Okay, Romans chapter one, verse
one. Romans chapter one, verse one. I like the way this epistle begins,
Paul, Paul. Paul is a servant of Jesus Christ
called an apostle and then he separated. God has separated
him unto that gospel. Now the theme of the book of
Romans is how God, by His grace, justifies sinners. And that is
a key question that nobody is much interested in today. How
God can remain just, yet justify the ungodly. How God, by His
grace, justifies the ungodly, the sinner, through the Lord
Jesus Christ. through the means that He has
ordained. God is a God of means. And the
means that He has ordained to justify us by His grace is through
the blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. God had to deal
with sin before He could deal with us in mercy. And that's
so. And then we have By His grace
and through His blood, we have a perfect, justifying righteousness
that's freely given to us in Christ Jesus. Now, if you'll
turn just one page to Romans chapter three, Romans chapter
three, we're gonna see this word righteousness given to us many
times, righteousness. But look at verse 24. Romans
3, 24, and this is probably one of the key verses, if you could
say such a thing, about the book of Romans, and it's a theme,
I think it sets forth the theme of this epistle. Being, for all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God, we're all sinners,
and sinners are justified freely by His grace, but don't forget
this part. by the means that he has ordained
through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
turn to Romans chapter five, verse nine. God committed his
love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Romans five, verse nine, much
more than being now justified by his blood. Justified by his
blood, we're justified by His grace, and we're going to see
that we're justified by faith. Much more than being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him, always
through the Lord Jesus Christ. Two critical and absolute things
we learn of about and in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
that we must not only have sin dealt with, we must have sin
put away. And thank God the Lord Jesus
Christ did that for us. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. But we also need not only sin
put away, but we need righteousness charged to our account. Righteousness
charged to our account. If you'll find Romans chapter
4. And both are received by faith. Look at Roman chapter four verse
three, being justified freely by his grace. For what sayeth
the scripture, Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him
for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is reward,
not reckoning of grace, but of debt, but to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justify the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. Now faith is not our righteousness.
Christ is our righteousness. How do we receive him? By faith. Even as David also described
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed righteousness. Now that word imputed simply
means charged to your account. reckoned, imputed, or charred. About 10 times it says that in
this one chapter. To whom God imputeth, accounteth,
reckoned, righteousness unto your account without work, saying,
blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are
covered. Blessed is that man to whom the Lord will not impute
sin. Now, why not? Because our sin
was imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ. God made Him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. So those two things that we critically
need as sinners, sin put away, And Christ did that. And then
a justifying righteousness before God. And the Lord Jesus Christ,
He is our righteousness. Christ alone is our righteousness. Now with that faint introduction,
let's take a look at verse one. We learned several things about
Paul, Paul. Now, you remember his name by
birth was Saul, Saul of Tarsus. Now, no doubt he was named after
that Saul of Israel, their first king that they clamored after.
Saul of Tarsus, and that word Saul, that name means someone
big, someone important. Remember, Israel chose Saul to
be their king because he was tall, dark, and handsome. David
was a little scrawny runt, but God chose him. They chose Saul. But his name means somebody big
and somebody important. But Saul of Tartus, when God
whittled him down, he took this name by God's grace, Paul. Now, you know what the word Paul
means? Small. Small, insignificant. So he goes from a big, important,
big shot Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, the Pharisee, to Paul. Notice it doesn't say Reverend
Paul, Dr. Paul, somebody special Paul,
just Paul. We don't refer to any man as
reverend because holy and reverend is God's name. Don't ever refer
to me as Reverend Tom. Just call me Senator. Senator
Tom. The old preacher William Huntington,
when he signed his name, he would sign it William Huntington SS. SS. What does that mean? Senator
Saved. That's me. Senator Saved by His
Grace. Paul, he calls himself a servant. Servant of Jesus Christ. You know being a servant is a
high title? It's a high title. Being the
servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know the Lord Jesus Christ
is called the righteous servant of God. That is a high title
to be known as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to
be His servant. I want to serve Him. And all
God's saints have that desire to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Not out of fear of punishment.
