A radical preacher Romans 1:13-17
13 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 among the other Gentiles. 14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. 15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.
16 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. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
So far, in the previous verses we’ve seen beginning in verse 1, the attributes of a bondservant and these servants were hard workers; they were humble and they were obedient to God and His word. And then in verse 7 we saw where we’re not only loved beyond imagination but we’re also called to be saints because God had bestowed His grace on us and this results in peace.
And then in verses 8-12 we saw Paul’s love for the Romans who he had never met and how grateful he was they were not only saved but excited about evangelism, and his prayer to God and the desire of his heart was to visit with them, so they could mutually encourage one another.
And today in verses 13-17 we’ll see,
1 Paul’s desire to visit Rome.
2 His debt to all people regardless of race
3 His drive to reach all people everywhere.
Paul has been in ministry for approximately 15 years by the time the book of Romans was written and some suggest he may have written it while he was on his third missionary journey. He was obviously excited about the things he heard about the Roman church where Jesus was not only being preached in the very seat of imperial power but the gospel had been so effective there that it had gone out throughout the Roman empire.
I Paul’s desire to visit Rome. Verse 13.
He says I often planned to come to you. So, this was something he had wanted to do for a long time. He mentioned it in Acts 19:21 where it says, “Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. "After I have been there," he said, "I must visit Rome also." So, he wanted to go to Rome and not because it was some kind of holy place but because it was considered to be the economic and political center of the world.
As a kid growing up in Cape Breton, I had spent my younger years from about four to seven in Toronto and when I got to Cape Breton all the kids wanted to know, what it was like living in such a huge metropolis like Toronto. Back then if people went to Toronto for a holiday, you would read about it in the Cape Breton Post. Toronto was Rome to the people of Cape Breton.
But Paul wasn’t looking for the tourist experience but what excited him was that he had heard of the spiritual impact this church was having and he wanted to share in both the giving and the receiving of God’s blessing.
So, Paul was really looking forward to going there and he knew God wanted him to go, but God had other plans and these plans would include not only when he went but how he’d get there. And the background for his travels begins in the book of Acts.
We’re told that when he had gone to Jerusalem to observe the day of Pentecost and while he was there he took part in some purification rites and a mob arrested him and actually tried to kill him thinking he had brought gentiles into the temple which he didn’t do but a near riot took place and the Roman guards intervened and rescued him but while he was being carried away he asked the captain if he could speak and then he gave his testimony from the top of the stairs, but when he told them that God was sending him to the gentiles they all went crazy and he had to be carried into the barracks.
As he was being held there he had a trial of sorts before the Jewish leadership and then some of the Jews had planned to kill him but his nephew heard about it and told Paul who had him tell the Captain and the Captain sent him to Caesarea and there he had a second trial before Felix who held him for two years and then he was replaced by Festus who tried to send him to Jerusalem but Paul knowing the Jews intended to kill him appealed to Caesar. Then a third trial of sorts was held before King Agrippa, who was accompanied by his queen who was also his sister Bernice and Festus, as well as the most important and influential people of Roman society.
From there he sent by ship to Rome and while on ship he not only witnessed to the Roman soldiers and owners but everyone else on board as well. They went through a fourteen-day storm where the ship sunk and they all managed to swim to shore on the island of Malta, where he healed the father of the head of the island and then had opportunity to witness to everyone there as well.
And when he finally arrived in Rome, he was allowed to not only rent a private house but had a personal guard and the freedom to meet and witness to the leading Jews of the city.
Had he simply had gone to Rome the way he wanted to; he would have missed the opportunity of sharing the gospel with thousands of people.
So, the reason he told the Romans he wanted to visit them was so he might have some fruit not only with the people of the church, but also among the other Gentiles as well.
But what is this fruit he speaks of? Well, when we repent of sin, the natural thing for all of us to do is to produce fruit and there are several ways this fruit is described in scripture.
