Well, tonight I invite you to turn to the Book of Romans. It's been 10 years since we have looked at this book and with many new people and changing church, the elders thought and with a lot of your encouragement that this would be helpful to the congregation. So we are going to work again through the Book of Romans, which I am very excited to do. So we'll begin tonight with the first seven verses of Romans chapter one. this is the word of the lord 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 the 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 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 may the lord bless tonight hearing of his word well tonight we begin this great study in this great book of romans and i have to say up front that its value cannot be underestimated its aim is to present to us the pure gospel of jesus christ and to help this church in rome to appreciate the gospel and all of the intended effects of that in their life together as a church it was the great swiss theologian francis godea swiss writer who said that when every time we have any kind of spiritual renewal in the life of the church when we see great renewal it will be connected as effect and cause with a deeper understanding he said with the book of Romans I think it was the early Chris church father John Chrysostom who would have this book read to him every single day the gospel some portion of Romans read to him because he realized how much and he would forget the gospel in his life how much he needed to be refreshed in it constantly you know that even this was this book where by Augustine was reading in chapter 13 and was convicted about sin and turned to the Lord. This book is, well, the one book if you were on a desert island you'd want to take with you. So we're not a generation, I have to say, that has somehow come to greatly appreciate the gospel as we should. of all the attacks of the evil one in your life and on the church, it has to do, his great attack is to undermine the Christian message, to undermine the heart of the Christian message, to strip the Christian of assurance and confidence in what the gospel has declared to him, what the gospel has announced to him. It is Satan's great work to undermine that in your life so that you live under the cloud of judgment and live thinking that you because of sin are never going to be accepted into the kingdom of God the introduction tonight is important we see what Paul is doing here Paul is introducing himself to the Roman church wanting them to appreciate his apostleship wanting them to understand his apostleship but also with the goal to provide a sort of brief very brief autobiographical introduction with the goal of demonstrating how they share in this ministry and in the gospel of God together he wants them to see that their stories are the same which is remarkable because we're looking at the mighty figure the apostle Paul he wants them to share in the calling of God on their lives Paul doesn't see his calling even though he's called specifically to be an apostle and they're not apostles in that sort of official sense he doesn't want the calling of god on their life to be disconnected from what god did for him he wants them to understand the gospel and appreciate the gospel right up front you'll notice that connection that paul begins with his calling he says that there in verse one paul a servant of jesus christ called to be an apostle and then if you look down at verses six and seven which sort of fills out there's got to be some kind of chiasm here to those in rome who are loved by god and called to be saints and he says even before that in verse six including you who are called to belong to jesus christ it's calling that dominates the first section here in Romans it's calling that has interested the apostle Paul as he begins this this little this great epistle to them and it's a warm introduction some people have thought that Romans is kind of a systematic theology it's not a systematic theology this is a pastoral letter this is a pastoral letter because he's concerned that this church would understand the gospel and its implications for the church because indeed there are real challenges in this church paul knows and he says in verse 18 that their faith has been as well established so he is overwhelmed by the fact that god would raise up a church in the heart of the roman empire like this in this capital city paul had never visited the church there's no reference really to peter in the book so what we have here is a church that has come together that has not received any sort of direct apostolic ministry from um pentecost we know there were people from rome we know the church formed and there was a strong church here in there in rome but none of the apostles it seems to at this point had had really been there able to minister there in rome so this was an important strategic church for uh the advancing of the kingdom of god and Paul longed to be in Rome and Paul wanted to see them. This letter was written before his visit to Jerusalem when he was a resident in Corinth in about A.D. 55. And Paul's purpose here up front is to introduce himself. He knows they know his story. Paul's story was well known. But it's what he chooses to say about himself. It's what he chooses to tell them that helps fill out the direction of the epistle he wanted to visit them he longed to visit them paul loved the church paul's heart was for the church think of all the beatings and sufferings and difficulties he took for the church paul loved the church of jesus christ but he knew there were problems here it was a congregation both of jews and gentiles it was a strong group of jews and gentiles and he he will be concerned about their relationship with one another we know that later in the book you'll have to correct issues of conscience and the way the jews and the gentiles were relating to one another matters of conscience and division become an issue at the end of this book after he's explained the gospel he's going to apply it that way and how they handle these sort of things so that's important but paul's purpose up front tonight as we look at and we begin this book is to unite them together in the same story that he has of being delivered from sin paul wanted them to know what unites them together tonight we're looking through this intro briefly here tonight seeing what is emphasized here his calling to apostleship and then his separation to the gospel and then his sort of sanctification to the service of that ministry he will emphasize these sort of three things here but the first is this calling that i want to capitalize here that's so important notice in verse one paul a servant of christ jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of god paul had a remarkable story in this his life is a fascinating one to study in how god had crafted him to be an apostle you'll remember when he in galatians he will say god please to call me from the foundation of the world from the beginning but we know that he would come into the faith later in life he's a combination of three interesting paths if you study his life three interesting things that happened to paul in his life three callings if you will on his life that prepared him for this great moment to be an apostle of the lord jesus christ in acts chapter 21 he's identified as a citizen of tarsus he called tarsus no ordinary city it was an affluent city paul himself came from an aristocratic family tarsus was known for having one of the largest and best universities there it was a sort of education hub for greco-roman culture and so it's been shown and it's known by numerous scholars that paul came from this very well-to-do background in a well-to-do city and had received one of the best secular educations of the day in the greco-roman world he was a scholar through and through he was a scholar his second path in life also sort of the way that the lord arranged his life is also fascinating for he was a hebrew of hebrews he was fully educated at jerusalem under the feet of gamaliel who was the most influential and renowned pharisee of the time and the greatest expert in the law at that time as he was known for paul paul was trained with the best of them in greco-roman culture and in in in judaism you remember from the book of philippians that he highlights all of these things that he could champion about himself when he was boasting in his flesh he says i was circumcised the eighth day i was of the stock of israel i was of the tribe of benjamin a hebrew of hebrews concerning the law a pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the church concerning righteousness which is in the law blameless but what things are gained to me these i've counted loss for christ that's a that is one impressive resume of achievements there was nobody who could compare there was nobody who could compare paul had a brilliant mind i raise all this simply to say up front look at the remarkable providence of god here look at what he did in this man's life he gave him the best greco-roman education in tarsus a notable city he raised him up to be one of the greatest pharisees of the day to have a good understanding of jew and gentile relations to have a good understanding of what was most important but he didn't know that up front paul has not only had the best of secular educations he had the best of religious educations as charles hodge said he was thoroughly educated man he sat down at the feet of the greatest legalists of the day a proud and promptest pharisee trusting in his works paul knew how to trust in his works with the best of them but it's the third path that's the most interesting what makes this scholar this devout pharisee and jew most interesting is that he was the greatest persecutor of the faith he was first in line at the stoning of stephen pushing the whole thing advancing the whole thing for the martyrdom of stephen you know that deeply troubled paul's whole life it was a burden throughout his life paul gives a perspective on himself you know he in first timothy one he says you know what i used to be i didn't know it at one time but then the lord opened my eyes scales fell off on the damascus road i was a blasphemer you know what happened to blasphemers in the old testament right stone to death i was a persecutor i was an insolent man i was arrogant and prideful full of it and i acted totally ignorantly and in unbelief he says the crown of this confession is what paul says about himself this is a faithful saying that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Now, do you see the benefit of this? What an individual. God takes a man who had the best education, brilliant mind, had everything that you could ever dream of being, But he was the greatest sinner. He was blasphemer to make him the apostle to the Gentiles. I am the worst. That's how I see myself. Paul had to live his whole life. Ever done anything really bad? Struggling with the fact that he set up the martyrdom of Stephen. That's the starting point for Paul. Why did I go through all that? That's the starting point. What drove Paul, what moved Paul, is that he was a sinner saved by grace through faith and he knew that absolutely nothing that he had, nothing that he was, nothing that he became, in receiving this grace, he had ever earned. It was total mercy in his life. God's love overflowed for me. Mercy came to me, the chief of sinners. Now, notice here tonight, Paul is drawing from the beginning the Romans into this story. The church. The first words of Paul are Paul, not Paul, PhD or MDiv or whatever letters we want to put under it, behind it. Paul's servant. A bond slave. The word here, doulos, is a slave of Jesus Christ. We should feel that, not in some sort of sense of bondage or coercion, but that this is the most joyful place he could be as to be now a servant of Christ. God had taken someone from the best of both worlds, and now, knowing what he had become, and his eyes opened to seeing himself, he becomes a servant in the kingdom of God. Do you see how important that is for Paul to be able to explain the gospel well? and do you see how important this is for you to understand it he says now to you see what he does here you also who are called of jesus christ who are called notice this to belong that's heidelberg one language you belong to him you are called to Belonged to him like I was. And then he says it again. Loved by God. Called to be saints. It's such a beautiful thing that's being said to us. He's intersecting the stories. God did the same thing for you. God did the same thing for you. This is not just my story. we think of paul with this dramatic conversion experience and and on the road to damascus where he had some some great light shone down on him that was an awful experience by the way it was a difficult painful experience but what paul is saying to us here is you have the same calling i have you know what god has done for you at some point in all of our ignorance and in all of our foolish confidence god god decided no matter your background no matter where you came from no matter what you've done god decided in sovereign love to summons you this is what calling is it's a divine summons on your life he at some point decided to summons you out of darkness. He placed a call upon you. There's an external call that goes out all the time. I'm talking about the internal call that summons you so that the scales fall off your eyes and you are called to be loved of God and his same. It's the most warm language here to begin to those in Rome who are loved by God. I just think that's such an overwhelming statement. Right at the beginning, you're called and you're loved. This is what I was saying this morning. If you have any other starting point, any point at which to boast, it'll mean nothing. This message will mean nothing. But if you have any conception of who you are and what you've done and wherever you've come from you have any conception of what god has done for you we were in the catechism class this morning and i said to every single one of those 12th graders do you know what god's done for you god did a wonderful thing in your life he placed a calling on you and put you in christian homes and has trained you in the truth and has opened your minds to the truth from the very earliest of ages, he called you to be a saint. And he loves you. This is not just for some super apostle out there, as we see Paul. But it means then that we have to see ourselves as Paul did to appreciate it. As the chief of sinners. Where would you be? It's just right. Where would you be today without Him? It is an utterly scary thought. What would you be doing right now? What idol would you be serving? It's this truth that unites us together. It's not our race. It's not our background. It's not our backgrounds. It's not what color God made you to be. It's not whether you're white-collar or blue-collar. It's not whether you're an academic or a farmer. It's not whether you're rich or you're poor. What social boundaries have we set up? None of it matters when it comes to this. It's that you all, and I am a sinner, And God called us with effectual calling in his electing love and pulled us out of it all together. See the power of this at the beginning? He's already working on the gospel. And that has to drive us. You should be able to look at your lives and say the same thing. I want you to be able to say the same thing. Because you'll never appreciate the gospel until you can say it. God called me. God loves me. Do you remember when God called you? Can you say that it was from the beginning? Blessed are you. Can you say that it was at some point in life when he turned you around? Blessed are you. But you're called. You're called to be a saint. You're loved by God. That's our starting point. Out of sheer grace and mercy, he did this. And that's where Paul moves. From the calling to the separation. Which belongs to us too. I've been called as a servant to be an apostle. And now I am set apart to the gospel of God. the gospel of god not paul's gospel it's god's gospel did you hear that was a gospel promised in the holy scriptures by all the prophets this is what jesus was talking about on the road to emmaus when the disciples thought that all had been lost and he had died and he was chiding that he was rebuking them tenderly because they had not listened to all the scriptures and all the scripture said if you listen to the scriptures you would know that the son of god had to come and had to die and that he would rise on the thursday and beginning at moses and all the prophets he expounded to them in the scriptures the things concerning himself now why so much confusion of what the gospel is paul would say there's a first importance issue when it comes to the gospel of first importance is this jesus died and jesus rose again according to the scriptures and that's what he's talking about here notice what he says paul explains the gospel of god he he he says i'm set apart to this i want you to know what i am set apart to which you are set apart to too here here it is concerning his son here's the gospel let me tell you about the gospel concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared, well, it says here in the ESV, and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Christ Jesus our Lord. That is a beautiful, beautiful statement. Paul's not so much explaining the two natures of Christ here. He's not, I don't believe, doing that. Paul is explaining the gospel as something entirely objective. Something outside of us. Something that happened in history. Something that all the prophets talked about. The gospel of God. What is it? He explains the two stages of Jesus' ministry for you. It has nothing to do with our works or accomplishments here. He's not talking about sanctification here. Notice what he says. He's capturing the two stages of Jesus' ministry. He says, in the state of his humiliation, and then there was the state of his exaltation, he was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, meaning he came into the world and he shared in our weakness to be under sin, though he wasn't sinful, and he went under the law for us, and he shared in human weakness to become one of us But in the resurrection, He was declared with power as God's Son. His power was veiled in that humanity while He walked on earth. That's what the transfiguration proved to us. But in the resurrection, that decree today, it's really a sort of decree emphasis here, today i have begotten you ask of me and i'll give the nations for your inheritance he was raised up and to the ends of the earth he has been declared to be the son of god with power and that's why when the apostles went out to preach they said believe him because he went to the cross and he was raised up this jesus we're witnesses to it and there is no salvation in anyone else for there is no other name in heaven by which men by which men must be saved and since he's been raised he has been declared he he is being proclaimed he's the appointed one believed this gospel he did it all he suffered for you he died for you he rose for you this is what we're going to unpack in the book of romans luther really struggled with this i don't have to get ahead of myself but you know the story it's helpful to raise it he would spend hours in the confessional he had dedicated his life to change he understood sin he had a great understanding of God's justice and wrath and he had come to hate God over this situation he said I had not love for that holy and just God who punishes sinners i was filled with secret anger against him i hated him because not content with frightening by the law and the miseries of life us wretched sinners already ruined by original sin and notice the confusion he still further increased tortures by the gospel I hated God because he set before me a law he knows I can't keep and he demands absolute perfection and further as Luther thought the gospel he thought it was was that I will be saved if I keep that law and then luther said as he wrote when i learned how the justification of the sinner proceeds from the free mercy of our lord through faith then i felt again then i felt born again like a new man in very truth this language of saint paul to me was the gate of paradise now I had a lot of sermons preached to me my childhood and I'm sure there were very faithful pastors who preached justification along the way and I never heard it until 21 years old when a pastor preached this and said there's a righteousness available to you apart from the law the righteousness that comes by faith that's what paul's referencing here at the beginning of romans i'm separated to this message of jesus christ who came down from heaven to us seat of david taking on that human nature but was raised up lord over all in power so that all who believe in him by the power of the holy spirit are saved that's the gate of paradise that's the greatest freedom and paul wants us to share in this he says through him we have received grace we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations we're we're taking this news to all the nations that's that's what we're doing god has set us apart to take this news to the nations this good news to the nations the gospel of god to the nations so that every tribe tongue people and nation will hear this good news and believe it i was brought under glad submission to this calling in my life and you see tonight you may not be an apostle but you've received the same separate status as believers this is who you are again called by god separated to the gospel loved and called to be saints paul wants this truth this gospel to affect us in how we live together as a church how we minister together how we function in a city together how we handle each other how we love each other how we help each other how we pray for each other how love is sincere he'll say in romans 13 and 12. but tonight i just want to leave you with this. I promise you I keep these sermons, the whole service, to an hour, and it's 5.59. I want you to see in Paul's story, your story, that's important, of what God has done for you. You're here tonight. Don't you believe it? Well, if you believe it, then you should know this. You are called to be a saint. You are loved by God. And you are separated to the gospel. Just like Paul was. God sent to you good news from heaven. And that by the power of his resurrection, he has delivered you from all your sin. So as you're going out into your weeks, and as you're facing many tests and many trials, and sometimes you doubt because of sin, I want you to remember this. You are set apart to the gospel of God. It's his gospel. A gospel where he gave his son to cover you and to save you. He knows everything about you. He knows everything about you. And he loved you with an everlasting love in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's the beginning of the book of Romans. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for so great a truth revealed to us tonight. Thank you for your calling in our life. Thank you for separating us. And thank you, Lord, for including us into this marvelous plan, the gospel of God. We pray, O Lord, that we would not be unbelieving, but believing. And for how you have declared here, we receive the letter would say the same. To those in Escondido loved by God and called to be saints, grace to you and peace. Thank you, oh Lord, for being so wonderful to us. Thank you for encouraging our hearts. Give us, may this strength be given to us this week of this word to uphold us until our next Sabbath. In Jesus' name, amen.