Pastor Nate continues our study through the Bible in the book of Romans
[00:00:00] This last Christmas, you know, with our three girls in the house. They're all getting a little bit older and
[00:00:08] this year kind of felt like one of those years for me as a dad where
[00:00:12] It almost seemed like half of the things that they got for Christmas whether it's from us or from family relatives
[00:00:19] It felt like it almost had the things they opened up I was also really excited about as they open them up
[00:00:25] I mean, you know they definitely got all their requisite, you know
[00:00:29] outfits and clothes and things like that and I get excited to see them
[00:00:33] wearing those things but a lot of their toys. I'm really excited about personally and
[00:00:38] Like they for somehow they got into playing Legos a few years ago
[00:00:42] So like every Lego set they get you know in acquire my that's awesome
[00:00:45] I mean I can't wait to build that with you
[00:00:47] But one thing that Christina and I got them this year is we got them this kind of build your own rollercoaster
[00:00:53] I like like those marble towers and mases and rollercoasters and stuff and this company called Kinex
[00:00:59] They make these roller coasters that we don't have we've never had one before
[00:01:03] But I've always kind of spied them out on Amazon and you know stuff and so I'm like, okay
[00:01:07] I want to get one of those for them and they make some that are you know pretty small and everything and my heart
[00:01:14] I was like no if we're gonna get them one. I want to get them a huge one
[00:01:19] So we got them this really big rollercoaster is like this big you know all put together and everything and they were
[00:01:25] Excited, you know, we gave it to them as a group gift, you know, so they're all excited about it and everything and a couple days after
[00:01:31] Christmas
[00:01:32] Because I gave them the speech like you know
[00:01:35] You are not going to be able to build this without me and all my infinite wisdom and I'll help you
[00:01:42] You know stuff like that
[00:01:43] So they were kind of just waiting and holding off for the moment that we'd all have time together to build it and my second
[00:01:50] Daughter violet she's kind of the one that's the most interested
[00:01:53] I think in like the building process and everything Lauren and June just kind of came by every once in a while
[00:01:58] Like how's it going with our roller coaster? Can we play with you know
[00:02:01] But violet wanted to build it and so she comes to me and she says dad is now a good time
[00:02:06] Can we build the roller coaster so yeah, we had like an hour and a half or so
[00:02:11] Free and in my mind I thought yeah, that's perfect. We got time
[00:02:15] We're gonna build this roller coaster
[00:02:17] Well, so we unpackage it and I start realizing there are like 95 pages of
[00:02:23] Instructions for this thing that's old Christina
[00:02:25] I'm like I feel like I'm building a piece of IKEA furniture right now
[00:02:29] You know and so it didn't take you know an hour and a half
[00:02:32] It took probably six hours or so to put this thing together over the course of a few days
[00:02:37] But we got it all built and it's really fun and close in the dark. It's exciting all that I think that in a lot of ways
[00:02:44] That's the way the gospel works for so many of us
[00:02:49] We get Jesus we give our lives to Christ
[00:02:52] We become born again, and it's like
[00:02:55] awesome this is
[00:02:56] amazing. I'm thankful
[00:02:59] but there's a process of
[00:03:02] unpacking and
[00:03:03] What Paul's going to do in the book of Romans building out the case for what the gospel actually is so that we can then
[00:03:12] we
[00:03:13] Realize these truths and live them out every single day
[00:03:17] Notice some of the things that are said about Jesus in the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
[00:03:22] Mark says this in Mark chapter 1 verse 14 and 15 it says after John was arrested Jesus came into Galilee
[00:03:30] Proclaiming listen to this the gospel of God and saying the time is fulfilled in the kingdom
[00:03:37] The kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in
[00:03:41] The gospel Matthew says it in a different way Matthew 4 verse 23
[00:03:45] It says that Jesus went throughout all Galilee
[00:03:48] teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom so a different
[00:03:55] emphasis but the same thing and healing every disease and every affliction among the people and then doubling back to Mark's gospel
[00:04:03] He actually wrote the first verse of his gospel and said the beginning of the gospel of
[00:04:10] Jesus Christ the son of God so right there
[00:04:13] We have the gospel of God the gospel of the kingdom the gospel of Jesus Christ and Jesus came
[00:04:18] living it out and he came
[00:04:20] teaching it and explaining it and
[00:04:23] imploring people to believe in the message of the gospel
[00:04:27] But if Matthew Mark Luke and John is an explanation of the life of Jesus which is the gospel
[00:04:34] Jesus's life death burial
[00:04:38] Resurrection and ascension if that's the life of the gospel then what Paul the Apostle is going to do is say
[00:04:45] That's what Jesus did now. Let me show you what it means
[00:04:49] That's what the book of Romans is all about for you and for me
[00:04:53] So in my mind there's five sections to this book that we're going to study over the course probably of this next
[00:05:00] year the first section we're going to look at our
[00:05:03] Need for the gospel message our need for the gospel message really that's Romans for the most part
[00:05:09] One two and three
[00:05:11] We're going to see the lossness of mankind the brokenness of mankind
[00:05:15] Why did Jesus even have to come and live this life and die on the cross?
[00:05:20] We're going to see that in Romans 1 through 3 then we're going to see at the end of chapter 3
[00:05:26] All the way through chapter 5
[00:05:29] God's gospel provision for you and for me. How do we access it?
