Well, good morning. In addition to the announcements that were already made, I've heard rumors that on Sunday the 22nd, that morning, we will probably be doing another breakfast for the Sunday school hour. So, if I turn out to be wrong on that, please disregard. If I'm right, please prepare accordingly. More info to follow. Turn with me again this morning to Romans chapter 15. Romans chapter 15. In just a minute, our study will resume at verse 17. And just to quickly set this up, in our last study of verses 14 through 16, I talked at length about Paul's threefold commendation of the believers in Rome, where he said that they were full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to admonish one another. We then noted Paul's transition in verse 15, where he writes that although the Roman believers were certainly worthy of the aforementioned commendations, there was still more room for growth. as was demonstrated in his bold reminders concerning what they had already been taught. Now, before we pick up at verse 17 here, let me just answer a question that was brought to me following last week's message, and I think it's a really good question, certainly an important question. But the question is this, when Paul says here that he's writing to the Romans to remind them again of certain important truths, what does that mean exactly? Had Paul actually taught them before? We know that up to this point, Paul had never himself been to Rome in the capacity of an apostle at any rate. Had he perhaps written previous letters to them that we are simply unaware of? Was he reminding them of things that they had been taught by other faithful Christian teachers who had come to Rome in the time before he wrote this letter? Well, the answer is actually not as difficult as we might think. assume it to be. Now, there is a great deal of conjecture among scholars. Paul might have very well written numerous letters to the Romans, and this might not be his first. And for reasons known only to God in the compilation of his complete canon, those letters have just been lost to history. We don't know. But I think the most logical answer is to simply look at what happened following the day of Pentecost with regard to the spread of the gospel. In Acts 2 verse 9, we see that there were visitors from Rome present, both Jews and proselytes. And many of these individuals became believers on the day of Pentecost. You'll recall that the aftermath of Peter's sermon on Pentecost was that 3,000 souls were added to the church that day. Now, does this mean the church at Jerusalem? Not necessarily. I think that could be a reference to the church as it is known and manifested in various local churches, places to which these people would return after the day of Pentecost as believers. At some point, according to Acts 18.2, you'll recall that Claudius ordered that all the Jews were to leave Rome. This would have included Priscilla and Aquila, who we are told were actually in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Priscilla and Aquila, after they were expelled by Claudius' edict, they actually made their home in Corinth. And this just happens to be the place from which Paul is writing his letter to the Romans. We know that Paul was familiar with Priscilla and Aquila from other places in the Word. We also know that Paul likely served with Priscilla and Aquila as a tent maker. That's what their trade was. They were tent makers. Paul went to see them. no doubt ended up working with them as they were also in that profession. And during that time, he was able to teach them even more about their newfound faith. Now, what happened to Aquila and Priscilla as soon as they were able? Well, they would have returned to Rome, where in the absence of the Jews, they found a thriving Gentile church that had been formed there. As one might expect, when the Jews returned in mass following the expiration of Claudius' edict and found all these Gentiles doing what they had been doing prior to this eviction, problems arose. This is when the Judaizers began making inroads into the church at Rome. This is when there arose these great disputes about who are the Jews exactly and what is their place in God's redemptive plan and all of these things that Paul is addressing in his letter to the Roman Church. In the opinion of some, the Gentiles had hijacked the work that had been begun largely by the Jews who had been affected so greatly at Pentecost. And again, this was the source of a great deal of consternation and a great deal of turmoil in that church, a great deal of friction. So Paul's writing, he says, to remind them all of the things that they had learned wherever they had learned them, whether it was by his own instruction, whether it was at Pentecost, whether it was as a result of Priscilla and Aquila and others who had been saved at Pentecost, he's writing to remind them of the things that they had been taught. He also wrote, as we'll see in the final chapter, to assure them that he would be coming to them very soon if the Lord should allow. And again, this is a very, as we're going to see, it's a very endearing part of his letter where he says, my desire all along has been to come to you, but I've been hindered thus far. Some of that hindrance was certainly by dark providence. Some of it was by kind providence where the Lord spared him from certain outcomes that might have happened had he gone to them earlier. I hope that makes sense. I hope it helps you understand a little more clearly what Paul means when he says, I'm writing by way of reminding you again of the things that you've already learned. They had been taught a great deal. And as we noted last time, it's always good to be reminded Once again, if you're here this morning, if you've