morning all right so this morning we're
going to continue in our study in Romans and we'll be looking
at verse 7 verse 7 so far We looked at in our study of Romans,
we've looked at how we know that Paul had the authority to preach
and say the things he was sent to preach. And then last week
we saw what it is that Paul was sent to preach. sent by God,
separated by God, to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His purpose
for being, his very purpose in serving the Lord was to preach
salvation, and that salvation is by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this morning, in verse
7, we'll be looking at to whom Paul was sent to preach, to whom
he was sent to preach, and write this letter. Our title is Beloved
of God, Beloved of God. And that'll be our first point,
looking at that phrase, Beloved of God. And then our next point
will be called to be saints, then we're going to look at that
greeting of grace and peace to you and what that means. Alright,
so Paul addresses his letter saying in verse 7, to all that
be in Rome, be loved of God. So Paul's letter is written to
the church, those that dwell and live in Rome and attend are
assembled with the brethren there in Rome. And I just want to cover,
briefly, why was Paul writing to the Romans? Why did Paul write
to the Romans? What authority did Paul have? And why is he speaking with such
authority to these brethren? Because he's teaching them doctrine.
And as we know, doctrine is teaching. It's the teaching concerning
our salvation, concerning how God Almighty, how Holy God receives
sinners. Now we're accepted with Him,
that it's through Jesus Christ. It's by the Lord Jesus Christ
and what He accomplished for His people. So why was Paul writing
to the Romans? Now we saw last week that God
made him an apostle. He was separated to this work
as an apostle of Jesus Christ. And what that means, what an
apostle, they had to have seen the Lord Jesus Christ after he
rose from the dead. That was a requirement. and that
wasn't necessarily the only requirement, but they had to see Christ risen
from the dead because they were eyewitnesses, they were witnesses
that they had seen Jesus Christ. Because now they're going to
speak and declare to us how that God saved sinners, well then
they have to be witnesses of the one by whom We are saved. And so they all had to see Christ
risen from the dead. And Christ only called certain
men to this work. Only certain men. He had many
disciples, but not all of them were apostles. He said in Luke
6.13, it says that Christ called unto him his disciples. And of
them, of those disciples, he chose twelve, whom also he named
apostles. And after Judas fell, and we
know Paul was appointed to that by Christ, not by men. Men didn't
choose him like they chose Matthias, but the Lord Jesus Christ, he
chose Paul. He selected Paul to this work,
and so it was after Christ rose from the dead, and that's why
he says, I was born as one out of due time. I came after, but
I saw him. I saw him with my own eyes that
he was risen from the grave. And when he was talking in Acts
26, if you want to turn there, Acts 26, verses 16 through 18,
Paul is recounting to King Agrippa what he experienced and what
the Lord said to him on the road to Damascus. He said in Acts
26 verse 16, a little way into the verse, the Lord said, I have
appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a
witness both of these things which thou hast seen and of those
things in the which I will appear unto thee. I'm going to reveal
to you what you are to say to the people. It's by revelation
that you're going to speak these things. And I'm sending you to
deliver thee from the people, and from the Gentiles unto whom
now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness
to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they
may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which
are sanctified by faith that is in me." So Paul, as an apostle,
a witness to Christ and his resurrection, is declaring what God reveals
to him, God's revealing it to him by his spirit, making it
known in Paul's heart, and Paul then gives an account. He bears
witness to what God has revealed to him. As an apostle, that's
what he's doing. And so, the Lord tells Paul,
I'm sending you to the Gentiles. You're going to the Gentiles
to bear witness of me. And if you look at Romans 1-5,
You see Paul doing that very thing. In his writing this letter
to the Romans, he's writing to Gentile believers, to those in
Rome. And he says, by whom? By Jesus
Christ. We have received grace and apostleship. We're all alike. We all need
grace. None of us accepted. And it's for obedience to the
faith among all nations for his name. So Paul is writing to these
Roman believers because they are among those among all the
nations of the Gentile nations that are called to obedience,
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness of their
sins. And so, with great authority,
as an apostle, Because Christ gave Paul this charge, he's now
writing to these brethren to ensure that they know the truth
concerning salvation. Most of them never met Paul,
but as an apostle who is responsible for the Gentiles hearing this
gospel, he's writing this letter that they should know the truth
concerning salvation. And so that tells us that this
letter is of great importance. There's a lot of meat in here.
