ROMANS 1:1-7 YOUR INVITATION2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Romans 1:1-7 Your Invitation

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015. Well, this evening we are in Romans chapter 1, and we will be looking at verses 1 through 7. And so let's read that, and I'll read that for you here in Romans chapter 1, verses 1 through 7. It says this,

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead."

Through him, we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here in Romans chapter 1 verses 1 through 7, we have Paul's introduction to this letter, his introduction of himself and his addressing who the letter is to. It's to the church that is in Rome. Now, just a little bit of background regarding the book of Romans. At this point, Paul has not been to Rome yet.

He desires to go, he wants to go, and that's why he's writing this letter in preparation for his planned journey to visit the church there that is in Rome.

Paul, at this point in his life, has ministered all over the region where he's been for his missionary journeys, but he's not ventured out as far as Rome. And so he talks about this in chapter 15 of Romans, verse 19. He says, from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum, I have faithfully or fully preached the gospel of Christ.

And so on the far right, you see Jerusalem, and that's where Israel is. But then up north of that is where Antioch is, and that's where Paul was sent out originally with Barnabas. And then they ministered in that whole region of Asia Minor all the way over to Greece. And Paul's been back and forth through those areas several times by this point.

And so as he's writing this letter, he's saying, you know, I've covered this area really well. And I've preached the gospel in all the cities and all the regions of this area. But then you'll notice Rome is across the sea just a bit there in Italy. And so he's not been that far yet as he has been preaching the gospel.

And so what he explains to them is that I'm going to be on my way to Spain, and you'll notice Spain is to the far left. So he wants to take the gospel further. And he explains he wants to go where there's not a foundation built. The gospel hasn't been brought to Spain yet. And so I want to go and take the gospel there. And I want to visit you in Rome on the way, and you guys can help me on my journey. And that's what he says here in Romans chapter 15.

And so as he's writing this, he's near the end of his third missionary journey. He's there in the city of Corinth, and he's planning to return to Jerusalem with, you might remember the gift, the collection that has been taken up among the saints to help the saints at Jerusalem. So he's taking that to Jerusalem and then planning to go to Spain after that and visit Rome on the way.

Now, of course, you know what happens when Paul gets to Jerusalem. His plans change because he gets arrested. And during the process of his trial, as things are not going well, as far as, you know, the bias of the religious leaders is definitely being held to.

Paul appeals to Caesar, and so Paul ends up being taken as a prisoner to Rome to appear before Caesar, where he'll have an opportunity to share the gospel to the emperor, Caesar, of the Roman Empire. And so he does make it to Rome eventually, but it's not quite the same way that he planned to be there.

And so he's writing this letter and introducing himself because while he's planning to go there, he wants to kind of use it to pave the way to let them know he's coming so that when he arrives that they're prepared and they know, you know, who he is and what he is there for. Now as we start out this evening with the book of Romans and we're looking at verses 1 through 7, I've titled the message for us this evening, Your Invitation.

There's a repetition of the word called throughout the verses that we're looking at today. And I want to share that with you with the understanding of this invitation that God has extended to you. And so there's three points I'd like to share with you from our passage this evening. The first point is that you are invited to be part of God's work. As we consider the invitation that God has given to you and to me,

Part of that invitation is to participate in the work that God is doing. And so we'll see that here in verses 1 through 4. Let me read to you again verse 1. It says, And so here he says,

As he introduces himself, he's a bondservant or a slave of Christ, and he is called to be an apostle.

Now this word called, it means to be invited. It's kind of like when you are, the example actually that's given in the definition is being called or invited to a banquet. So you could think about it in those terms. It's an invitation to come and to attend something, to be part of something. And so that's why I'm referring to this as being invited and your invitation, right?

Because, well, there's some connections that we make in our mind regarding the word called, especially, you know, in a biblical connection. Of course, you could have the idea of like a phone call. But when someone says, you know, I'm called to this,

Sometimes we apply some extra, like, this is mandated, this is a must, this is a, you have to, you have no choice, because you're called to do this. And although there's elements of truth to that, there's also the other side where there's this invitation that's extended. And Paul, you could kind of picture it this way, is invited to be an apostle, right?

He's invited. He has the opportunity. It's not forced upon him. He has to be an apostle and he has no choice about it. But God has given him the opportunity and given him the invitation to be an apostle. Now for Paul, that was the part that he played in the work of God. That was the specific thing that God had designed him for, that he was going to be part of the kingdom of God in that way.

