Go with me, if you would, back
to Romans 1. Romans 1. This letter, they're called epistles,
which means letter. This letter that the Apostle
Paul wrote to the Romans is placed first in the epistle order of
the Scriptures. It's the first one that we come
to in the Scripture. But smarter men than I am, men
like John Gill and some of those old writers, they say that this
is not the first letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the
churches. Not the first one. They say that
1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, 1 Timothy, and
Titus were all written before he wrote this letter to Rome. There's some different speculation
on why this letter was placed first in the chronological order
of the New Testament. But that speculation is irrelevant. Okay? It's completely irrelevant. This is where God chose to put
it, and it is perfectly placed there. The end of the book of
Acts goes perfectly with the beginning of the book of Romans.
They are so beautifully woven together. And Lord willing, we're
gonna see some of that in tonight's message. All right, that's a
little tidbit toward this evening. What I'd like for us to see this
morning is how great The Apostle Paul's desire was to preach the
gospel to them. The gospel. The gospel. How great his desire was. Just how burdened he was. That is the overwhelming desire. It is the urgent burden of every
man who has been called of God to preach the truth. I say this
with humility. I say this fearfully and reverently
and humbly. But not every man preaches the
truth. Not every man stands up and preaches the truth. Just
because a man stands in a pulpit, that does not mean he's preaching
the truth. That does not mean that he's
telling people the truth. And that was rampant in Paul's
day. He warned, and he warned, and
he warned. And he had this urgent, urgent
burden. to tell them the gospel. I mean
the truth of the gospel. And every man who has been called
of God to preach the truth has that same burden. Tell me the
same old story. Tell it to me clearly so I can
understand it. I'm a little child. Tell it to
me often. Tell it to me over and just tell
me the same old story. the true gospel of the scripture. That is the desire of every man
who has been called of God to preach. I want all of us to have
happy home lives and happy marriages and I want us to be good citizens
and I want us to treat people right. And all of those things
will take place when the gospel of God pierces the heart. But
the number one priority is the truth of the gospel. The truth
of the gospel and the man who has been called to preach it,
that's not just high on his list of priorities. He cries and he
means it. Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel. That's what the Apostle Paul
said. Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. And woe is unto
you if you hear not the gospel. And woe is unto all of us if
we believe not the gospel. We must. Because that's the means
that God has chosen to quicken dead sinners to life. That's
the means that He's chosen to use to open blind eyes. Seeing, our Lord said, they see
not. And hearing, they hear not. And
this is the means that God has chosen to open the ears, open
the eyes. In verse 16, Paul said, For I
am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first,
and also to the Greek. And he said in verse 15, as much
as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at
Rome also. He said every fiber of my being
desperately wants you to hear the gospel. I want me to hear
the gospel. I need to hear the gospel. I
need to believe it. I need to bow to it. We all do. And Paul said if the Lord will
open the door, If the Lord will open the mouth, and the Lord
will open the ear, and the Lord will open the heart, he said,
I'm ready to preach it to you. And he proved that by opening
his letter with the gospel. He wrote this letter to him,
and the first words out of his pen were the gospel of God. Let's read them. Romans 1 verse
1, it says, A servant of Jesus Christ. There's that same humility
that James had. We just saw that in our Bible
study. The gospel humbles men and women. The gospel humbles men and women. And the reason is because the
truth of the gospel shows men and women what they really are.
Sin. The truth of the Word of God,
the truth of the Gospel shows men and women, it proves to them
that they are nothing but sinners through and through. That's all
they are. After God dealt with Paul on
the road to Damascus, God started revealing the true depth of his
sin to him. He'd never seen it before. He
was a self-righteous religious man. A leader of religion. But God started revealing something
of what he really was to him. And Paul made a statement, and
then sometime after he made that statement, he realized, this
thing is much worse than I thought. So he made another statement. And then, after some time went
by, he realized, I still missed it. This is much worse than I
thought. And I'm sure with much regret,
he was forced to make one final statement. And I want to show
them to you in that order. Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 9. He said, For I am the least of
the apostles, that am not meet to be called
an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. He said of
all the apostles, those 12 chosen men out of the whole world, God
selected 12 men out of the entire world. And out of those 12 men,
he said, I'm the least of them. I'm the least. I'm the least
of the men who were given the direct word and mind of God. The ability to perform miracles
and do all these amazing things. Of those 12 honored men, I'm
the least of them. I'm the least of those men."
And then some time went on and he saw a little bit more of himself
and he had to say in Ephesians chapter 3, if you'll turn with
me over there. Ephesians 3 verse 8 he said,
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this
grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ." First he thought, I'm the least of the apostles.
