Introduction

I am here to lead everyone in reading the Book of Romans, which is a very difficult book to read. Have you noticed that when we read Romans, we recognise every word and sentence, but we struggle to comprehend them when they are put together? Romans is about the powerful Gospel of God. Paul wrote it on his way to Jerusalem, before visiting the church in Rome, intending to present the donations from everyone to the impoverished church in Jerusalem at that time.

In his epistles, Paul wrote that the faith of the believers in Rome was known throughout the world. He longed to see them so that he could impart spiritual gifts to strengthen them. This suggests that Paul believed the believers in Rome had been tainted by the defilements of the Gospel, partly due to the Roman environment and partly due to the Jewish environment. Therefore, the entire Book of Romans discusses a crucial component of the pure Gospel.

Brothers and sisters, we must understand that the Book of Romans discusses the matter of the flesh in more detail than the Book of Galatians. All our problems stem from our carnal desires and the pride of life, and those who are of the flesh are naturally subject to God's wrath. Romans elaborates on a crucial point: the Holy Spirit does not contend with evil spirits but with the flesh. In fact, Paul wants to draw us into a realm of faith because God's Gospel is obtained through faith. So, what is the focus of Paul's argument? It is that many people believe they need to do something to receive grace. However, the key is not what you do but your faith.

Family Member's Alzheimer's Disease Healed

One day, I received a call from a sister who, along with her daughter, is in our church. At that time, I was dealing with my mother's Alzheimer's disease. My mother was already in her eighties, but I had a simple heart and believed that her Alzheimer's would be resolved. Because I knew that what is impossible with man is possible with God. Not because of who my mother was, but because of my faith, God would accomplish what I believed. God would remember my mother because of my faith and for my sake. According to works, my mother was not a very spiritual person. After more than a year of healing and deliverance, she is now relatively healthy, but her mind is filled with thoughts of eating, drinking, and indulging in the flesh.

I told that sister, Do as I do, and your father's Alzheimer's can also be resolved through the powerful Gospel. Although she did not understand my motives or intentions, many brothers and sisters face great challenges when dealing with their parents in similar situations. She called me yesterday to say, Teacher, I really want to thank you. Because in the past half year, her father did not recognise many people, could not hear, and spoke nonsense. He was in a state of madness, often falling and injuring himself, which exhausted this sister. Over this period, I put a lot of effort into this sister and her daughter, hoping they could personally experience the powerful Gospel of God through faith and the practice of faith.

A few days ago, this sister's father suddenly became completely lucid. He recognised all his relatives and even prayed and studied the Bible with them. How did he get better? It was through the powerful Gospel we believe in. And how is this powerful Gospel we believe in accomplished? It is because of the faith within us. At the end of last year, I had a persistent faith, but even then, my faith was often on the verge of collapse. I thank God that I persevered. In one spiritual battle after another, I dealt with wave after wave of demons in my mother.

There has been great progress this year. Last year, my mother had to rest after walking 100 meters, but now she can walk seven or eight miles without stopping. Last year, my mother often confused the sixth and ninth floors, and she was in a state of confusion. Sometimes she could not even take care of her personal hygiene. But today, God has healed my mother through His powerful Gospel. This proves what is written in Romans:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. (Romans 1:16)

Through this event, I know for sure that the Gospel we believe in is truly a treasure. So, I encourage everyone not to judge things by phenomena and situations but to judge through faith.

Preach the Gospel that Paul Preached

When I encouraged this sister and her daughter, her initial response was: Oh, my mother broke her leg before and has a steel plate in it. It's normal for her legs to ache. I said, Then pray, and she will get better. She said, No, because there is a steel plate inside. Then I said, Your father can be freed through the powerful Gospel of God. This sister said, No, my father can't hear, and he is already confused.

If we still judge by phenomena and situations, we are not walking a path of faith but a path that depends on the environment. I really want to thank the Lord that I was very persistent, persistent until she called me yesterday to thank me for my encouragement. For me, I owe everyone a debt of the Gospel, which is to re-transmit the powerful Gospel of God. The Roman Empire, where Paul established the church, was a place where idolatry was very serious. Today, we also live in such an environment. Paul saw the churches in Rome, and he felt that these churches were not doing enough in releasing the power of God and in the lessons of faith.

Why is it that the powerful Gospel is believed to be powerless? Because it is not a path of faith. It is a path of logical reasoning. People like to explain and explain, and as a result, the powerful Gospel is explained away. I don't like to explain because faith can release God's power. So, brothers and sisters, you must know that Paul's motive for writing Romans was to restore the power of the Gospel.

Restore Simple Faith

Some people say that faith without works is dead. But I have not seen such words in the Bible, especially in the Book of Romans written by Paul. This means that once we fall into a work-based logical system, we will quickly lose the power of the Gospel.

Therefore, we should all read the Book of Romans because it is a concrete description of Paul's struggle for the truth of the Gospel. Paul also wrote 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, and Colossians. When Paul wrote Romans, his judgment of people and his understanding of the truth of the Gospel had reached a superb level.

Our healing and deliverance have reached this stage, and we also need the Gospel truth transmitted by Romans. We need to know what things inside us need to be dealt with so that we can restore the powerful Gospel. Paul's writing of Romans was to restore the power of the Gospel. We are constantly moving forward in healing and deliverance, and we also see the glory of God being manifested constantly, but what we are doing is far from enough. First of all, we must restore the simple faith within us.

