Intro to Romans
Romans • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Prayer
I have been looking forward to preaching from Romans for a long time, but the Lord has prevented me.
Romans is a book after my own heart… so much so that I made a committed to memorizing the entire book.
But don’t just take my word for it.…
Romans is a book that transforms lives!
As early as 386 AD, a native in North Africa who had been a professor for several years in Milan, Italy, sat weeping in the garden of his friend Alypius, contemplating the wickedness of his life.
While sitting there, he heard a child singing, “Tolle, lege. Tolle, lege,” which in Latin means “Take up and read. Take up and read.”
An open scroll of the book of Romans lay beside him, and he picked it up. The first passage that caught his eye was from Romans 13 and read, “Not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”
The man later wrote of that occasion: “No further would I read, nor did I need; for instantly, as the sentence ended,—by a light, as it were, ...—all the gloom of doubt vanished away” . The man was Aurelius Augustine, who, upon reading that short passage from Romans, received Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior and went on to become one of the church’s outstanding theologians and leaders.
This is the book that God used to kick-start the reformation in the middle ages and to transform Martin Luther as he contemplated Romans 1:17, but let me begin at verse 16.
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16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”
Martin Luther was haunted by his guilt before God.. He would spend day upon day fasting. He would lay on the cold floor of the monastery to punish himself for his sins. He would spend hours in confession.… confessing even the littlest of sins. He had taken 1 John 1:9 to heart...
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9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
But what if there was some sin that was not confessed? He understood what it means that our God is a holy God. What could he do? He would do anything to be free from the guilt of his sin.
His fellow monks were also driven to the point of exasperation. Finally they sent him off to Rome.
It is said that while he was in Rome climbing up the uneven steps that had at one time been at the entrance to the temple in Jerusalem. Luther was climbing up them on his knees and as he ascended the stairs to St Peter’s cathedral Rm 1:17 was going through his mind. “The righteous man shall live by faith.… the righteous man shall live by faith.… the righteous man shall live by faith… when all of a sudden a light went off in his head...
The righteous man shall live by faith!
It is not by works… it is not by anything we can do!
we are saved by faith and faith alone…
and with that the reformation was set on fire. Luther would never be the same! He was changed… He was transformed… He was set free from the guilt of his sin because the righteous man is saved by faith! This is a quote from Habakkuk
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4 “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.
It was not a new concept… it has been around from before the time of Moses or the law was even given. In fact it goes back to the time of Abraham. as we read in Romans...
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9 Is this blessing then upon the circumcised, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say, “Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.”
which is a reference to Genesis 15:6 .
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6 Then he [Abraham] believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
Martin Luther wrote about this verse in his commentary to the book of Romans. This same verse transformed the life of John Wesley when he heard it and wrote about it in his journal on May 24, 1738.
I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for my salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.
I don’t care how many prayers you have prayed. Martin Luther prayed for hours at a time to no avail.
John Wesley, likewise, prayed for hours.… he was ordained… he came to America as a missionary all to no avail. why?
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17 … ; “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”
Think of it.… The righteous man shall live by faith!
Have you made that discovery in your life?
Has your heart been strangely warmed?
Have you felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life which only comes when you place your faith in Jesus?
If not then I urge you to do that today, before you leave!
Martin Luther said that Romans is “the chief part of the New Testament and the very purest gospel.”
John Calvin said, “When any one gains a knowledge of this Epistle, he has an entrance opened to him to all the most hidden treasures of Scripture”
William Tyndale wrote the following in his preface to the book of Romans:
… as this epistle is the principal and most excellent part of the New Testament, and most pure gospel, that is to say, glad tidings, and that we call the good news, and also a light and a way unto the whole scripture; I think it appropriate that
every Christian man not only know it, by rote and without the book, but also exercise himself therein evermore continually, as with the daily bread of the soul.
No man verily can read it too often, or study it too well; for the more it is studied, the easier it is;
the more it is chewed, the pleasanter it is; and
the more throughly it is searched, the more holy and valued are the things found in it,
so great treasure of spiritual things lies hidden therein.
This is a book well worth our study!
