him him or her to understand and appreciate salvation you understand some people think salvation is written by how I feel it should be uh let's help with you with that salvation means that I've died to self but now I'm living for Christ a Salvation means that I'm no longer who I used to be if any man be in Christ he's a new creature old things have passed away behold all things are becoming new uh uh the the worst thing you can do is go to the Salvage lot and try to find a car with the best paint job on it what kind of numb skulls spend enough money on a new paint job in the junkyard somebody that knew a sucker was coming and tried to buy something that looked good 2024 Christianity we want to look the part we want to sit in the garage but we don't want to concede to what God told us to do and how he told us to do it be careful looking like a Christian and not living like like a Christian be careful only coming to church for worship music that's a blessing but the word is for your soul it's not always going to be pleasing but it'll keep you out of hell the word will make you uncomfortable but God wanted you to be confronted in your sin so he can make you uncomfortable and seek salvation run to the altar my hair is on fire cuz I'm too comfortable in sin I don't ever want a church to be at a place where they're comfortable in my preaching in your sin amen I love you too much for you to die and go to hell thinking you okay because you believe in God for 75% of Salvation he says for I am not ashamed of the Gospel first point I'm the unashamed of the good news that's right why is it good news it's good news because we got a gift that we didn't deserve the good news is the penalty that was owed to us Jesus Took the Wrath the good news is is that I was at enity with God I was an enemy with God but God Gave Me Jesus and Jesus made the relationship right with me and God but here's the good news friend it wasn't by anything that I did said or wrote down but it was only by my faith in Jesus that gave gave me access to the father meaning that I don't just love Jesus cuz he accepts me and he loves me praise God but he allow me to come to a place where I was looking at my sin right in the face and he says your sin or me do you want to keep living the way you've been living or do you want to live the way I want you to live you're going to make some mistakes but I need you to die to your sin so I can show you how to live Paul's saying I'm proud of the Gospel I'm proud of the gospel because when I thought I was doing right I was persecuting the church you'll find that an act chapter n when I thought I was following God I was persecuting Jesus until Jesus met me on a road called Damascus you can throw your hand up when I get to your part that I thought I was doing well hanging out all week going to church on Sunday and just doing enough to look depart the Bible says that while Paul was praying the spirit of God knocked him to the ground who you praying to if you persecuting Jesus he says how long will you continue to kick against the Pricks thinking you walking the right way but you're doing everything the wrong way he says watch this some people hear this sermon ooh that's a mean sermon ooh that's fire and brimstone this is called Grace that God didn't let him die in his folly God corrected him in his foolishness the Bible says that when he had an opportunity to speak with a Believer he was brought back to his feet and he received Jesus but he sent ananas and ananas was afraid to go because of Paul's reputation but here's the blessing Christian friends that ananas wouldn't had the conversation because of how compelled he was because of what Jesus had already done for him I'm not afraid to tell a murderer that Jesus can heal your heart I'm not afraid to tell somebody that God says the good news is for everybody it no matter where you sin how you sin and who you do it with Jesus says I'm here to clean you up the problem is when we tell Jesus to his face the omniscient omnipresent God that my sin don't need your blood I think all that other stuff apply to them this right here I'm hugging like a teddy bear I'm taking this sin to the Grave uh I agree don't let nothing come in between you and the love of Jesus Christ ask yourself this compelling question what is it about this sin that makes me reject Jesus on the Damascus Road he came to himself it didn't feel good pastor Moore when God checked them it didn't feel good Cameron when when Jesus told him he was wrong it didn't feel good but now Paul after being corrected now he's converting other folks I'm I'm about to lose it up here um um God has to hurt your feelings in order to heal your walk if God don't hurt your feelings if you're not confronted by your sin what is your repentance based on your repentance has to be based on what God says about your sin that you are changing your mind about God based on the confrontation you had with him about your sin and scripture says all of us have sinned so don't think I'm pointing no fingers I got way more sins than most of y'all in this room so all of us have to be converted but first we got to be [Applause] confronted um um we shall not do wrong if we think the gospel as a force in the same kind of sense that it was with the science revealed a great force of nature many of us were convicted by our sins the Holy Spirit just blew the gospel in and it took us by surprise knocked us to our knees do I have a witness in here that you was in the middle of enjoying your cigarette you was in the middle of cussing to the top of your lungs you was in the in the middle of the wrong bed and then the gospel convicted you right in the middle of your sin uh can I break away from this parenthetically um how much of a loving God can see you in your sin and say I got salvation for you y'all can't hear what I'm trying to say I see you in your sin and I'm sending a rescue to pull you out he says I'm not going to condemn you I'm giving you the chance to stop condemning yourself because right now you condemning yourself but what I am throwing you is a life preserver I'm trying to bring you back to life you are walking a dead man walking thinking you enjoying yourself but the reason that you feel the way you do is because you are at imity with God something on the inside just don't feel right and that's why I'm going tell you my testimony that's why I had to stay inebriated to live with myself I had to over sexualize and objectify women because I had to feel like I had a void to feel the void was Jesus 1 Corinthians 15 1-4 says now I want to make clear you brothers and sisters the gospel I preach to you when you receive on which you have taken your stand against sin and which you were being