today, the letter, the epistle to the church in Rome, the book of Romans. It is a book that I just personally really do want to spend some time in again at this point in my life. Now, it's true, many of you already know this, that I have already preached through this book. It's been many, many years, several years ago, and there's been many new people that have come into our church since then. Plus, I just personally am at a different point in my walk with Christ. now than I was then. So, all of that together made the choice somewhat easy. We really do need to learn from this book together. It's a great book. In fact, the perspective of many is that the Epistle to the Romans is one of the greatest Christian writings of any genre. One commentator puts it this way, Andy Nasselli, in his new commentary on Romans, he writes, Paul's letter to the Romans is arguably the single most important piece of literature in the history of the world. Pretty sure you have those slides back there and all these quotes and things like that that'll make it easier because these are going to be on the test. You're going to have to spit these, you'll have to spit these out on the exam. That was Andy Nasselli. There's not a quote by Augustine up there, but Augustine's theology has been a major influence in the church worldwide, and his theology was significantly influenced by a study of the book of Romans. But go forward in church history, and you do come to Martin Luther. The impact of the book of Romans on Martin Luther's theology is definitely very well-known. He came to his own understanding of doctrines like sin and the law and the gospel and faith and salvation and righteousness and so forth by studying this letter. So I have one quote from him there. This epistle is really the chief part of the New Testament and is truly the purest gospel. It is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word by heart, but also that he should occupy himself with it every day as the daily bread of the soul. We can never read it or ponder over it too much, for the more we deal with it, the more precious it becomes. and the better it tastes." No doubt the Reformation was greatly influenced by his and other study of the book of Romans, including John Calvin. John Calvin did write a commentary on Romans that a lot of people have used and read. One of his quotes is this, if we have gained a true understanding of this epistle, we have an open door to all the most profound treasures of Scripture. You can find a lot of quotes from those who are still alive and ministering and writing today. John Piper wrote this, Romans is the most important theological Christian work ever written. Ben Merkel is on staff or associated with Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He writes, Paul's letter to the church at Rome is the greatest letter ever written because of its great impact in history, its grand theology about Christ and its practical instructions for Christian living. Daniel Doriani is on staff at Covenant Theological Seminary, and he writes, this letter is relatively short. It takes about 60 minutes to read aloud, but it is profound. It explains and results in and applies the greatest news we could hear. We don't study this great letter as we would examine a great poem or novel. In Romans, we have the inspired summary of the truth about God, man, sin, salvation, and righteousness. It is a message to study. More deeply, it is a message to believe, for it grants life, reveals and inculcates God's love, and moves us to walk with our Lord. And that's certainly the result that we want for our own lives as we study this book together. It is a great and exciting privilege, really, to start this study with you here on Sunday mornings. Now, anytime you start a new book like this, it does help to at least briefly address some introductory material. That can be very dry. I hope it's not to you, and I'll move through it as quickly as possible. But some technical information about the book. Let's start with the authorship of the book, for example. When letters were written back in ancient times, there was a particular pattern they would follow, and usually the letters would start with the name of the writer. Unlike our letters, we put our name at the very end. They would start with the name, and so at the beginning of the book, chapter 1, verse 1, Paul, he says, I'm the one who wrote this book. No serious scholar doubts that. No serious scholar doubts that the apostle Paul wrote all 16 chapters, and all 16 chapters are the original form of it. And again, we find that stated in verse 1. Now, we know who Paul is. Paul was born into a Jewish family. He's from Tarsus, and we know that his Hebrew name was Saul. His Jewish heritage was considered blameless. We can find that in the book of Philippians, as you know, where he notes himself that he was circumcised on the eighth day. That was very important in the Jewish religion. He says he was of the stock of Israel. He was of the tribe of Benjamin. That elevated his status in Judaism, that he was from that tribe. In fact, he described himself in summary as a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He spoke Hebrew. They spoke Hebrew in their home, and as other Jewish male children, he was taught a trade, a manual trade. And we know from Scripture what the trade is that he learned. He was a tent maker. Probably around the age of 13, he was sent by his wealthy