All right, Romans chapter 1.
Romans chapter 1. This evening, we'll be looking
at verse 7 through verse 12. Romans chapter 1, verse 7 through
verse 12. The title of the message is Grace
and Peace and Prayer. Grace and Peace and Prayer. The Apostle Paul says in verse
7, to all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called saints, grace
to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through
Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout
the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I
serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing
I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request
if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey
by the will of God to come unto you. For I long to see you, that
I might impart unto you some spiritual gift To the end, you
may be established. That is, that I may be comforted
together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. Now, the Apostle Paul has established
already in his introduction his apostleship, that it is by the
will of God. He said that Paul, a servant
of Jesus Christ, called an apostle separated. Separated unto the
gospel of God. The apostle Paul writes this
letter in humility. He writes this letter as a servant
of the risen Savior. servant of Christ, and that he
has been called for this one purpose. The one purpose that
the apostle lived for was to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ
wherever the Lord sent him. To establish the churches. This
was his office. And this is the foundation and
sole mission of this letter, as we go through this letter
to the Romans, to the church at Rome. The Apostle Paul, here
in these first verses of this book, he sets and lays the foundation
for the whole book. This is the whole intent of this
book. is to preach the gospel of God
concerning His Son. So, as we go through this, we're
going to understand He's going to show us that we are justified
by faith, that we're justified by grace through faith. He's
going to show us that we were predestinated according to the
election of God. He's going to show us all of
these wonderful doctrines. But yet, all of this is what
he puts out here, the Gospel of God. This is not something
new that he's telling us. This is something that God has
revealed to us by His Son. Now, his mission is to show fully
the whole counsel of God, which is summed up in this first few verses here. Now the
counsel of God that was from eternity, that was kept between
the sacred persons of the Holy Trinity, Paul's purpose is to
reveal the mystery of this gospel to God's children. He says to
them that are at Rome called saints, beloved. That's who he's
preaching to. I preach to every man that'll
listen. I'll preach to anyone who'll
listen. But I know this, that God's Word will be applied only
to the beloved. His Word will be applied to His
people. To those who are saints. And
to us who are saints. To us who are called of God,
to faith in Christ, this mystery, This mystery of the gospel has
been revealed to us. Go over to 2 Corinthians. I mean,
1 Corinthians. Go to 1 Corinthians 2. I'll get
it right in a second. 1 Corinthians 2. Verse 1, he says, And I, brethren,
When I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or
wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined
not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, howbeit we speak
wisdom among them that are perfect. Yet not the wisdom of this world,
nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught, but we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world unto our glory. We preach with great plainness
of speech the mystery. What is a mystery? It's something
that people don't understand. And so when I preach the gospel,
I expect the lost not to understand, I expect you who believe to understand. We understand the mystery of
this gospel. This gospel that was hid in God
from eternity. We understand the mystery. It's
been revealed to us. Paul goes on in verse 11, he
said, For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit
of man that is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth
no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us. I know what things God has given
me. I know what things God has given
you who believe. We know this. This was a mystery. But yet it's revealed to us by
the Spirit of God. It's not something we just came
up with. It's not something that we gave
ourselves. But this is something God gave
us. Paul declares the Gospel, the mystery that only the Spirit
of God could know. The mind and counsels of God
had prepared for us from eternity, and now we've received this Spirit
that we might know the things that are, what? Freely given. I know everything I have is freely
given of God. separates us who know the mystery
from the people who don't. The people who have no clue concerning
the mystery of God's salvation are always boasting as to something
they're providing. We boast in nothing. We have
nothing to boast in because we know what things God has freely
given us. This is the salutation that the
apostle gives to the saints. He says grace to you. Grace to you. Salvation is a
grace. It is a free gift. A free gift of God. Salvation of His elect children
was the purpose and desire of the triune God from eternity. This purpose of grace. Think
of this. God, before the world or time
or anything existed, God, in the Trinity of His holy persons,
purposed to freely give us salvation. Now when He had created all things,
He created the angels, He created heaven, He created earth, He
created Adam, and yet none of them knew this mystery. God had kept this from His holy
angels. Now the angels knew something
about holiness. Satan and his angels knew something
about the justice of God. Adam knew innocency only by obedience
to the commandment of God. But none of them knew anything
about grace. Until when? When did God reveal,
start to reveal this mystery of grace? When Adam sinned, when
Adam sinned, he hid himself from the presence of God, and yet
he came down to Adam. God came down to Adam. Can you imagine the surprise
of the angels in heaven? Surely Adam sinned. It was all
over for man now, just like it was for the angels. Surely God
would come down in judgment against Adam. No. He came down and He
spoke words of comfort. Adam, where art thou? Such words of grace, the seed
of the woman shall crush the head of that serpent who brought
sin into this world, who tempted you. He gave a sacrifice to show that
there's coming a sacrifice that would cover the nakedness and
shame of man. He gave them the message of grace. And from that time on, that message
has been passed down constantly, getting larger. I love that in
Ezekiel it talks about that water flowing from the tabernacle,
from the Holy of Holies. It goes out and it's just a little
trickle. And then as it goes down the steps and out the gate,
it becomes wider. And then it becomes such an enormous
river that trees growing all along and fruits from these trees
and this river is so great. That's the gospel message. It
came out in a trickle. And now then, it's a wide ocean. It's revealed. I don't need a
magnifying glass to see the ocean. It's revealed! It's open. Grace is now made open, clear, by the message of God that He
sent. And this same message is passed
down by the prophets in the Holy Scriptures. It's a message of God's good
things that He purposed to freely give us. In Psalm 45, verse 1, listen to what God says. This is the Lord God speaking. He says, My heart is indicting
a good matter. That word indicting means to
gush. My heart is gushing. with a good
cause, with a good subject. God's heart, this mystery that
God had kept, He had from eternity desired with great desire. Remember that when the Lord Jesus
was with His disciples? He said, I have desired with
great desire to eat this supper with you. Think of all the years
He had waited. And now then, He'd come and eat
that supper with them just like He wanted to. He said, my heart's indicting
a good matter for you. A good matter. It's overflowing. What is this good matter? I speak
of things which I have made touching the King. Jesus, the King, is
the good matter. He's the subject of grace. He's the object of grace. The heart of God is gushing with
the good news of His Son, of whom this world thinks very little.
