This morning we're going to be
in Romans chapter 1. Romans 1. What the Lord is teaching
His people is that we've been blessed by Him. We've been blessed
to be called of God in His darling Son, Jesus Christ, who is the
Savior whom the Father has sent. Now, I'm coming to Romans 1 because
I was reading the introduction of Paul's letter to the Romans
and it blessed my heart. It was rejoicing to see the blessings
of the gospel that Paul speaks of here in this introduction. And so I want to look at these
with you this morning. Paul opens the epistle saying
in verse 1, Paul a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an
apostle, separated unto the gospel of God." And here Paul is speaking
of his office. He's describing the office. He's
setting the tone there that he has the authority to say the
things that he's saying here of our salvation, of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And what he says is, I'm a servant
of Jesus Christ, I'm called to be an apostle, and I was separated
unto the gospel of God. And so this is his office, right? He's speaking of his office given
to him by Christ as a member of the body of Christ, as a member
of Christ's body, the church. However, What the Lord is showing
us here, what we see in reading His word is that though our offices
are different, though we are different, we're many members
in the one body. However, all the blessings of
God in Christ are the same for His people. All the blessings
that God gives to His apostles, He gives to us. in the Lord Jesus
Christ. These are blessings of Christ
for the church. If you'll recall in Ephesians
1 verses 3 and 4, when Paul was opening that letter to those
brethren, he said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us his churches, his people,
his members in the body who have blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And then he
goes on to say, according as he hath chosen us in him. before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love. And so, for example, Paul says,
I'm a servant of Jesus Christ. And yet the Lord teaches us that
all who believe the Lord Jesus Christ are servants of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We're blessed to be servants
of Christ. When he was writing to the Colossians,
he said, ye serve Jesus Christ. You serve the Lord Christ. He's
called you to serve Him. And then later on in this book,
in Romans 7, verse 6, he said, now we are delivered from the
law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should
serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Every one of God's people, every
one covered by the blood of Christ, are not delivered unto dead letter
religion. We're not saved in the practice
of a religion. We're saved by Christ and we're
brought in, we're given his spirit and brought into newness of his
spirit so that we serve God, we worship God in spirit and
in truth. We are living creatures, new
living creatures, alive by His grace in Christ. Paul also tells
us that he was called to be an apostle. And that blessing of
our calling is true of every one of us in Christ. Look down
at verse 6 of Romans 1. Among whom also are ye also the
called of Jesus Christ. Our offices are maybe different. We are different members of the
same body and yet all of God's children are the called of Jesus
Christ. Then Paul says that he was separated
unto the gospel of God. Now this speaks of God's love
for his people. If you are separated by God unto
this gospel, to hear this gospel, to receive it, to know this is
the truth. This speaks of the Savior whom
the Father hath sent. He is the Savior. I know He's
the Savior, and I need Him. I'm a sinner, and I need His
salvation. If that's what God is revealing
to you, and keeps on revealing it to you through the preaching
of the gospel, what a blessing. That's indicative of God's love
for you. God has separated you unto this.
If God loves you, he will separate you unto the gospel. He's not
going to pass you by. He's not going to leave you in
indifference and in darkness and carelessness to the things
that you hear. He makes it effectual. He makes
you to need Christ. He makes you to hear and rejoice
in what Christ has done for His people. If you're God's, He's
going to do a work in you, because you're His child, in calling
you and separating you unto this gospel. If God allows you to
slip into hell, you can't say that He loves you. If you have
a toddler, are you just going to let them play in the street
because you don't want to offend their free will. I wish they
wouldn't do that, but I can't stop them. But they keep on going. Hopefully they'll mature before
they get run over by a truck. No, you wouldn't do that. That's
criminal negligence. If God loves you. He's going
to deliver you from death. He's going to make his word effectual
in your heart. We can't say that God is a gentleman
and will not offend our free will. The scriptures don't speak
like that. The scriptures say it's not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. God shows mercy. He gives mercy
to those whom he loves, to those whom he sent Christ to save.
