praise God for the gospel that is read and for the gospel that is sung in the gospel that is preached for the gospel that is shown to us in the ordinances for the gospel that we so desperately need that we need to be reminded of my which we live this gospel that is our everything and as we continue to walk through the book of Romans I'm going to say something that may be difficult to grasp at first but bear with me for a moment Romans is one of those places where if we're not careful we'll still miss the gospel even though it's all over every page again I say it's one of those places where if we're not careful we'll still miss the gospel even though it's on every page because oftentimes we we get confused there are two things that that we do whereby we miss the gospel we don't know what the gospel is and we talked about that on last week what the gospel is and if we don't know what the gospel is uh then we we think only those places where we're talking directly about um salvation or conversion or justification proper only then are we really dealing with the gospel only then does that have anything to do with the gospel and we dealt with that as I said on last week but there's another way that we miss the gospel especially in an epistle like this what happens is the writer gives us or delays for us the the foundation of the Gospel and goes on to give us numerous implications that are based upon the foundation of the Gospel that he has already laid but if we then treat those implications or those imperatives in isolation from the gospel then all of a sudden we begin to negate the gospel itself because there is a difference between what the gospel requires and what the gospel produces let me say that again there's a difference between what the gospel requires and what the gospel produces and if we mix those two things up then we've perverted the gospel well let me see if I can explain further what the gospel requires is quite simple the gospel requires repentance and faith that's it that's what the gospel requires you remember the gospel is a proclamation of the work that God has done this Redemptive work that God has accomplished in the person of Jesus Christ that's the message of the Gospel that's the proclamation the proclamation is that everything that we've seen in the scriptures since the first proclamation of the Gospel in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 Finds Its ultimate fulfillment completion and wholeness in the person and work of Jesus Christ who has come and in his active and passive obedience has both satisfied all of the requirements of the Covenant of works that the first Adam did not and in his passive obedience has taken upon himself our penalty thereby Allowing God to be both just and the justifier of the one who places faith in Jesus Christ that is the proclamation the response that that Proclamation requires is repentance and faith and that's all that's what the gospel requires now what the gospel produces is fruit and obedience that's what the gospel produces so how do we mix these up well if we go to those places where the author is talking about what the gospel produces and treat them as though they're what the gospel requires we have just added something to the gospel so we we go and and we read something in in the scriptures and we read something in the New Testament and and and it says to us by this will all men know that you're my disciples for example that you have loved one for another we ought to love one another now is that something the gospel requires or is it something that the gospel produces foreign that's something that the gospel produces what does the gospel require repentance and faith but it is him who works in us both to Will and to work for his good pleasure but here's the problem for most of us from the top down from from those of us who are preaching to those who are listening to those who don't know Jesus Christ at all here's the problem the problem is that for the longest time in our culture for those of us who preach most of us were taught preaching in such a way that you absolutely confused what the gospel requires and what the gospel produces and as a result of that most of us live our Christian life like this we're looking at what the gospel produces and we're fighting with every fiber of our being to do it on our own or questioning our Salvation or questioning our devotion or feeling like we need to rededicate our lives or whatever because we we just haven't done enough now is is that to say that we just ignore those imperatives no we don't ignore those imperatives at all but we have to understand the distinction between what the gospel requires and what the gospel produces before we can understand how to approach those imperatives it's important here as we come to this sort of transitional point in the epistle on last week we looked at really that first paragraph in one through seven the last two weeks we've dealt with one through seven and here in one through seven we get this picture of the Gospel Paul lays out this brief understanding of the gospel and what the good news is well on next week we will look at the most powerful and influential statement about the gospel in the whole Bible and in all of history when we look at Romans chapter 1 verses 16 and 17. it is the seminal statement about the gospel and the power of the gospel and between those two we have this paragraph where we see this compulsion in Paul's life and here's one way we could look at this compulsion in Paul's life we could look at this and we could say see see how Paul lives his life based upon the impact of the Gospel you need to do that or we can say see what the gospel rightly understood and rightly applied produces in the life of the believer what's the difference if we confuse what the gospel requires and what the gospel produces and preach the imperatives without the indicatives then what happens is the service is over and you and I leave with a list of 10 or 12 things that we've just got to do better but if we understand the gospel rightly and the difference between what the gospel requires and what the gospel produces