 The title of our sermon this morning is a Romans review. This will be the first review of what may be several, but a Romans review, Romans chapter one verses one through 17. So this morning as we continue our verse by verse exposition of Paul's letter to this church at Rome, we arrive at a significant point in our progress. We've now worked through Paul's greeting to the church at Rome versus one through seven. We've considered Paul's general introduction to this letter in verses eight through 15. And then we spent time in consideration of Paul's theme versus 16 and 17, which is as Paul has stated, the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the book of Romans is essentially an exposition of the gospel. We're gonna spend a lot of time talking about the gospel. Now those three sections, the greeting, the general introduction and the theme comprise the prologue of the letter, meaning that we are now ready to begin the body of the letter in chapter one verses 18. Seems like it's been a long time coming, hasn't it? So we've arrived at verse 18. We're ready to begin the main body of the letter. As we take our journey together, I want you to know where we are on the map. So that's why we talk about an outline that we can get a perspective of where we are. However, as you well know, we've been traveling along our path rather slow. So not including our introduction to this letter, we've taken 17 sermons to cover the first 17 verses. That is a blessing and a benefit to us. This is not a sprint, it's a marathon. I think with me you would agree that we've learned a lot going through these verses in this way. So what I've planned for us to do this morning is a little bit different and it's a bit of an experiment. You'll have to let me know how it turns out when it's all said and done. I want to pull off the highway as it were and stop at a scenic overlook and take a vista view of the ground that we've covered so far. Get a more bird's eye view of what we've covered. And sometimes looking at details along the way, we can lose sight of the whole, can't we? It's like you're traveling along a path at Squirrel. You know, you jet off into the woods after we've done a lot of that. We want to come back to the path, so to speak, and we want to get a bird's eye view of what's going on. And so I thought that a review might be helpful for us as we end one section and begin a transition into another section. I could use some help learning how to move a little more quickly. You could possibly benefit by the review. And so I intend this morning with the Lord's help to take a look at verses one through 17 in their entirety in hopes that that'll help you retain what we've learned there a little better, maybe lock some of that information down. If you're visiting with us, this is ideal time for you because you'll get a one hour summary of 17 sermons on this opening section, this opening prologue to the book at Romans. We're not in any hurry, right? And in the way that the texts are laid out in the next section, the pace of this is going to quicken. It may be beneficial to us in completing large sections of the letter to stop at each of the ends of those sections and review what we've covered. So with all that said and done, let me know if this is of benefit to you. We are in the prologue of Paul's epistle to the Romans, chapter one, verses one through 17. Now we've said the opening prologue divides nicely into three sections, the greeting, the introduction and the theme. First, consider with me Paul's greeting in verses one through seven. It's the greeting in which we see Paul's reason for writing. Okay, Paul wants it known at the outset of this letter that he writes in service to the Lord Jesus Christ as a minister of the gospel. Paul's an apostle, his mission is the gospel and he wants that known at the beginning of this letter. Who he is and who he represents is the reason why he's coming to this church at Rome with this letter. It's a loving letter, but it's not a casual correspondence. Paul has a purpose in mind. He's not politicking with the Romans to boost his reputation. He's not out trying to make a name for himself. He's not building his kingdom. Paul is a man on a mission. Paul is a man under obligation. Verse 14, Paul is a debtor to all men with the gospel. Verse 15, he is ready to preach the gospel to those who are in Rome also. So with the greeting, verses one through seven, we're introduced in verse one to the servant and his subject, to the servant and his subject. Paul, a bond servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle separated to the gospel of God. Now remember with me the three descriptions that Paul uses for himself. Paul is a bond servant. Paul is a called apostle and Paul is separated to the gospel of God. Notice first, Paul chooses to describe himself as a bond servant of Jesus Christ. It's a very important description. It's a description that we all share as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Greek word is doulas and it means slave. Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ. Now again, consider the context with me. Paul once thought of himself as a Hebrew of Hebrews circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin. Paul would have taken great pride in all of these things. He was concerning the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is through the law, blameless. In other words, Paul went all the way with his religiosity. He left nothing to chance. A Roman citizen, Paul was educated at Tarsus, a Jew educated at the feet of Gamaliel, the teacher of Israel. In other words, Paul has the education, the skill set, the resume, to do anything that he wants to do, to go anywhere that he wants to go. And what does Paul rejoice in at the outset of this letter, the first description that Paul uses for himself, I am a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise God, right? Philippians chapter three, verse seven, what things were gained to me, Paul says, these I have counted loss for Christ. Now think about that. Paul's heritage, the time, the education, all of Paul's attainments, all of Paul's achievements, he says they're nothing. I've counted them as loss. Yet indeed, I also count all things lost. Why, Paul? For the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as garbage, right? I count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ, right? May we be able to say the same