All right, if you wish to follow
along, turn to Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one. Now, I will
not begin reading in Romans, but you stay there in Romans. I have one other passage to read
to you first before we begin to look at Romans chapter one
of verse one in earnest. Brief historical fact here to
bring us up again from last week to this week. Paul had wanted
to visit these believers at Rome. And he sought to do so on several
occasions, but he was providentially hindered. And you see that if
you look at chapter one, verses nine through 13, which God willing,
we will look at in detail later. But let me say this, providence
is not some fateful working out of some fate. It is the carrying
out of God's wise, sovereign purpose. Many people talk about
providence, but they see it only as some fate that must come. But it's not that at all. Now,
if you were to do research, now I did not do research, I just
read those who have done the research, and you compare the
book of Acts, written by Luke, and you compare 1st and 2nd Corinthians,
written by Paul, And you look at Romans, you see that this
in-gathering of funds of whatever kind it was for the suffering
saints in Jerusalem was taking place at this time. So those
who know how to do this kind of research say that this was
written, that is this epistle was written by Paul right after
first and second Corinthians. It was around somewhere around
56 AD, give or take a year or so. And it was during Paul's
three months visit in Greece, which was the main hub there
or church that would have been Corinth. Now, he has met Phoebe. He mentions Phoebe in chapter
16, verses one and two. We will look at that later. But
what is indicated by this when he mentions this Phoebe, she
was a trusted sister in Christ from Sincrea, which was just
south of Corinth and had evidently come to Corinth to hear Paul
preach or whatever. Being a very trusted sister in
Christ, And having helped God's people along the way, Paul then
evidently sends her with the letter to Rome. So she has to
cross the Ionian Sea and go all the way up the peninsula up to
Rome to deliver this letter. God willing, we will look at
some of those things later, but that is Romans chapter 16. That will be much later. So then, Romans chapter one,
but before we begin in earnest, here's what I want you to listen,
just listen, don't turn to it, just listen to what the word
says. Here's a writer, a writer of inspired scripture, and he
says these words. For we have not followed commonly
devised fables. Sadly, a lot of people in our
day do. They talk about believing this
book, but what dictates to them as, what is dictated to them
as truth, is their fables, and they conform the word of God
to their fables. What they think in their stories
and their opinions and their ideas, they try to conform the
word of God to their ideas. They say things like, well, I
know what I think. I know what I think too. And
my thoughts have often been proved so very wrong when I read this
book and take the book for what it is. So this writer says, we've
not followed kindly devised fables, when we may known unto you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses. Now I mean real eyewitnesses,
not Mason, not a dream, not a vision, but actual eyewitnesses, were
eyewitnesses of his majesty. And here's one sense in which
this writer said he eyewitnessed this. For he received from God,
the Father, honor and glory, when there came such a voice
to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Now you probably already know
the passage. This is Peter, writing under the inspiration of the
Spirit of God. And Peter was with, who was it,
James and John, am I right? My memory served me correctly,
I didn't write it down. They go up into the Mount of Transfiguration. That wasn't called, there was
not a sign there, the Mount of Transfiguration. It was just
a mount. And when they went up in the
top of this mount with Christ, he was transfigured before them. Even his clothes took on a different
form. Shown white and bright like the
noonday sun, and God thundered forth from heaven. This is my
beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And Peter goes on, and
this voice which came from heaven we heard. And all three of them
heard it. Why? Because the law demands
at least two or three witnesses. And there was three witnesses
there. And all three heard the same thing. This voice which
came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy
mount. And again, there was no sign
there saying the holy mount. The mount did not change. Christ
was transfigured. It's holy because God had set
apart that one map, whichever one it was, for this special
revelation to Peter, James, and John in the holy map. But then
look at what he writes. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy. Peter's saying there's something
greater than that. And how many of us would not
think that was quite great if God gave us an experience like
that? Mac, don't you think you would? Don't you think you'd
probably be telling about everybody you've ever seen about what you've
just seen and heard on this mountain? But Peter says we have a more
sure word of prophecy. And there he's not talking about
what's going to happen in the future. Although there was a
prophecy given. Moses, Elijah, and Christ were
sitting there talking about what? The death that Christ should
accomplish at Calvary. Paul or Joe, one preached on
that, not too long ago. We have a more sure word of prophecy. Where unto ye do well that ye
take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until
the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. Before
I read any more, this is a greater miracle a more sure word of prophecy
than any kind of vision or majestic thing you might see with these
eyes or these ears. This is the inspired word of
God. Now I know what I have before
me is a translation, but it is still the inspired word of God. And at least the translators
in this book were honest enough that when they added a word or
two, they would put it in italics. And granted, they probably added
a few words just for it to flow in the English language. And
I'm no Greek or Hebrew or Aramaic or Chaldean scholar, but all
that I can see, they never add anything that changes the meaning.
