Faithful Power

Let's grab our bibles, describe our bibles, and turned to Romans chapter one,

Romans one. We're gonna be in verses seven through seventeen this morning.

So turn to Romans one, seven through seventeen. If you don't have a

Bible with you or one of those bulletsins, just raise your hand. We're

passing out bibles. We're passing out bulletins right now when right down here,

and that's gonna be super helpful. Was we're gonna be tracking along. I'll

thank you. We're gonna be tracking along in this passage. It's these ten

verses in Romans, and the bulletsin is gonna be helpful because because notes so

turned to Romans chapter one, verses one through seventeen. We'll get all settled

in here, and I'm gonna ask our sister to come and read our sermon

text for us, and we're gonna be in Romans chapter one, versus seven

through seven. Our servant text for this morning is Romans seven through seventeen to

all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints.

Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

First, I think my God through Jesus Christ, for all of you,

because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my

witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of the Son,

that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow,

by God's will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you.

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual

gift to strengthen you, that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by

each other's faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to

be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you,

but thus far have been prevented, in order that I may reap some harvest

among you as well as among the rest of the gentiles. I am under

obligation both to Greeks and Barbarians, but to the wise and the foolish.

So I am eager to preach the Gospel to you also, who are in

Rome. For I'm 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 for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

This is God's word. Amen. I will never forget seeing the backyard

gardens of this guy named Cliff Terrell. Now Cliff was retired, so he

had all the time in the world to be a gardener. And his backyard

was huge, don't I don't think I ever even saw the end of his

backyard. You know, he kind of lived out in the Texas hill country.

And just like and what I saw is he gave me a tour around

his garden. Were all of these raised beds and even some enclosures that were

like fifteen feet high with netting to keep out the grackles and the squirrels.

And he would just tour me around, saying, Okay, we're expecting to

you know, so many bushels of tomatoes over here. It's such as such

a month, and zucchini over here is gonna probably pop around here. And

I don't know at what point a garden becomes a farm, but I think

Cliff hadn't probably a small farm going. And really what stuck out to me

was not so much how he knew how to do all this, but kind

of what he expected as he did this stuff, he knew roughly not exactly

because they're because squirrels, right, because weeds, but he knew kind of

what to expect this horticulture to produce, and so he operated with this sort

of confident expectation but also with kind of a little bit of awe. I

think there are a few different reasons why Cliff got into the gardening game,

but one of them was being able to watch with a little bit of wonder

as seeds turned in to zucchini and tomatoes and peppers kind of all on their

own. And in our passage this Morning, Romans one seven through seventeen Scripture

gives us this example of the kind of expectation of fruitfulness that's fitting for gospel

ministry, and especially in the last two verses, were given this idea of

why we can expect the Gospel to bear fruit because the Gospel is the power

of God. In verses sixteen and seventeen, Paul here in the very at

the very end of our text today, Paul is going to lay out most

of the concepts that he's going to elaborate on for the rest of the letter.

These two verses sixteen and seventeen are the headwaters of the entire letter of

Romans. I think last week I gave you the homework. If you want

to understand the letter Romans better, just read the first paragraph of the letter

and the last paragraph of the letter side by side, and you'll see most

of the themes. So the next piece of homework this week, then to

understand Romans better, it's just to meditate on or even memorize Versus sixteen and

seventeen of this chapter as it forms kind of the hub or the headwaters of

all that Paul is going to break down for us over the core. So

the next thirty two messages, and what we'll see is that we can count

on this power, this power that might not seem powerful. The gospel message

is for rescue for even you. The Gospel message is powerful for rescue for

even you, for even your rich uncle, even that guy at work,

that bachelor who seems like his whole life is just a game and not a

childish one. And this rescue comes to you. This rescue comes to them,

not by what you or they can manage to do in cleaning up your

lives. The rescue comes to us and works in us through faith. That's

what Paul is at pains for everyone to understand. If I was going to

just put it in a sentence, I would put it this way. Expect

the Gospel to be fruitful because it is the power of God. Expect the

Gospel to be fruitful because it is the power of God. That's our message

this morning. It's just a two part sermon, and I still managed to

go long last service, and so we're just gonna we're gonna break it down.