thing. May it be said of us, right? There's nothing in this world worth holding onto, grasping onto. What will you give in exchange for your soul, right? What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Give it up for Jesus Christ. Count it as a common thing. Count it as rubbish to gain him, amen? Notice next, not only does Paul consider himself a slave, Paul is a man, a slave with a very high calling. Paul is called to be an apostle. Literally in the Greek, a called apostle. The word called there, an adjective. It's describing the kind of apostle that Paul is. In other words, Paul is not a self-appointed apostle. Paul is not a man-made apostle, like many apostles that we see today, right? Apostle Joe, apostle Frank, apostle Sally. Those aren't apostles, all right? Paul is not a self-appointed apostle, not a man-made apostle. Apostle Paul is a called apostle. Paul is not an apostle by his own will or by the will of another. Paul is only an apostle through the will and commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul uses the word in the same way. In 1 Corinthians chapter one, verse one, where Paul literally there again, a called apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God. In Galatians chapter one, verse one, Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. In other words, Paul is what he is. Paul does what he does through the determined will and commandment of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is a called apostle. In the most basic sense, the word apostle simply refers to one who is sent. Here it's an official title, designation that refers to a specific office. In this case, it's one sent by Jesus Christ in a specific capacity, sent with the Lord's authority, sent with the Lord's power, with the Lord's supply, with the Lord's strength. Paul is a sent one, an apostle. These apostles, one of the things that distinguished these apostles from other sent ones was that these were eyewitnesses to the historical facts of the gospel. You know, our faith isn't a blind faith. Our faith isn't an empty faith. It's not the figment of some man's imagination like so many other faiths, all faiths are. Our faith is rooted and grounded in historical fact. I remember I had these Jova's witnesses, they were Mormons that came to my door to witness to me one day. I opened the door, started talking to them. And in my conversation with them, I didn't mention anything in the beginning about being a pastor or anything like that. I said to them, I've often considered and I have the truth claims of other religions like Islam and like Buddhism or Hinduism and consider their truth claims, their assertions, their claims of truth. And I said, it's fascinating to me Islam, how Muhammad goes into a cave by himself. No one there to witness any of this stuff. And he says he gets direct revelation from God and the people just believe him. And the whole time what I'm doing is I'm setting it up because that's exactly what Joseph Smith did. He sticks his face in a hat to translate some plates that only he could translate. And you're gonna put your never dying soul in the hands of some man who's dreamed this up out of the figment of his own imagination. It is absurd. It's absurd. Our faith is a determined faith that is rooted and grounded in historical facts with eyewitnesses. These are men who saw the risen Lord. John chapter one, verse one, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we've looked upon, our hands have handled concerning the word of life, concerning Jesus Christ. The life was manifested and we have seen and we bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard, we declare to you so that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. These were eyewitnesses of the facts of the gospel. Paul was a lowly slave with a very high calling. Lastly, Paul is separated to the gospel of God. Paul was a man entirely devoted to that singular cause. The word separated means set apart or appointed. It means consecrated. The grammar there is very important. The word is a perfect passive participle. I like the alliteration, right? Perfect, meaning that this was accomplished completely in the past, but has ongoing or present effect in Paul's life. The perfect tense refers to something completion, completed in the past with ongoing effects, passive, meaning it wasn't something that Paul did for himself, but rather this was something that was done to Paul. We call this a divine passive. In other words, it was God himself in the past that set apart or consecrated, appointed Paul to the gospel. And Paul is now living his life in accord with that calling in accord with that consecration or that separation. John Murray said that all bonds of interest and attachment alien or extraneous to the promotion of the gospel have been cut asunder. And he is set apart by the investment of all his interests by the investment of all his ambitions in the cause of the gospel. Charles Spurgeon called this gospel labor, the life business of the Christian, okay? It is, that's something that we should be considering. Paul is consecrated. He is set apart, commissioned to preach the gospel. And like Paul, listen, brothers and sisters, you and I are the same, right? There are ways in which we differ from Paul, but you and I are slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ called to his service, to his cause, separated to the gospel in the same way you and I. It's here in our greeting that now Paul transitions from servant to subject. What is the subject? What is our subject? It's the gospel. It's what we've been talking about, right? Verse one, Paul is separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was born of the seat of David according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. That word gospel literally means good news, you on Galeon, a good message, a good word. Notice first the source of this good news. It is the gospel of God, specifically speaking here of God the Father. It is the good news that originates with, is promised by, revealed by, given by God himself. In other words, this is God's gospel. It's not a gospel of human origin. It's not a gospel revealed by man. It's not to be tampered with by man or messed with by man. Paul is set apart to the gospel of God. It's God's gospel, okay? Therefore, this message isn't to be dressed up or dressed down to suit our convenience. It's not to be tampered with, altered, watered