His matchless grace reaches even
me, aren't you? Let's open our Bibles tonight
to Romans chapter one. We're going to look this evening
at the first 15 verses in this chapter, the Lord willing. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. Today,
when we write a letter, we sign our name at the end, but that
wasn't the custom in that day. The apostle Paul, writing this
letter to the church at Rome, begins with his name, Paul. We know that that's his Roman
name, that he had a Hebrew name. He was named Saul. We think of
Saul of Tarsus, and then the Lord saved him and changed his
name to Paul. When he went on that first missionary
journey with Barnabas, one of the men that they ministered
to, a Gentile, was named Paul. Some believe that He took his
name at that time, this name Paul, but it wasn't uncommon
for Jews to have a Gentile name as well as a Hebrew name. And
then there are some who believe that this name means small of
stature, that he was a small man, that is Saul of Tarsus. But he tells us three things
about himself in that first verse. First of all, and he begins with
this, a servant of Jesus Christ. A servant of Jesus Christ. Now the word that's translated
servant here, it properly means slave. There are some translations
into English, especially in Romans chapter six, I believe it is.
where they translated this word slave rather than servant. But
that's what this word actually means, a slave of Jesus Christ. It speaks of one who had a master. When I was a young man, it would
seem to be more common that people referred to the Lord Jesus Christ
as master. Very seldom ever hear anyone
speak about our master today. But that's the way Paul referred
to himself, a servant of Jesus Christ. Now think about back
in Acts chapter 27. Let me just read this. When he
was on that ship and they were in that storm or hurricane, whatever
it was, and he appeared to them or came out to them and he made
this confession. in verse 23, for there stood
by me this night the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve. And every child of God, each
one of us, we should be able to make that same confession,
whose I am, a servant of Jesus Christ, bought with his precious
blood, a servant of Jesus Christ. The second thing he tells us
here in this text about himself, he was called to be an apostle.
And the word called means more than being invited. He wasn't
just invited to be an apostle. He was appointed by the Lord
Jesus Christ to be an apostle. We believe, I believe tonight,
one of the 12 apostles. When Judas fell and he was no
longer an apostle, Then in his place, God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
appointed Paul. An apostle had to receive his
message from the Lord. He could not have learned it
from another man. And the Lord Jesus Christ taught
Paul the gospel, and he confesses that to us in the letter of Galatians. These apostles were sent out
by Jesus Christ to preach the gospel. The word apostle actually
means messenger. And there are people today, I've
seen men use this term, they call themselves apostles. And
in one sense of the word, they can use that term and be correct. They are messengers of a church
or messengers of the Lord, but these men, were especially appointed
as apostles of Jesus Christ. They had authority, and whatever
they bound on earth was bound in heaven, and whatever they
loosed on earth is loosed in heaven. We know that refers,
of course, to the gospel, the preaching of the gospel, that
which is revealed unto us in the word of God. But the third
thing he tells us about himself, he was separated to the gospel
of God. God's purpose, God's design in
calling him and making him an apostle was to make this his
business. That is to preach the gospel
of God. And I would just say this is
the sole business of every man that God calls and puts into
the ministry. There's always a temptation.
I was talking to someone recently about this. especially around
the election time, there's always a temptation for men to get involved
and get sidetracked onto other issues and other things. And
that's not what God calls a preacher to do. God calls a preacher,
an apostle and preachers to preach the gospel, to preach the word
of God. to proclaim the good news, really. This good news is what the word
gospel means, glad tidings of great joy that Jesus Christ,
God's son, has effectually reconciled his people unto God. Notice verse
two, and notice this is a parentheses. This verse two is in parentheses,
which he had promised to for by his prophets in the holy scriptures. The gospel of Jesus Christ is
as old as Adam. Actually, it's older than that.