It just makes the English flow and make it understandable in
English. But here's the point. Knowing
this first. Now this book is vital. What we're about to read in Romans
chapter one, verses one through 16 and whatever the last verse
is, is absolute. There is no debate. It is God's
word. It flows from the heart of God
himself and is absolute truth. Even if God is repeating a lie
that a man is told, God's gonna tell us exactly what the lie
was. You understand what I'm saying? So if he's talking about
the truth that's spoken by God, or an angel, or a preacher, or
a prophet, or Jesus Christ, or whether he's talking about something
the devil said, or some demon said, it's going to be absolutely
truthful to the account. Knowing this first that no prophecy
of the scripture is of any private interpretation When we go through
Romans 1 God help me I do not want to interpret anything it's
already been interpreted and put down in God's book and I
know, I don't mean to be overly critical, but I hear even some
of my brothers in Christ, well, let me interpret that. Don't
interpret it, just preach and teach what it says. Knowing this first, that no prophecy
of the scripture, and that includes the Old Testament and the New
Testament, is of any private interpretation. I don't need
to interpret that, but I'll tell you what it means. This is not
someone's own personal explanation. It's not the writer's take, but
it's God's very thought on the matter. What does God say? Too many of us preachers are
trying to interpret the word rather than just proclaiming
and teaching the word, even if we can't always make it fit to
our joy and delight. There are things we're going
to read that I will not be able to explain them in a way that
I know they probably ought to be explained. But Mason, I will
put forth my best effort as God enables me. For, he continues,
for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man.
So it's not these men's take. It's what God moved them to write,
for it says, but holy men of God spake as they were moved
by the Holy Ghost. So, Romans chapter one. I will
not get through these verses, but I want to read verses one
through seven. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated under the gospel of God. And
then we're given this thing in a parentheses. And I do know
this, that in the Greek there is no parentheses, but those
who know Greek know that this would be, Mason, our, what we
would use as a parentheses. And immediately the Spirit of
God moves him to put something in here, put something in here,
which he had promised to for by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. To jump ahead, there is no revelation
of God and of truth apart from the book of God. If God give
me or God were to give you some special revelation, it will conform
to this book or it's not from God. I am not here to put God
in a box and say God never reveals anything special to anyone today. I will not say that, but it must
conform and be in line with this book, or it didn't come from
God. It's just the way it is. Which
he had promised to forward by his prophets in the holy scriptures,
then he continues with where he was, separated under the gospel
of God, concerning his son, you see it? 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. And I will stop and immediately
say, he does not even here mention the death of Christ, does he? Or does he? By the resurrection. from the dead. So Mason, he did
mention the death of Christ. Because there could be no resurrection
where there's no death. Okay, let's go on. By whom we have received grace
and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations
for his namesake. Among whom are ye also the called
of Jesus Christ. To all that be in Rome, you remember
what I said last week, he did not send this to Caesar. He did not send this
to a senator. He did not send this to a high-ranking
official. Here's what he means by to all
that be in Rome. There are people who believe
God wrote this book to everybody in the world, and it ain't so. When Paul wrote to Philemon,
it was a letter to who? To Philemon. But God, the spirit
moving Paul to write that small, brief little letter to a man
named Philemon, knew it was beneficial for us in the faith and has recorded
it in the holy word, it being the holy word. I'm sure there
were many other hundreds of letters Paul wrote to other individuals.