And the reason why is because the scriptures teach that if
we were left to ourselves, none of us would come. If we were
left to ourselves, if he passed by us like he did Esau, we would
never come. The scriptures teach that if
there's one thing that's required of me, and it's of my flesh to
do it, my power, my ability, my strength, my wisdom, I will
perish in hell. Thanks be to God that everything
was laid upon his darling son, Jesus Christ. Everything necessary
for our salvation is given into the hand of Christ and he accomplished
that redemption. He accomplished that salvation
and he's bringing it forward. He's bringing it out and giving
it to his people through the gospel. Romans 3.10 says this,
it's written, there's none righteous, no not one. It's not going to
come down to you and me. It's all on Christ. There's none
righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. That's a description of us in
our nature, in Adam. That's what we are. Salvation
is by a new birth, by the Spirit of God, taking the things of
Christ and making them effectual to His people, revealing Christ
in you, the hope of glory. Man doesn't give himself a new
birth. Salvation is of the Lord. The psalmist said that in Psalm
3.8, salvation is of the Lord. Jonah said that in 2.9, in the
belly of the whale, salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord's
doing. David said in Psalm 65, four,
blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach
unto thee that he may dwell in thy courts. What a mercy and
a grace. If you're gonna dwell in the
eternal courts of holy God, it's gonna be because God chose you
and caused you to come unto him, to believe him. He called you
and caused you to come. He caused you to hear. God chooses
whom he will and causes them to approach him in grace. In grace. Not in our works, not
in our ability, not in our talents, not in our skill, not in anything
that we can boast in except the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
boast of the believer. We boast in Christ. We rejoice
in what Christ Jesus has done for his people. This is why the
Lord said to the Jews in John 6, 44, no man can come unto me
except the Father which hath sent me draw him. He does that. You that are here today, give
God thanks. Beg him, draw me Lord, don't
pass me by, don't leave me behind like Esau. Please Lord have mercy
on me, bless me like you did your son Jacob. Call me, have
mercy on me Lord. He's merciful to all who call
upon him. To all who are needy sinners,
who cannot save themselves, that's who Christ came to save, the
needy sinner. We don't turn to the Lord and
believe Him unless the Father draws us to Christ. And He does
that by revealing your need and revealing that Christ is the
one to save you. That's what He shows His people. The world
doesn't see that. The world doesn't see that Christ is the Savior
and that they need Him and then stay in their sins. Those whom
God reveals that to, they come, they believe, they cry out to
the Lord for mercy. This is why in Ephesians 2.10,
we're told that we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. And believe in Christ is that work. And follow in Christ
is that work. being led of His Spirit is that
work that He works in His people and causes us to come to Him.
Our Lord was speaking to Nicodemus one night in John chapter 3.
And what did He say? He said, Nicodemus, ye must be
born again. He never said, Nicodemus, you
need to get yourself born again. That's not the language of Scripture.
He's declaring the truth. You and I must be born again.
We need God to save us. He's telling us that truth, and
then he works it in our hearts. Nicodemus was dead in trespasses
and sins until the Lord drew him. I think he was there because
he was saying, oh, you know that I'm sent of God. You know, no
man can believe that except God gives that to him, except he
be born again, because you can't even see the kingdom of God,
Nicodemus. except God has revealed that to you. It was a tiny, tiny,
tiny little mustard seed of faith, but it was given to him of God.
It was a gift of God to bring him there. And he had a whole
lot of learning to do, but we see even later on, God manifested
that he was his child. Him and Joseph of Arimathea came
and took the body of Christ. He came publicly and took the
body of Christ. The Lord does that for his people.
Turn over to Ephesians 2. Let's see this truth in Ephesians
2, a very familiar passage to us. In verse 1, I think, when
we're just dead in trespasses and sins but religious, we just
skip right over what verse 1 says and don't realize that what it's
saying is you and I can't save ourselves. We don't get ourselves
saved. It's a work of God. And you,
verse 1, hath he quickened, that is made alive, gave spiritual
life, raised you from the dead. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. Now this describes every one
of us by nature in verses two and three. This is where we're
all at, except God deliver us from this. He said, wherein in
time past ye walked according to the course of this world,
under the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience. That's us. And that's why this
world doesn't hear, the gospel, they won't hear it, they don't
hear it the way his children hear it, and they do not believe.
Because they're still walking the course of this world. They're
still walking according to the prince of the power of the air.