It's the everlasting gospel, the scripture says. But it was
revealed unto the prophets. Now, in the Old Testament, we
know that there were writing prophets. We have several of
them, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and then we have the 12 minor
prophets. Those were all writing prophets,
but there were many prophets that were not writing prophets
like Elijah and Elisha. Samuel was a prophet. David was
a prophet. All of these prophets in the
Old Testament, they all spoke of him. Notice it says, which
he had promised to for by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. In Acts chapter 10 and verse
43, we read to him, that is to Jesus Christ, to him, give all
the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sin. And Paul here refers
to the scriptures as the holy scriptures. We know when he wrote
this, the only scriptures were the Old Testament. what we have
in our Bible. And the Jews, remember this,
the Jews were very careful to maintain the integrity of the
Old Testament part of our Bible. And they're holy scriptures written
by holy men, the Apostle Peter tells us, moved by the Holy Spirit,
inspired by the Holy Spirit. But the scriptures were written,
this book, the Bible that we have in our hands is a book about
Jesus Christ from beginning to end. Let's read on verses three
and four. 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. If we overlook verse 2, which
is a parentheses, we just leave that out. And we begin with verse
one, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,
separated unto the gospel of God concerning his son, Jesus
Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David. The gospel is a message of Christ. It concerns God's son. To preach
the gospel is to preach Jesus Christ our Lord. And think about
that too. Concerning his son, Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Our Lord. We're not to preach
Jesus Christ as though sometime in the future, some far off time,
he's going to be Lord. No, we are to preach Jesus Christ
who is Lord today. And he is Lord of Lords and King
of Kings. Remember what the Apostle Paul
wrote in Philippians, speaking about Christ, it says, who being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, because
of his obedience, because of his obedience, even the death
of the cross, wherefore God hath highly exalted him. highly exalted
Him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven,
and things in earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is, is, is Lord." not will be,
not shall be, but today he is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. When we worship the Lord Jesus
Christ, we are worshiping the God-man, the one mediator between
God and man, the man who has the scepter in his hand, who
is at the right hand of the Father always, and he's reigning and
ruling. In Romans chapter 10, Paul speaks
about calling upon the name of the Lord, not just calling upon
Jesus, but calling upon the name of the Lord, the Lord Jesus,
who he is, who he is. He's the Lord. He's a king. You know, these verses rather
tell us that he was, which was made of the seed of David. That reminds us, if you turn
back to John chapter one, who was made, this one Jesus Christ
the Lord was made of the seed of David. Now this is speaking
about his humanity, isn't it? Gospel of John, verse 1, we read,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. And then down in verse 14, And
the Word was made flesh. How was he made flesh? Was the
deity turned into flesh? No. He was made flesh by assuming
the person, the second person in the Trinity, the eternal Son
of God assumed. that body and soul that God the
Holy Spirit prepared him of the Virgin Mary. And it took place
at conception. It had to because he's not two
persons. He's one person. And that has
to be so. He's one person. He was not a
separate person before he was He was made or declared to be
the Son of God at that time, at the time of his conception
in the womb of the Virgin Mary. You say, well, is that important? I believe it is. I believe it's
where we began when we preached the gospel, don't you? Who he
is? Who is he? You know, to go in the world,
Charles Spurgeon, I remember reading him saying, many men
are out saying, believe, believe, believe. But did they tell men
why we are to believe, who it is upon whom we are to believe,
who he is? This is where we begin in preaching
the gospel of Jesus Christ, that he was made of the seed of David. He married his mother. was in
the line of King David. And we have that lineage given
to us in Luke, I believe Luke chapter 3. And you can trace
her lineage all the way back. to David and then from David
all the way back to Abraham. And that's, he was made of the
seed of David, but notice he was declared to be the son of
God with power. And how was that? By the resurrection
from the dead. Declared to be the son of God
with power by the resurrection from the dead. When we look at this, think about
that. How was his deity declared by
his resurrection? Well, in John chapter two, he
told those Jews, destroy this temple. And he was talking about
the temple of his body. Destroy this temple. And in three
days, he didn't say the father will raise this temple up. He
didn't say the Holy Spirit will raise this temple up. He said,
I will raise this temple up. Now it is true, because God is
one, that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit all had
part in his resurrection. That's true. But he's declared
here to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead. He raised himself up. He said,
I've received this commandment from my father, both to lay down
my life and take it again. He's declared to be the son of
God by the resurrection of the dead. And we know this is a fulfillment,
what this verse tells us here, made of the seed of David, declared
to be the son of God by the resurrection. speaks to us of this wonderful
prophecy that's found in Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6. For unto us a child is born,
a child, a man child. made of the seed of David. Unto us a son is given, the son
of God. And the government shall be upon
his shoulder. Now, when we read the government
shall be upon his shoulder, this is just another declaration that
he is Lord, that he is Lord. Now they had custom back in those
days of putting a key up on the shoulder of a governor. And it certified or signified
that he was in authority, that he was reigning. And we know
in Revelation chapter one, when the Lord Jesus appeared unto
John, what did he have around his waist? He had the keys of
what? Death and hell. He's Lord of
all, and He's Lord over His church especially. He's the one who
has given the commandment, the law concerning baptism. He commanded those who confess
Him. who believe in him to be baptized
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. They never did that. The church
in the Old Testament, those believers, they never were baptized in the
name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, were they?
