God and the Gospel

that are always delicate to preach
from the pulpit and uncomfortable in the pews to hear. Messages about giving certainly
fit into that category. Messages about prayer fit in
as well. And messages about evangelism
also make those in the pew and those in the pulpit uncomfortable.
I have good news for you this morning. I’m only going to preach
on one of them. From the hymn that we just sang,
which John allowed me to pick in order to set the tone for
this passage, that fifth verse is especially poignant to me
this morning in light of this verse. Pity the nations, O our
God, constrain the earth to come, send your victorious word abroad. and bring the strangers home.
Now, you know that I’m a fan of Isaac Watts, certainly his
hymns. I don’t think that he meant to
mislead us in that line in the least. When he says, send your
word as if it’s something that we could be exempt from. Essentially, what Isaac Watts
was pleading with the Lord in writing those lyrics was that
we might take the Word to those piteous nations devoid of Christ. We come to a passage of Scripture
this morning where Paul begins to advance upon the great subject
of the Gospel. In a sense, each step that we
take takes us further and deeper into this great epistle to the
Romans We are in that great section, that opening section that pertains
to sin, and we will in weeks to come consider that subject
of sin fully. But in introducing it, Paul points
us first and foremost to the gospel. Sin is one of the great
motivators to the preaching of the gospel. The righteousness
of God is the other. Let me set the context for you
for these particular words, these few verses that we’ll consider
this morning. Paul had already told the Roman believers in verse
one that he was a bondservant, a bondservant of Christ Jesus,
called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. And that
much the Roman church probably already knew about Paul. It wasn’t
as if he was informing them. Paul goes on, though, to inform
them, to inform this church in Rome that he regularly and earnestly
prayed for them, ultimately including a request that he would somehow
be allowed by God in time to visit them. We saw those verses
last week, for God V. 9, 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, always in my prayers
making requests, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I
may succeed in coming to you.” But the very fact that this is
the longest of all of Paul’s opening greetings suggests that
perhaps an explanation as to why he had not visited this church
was warranted, even expected by the Roman Christians. Were
the Roman Christians impatient, even displeased with Paul at
what they considered unkept promises? After all, Paul says that he
had intentioned for some time. He had even made plans. Had the
Romans heard of these plans and intentions, gotten their hopes
up? And this more than once. Only
to have their hopes dashed time and time again. Were they beginning
to question Paul’s integrity as so many others had? As one
said, his readers might ask with some reason how it happened that
Paul, having been an apostle for more than 20 years. Had not yet found time to come
and preach the good news in the capital of the world. One of the more one of the recurring
features, as you know, in Paul’s epistles is his defense. Of his
integrity. While it is much shorter and
much more to the point, that is precisely what Paul seems
to be doing in the following verses. He doesn’t make a detailed
defense of his apostleship as he does in other epistles. He
merely wants to explain his intentions and affirm his affection and
uphold his integrity to the Roman Christians. If you would consider
verses 13 and following. where Paul writes, and I do not
want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to
come and see you and have been prevented thus far in order that
I might obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest
of the Gentiles. I am under obligation, both to
Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
Thus, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you who
are in Rome, 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. 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. I’d like us to consider God and
His relationship to the Gospel this morning. What is God’s role
in the advance of the Gospel? Can we just lean back on those
words of Isaac Watts and pray that God would send forth His
Word and whoever is going to be saved, whoever the elect are,
will in time hear the Word and be saved and we can sit back
and watch it all unfold? Or is God involved in this as
we are expected to be as well? I think it’s the latter. What I want us to look at this
morning is what I would call factors in the advance of the
Gospel. Factors that we can stand back
and consider as we see God’s plan of redemption unfolding
in the great plan of the Gospel. First of all, this morning, If
you’re considering that passage, look back at verse 13, where
we see that the ministry of preaching the good news, the gospel is
supplied first and foremost with sovereign guidance. Sovereign
guidance. Glanced down at verse 13 and
we’ll pick up there. Where Paul says, I do not want
you to be unaware, brethren, that I have pardon me, that often
I have planned to come to you. Last week in verse 11, we learned
from Paul that he longed to fellowship with the Roman Christians. That’s
a funny and forgotten word to our ears. We don’t long for much
anymore. Paul uses this little introductory
phrase, I do not want you to be unaware. He wanted to correct
their thinking, their opinion of him, perhaps. He didn’t want
them to be ignorant of this little piece of information anymore.
