Romans chapter 1 and you find your place there if you'd stand for the reading of the Word of God this morning Romans chapter 1. The Bible says in verse 1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised to for by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 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 by whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations, for His name, among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ. To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Father in heaven, this morning we do sing Alleluia. Lord, we rejoice in the fact that they could not keep Jesus Christ, our Savior, in the tomb. But Lord, He is alive and well. In fact, Father, Your Word makes it clear that He is preparing a place up in heaven for all those who put their faith and trust in Him, in the saving power of His blood. and the power of His resurrection. I pray, Lord, as we look into Your Word this morning, that each of us, those who may already know Christ as their Savior, Father, that we would be challenged to see what we're doing with our knowledge of the resurrection, with what impact that's having on our daily living. And Father, for those that do not know Christ as their Savior, that today that they would realize the difference that a resurrected Lord can make in their lives. We ask all these things in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen. You may be seated. It's very easy for any of us, particularly in the U.S., to walk through the Easter holiday and view the event as a purely secular one. After all, clothing is offered at a discount. Restaurants are serving up special menus. Children are on a temporary sugar high. And you can even get a good price on a new car or home appliance, or for that matter, a bag of mulch. Today is, after all, one of the two most attended church services of the year. Yet I wish to remind us this morning that there is a purpose to this day that far surpasses all materialism. You see, this day brings purpose to life. This day brings a message of hope to a world that is getting gloomier by the hour. We find here the Apostle Paul writing to a church that he did not know in a personal fashion. It is believed that this church would have been started by some who would have been there at Pentecost and would have taken the gospel that they heard there at Antioch and gone back. And there, in leaving Jerusalem, have come to the city of Rome and have taken the truth, the transforming power of an almighty God, of a risen Savior, and proclaimed that message faithfully to those who were in spiritual darkness. And by the grace of God, they had come to know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. But it's interesting that we find in this passage that the resurrection of Jesus Christ impacted three areas of the Apostle Paul in his life. And if you are going to be what God wants you to be, whether you've been saved a week or whether you've been saved for many, many years, you have the same responsibility of living in the light of the truths of the resurrection. So this morning, I'd like for us to think about the declaration of deity. We find here, first of all, that the Apostle Paul allowed that the resurrection of Jesus Christ affected his manner. That is, it affected his everyday living, how he viewed himself, how he understood what his role was in this life, and how he understood what it was that God wanted him to be, and how he was to conduct himself. as a follower of Jesus Christ, as a believer of the resurrected Lord. First of all, the Apostle Paul takes no time at all in stating, I am a servant of Jesus Christ. Now, when we see that on the surface, we don't necessarily appreciate it for all that it means. For what the Apostle Paul was here saying was that he was a slave, a bondservant of Jesus Christ. One who would take all of his wishes and make them subservient to the wishes of his Master. And yet the beauty of this is the fact that the Apostle Paul made that decision of his own free will, of his own volition, of his own choice in choosing to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And in order for that to happen, we understand that, of course, he had to cast aside all of his own personal accomplishments. He could no longer boast of everything that he had learned and studied. He could not talk about the fact that he was a free-born citizen of Rome, because that was of no relevance in his daily manner. That was of no importance in his daily living and the way in which he conducted himself. And yet, you have to ask yourself today how easy it is for any of us, Christians and non-Christians alike, to be so enthralled with our titles. and to be so caught up with everything that we have done and everything that we have accomplished that no one would love to say, hey, I want to be the number one slave. You know, that sign-up sheet still has a lot of blanks on it that are yet to be filled in. But truthfully, what God desires of every single one of us who knows Jesus Christ as our personal Savior is that we would take our whole life and say, Lord, because I do believe that Jesus Christ rose from the grave, because I do believe that He is alive today, I want to serve Him with all of my days. He not only was a servant of Jesus Christ, He was a sent one. That is, He was an apostle. Now we know from Acts chapter 1 that he had to have been an eyewitness of the risen Lord. We know that the Apostle Paul would have seen Jesus Christ on that way to Damascus when that light shone down from heaven and he heard the voice of God speaking unto him. And there the Apostle Paul now took very seriously the calling that God had placed upon him. And in his daily living, his manner, he not only understood that, I am here to serve Jesus Christ, but he also realized, I am here as a sent one. I have something to do. I am not here as a representative of myself. But rather, I am here as a representative of Jesus Christ, the one true living Savior. And of course, it also mentions He was a servant, a sent one, and He was separated unto the gospel. In order to be separated unto the gospel, He had to be