God Actively Saves Sinners

Of to Romans chapter one. We'll be going over. I have the honor to be able to speak on Romans 1:16 on something that we've been reflecting on as a church for a couple months now on the subject of salvation. Now we will be getting into our theology Wednesdays of soteriology in the next month or two or a couple months and dive in even more so into the doctrine of what salvation is. It's often it's one of the most misunderstood doctrines. So we're going to see how it's summarized here in this particular verse in Romans 1:16 is what we'll try to expand upon a little bit here in the text. As we read I'm going to read Romans 1 all the way through verse 17 to make sure we have the right context. But the sermon today will be centered on verses 1 through 7, and 1 through 7 will have the three divisions. The first division will be for I am not ashamed of the Gospel that will be in the first verse here in chapter one and then the second division will be in verses 2 through 4, which will be "For it is the power of God for salvation and then the third division will be "To everyone who believes" and that will be in verses 5 through 7 right here in the text. So we'll read the text and we'll pray and we'll and we'll dive into it.

Romans chapter 1 starting in verse 1 Paul a bondservant 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 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 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 first I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world for God whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the Gospel of his son is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers making requests that perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you for I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you that you may be established that is that I may be encouraged together with you while among you each of us by the others faith both yours and mine I do not want you to be unaware brethren that often I have planned to come to you and have been prevented so that I may obtain some fruit among you also even as among the rest of the Gentiles I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians both to the wise and to the foolish so for my part I am eager to preach the Gospel to you also who are in Rome for I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek 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 let's pray your heavenly Father we thank you for this text we thank you for the preservation of this text that has reached our particular time in this particular day in the year 2025 here on this May 18th what a privilege is to be able to hear these words help us to be able to rightly divide it in the way that you that you intend to be out to be able to be understood here in this particular time in this particular moment that we have to be able to hear this truth in Jesus name Amen

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes

This was said to the church in Rome we think about maybe how the church in Rome got started and so we, were very familiar with the things that happened in Israel and leading up to and all the things that happened in that particular area but it is thought to see that there was visitors of Rome that were at Pentecost. You can see that in Acts 2:10 that there are visitors from Rome who heard the sermon from Peter right at Pentecost so that was in the year AD 33 and scholars seem to say that, that this letter to the Romans was written about 55 AD and so when you think about the visitors from Rome in Jerusalem at Pentecost going back to Rome and establishing the church for about 20 years and so the church has gotten a reputation as we see here that their faith is being renowned throughout the whole world within this short period of time of 20 years and so now this letter from the apostle Paul was written about 55 AD it is said to have been written in Corinth Greece right across the Adriatic Sea it was given to Phoebe as we see in Romans 16:1 and Phoebe was the one that gave it to the church in Rome at around between 55 AD and 60 AD and during that time was when the apostle Paul went from Corinth he made his way back to Jerusalem and we read the rest of Acts there on what took place with the trials of Paul and all that kind of thing and then Paul finally made it back as he made it back to the shipwrecks and all that kind of stuff as we read in Acts, where he was put on trial so we see there in Acts 28 that he's still in chains right and so he's allowing visitors and people are able to see him in, in his quarters he's still able to preach and teach the things that we that we read there in Acts 28 and so this, is where we are this particular church in Rome as we see in Acts 28 that we read earlier that the that the people who were there listening to Paul they're divided. This truth divides that they're not in full agreement of what the true salvation is there's there's a what he was testifying there in Acts 28 he was testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus and so we're going to get into that as we as we kind of dive into what Paul is opening up here and his what some people call his magnum opus and the letter to the Romans and so there's division here in Acts 28 but what Paul is saying here is that he is trusting in God he is edifying the saints there and around AD 60 between AD 60 and 64 was when the emperor Nero started persecuting the Christians there in Rome so it's very intense it's a very it's a very intense time this, isn't just like a, a casual letter but this, is a letter that caused a great commitment it also caused great strife and that and that kind of thing so it's going to help us to be able to understand what Paul is saying here because we get into here in our first division