It was a flag. that Paul regularly used in his
epistles for a very important announcement. Listen, he says,
I want you to hear this. Paul tells us plainly here that
with regard to Rome, Paul’s activity wasn’t limited to dreams or even
to prayers on their behalf. No, he tells us that he had made
definitive plans to actually visit Rome, and that he had done
so not once or even twice, but repeatedly. Often, he says. At the end of this great epistle,
Paul will proceed to tell us that this was a long-held desire. This was something that he had
been working on for a long time. Romans 15, verse 22 says, for
this reason, I have often been prevented from coming to you.
But now with no further place for me in these regions and since
I have for many years a longing to come to you.” The word translated
here, planned, could more literally be translated as set forward. Paul had set forward to go and
to visit Rome. It describes specific Detailed
preparation, researching, mapping, organizing, deliberating. Do
you know where else Paul used this word? He used it of God. In Ephesians 1.9, he says of
God that He made known to us the mystery of His will according
to His kind intention, which He purposed, He planned in Him. You talk about detailed preparation.
How about from eternity past, God planning the whole scheme
of redemption, including the salvation of you and I, down
to the very soul by soul plan, detailed plan. I’ll tell you
what it reminds me of. It reminds me of me planning
vacations. Anybody who’s ever gone on vacations
with me, and usually most people do it only once, know that I
have the day planned out, moment by moment, where we’re going
to eat, where we’re going to be at such and such a time, what
we plan to see, how much it will cost, what we
will do next, where we will eat in the evening, where we will
lay our heads. All of it planned out. I’ve got
binders. I’ve got websites. I’ve got the
whole deal laid out. Volume 1. Volume 2. Day 3. My family has to go year by year.
So Paul says, look, I had it all planned out. I do not want
you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to
come and see you. I had it mapped out. I had it
organized in my mind. I had my itinerary set. It even
had a purpose. When he got there, we already
have a glimpse, having seen what he said before, that he had a
purpose in order that I might obtain some fruit among you also.
Wherever Paul went, he seemed to glean the fruit that was there
for the taking. He says, in order that I might
obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the
Gentiles. Everywhere Paul went, he had borne fruit and he desired
more than anything else to go and to glean in the fields of
Rome. Paul says the reason that he
had so desired to visit Rome, as again stated here. He had
already just explained to the Romans that he had hoped to gain
a mutual benefit, right? A mutual benefit in that great
city. Look back in the chapter at verse
11, for I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual
gift to you. And you say, well, see, it was
only Paul going to just lay a blessing upon them. But Paul says, no,
that’s not the case. Certainly, he wanted them to
be established. But look at verse 12, that I may be encouraged
together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s
faith, both yours and mine. And so this fruit that he desired
to gain was as much a fruit bearing in their own lives as they watched
Paul grow from their ministry to him. Astounding thought. Here in verse 13, he tells them
again of his desired ministry among them, that he might obtain
some fruit among them. One to find this fruit. In these
words, he said, fruit is no doubt used here to denote the return
to be hoped for from apostolic labors, whether new converts
gain for the strengthening of the faith and obedience of those
already believing. Either way, whether it was brand
new converts or strengthening the existing believers. It is
what he called in Philippians 1, verse 22, fruitful labor. Remember, there was a conundrum
there, whether Paul was going to die and be martyred or whether
he was going to live on to the end of bearing much fruit. Paul said, but if I am to live
on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me. And I
do not know which to choose. It wasn’t as if Paul was offered
a choice whether to die or not. The fruit that he was referring
to was souls that were one for eternity and the edification
of Christians, the establishment of more churches. As one described
it there, he would again avail himself to every opportunity
to proclaim the gospel far and wide, knowing that his work would
not be in vain in the realm of the spirit. There is always fruit
of labor. When one abounds in the work
of the Lord, his labor is never futile, not even pardon me, not
every seed germinates, nor does every plant bear fruit. But it
is equally true that by no means all the seeds that are scattered
are washed. The word that proceeds from the
mouth of Jehovah never returns to him empty. The prophets. that Paul ultimately sought there
was the fruit of his ministry, the conversion or edification
of those to whom he preached, which is precisely the. The image
you get from the parable of the soils that some spring up and
they bear fruit, some 30, some 60, some hundred fold. Paul desired
to see some fruit of his ministry among the Roman Christians, that
was the great aspiration that he had wherever he went in serving
the Lord, which was really an answer to the Lord’s own prayer. In John 15, 16, Jesus reminded
his apostles, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed
you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would
remain. And Paul’s thinking, what was
all included in this fruit? You say, was it just converts?
