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Man, the book of Romans is one of the most beloved books of the New Testament because it lays down so many foundational truths about our Christian faith in such a clear and concise way. In fact, one of the most popular methods for going out and evangelizing the lost and getting people saved is called the Romans road. And at our church, when we go out soul winning and knocking doors to preach the gospel, we're pretty much using the Romans road, maybe add a few verses here and there, but the backbone of our gospel presentation is the Romans road because there are just so many clear verses and Romans that lay down so many important fundamental truths. And I believe that this is part of the reason why the New Testament is laid out the way it is, where you've got the four gospels and then you've got the book of Acts, which picks up the story where the four gospels leave off. But then when you get into all these epistles of Paul, you know, you could put them in a different order, but yet the first epistle that you come to is Romans. And it's so great that it's in that order because of the fact that Romans is so foundational and lays down so many important truths that are going to be built upon later as we continue reading through the New Testament. So right at the beginning of chapter one here, we have all these wonderful doctrines about the Lord Jesus Christ that are laid down and it's important that we slow down and stop and look at some of the things that are being taught here because sometimes the tendency could be to blow past the introduction because you look at it as kind of like, okay, it's just kind of an introduction of, you know, grace be unto you and I'm Paul and I'm writing to you and say, okay, you know, let's get to the meat here, but there's so much meat even right here in the introduction. And so I want to really stop and dwell on some of the things that are clearly taught even in these early verses of Romans chapter one. It says in verse number one, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised a four by his prophets and the holy scriptures concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. Now there's already a lot to talk about there. I really want to focus in this morning on the doctrines about the Lord Jesus Christ himself, but let's just briefly look at everything that's here. Paul is a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle separated unto the gospel of God. You know, it's funny. The apostle Paul had been a Pharisee, right? Because he had been brought up in the straightest sect of the Jews religion. He said, I lived a Pharisee. He was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel and the Pharisees are the separated ones. Okay. And in fact, in many ways they're a little too separated because they actually had added a lot of rules about separation and cleanliness that are not even in the word of God. So they were teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men, the Pharisees had all kinds of rules about washings and things that God never even prescribed because they were just so ultra separated. But you see the apostle Paul here, he uses this word separated, but he says not what he separated from, but what he separated unto. He separated unto the gospel of God. You know, there's no point in being separated from if you're not going to be separated unto. You know, the whole point of abstaining from worldly lusts and being separated from unbelievers as far as being yoked up with them in a religious sense or yoked up with them in marriage or something like that, you know, we want to have separation from sinful and worldly things so that we can be separated unto Jesus and be serving the Lord Jesus Christ. Because you know, there are a lot of people out there who just live a really strict life and maybe they separate themselves out into some kind of a monastery or cloister or maybe they go live by themselves somewhere as a hermit and boy, they're super separated. But are they separated unto the gospel of God? Because you know, being separated unto the gospel of God means that you're preaching the gospel of God. Okay. I mean, we're all saved by the gospel. If we believed on Christ, the vast majority of us here are all saved. And so, okay, but are we separated unto the gospel of God? You know, that has to do with actually being dedicated toward the proliferation of the gospel of God, right? When Paul says I'm separated under the gospel of God, he's saying that that's what he has dedicated his life to preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, not just about how separated he can be from the things of this world, like a Pharisee just trying to pile on more rules to see how separated they can get, but rather that he's keeping himself unspotted from the world so he can be dedicated toward the mission of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. So we want to make sure that we're not just getting our lives cleaned up for the sake of getting our lives cleaned up, but that rather we're getting our lives cleaned up so that we can then serve the Lord Jesus Christ and actually do good works with our lives preaching the gospel of the lost. And so he says he's separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised, meaning God had promised, a four by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. So the Bible says in Acts chapter 10, to him, to Jesus, give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. So all throughout the Old Testament that's being foreshadowed, right? All the prophets are giving witness to the fact that Jesus Christ is the savior and that through believing in him we have remission of sins. So God had made these promises in the Old Testament, scriptures, and it says in verse three, concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God with power. Now Jesus Christ being the son of God is a doctrine that we don't want to take for granted and just assume that this goes without saying. Of course Jesus is the son of God because we're living in a day when even the fundamentals of the faith are under