So our first division is, is "I am not ashamed of the Gospel and we see that in verse one here where Paul is not ashamed he is leading the charge setting the example of what it means to be I am not ashamed of the Gospel in Romans 1 verse 1 it reads Paul a bondservant of Christ Jesus called as an apostle set apart for the Gospel of God we're going to knock down those three those three phrases a bondservant called as an apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God so

The first one a bondservant of Christ Jesus, where he is another word for bondservant is slave where he identifies with Christ you know the ideal bondservant or the ideal slave if you're a master is someone who listens to you someone who hears your voice and does exactly what you say and if it's a if it's a tall order someone who's competent someone who's going to be having integrity and someone who's going to carry out what you say to a T and this, is what Paul aspired to be able to, to be able to do as a bondservant John 10:27 where Jesus said to his said to his followers there "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."

Paul was all in with Christ these are truths that Paul is accustomed to when he heard about following Christ and what that meant so he chose tHis Word bondservant of Christ Jesus

He counted all his education that he did his Hebrew birthright he counted it all as rubbish we, went over that in a Bible study class this morning thankfully for Wayne going through that in Philippians 3 where we got to be aware to be aware of a false circumcision, the evildoers, evil workers and the, the dogs that are that are mentioned in Philippians 3 and then not trust in our things of the flesh things of the flesh would be like our accomplishments coming to church this morning all these types of things is that we putting our confidence in these in these sort of things if anyone were to be a part of a church and they start bragging about oh well our church is part of the, the right history or we have the right traditions or we follow the 10 commandments to a T and that and, and that kind of thing it's like whoa, whoa let's let's wait on

We don't put our confidence in the things that we do or the things that we say that we believe in as far as like the law and the and the confidence in the in the flesh and

We don't put our confidence in that Instead, we, we put our confidence into the object of our faith the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and so there's a lot of a lot of false teachers out there especially today when you go on the internet you'll hear people here in America we, we uh start to see here but oh there's a the deepest, darkest jungle in Africa has the lost gospels

And that's the truth that no one else knows and so uh this, is the truth that we're following and you don't know it and you know no it's the, the Gospel is the person and the work of Jesus Christ and it is available to everyone who believes it's not selected to a particular orthodoxy to a particular tradition and that kind of thing it is the person and work of Jesus Christ who was resurrected who lives eternally from everlasting to everlasting and it is this, is not a everyone who believes as far as like from this point on it is everyone who believes from everlasting to everlasting and this, is the Gospel that we preach and so

Paul says no to this he's making it very clear here in this beginning part of these verses here um what, what the Gospel is here and so he is a bondservant of Christ Jesus where he is sold out Paul says no he says I'm going to preach to the Greeks and the barbarians the wise and the foolish there is we see in verse 14 and he, he says I'm not ashamed, I'm not ashamed of that and so he's you almost hear him say I'm not ashamed to be able to do this particular task because I know the academics I, I know that the shame that they're going to bring on me for just forgoing that you know what I am not ashamed of that I'm not ashamed of what the true Gospel is and so that's very important for us to be able to go here as he is a bondservant of Christ Jesus

He's also called as an apostle there as we see in verse one that second phrase there um called as an apostle he where he is commissioned by Christ Jesus Himself and we read that in Acts in Acts 9 that a true apostle is the one who is commissioned and sent by Christ Himself

And so we read that account in Acts chapter 9 this called as an apostle and a commissioning to be sent for a particular purpose is like a military officer being, being commissioned into the army if you read that there is an obligation for this commission there is an oath to be taken that's where that's where, in verse 14 where Paul says I am under obligation and so that kind of ties back into called as an apostle and so this um this authority that, that Paul has is the authority of God that's why it needs to come from Christ Himself

We see all these kinds of false apostles today, and they did not receive a direct authoritative commission from Christ because this doesn't happen. We have the full account of the full apostolic word here and the canon today and so