Or was it the edification, that second ministry of the gospel,
the building up of the faith? It was both. If you think of growth and spiritual
knowledge, Paul was certainly all about that. Ephesians 117,
the prayer there that God, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Christ, the father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom
and revelation and the knowledge of him. Paul didn’t want his
church’s ignorant. Paul didn’t want spiritual pygmies. Paul wanted robust, knowledgeable
believers. Later on in that same epistle,
Ephesians 4, 12, where he prayed for the equipping of the saints
for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ. Paul didn’t want weakling Christians. To the Colossians, he wrote,
for this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not
ceased to pray for you to ask that you may be filled with the
knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
So Paul was certainly about the edification of the saints, but
Paul was also all about. Seeing souls saved. Having those
come to Christ. And so you can’t dichotomize
and say that Paul only wanted a particular kind of fruit among
the Romans. If you glance down later on,
it says that he desired to preach the gospel there in Rome. You
see, we’ll see there it points to the fact that what Paul really
wanted there was to make more converts. Maybe he doubted the
work that was already there. Not so. Paul wanted to build
them up and he wanted to build them up by means of the gospel,
and which of us here this morning today doesn’t need the gospel? We continue to need the gospel,
not to receive it as we did at the first, but to be reminded
of what Christ did on our behalf, the sacrifice that he made. The duty that is incumbent upon
us as followers of Christ. Paul didn’t have an isolated
desire in mind when he appealed and pleaded to God to allow him
to go to Rome. He said he had a set and specific
purpose to go and to bear fruit. Fruit of converts and fruit of
the edification of the saints, perhaps further establishing
the church in Rome. But there was only one problem. He had been prevented. He had
been absolutely stymied in his attempt to go to Rome. Look back
again at verse 13. I do not want you to be unaware,
brethren, that I often have planned to come to you and have been
prevented thus far. That’s a solemn statement. It’s
a humble statement. He wanted them to know this.
Remember the formula that he uses. I don’t want you to be
unaware. I’ve got to put forth this newsflash. I have to have
you know this. Listen to me. I’ve been prevented. There was a need there in Rome.
Paul knew it and Paul acknowledged it. Paul wanted to go and to
fill it. The openness was there on the part of the Roman church
in the sense they’re tapping their foot, waiting for him.
The desire obviously was there in Paul’s heart to visit a desire
that had been sustained for almost 20 years. The request was there
on God’s throne at God’s feet. For the privilege for Paul to
be able to go to Rome, Paul had asked repeatedly of God. The preparation was there by
Paul in this planning. He had laid out his binder. He
had mapped out his course. He had an itinerary. And he was prevented. Does that sound familiar? It
should. Between us, we could think of
a thousand things. that we had desired, asked for,
planned for, mapped out, carefully calculated in which we eventually
did not receive or were not permitted. It is one of the features of
life, isn’t it? Some of these things are noble
things, good things. And we go before God and we can
lay this out and we wrestle with him as Jacob did the angel. And
we do not understand God’s answer of no or wait or maybe. We don’t
understand that because what we’re arguing for is so good
and so right. And it seems so perfect. To our finite minds. Stephen Sharnock called it presumption. He said, presumption is an invasion
of God’s dominion. Isn’t that powerful? It’s an invasion of God’s dominion. It’s as it were bursting into
God’s throne and telling him that we know better what life
should be like than he does. Presumption, he says, is an invasion
of God’s dominion when we resolve without thinking of the necessity
of a divine license, permission, as if ourselves were the lords
of our time and of our lives, and if God were to serve us when
we presume upon our own strength or wit to get the better of our
adversaries when we are assertive in the expectations of success. When we lay out plans and we
do not submit them to God, that’s presumptuousness, Sharnock says. And Paul doesn’t give us a whole
lot of detail here. Paul doesn’t say that Satan thwarted
him or that he had been sick or that he lacked the funds.