down, washed out, spruced up, it can't be adjusted, can't be modified to suit your circumstances. It's absurd to think that you can make it more relevant. There's nothing more relevant to begin with and you can't do anything to make it more palatable to this wicked culture. It's a gospel. The gospel is a word from God the Father to sinful man. We shouldn't be messing with it. And what you find is churches and preachers all over the place who do. They water it down, they wash it out. That message concerns his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. It is to be proclaimed in his name, given with his authority, authenticated by the work of his spirit. Paul told the church at Corinth, when I came to you, brethren, I didn't come to you with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. In other words, I didn't drum a message of my own making. I'm not at liberty to change things. I'm not at liberty to withhold things or to add things. I don't get to stand back. We, brothers and sisters, don't get to stand back and make decisions about what we say and what we don't say. What's important or not important? What may offend or not offend? You see, we can't do that. We've been given a message. We have to be true and faithful to that message. Paul levels a pretty strict anathema, a curse against anyone who would mess with it. We're not to change the message. Paul says, I didn't come to you with excellence of speech. I gotta think now carefully about how I can manipulate and persuade to get people to say yes to what I'm selling, what I'm peddling. We're not peddling anything here. I determined, Paul said, to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I was with you in weakness and fear and in much trembling. That doesn't mean that Paul was scared to do that. Paul's not ashamed of the gospel. Paul wasn't fearful to preach the gospel. When Paul says I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, Paul is talking about the weight of what he is doing, presenting a message of salvation to lost and dying hellbound sinners. Souls are on the line. We're talking about life and death, heaven and hell. That's why Paul was in fear and in weakness. Who's sufficient for such things? We are in weakness. We are in fear and in much trembling. We know what it is we're talking about. Paul says, my speech then, my preaching. Some people are so arrogant and so full of themselves with respect to the gospel, they believe they can sell it. They're like snake oil salesmen, right? They stand in the pulpit or they stand in front of sinners and they're selling some, you know, it always comes to mind, it despises the advertisement, the little marketing ad that goes around from Action Church here that says we make it hard to go to hell by making it fun to go to church. Who are you to make it anything? But what God makes it in His word, preach the truth of the gospel, right? We don't have the liberty to do that nonsense. Paul says, not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. When the word of God is preached, the spirit of God works through the word of God upon the people of God to effect the fruit that God intends from it. And we see that in the demonstration of the spirit and of power. Your wisdom, your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, it should be in the power of God is what Paul is saying. There is no salvation apart from the proclamation of a true and full gospel which God has given. And Paul says, I'm not shrunk back to declare it to you, right? Innocent of the blood of all men because I'm not shrunk back from declaring to you the gospel. We better not tamper with it, amen? Now notice next, the substance then of that good news, the source of the good news, it is the gospel of God. The substance of that good news, the gospel concerns a promise. That promise concerns a person and a purpose, okay? The promise, verse two, that which God promised before through his prophets in the holy scriptures. The person, verse three, concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. The purpose, obedience to the faith among all nations for his name. In other words, what Paul was preaching was what God had always intended. What God himself had promised long before. It's in Galatians chapter three that Paul says that the scriptures foreseeing that the Gentiles would be saved by faith preached the gospel to Abraham saying, in you all the nations of the world will be blessed. In other words, the gospel was something that was preached to them. The gospel preached throughout the Old Testament. These truths given to them as well. This was something that God promised long before. The first example of that promise we find in Genesis chapter three, verse 15, right? Where a promised seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. This was promised long before through his prophets in the Old Testament scriptures. That's what Paul is speaking of. Now these Old Testament scriptures given to us through Old Testament prophets who wrote concerning his son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In confrontation with the Jewish leaders in John chapter five, verse 39, the Lord says, you search the scriptures, speaking of the Old Testament for in them you think that you have eternal life and these are they which testify of me. The Old Testament testifies of Jesus Christ with the disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24 beginning with Moses and all the prophets Jesus Christ expounded to them in all the scriptures. And what is he speaking of? He's speaking of the Old Testament scriptures. He expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. In other words, the Old Testament concerns who? Jesus Christ. How then are we to read the Old Testament? How should you read your Old Testament? We are to read the Old Testament as scriptures that reveal the person and work of Jesus Christ. If you're not reading your Old Testament in that way, if you're not reading your Old Testament to see how Jesus Christ is revealed there, then you're reading your Old Testament like an Old Testament Jew, right? The veil is lifted in Jesus Christ. We have progressive revelation and isn't it glorious, right? To see the Old Testament in that light in all the ways in which the Old Testament reveals the person and work of Jesus Christ. It's awesome and all of that lends itself to this unified, grand, progressive, redemptive revelation. All