God took a persecutor of believers who approved of the stoning of Stephen. When Stephen was about to be stoned, he shouted out he says I, I see the heavens open up and, and the Son of God standing and we see the hard heartedness in that particular text of, of Saul and his Greek name being Paul where he was showing how hard a heart he had at this particular time and yet Jesus still called him as an apostle The third phrase in verse one set apart for the Gospel of God THis Word "set apart" is something we talked about in Isaiah 6:3 where it is holy is consecrated uh made holy uh it's for a purpose and so there's this set apartness this separateness that Paul has now from where he where he was as a persecutor the zeal that he had for the law and his zeal for he had for uh the Pharisaical procedures and the way of doing things he is now set apart for the Gospel and he's not ashamed of that as he's proclaimed here that's how preached last week we, went over James 4 and talking about praying for a revival within yourself and this particular effect happens when you are set apart for the Gospel of God when you're set apart for the when you're set apart from the world you stand out you, you it's just like um a natural thing not to be able to blend in uh when you're when you're set apart you're going to uh you're just going to be able to stand out when you stand out you get a lot of attention and when you get a lot of attention and you're standing firm you're going to make waves and in that particular time when, when we're praying for revival and that uh inside the circle we talked about last week in that circle when we're submitting to the Lord where that brings sorrow in our life and misery of our own wretchedness and then by God's grace he yields purification and it says in God's Word that he will exalt you as we talked about a little recap from last week and from James 4 and so the first truth for this particular um division of for "I am not ashamed" of the Gospel is

The worst sinner of all time can be saved by God

The worst sinner of all time can be saved by God it does not matter whether you're wise or foolish

Whether you've cheated on your spouse whether you've aborted your own children whether you've had medical operations that alter your physical functionality whether you can't shake the power of the lust from your own heart

Or perhaps you're suffering from being lukewarm with no passion for Christ maybe you're here this morning you barely made it and you're just here and you're just kind of just surviving the worst sinner of all time whatever spectrum that is can be saved by God, God actively saves sinners. I meant to mention that, that's the title of this particular sermon is

God actively saves sinners and he will continually remind you that He saved you, that He saved you when he saves you i mean that's what we do here on a Sunday morning is that we remember the resurrection we remember the power of God we remember His power and not our own we, we, we come face to face with God's holiness when we see the holiness being protected here in this church where those who have been, been regenerated are members of this church uh we are confronted with the holiness of, of that and so we come face to face with our wretchedness almost every single time that we come here but yet at the same time with seeing our wretchedness we come face to face with His grace and, and with his wonderful outpouring of grace upon us and so He actually saves, He saves you from himself he doesn't save you from losing a job he doesn't save you from your body going kaput he doesn't save you he can but ultimately we're talking about here about the salvation of the soul and so he doesn't when we die we want to be able to know with confidence not confidence in the flesh but confidence in him that he will raise us up on the last day he literally opens up your spiritual eyes from blindness to see your need of Him he literally causes you to see your sin in the face of His holiness and so today i proclaim and universally call out to you to run to Christ run to Christ and if that seems foreign to you i, i just challenge you to keep coming back hearing the word of God just overflow into your mind into your heart um no one just kind of you know just when i say run to Christ that may seem so foreign to some of us where it's like uh if someone's encouraging you to go out and run a marathon you're like well i'm i'm not a runner well there's got to be a little—get into a crawl, then a walk first uh be around those who are talking about Christ uh very practical okay but be in that pursuit of running to Christ otherwise you're going to be stuck in your sin you're going to be stuck in the habits your, your, your, your care for, for others uh is going to is going to go because you're going to be so wrapped up into your own sin and the slavery and the spider web of sin are going to catch you and so i would challenge you to run to Christ encourage you to run to Christ make the proclamation i am not ashamed of the Gospel i am not ashamed of the Gospel put aside your pride and believe in the righteousness of Christ to completely cover you getting back to this main truth