[00:05:34] What has got immediately due to us in the process of accessing it by
[00:05:40] Faith what position is now ours in Jesus and then in chapter 6 7 and 8 we're really going to slow down when we get to that portion because
[00:05:50] I mean, it's all holy ground
[00:05:51] But I think we would say this is most holy ground when we get to Romans 6 through 8
[00:05:56] Because Paul is going to explain to us the beautiful scope of the gospel at that point
[00:06:03] In other words so many of us think that the gospel is
[00:06:06] I believe in this and I am saved and the rest of the Bible the rest of the New Testament is not the gospel message
[00:06:13] But it's just sort of teaching on how I'm supposed to live
[00:06:16] But the scope of the gospel goes all the way into not just
[00:06:21] positionally saving me but sanctifying me and glorifying me and changing me and transforming me so much
[00:06:27] So that by the time we get to the end of Romans chapter 8 will discover the beautiful truth with Paul that if God is for us
[00:06:34] Who can be against us that I am a super conqueror or an overcomer more than a conqueror
[00:06:42] In and because of Christ Jesus so our hopefully by the time we get to the end of that our position in Christ will be so strong and secure
[00:06:50] Within our minds and within our hearts not that
[00:06:53] Not that it isn't secure. It is but we'll now know about it a little bit more
[00:06:57] As we go through God's word and then Romans 9 10 and 11 Paul will deal with Israel
[00:07:01] We're the question about
[00:07:04] Them receiving the Lord and being stumbled over the gospel message he'll address it
[00:07:09] And so we'll look at the hope even of those who when they stumble over the gospel
[00:07:13] There still is the hope that they will they will one day receive that glorious message
[00:07:19] And then chapter 12 through the end of the book 16
[00:07:23] We're going to see the gospel applied or application into our own lives and interactions and people that we
[00:07:30] Talk with every single day. What is this gospel saturated community actually look like?
[00:07:36] So that's kind of in my mind at least the outline for the book of Romans and where we're going to go
[00:07:41] But where do we start? Well, we start where we always start the first verse or the first book
[00:07:45] So let's get into it chapter 1 verse 1 Paul
[00:07:50] Says this he says Paul
[00:07:53] A servant of Christ Jesus
[00:07:56] Called to be an apostle
[00:07:58] Set apart for the gospel of God now in ancient times when they wrote letters
[00:08:04] They would put the name of the sender first and so Paul puts his own name down there
[00:08:09] Some of you are new to the Lord. You don't know about Paul
[00:08:12] You're like everybody's always talking about this guy named Paul is he in the lobby?
[00:08:16] Where can I meet him? Okay, Paul
[00:08:19] Live a couple thousand years ago
[00:08:21] He was one of Jesus's apostles it means that Jesus sent him out into the world to be a pro-claimer to write doctor and to write scripture
[00:08:29] And he did that he wrote 13 new testament
[00:08:32] Epistles or letters and that's what we're studying one of them right now
[00:08:35] Which is probably a six or seventh letter somewhere around there the book of Romans that he wrote probably from the city of
[00:08:42] Corinth so he writes this letter, but that's a little bit about who Paul is Paul was not one of the guys that you would see
[00:08:49] sitting at
[00:08:51] The last supper if you've seen any artwork about that you wouldn't see Paul there
[00:08:55] Paul was one he described himself as being born out of due season
[00:08:59] So a few years after Jesus went back into heaven
[00:09:03] Paul was actually
[00:09:04] Persecuting the church because he was a Pharisee a religious leader who did not like
[00:09:08] The church did not like the message that Jesus was the Messiah the Son of God was persecuting the church and in Acts 9
[00:09:15] There's a record along with a couple other chapters in Acts describing how he was converted or changed or born again
[00:09:22] A great light shown from heaven when he was on his way to persecute the church in a city called Damascus
[00:09:27] And as he fell to the ground he heard a voice that said why are you persecuting me?
[00:09:33] Saul and he said who are you Lord? He said I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting and from that point forward
[00:09:38] Paul became a change and a transformed man now Paul did incredible things
[00:09:45] His life was incredibly fruitful in fact. I think in one sense
[00:09:49] We will say his life is still
[00:09:52] Fruitful because as we're studying the words a he wrote
[00:09:55] Of course that we attribute to the Holy Spirit, but he's the human instrument
[00:09:59] We would say you're still bearing fruit in my life Paul
[00:10:02] The teaching that you gave a couple thousand years later. We're still feeding off it. We're still growing from it
[00:10:07] How did Paul bear such incredible fruit?
[00:10:10] Clearly the credit all goes to God. That's what Paul would say if he was here
[00:10:14] it's all God's
[00:10:17] fault that I bore this kind of fruit its God's responsibility
[00:10:21] It's God it's all gone
[00:10:23] But if we look at his attitude about himself
[00:10:25] I think he had two attitudes that were very helpful in him bearing such fruit notice number one
[00:10:30] He called himself a servant of Christ Jesus
[00:10:33] Did you see that there are a servant of Christ Jesus that is the Greek word actually do lost which means slave
[00:10:39] He was a slave in his mind of Christ Jesus. We like to scrub it up a little bit and clean it up in our own English language
[00:10:45] Slave sounds a little too harsh so we like to say he was a servant
[00:10:49] But he actually thought of himself like a slave a slave of Jesus
[00:10:52] I belong to Jesus and I've found at least in my life the more that I have an attitude
[00:10:57] That I'd be along to Jesus because I got to tell you it's pretty progressive
[00:11:01] There are moments I say I belong to Jesus some a slave of Jesus and then he said well
[00:11:05] Can you do this for me? And I'm like
[00:11:07] That's not really a slave attitude right?
