Romans chapter 15. We want to read just one verse of
scripture. Verse 29. And consider just two things,
two questions. If you remember why, who and
why, then you have my outline. First of all, what? What is the
blessing? that Paul speaks of there, just
exactly what is it, and it's pretty obvious, the Gospel. That's
what. And then, why? Why? What, or
rather, why is the Gospel such a blessing? Such a blessing. Before we do that though, I want
to begin with a footnote, so to speak. Paul mentions that
he had a desire when he came to them, that is, the believers
in Rome, and he makes mention of it again in chapter 1, that
he was ready to preach the gospel to those who were at Rome also. But Paul wasn't at Rome when
he wrote this, he was in Corinth. And he did go to Rome, but not
in any way that you and I would have thought. It wasn't easy
sailing. Paul went to Rome, but he went
as a prisoner in Bons. Just as he suspected that he
might, not only to go to Rome that way, but just about most
of the places he went, he ended up in Bons. In Acts chapter 20,
just on his way to Jerusalem, he meets with the elders of the
churches of Ephesus. In Acts chapter 20, verses 22,
through 24 pauses and now behold I go bound in the spirit unto
Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there I
don't know the particulars but I know this say that the Holy
Ghost witnesses in every city saying that bonds and afflictions
abide me but every time I read this verse I pray that God would
give me such such motivation, such desire to preach His Word
no matter what. But none of these things Paul
said moved me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so
that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which
I have received of the Lord Jesus, which is this, to testify the
gospel of the grace of God. And that's exactly what happened.
Paul no sooner got to Jerusalem, I mean a matter of a day or two,
than he was in prison. He was in jail. A few days after
his arrival, he preached the gospel and it caused a riot. It just caused an uproar. They
cried out, away with such a man from the earth. It's not right
that he should even live. This is in chapter 21. Paul was
already in Jerusalem. Acts 21 verse 33. Then the chief
captain came near, because of this uproar, and took him, that
is Paul, and commanded him to be bound, bound with two chains,
and commanded who he was, demanded rather who he was and what he
had done. Then after setting in jail, We read in that same chapter,
rather chapter 23 verse 11, and the night following, the Lord
stood by him, that is Paul, and said, be of good cheer, Paul,
for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou
bear witness also at Rome. Paul, you're going to Rome. Then
after three years had gone by, Paul comes to Rome after three
years for what we just read in Acts chapter 23. In chapter 28
verse 16, and when we came to Rome the centurion delivered
the prisoners, which included Paul, to the captain of the guard. But Paul was suffered. He was
allowed to dwell by himself with the soldier that kept him. And
then the last two verses of the chapter And Paul dwelt two whole
years in his own hired house and received all that came unto
him. And what did Paul do? Preaching
the kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the
Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding him. He was
a president for two years in Jerusalem under Felix. His trip
through Rome took at least a year. probably longer, and then he
was held prisoner at Rome for two more years in all, this faithful
man whose only offense was to preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This faithful man for the last
five years of his life was under guard, chained to a Roman centurion
for five years. So what's going to happen to
Paul's mission, Paul's desire, God's command? Having committed
unto him the gospel of the Lord Jesus, what's going to become
of that? Will it be a failure? Will it not take place? No. The
very opposite is true. God used those very things, Paul's
imprisonment, to do more than Paul could have ever done otherwise. Just as he said, that is the
Lord God, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth.
It shall not, God help me to believe that John, it shall not
return unto me void. It shall not be a failure. It
shall not prove futile or fruitless, but it shall accomplish, accomplish
that which I please, and it shall prosper, present or no present,
in the thing where to I send it." And that's what happened
when God sent Paul to Rome. While he was a prisoner there,
he wrote to his beloved son in the faith, Timothy, to remind
him of this. Second Timothy, Chapter 2, verse
9, Paul said, wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even
unto bonds, but the word of God, but the word of God is not bound. How true that is. Remember, Paul
had done nothing wrong. He was a prisoner at Rome only
because he would not be turned aside, he would not be deterred,
he wouldn't be sidetracked from what God Almighty sent him to
do. while he was a prisoner. This
servant of God wrote half the epistles of the New Testament
while he was a prisoner. He preached while a prisoner
and trained, preached to and trained Onesimus in the faith
of Christ and preached the gospel to some in Nero's own house,
his servants, and to the guards, and as a result What Paul did
during those last two years, only God knows what multitudes,
what multitudes were brought to faith in Christ by that ministry. Again, while a prisoner at Rome,
Paul wrote in chapter one of this book, the epistle to the
Romans, these words, verses 15 and 16, we referred to one a
moment ago. So as much as in me is, I am
ready. I am ready. to preach the gospel
to you that are at Rome also, for I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. For it is the power of God, the
dynamite is the word. It is the power dynamite of God
and the salvation to everyone that believe us, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. Paul knew by his personal experience
what God does with the preaching of the gospel. He'd seen it happen. And in Philippians chapter 4,
we have this little nugget, this tidbit. And remember, He was
in prison when he wrote Philippians, along with so many other epistles.
But he says in chapter 4, verse 22, while a prisoner, he says,
all the saints salute you chiefly they that are of Caesar's household. Well, how about that? You mean some of Caesar's own
household believed the gospel and were saved? That's exactly
what he said. God's gospel is the power of
God, as Paul just wrote, or we just read, unto salvation. And
whether it's preached from a pulpit or a prison cell, whether it's
opposed by Nero, the Jews, men, or devils, it prevails. My word, God says, shall accomplish
that whereunto I send it. It's God's gospel. It's God's
gospel. How can it do anything but succeed? How can it do anything other
than the very thing God sends it for? To save those who hear
it, who are given faith. God give us grace from just this
footnote, so to speak, to learn and to trust God's providence. To learn to do what God gives
us the ability to do. Knowing that it won't be in vain.
And to learn that Those who honor God, He promises He will honor. Those things, just those reminders
should give us more of an appreciation of the text here in Romans chapter
15 verse 29. Let's read it together. The title
of my message is The Blessing of the Gospel. The Blessing of
the Gospel. And I'm sure, Paul says, I'm
confident I don't have any doubts about this. This is not up for
debate. I'm sure of that. When I come unto you, I shall
come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. Paul was like a spiritual porcupine,
wasn't he? Any quill you plucked, it was
the gospel, the gospel, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. What exactly? is the blessing
that Paul speaks of here. And of course it's obvious as
we said it's the gospel. Is God's blessing, now we hear
this on every hand today. The evidence of God's blessing
on a church is seen by its large crowds. Somebody said people
will crowd a room to see a dog walk on its hind legs. It doesn't
prove anything. But is that God's blessing on
a church large crowd? Is it great buildings? Is it
lots of money? These hucksters on TV, that's
what they always say. God's got a miracle for you.
You send your money and you can have it. It's up to the highest
bidder. How dishonoring to God. But believers
know better. Remember what Christ said to
the church of Laodicea, remember? He said, you say you're rich,
and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. But he
said, really, in reality, the truth is, you're poor. You're
poor. And on the other hand, through
the church, in chapter 2, he says this. In chapter 2, verse
9. I know thou works, the church
of Smyrna, I know thou works, and tribulation and your poverty. Not like the church at Laodicea. They didn't have those riches.
But, he said, you're rich. How about that? You're rich because
that church, though they were suffering, Going through trials
and tribulation, though they were poor, they were rich because
they had the riches of God's grace. That's what I want, John. The riches of God's grace, the
true riches, the treasure laid up for his people in heaven. Well, it can't be stolen. It
can't rust. It can't decay. Oh, God. make us such a church as the
one that he said was rich. There is seldom a week that goes
by that I don't get either at the house or the mail out here
from the mailbox on the road from some hucksters. I got one just yesterday when
I was here, a postcard And that picture's on it of people, I
guess, in a congregation, you know, they're always waving their
arms. You know what I mean? That's a sign that you're spiritual.
You know, you're waving your arms and rolling your eyes and
all that nonsense that they call that worship. But they had in
bold print, you want more members? You need postcards. Doggone it. Why didn't somebody tell me that
eight years ago? For eight years, all I've been
doing is preaching the gospel. But if I want to see this place
full, all I got to do is order about 5,000 postcards, and that's
going to do it. He went on to say, our marketing
consultants are standing by. They've helped hundreds of churches
already and will help you create an affordable marketing program
based on what we know is currently working for other churches. No,
thank you. No, thank you. I don't want to
be like other churches, do we? No, we try hard not to. I'll
tell you what. You want to stand out? You want
to be peculiar and oddball? Just preach the gospel. That's
all you have to do is preach the gospel. Tell people you believe
that salvation is of the Lord, that it's not about walking an
aisle, or signing a card, or shaking the preacher's hand,
but salvation is of the Lord. It's all a work of God's mighty
grace, and they'll look at you like you're from Mars. What?
What? What are you? I dare say that
most folks in Sylacauga that know anything about Fairmont
Grace Church look at us like we're a cult. They're odd. Those people are odd. They don't
even give altar calls. What's wrong with them people?
How's anybody going to get saved? Better get them postcards. No
thank you. I would love to see, don't misunderstand
me, I would love to see the place full. Every service. I would
love to see it filled for every service. I would love to see
people hungry. Hungry and thirsting after God's
word. I would love to hear someone
cry out, oh what must I do to be saved? Oh God, be merciful
unto me, I'm the sinner. But I'll tell you what, that
doesn't happen by compromising God's word. It doesn't happen
that way. A so-called unity that requires
me to be, to conceal, or to deny, or to water down God's Word?
If that's what it takes for this unity to be maintained, then
you can have it. I don't want that so-called unity. Do you? Let me share just a few
brief articles by some well-known brethren. Two of them are with
the Lord. All three of them are with the
Lord. This is what Brother Scott Richardson
said on this subject. Today the church serves men,
pleases men, fears men. She has lost her courage, her
strength, her hope and faith. She is a moral weakling and a
craving coward. Why? Because she fears not God,
and not only does she not fear God, but she looks down on those
who do. That's the professing church.
And dear brother Henry Mahan, he said, the attitude that we
must get men converted at any cost and compromise usually winds
up costing the very character and truth of God, which is a
price too high to pay. Amen. Amen. It certainly is. Mr. Spurgeon said this. The title
of this brief article was The Best Form of Church Discipline. And his text was this, John 6,
verse 66, you know this one well. From that time, many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. And Spurgeon wrote,
did he want them? Did he want them? He said, I
think not. I think not. He desired not to have around
him a mass of chaff, but to pure widowed corn. Consequently, he
used his own words to do that. And I believe, brothers and sisters,
Spurgeon wrote, that wherever Christ is faithfully preached,
preaching is the best form of church discipline. Somehow or
other, carnal minds get wary of it, and they go away, and
those that have not a longing and a love for the truth drop
off of themselves, so they walk no more with us. Is that not so? We've had a few
come here for a time and then they'll say, well, that place
is dead. All they do is preach the gospel. God forbid we dishonor him by
telling rebels that they're saved. Believers bow to God's word. Believers bow to God's Word. It may not always be easy. It may not always be their first
reaction, but eventually, by the grace of God, sooner or later,
they're going to bow to God's Word. If they don't, if they
can successfully rebel against God's Word, it's because they're
rebels. It's because they're rebels.
Brother Dunn said, I bow to the Word of God. There are many creeds
and confessions and catechism written by men clearly setting
forth the gospel of the grace of God, but I don't pin my faith
on the writings of man. I bow my will and my reason and
my experience and my feelings to the word of God. I do not
understand all that is written in the scriptures, but I believe
it all. I bow to the authority of Holy
Scripture. That's what believers do. and
I do so unreservedly. Let men call it bigotry and they
will. Ignorance and whatever they may,
I am not even open to the consideration of any thought or idea or evidence
which contradicts the book of God." Amen. Amen. I give a hearty amen. I agree with that a hundred percent
and I believe you do too. You've heard the expression,
you don't know what you had. You don't miss it until it's
gone. Listen to these words by the
prophet, by the Lord God, actually Amos chapter 8 verse 11, Behold
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send a famine in
the land, not a famine of bread or of thirst for water, but of
hearing the words of the Lord. Up in there. I've been there. When I first
met Brother Don, we were both in our early 20s. He was past
in a little church in Lookout, West Virginia. And I remember
after I met him, I began to sit under his ministry. Oh, the joy. Oh, the joy of hearing the gospel. But then in just a year, about
a year from that time, God moved on to Danville, Kentucky, where
he is to this day. But I remember thinking when
he told me, he felt led to do that. I thought, Don, where am
I going to go? Where am I going to go to hear
that message of God's grace? Some of you have been there too,
haven't you? Paul speaks of the fullness of
the blessing. It's not a fullness of the offering
plate or box. or being a building full of people
or full of activities, churches that they've got something for
everybody. I mean, come on in, come see us. Come to where we're
at. We've got something for everybody.
We're bound to have something you like and if we don't have
it, just tell us and we'll provide it for you. Oh, but the fullness
of the blessing that Paul speaks of is nothing less than, nothing
more than the gospel. The gospel. Oh, when I was first
blessed by God to have a place to hear that gospel, which is
not after man, Paul said. The gospel God taught me, that
I received, that I preached to you, it's not after man. That's
what I'd heard all my life. It was man-made, man-centered,
and dependent upon man. But when God put me in a place
where the gospel, The message of God's free grace in and from
His Son, Jesus Christ, was faithfully preached. I was thrilled. Oh,
I was so thrilled. I was so thankful. I learned,
I learned afterwards that many didn't feel the same way in that
assembly. They despised the gospel. And
I was just shocked. I was shocked. I thought to myself,
man, what's wrong with these people? Don't they know what
a privilege they have? Oh, they blamed the messenger,
but the issue wasn't with the messenger. It was with the message. They hated the gospel. That was
the problem. Brothers and sisters, I mentioned,
I think, in that brief article, I'm so looking forward to our
meetings next month. Because I know that those men,
I don't have a doubt about it. I wouldn't invite them if I did.
Those men that will be coming to preach to us will be bringing
the gospel. The gospel, nothing else. And
that never gets old, does it? Does that ever get old? No, no. It's the everlasting gospel.
It's God's gospel. It's the gospel that concerns
God's Son. And He's fresh, fresh. He has
the dew of His... of his youth from everlasting
to everlasting. He never changes. Oh, how can
that get old? And that gospel is exactly what
I need. It's exactly what I need. It
suits my case perfectly and nothing else does. The gospel, Paul said
in chapter 1 of this epistle, is the power of God unto salvation. And men and women are not saved
apart from hearing the gospel. That's God's ordained means,
the gospel. That's why the last thing he
said to his disciples before he ascended back to heaven, go
into all the world and do what? Build large buildings? Get rich? No, he said, go into all the
world and preach the gospel and stay right there till I come
back. Don't budge from that spot. Preach
the glorious gospel of the blessed God. And I pray that God will
enable those men that are coming here to preach the gospel, that
they will preach it in the power of His Holy Spirit. God may they
do so. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. This is exactly what Paul's speaking
of. Preaching the gospel not with
worldly wisdom, but in the power of God's Spirit. 2 Corinthians
chapter 2. Did I say 5? Chapter 2, verse
1. 1 Corinthians. I'll get it right
in a minute. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. I'll
give you another minute. It's my fault. 1 Corinthians
chapter 2, verse 1. And our brethren, when I came
to you, came not with the excellency of speech or wisdom declaring
unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And
I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in the demonstration
of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." May I preach that
way? Years ago, when I was reading
this and preparing the message, I remembered years ago, I still
lived in West Virginia. And this pastor invited me to
preach in some meetings on the weekend. And I discovered, after
they started these services, that I was preaching with some
doctors of divinity and a professor. from a university, he was the
first one to speak. And he took as his text 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 2, elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Man, there's a lot in that verse,
isn't there? Blood of Christ, grace, peace. His whole message consisted in
taking the word foreknowledge and dissecting it. I mean, he
dissected it for about 45 minutes. He said it really means prognosis. Well, it does. To know beforehand. And about halfway through that
dry discourse, I thought if I'd have known beforehand it was
going to be like this, I'd have waited and come in later. And
I thought to myself, here's sad, I knew these people. Here's a
bunch of hard-working farmers, coal miners with their wives
and their families, and I couldn't help but wonder, are they getting
anything out of this? That man, I think, was more concerned
about impressing his fellow doctors of divinity than he was of feeding
God's sheep. The verse speaks of election,
sanctification, the blood of Jesus Christ, grace and peace
being multiplied, and that's all he could say. They have never
said a word. about those marvelous things.
God forbid that I should ever preach in such a way. Here's
the second and the last thing. Another consideration. What makes
the gospel such a wonderful message? Such glad tidings. Such good
news. It's the best news I ever heard
in my life. When I was going here and there, like a fish out of water, Lost? God got me lost? I was lost. I wasn't going to argue about
it. And man, I knew I was lost. Oh, I would give lip service
to it, but it didn't mean nothing. Oh, but God got me lost. And
I was going here and there and asking, what must I do to be
saved? And people said, well, you come
up here and repeat after me. Or you get a haircut. Get that long hair, and get you
a Bible. I'm not making this up. Get you
a Bible. I did all those things. And I
would lay down at night, and people were saying, you're a
saint, and patting me on the back. And God was saying, you're
lost. You're lost. You're lost. And then I heard the gospel. Come unto me. and are heavy laden, and I'll
give you rest." And I thought, man, I sure would like to rest.
I sure would like to rest. I would sure like to lie down
in my bed tonight instead of tossing and turning. Have peace
with God. And when Jesus Christ said, come
unto me, Larry, and I will give you rest, by his grace I came.
And he did that. He did that. That's the gospel
of Christ. Jesus Christ gives the gospel. It's a blessing. It's fullness
that Paul speaks of. The reason it's a blessing, the
reason it's full, is because it's a message of the Lord Jesus
Christ. John said, we saw the Word, the
eternal Word of God, the everlasting Word, made flesh and dwelling,
tabernacling among us for a little while and we beheld his glory.
John, what was that glory? What was most obvious to you?
What was most comforting to you? What did you see? He's full of
grace. He's full of grace and truth.
All the grace that you'll ever need, no matter what. All the grace required to call
you out of darkness and to give you peace with God. All the grace
to keep you and preserve you. All the grace that will bring
you to glory and present you without a spot or a fault or
a blemish, any evidence of sin whatsoever. All the grace that
can do that is in Jesus Christ. Man, that message is good news. Without Jesus Christ it's not.
A message without Christ is not the gospel. It's not fullness,
it's emptiness. It doesn't give the bread of
life to starving sinners. It doesn't give the water to
the thirsty or comfort to weary pilgrims. Oh, but the gospel
of Jesus Christ proclaims salvation full and free to the very chief
of sinners. It declares a savior, not who
tries to save. That's an imposter. who wants
to save, but one who is able to save to the uttermost every
sinner that comes to God by Him. We're evidence of it, aren't
we, believers? The fullness of the blessing
of the gospel of Christ is that without a doubt He by Himself
purged our sin. I like that. And this, it declares
that He obtained eternal redemption for us. It tells this hungering,
thirsty, needy sinner that God made him who knew no sin to be
sin for me that I might be made the very righteousness of God
in him. That's good news. It declares,
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And I don't have to stutter over
that text whatsoever. I believe that with all my...
Well, you believe in election. That doesn't... There's no contradiction
there. There's no contradiction there.
It is so. Every sinner that calls upon
God sincerely seeking mercy shall find it. You'll find it, didn't
you? And multitudes and multitudes
that can't be numbered have as well. I remember one time this
free willer told me when he asked what I was going to preach that
Sunday. I said, Romans 10 and 13, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. He said,
you can't preach that. You can't preach that. I said,
why can't I? I said, I can and I intend to. He said, because
you believe in election. Oh, brothers and sisters in Christ,
poor ignorant man. It's because God's grace is free. not depending upon him that willeth
or him that runneth, is the very reason that we can preach it,
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Don't you just love that? Our
Savior did. We're going to observe the Lord's
table here in a minute. And our Savior did just exactly
what He came to do. We're remembering Him that obtained
redemption, that saved His people. Just as Daniel said he would,
70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy
city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, and to
make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in an everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and
to anoint the most holy. And Jesus Christ did exactly
that. He finished the transgression.
He made an end of sin. He made reconciliation for iniquity
by satisfying the justice of God as our substitute. And he
brought in an ever, not a temporary, he brought in an everlasting
righteousness by his obedience to the will of God in all things
and he did so as the representative of his people, our federal head,
in his life Jesus Christ rendered perfect obedience to the law
of God. And by his death, he satisfied
every claim the law had against his people. And he did it as
their substitute. Therefore, the prophet of God
declares of the Lord Jesus Christ, this is the name whereby he shall
be called the Lord our righteousness. Our righteousness. Let me close as the chapter closes
here in Romans 15 verse 33. Now the God of peace be with
you all. Amen. Amen. So be it. Let it
be so. Amen. Here's pardon full for
transgressions past. It matters not how black they're
cast. And oh my soul, with wonder of
you for future sins, there's pardon too. People hear that
and say, oh no, no, no, don't say that, don't say that. That'll
give people a license to sin. They'll run out and sin. A rebel
will. A hypocrite will. But all those
who truly know Christ, truly have this hope, they'll purify
themselves, John said, even as He is pure. God bless you. Thank you for your teaching.