separated from the world. This is one of the areas today that I believe troubles us now in the particular age in which we live and certainly here in the United States of America more than perhaps any other time in our history. Because we do live in the land of prosperity. We do live in an affluent society. We do have a lot of the trappings of the world all around us, which is why every single one of us needs to get up at the beginning of every day and reflect on the fact today, what should my manner of living reflect as I go about my job, as I go to school, as I go out to the stores, as I go into the office? I am to be separated from this world. The story is told that soon after the Spanish adventurers of Cortes landed on the shores of Mexico, their forceful captain ordered their boats to be burned on the beach. From then on, it was victory or death. But you see, what happens all too often is we find people who want the ticket into heaven. They want to know that after this life that they're not going to go to a real hell. They want to go to the presence of God. They want to walk the streets of gold. They want to pass through the pearly gates. Ah, but I want to remind us that in order for one to be born into the family of God, one has to turn his back on the world and turn his eyes unto the Savior. take the world, the songwriter said, but give me Jesus. He was separated not only from the world but unto the gospel. separated unto the good news. If you were in our Bible study fellowship classes this morning, you will recall that we looked at 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and we examined what the gospel really is. And in a nutshell, it's nothing more than this, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. the good news and the joy that we have this morning of understanding that because Jesus Christ is alive, I can therefore, in my manner, in my daily living, reflect a living Savior to this world. Of course, the Apostle Paul understood that the gospel that Jesus Christ had come The gospel that Jesus Christ was alive, the gospel was what allowed Him to be separated unto the Lord. You see, the Bible says in Galatians 1.15, Paul writes, when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace. Of course, as that voice spoke to him there on that Damascus road, the Bible says, go thy way for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. And I want to ask you today, if you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, how did your manner the past seven days reflect that truth to this lost and dying world? All too often we become consumed with ourselves, with our own goals, with our own priorities. And we forget about the fact that what this world is dying to see is a people who will be for real and truly live in light of the transforming fact of a risen Savior. That we will be guarded in the way in which we talk. That we will take great care to not speak in vain the name of our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That we will be concerned with how we conduct ourselves to be above reproach in all of our business transactions. That we will be one who can be counted on as a person of integrity, who is honest, not because of our name, but because we bear the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. the One who came to save not just you and me, but literally to save the world. I'm grateful that the resurrection of Jesus Christ not only had an impact on His manner, but also on His message. You see, the Bible says in verse 2, which He had promised afore by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures. When we think about what Jesus Christ was accomplishing, What a joy it is that Paul was able to understand and to appreciate and to put forth the fact that, yes, the Word of God is just that. It is holy. It comes from God Himself. It is a message that can and should transform our lives. Paul writes to his son Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and in verse 15, "...and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." The Holy Scriptures. And of course we understand the Apostle Paul is here giving credence to what the prophets had said in the Old Testament. concerning Jesus Christ. Concerning the fact that according to the flesh, He did come of the seed of David. If you wish, you may turn to Jeremiah 23, where the Bible gives us one of those prophecies regarding Jesus Christ. and specifically David, when it says in verse 5, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. I'm certain that to a great extent nothing saddens the heart of Almighty God more than to see the way in which the vast majority of the people of Israel, the Jews today, who have turned their backs on Him. Why, it was just Friday, received a call at the house and I must confess the first thing I thought was it was a telemarketer and I got a little impatient and was about ready to hang up on them. Then I realized that they were calling about a service that I had and that it was not a telemarketer and it was someone who needed to confirm some account information. It was of a legitimate source. And so I began to answer the questions and realized that it was silly for me to get all frustrated and bent out of shape with someone who was taking time on my day off as we were celebrating Good Friday there with the family. And after she had talked to me for probably about 10 minutes and got all the information correct and reconciled a few different numbers and things like that, I said, now, I said, now that you've taken some of my time, let me just take a little bit of your time. And I said, I want to ask you, someone I've never met in my life, someone I probably will never see this side of heaven. But I said, I want to ask you, if you were to die today, do you know for certain that you would go to heaven or do you have some doubt? Of course, I'm sure the girl probably said, am I hearing things? You know, I'm trying to conduct business and I've been asked a religious question. She said, oh yes, she said, I'm looking forward to a peaceful existence on this earth. And I said, that's not what I'm referring to. I