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The Gospel Exalted
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The Gospel Exalted
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Jack starts by talking about a recent injury they got and how they were taken care of by Dr. Yam. They then transition to talking about the book of Romans and how it came to be. They mention that the Apostle Paul wrote 13 books of the New Testament and explain that he wrote them in different venues based on the needs at the time. They mention the different sections of Paul's writings and briefly explain what each section is about. They mention that Paul wrote to the church of Thessalonica about what happens to Christians who have died. They then discuss the different types of theological studies and explain that Paul's ministry was initially to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. They discuss the conversion of Jews and the difference between Judaism and Christianity. They mention the other letters that Paul wrote while in house arrest and briefly mention the story of Philemon and Onesimus. Hello. How are you all today? Good. Everything's fine, didn't break any bones, just got a really bad bruise. And Dr. Yam took good care of me. He looked at me and did all those kinds of things with band-aids and all kinds of stuff that hurt like everything when he put it on there. But I'm fine, no broken bones. I got a little cut on my cheek and a few other things. But actually I went out to help our yard, to give a key to our yard guys to cut the backyard. And when I turned around, I caught my toe on a rock on the firebed and over into the driveway I went. Straight out into the driveway and just kind of got beat up a little bit. But it's okay, I'm fine, no broken bones, nothing, just hurt, bruise, okay? So, I have my nose in it, maybe you can, if I can see. Okay, we're going to begin the book of Romans today. And we're going to start by helping you to understand how the book of Romans came to be. Dr. Jim and I have been trying to tell you all for the last couple of weeks where Rome started and where the church started. So we don't have to go back and repeat that again. So we'll start right off in chapter one today. On your paper, I gave you an FYI for your information and that's all it's for, the first few paragraphs. I thought you all needed to understand that the Apostle Paul wrote 13 books of the New Testament. There are 27 books in the New Testament and the Apostle Paul wrote 13 of them. He wrote them in four different venues because he was writing to a need that came about at the time that he was writing. So, if you'll notice in your paper, there are four sections. One's called Eschatological Books, another's called the Anti-Judaic Books, another is called the Prison Epistles, and another one is called the Pastoral Epistles. What he did was, he wrote to the church of Thessalonica because they had asked him, what's going to happen to the people who have died who are Christian? And he answered them in Thessalonians, first and second book. And you remember what he told them, he said, So the first two books he wrote were called Eschatological Books, or Eschaton. It's the study of the last thing. So we call it Eschatology. Now, just like every other kind of business, at the seminary, when we teach, we have certain words we use, and we just use them. And every one of them has the end of it in the intonology. And that means the study of. So we have what we call Eschatology. That's the study of the last thing. And then we have a thing that we call Ecclesiology. That's the study of the church. And then we have a thing that's called Epist... Hold on a minute. We have another thing that we call Theology. That's the study of God. Then we have a thing called Christology, which is the study of Christ. We have a Pneumatology, which is the study of the Holy Spirit. And then we have a study of Salvation. And I can always remember when I was taking basic theological studies, the one on Salvation, because it's Soteriology, and my name's in the middle of it. And so I can always remember it because my name's in the middle of it. So when you study Salvation, you're studying Soteriology. When you're studying the church, you're studying Ecclesiology. When you're studying the last things, you're studying Eschatology. When you're studying about God, you're studying Theology. When you're studying about Christ, you're studying Christology. And when you're studying about the Holy Spirit, you're studying Pneumatology. And so these are all the words. So Paul wrote to this church first to help them understand what the last things were going to be about. Then he wrote four books, of which Romans is one of them. And you notice I put the dates here so you can understand where Paul was writing. Paul wrote something that Brother Jim and I have been trying to say to you all, and I hope that it finally gets in because we don't need to say it much anymore. When Paul wrote to this church at this particular book, in the book of Romans, this church was a Jewish church. Probably all of the membership, with the exception of a few, who were being saved in the city of Paul were Jewish. And the reason for that was, most of these people who brought the Gospel back to Rome were in Jerusalem for Pentecost. Now, if you remember, in Judaism, every Jewish male who could get to the city of Jerusalem had to