attack and there are constantly false teachers, false prophets, Judases, pretenders that creep in and bring in damnable heresies. And some of these damnable heresies, it's hard to even believe that anybody could fall for these things or that anybody would even be so bold as to bring up such wild doctrines, but yet even amongst people that we've even had fellowship with and people who've visited our church or come to our church, you know, there have been people who taught these damnable heresies about the Lord Jesus Christ, so we better just nail these things down and make sure that we know what we believe so that we can spot this garbage a mile away. When we see it, we can instantly know that's wrong. I know what the Bible says. And if there's one thing that we should all be nailed down on, it is that Jesus is the son of God. Okay? And it's not, that's not just a minor thing and that's not just a name that he goes by or something. No, Jesus is the son of God. That's the main thing about his identity that is hammered throughout the New Testament. What was the confession of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter eight? And by the way, the devil hates acts eight 37. That's why acts eight 37 is removed from all the modern Bible versions. But in this wonderful verse, acts eight 37 we have the confession of the Ethiopian eunuch where he says, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, right? And then that, then he got baptized, right? Right after that. Acts chapter eight verse 37. So important. The confession of the Ethiopian eunuch for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believe in the name should not perish but have everlasting life. This is something that is oft repeated in the New Testament. Literally we could show you just hundreds of pieces of evidence of this in the New Testament, but sometimes even when things are repeated over and over again, it's important that we stop and establish them as a key doctrine of the faith that Jesus is the son of God. That's why it says concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our God's son, right? It says in verse four, these declared to be the son of God with power. And then in verse nine it says, for God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son. So this right away in Romans chapter one, we have several mentions of the fact that we have God and we have his son Jesus, his son Jesus Christ, the gospel of his son. Now the reason that I make a big deal about this is because there's a false doctrine out there called the oneness doctrine, sometimes called modalism, oneness Pentecostalism or the Jesus only movement or Jesus only baptism. And this heresy is out there that says, well Jesus is God the father. Now it sounds absurd even to just say that out of my mouth like that, but they have this doctrine that says, well Jesus is the father and he's the son and he's the Holy Spirit and that basically the Trinity is not biblical. That's what these people teach. And in reality, Jesus Christ is clearly distinct from God the father because you got God the father and then you have his son Jesus. That's what the Bible is emphasizing right here in Romans chapter one, right out of the gate. And look, if anybody were to describe the book of Romans, they'd say, you know, this is really Paul laying down the theology of Christianity, laying down the fundamental doctrines of the faith, explaining what we believe as Christians. And he starts out by hammering the fact that Jesus is the son of God. Okay, we don't want to lose sight of that important truth. Now here's the thing, we also do believe in the deity of Jesus. Okay, so Jesus Christ is divine. Jesus Christ is also God, okay? But here's the thing, a lot of times as independent fundamental Baptists, we get so worked up about Jesus being God and about the divinity of Christ. And we're so busy thinking about the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons that we overemphasize the deity of Christ and we don't talk enough about the sonship of Christ. Because we have to understand that the Bible says way more often that Jesus is the son of God than the verses that talk about him being God. Now they're both true, they're both important, but we need to understand where the emphasis is being placed on the fact that Jesus is the son of God. Why? Because you have God the Father, who is not Jesus, and you have his son Jesus Christ. And the reason why Jesus is God, the reason why Jesus is divine is because of the fact that God exists eternally as three persons. God eternally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. That Jesus Christ repeatedly throughout the Gospel of John makes a distinction and says, if I bear record of myself, my record is not true. There's another that bears record of me, the Father which sent me. Now if Jesus were the Father, that would make no sense. And it would make Jesus a liar because Jesus said, if I bear witness of myself, my record's not true. He said, no, it's the Father that bears witness to me. Why? Because Jesus is not God the Father. You got God the Father, you got God the Son, you got God the Holy Spirit, okay? Because God eternally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And so we wanna make sure that we don't de-emphasize the sonship of Christ, the fact that Jesus is the son of God. And you know what, this is why the Muslims are not saved, because the Muslims do not believe that Jesus is the son of God. And they can tell you all day long that they believe in Jesus, but if they don't believe he's the son of God, they're not saved. And you know what? They don't believe for one second that these oneness heretics are saved. Not for one second. They are denying, de facto, that they can give lip service, oh yeah, Jesus is the son of God. No, they believe that the Father came down and became Jesus. They believe in a God that's not the God of the Bible, because the God of the Bible's the Trinity. The God of the Bible's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. That's the God of the Bible. If you have this oneness God, that sounds like a Jewish God. That sounds