saved if you hold to the message that I preached to you unless you believed in vain for I have passed onto you the most important what I've received that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures that he was buried and raised on the third day according to the scriptures not according to how how I feel but according to the logos what we say we Bank our faith on the authority of the Christian is the scriptures so if the scriptures are the authority I can't believe onethird of them and not believe the rest he goes on and he says because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes like Point there's unparalleled power to save there's not another power that can parallel that the blood of Jesus the sacrificial death of Jesus there's nothing where anybody can say you are proven guilty but the only way that you can be saved is you stand up and say I'm guilty as charged but somebody will stand in the place to take the punishment the gospel that I was born in sin shaped in iniquity everything I say is wrong even on my good day evil is always present the Bible says that Jesus stood in the Gap he stayed there and he took the punishment he did not deserve this is where I want to spend time today family that Jesus Took the punishment for the penalty that we owe God he took lashes that you and I deserve he took lashes for our lying he took lashes for our lust he took lashes for our backbiting he took lashes for our our Disobedience anything you can consider Jesus stayed in the Gap if that ain't good news to you you don't know what Sin is Sin is the Bible says the wages of sin is death that means separation from God that means without what Jesus did we were on our way to Hell family but thanks be to God that Jesus came and took away all of that [Music] penalty the Greek word translated power is dunamus where we get our word Dynamite from the word Dynamite comes consequently some interpreters have concluded that Paul was speaking of explosive radical way and which gospel produces change in individual's lives in history can anybody go back to when Jesus changed your life was it an explosion or was it a slow Gathering of you getting yourself together come on go back down memory lane with me can you remember when God met you where you were and the water kept running from your eyes and I see you Rebecca almost crashed us she received the gospel in the car almost ran us off the road now when God comes upon on you it is not something that oh yes I agree Hallelujah no the Lord will rock your world he will blow a personal tornado into your house Deacon Washington he will pull you over and you will praise God on your knees not caring who's around let me tell you why not because I'm good but I know how a richet I am I know how much of a sinner I am I know I'm supposed to be in hell what is God doing with a devil like me but thanks be to God that he saved me in spite of me the good news God has the power to deliver both physically and spiritually physically we see in Exodus as he freed his people from a crazy Pharaoh spiritually you see David being freed in Psalm 51 that many of us are walking around in bondage with a smile on our face but we need to go to God like David went to God I know I'm outside of your will I know that I'm far away from you give me a clean heart renew a right Spirit within me God my spirit feels disgusting cuz I know I'm outside of your [Applause] will basic outcome for salvation is security some fancy folks might say completeness salvation restores people to what they cannot experience because of Sin Sin kicked us out of the garden of eaten sin don't allow prayers to break through unless it's is a prayer saying save me God many people think they have the privilege of prayer but prayer is a privilege for believers if you don't believe who you praying to this is what Hollywood does to the church she'll tell you something sweet that we make God a genie that whenever I want God I can be who God wants me to be but when I don't want God I can turn my back on him and do what I want to do but that's not reality Christian friends he wants your whole life he wants you to submit to him in every aspect of your life if Jesus walked into this room today and he asked you for the last sin that you hold on to are you willing to give it up today you see how quiet got right there Elder I'm I'm going to ask it again if Jesus walked in here right now and he says give up the last sin you hold on to to Really experience me are you willing to give it up I think the Holy Ghost just showed us something it might not be the devil for all the hell you catching right now the gospel has the power to convert as well as the power to condemn the gospel will change or the gospel will chase the gospel can restore or the gospel can reject amen the gospel will repel or the gospel will receive salvation to everyone who believes the term justification Redemption reconciliation sanctification glorification describe different aspects of Salvation that we are all at different stages of our salvation but we have to understand that Jesus is the reason we are in this process and without Jesus we will not be in the sanctification process without Jesus would not have been Justified without Jesus we'll never be glorified without Jesus none of this will be possible so when God says do you love me he is not talking about love that the world will show you he's talking about sacrificial love what are you giving up for God what are you giving up to show God I show you everything God you can have my life you can have my mind you can have my identity you can have my sexuality God I give it all up to you I just want to know can I have you forever and according to the scripture the Bible says that you will be with God forever um now I want to make sure I'm clear here that some people believe that because of what Jesus did on the cross everybody good uh that's called universalism so that's not true uh that's what that Bishop Carlton Pearson uh was exiled for uh he introduced the thought that just because Jesus died and paid the debt nobody has to come to him and ask forgiveness for sins anymore it's already done um but why would God give us free will if we don't make a choice that God wants you to make a choice you can't stay on the fence just saying I don't know I'm just going to wait this thing out how arrogant of a spirit who told you you'll be here tomorrow who told you you'll be 50 years old who told you that you would make it right with your wife who told you that you wouldn't go break up with your boo before your wife found out give up your sin and give your heart to Jesus the arrogance of us that we got time to figure it out who told you that there's people dying