Someday, I want to meet the man who wrote this letter that we've been studying. The Apostle Paul was quite a man. As we come to our text today in Romans chapter 15, he has finished writing the major content of the epistle. By way of review, may I remind you that the theme of this book that we've been studying has been the righteousness of God, or another way of putting it, how to be right with God.
The Apostle Paul has dealt with this theme of God's righteousness by examining it both doctrinally and practically. Traditionally speaking, he has explained to us that all men stand in need of righteousness with God, that is, being made right with God. And that God has provided this righteousness through Christ's sacrifice.
And that when the sinner repents and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, by that act of faith, not only is he forgiven of his sins, but at that same time God also gives to that new believer perfect righteousness, a new standing before God. We call that justification. And this justification results in right living, made possible by the union that we have with Jesus Christ, Romans chapters 6 and 7, and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, chapter 8.
And then in the last part of the book he explains to us how that righteousness of God, practically speaking, is lived out in the life, in our relationships with other believers, with persecutors, with authorities, with neighbors, and finally with weaker brothers in Christ. Now he comes to his concluding remarks beginning in chapter 15 verse 14.
And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also to admonish one another. But I have written very boldly to you on some point, so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, registering as a priest the gospel of God, that my offering of the Gentiles might become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God, for I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Holy Spirit, so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.
And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build upon another man's foundation. But as it is written, they who had no news of him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand. And so the Apostle has completed his theological introduction of himself to these believers who had never met him. And now in conclusion he returns full circle to his personal remarks.
You will recall that in chapter 1 the first 17 verses as we divide the chapter are given to those personal remarks as well. Here however he reverses the initial order of topics. In chapter 1 he first talked about Christ and the gospel message. Then he gave personal greetings, which were followed by an expression of his desire to visit Rome, along with a word regarding his own personal ministry.
Here he reverses that and first talks about his own desire to visit them and the ministry that God has given him. That is followed then in chapter 16, most of the chapters, as a matter of fact, by personal greetings and then he concludes with a final word about Jesus Christ and the saving gospel. Paul wants these believers who have never met him to know him and to trust him. And therefore he expresses himself very freely regarding his calling and his own heart for them.
He gives three explanations in the text that we have read today to accomplish that, that they might understand who he is and how much he is concerned for them. The first explanation is regarding his letter. It serves as a reminder and we see this in verses 14 and 15, at least the first part of the verse. He says in verse 15, for example, I have written very boldly to you on some points.
Now, exactly which points Paul had in mind, we're not sure, but certainly these last few verses that we've been discussing together could not be more pointed, more filled with concern for them. These surely must be among those rather strong points that Paul wanted to get across in this letter. Now, the way he writes this, he says, I have done this so as to remind you again, and that is a strong way of expressing the fact that they should have known these things already.
But he says, now I'm coming back to express these things so that I can be sure that you understand them, and not only that, but be sure also that you will practice these things. Now, we all need that occasionally, don't we? You parents understand what that's like, don't you, to remind your children? How many parents here today have reminded your children of something they already knew this past week? Would you lift your hand? Well, we probably have unanimity on that.
And that's not surprising, is it? Because children learn by repetition, by being reminded, and sometimes we get very weary in reminding them of the simple things, don't we? The apostle says, I am going back over this again, I'm reminding you again of this truth. Not only are children in need of repetition, but we adults are too, aren't we? And that's why there are some things said over and over again in the Bible.
When you see something repeated over and over again, you know that that is something very important that God wants you to understand and practice. Paul says, I have written this letter as a reminder to you, and in verse 14 he does something kind of interesting. He commends them, and I think it's a genuine compliment, it's not something that is ingenuine. He's not trying to butter them up here by an empty compliment. He had some justification, obviously, for saying what he does.
He says, I'm convinced that you are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another. Now, isn't that interesting? He has said to us thus far in chapters 14 and 15 that we are to accept one another, and we are to build up one another, and we are to please one another. But now he comes around the back side and he says, not only that, you're also to admonish one another. What does that word mean? Well, it's a word that means to warn. It means to correct.
It means to instruct or to counsel. And so not only are we to accept one another, especially the weaker brother, not only are we to build up others and to do what pleases them for their good, that they might be built up, but we are also, when the occasion warrants, to warn them and to counsel them.
