To The Ends Of The Earth For Christ!

To the Ends of the Earth for Christ!

Romans 1:1-17

Sermon by Rick Crandall

McClendon Baptist Church - July 15, 2007

*Mary’s dad lived with us most of the last year of his life. It was a very tough year as he battled cancer -- But it was also one of the best, as we got closer and shared good times together.

*Toward the end, we would have to rush to the Emergency Room at Saint Francis every few weeks. One of those early mornings we were on the Interstate crossing the river. The sun was just coming up. Mary’s dad looked out over the city, and made it a sacred moment when he said, “I wish I could stand on the tallest building in town and tell the world what Jesus Christ has done for me!”

*That is the spirit all of us need today. We must be willing to do all we can to reach people for Jesus. Let’s look into the Word of God and see why.

1. First, we must do all we can because we have a great calling from God.

*Paul was willing to go to the ends of the earth for Jesus. He saw this as his calling and he talked about it in vs. 1-6, but he also talks about our calling from God. Listen to vs. 1-6 again:

1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God

2. which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,

3. concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh,

4. and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead,

5. through whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith. . . (Where?) among all nations for His name,

6. among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;

*Believers, we are all called to do all we can in our generation to spread the Good News about Jesus Christ to all nations. We are called to spread the Good News that God the Father loves us in spite of our sins! -- And that He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins.

*Paul gave a stark description of some of those sins down in vs. 28-32. Here it is from the New Living Translation:

28. When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done.

29. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, fighting, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.

30. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They are forever inventing new ways of sinning and are disobedient to their parents.

31. They refuse to understand, break their promises, and are heartless and unforgiving.

32. They are fully aware of God’s death penalty for those who do these things, yet they go right ahead and do them anyway. And, worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.

*Then in chapter 2, Paul warns us not to judge others, because we are all sinners. And in chapter 3, he gives God’s answer for our sins. Listen to Romans 3:19-25a from the New Living Translation:

19. Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses and to bring the entire world into judgment before God.

20. For no one can ever be made right in God’s sight by doing what his law commands. For the more we know God’s law, the clearer it becomes that we aren’t obeying it.

21. But now God has shown us a different way of being right in his sight-not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago.

22. We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.

23. For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

24. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins.

25. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. . .

*The Good News is that God the Father loves us in spite of our sins, and that He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins, but that’s not the end of the story! Back in Rom 1:4, Jesus was declared to be the Son of God with power. . . by the resurrection from the dead. Jesus is alive forevermore! That’s why He is able to give eternal life to all who receive Him as Savior and Lord.