Paul to the Romans // Pastor Bobby

Alright, so today we get to really start into the book of Romans.

We're in chapter one,

verses one through eight.

And I just want to tell you something.

Something happened to Paul,

okay? Something changed everything in his just perspective on life and

priority and focus.

And so Paul's life changed one day.

And the result of God's changing Paul's life provides for us a book like

Romans Letters to the Roman Christians.

And so as we begin this,

I want you to think along those lines as to the fact that,

guess what?

God.

God gives us reason for change,

then he changes us.

So as we read Romans 1:1 through 8,

Romans 1:1–8

think about these things and try to make application in your own life.

Alright, here we go.

Paul, a bond servant of Christ Jesus,

called as an apostle,

set apart for the Gospel of God,

which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures

concerning His Son.

I'm going to read it like it's written with punctuation because it's not.

Alright, here you go.

I'm going to start over.

Paul, a bond servant of Christ Jesus,

called as an apostle,

set apart for the Gospel of God,

which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures

concerning his Son,

who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh,

he was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the

dead, according to the Spirit of holiness,

Jesus Christ our Lord,

through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the

obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake,

among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ to all who are beloved

of God in Rome,

called as saints.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 8.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all because your faith

is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.

All right,

let's pray.

God, we thank you.

We praise you again for the morning that we get to share together first

with you and then with each other and God as we've enjoyed worship this

morning. God,

thank you that you have spoken to us.

Your word is always that opportunity for us to hear you speak to us and

in your spirit illuminates and shares and opens up our minds and hearts

to what you've said.

And so God help us to hear you,

help us to pay attention.

Help us to be obedient.

God help us to do that which you have called us to do.

We pray it in Jesus name.

Amen. Ever anybody,

ever known a person who did something,

changed something about themselves so drastically that you didn't

recognize them Right.

I had a friend one time that,

you know,

his hair started thinning and he decided to be radical about it and just

shave it all off.

He had hair,

wasn't much,

but he had some.

And so he shaved it shiny,

bald.

I didn't recognize the guy.

I mean,

it was kind of like,

wait a minute,

right. That there was a change so drastic I didn't know the guy.

Right. I mean,

I knew him,

but I didn't recognize him.

Right. Well,

when you see Paul's life,

when we take this journey with Paul through the book of Romans,

we're going to get a better understanding of how God explained to Paul

the transformation that the gospel brings about in the life of anybody.

Ok? And so the challenge for you and I is going to be as we examine the

Gospel of God.

And that's what it says right there.

It says set apart for the Gospel of God.

What that means is God's good news.

Anything that God is sharing with us about Jesus Christ,

about the salvation,

the redemption,

the forgiveness that God provides in Jesus Christ,

that's good news for us.

And so this is the gospel,

the good news of God,

God's story,

God's proclamation of what he has accomplished.

Because that's what this text actually says.

And what's crazy about the way the English New Testament reflects the non

punctuation of the Greek New Testament is,

is that there's no punctuation.

And so this is the biggest run on sentence.

If you've ever tried to diagram a New Testament sentence,

it takes you all day.

And then I realized that younger students no longer know how to diagram

sentences. But anyway,

that's aside from it.

I was taught that in Greek,

not in English.

So what I want us to realize is that as Paul undertakes to write the book

of Romans,

he is writing what God has revealed to him and what God has inspired for

him in scripture scripturally.

To put this down for our understanding of the gospel so that we

understand what God has done,

how he's done it and ultimately why he's done it.

So the point of the book of Romans,

you know,

the reason for its existence is because Romans,

Romans, people in Rome need the gospel.

Truthfully, the whole world needs the gospel.

We need the gospel.

I need the gospel.

This is the good news God has chosen to deliver to us and for our

understanding and comprehension of what God has accomplished through

Jesus Christ.

Alrighty, so I want to share with you that the first point today is just.

Hello Paul,

let's meet Paul a little bit.

Alright, let's get Acquainted with this guy.

His name was Saul from birth and good Jewish boy,

born in Tarsus.

You know,

he was a Roman citizen,

but he was also Jewish and grew up in a Jewish household.

More than likely,

his household was wealthy.

Saul undertook to be a tent maker,

supporting himself later in his ministries.

Right? So maybe growing up in Tarsus,

maybe. Maybe his dad had a tent factory or something.

Right? He grew up in that.

The reason we know he was probably from a wealthy family is because of

his education.

I mean,

Saul had the highest of education for Jewish young men.

What we find out is that I'm going to read to you from Acts 22.

