Our Man in Rome — J. Vernon McGee

This is, through the Bible, Sunday Sermon Program number 1560, for Sunday, December 29, 2002.

We live in an age of almost instant information. For example, there was a time in this country when the winner of the presidential election wasn't known until several weeks after polling occurred. Now our news media offers immediate analysis, which can predict the winner as polling takes place.

Another example is instant information of major disasters. Again, news media personnel have men and women that are around the world responding to newsworthy events which are then transmitted to various stations through satellite feeds.

As you watch the news on television, many times they'll say, now let's go to our correspondent inn and then name a location. This person will then give the information that they've gathered. Well, today, our Bible teacher, Dr. J. Verna McGee, is going to get a report from Our Man in Rome.

The Sermon’s Theme in Romans 15

Now, you may be able to find the reason for this unusual sermon topic by turning to Romans chapter 15. For 21 years, Dr. McGee served as the pastor of the historic Church of the Open Door in downtown Los Angeles, where he first gave this sermon.

We'd like to remind you that this is letter month, and although it's quickly coming to an end, you still have time to write and let us know that you're listening to this Sunday sermon broadcast. And don't forget to continue in your faithful prayer and your financial support of this listener-sponsored ministry.

And when you do write, be sure to mention that you listened to the Sunday sermon on this station. Now, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, open our eyes to behold wonderful things out of your word today.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Christ, the Believer’s Representative in Heaven

Our subject of the morning is Our Man in Rome. Our Man in Rome. After choosing this subject, it became obvious that it was essential to identify Our Man in Rome. First of all, it hasn't anything in the world to do with the visit of the President of the United States to the Pope.

I am alarmed today at the inept, inert, insipid, indolent, and indifferent condition of Protestantism. No longer does Protestantism have the spiritual stamina to register that which gave it its name to protest.

We are today in this country surrendering without a struggle the liberties which our fathers suffered, bled, and died to secure. In the second place, I do not refer to the present occupant of the papacy in Rome at the Vatican.

May I say to you that the occupant of the Vatican, whoever he is, does not speak for me in the name of Christianity, nor does he speak to God for me. My man today is in heaven, and he speaks for me today in heaven.

And may I say to you, he's the one that I have been bidden to come before the very throne of God, and I'd like this morning for you to listen to that which he says. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession, for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. My man is not in Rome, he is in heaven today, and I come to God through him today, and that is the way that all must come to God in this hour.

Paul’s Mission to Rome

Our man in Rome is the Apostle Paul. He was Christ's choice to take the gospel to the Gentiles. When our Lord waylaid him on the Damascus road, he says that he shall be my minister to the Gentiles. And he is the one that I believe carried the gospel to the very end of the Roman Empire.

He was Christ's choice to carry the gospel to the capital of the Gentiles, even Rome itself. And this morning I want you to notice with me, first of all, the proposed journey of Paul to Rome. Second, the prosperous journey of Paul to Rome.

And third, the published journey of Paul to Rome. Now first of all, will you notice the proposed journey of Paul to Rome? When Paul wrote the epistle to the Romans, he was in the city of Carin. He was on his third missionary journey, and apparently Rome was on his itinerary, because this man on each one of his journeys attempted to widen the circle of his missionary endeavors and carry the gospel just a little farther.

And therefore it was his desire to go to Rome. Now he tells us that he was hindered in coming to Rome, that he was unable to make that trip. Will you listen in the first chapter to verse 13? He says, Now I would not have you ignorant brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, but was left or hindered hitherto that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

He'd been hindered in coming to Rome, you see. And when he comes to the end of the epistle, here in the 15th chapter, and this portion that I read in your hearing, again will you listen, for which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you.

Now Paul had wanted to visit Rome, but when he wrote the epistle he hadn't been there. He'd gotten as far as Corinth, and he was hindered. The care of the churches, which he mentioned, was a great burden to his heart.

That was legalism. It had gotten into the Galatian churches. A vain philosophy, a false science, and a meaningless ritual had intruded into the churches of Asia, and we know it today as Asia Minor. Worldliness, carnality, and tongues had penetrated the churches of Greece, and Paul had to delay his trip to Rome in order that he might minister in these areas.

Paul’s Desire to See the Roman Believers

But Paul wanted to go to Rome, that was in his heart. He wanted to come there, and there are several reasons for this compelling desire of the great apostle. The fact of the matter is, he tells us, in no uncertain terms, why he wanted to visit.