They're still led by that spirit of disobedience. Verse three,
among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in
the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. And that's a good reminder that
that's whom Christ saves. He saves sinners, needy sinners. That's exactly who he came to
save. He doesn't save good people. He doesn't save those worthy
in themselves of salvation. He saves needy sinners. Are you a needy sinner? Listen
up. Thank God. That's who He came
to save. Pray that He make this word effectual in your hearts.
And if you seek Him, it's because He has given that to you. He
gives that to you. So how are we made alive? How
are we born again? Verse 4 there of Ephesians 2,
but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us. See that's a separation unto
the gospel. If God loves you, he's going to separate you unto
this gospel. Even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ by grace. Ye are saved. That's why we're born again.
because of God's great love separating us unto the gospel, because of
God doing something for his child that he does not do for others,
because of God doing something for his Jacobs that he does not
do for the Esau's. God is sovereign to save whom
he will, and he's able to do it through Christ. He does it
through Christ. So you that are separated unto
the gospel of God, give God the thanks because it's impossible
for us to save ourselves. That's one of the great errors
pushed and taught in the churches today, putting everything on
man and telling man what he needs to do to save himself because
they do not hear the voice of the Son of God and declare what
Christ has accomplished for his people and trust that Christ
takes that gospel, and brings it powerfully to the hearts of
His people to hear and to believe and to come out of that darkness,
rejoicing what Christ has done. Hebrews 12.2 says, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, that's where it begins
there, not the cross, well it begins in eternity, but Christ
came and laid down his life on the cross to atone for the sins
of his people, despising the shame, and is set down at the
right hand of the throne of God. So that all of salvation from
beginning to end is by the Lord Jesus Christ. And that includes
that part where we believe. Faith is a fruit of the Spirit. It is not a work of the flesh. It's a fruit of the Spirit. And
so this is what Paul meant when he said in Romans 1-5, by whom
we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among
all nations for his name. So the church remains in this
world and is sent of God to go and preach the gospel. And we
go and preach the gospel knowing that Christ is seated on the
throne and that he is making his word effectual. He said,
all authority is given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, preach
the gospel. Declare. And they'll hear. My
people will hear. And they'll follow me. They'll
keep your word. If they're mine, if they've kept
my word, they'll keep your word. And they'll believe the gospel. And so that's why we're here,
to preach the gospel for the obedience to the faith among
all nations. Obedience, he's talking about
faith. Believing the word of God. Believing Christ. That's the obedience that he's
speaking of there. That's the obedience he gives us. He calls,
he sends his spirit, and the spirit seeks out the lost sheep
of Christ, and the spirit brings us under the sound of the gospel,
and the spirit makes it effectual to our hearts, makes us to hear
what the spirit saith unto the churches, and the spirit manifests,
reveals faith in the people of God, showing that God has done
this work. This is his power that he gives
to us. Acts 13.48 says, and when the
Gentiles heard this, heard what? That Christ came not for the
Jews only, but for the Gentiles too, that He is the Savior of
the world. That's what it means, that He's
the Savior of the world. It's not for the Jews only, but for
Gentiles also. When they heard that, they were
glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were
ordained unto eternal life, believed. That's what He does. And you
that are His, He reveals faith. He makes you to know, that's
the Savior. And I'm the sinner. And I need
that salvation. I need that Savior. Save me,
Lord. That's what He works in His people.
So why does God do this for sinners like us? Well, Paul tells us
this was His purpose from the beginning. Look at Romans 1,
verse 2 and 3. which he had promised afore by
his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son Jesus Christ
our Lord which was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh. And so Christ is the very promise
of God made unto us in the garden at the very heart of the fall
there. Christ is the promise of God. What was that promise? Genesis 315, and I will put enmity. He was talking to the serpent
right there standing, Adam and Eve. It was for their benefit.
And he said, I will put enmity between thee, serpent, devil,
and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. The woman is the church. She's pictured in Eve there.
