Romans 1:1-7 Podcast - The Book of Romans Podcast Introduction

Grace Coach Podcast

The Book of Romans may just be the most important book in the entire Bible. In each Book of Romans podcast, we will read through the chapters and verses and discuss what it means. Listen in as Mike and Kevin discuss the first seven verses of chapter one.

Transcript:

Want to discover your freedom in Christ, then listen in as Mike Stone and Kevin Smith talk about it today on Grace Coach. Hello. Welcome to Grace Coach. I'm Mike Stone with my good buddy Kevin Smith. How are you, Kevin? Great, Mike. How are you doing? Doing good. I'm excited about what we're about to do here, going through the book of Romans chapter by chapter. Today we'll probably get through half of chapter one. But there's so much in the book of Romans, it's so exciting. Yes, it is. There's so much in the book of Romans, and it is by far my favorite book that in Hebrews neck and neck. But I would say Romans just because it's so laid out and so a lot of just foundational doctrines of the Christian faith just lays it out black and white. But yeah, Romans is an awesome book. It has a lot to do with Jesus Christ and the Grace of God that he has manifested to the world. Such a powerful book looking at. There's lots of commentary, lots of stuff on the Internet about Romans, just from what I could see, Kevin, it looks like the book of Romans is written to Christians who are both Jewish and Gentile, because there's a lot of mention of the Jew and the Gentile. And really, that makes up all of people because if you're not a Jew, you are a Gentile. So that's written to all people. Now, he was written to Christians in Rome. But even I know for me before I was a Christian, I would still go through different scriptures and you could read the book of Romans and hear it and be saved through some of these verses that our Salvation verses that you can understand. That chapter five talks about how we came into this world spiritually dead in Adam, and that was all people. And then in chapter five, he talks about that Jesus Christ is the answer to spiritual death. So it's definitely in this first chapter, there's a sin, there's a barrier that stands in between the whole world. Every person. There is a barrier that stands between you and God. There's a little booklet, the four spiritual Laws that draws out across between two mountains, and there's God on one side of the mountain and you on the other side. And the only thing that can bridge the Chasm between you and God is the cross, and you turn the page and then across there and where people have the opportunity to walk across the chasm of sin in order to become saved. So it's the Roman rose. Absolutely. When I look at what Paul wrote about Jews and Gentiles in the book of Romans, and I see that his attempt might have also been to encourage a unity in the faith between the Jew and the Gentile, because there was such a riff between the two groups as there's still a rift today, there's a wall of hostility. And as he writes to the Gentile and he goes through the history of the Gentiles, and he goes through in chapter two and three when he talks about the Jew and their history, and then he says finally in chapter three, that all have sinned, all are alike under sin. Jew and Gentile, all born into this world the same way, spiritually dead, separated from God, condemned for hell, and it's for all people. So I can see his reasoning and writing this to really unify Jews and Gentiles to say, hey, Jew, the Gentiles no different than you and vice versa to the Gentile. The Jew is no different than you. You might have different religions and different practices, but you're all coming to this world the same way, and Jesus is the only answer to both of you. The Apostle Paul did a masterful job in basically arguing his case. He lays out his case for Salvation through Christ in a masterful way in this whole that's really why I like it, because he talks to each group of people. He talks to the Jews, he talks to the Gentiles, he talks to all of them at once. He condemns everybody under the law, the Jews that are trying to live under law. There's absolutely no way you can make it to God living under the law. And he just does a masterful job of looking at every because, you know, he's had these arguments with people, and now he's putting them in the book, and he's just reiterating what he's already talked about with other people, which is so cool. Yeah, it is cool. Let's read chapter one, verses one through six, and then let's talk about it. But why don't you read one through six? Super Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an Apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God. It's going to be hard for me to read this and not stop and talk about things. The Gospel of God, the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the 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 receive Grace and Apostleship to call people from among all Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. Yeah. So let's go through some of these verses here and talk about it. In the first verse, it says, Paul's, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an Apostle and set apart for the gospel of God. And so we know that in the Book of Acts, on the road to Damascus, Jesus confronted Paul and says, Paul, Paul, why are you doing what you're doing? And Paul at that time was going into Christian homes. He was taking Christians to jail. He was murdering Christians. His name was Saul at the time. He was there at Steven's death, giving approval. And then so after a certain time, God had enough of this guy and says, I'm going to use this guy to proclaim the gospel to the world. He was an unlikely candidate. Right. Because in the Book of Galatians, in chapter two, they didn't believe that Paul really had an encounter with Jesus. They were still afraid of them. Absolutely. There's some great Christian movies that. Well, they're great Christian movies because they proclaim the gospel. But compared to Hollywood's movies, of course they're Christians, so they don't have the budget. But, man, there's been some that have just shown how the disciples were scared of Paul. They didn't want him to come because they were like hiding from the Romans. Right. They didn't want to get persecuted. Definitely. After hearing Paul going with letters of recommendation to go and capture Christians, I mean, he had a bad