been saved for any length of time and you think you've come here to learn something new, I hate to disappoint you, but it's probably not going to be the case. If you're a believer well grounded in the Word of God, as you should be, none of this should come as any surprise to you. Now, you might learn subtle nuances here and there. You might learn the definition of words previously unstudied. You might learn things about your own walk with Christ. That is the edifying part of this prophetic ministry of the pastorate. We hopefully teach you things in the Spirit of God that are edifying to you, uplifting, encouraging, correcting, exhorting. and so on and so forth. But again, none of it should be new. R.C. Sproul once said that if anyone comes to you with any newfangled view of the scriptures that have been through the exegetical mill for 2,000 years, run from that person. There's probably nothing good there. So, this brings us to verse 17 where Paul writes this, He says, 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 Spirit, So that from Jerusalem and roundabout, as far as Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. And thus I aspire to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on 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 of course, anytime we encounter the word therefore, it's really important. In this case, Paul's intention is to point to the great pleasure that he found in having been used by God in his ministry to the Gentiles. He says, because God has been pleased to use me in this way, I have every reason to boast. Now, at this point you might be thinking, wait a minute, I thought all boasting is bad. And it is, if you're boasting in yourself, if you're boasting in your own accomplishments, if you're boasting in your own status, if you're boasting in your own wealth, if you're boasting in anything having to do with yourself, that is not good. As a matter of fact, we're commanded against boasting in those ways. But that's not what Paul's doing. Paul is boasting about what God had done, was doing, and no doubt what He would yet do in and through him, and not in his own achievements. Paul actually makes this abundantly clear in places like 1 Corinthians 1.31, 2 Corinthians 10.17. In both of those passages, he says, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. Paul's actually quoting from Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24, where we read this. Thus says the Lord, let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, And let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for I delight in these things, declares the Lord. Notice carefully here in verse 18 of our text that Paul is quick to make this same point. He writes, for I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me. Paul's words here are actually an excellent example of what Jesus commanded all of us in Matthew 5 16. Remember what he said there? Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven. Jesus did not say, let your light so shine in such a way that you're able to gain the admiration and adoration of the masses. He did not say, let your light so shine before men in such a way that you may become the unquestionable authority on everything pertaining to the faith. He didn't say, let your light so shine that you become the most popular person you know. He didn't say, let your light so shine as you'd have the most followers on social media. He said, let your light shine for the primary purpose of glorifying God. One has to wonder as we let our lights shine, as we minister our gifts in the body and outside the body to those who so desperately need Christ in their own lives. It makes one wonder whether or not we're shining our light on ourselves. or whether we're shining the light on Him. Remember, this light that we have, we are salt and light, and this life that we have is never to be shown back on ourselves. The light that we possess is a light that extends outward. from ourselves onto others to edify them, to grow them, to help mold them more into the image of Christ. And certainly it's intended to shine upon God Himself as the author and perfecter of our faith. If there's anything remarkable about me, if there's anything noble about me, if there's anything commendary about me, if there's anything worthy of anything good, the glory belongs to Christ. and Him alone. This is the most common defining characteristic of those who are used most mightily by the Lord. As I thought about this, I was reminded of a man in Matthew 11. The Lord Jesus Himself said that this particular man was the greatest man who ever lived. And his life really wasn't that long. His ministry was shockingly brief. Who was that man? Verse 11, Matthew 11, 11. Jesus says, And it's true, is it not? When you think back in your little hall of heroes of the faith, when you put people on a pedestal, and in some cases rightly so, I mean, that's just why we have the hall of faith there in the letter to the Hebrews. We need not shy away from commending people who are what they are by the grace of God and who have been instrumental to do great things for the kingdom and cause of Christ. As long as we're putting Christ on the pedestal and not them, it's perfectly okay to acknowledge how God has used them. And God used John the Baptist in one of the most astonishing ways imaginable. We need to place ourselves at the beginning of John the Baptist's ministry. Now, we could go all the way back to his birth, his mother, Elizabeth, being pregnant with him, but we won't go there. Let's just, for the sake of argument, go all the way back to the beginning of his ministry. You have to understand that for 430 years, not a single prophet has spoken in the land. God has been utterly silent, as was