The Gospel is for Everyone

The Gospel is for Everyone

Rom 1:14-15

14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.

15 Thus, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.(NAS)

Here we get into another reason Paul wants to go to Rome to teach the people there. He is obligated by God to get the message out. What message?

Rom 1:16

16 For I am 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.(NAS)

Now we have several reasons Paul wants to go to Rome. 1st God called him to preach the gospel to everyone he could (verse1). 2nd he wanted to share particularly with the church in Rome a deeper knowledge of God and also to be blessed by them in return (see verses 11,12). 3rd he wanted everyone to know that God had power to save those who would believe, first to the Jew and then to the gentiles. Paul often used the word "the Greek" to refer to gentiles in general even though he also meant the Greeks. Now when he says barbarians in verse 14, he is referring to non-Greeks, gentiles that are other than Greek. I personally love it that God sent him to the Greeks cause I married someone who is half-Greek. And considering that the Greek civilization played such a large part in the development of civilizations in Europe down through the ages, it makes sense that God sent Paul to the Greeks. Course he was sent to other gentiles too, but Greece was still a major influence in most parts of the Roman world.

Let’s look at verse 16 a little more thoroughly. Paul says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel". Have you met people who are kind of ashamed to admit they believe in God, much less believe Him. I have. There are lots of people who are too self-conscious to really admit what they believe because they are concerned with people’s opinions of them. They want to make a good impression and not be looked down on. Paul didn’t care about those things for he was sold out to getting the gospel of God out to people. Remember this fellow got converted by a supernatural encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus years before. He KNEW that what he was sharing with people was TRUTH and FACT. He KNEW that people needed to be told about Jesus and what Jesus did for us. He KNEW that those who did not take Jesus as Saviour and Lord would end up in Hell. How many people do you know that KNOW God and the FACTS that way? Do you? Or do you have doubts about God’s reality in your life? Believe me folks, this God that Paul tells us about, this Jesus that the apostle Paul preached, that the apostles taught by Jesus 3 years preached, this God is real.

You may ask, "How can I be sure? I haven’t seen God work miracles." Well, if you think seeing miracles is going to prove anything to you, you are wrong. You can’t see miracles if you don’t believe they exist. Lack of faith blinds you. Let’s take a look at the next verse which is a quote from Habakkuk 2:4.

Rom 1:17

17 For in it {the} righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous {man} shall live by faith."(NAS)

The Gospel of Jesus Christ gets revealed to those who have faith and live by it. They live by faith, not by what they feel, or what they see. To live by what you feel, to believe according to your feelings or according to what you able to perceive with your own human mind-that, my friend, is living by the flesh, living by sight. Even personal experience can be living by sight. But once you start putting your trust in Jesus as Paul did, you don’t live by the usual ways you did before you were saved. You stop letting feelings determine the truth, you stop letting your own understanding be your guide, you stop letting yourself be your guide. Instead you follow what Jesus says is true. Remember when I told you about thinking I had lost all my data on the computer, all those files? Had I gone by my feelings on the matter, I may well could have missed God. But I realized that I couldn’t go by my feelings, that I had to trust that God was going to protect all those files, even though at the time I had no idea of how. And once I made my mind up to believe God’s Word about prayer being answered, God gave me His peace and joy welled up in my soul too.

Now we have talked about one major issue here-really honestly believing God. As you saw in the study on James, it is not enough to believe just with your head. You have to believe enough with your heart to live in such a way as your faith is evidenced by your works. You might think that Paul contradicts James, but he actually doesn’t. When James is saying works save you, he is meaning that works resulting from faith prove your faith that saves you. He makes sure you understand you cannot separate fath from works. Paul understood that. James was talking to people who had accepted the Lord and Paul was talking to people who were still coming to actually believe in their heads and hearts. If you doubt that Paul was concerned with the resulting works of faith, look at the following verses:

Phil 1:27

27 Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ; so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;(NAS)

Phil 2:12

12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.(KJV)

Rom 2:26

26 Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?(KJV)

Rom 6:17

17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,(RSV)

1 Cor 16:14

14 Let all your things be done with charity.(KJV)

1 Cor 9:1

1 Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?(KJV)

You see in all these verses that Paul expects results from faith. He just makes it clear that faith comes first, then the proper results after that. James just comes in later saying, "if you say you have faith, then prove it, otherwise you really can’t say you have saving faith."

So Paul and James did not really disagree, it just looks that way on the surface. Don’t look on the surface. Look deep within the Word and you will understand better what they are saying. The Holy Spirit will reveal His truths to you.

In the meantime, we have the fact that Paul is telling everyone, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. It is the power of God for salvation for all." Have you ever thought of the Gospel of Jesus Christ being power? Have you ever thought of it having power? Well, folks, it really is power, really has power, because it is from God Himself. Think about how that is so this next week.  God bless your weekend.  The Good News Lady