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An Introduction
To The Book of Romans
"Paul had many reasons for writing the Church at Rome. We
know Peter didn't start the Church at Rome, Paul didn't start it. [In
the book of Acts, chapter two, verses 1-11 it gives us a clue. It seems
that devout Jewish worshippers and proselytes from Rome were in Jerusalem
on that fateful day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit miraculously came
on the disciples of Jesus 50 days after his resurrection (Acts 2:1-11).
These just converted Jewish Christians from Rome probably went back to
Rome and started the Church of God at Rome.] Paul was writing the Romans
from the city of Corinth. Why did he send the letter? For one thing,
Paul sent the letter because he had a whole lot of friends in Rome, a
whole lot of Christian buddies that were there. He wanted to say "Hi!" to
all of them, and he really wanted to visit this Church. He said so, many
friends were there. If you go to Romans 16 and you look at about verse
3 and you read on to verse 16 Paul names nearly 30 people by name that
he knows. Another reason that he wrote was because there were problems
that the Church at Rome was encountering. They had people going from
door-to-door teaching different doctrines, different gospels, some were
saying that the only way God was going to accept you is if you do this
and you do that and you can't eat this and you can't eat fat and you
got to worship God on this day. [This whole letter is addressed to two
groups of people in the Church of God at Rome. The Jewish Christians
had grown up in strict Orthodox Jewish homes. They were so Orthodox that
they thought it necessary to be in Jerusalem for the Holy Day seasons,
and thus were in Jerusalem that fateful Passover/Pentecost season when
Jesus Christ died, was resurrected and then the Holy Spirit came on the
disciples 50 days later on the Holy Day of Pentecost. The other group
was made up of Gentile Christians. The Jewish Christians, as a result
of their religious background and upbringing were practicing what amounted
to a form of old covenant Christianity. It was a Christianity tied to
the works of the law, the old covenant law of Moses. But the counsel
of Jerusalem that took place in Acts 15 stated that the old covenant
had passed away and the new covenant was in full force for Christians--making
the old covenant obsolete--and at best optional as to whether a Christian
had to observe the 7th day Sabbath, Holy Days, dietary laws,
etc. Hebrews 8:8-15 states the intent of the new covenant. The Gentiles
knew this, but the old covenant practicing Jewish Christians were confusing
the poor Gentiles in this matter of which covenant to fellow. These Jewish
Christians were a bit confused themselves.] They were confused, 'What
do we do?' They were asking, so he's writing to set them straight. Also
they were wondering about Israel, the nation of Israel, is God finished
with the Jews? Is it curtains for Israel? What's going to happen, Lord?'
They were wondering 'What was the gospel?'. Paul wrote to them to declare
the gospel that he had preached throughout the world. Paul hadn't been
able to get there in person yet, and so, thank God he wrote this letter.
The book of Romans is a masterpiece in that it is the most complete explanation
of what the gospel is that we have in the whole Bible. Thank God that
he wasn't able to go to Rome yet and had to write this letter. It has
been a blessing to millions of people. The book of Romans is a revolutionary
book. Beware--you may become a part of the "Romans Revolution."
This book will change your life. You may have been a Christian 50 years,
5 years, 5 minutes--the book of Romans will change your life. Quite possibly
it is the most important document that ever has been written. For almost
the past 2,000 years God has used this book to change the lives of millions
and millions of people.
Some of the brightest leaders of the Church [speaking of the collective
Church, the body of Christ] have traced their new birth to this book--to
the book of Romans message. The list of those touched by Romans reads
like sort of a spiritual 'Who's who.' Think of Augustine who lived about
383, 386 was when he was saved. He was one of the greatest leaders and
theologians that the church has ever had. He traces his conversion to
a few verses right back in Romans 13. It was in September of 386 that
Augustine sank into a great dispare. His godly mother, Monica, had been
praying for him for decades--praying that he would come to Christ. His
Dad wasn't a Christian, his Mom was. Augustine was going the way of the
world, he was running from God fast as his feet would take him. He got
into a real immoral lifestyle. Started living with a gal--Oops, they
had a baby. He got into all sorts of philosophies. He got involved in
some of the cults of his day. He drank himself into oblivion at times.
His life was a mess. And one day sitting in his friend's garden, in September
he sat there and just began to cry and cry. He'd come to the end. He
looked at his life, he saw what he was, and thought 'How on earth could
anyone accept me?' But while he was sitting there in his friend's garden
crying, he heard a little child sing a song, a little Latin song. He
sang "Take up and read, take up and read, take up and read." And he thought,
'Where's that coming from?' And he looked around, and Augustine looked
there right next to him in the garden was an open scroll of Romans. In
his own words, he said, "I siezed it and opened it! And in silence I
read the first passage in which my eyes fell." And this is what he read, "not
in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality,
not in strife and jealously. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make
no provision for the flesh in regards to its' lusts." He goes on to say, "I
had no wish to read on and no need to do so. For in an instant I came
to the end of the sentence and it was as if the light of faith flooded
into my heart, and all the darkness of doubt was dispelled." The moment
his eyes fell upon Romans 13, he looked at those verses, and the Spirit
caused him to be born again, and Augustine was saved--just by reading
a couple verses in Romans.
And another person who was transformed by the book was Martin Luther.
