If you'd like to follow along,
please turn to Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one. I kind of got this in my head
the other day, and since Walter's on Romans 10 now, I figure this
is safe. And he's not here, so he can't
stop me. That's all right. Romans chapter 1 I'm just going
to read the first verse Paul a servant of Jesus Christ Called
to be an apostle Separated unto the gospel of God My title is going to be today
separated unto the gospel Separated unto the gospel Before I get
started, I'm gonna read you a quote here from Charles Spurgeon that
I liked. Most true is the gospel, for
God is its author. Believe it. Most able is the
savior, for he is the son of God. Trust him. Most powerful is his precious
blood. Look to it for pardon. Most loving
is his gracious heart, run to him at once. I like that. I like that. That's pretty good.
But Paul here, this is the introduction, just the salutation of his letter
to the Romans. Paul wrote this. And he writes, Paul, a servant
of Jesus Christ. The one thing you can notice
about Paul is he did not give himself a title. And if you've noticed, men love
titles. Just talk to somebody who is
a doctor, but don't call him doctor, call him mister, and
you'll find out. Call me Dr. Thomas or Smith or
whatever. It doesn't matter. Call me major,
commissioner, president, vice president, preacher, reverend. Oh, wait a minute. The right
reverend. Not to be confused with the wrong
reverend. The right reverend. or bishop,
or cardinal, or even pope. Men will get mad at you for not
addressing them by their title. But Paul didn't take one. He
just wrote this letter. Paul. Paul, a servant. Understand, men's self-esteem
and self-image will be hurt by you not remembering to address
them by their correct title. And here's Paul, just think of
it. Now if you look at the other
epistles, you'll see every one of them starts out the same way.
Paul, Paul, Paul, and then one couple of, Paul and Timotheus.
Doesn't give himself a title, doesn't give himself a title.
And this is the man, this is Paul. He used to be Saul of Tarsus,
one of the greatest enemies of the church, that's what he called
himself. And the one, this one, Saul of Tarsus, who was stopped
on the road to Damascus by Christ himself, knocked him off his
donkey, blinded him, blinded him. He was traveling at that
time for the reason of to cause mayhem for the church. He was
headed to Damascus. He had letters in his possession
from Jews in Jerusalem that said that he could put people in jail.
And they'd stand behind him for naming the name of Christ. And
yet this one was stopped on the road by Christ personally. And this man's name was changed
from Saul to Paul by Christ. This man. Doesn't give himself
a title. He just says Paul. I'm just Paul. Oh, I like this. He was taught the gospel by Jesus
Christ himself. And I'm gonna tell you this,
possibly, which I think it's probably, became the greatest
preacher of all time. Paul, the apostle. We call him
the Apostle Paul. He didn't call himself that.
But we do call him, and he says he's an apostle. We'll get to
that in a minute. But this man did not say, call me Reverend
Paul. Call me Dr. Paul. He stated first and foremost,
what does he say here in this salutation to the church at Rome?
This is what he says, I'm a servant. I'm a servant. You understand? First and foremost, I am a servant. And that word is slave. And that
word means bond slave. He was a slave out of love, not
because of being forced. You understand? Paul wanted to
be a servant of Christ. That's where he wanted to be.
And his number one job, as far as he saw it, was to be a servant. And not only that, a servant
of Jesus Christ. Oh, I like that. That's where
he wanted to be. That's what he said he was. Didn't
take a title, didn't put on airs. Now he wrote with a vengeance
sometimes. You read the letters to the Corinthians,
you understand there was some correction being applied and
being said to be warranted, and it was. But you understand, he
did not take on a title. He did not want a title. He wanted
to be the best servant of Jesus Christ that there was. That's
what he wanted. But then he does say this. Called
to be an apostle. Called to be an apostle. You
understand, Paul considered being a bondservant of Christ recognition
enough and fit credentials to entitle him to be heard. But
he did add, I'm called to be an apostle. I'm called to. Because here's the thing, Paul
didn't take this responsibility on himself. He was called to
be an apostle. He was called by the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's stating that God put me
in this ministry and entrusted this gospel to me. The gospel
that he gave me. Gave me the responsibility of
preaching this gospel. And Paul did know the office
that Christ had given to him. I'm an apostle, I'm an apostle.