But as we consider these things this evening, I'd like to remind you that you also are called in the same sense, in a similar sense. You also have been invited to be part of the work of God. And we spent some time exploring this with the Equipped to Serve course, right? You have a role in the body of Christ. You have an opportunity to serve and to be part of the work of the kingdom of God.

And everybody has different roles. Not, you know, everybody is called to be an apostle, right?

And nobody gets to choose what it is that they're called to do. We don't get to choose our role in the body of Christ, but we're invited by God. He says, here's what I have for you. Here's what I've designed for you. And so you now get the opportunity to choose whether or not you will fulfill your role in the body of Christ and perform the function that he has called you to do. So Paul was called or invited to be an apostle, right?

You have a similar invitation, a call, to be part of the work of God. Now, there are different roles and different functions in the body of Christ, but there's one thing that is consistent to all of us, and that's what we refer to as the Great Commission, or we could also refer to it as the Gospel Commission.

The gospel and the necessity of sharing the gospel is something that, well, we all have that call. We all have that invitation of being part of the work of God in expressing, declaring, and sharing the gospel message. And so Paul goes on here in verse 1 of Romans chapter 1 to say, I'm called to be an apostle separated to the gospel of God.

I'm separated to the gospel, devoted to the gospel. Now, in this, we all have this same separation or devotion or invitation that although you might have a different responsibility within the body of Christ, and there's a variety of roles and responsibilities and ways that God uses us in the idea of ministering to one another.

We all have a part to play in that. But we all have the same part to play as far as, well, the gospel is concerned. That it's our job to represent and declare the gospel to people around us. And so it's an invitation that Paul has received to be set apart unto the declaring and the sharing of the gospel message. Now, the book of Romans is one

Really strongly emphasizing the gospel. Right here in the beginning we can see it. In the next couple verses we'll see he packs together some serious truths in the next couple verses regarding the gospel. But then for the next few chapters, he's going to be exploring different elements of the gospel message and making sure it's all laid out very clear for us. He's kind of working his way systematically to...

Help us understand and bring clarity to the gospel message. And so as you and I study the book of Romans on Wednesday evenings, this is part of our prayer. This is part of what I believe God wants to do for us. And that is, he wants us to become familiar, more familiar with the gospel message, to have a grasp of it. And not just, you know, kind of like the general idea of a sinner's prayer, but to have a

but really the depth of the gospel message. And as we grab hold of the depths of the gospel message, then we'll be able to communicate it with others as God gives us opportunity because you're gonna have an invitation from the Lord to share the gospel. He's gonna give you opportunities to share the gospel with people around you. And so this is appropriate for us as we consider the book of Romans to get a good grasp of

of this message that has been entrusted to us. Well, Paul explains this gospel message a bit more in verse 2. Here's what it says. It says, which he promised, again talking about the gospel, he promised before through his prophets in the holy scriptures. So this gospel that he has been separated to, that he has been invited to share and to participate in,

It's not a message that was unannounced. It's not a message that was unheard of. It was a message that was promised before through the prophets. And so Paul is now referring us back to the Old Testament. And he's saying this message was promised by those that God spoke through throughout Israel's history. And so God promised a savior from the very beginning.

We, of course, see that in Genesis chapter 3 in verse 15 as the Lord is dealing with the serpent after the fall there in the garden. And he says there's good news. There's going to be this...

animosity, this contention between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, but that the serpent's head is going to be crushed. There's good news. That's what the word gospel means. There's good news. And so he's, from the very beginning, letting us know that there's going to be good news. We fell in the garden. We are permanently affected by our sinful nature as a result. That's bad news. But

God says from the very beginning, there's going to be good news to share the redemption plan that he has. You could look at any of the other prophets that we have in the Old Testament, pretty much, and you'll see references to this promised Savior. In Isaiah 9, verse 6, it's a portion we often look at.

Isaiah says, There Isaiah is referring to this Savior that is promised, that will come, this child that is born, this son that will be given.

Daniel talks about him in Daniel chapter 9, specifically verse 25. He gives some time references. He says, know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and 62 weeks. The street shall be built again and the wall even in troublesome times.

And so there Daniel makes reference to the coming of the Messiah at a specific point in time. The Messiah is this promised Savior that we find referenced all throughout the Old Testament. And so Paul says, this is not a new idea, but God's been promising this from the very beginning through his prophets. And then notice he says, in the holy scriptures. And so by saying that, he's referring to the Old Testament.

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as far as our Bibles are concerned, are accurate copies of those holy scriptures. And so we have, you know, accurate copies of the very words of God. And so that's why we take time to read through the word of God. And that's why we take time to study and to teach and to consider and pray through these things because these are the holy scriptures. They are God's words to us.