The worst sinner of all time can be saved by God the second division we're going to go in here if for it is the power of God for salvation and we're going to go back and read verses two through four as we try to unpack this for it is the power of God for salvation Romans 1, verses 2 through four which he promised we're talking about set apart for the Gospel of God which he promised beforehand, and we're talking about you go back to the word God the name God set apart for the Gospel of God of 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 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 this phrase here in verse two which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures we're talking about prophets that we read about all throughout the old testament so i have a short little list about what we have here before we get that i want to start here in Genesis 3:15 Genesis 3:15 was the first messianic promise of the coming Messiah and it is by this proclamation that God said in this particular moment in the in the words of cursing he proclaims the Messiah is coming in Genesis 3:15 where He says Christ will crush but when we look at the hebrew crush or strike is a word that I prefer to use Christ will crush the head of the serpent and it was before this promise the first reaction of adam and eve was what it was shame wasn't it, it was it was shame where they, they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves just like you and i we try to cover ourselves with whatever happens we try to cover ourselves by coming to church we try to cover ourselves by doing this and doing that these are these are our power of the flesh these and we don't put confidence in these in these in these sort of things they attempted in and of themselves to cover their own shame and it was unsuccessful and as a result of the messianic promise there in Genesis three God pronounced on whoever He covered with the righteousness of Christ and this was symbolized in the time as you keep reading through at the end of Genesis chapter three that God provided skin coverings and when you think about skin coverings it requires an animal sacrifice this would be this would be the first death of creation was a covering of the sin of adam and eve what an act of grace Other times that we see here in verse 2 where he says where Paul says the Gospel of God which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures i'm just going to rattle off uh a few other times that where, where God promised the Gospel Genesis chapter 22 God will provide a willing sacrifice through abraham what a tremendous mount mariah experience that is be able to show the substitutionary type where, where God provides exodus 12 being the passover lamb God did this through moses and Jeremiah 31 God will make a new covenant and when you read that there is no fleshly confidence that goes into Jeremiah 31 there is no there's nothing inherent in Jeremiah there is nothing inherent in the people of Israel it is all God in Jeremiah 31 when you read about God he says God will make a new covenant God will do this and God will do that in Psalm 16 Psalm 22 and Psalm 118 that Christ would be forsaken he would be a rejected cornerstone and He'll be resurrected among other things in the Psalms Isaiah, where He was born of a virgin pierced before crucifixion suffered in our place and resurrected among a plethora of other things in Isaiah there's i mean Psalms and Isaiah are just covered Daniel 7, Daniel 9 that Christ would, would come according to a timetable called the son of man now that particular timetable is being debated as far as what are the what are the 70 weeks mean and that kind of thing but the fact of the matter is, is that God promised that a Messiah at a particular time Malachi 4 Malachi said that there's that through God, God promised that there'll be a Messiah it will be preceded by the spirit of elijah in Deuteronomy 18 that there will be a prophet like moses Zechariah 9 Zechariah 11 Zechariah 12 that there will be someone that will be pierced riding on a donkey and betrayed for 30 pieces of silver how do you like those details way before uh at least 400 years so some say 500 but it could be like 490 or whatever but that's older than our country and someone calling out 30 pieces of silver riding on a donkey and these are the exact things that would take place Hosea 11 Hosea 11 called out of egypt would be someone that would come and be called out of egypt we know that when mary and joseph were threatened in bethlehem after the birth of jesus that they fled to egypt and they were able to do that with the gifts of the wise men that were that come and brought gifts so they had the ability to be able to move to egypt at that particular time Micah 5 Christ would be born in bethlehem what a what a tremendous promises that God has given to us beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures this next phrase is found in verse three these promises are concerning his son who was born of a descendant of david according to the flesh we read in 2 Samuel, where the prophet nathan uh spoke uh God spoke through nathan to relay that to king david at that particular time where this was talking about a kingdom that will last forever that will be a descendant of david this, is the christmas story this, is the incarnation of Christ that where God will come in the flesh he will be a descendant of david meaning he will be human he will be a man as we read there in verse three it's this, is all this particular part is according to the flesh and when we read more about what that means we see how that why Christ is effective as our High Priest why and we're going to read about that here in a minute i want to jump ahead of myself but this, is very important for, for concerning his son who was born of a descendant of david according to