As you're being seated, I invite you to take your copies of God's Word and to open with me to Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 15, verses 17 through 21 this morning. Romans 15, 17 through 21. Our sermon is entitled, Pride and Preaching. In our sermon series on the book of Romans, we're walking verse by verse through Paul's epistle to the Romans. In our sermon series, God's righteousness revealed. Beginning in verse 17 and reading down through verse 21, the text states, In Christ Jesus then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum, I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ. And thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, Not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation. But as it is written, those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand. This is the word of the Lord. Let us hear it. Let us heed it. The grass withers, the flower it fades, but the word of the Lord will stand forever. This past week, Joshua attended a career fair that was being held in the O-Dome on UF's campus. Lots of companies and corporations from around our nation, indeed worldwide, came and set up booths and they spoke with recent graduates as well as current students about the possibility of future employment, whether that be through internships or co-ops or permanent positions. And I was proud of Joshua being just a sophomore engineering major. He knows that his resume is a little short on both qualifications and experience in engineering for the moment. But despite that, he got up, he dressed up, he stepped up, and he mixed it up a little bit with the big boys there in the O-Dome. And he gained a valuable learning experience for the future when it will matter more Those kind of settings, kind of like a job interview of sorts, are always a little bit awkward, aren't they? You want to display confidence, you want to remain humble and honest, but at the same time you're forced in a situation where you have to put yourself forward. You have to talk about your qualifications and you have to set forth your accomplishments. And in many ways, that's the fine line that the Apostle Paul is walking with the church in Rome. You recall that Paul has neither... Paul, and really for that matter, no other apostle served as the direct founder of the Roman church. It's unclear whether any apostle had ever visited the Roman church to this point. Paul certainly had not, and he has admitted as much. The first couple of paragraphs in chapter one, along with the last several paragraphs of our chapter, talk about Paul's plans to visit the church in Rome. He wants to visit them. He's wanted to visit them previously, but so far he's been hindered from coming. Now he's writing to them. He's written a long letter to them laying out the gospel that he preaches. He's just informed them that he has not written them because he has some serious concerns about the church or he's suspicious that they're deficient in some way. He knows they're capable. He knows they love the Lord. Instead, as he declared it in verses 15 and 16, he says, on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God. So Paul then is setting forth before the Romans marks of his service in God's gospel. He is humbly but straightforwardly laying out the authenticating signs and the characteristics of his special calling as the apostle to the Gentiles. This is the fruit of the commission that Paul received on the Damascus road when the risen Lord Jesus appeared to him in blinding light. The glory of the Lord shone before him and the voice of the Lord converted, called, and commissioned him to speak and to suffer for the name of the Lord Jesus. His letter to the church at Rome is part of that calling. His hope to come and visit them is also part of that calling. And what I want to take from our passage there in verses 17 through 21, as he's laying out the marks and the characteristics, is to see seven traits, seven characteristics of Paul's gospel service. Seven characteristics of Paul's gospel service. The first thing I want you to see is the substance of his gospel service. The substance. In verse 17, Paul talks about his work for God. Back in verse 16, he calls this work for God his priestly service of the gospel of God. If we look down in verse 19, there he calls it the ministry of the gospel of Christ. The question then is, what is this ministry? What does his work for God consist of? How does he serve the gospel of God like a priest? What does fulfilling the ministry of the gospel of Christ, what does it look like? And I think we find the answer primarily in verse 20. Service to the gospel ministry looks like preaching and planting churches. It looks like preaching and planting churches. Now that doesn't mean that all Christian service consists of this. You can serve the Lord as a Christian and not be this preacher or church planter. That's not what he's saying. But Paul as a gospel minister is a preacher and a church planter. Not all ministry involves preaching and planting churches, but it does mean that those specifically set apart as ministers of the gospel are called to this ministry. Gospel ministry is about preaching the good news until a church is established and then continuing to preach the gospel to build them up and to edify them, to equip them with the work of the ministry. This means then having an accurate understanding of what the gospel is and what the gospel is not. It means guarding the gospel against addition to the gospel, against subtraction from the gospel, against the manipulation of the gospel, against replacing the gospel with something else. Gospel ministry is not merely humanitarian aid. It's not poverty relief. It's not social justice or political involvement. It isn't healthcare or even feeding the hungry. Those are great things and Christians ought to be doing those things. But it's not bread and circuses and entertaining the masses. It's not building a brand or growing an organizational empire. Paul's