Tonight, we turn to the book of Romans, and so I'd ask you to turn your Bibles tonight to Romans. We'll read together the first seven verses, which is the greeting here of Romans. Again, Romans chapter 1, the first seven verses. Let's give our attention tonight to 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 in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless the hearing of His Word. As we considered this morning, and in light of that and continuing that thought, one of the real tragedies today in Christianity, it seems to be, is that people are struggling to find meaning and power to their Christianity. And I emphasize up front tonight that word power. It's going to be something that we're going to see throughout the course of this text and sermon. We really do. We really do go from fad to fad in Christianity today. This is what we've experienced in Christianity today. Have you ever thought about all the fads that have come and gone and they just keep coming and going? I mean, for a while you know it was the 40 days of purpose and then it was the prayer of Jabez and then it was your best life now. And I mean, these books, everything just keeps coming at us and we've known them. We've heard about them. Everyone has told us about them. And yet you stop and you wonder, well, where are they now? If they worked and they brought so much meaning and they offered us the answer to a Christianity that has meaning, where are they now? Why aren't they still working? And why aren't people still reading these things? I suggest tonight that we're getting close to what has been the major problem in Christianity today. What has been the real problem in Christianity today is that it's been correctly observed that Christianity is about personalities today, it's about programs, it's about books, it's about buildings, and on and on and on. And yet here we are, 2012, and why is it that we still seem to be struggling for the answer? Why are we still in search for a kind of Christianity that's vibrant and full of life, that we can really pass on to the next generation and that they will take it with real meaning and hold it. We want that. We want that for our children. And why are we still fighting to get it? I mean, that's a fair question. If Jesus said that He spoke all of these things, that our joy would be complete, where's the joy? If the Apostle talked about that there is real strength and weakness, where's the strength? Where is, as the Apostle prayed, this exceeding abundance of power toward us who believe? I've always loved that prayer. He says that for the Christian, there is an exceeding abundance of power toward us who believe. I want that. I want a meaningful Christianity. I want a vibrant Christianity. I want power. I suggest tonight that the reason we're struggling with this is not that Christianity today has just demonstrated wrong priorities, but that we've forgotten what Christianity is about. And that's a strong claim. I know. Because of that problem, and I'll show you why I believe it's a big problem and a real problem, there's no place better to turn for Romans, to Romans, to see what Christianity is. What Christianity is about. And I believe that's what Paul's doing in this book. Paul is setting before these Christians in Rome what Christianity is. We don't know much about how this church formed. We do know that on the day of Pentecost that there were, there's a little interesting statement, there were visitors from Rome there. And obviously what happened is that these visitors from Rome, when they saw and they heard, they went back. And a church was formed in Rome. In fact, in verse 8, Paul says their faith has been spoken of throughout the whole world. The Lord did something amazing in Rome. What an amazing place to put a church, wasn't it? What a great opportunity to put a church. This church sat in the middle of the empire. There it stood. There was a church of Jesus Christ. Everyone traveled in and out of Rome. Everyone knew about the power of Rome, the glory of Rome, and imagine the pressures in Rome. They were immense. Rome was a... We think of Rome in all of its beauty and in all of its pomp. It was a wicked city. It was a notoriously wicked city. And the Spirit wanted a church there. It's interesting to pause for a minute to see how the Reformers thought about the book of Romans, what they thought about it or even Martin Luther who once said that Romans is the chief part of the New Testament it is the very purest gospel the reformers believe that this was the single God-given key to understanding all the scriptures that is quite a remarkable thought, isn't it? And claim. It defined Christianity. What it tells us about Christianity is about, we're going to see this tonight already in the opening, this is about God's eternal Son. This is about the Son of God, which was an amazing claim to make in the Roman world. This is about everything as we open up this book. Everything about who we are and what we believe has to do, Paul is going to say, with Jesus Christ. What we do with Jesus Christ. What we believe about Jesus Christ. What the message means of Jesus Christ for us. Our claims about Him. Our communion with Him. In the heart of this opening section here, there's one word that really stands out to me. And there's been a lot of discussion around what this really means. But it's the word that I've already referenced. It's the word power. Power. Paul, from the beginning, wanted to show where the power of Christianity really lies. And there's no one who understood it more than Paul. the whole epistle, the whole letter here begins like this. This is Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ. That's a loaded statement for us as we stand back and we know something about the life of the Apostle Paul. You remember, we can look back at this and say, well, we know the whole story. This was a man once named Saul and he was a persecutor of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here he begins with this radical statement that he's a slave, but we know that at one time this man was a murderer of Christians. He was dragging them off to be killed. He was one of the deepest persecutors of the faith. And we know the story. The Lord had blinded him on the road to Damascus. And the Lord had come down upon him and He appeared to him and He gave the great question, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It's hard for you to kick against the goads. Remember what He said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. And the Lord would go on to say that He had set apart this man to be a chosen vessel of His to bear His name to the Gentiles, to kings and the children of Israel. What are you moved with here? First words, what stands out to you? What really grabs me as I read this, we have nothing of that story. Nothing. It's a short statement. It's a direct statement. It's a powerful statement. Let me say it really clearly. Paul, a slave of Christ. That's it. Now, he could have mentioned he was circumcised of the eighth day. He was of the stock of Israel. He was of the tribe of Benjamin. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews. Concerning the law of Pharisee. Concerning zeal, all these things. Concerning righteousness. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church. Concerning righteousness, which is in the law, blameless. Nothing. Every time he would rehearse his life to his young protege Timothy or to the churches, He was doing that to those who knew Paul. To those who understood and remembered what he was like. And he was giving those things with the purpose of undermining any kind of confidence in the flesh. He would say, what things were gained to me, these I've counted loss for Christ. And he would write and say to Timothy, I'm the chief of sinners. Formerly, I was a blasphemer. I was an insolent opponent of the Gospel. You know of my former life in Judaism. How I persecuted the church of God violently and I tried to destroy it. Paul spoke of these things. Paul talked about these things of those who knew his former life. He had to. But these Rome, Roman Christians, they didn't know much of Paul. He hadn't been to Rome at this point. And I find this absolutely remarkable. I find it absolutely remarkable that he begins this way. In a book, think about it, that everyone recognizes is the most comprehensive statement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the man with the most radical story that we find in Scripture in the New Testament, pinning this book under the inspiration of the Spirit when we would expect some kind of testimony, some kind of great attestation of his former life, nothing. Paul, a slave of Christ. And you see, this illustrates the point of the book. And that's why I love Romans. Paul is going to tell us a different story. Paul is going to tell us a different story. And that's the point I want to begin with tonight. We have everything in these opening verses of what Romans is about. When he will say, now that we have died with Christ, we live with Him. Now that the old man, Romans 6, has been crucified, we were buried with Him. Our story, he's going to say, now is about somebody else. And you see, that's what is so beautiful about thinking about when Ursinus and Olivianus opened up Romans and they're thinking about this catechism that we had so many years ago and they're thinking about drafting this and they open this up and they look at the first section here and they see Paul saying I am a slave and then they pin the first question what is your only comfort in life and in death and the first thing they say is I'm not my own it's remarkable it's powerful they understood it I belong body and soul and life and in death to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ Paul wants to talk about that Paul wants to tell you about that and that's why this story is so important for us tonight the story he is now telling is our story because when we grasp this story when we understand this there is a power that is made available to us. There is a power, and this is what's going to come out in verse 16 and 17, there is a power that God has given and chosen to save men by through this story. You know why I love this opening? Because it tells us about Jesus. What is one of the greatest attacks today on Christianity. Have you ever thought about it? What is one of the greatest pagan attacks? And the young people really connect with this tonight because it's something that they've heard and it's something they've been hit with. The attack is that Jesus is, for all of us, just sort of some figment of our imagination that He is an icon that we all look to for strength. We look to Him and we glean strength. We want strength and so we look back at this figure called Jesus, they say, and that's how, you know, hey, good for you. That's how you move on. There was an article not so long ago, and the title was, it was written in a journal, Jesus, History's Most Famous Missing Person. And the article started off with Elvis, and this writer said, the reality is that a significant number of Americans still think that Elvis is alive. and he has a big impact on people. This article says Graceland has become sort of a shrine. People will go to Graceland. As a kid, I went to Graceland. I bought trinkets from Graceland. And he says in this article, it may be easy for us to ridicule these aged rockers, baby boomers, but the fact is that quite a normal working class, Older men and women are mourning the broken dreams of their youth. And Elvis is real to them. He provides them hope. And then the article goes on and it talks about Princess Diana and how Diana had the same kind of effect on people. There was so much hysteria over her death years ago. And the author says, see, people are searching. People are wanting. They feel their lives crushing in on them and they want a substitute. They want a substitute of all kinds, don't they? Including turning dead icons into hero worship and symbols and dreams for their ideals of living. It goes on all the time. And at this point, the author then moves and he says, see, Jesus is history's most famous missing person. Jesus is the most famous icon of history that people look to for help in all of their struggles but who has never really existed. Now that's a very common prevalent thought. That's how Christianity is treated today. We know that. We've heard that. And when I think about that, I've always thought that the best answer is to go to Romans 1 and to open up this first