Mason, we don't have a one of them. We don't have a one of
them. Look, to all that be in Rome,
beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you, and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse one, Paul
goes right to the point. Paul speaks first of his condition,
that is of his subjection. He is a servant of Jesus Christ. Then he speaks of his position,
or that is his authority, an apostle. And this has one primary
object separated, both as servant, that's his subjection, and as
apostle, that is his authoritative position, has one object in mind,
separated, what? Unto the gospel of God. Now in this very, very, and this
is probably a poor choice of word, but in this very informative
letter, very, Mason, how do I say, very much doctrinally oriented,
much more so than some of the other letters. Very doctrinally
oriented, yet he says, here's the one thing that God separated
me into. Right, not building churches,
although he, that's what Paul did, did he not? Establish churches,
preach, but by what? In what way? By going and saying,
well, we need to start a church. Y'all heard, there's this new
belief that's arose, and I'd like to start us a church. That's
not what he did. He went into a city and began to preach the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and those who believed it. He
said, all right, now you gotta start gathering together. Because
if you really believe this, you're gonna wanna hear this over and
over and over and over. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, but for what reason? Separated unto
the gospel of God. The gospel message, the gospel
message is dominant, is dominant, and
that's my title, Paul, for this one. The gospel is dominant. Someone says, they take the Corinthian
spirit and say, Believe Christ is preeminent. You're not going
to know Christ apart from his gospel You're not gonna know
him apart from you cannot separate Christ in his gospel now I can
separate Christ in this leather and paper and ink because it
is just leather paper and ink and you got a Bible and And it
wears out on you, and you want to throw it in the dumpster and
get rid of it, then throw it in the dumpster and get rid of
it. But you never get rid of the word that's in here. You
never get rid of this, that it's inspired of God. It's not about
the paper and the ink and the leather and all of that, it's
about the word of God. Now, the gospel message. that is preaching and teaching
the gospel message. And after all these 35, 36, 37
years, whatever it's been of me trying to preach the gospel,
Paul Pendleton and I still don't know if I know the difference
between teaching and preaching. Because all preaching better
have some teaching with it. And all teaching better have
some preaching with it. So I don't really know that I
can tell you the difference, although there very well may
be. You figure out what that is, then you tell yourself and
you'll know. Preaching and teaching the gospel message is secondary
to nothing. You hear what I said? To nothing. Someone said, well, the first
important thing is for us to meet together. No, sir. No, sir. As believers, you already believe
the gospel, that's why we gather together. Now we pray to God
and we hope unto God that God will possibly bring some unbeliever
into this assembly and hear the gospel preached and be converted
by that gospel. But it's because the gospel is
preached. If I get up here and preach about
church order and hammer on church order and do so correctly and
doctrinally, it'll never convert one's soul to Jesus Christ, never. Never, the gospel message is
secondary to nothing, even by a servant of Jesus Christ who
is an apostle. Now if a servant and an apostle,
same person, one man, if a servant and an apostle says, I've been
separated under what? The gospel of God. Then he lets
us know, as we will see probably later, concerning his son. because you got no gospel unless
you're preaching and teaching concerning his son. A couple
illustrations. Paul said, Christ sent me not
to baptize. Well, why did he baptize some
then? Didn't he say, I baptized a few of you, right? So why did
he? He's not throwing off on baptism.
He's not saying men and women ought not be baptized, but he
said, that's not the primary subject. That's not the dominant
thing. You can be baptized in every
stream in West Virginia or whatever place in which you live and still
be rejected by God forever. God sent me, Christ sent me not
to baptize but to do what? But to preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. He said these
words, woe is me if I don't establish churches. Woe is me if I don't
set forth right eschatological doctrine, future events. Is that what he said? Woe is
me if what? If I preach not the gospel. If you had all other so-called
theological or all other theology, accurate. If you miss the truth
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, everything else is flawed
to the core, no matter how properly you may say it with the lips.
