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I’m going to invite you to the book of Romans as we’re going to be together today, the book of Romans chapter one. And diving into this, I have never preached the book of Romans. I know. I’ve certainly studied the book of Romans. But there’s been something about me that has just been hesitant to to preach the book of Romans because I wanted to really, honestly grow in my own walk with the Lord before I just opened up this book and shared it with with you as a congregation. Because this this book is is considered the book of books when it comes to all of scripture. They say if you lose all of the Bible, but have Romans as a believer, you’re going to be okay. The Book of Romans is a beautiful book that shares with us what it means to know God and find salvation in him and our identity in him, and then how to live in light of him. The first eight chapters of Romans deals with you and your walk with God, understanding the depths of who God is and who you are in light of that, and then starting in nine and on it, it begins to develop how that looks, how that practically works in our lives as we live. For him, starting with the Jewish people, you’ll know in chapter nine, for those that know this book all the way into Chapter 12, it gets very practical and living out the Christian life now in light of who you are in Jesus. So this if you’re new to Christianity especially, or if you’re investigating Christianity, this is a beautiful book to join us on.
If you’ve been a believer for years, but just want to get better at communicating what it means to pursue Christ and to share Christ with others. The Book of Romans is that book, And and the Apostle Paul wrote this letter after a couple of decades in ministry. And I find myself here today about to share this with you. Two decades into being a pastor. So I think it’s a beautiful time and aligned with where where the apostle Paul is and how he shares this book. And when Christianity started, the book of Romans is written to the city of Rome among the Roman people. I mean, this is the city of cities among the Roman civilization. And when this letter was written, it’s thought of that the the church in Rome likely began in a Jewish synagogue. It was customary, especially in the early church when they started the place that they would first go. When they began to preach the gospel, they would begin as they went from town to town in the synagogues, because they had the basis of foundation for Christianity in the Old Testament, because our New Testament is very much rooted in the Old Testament. When you read the New Testament, you find the authors of the New Testament often going back and quoting the Old Testament to recognize that what has happened in the New Testament is the fulfillment of what was proclaimed in the old. And so the Church of Rome likely began in a synagogue. But what what happened very early in the Christian church in the city of Rome was that Emperor Claudius, somewhere in the in the forties, ad expelled the Jews from Rome, and even the Jewish Christians from the ethnic group of the Jews were expelled from Rome, leaving just the Gentile Christians.
And in the fifties the Jewish Christians were allowed to return. And when they entered into the churches that they had left about four or five years ago, they find that it’s different than than what they had experienced previously, that now that the Gentiles had been had been in this church and they had some some Jewish understanding previous to that, now that the Jews have been gone for five years and they come back now, the church looks a little different and the Jews are trying to find their place. And Paul writes this letter to the the Roman Christians, Jewish, Christian or Gentile Christian on that backdrop for a few purposes. One, Paul had never visited Rome up to this point, and Paul’s desire was to go to the he went to the populated areas of this world. When Paul went on his missionary journey, he went to the the larger cities and towns in order to proclaim the gospel, because Paul knew if you could influence the cities, you could influence the countryside. And he had yet to journey all the way west to to Rome. But his heart remained fixed there and wanting to go to the capital of the Roman people and to begin to influence there for the sake of the gospel. And not only did Paul have his heart set on Rome, he was even thinking about the church in Rome as being a catalyst to help the Apostle Paul, then then travel on to Spain.
One of the things that we learned together is we just concluded the book of Second Corinthians is that the Apostle Paul, when he would often go from town to town preaching the gospel and seeing churches established as the church became established, Paul then use that church as the basis to help him to get to the next town in order to proclaim the gospel. And for Paul, Rome became this launching place to go even further west into into Spain, as Paul’s heart remained to contain, to proclaim the gospel around the world. He also remained fixed on the people of Rome, knowing that there was Jewish, Christian and Gentile Christian that were somewhat divided, having been separated for a number of years, being brought back together. And his heart for them was to take a bigger picture in what God desired for them to do collectively united as his people. And it’s here today. We’re going to go all the way to verse 17 that we’re going to see that Paul begins this story bye bye by drawing it down to the the theme of what Romans is about. And. For 16 and 17. We’ll see that in just a little bit. But when you think about the the scope of what Romans has represented in church history, there is is no time wasted when you’re invested in God’s word. And that’s especially true, I think, in the book of Romans. Any time we’ve pouring into this text. And what God is.
