Today we begin our study in the book of Romans! I have wanted to preach the book of Romans since the Lord saved me over twenty-six years ago. I have had the pleasure of preaching certain portions of Romans over the years, and many of you know that Romanschapter Eight is my life chapter – the one chapter in all of Scripture that has affected my life and ministry the most.

Most of you know that our men studied Romans chapter Eight for well over a year together on a weekly basis as we read the chapter in its entirety, we prayed, asking God to speak to us, and then we worked through what each one of us heard the Spirit of God speaking from the text. I look back on that time of study and I still remember some of the beautiful moments of enlightenment and healing and strengthening that the Lord did among our men as we agonized over the text together for over a year.

To say that the book of Romans is the most beautiful and profound book in the entire Bible is still an understatement. Even as we dive into the first seven verses this morning, I think you will see that from the get go, this single book is more profound than you could ever imagine, more powerful than you could ever dream of.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones – among many others – certainly believed what I just said and as Joneshighlights in his massive 14 volume commentary, many infamous names throughout church history, from St. Augustine to Martin Luther to John Bunyon were actually saved while studying this book, not to mention, how this book has been used throughout the centuries to defeat numerous damaging heresies that keep popping up in new forms with new faces on a daily basis.2

Suffice it to say, the book we are beginning to study today, is absolutely profound! One modern commentator, Kent Hughes, after adding John Wesley to the list of historical names who have been saved through the study of Romans, says that “there is no doubt about the power of the book of Romans. The study of it produces genuine excitement and genuine trepidation – excitement because of the possibilities the life-changing themes of Romans bring to us, [and] trepidation at reasonably expounding their massiveness.”3

Bottom line? Many people throughout the centuries have been saved and transformed by the preaching of Romans and the depths of its massive themes, many heresies have been laid to waste by the preaching of the book of Romans, and now, we are submitting ourselves to a lengthy study of this book! What a glorious day! Who knows – except the Lord – what lies ahead for us as we labor to study the treasures of this little book for the foreseeable future.

With that said, let us take a look at the first seven verses of this book together. These first seven verses are Paul’s introduction to the letter, and you might find yourself surprised at the depth of application we can uncover from a simple introduction. Imagine meeting someone for the first time and introducing yourself to one another. A lot can be learned from a simple introduction.

Or take for instance, you write a letter to someone you have known for a long time, once again, your introductory comments in that letter, can reveal a lot about your heart’s intent for what you are about to write as well as the person or the people you are writing to.

The same is true of Paul’s introductory comments – comments that most of us would be tempted to pass right on by so that we can get to the meat of the letter; maybe the so-called meatier things that help us to refute and argue against some of the atrocities we see in our culture. I would submit, that these introductory comments from the great Apostle Paul, are some of the meatiest – some of the most nourishing – introductory comments you will ever study. Notice how Paul begins in verse one.

1Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among the nations, 6including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 7To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

#1: WHO IS PAUL? (V. 1)

In verse one, Paul introduces himself as “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God”. If Paul were to walk in here this morning and if he began to shake hands and to introduce himself, these are the words he would use. These words describe how he sees himself in the mirror every morning when he wakes up. Paul sees himself as a servant of Jesus, a broken man who was called by God, a man who has been sent by God with a message, one who has been set apart as God’s special instrument for delivering gospel nourishment to thirsty souls. These are the words that Paul uses to describe himself.

What words would you use to describe yourself, first thing in the morning? Or when your world is falling apart? Or when you have failed in some sin again? Or when you think about your relationship to God? What words do you most commonly use to describe yourself in the darkest, most private, most intimate, most invisible places of your soul?

Paul describes himself “as a servant of Jesus Christ” not the broken sinner and enemy of God that he once was before Jesus saved him. Sure, he still sinned and he even referred to himself as the chief of all sinners in another place in Scripture; a mark of true humility if you ask me. But by and large, Paul identified himself as a servant of the Savior who graciously reached down into the pit and redeemed him and then sent him as an apostle.

Paul sees himself as a bondservant or a slave of Christ because he had experienced the grace and loving mercy of Jesus in his own miraculous salvation experience. The fact that Jesus would choose to save any wretch like the apostle Paul – a once upon a time religious terrorist who hunted and murdered Christians – or that he would choose to save any of us in the midst of our rebellion against him, is a life changing experience with grace revealed in the face of our crucified, risen, and returning Christ.

Notice too, that Paul also identifies himself as an individual who has been “called to be an apostle” because God himself called Paul to himself in salvation (a point about God’s sovereign work in salvation that will be replayed over and over again throughout this letter) and then he also called Paul to be an apostle or in the original language “a sent one”. Sent for what you may ask? Paul says, sent as an apostle and “set apart for the gospel of God”.

Being set apart is the image of something special (like fine dinnerware) being set aside for a special event or a special task. This is who Paul believes he is. This is who Paul sees when he looks in the mirror every morning. This is how Paul describes himself in the deep unseen hallways of his own soul – even when he struggled in sin and doubt and despair – this is how Paul sees himself.

