Well, good morning.
I think most of you know what we will be sharing on. I sent out an email earlier this week. If you will turn to Romans 15, we will read verses 18 through 33—the last sixteen verses in chapter 15.
This is from the J. N. Darby version. Most of you know that I use that along with the KJV, NASB, and others. I do not know why they called the Darby version the New Translation. It was done in the 1800s. If you thought it was done in the 1970s, it was not.
Again, with verse 18. This is Paul speaking:
For I will not dare to speak anything of the things which Christ has not wrought by me,
for the obedience of the nations, by word and deed,
in the power of signs and wonders,
in the power of the Spirit of God;
so that I, from Jerusalem, and in a circuit round to Illyricum,
have fully preached the glad tidings of the Christ.And so aiming to announce the glad tidings, not where Christ has been named,
that I might not build upon another’s foundation;
but according as it is written,
To whom there was nothing told concerning Him, they shall see;
and they that have not heard shall understand.Wherefore also I have been often hindered from coming to you;
but now, having no longer place in these regions,
and having great desire to come to you these many years,
whenever I should go to Spain—for I hope to see you, as I go through,
and by you to be set forward thither,
if first I shall have been in part filled with your company.But now I go to Jerusalem, ministering to the saints.
For Macedonia and Achaia have been well pleased to make a certain contribution
for the poor of the saints who are in Jerusalem.
They have been well pleased indeed, and they are their debtors;
for if the nations have participated in their spiritual things,
they ought also in fleshly things to minister to them.
Having finished this, therefore, and having sealed to them this fruit,
I will set off by you into Spain.But I know that, coming to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.
But I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ,
and by the love of the Spirit,
that you strive together with me in prayers for me to God,
that I may be saved from those that do not believe in Judea,
and that my ministry which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,
in order that I may come to you in joy by God’s will,
and that I may be refreshed with you.
Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
Let us pray.
Father, we thank You for the Word that we have. If we did not have the Word, where would we be? But we have the living Word, Christ, the Word made flesh, the spoken utterance of God.
Lord, we ask that You would anoint Your words. It is impossible for us to take in, understand, and comprehend what Your words mean without the aid of the Holy Spirit. Your words indeed are spirit and life. Would You anoint them, and would You help us to understand what Paul was writing here to the Roman church?
We ask these things in the mighty, precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Well, I sent you an outline. Pardon my voice. I think most of you can follow that outline, and I think we can break this chapter into four areas. But first, we need to understand the subject. What is Paul talking about?
Peter said Paul is hard to understand. You remember, he said that in his epistles. So, what is Paul talking about? Well, he is talking about what Christ wrought in him. That is all he is talking about.
So that is the title, if you want to know what the title is: What Christ Wrought in Him.
When Paul came near the end of this letter—we only have one more chapter, chapter 16—he began to unveil the most transparent and personal explanation of his ministry. He let the saints in Rome know the deepest things in his heart.
What he wanted to boast about at the end of his life was only—notice that word—only what Christ wrought in him.
Do you think that applies to Paul alone? I hardly think so. It is a message to us who have believed. At the end of our life, at the end of our days, at the end of whatever period the Lord is dealing with us, we too ought to speak only of what Christ wrought in us.
This is the message of the last half of Romans 15.
Some may think this is the end of the letter. You look at chapter 16—I told you I have a surprise coming—and you think it is greetings and salutations. Because verse 33 says, “Amen,” you think this is the end, and you do not have to read chapter 16 because you cannot pronounce half the names anyway.
But this is not the end. “Amen” occurs six times in Romans. Paul uses amen—“so be it,” “verily”—throughout the book.
At the beginning, in Romans 1:25, he says, “Amen,” when the utter corruption of man is revealed and the mighty works of God are exposed. At the end of Romans 8 and in Romans 9:5, when he begins to show God’s wondrous ways, he again says, “Amen.”
