In this episode, we delve into the depth of apostle Paul’s bold stance in spreading the gospel as he writes to the Romans. With unwavering confidence, Paul speaks of the transformative grace given by God, empowering believers to boldly proclaim their righteousness in Christ. This is not a letter of correction, but one of great encouragement, urging Christians to embrace their faith without fear. Join us as we explore Paul’s assertions of divine justification and the profound impact of his teachings.
So Paul, having now reached around the world with the gospel, becomes quite personal with the people in Rome that he’s writing to. He says in chapter 15, verse 14 onwards, 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. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written this more boldly to you on some points, as reminding you, because of the grace given to me by God, 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. Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus, in the things which pertain to God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word or deed, to make the Gentiles obedient, in mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God, so that even from Jerusalem and around about I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. 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, but as it is written, to whom he was not announced, they shall see, and those who have not heard shall understand. Interesting passage. They all are interesting, of course, aren’t they? Paul states, first of all, that he’s confident concerning them that they are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. I wonder if he’s being a little over the top here. Is he laying it on thick? Is he complimenting them over much? Or is he believing that the Holy Spirit is working with the Christians in Rome, very confident that they have been filled with Christ’s righteousness, being counted as him, as counted as righteous in him, filled with all knowledge of the gospel? I’m not sure. I would think that Paul is confident that the Holy Spirit is working with the Christians in Rome, but he’s also confident that he has something to share with them, as he previously pointed out. And that’s why he wants to come and see them. And that’s why he says in verse 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. Now, what did he write boldly about? When we think of Paul writing boldly, we often think of him as rebuking people and correcting them. But this is not a letter of correction. It is a letter of enormous encouragement, and so the boldness that Paul is talking about is the boldness of the gospel that says that we are counted righteous even when we are ungodly, that we are reconciled to God when we were enemies. He’s stating that we have access to this grace in which we stand through Jesus Christ. He’s saying that we died to sin. That is the sin kingdom of Adam. And we are no longer charged with sin. These are bold statements. And I’ll tell you quite easily that many, many churches in the world today are afraid to be so bold. I know the church that I belonged to was afraid to be this bold. They always had to condition the bold statements of the good news with cautionary statements about, now be careful, don’t overdo it because we still have to become righteous and obey the commandments and what have you. They were afraid to be bold with the gospel. And I wonder about your own heart. Do you have fear to be so bold as to believe that you are counted as righteous even though you know you’re a sinner? Do you have the boldness to believe that you are dead to the condemnation of the law even though you’re guilt? and shame and fear nag at you sometimes? Do you have the boldness to fight back against the incriminations of the mind that want to tell you you’re no good, you won’t amount to anything, you never do anything right? These accusations of the mind must be met boldly with the gospel. And I believe that Paul is talking about that kind of boldness when he says, Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points as reminding you because of the grace given to me by God. And I might add that that boldness includes the incredible truth that God is going to redeem all Israel. Paul clearly was living in a time when Israel was on the outs, when Israel was not accepting the Messiah, when Israel was opposed to the Christian people. And yet Paul had the courage to say that all Israel will be saved based upon the covenant promises, based upon God’s election of his people. These are bold statements. So when it comes to our boldness, we need to remember what our boldness is. Our boldness is not going around endlessly rebuking people and threatening them with hell, but it is boldness in regard to proclaiming the gospel and in making it incredibly clear that Jesus Christ has taken upon the judgment of the world so that the world is justified in him. And therefore people are called to come to believe it and receive their justification. You see, boldness like that opens you up to ridicule. People will say, oh, this guy is preaching a soft gospel. He doesn’t have the courage to rebuke the world and what have you. It’s not about having boldness to rebuke the world or to speak honestly about the world’s sin. It’s a boldness that is determined to preach what the gospel says, and that’s what we have to be, that kind of boldness. Therefore, I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God. Paul glorified in Christ Jesus, in the things which pertain to God. What does that mean? It means that what Paul preached about Jesus was a revelation of the character and the heart of God. God is love, John says, and Paul says God is for us in Romans 8. Can you imagine stating that before