This is how he introduces himself now, out of a deep and abiding understanding of who he is in Christ Jesus. Paul is a servant of Jesus because Jesus saved him. God called him to be an apostle; his ministry credentials came from the floor of the throne room of heaven. God set him apart as his special instrument for the advancement of the gospel. Speaking of the gospel; what is this gospel that Paul was set apart to advance?

#2: WHAT IS THE GOSPEL (VV. 2 – 4)

In verses 2 – 4, Paul explains that the gospel is a message that God “promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord”. In short, the gospel is the message of Christ. But I want you to notice the details of Christ’s identity that Paul chooses to highlight here.

Jesus, according to Paul, is the fulfillment of centuries of an ancient promise of redemption through the lips of the prophets of the Old Testament as Israel struggled to walk in relationship to God. Jesus is the promise of our faithful God to redeem and to renew an unfaithful people. Jesus is the promise to give freedom to the captive, sight to the blind, healing to the afflicted, restoration to the broken, and salvation to the lost. Jesus is the promise that Satan, Sin, and Death do not get the last laugh. Jesus is the promise that the light will overcome the darkness – darkness will not prevail.

And according to Paul, Jesus is also the only one in all of history who can lay claim to being one hundred percent human – descended from the Kingly line of David in the flesh – and one hundred percent Divine – declared as the Son of God and conceived by the Holy Spirit. Heresies regarding the identity of Christ as either human or divine or some weird mix of the two are as far and wide as the Atlantic Ocean.

But here we have Paul describing Jesus as we ought to know him: one hundred percent human – able to empathize with us in our own humanity while never failing as a human so that he could pay the ultimate price for our redemption – and then one hundred percent Divine – fully capable of ruling the world as both its Creator and its Redeemer. This is a massive doctrine to unpack!

And finally, Paul describes the point of the gospel – Jesus – as the one who is full of power and holiness because of his “resurrection from the dead” as “Jesus Christ our Lord”. Heavily implied in Paul’s use of the resurrection in power and holiness is the background of that dark and horrifying day on a hill called Calvary. Yes, Jesus was resurrected in power and in holiness, just as he was brutally crucified for our sins as he was beaten and nailed to that old wooden cross on that hill called Calvary.

This is who Jesus is my friends! Paul says he is the subject, the star player, the front runner, the main attraction in the promise that flowed out of the lips of the prophets of old. Jesus is the Savior and the Light of the world. Jesus is the only one who was one hundred percent human and one hundred percent Divine; who came into this world that he had created, to be its crucified, risen, and returning Savior.

This is the gospel my friends! The word “gospel” means good news. I would submit that this gospel is great news! The gospel is the promise of the prophets in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The gospel is all about Jesus, descending from King David in his humanity, declared as the Divine Son of God by the Spirit, crucified and resurrected in holiness by the Spirit’s power – so that we could be saved and invited into a relationship with God.

This message – concerning Christ – is the message of the gospel that Paul had been set apart, sent as an apostle, called by the Lord to serve by advancing it to the ends of the earth. Paul’s identity was uniquely woven into this gospel as someone who had been redeemed by it. And now, in the final three verses of our text today, Paul tells us why he is writing this letter to the Romans in the first place.

#3: WHY IS PAUL WRITING THIS LETTER? (VV. 5 – 7)

In verses 5 – 7, Paul says that he is writing this letter because God has given him “grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his [God’s] name among the nations [to the ends of the Gentile world], including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. Did you catch Paul’s purpose in writing this letter?

At first glance we would all probably agree from verse five, that Paul’s purpose is to “bring about the obedience of faith” to the ends of the earth for the glory of God alone. When people obey the gospel – get saved, surrender to, and begin following Jesus – God is glorified. The Reformers even took this principle and would say that the only reason humans are on this earth is to live our lives in obedient glorification, magnification, and reflection of the God who saved us.

To that, I say, “yes and amen”! Let us get everyone saved – obedient to the faith – and God will be glorified. Certainly! But here is the thing, if obedience to the faith is Paul’s only purpose in writing this letter – and it would have been fine if it is since it is truly a grand and glorious goal – but if that is it, if that is all there is to it, then the rest of what Paul says in verses 6 – 7, only sound like closing salutations to the introduction, sweet talk before the meat of the message, appetizers before the main dish, and we need not give them a second glance.

But what if, what if Paul’s purpose in writing this letter is two-fold or a little more complex than we first thought it was? What if his grand overarching goal is to “bring about the obedience of faith” and what if part of the pathway or part of the strategy of helping these Roman believers and us to be obedient to the faith, is simply reminding us of who we are in Christ Jesus?

If this is true – if it is true that Paul wants obedience to the faith and that he also knows that the main barrier to our obedience to God is found in our misunderstanding of our true identity, then his final words pack way more punch when he says that the Romans and we are “called to belong to Jesus Christ” that we are “loved by God and called to be saints”who are the recipients of “Grace… and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”.