Then, in Romans 11:36, at the end of God’s wondrous ways concerning the Jews and the Gentiles, Paul again says, “Amen.” And then we come to Romans 15:33: “Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.” We think that is the end.
I do not go to many movies, but I went to The Great Awakening not that long ago, and I loved it. I think every believer ought to watch that movie. You may not agree with me, and you may not watch movies. I know Brother Kong did not, so you do not have to. It is not a command; it is encouragement.
At the end of a movie, they run all these names—the credits—and people get up and leave. I am just crazy enough, because I go to so few movies, that I read the names. Once in a while, I see a person in the cast and say, “I know that person. This movie would not be here if it were not for that person.”
Here is the great secret, a little hint: all the names of the people of God’s own possession are in Romans 16. Here is the perfect will of God: “I have a people in Rome, and they are the people of My own possession.”
When you go to the last few verses of Romans, it says, “Amen,” twice. God has revealed in these last chapters what His perfect will is. That is a little hint of what we will get to.
We are going to be looking at several things here: the absolute transparency of Paul, the heart of Paul. This was not written just about Paul as a history lesson. It was written for you and me, that God would do such a work in us—everyone who has called upon His name.
We see the man and his mission. We see the purpose of the man, and we see his passion. It is calling out to us that we would be such a people. Will God, in our generation, find such a people as He found in this brother? That is what He is looking for. That is the true end of Romans.
Let me mention the outline again, in case I veer off course and you wonder where this old brother is going. Remember these four things:
Paul did not say merely “the preaching of the gospel.” He said the full preaching of the gospel. Would God so wonderfully work in us.
The second part is Paul’s passionate desire to come to Rome. These words are full of emotion. He had never been to Rome, and no other apostle had ever been there. Yet he was full of love, passion, and desire that he might one day set foot in Rome and encourage those believers.
The third part is Paul’s ministry to Jerusalem. This is not theory. It was a practical ministration of the love of God to the Jewish saints—Jews who were saved in Christ Jesus. Our life ought to be filled with practical service. If it is not, we may have to ask, “Was Christ’s work wrought in me?” I think that will be the determining evidence.
Finally, we will look at Paul’s request for prayer in Romans 15:30-33. It is a powerful request for prayer. We will see wonderful things about a man who allowed God to work in him, and how every prayer at the end was answered.
Paul’s preaching of the glad tidings is found in Romans 15:18-21. The work that was done in Paul’s life resulted in the full preaching of the glad tidings. Can we say that? Can we say that the work in our lives has resulted in the fullness of the Lord going out to people?
I believe this is the perfect will of God. From Romans 12 through Romans 16, Paul comes into practical areas, and this is the perfect will of God. We borrow that phrase from Romans 12:2.
The essence of spiritual transformation, service, and ministry is Christ in us and through us. That is it. It is not you, brothers and sisters. It includes you; you need to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. You need to allow the Lord to work in you and do something in you so that Christ can be fully manifested.
But it is not you; it is Christ in you. Never forget that. Otherwise, you will be toiling through the Christian life. You will be sweating bullets, as we like to say. I do not know what that means, brother—sweating bullets—but I have heard it numerous times.
You will be trying to live the Christian life, and you will fail again and again, because it will be you and not Christ in you. That is the essence of the Christian life.
I think it is a wonderful story. I think all of you know it is in Jeremiah 18. The prophet was sent down to the potter’s house. How many of you remember that story?
I will read just a few verses, because otherwise we will run out of time.
The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
Arise, and go down to the potter’s house,
and there I will cause thee to hear My words.
It is quite a remarkable statement to Jeremiah. Suppose he did not go; he would not have heard the words of the Lord.
And I went down to the potter’s house,
and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
Notice that. Paul said, at the end of Romans 15, “I will speak of nothing but what Christ has wrought in me.” You are turning on the wheel of God. Do you understand that?
