God Wants Us to Be Confident Christians
The Book of Romans
Romans 15:14-21
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared January 8, 2022)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to Romans 15:14. Most of you know that in Romans 1-11, Paul spelled out the truth about our terrible sinfulness and our desperate need for God's salvation. Paul made it clear that salvation can only come by God's grace through faith in our crucified and risen Savior Jesus Christ. This is the heart of the gospel or good news about Jesus. He died on the cross for all of our sins. Then three days later, Jesus rose again from the dead, and now He will give eternal life to everyone who will receive Him as their Lord and Savior.
*Romans 12 marked a big shift in Paul's letter to the believers in Rome. There he began to discuss how are we supposed to live this new life we have as Christians. But starting here in chapter 15, Paul opened his heart to discuss his future plans and pour out his affection for the Christians in Rome. Let's begin by reading Romans 15:14-21. And as we read, please think about being a confident Christian.
MESSAGE:
*There are some well-known acronyms in Christian life. Back in the 1990s, the most famous was W. W. J. D. -- "What Would Jesus Do?" Another acronym I remember is "Push," P. U. S. H. -- "Pray Until Something Happens." Here's another good acronym for prayer: It's A. C. T. S., "Acts" in prayer.
A is for Adoration.
C is for Confession.
T is for Thanksgiving.
S is for Supplication. That's making requests for ourselves and others. A.C.T.S. is a great pattern for prayer.
*But "frog," F. R. O. G. is the best acronym for the message today. That may sound strange, but F. R. O. G. is short for "Fully Rely On God." And that's what God wants us to do. God wants us to be fully confident Christians.
1. FIRST TODAY, WE CAN BE CONFIDENT IN THE GOODNESS GOD GIVES.
*We can be confident in the goodness God gives to everyone who receives Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. In vs. 14, this is the confidence that led Paul to say, "Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another."
*Notice that Paul called these Christians his "brothers." That was true even though Paul had never met most of them. And one of the great things about being a Christian is that we have an instant bond with believers all over the world.
*Most of us have experienced this blessing as Christians. Maybe it was on a vacation or a mission trip. Maybe it was somebody new at school or work. But we felt an instant bond of friendship and love, because we were fellow Christians. That's because we are all part of the family of God.
*But Paul also said these believers in Rome were "full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another." Here Paul was talking about the true goodness, the Heaven-sent goodness that comes to us when we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
*From a human point of view, we all know some lost people, non-Christians, who we would freely describe as good. They may be good neighbors with a measure of kindness, generosity, and honesty.
*But we must remember that all of our righteousness falls far short of the infinite goodness of God. That's why Isaiah 64:6 says, "We are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Also, in Romans 7:18 Paul testified that "in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells."
*But when we receive Jesus, we are born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us that "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." Galatians 5:22 also tells us that part of the fruit of God's Spirit in our lives is godly goodness. And that's why we can generally trust other Christians to be good.
*Of course, there are false brethren, and Paul faced them too. Plus, all of us fall short of the glory of God, so we can let each other down, and sometimes we do. We all need to grow stronger in the Lord.
*When we trusted in Jesus we were born again as children of God. But all babies need to grow, and God wants us to grow up spiritually. In 2 Peter 3:18 the Bible tells us to "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen."
*Even if we have been a Christian for fifty years, we're not perfect yet. So, we all have to keep growing as Christians. And thank God, we can! One of the ways God helps us grow is by admonishing one another. That's why in vs. 14 Paul was glad the Roman Christians were "filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another."
*Here, Paul was basically saying, "Church, you are good. You are very good. But as good as you are, there are some things you need to work on. And thankfully, you can admonish one another."
*God also wants us to "admonish one another." But this doesn't mean finger waving, condescending, or nagging other people. "Admonishing one another" means gently warning and instructing each other. It means lovingly reminding each other of the things that we should and shouldn't do.
*Thank God we can grow as Christians! Thank God we can be better than we used to be!
*Dr. Clyde Turner told about a little boy in Sunday School when Clyde was the pastor at First Baptist Church in Greensboro, Kentucky. This little boy was an unholy terror. Nobody knew what to do with him. And finally, he stopped coming to Sunday School. Dr. Turner later admitted, "I am ashamed to say it, but I think we were all glad of it."