We're gonna take the top line first, and then we're gonna take the

second line next. We'll start right there. Expect the Gospel to be fruitful,

right. I think these next eight verses are really instructive example of our

attitude and expectation for fruitfulness in gospel ministry. He says this to start verse

seven, to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to

be saints, which just means Christians. That word has been sort of altered

by some to mean something different. Just means Christians. Grace to you and

peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I

think my God, through Jesus Christ, for all of you, because your

faith is proclaimed in all the world. So Paul is greeting this community of

Christians that he's never he's never been there, he's never met them before.

He knows some of them just by relationships, but he's never been to this

place, and he's thanking God because something remarkable has happened. Something remarkable has

happened. Some people from this city went to Jerusalem, and they heard the

message about Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel, had

died and risen again, and that he was rescued for the sins of all

mankind. And they went back to Rome and faith began to blossom, not

only in their own lives, but everyone they shared this message with. In

Rome, faith sprouted. And not only did faith sprout, but it also

begin to grow. It was remarkable, but it was also very ordinary because

Paul was watching this happen all over the world. You know those things that

are remarkable and yet ordinary. God's work. It's supernatural, but it's still

ordinary. He's doing it all the time. It reminds me of like the

the seed in the styrofoam cup that you did in kindergarten. Right, nod

with me if you did this in kindergarten, at some point in grade school,

you put a seed with dirt and a cup and you and your teacher

put water water in it, and you put it on the window sill and

it started to sprout. Right, Yes, help me out here, all

right, I know you did this. It is that common. Everybody knows

this, and yet it's still remarkable. I don't know a single kindergart or

parent for that matter, that doesn't look in that cup at some point that

little green thing is sticking up out of there and go, everybody does this.

Huh, that's amazing. It's a whole room full of paper. Everybody

did everybody's window sill, and it's still like bum remarkable, And like that

gospel, faith has fruitfully grown up in the city of Rome, and all

the world is taking note. All the world is going huh, and Paul

is giving things. Probably would do well to consistently sprinkle in our prayers.

Thanks to God for fruitfulness in places that we've never been. It's a pretty

good example. But he goes on first nine. For God is my witness,

whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of His Son, that

without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers asking that somehow, by God's

will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For check

this out. For I long to see you, that I may impart to

you some spiritual gift to strengthen you. That is, that we may be

mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. So Paul's say,

I want to visit you because it's gospel strength that's sprouting in you.

I want to strengthen it. But in fact he also expects them to strengthen

him. Is it I expect that we will strengthen and build up and encourage

one another with our faith. This is Paul the preacher. Paul is the

front of the room guy. He always gets the microphone everywhere he goes.

And yet he's talking about building up one another in mutual ministry. When don't

you think about word ministry in a church family. Is it always only preaching

that comes to mind? I mean, the preaching of God's Word as we

gather on a Sunday morning super important. It defines the church gathering, it

sets the tone, it is a meal for us all. But it is

just a subsection of word ministry in our church family. Mutual ministry right right,

Like like in small group, as we as we sit together and minister

one to another, encouraging one another in our faith, and not just on

you know, Tuesday nights or for that two hours that you're there in that

guy's living room. But mutual ministry well rooted, there is the ethos that

works amongst us all as we minister one to another throughout the week in each

other's faith. I just this this past week, I went and had a

taco with one of the guys from my small group, and we just lost

track of time encouraging one another in our faith life given, so when we

talk about expecting the gospel to be fruitful, we aren't just talking about gospel

preaching from a pulpit, right, We're also talking about gospel encouragement in a