Luther had struggled for years to have peace with God, and he knew that
God was Holy, and he was not. He tried all sorts of religious practices,
denying himself, hurting himself--studying, praying. He went into the
monastery to try to find God, and he could not find God. He knew he wasn't
good enough and so he tried every form of good works possible. As a last
resort he decided he would go to the Holy City, Rome! And there, there's
so many hundreds of shrines. There perhaps by visiting the shrines he
could avoid many thousands of years in Purgatory. And so he went, seeking
indulgences. And when he got to Rome, boy was he shocked! Rome was far
from being the Holy City. In fact the people said, 'If ever there was
a Hell Hole open to earth, Rome was built over it.' Luther, though, was
shocked by the way the priests and nuns were living, practicing all sorts
of perverted lifestyles. He went ahead and visited all the shrines and
tried to grab all the indulgences he could. Finally, the last great pilgrimage
was when he came to the Lateran Church, which is famous for its' sacred
stairway. And in this great church, supposedly, supernaturally, from
Jerusalem, the very staircase that Jesus stood on when Pilate condemned
him to die, was transported to Rome. So now all the pilgrims would come
to Rome [and say] "These were the very steps that Jesus stood upon when
he was condemned!" And so they would get on their knees, (they still
do it today) and they would climb those steps, one step at a time on
their knees. And so Luther got on his knees, and he began at the bottom,
there, and he would kiss the step and then he would pray the rosary.
Then he would move to the nest step, he would kiss it, and then he would
say his rosary, going up the steps this way. He was interrupted as he
was praying. This is his own account. He said, "I heard a very small
voice, saying, 'Martin, Oh Martin, the just shall live by faith.' 'Who
said that?'" That was the verse he had read in the book of Romans that
had bugged him for years! He could not understand, how to be right with
God. He knew God was Holy, and it said, 'The just shall live by faith.'
But he said, 'How do I get unholy me and a Holy God together?' He didn't
understand, and so he went to the next step, and he began to pray the
rosary. He was interrupted this time with a louder voice, saying, 'Oh
Martine, the just shall live by faith.' He said, "This is very strange." He
went to the next step, the voice again this time louder said, 'The just
shall live by faith!' He said, well I'll try it one more time. He went
to the next step, he kissed it and as he did he thought the whole world
heard the words as they were shouted, "THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH!!!" He
said, "I stood up. I felt like a man who had come to his senses. I thought,
'What am I doing this stupidity for? Trying to get right by God?--'the
just shall live by faith!'" It made sense to him. He ran down those stairs,
quickly went back to Germany, and there he began to study the book of
Romans. And the [Christian] world has never been the same since. There
he began to see how the Church of Rome did not jibe with what the book
of Romans said to that Church. And he found himself coming at odds with
the doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, so much so
that he had to say, "I Protest! This false doctrine has gone too far!" And
the Protestant movement began. It spread like wildfire throughout Europe.
The cry of the Reformation was "The just shall live by faith!" You may
not realize it, but the book of Romans is responsible for your not being
at Mass today. If it were not for the book of Romans you'd all be at
Mass today.
This history and the destiny of the world has been changed by this book,
and it will change your life too. Luther said, "The Epistle of Romans
is the chief part of the New Testament, the purest gospel. It deserves
not only to be known word for word by every Christian, but to be the
subject of his meditation day by day--the daily bread of his soul." Luther
said, "The more time one spends in this book the more precious it becomes,
and the better it appears." He said, " It was a light and a way into
the whole of Scriptures." You understand the book of Romans, you'll understand
the whole Bible.
Then I think of Calvin--no not Calvin Klein--John Calvin, another Protestant
reformer whose life was profoundly changed, and touched by the book of
Romans. This is what Calvin said about the book of Romans, "If a man
understands the book of Romans, he has a sure road open for him to the
understanding of the whole Scripture." That's because the book of Romans
is a little Bible in miniature. The book of Romans talks about every
doctrine that you ever can find in the Bible. Well you say,
"I'm not into doctrine." Oh baloney! "I don't like doctrine!" I don't
believe it, because, doctrine means teaching. What are you doing here
today [reading this] if you don't like doctrine? "Well okay, teaching,
but not theology." What do you mean? Theology is knowing about God. Don't
you want to know about God? Sure you do. And whether or not you're a
Christian here this morning, you have a theology. You have some thoughts
about God, you have some ideas about God. Now they may or may not jive
with what the Word of God says is true about God. But you all have a
theology. And what you believe, what your doctrine is, will always cause
you to live a certain way. You'll live like your doctrine. Whatever your
doctrine is will affect the way you live. Doctrine is very important.
Right doctrine will lead towards right living. Wrong doctrine will lead
towards wrong living.
Even the English Bible traces its' origin back to the book of Romans.
William Tyndale, the first publisher of the Bible in English was profoundly
affected by the book of Romans. It gave him his love for the Word of
God. Tyndale, when he finally translated Romans into English, wrote this
little blurb in the front, in the preface to the book of Romans.
"For as much as this Epistle is the principle and most excellent part
of the New Testament, and most pure Evangelia, and that is to say, glad
tidings and that we call gospel. And also it's a light and a way into
the whole Scripture. I think it meat that every Christian man not only
know it by rote, and without the book, but also exercise himself therein
evermore continually, as with the daily bread of the soul. No man verily
can read it too oft, or study it too well, for the more it is studied
the easier it is. The more it's chewed the pleasanter it is. The more
groundly it is searched the preciouser things are found in it--so great
a treasure of spiritual truth lieth therein." It's amazing how all these
great men of God said, 'You know, everybody should memorize the book
of Romans.'
