Romans Series #1
Spoken at SGBC
8-11-96
Romans 1:1-7
We begin by reading a portion of the account given by the Apostle Paul concerning his conversion and ministry. These words were spoken in his own defense after being accused by the Jews of many serious crimes. He is speaking to King Agrippa.
(Acts 26:9-23 NASB) "So then, I thought to myself that I HAD TO do many things hostile TO THE NAME OF JESUS OF NAZARETH. {10} "And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I LOCK UP MANY OF THE SAINTS IN PRISONS, having received authority from the CHIEF PRIESTS, but also when they were BEING PUT TO DEATH I cast my vote against them. {11} "And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being FURIOUSLY ENRAGED at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities. {12} "While thus engaged as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the CHIEF PRIESTS, {13} at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. {14} "And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' {15} "And I said, 'Who art Thou, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I AM JESUS WHOM YOU ARE PERSECUTING. (Note, when someone persecutes a Christians they are actually attacking Jesus Christ the Lord.) {16} 'But arise, and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, TO APPOINT YOU a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; {17} DELIVERING YOU FROM THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND FROM THE GENTILES, to whom I am sending you, {18} to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and FROM THE DOMINION OF SATAN TO GOD, (All unbelievers are under the Dominion of Satan though they think they are free.) in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been SANCTIFIED by faith in Me.' (The word, "sanctified", speaks of being set apart from the rest of humanity by eternal election for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.) {19} "Consequently, King Agrippa, I DID NOT PROVE DISOBEDIENT to the heavenly vision, {20} but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should REPENT AND TURN TO GOD, performing deeds appropriate to repentance. {21} "FOR THIS REASON some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to put me to death. {22} "And so, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the PROPHETS AND MOSES SAID was going to take place; {23} that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He should be the first to proclaim light both to the JEWISH PEOPLE AND TO THE GENTILES." (The word Gentiles refers to all non Jewish people on earth.)
It is this Paul that was used of God to write 13 of our New Testament books in the Bible. His greatest work, by the estimation of many, is the book of Romans. Paul wrote this letter while in the city of Corinth about 57 AD. He had wanted to visit the church in Rome for many years but had been prevented by God from doing so. Now, however, he hoped to visit them on his way to Spain. He sends this letter for instruction in truth and righteousness but also to pave the way for his arrival should God permit it at last.
The people who made up the church in Rome were both Jewish and Gentile and were well grounded in the faith. Paul commended them for their soundness in both doctrine and practice. This letter was meant to reinforce the truths already learned by the Romans and to expand their knowledge of God's truth as well.
The theme of this letter is found in verse seventeen. I begin reading at verse sixteen. (Rom 1:16-17 NASB) "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. {17} For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."
The justified person has Eternal Life by FAITH in Jesus Christ the Lord. Which is to say, it is not what YOU do or do not do that saves you. The saved person is the one who looks AWAY FROM HIS WORKS to rest by faith for salvation, for acceptance with God, in the perfect and finished work of JESUS CHRIST THE LORD.
Seeing that God only accepts those who are perfectly righteous salvation MUST BE by faith in Christ's perfect righteousness for men have no righteousness of their own.
(Rom 3:10-12 NASB) "as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; {11} THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; {12} ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE."
(Titus 3:5-7 NASB) "He saved us, NOT ON THE BASIS OF DEEDS WHICH WE HAVE DONE IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, BUT ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY, BY THE WASHING OF REGENERATION AND RENEWING BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, {6} whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, {7} that being JUSTIFIED BY HIS GRACE we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."
No man can come to God on the basis of good works for he has never done anything good in God's eyes, indeed, it is impossible for him to do so before he is born again. Unsaved men and women are faithless and without faith in Jesus Christ it is impossible to please God.
This letter to the Romans tells of the Sovereign Grace of God extended to the objects of His love who lay helpless before Him dead in trespasses and sins. When He comes to these helpless, Satan dominated people, He gives them new hearts, new wills, He gives them repentance and faith. These are the ones who then call upon Him in Faith and are justified. "THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."
The book of Romans divides into three sections all of which address some aspect of the theme.