said, I'm asking you if you've ever come to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. To which she responded, oh, I tell you, we celebrated the Passover this last Tuesday. And immediately I realized she does not recognize the Messiah. She does not recognize the Anointed One. She does not realize that what we have here from the words of the Apostle Paul, that Jesus Christ came in fulfillment of what the prophets had said in the Old Testament. And so I challenged her in a very simple statement. I said, I would encourage you when you get home tonight to open your Bible and read Isaiah 53. Never know what the Lord might do. But I want to remind all of us this morning that the message that we have to proclaim today is of a real Messiah who came to this earth of the seed of David in fulfillment of the Scriptures, grateful for the promises of an all-powerful God. Paul writes in Titus 1, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. In Titus 1, verses 1 and 2. What a thrill it is to know that the message that we proclaim today The message that we proclaim is based on the promises of a God who cannot lie. A God who sent His very Son to be born in the flesh of the seed of David, but He doesn't stop there. Why, you see, the Apostle Paul says, 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. The Bible said, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus Christ came as God incarnate. He came with power. We think of The truth contained in 1 Timothy 3, verse 16, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. And you see, one of the problems with all of the cults that are out there today, but with many other religious groups, is they refuse to acknowledge the deity of Jesus Christ. Which is why you may see someone such as a Mormon who will tell you they believe in Jesus Christ. And I do not deny that fact. But they do not believe in Jesus Christ in a saving fashion. Because the only way belief in Jesus Christ will help you get into heaven is by believing that Jesus Christ is God incarnate. The Son of God. Not a prophet. No, that's a lie. That's blasphemy. That's heresy. But thank God there is a transforming message today, that Jesus Christ came to demonstrate the power of an Almighty God. And as I think back to the joy I had five years ago of going with our church over to the Holy Land and looking at what is Golgotha and seeing the place of the skull. and thinking of the crosses that would have been there some 2,000 years ago, and going to that garden tomb, of which they cannot say with absolute certainty that it was the tomb of Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, it meets a whole host of criteria, leaving one to believe it is extremely probable that it was the tomb of Jesus Christ. To see the hole that is there and the stone that is rolled away, and what a thrill it is to know that the reason the stone was rolled away was because when Jesus came, he did not come as man. Jesus came as God. And because he came as God, although he humbled himself and took upon him the form of a servant, became obedient unto death, we realize that through his power, We can know for certain that heaven, truthfully, will be our eternal home if we put our faith and trust in Him. You see, some people didn't understand the power of Jesus Himself. He tells us in John chapter 10 and verse 18, no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. Which is why when we think of Jesus Christ's death on the cross of Calvary, it did not catch him by surprise. It was not a fashion in which the plot of Pilate and the Roman soldiers had been successful. No, it was a part of God's perfect plan. It was a demonstration of Jesus Christ laying down His life for you and for me so that all of our sins could be forgiven. Ah, but what a joy it is to realize, as Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 4, though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. What is our message? Our message is of a risen Savior. Our message is of a God who is alive, who came and demonstrated His power on this earth, and who came according to the spirit of holiness. Hebrews 9 and verse 14, the Bible says, How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? You see, the message that we proclaim is not one of becoming a Baptist because you can become a Baptist and go straight to hell, my friend. It's by becoming a believer, by being born again, by recognizing Jesus Christ is my only hope of salvation. It's nothing of myself. It's nothing of my religion. It's everything to do with my risen Lord, Jesus Christ. And thank God for that spirit of holiness. Because you see, it's through the power of the Holy Spirit that we are made a new creature, that old things are passed away and all things are become new at the time at which you humble yourself, turn from your sins, and ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart and save you. That is what's so exciting about this life that we have here on this earth. Yes, there are discouraging things that are out there. Yes, there are all kinds of different political and economic signs that are not the most exciting. But I can tell you one thing that is absolutely a life-changing message from here till we take our last breath on this earth, and that is that Jesus Christ is alive and the Holy Spirit can take the most vile sinner that's ever walked the face of the earth and in an instant make his sins white as snow through the Spirit of holiness, through the power of God. And you may be here this morning and you may find yourself burdened under by a guilt, by a weight of sin and by the guilt of all the things that you've done. And you may say, but pastor, you don't have a clue of what my life has been like. There's no way that God could forgive me of all of that. And I want to remind you, there's no way that necessarily I could forgive you of that, that your spouse could forgive you of that, that your co-workers could forgive you of that, but there is all the way in the world that Jesus Christ could forgive you of that because He is a risen Lord and a risen Savior. But when we think about the message that we have, Yes, the