In fact, I am a very rational person, but I have come out of rationality. Where have I gone? I have entered into faith, and I have found that simple faith can really release God's power. In the beginning of the first chapter, it says:

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. (Romans 1:1)

The Pure Gospel – The Gospel Preached by Jesus and Paul

The gospel we preach today must be the one preached by Paul. This gospel He promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 1:2-4)

How did Jesus Christ demonstrate that He is the Son of God? By His power. But today I find that many people have twisted this. They think that Jesus Christ demonstrated that He is the Son of God by His power, but we are not Jesus Christ, so we do not need to demonstrate that we are also the sons of God by power. The gospel that Paul delivered was a gospel full of power. What we owe is not a powerless gospel debt, but a powerful gospel debt. Today we can see many places where they have lost the power of the gospel, completely deviating from the path of faith to faith. If a person deviates from this path of faith, how can he release the power of God?

The testimony I just shared, this sister and her daughter are both among us. The sister's father is eighty-five or six years old, and her mother is seventy-eight or nine years old. God has done marvelous work in her. This sister's mother had severe back and leg pain a few days ago. The sister's daughter prayed for her grandmother, and the pain completely disappeared after the prayer. The next morning, she was able to get out of bed and walk. It was truly amazing! Then the old lady said, My granddaughter is really amazing!

Because we are walking on a path based on faith, what did this old lady do for God? Nothing at all. We simply lifted up her faith. We told her that our God is full of grace and mercy, our God is a powerful and gracious God. After she received it, we saw God working in her. What deeds did she have to speak of? Really, there were no deeds to speak of. So today, we must completely break away from the value system based on works. Even 0.001 percent of works, we must reject. We must restore 100 percent faith. When we are based on faith, the power of this gospel begins to manifest.

Today, in this generation, we not only receive God's grace ourselves, but also pass on this powerful gospel of grace. This gospel debt must be repaid, because it is what we have freely received from God, and today we freely give it out.

Paul says here not to be ashamed of the gospel. Why would anyone be? Because Romans liked using speculative methods theory. If we look at it with speculative methods, do we think Jesus is the true God? Being nailed to the cross, how could He be? But God willingly bore the cross, bearing our sins, so that we can draw on His power by faith. Whether in Paul's generation or the current generation, people are not unaware of God's things, but there are still many people who hinder the truth.

Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal human beings and birds and animals and reptiles. (Romans 1:19-23)

Who does they refer to here? Actually, it refers to those who know God, but hold vain and ignorant dark hearts. When I prayed for my mother, I knew her condition just by looking at her expression and eyes. After I prayed with her for a while, she said, My heart is bright, my heart is like a crack has opened. Prayer is constantly opening your heart, allowing yourself to be illuminated by the light of God. So brothers and sisters must know that when we lose a gospel of power, our insides will be darkened because many questions have no answers. But when the gospel we believe is a gospel of power, then many questions have answers.

These past few days, I have seen many miraculous acts of God. There is a brother, regarding his work ability, is really just average. As a result, today his pastor told me, This brother made a very big deal these past two days, and will be able to get tens of thousands in commissions in a few days. I think this brother never thought this kind of thing would happen before. Because in terms of ability, he is not considered strong. He did not rely on ability, it wasn't that he worked only when he had the ability. But he chose a path of faith, and saw God's power manifested in him.

What Kind of God is God

We must ask ourselves, do you really believe in your heart that God is a healing God? Do you know that God is a God who gives grace and enables us to overcome? If you do not know, the heart inside you will become ignorant and dark. If we do not know that God is everything to us, and can provide us with all our needs, our hearts will truly become dimmed.

So these people claim to be wise, but become fools. In Romans, people are divided into two types, one is all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people. The other is God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another, God gave them over to shameful lusts, God gave them over to a depraved mind (Romans 1:24,26,28)

Why does God give them over? Instead of snatching back the thoughts and intentions of those who do evil things and turning them back to God? When Paul wrote Romans, he separated the kinds of people. These people that God gives over, God will not save them, because they clearly know the things of God. Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. But they give themselves up to their own hearts, doing those evil things, and it is precisely because of this that God will judge them. They not only do it themselves, but also do it with others.

Today I will list the things that God does not like: The first thing is idolatry. Why worship idols? Because they want to get what they want to get, which is spiritual fornication. The second is physical fornication, which is men and men, women and women lusting after each other, doing shameful things. This was very common in the Roman Empire, and it is still very common today. So these people receive in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, God gave them over, so their hearts are:

Filled with all kinds of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. (Romans 1:29-31)

These things are all spiritual things, and they all carry spiritual powers of darkness. So if God gives them over, it is because they themselves made such a choice. If people make such a choice, God will not correct his choice. Who are we preaching the gospel to today? It is all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people. Since those people do those bad things, Paul's meaning is: if they want to do that, then let them do it.

People's Choices are Very Spiritual

Today, in this generation, the filthy are still filthy, and the holy are still holy, it all depends on people's choices. You must know that it is very strange for people to choose such filth, because choosing those things will not make you live well. If you choose strife, deceit, malice, breach of contract, no affection, and no mercy, will God correct you? No, He will not. What we can do is like Paul, to pass on the word of God to those whom God has called. Paul's words are worth pondering. We come into this world not to change this world, but to serve those who are loved by God and called to be his holy people. Although we do not know whether others will accept it, some people are just stubborn and continue to do things that provoke God's anger, then forget it. When Paul wrote letters to the Roman church, the Roman church not only lost God's power, but also wanted to transform those who did those things. They know God, but they would rather know but not believe.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. (Romans 1:16) The gospel we preach is the gospel of God's power, because we are based on faith. Starting to walk out of the gospel based on works according to what Paul said, and restoring to the gospel based on faith, and restoring the power of God, this is what we should do. May God bless everyone!