like a Muslim God. That sounds like a Hindu God. The Christian God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And this, I believe, is damnable heresy to deny this truth about the Lord Jesus Christ being the Son of God. Being not God the Father, but the Son of God the Father. And that's what the Bible clearly teaches here, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the Bible says that Jesus Christ was made, are you in verse 3 there? Was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. Now this is according to the flesh because Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is not a created being. Jesus Christ is co-eternal with God the Father. He has always existed, and he always will exist. And so Jesus Christ was only made of the seed of David according to the flesh. He already existed before that. But his flesh came from the seed of David. That's what the Bible says right here, that he was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. Now here's some proof, I mean we could prove this six different ways to Sunday, that Jesus Christ is not a created being, that he is not inferior to God the Father, but that he is co-eternal with God the Father. But you know one thing that kind of jumped out to me even as the scripture was being read is that a little bit later in Romans chapter 1 when he's talking about these horrible reprobates, one of their major crimes at the end of verse 25 is that they worshiped and served the creature more than the creator who is blessed forever, amen. And this is talking about them worshiping animals and humans and statues and you know they're worshiping created things. But yet we are frequently told to worship Jesus. Worshipping Jesus is a good thing. You know Thomas when he worshiped Jesus and called him my Lord and my God, he said blessed art thou Thomas because you believed. If Jesus Christ were a created being, then worshiping Jesus would be worshiping the creature and not the creator. No, my friend, Colossians chapter 1 clearly teaches that Jesus Christ created the world. Jesus is the creator. The Bible says that God created all things by Jesus Christ. God created all things by Jesus. So Jesus Christ is the one who did the creating on God the Father's behalf and so Jesus Christ is not the creature, Jesus Christ is the creator. He's worthy of worship. It's appropriate to call him my Lord and my God. When Thomas called him that, he was blessed for calling him that. And so you know the whole sermon on the deity of Christ could easily be filled with scripture because there are so many Bible verses we could use to prove the divinity or deity or the fact that Jesus Christ is God, the Godhood of Jesus. But I'm focusing on the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God right now because that's what the Bible is talking about here, okay. So he is the Son of God, he was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. Keep your finger there in Romans 1, go to Galatians chapter 4, Galatians chapter number 4. Another bizarre heresy that came up recently, and again I mean these aren't just theoretical heresies, these are things that people that we know in real life have actually tried to creep in and teach and influence our people with and they've taught this garbage, okay. So we already talked about the oneness heresy, but not only that, recently this false teacher came up with this bizarre doctrine that basically Mary is not really the physical mother of Jesus. Now what kind of a crazy, bizarre, foolish doctrine, I mean you'd think that these things are obvious, right? You'd think that these are just fundamental things. But yet you have people being deceived by these false teachers and so we need to lay these things down strongly. It says in chapter 4, verse 4 of Galatians it says, but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, watch this, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. And so we see right there that Jesus Christ was made of a woman. Now notice the similarity in wording, if you go back to Romans 1, between made of a woman and made of the seed of David, right? Because of the fact that Mary was descended from David. So we have that genealogy in Luke chapter 3 that explains how Mary is descended from David and so Jesus Christ is the physical child of Mary and so that's how he's made of the seed of David and it's also how he's made of a woman. But again this oneness, modalist garbage basically just teaches, well you know, God basically just put himself in Mary's womb. Just God the Father up in heaven, just put himself in Mary's womb and you know, Mary, was just the oven, is what this false teacher said. You know, Jesus is the bread of life and Mary was just the oven. Folks, that's garbage because let me tell you something, Mary provided that half of Jesus' DNA that is human. He was physically, according to the flesh, made of a woman, made of the seed of David. If he were just somehow just beamed into Mary's womb from heaven and God just ex nihilo created a body in her womb that was not actually from her body, then Jesus is not the Son of Man. But what does the Bible say over and over again? Jesus is the Son of Man, Son of Man, Son of Man. Look it calls him the Son of God but you know what else it calls him? The Son of Man. Why? Because Jesus Christ is actually the Son of Mary. He's actually made of a woman after the flesh, made of the seed of David after the flesh because he's physically the child of Mary, okay? Because Jesus Christ is both human and divine. Jesus Christ is the God-man and he doesn't have a God part and a human part. He is 100% through and through every cell of his body was both divine and human. Just like every cell in my body has attributes from my mother and attributes from my father. So every single cell in my body contains my DNA which contains some genes from dad, some genes from mom. Hey, Jesus Christ in every cell of his body was human because he is physically born of Mary and in every cell of Jesus' body he was divine because he had no earthly father but he's the Son of God, okay? Because the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, the