First, there’s the fruit of winning others to Jesus and some people are better at it or more gifted than others and yet, we’re all called to be a testimony for Jesus, and that means in our homes, in our neighborhoods, when we’re at work or school or even when we’re involved with others in some kind of outreach. It’s taking the opportunity to tell others what Jesus means to you.
And second, there’s the fruit of the Spirit which is listed in Galatians 5:22,23 where it says; “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance” and each and everyone of us need to be growing in these areas because these are nothing less than the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
A third fruit is the fruit of generosity which Paul mentions in Romans 15:28 when he was gathering a collection for the poor and this refers to our giving as fruit and tells us that each of us needs to be sensitive to the needs of those around us. A lot of times we think the gift of giving is given to the wealthy but I think God often gives it to the poor and by their giving He shames the wealthy. Do you remember Jesus pointing out the woman who gave either fifty cents or a dollar when everyone else was giving a ton of money? He said she gave more than all of them because she gave out of her need.
We have tithed almost since we were saved and we have given a lot of money over the years but there have been a few times when the Lord called me to give very little but it was all I had and those times were times of teaching me to trust Him.
And then finally, there’s the fruit of good works and God has enabled all of us to do something. Some have one gift while others may have as many as ten but we all need to be faithful in using whatever gifts we have to glorify God.
“Henry Van Dyke said “Use what talents you possess, the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.”
The problem with gifts is they can be abused. I’ve seen several who have been called to preach who seemed to have the right motives; but as soon as the money started flowing or even the recognition that comes with success, they forgot about their calling and no longer are trying to reach the world but have decided they’d rather own it. Listen, the gifts of God are God’s gifts and they’re to be used to glorify Him and not ourselves because when the passion for material things becomes our god, preaching becomes just another way of making money.
The amazing thing is that wealthy believers are drawn to these preachers because they want to be part of a successful ministry; I think many of them have never felt they had accomplished anything spiritual and so, they want jump on the spiritual success train that’s being driven by their preacher.
Listen, Satan hasn’t changed his tactics since the garden of Eden. He wants to do everything in his power to stop us from coming to God but when we do, then he’ll do everything he can to stop us from sharing the good news with others.
I think he especially loves attacking new believers because he knows that new believers are still excited about being saved; and he wants to keep them quiet. He knows he can’t take away their salvation but he certainly doesn’t them spreading it around.
And when we go through difficulties which we all do; he likes to tells us that God doesn’t love us; and if He did then these trials wouldn’t happen or that He probably doesn’t care because we weren’t worth saving in the first place. And then he says, why would you waste your time trying to live for Him?
And then he tells us that the people we’re so concerned about aren’t worth wasting our time and reputation and not only that but the other believers are nothing but social losers. And if we listen to him, he’ll destroy any hope of fellowship or encouragement that we’ll get from other believers.
Listen, Satan will tempt us to say, do, or think anything that will get us off track spiritually.
So, when Paul says, “Satan hindered us” he means he was doing everything he could to oppose Paul’s ministry because he knew that when people got saved in one city then their message would just keep going and going ; which is what it is supposed to do.
There always seems to be some sort of news of a scandal or shameful practices concerning professing Christians.
And the questions come. Why? How did this happen? Is this an attack of the devil? Couldn’t God have done something to stop it? I remember hearing John MacArthur say, “Nobody just falls out of a tree. They climb up in it, they move around a bit, and then they fall out.” His point is obvious: this wasn’t something that happened overnight.
There’s an interesting man named Demas who not only ministered with Paul but was also mentioned by Paul on three different occasions.
He refers to Demas as a “fellow worker” in the gospel in Colossians 4:14 and then again in Philemon 1:24 but in 2 Timothy 4:10 he says, “Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.”
Some have suggested that Demas had walked past the beautiful homes in Thessalonica and saw all the action on the streets on the way to visit Paul in prison and if this is true then he was constantly confronted with the choice between ending his life in prison or living in a place like Thessalonica and Thessalonica won.
This world has three ways of drawing the believer away from the Lord. First, there is the lust of the flesh, second, the lust of the eyes, and third, there’s the pride of life. The lust of the flesh, has to do with the gratification of the flesh (whatever makes me feel good physically). It would include things we know are wrong as well as things that are wrong for us.