[00:11:10] So it kind of grows over time within my heart and the more that I sense that I'm a slave of Christ a servant of Christ
[00:11:17] I find the more effective. I can be so Paul saw himself that way
[00:11:21] But also secondly notice there in verse one called to be an apostle
[00:11:26] Called to be an apostle Paul had a firm sense of the calling
[00:11:31] That Jesus had placed upon his life now. I don't believe that any of us would actually in the here and now
[00:11:38] Have a calling to be an apostle in the same way that Peter or James or John or Paul was called to be an apostle
[00:11:47] I think some people have a powerful gift of going out into the world as missionaries and being sent out
[00:11:53] But not in the sense like these guys were where they're actually writing scripture
[00:11:57] Jesus prayed for us in John 17 that we the future church would be connected to
[00:12:03] Paul and the other apostles who are writing scripture
[00:12:07] So we want to connect ourselves to the truths that they communicated under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
[00:12:13] However, we want to have a calling from the Lord don't we?
[00:12:17] And I think one of the things that's so helpful to us is to have that sense
[00:12:20] Lord here's something that you have called me to do something that you've called me to be
[00:12:25] Now one thing that maybe isn't as apparent to many of us just looking at the life of Paul because we read the book of acts
[00:12:32] And it covers about 30 years of early history in the early church
[00:12:36] But we often aren't conscious of that when we read it
[00:12:39] So we read it as if it just event after event after event after event after event
[00:12:44] But actually when you read of the life of Paul the apostle and you patch it together
[00:12:47] You know what actually appears
[00:12:49] That he gave his life to the Lord and about 14 years later or 13 years later was sent out on his first missionary journey
[00:12:57] What he did in between the moment of his conversion and being sent out was that he spent a lot of time alone with Jesus
[00:13:05] Being prepared and being transformed
[00:13:07] That's one way that you know the call of God on a person's life is firm
[00:13:11] So many times we say I'm called but then if we don't get an opportunity a month within a month from feeling called
[00:13:18] We give up
[00:13:19] But Paul was prepared and he went through a long season of preparation before the Lord so he's called
[00:13:25] Now at this point Paul does something really interesting in this letter and I want to explain it to you
[00:13:30] Is it most of his letters? He gives a greeting. He says Paul here's who I am
[00:13:35] I'm an apostle. I'm a servant of God. He maybe names another guy or two
[00:13:38] And then he gives a greeting to the church that he's writing to but with Romans
[00:13:43] He puts a little parentheses before he gives the greeting which we will get to this morning
[00:13:48] And I will pick up the pace a little bit so don't get too nervous
[00:13:51] but
[00:13:53] Before he gets to the greeting
[00:13:54] He actually gives a parentheses about the gospel and this is why he says in verse one another thing about himself
[00:14:02] I'm set apart for the gospel of God and now for a few verses
[00:14:06] He's going to talk about this beautiful gospel message and give us a little bit of an analysis of what the gospel is
[00:14:13] Before he gets into the big analysis of what the gospel is in
[00:14:18] The entirety of this letter
[00:14:20] So here's a few things that we can learn about the gospel and the next few verses from the pen of Paul first of all
[00:14:27] Notice who the author of the gospel is
[00:14:31] He calls it the gospel
[00:14:33] of
[00:14:34] Not man
[00:14:36] It's not the gospel of
[00:14:39] The church or human institution he refers to it off the bat as in another places
[00:14:44] He'll say the gospel of Paul or according to Paul but the originator the author
[00:14:50] The gospel of God verse one
[00:14:53] I think that's very helpful for us to remember when it comes to the gospel message
[00:14:57] We have to remember that this whole thing started with God
[00:15:00] It all began with with God. I think it's actually one of the things that's important about belief in the
[00:15:05] Trinity or the triunity of God that God is one but that he's
[00:15:10] That he is also three persons eternally
[00:15:15] You know existent father son and holy spirit because there was perfect love between the triune godhead for all of eternity past
[00:15:23] But the gospel message is the explosion of his love
[00:15:27] To people he looked out upon a lost and broken world and says here's what I will do to provide salvation
[00:15:35] For you here's what I will do to make things right this brokenness that you created
[00:15:40] Here's what I will do to make right all of this brokenness that you brought in as a result of your own sin
[00:15:47] When I think that it's my message when I think that it's the church's message
[00:15:52] It makes it so much harder to declare with boldness or to want to share with other people
[00:15:57] But when I understand that it's the gospel of God that there's a god in heaven who obtained me or obtained you
[00:16:04] And now looks at other people and says I want you to be a conduit
[00:16:08] For this message and you understand it starts with him and it's flowing through you to others
[00:16:14] It just makes evangelism evangelism a little more effective when we understand who the originator
[00:16:20] Of this message actually is now we go on in verse two and Paul says
[00:16:26] Which concerning this gospel so we learn a little more about the gospel
[00:16:29] Here's what it is which he promised beforehand through his prophets and the holy scriptures
[00:16:34] So one thing you learn about the gospel is that when Jesus came onto the scene
[00:16:39] It wasn't like this brand new well hold on a minute
[00:16:43] There's the old testament
[00:16:45] But now God is just saying you know, that was the plan back then