Think about John Wesley. He was a spiritually dead pastor and missionary
of the Church of England. He spent years desperately trying to minister
to people what he himself did not have, --a personal relationship with
Jesus Christ. He had ritual and religion, but not a relationship with
God. In his heart he knew he wasn't saved. But he didn't know how to
be saved because he wasn't sure what the gospel was. But one strategic
evening on May 24th, 1738 he reluctantly went to a little
church gathering where his life was to be forever changed. Later he wrote
in his journal what happened that night. Let me read you what he wrote. "I
went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was
reading Luther's Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter
before nine, while he was describing the change that God works in the
heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt
I did trust in Christ--Christ alone for my salvation. And an assurance
was given me that he had taken away my sins and death." God did it again,
didn't he! He used the book of Romans to save a man, and this man now
is to go on and to touch the world. John Wesley, after he was saved,
he went on to be used by God to start a revival in the New England colonies
of America that began to be such an infernal of revival--the blaze was
so great that it's still known today as the "Great Awakening." And hundreds
of thousands of people were saved. The awakening went over to Europe.
It was a marvelous move of God's Spirit. One of the most amazing things
I've seen as I've studied the history of the Church--the past 2,000 years
of Church history--is that most if not all of the great revivals and
reformations and spiritual awakenings of the Church of Jesus Christ can
be traced back to the book of Romans. That's significant. All through
history when the Church has fallen into spiritual error and deadness,
the Lord Jesus has brought the book of Romans to somebody's attention,
and the result is that the Church bursts into life. Great spiritual awakenings
have occurred whenever this book has been dusted off, opened, read, and
understood. Don't misunderstand me. The power of the book of Romans is
not just something that worked 2,000 years ago. The power of the book
of Romans is something that can effect our lives today. If you're spiritually
dry or dead, this book of Romans can quicken you, can cause you to come
alive. If you're not a Christian, the book of Romans--if you read it
and listen to it--you can't stand not being a Christian. You will become
a Christian, if you listen to the book of Romans, and you begin to understand
it.
You can't sit on the book of Romans without the power of God affecting
your life and motivating you to move for God. My experience was that
God in his great grace, when I was dead in my sins--I was far away from
the Lord, I had no idea what the gospel was--he used the book of Romans
to cause me to be born again. I read the book of Romans in the most simple,
easy to understand translation that you can find, the Living Bible. And
as I was reading through the Living Bible I came to a verse that said, "For
we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of
the law." I read that verse and I couldn't understand it. That was even
more simply stated in the Living Bible. It says, "Hey! You're not saved
by what you do, you're saved by what Jesus has done for you." I could
not understand that. I went to my youth pastor and said, "Would you explain
this verse to me?" He said, "Well, you're saved by what God does for
you, and not for what you do." And I said, "I don't understand that." And
look , [he] looked at me and said "Well he's got a mental problem, you
know, the kid is a slow learner." Really I didn't. I always got great
grades, and everything. But I could not understand this book! It was
driving me bananas. Finally, some precious friends sat me down, and one
day, one afternoon, they told me to shut up and listen, and they took
out the book of Romans, and they began to go through it, chapter one,
chapter two, chapter three, chapter four, chapter five, and by the time
I got to chapter five I understood the gospel, and I was born-again.
Hallelujah for the book of Romans! I was [so] turned on that everywhere
I went I Romans! Romans! Romans! That's all I could talk about, that's
all I could teach anybody was the book of Romans! Because it had changed
my life. I went to the college that I went to, I started an evening class
that met once a week. The classroom was a big classroom packed with people
as we were studying and teaching the gospel out of the book of Romans.
And they were just lapping it up, like water of life for their thirsty
souls. And then I met a sweet gal on campus named Leslie. And I realized
after a little bit that she wasn't saved. Now she wasn't a bad person,
she was a very religious lost person. She was a very spiritual lost person.
There's a lot of them in the world. And I realized she didn't know what
I knew! And I said, "Look at this Leslie." And we began to study the
book of Romans, chapter by chapter and verse by verse. And sure enough,
K-bang! The Lord reached down and he saved her! Don't misunderstand,
the power of this book to change lives is something that's working today.
This week, I'm amazed. It doesn't matter how dark the pit you're in,
the book of Romans can reach you. God will use the book to reach you.
When I think of spiritual bondage, now don't get offended, I often think
of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Now I'm not trying to offend you if you're
a Jehovah's Witness today. (What are you doing here if you're a Jehovah's
Witness anyway!? Don't tell anybody.) But anyway, I think of spiritual
darkness and I think, 'Man, there they go.' You know, Bless their hearts,
so sincere. I'm not putting them down, but what they believe is not what
the Bible teaches…anyway, when I think of Jehovah's Witnesses I
think, 'Wow--If God can save them he can save anybody.' And then when
I think about the leadership of the Watchtower Society, I think 'If God
could save one of those guys, you know, part of the governing body of
the J.W.'s', I said, 'Man, that would really be something.' And you know
what God did? I found out about a year or so ago one of the governing
body of Jehovah's Witnesses, a guy by the name of Raymond Franz, was
saved. Tremendous--he left the governing body of the J.W.'s, left Brooklyn.
