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Romans chapter 1. And we'll read through verses 1 to 7. Romans chapter 1, 1 to 7. “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 his 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.” Let us pray. Father, we want to thank you for this morning that he given us to laud and worship you, to adore you, to lift you high. And now thank you for this time that he given us the Lord to hear from you. And as we do that, Lord, may give us your Spirit. May you help us to understand your word and help us to live accordingly. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. I am Charles Thaluri, and I was saved by God from my
sins the moment I repented of my sins and put my trust in the gospel which I mean that Christ Jesus lived and died on my behalf and rose again from the dead to offer me the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. You can find about him in the Bible, which is God's word to us.
This God has called me to serve him and that's why I became a pastor to serve him in a full-time capacity. And I just want to say good morning to you all. That is what Paul is doing here in this passage. Even before greeting the believers in Rome, he shares about the gospel and how it shaped his life in this letter. So Paul did not start off saying that he is the founder or CEO of global missions organizations and a mission lead at the Gospel Life Church in Jerusalem, and that he planted several healthy churches throughout Asia, and that he's an apostle, a church planter, a pastor, a leader, an author of many books in the Bible.
And in the past, he graduated from the University of Tarsus, later was a scholar under Dr. Gamaliel. He did not write a detailed resume or report about his accomplishments and submit some of his selfies to the church. But look at these few verses in chapter 1 and see what is dominating in his introduction about himself.
It is a gospel, the truth and facts about God and Jesus Christ. You can also say in the light of other scriptural passages that Paul's life is dominated by the gospel truth. He's a man sold out for God and his gospel. When he's idle, he thinks about the gospel. When he's speaking, he talks about the gospel. When he's writing, he's explaining the gospel. Paul was not like that before, but he became a changed man the moment he got saved. Why so? It's because the gospel has worked in his life powerfully. Or I can say that God in his grace has worked in Paul's life through the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of his Spirit, or the Holy Spirit. That is why that great changed happened in Paul's life. Dear brothers and sisters, the gospel changes people. Did it change you? Is the gospel powerfully at work in
your life? Do you see God's hand shaping your life through the gospel? So this morning I want to show you from this text that when the gospel greets us, we will be deeply changed. So that when the gospel greets us, we'll be deeply changed. When I say that, I mean that God is the one who brings the gospel to us.
And through that, deeply transforms us in such a way that we will joyfully and gladly obey him and live for his cause. The main point or thrust of this passage is greetings. Paul is just greeting the believers in Rome and wishing that they will continue to experience God's grace and peace.
It is this grace of God that was shown towards God's people through Jesus Christ. And God made peace, I mean Jesus made peace between God and his people. It is this grace that calls God's people to obey God. And it is this grace that enables them to live and serve him according to God's calling in their lives. I believe that this is and will be true in our lives too. Let us look at the text and see what Paul is saying about this.
Paul was also called Saul. Saul was his Hebrew name and Paul a Roman name. After his encounter with Christ on that road to Damascus, and after he received this calling as an apostle to the Gentiles, Saul went by this name Paul for the rest of his life.
If we look at verse 1, we see how Paul introduces himself to these Roman believers in this epistle. We can notice three things here. He says about himself that he is, number one, a servant of Christ Jesus. And number two, he’s called to be an apostle.
that is set apart for the gospel of God. So a servant of Christ Jesus is more like a relational identity that he has with his Lord. He was called to be an apostle. It's more like a functional or a vocational identity. And that is set apart for the gospel of God and that is more like his positional identity.
So from this we can see how the gospel transformed him completely holistically in his life. So how does Paul identify himself? So we look at these three things. First, we look at the servant of Christ Jesus, this identity. The word servant here means much more than a mere worker.
These days we can get maids through the Urban Company app, right? So we book the service for one or more hours and pay for it. And they will send a maid or a servant who does their job and leaves. They work for us in that allotted time and we do not have any claim or authority over them.
They are not bound by our commands. They have freedom to quit and go away if they do not like the work or the people. But the way Paul uses the word servant is not like that. Here it means a slave or a bond servant.
Have you ever seen a slave with your own eyes? We might not have seen one, but still there is slavery around us. Some families bring children from a poor background, a village background, and let them stay with them so that they can help them out with house chores.
They kind of own those children by paying their parents some money. That’s slavery too. Some parents who cannot take care of their children from a poor background sell them off to families who need someone to do chores at home. That’s slavery too. We see a lot of this in the history of this world.
We see examples in the Old Testament and the New Testament as well. People become slaves either by force or by their own choice. If someone has no livelihood, then the last option for them is that they resort to is to sell themselves as slaves to someone. And we see that in the Old Testament.