reputation, bro. Well, he was doing some bad things and hurting people and hurting Christians. Who would do that. Right. Who would just look for people who are putting their faith in Christ and take them out and hurt them, murder them. But he was doing that. So he God came face to face with him on the road to Damascus. And so that's what this first verse is talking about, that he was called to be in the gospel and set apart. And it says the gospel that he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his son Jesus. And so we're talking about the Old Covenant promises. There's over 350 prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus. At least 350. Yeah, there's a lot of prophecies. And the thing I like about this verse, verse two, but he is referring to God. God promised. And we talked about the Hebrew written to definitely Jew and Gentile Christians. We can see that as we read through it. But people who are not saved and then become saved. Yeah, absolutely. That reminds me when I became a Christian, I mean, the guy led me down the quote, Roman roads. I kind of remember a lot of them. Romans 323, Romans 623, Romans ten, nine and ten, all of them. Basically, you have to admit that you're a sinner. You have to acknowledge Jesus Christ is the answer to your sin problem. This big barrier of sin that stands between as we read even six, where God made an oath and a promise. It's like when God promises something, it's rock solid. Yeah. And, hey, he's promised us work things together for good. I think the greatest promise is the Rapture to come. I mean, that could happen at any time. That could happen down the road, whether we're here or not. But just because something isn't here yet doesn't mean it's not going to happen. It's going to happen because God did promise these things. And yes, this is a perfect example that he promised the savior, Jesus Christ was going to come into this world hundreds of years before he actually did. And it says that he was a descendant of David. And we see that if you read through Matthew, chapter one, you could read through the lineage. And in one six, it talks about that King David was part of the lineage that eventually Jesus was going to come through. In regards to this, the descendant of David, he was from the tribe of Judah. And if there's any kind of solid case for somebody, if you're talking to somebody who's like, wait, we've still got to live under the law and obey the Ten Commandments. This verse verse where it says he's descending a day from the tribe of Judah. It doesn't actually say tribe of Judah here, but we know he was from the tribe of Judah, not from the tribe of Levi. Okay. And so that disqualifies him from being a priest in the line of the law. So we all know there's a new Covenant, and Jesus is the author of the New Covenant and he's the high priest of the New Covenant. And it's different from the Levite tribes. He's not a Levite. That's right. That was an earthly Ministry of man that performed all kinds of religious sacrifice duties, sacrifice of animals. But here in verse four, it says that he was a descendant of David, and through the spirit of Holiness that Jesus was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, notice that he wasn't appointed the Son of God through his death on the cross. No, he was not taking away our sins as creative as an event. That was that was the Good Friday event when he took away the sins of the world. So he wasn't appointed through the spirit of Holiness and appointed the Son of God through the cross, but through his resurrection. Yes. That a dead man named Jesus is now alive, right? Absolutely. And the resurrection has given us life. That's right. And the same spirit that rose Jesus from the dead is what lives in us and raises us from the dead when we put our faith in Christ. So the resurrection is really Paul is saying is the key here that Jesus was appointed the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead. And it says through him we receive Grace and Apostleship to call the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name's sake. And Kevin, you're like, well, is he calling only the Gentiles? Here is this letter only to the Gentiles. And Paul made a switch in the Book of Acts that he was going to after he was converted and he became a Christian and he went out to the masses. He first went to the Jew, he went into the synagogue, but it says that they wouldn't listen. And in Acts 28, he finally says, I am going to the Gentiles because they will listen. Yeah. So that is why he's writing that through him we receive Grace and Apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith, although we're going to see he's going to be also talking to the Jews. But Paul, his main mission was to go to the Gentiles. Yes. Because they would listen. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Finish this up. Yeah. No. And there will be a time just before the Rapture when the last Gentile comes to believe that there will be a switch that no longer will God be going to the Gentiles. As we can see today, most churches are filled with Gentiles, but that it will be going to Israel after the last Gentile is ushered in. And that's in the book of Romans, too. That's just a mind blowing concept to think. When you read some of the things that it says about the nation of Israel and Jewish people from our perspective today, it's really hard to see that. But it's in black and white in the scripture, and it's going to happen to some degree, and God is going to make it happen. We're going to be sitting there with our jaws dropping like, oh, my gosh, look what just happened. Another promise will be fulfilled. It's hard to imagine right now. Yes. But you know what? I want to bounce back to verse five where it says to the obedience that comes from faith. And I think that's such a unique little turn of a phrase because very rarely do we combine obedience with faith. When we talk about obedience, we talk about, oh, my gosh, I've got to obey, got to do this, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's such a drudgery. But Paul says, I just read the whole package so people can catch it again through him. And for his name's sake, we receive Grace and appolloship to call people from among all Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. Your obedience is a result of your faith, and your faith is about belief. And so the essence of it is your belief in faith and your obeying the