section and to let them meet a man named Paul because we meet a man who really knew Jesus. And he didn't just really know Jesus. Notice how he's opening the book. Notice what he's saying. Men don't do this. Men don't naturally say this. What happened to Paul? Afford me one more quote. Machen in his book, Machen in his book The Origin of Paul's Religion said something that I think is so profound. Paul was not just convinced of the truth of Christianity. He didn't just intellectually believe the truth of Jesus' resurrection. He was overtaken by it. And captivated by the living Lord Jesus Christ. He said, Paul loved his Savior. Not as someone who just survived his memory, but the Savior who after his redeeming work was done, still lived and could be loved. Talk about not just a head religion, but a head and a heart religion, wasn't it? And now you see where Paul understood the power to be. I was separated to the Gospel. I am a slave. I was separated to the Gospel of God that was promised beforehand through the Holy Scriptures. What is the Gospel of God? Well, Paul comes out of the gates here in Romans and he says, I'm not advancing anything new. Which was a remarkable claim to Romans. What was he saying? who can forget Jesus? After His resurrection, He's walking on the road to Emmaus and He has two of His disciples with Him. And they're walking with Him and they're very confused about things. Jesus has died and they hadn't yet believed the Scriptures. They hadn't yet understood the Scriptures. And remember what Jesus did? He did something that would be forever imprinted upon their minds and their hearts. In Luke 24, He said, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken, ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? Beginning, we read, at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scripture the things concerning Himself. That is an amazing verse. He preached the cross to them. And He would show by example when they would leave what their commission would be once He was lifted up from the earth that they would go about and they would be doing the same thing that He taught them to do. And I've always been moved that the very first sermon in Acts that brought about the salvation of 3,000 souls. The striking phenomenon is the first sermon after the ascension of Christ, the very first sermon after the coming of the Spirit. It's nothing like the sermons we know today. When this message that they were set apart to, do you remember what Peter did in Acts? He strung together a bunch of Old Testament Scriptures which seemed so out of joint. He strung together a whole bunch of Old Testament Scriptures and passages to show and do one thing. How everything found fulfillment in the person and the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and resurrection. You go through the New Testament and any careful reader cannot help but be overwhelmed that this is what drove them. Their love for the living Christ and this message, it drove them. All their energy was given in pain and in tribulation and in suffering. They were given to this message to exhibit Christ in the unsearchable riches of His glory. Through the New Testament, they are given to speak about His person and His offices and His preexistent glory that He had with the Father. Their hearts were set upon His incarnation and His humiliation and taking upon our nature and all of His promises and all of His love and not one bit of the counsel of the Son did they withhold. This was the aim of what they did. It was this that the Apostle Paul spoke of when he said, woe is me when I do not preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Meaning that at the core of everything I do, I am making Him known. They knew Him. They loved Him. Now here's the heart of it. that doesn't seem very powerful to us today. It doesn't seem very powerful at all to us today, does it? It's sad. It's sad that that story is not very exciting to us. And it's very interesting to me that in 2 Timothy 4, that the very thing that the Apostle said would characterize the last days before Jesus would come, The time of darkness is that men would not endure sound teaching, but they would have itching ears and they would accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their passions. And listen to this. They will turn away their listening to the truth and wander off into myths. You know what would be a good way to translate that? Fascinating stories. This characterizes our day. And the Lord is showing us here what this is all about. We struggle. We struggle to understand what is the core of Christianity and why do we do that? One pastor was preaching and teaching on his radio program and he had invited a well-known doctor of theology to his program and the subject was going to be on faith. And so the day came when the program went live and the host said to his guest, he said, okay, so we've invited you on the program to talk about faith. And the professor said, I want to talk about your faith, to talk about your testimony. He said, I won't do it. And the host said, well, we invited you here to talk about your testimony and your life and your faith. And we've got a whole hour and this is what we're asking you to do. I won't do it. And so the host looked down at his watch and he says, well, what do you want to talk about? And for a whole hour, this man spoke about the blood and the righteousness of Jesus. And he spoke of the Savior. And he spoke of what Jesus accomplished. And he spoke of His person and work. The whole cross event, the resurrection, for a whole hour he talked about Jesus and at the very end of the program he looked at the host and he said, Dear, now sir, I have shown you my faith and I've never talked about myself. And that host was so moved by that. The next day, on Fridays, they would have testimony time. And this has been a big emphasis in Christianity today. And he asked people to call in and give their testimony, but he says, I have one requirement. You can give your testimony, and he would get lots of calls, but you can never mention yourself. No one called. I like that. The point is, not that we aren't to tell others what the Lord has done for us. The point is that what's happened today in Christianity as we are disconnected from what