Now, a lot of us would rather do the accepting and the building up than the warning, because when we do that we run certain risks, primarily that we may lose a friend or be misunderstood or not appreciated. And you know what? That may be true, at least for a while. It may be that we won't be understood in our words of correction or admonition. It may be that the warning will strike the other person initially as presumptuous on our part or maybe arrogant.
God forbid that it should be so, but it may strike the other person that way. And so he responds brusquely. We don't like the idea of admonishing one another, but I tell you that that is just as important as the other one another's that we've seen. Now, if we're going to admonish one another, and Paul instructs the Romans, he reminds them there to do that. If we are going to do that, there are a couple of qualities that better be in our lives, and they're given in verse 14.
In the first place, we had better be full of goodness. That word goodness means kind activity. We should be noted for that. But it also implies a certain sternness about it. In other words, we will be kind, full of goodness, and yet in such a way that it's for the good of the other person. We are not going to do something the other person calls good if it will ultimately harm him. That's the idea.
We are full of what is true goodness, seeking the other person's welfare in the ultimate sense, not what may please him in the immediate. There are some times when we could say to someone in the immediate sense a certain thing that would tickle his ears. He would love to hear that. And yet if we say that, we're being really dishonest, and that's not good. We may have to say something that's even a little harsh, that's a warning in order to save that person down the road from a pitfall.
Now that's true goodness, and that's the kind of goodness he's talking about here. If you and I are going to be a counselor in the sense of an admonisher, then we have to be full of a balanced kind of goodness. Not only so, but we have to also be filled with all knowledge. Now what kind of knowledge is this? Well, I've taken it a couple of ways. I think first of all, before we go to a person to warn them, we had better know the facts of his case.
Have you ever made the mistake of going to a person to try to correct him and then find out you did not know everything there was to know and you found you were really out of step, out of line in going to that person? I have. When you do that once, you learn a lesson. It's not very fun. It's not comfortable. And it's underscored in your life and reinforced in your life to make sure you have the facts of the case before you go to that brother, be filled with that knowledge.
But also we need to be filled with a knowledge of what the Word of God says about what that person is doing or is involved in or is thinking about. We better be sure we understand what the Word of God says before we go to the brother to try to warn him. It just could be he knows more than we do. So we are encouraged, we are exhorted, we are reminded here to admonish one another and to do it being filled with a true, balanced goodness and filled with knowledge.
And if we have those qualities, we can follow through in what we're told to do. When was the last time you admonished someone? You went to someone and warned that person or counseled that person or corrected that person? Perhaps another kind of knowledge that would be good for us to experience first is knowledge of ourselves. To be sure that as we warn the other person that we ourselves are not involved in something that is equally as dangerous.
We need to be sure that the beam is out of our own eye before we go to our brother to help him remove the speck that is in his. So the apostle first of all explains this letter. He wants to stir them up to balanced Christian living. He wants to remind them of things that they have heard before but really have not put into practice. And frankly, that's who I'm talking to this morning too.
Some of you who have heard the word of God but really haven't gotten to the point of practicing it in your lives. May I encourage you to do that. In accepting one another and building up one another and pleasing one another and in admonishing, warning one another. I have had people on occasion come to me with words of admonition. And frankly, there have been times when initially I did not respond in the most positive manner. I have that capability.
And I don't mind admitting that because you have that capability too. But later I've come back to appreciate what that person had to say to me. I would rather talk about the times when I immediately saw what the person was warning me about and trying to correct me regarding. There have been a few of those times too. So let's be admonishers and let's be willing to be admonished in the right spirit.
Now as we move down to the last part of verse 15, the apostle explains something else so that they can understand him and his heart for them. He explains his ministry. Basically he calls his ministry here a priesthood. He says his ministry was given to him by grace, grace from God. After all, here was a man who was a blasphemer, who was a person who injured Christians. Here was a man who threw believers into jail, a man who held the coats of those who stoned to death, Stephen, the first martyr.
And now he is the leading apostle. And Paul says quickly, it was by grace that God gave me this ministry. My friend, it's always by grace that God allows us to do something in His service. Let's always remember that. We don't do things for God because we deserve to do them or because somehow we are especially qualified by natural ability or education. But anything that we do for God is by grace. And if we have that attitude going in, God will be able to use us.