His life, everything had been invested, his life, every penny he made
had been invested in the Watchtower Tract Society. He walked away from
it all. I think it's his brother, cousin, uncle is actually the president
of Jehovah's Witnesses right now. He walked away from it all. That meant
he walked away from anyone, I mean any friends he had would never speak
to him again. They would treat him like he was dead. He walked away.
I read his book, called "Crisis of Conscience." He's got a more recent
book out now. And I thought, I want to talk to this guy because I got
a hunch that I know what book it was that called him out of that darkness.
I just wonder. So I called him last week, got his number somehow, called
him up and said, "Hi, may I speak to Raymond Franz." He says, "This is
he." (Real nice guy.) I said,
"Well Hi, I'm Mark." And I told him a little about myself, and said, "It's
the book of Romans that touched my life and saved me and brought me out
of legalism, brought me out of the cult I was in." "Did God by any chance
use the book of Romans in your life?" And then the phone lit up, he says, "Yes
it was the book of Romans that God used." He says, "He used it to really
impress upon me the reality and the essence of Christianity." He said, "I,
like Paul, was a Pharisee. I thought by what I was doing I could be saved.
I thought I was good because I was a good guy!" He says, "But the book
of Romans has shown me that I need Christ and his sacrifice, which was
enough for all time to save us." He says, "It really struck home with
me, and it was the crucial point with me, coming to the decision to leave
the organization. It's message showed me the problems of the governing
body." And then I was so excited, when I hung up I was running through
the house, saying, "Praise God! The book of Romans can reach a Jehovah's
Witness!" It's great. It can reach you. The book of Romans can touch
you, and can save you.
Well, enough talking about the book. Let's get into it. Let me take you
through a quick jet tour of the book of Romans. This is going to be fast,
just a jet tour.
A simple outline of the book. Some people look at the book of Romans
and they're going, "Oooh man, it's too much for me. Hey, it's only sixteen
chapters. And yes, it is the heaviest book probably in the whole New
Testament. But it's the greatest book in the whole New Testament. Stick
with us, you're going to know this book inside and out. I mean, after
five years of being in Romans you'll know it, right? So here's a simple
outline of the book of Romans. First of all, chapters one, two and three,
look at them. Just flip through and look at them. They talk about the
problem--the problem that we have and our need of the
gospel. Chapters one, two and three--the problem of the world, the problem
of the religious, the problem of the irreligious--we got a need. Then
chapters four and five talk about the provision of the gospel.
So we got the problem, one, two and three, chapters four and five give
us the provision for our problem, the provision of the gospel. Oh wait
till we get to chapter six, look through chapter six, seven and eight.
I can hardly wait, because they talk about the power of the gospel--the
power of the gospel to change your life. And then chapters nine,
ten and eleven. Hmm, what about Israel? Why are some people saved
and some people aren't? [And that's a good question that deserves
a good answer. One particular Christian fellowship has a pretty interesting
answer to that question, and it's a Biblical answer to that perplexing
question.] Is God finished with the Jews? Are Jews saved just because
they're Jews? Are they still God's people? Where do they fit in? Is God
forever done with them? Chapters nine, ten and eleven talk about the
perplexities of the gospel--some perplexing questions that are answered. And
then chapters twelve and thirteen and fourteen and fifteen and a little
bit of sixteen talk about the practice of the gospel--how to practice
what you live. [i.e. How to practice what you believe, making your
spiritual belief part of your lifestyle.] I mean, what you know--how
to live it out.
So the problem, and our need--the provision of the gospel--the power
of the gospel--the perplexities of the gospel--and the practice of
the gospel, that's what we're going to get into. We got a lot of good
stuff ahead of us. This book shows us how important right doctrine
is, because right doctrine will lead to right living.
So let's move right into the book. Romans 1, verse 1. Paul begins it
by introducing himself. He says 'Hello again, I'm Paul, a bondservant.
He uses three terms to describe himself. He says, "I'm a bondservant
of Christ Jesus, secondly, I've been called as an apostle, thirdly, I've
been set apart for the gospel of God." Paul describes himself as a bondservant
of Jesus Christ--very interesting because in Paul's day and age there
were a lot of different kinds of servants. There were servants who were
captured in war. Your country lost, they came in, they captured you,
they sent you by boat to another city, and sold you on an auction block
to the highest bidder and now for the rest of your life you had to serve
your master. It's like a prison term, a life sentence. Then there were
some slaves who sort of mortgaged themselves. They needed "X" amount
of money, and so they would sell themselves, maybe for ten years for
ten thousand dollars. For ten years they would serve. And at the end
of that period they could go free. And legally they had to serve. If
slaves ran away from their masters they could be executed. It was up
to the master to decide what to do with them. But they could be executed.