Section one consists of the first eight chapters and tells us about Justification by Faith and its consequences.
Section two, which consists of chapters nine through eleven deal with the temporary rejection of the Jews and the inclusion of the Gentiles as God's people.
Then in the third section, chapters twelve through sixteen, we have many wonderful practical applications of the precious doctrine set forth in the first eleven chapters.
Today, we are concerned with Paul's introduction. (Romans 1:1-7 NASB) "Paul, a BOND-SERVANT of Christ Jesus, CALLED AS AN APOSTLE, set apart for the GOSPEL OF GOD, {2} which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, {3} concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, {4} who was declared the SON OF GOD with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, {5} through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the OBEDIENCE OF FAITH among all the Gentiles, for His name's sake, {6} among whom YOU ALSO ARE THE CALLED of Jesus Christ; {7} to all who are BELOVED OF GOD in Rome, CALLED AS SAINTS: GRACE to you and PEACE from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Paul begins His letter by presenting his credentials. That which gave him the right to address the Romans with authority.
First, he is a BONDSLAVE of Christ Jesus. This means that Paul was willingly and gladly bound to serve the living God. He was not his own man and didn't want to be. Rather, he lived to do the will of God, to serve Christ Jesus. When Paul calls himself a bond servant he lets the Romans know that he serves the Lord God out of love, not compulsion.
The Jewish readers would have been thoroughly familiar with the idea of the bond servant as described in Exodus 21:1-6 NASB. "Now these are the ordinances which you are to set before them. {2} "If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment. {3} "If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. {4} "If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out alone. {5} "But if the slave plainly says, 'I LOVE MY MASTER, MY WIFE AND MY CHILDREN; I WILL NOT GO OUT AS A FREE MAN,' {6} then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and HE SHALL SERVE HIM PERMANENTLY."Paul is such a VOLUNTARY AND PERMANENT servant of Christ. He is bound by love to the service of God and His Christ.
The second thing that qualified Paul is that he was a, "Called Apostle." For Paul to call himself an Apostle was to declare that Jesus had appeared to him in person and called him to this ministry. Paul had been commissioned to and equipped for the work of an Apostle by Christ. As an Apostle PAUL WAS INSPIRED, that is, when he spoke he did so without error, his words were GOD BREATHED. The Bible is the result of what God breathed through the lips of such inspired men as Paul. Further, when he identified himself as an Apostle it meant that God had given him authority for the instruction, guidance, and discipline of the universal Church. There are no such men today, such authority passed away when the last of the original Apostles died.
This Apostleship was not an office for which Paul campaigned. It was not something for which he was trained and prepared in some Apostles school. Rather, verse one reveals that, "he was set apart", for this work. As far as Paul's awareness of his call to be an Apostle, that took place on the road to Damascus. However, we must go further back than that. (Galatians 1:15-17 NASB) "But when He who had set me apart, EVEN FROM MY MOTHER'S WOMB, and called me through His grace, was pleased {16} to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, {17} nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus."
To be more accurate we must return to Paul's election in eternity past as described in Ephesians 1:3-6 NASB. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, {4} just as HE CHOSE US IN HIM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love {5} HE PREDESTINED US to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, {6} TO THE PRAISE OF THE GLORY OF HIS GRACE, which He freely bestowed on US in the Beloved."
In light of all this Paul is saying, "I have been set apart by Christ and commissioned to this work form before the world began." Paul was separated from the rest of humanity, chosen by God for salvation, Apostleship, and the preaching of THIS Gospel.
The third thing that qualified Paul to instruct the church at Rome was that he was a preacher with a special message, "THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS CHRIST". As most of you know, Gospel means good news. It is the message that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. It is a message which declares to all that Jesus is willing and able to save, to the uttermost, all who come to Him by faith. Hear the word of the Lord.
(I Cor. 15:1-4) "Now I make known to you, brethren, the GOSPEL which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, {2} by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. {3} For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, THAT CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES, {4} AND THAT HE WAS BURIED, AND THAT HE WAS RAISED ON THE THIRD DAY ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES,"
Paul called this Good News the "Gospel of God," because it originates with God. It was not the invention of man. It is else where called the Gospel of Christ, The Gospel of His Son, and, in Romans 16 Paul calls it, "My Gospel."
The Prophets of old preached the Good News in varying degrees of clarity. The Prophet Isaiah, hundreds of years before Paul and Christ preached the Gospel. Hear the words of (Isaiah 1:18 NASB) "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool."
(Isaiah 53:4-6 NASB) {4} Surely our griefs HE HIMSELF BORE, And OUR SORROWS HE CARRIED; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. {5} But He was pierced through FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS, He was crushed FOR OUR INIQUITIES; The chastening for OUR WELL-BEING FELL UPON HIM, And by His scourging WE ARE HEALED. {6} All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; BUT THE LORD HAS CAUSED THE INIQUITY OF US ALL TO FALL ON HIM."
(Isaiah 55:1-3 NASB) "Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. (Isaiah 55:6-7 NASB) "Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. {7} Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon."
The Gospel is as much a part of the Old as it is the New Testament. Let this teach us to respect the Bible as a whole not preferring the New over the Old Testament. The Bible, from cover to cover, is God's Eternal Word, it is all Good News.Verses three through four of Romans One tell us that Jesus Christ the Lord is at the very center of the Gospel. He is the Son of the Living God. He was and remains both human and Divine. This Christ, "God with us", commissioned Paul as an Apostle and sent him out to bring about the, "OBEDIENCE OF FAITH", among all the Gentiles, for His name's sake." He was to do this by preaching the Gospel.
Take careful note of Paul's description of the Christian profession. It is an "OBEDIENCE OF FAITH". The Christian faith unto salvation is not merely head knowledge or simple assent to some religious statement. Rather, the faith that saves is also a faith that ENSLAVES one to God and the GLAD DOING of his will.
True faith understands God's revelation in the Gospel and obeys that Gospel truth. It is truth concerning sin, condemnation, and the sufficiency of the work of God's Son on behalf of sinners. Faith is the heart and mind believing on Jesus, as revealed in the Gospel to the extent that the individual turns in repentance form his sin to TRUST IN CHRIST ALONE for acceptance with God.
The fruit of real saving faith, of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, is an abiding DESIRE to obey the truth AND the ever increasing ABILITY to obey the truth.
The Born Again person loves his Master so much that he places his ear, as it were, against the door post and pierces it. He RESTS IN WILLING BONDS beneath his Saviors wings. He wants nothing more in life than to obey and to please his God.
So, as Paul preached the Gospel explaining who Jesus was, what He has done, and that men must repent and believe in Him for salvation. He also watched for the obedience of faith. He called his hearers and readers to action. Come to Christ he said, repent, and believe in Jesus for salvation. Only those who OBEYED THE GOSPEL were saved. The same is true today.
In verses 6-7 Paul identifies the recipients of his letter. (Romans 1:6-7 NASB) "among whom you also are THE CALLED OF JESUS CHRIST; {7} to all who are BELOVED OF GOD in Rome, CALLED AS SAINTS: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Notice that Paul does not write to all the people in Rome. He writes to the "called of Jesus Christ", "the beloved of God", those, "called to be saints". "Grace to YOU, he says, Grace and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Blessings abound for the chosen of God. They are beloved of God. He delights in His people. He adopts them into His family and calls them sons. He purifies, protects, and keeps them, and, them only. He teaches, directs, and chastises them. For these and these alone the blessing of GRACE AND PEACE is reserved.
Grace is God's unearned and undeserved favor in action. It is God bestowing salvation upon guilty hell deserving sinners whom He calls to himself.
When in time one has been granted the grace of God he will then experience and possess the PEACE OF GOD. The born again believer has peace with God. He is no longer an enemy but a son. Love has replaced wrath and enmity on both the Divine and human levels. Further, the Christian has PEACE OF CONSCIENCE. The sense of guilt is washed away by the blood of Jesus. There is a sense that all is well as concerns eternity, all is well with my soul. That men and women might find grace and peace with God is why Paul preaches the gospel. That Christians might understand how and what has happened to them is why God had Paul write the book of Romans.