come three times a year. And they had to come if they could get there. They had to come for the first feast, which was the feast of Passover. And then they had to come for Pentecost. And then they had to come for tabernacles. So they had to come for the first feast, the middle feast, and the end feast. Somebody said they didn't have to come for the Day of Atonement. Nope. They didn't have to come for the Day of Atonement. But they did have to come for the first one, the middle one. So all of them came to Pentecost. And that's why they were all at the city of Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. And if you remember reading the book of Acts, it said, And there were people from all over the world, Romans and Asians and Philemians, and everybody was there. So what we feel is that this church, they took the gospel back to Rome, all of them being Jewish. Now, by the time the apostle gets to Rome, when he is in house arrest, which is the third set of books, when he gets to Rome, Rome is beginning to turn from a Jewish church to a Gentile church. And eventually, the entire church at Rome will be a Gentile church. Eventually. Because Paul has always said that his ministry was going to be to the Jew first. And if they refused to hear him, then he would go to the Gentiles. And so he always was preaching to the Gentiles. And as we read this chapter, you will understand what I'm talking about. He says my ministry is to the Jewish first and then to the Gentiles or to the barbarians and the Greeks. And so here's what you need to understand. During the day of the apostle Paul, there were only two religions that really worshipped one God. It was either Judaism or Christianity. All of the other religions were polytheists. They were not monotheists. They were polytheists. They had multiple gods. They had many gods. And so the only two faiths in the entire world were either Jews or Christians. Both of whom worshipped the true and living eternal God. With the Christian, of course, worshipping the sovereign God of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Which Brother Jimmy has done well and we understand that. So you need to understand. Every person to whom Paul is writing in this book are probably former converted, now completed Jews. May I stop there for a moment? A Jewish person is never converted. All right? We Gentiles are converted. We are converted from our sinfulness into the kingdom of God. A Jew is completed. You see, the only thing a Jewish person is missing is the Messiah. And if he can get the Messiah, if that Jewish person, he or she can get the Messiah, that person is complete. Actually, when we get the Messiah, we're complete as well. And so the word complete really works well rather than converted. We are complete in God. God has made us complete when we come to find the Messiah. So that's what's happening. So he wrote these three, four books, Romans, Galatians, and 1 and 2 Corinthians, to help the Jewish people come to understand that the Christian faith is that new faith that's going to bring you into the presence of Almighty God through the redemptive sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross and his magnificent, glorified resurrection as he came from the dead. And so when you see these anti-Judaic epistles, oh, by the way, an epistle is not the wife of an apostle. Okay? There are a lot of people who think an epistle is the wife of an apostle. No, true. An epistle is a letter. If you've ever written a letter, you have written an epistle. Okay? So these are letters. Paul wrote letters. So anti-Judaic, helping the Jews to come to understand the difference between Judaism and Christianity. Then he wrote four when he was put in house arrest in Rome. And these are called the prison epistles. And he wrote to the church in Ephesus. He wrote to the church in Colossae. He wrote to the church at Philippi. And then he wrote a personal letter to a man by the name of Philemon. You know Philemon because you know a man who ran away from him who was a slave whose name was Onesimus. You remember him? You remember Onesimus who ran away from Philemon? He was Philemon's slave. And Onesimus came to Paul, and Paul won him to the Lord, and now he's sending him back to Philemon. Now, Philemon has lost a slave. And Philemon's lost a lot of money because he lost a slave. And Paul writes to Philemon. If you ever read the little book of Philemon, you need to read it. Paul says, now Philemon, when Onesimus gets back there to you, you treat him just like you would treat me. Whoa. I mean, Philemon's been without his help. He's been with lost money. He's in a hole. And Paul is saying to him, when Onesimus gets back, you treat him just like you treat me. Because that's the way we're supposed to treat Christian brothers, amen? And so that's the book of Philemon. Those were called the prison epistles. He was not in jail. He was in an apartment. He was in what we call house arrest. And that ended somewhere around 62, 63. And Paul and Silas and the missionary team, probably Dr. Luke and perhaps Timothy, went off on a missionary journey. If you read the end of the book of Acts, in the end of the book of Acts, Paul says to the church, I am planning to go to Spain. Now, whether or not Paul ever got to Spain, we don't know. But the gospel got to Spain. But, of course, the gospel could have gotten to Spain the same way it got to Rome. There were some