fits in one glorious story from beginning to end from Genesis to Revelation and it is beautiful. Now, introducing the person and work of Jesus Christ in Paul's greeting from chapter one, Paul first references his humiliation in verse three and then Paul references his exaltation in verse four, okay? Concerning his humiliation, what theologians have called his humiliation, we might refer to it also as his incarnation. Concerning his humiliation, Jesus Christ was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, verse three. Literally translated, the text would read, having become the seed of David according to the flesh. In other words, the eternal Son of God, co-equal, co-eternal with the Father began to be something that he was not before. The one who is the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord became of the seed of David. Now, Paul is talking here about the incarnation. That's what Paul means by the modifying phrase in verse three, according to the flesh. It means that Jesus Christ came into being as it were in the likeness of our essential humanity. Hebrews chapter two, 14 speaks of this very issue. In as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same. Note the emphasis, right? So that through death, he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, right? Crush the head of the serpent and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to bondage. For indeed, he does not give aid to angels, but he does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Those who with Abraham trust in Christ for the promise. Again, this is referred to as the Lord's humiliation. In part, Philippians chapter two, verse six, tells us why being in the form of God, he did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Why are those two statements true? Because Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. Being in the form of, in other words, Jesus Christ had within himself all of the essential attributes of deity contained within the Lord Jesus Christ is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. So he was in every way God did not consider it robbery at all to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a slave and coming, same word, becoming in the likeness of men. It was his humiliation. Jesus Christ came into this world. He assumed the dirt, the mud of our humanity, so to speak, as the promised seed of David. Jeremiah chapter 23, verse five, the prophet Jeremiah says, Behold, the days are coming says the Lord that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness. He is the promised seed of David. A king shall reign and prosper, execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In his days, Judah will be saved. Israel will dwell safely. By the way, in his days, who is Judah? Who is Israel? All those who have the faith of Abraham, right? All Israel will dwell safely. Now this is his name by which he will be called the Lord our righteousness. We're there for Lord is Yahweh. Jesus Christ is Yahweh our righteousness. Being found in appearance as a man, the Lord Jesus Christ humbled himself, became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. It was there that the Lord bore the sins of his people and his body on the tree. It was there at the cross that he took our sin, our guilt, our shame, took that upon himself and the Lord Jesus Christ suffered in our place, the just for the unjust. All of that, brothers and sisters, so that you and I could be forgiven, that we might be reconciled to God. He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. What should be the response of any rationally thinking person? What is the only reasonable response, J.I. Packer? Look to Christ, speak to Christ, cry out to Christ just as you are. Confess your sin, confess your impenitence, confess your unbelief, cast yourself upon his mercy. Ask him to give you a new heart. Working in you true repentance and affirmed faith, ask him to take away your evil heart of unbelief and to write his law within you that you may never henceforth stray again from him. Turn to him, trust him as best you can. Pray for grace to turn and to trust him more. Use the means of grace expectantly. Looking to Christ to draw near to you as you seek to draw near to him. Watch, pray, read, hear God's word, worship, commune with God's people, and so continue till you know in yourself beyond doubt that you are indeed a changed being. A penitent believer, the new heart which you desired has been put within you. Amen, praise God. If that's you here this morning, cry, flee to Christ. Amen. Upon the completion of his work for sinners in his humiliation, we then see the reward of his labors in his exaltation. Romans chapter one, verse four, he was declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. We've noted that the gospel of God concerns a promise, verse two, that which God promised before through his prophets and the holy scriptures. We've also noted that the gospel of our God concerns a person in verse three that concerns God's son, Jesus Christ our Lord. And concerning Jesus Christ, we see the gospel magnified in his humiliation, verse three, he was born of the seat of David according to the flesh and we see the gospel magnified in his exaltation, verse four, he was declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from among dead ones. That's what that means. Paul then summarizes the purpose of the gospel in verse five, through him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations. Well, that sounds legalistic. I'm just reading the Bible, right? For obedience, obedience, obedience. Paul says to Titus, remind them of these things constantly that they should be careful to maintain good works for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. God expects as the fruit of faith, obedience for his name as a fruit of faith, not in order to earn your salvation. This is not a salvation by works. It's a salvation that works, right? Obedience for his name, saving faith bears fruit to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, verse seven, grace to you in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. With that, Paul closes out his greeting and moves on to his general introduction verses eight through 15. And in the introduction here in verses eight through 15, we see Paul's relationship to these believers at Rome. Paul, since his conversion, has not been to Rome as an apostle, he's not