then what ought to happen in US is twofold number one there ought to be areas in our lives for which we praise God because of what he has produced in Us by virtue of the gospel and also a greater dependence upon God because of the things that we see in our lives that have not been fully saturated by and bathed in gospel thinking so that we all at once praise God for what he has done and acknowledge our utter dependence on him to continue to see it through to completion that's way different than what we're used to that's way different than what those of us are used to preaching are used to preaching and that's way different than those of us are used to listening than the preaching are used to hearing we are used to coming to the scriptures and going away with a pull myself up by my own bootstraps mentality I have to be better than that I have to do better than that I have to work harder than that and oh by the way the other thing that it produces in US is this dependence upon ourselves so on the one hand whereas a proper understanding of the Gospel leaves us with that balance and that tension between here's what God has done in me and I'm grateful and here's what I recognize still needs to be produced in me so I'm dependent what the other does is this here's what I've accomplished because of my devotion to God to this point here and here's how much harder I need to work in order to complete what I've accomplished and oh by the way here's why I'm so much better than my friends neighbors and family members because I do this and they don't and I don't do that and they do you can't say Amen you ought to stay out it's right here and right now that's what it produces it produces Pride arrogance and boasting and the life lived in the flesh but instead potion that Paul has in this next paragraph beginning in verse 8. first I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because of your faith because your faith is proclaimed in all the world 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 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 want you to know 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 both to the wise and to the foolish so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome here's what we have here this is the compulsion in a man's life towards the proclamation of the Gospel we'd say that this was like God's calling on his life to preach the gospel but it looks way different than what we're used to does it not this compulsion that Paul experienced experiences both toward the gospel and what we would call this compulsion toward mission looks a lot different than what we're used to it sounds a lot different than what we're used to hearing three things I want you to notice here one I want you to notice that God saturated speech the god-saturated speech but listen what he says first I thank my god let's let's count these here's number one I thank my God you got one with me there there is one okay through Jesus Christ there's two for all of you because your faith by the way there's a third one that's assumed but we won't count that one because it's your faith in whom Jesus Christ is proclaimed in all the work for God there's three is my witness whom I serve with all my spirit in the gospel of his son there's four we got the second person in the Trinity mentioned again that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers asking that somehow by God's will there's five in the first two lines he mentions God five times and another time indirectly God saturated speech God saturated language and we're not even counting what's already happened in the paragraph before how often he mentions God how often his ellipse part sing God's praise we're not talking by the way about someone who just has sort of a cultural perfunctory tendency towards speaking the name of God there are cultures like that and there are have been times like that in history where it has just been more common for people to use speech that was more heavily Laden with God talk uh but it is interesting is it not that we now say good luck as opposed to God's speed or God be with you isn't that interesting isn't it interesting to say you know I will do this or I will do that as opposed to if God Wills isn't it interesting that we say you know luckily so and so happened or fortunately thus and such happened as opposed to providentially it isn't that interesting that just in our regular ordinary language but here's what's more interesting what's more fascinating if you will not only has there been a movement away from this sort of god-saturated language in that regard but we now have a culture that still has god-saturated language but it's on the other end of the spectrum so now there are still very common phrases with God or Jesus Christ in them however they are curses and blasphemies so it's not that God's name is no longer on our lips simply that our attitude toward God has gone from one of Praises from our mouths in God's saturated speech to curses from our mouths and yet still God's saturated speech but but this is not just sort of the cultural norm notice the gospel is being proclaimed the gospel is moving forward people are being saved this is a Jew of Jews from The Tribe of Benjamin educated at the feet of Gamaliel he did not grow up saying Jesus Christ y'all amen so this is not just well you know it's my culture it's the way you know I was raised in Tarsus and in Tarsus we all said Jesus no nobody used this name but Paul can't stop speaking it he doesn't assume it but his speech is saturated with God talk so no it's not cultural nor is it hypocrisy nor is it hypocrisy yeah some things I just can't watch they're just they're just some things that I just can't watch and I I don't watch television a lot but there's some things I can't watch even if I did I just couldn't watch one of them just happened not long ago it's the Grammys can't do it there's no way I can do it I just I just can't I just I just I would break stuff you know for somebody to stand up and use semi-pornographic language and do erotic more than semi-pornographic movements in their so-called dance