Romans quotes the Old Testament 57 times, more than any other book in the New Testament.
It refers to several key words in it.
God 154 times,
Christ 66 times,
Lord 44 times… that is 264 times just referring to God and Christ
law 77 times,
death, died, or die 46 times,
sin 45 times,
faith 40 times,
grace 22 times, and
slave 14 times,
These are key concepts or doctrines that we will be looking into in our study of Romans.
Romans answers many of our unspoken and spoken questions ...
What is the good news?
Is Jesus really God?
What is God like?
How can God send people to hell?
Why do men reject God and His Son, Jesus Christ?
Why are there false religions and idols?
Why are there sex perversions, hatred, crime, dishonesty, and all the other evils in the world, and why are they so pervasive and rampant?
What is the standard by which God condemns people?
How can a person who has never heard the gospel be held spiritually responsible?
Do Jews have a greater responsibility to believe than Gentiles?
Who is a true Jew?
Is there any spiritual advantage to being Jewish?
Can any person keep God’s laws perfectly?
How can a sinner be forgiven and justified by God?
What is the importance of Christ’s death?
What is the importance of His resurrection?
Where can men find real peace and hope?
What is grace and what does it do for me?
How are God’s grace and God’s law related?
How important is obedience in the Christian life?
Why is living a faithful Christian life such a struggle?
That is a lot of questions!
We also need to know something about the arthur, Paul. Paul was not some unlearned fisherman from out in the boonies. He was named Saul at birth after the first king of Israel , who was also a Benjaminite. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews.
He was well trained in the law and had studied under Gamaliel, the most prominent rabbi of the time.
He was born of a prominent family in Tarsus and a natural born citizen of Rome. Tarsus was a major city in and of itself. It was a center of Greek learning and housed one of the major universities of the Roman Empire.
He excelled in his studies and most likely was at the top of all his classes. He was well-versed in scripture and a master debater. He would have been well-respected among his peers and feared by those opposed to him.
Because of his zeal for Judaism He became a persecutor of Christians which he regarded as a cult and a threat to Judaism. He was there when Stephen was captured and held the coats of those who stoned him.
He obtained letters to go to Damascus and search for any Christians in Damascus to bring them back to be examed and punished probably by execution.
Imagine his surprise when on the road to Damascus we was struck down by a bolt of light.
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3 And it came about that as he journeyed, he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;
4 and he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
5 And he said, “Who art Thou, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,
Can you imagine the terror that went through Paul’s heart when he was confronted by the LORD of the Universe? The very people he had been persecuting were the children of the living God?
This Jesus, whom his fellow Israelites had ridiculed, beaten, and put to death;
this Jesus upon whom Stephen had called upon ..… as Saul stood by consenting to his death;
this Jesus whose followers Saul himself had been imprisoning and executing-
this Jesus was indeed God, just as He had claimed!
Now Paul stood helpless and exposed before Him, ..… blinded by the dazzling brightness of majesty of Jesus!
But God spared Paul’s life and made him an Ambassador for Christ… an Ambassador to the Gentiles to bring the gospel to the nations.
This is our Paul… whom, I think,… was God’s choice to replace Judas Iscariot as the 12th disciple.
The Lord told Ananias concerning Paul.
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15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;
16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
With all this in mind, let us open our Bibles to Romans chapter 1 … [pg 1125 in your pew Bibles] [ pg 119]
and let us take a look at verse 1
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1 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
Now to be fair the first sentence runs 7 verses. It identifies Paul as the author of the letter in verse 1.
It identifies the recipients of the letter in verse 7… “to all those who are beloved of God in Rome.”
The entire sentence is composed of 127 words.… That is a long sentence.
Our English teachers would definitely flag this sentence as a run-on sentence.
but let’s take a more in-depth look at what Paul is saying.
He describes himself as a bond-servant of Jesus Christ.
Your Bible may have the word servant. However the Greek word is δουλος.
and δουλος actually means slave.
It refers to those who are in unwilling and permanent bondage, from which often there is no release but death.