visited there, he doesn't know these people, he's met a couple of them, but he doesn't know these people, doesn't know these church, and by this church, and by reading these verses, it's as if they are long lost friends, right? He loves them, it's as if he knows them very well. And as we look at this particular section of the text, Paul's general introduction from verses eight to 15, we see this under three headings and all of it related to Paul's prayer for them. How does Paul relate to these believers in Rome, having not been there himself, he prays for them. He loves them and love bears fruit in Paul's prayers. We see point one, Paul's prayer of thanksgiving, point two, Paul's prayer of intercession, and point three, Paul's prayer of supplication. And in these verses, we should see brothers and sisters in a pattern for us, our own prayer. This should inform how we pray for others, pray for one another. First, we come to Paul's prayer of thanksgiving in verse eight. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. What was it, verse eight, that compelled Paul to offer thanksgiving to God for them? It was because their faith is spoken of. It was witnessed to, it was evident to the whole world. How do you see someone's faith, right? James says, show me your faith without your works. If you could do such a thing, which you can't, I'll show you my faith by my works, right? So how is it that their faith is spoken of throughout the whole world? Because these believers are rendering the obedience of faith to the glory of his name. And the rest of the world sees it. That's because they've come to faith in Jesus Christ. It's because they've evidenced that faith through obedience to the gospel. And precisely because that faith is so obviously manifest that Paul prays to God and gives thanks to God for them. They're living it, aren't they? The next, we come to Paul's prayer of intercession from a prayer of thanksgiving to a prayer of intercession, verse nine. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that without ceasing, I make mention of you always in my prayer, you see those descriptors, right? Without ceasing and always, most basic, most fundamental to Paul's service to God in the ministry of the gospel is unceasing always prayer for those to whom he ministers. We don't build this house ourselves, right? We labor in vain unless the builder builds. And so we depend upon him, we go to him in prayer. Most basic to our service needs to be this activity of prayer. The word serve in verse nine, for God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit is the word latruo. It means to worship. It was an act of worship on the part of Paul to pray, to serve God in this way. By spirit in verse nine, Paul is not speaking of a holy spirit, Paul is speaking of his own spirit. He's serving with earnestness, right? In my spirit, with my spirit. Serving with fervency, he's serving with sincerity, with a heart level earnestness and eagerness in the gospel Paul is serving. In other words, Paul isn't merely checking boxes and doing his duty. This is not base duty on the part of the apostle Paul. This is from the heart. In a third, consider with me Paul's prayer of supplication then, Paul's prayer of petition. In verse 10, Paul begins to tell the church at Rome what he's been praying for. Making request, if by some means now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you for I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift so that you may be established. That is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. The root of the verb in verse 10, making request, is used in the noun form for supplication. This is Paul's prayer of supplication. Notice first, again, Paul's heart. Paul employs several emotive phrases here. He's wearing his heart on his sleeve. Paul is sincere, Paul is earnest, right? Verse 10, if by some means now at last I may find a way, verse 11, I long to see you. Verse 12, that I may be encouraged together with you by our mutual faith. Right, in other words, Paul's expressing his love for these people, expressing his heart for these people. This isn't dead ritual. This is a spirit wrought grace, is it not? The spirit of God among the people of God cultivates this kind of love in the heart of God's people, right? For one another. And praise God, we witness that here. We need to abound in this grace. We need to ask, pray fervently, fervently that the Lord would increase this among us. That we would love one another more fervently and that we would love him more fervently, right? Please, Lord, grow our love that we need it. Now Paul here loves these people. God, please, may I find a way in your will to come to them, to make it to Rome. I long to see these dear people. But notice second, the substance. What is Paul praying for? The substance of Paul's supplication. That I may come to you, verse 10. That I may impart to you some spiritual gift, verse 11. That you may be established, right? Established in the faith through apostolic preaching, established, strengthened. That I may be encouraged together with you, verse 12. He wants to have fruit among them, verse 13. And he is ready to preach the gospel to them, verse 15. So, although Paul longs for that encouragement, that comes from fellowship, Christian fellowship with the saints, Paul's concern is not sightseeing in Rome. Paul's concern is not the good coffee and donuts that are served in the Narthex of the church at Rome. Paul's concern is not what he can receive from them but what he desires from the heart to do for them. And that, brothers and sisters, is a model of ministry for all of us. We hear it all the time, don't we? Like I, you pick a church, you go to church because I wanna be fed, right? And well and good, we need to go to a church that feeds our soul, right? The church has a responsibility from the word of God to feed the souls of God's people. But our heart attitude should not only or merely be to go to a church where I'm going to be fed, we should have from the heart a desire to serve God's people. We need to emulate Paul in this, imitate him as he imitates Jesus Christ, who for the joy set before him, despising the shame, counting in a small, common, insignificant thing, endured the cross. Brothers and sisters, we need to serve one another following that good example. Notice in the substance of his supplication, it's the fruit of serving God's people, the Lord's