What was it that God by grace allowed Paul to do? Well, he says it was to be a minister of Christ Jesus. We look at verse 16 a minute. There are four words or phrases in this verse which give it a priesthood kind of emphasis. In the first place, this word minister, a minister of Jesus Christ, is a word that has to do with one who served in the temple in worshiping God. It's a special Greek word, not just a typical word for a servant. He calls himself a priestly minister of Jesus Christ.
And then he says he is ministering as a priest. That is one verb in the original language. It's only used here in the New Testament. So he continues that theme of priesthood. And then he talks about his offering of the Gentiles. Notice that? And finally he says it's sanctified by the Holy Spirit, which is a term used in the temple of those things set apart for holy or sacred use. And so in this verse, the apostle describes his ministry as that of a priest.
We must remember that priests are not a special class of Christians, but every true believer is a priest. We are a part of God's kingdom of priests, according to Revelation chapter 1 and Revelation chapter 5. The apostle says that he was a priest, and he pictures himself here ministering Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. Will you please tuck in the back of your mind, because this will help you in your Bible study, that the apostle Paul was the minister of Jesus Christ primarily to what group?
The Gentiles. Minister was primarily the gospel to whom? The Jews. You see that illustrated beautifully in the book of Acts, whereas the book of Acts begins. And remember, the book of Acts is a transitional book. If you go back to the book of Acts and plant your doctrine solely on verses from that book, you will be messed up in your doctrine, I'll guarantee you.
You have to have verses from the epistles as well to corroborate with verses from the book of Acts, because you see the book of Acts is a transitional book. It's a bridge book from Israel to the church. As the book of Acts begins, it's all Jews, they're in Jerusalem, they're at the temple, and Peter is preaching. But as the book progresses, it becomes more and more Gentile and less and less Jewish.
And the center of activity moves from Jerusalem to Antioch in Syria, a Gentile church, Paul's home church that sent him out on his missionary journeys. And the leading figure moves from Peter in chapters 1 through 7 to Paul in chapters 13 through 28. You see the apostle Paul being saved in Acts chapter 9. And from that point on, he begins to dominate the whole book. You see the book of Acts is a transitional book.
And the gospel of Jesus Christ, while it started with the Jews first, went on to the Gentiles. And primarily, it is God's purpose in this age in which we are living to save Gentiles. Now there are Jews saved as well, but the church of Jesus Christ is primarily a Gentile church, non-Jewish church. And the apostle Paul is the apostle of the church. He is the one who proclaimed the gospel to the Gentiles and took it throughout the Roman Empire.
Now he says that he is ministering as a priest, the gospel of God. That is an interesting thought. We normally think of a priest as being one who stands between the people and God, offering up sacrifices on behalf of the people. And yet the apostle says here that he is ministering as a priest the gospel of God to people. Here I think is the thought of it. In the Old Testament, in Israel, the priesthood was involved in taking the sacrifices from the people and presenting them to God.
Our priesthood is just a little different. We stand between the mass of humanity and God as priests, but the idea is that we take the message of God's once-for-all sacrifice at the cross and we present it to the people. That is how our priesthood functions, at least in part. We take the gospel of God, His good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried in rose again. We take that good news and declare it to the people, the good news of His once-for-all sacrifice.
That is the gospel of God. What a privilege you and I have to minister as priests that gospel to the people who need to hear that saving message in order to be forgiven of their sins and go to heaven. I could well be talking to someone who is just like that today. You may be a religious person and acquainted with the Bible and church, or maybe you have never been in a church in your life before. You say, well, that is hardly possible, is it? Well, I will tell you what.
We had a person who was here in our church several months ago who was in an evangelical church for the very first time in his whole life. He is from a different religion. We never know who is sitting here. There may be someone here who has never been in a church before, at least in an evangelical Bible teaching church. You have never heard the gospel of God before. I just tried to explain it in its most condensed form, and that is that Christ died for your sins.
He is God's sacrifice provided by God for you. And He was buried. And He rose again from the dead to be a living Savior so that He could come into your life and change you, make you a new person, and give you His own eternal life. If you will trust Him today as your own Savior, if you will receive Him into your heart, if you will believe on Him, you will be saved. If you do not, you will not be saved. That is the other side of the gospel of God.