You are a vessel being made. This life is full of purpose: you are being transformed and conformed to the image. Just as Jeremiah’s vision was the vision of Israel being formed, it is the vision of Paul being formed. It is the vision of you being formed and me being formed.
The hand of the Lord, the great Potter, is inside the vessel. He knows just what amount of pressure to put inside the vessel to make you into the image of His beloved Son. This divine Potter puts just the right pressure on the outside of the vessel to make you into the image of His glorious Son.
You are the work on the wheel. It is that plain. That is the Christian life. Paul said, “I will only speak of what Christ wrought by me.” Of course, he meant what Christ wrought in him and through him.
May the Lord help us, but you are a work on a wheel. You are a clay pot. You might get a little offended at that. We speak of earthenware, right? I am not a cook; I would starve to death. I tell the Lord, “Do not take her home; I will starve to death.”
But earthenware is coarse clay. That is what you are. I hope you do not get offended by that. You are coarse clay being transformed and made into the wonderful image of the Lord Jesus. One day, when you see Him, you shall be like Him, for you shall see Him as He is.
This is the wonderful story in Romans 15. God, the divine Potter, is making the vessel. He wrought a work, and today He continues that work in everyone who comes to know Him. We heard about being called. He is going to work a work in you.
We do not use the word wrought too often, but wrought and work are really the same word. It is an older word, but God is working. We had better take the opportunity in this short lifetime to allow Him to work.
Can you imagine if we came before the Lord and He said, “I do not know you,” because we did not allow those divine hands to do what we could never do? This is the essence of Romans 15.
This is us. This is Paul. This is the church. This is the perfect will of God. May the Lord work in us and by us so that His work can finally be done through us.
It was for the obedience of the nations. Do you know what that means? It was for the Gentiles. Aren’t you glad God chose this elect vessel, as we read in Acts 9, and sent him to the Gentiles? We would not be here otherwise.
Suppose this new movement of God, which I hate to call a new religion, had included only the Jews. How sad that would be. But Paul says it was for the obedience of the nations.
We have this elect vessel given to us so that all the riches made available in Christ Jesus might be made known to us. This is what Paul refers to as the mystery.
To whom God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles;
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
That is the whole thing: Christ in you. When Christ is wrought in you, God’s work is done.
The second thing Paul talks about is power. It is God’s work, and it is God’s power. It is not our power. Can you imagine if it were our power?
Look at Romans 15:19:
By word and deed,
in the power of signs and wonders,
in the power of the Spirit of God;
so that I, from Jerusalem, and in a circuit round to Illyricum,
have fully preached the glad tidings of the Christ.
It is never our power. If you think the Christian life is through your own power, you will be exhausted and deceived. You need to understand that it is only what Christ wrought in us. That was the secret Paul was sharing.
Consider Acts 9:17. You know that Acts 9 records Paul’s salvation on the Damascus road. After Paul was struck by the light and blinded, Ananias entered the house, laid his hands upon him, and said:
Saul, brother, the Lord has sent me—Jesus, who appeared to thee in the way in which thou camest—that thou mightest see, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
We would still be blind if it were not for Christ. But then Ananias said something marvelous: “Be filled with the Holy Spirit.” This is the power that has been put in us.
Can you imagine that the God of glory, in His great eternal purpose, created men and women in His own image and determined to put the third Person of the Godhead, God the Holy Spirit, in mankind to be their power? It is unthinkable glory. It is beyond anything we could ask or imagine, as Ephesians 3:20 says.
God the Holy Spirit comes and takes up permanent residence in you, in me, and in Paul, to do the work we could never do in ourselves. Oh, how wonderful this is.
The Lord promised in John 13 through John 17 that He was about to leave, but that He would send One—a Comforter—just like Himself. God is one. The Old Testament says God is one. We often try to separate God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, but God is one: three in one.