[00:16:49] But forget it and now we're going to do a new thing
[00:16:52] It was a new thing and a fresh thing however
[00:16:55] It had been what does Paul say promised by the prophets promised by the prophets now certainly the old testament prophets a lot of them really explicitly
[00:17:07] Promised that Jesus was coming they promised the gospel message didn't they Isaiah said things like in Isaiah 53 verse five and six that Jesus was
[00:17:17] pierced for our transgressions that the Lord had laid on him the iniquity of
[00:17:23] Of us all even from the very beginning in Genesis 3 15
[00:17:26] God had said to the woman and the man that the devil or the serpent will bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel
[00:17:36] a speaking of in
[00:17:38] A prophecy concerning Jesus that he would be struck upon the cross of
[00:17:43] Christ and that the devil would strike him but that he would get the last laugh and crush the head of Satan there upon that cross
[00:17:50] So the prophets they promised it
[00:17:53] But really the whole Old Testament was pointing forward to the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ
[00:18:00] Sometimes we look at the sacrificial system in the Old Testament
[00:18:03] You ever read some of those passages and you're just like this is kind of weird
[00:18:07] Kind of thing and you're reading through them
[00:18:09] Maybe you get to them in your Bible reading and you're like okay
[00:18:12] Here we go Leviticus and you're moving through I like Leviticus
[00:18:16] I think there's some really neat things there
[00:18:17] But one of the things that we sometimes say is well that was their way of
[00:18:22] Being saved, you know like we believe in the Lord
[00:18:25] We believe in his blood that he cleansed us and that was their way of being saved
[00:18:29] And I would have to say no that's not that was not their way of being saved
[00:18:33] You know what their way of being saved was their way of being saved was being in slavery in Egypt crying out to God
[00:18:39] God sending a deliverer and a Passover blood being placed upon the doorposts
[00:18:44] The angel of death passing by them because they put the blood on their doorpost
[00:18:49] Leaving in the middle of the night passing through the red sea God closing the ocean or the red sea behind them
[00:18:57] And saying to them you are now my people come out from among them and serve me
[00:19:03] The sacrificial system what's God's way of saying you're saved you belong to me
[00:19:08] But you got a lot of Egypt inside of you
[00:19:11] And I
[00:19:12] Want to get Egypt out of your heart
[00:19:15] Here's a sacrificial system so that now you have an opportunity to confess sin
[00:19:21] You have an opportunity to remember the blood
[00:19:23] You have an opportunity to get right with me time and time again
[00:19:27] You are saved by me
[00:19:29] But you must be sanctified by me
[00:19:32] And here's a process whereby you can go through
[00:19:35] Uh in order to be sanctified
[00:19:38] So but but all of that that whole sacrificial system it all pointed forward to Jesus Christ amen
[00:19:43] Here's a word that I like though. I hope you saw this in verse two
[00:19:47] If I were just writing this on my on my own
[00:19:49] I'd probably say, you know the the prophets prophesied
[00:19:53] Of his coming but don't you love that he says which he promised
[00:19:57] Beforehand through the prophets
[00:19:59] The word promise is bigger than prophecy
[00:20:03] Uh it includes prophecy
[00:20:05] But it's like you have the heart of God saying you're lost
[00:20:09] You're broken and I promise
[00:20:12] I promise that I will do something to save you from this brokenness and from this hurt the promise of God
[00:20:20] Now in verse three and four we learn who this gospel message is all about who it's bound up in
[00:20:26] Sussan verse three concerning his son
[00:20:29] Who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the son of God in power
[00:20:35] According to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead
[00:20:41] Jesus Christ
[00:20:43] Our
[00:20:44] Lord that's a very beautiful thing the Paul said there in verse three and four very poetic
[00:20:49] So poetic that some people think that it was an early church creed that Paul put into his gospel right off
[00:20:56] In order to sort of approve the creed and say yeah, that's the right way of saying things
[00:21:01] Concerning his son who was descended from David according to the flesh in other words he had the right
[00:21:06] Human genealogy the right relationships David and Judah before David and Israel before Judah and Abraham before Israel
[00:21:16] The right genealogy and
[00:21:19] Also was declared to be the son of God in power
[00:21:21] According to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ our Lord
[00:21:26] What Paul seems to be highlighting in verse three and four is both the humanity of Jesus verse three
[00:21:32] And the divinity of Jesus in verse four
[00:21:35] That's what it means when he was declared to be the son of God in power
[00:21:39] According to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection. Here's a question. How did that happen?
[00:21:45] Certainly it doesn't mean or it can't mean that when Jesus rose from the dead
[00:21:52] The father said okay cool now you're my son
[00:21:58] It wasn't at the moment of his resurrection that he became the son of God no, he's always been the son of God
[00:22:03] Amen
[00:22:04] We actually learned in the book of Colossians that he was there at the moment of first creation
[00:22:11] Speaking creation into being
[00:22:14] So he's always been the son of God and in their minds and this should be also the case in our minds god the son
[00:22:23] That's the way that they understood the term son of God. It means you are equal with God
[00:22:28] You are the child of God you are the son of God and God the son
[00:22:33] So how did his resurrection
[00:22:36] sort of state with power
[00:22:38] That he was the son of God
[00:22:41] Do you remember what Jesus was crucified for?