Spanish people who were probably in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. So the gospel was moving around, okay? So then when he came back, a big fire had happened in Rome. He came back to Rome around 64, 65. And in 64, July of 64, they had the fire, which burned up ten divisions of the city of, 14 divisions of the city of Rome. And Nero was blaming, guess who? The Jews and the Christians. And so there was a target on the back of every Jew and every Christian. And Paul came back. He was immediately arrested. This time he was put in the dungeon. He was not allowed to stay in house arrest. And these last three books are written to Timothy and to Titus, and then another book to Timothy, first and second Timothy, and the book of Titus. And these are to his two young sons in the ministry. Timothy and Titus. Titus on the island of Crete, and Timothy at the church in Ephesus. So he's writing to his two sons in the ministry, and they are called the pastoral epistles. And he writes to them. So these are the books Paul has written. And they're in little categories, and they're by dates. And you can see the dates of them. Now, what I want to do today, I want to read all of the passage. Because I want you to hear where Paul is going. Then we'll go back and talk about it. There's a lot of little things in this passage that are so tremendously spiritual and unusually effective for our Christian life. If you don't hear it all read in one passage, then sometimes you miss it. So just let me read it, and we'll just walk through it. Paul, the slave of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel. Paul, what is the gospel? We'll talk about that in a few minutes. Paul said, I am separated to the gospel. Ladies and gentlemen, all of us are separated to the gospel. We have the same separation the apostle Paul had. In fact, before Paul finishes this particular chapter, and I'm supposed to be through to verse 17 today, and Brother Jim will take it up in 18 next week, and as you come to the last verse of this one, he says, and each of you is called. Folks, the pastor, or a person who's called in the ministry, is no different than you. I am no different than you. Brother Jimmy is no different than you. None of us is different in the call to the ministry. All of us are called to do ministry. We may not be called to be a pastor. We may not be called to be a professor. We may not be called to be a musician in a church. But we are all called into the kingdom of God. That's how you got there. And since you were called into the kingdom of God, then you have a ministry. And I want you to know, there are some people who do a magnificent job of ministry in their secular professions. In fact, our urologist is one of the finest professing Christians that I've ever met. And he uses his profession. In fact, his little calling cards, when you pop them open, are scriptural texts. He uses his ministry. He uses his profession as a urologist to produce the ministry. To propagate the gospel of Christ. He believes in the gospel. So he says, separated. Now, you are separated from sinfulness in order to be in the gospel. Now, separated from the gospel, which he promised before, through the prophets, and through the holy scriptures, concerning his son Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was born of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, mark that, we'll talk about that later, with power, according to the spirit of holiness, the Holy Spirit, by the resurrection from the dead, through whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations in his name. Among whom you also, watch this, among whom you also are called. You got it? You're called, too. Of whom also you are called of Jesus Christ. To all who are in Rome. Now, here's where the letter's going. To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be agios. Called to be saints. Called to be glorified people. Called to be separated people. Called to be people who are being sanctified. You have been lost, now you are justified, and God is in the process of sanctifying you right now. He will sanctify you until the day you die. On the day you die, he will glorify you and take you to heaven. That's why the word glory and glorification always has relationship to death. Jesus said to his disciples, I am to be glorified. When he said that, they knew what he was talking about. That he had to face death. So they weren't surprised. Now, Paul's calling card. Grace and peace. Grace, caris, peace, erine. Grace and peace. Every letter that the Apostle Paul's, somewhere in the introduction, you will see these two words. Grace and peace. Here's the deal. Without grace, you have no peace. You cannot have the peace with God until you have the grace of God applied. And so the Apostle Paul knows what he's talking about. Grace and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, watch how it flows. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you. Because your faith is spoken of throughout the entire world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with the spirit, my spirit in the gospel of his Son. That without ceasing, I make mention of you always in my prayers. I'm praying for you all the time. Making requests, if by some means, now at last, I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. Paul wanted to go to Rome. Paul had intended to go to Rome. But Paul did not intend to go to Rome the way he went. Paul intended to go to Rome a free person. Paul went to Rome a prisoner. But he got to Rome. That's what was important. For I long to see you, that I may impart some spiritual gifts, so that you may be established. That is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and of me. Now, I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you. But was hindered until now, that I might have some fruit among you also, just as I have, watch these words, among the other Gentiles. Now, Paul's not talking to the church of the Jews. He's talking to the church of the Gentiles. I am a debtor. I'm a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians. I'm a debtor to the wise and to the unwise. So, as much as envy is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are at Rome also. And here is the theme of the book of Romans, 15, 16, and 17. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written in the book of Habakkuk, 2, 4, in the book of Habakkuk, 2, 4, the just shall live by faith. So, we are living in Jesus Christ from faith to faith. Every day, ladies and gentlemen, we have to get up and we have to faith the music. Did you hear me? Every morning we get up and we have to faith the music, not face it. You don't faith it, you faith it. And we live from faith to faith to faith to faith. Every day we live by faith. You cannot live anywhere outside faith. You live every day by faith. Okay, now let's go back and take a look at what the book is saying. What is the gospel? Paul mentions that word gospel in here several times. And he said, I was called to the gospel. You are called to the gospel. We are all called to the gospel. Therefore, if we are called to something that's called the gospel, what is the gospel? Now, the Greek word for gospel is euangelion. It means good news. That's what the English translation of euangelion is. Good news. Ladies and gentlemen, the gospel is good news. The gospel tells you you can be saved from your ugliness. The gospel tells you you can live eternally with God in heaven. The gospel tells you that Jesus Christ died for your sin. The gospel tells you that he will redeem you from your sin. The gospel is the most important thing in the entire world, ladies and gentlemen. And had it not been for the creator, Jesus Christ, who came up out of the grave and burst the hand so that everybody could say, he is risen. Ladies and gentlemen, when that was said, he is risen, the gospel came alive. And there was no gospel, really, until the resurrection. For when Jesus rose from the dead, the gospel came alive. That's when it really began to happen. That's when it really came apart. It came apart at Pentecost. You've got to remember, Jesus was already resurrected when Pentecost happened. Jesus was already resurrected for 40 days before Pentecost happened. They had all seen Jesus before Pentecost happened. They saw him in a glorified body. They didn't see him as a mist or a vapor. They saw him as a person. He said, come see me, feel me, touch me, give me something to eat. A vapor doesn't eat. Come see me. I am flesh and bones. Come see me. Put your fingers where the nails were. Put your hand in here where my side is, Thomas. Come see me. And so we preach the gospel. What is the gospel? Very simple. Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. That's number one. He led a sinless, whole, wonderful life without sin. Was the perfect expression of sovereign God in the world. Number three. He was taken by cruel hands, convicted, accused, and executed on the cross. And he died on a cross, shedding his blood as the final and complete sacrifice. Number four. He was buried in a borrowed tomb, according to the scripture. Now you can go back and remember all of these four parts are according to the scripture. Because all of them are listed in the Old Testament. How Jesus would live, how he would be born. He would be born of a virgin. And behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. That wasn't in the book of Matthew. That was back in the book of Isaiah. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. And so Jesus was born. He lived. He died on the cross. And he was buried. And he was buried in a tomb. And he stayed there for three days. And at the end of three days, the gospel said, he burst forth, risen from the dead. And now was seen of over 500 people at one time. And then he was ascended to the Father. And he lives and rules in heaven, sitting at the right hand of God, making intercession for us to God when we pray. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the gospel. Now, if you can't do anything else when you talk to a person about being saved, just tell them the gospel. And ladies and gentlemen, you don't need to put all the scriptures in it. It's nice if you have the scripture when you present the gospel to someone. But you don't have to have the scripture. Just tell them the story. In fact, the very best expression of your faith to an individual is not that story. It's the story of how that story fit your life. How did that story come into your life? How did the gospel change you? That's what brings people into the kingdom of God. You tell them how the gospel changed you. And now, having been changed by the gospel, you share the gospel with other folks. The interesting sidelight is this. Every time the Catholic Church has a mass, every time, the first four parts of the mass