prophesied. There was not a single prophet speaking for God in the entire land until that one day where John the Baptist arrives on the scene and announces, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Even before then, what was he saying? Make straight the way of the Lord. Prepare your hearts to receive Him who is to come. And how did he do this? Did he do this as if he were the most important man ever born? Did he do this in some sort of self-serving way? Did he do this by saying, look at me, look at me? Was he dressed in his finest clothes? Did he make the most of his own ministry in hopes that people would be attracted to him? No, he was dressed in such a way that would not draw attention to him except in the negative sense. He had taken a Nazarite vow. He had not cut his hair. He had lived among the beasts. He had walked around looking like a homeless beggar man. And here he is being the very tool that God uses to pronounce the arrival of his son. God did everything necessary to ensure that John the Baptist would not be the focal point of this particular time frame. And remember what John came saying, he said, he must increase and I must decrease. Instead of seeing himself as great, he didn't even consider himself worthy of removing Jesus' sandals, much less baptizing him. Remember what he said to the Lord? It's not me who should be baptizing you. You ought to be baptizing me. Jesus said, don't worry. It's necessary that this take place. He was obedient. He was faithful to his calling, even though in the end he wouldn't live long enough. Now think about this. 430 silent years, John the Baptist comes on the scene long enough to call people to repentance, make straight the way of the Lord, pronounce that the Lord had come, and he wouldn't even live to see Christ's ministry. He wouldn't even live to see Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Instead, he was here long enough to serve His divinely appointed purpose, and he was gone, put to death by one of the most senseless and humiliating ways imaginable, at the pleasure of the one who had appointed him. Remember, precious in the sight of God is the death of his saints. We look at death as a negative thing. We should look at it as John the Baptist. Imagine what persecution he might have suffered had he stuck around. I mean, he did suffer the ultimate persecution. I mean, a lesson learned, you don't call the ruler's sin to the fore, or else you lose your head, let alone the whole dance and the platter, and I'm not gonna go into all the detail. So why do I bring John the Baptist into the discussion here if his ministry was so brief, if he died so humiliatingly. Well, I bring him into this discussion because as great as John the Baptist was, as much right as John the Baptist had to boast in the goodness and glory of his Lord, notice what Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 11, 11. And this should cause us all to take a step back. Jesus says, as great as John the Baptist was, the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Wait a minute. Does that mean that we who believe today, or at least post-death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, does that mean that we're better than John the Baptist? No, no, that doesn't mean anything with regard to our own personal merit or greatness. All Jesus is saying is that those of us who are blessed to have been born after the finished work of Christ, His resurrection, and His ascension, we are greater in the sense that we have even greater reason to glorify God and boast about what He has done. That's the sense in which we are greater. We have a greater capacity. We in whom the Holy Spirit of God dwells, those of us who know God, those of us who are known by Him, we have a far greater capacity than John the Baptist could have ever imagined. Yes, John was faithful. Yes, John was obedient. Yes, John was humble to the core. But you and I have every reason to be even greater. in terms of the outworking of our faith than John the Baptist ever even had the opportunity to be. The fact that God allows you to live, you know some of us live, I've been saved for 50 years. Some of you, shorter times, certainly. And just like the thief on the cross, it doesn't really matter how long you've been saved. But you know, I should look back on the last 50 years as the greatest opportunity that God could have ever given a mere mortal. The opportunity to serve Him. I've been in the pastoral ministry 32 years. I should be far more grateful. then I am. I'm going to be transparent. It didn't dawn on me until I began studying this. Once again, I'm being reminded of the precious truth of God's calling, of the precious truth of God's equipping, of the precious truth of God's placing me in a ministry in which I have the blessed opportunity to do far greater things than John the Baptist. And oh, by the way, Jesus told his disciples that when he left, they would have opportunity to do far greater things than he did. And here we sit. What kind of great things are you doing for God? How much boasting are you doing about God? I've said before, we boast about our favorite sports teams. Sorry if you're a UT fan. Too soon? Yeah. We boast about our grandchildren. We boast about our car. We boast about our home. We boast about all the material things we have. Folks, it's high time that we began to boast about God. Our conversations with one another. How much of your conversation, even in this church, is actually edifying to those around you? I mean spiritually enriching. As opposed to just, again, the echo chamber of opinion, opinion, opinion, meet opinion, boom. Why can't we make more of Christ in our lives? It's a shame that we don't, and we should. Once again, a hymn comes to mind here. We're gonna sing it. This was planned. We sing in this hymn, to God be the glory, great things He has done. So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, who yielded His life in atonement for sin, and opened the life gate that all may go in. And you might think, well, my hymnal says that some may go in. I've told you before, if you Between now and the time we sing that hymn if you haven't already done so in the Trinity hymnal Mark out the word some and put all back in there because that's what the songwriter meant to put in there now We know all who all of his elect All those of his choosing all those that he chooses to save based on his sovereign grace and mercy There's nothing wrong with singing. He opened the life gate that all may go in so that all of his children might go in Do we really need to? dumb it down, I hope not. But here's the thing, even Fanny Crosby knew, who wrote this hymn by the way, even she knew that there's even a time coming when our capacity to glorify God would be even greater. Remember what we sing in the second verse? Great things He has taught us, great things He has done, and great are rejoicing through Jesus the Son, but purer and higher and greater will be our joy and our wonder when Jesus we see. You know what's really astounding about that? Fannie Crosby was blind since birth. You talk about somebody looking forward to that day, that day when we will see. What did Paul say? We see through a glass darkly or dimly, but there's coming a day when we will see him just as he is. What a day that will be. Like Paul, all of God's redeemed have every reason to boast in him for the work that God has done in us, is doing in us, will yet do in us as long as we remain and abide this side of glory. So going back to our text, what exactly had the Lord done up to this point through the apostle Paul? Well, keep reading in the last part of verse 18. He tells us that through or as a result of his ministry, Christ had brought about the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit. Now, first things first, I need to talk about the elephant in the room here. We need to talk about signs and wonders. As most of you already know, As an apostle, even as one born out of due time, Paul had been given the ability to perform the same kind of signs and wonders that were evident during the earlier apostolic period. As you'll recall, they were healing. They were even raising people from the dead as an extension of Christ's own ministry. Remember what Paul said, I have come to do that which is lacking in Christ's own ministry. And this is the way this was actually happening. The phrase signs and wonders always refers to the supernatural work of God accomplished through His Holy Spirit generally, though not exclusively, as a means of authenticating or validating the one tasked with the proclamation of gospel truth. And the question that remains among believers even today, it's the source of considerable debate, The question is whether or not God still gives people the ability to perform the same kinds of miracles, the same kinds of signs and wonders that He gave the Apostles. If you say yes, you are what is known as a continuationist. If you say no, then you're known as a cessationist. The official position of Grace Baptist Church is that we are cessationists. Now let me tell you what that doesn't mean. Are we implying by this cessationist doctrine that God can no longer and does no longer do miracles? No. No. God can do whatever God chooses to do. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And if God chooses to do anything that He wants to get done, He's going to do that. So what are we talking about when we talk about cessationism? Well, when we talk about cessationism, we're simply saying that God no longer gives men and women, mere mortals, in the church today the ability to perform the miraculous. We view the apostolic period of the early church as formative and not normative. In other words, such things were necessary in the beginning as a means of authenticating and validating the message and ministries of those so gifted. But by the close of the apostolic era, such gifts were no longer common among believers. So how can we be sure that this is true? Well, there are actually a number of ways that we can prove this point. Perhaps the most convenient way is to do what a lot of cessationists do. They immediately go to 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 10. Remember there the Apostle Paul says, when the perfect comes, that's a reference to the Holy Spirit. Not meaning that he hadn't already come on the day of Pentecost, but when the fullness of the ministry of the Holy Spirit is realized, that is, once this formative period is over and the normative period commences, the partial, that is the temporary sign gifts, will be done away. Paul says there will no longer be a need for the validation and authentication of the messenger because the message itself will be so permeating God's people through the internal ministry of the Holy Spirit that such external evidences will no longer be necessary. Now don't get me wrong. This is a good passage. That makes a fairly strong case for cessationism, but one of the most effective ways to prove the cessationist position is to note the clear pattern of the whole of Scripture. If you've done your homework relative to this topic, and some of us have because some of us came out of charismatic backgrounds, but if you've done your homework, you'll recognize that throughout redemptive history, there have only been three periods of time during which God gave extraordinary, miraculous gifts to mere mortals." Now, for taking notes, just jot these down. The first period was with Moses and Joshua. That would have been from the time of the Exodus till about 1445 B.C., a period of about 65 years. For 65 years, God was working through Moses and Joshua to accomplish the miraculous as a means of doing what? Again, validating the ministry of Moses and Joshua. They couldn't have just come down from the mountain and said, oh, we've met with God. I mean, Joseph Smith tried that. It was successful for him. But that's because I believe people were far less discerning during the Second Great Awakening, during which he reared his ugly head and began promoting his error. But by and large, Joshua and Moses needed this authenticating and validating of their ministry by God, lest they be accused of just making it all up. It was a critical time, was it not, in the redemptive plan of God. The second period was during the ministries of Elijah and Elisha, and that was between 860 B.C. and 795 B.C. Again, a period of about 65 years. You see a pattern here? For a 65-year period, they were able to minister the miraculous, and they did so to great effect among the people of God. And after 65 years, again, the period was over. The third period was between actually Almost near the middle of Christ's ministry to the end of the Apostolic Era, which is usually marked by the death of the Apostle John, probably 97 to 105 A.D. in that time frame, roughly. But again, what time period do we see? Between Jesus' performing of the miracles and the subsequent Apostolic period, it was about 65 to 70 years. So again, it's perfectly consistent with the previous two periods in which God had imbued certain men with the ability to perform the miraculous. Listen to B.B. Warfield here. B.B. Warfield said, course. So even during B.B. Warfield's days, which were great days indeed for the kingdom and cause of Christ, B.B. Warfield acknowledged, we're just not seeing men and women doing the miraculous. Why? Because the apostolic period is over. And that's something that distinctively characterized that period, but is no longer characteristic of this modern period. Think of it this way. This is probably the most helpful way to think about it. With the end of the apostolic office itself, the ability to perform signs and wonders that set them apart to begin with was over. By the time the last apostle died, the apostolic gifts died with them. This is why Paul makes such a big deal of being an apostle born out of due time. But even the apostle Paul's life would end at the close of the apostolic era itself. Perhaps the best argument for cessationism has to be from church history itself. While Paul did write about the continuation of certain of these gifts in his letters to the Corinthians, none of the letters written by him toward the end of his ministry contain any mention whatsoever of these miraculous gifts. Going forward on the church's historical timeline, we have zero references to any sign gifts among the early church fathers. What about the Reformation period? Another great period of revelation in God's redemptive plan. We would expect to see all kinds of miracles being performed by the Reformers, would we not? We would expect that, but there's none to be seen. We don't see them during the whole period of the Reformation. In fact, we have some of the clearest teaching available on the cessation of these apostolic gifts from the greatest luminaries of that particular time frame. Martin Luther, listen to what he said. He's writing about the day of Pentecost and the time of the apostles. Martin Luther said this visible outpouring of the Holy Spirit was necessary to the establishment of the early church, as were also the miracles that accompanied the gift of the Holy Ghost. Once the church had been established and properly advertised by these miracles, the visible appearance of the Holy Spirit ceased. No longer do we see man manifesting the miraculous in terms of validating his own ministry. John Calvin, the gift of healing, like the rest of the miracles which the Lord willed to be brought forth for a time, has vanished away in order to make the preaching of the gospel marvelous forever. Jonathan Edwards, Certainly a little later on, but Jonathan Edwards said, of the extraordinary gifts they were given in order to the founding and establishing of the church in the world, but since the canon of the scriptures has been completed and the Christian church fully founded and established, these extraordinary gifts have ceased. During the middle to late 19th century, Charles Spurgeon said very simply, those earlier miraculous gifts have departed from us. Now these men are absolutely correct. In fact, you can look at church history. Now you're going to find aberrations. You're going to find little blips where people insist that they do have this gift, but they are quickly quieted by the rest of church history. This is not something that's common anymore. You search the annals of church history, you're not going to find any references to any acceptable use of these particular gifts, much less the claims that people would make to having those gifts. So when did they allegedly return? In other words, when did we see a resurgence known as the charismatic movement? It actually happened here in America. It happened in 1906 in Los Angeles, California, on a street called Azusa Street. Wacky name, wacky theology. There was a certain individual going about telling everyone that the new Pentecost had come. This, by the way, was the beginning of the Pentecostal Church. The Pentecostal Church is founded on and rooted in the belief that in 1906 God ushered in a new Pentecost. Now this began to spread like wildfire. I think it's especially noteworthy to consider this was right around the same time that not too many miles from Los Angeles in San Francisco, California, we experienced the largest earthquake on record in this country. It literally destroyed the city of San Francisco. And so this had a profound psychological effect on people who were searching for hope, who were assured that the great cataclysm was to come. Look what happened to San Francisco. Surely this is just a precursor to what's going to happen all over the world. this guy took advantage of their grief. He took advantage of the situation and ushered in this doctrine known as the New Pentecost and insisted that the sign and seal of this New Pentecost was the ability to perform miraculous things, to speak in tongues, to heal the sick, and so on and so forth. Again, it caught on like wildfire and gave rise to scores of charismatic denominations that sprung from it. You know, the reason we have people like Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar, Jesse DePlantis, Todd Bentley. They've made extremely lucrative careers out of convincing others that they have these gifts. Now, what's wrong with that claim? There's no proof. And you might be thinking, well, wait a minute. No, I've been to healing ministries. I've been to healing crusades, you know, where people are actually being healed. Do you know there's not one single documented case of any so-called faith healer actually healing anyone? I don't care what Kool-Aid you've drunk over the years. I don't care how you've been warped and twisted in your thinking to thinking that these things are real. There has not been one single documented case where a man or woman has been able to heal another human being miraculously. Now, does this mean that God doesn't heal? Oh, God can heal. God's still in the business of healing. You know, the prayers of a righteous man availeth much, and when we join together in intercessory prayer for one another, for God's healing, He is very capable and sometimes willing to provide healing in those cases. But guess what? It won't be because I'm standing over you saying, shoulda bought a Chevy, bought a Yamaha, and... I shan't. I shan't say that again. but it won't be any religious appearing mumbo jumbo. It won't be that I'm taking any credit for that myself. It won't be an exorbitant cost where people are being charged tons of money just so your best seed or your healing won't take place. And then grandma drains her entire account and never experiences the healing that she was promised. If you're not familiar with the ministry of Justin Peters, A man with cerebral palsy who spent all of his life in a wheelchair, who was hoodwinked by Kathryn Kuhlman that she would be able to heal him, and it failed miserably. If you never availed yourself of Justin Peter's ministry, go listen to him on this very topic, and you'll find out that no one has done this. And oh, by the way, as I've said before, If any one person has this capability here in the world today, then they are worse than an infidel because they've not made the easiest trip of all, which would be to go to Memphis, Tennessee, right on the main drag there going through town, stop at St. Jude's Children's Hospital and clear out every bed. You ever wondered why they don't do that? They don't do that because they can't do that. They're charlatans and liars who are interested in only two things, fame and fortune. As long as they continue to have the ability to fleece the biblically and historically illiterate who make up the vast majority of their following, the spiritual carnage will continue as well. Well, I realize that's a lot to digest. I think, though, we need to address this when we come to a place where Paul speaks specifically about signs and wonders, we should stop and say, OK, what does that mean? What did it mean? What does it mean to us today? So there you have it. Anyway, no, once again, how Paul doesn't claim any credit for the things that he did, even the miraculous. But he attributes it all to the power of the spirit. who was able to accomplish such great things. And this is not the only place where Paul gives such credit. In fact, Paul was actually more inclined to boast about his weakness than he was about any power that he possessed. Remember what he said in 2 Corinthians 12, 9? I will rather boast about my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me." What does that mean? Well, it means the moment Paul began to get a little above his raising, the moment Paul began to believe that he himself was doing all these things, he knew that the Spirit would no longer work in him. It's only when we're at our weakest, only when we are contrite and humble that God does his work in us and through us. He says, I'd rather boast about my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote in chapter two and verses four and five, my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. One of the most humbling aspects of the ministry, the pastoral ministry, the preaching ministry, is this awe-inspiring thought process. Dan, I can tell you, every Sunday when we get home, I throw my briefcase up on the table and I say, He did it again. It's all Him. It's not me. God has imbued me with certain gifts, certainly. God has called me to this vocation, certainly, and I'm grateful for that. But make no mistake about it, when you hear from me, I hope you hear, thus saith the Lord. Like Spurgeon said to his students in his pastor's college, you know, it would be great if we could preach behind a curtain. That's way too weird for me. That's like a Wizard of Oz sort of thing, right? But I get his meaning. He said, let it not be about this. Let it all be about Him. This is what Paul's getting at. Let it all be about the power of God. Not in our words of wisdom, he says, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. Writing to the Ephesians. at the end of his great prayer for