He sends His Holy Spirit to abide in you and me, to bring everything to our remembrance, to quicken us that we may walk in fellowship, to be led by His Spirit, and to live by His Spirit. When we do that, those who are led by the Spirit of God will be the sons of God. They will be made in His image.
I found a wonderful quote from Griffith Thomas on Romans 15:19:
The mighty work depicted here is altogether beyond the power even of the mighty thinker and worker, Paul. It must be the work of the Holy Spirit. Only as this divine energy possesses the worker can we expect the results to accrue.
Think of that. In the power of words and deeds, of signs and wonders—but Paul finishes with the real secret: in the power of the Holy Spirit. That is the only way this work can be wrought in us.
Second Corinthians 4:7 says that we are earthen vessels. I already talked about earthenware; you now know everything I know about earthenware. But Paul said we are earthen vessels. There is a treasure in you. It is not just something someone gave you. It is a divine treasure living in you, that we might know the power is not from us but from God.
Learn, as a young Christian, to develop a sensitivity to the still, small voice. I think it was Brother Nee who used the phrase that you now have a “resident Boss.” Learn to follow His leading.
When you learn not merely to hear the wind, the earthquake, and the hurricane, but to hear that still, small voice, you will begin to be conformed. God’s work will be wrought in you and me.
The third thing in this first point is the result of divine power. If you depend on your own power, I will give you credit: you will do some service for God. You can serve the Lord in the flesh, in your own strength, and in your own power.
But Paul, as he transparently reveals his heart, says there is another way. There is another way. The result is that he had fully preached the glad tidings of Christ.
If you want the work of God to be fully done in your life, I am not saying you are going to be the Apostle Paul. Remember what the Lord told Ananias: “This is an elect vessel to Me, and I must show him what great things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” How many of you are holding up your hand now, saying you want to be Paul?
Allowing the work of the Lord to be done in you does not mean you will suffer like Paul. Paul was the worst-case scenario. God took him through unimaginable things, recorded in 2 Corinthians 4 and 2 Corinthians 11. The divine encouragement is this: if God can do it in that worst case, He can do it in every case.
My mother never really knew what I did for work. She would introduce me and say, “Here is my son, the architect.” I would say, “Mom, I am not an architect. I am an engineer.” There is an animosity between engineers and architects, I want you to know that.
When I told people I was a structural engineer, they would ask what that meant. I would say, “It is worst-case engineering.” We are told to design a building, put hurricane-force winds on it, arrange people in every possible configuration, add earthquakes, and consider the worst case imaginable.
If that building stands in those circumstances, all is well. You have succeeded. I tell people, as long as my buildings do not fall down, I am happy. I had a dream last night that the face of one of my buildings was falling off. It was really a nightmare.
But, brothers and sisters, the Apostle Paul is the worst-case scenario. He has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that God can complete His work in you and me. In the end, you will be able to do fully what God has asked you to do.
Now we come to Paul’s passionate desire to come to Rome. He had a passion, not just a little thought.
Wherefore also I have been often hindered from coming to you;
but now, having no longer place in these regions,
and having great desire to come to you these many years.
This was an unabating passion. I do not know why he seemed to fixate so much on Rome, but he wanted it with all his heart. He planned for years, and he says he was hindered for many years. But his heart was there. He wanted to go there, have fellowship with them, and know them.
My version says “a great desire.” We have lots of desires. I like peanut butter chocolate ice cream, but I would not call it a great desire. Here is a real desire.
This is evidence that the work of God was wrought in him: he desired to know and fellowship with the people of God. Brothers and sisters, there are those who say, “As long as I have God, I am okay.” This is not true. I am sorry to burst your individualistic bubble.
God always had in His plan the God of glory joined with man in fellowship. We need a passion for God, and we need a passion for God’s people. That is what set the Apostle Paul apart.
Paul said two things about this visit: “I have been hindered.” Let me encourage you with this. Some of you are convinced—and you should be—that the Christian life is difficult. It is difficult.