Pharisaic father to study in Jerusalem under the respected Gamaliel. Gamaliel was a Pharisee who was considered an expert in Mosaic law. Paul was sent there around the age of 13 to study under that man. That would have been a great privilege. But when we think of this man, Saul of Tarsus, we think of this, that most significantly, he turned into a fanatical and notorious hater of Christ and persecutor of Christians and the church, imprisoning Christians and putting them to death. In fact, the very first time he's mentioned in Scripture, which is Acts chapter 7 verse 58, how's he mentioned there? He was holding the robes of those who were stoning the believer Stephen. But An extraordinary thing happened to this man. On the road to the city of Damascus, when he was traveling there to persecute more Christians, the resurrected Christ came to Saul, revealed himself to Saul, and it was then, in those moments, that this man Saul realized that his error the error of all his ways, and he came to be a follower of Christ, a follower of this one that he hated so much before. He was converted. And then after his conversion, he became an extraordinary witness of Christ, the resurrected Christ, an extraordinary witness of the life-changing power of the gospel, especially on his three missionary journeys when he was sent out to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. And it was on that first missionary journey in Acts chapter 13 that the Bible switches and he began to be known by the name Paul. Now, that was not a new name for him. It was common for a first century Jew to have both a Hebrew name, which would be Saul, and a Greek or Roman or Latin name, which would be Paul. He would have had both of those names growing up. But in God's providence, by Acts chapter 13, on that first journey, he begins to be known more in the world as Paul. Well, as the years went by, he was arrested more than once, he was imprisoned more than once. Tradition states that he was eventually beheaded around 67, the year 67 AD in Rome, and that his corpse was buried there. in the subterranean catacombs and labyrinths under the city of Rome. Well, no doubt, Paul is one of the most significant individuals in Scripture. Well, back to our letter, after the name of the author, ancient letters would usually include in the introduction the name of the recipients to whom they were writing, a greeting, sometimes a short prayer. Paul follows that pattern in all of his letters, all except for Galatians, but when he follows this pattern, he does insert some significant modifications, one being that he turns his openings and his introductions into vehicles for doctrine and Christian teaching, important Christian teaching. And that is why the introductions in his letters are usually longer than the letters of the day in which he lived. And nowhere is that more true than the book of Romans. It is the longest introduction in all of his New Testament writings. One more interesting fact, Paul used an amanuensis, big fancy term for secretary, personal assistant, Romans 16.22, I tertius. who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord. In other words, Paul dictated this letter over time to this man, Tertius. We know from even historical writings that at that time in history, they actually used shorthand. They wrote in both longhand and shorthand. So using one of those methods, this man, Tertius, took down what Paul dictated. Now, when did that happen? When did he write this? It can be very difficult to date ancient letters, but when you take Some of Paul's comments in the book of Romans, some of his statements about his travels, and when you compare them with what's in the book of Acts, you can narrow it down to a period of time somewhere between A.D. 55 and 58 is when this letter was penned. And we also can conclude where he was likely when he wrote it, and that was in the city of Corinth, the place of writing. In Acts chapter 18, we find that he had a long, fruitful ministry in the city of Corinth. But the reason we believe that that's likely where he wrote the letter from is because of some of the names that we find in chapter 16. He greets several people in chapter 16 that are from the city of Corinth. One of those, more specifically, was a woman named Phoebe. Phoebe lived near Corinth, a suburb of Corinth, you could say, in a town that was Corinth's eastern port. sort of a short distance from Corinth proper, he directs the church in Rome to greet Phoebe, which causes scholars to conclude that Phoebe was actually given the task of delivering this letter after it was penned to the church in Rome. So Paul did know several individuals in this Roman church, but he had never been to the city himself when he wrote this letter. I've already mentioned, he finally did make it to Rome. but it was as a prisoner. And as I said, it was there he was eventually executed. But he wrote to this church. He knew some individuals. He had never been there. Just a little more information about the church in Rome I think will aid our study. Since he had never been to Rome prior to this letter, we can conclude then that he obviously did not establish this church. In fact, it's right and safe to assume that this church was not planted by any apostle. We reject what some non-respected writers have said, that they believe Peter founded the church in Rome. No, it was not planted by any apostle. All we know is that it existed