Heritage Reformed Baptist Mission
ROMANS
Sermon 1
Jesus Christ Our Lord
Romans 1:1-7
The Apostle John wrote in Chapter 1 of his gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And of His fulness have we all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:1,14,16-17). Any discussion of the grace of God that brings salvation to sinful men must begin with the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's exactly what both John and Paul did.
The Gospel of God is good news for all mankind. The reason that is so is because Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God, laid aside the glory that was His with the Father “before the world was,” became a man, and gave Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. Without Jesus Christ, there is no Gospel of God. He is the Gospel of God, the only Gospel of God, the one and only way for His people to be saved from sin, and delivered from the wrath and judgment of God. That is the gospel to which Paul says in verse 1 he was separated as a willing slave of Jesus Christ and as an apostle, a missionary, to spread that gospel, especially among the Gentiles. That is also the gospel God had promised long ago in the Old Testament scriptures through His prophets. More than 300 times, those prophets made mention of the coming of the Son to earth as the Savior and Redeemer of His people. God, who cannot lie, always keeps His word.
In the statements quoted above from the Gospel of John, it is clear John wanted everyone to know from the beginning that Jesus Christ is both God and man. So did Paul. He points out in verse 3 that Jesus was born as a human being into the family of David. Both Mary, His mother, and Joseph, His appointed earthly father, were descendants of David. We learn that in Scripture from the genealogies written for us in Matthew 1 and in Luke 3. Matthew 1 gives us the genealogy of Joseph, whose legal descent from David was through David's son, Solomon. Joseph was the legal heir to the throne of Israel, thus transferring that earthly legal right to Jesus. Luke 3 gives us the genealogy of Mary, whose descent from David was through David's son, Nathan. So, from the human viewpoint, Jesus was both physically and legally the heir God promised would sit upon the throne of David forever.
As the son of Mary, Jesus was fully human. He had a human body, a human soul, and a human spirit. But, He was totally without sin, both in His nature and in His actions. Born sinless, He lived a perfectly sinless life, thus making Him alone qualified to be “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
The Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ was shown in His life on earth in several ways. He Himself said He was the Son of God. See John 9:35-37. The things that He did, forgiving sins and performing wondrous miracles, gave perfect evidence of His eternal being. On at least two occasions, at His baptism and on the Mount of Transfiguration, the Father spoke aloud from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son” (Matthew 3:17; 17:5). But, the final and the most positive proof of His Deity came when He was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead.
Not a few people have claimed to be the Son of God, the Savior. And some have demonstrated some kind of seemingly miraculous power. But only Jesus was raised from the dead. And only Jesus has the power and authority to raise others from death. For He is “the resurrection and the life.” He demonstrates that power spiritually every time a lost sinner is born again and becomes a new creation in Him. He will demonstrate resurrection power physically when He resurrects the bodies of His people at His second coming; and again when the unbelieving dead will be raised to stand before Him at the Great White Throne judgment. Then will be fully accomplished what the Lord Himself said in John 5:28-29, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”
Having declared that Jesus Christ, our Lord is the subject of the Gospel of God, and that He is the God-Man, Paul asserts in verses 5-7 that the Lord is also the means of God's grace and call to salvation, to service, and to sainthood.
Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me.” That statement is the object of much disbelief and ridicule in the world. Unbelievers, including many who profess to be Christians, just cannot accept the truth that there is only one way of salvation. Christians are called bigots for proclaiming that truth. The Bible is blasphemed for making such a statement. Jesus, they say, was sincere, but mistaken. But the fact remains, He said He was the only way to God. And the Apostle Paul, led by the same Holy Spirit who was in the Lord Jesus Christ, writes the same truth using different words.
Paul says in verse 5 that it is by Jesus Christ that we have received grace. Grace is the unmerited favor of God. We have already read in John 1 that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Further, the Scripture says in Ephesians 2:5, “by grace you are saved.” Whether unbelievers want to believe it or not, it is very plain the only way to receive the grace of God that brings salvation is in and through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And the only way to receive that salvation is by believing the gospel. For we read in verse 16 of Romans 1that the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.
The salvation of which Romans 1:16 speaks comes in a package of three wonderful things. First, there is a new birth, by which an ungodly sinner is provided with a newly created nature in Christ. That is called justification, being declared right with God. Second, there is a new life, by which the saved sinner is able to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts (his old way of living), and live soberly, and righteously, and godly in this present world. That is called progressive sanctification, loving and being obedient to God. And third, there is a new body, in which the new creation will live forever in the very presence of God. That is called glorification. The new birth is an event that takes place in an instant. The new life is an event that takes place over the period of time the saved sinner continues to live on this earth. The new body is that which the saved sinner will receive when the Lord Jesus Christ returns. In that new and glorified body there will be no more taint of sin, only absolute perfection like that of the Redeemer.
A part of the new life of a saved sinner is service for God. In Paul's case it was apostleship, missionary work preaching the gospel and planting churches among people who had never heard about the true and living God. Not every child of God, is called to be a missionary to people who have never heard the gospel. But, every child of God is called to some particular service for the Lord in the body of Christ, which is His church. But, that service is intended to spread the gospel into all the world in some very definite ways.
The first and most important of those ways is in and through the new life. By his own personal testimony of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and by his love for and obedience to God, the child of God lets it be known that the gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed the power of God unto salvation. That testimony begins in his own family and continues in the circle of people who knew him before he was saved and now see in him a changed life.
The second way the child of God spreads the gospel into all the world is by prayer. Prayer is talking with God, something a lost sinner cannot do. But a saved sinner can, and his new nature is concerned for those who are lost in sin as he once was wherever they are. So, he prays that God will send laborers into His harvest, and he prays for the laborers, as well as for those who need to hear the gospel.
And the third way he spreads the gospel into all the world is by giving of his financial resources so that those whom God has called to go as missionaries can go. The child of God does all three of these things because he now loves the Lord and wants to be obedient to Him who has commanded His children to do them.
When an ungodly sinner is saved, he is called of God in the Lord Jesus Christ to be a saint. It is God, not man, who makes that call and gives that title. It is, as it were, an honorary title, a gift of the grace of God, not earned by the deeds of man. It simply means one who is set apart to be God's own, and, by God's grace working in him, to become like the Lord Jesus Christ. It is quite true that too many of God's children do not live up to that title in the eyes of men. But, in the eyes of God, by whom they have been justified through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are saints. They will become like the Lord Jesus Christ in God's time and by God's predestinating grace (Romans 8:29).
We may confidently say Jesus Christ is the Lord of all who are the called of God unto salvation. He is the beginning and ending and all the in between of the Gospel of God, which alone is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. It is written very clearly in the 10th Chapter of Romans, that unless people hear and believe that gospel, they cannot be saved. But, if they hear and believe, they will be saved. As Jesus said in John 5:24-25, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily , verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.”
Have you, dear reader, heard His voice but have not yet believed? I urge you to be obedient to what you have heard and confess Him as your personal Lord and Savior without delay. When you do, make your faith known to God's people at a local church where Jesus is Lord, and where the Bible in its entirety is believed, preached, and obeyed.