Was formed by people who were saved, probably a number of them saved even on the day of Pentecost. And then throughout the ministry of the apostles, as they traveled around, we find Aquila and Priscilla here, who, who Paul met up with in Corinth and Ephesus. Now they have gone back to their home, which is Ro- in Rome. So these believers had gathered together, and there were various churches, not one church in, in the Roman area. It's a big city. It was the center of the world in many aspects. But because Paul had not been there, what Paul does in this book is he lays out for them the gospel in its clearest sense. This book, it's funny how people can do this. This book is sometimes used in colleges, secular colleges, to teach a literary style of argument, and they can go through and see Paul's argument where he does everything, and yet they can deny the truths that are in this book, and that is just amazing that that they will do that. But this book unfolds for us the clearest presentation of the gospel. I'm always struck, you know, what Paul prays, asks for prayer in scripture. He asks for boldness, and I think if Paul needs boldness, what do I need? He asks for clarity. I think this guy wrote the, wrote the Roman epistle. Uh, he gives a clear understanding. Um, the most complete expansion of the great truths of the gospel of God's grace in all of scripture are right here in this book. That is the theme. If you wanted one word theme of this book, it's gospel. This is about the gospel, or another way to say it is the righteousness that comes from God. The gospel, the good news, is that we can obtain this righteousness. If you look to this book, the first eight chapters of this book are going to unfold doctrinal truths to us. Chapters nine through eleven are going to unfold dispensational truths to us, and the last section of this book is going to unfold our duty as believers on how we respond to the truths he's given us. Uh, one guy broke it down this way: the righteousness needed by sinful man, the righteousness provided by God, the righteousness received through faith, the righteousness experienced in the soul, the righteousness guaranteed as a permanent blessing, the righteousness rejected by the Jewish nation, and the righteousness manifested in practical life. This is about the righteousness of God, the righteousness that comes from God, and as Romans will unfold for us, it has nothing to do with our own. Those we would classify as works, and if I was getting to heaven by my works, then I would deserve a wage to be paid, but the, but we say that the salvation we have is not by works, but it is rather a gift. That's right. I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last. As it is written, the righteous will live by faith. Let's pray as we undertake this, this great book. Father, we just come before a mountain, a mountain of, of your wonderful truth. And Lord, I confess my inadequacy, but I'm thankful that the scripture is here before us, because your scripture is adequate to reach the hearts of every believer here. And I pray as we unfold this book that that's exactly what you would do. You would renew in us the wonderful truths of the righteousness that is from you, the good news of the gospel, that you would stir our hearts, Lord, to respond to your great mercies by the offering of our own lives. We would just ask that even this morning, as we just introduced this book, that these truths would begin to seep into our hearts, to make them fresh again in our lives, that we would grow in our love and desire to serve you. I ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Will you stand together with me? I'm, I'm only going to take the first seven verses today. Romans chapter one, verses one through seven. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God. The gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints, grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll stop there for today. You may have a seat. Just as in the way of introducing this book, I, these first seven verses give us Paul's introduction, and and they give us three things. They tell us about Paul, the person, and I think as we look at this, we can understand the kind of things God is calling or wants us to be. Um, you know, our example is Jesus Christ, but Paul could write, follow my example as I follow the example of Jesus Christ. He could write in Philippians three, join with others in following my example. So what we have before us is we see a little bit of the heart of Paul. We see an example that, that we can measure ourselves against in terms of one who has committed his life to following him. We also see in this introduction Paul's message. He gives it out. He's going to go into great detail about this. He's going to, he's going to give us the background for the need of the gospel, and he's going to show us this righteousness from God and the effect it has on us. But right here in this little passage, he gives us some basic truths about his gospel, his message. And for us, it's our message. It is the gospel message that you and I are given to unfold. And finally, Paul tells a little bit about those who are receiving this letter. And we are receiving this letter, so those truths apply to us as well. Let's just take a look at those one at a time. We're going to first look at the author, or Paul, and what he has to say