And isn't it amazing, throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke, and even
John, but especially Matthew, Mark, and Luke, because they
deal with so many of the same things, It often says of Christ,
and he opened his mouth and taught the people saying. Why did it
say he taught the people saying? Because God's primary way is
through the preaching, the opening of a mouth, and proclaiming the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not about picking up a gospel
tract and leaving it in a restroom somewhere, hoping somebody will
find it. stand outside the restroom, and when they go in, tell them
about Christ. And when they come out, tell
them about Christ. Why don't men really do that?
Because they really don't care about their gospel. It's not
important enough. They can just write it down in
a little tract, put it in a roll of toilet paper. You ever found them like that?
Go through the store and find them stuffed in a shelf? Mason,
it's like selling in shorts. Do it enough, and finally you'll
get a nibble. This is not what this is about. There was one
man riding through a desert, the desert of Gaza. There was
one man, a high-ranking man, a high official, that was a worshiper
of God, but he really didn't know the truth. and he was returning
from Jerusalem, going back to Ethiopia, and God whipped up
a man and sent him all the way to that desert and had him catch
up with this chariot the man was in so he could physically
speak to him the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why didn't he just send him to
where the preacher was? because God does what he wants,
when he wants, with whom he wants, but this is always true. It please
God by the foolishness of preaching, and that is preaching the gospel
to save them that believe. Consider this. Paul puts his
servitude to Jesus Christ. That is, to be a slave even before
his authoritative position as an apostle. The Spirit moves
him to mention that he's a slave of Jesus Christ. Now, do you
see this? It's not any authority God's
given any of us that stands at the forefront. I'm a pastor. I have some authority. But Mason,
unless I'm a slave to Jesus Christ, it means nothing. And you say,
preacher, that's your opinion. No, go talk to Judas about that.
Go talk, Judas had some authority. He had authority over demons.
He was preaching the same message that others preached, but he
didn't know it down in here personally. And he perished in it. He lost,
fell from, maybe there's a better word, Mason, but he lost his
apostleship. But he had one. He had one. You ever heard or read someone
say, well, this is a bond slave? What's the difference? If you sell yourself or if you're
sold to someone for a bad debt and you only have to be under
his boot for seven years, you're still a slave. I don't care if
it's seven years or 20 years or all your life. Let's quit
trying to soften the truth of the word of God. Paul considered
himself, his condition, to be a slave to Jesus Christ. Oh God, make me feel that way. Oh, I like to think about my
position. Everybody in here's got authority
over somebody. Don't you? Some of you got kids. I don't
care if you're male or female, you got authority over those
people. That authority means nothing apart from being a slave
to Jesus Christ. I wish I had better words, but
all I could do is emphasize this truth. Who he was personally,
having personally met Jesus Christ, is secondary to his being what?
A slave to Jesus Christ. But both of these are being separated
into what? The gospel, God concerning his
son Jesus Christ our Lord and he Excuse me Notice it says concerning
his son Jesus Christ Our Lord he did not say just his son He
did not say his son Jesus. I Although in many places, a
writer may just say Jesus. May they not? Sometimes they
may just say Jesus Christ. Sometimes they may just say Lord.
But here Paul, being moved by the spirit of God, is including
all of the person of Jesus Christ. God's son, Jesus Christ, our
Lord. Paul's being Christ's property
is before Paul's authority. And that's what it means when
you're a slave. That's what it means when you're a servant,
correct? You are, even if it's for an allotted amount of time,
Mac, if you're a man's slave, or a woman's slave, you are their
property. Their property. This in no way
is a justification of men's use of slavery. But God Almighty
is the master. And if you're one of His, you're
His slave. You owe him everything You don't
owe him 10% You owe him a hundred percent plus Plus Paul's authority
and Paul's being Christ's property and actually that is reversed
in the order that Paul gave it are both for this purpose the
preaching of the gospel of God Verse two, and I will be brief.
Verse two, you realize, and I realize, this gospel is no new message. I was brought up in a denomination
that thinks that the gospel of Jesus Christ is absolutely separate
from the message that God preached to the Israelites of the Old
Testament, and that's just not so. There has been and ever shall
only be one Gospel. Mason, would you close us in
prayer, please?