There's a lot of things that we do well to hear and to learn
by the grace of God, by the Spirit revealing these things to us.
So we want to hear them. We want to hear them. That's
why Paul, as an apostle, speaking with great authority to these
brethren, and as we know, the Holy Spirit and wisdom uses this
letter, among his other letters as an apostle, to teach us the
gospel and to make known to us those things that are important
and relevant for us to hear. So salvation is by revelation. Salvation, our knowledge of what
Christ has done for us must be by revelation. Giving us life
from the dead to know the things that God has done because naturally
we come forth dead in trespasses and sins. We don't know how to
please God. We don't know how to worship
God. We don't do what is right and acceptable to the Lord because
we come forth in nothing but this flesh and this flesh cannot
please the Lord God. It must be by revelation by the
Spirit revealing it to us and that revelation does not come
by some work that we do. We don't earn that revelation.
We don't do anything to earn God's favor in revealing this
to us. It's all by grace. All by the grace of God through
the blessings that are poured out upon us through Jesus Christ
our Lord and Savior. So the Spirit reveals what He
gave in the Holy Scriptures. The Spirit makes known to us
what's here in this book, what He revealed to Moses and Moses
recorded, what He revealed to the prophets and they recorded
for our learning, looking unto the coming of Jesus Christ. And
those historical books and the psalmist, the spirit, reveals
those things to us. He reveals to us the things that
Christ said and did in his gospel. He reveals to us what the apostles
did and the acts of the apostles and what the apostles said in
their letters. So we have it, but it's nothing
to us until the Holy Spirit reveals it to us, makes us alive that
we might know the things that God has promised to us. by His
Gospel in His Son Jesus Christ. That's the blessing that we have.
That's what the Spirit is revealing to us. Alright? It's revealing
salvation of what He's provided for us and it's done by faith. He gives us even that gift, that
grace of faith is all by the work of the Holy Spirit. Alright,
so the Spirit revealed these truths to Paul, and now the Spirit
reveals to Christ's people what He revealed to Paul. That's what's
going on here. He's revealing what He's revealed
to Paul. So with that understanding, that it's by revelation, not
by something we earn by our works to know these things and understand
these things, by revelation, notice here in verse 7 what Paul
calls them. Beloved of God. Beloved of God. God's revealing to us. You who
hear, who can see what he's writing here, understand that that's
a term of distinction. God is making a distinct remark
about us. He's calling us beloved. And
he does not call all in the world beloved. He is distinct, he's
making a distinction between us who believe him and know him
and look to him for salvation from all those who look to their
own works and are confident in their works and what they're
doing to earn salvation. He's making a distinction between
us and them, calling us beloved of God. It's as Paul said in
Ephesians 2 after he reminded us, we all came forth dead in
trespasses and sins. We all were among the children
of disobedience and the children of wrath. We didn't do anything
to earn this. And then he said, in verse 4,
But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ, by grace are ye saved. So that's what
he's revealing to us. And God has only one true Son. He has one true Son, the only
begotten, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God. We are
sons and daughters by adoption through what Christ did, but
He is the Son because He's eternal, one with the Father, always was
and always shall be. He is the only begotten of the
Father and the very giving of Christ, the very sending of Christ,
the very fact that God spared not His own Son. That communicates
to us. That makes known to us the love
that God has for you that are His people, whom He calls Beloved. Beloved. Listen to these scriptures. John 3, 16, For God so loved
the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Listen to Romans 8.32. He that
spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? And 1 John 4,
9 says, And in this was manifested the love of God toward us, because
that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might
live through Him. So Paul is reminding you that
believe Him, you that are looking to Him, hoping in Him for salvation,
trusting that His blood shall avail for you and prevail for
you to cover your sins before holy God, He's reminding us that
it's God's love that calls us beloved. Beloved of God. That's
what is being said there in those words. You're beloved of God.