He told the other apostles at Jerusalem that Jesus had sent
him to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been sent to the Jews. He was sent to the Gentiles as
an apostle, called to be an apostle. And Peter even joined Paul one
time in Antioch. There was some dissension there.
And Paul wrote it in the letter to Galatians when he said Peter
joined them in Antioch. And Paul said he withstood Peter
to the face because he was to be blamed. There was certain
came from Jerusalem and Peter withdrew himself from the Gentiles
with whom he had been fellowshipping with the apostle Paul and went
to the Jews. And not only that, Others were
carried away. Now you understand, you read
the scriptures in Galatians, it says it was carried away with
his dissimulation. You know what that word means?
Hypocrisy. That's what the word means, hypocrisy.
Peter had stood up for Paul in Jerusalem and said, you know
by my voice, talking about Cornelius, The Gentiles have been receiving
the gospel by faith just like the Jews. But then when these
came, Peter was carried away, even so much that Barnabas was
carried away with his dissimulation. And Paul said, I withstood him
to the face. Why? Because he was to be blamed.
Why was he to be blamed? Because Peter knew better. He
knew better. But this is the man that's writing
this letter. And this is what he says. I'm
a servant of Jesus Christ and called to be an apostle. I'm
gonna tell you this. The gospel is for both Jew and
Gentile. And there is to be no division
between the two. If you believe Christ, you're
my brother or my sister in Christ. You're part of the family of
God. You're part of the church, the assembly of Jesus Christ,
his body. There is no difference. The fellowship
in the gospel is for both Jew and Gentile. And Paul was called
by Jesus Christ himself to be an apostle. What's that mean? God made him an apostle. He didn't
take it upon himself. He didn't take credit for it.
And then he says these very, very profound words here. Separated unto the gospel of
God. Separated. I'm not gonna keep
you long. I got a bunch of list here, but
it's nothing that's gonna take very long. But I do wanna say
this. I love how this, separated unto
the gospel of God. Of God. Are you ready? It's called the gospel of God.
It's called the gospel of his son. It's called the gospel of
Christ. It's called the gospel of peace.
It's called, and I like this one especially, the gospel of
your salvation. Oh, I like that one. It's called
the gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Paul also calls it one
place, my gospel. Oh, I like that. Then he also
calls it our gospel. The gospel, Christ's gospel,
and the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Now that one's good
too. But here, if you look at this,
where he says Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be
an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, Jump across the
parentheses in verse two. Concerning his son, Jesus Christ
our Lord. That's the gospel of God. You
understand? The gospel of God is concerning
our Lord, Jesus Christ. The son of God, the son of God. Oh, I like that. Let me tell
you how important the word gospel is to the Apostle Paul. If you
look at his thing, now I did it on the computer the easy way.
In the New Testament, the word gospel is used 104 times. 76 of those are written by the
Apostle Paul. That leaves 28 outside of Paul's
epistle. And I can tell you this, I didn't
count them up to be sure, but some of those 28 extra ones not
written by the Apostle Paul were in the book of Acts where Luke
was writing down about Peter and Barnabas and preaching the
gospel. So understand, I mean, I know,
you know, numbers do mean things, but you can tell from some of
these things as often as this Paul was separated unto the gospel. The gospel was his main focus.
The gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of God concerning his
son. The gospel of your salvation. Oh, I like
that, I like that. Because even with all those names,
and I didn't count them, the gospel of God, the gospel of
peace, the gospel of Christ, it's one gospel. It's only one
gospel. Our gospel is one gospel. My
gospel is one gospel. The gospel of peace is the same
as the gospel of Christ. The gospel of God concerning
his son is the same as what? The glorious gospel of the blessed
God. There's only one gospel. And Paul told the Corinthians
that he was sent to preach the gospel. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse
17 put it this way. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. Paul, let's
just say it, that's a perfect thing. Paul was not sent to baptize. What's that mean? Baptism is
not the gospel. Baptism is the answer of a good
conscience toward God. Baptism is an ordinance. Ah,
it's not the gospel. And I'm sorry to you people who
go to the Church of Christ, that's your problem, not the scriptures.