living room or over a taco or over chicken nuggets with your kids. Like

we expect the gospel to be fruitful as we open up our mouths and give

testimony to what God has done and is doing. Right, That's what small

group is all about, y'all. And the enemy of your soul wants nothing

more than to keep you from that kind of mutual ministry, to keep you,

from heart level discussion of God's Word as you apply it to your life,

from prayer with one another. The most discouraged people I know are those

who have been blinded by the enemy to their need for mutual ministry, or

have been blinded to their opportunities for mutual ministry, or have been convinced somehow

to crowd their calendars with things besides mutual ministry, or that the enemy whispers

to them. This is more common than you realize. The Enemy whispers to

them You're not wanted in the community of faith. Do you remember how awkward

those conversations were that one time, How challenging that was. They don't want

you there. It just makes it difficult lies the enemy whispers to keep you

desperately discouraged. The devil knows what to expect from mutual ministry spiritual encouragement.

So if even the devil expects the Gospel to be fruitful, especially in mutual

ministry, we should too. Right what he goes on verse thirteen. I

do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended

to come to you, but thus far have been prevented, in order that

I may reap some harvest, literally, have some fruitfulness among you as well

as among the rest of the gentiles. I am under obligation. Literally,

I'm indebted both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to

the foolish. So I am eager to preach the Gospel to you also,

who are in Rome. So again, Paul is eager to preach the Gospel

to people who have already heard it and have already believed it. Because we

the Gospel is not just like the entrance like just The Gospel is not just

the cover charge into the Christian life, right somehow that we enter the Christian

life in Christ by grace through faith, and then in our Christian life it's

something else, some set of rules or traditions by which we grow. No,

the Christian life is from a dise The Gospel, I mean virtually every

paragraph of Paul's New Testament letters is taking the Gospel to people who have already

believed it and then expounding on it in their situation. And so he plans

to come to Rome expound the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. And what

does he expect? Verse thirteen has our answer, what does he expect expects

it to be fruitful, right, But that's not his only motivation. You

can see he's not only motivated by expected fruitfulness. He's also motivated in this

way. What does verse fourteen say, I am under obligation, I am

indebted. So how does Paul oh the people that he's bringing the gospel to?

Did he did he take something from them? Did he borrows something from

these people and now he owes them back? That's not it. Paul is

under possession of something that he owes to others. I think he's actually speaking

out of his travel situation. Paul's travel situation is this, He's been collecting

money from other churches regionally for the church in Jerusalem, who's under tremendous financial

strain, and so he and the other ministers have been collecting this relief for

Jerusalem. He's in possession of it, but he owes it to them.

He collected it for them. And so what Paul is saying similarly is I

have received grace and mercy and forgiveness and peace from God. I'm in possession

possession of something that is also meant for others. I've been given something that

is owed to others and that's true for you and me too, Right,

that you have received grace and mercy and forgiveness, not to just keep for

yourself. He's been given something that's owed to others. And I really think

that this is an especially helpful biblical understanding for instructing our tone of approach when

we talk to others about the gospel. Right, So, when you interact

with someone who doesn't know Christ, you're not selling them something. You're not

trying to win a religious argument. Hey, I think I owe you this.

I haven't been given grace and mercy and forgiveness and peace with God just

for myself only. I think I owe you this, and it's something besides

just like, hey, I'm just putting this out there, right, It's

more urgent than that I owe you this. I'm not just putting this out

there. If I if I, if I had collected twenty thousand dollars to

give to you, I can't make you take it. But I'm not just

like leaving it in the middle of the street to see who picks it up.

I owe you this. I can't make you take it. But I've

been given something and it's not just for me, And as you have those

conversations, expect them to be fruitful. The Bible says some will bear fruit

thirty sixty, even one hundred times. What was sung which makes me makes

me think of the late coach Bob Mapes. New sports fans were like,

yeah, coach Bob Mapes, I don't well, yeah, unless you were

from my hometown and in the tennis scene, you wouldn't know who coach Mapes

is. He coached the tennis team at the university where my dad went.