somewhere in the late 30s or early 40s. Several house churches composed of both Jews and Gentiles existed in the city. There was a Christian community. How did that happen? How did they hear the gospel? Well, we do know from Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost when the gospel began to be preached even in foreign languages, preached by people who never even learned those foreign languages before, the gift of tongues. And as those languages were interpreted, if they needed to be interpreted or heard in their own language, Scripture tells us that there were those from Rome who were there. And some of those visitors, some of those Jews heard the gospel there and were saved and then returned to Rome. And God used them to begin to form a Christian community there and plant a church there. So likely at the beginning, this church was established first by Jewish Christians. And they began to evangelize other Jews in the synagogues. But yet in those synagogues, there were God-fearing Gentiles there as well. They heard the gospel. Some Gentiles began to embrace the gospel. Plus, there were Gentile slaves and merchants and artisans that would travel to Rome to work, and some of them may have joined the churches. The point is, eventually, there was a mix of many in the church, Jews and Gentiles. In fact, it was this mix of Jews and Gentiles that ultimately resulted in some tensions in the church in Rome, tensions that Paul addresses later in the letter. Something else to know. In the late 40s, in the city of Rome, there were some tensions growing between Jews and Jews who had come to Christ over who Christ is. And that tension developed into some disturbances in the city. And as a result of those disturbances, in AD 49, Claudius banished the Jews from Rome, told them to get out because of the disturbances. That matches something that's said in Acts 18 verse 2, and he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. I just realized you don't have all that verse up there, but I just told you what it said, Acts 18 2. Because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome, it's in the Bible, in addition to secular material. I wouldn't say that every single Jew left because of that, but most did, the majority of did. And that meant for a while the Christian community switched and became predominantly Gentile. But once Claudius died, his decree died with him, and Jews began to gradually return to Rome. And as that happened, tension began to arise between the Jews and the Gentiles who were in the church. The Gentiles would not have been as devoted to the law as these Jews would have been who were returning to Rome. And while the Jews were gone, the Gentiles would have even sort of learned some new directions to go into. So tensions, and we find these tensions confirmed by what Paul does write later in Romans 9, 10, 11, but specifically Romans chapters 14 and 15. In any case, in the final chapter, because of the names that are mentioned, we can conclude that at least five house churches existed in the city of Rome and very possibly more that Paul was acquainted with. But why did he write it? What about the purpose for the book of Romans? There actually seems to be several purposes that you could identify in Romans. I'm only going to briefly give you a list that I've accumulated. One was, he was introducing himself to them. Like I said, he'd never been there. Second, he wrote to confirm that his teaching was theologically sound. Now, Romans as a book does not address every theological topic. It doesn't address some of the topics that Paul addresses in other letters. But he does address the gospel in great detail. He definitely needed them to know that the gospel he preached was orthodox and sound. He also wrote to defend his office of being an apostle. These Christians in Rome needed to listen to him, but why? He was an apostle, he had to defend that. He wrote to deal with this conflict that I mentioned between the Jews and Gentiles because he wanted to see unity brought about in the church. Overall, it was a healthy church. Overall, he was pleased with the church, but this conflict was still concerning. So one of his aims was to unify the church, especially around the gospel, so that Jews and Gentiles would worship and serve God together in harmony. Something else he had on his mind. His long-term goal was to get to Spain, and he planned to go through Rome on his way to Spain. He needed this church unified. He needed them to affirm his teaching of the gospel because he wanted them to serve as a missionary base for his work and his trip to Spain. They weren't unified. If they didn't affirm his teaching, then certainly they would not support his mission. But lastly, to summarize it all, he wanted to see this church unified because a unified church brings glory to God. It brings praise to God's name. So he ultimately wrote Romans as a servant of God to honor his Lord. What's the overall theme of the book? Well, a lot of interpreters disagree about what the one central theme is, is because there's more than one theme. But I think, no doubt, what's at the forefront is the gospel. And, of course, the gospel includes attendant doctrines, the doctrine of justification by faith alone, the doctrine of the imputed righteousness of Christ that's available on equal terms to Jews and Gentiles. Perhaps a summary theme statement could be worded this way. worked on it and tweaked