Hello, and welcome to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Yusef. Today, the beginning of a challenging series in the powerful, life-changing book of Romans. This is a book where the truth of God's word is outlined for believers to learn, to understand, and to find the tools to walk in truth.
Dr. Yusef is calling this series From Valley to Victory. Especially in light of recent years, as many have walked away from truth, Dr. Yusef looks at the words of Paul in Romans chapter 1. He's challenging readers not to be ashamed of the gospel.
These are words of encouragement to stand firm on God's truth, not truth as defined by the world. Leading the Way is a listener-supported media ministry, and that means that Dr. Yusef and his leadership team rely on God's provision through God's people who are blessed, who are challenged by the impact of Leading the Way, people who want to see more lives changed worldwide. We invite you to participate in spreading the gospel.
Call us at 866-626-4356, or you can go online, ltw.org. More later, right now though, listen with me as Dr. Michael Yusef begins. We are most certainly in desperate need of a special visitation from heaven. The direction of our secular culture is going. We are desperately in need for an awakening.
We need him to rescue us from the terrible spiritual condition that the nation finds itself in. You know, if the dark ages were blatant departure from biblical truth and therefore God raised Lutheran Calvin and the Reformation came to Europe, our 21st century, we are facing a new dark age. It's a different kind of dark age. It's a different kind of departure from biblical truth. It is plunging us into a new and equally devastating departure from the gospel of Jesus Christ. When you come to today's church, my soul and body, many a church abusing the gospel of Jesus Christ. They're making his gospel to be whatever it is you want it to be.
It doesn't matter. A Hindu can still be a Hindu as long as it takes Jesus along the journey. A Buddhist can be still a Buddhist as long as it takes Jesus along the journey. A Muslim can still be a Muslim as long as it takes Jesus along the journey. Many a church today teaches that all sins and all immoral lifestyles are accepted, appreciated, and blessed by them in those churches. That there is no need to repent of sin and take Jesus along the journey.
It's all you need to do. And that is why I believe with all my heart that we are becoming so desperate in a desperate situation where we are in dire need for the true and genuine revival, awakening, call it whatever, or a new reformation. It is not surprising to me, therefore, when you look at the whole epistle of Romans, and especially verses 1 to 17 of chapter 1, that the key verse, that the foundational verse is verse 16, where the apostle Paul said, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation for those who believe. This verse is the core verse, not only of this chapter, but the entire epistle. And today the reason so many so-called evangelical churches are blessing same-sex marriage and transgender all the way to blessing blatant and open disobedience to the Word of God is this, they are ashamed of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. So they change it, so they modify it, so they redefine it, so they blunt the sharp edges of the gospel so that they may deactivate the power that is only in that gospel, the true gospel. Now you may know this, there are more commentaries written on Romans probably than any other book.
And yet, it is the most neglected in many a church. After all, it is the epistle to the Romans that has impacted Augustine and therefore Christianity for centuries. And when that died down, God used the same epistle to ignite the Reformation and bring transformation to Europe and the world. And it was the epistle to the Romans that ignited the passion of John Wesley, which gave us the Wesleyan Revival, simply because it is a complete treatise of the Christian faith. Every doctrine that is necessary for salvation is in the epistle to the Romans.
But here's today's problem. The reason the Church of Jesus Christ has lost its power, lost its impact is because they modified the gospel itself. And the gospel, when it is modified, when it is watered down, when it is loosened, that power is lost. In fact, Oxford dictionary gives us 18 major definition of power. The Greek language has eight, eight words and every one of them get translated into English as power.
I want to show you some of them. They have the word kratos. That word means a power to dominate and a power to rule. And the Bible said that Satan exercises that power over those whom he dominate, over those who are in his camp.
He exercised that iron rod power. The second word is exuthia, which is the power of delegation or permission. In the Gospel of John chapter 1 verse 12, it says as many as received the Lord Jesus Christ, he gave them power or he gave them permission to be called the children of God. Then there is the word that Paul uses here in Romans 16, the Greek word dynamikos, from which you get the word dynamite, from which you get the word dynamic. And that is, beloved, the power of the gospel.
It is different from the other powers. Today many evangelical preachers are exercising their power because they have lost the power of the gospel. So they do the power of manipulation and the power of marketing and the marketing techniques. No wonder they mislead people into thinking that the gospel does not have power to change people into new creatures in Christ. That the gospel has no power to transform their mind from our sinful nature and make us holy. That the gospel has no power to make them what God wants them to be and created them to be, rather than what they think or what culture thinks they should be. In the Roman culture, power was a sharp sword. Power was an iron yoke. And Paul is saying that the power of the gospel is far superior.
Why? Because it breaks the iron yoke of sin. Because it shatters the chains of addictions. Because it flings open the iron gate of darkness and sin. It is the power of God unto salvation. And beloved, I am not ashamed of it. Not only that, that he was not ashamed of the gospel. But when I don't allow the power of the gospel to work in me, when I don't submit to its authority, when I don't believe it with all of my heart, when I try to live by man's teaching and man's interpretation and man's methodology, I lose that power of the gospel. I lose my power with God. They may call me narrow-minded, they may call me bigoted, they may call me every name in the book, but I am not ashamed of the true gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe. Not just to me. Everyone who believes. Beloved, if there is no power in the gospel, why call yourself a Christian?
