The Gospel of God
Notes
Transcript
Last week we considered the personal call of Paul and also of ourselves. Both the call to salvation and the call to service are intimately personal for each of us. God did not decide two thousand years ago that he was going to save some random people from their sins. The decision to save and call individuals by name was made in eternity past.
As Paul continues in his greeting, he focuses in on the subject of the Gospel. This would not only be the focus of his greeting, but the primary subject of his letter.
1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, 2 (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) 3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; 4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: 5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: 6 Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: 7 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Last week, we discussed how God chose us. He chose to save us. He chose to call us. This saving and calling was were personal. He knew us before the foundations of the world were laid. The song W”hen he was on the cross I was on His Mind” is very accurate. Our salvation and our calling are personal, not generic.
1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, 2 (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) 3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
Looking back, to connect this with verse one, it says “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord...
…separated unto the gospel of God, concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
The word separated means to mark of with boundaries.
Paul was separated from everything else for this purpose. As the slave of Jesus Christ, he was to remain within those boundaries. He was not to venture outside of the duties to which he had been assigned by his Master.
His boundaries were the Gospel or Good News of God.
If you think of it in terms of driving a car, the Gospel was the lane he was to stay in. He was not to change lanes and pastor a church. Though he did teach and encourage churches, he did not stay with them for years or decades. A few did require longs periods of establishment, but for the most part he ministered and moved on to the next location to preach the Gospel there. He moved as the Holy Spirit led him.
Notice also that the Gospel of God is concerning his Son Jesus Christ in verse 3.
The word concerning means to encircle or surround. The Gospel surrounds Jesus Christ. He is at the center of the Gospel. If you remove Jesus then the Gospel is empty or void. It is an empty wrapper that serves no purpose.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
This is the Gospel! Without Christ, there is no Gospel. He died as prophesied, he was buried, and he rose again on the third day as prophesied in the scriptures. He did this. That is what makes him the Gospel.
Notice that this is exactly what Paul lays out as we continue in Romans. He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.
He who was already existent in Heaven was made flesh and blood.
That word made means to come into a new state of being. That is exactly what Jesus did. He did not come into existence at his birth like we do, he was already in existence. He changed into something new. The holy eternal, omnipotent God of creation, became creation. He made himself a body and put himself into that body. It was a body that could feel all the things that we feel.
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Verse 4 could come across as confusing.
4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
Was he declared God after he was resurrected from the dead? Is that when Jesus became God.
No, this is when men truly knew he was God. It was his demonstration of power. Dynamis. The word from which we get our word dynamite.
He gave sight to the blind
The deaf could hear
The dumb could speak
The lame could walk
A withered hand was restored
Lepers were made clean
The dead were raised to life
Demons were cast out and lives restored
THAT IS POWER!
This power was proof that he was God.
His Spirit of Holiness declared him to be God as well.
Pilate declared him to have no fault 3 times in the Gospel of John.
The Pharisees condemned him for claiming to be who he was. It was the only fault they could find.
His resurrection declared him to be God.
He appeared to:
Mary Magdalene
The Other Women
Simon Peter
The Two Disciples on the Road to Emmaus
The 11 minus Thomas
7 disciples on the Sea of Tiberius
500 Disciples at once
James
The Disciples when he ascended
5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
It is from this Jesus that we have received grace, kindness, or goodwill from God.
Paul received the grace of salvation
16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.
Though Paul had resisted the Holy Spirit’s conviction, he had kicked against the pricks, Jesus was longsuffering or patient with him and called him to Salvation
Paul received the grace of apostleship
9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Paul received the grace of obedience to the faith among all nations
Paul viewed even his ability to be obedient as a gift from God.
He would give himself to this gift rather than squander it.
Why did Paul do all this? FOR HIS NAME!
He had been a recipient of the call to the Gospel
He had been a recipient of the calling to share the Gospel
He received Christ and now he was sharing Christ.
His salvation and his call to service were all for the glory of God
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
6 Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:
You have received this same calling
The call to salvation
The call to service
The call to the gospel
7 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Finally, we get to the greeting.
This letter is written to the Church in Rome.
To the beloved or desired of God. Those who he called to salvation and made holy by the blood of Jesus Christ who has washed away our sins.
Grace and Peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
If you cannot tell, Romans deals with the Gospel. The Gospel is vital to the lost and it is special to us. It is precious because it has saved us from our sins. The longest letter Paul wrote deals primarily with the salvation of the Lost by Jesus. We will get more in depth on the many facets that Paul discusses, but as you can tell from his introduction, he was already excited about the subject and gave a preview of where he was going.
The question we must ask ourselves in closing is are we excited about about the gospel still? Is it precious to us? Do we want to show it off like a prized baseball card or a diamond ring? I have a Chipper Jones rookie card that I keep locked away. I bought it simply because he played for the Braves. I had no idea he would be the star ballplayer that he was. Yet, that card is cheap, it is worthless, compared to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what He has done for me.
Do I, do we, value the Gospel of Jesus Christ so much that we want to share it will everyone? Or, do we lock it away as though we are ashamed of it and do not want others to see?