it more than once. Romans presents the glory of God as revealed in the gospel and it's a message that unites all believers in worship and in mission and in practice. And I think the familiar passage in chapter 1 verse 16 is the passage that best undergirds that kind of theme statement. Paul writes, I am not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, but also to the Greek or the non-Jew. If you just want an outline for the entire book, it does divide into three sections kind of nicely. You can call them different things. I've chosen to label them this way. Chapters 1 and 2 are presenting the universal condition of all mankind. Jews and Gentiles all have the same problem, ultimately, sin. Chapters 3 through 11 flesh out what is the singular cure for that, the gospel message and the unrighteousness of Christ. But if someone does come to Christ, then there's an expected lifestyle. The expected conduct then is fleshed out in more detail in chapters 12 through 15. Well, we begin today our study, obviously, with the introduction. The introduction is the longest of Paul's letters. As I said, it's verses 1 through 7. We won't get through all those verses today. In fact, if you noticed the slide earlier, we won't even finish verse 1 today. It was said, it's verse 1a. Okay, so we're looking at 1a. I promise you, I will not take that long on every phrase of the book of Romans. Look at me, I'm old. I don't have time to do that. It's true that there were some at Rome who were his acquaintances, his friends, maybe even some of his converts, but to most of the ones in Rome, he was a stranger to them. Hard for us to comprehend. Who is this apostle Paul who wrote this letter? I mean, we have him elevated in our hearts because he's so significant. But he did need to present himself in such a way that they would understand why he was qualified to write this letter to them. And so in a sense, what we have in verse 1 are his credentials. It's the three most important ways that he desired the Romans to think about him. And we're going to look at the first one today. How did he want them to think about him? How did he desire to be known? First of all, number one, by the master he serves. By the master he serves. Verse one begins, Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus. Now when he labeled himself a bondservant or a servant, he could have used any one of six different Greek terms that express what it means to serve Christ. And they're all good terms, but he deliberately chose the strongest one. It's the Greek term doulos, which is the normal Greek word for slave. Unlike a servant, that's the term diakonos, which we're familiar with in New Testament. We get our word deacon from that, a servant. Unlike a servant, a diakonos, who makes a choice to serve freely, free to serve or not to serve, a doulos, a slave, belongs to his master, is owned by his master. So obviously, this conjures up the idea in their culture of a slave market. A slave would be placed upon the block and somebody would buy that individual and that individual then became this term, a doulos, a bond slave of the individual who now owned him. So this term emphasizes, yes, a type of bondage. And obviously, we understand the evils of all of that. I'm just telling you, this is the term he used A term that emphasizes some form of bondage because a slave had no rights. They were owned by a master. Saul of Tarsus is saying, I came to be a slave." And he understood that concept from the very first moment of his new relationship with Christ on the road to Damascus. Because when the resurrected Christ struck him down and revealed himself to Saul, when that man Saul laid in the dust of that road, blinded by the glory of Christ's presence, what were his first words? Who are you, Lord? He knew he was dealing with God. Something else to consider. Our English term LORD represents, in the Old Testament, represents the famous covenant name of God, that four-consonant Hebrew name that we pronounce as Yahweh, and we spell it out that way, Yahweh. Sometimes it's found as Jehovah. In our English translations of the Old Testament, it'll be in capital letters LORD. When it's in capital letters, that lets you know it's the Hebrew word Yahweh. But the Hebrew Old Testament was eventually translated into Greek, so those who spoke Greek could read it. And when they chose a Greek term, then they would choose a New Testament word called kurios. Kurios is our English term Lord in the New Testament. So in the Greek Old Testament, kurios would be the word they would use. to talk about the Lord. So Jesus took that title, Kurios, which is a major proof of His deity because it connects Him with the name then, Yahweh. In fact, notice one more thing about his master in our verse. He calls his master Christ Jesus, and it is best in the original to see Christ listed first there. Christ Jesus. Christ means the anointed one, the Messiah. Jesus, his master, was the promised one of the Old Testament, the one who would come. That was his master. That was the one he was a slave to. And so he understood this one that he served, the promised Messiah, God Himself. He understood that inherent in having a master are some concepts like surrender, and devotion, and obedience. My point is, that's what it means to be a Christian. A Christian is someone who follows Christ as the Lord, the master of their life. Let's just quickly be reminded of some of the New Testament verses that are important to our understanding of this. Jesus is Lordship. Romans 10, 9 later on says it very clearly, if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you'll be saved. And no one can make that confession, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, unless the Holy Spirit prompts their hearts to do it, reveals Jesus to them in their hearts. No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. But when the Holy Spirit does open someone's heart to believe, they do understand He's the Lord. In fact, there's coming a day, according to Philippians 2, where the entire world will recognize the truth about who Jesus is. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That's just who He is. There is no such thing in scripture as embracing Jesus as Savior, but I don't really like the idea of lordship. There's nowhere in scripture the idea of embracing Jesus as your Savior so your sins are forgiven and then maybe later on in life you really take it seriously and so you make Him Lord of your life. That's not a biblical concept because He is Lord, that's just who He is. Now there's a theologian I love to read, his name is John Frame. He has some books, four volumes, I think it is, of his lectures. I love to read his lectures. And in some of his lectures, he has summarized well for us that there are essentially three aspects to this thing called lordship, Jesus' lordship. So I want to give them to you. And these three are inseparable. In other words, keep in mind that one connects to the other. You can't separate the three. But here's the first one. What does lordship mean? What does it mean that he's lord? Lordship means control. Just inherently, it means control. The lord, the master, is in total control of the world. That means he controls all the forces of nature. He fully controls the entire course of history. Nothing happens outside His sovereign Lordship. He's in complete control of the salvation of sinners. There are lots of verses that connect with this, just a couple of far-reaching ones. Ephesians 1 verse 11, He works all things after the counsel of His will. That's just what He does because He has control of everything. I love Hebrews 1 verses 2 and 3 where it presents Christ who He really is, that He's the image of God. the radiance of God's glory, but it says there in verse 2 that God, through Him, Christ, made the world. We know from Colossians that through Christ the entire physical world was made. The planets and stars and all that kind of stuff, but here it's a different word for world. It's the word world, aionos, that means the epics of time on the timeline. It's saying that through Christ, God created all the epics of history. all the epics of history on the timeline. Christ has completely control over them. He's in completely control of our epic today in which we live. Nothing happens outside His sovereign control. And it goes on in verse 3 to say He upholds or He maintains all things just by the word of His power. He is carrying history. Everything toward its destined end just as God has determined. Remember that when you listen to the news. All of this prompted Paul to write wonderful words of praise at the end of Romans 11. We'll get there in about 12 years maybe. Romans 11, 36, for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. Why? Because He's in control of everything. Do you know that even sin and evil are part of God's plan? Very mysterious. Granted, we got to be very careful how we articulate things related to this in the statements we make, but nevertheless, Scripture ascribes human sin as being a part of God's purposes. Think about what Joseph said to his brothers in Genesis 50 verse 20. Many years before that, his brothers had sold him into bondage, sinned against him. It was an evil sin. Fast forward in history toward the end of their lives when they were older. The brothers reconnected with Joseph, as you know, in that great scene, but they go to Joseph eventually and say, what are you going to do to us now because of all those terrible things we did to you and how we sinned against you? And Joseph says, you meant evil. It was sin. But God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result. There is nothing outside His sovereign control. Take the greatest sin ever committed, the crucifixion of the Master, the Son of God. Acts 2.23, that happened because Jesus was delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. Yes, there was human instrumentation. He was nailed to a cross by the hands of some sinners. So who put him to death, the Jews or the Romans or God? The answer is yes. God used those human instruments, but it was all part of even that evil act, part of his predetermined plan. Listen, I understand we can't fully understand God's reasons for incorporating evil into His plan. We can only say that God does it for a purpose that, in the total context of history, is a good and holy and just purpose. So my point is, when someone comes to Christ to be saved, they are coming to Him in the depths of their heart. They are coming to Him in submission to His control of their lives. I'm not saying they understand all the implications of that for the rest of their lives, but that is the bent of their heart. He's the Lord. Number two, lordship means then authority. Authority. What's authority? Well, authority means you have the right to demand obedience. And it's only the Lord that supremely