about himself in this, in this short little passage. He first of all starts off by identifying himself as a servant, as a servant. For those of you who took Greek this weekend, what word is that? Goulos. A servant. He, he sees himself as, as one who was, um, you could actually translate that word to be slave. It carries with it the idea of one, one who was purchased, one who was, who was brought unto this one and made himself a slave. The... Paul is here, and you see, by the way, um, James in his, in his epistle calls himself a servant. You see Peter referring to himself that way. You see Jude referring to himself that way. The idea is this is, these are people who have made themselves voluntarily servants unto Jesus Christ, recognizing their place. In the Old Testament, if you remember, there was the opportunity if someone, you know, had a bad year and the crops went boom, and I'm, I'm in trouble, I can't support my family anymore, what do I do? I sell myself to be a slave. And they were supposed to work for six years, and on the seventh year they were to be set free. That was, that was the Old Testament rule. But occasionally there were those that said, you know what? I've been a lot better off as a slave than I ever was on my own. My master loves me. He takes good care of me and my wife and my kids here. You know what? I don't want to be set free. So he became a bond slave. He became one who they would take to the doorpost and they'd push an awl through the air, and he became a servant for life. That's the idea that Paul is conveying. And if we understand our master, we we had that verse quoted, we've confessed him as Lord. That idea doesn't carry much to us today because we are all independent. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. America, the American ideal, I can have my own way, I can do. That's that's the culture in which we live. We don't understand the idea of a Lord or a master who, who is over us, but that is w- who we are to confess to, Jesus as my Lord. But if we understand this master, if we understand this Lord, if we understand that he loves me more than I love myself, if we understand that he loves and cares for me and is more interested in the things of my life than I am. Then I say, why do I want to be in charge? No, I will become like Paul. I will become like the other apostles who will say, yes, I am a servant of Jesus Christ. So there's my position. You know, it's a- it's interesting. Here's, he's writing to these Roman believers. Here's the great Apostle Paul introducing himself, and this is the first thing he says about himself. We want, we, people like to lift titles, don't they? Don't they love to have all kinds of titles? You know, you, you, you see somebody's name followed by all of these letters. Some of them I know what they mean, and some of them I have no idea. But, but boy, isn't that impressive? And, you know, I, so every once in a while I get pieces of mail addressed to Reverend Jeff Olive, and I just want to scream. That's not the title I would like to have. No, the title that all of us ought to hold. Here's the great Apostle Paul. What's his title? First and foremost, I'm a servant of Jesus Christ. Let that be our priority. There's my position. And then he mentions secondarily, that he is called to be an apostle. He's actually a called apostle, would be a literal translation of this. The to be is not in there. He is a called apostle. That means he has been given a very specific task and direction from God. An apostle is simply one who is sent. That's what the word means. But Paul is a called apostle. He's one that sits in a very special position. First Corinthians nine one, Paul says, am I not free? Am I not an apostle? And here's the key, he says, have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work? One of the things that was about the apostles who were called, the called apostles, one of the requirements is that they had seen the Lord Jesus Christ. I would dare submit that there's nobody in this room who qualifies, okay? I would dare submit that there's nobody on this planet who qualifies for that title in the sense that Paul is using this here. Now, we can be apostles, in other words, we can be sent ones. Indeed, I, I think perhaps a year from now we're going to send a couple people from the front row out of this country to be missionaries in another land. They could be apostles in that sense, those that are sent, certainly, but not in this sense of one who is a called apostle as the Apostle Paul. Um, he also writes this, this is kind of interesting, about his apostleship. In, in First Corinthians fifteen, when Paul talks about the gospel, he gives it there, right? First Corinthians three and four, that Christ died for our sins, right? Was buried, and on the third day rose again, according to the scriptures, okay? And then, and then that he appeared, and he mentions Peter, and he mentions the other apostles, and he mentions him appearing to over five hundred of the brethren at the same time, many of whom are still alive. And then he says in verse eight, and last of all, he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born, for I am the least of the apostles, and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God, but by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. There's the Apostle Paul's view of his apostleship. Yes, he wa- he is a called