He's speaking of the church. who was deceived by that serpent
when Adam yielded up the dominion to the devil. Christ didn't do
that. Christ came and took that authority. Christ came and established a
righteousness for his people and delivered his church. from
being enamored with the evil one, the prince of the power
of the air, took us out from his bondage, from his dominion,
and brought us out of that body of sin into the body of Christ,
being members of his body, his mystical body, the church. That's
what he's saying, that spiritual work which he did for his people. And so, Our God's purpose is seen right
there from the fall, that He purposes even before the fall,
even before the foundation of the world, that we should be
saved in Christ. That's why in Revelation 13,
8, our Lord is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. God always purposed, had a gracious
purpose for His people in Jesus Christ, in our Lord. And therefore, all the scriptures
speak of Him. This is not a how-to manual,
how to get yourself saved, how to get yourself born again. This
is a book which speaks of Christ and declares to us Him who is
our salvation and what He did to accomplish our salvation,
to save us, to deliver us from that power of darkness and that
bondage and that prison. It's what our Lord did. This
is why in Luke 24, verse 27, when He was speaking to His disciples,
it says that beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded
unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself. He spoke, Christ preached Christ.
That's why we preach Christ. because He's given that to us.
He's separated us out of darkness to this gospel. And so we preach
Jesus Christ again in Luke 24, verse 44 and 45, He said unto
them, these are the words which I spake unto you while I was
yet with you, meaning in the flesh before the cross. that
all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law
of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me." And then it says, then opened he their understanding that they
might understand the Scriptures. To see and to know what he's
talking about. To open this book and to see
Christ. Open this book and every time
be looking for Christ. Lord speak to me save me by your
salvation Let me hear the voice of your son Deliver me from from
death. That's the understanding which
he gives us by his spirit To know this is his book. This is
his word this reveals the Savior to a sinner like me And so that's
who Paul's glorying in when he writes this letter to the Romans.
Look at verse four. This Jesus is declared to be
the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by
the resurrection from the dead. In other words, God convinces
us that He raised Jesus Christ from the dead. He's not in the
grave. He's not just a good man. He's
not a martyr. He's not just a prophet, he's
the prophet, priest, and king whom the Father sent to save
His people entirely. Entirely, sufficiently, perfectly. And the only reason he died is
because he is the mediator whom God sent. He is the Christ. He is the Lamb of God. He is
the Savior who was sent to save his people from their sins, to
bear their sin and make an atonement for it on the cross and so delivered
us from the just punishment of God. He delivers his people from
the hand of justice. and sets us free in himself,
in perfect righteousness. And so through his death, that's
where Christ put to death that enmity that's in us against God.
You think about the garden, Adam and Eve didn't run from the devil,
but when they heard the voice of God walking in the cool of
the garden, they took off, they ran from God because they died. When they ate that fruit of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they died spiritually.
and enmity was in them immediately toward God. And so Christ's death
put to death that enmity that's in us and delivered us from that
bondage and kicked that prison door open and said, Sitter, show
yourself. Come into the light. And you
that come into the light, you confess, God has done this. God
brought this in me. It's all to the praise and glory
of his name. Don't look at me. Look at him,
he was so gracious, so kind, so loving to separate me from
that gutter and bring me into his blessed family. All in grace,
all in grace. And so that's where we were,
just like it said in Ephesians 2, we were following the course
of the world. according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience. And so Christ delivered us from
that enmity, and he calls us by his gospel, makes it effectual
in us so that we live and understand it's all of him. It's all of
him. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. We didn't improve this flesh.
This flesh isn't reformed. It's not just getting better
and better. No, Christ is salvation. It's full and complete in Him,
and so to all who are effectually called to Christ, to the saving
of their souls, we live by Him. And by His life we testify, through
faith, that Christ has saved us. It's the testimony of God
revealed in us that we are His. It's a fruit of His Spirit. As
Paul says in verse 7, to all that be in Rome, be loved of
God. called to be saints. Grace to
you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. All who are loved of God are
the saints of God. He manifests His grace and work
in His people, revealing faith in them, revealing hope in the
Lord Jesus Christ, not in anything we do. We don't glory in ourselves. We glory in Christ who did all
this work and made it effectual unto us, blessed us by his grace
and mercy. And so this faith testifies that
we have been justified by Christ. Otherwise, we wouldn't believe.
And we wouldn't see Christ in all the scriptures, and we wouldn't
hear his voice, and we wouldn't rejoice and boast in him. We
rejoice and boast in ourselves and what we've done to save ourselves. So this letter to the Romans,
like all the scriptures, is given to affirm to you that here, that
Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God. He is the Lamb of God,
and he accomplished our redemption by the death of himself and his
resurrection from the grave. And all who believe him shall
never be ashamed. I pray the Lord bless that word
to your hearts, brethren. Amen.