And then there was the third kind of slavery, and this is the term that
Paul uses to describe his relationship with Christ. If a servant had
loved his master and served him and now his time was up and he could
go free, but at that time he decided, as he looked out in that big world,
and he looked at his master, he thought, 'You know, I don't want to go
out there. I want to stay with my master. I love him, his family, I love
his household, I love everything about him. My heart is changed, I don't
want to go.' The slave who stayed a slave out of love for his master
was called a bond-slave or a bondservant. Just seeing how Paul describes
his relationship with Christ, he says, 'I'm not serving because I have
to. My serving Christ is not some kind of a prison sentence that I'm
serving. And I'm not serving because I owe a debt to God, you know, and
I'm trying to pay it off. I'm serving God because I love him. Yeah, I
could leave. No way! You couldn't pull me away from Jesus.' Do you serve
the Lord because you have to? Do you serve the Lord because you feel,
well, you know, I was almost in that car accident, you know, and he allowed
me to live. And I promised him then that I would always serve him. So
you're paying God back? Or are you serving God because you love him?
No other service really--no other service really matters than the service
of love. Somebody said about foreign missions, they said, many people
go because they love the Chinese, and they're going to serve in China,
because they love the Chinese,' until things get really tough. What's
going to keep them in China is love for God, not love for the Chinese.
And you can serve God because you're such a loving person, but pretty
soon your love is going to wear out and the only thing that's going to
keep you serving is your real love for God.
"Bondservant, Christ Jesus, called as an apostle…" He describes himself
as an apostle, the office he had in the Church was the office of an apostle.
In other words he's saying, 'Now listen, what I'm telling you is not off the
top of my head, this is an authoritative message from Jesus Christ.' Because
I was called, commissioned and given a message supernaturally by the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. I am his apostle.' And so they say, 'What authority do you
have to teach the gospel?' He says, 'I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ, of this
role and function in the Church.'
And then he describes himself in verse three, thirdly as "Being set apart
for the gospel of God." The term "set apart"
is really sort of interesting, (just for those of you who like that sort
of stuff). The term "set apart", that word is the same root word, has
the same root as Pharisee has. A Pharisee was somebody who was "set apart" for
the law. Their whole life was wrapped around the law, the law, the law.
Do, do, do, do. Do this, do that, the Pharisee was set apart for the
law. He says, 'I've been set apart--for what?--the gospel of God.' How
neat, what a transformation in this guy's life. He went from being set
apart for the law, a "have to" service, to being set apart for love for
the Lord, a "want to" service. It's pretty neat. He said, "set apart
for the gospel of God." What does the word "gospel"
mean, gang? "Good News" is what the word means. It means "a really great
message." Don't ever be deceived, the gospel is always good news.
And if anybody ever comes to you with a gospel that isn't good news,
don't believe them. I mean, that's one way you can discern, what is the
gospel and what isn't. Is it Good News? The little guys who come to your
door, knock, knock, knock, knock, they've got their white shirts on.
Their black ties on and their bicycles parked on your sidewalk, their
little badges--you look at them, they look younger than your teenager,
and it's 'Elder somebody,' you know. You think, 'Wow! Elders are getting
younger and younger, aren't they?' And they say, "We want to share with
you the gospel of Jesus Christ." And you get in and listen to the spiel
and you realize, 'Wait a minute, this isn't good news.' This a big message
about "Doing." It's "Good Do's, what I've got to do. And Dues, they also
want your money, of course. The gospel is not "Good Dues", doing or giving.
The Gospel is Good News about what Jesus Christ has done for
you. And that alone and nothing else can be the gospel. The world
is looking today for an answer. The world is looking for power, they're
looking for a message. [He says the following
"tongue in cheek."] While we were up in Sedona the other day, gang, Did
you know this? You can [go to] Bashes in Sedona, the new ninth Big Bashes
there, you can go in and you can buy candied peanuts that have been energized
at Bell Rock! You read the bag, and it says, man, 'These peanuts
have been taken to Bell Rock and they've sat there for what, an hour,
two, three hours.' It must take three hours to get your batteries charged
at, you know, Bell Rock. And these little peanuts have been charged there,
you know, and now if you buy these peanuts, I don't know what happens
to you if you eat one of these Bell Rock charged peanuts. Supposedly
you go to Bell Rock and underneath, the New Ager's tell you, underneath
Bell Rock is solid crystal. And they're climbing all over Bell Rock,
you know, thinking, "Oh the energy!" "I was driving by Bell Rock, man,
I just felt the energy!" I mean, what will people believe!?! If you believe
those peanuts are supercharged at Bell Rock, I mean, they have no fingers
to point at televangelists because maybe they took one peanut out of
a thousand and charged it at Bell Rock, but I haven't seen any peanut
trucks sitting at Bell Rock. "Sure they were." I don't believe it. It's
a bunch of baloney. You know what people? You wear a little rock around
your neck! And I tell you, those people, they're looking, and they are
out of it. I mean, we were in the health-food store and people bumping
you, "Oh, excuse me, Oh." They're just out of it. I'm glad they're in
the healthfood store, because they need something, you know. But they
are so 'other conscioused'. They're looking for the "Christ consciousness." And
they found some kind of consciousness. I couldn't believe it! People,
they were just--Bump--like they weren't even there, looking, 'Where the
mung beans?' I mean, these people. It's like they're in the Ozone. Where
are they? Just weird. Don't be offended, it's just, they're looking for
a Christ consciousness, and they're getting something. I mean,
it's not all in [their mind], there is a spiritual force, but not [every]
spiritual power is God's power. There's a devil, and there's a God, and
there's good and evil, and some of these people, they're getting charged
with the wrong thing. They're all looking for the Christ. [In] the world
of Paul's day, the Romans were looking for "something."