Back in the first chapter, verse 11, will you listen to this? He says, "...for I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end you may be established.". And then over in the 15th chapter again, verse 23, listen to him, "...but now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you.".

Therefore the reason that Paul wanted to go to Rome, the foremost reason was, I long to see you. He wanted to see them. Now that raises the question, if Paul had never visited Rome previously, how could he have such a desire to want to visit people that he had not visited before?

That he apparently did not know. May I say to you that you have to know people to have a personal desire to want to visit them. And Paul was no man to use any type of oratorical gesture. He never resorted to pious platitudes.

And when Paul said, I have a deep desire, a great desire to visit you, he meant every word of it. Now there is a reason for that. May I say to you, Paul is the founder of the church in Rome and not Peter.

There is absolutely no documentary evidence anywhere that Simon Peter ever visited Rome. The bones of Simon Peter are not in Rome. You are rather credulous if you accept that theory. If his bones are in Rome, then his bones are more active than the bones in the Valley of Dry Bones of Ezekiel.

They really have been moving about these years. Because the man never went there in his lifetime. And there is today, notice, I do not have it with me, that I took out of the paper recently. It did not get on the front page, it is on the back page, where the bones of Peter apparently have been found in Palestine.

May I say to you, there was a church in Rome before Paul arrived, though, and somebody is going to say, then, how in the world could he be the founder of the church in Rome if he never visited the church in Rome?

He founded the church in Rome by what is known as spiritual radar. He founded it, and yet he never had, at this time, had not even visited the city at all. Will you notice what he says in verse 20 of chapter 15?

Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation. Now, if you will follow the apostle Paul, you will find out that he never preached the gospel where somebody else had preached it.

He always went as a missionary into a new territory, and Paul would not have gone to Rome had Simon Peter been there ahead of him. He never would have visited that place at all. It would never have been on his itinerary.

Well, may I say to you the reason that we know that he founded the church in Rome is because in the last chapter of the epistle to the Romans, he gives us a list of almost 30 people. Those people, for the most part, were in the city of Rome, and Paul knew every one of them personally, and not only did he know them personally, but he had led them to Christ.

Now, the very one that leads the list, in fact it's a husband-wife team, in verse 3 of chapter 16 he says, "...Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus.". Now we do know their story. We know that Paul, on his second missionary journey, met them in the city of Corinth.

Because of a wave of anti-Semitism that had spread in Rome, they were forced to leave the city of Rome. They came to Corinth and set up business there, and Paul came to the city. He was the same business tent maker.

And through that business introduction, he came to know them. And in time, he led them to a saving knowledge of Christ. And you'll find that they went on to Ephesus also, and Paul in Ephesus was with them there.

They assisted him a great deal. Now, when he writes the epistle to the Romans, the wave of anti-Semitism has abated. It's ebbed out. And this couple, they've returned to Rome, and now Paul says, "...Greet them for me.".

You see, they're back in Rome. Paul had led them to Christ, and he knew them well. They were in Rome. Well, may I say, we know of another one. He says, verse 5, "...Likewise, greet the church that's in their house.

Salute my beloved Eponidas, who's the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.". Now, Paul came into Greece to preach the gospel. And when he was in the province of Achaia, you find that this was the firstfruits.

This is his first convert. And this first convert has now gone to Rome. And Paul is greeting him there. So that my beloved, Paul in his missionary journeys, had never been able to get to Rome at this point.

But he met people throughout the empire, especially in this section where he was preaching that he led to Christ, and they in time gravitated to Rome. Rome was a great magnet, was the capital, a Gentile capital of the world of that day.

Had tremendous pulling power. And it was like California of the first century, because people were going in that direction and moving in that direction. So that Paul, you see, led these people to Christ in other places, and they came together in Rome, and the church came into being.

Paul is the founder of the church in Rome, if you please, before he got there. He is the one that's responsible for the church. He never would have gone there. He tells these people, I do not preach the gospel where Christ has been preached before.

I go to new territory, only the places where I have preached before. He was a missionary and a missionary to the Gentiles. Now he gives a second reason of why that he wanted to go to Rome. He says that he wanted to impart some spiritual gift.

Evangelizing and Teaching in Rome

Now the ministry of the Apostle Paul was twofold, and I think that probably is the ministry today of those of us that are the common vegetable variety of preacher today. First of all, his ministry was that of evangelizing.

He preached, however, to those who had not heard the gospel, and in that sense he was a missionary. Now will you listen to this man as he dwells on this particular thing. He says, Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that often times I purposed to come unto you, but was hindered hitherto, that I might have some fruit among you also as among other Gentiles.