That's just the way it is. You understand, Paul said, for
Christ sent me not to baptize. That's what he says. But what's
it mean? But Christ sent me to preach
the gospel. He was separated unto the gospel
of God. Oh, I like that. Matter of fact, and just for
clarity's sake, three verses before that, he said, I thank
God I baptized none of you. That's what he said. And you
know what, Mac? I think that's what he meant.
I thank God I didn't baptize none of you. Otherwise you'd
say I'd be baptizing under my own name. Paul was not against
baptism. I am not against baptism as an
ordinance, as a public confession that you believe Christ, that
you believe his gospel, the gospel. But no, it's not necessary for
salvation. And Paul was sent to preach the
gospel, the gospel. Oh, I like that. What's that
mean? Well, I wanna tell you this one
thing. To be separated unto the gospel of God is to be sent to
preach the gospel of God. Oh, I like that. Oh, my. Paul preached the gospel of God
to the Jews. Paul preached the gospel of God
to the Gentiles. Paul preached the gospel of God
to the heathen in Athens. He got up and preached the message
to the unknown God. This is the one that I will tell
you about right now, because why? You don't know him. It's
the gospel of God. You've got a statue out here
that says to the unknown God, just in case they missed one.
They had statues of, I'm sure, Diana, Great goddess of the Ephesians. Oh, you know, they had statues
of Zeus and Hera and whoever else was in the Greek pantheon,
Hephaistus. That's a good word, ain't it?
In the Romans, it's Vulcan. Doesn't matter. But he said,
I see you people are too superstitious. You see a god everywhere and
then you put up one for an unknown god, that's the one I wanna preach
to you. And what did he preach? He preached
Jesus Christ. He preached the gospel at Athens. And they said, maybe we'll hear
something about this later. You're a little bit too far out
there for us. Oh my. You understand, he was separated
unto the gospel. He preached it to the Gentiles
at Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, Thessalonica. et cetera. He preached it wherever he was.
As was his habit, you'll read in Acts. They'd go to the synagogue
if there was one in the new town. And then wherever he went that
he met Lydia, he went down to the river where prayer was wont
to be made. And what did he do? He preached
the gospel of God. He was separated unto the gospel. That's why he traveled, that's
why he went where he was, where he went, that's it. He went to preach the gospel,
the gospel of God. And the gospel is Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Christ's life, Christ's love,
Christ's obedience, Christ's crucifixion and death, Christ's
resurrection, Christ's ascension, and Christ's intercession. He put it in First Corinthians
one again, verse 23, but we preach Christ crucified. Oh, under the Jews, a stumbling
block. Under the Jews, a stumbling block. And to the Greeks, foolishness,
foolishness. But, and this is one of them
great buts, but unto them which are called, both Jew and Gentile,
Jew and Gentile, Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and
the wisdom of God. Paul was separated unto the gospel
of God. Oh, the gospel is good news. That's literally what it means.
The gospel, the good news is the same. Jesus Christ died for
the ungodly. Jesus Christ came to save sinners. That's good news. That's good
news. Oh my. The gospel, the good news,
he died for the ungodly and he brings them to himself. To himself. Because he has, past
tense, redeemed them to God. Oh, I like that too. He is calling
them to himself. He says, come unto me. All ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I, I will give you rest. Oh, that's good news. There's rest for those who labor. There's rest for those who are
weary with sin and guilt and their own self. Oh, sinners,
sinners, as Walter is fond of saying, even ungodly sinners,
especially ungodly sinners. Oh, I like that. He died for
the ungodly. Is that you? Do you qualify? You understand, that's the whole
thing. He says, come, but he says, come all ye that labor
and are heavy laden. Are you weary within from the
burden of your sin? If you're not, he's not talking
to you. Oh my. But if you are, he says come
and I'll give you rest. Come, the gospel is good news
to the sinner. And here it is, I will give you
rest. And those that hear his voice
to those whom he has given circumcised ears and a circumcised heart,
they'll hear. They'll hear. Oh, and they'll
come. They will come. Oh, I like that.