But today, the general presumption among us that slavery is all bad, it’s not a good thing. The word carries a negative connotation with it. However, it is not always so. It is true that slaves in the history have been abused very badly and were treated cruelly, but that is not always true. There are some good examples of good slavery too. There were slaves who were treated well with honor and were given good positions in the kingdom. Like Joseph was sold as a slave in Egypt but rose to prominent position in the kingdom. In Leviticus, God commands Israelites to treat their slaves properly and reminds them that they were once slaves themselves in Egypt. Slavery can be a blessing for some people
who have good masters. So it is not all negative. There is a positive side to slavery as well. So the Bible says that we are all slaves, that humans are all slaves. I mean, everyone born in this world is born as a slave since the time Adam sinned. Everyone by default is a slave to sin and Satan. But those whom God redeems are now slaves to righteousness or slaves to Christ Jesus.
Only as a slave to Christ do we have true freedom in our lives. That sounds like a paradox, isn’t it? We need to understand this. As created beings, we do not have absolute freedom. We are not sovereign like God. We will never be.
As slaves to God, we are bound to do His will. We exist to fulfill His desire and will, not ours. Our constant prayer should be like Jesus’ prayer, “not my will, but Your will be done.” To be a slave is not a bad thing, but a good thing if you are on the right side, on God’s side.
So being a slave to God is a blessing and a good thing. Paul was glad that he is a slave of Christ and he proudly introduces himself as a slave of God in the first place. In saying that he means that he could do nothing else than what God wants him to do. How about you dear friend?
Did you grasp what it means to be a slave of Christ? And are you for it? Are you for it? Second, we see call. Paul called himself, uh, as an apostle. He says he is called to be an apostle. It’s more like his functional or vocational identity. So here Paul is clearly defending his apostleship by mentioning his call from God to be an apostle. There were people in his time who questioned his apostleship, like Judaizers in Galatia or the people in Corinthian church.
However, Paul dismissed those people, warned them, and took them lightly. If we look at this word, called in the Bible, R.C. Sproul says that it is used in particularly three ways, and he clearly explains that. So call, number one, it is a call to repent. It’s a call to repent. Since the time Adam and Eve have sinned, God is calling his people to repent of their sins and turn from evil and put their trust in the saving grace of God.
How we can be saved became clear with the coming of Jesus into this world. It is faith in his life, death, and resurrection that brings salvation to the lost souls. God made a way for us to be saved and now is calling everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and put their trust in Christ. This calling is not an invitation. It’s a command to all people everywhere. I think evangelicals today are trying to soften the language to appeal to the people in a pleasing way so that without getting offended, they might put their trust in Christ.
That is something that we do not see in the Bible at all. The gospel is meant to offend people by calling their sins out. But at the same time, it commands people to repent of their sins. It is a divine order, not a gentle invitation.
Remember how when Peter preached that sermon in Acts 2, people who heard that message were cut to the heart. The message pierced their heart. It offended them. And then when they asked Peter, saying, “What shall we do?” Peter strongly urged them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Peter is not giving them options or choices here and saying it is up to you to make your minds.
It’s up to you to make up your minds. There is only a command here, not an option. There is only one thing that is necessary for us to do, that is to repent. Repent. If people do not repent of their sins when the call is given, then it is counted as disobedience, and disobedience is a sin, and the wages of sin is punishment by death, an eternal one, an eternal one. So though this calling—a call to repent—might sound harsh, it has eternal benefits to it. When a person yields to this command and repents and puts his faith in Christ Jesus, then what he gains is forgiveness of his sins and eternal life with God forever, live with God. He will be saved from that eternal hell and will be joined in the kingdom of God. He
will. We’ll have the best life forever, not just now. Best life forever. All these benefits come along when a person responds to this call. And this is an external call which is proclaimed to everyone everywhere. The second type of calling in the Bible is effectual calling of God. Effectual call of God by His Spirit. This is more an internal call.
person hears the gospel, the Holy Spirit takes this message from his ears to his heart and applies it there. God works in him effectively towards regeneration, causing his dead spirit to come alive, thus giving him the ability to repent of his sins and put his trust in Jesus Christ.
This is a gracious, sovereign, and supernatural work of God the Spirit in the lives of people. And man contributes nothing towards this act of God. Just as a baby does nothing to be conceived and be born into this world, man can do nothing to be born again.