This world thinks that Christ is just part of the gospel of
God. That God gave you Jesus, but
He also wants to give you a Mercedes. You can have it. You can have
your Mercedes and all the riches of this world. Give me Christ,
because that's God's good matter. That's God's message. This world
thinks very little of Him, that He's part of the Gospel, that
Jesus is some stepping stone to better things. There is no
better thing than the Son of God. There is no better message
than the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. There is no
better message to sinners who need mercy. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
is the whole gospel. He is the whole gospel. Jesus
was made a man that He should both be our righteousness and
our atonement. To be our Redeemer, our Deliverer,
our Savior, our Friend. Isn't that wonderful? Is that not the best matter,
that I have God as my Friend? So then God has given us His
Son, and by grace, He has given us His Holy Spirit to reveal
His Son. To make known these things. How
do we know these things to be so? The Spirit of God has worked
in us. He has created in us something
brand new. He has created in us a new nature. And our heart overflows with
the goodness of this Gospel. With the grace of this message. Hear the Word of God, friends.
Believers in Christ. Grace. God says grace to you. Is that not what he said when
Paul was in trouble? He said, My grace is sufficient
for thee. Is that not sufficient? Yeah. Yeah, it's sufficient. It's enough. It's more than enough. It's more
than enough that I wish I knew how much it was. But His grace
is enough for us. Grace unto us. But notice the
order in our text. Not only grace is given to us,
but peace. Peace. This is always the order with
this. You go through the scripture and you see these two words tied
together, you will always see them in this order, grace and
peace. It's never the other way around,
peace then grace. It's always grace then peace. Where there is no grace of God,
there can be no peace with God. Where there is no grace of God,
there is no peace with God. What a foolish thought, an imagination
of the wicked hearts of men to believe peace with God is possible
without grace. Peace with God at the exclusion
of effectual, experimental grace of God upon the heart of the
sinner is nothing more than an illusion of peace. Remember the
words of the false prophets, peace, peace, when there is no
peace. Where there is no grace, there
is no peace. Any work or action of man that
is mixed with the work and action of God is not grace. Therefore, There is no peace. With those who would work. Or
mix their works with grace. Grace. is the free desire, will,
purpose, and action of God upon men to their salvation, forgiveness,
pardon from all sin, and without merit, value, or cause or action
by those who receive it. Grace is a free gift without
any merit or value in its object. Well, I know that. I know that. If you're saved, you do. If you're
saved by the grace of God, you know that's true. That it's by
nothing we have done or will ever do. We know this, that God hath made
Christ to be our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. For it is written, He that glorieth
let him glory in the Lord. The Lord made salvation by grace
so that we would have nothing to boast in but God. Believer in Christ, we were chosen
by grace. Chosen before the foundation
of the world by free grace. Believers, we were in Jesus Christ,
and by His grace, He has redeemed us with His own precious blood.
By His grace, He has risen from the dead to be our representative,
to be our mediator, our high priest. He ever lives right now
to make intercession for us, not because we got up this morning
and we're really good. He's not interceding for us because
we got up and everything went well today. I had a really good
day. I got up and I actually went
out and worked out, did some exercise, I felt good today. I got a lot done. The day before,
I didn't get much done. But see, both days, God still
loved me the same. God still forgave me of all my
sins. God still pardoned me. God still,
in His grace, has kept His Spirit with me. He has still given me
faith to believe today. Not because I was good. Not because
I did anything to deserve it today. I didn't deserve it yesterday
and I'm not going to deserve it today. I get it by grace. Believers in Christ, we are called
to faith in Jesus Christ by the effectual power of the Holy Spirit,
the same power that raised up our Lord Jesus Christ from the
dead, has quickened us to give us a new heart, a new life, a
power of creation has happened to us. By what? By grace. By free grace. God gives this grace to whomsoever
He will. He gave it to you because He
would give it to you. There was no other reason. There's no other reason. Not
in us. Nothing here to love. Nothing here but sin. There are many who profess to
believe on Jesus who have never experienced the new birth. Their profession is a lie and
a deception of their own heart. There are many who will say to
Him in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not done this and done
that? That's not our testimony. Lord, when did we ever do any
of that for you? That's our testimony. We're saved
by free grace. Jesus said you must be born from
above. You must be born of the spirit
of grace. Not reformation, not education,
not adaptation to the gospel truths, but actual regeneration. Creation. Has God created in
you a new heart? Then you have something of His grace. You know something
of His grace. Have you believed on Jesus Christ? Well, you know something about
grace. Because faith is a grace. It is a gift. And with this grace, grace to
you and peace. If you have grace, you have peace.