You know, before he said, I was the greatest in religion. I thrived
in religion above all my equals. I was the highest. And then God
made him to be an apostle. He called him and he said, I'm
the least of the apostles. I'm the least of all my brethren. And then he thought, no, no,
wait a minute. I'm the least of all the saints. I'm the least of all the God
called believers. But then as time went on, God
revealed a little more to him about what he truly was. And
he said in verse in first Timothy one, he said, I'm the least of
all human beings, not just apostles, not just saints, all centers
on earth. Look with me at first Timothy
chapter one. Verse 15, 1 Timothy 1, verse
15. He said, this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am chief. I'm the chief. I'm the chief
worst. I'm the lowest of them all. The
gospel humbles people. It humbles people. Back in the
days of the apostles, they had titles for offices and positions
in the church just like we have today. They had deacons and elders
and bishops and all of these names. None of the apostles went
by any of those names. They did acknowledge, they did
declare the truth for the authority of the word they were given God
has made me to be an apostle, but none of them went by any
of those names. They did not attach any title
to their name. It is hard to honor yourself,
Reverend, Doctor, Bishop, Elder. It is hard to honor yourself
when you feel like you are the greatest sinner on earth. Paul, James, all the apostles
though, they did find one title. One title of position that they
felt comfortable using. Go back to Romans 1. Romans 1 verse 1, he said, Paul,
a servant. A sinner saved by grace. a chosen
vessel, a recipient of mercy, and a willing and happy servant
of the one who saved myself. He said, Paul, a servant of Jesus
Christ. What a high honor. What a high
honor. He said, I was called to be an
apostle. With God, everything that happens
to sinners, all of his dealings with sinners is by way of calling. That's how he deals with sinners. It's always by way of calling. Sinners do not come to or do
anything until they are called. They don't do anything. until
they're called. Sinners are called to Christ. That question, what will you
do with Jesus? I won't do anything with him.
What will he do with me? Sinners are called to salvation. They are called to a realization
of it. God's people are all called into
the family of God. They are called into the fellowship
of His saints. And they're called into the ministry
of His Word. They don't decide to do it. You
know, I was going to be a doctor, but that didn't work out for
me, so I decided to go into the ministry. They don't decide that.
They're called into it. If they are going to be a true
servant of the gospel, they're called into it. Paul said, I
was called to be an apostle. He was already in religion. He
did that on his own. But he said, when it pleased
God. Who separated me, the same God that separated me from my
mother's womb. He revealed His Son in me that
I might preach Him. Until that it was methods, manners,
doctrines, things, who knows what. But He said as soon as
He called me to preach Him, that's when everything changed. He said, I was separated unto
the gospel of God. Verse 1, Paul, a servant of Jesus
Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of
God, which he had promised afore by his holy prophets in the holy
scriptures. All of the Old Testament declared
this one gospel. All of the New Testament pointed
to and promised the fulfillment of this one gospel, all of the
Holy Scriptures. Every page in this book declares
the one and only gospel that there is, the gospel of God. God's gospel, not man's, not
this denomination's gospel and that denomination's gospel, God's
gospel. And Paul is about to take the
next few verses to tell us what it is. What is God's gospel? Do you see how verse two is in
parentheses? When words are in parentheses,
they are words that are added to a complete thought. They are
inserted into the middle of a complete thought. And if you remove the
words for just a moment that are in the middle of those parentheses,
all you have left is the complete thought. All right, so let's
read verses one and three together. This is the complete thought.
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated
unto the gospel of God concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. The gospel is concerning Jesus
Christ, our Lord. That's about as plain and as
simply as it can be put. The gospel is concerning Jesus
Christ, our Lord. The gospel is not concerning
me. The gospel, the true gospel is
not concerning you. If I'm trying to figure out how
I fit into the gospel, I have it all wrong. If I am trying to figure out
what role I play in the gospel, I have it all wrong. The gospel
is not concerning me. Now it concerns me. But it is not concerning me,
and what that means is God's people are recipients of the
good news. This good news is to them. This
good news is to us if we belong to Him. But God's people have
no part in what makes the news good. No part at all. The gospel is to them, but the
gospel is not about them. The gospel is about Jesus Christ
our Lord. Well, what about Jesus Christ
our Lord? What did He do that is such good news? Verse 3 says,
He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. He was
manifest in the flesh. And verse 4 says, He was declared
to be the Son of God with power. He was made to be man. And He
was declared to be God. Declared to be the very God.
In order for me to be saved, and in order for you to be saved,
in order for sinners to be saved, we needed the power and the ability
of the Almighty God. And we needed the suffering death
of a guilty man. And both of those were provided
to us in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Both of those. When it says that He was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh, that means He was
made to be sin. He was not made to be a martyr. He was made to be sin. 1 Corinthians
5 says, He made Him to be sin for us. John 1 says, Jesus Christ, who
is eternal, He is everlasting, never beginning, never ending.
Jesus Christ, the one who is omnipotent, He's all powerful. The One who is omnipresent, He's
everywhere. He made Himself to be flesh. And He dwelt among us. And Luke
chapter 1 says He increased in wisdom and stature and He increased
in favor with God and man. He made Himself to be a man. And that means that He worked
for God's favor as a man And he got it. He earned it. He's the only man who ever earned
a righteousness before God. I would love to emphasize this
point right here. Every person on this earth who
is concerned at all with God is trying to establish a righteousness
with Him. They are trying to establish
a goodness with Him. They're trying to make themselves
good enough for Him to say, well done. And it will not ever happen. Only one man ever earned a righteousness
with Him. Only one man. By the time that
our Lord, fleshly speaking, was 30 years old, walking through
this earth as a man, He was so perfect in the eyes of God the
Father, God the Father cried out from the throne of heaven.