The second category is the lust of the eyes or the things I want that I think will make me happy. These include seeing what others have and desiring them even though God in His wisdom has forbidden them.
The final category is the pride of life and this is simply the arrogant attitude of anyone bragging about themselves, their accomplishments, or their possessions. We don’t know what Demas’ love for the world was but it fell into at least one or more of these three categories.
Listen, no matter where we are in life, we can become prisoners of our own desires. There’s a story about two brothers, the oldest of them was the King. The younger brother had a lot of ambition and he had attempted to take over the throne but he didn’t succeed. As punishment for this rebellion he was put into prison where he stayed for many years.
There were many who thought his punishment was excessive and when they questioned the older brother, he would always say the same thing. He’d say, “My younger brother is free to leave this prison any time he wants to; go and have a look at his prison cell.”
Those who went to see the prison discovered that it had no door … and there was a twenty-inch opening on one side of the cell.
The problem was the younger brother was a very large man and he couldn’t resist his food. When he was in prison, he was given anything he wanted to eat and he decided to eat the food rather than make the sacrifice to become thin enough to fit through the door. So, he wasn’t his brother’s prisoner but he was a prisoner of his own appetite.
So, Paul says, Demas deserted him and went to Thessalonica and Thessalonica was a very busy city with a population of around 200,000. It was located along the trade route and all the world’s vices were on display and because Demas chose to love the world, he was overcome with desire to return to a worldly lifestyle. Listen, the things of this world are a powerful draw on any of us.
Paul’s desire was for the fruit of the kingdom and he knew he’d get his reward in due time but Demas and those like him want their just deserts in the here and now.
So, Paul’s desire was to visit Rome and his main motivation was the debt he felt for not only the church but also the surrounding areas. He wasn’t concerned about his own little corner but he realized that God saw everyone in every corner and was looking for someone to reach them. And like the prophet Isaiah Paul would say, “Here I am, send me.”
And then second, in verses 14-15 we see the debt he had for all people.
II His debt to all people
It says, “that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. 14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. 15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.”
He begins by emphasizing his burden for these believers and then expands his burden by referring to not only Gentiles but also to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise.
Now the church of Rome was probably started by Jews who travelled there and those who were reached were Greeks and Barbarians. Many of the Romans were transplants from other lands but everyone spoke Greek because Greek was the business language of the day. Obviously, some were born there but many had arrived from other places and he also refers to Barbarians and you have to understand that this wasn’t some kind of name calling but the barbarians were simply anyone who weren’t Romans and if you weren’t Roman you were considered to be uncivilized and many of these barbarians also had the reputation as thieves and they’d steal whatever they could.
In Acts 28 though Luke writes, "The barbarous or many translations use the word natives showed us no little kindness." So, these barbarians weren’t all considered savages – they just weren’t Romans and they probably didn’t speak Greek but they were kind and they were very helpful to those who had been shipwrecked.
So, Paul says he is debtor to the Greeks and barbarians, to the wise and the unwise. He saw himself as we should see ourselves indebted to share the gospel with everyone, whether it’s our next-door neighbor as well as those who are living on the streets.
About 350 years ago a shipload of travelers, with a vision for a better life, landed on the northeast coast of America. The first year they established a town site. The next year they elected a town government. The third year the town government planned to build a road five miles westward into the wilderness. In the fourth year the people tried to impeach the town government because they thought building the road was a waste of public funds. After all, they assumed, no one needed to go there anyway?
So, here were people who had the vision to see three thousand miles across an ocean and overcome great hardships to get there. But in just a few years they couldn’t see five miles out of town. They had lost their pioneering vision. And it’s easy to do.
We had a teacher in Bible College who told about a church he had pastored. He said a revival broke out in the area and there were so many people saved that their church was filled to capacity every service. So, they had a business meeting to discuss what they should do and he said one of the godliest old ladies who had been there since she was little girl said, “Why don’t we just tell these people to go somewhere else. This church was so much better when it was small.” She wasn’t a wicked person, just someone who had no vision.
