Jesus is Good News
December 3, 2017

Scripture: Romans 1:1-4

I. Jesus is good news because He is Messiah.

A. In the first verse of his letter to the Romans the apostle Paul, who wrote this letter, calls himself a servant of Christ Jesus. This word Christ is a title not a name. And the title Christ means Messiah – God’s Anointed One. We see why Jesus the Messiah is such good news as we read some of the prophecies about the Messiah. Isaiah 9:6-7: “For to us a child is born,to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

B. Isaiah 35:10: “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy,and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

II. Jesus is good news because He is resurrected.

A. In vs. 4 we read something that would have shocked Paul’s Jewish readers. Certainly, the idea of a dead person being raised to life again is shocking. But what was perhaps even more shocking for the Jews was the idea of their Messiah dying. Why would their Messiah, their conquering King, die? Romans 5:8: “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He died because He loved us. He died FOR us. This means that He died in our place.

B. Jesu died that we might live. And the life Jesus the Messiah gives us is not just for a few more years on this earth. The life Jesus gives us by dying for our sin is eternal life. How do we know? Because of the good news of the resurrection that we read about in Romans 1:4. Jesus has completely conquered death. Death had been undefeated. Every person who had ever lived died. And then they stayed dead. But not Jesus. He crushed death. He rose from the dead to live forevermore. And all who have faith in Jesus will live forever with Him in heaven.

III. Jesus is good news because He is God.

A. At the end of Romans 1:3 we see Jesus the Messiah described as one “who was descended from David according to the flesh.” Jesus was a human being. His ancestor was King David. And He would be the human Messiah who would rule as King. But if Jesus rose from the dead like vs. 4 says He did that says that he was more than merely human. He was also the Son of God. He was both human and divine. At His resurrection vs. 4 says that He was declared to be the Son of God in power. This does not mean that Jesus was not the Son of God before He was resurrected. We know that Jesus always has been God. We know this is true because of what Paul wrote in Colossians 2:9: “For in (Christ) the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily.” When Jesus was resurrected he moved from being the Son of God in lowliness and human limitation and weakness to being the Son of God with power. He is given a new exalted status.

Application:
Pray on December 13 that more people from our community will see that Jesus is great.

Sources:
Commentary on Romans by Douglas Moo
Sermon by John Piper
Christ Alone by Stephen Wellum