ministry didn't involve any of these things. It was traveling around from region to region, evangelizing, making disciples through preaching and teaching the gospel, such that churches were established, leaders were trained and appointed, and they were set on a good course. Whether by word or by deed, the gospel and its communication was central to the task. It was the substance of Paul's gospel ministry. Too many churches, too many pastors of all stripes in our day have lost sight of this central feature of what it means to serve the gospel. We have failed to keep the main thing, the main thing. Secondly, I want you to see the sense of His gospel service, the sense. And that sense that Paul had as he considered his service to the Lord was one of pride. In verse 17, he says, In Christ Jesus then I have reason to be proud of my work for God. He has a sense of pride in his work for God. Now normally, when we consider pride, we don't think of that as a good thing with regard to a Christian. In fact, my title for this sermon sounds a little bit like a Jane Austen novel, and that's maybe on purpose. I called it Pride in Preaching. I just about named it Pride in Ambition. Because we can list off, can't we, a multitude of verses. We can list off verse by verse about the dangers and evils of foolish pride. Pride comes before the fall, right? That God resists the proud but gives grace to the haughty. That there are six things that the Lord hates and are abomination to the Lord. Haughty eyes and a proud heart. But Paul's pride in this case is not sinful because Paul's pride does not stem from a sense of self. It's not glorying in what He Himself has done. Instead, it's what God in Christ has done through Him. Paul is not bragging on himself, but he is boasting in Christ. As he rhetorically asked in chapter 3, where is boasting? It is excluded. It is excluded because God has done the work. It is excluded because of grace. Look again back at verses 15 and 16. Why is Paul a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God? His answer was given right before this because of the grace that was given him by God in choosing him and calling him and appointing him to this service. Paul has not forgotten that he is naturally a blasphemer and a murderer and a persecutor of Jesus Christ and his bride, the church. Paul wears several name tags on his chest at the same time. He still wears the name tag, as it were, that says, hello, my name is Paul, I'm the chief of sinners. He also wears the name tag that says, hello, my name is Paul and I am a trophy of God's grace in Christ Jesus. But thirdly, he wears the name tag that says, hello, my name is Paul, servant of Christ, his gospel, and the apostle to the Gentiles. And it's that third one that is the focus of this passage. Paul admits that he can only glory in his work such that he boasts in the Lord. He can only boast, he can only take pride in his work for God because of Christ Jesus. He's very clear that it is in Christ Jesus at the beginning of verse 17. That it's in Christ Jesus and only for that reason that he's proud of his work for God. His pride then is an accomplishment of Christ. His boasting is in the Lord. Paul has seen, he's experienced the braggadocios and the sinful pride of those who themselves call themselves super apostles and try to ridicule and put down Paul and his apostleship. They talked about how he writes very stern letters, but in person He's very humble, he's very, he's weakless and weak, he doesn't look like much. Paul had to write to the Corinthians, saying in 2 Corinthians 10, 13 through 18, but we will not boast beyond limits. But we will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. For we are not overextending ourselves as though we did not reach you. for we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others, but our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another's areas of influence. Let the one who boasts, he says, boast in the Lord. For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. So he's saying that these false teachers that are so arrogant and haughty and are insulting him, they're not boasting in the Lord. The Lord doesn't commend such. Thirdly, I want you to see the source of his gospel service. It goes along with what we've just said, with the source of his gospel service. The reason that he can have pride is because the source is not himself. We just explained the reason for Paul's pride in the work that's been done through him. It's not because his work testifies to how great a minister he is, but because it testifies to the greatness and the power of God that he serves in the gospel. just so there's no mistake and we don't charge Paul with sinful pride or bragging. In the very next verse, Paul declares, for I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me. Paul is saying that he will by no means brag on himself. That his goal is instead to brag on Jesus. He's saying that he won't even talk about himself to tell you what he's accomplished as though it were he who achieved it. Rather, he says, all I will talk about this and and nothing else is that I will magnify what Christ has accomplished through me. What a statement. He's not saying that I will tell you about all the great things that I was able to accomplish through Christ. This is not bumper sticker theology that takes verses out of context. It says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Indeed you can. Yes and amen. But there Paul is saying that in the very darkest moments, in those moments where he's endured the worst circumstances, the most dire situation, you know, like being shipwrecked at sea or being whipped with cords, that the Lord strengthened him and allowed him to be content in that situation. This is not a motivational poster on the wall of a business so that they can get rich. This is not a five foot five white teenager that thinks he's going to play in the NBA and become a great star and all of a sudden going to make millions of dollars