If you have your Bibles will be in Romans 1 12 1 chapter 1 12 321.
And if you remember from last week, and if you don’t, I’m going to help help you remember
that last week we began Romans that we saw was apostle of Jesus Christ introducing himself to
the Roman people.
And for me, we didn’t hear from a know-it-all or I told you so type of guy, but a humble servant.
And if we’re talking of his qualifications in the world and in the system of this world, he would
be a leader, a man in charge, maybe behind a big desk on the top floor looking down at
everyone. But here what we saw was a humble man, a leader starting churches and spreading
the gospel news.
Yet, not behind a big desk. Matter of fact, many times we see that he was even in prison writing
these apostles not looking down, but looking up at his Savior. See, the difference is Christian
leaders are to be servant leaders.
Not others serving them. I think about it many times that I’ve been in churches where we’re
going to have a potluck after church. And when the pastor sat down, he sat at the leading table
and everybody came and served him where that’s not kind of the way.
I mean, I get that a lot of times we’re showing respect, but that wasn’t the kind of way that that
is to be there. Not that we’re going to pass every serving of food, but he’ll be serving you. Paul
here is portraying this in the first part of Romans, even calling himself a bond servant.
If you remember someone that chooses to serve almost like a reverse slavery type thing. Paul is
saying, I’m a slave to Christ because because of who he is and what he has done for me. He
bought, paid for us with his blood and it wasn’t a monetary exchange of money.
And as a slave that you are on, this is a slavery per se to choose to Christ because we and Paul
chose to do this. We’ll choose Christ for that. He was a humble man is what we saw in that first
11 verses.
So now we’ll continue in verse 12. If you have your Bibles, I asked you to get ready and yet I did
not get ready. So hopefully I’ll find it quickly.
And as we do always in our church, what we do is we read the scripture as it is, or as we would
read it. If we would just open up this book for ourselves and then we go back and we look at it a
little bit deeper. So if you have your book, it starts in chapter 12.
We thought it should be up behind me. It says that is that I may be encouraged together with
you. While among you, each of us by the other’s faith, by yours and mine.
I do not want you to be unaware, brother, that I often I have planned to come to you and have
been prevented so far. So that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest
of the Gentiles. I am under the obligation of both the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the
wise and to the foolish.
So for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also 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 for the
Jew first and also to the Greek. For in the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as
it is written.
But the righteous man shall live by faith. And for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and
unrighteousness. Because that which is known about God is evident within them.
And for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes,
his eternal power, his divine nature have been clearly seen. For being being understood,
though, what has been made so that there are without excuse.
For even through them, or even though they knew God, they did not honor him or God and
give him thanks. But they became futile and their speculations and their foolish heart was dark.
Let’s go Lord in prayer.
Father, as we say, almost every week we read these verses just as we would read them. And
many times myself, I almost already forgot what I had just read. Sometimes it’s in one ear and
out the other.
But this morning, as we look closer at this, Father, I pray that we turn our eyes, our ears, our
heart towards you right now. To hear what you have for us today. For what it is in this room,
but also to be taken out to the world.
Father, we just thank you for this time that you’ve given us together. We thank you again for
that young man that claims Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. And we thank you for all you do
in our lives.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. So we look at verse 12.
It is that is that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the
others faith by yours and mine. See, last week, Paul wrote to these Roman Christians that he
would pray for them to receive these spiritual gifts to enable them to minister. Also, Paul tells
them in his first that they are in this together, that we are fellow workers for Christ.
Think about it. This is a humble statement by Paul. He is trying to make them understand the
equality of believers in Christ, that we’re all equal in Christ.
That not as one above the other, as we talked about last week, just because you may have a
title, a deacon or a pastor or anything like that. It doesn’t make a difference in God’s eyes. As
far as he considers us all equal, all his children.
Verse 13. I do not want you to be unaware of brothers and sisters that often I plan to come to
you and have been prevented to do so so far so that I may obtain some fruit among you also,
even as among the rest of the Gentiles. See, Paul had a feeling, even when he was in Ephesus
and Corinth, that God wanted him in Rome.
And he had desired from the beginning of his ministry missionary journeys to go to his father’s
people, the Romans, and minister to them. Rome was the center of trade. It was the gospel of
Jesus Christ to be established in Rome, and it could affect all of Europe.
So he touched Rome. It would spread. That was the thought that it would go all throughout
Europe.
But Paul explains here that he has to minister to the other Gentiles. God has sent him to until
he gets to Rome. So there was God’s time here.
It was his time to where he was going. And if one of his heart was for Rome and it would come,
but it was in God’s time when you would get there. And Paul explains here is to minister to
other Gentile.
God has sent him until he gets to Rome. And there’s three kinds of spiritual fruit that he’s
talking about here. One spiritual attitudes that characterize spirit led belief.
Think about that attitude, how you approach things. What? How do you approach things? How
do you do that? Is it all about me? Are you wanting to serve others? What is your motivation
behind what you do? In other words, I’ve talked about this many times that many people won’t
give up, give the charities to some degree. And that’s a great thing.
But where is who is behind that? Sometimes when you look at it, if you go and I’m just going to
use this as the Baptist Association and some of that Samaritan’s Purse, some of those things,
the main thing behind it is giving charity. But it’s also to spread the word of God. So you do
have that, that attitude in your heart that characterizes you that way.
And righteous actions. How do you act? How are you carrying yourself? Sometimes whenever
I’m by myself, I would hope you don’t see me because they’re not very righteous sometimes.
But I’m working at that.
Sometimes I do fall. But how do you come across? Even when you do fall, how quickly do you do
you realize that the asteroid and repent and move forward? And then new converts. We saw
that this morning.
We saw that last week with these new baptism, new converts that they’re spreading the word
so others can hear. And in this context, Paul is here. It’s most likely the third.
We’re talking about the desire that was eventually realized during his imprisonment in Rome.
We’ll go on to verse 14 says, I am under no obligation, both to the Greeks and to the
uncultured, both to the wise and to the foolish. See, Paul had no obligation to God’s ability to fill
its divine mandate to minister to Gentiles.
Just another way of saying is God has no respect for those called worldly wisdoms of people.
God wants the wise Greeks and the unwise Greeks to know the educated Greeks, but and all
others to be barbarians. That’s what they thought of everybody.
They were very proud of their school of learning, their worldly education. And it does not
impress God that worldly education. God’s message is for those who believe themselves to be
high and mighty and also for the low.
It’s for all people. I have thought for a while now that it is more difficult for those who think
themselves to be wise, to be educated, to receive these spiritual gifts. These good news of Jesus
Christ for those that instead of those that are humbled, maybe less educated.
See, my thoughts behind this, and it’s not true with everyone. We can’t put everybody in a box,
but we see this a lot with people that are highly educated. The wise person has to figure it out,
all things with their own mind.
They have to get it in there, putting logic to things, almost making it their own idea or their own
thought to some degree. And what many can’t figure out and have a hard time with is
Christianity as of the heart, not just of the mind. And so it’s heart change.
It’s just not of the mind. So those intellectuals that put everything in their thoughts and their
minds, I think they can control everything themselves and make it all work for themselves.
Their heart is a change.
Verse 15. So for my part, I need you to preach the gospel to you. See, Paul is saying here that he
will do everything he can to come to Rome and preach.
In the book of Acts, you find that Paul did make it to Rome, and he preached in his home while
he was under house arrest. All ministers of God are happiest when they can bring the true word
of God and see someone saved. It’s a perfect Sunday.
I get to preach the word of God, and I get to see a young man baptized. How much better can it
get for me personally? And I understand that where he’s coming from. And you that have
known me for years know that I had no desire, no want to, no way to get up here and do this
every Sunday, to preach the word of God to you.
But the heart changed, heart changed, and the change came with it, or that now I desire this. I
want to do this. I want to preach the word of God, to share the word of God with people.
It changes. And then throw on top of it, this baptism. Man, like I said, what a great Sunday,
August 3rd is.
The next two verses we’ll read is crystallized in pieces of the entire work of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, which Paul will unfold and explain in the following chapters. So verse 16 says, 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 then also to the Greek. Not ashamed.
It means this. He’s not ridiculed, no criticism, no physical persecution could curb Paul’s
boldness to spread the word. No matter what you could do to him, he could not curb that.
He had been put in prison in Philippi, chased out of Thessalonians, smuggled out of Herod,
laughed at in Athens, thought of as a fool in Corinth, stoned in Galatia. But Paul stayed
steadfast to preach the gospel in Rome. See, Paul here, the English word dynamite comes from
that Greek word power.
Power, power comes dynamite. Although the message may sound foolish to some, the gospel
is effective because it carries with it the omnipotence of God, the quality, the quality of
unlimited power. Only God’s power can overcome man’s sinful nature and he give them a new
life.
Salvation is used five times in Romans. This key word means deliverance or rescue. You’re being
rescued.
Power of the gospel delivers people from losses, from the wrath of God, from the willful
spiritual ignorance, from the self indulgence and from the darkness of false religion. It rescues
them from the ultimate penalty of their sin, which is the eternal separation from God and
eternal punishment. Believe here in this verse to trust and rely and have faith in.
When used of salvation, this word usually occurs in the present tense. That stresses the faith
that just a one, it’s not just a one time event, but an ongoing condition. So when we say that
with salvation, it is a one time event.
In other words, I do accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, but it then continues as you
grow to become like Christ. So it’s not a one time event, event, one and done. It’s we continue
to grow and become more like Christ.
True saving faith isn’t supernatural or gracious gift of God that he produces in the heart as the
only means of which a person can appropriately and true righteousness. It is a supernatural
thing and a gracious gift. Saving faith has three elements.
The mental, the mind understands the gospel and the truth of Jesus Christ. Second, emotional
one embraces the truthfulness of their facts with sorrow over sin and joy over God’s mercy. And
then the sinner submits his will to Jesus and trust in him alone as the only hope of salvation.
There’s only one hope. There’s only one way. General faith will always produce authentic
obedience.
Our verse says Jew first, and God chose Israel to be his witness nation, and he gave her distinct
privileges. Christ ministry was first to come to Israel, and it was through Israel that salvation
was to come to the world. Verse 17, for in the righteousness of God, it is revealed from faith to
faith that is written, but the righteous man shall live by faith.
Righteousness of God could be a better translation of righteousness from God. One major
theme of the book over 30 times in one form or another is righteousness. The state, the
conditions are perfectly conforming to God’s perfect love and holy character.
Man falls really short of the divine standard of moral perfection, but the gospel reveals that on
a basis of faith alone. See, God will impute his in righteousness to God. God would send it from
faith to faith.
This may be a parallel, parallel expression to everyone who believes everyone who believes
faith. It’s like Paul was singling out the faith of each individual believer from one person’s faith
to another’s faith to another, and so on and so forth. Or to each person has a portion of faith,
yet some seem to have more than others.
For us to make our faith stronger, we must see it. Each time we depend on our faith, it becomes
stronger. This faith to faith means the trials come and we must have faith to overcome each
trial as we do as our faith grows.
See, faith is believe in our heart what we can’t see with our physical eyes. That’s where our
heart comes into it. Believing something in your heart that you can’t actually see.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of
people who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. This is not an impulsive outburst or anger
aimed at people when God does not like. It’s not what this is about.
It is settled, settled, determined response of a righteous God against sin. It is revealed or could
be more accurate is constantly revealed. It is revealed to be essentially means to uncover, make
visible, or make known.
See, God reveals his wrath in two ways. One, indirectly through the major consequences of
violating his universal law. And then directly through his personal intervention.
The old Texasman record for the sentence passed on Adam and Eve to the worldwide flood
from the fire and brimstone that took out Sodom into Babylon’s captivity clearly displaced this
type of his kind of intervention. The most graphic revelations of God, the holy wrath and the
hatred against sin was there when he poured out his divine judgment on his son at the cross.
See, God has various kinds of wrath, the eternal wrath that we know of as hell.
That’s the Talmud, which is the final day of the Lord. Then a wrath like the flood and destruction
of Sodom and Gomorrah. Consequential wrath, which is the principle of sowing and reaping.
And then the wrath and abominant, which is moving in strength and letting people go to their
sins. Here is the fifth form of God’s abating the wicked, continually through history to pursue
their sin and their consequences. And it says, I’m Godliness.
This refers to the result of ungodliness, a lack of conformity in thought, word, deed to the
character and the law of God. Suppress the truth and righteousness. Although the evidence
from our conscious creation and God’s word is imputable.
Men choose to resist and then oppose God through holding on to their sin. So that we do it to
ourselves. Verse 19, because that is what’s known about God is evident within them.
For God made it evident to them. When we look at the word evident, it says manifest in the King
James Version instead of evident. And it needs to make visible real to make known.
God has not hidden himself. He has made himself known real to mankind throughout ages in
his creation. God has the sovereignty planted evidence of his existence in the very nature of
man.
By reason and moral law. So it’s in us. It’s in our heart.
We know of God. Verse 20, for since the creation of the world is invisible attributes. That is his
eternal power and divine nature have been clearly persevered.
Persevered being understood by what has been made so that they are without excuse. When
we look at invisible attributes, referring to two mentioned here. One, the things that are made.
The creation delivers a clear, unmistakable message about God’s personal person to his eternal
power. The creator who made all that we see is constantly sustained. It must be meaning some
awesome power.
They are without excuse. God holds all responsible for the refusal to acknowledge what has
been shown to them about himself and creation. Even those who have not had an opportunity
to hear the gospel have received a clear witness about the existence and the character.
And they have suppressed it of a person will respond to the revelation. He has even in his solely
natural revelation. God will supply some means for that person to hear the gospel.
I think about myself where I was, where I was in life. And I’ve shared this with you many times.
Well, I was at that point where I was very, I was successful in my own eyes.
Thought I was doing well. Family doing well. Life going well.
House, car, everything just great. And then I always had a hole. I always had a place where it
wasn’t filled.
And I was always searching for something to fill that. And for me, it was like the first new car
that I could buy. I just thought that was the greatest thing.
And it just filled me up full of joy. And then, like I shared, that first payment came. And that hole
started coming back.
All that I thought of maybe it was motorcycles. I got into hardware and stuff like that. Started
doing things like that.
And it was good for a little while, but that hole was still there. It just was never getting filled. It
was never there.
So, what I did was the revelation of, well, there’s something wrong here. There’s something not
right. I can’t be happy.
No matter what I do, I’m not happy. I started seeking. And as many of you know, and I won’t go
into it all the time, but it led me to Lee Williams.
And when I led to Lee Williams, because he was the only one I knew that kind of lived, I could
see, a righteous life. I could see he was different. And then because he was always happy, he
was doing things.
And it was working for him. And then it sought me to reach out to Lee. And then the rest of the
story.
But that’s the way it is. It’s a revelation. Even if you don’t even know Jesus Christ, you know that
there’s something missing and that you have to fill that hole in your soul.
Verse 21, where even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks, but
they came futile in his reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened. See, it says here
in verse, they knew God. Man is conscious of God’s existence, his power, his divine nature,
through the general relation of verses 19 and 20 that we just read.
See, man’s chief end is to honor or glorify God, and scripture continually demands this. To
glorify is to honor him, both to acknowledge his attributes and then to praise him for his
perfections. Failing to give him the glory, the honor is man’s greatest affront to his creator.
But they became futile in their reasoning. And the King James says, makes it a little bit clearer to
understand, they were thankful. They weren’t thankful.
None were thankful. They had refused to acknowledge that every good thing they have and joy
is from God. They became futile in their reasoning.
We have reasoned things from hard work or good luck. I used to think I was the luckiest guy
there was. I used to work hard, and I think that would be rewarded.
That was the way it was. But it was futile in my thoughts and in their thoughts. Man’s searching
for purpose will produce only vain, meaningless conclusions, and the heart was darkened.
You can be successful in this world. You can have that drive, keep on trying to fill that void, but
it will never give you joy. You’ll never know the joy of the Lord.
While man rejects the truth, the darkness of spiritual falsehood replaces it. We are in a lost and
dying world. We all know that here.
The message here from the first two weeks of Roman, and it’s what we started out with that we
see in these first two weeks, is we saw a humble man, a humble leader. It explains that, and
then we go further into this next section in chapter one, that we have no excuse. We can’t say
no one told me about God.
Not an acceptable excuse. From the evidence he showed us this morning, what we may do, and
many of us choose, is we choose not to believe. We choose not to.
That we somehow exist because of this Big Bang Theory. This just happened, and boom, we’re
here. The thought alone makes me think that more faith has to be gone into that thought than
to believe in God and Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and creator of what we have.
So Paul here, I’m telling of this free gift, this salvation, this Christian life, and the first chapter so
far, takes away the excuse, many use or begin to believe. God, there is no God. I never heard of
this.
They never pay attention. Never open their eyes or their heart. Remember, it’s a heart thing.
It’s not a mind thing. So the Book of Romans is very mindful, very precise, and laying out the
gospel, and will take away any excuse or reason for unbelief to the open-minded and hearted
person. So the first two weeks we’ve seen so far, we need to be humble.
We need to be humble. Think about that. While you’re thinking about that, think about this.
How good God is to us. For each one of us to have an opportunity here to be a part of a church
and to know the Lord and Savior as our Savior. What a great thing that is to be a part of that.
How we just thank God for all that He has done and all that He is doing for us.