[00:22:44] I know that on the cross pilot put an inscription above Jesus that said the king of the Jews
[00:22:51] And that really is technically why pilot crucified Jesus because the religious leaders wanted Jesus dead
[00:22:59] And they knew if we come up to pilot and say hey, we had a religious dispute with this guy
[00:23:04] Pilot would laugh them out of the room and say I don't care about your bible disputes get out of here
[00:23:10] So they had to come to him and say this guy is making himself to be another king
[00:23:14] And you got a boss his name Caesar and he's not gonna like it if you let this king live
[00:23:21] So you should kill this king and so ultimately that was pilots excuse for crucifying Christ that he said he was the king of the Jews
[00:23:29] But the religious leaders that wasn't why they wanted Jesus dead
[00:23:34] They asked him interrogated him over and over again on that fateful night before he went to the cross
[00:23:40] Are you the son of God?
[00:23:43] Are you the son of God?
[00:23:45] It is as you say they tore their clothes. They said it is
[00:23:49] blasphemy in other words they thought you're making yourself out to be
[00:23:53] God if you're saying you're the son of God
[00:23:55] That is why Jesus was crucified because he made himself to be divinity divine
[00:24:01] So when he rose from the grave
[00:24:05] It was like this
[00:24:07] divine seal of
[00:24:09] Yes and amen to the statement that he had made that I'm the son of God. I'm God the son
[00:24:15] Because had he made that claim and God the father says
[00:24:20] No, you are not my son then the tomb would have remained sealed and he would have remained in the grave
[00:24:26] because he came bursting out of that tomb
[00:24:30] And the grave was then opened for them to see that he'd risen from it
[00:24:35] The the proclamation was he's the son of God and it was just a very clear statement that he is who he says
[00:24:44] He is but what we notice here is notice that in verse three concerning his son
[00:24:51] In other words everything that we are going to get everything that we're going to study throughout the whole book of Romans
[00:24:56] The thing we need to understand is we don't get any of it without Jesus
[00:25:01] We don't get any of it without Christ
[00:25:04] In fact if Jesus had not come you know what the book of Romans would look like I've been thinking about this
[00:25:09] The book of Romans if Jesus had never come
[00:25:11] I mean obviously Paul would have never even wanted to write it
[00:25:14] But had had Jesus never come you know what all we would get is just portions of the first three chapters of the book of Romans
[00:25:21] We'd get statements like this Romans
[00:25:24] Chapter one verse 18 for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men
[00:25:30] Who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth we get Romans two verse six
[00:25:35] He will render to each one according to his works
[00:25:38] We'd get Romans three verse 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
[00:25:45] That's what we would get from the book of Romans
[00:25:48] Because Jesus came we get Romans three 24 and beyond
[00:25:53] That there is redemption in Christ Jesus
[00:25:58] So it's really all about Jesus Christ
[00:26:00] And so we're going to study him and what he's done for you and for me
[00:26:04] Paul also said of himself and about this gospel in verse five notice it
[00:26:09] He said through whom we have received grace
[00:26:12] And a apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name
[00:26:18] among all
[00:26:21] Nations Paul says you know one thing the gospel gave me or made me was a messenger and I think proper
[00:26:28] A reception of the gospel always sends us out
[00:26:31] And in Paul's mind he says and it sends me out an us out to notice it verse five all
[00:26:38] The nations
[00:26:40] All the nations
[00:26:42] Now when Paul said that it's important to remember that was a big deal
[00:26:46] Because he'd grown up in Judaism which said you want to know God
[00:26:50] You need to become Jewish and convert to Judaism
[00:26:54] But now he's a Christian apostle saying you want to know God
[00:26:59] Believe that Jesus Christ died for your sin and rose from the dead place your faith in him
[00:27:05] And keep your nationality but come to know Christ and you will be saved
[00:27:11] And I think that one thing that will happen to us and I don't want to say that it's a small byproduct because maybe for some of you
[00:27:18] It will be a major thing that the Lord does in your heart during this time
[00:27:22] That we study the book of Romans
[00:27:24] But one of the things that the doctrines found in the book of Romans will do to your heart is it will begin to eradicate
[00:27:30] prejudices and racism that exist sometimes that you don't even know
[00:27:35] Exists inside of your heart and because you come face to face with this beautiful gospel message
[00:27:41] And it just starts changing the way that you see humanity
[00:27:45] And so Paul here is saying I'm sent out into all the nations now in verse six
[00:27:50] He goes on and he actually starts doing his greeting kind of thing where he greets the Roman church
[00:27:55] So let's look at that and see what he says to these
[00:27:59] Romans he says verse six
[00:28:01] including you
[00:28:03] Who are called to belong to Jesus Christ
[00:28:06] To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints
[00:28:11] Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
[00:28:17] Jesus Christ now
[00:28:19] We really don't know how the church in Rome started when you read the book of Acts
[00:28:24] You get to see the history of how a lot of churches did start the church in