power of the highest came upon her and she became with child and that baby inside of her is the Son of God and the Son of Man because the man side, the human side comes from Mary, Son of David, and the divine side comes from God the Father. And so Jesus Christ is both human and divine, okay? And you can't separate those two things. You can't separate, well, you know, his soul and spirit is divine and his body is human. Folks, if you're gonna get up and say, well, you know, his body is the human part and his soul is the God part, you know what you're basically saying? That Jesus had an earthly father is what you're saying. Because how else can you have a human being, how else can you have a flesh that's the human part? You gotta have a mom and a dad. Every single one of us has those 23 pairs of chromosomes, right? You can't just do it with half the pieces of the puzzle, my friend. But Jesus had the full pieces because he had divinity and humanity coming together there. Jesus is the Son of David, Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is made of a woman after the flesh, okay? But not just a woman who had been with a man, she knew no man. It was a miraculous virgin birth where Jesus Christ is called the Son of God because of the fact that he had no earthly father. But that's not the only reason why Jesus is called the Son of God. Jesus is called the Son of God for three reasons. Number one, Jesus is the Son of God because he had no earthly father, therefore he's the Son of God. That's easy to understand, right? Number two, Jesus is called the Son of God because he eternally has a father-son relationship with God the Father. All the way back in eternity past, Jesus said that the Father loved him before the foundation of the world. John 17 says that the Father and the Son shared glory before the world began. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus was in the beginning with God, he was at creation, he is the Creator, and he was with God and he was God. So the Father and the Son enjoy an eternal father-son relationship. But there's a third reason why Jesus is called the Son of God and that is because of the resurrection of Jesus. This one is maybe a little tougher to understand, but yet there are plenty of verses that teach this. Look what the Bible says in verse 4, and declared to be the Son of God with power. How was Jesus declared to be the Son of God with power? According to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. So Jesus was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection of the dead. Now go to Acts, you can keep your finger on Romans 1, go to Acts 13 to the left in your Bible. Go to Acts chapter 13 and we're going to look at verse 33 of Acts 13 and we'll see this in several other places as well because the Bible is very consistent on this point. That Jesus Christ is the Son of God also by virtue of his resurrection. So he's the Son of God for three reasons. Don't pick one, it's all three. He had no earthly father, he's born of a virgin, that makes him the Son of God. He eternally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or he exists as the Son in this obviously godhood of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost and so therefore he's the Son of God because he's always been the Son of God because Father, Son, and Holy Ghost eternally exist. But thirdly, he's the Son of God because of the resurrection. Look at what the Bible says in Acts 13, 33, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children and that he hath raised up Jesus again. As it is written in the second Psalm, thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. So the Bible says, well, God raised up Jesus as it is written in the second Psalm, thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. You say, what in the world does thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee have to do with Jesus rising from the dead? Well everything according to Acts 13, 33, when the Bible says thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, guess what day we're talking about? Are we talking about Jesus being born in a manger? Are we talking about the conception of Jesus in Mary's womb? What are we talking about here? I'll tell you what we're talking about, the resurrection. That's what the Bible says. The Bible says thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee is a reference to the resurrection of Jesus. Go to Revelation chapter one, Revelation chapter one, Jesus Christ is declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Go to Revelation chapter number one and the Bible says in Revelation chapter number one verse five and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness, watch this, and the first begotten of the dead. Jesus is the first begotten of the dead. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee is a reference to the resurrection because that's the day that he was the first begotten from the dead. You say, what does that mean begotten from the dead? I can't really understand what that is saying. Well, here's what you have to understand about the word begotten. Typically, when we think of begotten, we're talking about fathering a child, right? So I have begotten my 12 children because I'm their physical parent and so that's pretty easy to understand. But if you think about it at its core, the word begotten basically means to bring into existence in a sense or to cause to exist, okay, or to bring into being in a sense, okay? And here's the thing, Jesus Christ said in Revelation chapter one, I'm he that liveth and was dead and behold, I'm alive forevermore, amen, and have the keys of hell and of death. So Jesus Christ was alive on this earth, then he died on the cross. And let me just lay this down, when he died, he was really dead. So let's not get some heresy or false doctrine that says, well, he wasn't really dead. You're a heretic if you believe that, okay? Jesus Christ said, I was dead. I'm he that liveth and was dead and behold, I'm alive forevermore, amen, and have the keys of hell and of death. Jesus was all the way dead. He wasn't just in a coma or