What Paul revealed by way of divine encouragement is this: “I have been hindered many times, for many years.” Dear brothers and sisters, it comes with the territory. You will find difficulties, struggles, and what appear to be impossible barriers. You will begin to wonder, “Will I ever reach the end?”
Paul said, “I have been hindered.” First Corinthians 16:9 says:
For a great door and effectual is opened unto me,
and there are many adversaries.
Everybody who serves the Lord likes the first part: “A great door has been opened to me.” But there are many adversaries.
Brothers and sisters, we need to see that the whole world is against us. But we also need to see that God is with us. Satan himself, that diabolical master of this world—the god of this world, as 2 Corinthians says—is against us. He wants to destroy Paul, you, me, and the church.
But God is for us. And the marvel is that God is in us. How able we are to go through every difficulty as He works His work in you and me.
Paul’s life is an illustration of God taking a man through the deepest and darkest things in order to encourage all of us. This is not impossible. This is possible in the worst situation.
Paul never gave up. If that had happened to me, I would have said, “I am not coming to Rome. Farewell. Have a good life with the Lord.” But Paul never gave up. He wanted to go to them and then go to Spain. Big ideas, because he served a big God.
Do you have big ideas? Not because you want to be something, but because you serve a big God who is able to do the impossible? This is how the work of God is wrought in you.
Satan himself is against us. The world is against us. First John 5:19 says, “The whole world lieth in the evil one.” The whole world is against you, but God is with you. God is for you. God is in you.
If you yield to the Holy Spirit, that work will be done and completed, even to the full.
You remember the story of Daniel. Gabriel appeared to Daniel and said, “I have been hindered coming twenty-one days.” The prince of Persia, which many understand to be a demonic principality and power over Persia, hindered him.
But Gabriel said, “From the beginning that you opened your mouth, your words were heard.” Isn’t that beautiful? “I have heard your words, and I will do what I say I will do.”
Paul’s desire was not simply to come and teach the believers in Rome. His passionate desire was fellowship with them. Romans 1:11-12 says:
For I greatly desire to see you,
that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift,
to the end ye may be established;
that is, that I with you may be comforted in you,
each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.
Paul surely wanted to share with them what the Lord had shown him, but his desire was mutual encouragement—to be with them. He knew this was the perfect will of God.
In Romans 15:24, he says:
Whenever I should go to Spain,
for I hope to see you, as I go through,
and by you to be set forward thither,
if first I shall have been in part filled with your company.
What do you think “filled with your company” means? It was fellowship. Brothers and sisters, in this short period of life, I hope you learn to love fellowship. It is the sharing of Christ.
This is what koinonia means: the sharing of Christ. This is all Paul really wanted. This was what meant everything to him. May the Lord give us this passion.
Ask the Lord, “Give me a new passion.” Remember what He said about that church: “You have lost your first love.” They had outward order and many things for which they were praised, but they had lost their passion for Christ and their passion for the people of God in fellowship.
In God’s eyes, it was mere ruin. If they did not repent, the lampstand would be taken away. Do you understand the importance of this one thing?
The third thing is Paul’s ministry to Jerusalem. He said, “One thing I want to do first is go to Jerusalem.” This is a wonderful thing. This is practical service.
You may think Paul was always living in the third heaven. By the way, he went there. You may think he was always caught up in glory and never practical at all.
But Macedonia, where Philippi was, and Achaia, where the church in Corinth was, had taken up an offering because they heard of the poor saints in Jerusalem. They wanted to assist them because they had already entered into the spiritual blessing those Jewish believers in Christ knew. They wanted to share practical things with them.
Paul wanted to be the one to bring it. Isn’t that amazing? He could have sent Titus: “Titus, what are you doing next weekend? Take this to the suffering saints in Jerusalem.” But Paul said, “No, no, no. I want to come to Jerusalem, and I want to bring this gift, this fruit, to you.”