every day wishing they had a chance to get it right with God before they're an eternal rest but we assume we got more time than we actually do family God gave us the good news to hear it in the manner in which we heard it and in the time in which we heard it the world has nothing for you the gospel is only effective to those who believe the gospel that's right the gospel ain't G to make nobody believe believe the good news and what the good news is it is the news the good news is the news that Jesus Christ the Messiah Who Came From God promised us that God promised to send way back in Genesis that Messiah that the Israelites are still waiting on that Messiah who didn't look like who they thought he should be they thought he should come and free them from Roman bondage there are some people thinking that God should put the right president in but God says I didn't come to give you a president I came to give you a king I didn't come to give you bondage from the white man or the brother man I Came To Give You freedom in Jesus Christ I came to get to the space where your soul is in subjection it don't matter who sits in the White House I worship the one who sits on the throne I'm talking about Jesus Emmanuel the one who is the first and the last the one who gave me life when I didn't have a life to live why am I worried about this world I'm just a Sojourner passing through I don't care who the president is I want to know who going to heaven with me who want to go to heaven that's my story and I'm sticking to [Applause] it don't let this worldly stuff keep you up at night and don't let nobody in this pool pit make you feel terrible about how you vote and the way you should vote because of what you believe that's right the Lord Jesus Christ is not going to ask you on that day who you voted for he said there's an order to this he says God knows exactly what he's doing so he did it in order he said the good news came first for the Jews and then the Greeks and for my smart folks I got them big fancy Bibles open Greek Gentiles amen last Point unquestionable Grace because some people can look upon the story in the pilgrimage of Abraham in Genesis 12 and assume just because that the Lord said Abraham would be blessed and all his descendants will be blessed that they think they don't have to receive the Messiah because of the abrahamic blessing somebody say Amen but God said there are some who have the blessing right at their fingertips and they not even coming to the supper so since you ain't going to receive the invitation I'm going to open up the invitation for everybody who willing to come so just because you were asked first don't mean that you are the priority it means that I had an order that you was first I still was going to bring the gospel to the Gentiles so you got to get your hierarchy in order that the grace of God is not blessing you because of your ethnicity he's not blessing you because of your pedigree meaning your family amen you ain't got to one up on other Christians because your people been saved for a long time hallelujah thank you Jesus uh but you going to have to stand before the Lord for yourself on that day amen the god goel has a a special reverence to the Jews meaning first Jesus was a Jew let's be very careful and understand that when we read and understand in context the entire Old Testament is current day Torah so that when we come looking for a messiah they're looking for their first Messiah we're looking for the second coming of our Messiah teach Pastor that the Bible wants us to understand that Grace was afforded to everybody where it transcends where you were born in it transcends your social economic status it transcends where you went to high school it transcends what happened to you when you were a child it transcends how much money you got in the bank the gospel is for the rich the gospel is for the poor the gospel is for the black the gospel is for the white the gospel is for the in between the gospel is for the homosexual the gospel is for the heterosexual World The Gospel is for everybody Grace is afforded to everybody not because Grace was given God says I need you to change where you are but you can't stay the same so I'm offering you the good news I'm offering you the good news today that Jesus came and made a way back to Heaven Jesus came and took the punishment that was owed to you Jesus came and loved in a manner in which you've never seen love before Jesus was patient with people that weren't patient with him Jesus had on the cross while he was dying he still shared the gospel so if you going through something keep opening your mouth for Jesus in spite of how you feel there is a man who loved me when I was unlovable there is a man who kept me when I couldn't keep myself there is a man who feared me when I didn't have food to eat there is a man who gave me hope when I was hopeless and the way to that man and said confess that I'm a sinner in need of a savior I make mistakes every day but God gave me a pardon because he knows that I needed help every day he wouldn't have came if I could do it for myself he knew that I would fail he knew that I would suffer he knew knew that I would get it wrong but he put a word in me that my spirit is not comfortable with sin my spirit is not comfortable in sin so my sin forces me to my knees and when I'm on my knees I say father I confess to you cuz you're faithful and just to forgive me of all unrighteousness and the Bible says if you say you have no sin you are a liar and the truth is not in you the B says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God but thanks be to God that Jesus came to die in a sinner's Place Jesus came to give me pardon Jesus died in my place this is is the good [Music] [Applause] [Music] news father I thank you Father I praise you father I Lift Your Name on High I thank you for saving a wret like me I thank you for your mercy and your grace I thank you for your love and your kindness I thank you for your faithfulness God I thank you for peace that passes all understanding I thank you for joy unspeakable joy I thank you for love love that radiates in my heart thank you for changing me thank you for rearranging me thank you for loving me thank you for showing me that there is there is there is here is good news thank you Father for the good news I deserve to be in hell but thanks be to God for the good news that didn't have to die in my sin they can put my hand in the Master's Hand and I can live forever more touch somebody here today Master they're sitting here father father God feeling your touch feeling your proding help them Father God to surrender to you to submit these are my prayers God in Jesus Holy Name the whole church said amen