apostle, one abnormally born, one who doesn't even deserve that because he was ber- busy persecuting the Church of God when he was called. And yet he's one that, by the grace of God, stands in this position and is being used. And then he says, um, third thing he says in this first verse is that he is set apart for the gospel of God. He is set apart for the gospel of God. You know, I, I love this. When we are set apart in God's plan, we are set apart to something, not from something. You know, the actual word Pharisee means separated one. They considered themselves set apart, separated from everybody else. But God's call on us is not to set us apart from, but to set us apart to. In other words, the idea is that Paul was not going to isolate himself and become some, um, buddy living off where nobody would have anything to do with him, but that he would see himself as one who was sent and yet set apart for a purpose. And his purpose is set apart for the gospel, the gospel that is working today. Colossians one verses five and six, The faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world, this gospel is bearing fruit and is growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace and all its truth. This gospel is something that bears fruit and grows. You ever ask yourself the question, what am I here for? Why am I here? Why, when God saves me, doesn't he take me out of here? I mean, heaven's a wonderful place, right? I want to go there. Yeah, the children's song. Heaven's a great place. I mean, Paul could acknowledge in Philippians one, you know, um, I don't know, he's not in prison, and they're they're talking about killing me, and that may happen, you know, but he says it's better by far if I die and go to be with Christ. But, but what should I choose? I'm torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, but it's more necessary for you that I remain. So heaven's a wonderful place. Why did he leave you here? I, I would submit that he has a call on your life. I would submit that he has a purpose, that he wants you to be a part of this growing gospel. He wants it to be bearing fruit in your life, and he wants it to be shared from your life, that the gospel will continue to bear fruit and grow in others. My duty, um, you know, I don't know about you, but I find it easy to get distracted in this world in which we live. I find it very easy in this materialistic world in which we live to get very distracted from what's most important. I'm not here to build my bank account. I'm not here to get a new car. I'm not here to get a better job. I'm not here to have a nicer house. Those things are not the purpose that God has me here for. God may bless me with those things. He's a, he's a loving father who enjoys giving good things to his children, but that's not why I'm here. We've got two personalities in our household, more than that, but two general categories. We have the focused and the distracted. The focus gets on a task, and that task is going to get done no matter what else is going on. And I get, you know, someone could die next to you. Excuse me, I can step over, you're in my way. That's, that's, that's the focused. You can ask my family later who those people belong to. The others are the distracted, you know? They start a job, and to finish this job, they need to get this. But by the time they go over to this, they see that this needs to be done. And so they start on this, but finishing this needs to do this. And by the time they get over here, they get started on this job, and this never gets done. And by the time they've done, they've done a whole bunch of nothing. They've done a little bit here, a little bit there, and say, what happened to my day? You know those people? Okay. Perhaps you can relate to one of those two, uh, two, two persons. You know what? Both of them get us in trouble. The focused people lose sight of the opportunities that God puts in their path because it wasn't on their agenda. And the distracted people lose sight of the focus of what God has put us here for. What am I here for? I am, I am like Paul, set apart. God has set me apart for a purpose. What is it for? He jumps down, just finishing what Paul has to say to- about himself in verse five. through him and for his namesake we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles. Paul understands that that which he has, he has received. That which, the position that he's in, the call that he's given, the the abilities he's been given. Paul understands that his apostleship and his grace were things were received. They were received through Jesus Christ. Every good and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly nights, lights, among whom there is no variance, no shadow of turning. He remains constant. He is the giver of good things. Paul understood that the place he was in was something that was received, and he also understood that it is through him, through Christ, and for his name's sake. In other words, the things I've been given, that Paul understood the things he'd received, were given unto him to bring glory back to the name of Jesus Christ. They were not given unto him so that Paul could be exalted. They were given unto him so that Jesus Christ may be exalted. And his specific call was to call people from among all the Gentiles. In Acts chapter nine, after Paul's conversion, you remember, um, Ananias is told, I