We are starting a new series on Paul's letter to the Romans today. If you'll please turn to Romans chapter 1. We're going to read the first seven verses. And this will be an introduction to this sermon series. Romans chapter 1 beginning in verse 1. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son, who was descended from David according to the flesh. and 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, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. To those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the word of the Lord. Paul's letter to the Romans is a message of God's good news to all. That is the Gospel. You're familiar with the Gospel, but that term means good news. Let's just look at how he refers to the Gospel just in this opening chapter. In verse 1, Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Gospel. Look down at verse 9. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel. This is what I do. This is what I am enslaved to to proclaim the gospel. And then verse 15 and 16. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome 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. So the book of Romans is Paul's careful theological explanation of the good news of God to lost sinners. And he explains this gospel in the book of Romans with particular reference to issues of Jew-Gentile relationship. We'll come to that as we look at the makeup of the church, but it's composed of both Jewish converts to Christianity and Gentile converts Christianity. There are issues that these people face. You've got to remember they hated each other. The Jews considered the pagan Gentiles as dogs. They were worthless. They weren't to be associated with. You kept your distance from them. Now Jesus brings them all together in the Church. If the Gospel comes from the Old Testament, as Paul proclaims, if it comes from a Jewish origin, from Jewish scripture, how do the Gentile converts need to live? Do they need to be circumcised like the Jews? Do they need to obey the Mosaic customs like the Jews? All of these questions come into play in the book of Romans. John Calvin, the reformer, wrote this in his commentary, When anyone gains a knowledge of this epistle, he has an entrance open to him to all the most hidden treasures of Scripture. That should be an encouragement, a motivation for us to take seriously the study of the book of Romans. Romans provides one of the clearest explanations of the doctrine of justification. Justification is a legal, declarative act of God, pardoning sinners for their sins and accepting them as righteous in His sight. A legal declaration where God, in His heavenly courts, declares those who were once guilty innocent. acceptable and worthy of fellowship with Him. We see that in chapters 1 to 4. It also protects the church against an unbalanced view of grace and holy living. If God forgives sinners and that brings glory to Him, Paul says in Romans 6, well, why don't we just sin more so we can bring more glory and let God show how nice and kind He is? He's dealing with this relationship between the Christian and the law. If God justifies us, declares us righteous, then why keep the law at all? Paul says, don't you understand? You've been raised with Christ. You're different. You're transformed. You're made by God to be those who are holy. We enter into the depths of the mystery of God's sovereign predestination in chapter 9. If the Jews rejected the Gospel, is God powerless? That's the question. Why are God's people not accepting His Son? How bizarre is that? What kind of God must this be? No, God hasn't chosen them, Paul says in Romans chapter 9. get many practical teachings on how Christians with different views on non-essential matters should live together in Christian liberty. You can imagine the Jews and the Gentiles, they had different cultural differences that were brought into the life of the Church. And the Church is constantly having to discern between what are central issues that we all must agree on and what are side issues that we can do differently in how we function as Christians. to us today, no doubt. All of these things that Paul is dealing with. Paul talks to the Church about how it's to relate to pagan civil rulers. The Jews were seeking to establish their own nationality. They were constantly conflicting with Roman rule. Now, what about these Gentiles who were always subject to Roman rule? How do we as a church, as Christians, live in relationship with our civil government? That's an issue that's come back into play, isn't it? With COVID and restrictions and various things that governments are doing that affect church life. So all of these issues are going to be dealt with by Paul in the book of Romans. morning by way of introduction we are going to look at the author of the book, the central focus of the book, and then the Church itself, the Church in Rome, who it is and what they are composed of. So first the author, Paul. a servant of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God who wrote Romans We all know the answer Paul Paul but who is Paul Paul, we