Now Paul wanted to come there to minister to them, to evangelize in Rome, you see, because these believers were there, the church was established, but he wanted to come there to preach the gospel in this great center.

And you find him over in the 15th chapter coming back to this subject. He says, For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about unto Elycricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named lest I should build upon another man's foundation. And then he goes on to dwell on this, But as it is written to whom he was not spoken of, they shall see, and they that have not heard shall understand.

So that the ministry of the apostle Paul was evangelizing, and he speaks of it in this epistle twice, in the second chapter, the 16th verse, is my gospel. Again in the 16th chapter, verse 25, he again calls it my gospel.

Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. Why was it Paul's gospel? Why could he call it that? Because it was the gospel that had saved him.

And in that sense, it's my gospel. And you can say that this morning, and I can say that this morning. If you have been saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ, then my friend, it's your gospel. And it's my gospel today because of that.

Very personal. And that's the thing that Paul is speaking about. Now, Paul painted the gospel in colors, if you please. Polychrome colors. He always put it on a black background of sin. And then he presented the blood of Jesus Christ as the only way for man to be saved by trusting Him.

He had red on the black, if you please. And then he told about the righteousness of Christ that would make you white as snow. Though your sins be as scarlet, they'll be white as snow, Paul says, by trusting Christ as your Savior and you stand in Him complete.

So he had white in his picture. Then he talked to them about walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. And I always think of blue being the picture of the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit that will make you true.

True blue is not just an empty aphorism. It happens to be that which speaks of the work of the Holy Spirit. My friend, if the Holy Spirit's working in your heart and life, He's going to make you true.

He'll make you true to Christ. He'll make you loyal to His church and loyal today to those that are standing for the things of Christ. We've got a lot of fundamentalists today that are just a fifth wheel geared to nothing at all.

They're just running. That's all, my beloved. May I say to you, Paul says that one thing the gospel will do, it'll gear you in to the Lord Jesus Christ and He'll become your governor and He'll make you true blue.

He put all the colors in here, if you please. And then he talked about service is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And that is green, of course. And today, honestly, I do not think we need the gifts of the Holy Spirit near as much as we need the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

A great many people today are seeking for a gift. My friend, what the church needs today is to have the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And that's the thing that even when Paul's talking about tongues, he emphasizes, for in 1 Corinthians 13, right in the heart of that section, he says, I show you a more excellent way.

And it is the fruit of the Spirit, which is love and then joy and peace and long suffering and all of these other wonderful things. Paul painted the gospel in colors, if you please. And then his second ministry was not only of evangelizing, but of teaching.

He was a great teacher. You can read the epistle to the Romans and discovered that. And he wanted to exercise both of these gifts in Rome. Listen to the heart of this great apostle here in the 15th chapter, verse 29.

And I am sure that when I come unto you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. That's what he longed for. Listen to him again, that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God and may with you be refreshed.

Paul’s “Prosperous” Journey Through Suffering

This is the heart of the great apostle. This was his proposed visit that he wanted to make to Rome. Now, will you notice the prosperous journey of Paul to Rome? Will you listen to him? Before he went there, he asked the Romans to join him in prayer, making requests, if by any means, now at length, I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

Many of you here today and those listening in, you've already made your preparation for a trip this summer on your vacation. Your plans are made. Your reservations are in. Your route is charted on the map.

Your days are all arranged. And you are hoping to have a prosperous journey to somewhere, some idyllic spot away from the smog and the traffic of Southern California. But you know, all of this can be changed.

And you may not think you are going to have a prosperous trip after it's over with. I remember the year 1940. Ms. McGee and I had the map already marked of a trip to the New York World's Fair a week before we were to leave on vacation.

A telegram came from a church in Southern California asking us if we would come in Canada. And I say to you, in 30 minutes, our plans were changed. And instead of going east, we went west. Young man, go west.

And that's the direction that we went. We've never regretted it, by the way. But you can have your plans changed. Paul prayed for a prosperous journey to Rome. Did he have it? Well, will you notice some of the things that he mentions before he made his trip?

Listen to him here. But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.

And then he goes on to mention this trip that he is to make here. When therefore I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain, if you please. Now listen to him again.

Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints.

Now, was Paul's prayer and the prayer of the saints in Rome answered? Did he have a prosperous journey? Well, let me mention the kind of journey that he had. Maybe you can determine. Paul was not delivered from his enemies in Jerusalem.