want you to go over to this house. There's a man there, Paul, he's blind, he's waiting for you to come. And Ananias is going, Lord, uh, the guy you're talking about, Saul, uh, he came here with the i- instructions and the authority to arrest Christians. You don't really want me to go to this guy. And the Lord says, yeah, yeah, he's the guy he wants you to go to. And he says, this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. And it also goes on to say, and I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake. This guy Paul was given a specific call. Uh, I would, I would just again share with you that so have you, so have I. And the key is, if we can understand this, is, is the place I'm at, and the things God has given me are from his hand. And sometimes I think, if only I could be like so and so. If only I could be doing this. If only I could be free from this burden and have more time over here. If only my, my kids weren't driving me nuts so I could do this. If, if only my husband wasn't driving me nuts, so I, if only my wife wasn't limiting me and not allowing me to go hunting all the time. If only I could do this and that and the other. We have all kinds of things we say. I would say that the place, the position where you're at is where God has planted you right now. Grow in it. Grow in it. Let the gospel bear fruit and grow in your life. Let the gospel have its way in changing you. Let the gospel be used in your circle, whether it be with your children, your family, and your relatives, and the people you meet at the store, and the people with whom you work, and the people with whom you go to school, and the people you meet on the street. Let that gospel grow where God has planted you. Now, God may later put a different call on your life. He may move you somewhere else. Somehow he took my daughter, and he's moving her to Pennsylvania, and then from there he's moving her to Israel. I want to tell you that that was not my plan, but I understand it's God's plan, and so I rejoice, and I pray that that Norman and Leanne will grow and prosper where God has planted them with the position and the abilities God has given them. But you don't need to go there. He might call you there. He may not. Paul understood that what he had, he had received, and it was good, and he's put me where I'm at so that I can grow and prosper to bring glory and honor to the name of Christ. Well, the next thing Paul deals with, and he deals with it right o- right away, he mentions it in verse one, set apart for the gospel, and then he goes on to explain the gospel. This is, this is the message. This is the message that he is calling us to. Turn with me just for a minute to second Timothy. Timothy chapter two. In, in Romans, Paul refers to this as whose gospel? God's gospel. In second Timothy chapter two and verse eight, huh listen to what he says. It so parallels what we have here. Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained. Wait, Paul, this is God's gospel. How you come you're calling it my gospel? Paul is relating there to Timothy that this message is the message that is personal to him. Why? Because it is the message that saves him. It is the message that he had been given a commission to share. You and I can share that same way. This gospel, which is God's gospel, is also my gospel, and he gives the basic elements of this gospel. He starts off and he says, it is the gospel of God. It is the gospel of God. It is God's. In other words, this plan is something that didn't come from some other source, but from God himself. God had planned this thing. He planned it when? How long ago? Did he look down when Adam and Eve sinned and went, oh no, what am I going to do now? These people blew it, and here I put them in this perfect environment, and I thought everything was going to be okay. Oh, I'm in trouble. We got to come up with a plan. Is that when God did it? No. First Peter one twenty says that Jesus was chosen before the creation of the world, but revealed in this last time for your sake. He was chosen before the creation of the world. I've, I've had students ask me before, Mr. Olive, I don't understand. If God knew ahead of time what we were gonna do, and he knew ahead of time that the only way to take care of the sin problem was for his own son to die on the cross, why did he ever make us in the first place? You know, Michael's, Michael just bought himself with his birthday money a Lego, um, robot thing, okay? These things are incredible. M- Michael's into robotics. I think he wants to be a robotics engineer when he grows up. That's kind of his mindset. So, and so he's practicing making these little droids, and and he he started on it last night. He and Norman were were working diligently, and they've built half of this thing. I want to tell you something. When Michael gets this thing done, and he's got this creation that you can actually program to do all these different actions, if it doesn't work right, he's not going to go die for it. In fact, if it doesn't work right, its days may be numbered. So why God? Why did God have this gospel plan? Well, part of that is revealed to us through God's desire. In second Peter three, when it talks about the judgment coming, it says that, you know, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slow. And see, God's not slacking off here. Okay? The judgment hasn't come. Why hasn't it come yet? Well, this is the reason he says. He says he's patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. God had a desire for you and I to enter into a relationship of intimate fellowship with him. He created us to be able to respond to his love. He created us with the will to be able to choose, and his desire, his patience in pouring out his judgment is waiting for us to respond to the payment he's provided through his son. Turn back with me to John chapter six for a minute. John's gospel, chapter six, starting in verse thirty seven. John chapter six, verse thirty seven. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise him up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. We, the body of Christ, the church, the bride of Christ, are a gift from the Father to the Son. God's purpose and God's design in his creation of us was that those that would respond to his love would be given unto the Son, and he shall lose none of all the Father has given him. What a blessed promise. This gospel of God was promised by God, and you know something? God never breaks a promise. Have you ever made a commitment to something and then realized afterwards, I should have never committed to that? Have you ever made a commitment to something and realized I can't do that? I had a young man, um, Friday, as I was down at the school picking up some papers, he said, Mr. Oliver, are you going to be here on Monday? And I said, Lord willing. And he said, no, that's not good enough. I want to know, are you going to be here on Monday? And I said, Lord willing is the best I can do for you, sir. I don't know if I'm going to be alive on Monday. And he looked at me, goes, oh yeah. And he just, he didn't understand that concept of Lord willing. I can't make a commitment to be down at Burley Bible Christian School on Monday morning at nine o'clock. I can say, yes, I will try to be there. Yes, I have a responsibility to be there to teach classes that morning. Do I know I'll be there? No, I can't say that. I can't make that kind of promise. Every promise that I can make, every commitment that Jeff Olive can make has to attach to it, Lord willing. Because apart from the Lord allowing it to happen, I don't even know if I'll be there. Neither do you. Our life's a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. So we don't boast about what we're going to do. We say, if it's the Lord's will, I will do this or that. But when God makes a promise, does he have to break it? Is something going to surprise God along the way, go, oh, I made that promise and now I can't keep it. That's ridiculous. God knows the beginning from the end. God sees all things. When God makes a commitment, he does not break it. This gospel was promised by God beforehand. Do you remember when sin first took place in the garden? God came down. Where are you, Adam? Man did not look for God. God was looking for man. And then he pronounced the judgments that would take place. And you know what? God let Adam know right from the beginning that the sin problem was going to take care of. Genesis three fifteen, I will put enmity between you and the woman. This is speaking to the devil. And between your offspring and hers, he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. The seed of the woman would crush the serpent's head. And then when Abraham was called, God gave Abraham a promise. He said, I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who curse you, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. Later on, in Genesis twenty two eighteen, we're told that that blessing is going to come through his seed. And as Gala- Galatians points out, it doesn't say seeds in the plural, it says seed singular. It is through the person of Jesus Christ, the gospel announced ahead of time. What about Moses? You know what Moses was told? He reveals to us in Deuteronomy eighteen verses fifteen and eighteen, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. Verse eighteen, I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command you. Moses was given the prophet that there would be one who would come, who would speak forth the word of God. What about David? David was told, your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me. Your throne will be established forever. All of these promises were given to each of the patriarchs along the way. God had promised his gospel from the very beginning. He promised by his prophets in the Holy Scripture. I could give you many, but let me give you just probably the most beautiful one, Isaiah ah fifty three verses five and six. And here's what it says. But he, speaking of the servant, he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Was it Ironside that said, go in at the first, I'll come out at the last? Was that who did that? Oh, he quoted somebody else. Guy, guy met somebody, didn't have time to sit down and explain the gospel, told him, turn to Isaiah fifty three six, go in at the first, all come out at the last, you'll be saved. We all have gone astray, all of us, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. The promise of this gospel given beforehand in the scripture by his prophets. And then Paul tells us one last thing about this gospel. Not only is it God's gospel, not only was it promised ahead of time, but this gospel is regarding his son. The gospel is about Jesus Christ. When we are proclaiming the