Whom do you serve? Romans 1:1-7

Coram Deo Reformed Baptist Church

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Anyway, Romans 1. Paul, the servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle set apart for the

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Gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the

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Holy Scriptures concerning his son, who was descended from David according to the flesh, and was declared to be the

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Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead. Jesus Christ, our

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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.

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To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our

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Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is writing this in roundabout

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AD 57 to give you some historical context. He's converted on the road to Damascus in AD 34 -ish.

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He's writing Romans in 57. Romans is not the first epistle that he writes, but this one specifically in 57.

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And then he's martyred, according to church history, in 67. This kind of gives you an idea of when in his life he's writing

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Romans, or when in his apostleship he's writing Romans. Verse one,

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Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God.

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You notice how Paul refers to himself right off the bat. The word in the

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Greek is doulos, and it's used every time that it's translated in the

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New Testament in the... Septuagint.

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The Old Testament in Greek. The word doulos means the exact same thing. Slave. It doesn't mean anything else other than person who is owned by another person.

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A lot of people don't have an ear for harsh language.

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In the United States, slave is a harsh word. We have a history that we dealt with.

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We fought a war over it. We ended it. Everybody, I think, is grateful for that.

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But this is the word that Paul uses to describe himself, and it's not just Paul. Paul, James, Jude, Peter, they all begin their epistles as a doulos of Christ Jesus.

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And I just wanted to touch on that for a minute because we hear a lot about...

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We don't hear enough, but we do hear about being heirs, brothers and sisters, family, but I don't think, unless you listen to Reformers and read a lot of Reformers, that it's talked about enough that we are first and foremost servants of Christ.

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We were bought for the price. 1

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Corinthians 6, 19 and 20. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the

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Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price, so glorify

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God in your body. We were slaves beforehand, and we're slaves now.

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That's the only option in this life, is being a slave.

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It's just the question is to what master? Before, we have the...

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In this life and in the next life, imperfection in the next life, but in this one we have the wonderful gift and what most assumed to be a curse of the memories of our sin.

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We remember it. And we repent and try really hard not to regret it, because we shouldn't.

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We shouldn't regret... Let me rephrase that. We shouldn't constantly dwell on the regret of our sins, but we do get to remember them.

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For a reason, God lets us remember them. So he can be glorified.

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Look how you used to be. Look what I've made you. That's not the only reason, but that's a big one.

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But before we were slaves to a terrible taskmaster, that was ourselves and our sin.

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Never satiated, never sleeping, never taking a break. It was always hungry, always wanted more.

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But then we're saved, and the Holy Spirit brings about His work in us, and we have a new master that did all of the work concerning salvation already 2 ,000 years ago.

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He already did it. We still have an obligation and responsibility to be obedient, but even in that responsibility, we have what?

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We have help in the Holy Spirit. Right? Because I certainly don't live my

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Christian life. I don't. And I don't think anyone sitting here would say that they do either.

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We don't live our Christian lives. He does it for us.

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He helps us do it. Verse 2.

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He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures. Now, looking at the next verse, if you notice as we go through these seven verses, one thing that Paul is doing, this is the most formal introduction in all of the epistles.

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It reads, if you've ever watched historical films that had to do with court and kings and things like that,

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Paul is introducing himself as a servant of the master he serves, and the accomplishments of his master.

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About Queen Victoria or something like that, where a person comes into court, and they introduce themselves as Lord Cardinal on behalf of so -and -so, and list off all of the accomplishments of their king or their queen or whoever it is they're serving.

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Paul is doing that in this introduction. It's literally a formal introduction of an emissary.

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If you notice, every sentence that comes after that points to Christ. The first sentence is describing

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Paul and who he is and who he serves. Everything after that points to Christ. As a summation, or summary, of the rest of the epistle, in this verse, he's pointing to messianic prophecy in the

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Old Testament. The credentials of his king, our king, the master.

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He's saying that this was the plan from the beginning. This has been prophesied. Our king has been prophesied for hundreds and hundreds of years.

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Genesis 3 .15 The Messiah would be born of a woman. Genesis 12 .3 22 .18

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The Messiah would come from the line of Abraham. Isaiah 7 .14

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The Messiah would be born of a virgin. Isaiah I read that one already.

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Micah 5 .2 The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Numbers 24 .17

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The Messiah would be a descendant of Jacob. Hosea 11 .1

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The Messiah would spend a season in Egypt. That's just seven. There's more than 300.