being a professional athlete because Christ can do this through him. No, Paul doesn't even speak of what he's accomplished with Jesus Christ. Instead, he talks about what Christ has accomplished through him. It is Christ, then, who sets the agenda. It is Christ who has accomplished the work. It is Christ, then, that deserves all the credit. Paul is saying that in his service to God and the gospel, he has merely been an instrument. in the master's hands. He bent a paintbrush in the hands of the artist, the wrench for the mechanic, the hammer for the carpenter, the sharpened ax in the hands of the lumberjack. Paul is a tool in the hand of the great Redeemer. He who said, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Now don't misunderstand, Paul worked hard. He toiled, he strained for the gospel. He was in tiresome labor for the Lord. But like the farmer who toils from night to day, plowing, planting, watering, fertilizing, protecting, tending, and harvesting, he does all that, but he's not ultimately the one that makes the crop grow. That is not ultimately up to him. The source of that is the Lord. Fourthly, I want you to see the success of his gospel service. The success of his gospel service. What has Christ accomplished through Paul? The obedience of the Gentiles, it says. The obedience of the Gentiles. through Paul's apostolic service to Christ, through the preaching of the gospel, God has brought disobedient and ungodly Gentiles to obedience. Paul outlined this very thing back in chapter one in verse five. He says, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, among all the Gentiles. Paul now points the Roman church to the reality of a faithful ministry that Christ has used to convert the Gentiles and to bring them to obedience. We think about the description of who these people were, of who we are in our prior life before our conversion to Christianity. We think about Paul's description through the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 2. He says, you were dead in your trespasses and your sins in which you once walked. We're following the course of this world. Following the Prince of the power of the air. The Spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. And we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind, He says. But God, but God who is rich in mercy because of the great love with which He's loved us, even when we're dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. Just a few verses after that, still in Ephesians 2 verses 11 through 13, he again talks about who they were as Gentiles. Remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision. which is made in the flesh by hand. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now, but now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. So, the disobedient and the ungodly and those deserving of hell have been brought into salvation and obedience by the preaching of the gospel because God has worked in their life. So Paul has had the privilege to preach to the heathen, to pagans, to the barbarians, to the Greek philosophers and the Roman citizenry, to those involved in fertility cults and mystery religions, those entrapped in false teaching, those living in sexual immorality, those enslaved to the elemental spirits of this world, those possessed by demons, and those serving in the temple of idols. And He has witnessed them the power of the Gospel to convert such people so that they hear the Word of the Lord and they turn from their idolatry to serve the living God. Who but God could accomplish that? And it is a mark that God is in this ministry that Paul has had for God has used it to change lives and bring sinners to salvation. Paul's not citing statistics here. He is just pointing out that God has done through him exactly what God has commissioned him to do. And the successful conversion of a Gentile or any person for that matter can only be attributed to an act of Almighty God. Fifthly, I want you to see the strength of His gospel service. Let's continue to unfold the God-wrought nature of this ministry that Paul had. And we see this ministry's strength in the power that is displayed Verse 19 specifically mentions two demonstrations of God's power in the ministry of Paul. He says, by the power of signs and wonders and by the power of the Spirit of God. The first of these manifestations of God's power demonstrated the reality of Paul's apostleship. In his ministry, he performed signs and wonders. As Acts chapter 19 verses 11 and 12 explicitly states that God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul. It says, even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them. Now these miraculous deeds are what in our passage are called signs and wonders. Signs and wonders are not different than miracles. They are a shorthand term for miracles performed by an individual that is used throughout the Bible. Miracles then are both signs and wonders. Neither are signs and wonders different from each other. All signs are wonders and all wonders are also signs. The fact that they are signs conveys the notion that these miraculous events signify the reality that only God has performed this act. They are proofs of the power of God and are verifying pointers to the truth of the message that is being preached. Paul's apostolic preaching of the Gospel in these pioneer settings was accompanied by powerful, miraculous signs that this messenger of Paul was truly sent by God. He was sent by God with a message from God. The miracles had a purpose as a sign and the sign reads, God is at work here. The fact they were also wonders testifies to the reality of the awe that these miracles inspired in the hearts and in the minds of those who witnessed them. The miracles were marveled at. They were wonderful and therefore they provoked wonder. Paul's ability to perform signs and wonders authenticated his claim to true apostleship. This is in contrast to those who are professed to be apostles, even super apostles, but were not called