their strengthening. He said in Ephesians 3, 20 and 21, in this benediction or better doxology, He says, now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. Folks, this is why I'm so discouraged when I hear people talking about what we need to do We have the power to change this, that, or the other thing. Stop. You have no power. Should the Lord be pleased to cause your every gospel dream to come true, then it'll all be to His glory. It won't be because you tried harder than the person next to you. It won't be because you're more extraordinarily gifted than the person next to you. If God is pleased to bring about the change that we all so desperately seek, then all glory will be to God. And not to us. Oh, you're saying we shouldn't even try? Yes! But every step of the way, give glory to Him. Every step of the way. In his first letter to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 1-5, Paul explained that the gospel that he, Silvanus, and Timothy had given them did not come to them in word only. Remember what he said? He said, our word did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. And they said the proof of it was because they knew what kind of men they proved to be among them. You know yourselves that we weren't so eloquent of speech. You know yourselves that we weren't anything to look at. You know yourselves that we weren't out for some kind of power play. We weren't seeking to be elevated by you. Our words came to you in spite of ourselves. Our words were effective because our words were in power and in the Holy Spirit. And I'd be remiss if I didn't Point out Romans 1.16. Remember what Paul said there? He said, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel, for it's in my power to be convincing when promoting the Gospel. Is that what he said? I'm not ashamed of the Gospel because God has made me an apostle and I'm so much better than you that I'm more effective at what you're trying to do. No. He said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek. I've said before, you know, you ask people to give their testimony and a lot of times what do you hear? Well, I, well, I, I, I, I, I, I, How about modifying your own testimony? Why were you saved? Peggy, somebody ask you, why were you saved? I'm saved because He is full of grace and mercy. I'm saved because He loved me enough to send His only Son to die in my stead. I'm saved because He, He, He, Don't let your testimony be, I'm saved because I was really bad. Oh, you don't have any idea how bad I was. I was a horrific sinner. I did this and I did that. And then add God on at the end. I'm saved because God is good. I've told you about, what did I call it not too many weeks ago, the Testimonial Olympics. You ever been in a church like that? They line you up. You're going to give your testimony tonight. They have Testimonial Olympics where, man, after some of those testimonies, I don't want to get up and, you know, my testimony is more like the thief on the cross. And again, I would refer you to Alistair Begg's great little three minute snippet on YouTube. Go listen to it. The thief on the cross, why are you here? I don't know. I do know this, I'm here because the man on the middle cross said I could come. There's nothing more profound, there's nothing more joy-inducing than acknowledging the power of God to save. And how extensively had Paul been used to this point? Well, he says at the end of verse 19, from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. If you look in the back of your Bibles, you can see that map of all of Paul's missionary journeys. By the time he wrote his letters to the Romans, he administered the gospel. He says from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum. And if you don't know where that's at, find Italy and look directly east. He had made his way almost all the way to Italy, to the Italian peninsula. And he'd gone everywhere in between besides. And why had Paul decided to travel so extensively? Well, he explains in verses 20 and 21. He says, and thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on 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. The word translated here as aspired is especially important. It doesn't indicate a simple desire. To aspire to something is to have a burning, unquenchable passion to do that thing. It's to be outside of one's mind with preoccupation about this particular thing. Paul says, I went as far as I went because I could do no other. You know, it's akin to what Martin Luther said when he was being held in contempt during his trial at Worms, when he stood and he said, here I stand, I can do no other. I've come all this way. Yes, all of these are my publications. Yes, I've said all of these things. Yes, I have nailed 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg Church as my own testimony to the egregiousness of the sins of the Pope, and I don't recant any of that because I have aspired. I have that burning, unquenchable desire to make the truth known. In Paul's case, his goal was to make God's name known to all the unreached people of the then known world. And as soon as he did so in one place, having stayed long enough to establish a church and appoint elders to lead it, he was off to the next place, where by God's grace, he would repeat the process. He was a missionary pioneer. He was a pioneer. You'll recall that he was actually commissioned to this end, Acts 22, 21. Remember what the Lord said to him, go for I will send you far away to the Gentiles. And to what end, Acts 26, 18, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me. And let me just ask you, should that not be your goal as well? Oh, here it comes. We're all supposed to leave and go out and be missionaries, live that radical life. No, no. By