Communicating to us is just a precious.
Moment that the Lord can do a wonderful work within us. And as you think about the scope of this book, as it’s laid out throughout church history, this has had a magnificent impact in God’s people throughout the centuries. And just to give you a little bit of an idea, in the top right is a man by the name of Augustine. Augustine was hugely influential in church history. In the fourth into the fifth century, He wrote a book called The City of God. The City of God was written during a time period when the Roman Empire was collapsing. The people thought that that the Lord was going to return. They were going to use the people of Rome to proclaim the gospel everywhere. And when the when the Roman civilization begins to collapse, people are disoriented and they flee to Augustine’s City. Augustine writes the book The City of God, and he continues to put the people’s hope towards what God calls them to for His kingdom and glory, not some earthly.
Kingdom and glory.
And the thing that led Augustine to the Lord, he he one day was contemplating he was from this religion called Manichaeism, and he was one day contemplating the things of Christ as he had heard this great teacher talking about the Lord. And outside of his window, one day there was this little girl who who just said, Take up and read, take up and read. And Augustine took that to mean to take up God’s word. And he opened it up and he and he read chapter 13 of Romans. And there in that moment, he gave his life to Christ, and he became a powerful leader.
For the sake of the gospel during his time.
Period. And he began to influence people for centuries to come and then left of him as the man by the name of Martin Luther. By the way, I encourage you to take your fashion from none of these guys. Right. But Martin Luther. More than 1000 years later, he comes on the scene and he leads the Reformation. And the thing that we’re going to see here at the end that led Martin Luther to the Reformation was found in Romans chapter one. We’ll end with those verses that impacted Martin Luther’s life. And the guy on the bottom is by a man by the name of John Wesley. Some of you may be familiar with John Wesley started the Methodist movement. John Wesley was reading a commentary on Romans from Martin Luther, and he said as he was studying it, this is where he came to know the Lord. And so even in American history, like John Wesley is very influential in American church history. But you see throughout the centuries, the Christian church being heavily influenced by by the content of the Book of Romans. And I would even go so far as to say and probably you without knowing it, what’s very popular in Christians today, when you want to learn about sharing the gospel with others, something that Christians are often taken to is this this theme from the book of Romans that people often refer to as the Romans Road and what it means to come to know Christ in Romans Road is often used a quote for four passages from Romans.
Romans 323 all have sinned. Romans 623 The wages of sin is death. And that doesn’t just mean you go into a grave, but that means you’re separated from God. Romans five, eight. But God demonstrates his love towards you. And while you’re a sinner, Christ died for you. So while you’re at your worst, God pursues you in Romans 1013 forever calls in the name of the Lord is saved. That’s the room. That’s the theme of the gospel. That’s the idea of understanding who I am apart from God, but understanding who I can be because of Christ and giving his life for us and is demonstrating his love towards us in our sin, he dies for us so that if we proclaim Christ, if we put our faith in Him, then we become a new creation in Jesus. I mean, if someone didn’t share the gospel with you that way, and which you came to know the Lord, chances are the person that shared the Gospel with you probably came to know the Lord through the Romans road. Right? So. So this book is heavily influential and the way the Lord has has used this to shape his church throughout the centuries.
And here we are today with the opportunity to read it. And the greatest. Of books. Some say the books of books or the book of books. Has the humblest of beginnings.
Romans Chapter one, Paul.
Introduces himself to a church he’s never visited. And the way he chooses to lead. It is very important in how Paul.
Wants to identify to to the church. But but, but also a step or an attitude for which we should find ourselves mimicking the Apostle Paul’s behaviour. Look at a Romans chapter one, verse one.
Paul. A servant of Christ. Jesus. Call to be an apostle set apart for the Gospel of of God.
Now we spend time in Second Corinthians Chapter 11, specifically talking about what it means to be an apostle there in Paul’s day. There were people that claim to be super apostles that try to impose himself above him. So if you want to you want to know what it means to carry this title of Apostle and whether or not it exists for today, I would encourage you to go back and listen to Second Corinthians Chapter 11. We discuss it together as a church, but even before he identifies himself as an apostle, what I find significant about the Apostle Paul in this letter is the first words he chooses to identify himself to a church he has never met. It’s the idea.
Of a servant.