Now, He goes on to say that He is offering the Gentiles to God. And so it is almost as though the Apostle is declaring the message in this direction. Then there are those who respond. And so He takes those Gentiles who respond and He presents them to God. That is the picture. He offers them to God. Now remember, these are Gentiles. And Gentiles are unclean to the Jewish mind. Gentiles were dogs. That is what they called us. Dogs. Unclean. Heathen. Unholy. Nothing about us.
Holy. But you see, when we trust Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit sanctifies us. In other words, He takes us unclean Gentiles and He sets us apart to sacred use. He sets us apart to God. And having been sanctified, then the Apostle says, I present them to God. No longer are they unclean dogs, Gentiles, but they having been sanctified by the Holy Spirit are now presented to God. And that is acceptable and well pleasing to Him. Now I tell you, it is a great thing to be acceptable to God.
If you are in Jesus Christ today, you are accepted by Him. And there is nothing that can ever change that. Nothing. We are made accepted in Jesus Christ. We are found in Him perfectly righteous. And God is well pleased. He is as well pleased with you this morning as a born again Christian. He is as well pleased with you as He is with Jesus Christ, His Son. Because as He looks at you, He sees His Son. There is not really a distinction in the minds of God between you and Jesus Christ.
You are united to Him. You are seen as one in Jesus Christ. That is why you are perfectly accepted by God and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. That was the ministry of the Apostle. Oh, may I just underscore to you that that applies to us. We too are priests. We are declaring, I trust the gospel of God that people might believe it and be sanctified by the Holy Spirit and then presented to God acceptable to Him. That is what we are to be about in this world.
In verses 17 to 21, He explains the results of His ministry. In a way, these results are an example to us. In verse 17, Paul boasts of what God had done. But his boasting is not in himself. You notice it is in Christ Jesus. To boast in what He had accomplished would have been presumptuous. He goes on to say, I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me. Now, my friend, that is right there, the secret of whatever ministry you will ever have in this life.
Will you please notice it? It is not what you do for God, but it is what He does through you. That is the secret. The Apostle talks about the results of His ministry and sets an example. He says, I am not going to talk about what I have done, what I have accomplished, but I will boast in Christ Jesus and those things pertain to God and what He has accomplished through me. He says, I am just a vessel. I am an instrument. Do you see yourself that way? Or do you see yourself as a contributor?
Do you see yourself as something special, as something that God ought to be proud to have in His force? Listen, it is by grace that God allows us, calls us to serve Him. And whatever we accomplish for the glory of God in this life is done by God through us. We are but the channel. We are but the vessel. Like the song says, channels only, blessed Master, but with all thy wondrous power flowing through us, thou canst use us every day and every hour.
And He says what God had accomplished through Him resulted in the obedience of the Gentiles. Sin basically is disobedience, isn't it? And He says what has happened is that now the Gentiles who were disobedient have been obedient. What does that mean? They have obeyed the Gospel. Did you ever think about this? Did you ever think about this? When it says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, did you know that is not an invitation? That is not an invitation. That is a command.
And when a person does not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that is just another evidence of disobedience in his life. When we trust the Lord Jesus Christ and believe on Him, we've obeyed. Or as it says over in the book of Acts chapter 17 and verse 30, God declares to all men everywhere to repent. That is not a request. God is not saying, now look, pretty please. Will you repent? God is not trying to cajole people into repenting. No. God is commanding people to repent. He is commanding it.
And when a person does, he's being obedient to the Gospel. He's believing. He's repenting. And the apostle goes on to express here that what happened in his ministry was accompanied by the power of signs and wonders. We see very clearly in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 12 that these signs and wonders were the signs of the apostles. In other words, they are not the norm for this age. I'm sorry to disappoint you if you think otherwise or hope to think otherwise.
History bears it out and scripture underscores the fact that the signs and the wonders and the miracles were a part of the ministry of the apostles and are not to be anticipated as the norm for today. Does God ever do a miracle today? Yes, God does miracles today. But understand this, that no person is ever saved by a miracle. Even if one rises from the dead, they will not believe. How do we know that? Because Jesus has risen from the dead and the mass has not believed.
People are not brought to Christ by miracles. They are brought to Christ by the preaching of the Gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit. But in that early ministry of the apostles, in that first generation of those that heard the Lord, there were some unusual things that took place. I remember an evangelist whom I will not name who had a radio program back in Ohio when I was ministering in northern Kentucky.