the flesh verse four this phrase here who was declared the Son of God with power it's not declared here in this particular part with words we just talked about words and prophecy and, and bringing about the Messiah way beforehand but now in verse four Paul brings up who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead and so this, is a declaration uh with power it's not so much a power that is visible but it was a power that came from within that provided new life a power over death and this, is ultimately what we see here this, is foreign to those who are not of God when we think about the resurrection but there is a declaration that the Son of God did with power by the resurrection from the dead after the let me just try to come on here for a second on the emphasis of that being resurrected from the dead picture jesus coming down from the cross he had a he had a little help and think about the shame and the humility of, of of that every single part of his body had to be supported his arms would go, go down he was dead marked all over the place with suffering that he had He was taken down from the cross in that particular way dead as a doornail and then he was given a, a kingly burial as we read in the gospels and He lay there with no heartbeat in the tomb If you lifted up His hand it would fall and limp and then On the third day, we want to get there as quickly as possible don't we on the third day he himself as he himself predicted on the third day He opened His eyes and He walked out of that grave as recorded in the gospels Turn with me to Matthew 22 in Matthew 22 jesus is talking to the Sadducees and the Sadducees. They do not believe in the resurrection and so this particular passage will help us understand how Jesus Himself speaks to the resurrection of that capability in Matthew 22 this, this account particularly uh this particular event with the Sadducees starts in 23 and then i'm going to pick it up The Sadducees tried to quiz Jesus and try to stump Him about the resurrection and so the way that jesus responds here starts 29 but Jesus answered and said to them you are mistaken not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven as Jesus is responding specifically to the question and then he says in verse 31 but regarding the resurrection of the dead have you not read what was spoken to you by God i am the God of abraham and the God of isaac and the God of jacob He is not the God of the dead but of the living these particular two things as we see there in verse 29 is that they do not understand two things and i and i be led to believe that a lot of a lot of us do not understand these two things if we don't if we're not given the grace of understanding by the power of God understanding the Scriptures and the power nor the power of God we do not they did not understand these and this in these particular uh at this particular time and we need to make sure that we understand these two particular things as well to understand the Scriptures and understand the power of God we understand we have said it time and time again that the power is in the Word and when we understand that in this context of the resurrection we'll start to understand what that what that means that the power is in the Word and so now flip back over to Romans chapter one as we get into the rest of this particular verse in verse four 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 In verse 3 we had according to the flesh where Christ was going to come through the descendant of david according to the flesh and now we have here according to the Spirit of holiness and that is particular that is you can say that is the only way to be able to be resurrected is to be made holy and the Spirit of holiness and it says comma uh caleb brown nope this, is a comma uh david or comma uh how eperson or any of us no, no no it says according to the Spirit of holiness comma Jesus Christ our Lord it is it is he who has accomplished a Spirit of holiness and so according to the Spirit of holiness is that he was resurrected by that power He was resurrected by, by that power to be able to be as a declaration as the Son of God and so this, is something that we have to be able to understand that is in tHis power which brings our main truth for this second division is Christ willingly lays down his life for His people Christ willingly lays down His life for His people why is this the case is because he's he makes His people holy he makes His people holy this, is what makes this truth so powerful and that Christ does it willingly is that willingly that, that Christ willingly lays down his life for His sheep this, is the power of God for salvation I can't even begin to think about what it would mean to summon this kind of power to have this kind of belief of salvation today and the autonomy that we have today in our quote unquote freedom implies this summoning of Christ that i can make a decision if i hear with my tangible ears and i see with my tangible eyes that i can make a tangible decision and i can summon this Spirit of holiness into my heart and resurrect me That's blasphemy. That is not true that is false it is by the power of God for salvation and it is that's why this, is the main truth is that the main truth Christ willingly lays down his life for His people He actively saves sinners He actively takes your place on his own accord as was shadowed in Genesis 22 with taking the place of isaac where He willingly laid down his life where He provided Himself think about that for a second talking about revival in ourself from last week with from James 4 what is keeping you from receiving this free gift of grace what is keeping you from believing this truth the truth that the God-man has taken your punishment Right, in Romans 5:8 "while we, were yet sinners, Christ died" and he willingly lays down his life