Can you see it? Can you feel it? Sometimes we shift in our seats when we hear someone say that they want us to be obedient to the faith. We think things might get legalistic or we start to worry about the impossibility of perfect obedience. But Paul knows that while perfect obedience belongs to only one man who is Christ our Savior, he also knows – beyond a shadow of a doubt – that obedience to the faith is more than attainable for a blood bought child of God who knows exactly who he or she is in Christ Jesus.

An enemy of God does not belong to Jesus and cannot live in obedience to the faith. An enemy of God has not received the lavish love of God in Christ Jesus and therefore cannot live in obedience to the faith. An enemy of God is not a saint – someone who has been chosen, selected, and set apart for the good works of holiness – and therefore cannot live in obedience to the faith. Grace has not saved an enemy of God and there is no peace between God and his enemy, therefore that enemy can never obey the faith, unless that enemy becomes a child of God.

That is exactly how Paul describes the Romans and all who have believed upon the name of Jesus for salvation: he describes them as children of God or once upon a time enemies of God who have become God’s children – those who belong to God.

As God’s children, we belong to Jesus and can be obedient to the faith. We have been covered in the lavish love of Jesus and can be obedient to the faith. We are saints – made holy, set apart for the special enjoyment of our Good Father – so we can be obedient to the faith. We have been saved by grace, through faith, and are at complete peace with God – no longer his enemies, now his beloved children – so we can be obedient to the faith!

Can you see it now? Can you feel it now? Paul’s purpose is not merely obedience to the faith; it is to establish our own identity in Christ so that we can walk in obedience to the faith. Paul’s main objective is to help people obey the calling of God on their lives, to submit to his saving and purifying reign and rule over their lives as his blood-bought children who have been graciously saved, lavishly loved, and set apart as God’s special instruments of reflection – godly mirrors – on this earth.

WHY DOES ANY OF THIS MATTER TO US?

Can you see why I said at the beginning of this message, that there is far more than meets the eye in a cursory reading of the text today? It is so much more than a brief introduction before the meat of the letter. This is no appetizer before the main course; this is part of the main dish! Soon you will see that Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit has packed every bite of this meal throughout the book of Romans with some of the most nutritious spiritual meat you could ever eat.

But we still need to ask: What difference does this make for us today? How should we apply these verses to our own lives as we walk out that door and head back into the week ahead of us?

We could discuss how we should all seriously consider our own calling to advance the gospel in our community and beyond. We could also discuss how we should all become more familiar with the historic message of the gospel. We could also discuss how we should all learn to raise our expectations of people becoming obedient to the gospel. Those would be good discussions to have. But I think they would miss the main point of the text.

You see, at the end of the day, I think we all need to walk out of here holding onto the truth of our identity in Christ. We need to hold onto the truth that we who are believers – broken as we may be – belong to Jesus. We are deeply loved by our Good Father. We are the undeserving recipients of God’s grace and because of Christ, we are at peace with God for all of eternity – come what may – we are children of God.

That is our identity: We belong to God. Christ purchased us as his own belongings. We have been lavished in the love of God even though we once deserved the wrath of God. We are objects of God’s affection because of the grace and mercy that he bestowed upon us. We are no longer enemies of God, slaves to sin, or sons and daughters of the darkness of Satan, sin, and Death. We are called by God to serve him with every ounce of Spirit-filled energy we have. All of this because, we are blood-bought children of God.

CONCLUSION…

In conclusion, I need to say that your sense of identity will either advance or hinder the work of the gospel in and through you. Remember who Paul saw when he looked in the mirror? He knew where he came from and he knew how he currently struggled. But he identified himself as a servant of God, called by God, sent by God, set apart by God.

Paul could confidently say these things about his own identity because he knew the identity of the One who had saved him: the promised Savior, one hundred percent human/divine, crucified, risen, and returning. It was in light of the gospel – or better yet the point of the gospel who is Jesus – that Paul could stand firm in his own identity as a blood-bought child of God. And then out of that deep sense of who he was, in light of whom his Savior is, Paul could plead for obedience to the faith in light of the true identities of his listeners.

Who do you think you are when you look into the mirror? How do you describe yourself in your darkest moments? Could it be, that that negative image of yourself, is a reflection of your faulty picture of who Jesus actually is? Is there something in Paul’s description of Jesus that you need to allow the Holy Spirit to challenge you with? What piece of that description of Jesus do you need to wrestle with, or become more familiar with? What words – that Paul used to describe himself or the Roman believers – do you struggle to apply to yourself the most?

My hope is that as you walk out of here today, that you would spend some time this week, wrestling with the aspects of identity that we have seen in our study today. The depth of our growth in Christ – our ability to grow in obedience to the faith, and the effectiveness of our advancement of the gospel in the world around us, does not rise and fall on our giftedness, talents, or abilities; if will always rise and fall on our own unique understanding of who and whose we are in Christ Jesus. – Amen!

1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).

2 Martyn, Lloyd-Jones, Romans Volume I: The Gospel of God, (Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth, 2018), 3 – 7.

3 R. Kent, Hughes, Romans: Righteousness from Heaven, Preaching the Word Commentary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 1991), 15.