Well, he, because he's Lord, gave this command, this law to
his church, and also concerning the Lord's table. When he gave
us this ordinance that we observe every first Sunday in the month,
we come together and we obey him, this do, in remembrance
of me. We eat bread, which represents
his flesh, and drink wine, which represents his blood that was
poured out for us. The government shall be upon
his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful. wonderful
counselor. Sometimes people are seeking
counsel and we all need counsel. The scripture says in the multitude
of counselors there won't if not sin. We all seek counsel
but the best counsel that any of us can ever seek is to go
to the Lord and ask him for his counsel for his direction. He
is that wonderful counselor. the mighty God, the everlasting
Father. Sometimes people say, well, how
could that be speaking about Christ, the everlasting Father?
Because he has a seed, a seed that was given unto him. And
we know that seed is all of God's elect. He's the everlasting Father. And he is the Prince of Peace,
the King of Kings. Let's go back to Romans again,
verses five through seven. By whom we have received grace
and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations
for his name. Among whom are you also the called
of Jesus Christ, 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. In these verses, the
apostle confesses to having received grace and apostleship. We sang that hymn, The Wonderful
Grace of Jesus Reaches Even Me. And yes, it reached even Saul
of Tarsus, the persecutor of the saints of God. He received
grace and apostleship from Jesus Christ for obedience, that is,
to obey him in preaching the gospel. You know, when Paul met
the Lord, The Lord revealed himself unto Saul of Tarsus that day
on the road to Damascus. He was blinded by that great
light, and they led him. Some of the men that were there
with him were not blinded, but Paul was, and they led him into
the city there, and he was in a house for several days blind,
no doubt praying, and we know he was praying. And then God
spoke to that man by the name of Ananias and told Ananias,
I want you to go to a certain house in a certain street. Doesn't that show us God's knowledge?
He knows your address. He knows my address. He knows
exactly where we live. He knows exactly where we are
at all times. And he told Ananias, you go there
and speak to Saul. And of course, Ananias was fearful
of going there because he had heard Saul had a reputation of
destroying believers. But think about this. This is
what God told Ananias. He said, he's a chosen vessel
unto me. A chosen vessel. Every child
of God is a chosen vessel. You're a chosen vessel, a vessel
of grace, a vessel of grace, not a vessel of wrath. The Bible
speaks in Romans chapter nine, doesn't it? Vessels of wrath,
vessels of mercy, vessels of grace. And God told Ananias,
He's a chosen vessel unto me, and every child of God is a chosen
vessel, a vessel of mercy, a vessel of grace. But he went on to tell
him to bear my name, and I want you to notice, before the Gentiles
and kings and the children of Israel. And if you, and we've
been studying, and Sunday morning in the Bible study class, Brother
Streeter's been teaching us, and we've watched Paul's ministry,
and it was exactly like God told Ananias that his ministry would
be. First to the Gentiles. He was
a minister to the Gentiles, the apostle of the Gentiles. And
he said, I magnify my office. And then to kings. How did he
minister to kings? Well, when he was arrested there
in Jerusalem and he was sent before kings, several different
kings, eventually before Caesar, the king in that day of the whole
known world, civilized world, most powerful man, no doubt,
in the world, and he stood before king. But then last of all, to
the Jews. to the Gentiles, to the kings,
and then last, to the children of Israel. And we saw that this
morning in Bible study, didn't we? In Rome, he called for the
elders, the representatives of the nation of Israel to come.