So what is keeping you from believing this truth Is it pride is it not wanting someone else to take the blame there, there's one particular conversation i remember when a few of us were out in ucf and there was a guy who, who said i, i just—I can't take the thought of so of, of being of someone else taking responsibility for what i've done and so he so he couldn't get past that he couldn't get past that someone would take would take my place and to take the penalty for this eternal damnation he's like if I'm sinning against God and God is, you know um i'm gonna i'm gonna go ahead and take that penalty he's just kind of flippantly and casually said that well i hope that is not any of us here with that kind of pride is it what's keeping you from believing this truth Is it doubt? Are the words of this temporary world things that are seen things that are observed is that what is captivating your, your mind your mind and your heart

As this doubt may enter your mind as you hear this or that being said by finite man

Or some website is that what is captivating your attention and preventing you from believing this truth that the power of God unto salvation i know that God's Word, that He is alive we come here we come here to church to be able to see that happen we'll be able to see the faith that is throughout our church that we'll be able to see God's testimony of salvation uh time and time again we and we see that when they were encouraged uh we see by the testimony of others we see the testimony of the word itself and how it stands the time of, of scrutiny and criticism and all that sort of things we know that God's Word is alive Hebrews 4:12 that it is sharper than any two-edged sword dividing soul and spirit able to judge the intentions of the heart and so someone here today God may be opening your eyes today God may be encouraging you in, in this and whatever spectrum that, that you that you lie in that uh God may be opening up your eyes in that He may be redeeming you from spiritual death giving life to your soul and so

How sweet it is for us who have gone through this uh knowledge and awareness how sweet it is to look back and to know that it is the power of God for that salvation how sweet it is for to be able to, to be able to know that to be reminded of this truth that we come here to church and we and we and we see this truth being sung and being proclaimed that God has supplied grace what a wonderful song that we're able to sing about, about that

One of the mightiest descriptions of this relationship between Christ and his redeemed is in 2 Corinthians 4 i'm not only going to read one verse here in 2 Corinthians 4 but this whole chapter is worthy if you're in that place where God has opened up your eyes and you need confidence about who he is and that what that relationship means i would just encourage you to read this whole chapter but in 2 Corinthians 4 verse six this, is the only part that i'll read it says "For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

And that's the, there's so many encouraging words in that particular chapter in 2 Corinthians 4 where we see here This, is the power, and the death and the resurrection of Christ is the same power found in His Word that is this, is this, is why that we're we're so sold out on scripture because the power is in the Word this, is why we lift up the authority of His Word because it is by His Word we are saved it is by His grace it is by His power and by his declaration and all because of him salvation belongs to the Lord Jonah chapter 2 and so let's get in here

Let's get back into this third division and as we as we've nailed down this for i am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God for salvation this third division another encouraging division here to everyone who believes so now we let's as Paul prefaced this in the earlier part of the chapter read with me as i read verses five through seven through whom we have received grace an 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 excuse me to all who are beloved of God and rome called as saints grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ this first phrase in verse five through whom we have received grace an apostleship this, is this, is what i was getting to earlier about Christ being our High Priest about Christ being the Mediator where he, he's not just talking uh for us but he is the actual he is the High Priest and the sacrifice we've been through this on wednesday night through with our christology and what that means um we've been hitting that up uh very well but it is through Christ, whom your sins go on and it is through Christ whom your righteousness comes from

What a glorious truth that these two imputations were these transactions, these accountings were all the sin that you've done from past present and future they all go on Christ It is through Him in all the righteousness that Jesus accomplished according to the flesh being the descendant of david the chosen Messiah to be able to come it is by his life and as He grew, an account and account of all His righteousness that righteousness