wearing semi-pornographic clothing and then win an award and stand up and thank Jesus I no scared God will strike them dead and it'll come through the TV and get me but it's sort of perfunctory is it not award ceremonies and things of that nature you make a film that's blasphemous or sing a song that is the most grotesque expression of sin imaginable and when you're awarded for it you stand up and thank God thus dragging his name into the filth and mire and mud of what you just did as though somehow he partnered with you in the process no that's that's not what's Happening Here this is God's saturated language because he lives a god-saturated life he's no longer his own he is a bond servant of Jesus Christ he opens his mouth he doesn't speak on his own behalf he doesn't speak his own words so out of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaks you know why you and I to have God's saturated language we don't live God's saturated lives the gospel was everything for Paul the way he thought about his life his future his everything was through the lens of the Gospel the way he spent his time was viewed through the lens of the gospel and by the way and we say well yeah that's easy you know if you're a a missionary or a full-time missionary and you got somebody supporting you on the mission field news flash Paul went places and worked he worked a job so even but he worked a job in order in order that he might work for the sake of the Kingdom so Paul did not have this gospel saturated life because somebody paid him to spend all of his time saturated in the gospel quite the contrary Paul worked with his hands and he worked in order not to be a burden we find in Thessalonians for example he worked to be an example to them he worked not to be a burden to them and yet although he got up every day and worked in order to support himself still his language was saturated with the gospel because he did not Define himself by his work he defined himself by his relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ his life was saturated with the gospel see we we've experienced this this cultural norm where basically what happens is we we we come here and this is where we do Church Life and when we leave from here that's where we do real life this compulsion that Paul experienced in his life led him to live the exact opposite he went out and did the other stuff out of necessity so that he could do the stuff in here because that's what he was compelled to that's what he was compelled to nordie he argue with that that was normative by the way let me just put that footnote in there he didn't argue that that was normative he argued that he had a right to be supported from the gospel amen not only is there God saturated speech but there's god-saturated prayer look at this prayer we don't get a picture here of his prayer this is this is not the prayer but in this portion of the letter where you see the Thanksgiving he mentions enough about his prayer and about the nature of his prayer and his understanding of prayer that we see that even it is God saturated look at what he says first of all there's thanks to God he says I thank God through Jesus Christ so this god-saturated prayer how do we pray we pray to the father in the name of the son and in the power of the spirit that's how we pray prayer is offered to the father in the name of the son so he says I thank God through Jesus Christ so first and foremost we see that it's god-saturated prayer because his prayer is about thanking God I thank God for all of you note this because your faith is proclaimed in all the world in other words Paul says let me give you a glimpse into my prayer life first of all I'm a man who's grateful to God when I pray it is a prayer of Thanksgiving I'll never forget I I remember exactly who it was it was Tony Evans but I don't remember the particular message or setting but I remember Tony Evans talking about prayer and using this illustration and he's as he's talking about prayer and teaching on prayer he said you know here's what most people's prayer sounds like God give me give me give me give me give me give me give me give me give me bless hey Susie give me give me give me some more amen for most of us that's our prayer life our family oftentimes we go to eat we will pray for our server and so sometimes we'll stop our server and say we're about to pray for our food is there any you know way in particular that we can pray for you as we pray for our food that's something that we remember every time that we sit down and eat especially you know when there's six kiddos and four of them five and under sometimes there's a whole lot of other stuff on the Mind besides remembering to go through all of the things that we normally go through when we sit down and eat amen but oftentimes when we remember we ask you know we're about to pray for our food um is there any way in particular we can pray for you you know the most common answer that we get that's very kind of you but no thanks everything's okay in other words if there was some area in my life where things weren't okay it'd be great because that's what prayer is for but because right now things are going smoothly I don't need God therefore I don't need to pray you might want to crawl up under something right now but he says I thank my God in Jesus Christ but but but then notice what he's thankful for he says I'm thankful that your faith is proclaimed in all the world just think about that for a moment whom Paul says one of the things I thank God for is the fact that your faith is proclaimed in all the world can you imagine that do you pray like that I'll just go ahead and confess that that is that is not the normal tenor of my prayer Lord thank you so much because I heard today about the faith of such and such a church that's being proclaimed in all the world thank you for the work that you're doing there and that your name is being magnified because of the faith that is emanating from that place but when you have a gospel saturated life and god-saturated prayer what would excite you more than a group of believers faith is magnifying the name of the Lord