are the following. Jesus was born of a virgin. Did you know that? Second part of the mass, he lived a holy, righteous life without sin. Number four, he was taken by cruel hands and crucified on a cross and buried in a borrowed tomb. And number four, he rose from the dead victorious. He is risen, as he said. Every mass, every Catholic person hears the gospel every time. I heard it for 17 years and never understood it. That's the problem. Until a young good friend of mine said to me, who is my buddy, he asked me a question that I couldn't answer. He said, Jack, when you died, did you know you were going to heaven? I said, yes, I'm going to purgatory. He said, I'm sorry, my good friend, there is no purgatory. I said, what? He said, there's no purgatory. He said, Jack, you either die and go to heaven or you go to eternal damnation. Could I share with you how you can escape and you know that you will live again? And he shared with me the gospel. He just told me the story. He didn't use the scripture. He didn't use John 3.16. He didn't use anything. He just said, Jack, here's how it happened in my life. Ladies and gentlemen, that's how it happened in my life. That's how it happened in your life. That's how you came into the kingdom of God. Okay, let's move on. The apostle Paul now has set up things, and I want to pick up in verse 8, because this is where it really begins to move. And in verse 8 he says, first, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because I am hearing that your faith is being spoken of throughout the entire world. Now, when a person during these days say, I am hearing that your faith is being spoken throughout the entire world, they are saying throughout the entirety of the Roman Empire. So Paul is saying to them, I am hearing that your faith is being expressed throughout the entire Roman Empire, which by this time would have been beyond Portugal and into Britain and into India. The Roman Empire had spread. And the apostle Paul is saying, I am hearing that your faith is being talked about throughout the entire empire or the whole world, for God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you in my prayers. Now, the apostle Paul is telling them, I am praying for you every day. Now, how do you pray for people every day? I can't call you by name every day. Barbara and I talk about it a lot. But you know, along the way, if I am doing something and all of a sudden Glenn Kinney's face comes up, guess what I do? I pray for Glenn Kinney. Now, I may not do it every day, Glenn, but every time your face shows up, I pray for you. And that's all of you. That's the way we pray for each of you every day. Every time you show up, I pray for you. Now, I don't get out on my knees and spend 15, 20 minutes. I may just say, dear God, evidently Glenn needs something today, and I need to pray for him. So please, God, take care of him. Okay, thank you, bye, see you later. Now, you will notice something. Never say amen. Amen only means, so let it be. So I'll say, so let it be, and we'll just keep on trying. I pray for you when I see your face. I pray for you when I think of your name. I pray for you. I pray for you daily. I hope you're praying for me daily. When you think of me, pray for me. And that's what Paul is saying here. Let's get this thing going together, so that when you think of me, you pray for me. When I think of you, I'll pray for you. And that way, we will be able to do the will of God. And Paul is saying to them, my greatest hope is that someday I will see you face to face. Now, Paul is writing to a group of people he has never seen. He doesn't know them. He doesn't know their names. However, later on in this book, he will call an entire list of names. Evidently, he had picked up names from this thing around the world you are being talked of. And he has a list of people that he knows have been saved, and they are sharing the gospel. And he's saying, I'm praying for you, and here is my list of names, and I'm praying for you. If you get to chapter 16, you'll see his list of names. And he prays for them every day. He said, I long to see you. I do want to come and impart. Now, in verse 11 and verse 12, the Apostle Paul nearly makes a serious mistake. And he says, verse 11, and then he catches himself, and he realizes what he said. Now, folks, let me help you understand something. Brother Jimmy and I, and all other, our pastor, Brother John, and all other ministers of the gospel, we have so much in us that we would like to share with you. Do you all understand that? I mean, we have so much in, I mean, we're just full of stuff that I'd like for every one of you to know. I mean, I'd like for you to know, if you're studying epistemology, that you know what you're studying. If you're studying ecclesiology, you know what you're studying. I mean, we're so full of it. We want you to know what we know. And so we try to fill you up, fill you up. It's sort of like they used to say in educational philosophy. Fill it up, fill it up, children's heads are hollow. Fill it up, fill it up, there's a lot more to follow. You know? That's the way you do it. So we try to fill it up. So, Brother Jimmy, I, Brother John, all of us are trying to fill you up. And here's what Paul says. For I long to see you, that I may, watch this, that I may impart some spiritual gift that you may be established. And he stops. That is a hyper-spiritual statement that you don't