As we talked about earlier is that he willingly gave that up and in that giving up in His death, burial, and resurrection it is transacted to the believer to everyone who believes note here in verse five the order of salvation is also kind of hinted at the order of salvation in verse five uh through whom we have received grace and apostleship knowing that this, is where it begins this, is where it begins as it begins from Christ this, is this, is whom we have received grace and apostleship and then it says to bring about the obedience of faith the obedience of faith is not the causation as we see here in verse five it's through whom Christ brings we have grace and apostleship and apostleship meaning not we don't have the ability to become apostles is that we have received tHis grace and apostleship of the apostolic word we have received this apostleship of the holy Scriptures and it's and is to bring about the obedience of faith right the obedience of faith is following the Scriptures is following the apostolic word and so to bring the obedience of faith? Is this just for the Jews? Is this just for... No, it's among all the Gentiles for his name's sake.

This Gospel that Paul is preaching is the true Gospel. He preaches of an inward gift, a gift that is alien to our nature. We need a Mediator. We need Christ. Otherwise, the old covenant... I mean, we'd be still trying to obey. We're still trying to measure up to the law, but this gift is alien to our nature. This, is a gift that is separate since our physical birth. This gift is the gift of grace. As we talked about earlier, it is the power of God who actively saves. He actively saves today. He actively saves whenever he chooses that the end time is going to be up until that point. He is actively saving. And it is the power of God that produces this obedience of faith, as we see in verse 5, as we prayed earlier, so that we would not boast in this. It is through him. It is through Christ where we put our... Where he takes our sins away and he gives us His righteousness and is all for his glory. And it is, as we see here, it's a production of faith. There's a quote by a theologian that says that the Gospel doesn't require obedience. The Gospel produces obedience. And so, it is... We don't come to Christ all cleaned up. We come to him with everything. We come to him right after we committed the most heinous sin, as I listed our earlier.

If you cheated on your spouse, if you've aborted your own children, if you... Whatever the case is, the foot of cross is open with that, because it is Christ who took it on himself to be able to wash you clean.

The next verse is in verse 6, "

Among whom you are also... You also are the called of Jesus Christ."

As we read in Acts 28, they were eager to be able to get this apostolic word from the Apostle Paul himself, because there were all these thoughts and ideas about, oh, you know, we're the Gentiles in Rome and do these things still apply to us? But now it is "the apostolic word affirmed before the church of Rome is among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ." What an encouragement that this, is. This, is this connection. We also see that in verse 7, "To all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as..." what? "Called as saints." I know, Heidi, you've been going over these words with our children and Beakids, and y'all are all over these words and what this means. Getting it into your minds, but think about how the power of God gets into your heart, where this group of people who are called of Jesus Christ, they are now saints. "Before, there were those who did the most heinous sins." Paul was the chief sinner himself, as he proclaims, that he persecuted the Christians, that he authorized the killing of Stephen and all these types of other things that Paul did. And so we can come to the foot of the cross knowing that it is Him and Him alone who is the object of our faith. "Called as saints and to everyone who believes are the same thing." They're the same group of people. And so as we've read in John 3.16, ""Whoever believes is merely just stating a fact". It is not a condition in the New Testament. It is not a condition that once you believe as the causation, then you will be clean." No, it is merely a fact that whoever believes shall not perish, but will have everlasting life. And these are facts that only God, the power of God's Word, can be able to accomplish this.

And so now we get here to this particular part of the end of this division before we get into our main truth in verse seven. "Grace to you." This, is very specific to this particular church. And so those who have believed can take this to heart, can take this personally, individually, and corporately. What a wonderful thing to be a part of a church that we can corporately believe this. "Grace to you and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ." The name "Father" is used here by the Apostle Paul just as Jesus used it. And it is our Father. What a wonderful thing it is to be able to celebrate the communion in a couple weeks, when there is a communion as Christ is on the other side of the table. And we are eating with Him as called as saints, called as the beloved, as we're in essence breaking bread with Jesus, our Savior, on the other side of the table. And we are welcomed at the King's table like Mephibosheth with King David. And that is why we are welcomed in that particular arena.

