A Doctrinal “Hello”
Notes
Transcript
Review
Review
Turn to Romans chapter one
When Paul wrote this letter to the Christians at Rome, his self-description in verse one was very telling.
He described himself as a servant of Jesus Christ.
He described himself as a man who was invited to be an apostle.
He described himself as a preacher of the Gospel of God.
What was obvious from this description was that this man clearly lived a life of purpose and that purpose was found in Jesus Christ. We have a young generation that is having a purpose crisis. They’re looking all across our land for purpose and they’re coming up empty because they’re not looking for Jesus. Purpose is found in Jesus Christ alone.
Introduction
Introduction
Read Romans 1:1-7
Thomas Jefferson was known for his elaborate, flowing style of writing. His sentences often stretched on with multiple clauses, semicolons, and a careful, almost rhetorical rhythm.
This is vividly seen in the introduction to the Declaration of Independence:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
That is only one sentence, but Jefferson packed a lot of thought in it. What was he saying? His point was that when the colonies separated from Great Britain, it was only proper for the colonies to declare why they were separating.
Many other illustrations of Jefferson’s writing could be given, but I think you get the picture. He was no stranger to long sentences.
Neither was Paul. I don’t know how he dictated this to his secretary, Tertius, but somehow Paul managed to pack a lot of doctrine into one sentence in verses 1-7.
After Paul declares in verse one that he was set apart as a preacher of the Gospel, he jumps right into talking all about the Gospel. It was his favorite subject! He couldn’t help himself! It was such good news - just like the word “gospel” means! And as we’re going to see in our text, the gospel of God is all about one person: Jesus Christ!
We see…
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Jesus predicted - Romans 1:2
We put a clear dividing line between the Old and New Testaments whereas I think Paul would have viewed them more as a single unit. Paul saw himself as simply picking up where the prophets left off. They had predicted that the Messiah was coming, and now Paul preached that He had come!
Romans—Righteousness From Heaven Paul’s View of Preaching (vv. 2-4)
Paul saw his preaching as being an extension of the ancient Old Testament message… His task was not to proclaim a theological novelty. The gospel was [already] in the Old Testament Scriptures.
Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, said,
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; For he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us In the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, Which have been since the world began:
God had been laying the groundwork for the coming of His Son to earth ever since man sinned in the Garden of Eden! He had sent preacher after preacher that said a Savior would be born! That’s how much God longed to bring us back into a right relationship with Himself! That’s how awesome our God is!
In Paul’s opinion, he was just preaching the same message as the Old Testament prophets.
Application: Don’t look at the Bible as a disjointed compilation of 66 books because its not. See it for what it is: a unified package with a single message that culminated in Jesus Christ!
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Jesus incarnated - Romans 1:3
Imagine someone claims they are eligible to be President of the United States. They may be brilliant, capable, and respected — but if they were not born a U.S. citizen, they are constitutionally disqualified. Their character and abilities don’t matter at that point — their lineage does.
Lineage determines:
Eligibility
Legal standing
Rightful authority
In the same way, when Paul says in Romans 1:3 that Jesus was “of the seed of David,” he’s not giving trivia — he’s establishing legal and covenantal legitimacy. The Messiah was promised to come through David’s line (2 Samuel 7; Isaiah 11; Jeremiah 23). Without that lineage, Jesus could not lawfully claim the throne, no matter how powerful His teaching or miracles.
So lineage mattered then — and it still matters now — when authority, inheritance, and legitimacy are at stake.
Paul was making a case for the humanity of our Savior and for the legitimacy of the gospel message. Paul’s gospel was attacked everywhere he went. He had to defend his apostleship in many of his letters. And so even in his greeting, he began establishing the validity of what he preached.
Application: You see, Christian, ours is not an irrational faith. Our secular world, long built upon the foundation of our judeo-christian worldview, would now like to destroy that foundation and tell us that either you have faith or you have reason, but you cannot have both. We have a reasonable faith.
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Jesus declared - Romans 1:4
There are some attackers of our faith who would readily accept our Savior’s humanity. They would have no problem with verse three, but they have a big problem with verse four.
Read Romans 1:4
In Judaism, to claim to be the Son of God was a claim to be divine and to share in the divine nature. That is why the Jews said it was blasphemous for Jesus to refer to God as His Father. But our Savior did not make empty claims! You see, His sinless life and His resurrection from the dead did not make him God, they powerfully demonstrated that He always was God!