It just says that he had been prevented. The word here translated
hindered gives us absolutely no real clue as to the particular
circumstances that prevented Paul from visiting Rome. It’s
a strong word. It’s a definitive word translated
variously throughout the New Testament. To hinder, to prevent,
to forbid, to withhold, to refuse, to stand in the way, to keep,
to restrain. Listen to just a few of them
in context. Matthew 19, 14. Let the children
alone and do not hinder them, apostles, from coming to me. Luke 629, who takes he who takes
away your coat, do not withhold your shirt either. Don’t hang
onto it. Don’t hinder them from taking your shirt. Luke 23. The accusation that Jesus faced,
this man is misleading our nation, nation forbidding, keeping back,
holding others from paying taxes to Caesar. The Ethiopian eunuch, upon his
conversion, looked to Philip and said, look, water, what prevents
me? What holds me back from being
baptized? You get the picture. It is a
general word, but it’s a strong word. There’s no question left
that Paul was absolutely hindered and prevented from doing what
he purposed to do. But he doesn’t tell us why or
what or how. There’s a similar statement in
First Thessalonians 2.8, which tells us that Paul could have
opened the door of information to us. He could have told us
exactly why he was hindered. That’s what he did to the Thessalonians. He said, we wanted to come to
you, I Paul, more than once, and yet Satan hindered us. It
was the devil’s fault. No doubt the devil can thwart
many of our plans, much of our motives. Paul refers to Satan
as having hindered him, but here in Romans. With reference to
these hindrances, perhaps of a different sort, he seems to
allow for the thought of God being at work, doesn’t he? And
that one really frustrates us. Satan, we can understand thwarting
our precious plans, but God? That really bugs us. Because
God should know us better and should have our life figured
out. He should know what it is we
want to do. What we have purpose to do really is the best. Somebody
said one time, be careful what you pray for. And thank God that
God doesn’t always give us what we think we want. Instead of definitively blaming
Satan here, which still falls under the purview of God’s sovereign
plan, even if God allows Satan to thwart our efforts, ultimately
it fits into God’s plan, doesn’t it? But here he uses the passive
and he simply says he was hindered without any hint as to who and
why. Same thing in Romans 15, 22, for this reason, I have often
been prevented in coming to you doesn’t give him any hint. As one said. It is probable that
the hindering to which he refers was the incessant call for apostolic
labor. which left no time at his command. As, however, his course seems
to have been under the guidance of a special providence, it may
have been that the spirit who had it may have been that the
spirit who had forbidden his preaching in Asia also had forbidden
his preaching in Rome. We don’t know what the situation
was. It’s left undefined. I want to take you to a passage
of scripture in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 16, just briefly. In Acts 16, I think this is where
Paul got his lesson on who was going to call the shots, who
was going to ordain his plans. Paul came across a sovereign
God in Acts 16. Glance down at verse 6, if you
would. where it just records that they, that is Paul and his
companions, passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region,
having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word
in Asia. And after they came to Mycenae,
they were trying to go into Bithynia and the Spirit of Jesus did not
permit them. We’re not given any other details
about this. We’re not told how the Spirit forbade them or why.
We’re not told how or why the Spirit did not permit them. Essentially, what was happening
here is Paul was proceeding. In a northwesterly direction.