And so God in his holy scriptures declared ahead of time. He promised ahead of time, I'm gonna provide a savior. And again, here Paul's talking about the gospel. That's the gospel. This fulfillment of the promised savior that God has been declaring would come. Well, then in verse three, it says this, "'Concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, "'who was born of the seed of David, "'according to the flesh.'"

So the prophets had promised beforehand that Jesus would come. Not only would Jesus come, but Jesus would be the Son of God, and Jesus would be born of the seed of David according to the flesh. So he's going to be the Son of God, it says, concerning his son, that is the Son of the Father. Now

Jesus being the Son of God is an important part, it's an important element of the gospel message because it tells us, it means to us that Jesus is not just an ordinary man, not just a good man, but that he is God, that he is equal to God the Father. Sometimes this is kind of watered down or missed as we talk about Jesus being the Son of God, but

I like to remind us, and it's something that we need to remember, that when Jesus claims to be the Son of God, he is claiming to be equal to the Father. He's claiming to be God.

And so that's an important part of the gospel message, that Jesus, being God, became man. And that's why his sacrifice was so meaningful. That's why his sacrifice has infinite value to cleanse us of all sin, because he's not just a man. He is God who became man to die upon the cross for us.

And so God became man, and so he's born of the seed of David according to the flesh. So as far as his physical body is concerned, he is a descendant of David. Now the Gospels record this for us from both sides. And so you have Mary and Joseph as the parents of Jesus, but Mary's the only biological parent of Jesus, and

because, well, she was impregnated by a miracle of the Lord. And so she's, you know, shares a bloodline with Jesus. Joseph does not, but both parents, Joseph and Mary, are descendants of David. And so in the Gospel of Luke, you have a record of the genealogy of Mary, right?

And then, actually, I think it's Matthew. I think I mixed those up. But so, in Matthew, you have the genealogy. No, no, that's right. In Luke, you have the genealogy of Mary. I'm

Working it out in my head as I speak. But so yeah, Luke has the genealogy of Mary. That's the bloodline. So comes from David through Nathan, the son of David, all the way down through Mary, who gave birth to Jesus. And then you have the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 1. It records the genealogy of Joseph. Now, Joseph also was a descendant of David through Solomon.

And that's important because, well, on both sides, Jesus is a descendant of David. So he's of the bloodline of David through David's son, Nathan. But through Joseph as the adopted father of Jesus, Jesus receives the legal right to the throne of David because Joseph was a descendant of David through Solomon, and that was the royal line.

And so in both counts, Jesus is a descendant of David, and it fulfills the promise that God gave to David about the one who would sit on the throne of David, that would be king in his line. It also fulfills the other promises that weren't just given to David, but given through the Lord's prophets throughout Israel's history. So for example, in Jeremiah chapter 23 says,

God speaks about raising up to David a branch of righteousness, a king shall reign and prosper. And

And so Jesus is the fulfillment of that. He is not yet on the throne of David, but he has the right to the throne of David, and he will return, we're looking for him to return very soon, to rule and reign here on the earth in the nation of Israel at the city of Jerusalem. He's going to do that, and he's going to establish a kingdom here. Of course, as believers, we're looking forward to the rapture of the church before that happens, but

But the point is that Jesus has those rights. He's a descendant of David. He's of the proper lineage and the fulfillment of these promises that were given. And so Paul is unpacking this for us so that we understand the gospel. Well, it's about this man, Jesus, who is the son of God, who is the fulfillment of these prophecies as a descendant of David. And this is the gospel that

Paul is invited to be separated too, that he is declaring. Finally, in verse four, it says, And so here we again see the reference to Jesus being the Son of God.

Again, a reference to his equality with God the Father. He is equal to God. And Paul is saying that was declared to be true. That was proven by the resurrection. It was the resurrection that proved Jesus' claims to be equal to the Father.

Throughout Jesus's ministry, he did have that claim. And the religious leaders understood, the people understood that Jesus was making that claim. And that's why several times they picked up stones to try to stone him because they considered it blasphemy because Jesus was claiming to be God. And it would have been blasphemy if Jesus had not been God or equal to the Father.

but he was. And so it wasn't blasphemy, it was the truth. And that is proven once and for all in that Jesus rose again on the third day just as he declared. He told us in advance, he said it would happen, and then it was fulfilled exactly the way that he declared. It's the proof, it's the ultimate proof. He's declared with power that

or he's declared to be the son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. And that empty tomb is an essential part of this gospel message as well, proving Jesus's claims that he is who he claimed to be. And so this is the gospel. And here, even in these first few verses, Paul is letting us know we have a solid foundation in this gospel message. It's not something that was made up. This was promised beforehand.