And we read, and I'm sure we'll see this next week, but for several
years there, he ministered. They would come to his house.
He was under house arrest, and he ministered unto the children
of Israel. But his apostleship, as we read
here, and ministry was to be among all nations. Thus he shows,
in stating this, he shows his authority in writing to this
church here in Rome. The calling here is God's effectual
call. Notice, to all that be in Rome,
verse seven, beloved of God called saints. This is God's effectual
call, you know, the general call that goes out everywhere that
the gospel is preached. And those of us who preach the
gospel, we are not hindered in any way from declaring the gospel
to anyone and everyone. Come, come to the fountain. That's the message that we preach.
We know that message is a general call that goes out into all the
world, among all peoples. There is this effectual call. And that's what he has reference
to here when he speaks to these in the church at Rome called,
and I've often thought it's unfortunate that the translators inserted
to be, of course you see it's in italics, called saints. If we just leave those italics
out, those two words in italics, just leave those out, called
saints. Because with those two words,
to be saints, man, lost man, of course, he's taken that to
teach that we make ourselves, that we become saints in some
way. No, we're called saints when
the Lord saves an individual. The word saint, of course, sanctification,
it means separated, doesn't it? It means separated. And every
child of God is a saint, separated by God the Father in eternal
election. Separated by God the Son in effectual
redemption and separated by God the Holy Spirit in this effectual
call. Separated unto God. To be saints, to be saints. Paul wishes them, and notice
this, and this is always the order in the scripture. When
you look at the various epistles and these men writing, whether
it's Paul or Peter It's always grace and peace. There's never any peace without
grace. Not peace with God. First of
all, there has to be grace, the grace of God to bring us salvation. And then there's peace, grace
and peace. And everyone who experiences
God's saving grace, we also have peace with God. Therefore, being
justified by faith, we have peace with God. Verse 8. First, I thank my God through
Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout
the whole world. Before anything else, Paul gives
thanks unto God, and he does so, you notice, through Jesus
Christ. Through Jesus Christ. First,
I thank my God through Jesus Christ, the mediator, through
Jesus Christ. Now, I know we can pray to the
Lord Jesus. We can pray to God, the Holy
Spirit. We have examples of that in the
scripture, nothing wrong with that. But primarily, we pray
to the Father through Jesus Christ, because there is no going to
Him apart from Christ, no going to God apart from Jesus Christ. He gives thanks for them all. First, I thank my God through
Jesus Christ for you all. Someone said Paul was a southerner.
Y'all, thank my God for you all. He says that several times in
his letters. He thanked God for each and every
one of them, but he especially mentions their faith, their faith. Now, faith is one of the principal
graces, isn't it? Grace of the Holy Spirit, we
call these three cardinal graces, faith, hope, and love. But faith
leads the caravan. Faith, because without faith,
it's impossible to please God. That's what the scripture says
in Hebrews chapter 11. So he mentions our faith, first
of all, as a principal grace. And faith, the reason I believe
faith is this principal grace, because faith receives everything
from God. Someone has described faith as
an empty hand that receives bread. The beggar reaches out his hand
and a person puts some coins or some money into his hand His
hand doesn't contribute anything to the blessing or the gift that
he receives. He just receives it. Faith is
a receiving grace, receives everything from Christ and gives all the
glory to God. I know that you know this, but
let me say once again that God has determined that he will not
give his glory to another. Someone said, I don't know if
my preacher's preaching the gospel. Well, listen to him and determine
by his message who gets the glory. Who gets the glory? Does God
get all the glory? Or does man share in that glory? If a man's preaching the gospel,
God gets all the glory. He's just not going to share
his glory with another. Those in this church, they believed
the gospel, of course, and they held on to it firmly. They were
convinced of the gospel, and they confessed it. And when he
speaks about their faith being spoken of throughout the whole
world, this was a capital, capital of the world, the known world
at that time. The gospel people came to Rome
and visited Rome, and when they did, they would hear the gospel,
and the gospel would go out from there. But Rome was a very wicked
city. You know when Martin Luther,
as a Roman Catholic priest, visited Rome, he thought that was going
to be the highlight of his life. And what he found was the most
wicked city that could be imagined wrong. Now that was, of course,
1,400 years after this, 1,300 years after this. But it had
been a wicked city from the very beginning. You read about some
of the Caesars and their lives and you realize how wicked it
was. But the gospel is just like A
small light, if this place was completely dark, if I was to
strike a match right now, that match would give a lot of light.