swooning or spiritually dead. You know, don't come up with some crazy, he died. He died on the cross and you say, well, duh, yeah, I know, but you'd think, right? But these heresies are out there. He died on the cross. And when the Bible talks about people who are dead, sometimes it'll use this wording, you know, they are not. Joseph is not, that meant Joseph is dead, okay? And so what happens is Jesus Christ died on the cross and then when he's resurrected, okay, that's basically called him being begotten from the dead because he's basically coming back into life, okay? Now obviously we understand that while Jesus was dead, he's still conscious, but guess what? Jesus who dies is conscious after they die. If an unsaved person dies, guess what? They're conscious in hell, burning in hell. If a saved person dies, guess what? They're conscious in heaven. They're up in heaven. So the, you know, again, these heretics will try to say like, oh, you're saying Jesus was, you know, stopped existing or something. Saying Jesus was dead, that's what the Bible says. Jesus was dead. He was conscious, but he was dead for three days and three nights. He was dead and then he is resurrected. He is brought back to life, okay? And that's called the resurrection of Jesus where he physically walked out of that grave. I mean, his, his body was in the tomb, dead as a doornail, his soul descended down to hell for three days and three nights and three days later he physically walked out of that grave. He showed the disciples the holes in his hands and the hole in his side to prove that it was him. He even ate and drank with the disciples because he said, hey, a spirit hath not flesh and bone as you see me to have. And then he ate and drank with them. He said, handle me, touch the holes in my hand, stick your finger in my side because he bodily rose again from the dead. What does the Bible call this? It calls him being begotten, the first begotten from the dead. He was raised again as it is written in the second Psalm, thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee that, you know, I didn't have this one planned, but this one just popped into my head, but I'm having trouble finding the reference. Somebody helped me out with technology here, uh, where it talks about, oh wait, I just found it. I don't need technology. First Peter one verse number three says, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy, watch this, had begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The Bible says, now you say, well, pastor Anderson, I'm a little confused because I thought begat is just talking about like, you know, a guy father is a child, Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob. But here's the thing, we've been begotten too, twice if we're saved, because the first time I was begotten is when Raymond begat Stephen, okay? That's my dad's name. So basically, you know, at one point I was physically begotten by my dad and here I am as a result, but you know, the Bible says that God has begotten us again by a lively hope by the resurrection from the dead. And not only that, but the Bible says by his own will begat he us with the word of truth. So in fact, I could point to at least four verses that just popped into my mind that describe us as begotten by God, that use the word begat or begotten about us as Christians. We're begotten, we have been begotten by God. What does that mean? When did that take place? That took place the moment that we got saved. So we were physically begotten by our parents, but then we're begotten again, according to 1 Peter 1-3 and at least three other verses, begotten again when we got saved by the resurrection. Now stop and think, what happened when we got saved? Did anything happen physically when we got saved? I mean when I got saved, it didn't fix all my physical problems. I didn't suddenly become better looking or all blemishes are gone, all health problems are gone, and neither did you. So what actually happened when we got saved is that our spirit, which was dead in trespasses and sins, our spirit is resurrected. And that resurrection of our spirit is us being begotten again. Because now we're a child of God. The Bible says, behold what manner of love the Father of the Son of God that we should be called the sons of God. For the world knoweth us not because it knew him not, beloved, now are we the sons of God. So if we're saved, we're sons of God, are we not? How did we become sons of God? By being begotten again. And how did we get begotten again? By the resurrection. And our spirits that were dead in trespasses and sins were resurrected when we got saved, that's called us being begotten and that makes us a son of God. Now here's the thing, Jesus Christ was already the son of God before the resurrection wasn't he? In fact he was already the son of God before he was even born. When he showed up in the fiery furnace in Daniel 3.25, he was already the son of God. He was already the son of God in the Old Testament when the Bible said in Proverbs 30, what is his name and what is his son's name if thou canst tell? Jesus Christ was already the son of God even before he was born because he eternally exists as the son, Father, Son and Holy Ghost eternally exist, amen? Then when he was physically born on this earth and made of a woman, made of the seed of David according to the flesh, now he's the son of God for a second reason because he's just born without an earthly father, that makes him the son of God. Then when he's resurrected from the dead, that makes him the son of God for a third reason. That declared him to be the son of God with power. So it would be quite absurd not to believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God when he is literally the son of God for three different reasons. So this is very important that we understand the fact that Jesus is the son of God. So back to Romans chapter one, I got to hurry here, but we want to lay down these important doctrines and this is all right here in scripture. He said concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, talking about his physical body because he already