And this is incredible because when you think about who the Apostle Paul was before he took this kind of identity, his relationship to the Lord towards others, the Apostle Paul, I think there’s probably no better phrase to put towards the Apostle Paul previous to his faith in Jesus than simply to call him this. Paul was a religious terrorist. And if you think that’s a little bit extreme in the way that I might describe that, if you read just acts chapter nine, verse one and see how Acts describes the Apostle Paul. Look at this. Now, now, Saul, who was Paul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. I don’t think there’s any better way to describe the Apostle Paul and who he was apart from Jesus and simply say he was a religious terrorist.
But Paul. It goes from a terrorist. To serve it. And his life is radically changed to the point that he dies to himself. To be a servant of Jesus. You first need to be changed by Jesus.
But I would say to us, in light of the way.
Paul is describing himself there, there is no such thing as a healthy believer that does not begin with the heart of a servant. Paul went from the greatest of sinners. To the best of saints.
So much so that in Romans chapter 12, we’re going to find him saying this a little bit later.
Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. And Paul goes from this.
Radical attitude of wanting to kill.
People that oppose him as a Jew.
To all of a sudden becoming a believer, a servant of servants, to then look at the church of which he persecuted and says to those that persecute you, bless those that persecute you, bless and do not curse. Now, why why would the Apostle Paul do that? 111i think Paul would say this because he doesn’t want us to add fuel to a fire. We don’t want to give someone the excuse to to hate us by retaliating back. But second, I think the Apostle Paul knows the effect that it has on those that hate us when we’re loving towards them because he knew the effect it had on him. That as long as there is opportunity, there’s always potential for someone to come to know the Lord. And regardless of what other people choose to do or not do. The way that we compose ourselves is always to be honoring before the Lord in the way that we honor the Lord.
Is to be honoring towards others because everyone is creating the image of God.
So the Apostle Paul goes to this radical transformation, which we’re going to discover more about that as we read these pages in the book of Romans. But but Paul’s title is Servant certainly mimics his leader. Who is Jesus? I mean, Jesus above everyone was the servant of servants. I mean, Scripture tells us in the Gospels that when Jesus did his ministry, the son of man had nowhere to lay his head. But yet he went through life giving of himself for others.
Healing the broken hearted. But the sick. And the lame. And the blind and the lepers. And feeding the poor. Jesus gave everything to serve us to the point of his own life. And now Paul, who follows just this.
Jesus mimics his life in the same way. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them. Leading you with this. This is a blank in your notes if you know what to want to think.
About the idea of a servant.
This, this, this, This word comes from the Greek idea of Douglas. It’s the servant of servants. Some would even say in some contexts it could be seen as a slave. But for a definition in your notes, a servant is the one.
That bears burdens and blesses others.
A servant is the one that.
Bears burdens and blesses others. Consider how far the Apostle Paul went. We saw this in Second Corinthians Chapter 11. Together at the end of the chapter, Paul describes his own life and what he went through in order to serve. Five times I received from the Jews 30.
Lashes, three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked a night in a day I spent adrift at sea and on and on. That story goes all the way to verse 29.
Paul discusses the hardship that he endured as a servant of Christ. As we look at the book of Romans, theologians have drooled over its pages for years. But more than just being a theologian of this book. A desire for us to have the heart that the Apostle Paul reflects within these pages. That our lives would mimic Christ life. And Paul’s example through this story, because our lives are being radically transformed as we get to know the goodness of who God is. And as Paul.
Introduces himself in these pages in verse one, he then goes on in verse two and gives.
Us the basis for belief.
Why, Paul, would you embrace Christianity now? There’s there’s certainly a personal aspect to what Paul experienced when he was on the road to Damascus, as Jesus appears to him in this great light and and asks Paul, why are you.
Persecute against me?
But there was also a foundation in Paul’s life for which he put his belief.
Upon.
Or he encountered God in a personal way. Yes, but there was already a foundation there laid there in the Old Testament, for which Paul established his his life in Christ. And so in Romans chapter one, verse one, it says, Paul’s servant of Christ called to be an apostle, set apart for the Gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures. Paul saying, When it comes to a basis of belief in your life, we’re not just simply saying Choose Jesus, because it might feel good if you have this positive feeling that means you should have faith. That’s not what Paul’s saying here is he’s saying, Look, you want to know the basis of my belief. It’s rooted in everything God communicated to us in the Old Testament. In fact, I would say to you today, I don’t even know if I would be a Christian if it weren’t for the Old Testament. The Old Testament is rich and prophetic statements of what Jesus would represent for us. In fact, in my devotions last night I was in the Book of Micah in chapter five, verse two. It prophetically proclaims that when, when the Messiah comes, he would be born in Bethlehem. Details about the life of Christ said to us long before Jesus. I’ll let you know that there are critics of Christianity. And one of the one of the criticisms of Christianity pre 1940s and fifties was when you looked at the Old Testament, some of the some of the manuscripts that we possessed were hundreds of years after Jesus. And their statement against Christianity was this. Of course, these statements are very specific about what Jesus is going to be like when he arrives and all the prophetic deliverance that Jesus will bring and how Jesus is going to die. These books were written after Jesus. That’s why they had them written so correctly about Christ.