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And it specifically resonates with the Jews in Rome and everywhere else.

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The Jewish converts. So the Christians that were Jewish before. Because they know all this already.

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They know the Septuagint. They know all of the Old Testament. The Gentiles are the ones that have to learn it.

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But he's the one that was prophesied in Ezekiel and Isaiah and the other prophets. Who was, is, is to come.

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He was here for a short while with us. Died, rose again. And like we said in the

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Apostles Creed, where does he sit? The right hand of God.

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In 1 Peter 3 .15 I'm sure everyone is familiar.

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Always be ready to give an answer for the hope that you have. Everything that I, well not everything, but all of those prophets that we just went into, that has to be included in that.

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We should know that. We should be able to reference it.

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Not necessarily off the top of your head. To say, oh

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Hosea 11 .1 would be great. But, that's included in that.

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And now unfortunately we have this idea that we should unhitch. And I'm not going to get into that argument at the moment.

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But, what happens to all of the credentials that Paul is talking about if we do that?

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They go away. Verse 3, concerning his son, who is a descendant of David, according to the flesh.

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I think everyone was here when we went through genealogy. Right? So there's no question as to his earthly lineage.

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That is one of the things that is necessary, especially in this time, and really all the way up to just about 250 years ago.

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That was always a big thing. Who are you?

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What family do you come from? What's your lineage? The other key factor here is that if you remember specifically about his lineage, what did

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Herod do when the kings finally show up two years later ish?

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Certainly not on the night of Jesus' birth. But they show up later and they're talking to Herod about the star and astronomy and all of these things.

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And what does Herod do? He gets really worried. And he tells them, well, when you find him, let me know.

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Let me know where he is so I can worship too. And the kings are like, no, we're not doing that. So they don't.

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They see Christ as an infant and head off.

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And what's Herod's response? Genocide. So Herod has no legitimate right to the throne whatsoever.

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He doesn't. And he knows that. So he's incredibly worried about the fact that this prophesied king is going to take what he believes is his.

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Verse 4. It was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the

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Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead. Now I will add this in here.

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Going through Calvin's commentaries and several other commentaries when it refers to the

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Spirit of holiness. It's referring to the Holy Spirit. The Bible is not specific on how much of a part the

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Holy Spirit played in the resurrection versus the Son versus the

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Father. But try in Godhead.

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Oh, the other thing that he points out.

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It is uncommon, especially today. And I'll just step back just for a moment to verse 1.

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That I do find interesting. But take it with a grain of salt. Come to your own conclusion.

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Most of the time what is taught is Paul is the

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Greek name given to Saul upon his conversion. Or technically upon him converting someone else.

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He's given the name Paul. But reading through very old commentaries.

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Was it Oregon? Well Calvin said Oregon. Well that's how the

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Scottish guy reading Calvin pronounced it. But Oregon had a much simpler answer for why

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Paul has two names. And that's that Paul is one, a

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Pharisee. Right? His name is Saul, which is the name of the first king of Israel.

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But then also he's unique. He's a

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Roman citizen. Which is very unique in Judea at the time.

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There were a lot of people who were Roman citizens. But it was a position that was coveted. That was esteemed to be a

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Roman citizen at that time. Because that meant you had rights that other people didn't have. And his

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Roman name given to him by his parents was Paul. And he was given that name to denote his citizenship.

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Paul means the little one. How does

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Paul refer to himself? What does he call himself in all of his epistles? The little one.

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He's the... He writes a third of the New Testament.

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He is the apostle to the Gentiles. And he refers to himself by his

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Roman name, which is the little one. I just thought that was interesting.

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But like I said, with a grain of salt. Back to verse 4.

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Everything that Jesus taught, said, claimed, is validated in the resurrection.

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It is the key pivotal moment in Christianity.

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It is. It's not the only moment, but it's the pivotal one.

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Look at James. James has known Jesus all of his life. Literally.

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He's his brother and did not believe a single word that he said.

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Not a word until he saw him after the resurrection.

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And then James goes on to be the leader of the church in Jerusalem.

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And not only that, he is martyred for this.

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One of the best apologetical arguments that I think can be made is that 12 men will...

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Well, not just 12 men, but people in general won't die for a lie. They won't die for something they know that they made up.

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Right? But people will absolutely die for a truth. So why does it make sense that 12 people made something up and then died for it?

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And they weren't nice, easy deaths either. Right? People won't suffer for something that they know is a lie.

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James, who didn't believe before, after the resurrection, becomes devout and the leader of the church in Jerusalem.

