Romans 1:1 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.
In verse 4 we see that Jesus Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power. In Luke 1 the angel Gabriel came to Mary and announced to her that she would conceive and give birth to “the Son of the Highest”. He would be given the throne of His father David and His kingdom would have no end.
In Matthew 3:16 we read that the Holy Spirit descended upon the Lord Jesus like a dove. We read also in verse 17 of that chapter that God the Father proclaimed Jesus Christ to be His beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased.
Paul was directed by God to remind the saints of the facts of Who Jesus Christ is. Paul was not making this up. This was not a new thing. He was teaching the facts of what the prophets had declared in the Old Testament and of what had happened not that many years prior.
Jesus further demonstrated His deity and His power in rising from the dead. Biblical Christianity is the only religion that has a true and living Saviour. He is not dead in a grave somewhere.
This week there were hundreds of Muslims who went to visit the grave of a terrorist leader in Iran. At that service, two bombs went off and around 100 people were killed. The people came there to show their respect for this dead man. He was no saviour. He was a murderer. He was instrumental in killing Jews and others whom he hated. He was killed by the U.S. to stop his rule of terror. He has been rotting in a grave now for several years. His soul has been in hell all that time. He is not in “paradise” being pampered by 70 virgins. He is in torment and will be in torment for all of eternity.
Jesus Christ is the true Son of God. He is not dead in a tomb somewhere. There is a tomb in Israel where they believe Jesus’ body was laid after His death on the cross. There is no DNA to prove that Jesus was in that particular tomb. The Anglicans claim ownership of that particular site and they love to make money from all the people who go to visit that site because they assume Jesus was buried there.
We will never know for sure where exactly Jesus was buried. His body was only there for 3 days and 3 nights. He then rose again victorious over sin and death. We do not need to know where that tomb is. He is not there and if He was, He could not be our Saviour. In verse 5 Paul stated that he received grace and apostleship through the risen Lord Jesus Christ. We have stated before that every saved person is saved by God’s grace. We have also noted that every saved person is kept by God’s grace. We need to draw from the grace of God that is there to strengthen the true child of God. We know that Paul was able to be beaten and stoned and face other abuses, but he remained stedfast to the Lord. He did not do that in his own strength. Every Christian can be strong in the Lord. We need to draw our strength from the Lord.
The apostle Paul received his apostleship through Jesus Christ. Every true apostle was personally chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ. That is one of the reasons we know there are no apostles today.
Paul further stated that he received grace and apostleship because he was obedient to the faith. God does not cast His pearls to the swine. He blesses those who are truly saved. There are many people who profess to be saved, but they continue on in their sin.
The church in Corinth was carnal. The apostle Paul was directed to write them and expose their carnality. There were saved people there, but they were not behaving like saved people. They needed to repent. The good news is that they listened to God and they did repent. The saved person they were sheltering and protecting, also repented and now needed to be restored to fellowship. God does not pamper sin. He confronts it. His children cannot remain in sin.
Yesterday I mentioned that we are not teaching Lordship salvation. There is much controversy as to what Lordship salvation actually means. It depends on who is doing the teaching. Some people assume that it is wrong to teach that a person that is saved is required to live for the Lord. No born again Christian will be free from sin. However every born again Christian needs to be growing in the Lord and as he grows he will grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and he will become more faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ. That is not my idea. That is what the Bible declares many times. As we study the book of Romans we will see that fact as well. It is a lie to teach that a person is saved if they have no interest in following the truth.
Years ago I was asked by our pastor at the time, to be the contact person for a couple that professed to be saved. They claimed that they had trouble getting up in time on Sundays to attend church and asked if I would give them a call to wake them up so that they could be at the services. I did so and for the first couple of weeks the couple seemed to appreciate the call. It did not take long before they told me not to call them anymore. They would come if they wanted to come. They demonstrated what was actually going on in their hearts. The Holy Spirit indwells the true child of God and He provides the conviction and the power to do the will of God.
We see in verse 5 that the faith that Paul had was among all nations. There is no different salvation. Jew or Gentile must be saved in the same manner. Salvation is always by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is essential for the lost to know Jesus’ name. That is why Paul was saved and called to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. All born again Christians are commanded to go into all the world and teach all nations. Some do that by personally going. Others do that by giving so that others can go. All saved people have an important task of helping others to know the name of the true Jesus Christ.
In verse 6 Paul reminded the recipients that they too were saved through Jesus Christ. There are many strange salvations today. There is far more man-made religion than true God-fearing religion. There seems to be an increase in false religion in the past while.
In verse 7 we see that the original recipients of this letter were the saints in Rome. We know they were saints because Paul called them “beloved of God”. God loves all people and provides salvation through repentance toward Him and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. The beloved have a special place with God. They are called to be saints. The Greek word translated as “saint” means “pure”, “holy”.
Saints are saints because of what God has done in their hearts, not because of what they have done. The Catholics have many “saints” that are dead people that are lost in torment in hell. True saints are people that have been made alive through faith in the true Jesus Christ. The Bible does not teach that we should pray to saints. Every true born again Christian is a saint.
God expects the saints to live in the light of the salvation He has provided for them. In our text, the apostle Paul desired grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The true child of God is dependent upon God for daily direction and strength. We need God’s peace in order to function properly. We need God’s grace to serve Him faithfully. In John 1:14 we read:
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Jesus Christ is the source of grace and truth. The apostle Paul spoke of grace and peace. Accepting the Truth will grant you God’s peace, since God is TRUTH.
Pastor Bartel
