Sermon Tone Analysis

I Am Not Ashamed: The Gospel of God

Text: Romans 1:1-13

Theme: An introduction to the Book of Romans, the Apostle Paul's testimony to the saving Gospel of God in Jesus Christ.

Date: 01/09/16 File name: Romans_2016_01.wpd

ID Number: 174

For well neigh onto four years now, I’ve been debating with myself off-and-on about preaching through the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Christians at Rome, i.e. the Book of Romans.

I have considered it again and again, and repeatedly backed off from the task — like a mountain climber gazing up at the heights of Mount Everest and then turning to lower peaks, and more accessible theological climbs.

One of the reasons I’ve put off preaching through Romans is not only its depth, but also its length — sixteen chapters.

Some pastors have plowed through verse-by-verse with no breaks, like Martin Lloyd Jones, who spent 13 years preaching through Romans and only made it to chapter 14 before he died.

He preached 29 sermons just on the first chapter!

We’re not going to go that slowly but we are going to take enough time to plumb its depths.

And, from time-to-time we will take breaks from the book of Romans, but I’ll continually come back to it until we’re finished.

The Book of Romans has always been one of my favorite New Testament books.

First, its doctrinal truths helped me understand God’s salvific work of justification, redemption and propitiation when I was a brand new Christian.

Second, the practical truths about how to flesh-out the Christian life are a quintessential guide for living out the grace we have received in Christ.

Listen to what some of the great theologians past and present have to say about the Book of Romans.

• Martin Luther said that Romans is “The chief part of the New Testament, and the very purest gospel, which, indeed, deserves that a Christian not only know it word for word by heart but deal with it daily as with daily bread of the soul.

For it can never be read or considered too much or too well, and the more it is handled, the more delightful it becomes, and the better it tastes.”

(Jim McNiel, a Baptist Evangelist here in Missouri has committed the entire epistle of Romans to memory)

• John Calvin wrote: “When anyone gains a knowledge of this epistle he has an entrance opened to him to all the most hidden treasures of Scripture.”

• The noted scholar F.F. Bruce once said: “There is no telling what may happen when people begin to study the Epistle to the Romans.”

• Donald Barnhouse said, “Romans has the most complete diagnosis of the plague of man’s sin, and the most glorious setting forth of the simple remedy.”

Even though some of the Church’s greatest minds have studied and commented on the book, Paul the Apostle did not write The Epistle to the Romans for professors and theologians or academia.

It was written to a congregation, to be read and explained to that congregation for its edification.

My heart’s desire is to do similarly — to build up your faith by the faithful exposition of this book.

So this morning, let me introduce you to the Book of Romans: The outline for the first 13 verses includes, 1) The Apostle’s Credentials, The Apostle’s Christ, and The Apostle’s Congregation.

I. THE APOSTLE’S CREDENTIALS (1:1, 5)

1. the author is the Apostle Paul ... he is writing this letter while residing in the city of Corinth ... the letter is written about A.D. 55 — a mere 25 years after the death of Jesus ... the letter is to the Christian church at Rome, a congregation the Apostle has never met, but hopes to

2. in vv. 1 & 5 the author relates four facts about himself

A. HE IS A SERVANT OF JESUS (1:1a)

1.

only the translators of the New American Standard Version of the bible translate the opening sentence as it should be — “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus ... “

a. in describing his relationship to Christ Jesus, the Apostle uses a term that generations of bible translators have attempted to make more palatable be rendering it as servant

1) Paul refers to himself as a doulos — a slave of God’s Anointed One

2. but the Apostle is not just any slave, he is a slave by choice — he is a bond-servant

ILLUS.

In the ancient world slavery was commonplace.

A person could become a slave in several ways.

You could be born a slave.

You could be made a slave if your army was defeated and you became a prisoner of war.

Such prisoners were usually sold off as slaves.

Of, you might be kidnaped by slave traders.