Why? Because this place is so dark.
And in a place like Rome that was so wicked and so evil, the
light here of the gospel, it just shined the brighter. It
just shined the brighter into the world, throughout the whole
world. Now, of course, that doesn't
mean throughout North America and South America. It's talking
about the world that was then known, right? Yes. All right, verses 9 and 10. 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 requests if by any means
now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to
come unto you." When Paul calls God to be his witness, he shows
how true this statement is, that he did not cease to pray for
them. His love and his concern for
this church was so great that without ceasing, he prayed for
them. And it seems here when he wrote
this letter, I believe he wrote it from Corinth, I'm not sure
about that, but when he wrote this letter, he had had a desire
for a long time to visit Rome. And you notice he had asked the
Lord to give him a safe and an uneventful, a prosperous journey
to Rome. Making requests, if by any means
now at length I might have a prosperous journey, a pleasant journey,
peaceful journey by the will of God to come unto you. For
I long to see you. As we well know, he did come
to Rome. He did come to visit this church. And God answered his prayer in
bringing him to Rome. But we wouldn't call that trip
on that ship necessarily a prosperous journey, would we? God answers
every prayer, doesn't he? Sometimes he answers with a no,
but he answers sometimes yes. Sometimes we think of how we
want him to answer and how he should answer, and he doesn't
answer like that at all. But he answers. He hears his
children. I like to think about the fact
that as a parent, and many of you
are parents tonight here, most of everyone, and I know you would
do anything for your children to help them if you could. because
you love them. And can we believe that God is
any different, that God is less than a man? God hears his children
when we cry. Now he may bear long with us
like that unjust judge did with that widow woman, but eventually
that judge heard her and she received what she requested.
Never, never give up on praying. I know we pray for family members
sometimes for years and years and think, well, what's the use?
Well, keep on praying. God's not dead. God hears. And we don't know what the Lord
may do yet. Verses 11 through 13. For I long
to see you that I may 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,
I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed
to come unto you, but was led hitherto, that I might have some
fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles. Some have
taken these verses and they have taught that Paul is saying here
that he desired to come and to impart some spiritual gift to
these believers in the church at Rome. Some spiritual gift
like the working of miracles. Now, there were signs of an apostle. We know that. Paul tells the
church at Corinth that that the signs of an apostle were brought
by him. And those signs were peculiar
to the apostles. That's not what he's saying here
at all, that he desired to come and give them the gift of healing
or give them the gift of speaking in other languages or something
like that. Not at all. But his desire to
visit them, really it's explained in verse 12, isn't it? His desire
to exercise the gift of preaching the gospel among them. The preaching
the gospel, which in preaching the gospel, it would be the means
of comforting them and him. Our Lord told Isaiah the prophet,
comfort ye, comfort ye my people. That's the desire of every pastor,
to comfort God's children. Not to cause unbelief or harm
or anxiousness or worry, but to comfort God's children. Verses 14 and 15, I'll stop with
this. I'm debtor both to the Greeks
and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. So
as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that
are at Rome also. He was especially a chosen vessel
to bear the gospel to the Gentiles. And he felt this obligation to
preach to all, all that he could preach to. all to whom it was
possible. He was ready for to be instant
in season and out of season as a preacher of the gospel. In
season and out of season to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. And
that's the way God's children are comforted. Well, I trust
the Lord will bless this study tonight to all of us.