Application: Christian, that’s our Savior! That’s our Lord! There’s no reason to be ashamed of Him! There’s no justifiable reason to hide your identity with Him! Own it! Wear it like a badge of honor! He was proven to be the Son of God while on this earth and He is as real today as you are alive! This is why Paul writes in verse 16,
Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ…”
Don’t be ashamed, Christian! Live for Christ alone!
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Jesus obeyed - Romans 1:5-6
There’s some words in the English language that I really like because of what they mean. I don’t need to hear the word used in a sentence; I don’t need added context; I just like those words because I know what they mean and what they represent on their own.
There’s two words that quickly come to mind that fall in this category.
The first one you can probably guess so I won’t dwell on it long but its the word “food.”
I like food. Generally, if someone mentions food I get a twinkle in my eye and and an excitement in my heart. Some of you are the same way you just don’t want to admit it. ;)
The second word that I like is the word “sleep.” I like that word even though I sometimes feel like we’re only distantly acquainted. Long ago I hit the stage of life where I transitioned from hating naps to loving naps.
But there’s a third word that I love and I mean that in all seriousness and that’s the word, “grace.”
Paul refers to Jesus in verse five when he says, “by whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations…”
“Grace” is a precious word that we will be seeing often in this series. Don’t get used to it. Don’t let it become familiar.
It’s a word that means unearned favor. You can’t earn God’s grace. You don’t deserve His favor and kindness. You can’t earn it! He simply chooses to bestow it on us.
God heard the cries of the Jews for help in the wilderness wandering even when they rebelled against Him. That’s grace!
God saved a repentant sinner like Paul when he was on his way to persecute Christians in Damascus. That’s grace!
And God today enables Christians all over the world to live in obedience to the faith no matter how wicked the culture and no matter how oppressive the government may be! That’s grace!
How can Christians obey Jesus in every nation around the globe? How can Jesus be obeyed in any and every situation of life? How can we keep His commandments? It’s all declared to be possible by God’s grace!
Application: Do you believe that Christian? Do you truly believe that God extends His favor to enable you to obey? Bank on it, Christian! He’s promised it! Choose to believe Him! Because as we’re going to see in Romans chapters 6-8, practicing that reality is the key to victory over sin!
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Jesus modeled - Romans 1:7
Jana’s brother, Jed Duarte, is a missionary pilot down in Brazil. Besides pastoring his church in Alta Floresta, he also flies to remote tribes in their region and preaches in their villages whenever he is invited. He’s a modern-day circuit riding preacher.
Well this past Christmas, Jana’s mom gave Jed a pretty special Christmas gift. It was a custom built model of his aircraft. Jed has a yellow, four door, single engine prop aircraft. I haven’t been to Brazil to see his plane yet, but from the pictures I’ve seen, that model is a close replica. All of the primary features and design elements of the real plane are on that model.
Now we all know that a model is not exactly the real thing, but it’s close. Notice who Paul addressed this letter to in verse seven.
Read Romans 1:7
That’s who Paul was writing to. He was writing to Christians in Rome, deeply loved by God. That word, “beloved” could be translated “esteemed” or “favorite.” Of all the people in Rome - the capitol of the world power - these people were God’s favorites. They were His children! And so you know what God called them to? He called them to be saints! He called them to be little models - little replicas - of Jesus Christ!
That’s you, Christian! You are beloved of God! If God picks favorites on planet earth, He picks His children! But here’s the thing: you can’t get a big head over it because its all of His grace! His favor is undeserved! You can’t earn that! He just loves His children that much! He loves you so much, He calls you to be a miniature model of His Son!
Application: What kind of model are you, Christian? How accurately are you modeling your Savior? Don’t you see?! From beginning to end, the gospel is all about Jesus!
The Old Testament foretold His coming! The New Testament shared his birth as a human baby. His sinless life and His bodily resurrection from the dead proved what had been true all along - that He was indeed God with us! For the last two thousand years, untold millions have followed Him among all the nations of the world! Both in free nations and in oppressive ones. And in all places and across all times, the followers of Jesus Christ have been called to model the one who saved their soul!
Church family, that is the gospel! That is the gospel that Paul preached! The gospel was the fullest expression of the righteousness of God and it was perfectly modeled by our Savior!
Now we are called to be models of Jesus.
All of this, and more, was packed into Paul’s greeting to the Romans. I think its safe to say that this was A Doctrinal “Hello.”
Invitation
Invitation
An Introduction to Rome - verses 8ff background of the book - use romans class notes