Heading for Galatia and that general region, any purpose essentially
to make a left turn and to turn into Asia. And it says the spirit did not
permit it. Now, it wasn’t that God didn’t want ministry done
there in Asia, because if you remember, there’s a little church
there by the name of Ephesus. The church in Ephesus was already
established. It’s not that God didn’t want
work done there. But there were other towns along
the way, Troas, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, and for some reason in
God’s providence, God said, no, not here, not now. And so if
you’re if you’re able to glance at a map, essentially what Paul
wants to do is take a right turn. And God says, no. He wants to
go to Bithynia and it just says the spirit did not permit him. We don’t know why. We know that
that would constitute a right turn, but. God, for some reason,
for some Purpose that only he had disallows Paul from taking
that. One wrote of Paul that as a missionary,
Paul showed an extraordinary combination of strategic planning
and a keen sensitiveness to the guidance of the Spirit of God.
However, that guidance was conveyed, whether prophetic utterance,
inward prompting, the overruling of circumstances, Paul was sensitive
to God. We don’t know that God had to
stand an angel directly in his path and forbid him from those
turns. We know that ultimately, God
drew him across to Macedonia and the gospel spread from there. We would do well to learn from
Paul’s example here. I think this is where Paul learned
of the sovereignty of God and the planning of our course. That
just as Proverbs says, the mind of man plans his way, but the
Lord directs his steps. Isn’t that right? As John Calvin
said regarding this situation in Rome, the Lord frequently
upsets the purposes of his saints in order to humble them and by
such humiliation to teach them to regard his providence that
they may rely on it. Though the same to design nothing
without the Lord’s will cannot be driven away from their purposes,
it is indeed the presumption of impiety to pass by God and
without him to determine on things to come as though they were in
our own power. Did you get that? Essentially,
he said it is just downright rude. Who do we think we are? To think that we can conduct
our course without God. James said it, if possible, even
more pointedly than Calvin. Come now. You who say today or
tomorrow we will go. To such and such a city and spend
a year there and engage in a business and make a profit. Yet you do
not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just
a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live
and also do this or that. You see, Paul had learned to
apply the essential principle. If the Lord wills. And in the
case of visiting Rome, the Lord had not willed. To the Corinthians,
Paul said, I wish to come to you soon, if the Lord wills. At the end of that epistle, he
reiterates it. I do not wish to see you now
just in passing, for I hope to remain with you for some time,
if the Lord wills. In the Book of Acts, it records
him saying that he desired to take leave of them, saying, I
will return to you again if God wills. It’s not a formula. It’s a mindset of submission
to the God of Scripture, to the God whose plan of redemption
this is. He wrote it. As one Puritan said, consider
the sovereignty and dominion of the providence of the Lord
That he can blast your enterprise, though managed with ever so much
wisdom and planning. He usually frustrates proud men
that boast of what they will do and conceive of their unlimited
purposes. God, first and foremost, is the
God of the gospel. God is the is the sovereign over
all of our planning and all of our efforts. We don’t know in
Paul’s case whether it was money or sickness or partnership, a
lack thereof, persecution or weather. But in our case. A lot of times we have a plan. We know exactly what we want
to get accomplished. And God seemingly thwarts that
plan. And our passion for the ministry
of the gospel withers with it. It shouldn’t be. It shouldn’t
be. When our well-designed, noble
plans are derailed, at least from our earthly perspective,
do we consider that redirection of God as God-ordained opportunity? Do we open our eyes to new and
different opportunity or do we shut down entirely in a form
of unsanctified pouting? There’s another principle in
the preaching of the good news. Not only is it supplied with
sovereign guidance, secondly, it is enjoined with solemn duty. And this is what makes us so
uncomfortable when I come to you and I tell you that. Evangelism
is a duty. I’m not bringing you any news,
I’m not telling you anything you don’t know, you’re already
under conviction, as we all are. None of us could say that we
have evangelized enough this past week, that we have wholeheartedly
shared the gospel with any and all that we came across. Nevertheless, Paul lays it out. Verse 14, he says, I am under
obligation. I’m under obligation both to
Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish.