Matter of fact, Paul just stated a few verses later, In 1 Corinthians
2 and verse 2, for I determine not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Paul was separated unto the gospel. The gospel was his main concern
and preaching it. I was sent by Christ to preach
his gospel. Okay, bug. Sorry. Anyhow, where was I at? Oh, Paul was separated under
the gospel of God because the gospel is the message of God,
the message of Jesus Christ. Oh, to those that are called,
Christ is the power of God. And Christ is the wisdom of God. To those who have ears to hear,
Christ is our wisdom, and our righteousness, and our sanctification,
and our redemption. He is wisdom, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption to us. And before that it says, but
of God are ye in Christ Jesus. Oh my, and he has made that unto
us. Oh, I like that, I do. To those
that have eternal life, Jesus Christ is the light that shines
all the time. To those that have been given
faith, Christ is the gracious, sovereign Lord of glory. Oh, I like that. He is a just
God and a savior. Oh, let's see. To those who know the scripture,
Jesus Christ is the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Noah
and Enoch and Daniel and David in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John,
and Paul. There is no Old Testament God
and a New Testament God. I know a lot of people have that
division in their heads. They're wrong. There is only
one God. There's only one Lord among men
who saves sinners. That's Jesus Christ, it always
has been. Oh, oh my. To those who know the scripture,
Jesus Christ is our great high priest. Christ is the King of kings and
the Lord of lords. To those who believe him, Jesus
Christ is the way and the truth and the life. He's that narrow
way. Broad is the way that leads to
destruction And many there be that go on it, but narrow is
the way, straight is the gate, and narrow is the way. What?
That leadeth to eternal life. He is that way. He is that way. Oh my. No man cometh to the Father
except by him. By him. What's that? That's the
gospel. That's the gospel. Excuse me. He's the way, the truth, and
the life, and no man comes to God except by him. And those given to Christ by
the Father shall come unto him. And Christ will raise them up
at the last day. He's not gonna lose one thing,
one person that the Father gave to him, not one. Oh, that's good
news. That's good news, oh. Let it
say, 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 16 says this, now our Lord Jesus
Christ himself and God, even our Father, which hath loved
us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through
grace, through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you
in every good word and work. The Apostle Paul wrote that.
You understand, being separated unto the gospel, preaching his
gospel is a good word and a good work. And hearing his gospel,
loving his gospel, wanting to hear his gospel, is a good word
and a good work. Oh, so. Every good gift and every
perfect gift cometh down. Oh, wait a minute, oh. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above and cometh down. I like that. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above. and it comes down. How? By Christ. By Christ, oh. Comes down from
the Father of lights, and I'm gonna tell you this, the gospel
is a good gift from God. Where'd you get your gospel?
Well, it starts in Genesis 1.1. There's a real good example of
it in Genesis chapter three, I'm not gonna go into it. They
call that the Proto-Evangelium. Yeah, when God told Adam and
Eve that the seed of the woman was gonna bruise the head of
the serpent. I'm telling you folks, that was
Christ. And that was Christ telling them about Christ that would
come. There's good news coming, folks.
