25 years after meeting Jesus, the Apostle Paul still couldn't contain his excitement about the gospel.
So here's the question. What kept him so passionate when most of us struggle to even mention our faith?
Well, today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl cites three shocking confessions from Paul that reveal his secret. As we read Romans chapter 1, we'll discover why sharing our faith isn't about having the gift of evangelism. It's about understanding what we've actually received. Chuck titled his message, The Good News for the Whole World. I find here Paul's testimony.
In three statements, each of which begin the same way: I am. I am. I am. Look at the first one in verse 14. I am under obligation.
The second is in verse 15. I am. eager to preach. The gospel, and the third is in verse 16: I am not ashamed. of the gospel.
Let's do a quick review of each one of those statements since they formulate really the foundation of his testimony. First, I am under obligation. When Paul first wrote the sentence, He actually didn't write under obligation. He wrote the word. Debtor.
For I am A debtor. I have been given the good news from the Savior Jesus Christ. I now. Have the responsibility, the debt to pay. to give this news to someone else.
Now there's the second statement. I am eager.
So for my part, I am eager. To preach the gospel. Having been given the good news, he couldn't think of not sharing it. I am filled with desire. Maybe we would say, I am passionate.
I'm driven.
Now I love it that he says I'm not ashamed. But before he says that, there's a little connecting particle. Four. See that little word at the beginning of verse 16? This explains why he was eager.
For my part, verse 15, I am eager to preach the good news to you also who are in Rome because. I am not ashamed of the gospel. Because, see there it is again. It is the power of God.
So he's got two reasons not to be ashamed. One is in the middle of verse 16, and the second is in verse 17. The first reason. It is the power of God.
For salvation to everyone who believes. I am not ashamed because when I give the good news, I am giving that which is a dynamic that will impact life. That will make a change in a life. It's the dynamic for Deliverance, see how he puts it for salvation. In fact, another reason he isn't ashamed is because in it is the righteousness of God revealed.
Don't you love that? What does that mean? Maybe if I told you what it means, you'd love it, huh? The righteousness of God, that right standing before God, being declared righteous before God. All of that credited to our account spiritually.
Here, it works like this: I come to the cross by faith. I believe that Jesus. Paid the complete penalty for my sins. And I trust him. I express my trust to Him in my own words.
Simple prayer. Lord, I know that there's nothing I have that's worthwhile, but I need your Son. I need what He has provided for me, and I take the gift that you have given me in Christ. At that moment, God declares me righteous. I am brought in right relations with God for the first time in my life and from that time on.
The justification that is mentioned later in the letter is the sovereign act of God whereby He declares righteous the believing sinner while we are still in a sinning state. I am at that moment as righteous. as his son. in his eyes. Which means the need to work for my salvation is over.
All of the work was done. By Christ.
Now my work is a work of voluntary labor, a commitment, an eagerness, a desire, an obligation to make the message known, but not to be saved, but because I am saved. That's why he's not ashamed of it. I thought about this matter of shame. a lot and uh Shame comes from two areas. Number one is you've done what's wrong and you feel ashamed for it.
That's not this kind of shame. The second is you're ashamed of the ridicule that will come. You're ashamed of looking foolish in the eyes of your peers. You're ashamed of being made to feel foolish by those with whom you share the good news. I thought in Paul's case, were there times he could have been tempted to be ashamed?
How about when he broke with the fraternity of Pharisees as he was converted? And all of his former friends, and what a tight group they were. turned against him. How about when he was uh A stoned by resentful Jews at Lystra who followed him there. And later imprisoned at Philippi and chased out of Thessalonica.
and smuggled out of Berea. And when he got to Athens, they saw him as a seed picker. This hillbilly from over in Tarsus has something new to add to us, and all the eggheads got together to smile and mock him as they listen to his message. Could he have been tempted to be ashamed? Um Knowing Paul, he wasn't, but I think the temptation was there.
I remember standing on a free speech platform at the University of Oklahoma years ago with another friend on the other free speech platform. And you sort of took turns in those days as to who's going to stand up and speak.
So we sort of. Shoved our way up there, and I began to talk about Jesus. And he talked about Jesus, and all of a sudden, splat, I got a Tomato hit me right here in the side of the neck, kind of ran down my shirt. And I looked over at my buddy, and he had two tomatoes on him. And he looked at me and he said, Is this exciting or what?
Reminded me of Churchill's words. Nothing in life is more exhilarating than being shot at without result. You couldn't shoot at Paul enough to embarrass him. You couldn't make him ashamed. Hey, he had the good news, he had the dynamic.
What's there to be ashamed of? Because Paul has been put in debt, because he has been eager to declare it, and because he refused to be ashamed. God was ready to use him in a significant way, and indeed he did. But that's Paul. As I've said for a long time, what's good for Paul is good for all.
So let's go back and look at it through our eyes. You thought we were through.
Now we're going to see what it has to say to us. What is our response to the good news? Verse 14. We too have been put in debt. Paul has no corner on debt.