In fact, he was arrested. He was cast into prison and he languished there, not only day in and week in and month in, but he was there for several years. And finally, as a Roman citizen, he appealed to Caesar and he was transferred as a prisoner in chains to go to Rome.

Does that sound to you like a prosperous journey, to expect to take off on a missionary journey to Rome and then to go in chains as a prisoner? And by the way, that's not all of it either. He had some more trouble on the way.

If you just turn back in the book of Acts, Dr. Luke tells us about this prosperous journey that he made. When it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners under one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band.

That was the beginning of his trip. Turned over as a prisoner now to go to Rome as a missionary, if you please. Well, notice the trip and Paul admonished them and said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives.

Well, they were soon out of the harbor and out on the sea and we were told first that a south wind blew softly. I'm always afraid of that south wind that blows softly for a Christian. It's generally quite before the storm and the storm hit and struck the ship.

And they were in a real storm on the Mediterranean Sea. And finally, after many days, it looked like they were to be shipwrecked. And finally, they came to an island. They were shipwrecked on that island.

It was the island of Malta. And Paul finally, with the others, made it to shore. They had to swim for it, but they finally made it to shore. And when he got on the island, you'd think that from then on it would be easy, but he built a fire and on one of the sticks there was a viper, a poisonous viper, and he was bit by the viper.

And finally, my beloved, he got to Rome and he arrived there under guard. Will you listen to what Dr. Luke says? And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard, but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.

The Gospel Advances Through Paul’s Imprisonment

May I say to you, would you call that a prosperous trip to Rome? Would you consider that to be prosperous? Well, now let's come to the last and the conclusion, the published journey of Paul. Will you listen now to this verse again?

That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God and may with you be refreshed. Paul said, the thing that I want you to pray for is that I may come to Rome with joy and in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

And that would be a prosperous trip. Did he arrive in Rome like that? Well, my beloved, the book of Acts leaves Paul in Rome. Was it a prosperous journey? Well, let's look at this again and get a right perspective.

The actual destination of Paul was not Rome. He makes it very clear that he was on the way to Spain and Rome was just a stop on the way. Will you notice that here in the 15th chapter? He mentions this twice, verse 24.

Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you, for I trust to see you in my journey and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company. And then again in verse 28, when therefore I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain.

Did Paul ever go to Spain? There's no record of it. Tradition says he did. There's no published record, though, at all. The tradition, and it's a good tradition here, Paul was released from prison for a season.

And then he was rearrested when Nero made his final thrust at the Christians to stamp them out and at that time Paul was put to death. But in that interval he had been released for a period. Did he go to Spain?

I think that he not only went to Spain but to the British Isles myself. I think he covered the Roman Empire of that day. He was God's missionary to the Gentiles and when he comes finally to the place when he knows he's to be executed, he writes, The time of my departure has come.

I have finished my course. Well, Paul, on your course there was a place called Spain. Did you make it? Of course I made it. By the grace of God, I finished my course. I say to you this morning that he had a prosperous trip.

We today have a wrong notion of what is a prosperous trip. I insist today that God heard and answered the prayers of Paul and the saints in Rome. I think he was in the will of God every minute and every step of the way.

You know, you and I think that we are in the will of God when we miss the storm. And that's the way we interpret today God's will for the Christian is, Why did I have it easy? I'm God's little pet. He treats me nicer than anyone else.

And I do not have all the trouble. My friend, if you're God's child, the chances are he's going to put you through the storm. And one of the difficulties today is a great many believers don't like the storm.

Of course, none of us like the storm. God has a way of putting his own through the storm. And today we need men and women who are willing, if you please, to go through the storm. When Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer, was to set out on that epic expedition to the Antarctic, he ran an ad in an English newspaper and it read like this, Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success.

And that man received applications from all over England. May I say to you, God is still asking for men and women who are willing to make a prosperous journey to Rome. According to God's definition of a prosperous journey.

Not according to this age in which we live, that when we have a weekend in a luxury motel, we think we're roughing it. May I say to you, you and I today have a very peculiar notion of what a prosperous journey is.

The will of God is sometimes through the storm. Christ put his disciples in a boat and sent them out that night on the little sea of Galilee and he sent them into a storm. Deliberately, definitely, purposefully.

He didn't send them there to sink the boat. He sent them there to teach them something. My beloved, he sometimes puts us into the storm. So that this man here, and listen to him now, that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God and may with you be refreshed.