The Christ-consicousness today people talk about, but the Bible doesn't
offer you a "Christ-consciousness", the Bible offers you a real man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the real person that you can know in a personal
way, and who will know you in a personal way.
The Validity of the Gospel Message and Jesus Christ
And this is the gospel that we declare. He says,"this gospel," verse
2, "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 His Spirit of Holiness, Jesus
Christ our Lord." So he says, "Hey, I'm preaching a message, you
want to know how you can validate the message of Christitianity?" [And
here pastor Mark goes on to validate Christianity, just as Paul would,
for both Jew and Gentile alike. Verse 2 of Romans 1 is important, for
you can validate all these details in the Old Testament prophecies and
their fulfillment in the New Testament.] You'd only have your head buried
in the sand if you just believe me because I said, "Believe this." Why
should you believe what I'm telling you is the truth? Maybe you're here
like for the first time today, and you're not used to being around a
bunch of Christians. Maybe some of the lingo for sure [you're] understanding.
But you're sitting there, saying,
"Well, this sounds good, but how do I know this is true?" Let me tell
ya, you see Paul started out this way. He said, 'Look, the gospel that
I'm bringing you, this message that I'm declaring, this Good News has
been verified by what the ancient prophets said in the Old Testament
Hebrew Scriptures. You want to know if this is authentic gospel? Look!
Look at what the Old Testament prophets promised. And look at how this
man Jesus Christ fulfills it.' That's all you gotta do today, to know
whether Christianity is the truth or not. You see, Christianity wasn't
something that some guy came up with one day. Jesus didn't appear on
the scene and say, "Mmm, I'm going to start a new movement, and they
can call it--I'll take the name Jesus, and my last name will be Christ.
And people will call themselves Christians, and I'm going to die, and
you know,'--that's not the way it happened. A whole bunch of guys didn't
get together one day and decide to write this 'book.' This is 66 different
books, written over a period of thousands of years--by dozens of authors!
And those prophets predicted this must be true of the Messiah. He will
do this, he'll do this, he'll do this, he'll do this, he'll do this,
he'll do this! Over 300 predictions they made, and the true Messiah must
fulfill all 300 of them. If he misses one, he couldn't
be the true Messiah. And see, the awesome thing is, gang, how many of
you know how to show or why you are a Christian from the Old Testament?
We don't. But, you know, the early Church, the first place they went,
to preach the gospel in a new town, was to the synagogue, and they went
to the Jewish synagogue. Why? Because they had the Old Testament, and
they're saying, 'Fantastic, If we've got the Old Testament, we can prove
Jesus is the Messiah!' But how many of us can do that, Huh? 'Oooh, the
Old Testament, I've….' Hey, Paul says, 'This is the gospel, that
the Old Testament prophets predicted--Jesus Christ--and we proclaim him!'
Well, what did the Old Testament prophets say about the Messiah? Well,
first of all they said that he'd be a real man, not a 'Christ-consciousness'
from Bell Rock, but he'd be a real man. You don't need peanuts to find
him. You can just know him through his Word--a real man. They predicted
that he would be a Son of David. It says right here, "concerning his
son who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh." Why
is that important? Because the Old Testament prophets said he had to
be able to trace his genealogy back to David. The Bible said he would
come as a baby, Isaiah 9:6, that he'd be born in Bethlehem, Micah 5:2,
that he would somehow get to Egypt, Hosea 11:1, and that he would spend
his time ministering in Galilee by the Jordan, Isaiah 9:1.
I think about Jesus Christ, I think, 'Well, could he have controlled
where he was born? No. You can't control where you are born. But where
was he born? In Bethlehem. Can you control who your relatives are? No.
(Someone telling me they were doing genealogical work on their family,
and they were looking for some famous relative, and they found one. A
real crook! They stopped doing any genealogical work after that!) But
I mean, you can't control who your relatives are. Jesus couldn't have
controlled who his relatives were unless he was the true Messiah. And
yes, you can trace his lineage through Mom or Dad [his step-father] back
to David, and back to Abraham, which was important. And yes, he was in
Egypt for awhile, and they had to flee to Egypt when Herod was going
to kill all the baby boys. And then he came back, and lived in the area
of Galilee, and that's where Jesus' major ministry was found. The Old
Testament also promised that the Messiah would die. Isaiah 53 declares
that the Messiah would suffer for our sins, he would be bruised, he would
be crushed, he'd be pierced through for our iniquities. The chastisement
of our well being would fall upon him, that he would be scourged, whipped.
The Bible predicted the Messiah would die. Look at Psalm 22, verses 1-18.
Psalm 22:1-18 is a fantastic prophecy. It's sort of neglected. It is
awesome, because it is the experience of the Messiah on the cross! It
is awesome. Let me tell ya, crucifixion wasn't even invented at the time
David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote Psalm 22--crucifixion
had not yet even been invented. But here is a graphic description of
crucifixion. What did Jesus cry on the cross? "My God, My God, why hast
thou forsaken me?"