eternally existed before that, but his body came into existence in Mary's womb. It says that he was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, by whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name, among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ. So what he's making a point about here in verses five and six is that the gospel message and Christ's gospel is to go to all nations of the world. It's not just for the Jews, it's for all nations of the world. Paul says I'm an apostle separated under the gospel of God and he says that that apostleship in verse five is for obedience to the faith among all nations, okay? All nations. Now what does obedience to the faith mean? The way that you obey the faith is by believing in Jesus. Obey the gospel is believe the gospel because the gospel commands all of us to believe on Jesus Christ as our only way to heaven, as our savior. And so he says that the obedience to the faith among all nations for his sake, among whom are ye also, because he's talking to Romans who are not Jews, he's talking to Gentiles and saying, you know, you guys are also the called of Jesus Christ. So you know, don't let anybody tell you that it's, you know, your second class to the Jews or something, you know, there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek, you're also the called of Jesus Christ, you Romans. To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. So what are they called to be? Saints called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So who's he writing to? He's writing to everybody who's called to be saints. And let me tell you something, a saint is not some special person who's super holy. And then after they die, we vote or something and declare them to be a saint. The Catholic Church has, you know, their list of saints and they try to just limit that to certain people that they pick and, you know, achieving sainthood or whatever. But this is total garbage because of the fact that actually all believers are saints. If you're saved, you're a saint. In fact, look if you would at 1 Corinthians 1, 1. Keep your finger there in Romans 1, let's look at 1 Corinthians 1, 1. Again we go to a lot of places to prove this, but we're going to look at a key verse here. 1 Corinthians 1, 1 says this, Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. Watch this, called to be saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. So these people are called to be saints along with everybody else who calls upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours. That's why Paul at the end of one of his letters says, you know, salute all them which have the rule over you and all the saints. Shouldn't we put the saints in charge? You know, if supposedly the saints are these special people, when he says, salute all them that have the rule over you and all the saints, he's not saying, salute those that have the rule over you and then salute, you know, these couple special people that have a halo on their head. Is that what he's saying? When he says, salute them that have the rule over you and all the saints, he's saying, say hi to the leadership and then say hi to everybody who's saved. All the saints is just all the saved people, all the Christian people. You know, the Antichrist in the book of Revelation is going to make war with the saints. Is he like, give me that list, Roman Catholics. I'm going after these couple because it's only like a couple people in each generation. And plus, do they even make people a saint while they're still alive? Or does the Roman Catholic Church make people saints after they're dead? Is it always after they're dead? Yeah. So it's after they're dead. So therefore, like, I'm going to make war with the saints, excuse me, sir, they're all dead. Well, let's go after Christians then. No, saints are Christians. So when the Antichrist is going to make war with the saints and overcome them, he's not going after, you know, a bunch of Catholic characters from folklore. You know, he's going after the saved Christians that are sanctified, as it says in 1 Corinthians 1 there, by the Lord Jesus Christ, called to be saints along with everybody else who calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours. And so back in Romans chapter one, we see in verse seven to all that be in Rome, beloved of God called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't it interesting how many times in this short passage of scripture, he can talk about God and Jesus, God and Jesus, God the Father, God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, right? The oneness people are just like, nope, it's just one person. Jesus praying to himself according to them, when he prays in the garden, when he says not my will, in the oneness version, it says, not my will, but mine be done. You know, when the disciples come and say, Lord, can we sit at your right hand and on your left? He says, well, that's not mine to give. It's the Father in heaven, which is also me, by the way. Oh, of that day and hour, knoweth no man, not the angels of heaven, not even the Son, but my Father only. Oh, just kidding. I am the Father. That doesn't make any sense. You'd run into about 100 problems with that doctrine. But yet people fall for this stuff, don't they? That's why we need to have clear preaching from a clear book, Romans, laying down some doctrine that Jesus Christ is the Son, there's God the Father, and then there's Jesus Christ the Son. And again, we're not saying Jesus is a creative being. We don't worship the creature, we worship the Creator. Jesus is the Creator. Jesus is divine because God eternally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Bible says, uh, peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all. Okay. Again, the distinction, once again, whenever we see God in a situation like this, we're talking about God, the Father, when you're talking about God and Jesus, okay? And it says, uh, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, making requests that by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. For I long to see you that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift to the end you may be established. That is that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith, both of you and me. Now I would not have you ignorant brethren that oftentimes I purpose to come unto you but was let hitherto, meaning I was hindered hitherto, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles. I'm debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And so again, what we started out saying at the beginning of Romans one is that the Gospel of God is what Paul is separated unto. You know, I used to go around calling myself one of the separated ones. I was a Pharisee, the strictest, straightest sect of the Jews. I lived a Pharisee. I was ultra separated. But you know what? I'm still separated, but now I'm separated unto the Gospel of God instead of being separated for the sake of being separated. So I could be more separated than this other guy and pile on unbiblical rules just to get even more separated. And there are people doing that even in 2022. They just pile on the rules just trying to get super ultra separated. Hey, make sure you're separated unto the Gospel of God. It's good to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. It's good to clean up our lives, get the sin out of our life, come out from among them and be separate, say it the Lord. But we need to make sure we're separated unto the Gospel of God. And that Gospel of God is for all nations. It goes to the whole world, not just for the Jews. It's not just for smart people. It's for dumb people too. He said the wise and the unwise, right? Well these unwise people, nuts to them. No, I want to get the dumbest person saved that I can. Amen? Let's get as many people saved as we can. You know, it shouldn't be, and you say, why even bring that up? Because you know, some preachers and some Christians, they basically, they get so wise in their own conceits and they get so puffed up with intellect that they only want to preach on a super ultra high level, but you know what the Bible says about Jesus? The common people hurt him gladly. And so we need to be able to win uneducated people to the Lord, unintelligent people to the Lord. Not like, oh, we're too smart for these people. No, the Bible says condescend to men of low estate. And you know what Paul even said? I love what he said here in verse 14. He said, I am deader both to the Greeks and to the barbarians. Barbarian here means someone who doesn't speak Greek. That's typically in the Greek language what the word, because basically it's an automata pia of like people who spoke other languages kind of just sound like bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, kind of like we would just, you ever like pretend to speak another language? Like you might just go like ching chong, you know? What language am I impersonating? You bunch of racists. How dare you? But you know, like we can all just, we, everybody could just kind of like imitate a language, you know, like if I just went like, let's see how many people can offend. You know, you do like a ching chong and it's like, okay, Chinese. What if I was like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's not really Hindi though, it's a Southern Indian language, okay? That was a Dravidian language, all right? But you know, that's how those Southern Indian languages sound, right? So we might, you know, try to do, or it'd be like, well, yeah, yeah, tiramisu and lasagna, spaghetti, you know? So we'd kind of, you know, you could do these kind of impressions of just like, you know, you know, and there's kind of like little signature noises that would kind of make you think of, you know, or we just kind of, what if I just started going like, you'd be like, okay, it's the Kalahari Bushmen, right? You know, we, is there anyone else I can offend real quick? Or like, what about like Germans be like, you know, just be like spitting and, you know, and just, you could do all kinds of impressions. So basically they're, you know, I know it's a little bit of a tangent. They're basically, you know, looking at people who don't speak Greek and it just sounds like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know? So that's where the word barbarian comes from. It's like a person who goes bar, bar, bar, okay? So this is talking about non Greeks, which makes sense because I'm a debtor to the Greeks and to the barbarians. And then he says both to the wise and to the unwise. Now what does he mean when he says he's a debtor? He's saying, you know what? Like I owe these people the gospel, you know, like I owe it to them to preach them the gospel. You know, he says, I'm debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians. Both the wise and the unwise. He doesn't have this attitude that just says, well, you know, the Jews are my people, so I just want to reach the Jews or, you know, America, America has done so much for me and God bless America. I just want to get Americans saved. No, because you know what? Paul's the kind of guy where he's just as happy to get foreigners saved as people who are indigenous. He's just as happy to go to Europe, Africa, Asia. He'll go anywhere because he just wants to preach the gospel in all nations, the whole world, and that ought to be our attitude as well. We shouldn't play favorites about who we want to reach with the gospel. We should want to get everybody saved that we can, red, yellow, black and white. And so he says, look, I'm debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians. I don't just think like, oh, well, the only people who've ever really done anything for me are the Greeks. You know, in reality, you know, all of us as human beings, we're all living on this earth and all of our lives are connected, you know, and there are people who are constantly serving us and doing things for us and helping us in various ways. We're all served and helped by people throughout our entire lives, am I right? How many people in our lives have served us food, cleaned up our messes, taught us something, wrote books that we read, right? I mean, we've all received. And so we're debtor to the Greeks and to the barbarians, to the wise and the unwise. And he says, so as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. So don't ever get this attitude that says, well, you know, these lower class people or people that aren't that smart or people of this nationality or whatever, you know, they don't contribute anything, you know, but honestly, every group has contributed in this world, period. Now, obviously there are some people out there who refuse to work and contribute, but honestly, all types of people contribute, okay? If everyone were just some kind of a brilliant mathematician or something, you know, somebody needs to just sweep the floor for crying out loud, you know, somebody needs to scoop up the mess. We all have roles to play, we all have functions and we shouldn't get high minded or puffed up thinking that only certain people matter. Only rich people matter, only smart people matter, only this nationality matters. No, everybody matters. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And so we should want to preach the gospel to all nations, all people. He says, you know, I want to preach the gospel at Rome. I haven't had a chance to get there yet. I keep being hindered, but I want to go preach the gospel in Rome because I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, verse 16, to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And so now he's not drawing a distinction in Greek and barbarian, Greek language speaker versus someone who is ignorant of the Greek language. Now he's drawing his things between Jew and Greek. That salvation is for everyone who believes, whether they be Jew or Greek. And what's the important doctrine in this verse that salvation is by faith. And that's something that the book of Romans is going to hammer so many times that salvation is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who goes to church. Is that what it says? It's the power of God to salvation to everyone who turns from all their sins. Is that what it says? It's the power of God to salvation to everybody who gets baptized. Is that what it says? No, it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. The power of God is that power that resurrected Jesus from the dead. The power by which Jesus Christ was begotten from the dead, the first begotten from the dead. But you know what? He's not the last begotten from the dead because we've been begotten from the dead if we're saved spiritually. Someday we'll physically be resurrected, but we've already been spiritually resurrected if we're saved. And it's that power of the Gospel, the power of Christ's resurrection by which we are saved and it is to everyone that believeth, Jew, Greek, barbarian, wise, unwise. If you believe in Jesus Christ, you shall be saved. Salvation is by faith. So as you can see, this first part of the book of Romans chapter one verses one through 16 is packed with foundational doctrine about who Jesus is. He's the son of God, right? He is also, not only is he the son of God, he's also the son of David. He's also the son of man. He's also the son of Mary, right? He's also made after the flesh of a woman. And so we have the divinity of Christ, we have the humanity of Christ, we have the resurrection of Christ, we have the Gospel of Christ, and we have the fact that it's for all nations, all people. This is what we ought to be dedicating our lives to, getting the Gospel out to the entire world. We ought not be ashamed of the Gospel because of the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. And so you can see how this beginning part of Romans chapter one just lays down so many foundational doctrines. Don't ever be weary of hearing these foundational things and say, oh, I already know this. Just tell me something I don't know. You know, there are a lot of times when somebody tries to teach you something, you say, oh, I already know this. But it's like, do you though? And even if you know it, sometimes you need to know that you know it. And it's good to have your pure mind stirred up by way of remembrance about these things because I'm telling you, some charlatan, someday, some bozo is going to come along and say, did you know that Jesus is actually God the Father too? And you go, oh, really, what? I'd rather just be like, no, just instantly be like, that's garbage. That's heresy. That's stupid. You know, the Bible's clear on the score, right? When somebody comes to us, hey, did you know that Jesus Christ didn't receive anything from Mary's body? He didn't receive any cells from Mary's body. She Mary's is the oven? It'd be like, no, I don't. That's a half baked doctrine. Okay. Because no, Mary's more than the, you know what, you want to know what Mary is? You want to know where Mary is? Mary's the mother of Jesus. And again, you'd think these things are foundational, but we need to make sure we know that Jesus is the son of God, that Mary's the mother of Jesus, that Jesus Christ is both human and divine, that Jesus Christ is co-eternal with God, that Jesus Christ is not a creature. He's the creator and all of this and much more is packed into the beginning of Romans chapter one because God wants to lay down these foundational truths from the get go as we get into these epistles so we can have a strong basis, not from manmade theology, but from looking at scripture and comparing scripture and scripture, getting our theology from Paul here and understanding who Jesus is, what he came to do and why salvation is by faith alone. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this passage, Lord, and I pray that we would just have these foundational truths strongly laid, Lord, and that we would be solid on these things and not tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, Lord. Help us also, as Paul was, to be separated under the gospel and help us, Lord, to be interested in getting people saved of all walks of life, red, yellow, black, and white, regardless of their intelligence or regardless of their social standing or demographic, Lord. Help us to love the lost and seek to reach as many people as we can with the gospel. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.