need to tell a person. And Paul realizes that he's just told them, I know more about God than you know about God. And folks, that doesn't apply. Although we may know more about God, there's a very strong possibility that many of you may know more about God than we know. And Paul caught himself when he says that, to impart some spiritual gift established. Paul said, whoops, made a mistake. And he backs it up. That is, there's where you're seeing him backing it up. That is, that I may be encouraged together with you. Now, in verse 11, Paul had put himself up here. Spiritual. Highly theological. Man of the book. And in verse 12, Paul puts himself here. And here's where all of us need to be all the time. All the time. That is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and of me. Paul saved himself right there. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I don't know any more about God than you know about God. You know all that you can at this point have gained about God. And you are gaining every day. It just so happens that I have the privilege of going to theological school. And I have the privilege of learning a bunch of stuff that you don't have the privilege to learn. That does not make me any better or worse than you. I am no more spiritual than you. I don't have any more of the Holy Spirit than you have. On the day that God gave us the Holy Spirit, He gave us the same Holy Spirit and all of us got it. You're not going to get any more. I'm not going to get any more. I may get a whole lot more information, knowledge and junk. But you're going to get some more also. I'm not better than you. I'm not a better spiritual giant than you. My house in heaven may be a lean-to. You may get a mansion. Praise God. That's okay. You see what I'm saying to you? And this is what Paul realized. He said, you know, I really put the spiritual burden on these people. But I said, I'm going to express some spiritual gift to you. Man, I'm so religious. I'm so haughty-haughty. Let me tell you what I know. No, that's not the truth, folks. And Paul realized that. Paul was a theological scholar. But Paul also was an humble servant. I am the do-loss, he says in verse 1. I am the do-loss of God. I am the slave of God in Jesus Christ. Paul knew who he was. And he realized it in verse 12 when he missed in verse 11. And he nearly made a mistake in verse 12. And he backs it up and he says that we together, and by the way, that's why we come here every Sunday morning. Here together. You come having read the word of God. I come having read the word of God. You come to listen. I come to write. I come to help you understand better. I don't know any more than you know. I simply know some things you don't know. You know a whole lot more than I know. If you ever saw me do mathematics, you would understand what I'm talking about. Barbara has to balance my checkbook, folks. I am so un-techy when it comes to mathematics. I don't like mathematics. I hate numbers. I hate numbers. I like words. You say, well, really? Yeah, I like words. I don't like numbers. You all are so more intelligent than I in so many areas. I mean, why can we put ourselves up here as spiritual giants and put you down here as the also grant? That's not right. And that's what Paul is saying to the church. He says, when I get there, I want you to know I am one of you. That's what he's saying. Now, ladies and gentlemen, when Brother Jimmy and I sit up here, we were one of you. We came to the gospel the same way you did. We were saved the same way you were. The Spirit of God came into us the same way He did in you. The Spirit of God is filling us every day the same way He's filling you. And you're not going to get any more Spirit of God than you've got right now. Don't think you can get a second, third, or fifth blessing. You ain't going to get no more. On the day you were saved, when He came into you, whosoever is called upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That day you got all the Holy Spirit you'll ever get. Now, you may not be appropriating all of Him. You may not be calling on Him to be your helper, which is what He is. The Zulus were slaves, and He's the Holy Spirit. And you may not be calling on Him. That's not His fault. That's your fault. And if we're not calling on Him, He can't fill us. He's there to fill us every day, fill us up every day to the top. He wants you to call Him. So Paul says, now, I want you to know, we are going to fellowship in mutual faith. Got it? Got it? Every Sunday when we come here, Dr. Jim and I want to fellowship with you in mutual faith. Each of you bring to this body something, and we bring to this body something. You bring here your prayers and your love for the gospel. We bring here the information of the gospel. We are coming together, as Paul said, in mutual fellowship, love, and faith. Got it? If you got that, then we can really teach if you, under that emphasis, will pray for us every day. Now, Paul says, now, I don't want you to be unaware of my brethren. I really planned to come see you, but I was hindered. Oh, was that the understatement of the year? Paul said, every time I tried to come to Rome, I was hindered. Well, all you have to do is go back and look at his ministry and find out how many times he was ministered, how many times he was beaten, how many times he was stopped, how many times he was not allowed to go. And Paul is simply saying to them, I really want you to know, I want to come and be among you so that I can have some fruit with you also. Now, ladies and gentlemen, what he just said was, you have some fruit I need to eat when I come to see you. I have some fruit you need to eat when I write to you. We have mutual spiritual food with whom we will share. But we will not share here. We will share here. And we bring the mutual fruit down here where all of us can participate and among you also, even as I am planning to take that same fruit to the Gentiles. Now, you remember, the Apostle Paul was identified as the Apostle to the Gentiles. Now, he went to the Jews first because the Jews were supposed to be able to hear it first. Now, in a couple of weeks, we are going to do chapter 2. And Brother Jimmy is going to do the first part of chapter 2 because he is going to help you understand some things about chapter 2, the first part. I am going to do the second part, the second part of chapter 2, which is the next verse, when I am going to take you into G.D. Judaism. I am going to take you into Judaism. I am going to take you and tell you what the Jewish people really believed, that they had a corner on God and that they were God's children and nobody else had a chance. And the Apostle Paul in chapter 2 tells them, the Jews are guilty also. And he concludes in chapter 2, all have sinned, the Jews and the Gentiles. Do not boast yourself that you are a Jew. You sin too. Okay? So, he is saying, you know, we are going to do this. Now, I love this next verse. I accidentally ran onto a passage in a book that just really thrilled my life. And that is this word debtor. He said, I am a debtor, both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. Do you realize what he just said? I need to share the gospel with people who are dumb. I need to share the gospel with people who are smart. I need to share the gospel with these people who are called Greek. They are the wise. I need to share the gospel with these people who are called barbarians. They are the dumb. Have you ever read anything about the island of Crete? Sometime read the book of Titus when you have a chance. That is where Titus was a pastor on the island of Crete. And Titus wrote to Paul and he said to Paul, Paul, these men on the island of Crete are just stupid and dumb. Go read the book. And Paul agreed with him. The people on Crete were stupid and they were dumb and they were big bouffants. And everybody knew it. Everybody made fun of the Cretans because they were a bunch of fools. Yes, sir. Sir, what was that word that you just used? I am sorry. The word bouffants. Is that right? Yes, bouffants. Okay. You know, dumb. Okay. Thank you. Did I use the wrong word? No, no. I just wanted to make sure I heard it correctly. Thank you. I call them bouffants. Anyway, they were really dumb. And Titus told Paul they were dumb. In fact, he told Paul they were dumb because he wanted to leave. He said, Paul, I can't stand it here on the island of Crete. I got to get out of here. These people are stupid. They're dumb. They're not listening to me. I mean, he's preaching his heart out. Nobody is being saved. He said, I want to come where you and Silas are and where Timothy. Man, y'all are having big, big revival meetings. I'm having nothing here. This place is dumb. Go read the book of Titus. To which the apostle Paul answers him and says, Titus, for the very reason that you just told me you wanted to leave the island of Crete, that's the reason you have to stay. Ladies and gentlemen, he never left the island of Crete. He died on the island of Crete, a natural death, having preached and won hundreds of people to the Lord to such an extent that in 1927, an archaeological group from London, the British, were digging on the island of Crete and they found a cornerstone. And the cornerstone said, this church is dedicated to the eternal sovereign king of the universe, Jesus Christ the Lord, and to his servant, Titus. What have you left? You see, folks, we have to stay where we're planted. And that's what Paul said. He said, I'm a debtor. Now, when he said, I'm a debtor, he said, every time I pay that debt, somebody comes into the kingdom of God. That's what I found in the book. This particular book said, our debtorship is relational to the relation of redemptive people coming into the kingdom of God. When you pay your debt to Jesus Christ, you are bringing another kingdom individual in with you. That's why Paul said, I am a debtor. I'm a debtor. Not only just to the Greeks, intelligentsia, but also to the barbarians, the Cretans. I am debtor to the wise, and I am a debtor to the unwise. Every time I pay my debt, somebody is saved. Think about that. Each of us is a debtor. And every time we share Jesus Christ with somebody, we are paying our debt. Amen? Now we come to the conclusion. For I am not ashamed of the gospel. Would you help me to understand what the opposite of shame is? Somebody help me? I'm sorry? Pride. Pride. Proud of the gospel. Nope. Nope. Nope. It's not pride. It's not pride. It's not pride. The opposite of shame is glory. Either you have shame or you have glory. The opposite of shame is glory. And he says, I am not ashamed of the gospel. What did he say? I glory in Jesus Christ. I glory in his redemption. I am dying for his cause. In fact, the Apostle Paul said later, I die daily. So do you. And so do I. So as we are dying daily, let's be sure