church, that Paul then expects to receive a blessing himself. And isn't that in God's grace always the case, right? When I serve him, I'm blessed. And you know, if you really trust the Lord in that, it can almost be self-serving, right? Listen, I'm gonna come and love you because I love you and the Lord loves me through. It's all good. Like the Lord takes care of us in that way. It's very gracious. It says in verse 12, that is that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. This is not a one-sided affair. Paul's gonna be encouraged too, right? Here's the mindset. Here's the hope, the hope, the heart of the apostle Paul and the purpose of his prayer. He knows that when he goes to the church at Rome with the heart and mind to love and to serve selflessly and sacrificially serve those people, when he is there among them as one who serves, when he fulfills his responsibility to pray for them, to build them up, to establish them, to spiritually bless them, he knows that due to the grace of God, they won't be the only ones built up or encouraged. Paul himself will be encouraged together with them through their mutual faith. This is a means of grace, right? Everything that God commands turns into a means of grace for our own blessing, for our own benefit. Just obey the Lord, trust him, serve him in faith and let the Lord do you good in that, right? When you begin to think to yourself that somehow the church has failed you, I don't get invited to fellowships like I think I should or these people aren't loving me the way that I feel as though I should be loved. Not having warm feelings anymore like I once had, then you get busy serving and loving this church and these people, right? We concluded the introduction then by noting Paul's obligation to serve. First, we took note of Paul's sense of obligation. Verse 14, Paul says, I am a debtor. I am a debtor. We're used to thinking of that word debtor as a financial term, being a debtor indebted to someone means that you owe them money, okay? However, I thought of more fully, the range of that word also includes someone who's under a sense of obligation. I'm indebted. A person who's under obligation is bound, bound to the payment of some price or bound to the rendering of some service to some course of action. He's duty bound to pay it, duty bound to perform it. Paul says, I am a debtor. We took note of Paul's submission under obligation from verse 13. He says that I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you but was hindered until now. Paul says, I often planned, but I'm a man under submission. I'm a man under obligation. I go where the Lord directs. I often planned to come to you, but I've been hindered. I might have some fruit among you also just as among the other Gentiles. We noted God's sovereignty there over Paul's circumstances. We noted Paul's responsibility then in those circumstances to trust, to pray, and to obey. You wanna know how to be happy in Jesus? You trust, pray, and obey. Trust, pray, and obey. That's what Paul was doing. He is a man under obligation. Under obligation to the Lord and he is in submission to the Lord in his obligation. So are you and I. We are not the captain of our souls, right? The masters of our fate. We are not that. We are not our own. We are bought at a price. We are to glorify him in our decisions, in our actions. Here, Paul is doing just that. Now, next, we took note of the scope of his obligation. Also in verse 14, Paul says, I'm a debtor, both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and unwise. Greeks representing those within the quote unquote, cultured boundaries of the Roman Empire, barbarians representing everyone else. It was at that time mostly that if you were in the Roman Empire, if you looked west, you saw culture. If you looked east, you saw dark uncultured, right? Not unlike the way that some view it even now. Today in our day and age, west is civilization, east is not. Back then it was Greeks and barbarians, right? Barbarians representing everyone else outside the Roman Empire, those not privileged to be within the boundaries of Greek culture, the Barbaros. And in the second pairing, Paul then refers to the wise and unwise. These are overlapping. To wise and unwise, Paul is referring to the learned and the unlearned, the privileged and the underprivileged, the advantaged and the disadvantaged. But notice, the scope of Paul's obligation doesn't end with Greeks and barbarians wise and unwise or lost Gentiles, verse 15. So as much as it's in me then, Paul says, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. In other words, the gospel, the scope of Paul's obligation extends to believers, even believers with the gospel. Paul is obligated by the Lord to feed, to tend his flock, to feed his sheep. And you and I, we need to be constantly reminded of the glorious truths of our redemption. One of the ways in which you and I live day by day, week by week, year by year in the faith, is by continuously reminding ourselves of the great truths of our redemption. Continuously reminding ourselves of what God has done in Jesus Christ for us. The preaching of the gospel is a universal and a perpetual need. We'll be glorifying God for the gospel for the rest of eternity. This is our obligation, brothers and sisters, to preach the gospel. The Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28 alludes to that very thing, right? We are to go there for and make disciples. How do you make a disciple? You go to one who is not a disciple and you preach the gospel to them. When they turn from their sin and put faith in Jesus Christ, they become a disciple. What are you to do then? Great commission, Matthew chapter 28. We are to teach then those, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. In other words, bring them into the membership of the church and you teach those disciples. Not those infants that you sprinkled. You teach those disciples whom you've baptized. You teach those disciples to observe all things Jesus says that I have commanded. How do you do that? You preach the gospel to them. You continue to preach the gospel. Paul's sense of obligation, the scope of Paul's obligation. What is the substance of Paul's obligation? We've already talked about it. What Paul has been given, what has been committed to Paul's trust, what has been committed to our trust. What like Paul, we also are obligated to give to Greeks and barbarians and wise