Why does he say that? Well, for one thing, because your sins were put
on him. But secondly, so that you would stop and think, "Oh, wait a minute,
he's claiming to be the Messiah, the Messiah who dies." Psalm 22:1 says, "My
God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Verse 6 says, "But I am a worm
and not a man, a reproach of men and despised of the people. All who
see me sneer at me, they separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying,
'Commit yourself to the Lord, let him deliver him, let him rescue him
because he delights in him.'" Very sarcastic things would be said when
this Messiah dies. People would stand around him wagging their heads,
sneering at him, saying, 'If God delights in you, if you're the Messiah,
let God deliver you!' What was said at the cross?--those very words.
What did the mob around him do? They sneered at him, they mocked him,
they made fun of him. Read on in verses 14 and onward. "I am poured out
like water, all my bones are out of joint. My heart is melted like wax,
it is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd." You
water a plant in real pottery and it [the clay pottery] sucks up the
water and your plant can still die…He says, 'I'm so thirsty it's
like a clay pot that's sucking all the water out of me.' He says, "and
my tongue cleaves to my jaws, and now they slay me in the dust of the
earth, for dogs have surrounded me. A band of evildoers has encompassed
me. They pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones, they
look at me, they stare at me. They divide my garments among them. And
for my clothing [cloak, a fine garment he had] they cast lots." Interesting
isn't it? The Old Testament prophets predicted the Messiah would die.
How? He would die with a mob around him sneering at him, making fun of
him. Somehow his hands and feet would be pierced. Interesting thing,
that when you crucify someone, and after somebody's been whipped and
beaten like Jesus was, fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy, you go into shock.
He'd lost so much bodily fluid, so much blood that he was totally dehydrated.
His mouth and tongue were dry. He cried out, "I thirst." When you're
crucified your shoulders go out of the sockets, they go out of joint.
When you're crucified you're hanging there, everybody can wag their tongue
at you. There's nothing you can do. It's interesting that you count all
your bones, you know, when you're hanging like that. It says they would
gamble for his clothing. What happened to Jesus' seamless garment [cloak]?
The soldiers gambled for it, didn't they? All this is coincidence??? Not
on your life!!! Jesus is the Messiah!!! He
is the Christ [Greek: "anointed one"]! It said that his heart would be
poured out like water. To make sure he was dead, what did they do? They
pierced him with a spear through his heart and his heart poured out water
and blood. [Medically, it is known that crucifixion will cause the chest
cavity to fill with water-like fluid from the body.] I mean, can you
get more of a fulfillment of this prophecy than that? No! But that's
not all. The Old Testament prophets also predicted that the Messiah would
rise from the dead. Look at Isaiah 53, he wouldn't just come as a baby,
born of a virgin in Bethlehem, live in Galilee. But he also would die.
He would not just die being pierced through, being crucified, having
his clothing gambled for, but he also would rise from the dead. It's
right in the Old Testament Scriptures. All you have to do is see it.
Verse 8 of Isaiah 53, "By oppression and judgment he the Messiah was
taken away, and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut
off, out of the living…" That means he died, right? "…For the
transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due." In other words,
he died, [and] when he died, he died in the place of somebody who deserved
that death. He wasn't dying for anything he deserved, he died for you
and me.
Then he would be buried, verse 9. "His grave was assinged to be with
wicked men, yet with a rich man in his death." Where was Jesus buried?
In a rich man's tomb. "Although he had done no violence, nor was any
deceit found in his mouth."
But, O.K., he died, was buried, "But the Lord was pleased to crush him,
putting him to grief, if he would render himself as a guilt offering," which
he did,
"if he would do that, he, the Messiah, will see his offspring, he will
prolong his days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper his
hand." Wait a minute! In verse 8 he died, in verse 9 he was buried, but
in verse 10 he's living again!?! Yes!!! The Bible
teaches in the Old Testament the Messiah would die, he would be buried,
but he would rise from the dead! David said it in Psalm 16:10, "For thou
wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol," the grave, "neither wilt thou allow
thy Holy One to undergo decay." In other words, when the Messiah, the
Holy One died, he wouldn't be dead long enough to even begin to decay!
What is the gospel? That Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture,
that he was buried--that he rose the third day according to the Scriptures.
According to what Scriptures?--the Old Testament prophets. So the promise
was that the Messiah would come. He'd be a real living Messiah, not a
Christ-consciousness, not some weird thing of people bumping into everybody--a
real person, the Messiah, a real man. He'd come, he'd be a baby you could
hold. He'd grow up to be a man you could touch! He would be put to death,
not for his own sins, but for the sins of those who believed in him.
He would rise from the dead, and then very significantly the Bible teaches
in the Old Testament prophecies, that this Messiah was none other
than God himself! He wasn't just a godly man, he was the
God-man. They promised that the Messiah was the Son of God. The Son of
God!?! God has a Son? Yeah! Look at Proverbs 30, verse 4. God has a Son.
The Old Testament says he does. Proverbs 30:4. "Who has ascended into
heaven and descended? Who has wrapped the waters in his garment? Who
has established the ends of the earth?" Well, who has, guys? God! Right? "What
is his name, or his Son's name? Surely you know?" Ooh! I love it, don't
you?! Well what's his name? It's God! What's his Son's name? It must
be the Son of God!
Alright, let's move on. Isaiah 9:6. A lot of you have got this memorized.