[00:28:28] Philippi the church in Antioch the church in Jerusalem the church on Crete you know places like that
[00:28:32] We learned that in the New Testament where how these churches started
[00:28:36] But we really don't know how the church in Rome began which is interesting because obviously it was the Roman Empire
[00:28:43] The most significant city
[00:28:45] During Paul's day, but we really don't know how it began
[00:28:48] We do know that Paul didn't start the church in Rome at this point they are there and he has not yet been there
[00:28:55] So we know that he didn't start it
[00:28:57] Traditionally there are some church traditions that say that Peter started the church in Rome, but frankly that's
[00:29:07] heavier on tradition than
[00:29:10] Evidence one thing though
[00:29:11] We do know is that on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two
[00:29:14] There are all these people from all over the world gathered together
[00:29:17] Jesus had just gone back to heaven ten days earlier
[00:29:20] 120 believers are praying and the Holy Spirit comes down on them
[00:29:24] They start speaking in other languages that they don't naturally know and a huge crowd of people
[00:29:29] Gatheres together and they hear Peter
[00:29:32] Preach the gospel message and three thousand people that heard that message
[00:29:37] Gave their lives to Jesus in that day and in that moment
[00:29:40] We know that and we also know that some of the people that were there according to Acts two were from Rome
[00:29:47] So who started the church in Rome? I don't know
[00:29:50] But who started the church in Rome the Holy Spirit started the church in Rome
[00:29:54] Probably had a bunch of people going back to Rome with this new found gospel and they began to share it with their friends
[00:30:00] And family and it found apparently fertile soil
[00:30:04] In Rome because historians like Tacitus tell us that by AD 64 when Nero began to persecute the church in Rome
[00:30:13] He called the church in Rome a massive
[00:30:16] multitude of people and Paul wrote this letter
[00:30:20] You know five to eight years before that persecution began
[00:30:25] So you can just imagine that the church had spread like wildfire in Rome and other believers that heard about it
[00:30:31] And so Paul wanted to write to this group of believers. He says to them in verse eight. He says first
[00:30:40] I thank my God
[00:30:42] Through Jesus Christ
[00:30:45] For all of you
[00:30:46] Notice the way that Paul prayed I thank my God through Jesus Christ when you pray
[00:30:55] You get an audience with God not because
[00:30:59] You're super faithful
[00:31:01] You get an audience with God not because you say hey God I went to church for Sundays in a row
[00:31:08] Okay, you don't get that all right. That's not why you get an audience with God you get an audience with God because of
[00:31:14] What Jesus Christ has done for you
[00:31:17] The position that is yours in Christ Jesus. He says I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you
[00:31:23] because your faith
[00:31:25] Is proclaimed in all the world
[00:31:29] In other words Paul just he's like sitting there probably in Corinth
[00:31:32] That's the evidence at least in and Romans 15 and 16 it seems like he's writing from Corinth
[00:31:39] And he's saying to them hey, I know I'm not there with you but we've all heard about you
[00:31:44] We've heard about your faith. It's proclaimed through the whole world
[00:31:48] And just the radical nature of your reception of the gospel now at this point
[00:31:53] I want I want to say something about the way that Paul viewed Rome and other cities in his personal advancement
[00:32:01] Of the gospel Paul seems to have always wanted to go
[00:32:07] To the cities. That's where he wanted to go
[00:32:10] He wanted to go to the places that roads connected to and that many people were in
[00:32:15] Why do you want to go to cities because you wanted to go to people and there were lots of people there
[00:32:19] He wanted to preach the gospel in places like that
[00:32:21] But Paul understood that what was happening in the Roman church would reverberate through the whole world
[00:32:28] Because it was Rome that they were operating in
[00:32:32] And I think that's important to say
[00:32:34] Because
[00:32:35] I don't know maybe you've noticed this but it seems to me that there can be
[00:32:40] Attendancy sometimes in our hearts
[00:32:44] To sometimes as Christians
[00:32:47] Put down the city
[00:32:49] And almost to talk about Christianity and obedience to God in his word and the Christian life
[00:32:56] As if it is something that is only conducive to a suburban lifestyle or a rural lifestyle
[00:33:05] But the truth of the matter is that the gospel I think has its brightest colors and most beautiful contrast to a fallen and broken world
[00:33:15] When it's being lived out aggressively and faithfully by believers inside of the cities of the world
[00:33:23] And for a person here on earth today who wants to see the gospel reverberate throughout the world
[00:33:29] We have to have a willingness to bring the gospel into city centers
[00:33:33] Especially as we see the data that the percentage of people living in cities versus not living in cities
[00:33:40] Is only increasing in the era in which we live and with technology and all of that
[00:33:45] That's only going to grow so we got to have a thing within our hearts where we say
[00:33:49] We want to see the gospel go into cities more and more and more because it can survive there
[00:33:57] It can thrive there and it will do a world of good there
[00:34:01] Let's get out of our hearts idea or the perspective of saying oh, you know
[00:34:05] We could never plant a church in a city
[00:34:07] We could never bring the gospel to a city because cities are just crazy