And then Coach Mapes was just this old, incredibly uncool white guy who is

the tennis coach for this whole entire team of cocky South American tennis players of

whom my dad was one. But on those tennis tournaments, often my dad

would sit in the passenger seat as Coach Mapes drove and a lot of the

other guys would be cocked out in the back, and Coach Mapes would faithfully,

with a sense of confident expectation, because he knew that the Gospel was

the power of God, explain the person and work of Jesus Christ to this

cocky South American tennis player, until one day my dad was granted faith and

went to the Lord in and was changed, new man, new life.

And now hundreds of people have come to know Jesus because of that cocky South

American tennis player. Hundreds of people have come to know him and grow in

him, and none of them know it was all because of coach Mapes,

who expected the Gospel to be fruitful. Do you do you? I mean

there were others who didn't respond in faith right, And the parable of the

soils tells us that you know, the seed is scattered, and not all

the soils are the same. Some seeds go in, some grow up tall,

some bear much fruit. But we don't scatter seed because fruitfulness is automatic

or predictable or perfect. We scatter seed because we expect fruitfulness. Well,

the other thing about this fruitfulness in the Gospel is that we might plant seeds,

we might water seeds, but we don't give life or growth. That

is the power of God. And that's the next step in Paul's flow of

thought and our sentence. Expect the Gospel to be fruitful because it is the

power of God. And the Gospel is this powerful thing. It does a

work, This message does a work. But Paul starts his discussion about this

power, this way, look at what he says verse sixteen. For I

am not ashamed of the gospel. Why does he say this? He says

this because he's tempted to be ashamed of the gospel. We all are,

he tells Timothy. Don't be ashamed of the gospel, he tells the Corinthians.

For I came with fear and trembling. I resolved not to know anything

except for Christ crucified, because I wanted you to see the power of God

and not me. So this, this temptation to be ashamed of the gospel,

is common to everyone. Why First of all, common to everyone.

Yeah, he don't know, you're buy yourself on this one, preacher,

I'm not talking about shame in front of my three hundred closest friends. It's

common to everyone. Why well, I think actually the most the most frequent

thing I hear when we talk about being ashamed to share the gospel or being

ashamed of the gospel is the first thing comes out of people's mouth. Days.

Well, I'm not sure that I'm that I can say it right.

You know, I don't know exactly how to articulate the truth of who Jesus

Christ is and when he's done and what that means means. And you know,

there's the four Spiritual Laws, and there's the Romans Road, there's two

ways to live. There's lots of different ways to say it, and I'm

just not sure that I'll say it right. Listen, if Paul is tempted

to be ashamed of the Gospel, probably getting it figured out, like exactly

how to say it, that probably isn't the cure. Paul had that figured

out, and frankly, you don't need to overcomplicate it. Tell people what

God did for you in your best way, to tell him who Jesus is

and what He's done, and then offer to read the Bible with him.

The rest of it will come dribbling out right if you wait for a sense

of adequacy, I promise you will say nothing. Actually, I think that

the main source of our temptation to be ashamed of the Gospel is actually really

it's hinted at right here in this passage. I think it's that the Gospel

doesn't seem to have the ability to do anything. How does this message affect

anything? I think you see that in the other places where Paul talks about

being ashamed of the Gospels, those are always connected this to this idea of

the power of God, not the power of man. In other words,

the gospel foolishist Thickory's weakness to the Jews. The Gospel that doesn't give you

some grand theory to operate by. Its not it's not good advice. It's

not a set of sophisticated rules by which to live your life. It's it's

it's not even good advice at all. It's good news. So the Gospel

doesn't seem to give me any power at all, because it doesn't. It's

not the power of me, it's the power of God. We're all tempted

to be ashamed of the Gospel. And it's not just because you can't convey

it. It's because the most powerful message in the world seems powerless. It

seems shrouded in weakness. But God knows what he's doing. Gray say,

I think I owe you something, then open up your mouth and expect fruitfulness,

for it is the power of God. Power of God for what,

the power of God for salvation, which is to say, rescue, rescue

from what? Well today, I'm gonna give you a very short answer the

next time we're in Romans. So the next passage in Romans is actually the

unpacking of this whole answer, right, so that our next time we're in

Romans are going to be eighteen through thirty two. Here will be the unpacking

of this idea of rescue from what. Here's the short answer, rescue from

rescue from the unflinching patient, measured righteous judgment of God. Now, of

all the things that people want to explain from the Bible, I think,

explain to me the judgment of God. I think that's got to be like

in the top four, it's on the mount rushmore of things people want to

explain from the Bible. So next time we're in Romans, there you go.