has that right. So we say His authority is absolute. and included in that is the reality that he cannot be rightly questioned. I'm not saying that we don't have questions and we pour our hearts out to the Lord and things like that. But literally taking issue with God? No. No one has the right to do that. Paul will comment on that later in Romans 9. Who are you, old man, who answers back to God? The thing molded, that's us, we're the clay. We'll not say to the molder, the one who molds the clay, the one who's in charge, why are you doing this? Why are you making my glass like this? What's going on? We don't have any right to say that because he has all the authority. His authority is absolute and therefore what he says must be obeyed. Jesus could not have put it more clearly than this, John 14, 15, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. They go together. You can see then that there is an attitude of loyalty that's in the deepest part of who we are when we come to Christ. It's a new loyalty. And it's a loyalty that must transcend all other loyalties. That's always been God's way. Exodus 20 verse 3, the Ten Commandments, you shall have no other gods before me. Matthew 10, Christ says, he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. If you find your life, you're going to lose it. And he goes on to say, you've got to love me more than you love father and mother and brothers and sisters. It's an ultimate, absolute loyalty to him. And that's why Paul says in Philippians 3, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ as my Lord. He has ultimate authority, absolute authority. And yet it's true in Scripture that we are told that God has ordained other legitimate human authorities as well, like government, like employers. in the marriage relationship, husbands, in the family, parents, in the church, elders, and so on. And Scripture does call us to honor and obey those authorities. there is a limit to the obedience to human authorities. If those human authorities demand something contrary to God's Word, or if they set up their own ideas to be on the same level of Scripture, we must reject their claims. As Peter articulated in Acts 5, we must obey God rather than man, if it ever comes to a choice. Of course, submitting to Christ and being loyal to him and obeying what he says. I'm not saying this is what makes you a Christian. Be careful about that. It doesn't make you saved to submit to Christ. It does not justify you before God. Only the imputed righteousness of Christ can do that. But those who are saved will come to Him as Lord and they will live their lives then seeking how to keep His commandments. And this mindset of submission to the Lord's authority, submission to the Lord's control, it results in us constantly then seeking to bring all of our thoughts and practices more in line with Scripture because this is where we find out what our Master wants from us, God's Word. And that process Over our lifetimes requires the elimination of previously held perspectives sometimes. It requires the elimination of some traditions that we've been holding on to. We have to beware of anyone who tells us we have to worship and think or behave in accord with some historical tradition. That's not our final authority. Our motto is all things according to God's Word because He's our master and this is what He's told us. But with that in mind, the fact is our submission to Christ and to His authority and to His control is something that impacts every area of our lives. It governs all areas of our lives. 1 Corinthians 10.31, whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it to the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 10.5, we're taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Colossians 3, whatever you do, Do your work heartily for the Lord." That's the Christian life. It's characterized by submission to Christ's control and Christ's authority, and that means submission to Scripture in every area of our lives. Listen, the Lordship of Christ is the answer for our problems. In our personal and private lives, what's the real ultimate answer there for any issues we have? The Lordship of Christ. In our marriages, in our families, what's the ultimate answer for problems? What's the ultimate answer for marital problems? A husband and wife having the same standard, the Lordship of Christ. No matter what failures happen, you have to go back to that. He's Lord. I must obey Him. It's the answer for problems in friendships. In your pursuit of your education, it's the ultimate issue, the Lordship of Christ in your life, in your careers, in your hobbies. No area of life is to be untouched by our desire to obey and honor the Lord. No area of our lives is to be untouched by our desire to be like Him. But let me rush to say, this doctrine, of the Lord's complete and absolute control and authority, His Lordship, is not a burdensome doctrine. It is the most marvelous form of liberation and liberty to serve Christ as Lord. Because we are serving and obeying and following a good and loving Lord. When He bought us, He rescued us. And that connects with the third aspect of lordship, as summarized by John Frame, at least. Lordship means control. Lordship means authority. But this is so encouraging. Lordship means presence. What do I mean by that? I mean that the Lord I'm talking about, He's not distant. He's not detached. He's not disinterested. He's not a