God gave his only son to put away your sins and to make you
his by adoption. Alright? So now let's look at
called to be saints. After Paul calls them beloved
of God, he says called to be saints. And this means that God
has separated, apart from all the others, He's separated a
people for Himself. He's made you, who look to Christ
and rest in Him, He's made you a peculiar people, desirous,
zealous to know the things of God, to understand what He's
done, to grow in Him and to be settled in Him. to be found in
Him, not to earn a salvation, but because Christ has put away
your sins and made you His very own people. So we're called,
we're called to serve God, separated by the Spirit's work. Again,
not our work, but the Spirit's work separating us unto the Father. He does this work, and so we're
called to serve our God walking in His Spirit, walking by His
Spirit, His Spirit of holiness. We are a new creature. You that
believe Christ, you are a new creature. Old things have passed
away. Behold, all things are become
new. He tells us that if you have
His Spirit, you are a new creature. And His Spirit won't lead you
into sin, and the Spirit won't lead you away from Christ, but
His Spirit, you know, in a cocky arrogance, but His Spirit leads
you to Christ, ever looking to Him, ever remaining faithful,
hoping in Him. And when this flesh rises up
and turns our heart away, who is it that brings us back every
time? It's the Spirit of God faithfully preserving His saints,
keeping us looking to Christ unto the end. Because if it was
just Christ in the beginning and then left up to us to finish
off the work or to keep ourselves, we'd all be lost. We'd all be
spun out by our own wickedness and evil heart and the flesh. So, it's by His revelation. And
so, Paul said, if you remember, he said of himself in verse 1,
I was called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of
God. And that's the same calling of
all his saints. We are called, just as Paul was
called to be an apostle, we are called to be saints, saints of
God. And so it's God who separates
us in this calling so that, verse 5, he's made us, he's the one
that's made us obedient to the faith among all nations for his
name. This is God's vocation. He's
called us to this vocation. Just as you in your jobs, you
have a vocation, a calling that you do and you're faithful to
do the job that you're supposed to do when you go to work. Well,
the Lord's called us to be saints. He's called us to be saints,
looking to Him, hoping in Him, walking by His Spirit in Him. Now remember what Peter said.
Turn over to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1 verse 13. We've looked at this before when
we went through Peter, but I'll just remind you of this. 1 Peter
1 13. He says, Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be
sober, and hope. hope to the end for the grace
that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
Now he said hope, hope, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. You keep looking to him, hoping
in Christ and what he has done. And he says in verse 14, as obedient
children, Because He creates that obedience in us, that will,
that faith to look to Christ. He puts that in our hearts. He
causes us to do that, not fashioning yourselves according to the former
lusts in your ignorance. But as He which hath called you
is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Now watch,
he says then, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Now the man in flesh, the man
who does not have the revelation of God, he hears that and says,
oh, that's a commandment to me, I've got to be doing. There's
something I've got to do because Christ's work alone is insufficient,
so now I've got to add to that work. But note that to the saint
called of God, those who are separated by God, that word is
a promise. It's a word of promise. God is
saying, because I am holy, because I will, you shall. you shall. God makes us holy and then he's
the one that causes us and makes us to walk in obedience looking
to Christ, resting in him. Not using that as a as a cloak
for unrighteousness but rather according to his promise we believe
Lord You said that you're holy and I trust that you're the one
that makes me holy and you'll keep me looking to you. It's
by faith. It's by faith that we're walking
to Him, not by our works. Again, 2 Corinthians 13.5. 2
Corinthians 13.5, Paul says this. examine yourselves whether you
be in the faith. Whether you be in the faith.
