Romans 1:8-17
Notes
Transcript
Be Encouraged
Pauls Desire to See Others Grow
Paul say where God was at work and wanted to go there and join Him
As we dive into this morning
I listened to part of a sermon from Adrian Rodgers
In the sermon he said you need to ask God 2 questions
Who are you
and
What do you want me to do
Paul I believe asked those 2 questions
Henry Blackaby’s builds on the 2nd questions
What do you want me to do in his Bible Study
The Bible Study Experiencing God is I believe a 14 week Bible Study
Some of you have done it, it is one I highly recommend it
It is a Bible study Work book that takes you from no relationship with Jesus to a relationship with Jesus and starts you out practicing the spiritual disciplines
One of the things you learn in Experiencing God
Is this, find our where God is at work and go there and join in the work with Him
Which is the answer to the 2nd Question Adrian Rodgers asks
If you want to be obedient and do work for Jesus
Then find out where He is at work, go there and join Him in that work
This morning we see Paul say and desire to do just that
Paul writes the letter to the church in Rome
When we say THE CHURCH, we are not talking about the catholic church we are talking about the group of Christian Believers who had formed a church in the city of Rome
A group of non Jewish People or Gentile people who had believed that Jesus was the Son of God, that God had raised Him from the dead and this group of people as individuals had repented of their sin
Paul wanting to encourage them so he writes them a letter
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. 9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you,
First note that Paul prays for his brothers and sisters in Christ
Do you understand how powerful this is
I mean had Paul decided to write Maranatha a letter
And Paul says that He is praying for us
Just wow
Think of it in your own life
When people tell you they are praying for you
That means so much
And church we know there is power in prayer
Prayer is so vital
Charles Spurgeon
Prayer has become as essential to me as the heaving of my lungs and the beating of my pulse.
Charles Spurgeon
And yet church if it is so very very important and yet no so used
I liken it to the fact that we have so many Bibles in our world
The average American home has 4.4 Bibles
And with the Bible app on the phone it makes it instantly available and yet with it being so readily available we don’t read it
Just like prayer
Prayer is so vitally important we see it through out scripture and it was so very important to Paul
Because that is where we get our direction and instruction from God
Paul spent time praying for brothers and sisters in Christ
What a great example for us as brothers and sisters in Christ to be doing
Praying for each other
Church we need to praying for each other within the church
But we also need to be praying for other brothers and sisters around the nation and world who are engaged in the work of Christ
You can go to NAMB and get on a email list and same for IBM I think, or get the SBC mailing and begin to read it to see how to pray for them
You can get a mailing list about imprisoned believers overseas so you can be praying
Now Paul had not planted this church or even been there as of yet, but he has heard things going on
10 always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; 12 that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.
He has heard how good they are doing and what is going on
Church He has heard about their faith
Their faith must have been proclaimed around the whole world at that time
Something must be happening in Rome
It is evident that God must be at work in Rome
And being a good bond servant of Christ
someone who serves Christ with out payment
Paul desires to go
Do you see this church
Paul recognizes where God is at work and desires to go there
I think churches get in trouble of coming up with a new program or coming up with an idea and then moving in that plan or idea and then going to God and asking God to bless your idea
When really we should be going to God and and seeking His wisdom and then when we hear from Him and when we see Him at work
We move to there and we go to where He is and join Him in that work
Church that is exactly what Paul does
He sought after God and he sees that God is at work in Rome in a group of believers
And He wants to encourage them and join them in their work to Glorify Christ
13 I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
Paul wants them to understand that he has desired to go and spend time with them
But like anyone in ministry things get busy and that keeps him from getting to them
But Paul doesn’t just want to come to vacation
Paul wants to do some work
Paul wants to join in the work that Christ is doing in Rome
He wants to be a part of that
Church Paul is a soul winner
To be a soul-winner is the happiest thing in this world. And with every soul you bring to Jesus Christ you seem to get a new heaven here upon earth.
Charles Spurgeon
This is what Charles Spurgeon has to say about being a soul winner
Notice church Paul is still so very concerned with the Gospel Message
That he doesn’t just want to go and vacation and spend time with them
He wants to go and get some fruit
There is fruit being picked and he wants to go and pick some fruit
Souls are being won and church He wants to go and win souls
Because He understands where He is called
Paul unlike Peter
Remember Paul is called to go and reach the Gentiles and anyone else he comes across
Paul says He is under obligation to everyone to share the Gospel
Timothy Keller
Exalting Jesus in Romans Commitment to Preach the Gospel to Everyone (1:14–15)
It is illustrative to think about how I can be in debt to you. First, you may have lent me $100—and I am in debt to you until I pay it back. But second, someone else may have given me $100 to pass on to you—and I am in debt to you until I hand it on. It is in this second sense that Paul is “obligated” to everyone, everywhere. God has shared the gospel with him. But God has also commissioned him to declare it to others. So Paul owes people the gospel.