*Nobody made a special effort to get the little boy back, but one day they were having a meeting in the sanctuary. And that little boy came running down the aisle with a violin case under his arm. "Dr. Turner!" he said, "They gave me a fiddle for being good."
*Dr. Turner thought, "In the first place, I could imagine nobody giving him a fiddle, and in the second place, certainly not for being good." The little boy sensed the wonder on the pastor's face, and he explained, "You see, doctor, I'm gooder than I used to be."
*Then as the boy raced down the hall, Dr. Turner thought, "Yes, thank God, by the grace of God a lot of us are gooder than we used to be." (1)
*God wants all of us to be confident Christians, and we can be confident in the goodness God gives to everyone who receives Jesus as Lord and Savior.
2. WE CAN ALSO BE CONFIDENT IN GOD'S GRACE.
*We can have total confidence in God's amazing grace! We can have the same confidence Paul had in vs. 15-17 where he said:
15. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points, as reminding you, BECAUSE OF THE GRACE GIVEN TO ME BY GOD,
16. that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
17. Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God.
*Here Paul affirmed that every good thing he ever did came from God's amazing grace. Every word he wrote in the Bible came from the grace given to him by God. Every church Paul started came from God's grace. Every soul Paul led to the Lord came from God's grace.
*And one of the many things we can admire about Paul is this: He never got over the grace of God. The word "grace" is found 131 times in the New Testament, and 99 of those times are in Paul's Letters!
[1] THINK ABOUT GOD'S GRACE IN PAUL'S LIFE.
*Did Paul need grace? Most certainly he did. In Philippians 3, Paul said that if anybody could have been saved by keeping the Old Testament Law, it would have been him. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, but all of that was garbage compared to the grace Paul found in the cross of Jesus Christ.
*It also helps to remember that before he met our risen Savior on the road to Damascus, Paul did everything he could to terrorize early Christians. He was a radical fanatic against Jesus. Here is part of his testimony:
*In Acts 22:3-4, Paul said:
3. "I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers' law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today.
4. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women,"
*Then in Acts 26:10-11, Paul said:
10. "This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.
11. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities."
*Paul hated Christians as much as Osama bin Laden or any radical Muslim terrorist does today. No wonder that in 1 Timothy 1:15 Paul would say, "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief."
*Paul never got over the grace of God, so with all that he later did for the cause of Christ, Paul never took the credit for himself. In Ephesians 3:8, Paul said, "To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."
*And in 1 Corinthians 15:9-10, Paul said, "I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."
*"I am what I am by the grace of God." Paul never got over God's grace. He never got over how much God loved him, how much Jesus had done for Him on the cross, and how much the Lord did for him on the road to Damascus.
[2] THAT'S GOD'S GRACE IN PAUL'S LIFE. NOW THINK ABOUT GOD'S GRACE IN OUR LIVES.
*In Ephesians 1:2-7, Paul stressed God's grace in the lives of all Christians. There Paul said:
2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
4. just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
5. having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
6. to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.
7. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.
*God loves us so much that He even sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus took our punishment, and gives us full forgiveness, according to the infinite riches of His grace!
*That's why Romans 3:21-24 can say:
21. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22. even the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;
23. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24. being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
*Then in 2 Corinthians 8:9, Paul said, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich."
*Church: All of the wonderful things we will have forever could only come through the amazing grace of God! And we can be fully confident in His grace.
3. WE CAN ALSO BE FULLY CONFIDENT IN THE GOSPEL.
*The Apostle Paul was as confident in the gospel as anyone could possibly be. And we see his confidence in vs. 16-19. Here Paul tells us that God's grace was given:
16. that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the GOSPEL of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
17. Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God.
18. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient
19. in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the GOSPEL of Christ.
*How confident was Paul in the gospel of Jesus Christ? In vs. 16, Paul was so confident that he devoted his whole life to "ministering the gospel of God."
*Paul was totally confident that the gospel would save all the Gentiles who believed in Jesus. And those saved people made up the "offering of the Gentiles" Paul talked about in vs. 16. He was talking about millions of saved people, offered up to God "acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit." That's how confident Paul was in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then in vs. 18, Paul was confident that the gospel would "make the Gentiles obedient" to God.