And in the 1940s and fifties. In a cave along the Dead Sea. Scrolls were found referred to as the Dead Sea Scrolls. They give us manuscripts of the Old Testament, up to 200 years older than Jesus himself. And in those scrolls we found contain the prophecies about Jesus. Paul’s saying I don’t follow Christianity simply because of a feeling. But rather my faith is rooted in something he promised beforehand through the prophets and the Holy Scriptures. In fact, when you read, when you read the New Testament, you find that the New Testament authors regularly quoting from the Old Testament so that you.
Understand there is a foundation to this faith that God has revealed for us to put our trust in. And then He goes on in verse three concerning his son, who was descended from David, according to the flesh. Again, this is a more particular prophetic fulfillment that Paul is leaning into here. But but Jesus is referred to in the New Testament. He’s got a few titles, but one is one is the Son of God. Some people mistakenly take that literally as if God had a son. But that’s not what’s being communicated in that verbiage at all. What this is saying is there is a prophetic fulfillment in the Old Testament that comes from Second Samuel Chapter seven versus 12 to 16, where David is told at the end of his life that God would raise up from his lineage one that would actually be the Son of God. And in John chapter one, when John starts his his gospel, he tells us that he is the only begotten Son of God. And we behold His glory. His glory dwells among us. That word dwell is literally tabernacle. And what is stating to us and that phrase that he got in John one, that he would dwell among us, this only begotten Son of God in the Old Testament. The Jews knew that the the Tabernacle presence of God was hovered over the temple and only one room. If you wanted to know where God was, if you wanted to meet with God, you would go to the temple and you couldn’t even go into that room. You weren’t allowed as a regular Jew, but God’s presence was there. And now all of a sudden, God’s presence is among us. And John, chapter one, and He dwells in the form of.
Jesus, in the flesh, the only begotten Son of God.
And it’s saying to us and John 114 the uniqueness of who Jesus is and being the only begotten son. There’s something distinguished about Jesus in the flesh that is different from you. And for me, some people make incorrectly teach that all of us are God’s children. Let me just propose a question to you, if you might believe that this morning, and I don’t mean to sound abrasive to you, but but this is an important question when you get to Romans chapter eight. Romans is going to teach us about you being adopted into God’s family. So here’s the question How in the world are you already God’s child? If Romans Chapter eight is talking about your adoption? Why would God have to adopt what already belongs to him?
Lest you didn’t blow. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. The phrase there in Greek is literally Monahan’s the only one of his kind or class. And what we learn about the identity of Jesus is the fullness of God is in Him. His God in the flesh. The exact imprint Scripture tells us. Colossians two nine, Hebrews one three, God in the flesh. The fulfillment of that. And second, Samuel, Chapter seven. And I’ve got to move faster.
This we’re going through this today. He was declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness, by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. And Paul’s saying to us, and this was validated through his resurrection. In fact, Paul went on the first Corinthians 15 and said, If Christ be not raised from the dead, our faith is in vain and we’re the most to be pitied of all people. The resurrection of Jesus is why the disciples, the early followers of Christ, gave their lives. They had quit on Christ when Christ was crucified, and they came back to full follow Christ to its fullness, to the end of their lives, giving everything to proclaim Christ to this world because they knew they had seen a dead man walking and could not deny it. And Paul is saying this is the basis for our faith that has been prophetically fulfilled in the Old Testament that the Son of God has come in the flesh and has given his life and has been resurrected from the grave. A testimony to us then in verse five, through whom we have received grace and apostle to bring about the obedience of.
Faith for the sake of his name among all the nations. The pole sang in verse five as this has become personal. It’s not just the truth that I know. But it’s a truth that I trust him with my life.
To know God personally in the way.
This is possible is because he’s delivered his grace. Unmerited favor of God. I didn’t earn this. But Jesus.
Did this. By the way, if you want a definition.
Of grace, let me just toss out two verses for you. Romans four for Romans 11 six, if you want to look that up later. But God brought this to me in a personal way. And he he called me in him to to obedience. And guess this is this is my heart for us as we go through these pages, that our hearts would be obedient in Christ because we.
See the goodness of who he is, and that’s where we want to align our lives. And let me let me just tell you, when you go through the book of Romans, at some point, you’re probably going to find something that disagrees with you. If I haven’t already said.
Something already.
And something that you might have been taught or grown up with or even that you hold on to right now that disagrees with maybe what Roman says and you’re going have a choice. What are you going to what are you going to obey, what you want to believe or what Christ says? If we go through the book of Romans and at some point you didn’t fill yourself, rubbed a certain way that in your life that didn’t cause you to want to conform more to Jesus or look at somewhere where you might be contrary to to the Lord and you’re living right now. Then I probably went through Romans incorrectly. None of us in this room are perfect.
But God’s desire for us is obedience. I mean, you know, if you’re married, one of the quickest lessons you can learn to say, guys. I was wrong. I’m sorry. I was wrong. And before the Lord. One of the healthiest confessions of your soul. Or that was wrong. The apostle Paul here gives us the the basis for that and and then he says his desire in this, the grace of God and his.
Apostles to bring about obedience for the sake of faith of his name among.
All the nations.
Paul is saying to this Jewish and gentile church that has a little bit of division among them right now, having been separated for so long now coming back together, that God’s heart is for all people everywhere. And I think this is a this is a beautiful thought that the Lord.
Shares.
With us. And the reason for that, I think specifically, is because in our culture, we have had Todd over the last century plus the idea of macro evolution. And I’m going to be honest, like when I think of macro evolution, that’s that’s the theory that’s taught us truth, that we went from fish to philosophers as human beings, that we we’ve morphed from fish to philosophers. I’m just going to be honest here and say this. If you want to talk to me about this later, then please do.
I don’t know how someone can believe in macro evolution. And not be a racist. The idea of macro evolution is the is the thought that we would have evolved from fish to philosophers and it would lean.
Into the idea then that that on this world today there.
Is a there is a superior race of human beings among all human beings.
In fact, if you just want to indulge me for a moment, do you know one of the books written that has influenced evolution, Charles Darwin You know, we typically know the title of the book is The Origin of Species. Do you know the full title of the book? We don’t often say this because it’s not popular, but let me just read to you the full title of the book of Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, by means of natural selection or the preservation of favored races and the struggle of life. You know, he’s suggesting. That there is a superior group of people in this world, and I’m just going to go out on a limb and say Charles Darwin probably thinks that’s his right. I don’t know how someone holds to the idea of macro evolution and not be a racist. In fact, in fact, I know popular in our culture today is the idea of of of abortion. And do you know one of the the founding proponents of abortion that has pushed our culture into embracing it was a lady by the name of Margaret Sanger. And do you know the basis of Margaret Sanger’s life? And desiring to do that was racism. Go look it up. Margaret Sanger. Absolutely. 100% racist. And her desire was to wipe off a particular people of people.
Group from this world. Rather than embrace that. Rather than embrace that. I love what the Apostle Paul says. The gospel. It’s for the sake of his name among all the nations. There’s one race, the human race, and God is a beautiful God, creating multiple ethnic groups of every tribe. Tongue and language and God’s heart desire is to give his life that that.
People group of all races could come to know him and praise him for all.
Of eternity. A multi ethnic church. His heart to the ends of the world. And it’s under that scope that Nepal begins to share his heart. And I want to read through this very quickly. But you see Paul’s heart for his people, he says.
Including you who are called to.
Belong to Jesus. This is not exclusive from you, but this is in including of you church and Rome, to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints. Douglas Willard at the end of his life, he. He’s a famous theologian in American church history. In fact, he he died in 2013. Many people compared his life to C.S. Lewis. They say the Dallas Willard is like the American C.S. Lewis. But he said this at the end of his life The only kind of love that helps the brain learn better character is attachment love. The brain functions that determine our character are most profoundly shaped by who we love. What you love will determine what you become. And in this verse, Paul is saying, Look, Church of Rome.
I want you to understand who.
You are and God, you are loved by God. If you really want your life to be changed by the Lord, explore the depths.
Of his love and cling to that with all of your heart. And he says in that you have this identity as a Saints called Holy Separated. This, the word of.
Saint means.
Is this separation of holiness to your identity in the Lord. And He goes on in verse eight and he says, First, I think, my God, through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world, it’s as if to say there are to begin to grasping that identity, and they’re sharing it with the world, because our tendency as human beings is the things that we truly love, we tell others about, and they’re doing that in verse eight and verse nine for God is my witness, whom I serve with my Spirit in the Gospel of His Son, that without ceasing, I mentioned you always in my.
Prayers, asking that.
Somehow, by God’s will, I may now know.
At last succeed in coming to you. Paul’s heart to now be with the church. To invest in them. To let them go deeper in their walk with God and their identity in him and knowing that he he can’t get there.
He, at the very least wants to write this letter to encourage them in exploring their faith and knowing God more. And he goes on in verse 11, He says, For I long to see you, that I may impart.
To you some spiritual gift to strengthen you.
People look at this and think like Paul is referring to some kind of spiritual magic here. He wants to show up and impart some spiritual gift, like it’s voodoo Christianity appearing. But verse 12 goes on to explain what spiritual what spiritual gift really looks like. He goes, That is that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both.
Yours and mine.
So he got his gift to you with certain things in this world. And when you use it for his glory to the benefit of others, that becomes a spiritual gift. You’re gifting people spiritually for the honor of the Lord to the blessing of people. That’s a true servant. Hood And Paul is saying within his life he desires to do the same thing, impart these spiritual gifts, which is really about mutually encouraging one another, and what God has gifted us to bless one another with what God is doing in our lives.
And then verse 13, he says. For. I do not want you to be unaware of brothers. That I have often intended to come to you, but thus far have been prevented.
In order that I may reap some harvest among you.
As well as among the rest of the Gentiles.
And then he goes on, and this is how we know Scripture is relevant for for everyone. In verse 14, he says, I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, which is obviously Raiders fans, both to the wise and to the foolish, which are Lakers fans, right? Scripture is relevant for everyone at all times in all places.
I’m kidding, right? The foolish is obviously not Lakers fans, but barbarians are Raiders fans. All right.
So what Paul is saying really in the context, what it means is there are the Greeks that have been educated and cultured in the Greek system, but then there are those that Rome has now and conquered and including into the Roman civilization that have not been raised in that culture. And so they looked at it by the people as barbarians, or the ESV actually translates it as the uncultured right. There’s something unique about them both to the wise and to the foolish or the unlearned. So so Paul is saying it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’ve come from. Jesus is heart. In my calling. Is to share the goodness of Christ that you would have opportunity to know him.
Then Paul gets to the recognition of really the theme of Romans, the focus of why he’s doing what he’s doing. And in verse 15, here it is, verse 15, 16 and 17.
If you if you could just carry verse 1678, even in your if you if you grabbed one of the books this morning on the book of Romans, just circle this or remind yourself of this passage. This this is the theme of. Romans Right. And Paul says it like this, verse 15.
So I’m eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. Paul’s desires to preach the gospel.
The gospel literally means in English it translates as the good spell, but it’s defined as as good news. And I know oftentimes when we talk about good news, I said this in the very beginning, Romans wrote All our all of us have sinned, right? Romans 323 and 623. The wages of sin in 623 is death. Romans 323 All of us have sinned. I want you to know that is not the gospel. But in order to see your need for good news, it’s important to see how lost we are. Right? The bad news that gets our heart to long for the good news. The Gospel is the good news. And the good news is that God has pursued you, that God hasn’t given up on you, that God already knows all the sinfulness of your heart. But He loves you anyway, and he gave his life for you.
To transform you. The call you was own and let you belong to him in a relationship both now and for all of eternity. That is good news.
And friends, can I tell you right now in this world.
I am so sick of bad news.
You walk out this door and that it seems like that’s all there is. But in this room, in these moments, what we have in our hearts to reflect on the goodness of Christ and belonging to Him is that our identity is not in this world.
And that. That is good.
News. And here’s what’s interesting about this story is that Paul, when he’s writing this letter, he’s writing this letter to Christians, meaning he’s not saying that the gospel is just simply for those that don’t belong to Christ to learn about the gospel so they can belong to Jesus, to get saved and get out of hell, That’s that’s not the point of the gospel. To the point of the gospel is is not only to find yourself as a sinner in Jesus, but to understand how the gospel shapes your life every day in Him. The Gospels are relevant to you right now as a believer in Christ as it was to you the moment you first put your faith in Jesus. This continues to be where you find your identity, your purpose, your meaning, your value. And so he goes on and says this in verse 16 for I am not.