Read 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, and you will understand what Paul is talking about. He said the Macedonian believers had given beyond themselves out of their poverty. Those chapters reveal spiritual service and giving unlike many other passages in the Bible.
I will never forget when we were a young group. Believe it or not, I came here when I was twenty. We were a young group, meeting the Lord. We wanted to love the Lord. We did not want to take a name; we simply wanted to gather with brothers and sisters and love them.
They were all ages, from what I called really old people at fifty to people like me at twenty. The Lord met us, and we were growing. We did not know what to do. We bought a place, but we grew out of it quickly. Then we bought this land and thought, “Lord, we want a meeting place for all the brothers and sisters You have gathered.”
It was impossible for us. We were young families. We did not have much to give. Yet the Lord moved in a marvelous way. I could tell you stories of children breaking their piggy banks and putting the money in the offering to build this place.
We did not have any rich people hanging out with us. I remember one sister who gave her diamond ring. It was the only thing of real value she had.
Somehow, in a short number of months, we had four hundred thousand dollars to build this place. That is the grace of the Lord. That is the mercy of God. That is the grace of giving.
Brother Kong shared two messages with us on the grace of giving, one from 2 Corinthians 8 and one from chapter 9. The floodgates opened. We understood that giving was not merely a command, not merely ten percent, not something we did reluctantly, not a matter of passing around the plate and seeing who would be embarrassed into throwing in a whole wallet.
We were moved by the Spirit of God in unity, young and old, and God miraculously provided. We could not believe it. But the Lord did it.
There is some argument among commentators about whether Paul really got to Jerusalem. He got there, believe me. In Acts 24:17, in his defense before Felix, Paul said:
Now after many years I came to bring alms to my nation, and offerings.
He did it. His desire and his passion to serve the saints in practical ways were fulfilled. The apostle, the elect vessel himself, took that offering to Jerusalem and made sure it got there.
The last point is Paul’s request for prayer. Paul believed in the church’s prayer.
Many of you may not know what I mean when I say “the church’s prayer.” Some may still think of the church as a building, a place we gather. Lance used to say, “A place you could leave your umbrella in.”
We are the church. I think most of you are well instructed enough to know that. We are the people whom He has gathered together. How wonderful that is. Paul believed in the prayers of the church.
In our early years, we had the pleasure of having Lance Lambert, Stephen Kong, Johannes Fasius, and other brothers emphasize to us the importance of corporate prayer—the church’s prayer.
This does not mean that the Christian life does not call for your own prayer closet. I do not mean to diminish that. We must have private and intense prayer time with the Lord. But there is something bigger in view: the church’s prayer, corporate prayer.
I will never forget its impact. We used to have a school of prayer, where brothers would share with us and we would practice. I am so thankful, brothers and sisters. That impacted us greatly.
We came to believe that the Wednesday time of corporate prayer is one of the most valuable times in the whole life of the church. I am not here to make anybody feel bad. But if everyone understood the value of corporate prayer, they would find a way to come.
A young brother once told me that he used to see Jerry sleeping on the couch on Wednesday night. Here is the story. This brother was apprehended by the thought of the church’s prayer and its importance when he was young. He was twenty-eight; I was twenty.
He was so apprehended by the need for corporate prayer that he would not miss a meeting. I will tell you the truth: our brother used to get physically sick when he started out for corporate prayer. I think he sometimes had to stop the car and throw up on the side of the road.
But the moment he crossed this bridge, that darkness lifted. He found in those gatherings something of God’s perfect will. I hope you do. It will make a difference in your personal life, your church life, and in our serving the purpose of God in our generation.
Brother Kong used to say that corporate prayer was the most important time next to the Lord’s Table. Oh, that the Lord would give us a divine heart and passion for the prayer time.
Paul asked for three things when he asked the church to pray. Let us read Romans 15:29-32:
But I know that, coming to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.