Joy and Gospel Fruitfulness in Prison

Now I'm closing. One of the present epistles that he wrote when he was in prison in Rome, there is a whole group of them, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, a quartet. One of them, the epistle to the Philippians, is an epistle that the theme of it is joy.

And the man who wrote that is in the Mamertine prison in Rome. That's the last place in the world you can have fun. But joy is the theme of his epistle. And the very interesting thing is, and listen to him, he's in Rome now.

Did he have a prosperous journey? Let Paul tell you whether he did or not. I'm turning to Philippians 1 .12. But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the fatherance of the gospel.

You mean to tell me locking up the great Apostle Paul and putting him in prison even fathered the preaching of the gospel? It sure did. To begin with, we wouldn't have those four epistles that I named if he hadn't been put in prison.

This man is too busy to write. But when they put him in prison, he had a little time to write. And not only that, but when the Lord Jesus called him, he says, This man is to stand before kings and captains and great men of the earth.

And he never did until he was arrested. And then they put him in prison, took him to Rome. And we're told that in Rome he actually was able to stay in his own hired house at first, but he was chained to one of the praetorian guard, the very elite guard of Caesar's household.

He says, So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and all other places. Can you think of anything that's better than that? Imagine having members, and they chained ships, as you know, of the guard, chained to him.

I can't think of a preacher yet that's ever had his congregation chained to him. And Paul had his congregation chained to him. And we find in the epistle to the Ephesians that many of these guards were saved.

Believe me, they had to listen to him. They're chained to the apostle Paul. And Paul said, I never could have had an opportunity to speak to these men if it hadn't been for the fact I'm chained to them.

And then he says, Many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. And as long as Paul the apostle went about over the Roman Empire, men would hear him, the saints would, and they'd listen to him.

They'd say, Boy, he's great, isn't he? That apostle Paul. My, I love to hear him, but I don't think I ought to go out and do anything. When I compare myself to Paul, I'm nothing. But now Paul's in prison, and word went out like a leprous wave, like a radio broadcast out over the Roman Empire.

And Christians everywhere heard, Paul is in prison and finally executed. What did it do? It put 10 ,000 missionaries on the field. That's what it did. And so that the Roman Empire, in those first two and three hundred years, saw the greatest evangelizing agency that the church has ever seen.

Why? Because Paul made a prosperous journey to Rome. Rome was just a whistle stop on the pilgrim pathway of Paul. It wasn't his destination. It wasn't the end of the line for him. He was a pilgrim and stranger on the way to the celestial city.

The Pilgrim’s Destination and the Call to Salvation

And he began way back under on the Damascus road. One day when Jesus Christ waylaid him. That day, this man started out as a pilgrim and stranger down the highways of life. And if you think Rome or any other place is his destination down here, you are wrong.

He's on the way to the celestial city, the New Jerusalem. My friend, as we come this morning to the Lord's table, I'm wondering today what kind of trip you're making down here. Have you reached your destination?

God have mercy on you if you have. Are there horizons still out yonder? Are there still things that you want to do for God today? God deliver us from coming to the Lord's table and going out and not be willing to continue down the highways of life on a pilgrim pathway.

When you and I have a destination here that we no longer are on a prosperous journey. What about it, Christian friend? Have you arrived at your destination? Are you this morning a pilgrim on the way to the celestial city?

If you are, I want to congratulate you. You are making a prosperous trip. But what a miserable failure if you've already arrived as a believer. And then this morning, in our midst as we come to the Lord's table, there may be those that have never yet begun the journey.

Paul met the Lord Jesus Christ on the Damascus road. He tells us what it was that he believed. He believed the gospel. And he tells us what the gospel is. He says the gospel is what saves you. It's what you stand on and in.

The church doesn't save you. No man can save you. No ceremony can. It's the gospel that saves you. And what is it? That Christ died for our sins, according to the scripture. That's what this table speaks of this morning.

Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures. That he was buried and he rose again the third day. And he did that because you're a sinner. He did that because it was the only way that God could save you.

And he asks you today to trust him. And he doesn't ask you to trust him plus something else. Trust him plus nothing. Trust him. He is the Savior. Paul met him on the Damascus road and began a prosperous journey.

It didn't end in Rome. It went all over the Roman Empire. Friends, it's still going on today because we're preaching from the epistle that he wrote to the Romans. But he has arrived in the celestial city.

Are you a pilgrim on your way to the celestial city? Have you received Jesus Christ as your Savior? If not, we would encourage you to do that today. Scripture says that today is the day of salvation. Will you join him on this pilgrim journey?