resurrection of our Lord is the whole substance of our message. As we took time this morning in our Bible study fellowship classes to look at Romans 10, 9 and 10 and realize, if we do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you cannot be saved. It's impossible. But we also have to keep in mind that the resurrection of Jesus Christ affects our manner and our message, and lastly, our mission. The Bible says in verse 5, by whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name. I'm grateful this morning that because my Lord is alive, He has given me a mission. And to this local church, He has given a mission, which is to take the gospel as was proclaimed in our drama this morning, taken from the Gospel of Mark, to every creature. But you see, what we've got to take to every nation is not humanitarian aid, although there's nothing wrong with helping people to have better living conditions. But you can provide all of the water, all of the sanitation, all of the food. You can cause a person's life to be extended by a decade or more. And if you have not given them Jesus Christ, you are condemning them to an eternity in hell. What impact does it have upon us? What are we going to do with our mission? You see, you heard mention made that the most exciting week of our church is our Missions Conference, which is three weeks away, and I'm looking forward to that. But I want to remind us that the mission of taking the message of obedience to the faith The faith that is found in Jesus Christ is a mission that ought to rest on our hearts every single day of our lives. That everywhere I go, I must be consumed with the fact that this world around me needs to know that Jesus Christ is the answer. And what am I going to do to share that message with them? That I have to take this message personally. for obedience to the faith of all nations for His name. And of course, what is that mission that we are to take to them? Why, we find in verse 6 it is, among whom are you also the called of Jesus Christ. You see, the message that we take of a risen Savior is reflected in our mission to see souls saved. To understand that when Jesus Christ hung on that cross, there was no one for whom He did not die. There was no one for whom His blood is not more than sufficient to cover their sins. There is no one who cannot find power over death. through faith in His name. Sometimes we hesitate at taking that first step. We can think of all the reasons as to why today is not a good day. We can go down the list and we can say, well, it's just not going to work. This isn't convenient. I've got other things to do. And so too does that same attitude all too often creep into our hearts and our thoughts as children of God. I don't need to be worried about missions. That's what the missionary will take care of. I don't need to be worried about reaching the world with the gospel. That's what they will do. when what the Apostle Paul was doing as he was writing to these believers here at Rome was trying to help them to be put in mind of the fact that we have a responsibility of fulfilling our mission of preaching a message of salvation to this lost and dying world. But it's not only those who are called of God, but notice in verse 7, it is a message also of sanctification to all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. I'm so thankful that as we understand Jesus Christ, we realize that once someone is saved, there is to be an immediate and ongoing process of sanctification. You see where it says called to be saints there, it's set apart. It's not that there's some select group. out of the church that is chosen to be saints. It's every single one who has received Jesus Christ as his Savior, who's put his faith and trust in that risen Lord. You are, in the eyes of God, a saint. It has nothing to do with them making a bronze statue of you after you're dead. It has everything to do with your putting your faith and trust in a risen Lord. And he closes this paragraph by saying, grace and peace. Now, what's the big deal about that? Well, we have to keep in mind, grace would have been the common Gentile greeting. Peace would have been the Hebrew greeting. And what Paul wanted them to understand, Jews and Gentiles alike, we are brought together as one. through the work of Jesus Christ. What's the big deal about the resurrection? Well, it ought to be reflected in your manner and in mine. Why make over the fact that Jesus Christ is alive? Because that ought to be your message and mine. Why be concerned about the fact that Jesus Christ is not dead, but He is alive? Because that is a part of our mission today. Where have you fallen short? You see, none of us is perfect. First and foremost, if you've not been born into the family of God, the Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God in Romans 3 and verse 23. So what you have to do if you cannot point to a time in your life where you know beyond a shadow of a doubt you turned from your sins and turned to God in repentance and asked Him to forgive you of your sins, you need to be born again, my friend. But then once you've been born again, you now need to assess your life as to what you are doing in your manner, in your message, and in your mission. Are you praying as much for the lost as you should? Are you giving? It's a joy to participate in grace giving, giving to the work of missions. That's not for those that are super spiritual, that's for every child of God to be concerned with taking our money that really belongs to God in the first place and giving it back to Him that more churches might be established. It's interesting to note that by the time the Apostle Paul died, of a ministry that spanned a little more than 10 years, there were over 30 churches that were established. All because one man was transformed by the power of a risen Lord. Now I ask you today, how is this world different Fairfax, Springfield, Centerville, Manassas, Annandale, Clifton. How is this world different? Because you have been transformed by the power of a risen Lord. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Every head bowed and every eye closed.