But I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ,
and by the love of the Spirit,
that you strive together with me in prayers for me to God;
that I may be saved from those that do not believe in Judea;
and that my ministry which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints;
in order that I may come to you in joy by the will of God,
and together with you find rest.
This was a call to the church in Rome, where he had never been, to pray for him. He had three requests, and I want to show you how abundantly those three requests were answered.
First, he asked to be delivered from evil men.
From Acts 9 to the end of Acts, much of the book is testimony after testimony of Paul being delivered from evil men—the Jews who literally wanted to destroy him.
When he came to Jerusalem, the second prayer was answered: he delivered the gift. But they tried to seize him in the temple. Outside, they began beating him. Then the Roman cohort came, heard the commotion, broke it up, and took Paul into custody. They were trying literally to kill him.
Do you think God heard his prayer? He was saved from evil men.
They tried to convince Felix and Festus to send him back to Jerusalem after he had been taken to Caesarea. There was a plot to kill him, and Paul’s own sister’s son heard of it. Do you think God saved him from evil men? How greatly He answered that prayer.
Festus wanted to give in to the Jews because he wanted to placate them. He said to Paul, “Go back to Jerusalem and have your trial there.” Paul said, “I have done nothing wrong. I am a Roman. I appeal to Caesar.”
Some may think that was Paul working rather than the Holy Spirit. But do you think God is a God who plans everything from the beginning to the end? Paul was a Roman by citizenship. When he appealed to Caesar, he was saved from those evil men. He was delivered.
He was taken to Caesarea, where he was held for two years. King Agrippa II came and heard Paul. “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian,” he said. Paul replied, “I would to God, that whether with little or with much, not thou only, but also all that hear me this day, might become such as I am, except these bonds.”
Agrippa said that if Paul had not appealed to Caesar, they could have let him go. But God was in that prayer. He answered it beyond what could be asked or imagined. He saved Paul from certain death.
The second request was that his ministry for Jerusalem would be accepted by the saints. Paul did bring the offering to Jerusalem. As he later testified before Felix, he had come to bring alms and offerings. The practical service was fulfilled.
The final request was that Paul might come and be with the believers in Rome. Paul never thought God would answer that prayer in this way. He went to Rome as a prisoner, in custody, to stand trial before Caesar.
He thought he would come to Rome in the fullness of Christ and share fellowship with them. But God works not in the way we think He is going to work. He works in His own ways.
Let me read the last two verses of Acts. This is how greatly the prayer was answered:
And he abode two whole years in his own hired dwelling,
and received all that went in unto him,
preaching the kingdom of God,
and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ
with all boldness, none forbidding him.
Think about it. He did not look like a prisoner. He had his own apartment, and he had to pay for it for two years. But it says he received all who came to him.
Do you remember his passion? “I want to be with you. I want fellowship with you.” God abundantly answered this prayer. Paul received everyone who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all freedom.
Notice that last word: unhinderedly. Earlier, he had said to Rome, “I have often, with great desire, wanted to come to you, but I was hindered.” Look at this answer: he received all who came to him unhinderedly.
How marvelous. How marvelous this story.
Do you know he did his greatest work in that place? He is talking about the work Christ wrought in him. In that place, he wrote the prison epistles: Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon.
People thought he was a prisoner, but that place was the answer to the last of his three prayers.
Brothers and sisters, if you will give yourself to the Lord and allow Him to work a work in you, He will answer your prayers. They may not be answered in the way you thought they would be, but He will answer your prayers, and you will come in fullness of blessing.
Lord, we think of these transparent words. We think of this man whom You so greatly used, and it is like a history book to us. Lord, we want it to be a personal letter to us.
Oh, would You constrain us by the love of God, that You can do Your work in us too.
Lord, do not let it be said at the end of our days, “You resisted Me.” We want to yield to You. We want to ask You to take us wholly, that we may be wholly Yours, and that You too, in us, would work Your work.
This we ask together, in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.