Here you go.

Acts 22.

If you want to turn there,

it's not going to show up on the screen.

It's just what I got for you.

It says,

brothers and fathers,

listen, listen now to my defense before you.

When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic,

all right?

So he's.

He's writing in Greek,

speaking in Aramaic.

Okay? Knows Hebrew,

I'm sure.

So it's well educated,

right? When they heard it,

he was speaking to them in Aramaic,

they became even quieter.

So they're listening to him,

and all of a sudden he starts speaking to them.

They went,

shh, shh.

What's he saying?

Right? So then he goes on,

he says,

he continued,

I am a Jew,

born in Tarsus of Cilicia,

but brought up in this city,

educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the law of our ancestors.

I was zealous for God,

just as all of you are today.

I want you to notice that sentence.

He says,

I was zealous for God.

We look at Paul's life before Jesus and we think of him as persecutor and

this horrendous person who would strike out against Christians.

But what is it that Paul believed about his life?

He was zealous for God.

He believed he was doing what God had purposed designed and planned for

him to do in his life.

He didn't see himself as this contrary,

kind of,

I'm going to fight against Christians and Jesus.

That's not how he saw himself.

He saw himself as an advocate for God.

All right?

But then he goes on to say,

he says,

I persecuted this way to the death.

So. So he's admitting,

guess what?

They didn't call him Christians until Antioch.

But. But he says,

I persecuted followers of the Way.

These people who are following the way I sought.

I even.

I was standing there when Stephen was stoned and I held everybody's coats.

I was into this thing I was one of you.

He probably sat the Sanhedrin that he's on trial before.

He probably sat with them as friends,

brothers and fathers.

He says right there.

So Paul was one of them.

He was probably sitting in the Sanhedrin when they brought Jesus before

the Sanhedrin.

Okay, so Saul is not ignorant of what's going on.

He says,

I persecuted this way to the death,

arresting and putting both men and women in jail as both the high priest

and the whole council of elders can testify about me.

So he's saying,

you guys know me.

Y'all know what I did.

Y'all know how on fire for God I was.

After I received letters from them,

the elders and the high priest to the brothers,

I traveled to Damascus to arrest those who were there and bring them to

Jerusalem to be punished.

It wasn't good enough that I was throwing people in jail in Jerusalem and

having people stoned in Jerusalem.

I wanted to go down the street and grab some more and bring them back.

And so I got letters to do that.

And then he says this.

As I was traveling.

Now I'm going to stop right there a minute.

I want you to consider your day,

any day,

just pick a day,

whatever day,

as you're going through your day,

as you're traveling,

walking, talking,

working, hanging out,

whatever you're doing,

as you're going through your day.

See, Paul was just doing what Paul did.

Now, I've kind of characterized it this way.

You know,

wealthy, probably tent making,

family became a tent maker.

He was not a peasant.

He was not like the disciples or the apostles.

He was not a fisherman.

He was not a peasant.

You know,

Matthew was probably the only one of the apostles that had a,

you know,

sort of a source of wealth of any kind.

His education was of the high.

He was probably working with his dad up till about 14.

Right then he went to Jerusalem to be trained,

spiritually speaking,

with regard to religious instruction.

And somewhere around 20ish,

probably he came under the teaching of Gamaliel,

who is a.

In that first century,

you can read extra biblical texts that talk about the writings of

Gamaliel and some of the things that he produced as one of the leaders of

the Judaism of the day.

And so Saul became one of the students and obviously one of the highly

regarded students.

Put it in your mind like this.

He graduated like summa cum laude from Harvard among the Jews.

All right?

That was his education.

He had a career path in front of him.

I'm going to be a Pharisee.

I'm going to be a ruler I'm going to be on the high council.

Can't be high priest,

because that's a family thing.

But anyway,

I can rise to these heights as a ruler among the Jews,

be wealthy,

because guess what?

Those guys were wealthy.

Like it or not,

I can.

I can ascend the heights in my community and my people until,

while traveling to Damascus,

whoops, about noon,

an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me,

and I fell to the ground.

Now, I like to characterize this as.

As Saul was riding a donkey and he fell off his donkey.

But we don't know that.

It just says he fell to the ground.

So just imagine they're traveling up a dusty road,

and he's got his entourage so that he can capture some Christians and

take them back to Jerusalem.

And he's walking along.

Pow. He's blinded by this light,

right? Falls to the ground.

Now, this became very real to me in the last couple of days.