[00:34:12] And there's no way that it could ever happen there. No we should have an attitude and heart that says there's people
[00:34:18] When the gospel impacts a city
[00:34:21] That church becomes an influential church
[00:34:25] I haven't seen a whole lot of trends and all of that that had started in the farmland and made their way to the city
[00:34:31] But I've seen plenty of trends and things that started in the city that made their way to the farmlands
[00:34:36] And I'm hoping and praying more and more that radical vibrant healthy
[00:34:40] gospel center jesus centered bible teaching churches will be found in cities
[00:34:46] So that it will spread throughout the world
[00:34:49] And so Paul seems to have had that attitude
[00:34:51] He was always looking for and wanting to go to the city including Rome for God is my witness verse nine
[00:34:57] Who my serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son
[00:35:02] That without ceasing I mentioned you always in my prayers
[00:35:07] Asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed
[00:35:11] In coming to you for I long to see you that I may impart to you
[00:35:16] Some spiritual gift to strengthen you so Paul as he's writing to them. He confesses
[00:35:22] I've always wanted to go to Rome and for Paul
[00:35:26] He wasn't saying I want to go to Rome
[00:35:29] So I could put on the little headsets and walk around and take the audio tour of the city
[00:35:34] That's not why Paul wanted to go to Rome
[00:35:36] He wanted to go to Rome so that he could notice it verse 11 in part some
[00:35:41] Spiritual gift to the Roman church
[00:35:46] How beautiful
[00:35:48] I think an attitude that says I want to give
[00:35:53] Is probably in one sense
[00:35:56] Part of the major definition of what maturity is in the Christian life
[00:36:00] But it actually leads to great joy and great blessing because it lifts the eyes off of the self and places it upon the Lord and upon others
[00:36:09] Paul wanted to give what did he want to give
[00:36:12] Well, he says I want to impart to you some spiritual gift
[00:36:15] The question is what does that mean?
[00:36:18] What does that mean? Is he saying when I get there
[00:36:22] I mean, I haven't been there and and no apostles that I know have been there
[00:36:25] And so certainly you guys probably don't have any spiritual gifts. So when I get there
[00:36:30] I'm going to be putting my hand on people's foreheads left and right
[00:36:34] And you will then receive
[00:36:36] Spiritual gifts after I'm there
[00:36:38] That what Paul is talking about no Paul is the guy who actually wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and first Corinthians 12 verse 11
[00:36:45] He said the Holy Spirit
[00:36:47] gives
[00:36:48] spiritual gifts
[00:36:49] individually as he wills
[00:36:53] All right, so he says that's a Holy Spirit's job
[00:36:56] So I think when Paul says I want to impart a spiritual gift
[00:36:58] He's just saying I got some spiritual goods that I like to give you there's some preaching I like to give you
[00:37:03] There's some sermons. I like to give you
[00:37:05] There's some discipleship I like to give you
[00:37:07] I can't wait to get to Rome so that I can give you
[00:37:10] This message and bless you in a sense in a spiritual way
[00:37:14] But he goes on to say in verse 12
[00:37:17] That is that we
[00:37:19] Maybe mutually encouraged by each other's face faith. That's almost like he gets there and he's thinking
[00:37:25] I can't wait to get there. I want to get there
[00:37:28] I want to bless you and then he says oh, you know
[00:37:30] But
[00:37:31] When I'm blessing you you're going to be blessing me
[00:37:33] And there will be a mutual encouragement of each other's faith
[00:37:38] He says in verse 12 both yours and mine
[00:37:42] I do not want you to be unaware brothers verse 13
[00:37:45] That I have often intended to come to you
[00:37:48] But thus far had been prevented in order that I may reap
[00:37:53] Some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles
[00:37:58] I don't know if you know this about Paul in his life
[00:38:02] But he served the Lord for a long time. He probably died at about 60 years of age
[00:38:07] Probably gave his life to the Lord
[00:38:09] Around 30 years of age he had about 30 years of serving Jesus really hard really going for it
[00:38:16] but
[00:38:18] He had a dream in his life to go to Rome and to preach it's not just found here
[00:38:22] It's also found in the book of Acts
[00:38:25] But he had another city he wanted to go to first and it was a city of Jerusalem
[00:38:30] And when you read the book of Acts you read about this time that he did finally get to Jerusalem
[00:38:34] And I'm sure in his mind's eye he thought
[00:38:37] I you know, I'm a former Pharisee
[00:38:40] Probably was part of the Sanhedrian the governing body there in Israel
[00:38:44] And he probably thought to himself when I get there and when I preach
[00:38:49] There's going to be a revival. I'm going to connect the dots for people
[00:38:53] I'm going to help them see that Jesus is the Messiah of the Old Testament
[00:38:57] And my people the people of Israel they're going to come to know the Lord
[00:39:01] But actually what happened was the exact opposite
[00:39:04] He had a captive audience he was held there had a captive audience actually at the temple mount
[00:39:10] But when he said and Jesus called me to go to the
[00:39:14] Gentiles
[00:39:15] That was the forbidden word in their minds and they began to throw dust in the air and tear their garments
[00:39:20] And Paul was then taken into custody by the Roman government
[00:39:25] And I'm sure at that moment there was probably a lot of sorrow in Paul's heart