know, composed the main thought of the letter, but we're told at the end of the book in chapter 16, verse 22, that the person who actually penned the letter was a scribe by the name of Tertius. Paul used him as a correspondent in communicating his Gospel message to the Romans. Paul describes himself in this opening verse as a servant. Now we live in a day and an age where this kind of language we have to walk on eggshells. What in the world is he talking about? A bond slave to Christ. Nobody wants to be a slave. Nobody wants a history of slavery. But Paul says, this is who I am, a bond slave, a servant of Christ Jesus. The Greek word is dolos, a slave. It has negative connotation in our day. Was Paul under some kind of constraint? Was he held against his will by Jesus Christ? Is that what he means by slave? No. And we have to go back to the Old Testament to understand what he's talking about as a bond slave, a servant to Christ. It's quite different than our conceptions culturally of slavery when we think of Old South slavery of African Americans. America. That's not what he's talking about. He was a willing and a happy servant to Jesus Christ. I want you to turn back in the Old Testament to the book of Deuteronomy. Fifth book in the Bible. Deuteronomy chapter 15. And this is part of the Mosaic Law. It's dealing with with the year of Jubilee or the sabbatical year. And there were people that were, for various reasons, they were Hebrews, they were Jewish people, and they owed money to their fellow Hebrews, and they were put into slavery because they couldn't pay. But there was a clause, they were to be released on the seventh year, were to be given liberty from their slavery. Now, that's a great thing, right? You're like, yes, I want to—the first chance I have to get under the bondage of this Master, I'm taking it. That's what you would think. But look at Deuteronomy 15, verse 15. Moses writes, you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. You were under bondage. You had no liberty, no rights. You were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you, therefore I command you this day. But, If he, that is the slave who's giving an opportunity for liberty and freedom, if he says to you, I will not go out from you because he loves you and your household since he is well off with you, then you shall take an awl and put it through his ear into the door and he shall be your slave forever. So why is this man a slave forever? Because he willingly chooses to be a slave forever. Because he loves his master. He wants to dedicate his life to the service of his master. That's the kind of slavery Paul is talking about here. He's not forced into it. He willingly desires to dedicate his entire life to serving Jesus Christ, his Lord. It's a conscious, non-coerced, wholehearted, and happy commitment to serve Jesus Christ. Paul, the servant of Christ, set apart to the gospel of God, Now, we're told that he is also an apostle. And that becomes important because why should the Romans listen to this guy? He is a Pharisee. I mean, he was the key. He had the characteristics of the type of people who hated Gentile Christians. He was trying to kill the church and persecute those who were followers of the way. He wanted to annihilate any witness to Christ that there could be. Why should the Romans listen to this guy? Who does he think he is? Some of you have traveled out of the country. How many of you have been to Europe? Just raise your hand. All right. Now, what influence do you think you might have when you're in Europe, enjoying the sights and the sounds of London, or Paris, or wherever it is you are in Europe. And you're sitting there, probably better to do this in London than in France, because I don't know if many of you speak good French, but in London you're having a cup of tea, in London, and you're talking to someone about American policies. How much influence are you going to have on the foreign policy of British decision-makers as a tourist? Well, hopefully absolutely none. And I think they probably could care less about American viewpoints on a lot of things. But, what if you're an official delegate of the U.S. government sent for the purpose of negotiating some trade deal? How much clout are you going to have? A lot. Paul is not just some random guy who had this idea that he would get up and just write to the Roman church. No, he is an apostle. That means he's an official delegate from Christ the King to his church. Why listen to him? Because he is the Apostle Paul. Sent from the Lord. Paul is on official kingdom business. He is credentialed. Apostles, it's a word in Greek that means to be sent out. appointed King Jesus. Now, why can Paul claim that? There are certain marks of an Apostle that must be recognized to validate their actual position. You know that a lot of people could claim to be Apostles. We still have people in our day claiming to be Apostles. Well, I hate to break the news to you but there are 12 and Paul is the 13th called out of due time. Those are it. There's no more. unless you can prove some of these