It must be nothing or whatever else. I need to explain something to you here of uttermost importance. You're not ashamed of something unless you've been tempted to feel ashamed of that thing. And he tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 3, he said, I came to you in fear and trembling. And then in chapter 1, 18 and 23, he said, he tells us that he understood the message of the cross is a stumbling block. And I'm going to be very bold here as to say, not a single person at the sound of my voice, who at some time, when they seek to serve God with all of their heart, when they seek to live for Christ, when they seek to witness for Christ, when they seek to proclaim Christ who had not felt the temptation of being ashamed of the true gospel.
Listen to me. Jesus knew all about this power of temptation of being ashamed of him. He knows all about it and that is why in Luke 8 38, here's what he said, if anyone is ashamed of me and not only me, my words, here's the thing, I'm not ashamed of Jesus, yes, but are you ashamed of his words? You see, the Lord makes it very clear, if anyone is ashamed of me and my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, the son of mine will be ashamed of him when he comes to his father's glory with holy angels.
There are professing Christians in this city and many other cities who are embarrassed to identify themselves with Bible believing churches. You know and I know we have friends who love Jesus, friends who know the Lord Jesus and they torture themselves week after week by going to churches where they hear falsehood, where they hear untruth preached from the pulpits. It was General William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, whatever you think of him, he's a man of conviction and he was brought into trial by the church hierarchy and the accusation was that he taught that people are going to hell unless they are saved through the blood of Jesus Christ and not the church and not this and not the other thing.
And in the middle of the trial, it was in a huge church in England, the big trial, public trial, people up in the balcony, down in the church and then the prosecutors, church leaders, gave him one last chance to change his mind and his beloved wife was in the balcony and she heard this and so she got up and she held a white handkerchief and start waving it, tell them no William, tell them no William, tell them no William. We need more women and men of God like this today. For the reason the Apostle Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel, first in verses one to seven because his identity is in Christ and secondly in verses eight to fourteen, he had a vision for life, God's vision for his life and thirdly, he knew his source of real power, verses sixteen and seventeen.
Let's look at those very quickly. First Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel because he knew who he is and whose he is. He knew that his identity is in Christ. Beloved listen to me, in a day when so many people are mixed up about who they are, in a day when it is fashionable to question your gender and even in churches, in a day when you have no sense of identity, in a day when so many following celebrities and superstars without thinking, in a day when so many church leaders want to be liked by the secular sinful culture, it is refreshing to see that the Apostle Paul knew his identity and whose he is, that he is a bond slave or a bond servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is refreshing, it is refreshing. I know this will not fly on Wall Street, it will not endure among the Hollywood elite, it will not be accepted by the secular media but my beloved friends, this is the healthiest self perception you can have. Once you know that all has been given to you by grace and has nothing to do with it, it's all given to you by grace that anchors you in your identity in Christ.
Don't miss this. See, Paul saw himself as bond servant or bond slave of Lord Jesus as the greatest privilege, as the greatest honor that he could receive in life. Now there are all sorts of reasons why people serve, why they minister, there are all sorts of reasons.
I never question people's motive. There are some who serve and minister out of sense of duty. There are some who serve and minister in order to earn favor with God. There are people like the Atrophes in 3 John verse 9 who like to serve because of the prestige that the ministry offered him. Others serve for their own purposes and fulfill their own agenda. The others still serve or minister because it's good for business.
Whatever it may be, here's the truth. Any service or ministry that is not done of a sincere desire to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ is not worth a half a hallelujah. Secondly, Paul was not ashamed of the gospel because he knew he has a vision for life. The average person today just exists.
The average person has no vision for life. And yet Paul had a vision in his life and ministry and he tells us that part of that vision is to go and be with the Roman believers. He trusted God that this was God's vision for him even though it took some time and it was longer than he expected. And sure enough, my goodness, he took so many detours, ended up in prison in Jerusalem and in Caesarea and then he went on a ship that took forever and got wrecked along the way.
It was a disaster. And yet God fulfilled his vision for Paul and ended up going to Rome just as the vision that God gave him. I beg every one of you to have a vision. It is God's vision for you and if you ask him, he will give it to you.
Just stay still in his presence long enough so he may communicate it to you. I know, I know what I'm talking about. When I was 16, 17, God gave me a vision that I'm going to be in the United States of America and I'm going to have a global ministry. Can you believe that? I knew it.
After the six-day war, the embassy closed. I said, well that vision obviously was not from God. It must be my own fancy idea. But God opened a door that took me through a detour. Oh, what a detour that was. It was a fabulous detour.
The only place it was open for me was Australia. At the age of 19, I left Egypt and I went to Australia. And look what God did. He gave me the most fabulous wife. Amen. Amen.
Amen. I had a great theological education. I was ordained. I had some godly friends.