Not out of promise of reward. That's not the motive. We serve
Him because we love Him. And it actually, this word servant
refers back to that bond slave under the law. who was in bondage
for a certain number of years, seven years, and in that seventh
year, he could go free if he wanted to after he served his
sentence. But if he loved his master, he
said, I don't want to leave. I don't want to stay right here
and serve my master because I love him. And that's what Paul says
of him and what he says is also describing every believer. We are willing, loving, bond
servants to the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope none of you are here this
morning out of sense of duty. We've come here this morning
to learn of him. to love him and to worship him
and to hear his gospel. Paul, a servant of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now what a privilege that is. What a privilege it is. I think
about the new occupant in the White House. He probably changed
a lot of the servants in the House. I don't know, but don't
you think that would be a high title for someone in the White
House to say, well, I'm a servant of the President of the United
States? Well, you would think, well,
that's pretty good. But now, listen, that pales in
comparison when you compare that to serving God, serving the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul often calls himself a servant,
a servant of the Lord Christ, the Christ of God. And then he
says, secondly, he's called an apostle. called an apostle. Saul of Tarsus was once a servant
of sin, now by the Lord's grace he's a servant of Christ. How
do you account for such a difference? He said, by the grace of God,
I am what I am. You see, his grace has made the
difference. And then he calls himself an
apostle. An apostle was one that was specially chosen, gifted
in sin of God. Remember the Lord said in John
15 to those apostles, you didn't choose me, I chose you. Saul of Tarsus was on his way
to Damascus to persecute believers until God arrested him and the
Lord Jesus Christ unhorsed him and put him in the dust, humbled
him and broke his heart and made him a new creature in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he called him to be an apostle. An apostle is one who is sent
of God, chosen, gifted, and sent of God to preach the gospel of
God. The apostle said on several occasions,
I'm determined not to preach anything among you, but Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. He said, we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord. He said again, Woe unto me if
I preach not the gospel. Now, did he merit such a high
title of being a servant, being an apostle? Well, let's see what
he says. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 1.
1 Timothy chapter 1. called to be an apostle, an apostle
of God. And it's according to the will
of God. In 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse
1, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, or
the blessed gospel of the glory of God, which was committed to
my trust, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who enabled me for
that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry,
who was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, one who inflicted
injury, even death, but I obtained mercy. Because or although I
did it ignorantly, I did it in unbelief, and the grace of our
Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ
Jesus, This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And he
said, I'm the chief one. Now turn a couple pages and find
2 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter one, verse one, 2 Timothy 1.1. Here he says, Paul, an apostle,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Not his will. Now he was made willing, but
he was a persecutor, one who caused injury. He called himself,
I was a blasphemer. But by the will of God, he made
me a new creature in Christ. By the will of God, He saved
me by his grace, by the will of God, I've made an apostle
according to the promise of life, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now back to Roman chapter one,
Roman chapter one. So Paul, a servant, a servant
of the Lord Jesus Christ called an apostle, one son of God, chosen,
specially gifted. There were just 12 apostles and
counting Paul. Paul was the replacement for
Judas Iscariot, who betrayed the Lord. Now, thirdly, he says
here, separated, separated unto the gospel, the gospel that's
of the Lord. Salvations of the Lord, And the
gospel is of the Lord. Separated. This man was separated. And what we're describing here,
turn to Galatians chapter 1. separated unto the gospel of
God. That's true of every believer.
He's been separated by God's distinguishing grace. Galatians
chapter 1, verse 11. But I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. You see, this is God's gospel.
For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it,
but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. God reveals the gospel
to his people. For you've heard of my conversation
in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted
the church of God and wasted it, this was Saul of Tarsus,
and profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in my own
nation, being more exceeding zealous of the tradition of my
fathers. Jewish tradition, but when it
pleased God who? Separated me you see that Separated
he separated me under the gospel of God On my mother's womb and
called me by his grace to reveal his son in me that I might preach
among among the heathen immediately I Didn't confer with Peter, James,
or John, or any other apostle. I conferred not with flesh and
blood. Separated unto the gospel of
God. He was separated in that eternal
covenant of grace, wasn't he? That eternal covenant of grace.