Did y'all know if you step from grass onto concrete where there's ice,

it's like going to Damascus?

Because I went to get the mail,

I'm looking at the mail,

I'm looking at the mail,

and I went,

whoo. Bam.

Like that.

I forbid the security team from looking at the video,

but they did anyway.

Now, that's not so bad.

Except that I did it again this morning.

I went back to the mailbox,

walked across the same grass and fell again.

And I was like,

you know,

I'm getting too old for this.

But imagine Paul sitting on the ground and asking the question,

well, actually,

Jesus speaks as so,

so why are you persecuting me?

He doesn't say,

why are you persecuting Christians?

He doesn't say,

why are you persecuting the way,

why are you persecuting my people?

He says,

why are you persecuting me?

And Saul says,

wait a minute.

Who are you,

Lord? I mean,

think about that.

You just got blinded by somebody.

Now you can't see them,

and they're talking to you,

and you're answering them back,

I'm Jesus of Nazareth,

the one you are persecuting.

Now, I can imagine Paul thinking and Saul thinking in his mind,

I'm not persecuting you.

We killed you.

I saw you die.

You see?

So all of a sudden,

I mean,

I like to say it in as humorous a way as I can.

I can imagine Saul in the back of his mind going,

oh, right.

I mean,

think about it a minute.

Uh, oh.

Because now he's being confronted by Jesus.

And then it goes on to say,

now those who were with him,

saw the light,

but they did not hear the voice who was speaking to me.

I said,

what should I do,

Lord? The Lord told me,

get up and go to Damascus.

There you will be told everything that you have been assigned to do.

And then we get the rest of his story.

So I want you to.

I want you to understand Paul.

Paul was just doing life.

Paul had a trajectory for his life.

I've told you all the story.

You know,

my family really revered the medical profession.

My mom was a registered nurse.

My uncle became a pharmacist and a nurse practitioner.

My aunt,

my mom's youngest daughter,

she.

She went to college,

and then she got into med school,

and she started into med school,

and she got into the second year of med school and quit.

So from middle school,

I wanted to be a doctor.

I was going to be a pediatrician,

right? Because I loved kids.

I thought being a pediatrician,

man, I could play all the time.

My mom told me,

as a nurse,

she said,

you realize the kids you see will be sick,

don't you?

I was like,

okay, maybe not.

But anyway.

But I had a.

I had an idea in my mind what I was going to do,

where I was going to go,

who I was going to be,

right?

That doesn't always happen the way you want it to.

Did you know that some of you are probably in places that you thought.

I never thought I'd be here.

Didn't want to be here.

Can I tell you something?

I believe God puts you where he wants you for his kingdom's sake.

You might not be where you want to be,

but guess what?

If God's got you there,

he's got a reason for you to be there.

Okay? So when I look at this,

I think,

well, you know what?

Paul could have.

Saul could have gone on and been a Pharisee for Jesus.

There are some.

Y'all know,

I'm just telling you,

not Jewish Pharisees.

There's just some Christians I know that act like Pharisees.

See the gospel's life changing,

y'all. Jesus confronted Saul on the road to Damascus.

Saul is his Jewish name.

Paul is his Roman name.

It's not like Abraham.

It didn't.

Like, he changed his name.

Said, you'll no longer be known as,

he's still Saul to a lot of Jews,

but he's Paul to the New Testament body.

But the gospel changed his life.

Can you imagine?

He starts calling the First Baptist Church in,

let's say,

Ephesus and goes,

hey, I got saved and I'm an evangelist now.

Can I come speak at your church.

And the Church of Ephesus is going,

no, no,

no, no,

no. You kill people.

We don't want you to come speak at our church,

right?

But what happened?

Peter took Paul and just affirmed his conversion and what God had called

him to.

So here's the challenge,

right? Here's the point for us.

God has designed,

provided and planned for redemption and salvation in the lives of the

people that he calls in our lives.

If you're a Christian this morning,

God designed and purposed that you would be his people.

All right?

God promised it.

The text right here tells us that he promised beforehand through his

prophets in the Holy Scriptures,

concerning his Son,

who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh,

who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the

dead, according to the Spirit of holiness,

Jesus Christ our Lord,

through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the

obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for his name's sake.

So Saul,

Paul is talking about himself now,

says, you know,

that God has purposed this redemption through Jesus Christ,

and I have been given grace and apostleship to share Jesus Christ with

the Gentiles.

And then it says,

among whom you also are the called Jesus Christ.

So you've got grace too,

see, because he's writing to Roman Christians.