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And he is thrown off of the same spot in which Jesus is tempted, the pinnacle of the temple, according to church history.

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It's not necessarily in Scripture. Is it in Acts?

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I have to look. I'm sorry. I apologize. Perhaps it is. Mm -hmm.

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I apologize for being muddied. I've read so many, so many things this week.

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I cannot describe to you the amount of nerves and indigestion

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I have had leading up to this. I've read five books this week.

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No. No, I have not. But this is the moment, the resurrection, is the moment in which all of the claims that Christ made about Himself, about His Father, about being at the right hand of the

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Father, all of these things are validated by God.

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This is the moment in which God the Father validates the claims of God the Son of Man. Because Christ makes claims to...

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I mean, when you read through the

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Gospels, the claims that Christ makes, He's either insane or He's right.

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Because no one in this time period would make those claims unless they were insane. You just wouldn't.

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So you have a lot of people who believe Him and follow Him up to a certain point. When He's talking figuratively about the

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Last Supper, oddly enough, and then they're like, we're not eating your flesh, that's kind of weird, and they leave.

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And people come and go and things like that. Do you not remember that part? I forget where that's at.

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Luke? Matthew? I can't remember. But anyway, it is the

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Father's validation of the Son and of His rightful place. Verse 5, well part of verse 5,

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Jesus Christ our Lord through whom we received grace. The grace that Paul is referring to is the same grace that we have.

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He's speaking specifically of Himself in the 12th, in this particular verse, but it's the same grace that we have.

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Grace is not special and specific to any particular person. The grace that Paul is referring to is the free gift of grace that is undeserved, not given to us for being obedient to the law, or for going to church for 30 years, or for putting enough money on the plate.

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It is non -meritorious. In other words, we can't earn it.

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It's freely given as a gift to those who are elect. If you've ever wondered why, why did

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God choose us? I can give you a really short answer.

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For His glory. Alone. So that He could demonstrate through us over a lifetime

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His power and grace and mercy. So that at the end of our lives, when

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He calls us home, people will not be able to think of you without talking about Him and what

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He did to you or for you, through you. Paul goes on to say and apostleship at the end of that verse.

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Or later in that verse. Now to touch on apostleship, that's apostleship with a big

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A. He's speaking specifically of the 12. There are only 12, and I can immediately prove that there are only 12 apostles for anyone who is who knows someone who is of the word faith persuasion.

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How many foundations are there of the wall in New Jerusalem? We just went through it last week.

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12. There's only 12. Right?

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Right? So, Kenneth Copeland don't get one. And Bill Johnson don't get one.

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Anyone who claims to be an apostle now and have the same gifts right?

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They don't get a foundation stone or a throne or none of that. Just the 12.

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So you're more than welcome to just throw revelation at them. In the description of New Jerusalem and everything about that according to the apostleship.

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It's an office. Now, apostleship with a small A. That just means emissary.

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Small A apostles are emissaries. It's a Greek word. Apostolos.

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I don't know how I just remembered that off the top of my head because it's not written down. But it did. It just means emissary.

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And that's all of us. Right? So in that sense, yes. We are all small

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A apostles. We're all emissaries of Christ. But specifically the 12 to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name.

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There's that soli deo gloria again. That pesky sola.

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It's just in here so many times. That wonderful sola that is in here so many times.

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Paul is both talking about the obedience in the immediate obedience in conversion upon the hearing of the gospel and also that long term obedience from the church body which is why he writes epistles that the 12 are called to because they don't just go and plant a church and leave.

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Right? There's constant communication. Paul spends several years in most of the places where he plants churches.

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Right? Corinth is a specific example where he spends a lot of time. And there's a lot of people who would say that he's writing

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Romans from Corinth on his third missionary journey. Now, I didn't go super deep into that so I'm not going to validate that claim but extra information.

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You're welcome to go find out. But we see

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Paul go out and preach the gospel to bring about that immediate obedience of faith through the hearing of the word and the work of the

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Holy Spirit and then also spend a lot of time dealing with, well not dealing with, that sounds harsh, teaching and church structure and raising elders and deacons and helping the church along.

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It is a never -ending process that we have here.

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We've been doing it for 2 ,000 years and we're still terrible at it. But then at the end, well, this is one big run -on sentence, the verses 1 -7, but for the sake of his name, meaning

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Christ, the object of our faith. I don't know if anyone's ever heard that term, object of faith.