dictator that's just out there somewhere and so transcendent that we have no relationship with Him. No, this Lord takes a people unto Himself. He purchases them. He has purchased them. And He will always be with them. The presence of the Lord with his people is a wonderful theme and it pervades scripture all the way back to Genesis. God's always said this to his people, I will be with you. Matthew 8, 28, 20, the Lord said this before ascending back to heaven, I am with you always. We sang it earlier, the name Emmanuel, that name means God with us. What a profound thought. Our dictator. is a perfect, benevolent dictator. And we rest in that thought. The thought that the Lord is intimately close to us at every moment of life. Our master loves us. Our master cares for us and guides us and corrects us and changes us. What a wonderful Lord that we submit to. It should be obvious then that the Bible does teach what some have labeled lordship salvation. I think some articulate it the wrong way and makes it sound like it's steps you have to go through in order to earn your salvation, but that's not it. It's just that those who are saved, if God regenerates somebody and gives them saving faith, those that He does that in, they submit to Christ's lordship from their heart. It doesn't mean that when they confess His Lordship from their heart that they're perfect from the start, that they're perfect in their devotion to Him in every way. No, but it is this attitude that's settled in the heart that He is God and we are not. And then the application of Jesus' Lordship to the Christian life is a process that is ongoing and is not completed until we get to heaven and are glorified. So back to the beginning, Paul says to Rome, this is who I am. This is what I want you to know about me. I'm a slave. But what Paul said about himself is something that every true Christian should say. Christ has purchased us out of the marketplace of sin. So now our time, our strength, our talents, even life itself, they don't belong to us, they belong to our Master. That's the perspective we should live with daily. Back to the term slave. Granted, it's an offensive term. I mean, due to the terrible and sinful things that some people have done to other people in history, it's an offensive term. due to the terrible and sinful things that have happened in our own country. But it's also a biblical term. And in this biblical term, we find that it is a fruitless endeavor to try to serve several masters. You know, honoring God one day, but then honoring career another, and honoring hobbies and pleasure on other days. It's okay to have those things. In fact, when it comes to employers, you can have more than one job. You can serve more than one employer. You can have more than one hobby. But we cannot serve two masters because single ownership and full-time service are the very essence of biblical slavery. Christ said it this way, Matthew 6 verse 24. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. That's Christ speaking, Matthew 6. And notice something important when Paul says in Romans 1 1a, This is the first thing he says about himself. He says this before he mentions the fact that he's an apostle. And that's the same thing for us. We are slaves first, as leaders in this church, elders second. We are slaves first, Sunday school teachers second. We're slaves first, musicians second. We're slaves first, businessmen second. We're slaves first, fathers and mothers second. We're slaves first, husbands and wives second, and so on. This is our identity. Every ordinary Christian is a doulos. Every Christian can say, Romans 6.22, we have been freed from sin and become enslaved to God. So when you look at due loss biblically, it's a great term. It's a term that ought to be precious to us. It reminds us what the Lord did for us, that He bought us with His own blood, 1 Corinthians 6 says. Let me speak bluntly with you. I'm not inviting you to slavery. I don't invite people to slavery as if they're not already enslaved. Everybody's a slave. Everyone is a slave to something. Everyone serves someone or something. And for most, they are slaves to their own desires, slaves to their own opinions, slaves to their own needs, slaves to their own impulses. No one is truly free. So the real question is, who or what is your master? I like to think of salvation then as a transition. We move from being enslaved to our desires and needs and opinions and impulses to now being enslaved to Christ. And what a joy it is to serve Him. If you don't know Christ, if you've never come to that place where you have bent the knee of your heart to Him, where you have come in saving faith to Him, trusting in Him alone to forgive you of your sin. Then the question is, do you want to be free from the slavery that you're in? Then come be a slave of Jesus. Give up all that you are for all that He is. Come to Jesus. Come follow Jesus. And if you're young here, I'd say. Come to Jesus now so you have the joy of serving him. Potentially for many, many years. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you are a merciful, gracious, loving master. We thank you for your son, Christ Jesus, our Lord. You've given him the name above every name. Lord. And what a joy is to know that He's our Master. Lord, for anyone here who's not following Christ, I pray You would put within their hearts a desire to know and serve and follow Him. In our Savior's name, amen.