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gospel. Yeah. That this is not about our good works doing good or bad things. This is about believing in these Scriptures. Right. Believe in Salvation. It's about Salvation that you come to Christ by faith and you're obedient to that. So you put your faith in Christ. John 316 Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. And when you do that, when you put your faith in Christ and believe in him, you just become obedient to the faith. Right. So that's a great point there. Yeah. Beautiful. The way he puts that. Yeah. I think most people really struggle when they see that word obedience, just like you said. All of a sudden it turns to them, and am I doing enough? Am I sinning or not sinning? What did I think about yesterday, Paul? Is not talking about obedience to the law, right. The obedience in believing the gospel and being born again. Beautiful. Amen. Great point. So yeah, verse seven, we'll wrap it up here, Kevin, that says to all in Rome who are loved by God and call to be his Holy people, Grace and peace to you from God our father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. So there it's clearly saying Paul is saying writing to those loved by God and called to be his Holy people, those are born again Christians and again, both from a Jewish and Gentile background. Again, we'll see that as we go through this. But if you are in Christ and born again, you have the Holy one Jesus living inside of you and he makes you Holy. And that is why you're a Holy person, because you have the Holy Jesus living inside of you. I know you're reading the NIV version and I actually am reading the NIV too and I know you do the 1985 or before. After whatever. So must have a different my verse seven says called to be Saints instead of Holy people. Kind of the same thing. Same thing. The point I'm trying to make is that this is not the only time Paul addresses new testament epistle to Saints. He doesn't call them hey, you centers there in Rome or centers over there in Corinth, but he addresses them as Saints and I think that is something that we cannot hear enough in the Christian world. We're beaten up and we beat ourselves up sometimes we're our worst critic when we do things. But the Apostle Paul addresses this Church as called to be Saints, Amen and everything else. But if you're a Christian, you are a Saint who sometimes sins and does stupid things. But your first and foremost identity is a Saint, a beloved child of God. You are the Apple of God's eye. The Bible says he has lavished his love on you. Lavished his love on you in Christ. So I hope all you guys out there listening just soak this up and believe it in your hearts and when things aren't going right, just go to the word of God and just soak your mind in it. Thank you for listening to Grace co coach. If you want to connect with us, we would love to engage with you. Email us at the [e-mail], visit our Facebook page or visit our website. Gracecoach.org.