[00:39:29] Have you ever had something that for a long time you dreamed of you thought of the moment came
[00:39:33] And it just didn't go the way that you thought that it was supposed to go
[00:39:37] But Jesus in that moment appeared to Paul and spoke to his heart and said Paul
[00:39:42] You've done well in preaching the gospel here in Jerusalem
[00:39:46] And you must also
[00:39:48] preach in Rome
[00:39:50] And as a prisoner Paul would eventually appeal to Caesar and in chains
[00:39:55] He would be brought to Rome where he would preach the gospel as a prisoner
[00:40:00] So sometimes when you have a vision of what the Lord wants to do in your life
[00:40:04] Sometimes it's not going to come to pass in the way that you think it's going to come to pass
[00:40:09] I'm sure he wanted to get to Rome as a free man not as a man in chains
[00:40:13] But he got there
[00:40:14] But here he's still hadn't been there and he says Lord I want to go
[00:40:18] I want to preach the gospel in Rome. I want to give them a spiritual gift
[00:40:22] And he says notice in verse 14
[00:40:25] I am under obligation
[00:40:28] Both to Greeks and to barbarians both to the wise and to foolish
[00:40:33] So I am eager to preach the gospel to you
[00:40:38] Also who are in Rome that phrase is actually very helpful to us
[00:40:44] Because notice what Paul says to a group of Christians in Rome
[00:40:49] He says I can't wait to preach the gospel
[00:40:53] Not to your community
[00:40:55] Not to your friends and family who don't know the Lord
[00:40:58] But I can't wait to preach the gospel to you
[00:41:02] That's really cool for us to know because it helps us understand that the gospel is more than that
[00:41:06] ABCs of the Christian faith but that it's the A to Z of the Christian faith
[00:41:12] And that we should continually have it preached and discover it and learn the doctrines found within it
[00:41:17] Notice those we close this a little phrase that he says in verse 14
[00:41:22] I am under obligation
[00:41:25] I am under obligation to all these different people to preach the gospel. I'm under obligation
[00:41:34] There are two ways to get in debt
[00:41:39] One way is for
[00:41:41] Someone to loan you something and you are now in their debt
[00:41:45] You owe them
[00:41:47] That is not the kind of debt the Paul felt before the Lord
[00:41:51] That the Lord gave me something and now I have to earn what he gave to me
[00:41:55] It wasn't actually a gift
[00:41:57] It's something that he put into my care and now I have to earn it from him
[00:42:02] Wasn't that kind of debt in Paul's mind
[00:42:05] There's a second kind of debt
[00:42:07] There's a kind of debt if somebody went to you and said here here's a thousand dollars
[00:42:12] I want you to give this thousand dollars to my friend when they show up
[00:42:16] I can't meet with them, but here it is you transfer it to them
[00:42:20] Now you're in the debt of the person who gave it to you
[00:42:24] To do the thing they asked you to do
[00:42:26] And you're in the debt of the person who is supposed to receive that thousand dollars
[00:42:31] That's how Paul felt about the gospel
[00:42:33] I am in debt to all these people Greeks and barbarians Jews and free
[00:42:40] I'm in debt to everyone here on earth because God gave it to me
[00:42:44] So that I could give it
[00:42:47] To them and so he says I'm eager to preach the gospel to you also
[00:42:53] And so that's what we have here in the book of Romans Paul is going to preach the gospel
[00:42:59] And he's going to do it by writing it down for you and me to discover and love together
[00:43:04] So we did 15 verses today next week we'll do two verses as we look at the mission statement
[00:43:11] Of this letter so let's pray together and ask the Lord to bless us now because we're going to close
[00:43:17] Our service by doing something very appropriate. We're going to take
[00:43:20] Communion so if you're a Christian this morning a believer
[00:43:24] You've been born again
[00:43:25] This is for you to remember the death of Jesus and the blood of Jesus that
[00:43:30] cleansed you and saved you
[00:43:31] So as the elements come by just collect them and hold them and we'll partake together as one family in just a few minutes
[00:43:39] so Lord, we we do come before you sent this morning and
[00:43:45] We're so thankful
[00:43:47] Lord for what you have given to us
[00:43:49] In this glorious gospel message
[00:43:53] and Lord we feel like
[00:43:57] We just barely know what it is that you have for us and we pray, Lord, that you help us
[00:44:02] That as we move through it, Lord, that our eyes would be open. We sang that earlier, Lord
[00:44:07] And I pray that it would occur in our lives
[00:44:10] That you'd open our eyes like like Paul prayed for the Ephesians, Lord
[00:44:14] That our eyes would be open and know the length and width and depth and height that the love of Christ that passes knowledge
[00:44:20] Help us to see it, Lord. Help us to know it
[00:44:24] Fill our hearts fill our minds, Lord with this beautiful
[00:44:27] Truth and reality and change us, Lord from within
[00:44:31] We bring Lord so many
[00:44:34] past experiences and
[00:44:36] So many things that are either part of our nature of just kind of been putting us over time
[00:44:41] That we want to bring to the cross of Christ
[00:44:44] To have changed and transformed sanctified
[00:44:48] Lord that we might grow more and more into the image of Christ Jesus
[00:44:52] So we pray, Lord, that you'd open our eyes to this glorious gospel message
[00:44:57] Lord over the next weeks and months together, Lord as a church
[00:45:01] So we thank you, Lord
[00:45:03] And now as we partake of communion
[00:45:06] We ask that you meet us here in Jesus' name
[00:45:09] Amen. All right let's sing together