gospel, the good news, you know what we're doing? We're telling people about Jesus because the gospel surrounds him. He is the center of the gospel, and the event of his dying on the cross and raising again are the heart of our gospel message. It surrounds him. It talks, he talks about his human nature. Now, that's kind of an interesting statement, you know. If I, if I go to talk about Dave Giffin, I don't say, you know, as, as to Dave's human nature, I, I don't say such things. Why? Because Dave doesn't have another nature. I don't, I don't, I don't talk that way. Dave is, is human. That's, that's, he's not divine. Sorry to disappoint you, Dave. He, he knows that. You know, there are people who talk about us being little gods. It's blasphemy. As to his human nature, we're talking about somebody who is who? He's God's son. If he's God's son, he is deity. As to his human nature, he's a descendant of David. And it, it's interesting, it talks about, when it, when it says that, um, regarding his son, who as to his human nature was, the, the word, the word was literally means became a descendant of David, okay? Jesus has not been human for eternity past. Jesus became at his incarnation the God man. He became a man and is the eternal God man. He is a unique being in all of creation, in all of the universe, in everything that there is. He is the only one who stands holding that position. This is the one whom the gospel is about. If we deny the humanity of Christ, we deny the gospel, because he is the one who intercedes for us as our high priest. He is the one who's been tempted in all ways as we are, but was without sin. He is the one who understands everything about us because he lived here among us and dwelt, tabernacled in our midst. And yet, at the same time, it doesn't just talk about his human nature, it talks about his, his divine nature, and it talks about this being revealed or proved with power by the Spirit through his resurrection. You know, the resurrection of Jesus Christ did not make him divine. The resurrection of Jesus Christ proved or declared that he was divine. I had to, I had to declare myself still the strongest in my household the other day because of my daughter Kelly. Now, Kelly's not with us a lot of time, you know, she's gone to in Canada going to Bible school. She'll be with us next weekend, but Michael, I think, was convinced, or he had questions about who could win in arm wrestling. So I was forced to arm wrestle my daughter Kelly in order to show that dad still was the strongest. And Michael said, oh wow, because he, he, Kelly, she's strong, by the way, you know, I think Kelly has, has yet to have a guy approach her. I think they're scared to death of her. If they touch her, he'll probably kill her because she's a... I'm not trying to scare all you guys away. Maybe I am, I don't know. Yeah, but, but she's, she's a very strong girl. But I had, I had to declare myself to be the one who remained there. I probably won't stay there for long. I keep telling Michael, someday, Michael, you're going to be the one who's going to be the strongest. He cannot wait for that day. When Jesus rose from the dead, you remember what he said ahead of time? No one takes my life from me. He says, I lay it down, and by my authority, the authority that's been given to me by my Father, I take it up again. When Jesus rose from the dead, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the validation and proof of everything you and I believe. With there's no resurrection, you know what? We may as well fold the doors of this place and go home. What are we doing down here? There's no reason for us to be here. You may as well forget Christianity, because without the resurrection, there's no hope. But Christ has indeed been raised as the first fruits, and we have the hope of joining him in that resurrection. Well, the final part of this message in this, in this first seven verses is, is addressing who it's written to. And these, I think, are, um, are important because as Paul wrote to these believers he'd never been to, it's almost like he's writing this letter to you and I, because Paul's never visited here, but he's given us this, this gospel account through this book of Romans. Look what he says about him. To all in Rome, first of all, he's addressing everybody, okay? He's not addressing just one church in Rome, and we'll find there were several house churches. He addresses them at the end of this book, but he's addressing it to all in Rome who are, first of all, um, loved by God and called to be saints. Two things that are true about you and I as believers. One is we're called. We are called. It tells us that we are called, first of all, to belong to Jesus Christ. We are called to belong to Jesus Christ. Belong to him. That- that's ownership, that's possession. In First Corinthians nine, six, nineteen, and twenty, he says, do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought at a price. When I talked about Paul being a slave, that's, that's the understanding. If I, if I understand the purchase that was made for me, if I understand the high cost of the one who died for me, that I'm not my own, I've been purchased to belong to him, I give myself willingly as a slave to him. And, and then get this, he says, he preaches this, this message, this is in verse five— to the obedience that comes from faith. Isn't that an interesting