points. First of all, the Apostle must receive his calling personally from Jesus Christ. You remember Paul, he met Christ in person on the road to Damascus. An Apostle must be an eyewitness to the resurrected Christ, and Paul describes himself as one of those eyewitnesses in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 5 to 8. But then an apostle must have his calling certified by extraordinary gifts of the Spirit. He must be able to perform healing, and prophecy, and speak in tongues, and cast out demons. Back in Romans 19 verse 11, or in Acts 19, you're looking for Romans 19 you're going to have a hard time finding it. Alright, Acts 19 verse 11, And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hand of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them. Paul is doing wonderful things as proof and evidence that he is a man of God, sent with a specific calling to preach the gospel. This is how we can be confident that what he is saying is truly the good news of God, and not some crazy religious fanatic. In Romans chapter 15, verses 18 and 19, Paul says this, for I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum, I have fulfilled the ministry of the Gospel of Christ. Paul makes reference to His extraordinary gifts that accompany His extraordinary calling. Listen to Romans. Listen to what Paul has to say during this series. Jesus, your Lord and your Savior, has sent Him to share the gospel, the good news, with us. And what a person to do it. You see, Paul exemplifies the power of the gospel to transform us. He is living proof of the message he is carrying. He was a man who hated Jesus. who despised the church, who did everything in his power to destroy the effectiveness of the kingdom of God on earth. And while he was traveling to Damascus to put Christians in prison, what happened to him? The gospel happened to him. The power of God unto salvation. The man who hated Christ is now the one proclaiming Christ crucified. Wow. Tell me your story, Paul. Help me to understand. I want to be right with God. Show me the way because you obviously know it. So, we see the author. Now, the focus. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in Holy Scripture concerning his son. Paul wastes no time to get right to Jesus. What's this book of Romans about? What's this gospel about? It's not about doing a bunch of things. Think about all other world religion and distortions in Christianity. They're about us changing our behavior, doing things better so that we can gain God's favor. Paul says, it's not about me. I was doing the exact opposite. I was saved while I was seeking to destroy the church. The focus isn't us. It's the Son of God. It's Jesus Christ. Paul wastes no time. focusing our attention on Jesus. And that's what he's gonna do throughout the whole book of Romans. He wants us to see that the gospel, the good news that God is revealing to humans, centers on one person, one person, Jesus Christ. Who is this Jesus? That's the central question of importance in your life. You remember in Mark's gospel, Mark chapter eight, Jesus says, who do people say that I am? Well, some people think you're resurrected prophet. Some people think you're a teacher, a rabbi, a scribe. Then Jesus says, well, okay, who do you say that I am? Gets very personal. Who do people think Jesus is in our day? A good spiritual leader? Maybe a bad spiritual leader. Maybe a mystery that's not even true. Some people think that, oh, Jesus didn't really exist. But who cares what they think? What do you think? Who do you think Jesus is? And how does that matter in your life? Listen to what Jesus says about himself in John chapter 11. Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. And then he says, do you believe this? Do you? Jesus is the Christ, the hope of Old Testament Scripture. Verse 2, Paul is set apart for the gospel of God. Where do we find the gospel? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, is that it? Maybe Romans? How about Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ecclesiastes and Proverbs and Psalms and all of the books of Moses? That's what Paul says? Jesus is the gospel and the Old Testament was telling us about him. He's the hope of the Jew. He's the promised child of the Old Testament Scriptures. That's what Messiah means. Back in Genesis chapter 3, when sin enters the world because of the temptation of the serpent to Adam and Eve. We're told in Genesis 3, a promise to Eve that a seed, a child of Eve, and it's interesting that it's not a child of Adam. A little foretaste of the virgin birth in Genesis 3. It is a child, a seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent. And Eve is the mother of the living. So who is this seed, who is this promised child who we are awaiting to crush the head of the serpent and to bring life? Remember what Jesus said, I am the resurrection and life, look no farther, I'm the one, promised in Genesis chapter 3. He is foreshadowed in the sacrificial system. All of this sacrificing and slaughtering of animals. Why? To prepare us for the one final sacrifice. The Lamb