The Hebrew equivalent (‘ebed)עבד carries the same connotation. The Mosaic law provided for an indentured servant who was a special class of slave to voluntarily become a permanent slave (a bond-slave) of a master he loved and respected. This is recorded in the law in …
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5 “But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’
6 then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.
It is from this passage we get the concept of a bond-slave.… a person who chooses to become the permanent slave of his master.… his lord.… because of his love and affection for his master.
One of our leading lexicons explains the meaning or δουλος this way.…
a male slave as an entity in a socioeconomic context, slave (‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical translations and early American times.)
They are telling us that the proper translation of this word is slave… but because to call someone a slave is so revolting to us Americans our Bibles choose the word “servant” in stead. but it is literally describing someone who is a slave.
That said… Bond-servant may be a good alternate choice because a bond-servant was someone who was an indentured servant.… a temporary slave...,
who discovered during the time of his “forced service” to his master that his master was loving and kind and that he had it so much better off as a slave to his master than when he was on his own… he chose to make his relationship as a slave with no rights to his master his permanent status for the rest of his life. But make no mistake about it… a slave had no rights.… he was viewed as a piece of property.
However, a “bond-slave” or “slave by choice” would be a better choice than bond-servant.
Now.… God does not force us to serve him.
Paul, when he came to realize his true position before the living God… When he was confronted with all his guilt before a holy God!
He chose to accept God’s calling on his life… but
he also chose to describe his position as a slave. a person who has no rights. Jesus Christ is His master and as such he must do whatever Jesus asks him to do.
He must go where ever Jesus tells him to go.
He must do what ever Jesus tells him to do.
He is like a soldier in the army… what ever orders he is given he must do no matter how dangerous the mission.
His only assurance or comfort is the love of his master.
That is true for us who are Christians as well.
We will find a related term in the book of Romans “Lord” Lord is used 44 times.
The term lord is not a title as we think of it. It refers to someone who owns another person - that other person is his slave. The slave was considered the property of his Lord. To be a lord .… you had to own someone.
When we refer to Jesus as our Lord or God as Lord… we are acknowledging that we are His property and He has the right to use us or do with us whatever He wants.
That can be a hard concept to swallow… but for those of us who know our Lord… a Lord who loves us so much that He gave His life for us. a Lord who is all-wise, a Lord who is all-knowing… a Lord who provides for all of our needs… a Lord who has saved us from the consequences of our sins and made us co-heirs with him on the throne… that is an easy choice to make.
Have you made that choice?
Is Jesus the Lord of your life?
Are you His slave?
Going back to our text, Paul continues....
Paul, a bond-servant (or slave) of Christ Jesus.
Paul continues that he is not a slave to just anybody. He is a slave to Christ Jesus.
We also tend to think of the word “Christ” as a title or part of His name… but this is not what it is. it is an adjective used to describe Jesus. The word “Christ” is the Greek word for Messiah - the anointed one.
Paul is being very upfront with us and telling us that his boss Jesus is the promised Messiah. He is the promised deliverer that all the Jews have been looking for for centuries.
He is also telling us that His name is Jesus and we know what Jesus means. We hear it every year at Christmas.. It may go past our heads… but we hear it.. and what is that?
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20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
21 “And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.”
Jesus, or in the Hebrew יֵשׁוּעַ Yeshua or Joshua means yaweh saves.
The Jesus, the promised Messiah came to save us from our sins. He is our savior! That is why Paul became His slave. That is why he made Jesus the Lord of his life and so I ask you again?
Would you like to be free from the guilt of your sin — The righteous shall live by faith… but not faith in anything… not faith in any one… it is by faith in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
Have you made Jesus your Lord?
Are you His slave? or are you all about “what I want”?
Yes I am asking you to surrender all of your rights to become a slave of Jesus, but it is not to become a slave of anyone.
God demonstrated His love for us in that He died for us.
He demonstrated that He was God by all the miracles He did. He healed the sick, He raised the dead, He calmed the sea, He walked on water… He also demonstrated His love and compassion! How much more could you ask for.
and
He is offering us the gift of eternal life. What more could we want.
The altar is open.
Let’s pray