nor appointed as such by God. In speaking about his own ministry in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 12, Paul declared, the signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. So God verified that Paul was truly his chosen apostle to the Gentiles by accompanying Paul's gospel preaching with signs and with wonders. But that is not the only display of God's presence and power with Paul in his gospel ministry. We read that Christ also accomplished through him the obedience of the Gentiles both in word and deed by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the power of the Spirit of God. The first thing I want to point out is the fact that Paul's gospel service is a Trinitarian ministry. This is what Paul calls work for God, indicating God the Father. This is ministry in Christ Jesus, about Christ Jesus, and what Christ Jesus has accomplished through Him. But also Paul's priestly service of preaching is by the power of the Holy Spirit. Not just in the performance of signs and wonders, but undergirding the entire ministry of Paul is the work of the Spirit of God. Now earlier this week at our home, the Kroger delivery man showed up. So we ordered from Kroger. It's a great blessing, especially if you have seven children. The Kroger delivery man showed up. And this Kroger delivery man that Laurie got a chance to talk to was an ex-preacher, a preacher in Charismatic Church, Pentecostal Church. And they get to talking a little bit about churches and distinctions. And I was sad to say that one of the distinctions that this man pointed out about we Baptists is that we don't believe in the Holy Spirit. I'm offended by that. I'm extremely offended by the fact that he claims that we do not believe in the Holy Spirit. There is no ministry. without the Holy Spirit. Now, we disagree on what the Holy Spirit continues to do in His work, but the Holy Spirit is very much a part of all that we do and all that we say. Paul would say in 1 Corinthians 2, 1 through 5, And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God, with lofty speech or wisdom. He said, I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling. And my speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom. but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." So, what did he preach? He preached Christ and Christ crucified. He preached the Gospel. It was the gospel, and in preaching that, it wasn't because he was a great preacher or a great speaker, not with eloquence or anything like that, not with plausible words of wisdom, but though he was in weakness and fear and trembling, not in good health even, as he preached, the Spirit worked in the lives of individuals and changed them. That's why Paul can say in Romans 1, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel because the Gospel is the power of God, the salvation for all who believe. The Gospel and the Spirit work together. Spirit working through the Word as the Word is preached. Jesus Himself said as He was about to go away, in John 15-26, He says, when the Helper comes, He will bear witness about me. He's talking about the Holy Spirit. He says, when the Helper comes, what will the Holy Spirit do? He will bear witness about me. He said in John 16, verses 13 through 14, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will glorify me. That's what Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will do. He will glorify me. The Holy Spirit's job is to make much of Jesus. That's what the Holy Spirit does. That's why I'm incredibly offended that anyone say, I don't believe in the Holy Spirit. If there's a church that makes of much of Jesus, it's a church that's filled with the Holy Spirit. A Spirit-filled ministry magnifies the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't focus on the manifestations of signs and wonders. It magnifies the Lord Jesus Christ. It preaches the Gospel of Christ and Him crucified that knows nothing except Christ and Christ crucified. It declares the Spirit-inspired Word of God. It declares Christ and trusts the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Gospel both to save and to sanctify sinners. Sixthly, I want you to see the scope of his gospel service. The next thing that Paul does is he names the area of his service. What lands has Paul served in? Among what peoples has Paul ministered the gospel? And he begins by saying, in Jerusalem and all around about to Illyricum. And for those of us that know Paul, that he was saved on the way to Damascus, that he was sent out as a missionary along with Barnabas from the church in Syrian Antioch, naming Jerusalem first might come as a bit of a surprise, but Paul isn't referring necessarily to his starting point in Jerusalem, although he had a brief ministry there. Jerusalem serves as the southeastern border of his field of ministry service. In fact, as he is writing the letter to the Romans, Paul is en route to Jerusalem with a large financial collection from the Gentile churches to the Christian Jews. But from Jerusalem and arching up and around the Mediterranean Sea, Paul has ministered in Syria, and Phoenicia, and Mediterranean islands like Malta, and Crete, and Cyprus. He's gone into Galatia, and Phrygia, and the other areas of Asia Minor, present-day Turkey, Macedonia, and Achaia, which includes the Aegean areas, including Greece. Then Paul mentions Illyricum, and Illyricum is present-day Albania, and Serbia, and Bosnia, and Herzegovina. And in that large swath surrounding the eastern edge and the northeastern curve of the Mediterranean Sea, Paul says that he has fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ. That means he's carried out his ministry and there's no other parts of those regions that he needs to continue to spend extended time and focus. It doesn't mean that he's talked to everybody there about the gospel. It doesn't mean that he's visited every city or every village or every hamlet. It doesn't mean that. But he's been strategic. He spent time in certain pivotal cities. And there he has established churches throughout all of that region. And he has trained leaders and appointed elders in those churches so that they are able to continue. So that there is a gospel presence and a gospel power and gospel preaching that is established in those areas. He sent his apostolic assistants like Titus and Timothy and Silas and Epaphroditus and Epaphras, visiting churches, planting other churches, doing pastoral work and training. At that time, these areas could be considered reached. They had heard the gospel, they had established gospel presence, and they were able to carry out and carry on with the work of the gospel in that area. That's why he could say that the ministry had been fulfilled there. It's why he's about to speak to the Romans about coming to see them. They who lie outside the western edge of this territory, beyond Illyricum, and then using Rome as a launching pad to take the gospel as far west as Spain. Lastly, I want you to see the strategy of his gospel service. The strategy of his gospel service. So we've already seen there are certain aspects of Paul's apostolic calling that is unique. It's not necessarily shared by all the ministers of the gospel. One of those unique is his strategy as the apostle to the Gentiles. what he calls his ambition, to preach the gospel where Christ has not already been named. Once again, like the word pride, we might think of the word ambition as containing a negative connotation, especially since the Bible often joins the word ambition with selfish ambition. But certainly we can recognize that ambition can be either good or bad, positive or negative. There are sinful ambitions as well as God honoring ambitions. In this case, Paul's ambition honors the Lord because it fulfills his special calling as the apostle to the Gentiles. Paul says that his goal that he strives to achieve, the policy that he seeks to follow, the strategy that he employs, is to preach the Gospel in those regions where Christ's Gospel is not yet gone and Christ's Church is not yet planted. Eventually, Paul is going to explain to the Roman Christians that this is one reason why Rome has not been a ministry priority for Paul. It's why He has not yet visited them. They have the Gospel. We don't know who precisely brought the Gospel first to Rome and planted a church there, but someone certainly did. And there were Jews from Rome present at Pentecost, and there's a strong possibility that some of them believed and took the Gospel back home with them to Rome. Anyway, there's already a solid church planted in Rome and a strong gospel presence in that place. Therefore, Paul hasn't yet made his way over to them. He obviously loves them. He cares for them. He wants to come visit them, to minister to them, to fellowship with them. But he has more pressing obligations that he believes the Lord wants him to prioritize. He needs to lay down a faithful foundation of the gospel of the crucified and risen Christ in places where no such foundation exists. He doesn't need to spend time laboring where such a foundation has already been laid. Building on another man's foundation in and of itself is not wrong for a gospel minister. Anyone who serves an established church is building on another man's foundation. Providence Village Baptist Church was established in 1898. There have been many gospel ministers here. To minister or to shepherd here, to be a gospel minister here, is necessarily to build on another man's foundation. That's a necessary thing for the continuance of the gospel in a ministry where the gospel has already taken root. But Paul's calling wasn't to see the temple get finished in every location, so to speak. It wasn't his commission to sit back and see the roots and the branches spread out and go to other places. His job was preaching and planting. As he would say in another place, I planted a polished water, but God gave the growth. And as Paul has done so many times throughout the letter to the Romans, Paul roots his teaching in the writings of the Old Testament. Specifically in this case, in the prophet Isaiah in chapter 52 and verse 15. Where it says, those who have never been told of Him will see. And those who have never heard will understand. There Isaiah is speaking about the suffering servant. He's speaking about the Messiah, the Christ. one of those suffering servant passages. And in the verses immediately prior to the one that Paul quotes, Isaiah states, Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you, His appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and His form beyond that of the children of mankind. He's talking about His death upon the cross. His lifting up to be crucified. But Isaiah is prophesying not only about the person of Christ and His work, but that He will be proclaimed to the nations, to the Gentiles, to those who have never seen Him or heard of Him. And they will listen and they will understand. participation in this missionary endeavor is part of Paul's calling and part of his ministry. It is the service of the gospel and his work for God to bring the Gentiles to obedience. Just a few verses after the one that Paul quotes here is Isaiah 53. where the sacrificial and the substitutionary nature of this suffering servant is laid out. The gospel is proclaimed. Isaiah 53, 4-6. You know this passage well. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with His wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. But the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." That's the Gospel. And that's the foundation Paul lays. And that's the power of God unto salvation. To bring the Gentiles to obedience. And that's the very reason that Paul can be proud and boast in what Christ has accomplished through him because of this Gospel. And that's the message that is for you to believe and be saved today. you to cherish and to take hold of. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, thank you so much for the gospel. Thank you so much for the