He said, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. He
cried that about one man. I am well pleased. The end of
verse 3 says, He was made of the seed of David according to
the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power according
to the spirit of holiness. What that means is, God in His
holiness, in His righteousness, and in His justice, and in mercy,
and in love, He took the sin, and He took the sins of His people,
and He laid them on Christ His Son. And in doing that, the innocent
was made to be guilty, and the guilty was made to be innocent. And in righteous holiness, God
judged and condemned and killed the guilty. And He set the innocent
free. And the gospel of God's Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord, is this. Here's the gospel. Here's the
good news. Gospel means good news. If Christ being your substitute
has made you free, you are free indeed. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. God reveals his holiness and
his justice. And as fear creeps in, what am
I going to do about this God that I have to face? When that
creeps into the heart of a child of God, his spirit brings the
gospel and it cries, Christ has made you free. set you free. You are free indeed. You are free from the law. You
are free from the guilt. You are free from the punishment.
You are free from all condemnation because He was not free from
any of it. And He suffered every bit of
it for you. And then the sinner cries, well how do you know?
How do you know? The gospel cries because God
raised him from the dead. That's the reason. Our sin that
was laid on him because God raised him from the dead. That means
that our sin that was laid on him is gone. It is gone. I have, I've loved this story
since the first day I ever heard it. I've told it to you many
times, but I'm going to tell it again. This story illustrates the gospel
of God. This story, it perfectly illustrates
the gospel of God. God's gospel. This is God's gospel. Back in the days, many years
ago, when this country was settling out west, and families were traveling out
there, moving out there, They traveled in wagon trains because
it was safer. It was a dangerous journey. There was a lot of dangers along
the way. One of the big dangers that they
had was prairie fires going through the Midwest. These prairie fires
would come up and all that dry, tall grass, it would grab it
and sweep. That strong wind blowing. They
would travel out in wagon trains, and it was common for them to
send a scout on a horse about two miles in front of the train,
so if he saw any danger, he could come back and warn everybody. And one day, a train was headed
out west, and the scout was up ahead, and sure enough, he saw
a prairie fire. And it was raging. It was sweeping
and it was headed straight for the wagon train. So that scout
turned around and ran back to the wagon train and he told the
wagon master, there's a prairie fire and it's coming. Here's
the reality we're facing. The fire is coming. It's coming
straight for us. So the wagon master told all
the men, let's scrape out a little bit of grass behind us and set
the grass on fire and let it burn out behind us. And that's
what they did. They set a fire and it took off
behind them and there it went. And after it got far enough away,
he told everybody, now let's ease the wagons back. So there they sat, they eased
their wagons back, and they sat there. And they waited, and here
comes the smoke. And over the hill, here comes
the fire. And it's coming, and it's coming, and it's sweeping,
and it's raging. And a man was sitting up on his
wagon, and he had his little boy in his lap, and that fire
started getting close, and his little boy turned and grabbed
his father's neck, and he cried, And he rubbed his son and said,
there is nothing to fear, son. There's nothing to worry about.
He said, look right there. You see all that black stubble?
We're standing on burnt ground. The fire has already been here. Everything that could be consumed
has been consumed. There is nothing left to condemn
us. It cannot touch us. That's the gospel of God. I'm scared. Look right here. You see that cross? You see that bloody victim marred
more than any man? Our sin has been consumed. Look
right there. You see that grave? You see that
stone rolled away? You see God's messenger crying,
He is not here. He is risen, as He said. There's
nothing left in there. If you want to go back in there,
it's just grave clothes. That's all you're going to find.
It's over. It's over. That's the gospel
of God. There's no more work to be done.
There's nothing else to do, Christ has done it, it's finished and
it's over. Verse 1 says, Paul, a servant
of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the
gospel of God, which he had promised to for 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 declared
to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness,
by the resurrection from the dead. By whom we have received
grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations
for His name. He's the one who has sent this
grace to you through His apostles. He has given His word of truth. to us. This gospel of good news. He is the one who has sent this
faith to believe it. To believe on Him. To believe
that He has accomplished all of this for us. And verse 6 says,
Among whom are you also the called of Jesus Christ? He's the one
who's calling you right now. Calling you to His Word. Calling
you to His Spirit. calling you to Himself. So He
said in verse 7, this is our last verse, to all that be in
Rome, and we can say that anywhere and everywhere that the Gospel
of God is being preached, to all that be in Kingsport, beloved
of God, To all who have received this loving gift of life through
the selfless sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. To all who
have been called to be saints, called by the Spirit, called
through the gospel. To all who have heard His voice
and have been given a heart to follow Him and serve Him and
bow to Him and worship Him and thank Him and praise Him. Every
soul who has been given an ear to hear, the gospel of God cries
at the end of verse 7, grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, I am so ready to preach
that again. I'm so ready to preach. Once
more to tell it. Would I embrace, I'm only a sinner
saved by grace. May the Lord bless His word to
our hearts. Let's all stand together.