the way, I prefer Horton's book, ordinary, over Platt's book, radical, for that very reason. We're not all called to leave our families and our homes and our jobs and our church to go be missionaries to unreached people. The people who are called to do that, God loved them, God blessed them. That is a difficult, dangerous thing to be sure. But we're not all called to do that. But I'll tell you what we are called to do. We're called to at least get off of our oversized bottoms and get out there in the world making known the name of Christ. We are called, wherever we are, to be ambassadors of reconciliation. We are called to call all men to do what God has commanded, and that is that all men repent. That's our calling. We're all called to fulfill the Great Commission. to go out and be making disciples. And as we make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to do all that Christ has commanded. That's our calling. Well, I just don't have the gift of evangelism. No, but you've got a tongue. and you use it for all kinds of other purposes, why not to proclaim the excellencies of Christ? Why not to boast about God and what He has done for you, in you, and through you? Why not? It's the greatest privilege that you and I have. Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing, even in our own little spheres, Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if we went downstairs for our meal afterward and every conversation was something akin to boasting about God? Let me tell you what the Lord did for me this week. Let me tell you how the Lord has blessed me the last month, the last year, the last decade. Let me tell you how much I make of Christ. Let's talk about what Pastor talked about this morning. And as iron sharpens iron, let's sharpen one another's counsel with the Word of God. What a wonderful thing that would be. You know, when Paul said to the Ephesians, let no unwholesome speech proceed out of your mouth, but only that which is good for edification, for the building up in Christ. You know, when he said that, he wasn't talking about curse words. He wasn't just talking. He was talking about any form of idle chatter, meaningless babble that does not contribute to the growth and sanctification of the one that you're talking to. Such speech, he says, is unwholesome in that it does not edify." How good are you in the edification department? I know a lot of people are good in the argumentation department. But how about we replace argumentation with edification and see what happens? Paul didn't want to build on another man's foundation. What does that mean? Again, it goes back to his aspiration. He didn't want to till up ground that's already been tilled. He didn't want to replant where the word had already been planted. Now, that was just Paul. There is a place for those who are gifted with the ability to explain scriptural truth, to further teach, to remind people of what they've heard and learned. So it's it's something unique to Paul. He was, again, a pioneering missionary, a pioneer. Yeah, I'll accept that Freudian slip. But he had this burning desire to go, to boldly go where no man had gone before. Not that James T. Kirk was an evangelist, but you get the idea. As he reveals in verse 21, he saw himself fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 52, 15. Go ahead and turn there. Isaiah 52, let's start reading at verse 13. The reason Paul quotes this is because this is his ministry in a nutshell, at least in his own mind. Isaiah 52, 13, God speaks through Isaiah saying, Behold, my servant will prosper. He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were astonished at you, my people, so his appearance was marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men. Thus he will sprinkle many nations, kings will shut their mouths on account of him, for what had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand." Do you realize how many nations, how many kings have fallen under the sway of the gospel? Certainly it's not to the extent that we all hope that it would one day be. But it's amazing to see how the gospel has in fact permeated so much of the known world. Our mission is to see that that permeation grows and grows and grows. How do we do that? I don't know. How do you do that? Right? We do that through the outworking of the Holy Spirit's ministry in us. Again, I have this great fear that there are so many in the church at large today who are not even aware of how they've been gifted, much less how they should go about using that gift to the ends that are described here. I think we would all do well to take note. And again, ask ourselves, That question my mom used to ask me, although in a completely different context, what on earth are you doing for heaven's sake? And who knew that one of my mom's standard lines of ridicule would be one of the most profound thoughts imaginable. So I'm asking you this morning, what on earth are you doing for heaven's sake?" It's a question worthy of asking and answering. And how will those who have not heard hear and understand the gospel? I mean, this goes back to Romans 10, does it not? Verses 14 and 15. How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things. Whose feet? Your feet. My feet. God uses human instruments to bring about the salvation of his people and he will use you too if you genuinely care about the eternal souls of those around you. Something that's clearly demonstrated and modeled by the Apostle Paul, whose ministry is most certainly a ministry worthy of emulation. May the Lord be pleased to bless us with similar aspirations, not the same but similar aspirations. May He give us the willingness to reach both the unreached and the reached for the furthering of the kingdom and cause of Christ.