Jesus Christ but if I live a me-saturated life the only thing I can even think of to pray is God I need God I want God would you give God do you remember what I asked for last time that you haven't given me yet not only that but look at what he says in other places it's not an isolated incident First Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus I thank God for you because of the grace that God has given you Ephesians chapter 1 verses 15 and 16 for this reason because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints I do not cease to give thanks for you remembering you in my prayers Colossians chapter 1 verses three and four we always thank God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints I'm grateful to God for what I see the gospel producing in you why because the gospel is the most important thing in my life not me the gospel is the most important thing in my world not me so there is nothing in my life there is nothing in my world that brings me more joy than to hear that the gospel is being proclaimed that God's grace is being poured out and that his people are being known for their faith in him this humbles me absolutely humbles me and yet there's more he calls God as his witness he says verse 9 for God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit and the gospel of his son that without ceasing I mentioned you always in my prayers God is my witness God knows this to be true I'm not making this up this is real god-saturated prayer and then finally listen to this speech he appeals to God's will notice what he says at the end asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you today you know what that would sound like God called me to go to Rome and I'm just believing him forgetting me to Rome but the Apostle Paul says my prayer is that by God's will I get there not ignoring the fact or hiding the fact that he has a desire but recognizing because of his god-saturated language and his god-saturated prayer that it is not up to him it is up to God listen to what James says in James 4 13-16 come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring what is your life for you are a Mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes instead you ought to say if the Lord Wills we will live and do this or that as it is you boast in your arrogance all such boasting is evil but in Paul's god-saturated language that's not the way he speaks about this compulsion that he has to go to Rome finally is god-saturated desires first of all look at this longing that he has verse 11.
for I long to see you why because because it's because it's what I want I I long to see you why I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift strengthen you by the way he defines that that is that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith I'm so glad that he did that because there are some people who believe in this old idea of impartation that somehow one individual can impart onto another a particular spiritual gift first of all he uses the the the singular here he didn't say I want to impart to you spiritual gifts but I want to impart to you some spiritual gift not only that but he goes on to explain what he means by that that spiritually we may encourage one another that I may encourage you and that you may be an encouragement to me that that is my desire not that I'm the be-all to end all and that you're in desperate need of me and I can come there and fix you which sounds a lot more like the modern missionary mindset does it not amen no I I want to be there I long to see you that we might be mutually encouraged by one another because remember I've heard of how your faith is being proclaimed throughout the world and I thank God for what he is doing among you and I desire to be there I long to be there because I do believe that there are things that I could impart to you and that there are things that you can impart to me we will be mutually benefited and mutually blessed secondly he wants to reap some Harvest he says I want you to know brothers that I have often intended to come to you but thus far have been prevented I love that that goes back to the god saturated language I've often intended to come to you but thus far have been prevented Paul's not just talking about circumstances here because Paul believes in the Providence of God Paul believes that God is Sovereign so everything that has come upon Paul Paul understands and we know this through reading the rest of his letters that Paul understands that all of this comes to him from the hand of God so here Paul is balancing again this idea of his desire to get to Rome and the fact that he is utterly and completely dependent upon God to bring it to pass so he says I've often intended to come I wanted to I wanted to put it on my itinerary I wanted to get there but I've been prevented God has not allowed it that's why earlier on what does he say my prayer is that by God's will I'll be able to be there in order that I may reap some Harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles here's what's beautiful we see this compulsion of his and he wants to reap some Harvest among them as well as among the other Gentiles here's what's here's what's different than what we normally think about when we talk about missions because normally in in our setting and in our sense and let me just time for True Confessions here part of some of these Services where you know you go and and there's a a big you know conference and uh big youth evangelism conference I remember Statewide youth evangelism conference these big things that different states have especially in southern baptist life and they'll invite somebody to come preach at the state evangelism conference and at the state evangelism conference you know they they they want the gospel well let me back up they don't really want the gospel priests they want the planet salvation preached and a bunch of people manipulated in any way possible to come up to the front and register a decision so we can go back and say how many people made a decision but so anyway they want that to happen desperately but one of the things that also