And we remember like two weeks ago,

I told you there were people from Rome in Jerusalem,

and some of them saw the crucifixion,

some of them saw Pentecost.

When they scattered because of persecution,

they end up in Rome.

They start getting their friends and family together,

talking about Jesus.

And so there's small house,

churches all throughout Rome,

scattered all around.

So Paul's writing a letter.

We call it a book of the Bible,

but he's writing a letter to them to explain the gospel,

to explain how the gospel works,

to explain what God has accomplished in the good News,

you see?

And so when I say that Romans needs the Gospel,

the Roman people need the Gospel,

the world need the gospel,

guess what?

The gospel's for you and me.

And it's life changing.

You know,

you might continue on your career path and your career trajectory.

You might end up in a place that God wants you to be for his sake,

because of something in you or because of something around you,

I don't know.

But the truth of it is,

Paul, God took Saul,

called him,

Paul, sent him.

That's what apostleship means.

He sent him out.

And so he's writing this letter to all who are beloved of God in Rome,

called as saints.

How about that?

Now here you go.

Now remember last week we did the deacon thing and I mentioned small D

deacons.

Deacon in Greek means servant,

capital D.

Deacon is an office that we sort of made in administrative direction for

the way we do church.

Small S saint means set apart.

Set apart for the gospel.

Do you know every Christian is set apart for the gospel?

You have been set apart for the gospel,

right. So called as saints.

And then he says this grace to you.

Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

First I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all because of your

faith, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the world for

you, the gospel,

grace, peace,

community and faith.

Now I'm going to drive the nail home.

In the Book of Acts,

Acts 22 · chapter mention

chapter 22 is this verse,

get up,

go into Damascus,

and there you will be told everything that you have been assigned to do.

Who assigned it to him?

Jesus did.

Right? What have you been assigned to do?

See, when I asked that question,

everybody comes up to me.

A lot of people come up to me and say,

well, tell me where you need me.

I don't know because I don't know what you've been assigned to do.

Right. There's a whole next step tablet out there.

You can tap your phone on the back of the chair and just scroll through

there and just find a place to get involved.

Or go to work and live.

Jesus, wherever it is you are,

go live your faith.

Go live the good news.

Go live your testimony.

Maybe it's in your own home,

it's on your street,

I don't know.

But you've been assigned something because it's not like out of all of

this we look at Paul's life and go,

okay, Paul's the only one that ever got an assignment.

Not how it happens.

God has called us all and assigned us all.

Where are.

Where will I'm.

Let's pick a time.

Where will you be at 9:37 in the morning?

Okay, where will you be?

Maybe you'll be in school,

maybe you'll be in your house.

Maybe you'll be hanging out with your kids.

Guess what?

You have an assignment in that you have an assignment for the gospel.

Wherever you are.

We're supposed to live it out.

That's what Romans is about.

Because the world needs the gospel.

And I love this last line,

because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the world.

Young, we got folks that are part of this gathering who are on the other

side of the world right now serving,

called assigned,

but they're a part of this gathering.

We don't see them much anymore,

but they were here.

See what I mean?

As you go out and share the gospel,

your faith being proclaimed throughout the world,

don't miss your assignment.

Don't miss God's expectation for your life.

You can go live the world if you want to.

You can go make decisions that dishonor God's call and love in your life.

Yeah, you can do it.

He'll let you.

Careful. If you see a bright light,

though, that's the warning.

We're going to sing a last song.

If you don't know Jesus this morning,

we want you to know Jesus.

We want you to meet him today.

We'd love to introduce him to you.

Maybe you know him and maybe you know that God's telling you.

All right,

it's time to get busy.

That's between you and him.

I'm not the one to police that.

Okay. If you want to pray about something,

I'll be down here to pray with you.

Alrighty. You just let God lead you.

You can pray right where you are,

too.

Just so you know.

Alrighty. Let's pray together as we get ready to sing.

God, thank you for today and for all that you are accomplishing.

Thank you,

God, for your love for us.

God, I thank you for good news.

I need good news every day.

It's safe to say I need the gospel every day.

So, God,

this morning as we gather in this place,

God, we want to praise you and thank you for what you're doing.

Want to praise you and thank you that,

God, you've loved us and cared for us,

and yet,

God, that's not where it stops.

It stops where we show others the love that you've shown us.

And then it just continues.

So, God,

help us to be where you want us to be and that we'll be who you called us

to be and that we'll be obedient to it.

God, thank you for your love.

And we pray it in Jesus name,

Amen.