There's always been good news. That's where we get our gospel
from. God preached it first. Not man being separated unto
His gospel, the gospel of God. Christ himself is the best gift
given among men. He's our gospel. He's our good
news. Oh, he is the good news. And Paul was separated under
the gospel of God. Paul was separated under Jesus
Christ. By God, by God. Matter of fact, Paul was so separated
under the gospel, he wrote this. For though I preach the gospel,
I have nothing to glory of. For necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is me if I preach not
the gospel. Woe is me if I preach nothing. That's being separated unto the
gospel of God. Oh, you understand? I dare not
preach any other gospel. Paul went on to say, there is
no other gospel. If any man preach any other gospel,
which is not another gospel, because there's only one. There's
only one, but he said, let him be accursed. Let him be accursed,
oh. Because I'm gonna tell you something,
if it's not the gospel of God, it's the gospel of a man. And
it's wrong, and it's wrong. If anyone ever tells you, you
need to help God save you, that man is a liar and is accursed. I mean, anathema maranatha, accursed
when God comes. And the gospel of men is just
as dead as the natural man, and just as useful, which is not
at all. Understand, the Apostle Paul
never preached a message about social issues. Paul did not preach civic issues. Paul did not preach the righteousness
of man. Except to say that it was filthy
rags. Understand, Paul didn't preach
political issues. Because these are not the gospel
of God. And he was separated under the
gospel of God. To be separated under the gospel
of God is to preach that man has no righteousness except filthy
rags. To be separated under the gospel
of God is to preach the absolute perfection of Jesus Christ. It's to preach the perfect substitution
of Christ. He died the just for the unjust. Okay, he's the just. We're the
unjust, just in case you weren't sure. To be separated under the gospel
of God is to preach the perfect substitution of Christ. To be
separated under the gospel of God is to preach the eternal
redemption of Jesus Christ, which he has already obtained, our
eternal redemption. when he presented his offering
of his blood to the Father. Read the book of Hebrews, it
tells you all about it. By one offering, he has perfected
forever those that he has sanctified, and by one offering, he has obtained
eternal redemption for us, his people. To be separated under
the gospel of God is to preach the perfect reconciliation Christ
He has reconciled us all of his people to God to God So much
so that when God looks at us he sees his son And he's well pleased Not in you in him or in him in
you I Like that part too It's to preach the righteousness
of God in Christ, in Christ. But here's something special.
To be separated unto the gospel of God is to preach the righteousness of God given
to his people by Christ himself. You understand? It's his robe
of righteousness that we get to put on. Well, that he puts
on us. There are many garments of salvation,
but there's only one robe of righteousness. Oh, I like that. I want a robe of righteousness.
I got none of my own. I got filthy rags. I got plenty
of those. Don't need any help with filthy rags. The robe of
righteousness I need. And it needs to be like that
prodigal son, the best robe that the father had put on him. The
best robe. It's gotta be a perfect righteousness.
And it is. Because it's the righteousness
of Christ. It's his righteousness. Oh, to be separated under the
gospel of God is to preach the complete, complete salvation
of God. for every one of his people in
Christ, in Christ. Oh, the complete salvation of
God in Christ. Because to be separated under
the gospel of God is to have no other message other than Christ. And that's what Paul preached.
Oh, I like that. 1 Peter 3 and 18, I'll leave you
with this. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit. He died the death his people
could not die and survive. The just for the unjust. The just for the ungodly. The ungodly. The just died for the sinner. That's good news. That's good
news. And that's the gospel that Paul
was separated unto. You understand, I am concerned
with things that go on in the world. Because I live in this
world. You all live in this world. I am concerned with some political
things. I am concerned with some social
things. But I'm not concerned about that here It's not the
place We have to live in this world, but we are not of this
world This is a place set aside to
preach the gospel of God Concerning his son our Lord Jesus Christ
That's why I'm here, and I think that's why you're here, and I
hope that's why you're there. He's the answer. Christ is the
answer. The problem is man doesn't know
the question. That's all right. He can show
us the question, and he can show us the answer, and he does to
every one of his people. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
again, Lord. Thank you for this time and this
place where we endeavor to preach your gospel, and we come to hear
your gospel, the gospel of God, the gospel of Christ, the gospel
concerning your beloved, well-beloved and only Son. Thank you for all
you've done. Be with those who couldn't be
here with us. Bless them. Bless your ministers
wherever they stand to preach your word, to preach your gospel. Be with Paul as he comes to preach
to us here. Thank you, Lord. In Christ's
name we pray, amen.