is often desired is for people to come forth and acknowledge a call to Ministry or to missions do you have the big missions conference and at the end of the big missions conference there is this huge call if God's calling you to missions then you need to come well first of all I don't see a call to mission to anywhere in the scripture amen a Christian Missionary is a redundancy in terms amen all of us are called to proclaim the gospel whether you do it here or in another location you're doing the same thing first thing we've done is we created this second there's this different class of people okay they're called missionaries there are different class of people and they're called to go somewhere else and proclaim the gospel that's the first problem here's the second problem with that the second problem with that is there are all these people who believe that they're in this other class of people who've been called to go to other places and proclaim the gospel and that somehow only when they get there will they be able to unleash it so you have a number of people who are saying God has called me to proclaim the gospel to Muslims in the Middle East God bless you but here's what I want to know what are you doing in your neighborhood well well no no my my calling is to the really no Paul says I want to reach some Harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles by the way that as well is among the rest of the Gentiles is not someday I'm going to reap a harvest among the Gentiles that as well as the among the rest of the Gentiles is I'm already in the process of reaping a harvest among the Gentiles right here and right now and one of the things that excites him about Rome is that there is a parallel between what God has obviously called him to do and to be and what's going on in Rome so it's not just that you know going to Rome sounds real good it's not just that it would make you you know sort of this first tier Top Flight super spiritual person if you say God's called me to go to Rome okay now now it's now it's it's Africa you know God's called me to go to Africa or wherever or the Middle East used to be Africa now you know the flavor of the month is Middle East God's called me to go be a missionary in the Middle East among the Muslims really why are you here telling me you got a passport no I'm waiting for my support to come through and I'm waiting for my really you don't have a passport you've never been over there you've done any language work no but when I get in the field then I'll do really but there's a call of God on your life what what does that mean tell you what it means it means nothing it means there's something that sounds really good to me and I'm going to claim it as my own it's not what Paul's saying here he acknowledges his desire and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with a desire praise God for those desires but there's a difference between here is my desire and if God's will and if God Wills this is what I would love to do which is what you're hearing hear from Paul this gospel saturated life here is my desire and if God's will is for me to do the same this is what I want to do I've wanted to do it long beforehand but God has prevented it from happening and as a balance there's a huge difference between that and here I am and I know that this is the calling of my life why because when I was 12 I walked an aisle and I said it out loud to somebody thank you therefore it's gospel I break my heart it breaks my heart because now all of a sudden there's somebody let's assume that there's a person and there is a calling of God and a compulsion of God on a person's life to go and proclaim the gospel and all of a sudden 20 years ago or 30 years ago when this person had this compulsion on their life everything was happening in Africa or every everything was happening in China so 20 or 30 years ago this person stands up and says with their mouth God has said it's called me to be a missionary and to go to Africa or he's called me to be a missionary and go to China now 30 years later there's a need and there's an opportunity and an Open Door in the Middle East that person's on the mission field in the Middle East and you got one or two choices either the calling of God and the compulsion of God was for them to proclaim the gospel and he ultimately showed them where in the Middle East or they lied or God lied because they're in the wrong place how about this God saturated speech God saturated prayer God saturated desires my desire is to proclaim the gospel there was a passion in my life to proclaim the gospel among unreached peoples I don't even know where it comes from and if God should will it sow I would love plant my life and lay it down doing precisely that what's wrong with that what's wrong with that there's nothing wrong with that but even in that Paul has evidence to back up his compulsion look at what he says verse 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians both to the wise and to fools so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome why does Paul want so desperately to go to Rome why does Paul want so desperately to be among the Gentiles turn with me to the left and let's look at a couple of things and we'll wrap this up turn me to the left and look at Acts chapter 13. actually go with me to 22. and then I find my place back over there in 13.
with Paul and Barnabas and they're called to the Gentiles go to 22 and look down at 28. Paul the Roman Tribune look at verse 27. so the Tribune came and said to him tell me are you a Roman citizen and he said yes the Tribune answered I bought this citizenship for a large sum Paul said I am a citizen by birth why Paul to the Gentiles and not Peter real simple answer the simplest answer is because God said but here's another one Paul's a Roman citizen born a Roman citizen well does that mean that because Paul is a Roman citizen and God's called him to the Gentiles that he turned his back on the Jews well turn with me to the left again and look at Acts let's just start in 17.
see if we can find a little pattern here Acts chapter 17 look there beginning verse 1.