I’m under obligation. Paul says that he had a debt
to pay. This word speaks of an obligation
that must be met or discharged as one defined it. It is a particularly
strong word denoting one who is indebted to someone else monetarily. It is used in that exact sense
in the Lord’s Prayer, right? Forgive us our debts as we have
forgiven our debtors. In the parable of the unmerciful
slave, which parable we looked at several weeks ago, the parable
of the ten million dollar sin. When the king began to settle
his debts, there was one who owed him ten thousand talents. And Paul uses this word to speak
of the absolute obligation one would have in trying to live
up to the standard of the law. Galatians 5 3, he says, I testify
again to every man who received circumcision, that he is under
obligation to keep the whole law. This is a powerful word. Paul knows that he’s a debtor.
That he has an absolute obligation. In the sense that God had laid
this solemn duty upon himself, he had a debt to These Greek
speaking people, these barbarians and to the rest. And Paul’s desire
to come to Rome was really formulated out of that kind of sense of
obligation that wasn’t lost on Paul. He says both to the Greeks
and to the barbarians, to the wise and to the foolish. Now,
I could take this apart. Five different ways, at least,
as to who he’s pointing to. Is it the whole of mankind that
he has in view? Are there different groups? Is
it only the Gentiles that he has in view? Only the Greek speaking
Gentiles? I think one said it well when
he said Paul’s commission was a general one that was confined
to no one nation, to no particular class. Greeks and barbarians
means all nations. Wise and unwise means all classes. The apostle distinguishes men
first as nations, Greeks and non Greeks, and secondly, as
to culture, wise and unwise. Paul says, look, I’m under obligation
to God to go and preach the gospel, whoever I come across. Whatever
language they speak, whatever social class they fit into, I
am under obligation. As one said it, Paul was their
debtor, not by any right that the Greeks or barbarians had
acquired over him. Paul wasn’t indebted to them.
He was under obligation to God who had saved him. The foundation of this duty was
not in those whom he desired to serve, but in God. And the
force of this obligation was so much stronger as it was divine. It would be one thing to have
been sent by a king, but Paul acknowledges that he was sent
by God. It’s not a suggestion that he
go and preach the gospel, it was an absolute divine mandate. And you say, well, yeah, That’s
good. That’s nice. That was Paul. Yes, and Jesus said similar words
to you. Luke 12, eight, I say to you,
everyone who confesses me before men, the Son of Man will confess
him also before the angels of God. Evangelism is our duty. Sometimes for shock value, you’ve
heard me say, you know what? We are never commanded to evangelize
in Scripture. And I use that for shock value,
because in essence, if you want to take that word evangelism,
it is never used in the imperative. That little word never tells
you go evangelize. It assumes that you will. The
whole of Scripture assumes that this good news that has been
given to you for nothing because of who you are, For nothing good
in you, purely by the grace of God, that good news trickled
down to you. It assumes that you will take that
good news and go and share it with friends and loved ones,
neighbors and strangers. It is a duty that is incumbent
upon all believers, not just the clergy. As one said it, I’m going to pass that by. I
want to go straight to something I wrote several years ago. Scripture is clear that we’re
commanded to proclaim the good news. It doesn’t have to use
that word evangelism in the imperative to lay out to us that it’s a
solemn duty for all of us, not just Paul. To proclaim the good
news of forgiveness and salvation through Jesus Christ is a privilege
and a duty. And so years ago, I wrote what
I what I identified as five pillars of biblical gospel testimony,
and I just want you to listen to them. Maybe I’ll print them
someday. The first thing that we need, if we’re going to go
proclaim the gospel and it is our duty, is a genuine, legitimate
concern for their souls. This is not a game. Their souls hang in the balance.
And unless we have a genuine concern for their souls and it
should be a legitimate concern, We’ll never go. We’ll never open
our mouth. We’ll never share. Secondly,
we should have a prayerful dependence upon a sovereign God, knowing
that it is him who does the work of salvation. If our words aren’t
attended by the spirit, if the spirit doesn’t unlock their heart,
we labor in vain. Thirdly, we should have a clear,
irreproachable, gospel enhancing testimony. We’re never going
to be perfect, but if our lives don’t testify to what it is we
proclaim, changed lives, save it. Fourthly, we should
have a friendly but careful interaction, never participating in or making
light of their sin. We cannot help but be around
sinners But we don’t have to imbibe in their sinfulness. We’ve got to be around them in
order to take the gospel to them. We don’t have to be tainted by
their sin. Number five, we need a commitment to sharing the truth. Remembering that the gospel is
the power of God for salvation, not our relationship with them,
not our good testimony, not our good standing in the community.