and unwise like the gospel of Jesus Christ. So having written a customary greeting that in general introduction to his letter, Paul now transitions to this primary theme, which is the subject of his letter. We see that in verses 16 and 17. The subject that will occupy his thought, his time in writing to them, will be the gospel of Jesus Christ and this letter gloriously filled with those gospel truths that we take great joy in looking at. Romans is essentially an exposition or an explanation of the gospel. In the statement of his theme, Paul builds an argument on a series of explanations. And I want you to see that. He starts in verse 15, as much as is in me, I am ready, I'm determined, resolved to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. Why these explanations each begin with that little preposition for, I think better translated because, for the sake of English, why are you ready to preach the gospel to those who are in Rome also? Paul says, because I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Why, Paul, are you unashamed? Because the gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Why is the gospel, the power of God to salvation? Because in it, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written, the just shall live by his faith. But why, why is then the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel? Because the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. The word for ashamed in verse 16 doesn't speak of public shaming. The word refers to a personal, a private sense of disgrace. It refers to a feeling of embarrassment or of lost status. People are ashamed of the gospel. In the parable of the unjust steward from Luke 16, the steward said within himself, what shall I do? My master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig, I'm ashamed to beg. You and I can relate right to that kind of shame. Well, that kind of shame, Paul says, is a temptation even amongst believers in preaching the gospel. Paul is aware of the reality that believers will be tempted to be ashamed of the gospel. And that was happening in Rome because of how Rome treated Christian. There are two basic reasons for this shame, this temptation to shame. Two basic external reasons, two basic internal reasons. The two external reasons for this temptation to be ashamed of the gospel is one, because the world hates the gospel. And two, because this world will heap shame upon those who preach it. That was what was going on in Rome, right? In Rome, the Romans used to mock the Christians for being cannibals because they took the Lord's supper, eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood. They accused Christians in Rome of being atheists because Christians disavowed all the pantheon of Roman gods and said those gods were all fake. They didn't exist. And oh, by the way, we're not offering any kind of incense or applause to Caesar either. We believe in the one true and living God. And so they accused the Christians of being atheists. This world will heap shame upon those who preach the gospel. Well, Paul was often shamed and he bore the marks of that in his back. Paul was beaten, left for dead in Lystra, right? He was shipwrecked in peril continuously. First Corinthians, or second Corinthians chapter 11. So Paul was often shamed, but Paul was never ashamed. And it's because of the gospel, it's the power of God of salvation for everyone who believes to the Jew first and also for the Greek. There are also two basic internal reasons for why believers are tempted to be ashamed of the gospel. One is a lack of faith or unbelief. The other is a lack of love. Faith strengthens us, right? The spirit of God through the means of faith strengthens his people, supplies them with holy spirit, wrought power and enabling empowerment. Second Timothy chapter one, verse eight. Paul exhorts Timothy in verse six. Listen to what he says to Timothy. Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying out of my hands for God has not given us Timothy a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Those are fruits of the spirit. Therefore Timothy do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of me his prisoner but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God. Not according to your own power but according to the power of God. Now, Paul invites us to share with him in this very same work, right? Paul as much as to Timothy here says to us do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of Paul his prisoner or of all those prisoners we just prayed for but share with us in the sufferings for the gospel not according to your own power but according to the power that is given to you by God through his spirit through the means of faith. And Paul reminds him then of the truths of the gospel that Timothy believes. It's God who has saved us. Call this with a holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. But now has been revealed by the appearing of our savior Jesus Christ who has abolished death, brought life and immortality to light through the gospel to which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. Paul says for this reason I also suffer these things. That message is worth suffering for. Do you see? The truth of the gospel. It is the power of God to salvation. It is worth suffering for. For this reason Paul says I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed. Why Paul? For I know that's faith whom I have believed and I am persuaded faith that he is able to keep that which I've committed to him until that day. He tells Timothy, hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me in faith and love. Do you see? Which are in Christ Jesus. So Paul says, listen, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. How could anyone be ashamed of the gospel? Right? What a testimony of our own sinfulness and waywardness when we ourselves become ashamed of the gospel. Paul said, I did not shrink back. I was not ashamed. Why? Three facts, three facts. The purpose of the gospel, the power of the gospel and the people of the gospel, the people to whom it is given. First, consider quickly the power or the purpose of the gospel, the purpose of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For the gospel is the power of God to salvation. We cannot be ashamed of the gospel of Christ brothers and sisters because it is a message of salvation. The word salvation presupposes damnation. The Greek word