God does everything. That is a glorious truth about this effectual calling. And the third type of calling is a call to separation, a call to separation or to vocation. This is a call that every Christian receives. God calls every Christian to live in conformity to his will in whatever work they do. Whatever work they do. So whatever work we take up, whether we become engineers or doctors or carpenters or janitors or teachers or homemakers. I’m not saying job, I’m saying work. Remember that. So whatever work you take up, we are to live according to his will. We carry our identity as Christians in every area of our life and live in such a way that honors the Lord and shows that he deserves the glory.
And shows that we exclusively belong to him, set apart for him, and set apart from this sinful world. So I want to show this here. To be an apostle, this is not a voluntary position that Paul took up to serve the Lord. He was appointed by God for this role. That’s not Paul’s choice, but that’s God’s choice for him. Just like in the Old Testament God appointed prophets to speak on his behalf, in the New Testament Jesus appoints the apostles to speak on his behalf. This is a special calling for the few and not for everyone. So we know about the twelve apostles that Jesus chose, and one was lost, Judas Iscariot. Then to fill that place, Peter prays and casts lots and chooses Matthias. While doing that, he lays down
the requirements to be an apostle, and we see that in Acts. So Acts chapter 1, verses 21 and 22, it says, “So one of the men who have accompanied during us — sorry — have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us, one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” So must have been with Jesus and must have seen the resurrected Lord. Clearly there were more than one who was, who qualified for that, but only one man was chosen
by the eleven apostles, that is Matthias. Later Paul shows up and says that he is also an apostle, and that Jesus himself had made him an apostle to the Gentiles. What qualifies Paul to be an apostle here? He saw the resurrected Lord Jesus, and Jesus’ call to Paul to be an apostle qualifies him. Now these apostles of the New Testament, just like the prophets in the Old Testament, are agents of God’s special revelation. So whatever they heard from God, they spoke under the inspiration of God’s Spirit. And it was written down for us. All these 66 books of the Bible are written in such a way.
Once the last book is written and the last apostle died, this special calling has ceased. Today, nobody can claim to be an apostle or a prophet in succession to biblical apostles or prophets. That office has ceased. Though many in this world are calling themselves apostles and prophets, which are false claims and not biblical claims. So please, do not listen to or follow those false apostles or prophets. They will mislead you away from the truth of God’s word.
Remember, those prophets and apostles in the Bible were sent on a particular mission. That is to proclaim God's revelation to God's people and lay the foundation for the church of Jesus Christ. You'll see that in Ephesians 2, verse 20. In Ephesians 2, verse 20.
So we quickly turn there to Ephesians chapter 2, verse 20. It says, “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.” This Paul is talking about the Church of Jesus Christ, which is built on the foundation, and the foundation was laid by the apostles and prophets. And now the question is, how many times do you lay the foundation for a building? Multiple times? No, just one time, right? So only once we lay the foundation. The prophets and the apostles fulfill that mission of laying the foundation for the church, and now there is no need for such an office because
the foundation has been laid. By the way, the foundation is Jesus himself. Just as they were sent by God to reveal God’s Word, God sent Jesus to reveal God himself in person. In that sense, Jesus is also an apostle. And Hebrews chapter 3, verse 1 says, “Therefore, holy brothers, you who in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession.”
So Jesus is our apostle, the apostle, who is above all the other apostles. The job of these few apostles under Jesus in the New Testament is to point out to that great apostle, Jesus. For this purpose, Jesus did set them apart. That is what Paul says here. That he is set apart for the gospel of God.
So the third thing that we see in Romans chapter 1 is that Paul says that he is set apart for the gospel of God, which is more like his positional identity. Set apart means being separated. So Paul was separated for God's purposes. He was separated to do a particular job that God assigned him.
So that pulls him away from the rest of the work that other people do in this world. But it is not just limited to his job. It encompasses his whole life. From the moment he wakes up till he sleeps, his day is scheduled around the gospel. Every move that he makes in his life is for the gospel.
in action in the book of Acts and the epistles. He’s always spreading the gospel, protecting the gospel, defending the gospel. Above all, he lived and died for the gospel. He saw that as God’s will for him to live for the gospel and die for the gospel, that’s his special calling in his life.
Now what is the gospel that Paul believed, preached, and was set apart for? So there are three things about the gospel in this passage that we can see. First, that it is the gospel of God. That it is the gospel of God. That means that God is the author of the message and not man.