Paul is obligated to share the Gospel with anyone and everyone
Dare I say it church just like we are i would dare say obligated, commanded to share the Gospel with anyone and everyone
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
IT says Go
It doesn’t say to who or when but just Go
Then it says to all the nations
It doesn’t say just the safe nations
It doesn’t say just the comfortable nations
It doesn’t say just the nations that will accept you and allow you to freely share the Gospel Message
Rather it says to the nations
95% of the worlds population lives outside so to reach the nations we need to go outside of the US
But we are called, commanded and even obligated to share what we have in our own hearts
To teach what we have learned
To share what we know to be true
To testify to what we have experienced of God with anyone and everyone
Church that is what we are obligated to do just like Paul understood and believed he was obligated to do
Paul begins to share his purpose
Which I bet at this point we could guess what that purpose is
It is to preach and teach the Good News that Jesus saves
To live for Jesus
Paul wants to go to Rome because he recognizes that God is at work there and He wants to go there and join in that work of bringing people to a right relationship with God through Jesus
15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 16 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. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”
Paul is eager and excited to preach the Gospel to them as well
not that they need saving although there may be some in the church who are not and need salvation
Just like there may be some here today who need salvation which is why we preach salvation and offer you the opportunity at almost all of our gatherings the opportunity to accept that free gift of salvation which is given to us through a personal relationship with Christ
Paul also wants to encourage them on with the Gospel
The Gospel is not just for the lost person but also the saved person because it should shape the way you and I live our lives
Paul explains that He is not ashamed of the Gospel
Which means that some might be ashamed of the Gospel
Because some Christians were ashamed of the Gospel
Because anyone Gospel Message is that Jesus who is fully man and fully God
was born of a virgin
Lived a perfect life and then died a criminals death
To the Jew that is a contradiction because the Messiah crucified did not make sense
And to the gentile it is foolish because the Romans at that time despised the jews
And because a crucified jew would have been an extrememly low member of society if not the lowlyest of low people
And people were ashamed to try and explain it
Church I said it last week and I got it from Adiran Rodgers
I don’t know how a man can be born from a virgin
I don’t know how God can become a man and yet still be fully man and fully God at the same time
I don’t understand how a dead man, like not just they missed the pulse dead, but i am talking dead, in the grave for 3 days dead man can come back to life
I don’t understand it and I struggle to explain it but I know its true
It doesn’t have to be explained it must be believed
It is called faith church
What I can tell you is that the Spirit of God can give you insight into the scriptures that man cannot
He can give you wisdom through the Scriptures and understanding that man cannot
CSB Study Bible: Notes Chapter 1
People are saved by faith, but faith is not the cause of salvation. The cause of salvation is the grace of God, the will of God, and the power of God working through the message.
We know that our faith is not the cause of salvation
We know that salvation is accomplished when the righteousness of God is revealed
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
It was revealed when Jesus His only Son was sent to the cross to pay for you debt of sin and my debt of sin
It was revealed when 3 days later Jesus got up and walked out of the grave and is now seated on the throne in heaven
It is through faith that that is true that you and I are saved
It is by turning from sin and believed that God is who He said He is and did and will do what He said He will do
Church The Gospel Message should so change the way we live that Paul says it
The Righteous man shall live by faith
When we live our faith out in front of other people
We are nnot to be ashamed of the Gospel
If we cant explain it that is ok, we keep trying
But we live our life for Jesus in front of other people
I am sure you have seen the video of Penn Jillett from Penn and Teller
In that video he says he does not respect people who believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven and do not share that with people
He goes on to ask this question
How much do you have to hate someone not to share the Gospel with them knowing it will save their lives
I think Paul had to answer that question and Paul’s answer is very simple and plainly put
16 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.
CLOSING
as we move to our time of invitation this morning
This is that time in the service built in for you to respond to God this morning
IF you are here this morning and do not have a personal relationship with Jesus and want to know more about it or have questions
Or want to repent of your sins and trust in Jesus this morning
There will be someone down front and who can help you with that
Or maybe you have a relationship with Jesus this morning and unlike Paul you find yourself a little ashamed and quite with the Gospel
I would encourage you to repent and run back to Jesus
Maybe Jesus is this morning calling you to be bold and simply spend sometime in prayer at the altar
The altar is open