Peace with God. Not with the world, but with
God. You have peace with God. And this peace was made by the
blood of our Savior. In Colossians chapter 1 it says
that he hath made peace by the blood of his cross. He made peace. We never would even think of confessing
that we made peace with God. Never in a million years would
we even presume to know how to make peace with God. Jesus Christ has made our peace
with God. What then do we owe to Him? If we are believers in Christ
and we have received such great things, then let us follow the
example of the Apostle, Grace and peace be unto you from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank God through
Jesus Christ for you all. Prayer. If we have received grace
and peace, let us be a praying people. Believers, our prayers should
be filled with thanksgiving. Our prayers, if we know anything
of grace and peace, then our prayers should be full of thanksgiving. Thankful for grace. Thankful
for God's intercessory work on our behalf. Thankful for His
hand to reach down among the millions and touch us. so that
we might have faith. Let our prayers be filled with
requests. He said in verse 10, making requests,
if by any means I might come unto you. We are a needy people,
aren't we? I don't know about you, but I
am. Maybe you don't need anything. Maybe your life is so full of
things that you don't have any needs. I have needs every second
of every day. It seems like I'm always needing
something. We are a needy people. And we should make our requests
known unto God. If we have needs, we should make
our requests known unto God. But in all our prayers, how much
time do we consider the needs of our brethren? If we've experienced grace, should
we not be gracious people? To each of us, our needs are
very pressing. My needs seem to be more pressing
to me than your needs. That's the way it seems. But
that's not the way we should pray. The needs of our brethren
should be pressing to us as well. The needs of our brethren should
be pressing to us to cause us to pray. Do you not understand
that prayer is a labor? It is a labor. When you pray,
how many thoughts come into your mind besides the prayer that
you want to pray? This afternoon, as I desired
to pray for you. I went down from one end of the
rose to the other, remembering each brethren in prayer. But
do you know how many times I was hindered, how many times I was
stopped by my own thoughts, by my own necessities, by my own
desires? That was a labor. It is a labor
to pray. But friends, considering the
grace we've received, we should pray for one another. We should be in prayer for one
another. As well as we should consider
our needs of grace, we should consider the needs of grace of
others. We should not be like those nine
lepers who were healed and turned away, walking away feeling good
and turning away from being thankful to Christ. We should give glory to God for
what he has done for us and ask that God do the same for our
brethren. Believers, let us pray for faith.
Paul, thank God for the faith of this church in Rome. I'm thankful
for your faithfulness. I'm thankful. Do you not know
that everywhere I go, I speak of your faith? Just this afternoon, I went to
the chiropractor's office, and they know what I am, they know
what I do, I preach, and they asked, I gave them some messages,
He said, well, your church is kind of off the road. You kind
of need to get out there and start, you know, drumming up
some people so I know where you're going to where you're at. And
I said, no, I don't need to do that. Most of our people come
from a long way. Your faith is spoken of. To everyone
I meet. And I pray that God continue
to give you faith. I pray for your faith. The Lord
prayed for Peter's faith. And I know you're tried. Your
faith will be tried. But I pray that God would keep
your faith. We should also pray and let our requests be made
known to God that we might be used of the Lord. The Apostle
Paul prayed that he would come unto Rome, that he might impart
what he says here. Look at this. For I long to see
you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift. To the end
you may be established. I long to impart to you whatever
I have. I want to be useful in the service
of God. Anybody that says, well, you
know, God doesn't need me and God doesn't... No, God doesn't
need you. Absolutely. That's true. But God does use us. Why would He use such weak vessels? Grace. He's given us the grace to be
used. There's nothing greater than
to be used of God for the service of God. Let's pray that God would
use us and make ourselves available to be used. I know most people want to be
used in such a great and grand way. They love to be used like
a Naaman. He said, I surely thought that
he would have come out and he would have laid his hand on me
and this thing would have happened this way. Surely that's how he
would have used this man, used me. No. Small things. You have no idea there are things
you do all the time that give my heart such joy. No idea. And these things you may not
think twice of, and that's good you don't, because then you would
glory. But to be used of God to sweep
the floor, be used of God to embrace a hurting brother,
to be used of God to reach out and provide the
needs of your brethren. This is how God uses us. Faithful in the small things.
And maybe God would be gracious to use us in larger things. I pray that God would bless this
word to your hearts. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed
in prayer.