Slaves were considered property under Roman law and had no legal personhood.

At the height of the Roman Empire, 10% of the total population were slaves.

Once you were a slave, your children would also be slaves.

Usually, your only hope for freedom was if a person or a group paid a ransom to redeem you from your slavery.

a. in the spiritual realm, this is what God had done for the Apostle — and it is what He has done for you in Christ — redeemed you from your enslavement to sin and death, by the life and blood of His own Son

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?

You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price.

Therefore honor God with your bodies.”

(1 Corinthians 6:19–20, NIV)

b.

Christ has purchased us with His own blood in order to set us free so that we might willingly become his bond-servant

ILLUS.

Considering that the Hebrews spent 400 years as slaves in Egypt, it's hard for us to comprehend, that they Jews allowed for slavery within their culture.

But under Jewish law, it was very different.

There was written into Jewish legal code the opportunity for freedom.

Suppose you're a Jewish business owner, and your business for some reason fails.

You've got debts to pay, and groceries to buy, but you've got no money.

Worse still, there is no social safety net for such instances.

There's a very real possibility that your family could starve.

But Jewish law allowed for you to sell yourself, and even your family, into slavery in order to pay off your debts and have a new start.

However, once you've labored for six years you have to be set free at the beginning of your 7th year of servitude.

Unless, that is, your choose to become a bond-servant.

Exodus 21:5 reads, "But if the servant declares, 'I love my master... and do not want to go free, 'then his master must take him before the judges.

He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl.

Then he will be his servant for life."

Those whose ears were pierced become known as "bond-servants" because they had "bonded" themselves to their master.

This ear piercing was not the kind you get at the mall so that you can put a small earring in your ears.

It was a type of spike that left a gaping hole, easily seen.

They were earmarked for life as a slave.

3. the question is not, "Why would anyone volunteer for slavery" but rather, if you’re in Christ, “Are you living as his bond-servant?”

and if not, why not?

a. we become bond-slaves of Christ Jesus because of love for him

1) I have made my choice ...

2) I have declared my love ...

3) I have acknowledged my debt ...

4) I have announced my commitment ...

5) I have yielded my obedience ...

c. with Paul, I declare myself a bond-servant of Jesus Christ

1) will you?

B. HE IS AN APOSTLE (1:1b)

1. second, Paul says that he is not only a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, but also called as an apostle

a. he is not only bought and owned and ruled, but he is also called

2. to be an apostle was to be a person who had 1) seen Jesus Christ risen from the dead so that he could, 2) give a first-hand testimony of the resurrected Savior, and also 3) who had bee commissioned and authorized by Christ to represent him and speak for him and, 4) provide a foundation for his church through true and authoritative teaching

• “Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.”

(1 Corinthians 15:7–8, NIV)

• “‘Now get up and stand on your feet.

I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.” (Acts 26:16, NIV)

a. because of his unique calling, we are to receive the words of Paul, not just as a message from a man, but as the revelation of Christ himself

1) the Book of Romans is not great because it is the word of a brilliant Jewish rabbi, or the writings of a theological genius, but because it is the word of God

3. none of us here have been called to be Apostles in the sense that we have a unique authority, or a new revelation from God

a. all of us, however, have been called to a unique place of service within the Body of Christ just as Paul was

C. HE HAS BEEN SET APART FOR THE GOSPEL (1:1c)

1. Paul’s letter to the Romans, and so to us, is about the gospel of God, and this gospel of God is about God’s Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and Savior, and about the salvation we have in him

a. before Paul names the Romans as the recipients of his letter ...

b. before he greets them with grace and peace ...

c. before he offers his prayer of thanksgiving for them ...

d. before he enters into the body of his letter ...

e. before all this, he proclaims the gospel of God concerning God’s Son

2. according to the Gospels, Jesus Christ is the turning point in the history of the world, the turning point in the history of humanity, and the turning point in your life and my life