You're gonna get a profound explanation from the apostle Paul. The Gospel is

the power of God for rescue from judgment, for who, for whom,

to everyone who believes, the jew first, and also the Greek. In

other words, every kind of person, without distinction over religious background or culture,

or ethnicity or personal history, is rescued by believing. In other words,

this faith is the only ground before on which we can stand before Holy

God. And because it is the only ground before which we stand, on

which we stand before Holy God. It is level ground. This is the

only way we come. Okay for rescue from judgment. Who is rescued everyone

who believes? Why? For in it the righteousness of God is revealed.

The righteousness of God has revealed. What does that mean? For Scripture is

speaking of here when it says the righteousness of God has revealed in the Gospel,

It's not saying it is revealing that God is merely righteous right that's reflected

in the law, that's reflected in our consciences. Is not just saying that

God is righteous. He's what Paul's talking about is a righteousness that is revealed.

That God gives this righteousness, that God gives Christ's holy character given to

you, Christ's obedience given to you, your sin, your judgment, all

exchange for His righteousness and life. In it, the righteousness of God has

revealed that He grants. Can you just get your head around that? You

knowing you granted the righteousness of God? How by faith, by faith?

In it, the righteousness of God has revealed from faith for faith, or

literally out of faith into faith. As it is written, the righteous shall

live by faith, out of faith into faith. It makes me think of

that little sprout comes up out from first to last. Yeah, you're You're

right. Relationship with Him is based entirely on faith, from the sprouting beginning

to the last, maturing all faith from root to fruit. As someone said,

you contributed nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it possible and

necessary. You entered the Family of God as a step of faith, and

your ongoing life as a Christian is a walk of faith. Out of faith

into faith. The righteous shall live by faith. Faith that God says what

will be fruitful will be fruitful. Faith that God, who calls you righteous,

has the power to count you righteous. Faith that God gives strength for

his people to live as He's called him to live. Faith that even you

aren't excluded when God says he rescues everyone who believes. Faith that the Gospel

is the power of God. How can I explain that the Gospel is the

power of God. How can I explain how trusting this news about Christ and

his work gives this supernatural sprout of new life, and how those things are

connected. I mean, we have what Scripture says here that's the best word,

That's God's word. I could tell you how theologians have discussed it for

centuries, but I'm going to give you an even lesser word because I have

the chance. I'm going to give you mine. I don't know how God

changed me. I don't know how God changed me, like I know,

I don't know how the spout comes up in the cup. I mean,

I have the biology, I have the theology, but all I know is

that somewhere hidden in the soil of the heart, God grants life and faith

comes up. And I don't know exactly experientially how that happens, but it

did. I know he changed me. I know that I went from pretending

to want what was right but truly wanting my own selfish desires, to actually

wanting what God wanted and still struggling with my selfish desires and watching Him give

me the faith to grow through this. I don't know how He changed me,

but I know he did, and I know he did by the power

of this gospel. I know that I went from recoiling from repentance wanting the

last thing in the world that I would want it was would be to agree

with God about what he says about my sin? Are you kidding me to

go to him on my knees in humility and say I'm a sinner and I

know how, and He's He took me from that to actually seeing repentance and

experience experiencing repentance as like cold water on a wound, and knowing and experiencing

cleansing and receipt of grace. I once was one way, and even though

I'd heard it many times before, I then placed my faith in this news

about Christ and his work. And then I was different, and He's been

changing me ever since. Let me tell you you can expect the Gospel to

be fruitful in your life and the lives of others, because it is the

power of God right