translated salvation in verse 16 refers to being delivered from harm, being delivered from danger, literally to be snatched by force from some peril or danger. That's what the word is referring to. In this case, we know what the harm is. Verse 18, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. That's the harm. Apart from salvation, Jonathan Edwards describes the danger you're in. I recall this quote to your mind. The God that holds you over the pit of hell holds you there much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire. That God abhors you and is dreadfully provoked by you. His wrath toward you burns like fire. He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else. Listen, this is drawn from scripture, do you see? Like people today mock this notion of God. This is the God of the Bible. In his settled disposition against sin, ungodliness and unrighteousness, right? His wrath towards you burns like fire. He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire. He is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight. You are 10,000 times more abominable in his eyes than the most hateful, venomous serpent is in ours. You may ask yourself, you've not turned from your sin. You've not repented to put your faith in Jesus Christ. Why hasn't God killed you right now because of your sin? The reason that he hasn't is because the Lord Jesus Christ died to redeem his people and we, he is gathering those together to himself for redemption. It's the only reason that God hasn't torn this whole place up even now. Because Jesus Christ has given himself for a people and that people is being redeemed. He is gathering his elect from four corners of the earth. That word salvation encompasses all that is necessary to redeem you, all that is necessary to reconcile you and restore you to a right relationship to God through the person and work of his own son, our Lord Jesus Christ rescuing you from the danger that you are in due to rebellion in your sin. The purpose of the gospel, second, the power of the gospel. The gospel is the power of God to salvation. One, the gospel is God's power through which he works in his power to save sinners. In other words, the gospel is not what God tells us to do so that we can grid it out in our own power to save ourselves, right? Jeremiah 13, 23, can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard change its spots? No. Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil? No. Man, it's powerless to overcome his own sinful nature. Self-help may change temporal habits but it cannot change the human heart and that which the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. So the gospel is God's power to salvation. Secondly, the gospel is God's power to salvation. Inherent to the gospel message is the power of an omnipotent God. That power alone, sufficient to save the chief of sinners. It is sufficient to save you, save me, sufficient to transform the humble, transform and humble the hardest of human hearts. Third then, note with me the people to whom the power of God and the gospel is directed. Paul says in verse 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. Why would we be ashamed of the gospel? Everyone who believes will be saved. So preach the gospel and every one of them who will believe will be saved. Literally for everyone who is believing, present tense, Paul didn't have one gospel for the Jews, another gospel for the Gentiles, Paul had one gospel through which men are saved in believing. And there's no one outside the scope of that. It's for everyone who believes. Why is the gospel, the power of God to salvation for everyone who is believing? Because in it, the righteousness of God is revealed. Paul refers to that righteousness which belongs to God, God's own righteousness. It is that righteousness, the righteousness of God that is the possession of the one who believes. Amen, what an awesome blessing, an awesome gift. Richard Sibs, often think with thyself, what am I? I'm a poor, sinful creature. But I have a righteousness in Jesus Christ that answers all. I am weak in myself, but Christ is strong and I am strong in him. I am foolish in myself, but I am wise in him. What I want or lack in myself, I have in him. And that is great news, the greatest news. The greatest news you will ever, ever hear. It's the greatest news you'll ever hear, why? Because the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. The wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who continue to suppress the truth of God in their unrighteousness. More about that beginning next week. Paul begins this next section from chapter one, verse 18, through chapter three, verse 20, with a scathing, withering, searing, blistering indictment of human sin. And we'll be spending several months in that section of scripture dealing with that indictment of human sin. We must understand the very bad news, right? In order for us to comprehend and then apprehend the very good news. All praise, honor, and glory to be to God for the gospel. Amen, let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, we praise you and thank you for the gospel, God. Thank you for condescending to save wretched sinners like us. Thank you for all that you have done. It's just absolutely amazing. It is rich with a depth that is incomprehensible, Lord. And we rejoice to be beneficiaries of your saving work unable certainly to save ourselves to even understand the faintest level, the depth of these glorious truths. But Lord, you've so lavished your grace upon us that having saved us, Lord, you've delivered us to this great salvation, this content of our faith, this understanding, this blessing by your spirit to now live in accord with these truths and to be blessed as worshipers of God and spirit and in truth for all eternity. So grateful to you, Lord. Grateful for our Lord Jesus Christ who went to the cross in our stead and died there in our place. We thank you for that. And thank you, Lord, for this blessing that we have now of considering these things. Help us, Lord, to understand. Help us to retain what we learn. Plant these things within our hearts and minds. Help us, Lord, to meditate on them, to consider them and to understand them and to apply them, to live according to them and to rejoice in them and to worship because of them, to praise you in response to them. We thank you, we love you. Be with us now as we go in Jesus' name, amen.