About three of our four children were born there. But in the end, God brought me back to the vision that he gave me back when I was 17. You see, when you ask God to give you a vision for your life, he will. And when you have God's vision for your life, even when you experience detours, you will not be discouraged. When you have God's vision for your life, you will not have somebody else's vision. When you know that you are obeying God's vision for your life, you will not need to fret during the hard times, during the sharp turns. And Paul not only had that one purpose, and that is eventually going to Rome, you see it verses 11, 12, and 13, but he also had a purpose that for going there, he wants to be of mutual encouragement. That's the vision. Beloved, you know this and I know this, when encouragement is only one way, it won't last.
It won't last for very long. The great apostle Paul was not only anxious to go there to give them an encouragement, but to receive their encouragement. You see, he was not arrogant to think that he's the only one who can encourage them and impart encouragement to them, but they, to him as well. He knew that he's going to need their encouragement.
He's going to need their support in order to send him on his way to Spain. Because that's the vision of God for his life. Verses 14 and 15. Paul sees his service as an obligation. Namely, not an obligation that God put him under.
No, no, no, I'm going to do this. Because of God saving grace in his life, he felt indebted to pass the good news to others. Who was Paul obligated to? God. To whom does he make payment for that obligation?
The people. Beloved, I know many Christians give God an occasional credit. Many Christians give God the lip service.
Many Christians praise God only with their lips and not with their substance. But Paul felt that he is in debt to God for saving him. God did not put him under that debt. He put himself under that debt.
Then he said, I owe the gospel to make it known to others. Here's a fact. There are two ways you can get into debt. You can borrow money from the bank or from wherever. You borrow money, that puts you in debt. But there's another way that you can get into debt. If brother Mike over here gives me some money, and he said, I want you to give the money to Zach. As long as that money is in my pocket, I'm in debt.
Right? Until I disperse it. Until I take it to the people, to the person to whom it's designated. That's the second way of getting into debt.
That's the debt that Paul is talking about here. God entrusted him with the gospel to pass it on to others. Listen to me. Jesus gave you salvation, not so that you will sit in the pews of salvation for the rest of your life.
No. He wants you to pass it into others. Jesus entrusted you with some financial resources, not so that you might spend it all on yourself.
No, that you might help others. Use it for him. You and I are debtors in the sense of stewardship.
That's the kind of debt he's talking about. Stewardship of God's salvation. Stewardship of God's resources. Stewardship of God's blessings.
Hear me right, please. God used someone's time to bring you the message of the gospel for you to believe it. God used somebody else's talent to bring you the gospel so you can believe it. God used somebody else's treasure so that you might hear the gospel. And now he's entrusting us to make it possible for others to hear and respond to the gospel. Paul was not ashamed of the gospel because he knew who he was and whose he was. Secondly, he knew where he was going. Thirdly, finally, Paul knows the source of his power. Verses 16 and 17. The moment you get uppity and you think that you got where you are, by your sheer wit, by your sheer charm, by your own talent and hard work, look out, look out, look out, look out. You're in dangerous territory.
You really are. Verse 17. This is the verse upon which 500 years of reformation has been built. This is the verse in which your life and mine ought to be built every single day, every moment of every day. Paul actually here quotes Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4. They just shall live by faith. They just shall live by faith.
Let's say it together. And the Bible often speaks about faith in three different tenses. It speak about faith past, faith present and faith future. Past is the moment you come to Jesus Christ confessing your sins and saying only your blood can save me. You died for me. It took place somewhere back in the past.
It took place in my life back in 1964. That's faith past. Then there's faith present in the present tense. This day, this moment, every moment of every day, I am exercising faith in the living God to strengthen me, to empower me, to pull me forward, to continue faithfully serving him. That is faith in the present. But then there's faith in the future where I know but I know but I know that the moment my eyes are closed in death, I will open them at the face of Jesus. Past, present and future. It's all of God and it's all his power. It's all of his grace, all of his love. Dr. Michael Youssef, challenging you to exercise an active faith through the joys and the challenges in life.
This is the first part of Dr. Youssef's series from valley to victory on Leading the Way. The more a culture like ours focuses on this life alone, the higher the rate of depression, the higher the level of the unhappiness and unfulfillment in this life, the higher the level of loneliness, the higher the rate of chemical dependence, the higher the rate of dissatisfaction, the higher the rate of discontentment. We're all chasing something, appearance, popularity, wealth.
We live in a world that strives for these things, but are we designed for them? It's only when we find what our hearts are truly made for that we'll find peace. We were made to have a heart for God. In his newest book, A Heart for God, Dr. Michael Youssef leads us through the life of David, walking us through his triumphs and pitfalls as we learn what it means to be someone after God's own heart.
Discover God's faithfulness and power in a life completely surrendered to God. For your gift of any amount, Dr. Youssef will send you your own copy of A Heart for God. Your gift will allow Leading the Way to continue proclaiming the gospel in 28 languages, leading the loss to Christ and strengthening Christians in their faith. Get your copy of A Heart for God today by speaking to a ministry representative at 866-626-4356. Or check out the details at ltw.org. This book is yours when you give a gift of any amount to the worldwide ministry of Leading the Way. That's 866-626-4356 or ltw.org. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.