A lot of you who aren't even Christians, you know what this is because
you hear it around Christmas time. It says, "For unto us a Child will
be born, unto us a Son will be given. The government will be upon his
shoulders..." And it goes on to say, "His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Jesus' name
everybody agrees that this baby who comes is Jesus the Messiah. His title
is Mighty God. I got this bone to pick with those
[who] go door to door, you know, they got to tell you that Jesus isn't
God! The Old Testament in Isaiah 9:6 says he is Mighty God! Aww,
they say that means he's 'a mighty god, you know, he's not really God!
He's mighty.' Have you ever seen these people? They could get out of
anything--Houdini's scripturally. Look at Isaiah 10. Isaiah 10 verses
20 and 21--)Ooh! Thank you, Lord for giving us Isaiah 10! O.K., we know
the Mighty God is Jesus, right, Isaiah 9:6? We know that's Jesus, everybody
agrees there. Now verse 20 [of Isaiah 10]. Let's see who the Mighty God
is. "Now it will come about that in that day that the remnant of Israel,
and those of the House of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely
on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on the Lord,…" That's
YHVH! That's Jehovah! That's what that word is in Hebrew. YHVH, Jehovah, "The
Holy One of Israel. The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to
the Mighty God." Who's the Mighty God? Jehovah, the Mighty One of Israel.
Who's Jesus? Jehovah, Jesus is Jehovah. You cannot get around it. Jesus
thought it was important enough to just tell you in John chapter 8, that "unless
you believe that I AM", and he meant 'that I am God, "you shall die in
your sins." [Also the Lord, YHVH, gave one of his names to Moses as "I
AM."]
I'm not going to cut you any slack on this point, because I care about
you. Like the doctor said, 'Unless you stop doing this, you're going
to die.' You say, "I don't believe you." O.K., go get a second opinion,
that's fine. Unless you stop doing what you're doing you're going to
die. The Bible says that unless you believe that Jesus is God, you will
die in your sins. You cannot be saved unless you believe that he is God.
You've got great evidence in the Old Testament Scriptures. It's not just
something the New Testament Church came up with. It's not something Paul
came up with. It's something that has its' roots in the Old Testament.
It is there because God predicted the Messiah would come, he would die,
he would be buried, he would rise again, and he would be God the Son.
Hallelujah! What a neat gospel we've got gang! Paul tells us that gospel
is all about who? It's concerning his Son. Back to Romans 1, verse 3.
This gospel which Jesus fulfills, this gospel which the Old Testament
Scriptures says has to be this, this and this--he says this gospel Jesus
meets the requirements of--the Old Testament Scriptures--this gospel
is concerning his Son. The message we preach as Christians, listen, is "Jesus
Christ," not ourselves--but Jesus Christ. The world is looking, longing
for Jesus Christ. They could care less about us. They want to hear about
him. When Christ is presented they will be drawn to him. We need to get
back to being a Jesus people as Christians. We need to be a Jesus Church,
where who we know, who we love, what we're all about is Jesus Christ.
Amen. People ask you, "Well, what are you?" "I'm a Jesus person." "No,
I mean are you a Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Church of
Nazarene, Church of Christ, Church of God, no what are you!?" "I'm a
Jesus person." "No, you don't understand what I mean. I mean, what are
you, you know?" You say, "I'm a Jesus person." "What kind of Church do
you go to?" "A Jesus Church." "Must be some kind of cult, must be a cult."
The gospel we proclaim, the gospel that you're going to find in the book
of Romans, meets the Old Testament requirements for the truth. It is
the truth. Jesus said, 'You'll know the truth, the truth will set you
free.'
…This morning [or day] maybe you've heard the truth [or read it here]
for the first time. You feel the Spirit of God drawing you to Jesus Christ…That's
just another evidence that what I'm saying is true--because he is alive. Jesus
Christ rose from the dead, he's alive. Because he's God he can be everywhere
at one time, and yet with you right now like you're the only person in this
room…This is the truth. You need Christ, he can change your life. I already
recounted to you all the people who've been changed by the gospel proclaimed
in this book. You can be added to the list today. Today you can have your sins
forgiven, today you can have peace with God. Today you can cease trying to
climb up those stairs on your knees. And you can believe the Word of God that
says,
"Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." If you cry out
to Jesus Christ right now, if you're ready to admit a couple of things,
#1, that you're a sinner, you've missed the mark, you're not perfect,
you're not holy and you know God is. #2, If you're ready now to admit
that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, you've seen the evidence, you see it
fulfilled from the Old Testament predictions, then thirdly (#3), you
need to give your life to Christ, you need to say, "Hey look, I need
that Saviour, I need him. I need the way of God's salvation. 'God so
loved the world that he gave his only Son so that whoever, that's
you, whoever would believe in him should not perish but have everlasting
life.' [John 3:16] The Bible says that 'whoever has the Son has the life,
and whoever does not have the Son does not have the life.' "These things
I write unto you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order
that you might know that you have eternal life." You can know today,
that you have eternal life in Jesus Christ. How? Very simply by opening
up your life and asking Jesus to come in. Jesus said at the end of the
Bible, 'Behold I stand at the door and I knock. And if anyone hear my
voice and will open door, I'll come in.' I'll come into your life and
I'll be your friend for life."
[This is a word-for-word transcript of a sermon given by
Pastor J. Mark Martin of Calvary Community Church, P.O. Box 39607, Phoenix,
Arizona 85069. I have used this sermon transcript as an introduction to the
expository studies based on sermon notes on the book of Romans, chapters
1-8.]
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