Notice he says faith, not whether you be in the works. Whether
you be in the faith. And so, because we know when
things get rough and our heart pricks us because we're sinners
and defiled and You know, we do things that we ought not to
do. When our heart pricks us, we
begin to examine and look at our works. Am I reading my Bible
to profit? Am I being faithful in the things
I need to be faithful in doing? And I'm not saying that we want
to look and see sin in our hearts and harboring sin and protecting
that sin that we love in the flesh. but are you continuing
to look to Christ and trusting that He is enabling you to walk
faithfully looking to Christ who is our salvation and our
Savior because it's by His grace and His holiness and His perfection
that keeps us ever looking to Him and not trusting in our own
works and what we do. So if we're looking to our works
to determine am I being consistent enough to know if I'm in the
faith, when you really should be saying in the works, then
we're trusting to a works that we're doing. But are we walking
faithfully before the Lord? Are we looking to Him? Walking
in Him and He'll keep us. Because He teaches us. It's not
the law of Moses that keeps us faithful to Him. It's love in
our hearts to Christ. And He gives us that love and
that faith that keep us turning from those things. You know,
as Peter said, He said, Dearly Beloved, in 1 Peter 2.11, He
said, Dearly Beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims
in this world, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Because this flesh is still the
flesh. It's wicked. It still does the the things
that it loves to do. But we're not to walk in that.
We're not to pursue those things. We understand that this flesh
is not reformed. It's not getting any better.
It hasn't changed from the things that it loves. But Christ loves
us and he keeps us looking to him. And so we want to walk in
him as he guides us and leads us being honest and crying out
in faith and begging the Lord for mercy because it's only by
his grace and mercy that we're kept. So we walk in Christ not
using that that hope in him as a cloak of unrighteousness but
we walk by his spirit ever seeking deliverance from the the rule
and power of of of that sorry brother i knew i should have
turned that off It's just a flood warning. All
right, so we walk ever in faith looking to Him and trusting that
He's the one that turns us even from dead works, right, trusting
our own dead works. All right, so we're called to
be saints, called to walk in Christ. And Paul said in Romans
8, 1 and 2, listen to that, well, you can turn there, Romans 8,
1 and 2. He tells us, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk
not after the flesh. That means we don't just say,
hey, que sera sera, what will be will be, you know, I don't
have to worry about it. But no, we walk in in Christ,
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, for the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law
of sin and debt." Alright, when we were trying to work a holiness
and a righteousness for ourselves, we were looking to that law of
Moses to gain some kind of comfort and assurance, and it never gave
us any comfort or assurance, because it provoked us in the
flesh. It provoked our flesh. He pricked
that enmity that is there in the flesh against God. That enmity,
that hatred that the flesh has against the Lord God. But, now
we walk not in the flesh, but by the Spirit of Life in Christ
Jesus. We walk by that Spirit. And,
you know, he says there, not not by the law of sin and death.
What's the law of sin and death? That's looking to the law for
some righteousness. And Paul told us, he said, the
sting of death is sin. The problem that we have with
dying isn't dying. It's that when we die, we're
going to have to give account for our sin. That's the problem
for man is that when he dies, The sting of it is the sin, that
we're wicked and we're unrighteous and deserving of hell and the
wrath of holy God. And he said, and the strength
of sin is the law. If there was no law, then we
would not have sinned, but now there is a law. But we don't
look to that law of Moses anymore. We walk according to the Spirit
of Christ, who is our holiness, and he keeps us faithful hoping
and looking to Christ, trusting and resting right there. And
as the prophet said, all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
they have, they shall receive remission for sins. He delivers
us. That's the promise of God in
Christ. We keep looking to Him and He
teaches us. Alright, let's look at our last
point. Grace and peace to you. So these beloved brethren called
to be saints, Paul says, grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the apostles, they use phrases
like this, right? Paul used this phrase often in
many of his epistles. And we don't talk like that.
We say, hey, how you doing? Been a while. So when we hear
them say grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ, I'm not even sure what he means by that. I don't
even know what he's talking about because I never speak like that.