Fred Craddock, who taught at Candler School of Theology, writes: “To give my life for Christ appears glorious. To pour myself out for others ... to pay the ultimate price of martyrdom — I’ll do it. I’m ready, Lord, to go out in a blaze of glory.
He said, “We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking a cheque for ten thousand dollars and laying it on the altar and saying, ‘Here’s my life, Lord. I’m giving it all.’ But the reality for most of us is that He sends us to the bank and has us cash the cheque and get quarters. And then we go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there. We do this by listening to the neighbor kid’s troubles instead of telling him, ‘To get lost.’ Or we go to another boring committee meeting where every little item has to be discussed to death. Or we could even give a cup of water to a shaky old man in a nursing home. Usually giving our life to Christ isn’t glorious. It’s done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time. It would be easy to go out in a flash of glory; but it’s much harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul.”
Listen, we all need the burden to reach the anybody as well as the everybody.
III We see Paul’s drive to reach anybody anywhere.
16 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. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.
There are things we do where we’re ashamed of. I once bought a George Forman grill, I used it once and put in the basement closet with a lot of other things I shouldn’t have even thought about buying. I once bought a green leisure suit and that was back when John Travolta looked great in a white one. Me not so much. It stayed in the closet with the George Forman grill until they both took a trip to the Good Will. There are also a lot of sins both major and minor that I am ashamed of. There are times when I have said something I soon regretted and other times when I should have spoken but acted the coward.
I guess that’s why we have such a high level of respect for the apostle Paul. He didn’t seem to care what anyone thought or said because he was always concerned about their eternal destination, and he knew that those who opposed him were on their way to hell and his message could affect their eternal destination.
So, if anyone is ashamed of the gospel you have to wonder if they’ve ever been saved or if they’ve been deceived into thinking it’s something very personal and private.
Paul was not ashamed of the gospel because he knew it was the power of God but what was this power for? It was the power of God for salvation.
There are many around today who have emphasized the power of God in terms of their ability to perform miracles; but I believe most of them are simply deceiving others while making money for themselves and claiming it’s for God.
I was reading about Peter Popoff who is a well-known faith healer and he was exposed when a TV show revealed how Popoff’s wife would go into the crowds before the service and interview various people who had come looking for healing and then she would repeat everything they said into a microphone that was transmitting into a little speaker that Popoff had in his ear. He would call the people by name and say what they were suffering from, giving the impression that he was getting his information from God. When all this came out in the news it had no effect whatsoever on the crowds and he’s still taking in twenty-three million a year.
But listen, Paul’s power was not for sale and when he died the only thing, he left behind were the books of the New Testament.
So, he wasn’t ashamed of the gospel because it was the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes.
And what does it mean to believe? I’ve had people point to a cross around their neck and say, “See, I believe.” But your belief is only as good as what you believe in and people who are trusting in a piece of jewelry are no better off than those who fly a flag for the Maple Leafs. It might be a nice gesture but it’s really not going to make a difference.
You can believe in God without actually trusting Him, without loving Him and without knowing Him. For example, in James 2:19 it says, “Satan and his demons believe that God exists.” So, they believe in the existence of God but they have no intention of submitting or obeying Him. I was visiting a man who said, “Don’t worry about me, me and the man upstairs are as thick as thieves.” Listen, if he really knew who God was, he would’ve begun by asking His forgiveness and submitting to Him.
Belief in God is just the beginning but then we need to put our faith in Him and His word, so He can transform our lives into whatever He wants us to be. It all begins with faith and faith manifolds itself into trust.
When we get in a car and turn the key, we trust that the car will not only start but will take us where we want to go. Some people know exactly what makes a car run, but others like myself don’t have a clue, but that doesn’t mean we don’t drive.
My first car was a 1963 Valiant and it was about fifteen years old at the time. One evening I was driving west along the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto on my way home when all of a sudden, the car sputtered and stalled. I drifted over to the side and lifted the hood like I’ve seen others do, except I didn’t have a clue as to what I was looking at.