We too are under obligation. We too have those who were sophisticated, the Greeks. and those who were not sophisticated, the bar, bar, bar, bar, bar group. All of those who were all around us. who aren't clued in.
We are equally indebted. What a pleasure it is to open the news of Christ to them. Having been blessed with hearing the message, now believing the message, we are under this impelling sense of obligation to share the message. Second, we too. are filled with desire to share the good news.
It's what drives us on. I call it the invisible impetus. Knowing that I have been changed from within, how can I not tell a person that the escape route is open if he will only follow me there? Just come with me. Let me show you a passage of scripture.
Hold your place in Romans and go to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Here we have another little glimpse of Paul behind the scenes as to his thinking regarding the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9.19. For though I am free from all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. Watch closely.
He now breaks that down. To the Jew I became as a Jew. that I might win Jews. To those who were under the law, as under the law, though. Not being myself under the law, so that I might win those who are under the law.
There's a third category. To those who are without law, there is the barbarians. They're those who aren't clued in. They're the ones who are in the hinterlands. These are the ones who are out there in the midst of the real world, the secularized individual who has not been reared in the church, to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God, but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those without law.
There's a fourth category. How about to the weak? To the weak I became weak. that I might win the week.
Now he summarizes. I have become all things. To all men.
So that I may by all means Save all. You see it, don't you? After doing all these things. I will never win them all. There'll be some will win.
A.T. Robertson writes: This is his goal and worth all the cost of adaptation. He has adapted his life to reach as many, knowing. that all will never. Believe.
I will tell you, after more than 40 years of preaching the good news of Christ, I've experienced the truth of that. I have never had everyone in the congregation believe it. While you are on the edge of your seat, there are those around you who are yawning and checking their watch. While you are excited about what's coming next in the verse of Scripture, There are others who wonder: what in the world is this all excited about? What's the deal?
Hmm. We have an anesthesiologist in our church. I tell him sometimes we're in the same business, we both put people to sleep. And he answers back, yeah, but I'll wake him up. All through life, it's been my privilege to share the good news and watch some.
Grow. And emerge. One lady said to me after one of the services today, she said, for 20 years I've listened to you. She said, the woman I've become is linked to the broadcast at Insight for Living. I had never met her before, may never see her again.
I had no idea. I had no idea. And I'm sure she has neighbors who could listen to the same broadcast, and it wouldn't mean a hill of beans to them. You do all you can to reach all you're able. knowing that when you have done all to reach all, you win.
Some.
So I've learned to relax. It used to bother me that all didn't believe it. that all weren't changed by it. And when you fall into that trap, your focus is on the few who don't. and you miss the many who do.
In all of the years of sharing Christ, rarely have I had anyone say, I'm not interested. Or get out of my life. More often than not, it's really? I never heard this. And that's what makes us eager.
By the way, Paul's desire was to share it in Rome. Rome is where you live. Where do you live? Plano? Carpel?
The colony? Alan? To the north? To the south? That's your Rome.
Where do you work? That's your wrong. I remember when my family and I were struggling with the call of moving from a little town in Texas. to the vast metropolis of Los Angeles. I remember the struggle On the flight in that 747 when I was sitting in that seat.
We had just gotten below the smog coming into Los Angeles and It was toward night, so the lights were on. And here we were flying 400 and more miles an hour. Over miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles of lights. Miles and miles and miles of residential areas that I. Couldn't name one of them.
Miles and miles and miles to the coast where you finally land at LAX. Right by the Pacific. I remember thinking as I'm struggling.
Okay. How do you get your arms around this? How do you ever minister at a place like this? And the Lord just made it so clear to me: I'm not calling you to all of this. I got one place for you.
That's your Rome. At your place. God's not calling you to reach every person that's in China. God isn't saying to you, you need to talk to everybody in India before you die. You couldn't.
God isn't saying to you, you've got to reach everybody in the city of Dallas before you die. He said, I've got you in one spot. You're under obligation. I ask you to be eager. Unashamed.
Unashamed. So you do it by faith. We now live by faith. We must be unashamed of the good news. Reminding ourselves is good news.
It's an escape route from hell. It's missing perishing. Right now, it doesn't seem like much, but wait till you get the doctor's report back. Wait till the elephant stands on your chest. Wait till that car comes out of nowhere and strikes you broadside.
And you linger between life and death. You gotta know how to miss perishing at that point.
Now's the time to get ready. You say, Well, I've never seen Jesus, I've never heard his voice.
Well, welcome to the club. Uh I haven't either. I'd be bothered if he started talking to me out loud. I don't see him in cloud formations. Then how do I believe?
By faith. Let me give you three words. It'll help you. Trust. Expect Rest.
Trust. I trust The word of God. I trust the Son of God. I trust the gospel of God. I trust Him.
I do it when I take a flight. I do it when I drive my car. I trust God. I trust Him. To keep his word.
I trust what he says about the Savior is true. I have no better message than this.
Now then, I trust him to do what I'm not able to. See my way through, and then I expect him to take over. I expect him, once I've trusted him, to fulfill what he says he will do. He says, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved. I expect him then to save me.
to deliver me from perishing. And then I rest.