I don't talk like that to you. It's a nice thing. It's a greeting,
but I don't speak to you in that way. So I had to really think
about it and pray, Lord, what does this mean? And it's used,
when the apostles would say this, or when brethren would say this
to their brethren, it's a reminder. It's a kind reminder of the unmerited
goodness of God toward undeserving sinners. That God is gracious
to you. He's putting us in remembrance
that it's by the grace and the mercy of God, not by something
we've earned or merited, but all according to His grace, all
according to His kindness. And so that every blessing that
may be showered upon us, every favor that God could show to
us through Christ, these things are all called graces or gifts.
God is giving us. He's showing us kindness. The
fruits that He bears in us are all graces of His. They're all
gifts of His. Everything that we do, every
good fruit that we produce, is to the praise and glory of His
name, not to the praise and glory of this flesh. This doesn't come
from the flesh, but from our God. Right? In Galatians 5, 22
and 23, He said, The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. meekness, temperance,
and against such there is no law. You who walk by the Spirit,
you don't need a law, because you're not sinning against your
brethren. You're not looking to sin against your brethren.
And if you sin against your brethren, they'll either kindly remind
you and let you know that you are, and the Lord will give you
a heart willing to to be reconciled to your brethren. He works that.
He gives that heart to us, making us willing to suffer along with
our brethren, knowing that the Lord is suffering along with
us and gently dealing with us. And so he works those graces,
those gifts in us and gives us that because that's what we want
to do. We want to walk in him in that manner. And so Paul is
saying, my prayer for you, brethren, is that everything you could
need, everything you could desire, may you know and possess all
the favor of God that God has toward you. That every blessing
that you could have, may God be pleased to shower his blessings
of kindness, of peace, and every grace upon you. All right? And so, by including that phrase,
and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord Jesus Christ. What Paul
is actually saying there is he's saying Christ is God. He is saying Christ is God. It's
not that he's separating them to say that Christ is somehow
not God. He's actually saying, because
I'm speaking that we need the grace and the peace of God and
Christ. of God and Christ, that Christ
has every bit to do with that grace and peace. Because when
you understand, when the Spirit makes it known to you our salvation,
you realize that I don't stand with God now as my creator, though
he rightly deserves us to stand with him as our creator, but
my standing has nothing to do with the fact that he's my creator. My standing with Christ, or my
standing before God has everything to do with Christ, my savior. That's why I have the blessings
and know the blessings and the favor and the mercies of God
because of what Christ Jesus has done and nothing that has
to do with me. I'm reconciled to God by the
grace of God shown to me by the Lord Jesus Christ and what He
did to put away my sins, that He came faithfully to bear my
sins and to put those sins away, so that He, as my surety, as
my substitute, died in my place, bearing my sins, paying the penalty,
paying the price, bearing the wrath of God, so that I, when
I die, there's no sting of sin. to destroy me and to cast me
into hell. That's all His grace and peace
and mercy. So we now never stand apart from
Christ. It's good to remember that phrase
because much of religion, as you know, they enter in supposedly
through Christ and then they leave Him behind and go off to
the law to work a righteousness and a perfection and a sanctification
for themselves. that Christ just did his job
and now everything is up to them to keep and earn that favor of
God. So, we never grow beyond the
Lord Jesus Christ. Ever. Ever. Our standing before
God is always in the Lord Jesus Christ and never apart from Him. And so, brethren, that's the
loveliness that we see there in Paul's address to these beloved
of God at Rome who are called to be saints who now believe
and hope in what Paul, called to be an apostle, preached, or
whom Paul, called to be an apostle, whom he preached. That's our
standing of being beloved and called to be saints in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I pray the Lord would bless your
hearts to delight in the fact that you are among the called. You who believe him and hear
his voice, you are beloved of God and called to be saints.
All right, let's pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your mercy. We thank you, Lord, for your
kindness, your grace, and your peace toward us in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Make us ever mindful and remembering,
looking to to you in hope, looking to Christ in hope, that we stand
perfect before you, without fault before your throne, thanks to
the person and the work and the love and the blood of our Savior,
Jesus Christ. We thank you for making this
known to us and make it ever more clear to us. We pray this
in Jesus' name, our Lord and Savior. Amen.