the world? God is for you. He has come to redeem you. He has redeemed you in Christ. Turn and believe and take on the good news. So he says, I don’t dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me. Now what’s Paul saying here? Well, he’s not wanting to brag about other people’s success and take credit for other people’s work. He wants to tell what God has done and is doing through him. And we don’t want to be grasping other people’s glory. We don’t want to be people who are looking out for ourselves. We want to be people who believe that Jesus Christ is the one we’re glorifying. We are humble men and women. God will do our glorifying in due time at the coming of Jesus and in the kingdom of The glory that we are speaking about now is Christ’s. We don’t mind being passed over. We don’t mind being misunderstood and vilified because we live for Jesus Christ who was also vilified and we go through his experience by faith. And yet Paul is willing to say that he, imply that there have been mighty deeds and wonders done in his name, done through him by the power of the Holy Spirit. I have to say I can’t say that myself. I’ve never been able to perform miracles. I’ve never seen things like that happen in the work that I have done for God. I just feel that I’m a humble teacher and preacher of the Word. I’m not humble in the sense of not proud. I’m humble in the sense of not looking very important and not having a large following. But I do say this— that when we trust in Jesus Christ, we see little miracles all over the place. We see God caring for us in the details. We see God showing his love and showering it upon us in silent moments when we feel a little bit down or depressed or lonely. God is with us at all times, and he is doing wonders through us, even though we may not be able to see it, and even the world may not be able to see it. For I will not dare, Paul says then, to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient, in mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about… I have fully preached the gospel of Christ, 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. He doesn’t want to take credit for somebody else’s work. He wants to build right from the ground up, right from the foundations. and then he quotes, To whom he was not announced they shall see, and those who have not heard shall understand. Now, I’ll tell you, my friends, I’ve said this to you before. I became a Christian when I was 15 years old, and I didn’t even know I was looking for him. I was all interested in supernatural phenomena as a teenager. Flying saucers, extrasensory perception, hypnotism, levitation, spiritism, mediums, and all the rest of it. Oh, boy. I was looking all over and all in the wrong places. I was just mystified by life. But the thought that Jesus was the answer to all this was not in the slightest in my mind. And so when I was planning to go to a meeting one Sunday on flying saucers called Man from Another World, my goodness, I went into that meeting and what did I find? Somebody standing up with a Bible preaching the second coming of Jesus Christ. And what did I find then? that God was finding me. I was not finding Jesus. I was looking all over in the wrong places because I was utterly blind, but it was God who was searching for me. And this is what makes this verse so meaningful to me. To whom he was not announced, they shall see. He was not announced to me, I just saw him, found him. Well, again, it’s wrong. He found me. He saw me. And those who have not heard shall understand. I had not heard. I was not taught these things. But suddenly I was led to understand by the Spirit of God and the Bible. Now I tell you, that is what you and I do in this world. We tell the world of things they do not know. It’s as if they were pagan totally and had never heard it before. And yet we come into the lives of men and women who are secular, who are atheists, who are… utterly on the outs as far as religion is concerned, and we say something, maybe just a sentence or two, maybe Jesus Christ is my friend, maybe Jesus is my savior, maybe Christ will be king of the world one day, and we just leave it there and let it float in the air and walk away. And those people are stuck with our sentence for the rest of our lives because it so surprises them and they finally yield to its meaning. That’s what the glory and the joy of the gospel is. Say surprising things in unexpected places where nobody else has trod and you will see some results. Thanks so much for joining me today, everyone. This is Colin Cook, and you’re listening to a program here, How It Happens. You know, I’d like to mention that this program is listener-supported radio. Funds are always hard to come by, so if you would like to help by donating just one time, any amount you can afford, it would be so much appreciated. Let me tell you that each program costs $39 per 15 minutes. That’s about $200 for a week’s programs or $850 to $900 for a month’s programs. You can make your donation online at faithquestradio.com or you can send your donation to Faith Quest, P.O. Box 366, Littleton, Colorado 80160. I do appreciate all your support over the years. Thank you so much, and I’ll see you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
In this episode, we delve into the depth of apostle Paul’s bold stance in spreading the gospel as he writes to the Romans. With unwavering confidence, Paul speaks of the transformative grace given by God, empowering believers to boldly proclaim their righteousness in Christ. This is not a letter of correction, but one of great encouragement, urging Christians to embrace their faith without fear. Join us as we explore Paul’s assertions of divine justification and the profound impact of his teachings.