Every Sunday morning we would listen to a certain broadcast and this other broadcast would come on right after Jack Worson, the Word of Life. Some of you know of Jack Worson. In the early part of the program there would be a chorus of singers who would say, signs, wonders and miracles by. Then they would name him and I will not. And over and over again they would say, signs, wonders and miracles by and they would name the evangelist.
The evangelist unfortunately has been in jail now for several years for income tax fraud, but at that time he was doing signs, wonders and miracles. A lot of what we see today are not signs, wonders and miracles. In a few weeks I am going to speak on this matter of the charismatic controversy in the church and I invite you to be back that night as we talk about it.
I just want to underscore this morning that the apostle Paul says the signs and the wonders were a part legitimately of his ministry as an apostle. His ministry has results, started in Jerusalem he says, but they went as far as a lyricum and that is modern Yugoslavia. We have no record in Acts of Paul preaching there. He may have gone over there briefly while he was living in Corinth for that 18 months or maybe there were those who were his immediate students or disciples who went to Yugoslavia.
But he says that as far as his ministry is concerned, he had preached the gospel geographically about over a 1400 mile area. You say 1400 miles, that is not very far, that is hardly from here to Denver is it? Well just remember that in that day they didn't travel like we travel today. It was a major accomplishment on Paul's part and it required great sacrifice on his part to cover that much territory.
We ought to admire this man for the determination that he evidences in where he preached the gospel. And then he explains a little bit about his philosophy of ministry as he talks about the results. He says, I aspired to preach the gospel where Christ had never been preached before. That doesn't mean that it is wrong to preach Christ where he has been preached before or as he would say here to build on another man's foundation.
There's nothing wrong with that, indeed that is what a pastor teacher really does. But the apostle says as far as his ministry was concerned, his philosophy was that he would go to those areas where Christ had never been preached and he would preach Christ there and he did. And it is a special joy when God calls someone out from our congregation to go to those parts of the world where Christ has never been preached.
There are some 40 or so people who are part of this congregation right now today who have indicated at our missions conference last fall that they're willing to go if God makes it clear that's his will. I tell you I rejoice in that. And it means that we've got a tremendous job to do to be ready to support these people when they are ready to go. But I thank God for those who go where Christ has never been named. Most of us though are not in that situation.
We are witnessing about Jesus Christ among people who have at least heard his name. Wherever it is, let us be faithful as was Paul and determined and even sacrificial to get the job done. Paul was God's man, God's instrument in that day. Think of what he accomplished. Do you know that there are Pauls and Apollas out here today? And God is wanting to use you in your generation just as effectively within his will as he used the Apostle Paul.
What he's looking for is the heart attitude, the willingness. That person, that young couple who will say, Lord, whatever it costs, I will serve as a priest offering to people the gospel message that they might be presented to you, sanctified and saved. Are you willing to do that? You say, oh yes, I'll go overseas. Are you willing to go across your street? You say you'll go to Bible school and get training.
That's great, but are you willing to talk to the person at the desk next to you in the office tomorrow? You see, it's not something we can do sometime in the future. It's something we can do right now too. This matter of making a difference in our generation. The Church of Jesus Christ does not have apostles anymore. That was a part of the foundation. We have a great need for men and women who will give themselves fully to Jesus Christ.
Some for full-time Christian service, but many others who will be committed in the vocation where God has led them and gifted them to serve, and yet will serve the Lord sacrificially within their local church and in other ways as God leads. Does that describe you? I hope it does. I hope it describes me and every one of us. That with the same kind of determination, the same kind of sacrificial attitude, we will say to the Lord Jesus Christ that we are his ministers.
Heavenly Father, I pray that we will be able to emulate the Apostle Paul. Right now there may be some of us hindered because of attitudes or activities that we are involved in that are not of you. Lord, I pray that we will be able to see as clearly as Paul did what life is all about.
We are not here to get rich or to accumulate things or to be famous or popular, but that we are here for a brief time in this world to be ministers of Jesus Christ, to serve him as a priest declaring the gospel of God. I pray, Father, that we will call into line the priorities of our life, and if there are some things that need to be confessed and cleansed from our lives, I pray you'll lay that on our hearts today so that we'll be the people of God you've called us to be in this generation.
I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.