Ashamed of the Gospel. For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it.
The righteousness of God is revealed.
From faith to faith as it is written. The righteous, righteous shall live by faith. Paul says it like this. Let me just break it down. He is he is not ashamed of the gospel. And let.
Me just remind you, when you follow.
Christ, you will be shamed. People will shame you because of your faith in Christ.
Like somewhere in Utah right now, there’s probably some hippie and some hot spring drinking kabuki talking about their magic crystals and maligning you and your faith in Jesus as if it’s unreasonable, right?
It’s a Sunday. Of course it happens. People like to say the worship in nature.
People will try to shame you. It’s what they did to Jesus.
Shame.
You attack, you, malign, you, torture you, and if that doesn’t work, kill you. But let me remind you. You have no.
Reason to be ashamed.
And while people may shame you, you have no reason to be ashamed is because.
Jesus will never disappoint. He will not let you down. And it’s on.
The basis of that in the poll. It goes on to say that I am so eager to preach the gospel. He says, verse 16 I’m not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God for salvation. This word power is literally the dynamite of God for salvation, Meaning when you look at the brokenness of the world and you feel like it’s your job to save it, he’s saying it’s not, but there is a savior and he has the dynamite power to do something about it. This world absolutely needs rescued and the power of that message is not found in who you are, but in who he is. I am not ashamed, even though people may shame me because I know where where my strength lies. And it’s not in me. It’s in him and by his power. Salvation to everyone that believes. This is not just anyone, but for those that put their faith trust in Christ, both Jew and Gentile notice in this passage, he is he is uniting that at the end of verse, verse 16 is not this separate distinction, but one people group, one race that God desires to bring together in this message to find the power of of His gospel made known in our lives.
And then he ends it this. What God has revealed from faith to faith meaning. From faith. For faith. What he’s saying is, as you walk in this. Your faith continues to grow in him from faith for faith and continues to blossom as it is written. The righteous shall live by faith. Those that are declared right by God. Live by faith. And for Paul to make this statement. Knowing who he was before. It’s completely profound to who he is now. Because what Paul had before was religion. But what Paul understands now is this phrase is an invitation to relationship. And this phrase not only transformed him, it began to transform the world. The righteous shall live by faith.
In fact, I shared in the beginning this man by the name of Martin Luther.
Martin Luther wrestled. With that phrase.
Martin Luther was a very religious person. In fact, he was a lawyer. And one day he was caught in an a lightning storm and a lightning bolt nearly struck him and killed him. And he vowed to God, God, if you spare me, I’ll just follow you all of my days. And he became a monk and he studied scripture and he started teaching scripture. He was a very devout monk. In fact, he was so devout. Some people said that Martin Luther was was starting to go insane. He would go to his room and they said, you could hear him talking out loud for hours wrestling because Martin Luther was honest with the text of scripture. He would go through as a lawyer and read it and saw as he tried to perform religiously before God defined himself acceptable to God. No matter how hard he tried, He found that he was still a sinful man and he could not make himself perfect, and it drove him literally mad. But then Martin.
Luther said this. I greatly longed to understand Paul’s epistle.
This is 500 year old text here. I greatly longed to understand Paul’s epistle to the Romans, and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, the justice of God. Because I took it to mean that just a swear by God is just and deals justly in punishing the unjust. My situation was that although an impeccable monk, I stood before God as a centered, troubled in conscience, and I had no confidence that my marriage or my merit would have sway him. Therefore, I did not love a just an angry God, but rather I hated and murmured against him. Yet I clung to the dear Paul and and had a great yearning to know what he meant. Night and a day. I pondered until I saw the connection between the Justice of God and the statement that just shall live by faith. Then I grasped that that justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy, God justifies us through faith. There. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through Open door into Paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning. And whereas before the Justice of God had filled me with hate. Now it became to me inexpressible, sweeter and greater love.
This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven. The righteousness shall live by faith. It’s not my power that rescues me. It’s not my performance that changes me. That’s Jesus’s. That’s Jesus’s. And he’s called me. To belong to him. A servant of Christ. That all the world may know the goodness of who he is.