of God sent to provide atonement for the sins of his people. He's the promised king to rule the people of God. You remember God's covenant with David. We talked about this recently in our sermon series on the life of David. God promises to David, I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him and he shall be my son." This gospel which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son who was descended from David. A direct fulfillment of that covenant promise. Jesus is our Lord, Paul says in verse 4. Jesus is the continuation, the climax of the story that is revealed to us in the Old Testament to the Jewish people. Paul's not introducing a new religion. He is telling the Jewish story, but he's telling it more accurately. They had gotten some things wrong. Jesus is the Christ of the Jews, but He's not exclusively for the Jews. He's for all man. The gospel is to be declared among all the nations, Paul says, in verse 5. When he makes statements like that, it really makes the Jewish people angry. He did it in his imprisonment in Jerusalem. He talked about being called to proclaim the gospel to the nations, and that's when they stopped listening to him. No, no. God is only for the Jews. Paul says, no, the good news is for all human beings. Jesus is described here as the God-man. He is descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness. John Calvin says this, that there are two things that must be found in Christ in order that we may obtain salvation from Him, divinity and humanity. Have you ever thought about how the nature of Christ, who He is as the God-man relates to your salvation? There's something special about Him. Christians believe that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, co-equal with the Father and the Spirit. We believe that He added to His divine nature, a human nature, at the Incarnation. And He did it for us and for our salvation as our creeds teach us. Why does it matter? Why does it matter that we get this so precisely correct? Why does Paul lead off the book of Romans talking about the nature of Christ being truly God and truly man, descendant of David and then declared by the power of the Spirit through His resurrection to be the Son of God? How does Christ's true humanity, His descending from David according to the flesh, matter for our salvation? Well, God didn't the law so that one of the persons in the Trinity could keep it. He sent the law for the human race to keep, and Adam failed. So the law had to be kept by a man for it to be imputed to us, for us to get credit for it. I was watching basketball last night. LeBron James, the Lakers, they won. Well, basically think of Jesus keeping the law for us like this. You have to be a Laker to play in that game, right? You can't, you know, if you're a Piston or a Celtic, you can't just jump on the court and play. You have to be a Laker in order to get credit for the win. Jesus had to be a man in order to play the game of law-keeping for us, to keep the covenant of creation. So He became a man, and He kept the law perfectly for us, so that He could impute it to everyone on His team. How do you get on His team? Paul says, by faith. By faith. When you put your faith in Him, you align yourself with Christ and everything that He has accomplished. So, His humanity allows Him to keep the law for us, to fulfill all the requirements of righteousness. We also needed a man to die. We had to pay the penalty of God's justice. He couldn't just say, nah, we'll just let this one fly. God is pure justice. And in Romans it says that he is just and the justifier of sinners. That's what they're talking about. We needed a man to die. Divine nature cannot die. Paul teaches us this in Romans 3. We needed a new man to introduce change and to advance our human nature. We're all connected to Adam. And what happened to Adam in Genesis 3? If you eat of the fruit, then what will happen to you? Death and decay. And that's what we experience. We need a new man to give life to us. Jesus is that. How does his divinity matter? Why does it matter that he is the one true God? Well, His divine nature enables Christ to withstand the full wrath of God's judgment for all of His chosen people without being overwhelmed and crushed by it. The divine nature gives Jesus power over death. remember in John 1 he is described for us as the source of life, the one who spoke life into existence. Now when you take the source of life and unite it to dead human nature, what happens? He brings life to it. Why did Jesus raise from the dead? Because He's life. How could He not? This is why His divinity matters. The divine nature enables Jesus to give the Spirit to those united to Him by faith. Look at Romans 8 verse 11. Romans 8 verse 11, If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, and if you're a Christian it does, if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So the focus of Romans is Jesus. Jesus as the God-man coming for the specific purpose of bringing salvation to sinners such as us. And then lastly and briefly, the audience. Who's he writing to? He tells us