And this is true of every believer. Find Ephesians, the book of Ephesians. Just past Galatians there. The
book of Ephesians. Separated in that eternal covenant
of grace, Paul, along with all of God's elect, were chosen in
Christ and blessed in Christ. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3. You know where I'm going to Read
before I even tell you. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he has
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy, without blame, before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, and it's all to the praise of
the glory of His grace, wherein He has made us accepted in the
Beloved." Separated. by that eternal covenant of grace. Not only that, Paul and every
believer had been separated from his sin by the blood atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how effectual and how powerful
is the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ that shed on
behalf of his covenant people? How cleansing is it? How powerful
is it? God says this, their sin and
their iniquity will I remember no more. The blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses us from all our sin now and forever. This is the gospel of God separated
in that eternal covenant of grace separated from our sin by the
blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then set apart and
committed to make the gospel known unto others. This is said
of Paul, and this is really said of all those. Turn to Ephesians
again, chapter three. Ephesians chapter three this
time. Wherefore, verse seven, I was made a minister, a servant,
according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the
effectual working of His power. No man puts himself in the body
of Christ. No man puts himself in the ministry
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are called and sent of God
and put in the ministry by the effectual working of his power
unto me, he says. I'm the less, I'm less than the
least of all saints. is this grace given that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable, unsearchable riches
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our message, the unsearchable
riches of Christ. That is our message and that
is our goal to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. So, we are committed
to make this gospel known. We're studying Romans chapter
1 verse 2 now. The gospel of God is not of men,
it's not of the church. The gospel of God is as old as
God Himself. It's the gospel that's of God. How old is the gospel? The gospel
of God. It's an ancient gospel. You see,
the gospel of God is the eternal gospel of God. The gospel is
as old as God himself. The covenant of grace is called
the everlasting covenant of grace. The God of peace that brought
again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ through the blood
of the everlasting covenant. This gospel is of God. What does that mean? It's not
of man. Not of any man or any church. The gospel originates with God. It's His gospel. It's His gospel. He is the author of it. He's
the Omega, the Alpha and Omega of it. He is the subject of it. It's all about Him. All about
God, His sovereign purpose, His person, and his work. He is the author of it, he is
the subject of it, he is the revealer of it. He hid these
things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes
even so father for so it seemed good in his sight. That's Matthew
11 verse 25. Now Romans chapter 1, look at
verse 2. This gospel of God He gives us an explanation about
this gospel of God. This gospel of God, which he
had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures. All the prophets, beginning with
Moses and all the prophets, they all give witness to the Lord
Jesus Christ and the gospel of God. The gospel of God is the
gospel according to the word of God. And when it says there,
promised in the Holy Scriptures, there it is referring to the
Old Testament Scriptures. The Old Testament Scriptures.
We know that all Scripture is given of God. All Scripture is
God breathed. And we find out, find 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Holy men of old spake as they
were moved by God the Holy Spirit. The gospel of God is contained
and is made known through the Scripture. You see, we read here
in 1 Corinthians 15, look at verse 1, I declare unto you the
gospel, the gospel of God, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, which
I preached unto you, which you also have received, wherein you
stand, but which also you are saved, if you keep in memory
what I have preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I received, how that Christ died for our
sins, how? According to the Scriptures.
according to the scriptures. Isaiah said he was wounded for
our transgression, bruised for our iniquities, that he was buried,
that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. All the Old Testament scriptures
bear witness to him. Now let's see if we can make
good on that. Find John 5, The Old Testament and the New Testament
both bear witness to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. They
all tell us about His person and His work. John chapter 5
verse 39. Search the Scriptures, for in
them ye think ye have eternal life, but our Lord said, They
are they which testify of me. Now turn back just a few pages
to Luke 24. Luke 24, the risen Lord said
to those two men on the road to Emmaus, Luke 24 verse 25. Then He said unto them, O fool,
slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into
his glory and beginning of Moses and all the prophets, he expounded
unto them in all the scriptures the thing concerning himself. The scripture is all about our
blessed Redeemer and our Savior. Right here in Luke chapter 24,
look at verse 44. He said unto them, These are
the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the law
of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
me. the Lord Jesus Christ came to
fulfill all that was written. Then he opened their understanding
that they might understand the scripture and said unto them,
thus it is written, thus it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise
from the dead the third day, that repentance and remission
of sin should be preached in his name among all nations beginning
at Jerusalem and you are witnesses of these things. I want to read
one last reference on this point and I'm not going to get to verse
3, but if you find Acts chapter 10, Acts chapter 10, the Old
Testament tells of what Christ, the Christ of God would do, and
the New Testament tells us what Christ has done. He accomplished
the salvation of His covenant people. In Acts chapter 10, look
at verse 42, and He commanded us to preach unto the people
and to testify that it was he which was ordained of God to
be judge of the living and the dead. That word quick. He is
the judge. God judgeth no man but hath committed
all judgment under the sun. Now look at verse 43. To him,
that is to Christ, give all the prophets witness
that through His name, whosoever believeth in Him should receive
the remission of sin." Now, back to Romans chapter 1, and I've
got to wind this up. So, let me just sum it up here.
Romans 1.1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle,
separated unto the gospel of God, the gospel that's been promised
afore by His prophets, beginning at Moses all the way through
the Old Testament, that's found in the Holy Scripture given of
God. Verse 3, concerning His Son,
Jesus Christ. Concerning His Son, Jesus Christ
our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh, we look at these two verses next week, declared to be the
son of God. with power according to the Spirit
of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. We see two things
there, the Gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. We see
His humanity declared. He was a real man. God manifested
in the flesh, but let us never forget that He is God Almighty,
declared to be God the Son with all power. So, it teaches His
humanity, teaches His deity in one blessed person. We call Him,
and the old writers always referred to the Lord Jesus Christ, as
the God-man. The God-man. The God-man. God manifest in the flesh. The
God-man mediator.