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But there's a really funny video that I'll point to after we're done about the object of faith.

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Acts 4 says, this Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone, and there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

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It's a pretty exclusive statement. Also, Christ says,

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I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes unto the

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Father except through me. That's a, oh,

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I forget my grammar. I can't remember what the word is.

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Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No one.

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No one can. Not may. This is the difference between can and may, which is why your teacher in grade school, when you said, can

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I go to the bathroom, she was like, I don't know, can you? You may, but I don't know if you can.

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The difference between may and can. And there's a difference between may and can in Greek. The Greek words are different.

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So we know for a fact that he said, can. No one can.

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For his name's sake, among all the nations, referring to not just Israel, but now the Gentile nations also, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

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Now the Greek word here is kleitoi.

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I said it right. The word that's translated as call is kleitoi.

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And I put this in here because it's used specifically, it's translated specifically as the divine calling every time that it's used.

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And I don't like try to shove Greek words in here on everybody if I'm not specifically certain.

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If there's not a general, like at least 95 % consensus of what the word means.

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But kleitoi is used a lot in the epistles and the gospels.

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And it's specifically is always used of the divine calling. But we see

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Paul saying this about Gentiles. What was that that,

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I had it in here and it's disappeared. Where, what does

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God promise Abraham? He's not even Abraham yet. Right?

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That through Abraham's descendants God will bless all the nations.

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That's what he does. That's what he's doing. That's what he's done. Through Christ and his work on the cross.

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Now we Greeks are adopted into the family of Abraham.

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To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints.

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Is that word again? Grace to you and peace from God our

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Father and Lord Jesus Christ. I don't think

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I have to exegete the last part there. It's pretty plain. But just in these first seven verses of Romans we are slaves of something regardless of whether we think we are or not.

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Whether permanently or momentarily in our lives because we're still living the flesh and our sin does creep up on us and we're responsible for that.

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But a good way as we're taught to examine ourselves is ask what consumes my mind the most?

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Whether that's over the period of a day or over the period of a week or months or several months.

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What has consumed your mind the most just in the past week? Just think about that.

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You don't have to shout it out. Just think about it. That thing has been your

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God or your idol this week. Just for reference,

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I'm including myself in this. We don't think about that very often.

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It's not something that comes up as it's pointed out. But anything that consumes our thoughts more than God becomes an idol.

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Now, does that mean we have to go every second of every day constantly praying or in the scriptures?

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No. That's not what that means. Should we? Is that what we should do in perfection? That would be fantastic.

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And we'll do that in eternity. But here we have jobs and we have family and we have things we have to take care of.

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The key to that is who are you doing it for? One key pivotal moment to share for a minute in our marriage was who am

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I being a husband to but who am I being a husband for? I have to love my wife.

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It doesn't mean I have to always like my wife but I have to love my wife. It's an action that you take.

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I like my wife most of the time, by the way. She's wonderful. But who am

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I doing it for? Am I doing it for Courtney? Am I doing it for myself?

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Am I doing it for our daughter? I shouldn't be. I should be doing it for Christ. He's the one who's appointed me to that position.

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God is the one who made me a husband in the first place. He's the one who created man and created the position.

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He created this thing from the mud and gave it a purpose and defined what that purpose was.

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Most English translations says he made Adam out of the ground but the Hebrew word just means mud.

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It's a mud. Clay. But we were talking about this in a podcast.

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He made man and he made woman and he was gracious enough to define what those roles were.

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He created marriage and the roles that we play in marriage. I don't need to be being a husband for my wife.

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I need to be a husband on behalf of Christ because he's the one who defined...

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He's the one who tells me how to be that and how to be a servant.

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And he's gracious enough to tell us how to do those things. So why would you not read the instruction manual?

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Especially considering that our lives depend on it. You know?

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These lives. Salvation he's taking care of. I'm not saying that...

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Anyway. But the idols in our lives can be easier to pick out than others.

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So just keep a mind towards that this week. Our preeminent priority should always be obedience to Christ.

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Should always be Christ. Whether we're at work or with our families or our leisure time.

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We should... The preeminence of Christ and the gospel should always be there no matter what we're doing.

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This is the purpose of the church. The preeminence of the gospel is very apparent.

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The great commission that we're given is to spread the gospel.

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But as we embark on this specific endeavor, if in fact y 'all return,

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I want to, and I think we all want that to be the preeminent thing that this gathering is about.

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Is the preeminence of the gospel. Of Christ and of the word of God.