It’s the gospel that’s going to save them. And so I ask you,
do we consider the sharing of our faith? Do you consider evangelism
the proclamation of God’s word as an obligation, a duty? It
is a privilege, it is indeed a blessing, but it’s also an
obligation, a duty. Thirdly, this morning, and I
can close with this. The ministry of preaching the
good news is not only supplied with sovereign guidance and enjoined
with a solemn duty, it is attended with sincere enthusiasm. And this almost didn’t even need
to be said, but the fact that he said it makes us to pause
and ponder upon it. Look at verse 15. Paul says,
thus, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also
who are at Rome. I can’t wait. I’m stirred up
so far as my part, so far as I have to do with it. Knowing
full well that I don’t direct my own steps, I don’t call my
own shots, God is sovereign over this plan of redemption and I’m
just a part of it. But as far as I am, as far as
it’s in me, I am ready. I am eager. Paul’s eagerness
here. is something that he wants them
to be aware of, that he could not wait to come and to be in
Rome. But this word, not only, as one
said, does it deny any reluctance. In other words, Paul didn’t want
to just take away this thought that he might be dragging his
feet, but it affirms a positive forwardness, a readiness of mind. In Matthew 26, the word Jesus used the word to speak
of the eagerness of spirits, our spirits, to obey God, even
though our flesh may be lagging behind. The spirit is willing,
eager. We sometimes make plans and aspirations
and statements that our flesh has no interest in upholding,
right? That’s what Jesus said. The spirit
is willing, it’s eager, but the flesh is weak. You parents will know this. Sometimes
we ask the children to do a chore, right? We ask the children to
do a chore. And in our home, when we ask
them to do a chore, we ask them to do the chore with a joyful
heart, with eagerness. You see, in Paul’s case, Paul’s
emotions had caught up with his apprehension of duty. Paul knew
the duty. It was absolutely incumbent upon Paul to do what God had
asked him to do. He was ready. He was there. But
his emotions had caught up with him as well. And not only was
it duty, he was eager. Paul was zealous. Paul was on
fire to go and to serve God with exactly what he had been called
to do. As one said it, Paul was always
zealous to do his duty, an example which Christians ought to imitate
on all occasions. Never to deviate from the path
of duty, but to lead the events in the hands of God. Christians
are often more anxious and perplexed about their successes than with
respect of their duty. What he says there is sometimes
we get bogged down in our duty, that our emotions don’t follow,
that we’re not eager, that we go through that great privilege
of proclaiming Christ with the same drudgery that some children
do with their household chores. Are we eager? Are we eager to
please God? Are we eager to serve God in
the capacity of opening our mouths and proclaiming the same wonderful
news that saved our souls? That Jesus Christ died on the
cross for you and I to pay our penalty for sin. Shouldn’t we
be eager? One Puritan said, let self be
forgotten. Let your eyes be fixed on God. Let the promotion of His glory
be your object in all that you do. Strive in everything to act
in such a way that men may praise the God whom you profess to serve.
Let’s examine our hearts beforehand. Our Heavenly Father, We know
that discussions of evangelism are often uncomfortable because
we tend to be so unfaithful in this department of our life,
not unlike prayerfulness or giving. And father, we pray that your
grace would attend our concern. That you would finish the work
that you’ve begun In us this morning. Not just conviction
over these things, but father, take it all the way with us.
Open our hearts to pray for the lost. Open our mouths to share
the good news. Lord God, we pray. That you would
make us a people. that sees his hold of this, not
just as a duty out of some kind of course obligation, but as
a joy to tell people about the Savior who died for sinners. Lord God, we ask your rich blessing
and we submit our plans to you. We pray that you would gently
guide us and open doors of opportunity for us. For your glory. It’s in Jesus name that we pray. Amen.