So take courage, we're in John 1633, where Jesus Himself said, "In me you may have peace." In me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation. But take courage. I have overcome the world. He is our champion. And so The third truth for this particular section, onto everyone who believes, this, is the truth, is faith is the only instrument God uses to save sinners.

Faith is the only instrument that God uses to save sinners. Faith alone.

There are many ways to show your faith.

Sometimes we might get nervous of the assurance of our salvation. When we see our faith go up and down,

I would encourage all of us today to continue stepping out in faith.

Maybe first with others, like your family or another brother and sister in the church, with one of us elders, step out in faith to be able to gain this assurance of your salvation by dwelling on the object of our faith. Not in the faith itself, but in the object of our faith as we continue to exercise our faith, we will rely and trust and depend on the object of our faith more and more.

And so ways that we can do that to step out in faith is through evangelism, service to the church. There are some of us that are stretched pretty far when it comes to serving each other in different things, but all glory and praise through our Lord Christ, right, to be able to do the things that we can do to step out in faith, whether it's teaching, whether it's being late at night, coming up with lessons. These are exercising a faith to be able to exercise your faith because eventually you and I are going to fail. And when we fail, we tend to maybe think that this assurance of salvation isn't true, but I would want to continue that because of the truth here, faith is the only instrument God uses to save sinners. It is by grace through faith in Christ, right? And so as we continue to step out in faith, we can be able to stretch ourselves. We can be able to remember that God is your refuge as you stay true to His Word. And so examine yourself as you're stepping out in faith, what are you holding on to when sin's shame overwhelms you? What do you hold on to when sin's shame overwhelms you? Do you fall back into anger? Do you fall back into alcohol? Do you fall back into your former self? Where do you find yourself depending on as you're stepping out in faith, examine yourself.

And so in that, you know, keep another brother or sister close by to help you. And if you're that other brother and the other sister, remind them of the object of their faith. Come up with verses on who Christ is.

Another reason why it's important to know the doctrine that the Christology that we're going into, these are verses and verses and time and time again, that we need to be reminded of the person and the work of Christ because we're going to fail. But it is by the power of God that he can take us from this life, whatever this life gives, and into the next, only by the power of God through salvation.

And so we need to be reminded of the Gospel every single day. This, isn't just for the point of conversion, but it is the point of through our sanctification that as we are reminded of the Gospel, we're going to take one step forward and maybe ten steps back. And then all of a sudden we realize that, that 10 steps back, we can put that at the foot of the cross and God welcomes right back at the King's table.

We didn't even leave, right? While we, were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We're welcomed in his presence. We are In our justification, I don't have time to really get too much into this, but in our justification, we have the 100% righteousness of Christ that if we, were to die at that moment of declaration, we have enough righteousness to go to heaven at that particular moment. No matter what happens after that. And so what an encouragement that is.

And so we need to be reminded of the Gospel. We need to be reminded of who God is and his graciousness that He is slow to anger and abounding in love. We need to be reminded of His holiness, His power, His sovereignty, put your trust in him.

I heard a great message a while back is that we do not surrender to someone whom we do not know.

And so if you do not know God, you will not surrender to him. And so as we're going through our theology Wednesdays and we're getting to know who God is, this, is someone who you can put your trust into whatever happens in life. And so put your trust in him, trust in His righteousness that he paid for by His death, where this penalty, it was paid for by His death. It was definite in His burial. Think about that. The sins that are placed on him are definite in the burial. They are gone past, present, and future. And We have new life in His resurrection.

Let's pray.

Dear Lord, thank you so much for this truth. We really have nothing else to say, but thank you. As we know that the essence of our faith is grace, but the ethic that we work out is gratitude. And so as we walk out of here and we see the trees and the grass and Your creation and all around this place and going forward, wherever that we go, whether we're traveling or whether we're not, we look around and we see your grace. We see you and we read your word and we know that it is by Your power that we are saved. Be with us during this the rest of this day and be with Pastor Casey as he and his family are traveling back and You would give them traveling mercies. We have so much to be thankful for and we thank you for everyone here and thank you for your word. In Jesus name, amen.