this is all about. And I believe Christianity today is using God to bring Him into our story of what we want to be and what our design of the Christian life should be and that God today exists for us. This is how we've treated Him. And we have forgotten, we have forgotten as we open up Romans, when we see Paul, Paul's telling us our identity is Jesus Christ. He is our identity. If we forget that the character of the Christian is that he has died to himself and that he has been made alive and raised to tell the story of Christ, it's no wonder we're not experiencing vitality and strength and the life that the Scriptures speak of. Paul's telling us a story It's no longer his story. It's the story of Christ because that has become his story. And now you understand what he's doing in these opening greetings. If you look carefully at the text, did you notice what Paul does here? He mentions Jesus eight times. That should shock us. I'm a slave. Let me tell you a lot about Jesus. I'm set apart to the Gospel. Here's what this is about. The Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was born 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. That is the core of Christianity, dear Romans. And what a statement that is. The Gospel of God concerns His Son. And what about the Son? We may not feel the weight of that, but to say to the Romans, Son of God, was to say something to them that was absolutely shocking. We think of sonship today, we think of sonship in biological terms. To say that Jesus Christ is the Son of God was to say that He was equal with God. And to say that He was equal with God is to say that He is fully divine. And to say that He is fully divine is to say that He is true God. And you remember that this is why the Jews wanted to kill Jesus. He made Himself equal with God. You say you're the Son of God and you make yourself equal with God. That's what got Him killed. That's what got Him murdered. It was that great thing that the Jews hated. And it came up in the event of the cross. Paul says it. This, let me introduce you to God's eternal Son. This one was truly born of the seed of David according to the flesh. The story is beautiful. This eternal Son became one of us. And He took to Himself a real human nature. It wasn't a phantom body. He wasn't some kind of mystic. He had a real body. He took to Himself a real body. He came from the lineage of David. He fulfilled everything that David's office talked about and spoke of. And He was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead. What's Paul saying? He's saying this, and I love this statement. This eternal Son of God taking our flesh, coming in the likeness of men, Becoming a slave in the resurrection, He was declared to be the Son of God. Notice the emphasis here. With power. That, I believe, is where He's emphasizing. When He rose from the dead, we see very clearly just who this is and how powerful He is. This is what He's saying. We see who He is and how powerful this One is. And you see, now you understand Romans 1, which is going to come out in verse 16 and say this is the very power of God to save those who believe. He's going to go on in Romans to say 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. And then he would say in Ephesians 2, I'm praying that you may know, notice this was Paul's concern for the Christians, that you may know the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His great and might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. You see what Paul is saying to us tonight? This story is your story. Because in verse 5, he takes it right to the Romans. And tonight he takes it right to you, the Lord does. And notice what he says. Through Him, we've received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all the nations for His name, among whom you also are the call of Jesus Christ. That's a verse to circle. I love that we apostles were set apart to minister to this for the obedience of the faith to give this deposit of the Christian faith out for what end? So that you would be included in that. That you would know that you're a part of this. That you have been called into that same grace. You see what he just said? We became slaves. You get to enjoy the same steps. that's your identity too. That you would be shaped by Jesus, that you would be His witnesses, and that you would be about this message of the Gospel for His great namesake. What an opening. And so I close with this tonight. Heidelberg 1. What is your only comfort in life and in death? That I am not my own. I'm a slave of Christ. But I belong in body and soul to my faithful Savior, life and death, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. My life is totally identified with Him who has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. I'm free. The truth as it is in Jesus has set you free. And what does He do for us now? He now watches over us in such a way that not one hair falls from our head apart from His will. My life is totally hidden with Christ and God and everything works together for my salvation because I belong to Him. Christ by His Holy Spirit assures me of eternal life and He makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him. I'm called into that grace, that kind of life by His goodness. This is God's grand old Gospel story. And as we will see, it's God's power to save. Nothing's changed. When we give our hearts and minds to listen to this, to hear this story, and to love our Savior who gave Himself for us, the Lord gives us a great enjoyment of Him as we heard this morning in the Valley of Baca. We go from strength to strength, grace upon grace, glory to glory, knowing Him, loving Him, and communing with the risen Christ who gave Himself for us. Let's be caught up in that story. It's God's power to say, Amen. O Lord our God, we are grateful for the great story of redemption. We are grateful that You gave Your best. You gave Your only begotten Son. And may our lives be hidden there. May we love to tell that story. And as we go forward and we study this in the months to come, would we see all the more what it means now to live in that kind of freedom and have that kind of joy that no matter what happens to us in this sad world, we belong to Jesus Christ. In His name we pray. Amen.