we get our debt paid. Let's be sure we share the gospel with somebody. Let's be sure we pass the word of God on to someone. Let's be sure we know where our debt is. And so he says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power. This whole word right here is the word dunamis. Dunamis. We get an English word from it. Dynamite. Dynamite. It says, I am for the, it is the dynamite of God unto soteriology. Unto salvation. The gospel is what comes into your life. The gospel is what gets into your heart. The gospel is what gets into your soul. And the dynamite of God that is in you blows the ugly out of you and puts the new in you. So that you can say, I am a new creation in Jesus Christ. The old has been blown away. And behold, the new has come. You see, the gospel is what blew your heart apart. The gospel is what blew your soul away. The gospel is what replaced in your life and in your soul Jesus Christ, the eternal King of God. Thank God for the gospel. Thank God for the gospel. For it is the power of God unto salvation for a few people. I don't think so. For it is the power of God unto salvation, the dynamite of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. To the Jew first. And to the Gentile. To the Greek. Now, as soon as Paul, on any of his excursions, could determine that the Jews would not listen to him, immediately upon that determination, Paul went to the Gentiles. Watch. After he had been in prison, incarcerated in Philippi, and after he had been released by the power of God with a little bit of an earthquake, and many, many people in Philippi were saved, including Lydia, who was the first European to be saved. Did you realize that? Did you realize that Lydia was the first European to be saved? Everybody else was Asia Minor. And at Philippi, he had a great gospel. He went down to Thessalonica, to whom he wrote the book Thessalonians. When he got to Thessalonica, they had a huge synagogue. And you remember, when Paul came into a city, the first Sabbath, where did he go to speak? To the synagogue. I am a debtor to the Jew first. Okay? He said, in other words, I have to be sure that I get my brother saved, because that's my debt for my eternal redemption with God. That's what I owe him. I need to get as many of my brothers saved as possible. I'm a debtor to the Jew first. He went to the synagogue in Thessalonica. They heard him the first day. At the end of the first day, they said, you know what, Paul? You're a pretty interesting guy. We will hear you on another day. And they walked out. So one of the leaders of the synagogue came up to Paul. And he said, Paul, could you tell me some more? I'm not going to tell you the rest of the story. You go read it. Go read the book of Acts, when Paul was in Thessalonica. Go see the guy who was the ruler of the synagogue, who took Paul into his home in Thessalonica, and who took him into his home so that he could preach the gospel to the Jews first, not in the synagogue, but in the home of guys. Okay? And it was in that home that the Apostle Paul took the gospel to the Gentiles. That's what Paul said. I am not ashamed, for I am to the Greek and to the Jew. Verse 17. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. I'll stop for a minute. I want your heads to come up. The gospel in us, ladies and gentlemen, is revealed from faith to faith. Every day, Habakkuk 2.4 is true. Those who are justified will not live by sight. You will not live by what you can see. You will not live by what's in your bank account. You will not live by what you have in intellectual acumen. You will not live on who you are. You will live every day from faith to faith. That's why I always say, Get up in the morning and faith it, because the justified shall live by faith. No other way to live, folks. Do you really trust God? I'm serious. Do you really trust God? Do you trust Him enough to give everything away? Do you trust Him enough to let one of your grandchildren go a missionary somewhere around the world? Do you trust Him enough to say, Lord Jesus, whatever I have is yours? Do you live by faith? For the justified shall live by faith. Amen? Let's pray. Sovereign God, we are so humble in your sight. We have nothing at all. Just as your beloved Son said to His disciples, Myself, I can do nothing. That's the way I am, God. In this piece of flesh that I'm hanging on to, I can't do a thing. If I try to do anything, I'll be a perfect failure. But God, by faith, you in me, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can do everything. And so, God, I'm not going to try to do it. I'm just simply going to say, Lord Jesus, do it through me. Use me as your conduit. Use me as your spokesperson. Use me as a friend to a friend. Use me as a mutual brother. Use me as we love, pray, and encourage one another. Use me, Lord, as you can. Because I can do nothing. Except you give it to me. So, Father, I pray that you give to all of my friends who are sitting here, as you give to me. We're all brothers and sisters in redemptive faith. And you give to them all of what they can use to be beneficial to the kingdom. And I pray that you help us all, mutually, to love, live, and grow together. And that is our prayer. Even with the Apostle Paul who prayed every day for his friends. Father, we thank you. We praise you. And we love you. In Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
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