*John Smithson told the story of a young girl who grew up in California during the Great Depression. When she was 10, her family was so poor, they lived in a tent. Her home life was horrible. Her father was an alcoholic, and her sisters were prostitutes.
*But one day a man and woman came and invited that girl to church. Then they started taking her to church. After church, they would also take the girl home with them to feed her and visit with her. They showed this young girl the love and mercy of Jesus Christ. And because of this, she eventually came to know the Lord.
*Pastor John told that story and then said, "This little girl was my grandmother. And because of the love shown to her 55 years ago, every one of her descendants are Christians and working for God. Because of her, I am here. All three children pastor churches. Three grandchildren pastor churches, plus music leaders and Sunday School teachers, -- a whole army of Christians from one person!" (2)
*That is the power of the gospel to make people obedient to God. And Paul was totally confident in the gospel of Jesus Christ! In vs. 19, Paul was so confident that he had already "fully preached the gospel of Christ" all the way "from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum."
*Church: Illyricum was just across the Adriatic Sea from Italy, and we know that eventually Paul made it to Rome. Christian tradition also tells us that Paul went as far as Spain, and some think he may have gone all the way to Britain!
*Paul was so confident that he went everywhere he possibly could to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and so confident that he even laid down his life for the gospel. And what is the gospel? Again, it is simply the good news about Jesus Christ!
*Paul summed it up for us in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. There he was speaking to Christians and said:
1. Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
2. by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you unless you believed in vain.
3. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4. and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
*God wants all of us to be confident Christians. And we can be fully confident in the good news about our crucified and risen Savior!
4. MOST OF ALL WE CAN BE CONFIDENT IN HIM!
*Paul's ultimate confidence was in the God who gave us His goodness, His grace, and His gospel. In today's Scripture, we can see that Paul put his ultimate confidence in God.
*For example, in vs. 17, Paul said: "I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God." Paul didn't glory in himself. He gloried in the Lord God! Then in vs. 18, Paul said, "I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient."
*Paul wasn't boasting on himself in this verse. In fact, he was humble. Paul wanted the Romans to know that he would never pad his resume by making up false accomplishments. That was something the false teachers often did. Paul also made sure to not take credit for any of the work accomplished by Peter or the other apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
*His ultimate goal was to give the credit for everything he had done to God. Paul knew that all the things he accomplished were really accomplished by Christ through His Apostle Paul. And yes, in vs. 19, sometimes Paul's work included "mighty signs and wonders. But all of those miracles came "by the power of the Spirit of God."
*Next in vs. 20-21, Paul said:
20. And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation,
21. but as it is written: "To whom He was not announced, they shall see; and those who have not heard shall understand.''
*Verse 21 is from Isaiah 52:13-15. There God's Word talks about the coming Savior and says:
13. Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.
14. Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men;
15. So shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; for what had not been told them they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall consider (or understand).
*God wanted Paul to preach where no one ever preached before, and one reason why was to fulfill this prophecy from Isaiah 52. Paul knew that. And no matter wherever or whenever Paul accomplished anything for the gospel of Jesus Christ, He was very careful to give all the glory to God. Why? Because all the glory belongs to God! That's why in Galatians 6:14 Paul said, "God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." (3)
CONCLUSION:
*Paul was fully confident in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And we can be too! So put your trust in Jesus Christ, and keep trusting in the Lord. Be fully confident in His goodness, His grace, and His gospel. But most of all, be confident in the God who gives us every good thing we will ever have!
(1) Adapted from SermonCentral sermon "God's Word Is Profitable" by Alton Coleman - Psalm 19:1-11
(2) SermonCentral illustration contributed by John Smithson
(3) Adapted from:
-BELIEVER'S BIBLE COMMENTARY by William Macdonald - Edited by Arthur Farstad - Thomas Nelson Publishers - "In Paul's Plans" - Romans 15:14-33 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2000-2019
-THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH J. VERNON MCGEE by J. Vernon McGee - Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville - Copyright 1981 - Romans 15:18-19 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2000-2019
-JOHN GILL'S EXPOSITION OF THE BIBLE by Dr. John Gill, D. D. - 1697-1771 - Published in 1746-1766, 1816 - Romans 15:18 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2000-2019
-http://www.bible-history.com/maps/romanempire/