in verse seven, to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ the recipients the audience to this letter or is the church in Rome and look at how he addresses them a People who are pleasing in the sight of God is this you're the church in Columbus How do you view yourself in relation to God and Do you view yourself as those called in Columbus who are loved by God and called to be saints? If you believe the gospel, then you have to believe these things. Now I know the devil tries to tempt you other ways, oh my gosh, look at yourself, look at your weak, look at what a pathetic excuse of not only a Christian but just a person you are. You think God loves me? Yes, I do. He doesn't love me for what I've done, He loves me for what His Son has done and because I believe in Him. called to be, loved by God, called to be saints. This identity doesn't come through how good we've behaved lately, but it comes through our union with Christ through faith. I want to speak to you a little bit about the origins of the church. Just briefly I'll be able to pick up a little more on this in the next sermon Rome was the hub of Social life in the Roman Empire. You've probably heard the the statement all roads lead to Rome It was the central key city And the first Romans to hear the Gospel, they didn't hear it from Paul. It was not one of his missionary churches. They probably heard it in the very first sermon preached on the day of Pentecost. Back in, if you look back in Acts 2 verse 10, you'll see that there were visitors, Jews, who had visited Jerusalem from Rome. And they heard Peter's sermon, were converted And then they took that back to Rome and began to share the good news of Christ there. The initial church in Rome was probably dominated by Jewish converts. But something happened during the reign of the Roman ruler Claudius. I want you to turn back to Acts 18. So the church in Rome started out as a Jewish church, predominantly Jewish converts as most of the churches in the New Testament did. But things began to change in Rome because Claudius got mad at the Jewish population for some reason and he cast all of the Jews out of Rome. Boom, they're gone. Look at Acts chapter 18. 2. Paul is in Corinth and he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla. Why did they come to Corinth? Because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. So, started as a Jewish church, the Jews are kicked out, and then the Gentile population of Christians begins to grow and to predominate the membership of the church. Paul is writing, Not to an exclusively Gentile audience, but a predominantly Gentile audience. Look at Romans 1, verse 13. Paul says, I want you to know, 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 in chapter 11, verse 13, Paul says, now I am speaking to you Gentiles. So, He speaks to Jews in this letter a little bit, but his predominant audience is a Gentile audience. And the questions that this Gentile-dominated church faces are these. We're getting pressure from the Jews. We know that Jesus came from the Old Testament Scripture. Do we need to be circumcised? Is that a requirement for us? Paul answers that in the book of Romans. Then there's this. Okay, Paul answers that in the first couple of chapters. We don't have to be circumcised. That's a win for us. Are we better than the Jews? Because we believe. Spiritual pride creeps in. And then Paul writes Romans 11. and says, you were broken, the Jews were broken off because of their lack of faith. You were engrafted in, but don't boast because it's all by the glory and the predestination of God. You are who you are, not because of what you are, but because of God. How do we relate to civil government? The Jews tended to be disruptive, anti-government. The Gentiles were not. What do they do? Do they follow the Jewish tradition there? Paul writes Romans 13. to explain. The Gentiles and the Jews were culturally different. So Paul calls them both to show Christian liberty in dealing with non-essential matters for the sake of peace in the church. Don't become divided by a party spirit supporting your particular nuanced interests over the sake of peace and unity in the church on fundamental aspects of the faith. So, this is what we're getting ourselves into. And we'll move through the book of Romans and learn Paul's response to a number of these questions. But at the heart of it is this. You, like the Romans, are loved by God and called to be saints. And God wants to speak to you through his official delegate, the Apostle Paul, and tell you good news, the good news of God to sinners. And the good news is Jesus. Let us pray. Father, we come before You and we thank You for Your Word. We pray as we study the book of Romans that You would grant us Your Spirit to open the eyes of our minds to see the beautiful theology of the Gospel on full display in the book of Romans. May it warm our hearts. May it give us a greater sense of assurance and security in Christ. But may it also stir us up to love and good works and service to Him. We pray all of this in Christ's glorious name. Amen.