Now Wait a minute. Surrendering doesn't mean I give up. Surrendering means I take my hands off. You know how it is, you we who have adult children. We can no longer say Straighten up.
Because they're 35, 40 years old. They'd slap us back.
So What do we do? We trust the Lord. We expect him to work in their lives. And we take hands off. Very keen part of parenting is knowing when to take your hands off.
Don't mess with 'em. Sick God on them. I mean, not quite like that, but you say. I expect you to do what I can't do, and you rely on God to do it, and you relax. Yeah.
Some of you haven't relaxed since you took a nap at three years of age. You are just on the edge of your seat. You hate to miss one panel of a revolving door. You're almost neurotic. You're so driven.
Relax. Relax, the door's open. Mm-hmm. Opportunities every week to share Christ. You just deliberately don't want to walk into them.
So trust him. Rest even rest through what one might call a disaster. God is good at that. I was reading in a biography recently the story of an old story, really, I had read before, but had forgotten about it. Charles Edison writes about his father.
He calls this the electric Thomas Edison. Listen to this little vignette. You'll love it. I especially recall a freezing December night in 1914 at a time when still unfruitful experiments on the nickel-iron alkaline battery. To which father had devoted much of ten years, had put him on a financial tightrope.
Only profits from movie and record production were supporting the laboratory. On that December evening, the cry of fire echoed. through the plant. Spontaneous combustion had broken out in the film room within moments. All the packing compounds, all the celluloid for records, all the film and other flammable goods had gone up in a whoosh.
Fire companies from eight towns arrived, but the heat was so intense, water pressure so low, that the fire hoses had no effect. When I couldn't find my father, I became concerned. Was he safe? With all his assets going up in smoke. Would his spirit be broken?
He was 67, no age to begin anew. And then I saw him. in the plant. running toward me. Where's mom?
Where's mom? Go get her. Tell her to bring her friends. They'll never see a fire like this again. At 5:30 the next morning, with the fire barely under control, he called his employees together and announced, we're rebuilding.
Okay. Love this. One man was told to lease all the machine shops in the area. Another to obtain the wrecking crane from the Erie. Railroad company.
Then, almost with an afterthought, he added, Oh, by the way. Anybody here know where we can get any money? Later on, he explained, you can always make capital out of disaster. We're just clearing out a bunch of old rubbish. We'll build bigger and better on the ruins.
With that he rolled up his coat for a pillow, curled up on a table, and immediately fell asleep. I love it. All right, guys. Fire How could he do that? Uh it's called trusting Expecting Resting.
Something Some of you have never done in your life. No wonder you've missed the good news. No wonder you couldn't found it. John 3:16 Transform your life. It's available to every one of us.
Even those who don't think they need it. Like those people about 7.30. On the morning of 9-11, who had set down to their computer never giving a second thought. to what was in front of him. Oh, you need this.
You need this. Let's close our eyes, bow our heads. May I address just you who are perishing? I mean, if you died Just after lunch today, Or tomorrow. You wouldn't be with God.
You wouldn't be like my attorney's dad and mother. Because you've never ever taken The gift. What a shame. What a heartbreak. And I got to tell you, even though religions will tell you differently, you'll never have a second chance.
You got it now or never.
Now Or never may those words haunt you. And just in case God and His grace takes you through the night. And gives you another Yeah. I suggest you Do first things first. Believe On the Lord Jesus.
Christ. Join the ranks. of those of us who have been rescued. Please.
Now, Father, in this sober moment, we pause. to express our thanks for the Time of worship. Music has played its part. Quietness in prayer. have done their part.
The instruction of the scriptures is now complete. It's all in your hands. I refuse to worry. I refuse to plead. Except to you, Father, I pray that you will bring disturbance and unrest.
until those who have never trusted in the Saviour We'll turn to him. Lord, you'll need to speak directly and firmly and clearly and loudly. And you'll need to do it when nobody's around. You need to penetrate all the Nonsense. that we believe far too long and get through to the truth.
Lord. and the lives of those who've never trusted you. And may we, as a result, realize we are in debt. A debt to discharge. Make us eager.
and unashamed. Pray as we live our lives for you. I ask it in the Savior's blessed name. And all his people said, Amen. You're listening to Insight for Living.
Teaching from Romans chapter 1, Schuxwindahl titled today's message, The Good News for the Whole World. Whether you're a veteran student of the Bible or a brand new Christ follower, the Biblical principles in Romans are critically important to understand. It all begins by allowing God's Spirit to renew our minds. To guide you in this process, we've prepared some helpful resources. To access these practical Bible study tools, just go to insight.org/slash offer.
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Well we are so glad you found us. Remember, you can always hear encouraging sound bites from Chuck's sermons when you follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram. I'm Bill Meyer. Join us as Chuck Swindahl continues our study in Paul's letter to the Romans. Tomorrow on Insight for Living.
The preceding message, The Good News for the Whole World, was copyrighted in 2006, 2010, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindahl, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