The gospel is not man’s invention or imagination. As Peter says, it is not a cleverly devised myth, but the word of truth that God revealed to his people. God owns it. So no one has the right to change it, add to it, or take away any aspect from it. You remove or add anything to it, then it is no longer the gospel of God. Some people in Galatia started off well in believing in salvation through faith alone, but then added that works are necessary to be saved. Paul called them foolish Galatians and said that what they believe is not the gospel that he preached, and that what they believe is another gospel that is not from God. So let us be careful in what we believe to be the gospel. Let us get the gospel of God right. Second, we see
a policy is that it is promised in the scriptures. This gospel is promised in the scriptures. This gospel message is promise of God revealed in the scriptures. And where do we see this promise first? In Genesis chapter 3, where God says that the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. That is both a prophecy and a promise that looks forward to the day of Jesus, who through his work on the cross destroyed the work of Satan, that old serpent. You see this promise in Genesis chapter 12, where God promises Abraham that in him, all the families of the earth shall be
blessed. But then he says in Genesis chapter 22 verse 18, he says, “in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Peter quotes that and says in Acts chapter 3 verse 25 to 26 that in and through Jesus, that is, that it is fulfilled, that promise is fulfilled. And if you look at Acts chapter 3 verse 25 and 26, it says, “God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.” So what is the promise that God gave Abraham, saying that he will bless all the families? That blessing is turning us away from our wickedness, turning us away from our sins. You will see this promise in 2 Samuel chapter 7 verse 12, where
God says that he will raise up an offspring for David, whose throne will be established forever. Who would that son of David be? On and on, promise of the promise you will see in the scriptures. They’re all God’s promises to us. Third, we’ll see that this gospel is about the Lord Jesus Christ. This gospel is about the Lord Jesus Christ. The promises are all about Jesus himself and all are fulfilled in Christ. Yeah, Paul is trying to prove two things about Jesus. Number one, he says that Jesus is a son of David. He descended from David, so he is the son of David who
will sit on that throne forever and his kingdom will have no end. So as a son of David, he came in his full human form. And number two, he says that Jesus is a son of God, is declared to be the son of God. That’s what the passage says. That shows his divine nature, that Jesus as God. In the rest of the book, or in the rest of this epistle, Paul explains at length the gospel, but here gives a gist of it. His point is that Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, came into this world as a human being from the lineage of King
David, as was promised, he came and lived a perfect life on our behalf and died a cruel death on that cross, experiencing the wrath of God on our behalf. But God, through the powerful work of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of holiness, raised him — that is, raised Jesus up — and declared him to be the Son of God. So Peter says in Acts chapter 2 verse 36 that God made Jesus both Lord and Christ, to that here in Romans chapter 1 and verse 4, and says, “Jesus Christ our Lord.”
It is through this Jesus Paul receives grace and apostleship from God. As an apostle Paul preached this gospel among the nations but to what end did he preach this gospel? In verse 5, if you look at verse 5, he says that in order to bring about obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations.
So the end result of the gospel preaching will be the obedience of faith. Now what is God calling people to through the gospel? The gospel call is not just to repent of our sins and put our faith in Jesus Christ, but to live a life of obedience that springs out of that faith in Jesus. It’s a fruit of faith, will produce works that shows that we really have a living faith, a true and genuine faith. The gospel call is also to belong to Jesus Christ, that we’ll see here in the last, “including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.”
Once Christ owns us, we become his possession forever. Nobody can snatch us away from God’s hand. We now belong to God completely. We need to understand that faith does not apply to a portion or a segment of our life, but to the whole of our life.
We either fully belong to Christ or we do not belong to Christ at all. There is no middle ground. You cannot offer yourselves partially to Him and partially to the world. Once we belong to Jesus, we fully belong to Him. He is our Lord and Christ. That means that we are obligated to obey Him and live for him alone.
Our faith makes us do that. With joy and gratitude towards God. For all that he has done for us on that cross. Finally the gospel call is also a call to be saints. We see that in verse 7. “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints.” The gospel call is also a call to be saints. That means, the word saint means, saints means holy ones, separated ones. We ought to live our lives in such a way that the world will notice that we are different from them, that we do not belong to them.
We live hating sin and evil ways in this world. We will learn to love the righteousness of God and live in a way pleasing to God. We will identify ourselves not with this world but with God and his people, or his church. We will hate to walk with this world, that sinful world, but love to walk with the Lord and his people. Knowing that we are loved by God, we can rest satisfied in him. All this is made possible because of the grace and peace that we have from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, as Paul greets them here. There was Paul’s greeting to believers, but in other sense it is God’s greeting
or wishes for them to, because Paul is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So even today God greets us, or the gospel greets us, and wishes that we experience his grace and peace. So when the gospel greets us, we will be changed from inside out. We will be sold out for the gospel, and we will live solely for Christ the gospel. So may it be true in our lives as we remind ourselves of this great gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen.