LBC Sermons & Messages

Romans 1:8 - 15

Last week we looked at Paul’s prayer for the church. First, he prayed persistently. He also prayed for them personally, particularly, and practically. This prayer is a shadow prayer of the Lord’s Prayer in the gospels when Christ teaches the disciples to pray.

Today in verse 14, Paul tells us that he is a debtor. He is a debtor to the Greeks and barbarians, the wise and the unwise. In essence, he was telling the church that he was a debtor to the whole world. We too are debtors to the lost world. I Peter tells us that we are to be good stewards of the manifold grace that was given to us. This is in context with our specific dealings within the church and with fellow believers but it should not stop there. We have been trusted with a precious gift that none of us deserves and we are to invest in those around us. To invest, we must give it away. What are you doing to give away the grace that is so freely bestowed upon you?

Then we get to verse 15. Here Paul says that with everything that is in him, he is ready to preach the gospel in Rome. He already realized that he was a debtor to the lost but there must have been more.

When you read Acts, Paul was fully aware that when he went to Rome, it would be as a prisoner and not on good terms. He was able to say he was ready with all that was in him because he also realized that God was in control. He had a specific command from God and he was going to give all to be obedient.

When I think of God being in control, I think of Lazarus, Martha and Mary’s brother. Christ delayed his stay with his disciples in a neighboring town and Lazarus dies. Christ responds to the anger and lack of faith in a way that tells us why bad things happen. He says, “I am glad for your sake that I was not here. Now see what God can do.” God was in control the whole time even though a “tragedy” took place. Allow God to grow your faith because He is in control.

Paul also realized that he must surrender. It is easier to surrender when we realize that God is in total control. “Bad” things might happen, but He will be glorified through it all. I Peter 5:5-7 tell us to be subject to God or to be humble under the mighty hand of God. What do you need to surrender to God today?

We had a time of encouragement as we watched Kirk and Ray witness to people all over the country. Even at 25,000 feet. It is an awesome privilege to know that God chooses to use us, fallen but redeemed man, to spread His Word. We can do it!

When we obey and take the steps to get out and meet people and share the truth, God takes over. The Bible tells us that God speaks through us. We must realize that He does the work through us. It is not our job to win people to Christ or to amaze them with our knowledge. Knowledge is good, but He works through us.

The Bible says that when we lift up Christ, He will draw all men to Himself. The Word of God shall not return void. Sometimes we plant the Word, sometimes we water the seed, and sometimes we harvest. Just because the person to whom you talk does not fall to their knees and repent does not mean that it did not work. God does the work. We must simply be obedient and allow God to work through us.

This week, be obedient to God and witness to this lost and dying world. Time is short, hell is hot, and God is great. Every person you encounter is an opportunity to share the gospel message. You can do it! Let us allow God to work through us and change this dark world.

Romans 1:8 - 15

Today, we start to up with Paul’s introduction to the Roman Christians. Let’s look first at his prayer in verse 8-12. Paul starts off by thanking God. What are you thankful for? We live in a very unthankful world and it has plagued the church for years.

Paul also says, that the church’s testimony of FAITH is known throughout the world. The phrase, throughout the whole world, most likely means the Roman empire. This still, however, is a great task. The way they lived their lives and the manner of their conversation was a testimony to the whole world. What is your testimony to the world? Do your neighbors even know that you are a Christian? Not that you go to church, but do they know the testimony of your faith?

Then, Paul prayers for the church that they may have power. He starts by praying without ceasing. When was the last time you prayed for someone else and sought God for their struggles and needs? I Thess. 5:17

Paul also prayed personally for them. We too many times pray very selfishly. We pray for our struggles and our needs and we totally forget about the hurting church around us. We must pray for each other and let me encourage you to pray right now for some in need in the church.

Paul also prays particularly for them. He prays for a prosperous journey. First of all, let me encourage you to pray specifically to God. He wants to have a relationship with us and wants to hear every little detail. Do not bore God and treat Him as a crutch by just rambling on about vague things. Be specific. Also, notice what Paul prayed for, a prosperous journey. If you read the New Testiment, you will see Paul had anything but a prosperous journey. Yet, Paul never once questioned God but rather gave Him glory through it all. What is your reaction if your plans do not line up with God’s and you get something other than what you prayed for?

Then Paul wraps up his prayer by requesting a gift. The gift was the ability to establish the church encourage them. Paul tells us that when you encourage the church, you get blessed in return. What are you doing for the sake of the church?

The battle between the emergent church and the traditional church is not about philosophy or methodology but about truth, the absolute truth given in God’s Word. The emergent church has fallen into the worlds thought process regarding truth. Truth is at best hazy, indistinct, and uncertain – perhaps even unknowable. How many times have you heard about the “gray areas” of the Bible. Let me be very frank with you. There are no gray areas in the Word of God. He is not a wishy-washy God leaving theology open to man’s vain imagination. He is God and is absolute truth down to His core. Methodology may be different, but theology and doctrine are TRUTH!

John MacArthur say in Truth Wars, that the emergent church thinks the Christian message should be kept pliable and ambiguous seems especially attractive to young people who are in tune with culture and in love with the spirit of the age and can’t stand to have authoritative biblical truth applied with precision as a corrective to the worldly lifestyles, unholy minds, and ungodly behavior. The poison of this perspective is being increasingly injected into the evangelical church body. This is not the Christianity of Christ and the Bible. Christ used the law to allow the Spirit to convict the person and did not try to be attractive but convictive. Lets follow the Master and not man’s devises.

We must realize the truth of the scriptures and that time is against us. We do not have time to become attractive to this world. This world is selfish, evil, and unholy. Why would the truth od God’s Word be attractive to them? It goes against who they are a a person. So let’s reach out with compassion but with the unadulterated truth.

We have been given a clear message for the purpose of confronting this world’s belief system. We have also been given the Holy Spirit who does the convicting and the prodding. We must be obedient. Faithfulness demands it and honor of God requires it. We cannot sit by and do nothing while worldly, revisionist, and skeptical attitudes about truth are infiltrating the church.

Romans 1:1-7

Using finger prints is a fairly new concept to place specific people at the scene of the crime. Up until the early 1900’s, nothing was known about fingerprints and their uniqueness. Now we understand that we each as individuals have our own fingerprints and they are the same as no one else. In Romans, Paul shows us the fingerprints of Christ. Was He truly the Messiah or was He simply a person who
happened to be in the right place at the right time?

First, Paul tells us in verse 2 we are told that the prophets gave very specific details concerning who the Messiah would be. For a person to fulfill just eight of the prophecies, his chances would be a one in a billion million. That is several times the total number of people who have ever lived. To fulfill all the prophecies would be one in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion. Christ fulfilled all the prophecies 100% making Him clearly the Messiah.

Secondly, Paul mentions the prophecy of being royal blood. If you follow Christ lineage in Matthew and in Luke, they are seemingly contrary to each other. One is the lineage traced through Mary, Christ’s earthly mother. This lineage goes straight back to David through Zerubbabel. If this was not enough to prove Christ’s royal line, the other account follows Joseph back to Zerubbabel then to David. This makes Christ heir to the throne both through the bloodline of Mary His mother and through Joseph His stepfather. When God does something, He does it all the way.

The third fingerprint of Christ is the most powerful of them all proving that He truly was the Messiah, the Son of the Most High God. Verse 4 tells us that Christ is declared the Son of God through the resurrection from the dead. No mere mortal could ever do this. Christ is the Messiah making His death, burial, and resurrection the only way to salvation. When we as a church partake of communion, we testify to the fact that Christ gave Himself and took the full wrath of the Father to bring all humanity to Himself. This is only possible because Christ alone is the one, true Messiah.

The sixth top argument faced when witnessing is that people do not believe that God, but rather men wrote the Bible. When you write a letter, who actually does the writing? Your or your pen? The pen is simply a tool. God wrote the Bible using these men. You could also argue by using fulfilled prophecy and archaeology. However, this usually is just that, an argument. Remember that Satan is a master of confusion and he is trying to derail your efforts continually. Stay on track. Simply tell the person that we will set the Bible aside and then ask if they think they are a good person. You can then use the moral law that God has placed inside each person and allow the Spirit to convict.

The seventh most used argument is that they confess their sins and ask for forgiveness all the time. This is a good thing to do but does not get us into heaven. If a person stands before a judge, guilty of rape and murder, and says that they are sorry and asks for forgiveness, they still must face the punishment. If the judge simply looked at them and said, “Okay. I believe you are sincere so you are free to go but do not do it anymore,” they would be a horrible judge. God is the ultimate judge and if we are guilty, which we all are, He must pronounce judgment upon us whether we are sorry or not. Justice must be served and a payment must be made. The payment was made through Christ, and Christ alone. Then ask them if they think they are a good person.

The last three I will lump together because they all have the same root problem, self-righteousness. Some say, “I have lied, but that does not make me a bad person.” Or, “It is narrow to believe that there is only one way to heaven.” Or, “You take care of you and I will take care of me.” In each case, they must be stripped of self by the use of the law and brought to a place where they see themselves as they really are. Also, John 14:6 says that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me. It is pretty narrow. What religion we were brought up in does not get us to heaven or cause us to go to hell. We all are doomed to hell because we have broken a Holy God’s law. Once again, stay on track and ask if they think they are a good person.

Romans 1

This week we are starting a study through the book of Romans. This study will take us some time as we will not be in a hurry to finish it and may take breaks as the Spirit directs. There are several thoughts we must keep in our minds as we work through Romans.

First, Paul the apostle wrote Romans while he was at Corinth around the year 54 A.D. Next, he wrote it to the Christians in Rome, verse 7, and to the church in general according to 16:5. In addition, the purpose of the book is to declare man’s sinfulness and to show forth God’s righteousness.

There are three key thoughts that we need to keep in mind. First, the key verses are 1:16-19, the key chapters are 6-9, and the key word is righteousness. Just like a well written symphony has a main melodic line woven throughout the song, so does Romans have righteousness throughout the entire book.

In verse number one Paul starts off by giving the Romans his credentials. He first states that he is a servant of God. We too should be servants of God but most have a hard time with surrendering to His will. We, like Paul have been born into this world as sinners being a servant of Satan Ps. 51:5, Eph. 2:3. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. However, we can become new creatures II Cor. 5:17. Most of the time, though, we do not crucify ourselves Matt. 16:24 and we try to serve two masters which is impossible Matt. 6:2.

Paul also tells us that he was called to be an apostle. Acts 26 gives us a look at Paul’s conversion and we are told that Christ tells him that he will be a minister to the gentiles. We are also given a mission by God in the Great Commission. I Peter 2 also tells us that we have a work to do. If you have repented and received Christ’s forgiveness, you have been given a specific work and we must be obedient.

Lastly, Paul tells us that he was sanctified to the gospel. Everywhere Paul went, he preached the gospel. Reaching people is at the heart of Christ. What is at your heart?

At this point in our class, we have been meeting strangers, talking small talk, moving to the spiritual, and then giving them tracts. It has been a struggle for some but rewarding for all. It is amazing to think that God has chosen to use us to reach out to this fallen world with the Law followed by the Gospel.

One of the top ten questions is, “what about the tribes in the deepest jungles that have never heard about Christ?” Along with that is, “If God loves me, He would not send me to hell.” First, it is not whether you have heard the gospel or not that sends you to hell but rather your sin. God has given all of us a conscience to point to Him. If you look at civilizations from all ages, there have been some forms of a god. This is because of this conscience. God has made His hand clear in His creation and it testifies to man. God also promises that if a person cries out to God he will send someone to preach to them. All are without excuse.

Another is, “Why is there suffering if God is a loving God?” There is no other way to say it accept, “we live in a fallen world.” Romans 5:12 tells us that all men are sinners and because this is the case, we must all face death. Disease, suffering, and death are a result of man’s sinfulness. Rather than viewing suffering as an excuse to reject God, it should be seen as a very real reason to turn to Him.

Another response when witnessing is that they are already saved even though the evidence says otherwise. If a patient thinks they are healthy, even though the doctor knows the contrary, he will ask them how their appetite is. Unhealthy people loose their appetite. The same is true for the Christian. If they have not read God’s Word in a while, this is a pretty good indicator that they are unhealthy or maybe lost. Then, ask them if they think they are a good person. If they are lost, they will most likely answer that they are so proceed by taking them through the Ten Commandments.

The key to dealing with questions is to stay focused. Satan wants to sidetrack you so remember to be polite but stay on track.