In a few minutes a man stopped and asked me if I was out of gas but I said no that my gas gauge read a quarter tank. So, he was very mechanical and he took off the distributer cap and cleaned it out and then he checked the air filter and moved a few other things around and while he was doing all this another man pulled in behind us and asked if he could help.
The first guy told him what he had done and the second guy said he had a gas can, so he poured some gas in the carburetor and when I turned the key it started right up and then ran for a few seconds and quit. He said, “Your gas gauge is broken and you’re out of gas. He poured the rest of the can into the tank and after explaining how embarrassed I was and how grateful I was for their help I was on my way.
I don’t understand how engines work or even how to tell if the gauges are accurate but I still drive and faith is the same way. I can trust God to save me even though I don’t understand all the theological implications of salvation.
Listen, it’s as simple as this. I believe in Jesus who is the Son of God, He lived a perfect life, He died on the cross for our sins and then rose victoriously from the dead and someday He’s coming back and until that time I’m to serve Him in anticipation of His coming.
And then it says in verse 17, For in it, which refers to the gospel is the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.
The word righteousness is used in several different ways in the New Testament. Let me point out three.
First, it’s used to describe that characteristic of God by which He always does what is right, just, proper, and He’s always consistent with all His other attributes. So, when we say God is righteous, we’re saying there’s nothing wrong, dishonest, or unfair in Him. In other words, God can do no wrong because anything wrong is simply contrary to who He is.
Second, the righteousness of God can also refer to how God justifies sinners. He can do this and is still be righteous because Jesus was the sinless substitute who satisfied all the claims of divine justice. Someone had to pay for sin and He did.
And third, the righteousness of God refers to the perfect standing that God provides for those who believe on His Son. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
So, we who are sinful can be treated as though we were righteous because when God looks on us, He no longer sees our sin but He sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Martin Luther once said: “Christ never died for our good works because our good works were not worth dying for. But He gave himself for our sins, according to the Scriptures.”
So, we live by faith and faith alone and this truth led Martin Luther to write the five statements of the reformation, which were known as the 5 solas and they’re the backbone of Christianity and they’re all found in the Book of Romans.
Sola Gracia- By Grace alone
Sola Fide- by Faith Alone
Sola Christus- by Christ Alone
Sola Scriptura- by Scripture alone
Sola Deo Gloria- Glory to God alone
All five support the concept of faith we see in Roman’s 1:17 where it says “the just will live by faith.”
When we get to Romans 3 it says “all our righteousness is as filthy rags” which means that everything we could ever hope to show God to demonstrate how good we are will simply reveal how hopelessly lost we are.
Listen, we can look great, we can do great things, we can have a great reputation for being honest and hard-working but at the very core of our being we’re all still sinners.
We were all born in sin and given enough time and proper circumstances each of us are capable of committing the worst sin imaginable, so, it’s only by the grace of God that any of us are saved.
As someone said, “None of us can go back in time and make a brand-new start, but any of us can start today and make a brand-new ending.”
So, remember Paul had never been to Rome and when he wrote to them, he expected his visit would be brief because he was only planning to pass through and was looking forward to enjoying their fellowship and hoped they would help him on his journey to Spain.
But things didn't turn out as he expected, he took a longer road with many detours but God used him everywhere he went.
Close
Throughout the years I’ve heard people say, “I believe faith is a private matter and no one shouldn’t talk about it openly.” I think they’re entitled to their opinion, but if anyone really believes that, then their faith can’t be faith in Jesus because Jesus told us to confess our faith before others.
Now I believe our faith is personal but what that means is, that I can’t believe for you and no one else can believe for me. Each one of us has the responsibility to publicly confess our faith because the scripture says that when we acknowledge Jesus before others, He acknowledges us before His Father.
So, every time you let someone know you are a different person because of what Jesus has done for you, Jesus turns to the Father and says, “See that guy or girl they belong to me.”