thing? The obedience that comes from faith. You know, the whole world lives on a faith that comes from obedience. Did you know that? Most of the world, any religion you study, lives on a faith that comes from obedience. You ask them what they're trusting to get to heaven, and they're trusting their good works. They're trusting their obedience to get them there. They have a faith that comes from obedience. You know what? That's not the faith you and I have. We don't have a faith that comes from obedience. We have obedience that comes from faith. Obedience is the result of faith. Faith is. And by the way, that true faith, the faith that saves, is not alone. We're saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is not alone. That faith is the faith that brings obedience. First Peter chapter one verse two, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctifying work of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood. Jesus Christ has set apart those who are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Jesus Christ has set apart for himself his own precious people to do his good pleasure. We are called unto Jesus Christ through faith unto obedience. It is the evidence of our walk. We are also called to be saints. We're called to be saints. It was asked this morning, why, you know, why did, why did you call people priests? Well, it's because we're all a priesthood. First Peter two nine, you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood. Did you know that's who you are? A chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. Here we go. That you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. We are called to belong to Jesus Christ. We are called to the faith that brings obedience. We are called to be saints set apart unto God. And we are loved. We are loved. By who? By God. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things? We are loved by God, shown by the grace and peace given to us from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. My prayer, I've been praying that this week for myself and for you. My prayer is that we, as we unfold once again the book of, is there anybody here who's never read or gone through the book of Romans? Okay. We're not doing something new here, are we? My prayer is that as we go through this book once again, that it will reignite in us that love for him. That it will reignite in us a willingness as we begin to understand the truths of God's great love for us and the gospel given to us, that what will happen is that this book will make us say, like Paul, I am a slave of Jesus Christ. I am a slave who's been given a call that I've received from God, and my purpose is to go forth in obedience to his will and proclaim the great wonders of God's love to those who need to hear it, which would be everybody, okay? We need to hear it, and those still in darkness definitely need to hear it. Will you pray with me as we go through this book, that all of us will be changed as a result? Let's pray together. Father, we come before you and just thank you for this undertaking that you've led us to, to once again go through this epistle that probably greater than any other sets before us our desperate need. There are, there's none righteous, not even one. There's no one who understands, no one who seeks God. Together we have become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one. Lord, as we have our condition unfolded before us in this book, we also have the privilege of seeing your grace, your love, your gospel message. Lord, may we, like Paul, not be ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power, your power, God, for the salvation of everyone who believes. Lord, I pray that as we go through this book, you would transform our lives. May we even start today, as we've just got a glimpse of your love and your grace and the righteousness that comes from you, that is ours through faith. May we today, even today, say, yes, Lord, I want to be your servant. I want to be known not as some great person, not as someone who's achieved many things on this earth. I want to be known as a servant of Jesus Christ. Lord, may we even this day understand that you've given us a purpose in being here. And whether we're among the focused or the distracted, may we be among those who surrender and say, not my will, but thine be done. May we be used of you to continue to see this gospel grow and bear fruit as it has since the day it began. God, give us an excitement as we unfold the pages of this book, that our lives would be transformed. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Will you stand together with me in closing and lift his name? Lord, my heart can grow so far away and cold, and yet for me the love is still the same. Lord, I've been my knee in awe and fear of thee. Yes, your name, your holy name, Jehovah God Elohim. The way I am, the wisdom I come for her and him. Lord, my heart's desire is to be filled with spirit fire. My purpose is to worship you alone. Open up my soul to worship and adore, to be a fragrance offered to your throne. I lift your name, your holy name, Jehovah God Elohim. The great. That's your prayer. I, I, I know he's gonna answer it. He's gonna open up our hearts to make him have that first place. He deserves it. We need to surrender to him every day and watch what he can do. Let the gospel grow. Go in his name. God bless.