This wasn't invented during the life of Jesus or during the ministry of the apostles. This was declared and promised beforehand. And so what you have in the life of Jesus is the fulfillment of, well, a whole Old Testament full of prophecies about the Messiah. And you have prophecy after prophecy after prophecy fulfilled by Jesus.

And so the gospel is something that is solid, that we can rest upon, that we can know for certain because we were told about it ahead of time. It's all contained there in the Old Testament. But then on top of that, it's a solid foundation because it was proved with power.

In that Jesus resurrected from the dead. He rose again on the third day and solidified all of his claims. Not only did he fulfill all the prophecies that were in advance, but he kind of signed them and sealed them and just once and for all, this is the truth. He is the son of God. He is the savior of the world. He is the only way to the father, just as he declared.

So here in these first couple verses, Paul really hits us hard with this gospel message. And if you consider these things, you'll understand this is an amazing foundation that we have. The gospel message is the truth. And it's a dependable truth. It's a reliable truth. It's a truth that we don't need to be concerned about or worried about whether or not it is true. It is the truth. Amen.

And we can rest for certain on that. We can bank on it. And that's really good because, of course, we're talking about eternity. And so when it comes to your eternal condition, you don't want to have guesswork involved. You don't want to have maybe, you know, I'm in the middle of jury duty.

And for the past two days, they've been trying to select the jurors. And so it's been two full days of all kinds of questionings of all kinds of different people. And it's kind of a big mess because they have more jurors

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The case has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. And so you have to come to a conclusion, you know, you have to be persuaded by the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to be able to bring back a guilty verdict. When we talk about the gospel, it's not just beyond a reasonable doubt, but it's an absolute certainty.

They'll tell you in the courtroom, the beyond reasonable doubt is the highest level that the court can bring, that the judicial system has. There's other kinds of cases that have lower level of requirement for the evidence, but this is the highest level beyond reasonable doubt.

But as Paul explains the gospel here, he's saying, look, this foundation is so solid. It was promised beforehand. We have the fulfillment of all that the prophets spoke. And then on top of that, it was proved with power by the resurrection. And so this is not beyond reasonable doubt. This is a truth that we can rest upon without any doubt, without any worries or concerns. This is the truth.

And so that's the gospel that Paul has been invited, called to, separated to, to declare. And let me just wrap up that point by reminding us, you are invited to be part of God's work. In addition to your role in the body of Christ and ministering to one another as members of the body of Christ, we all have different roles in that, but we also all share the common role of

of being part of the Great Commission, that we are part of God's plan for delivering this gospel message to people around us, to friends, to family, to co-workers, to neighbors, or whoever God might bring us in contact with. This gospel message that we're called to share, well, it's important to understand we can share it with this great confidence that

This absolute certainty. Now that doesn't mean that we have to be arrogant. That doesn't mean we have to be irritating by the way that we present it. But that we can present it and share it from a position of absolute certainty. Beyond any doubt, this is the truth. And again, because eternity is what's at stake...

We want to be in that kind of position. You don't want to be wondering about your eternal condition. You need to have this kind of confidence. And we'll see that over and over again as we continue to see the gospel message declared by the Apostle Paul in these chapters in the book of Romans. So you are invited to be part of God's work. And I would encourage you, as you look at these verses, as we spend the next months in this book,

that you learn the gospel well, because you are invited by God to be part of his work in bringing that gospel message to the world around us. Well, the second point I'd like to share from verse 5 and 6 is that we are invited to be part of Jesus. Let's start here in verse 5. It says, "...through him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name."

And so Paul is continuing this thought. And you can see this is kind of a classic letter of the Apostle Paul in that he doesn't write like short sentences, one thought, then the next thought, then the next thought. His thoughts are like strewn out. And so like the sentence, you know, is five, eight verses long sometimes. And all these thoughts are intertwined. And so you can spend a good deal of time unpacking these things and developing them and understanding them even greater.

But so he says, through him, the one that we've been talking about, through Jesus, who is the son of God, the descendant of David, that promised savior, through him, we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith. Through him, through Jesus, we have received grace. And that's gonna be a predominant theme here in the book of Romans as well, because grace is eternally attached to the gospel message, right?

As we talk about Jesus being the son of God and what he's done for us, we have to talk about grace because we could never earn the salvation that God offers to us through Jesus. We could never earn it. We could never deserve it. Grace, we often refer to grace or define grace as undeserved favor and kindness. Grace is God's goodness towards us that we don't deserve and could never earn.

And the gospel is all about grace that we receive through Jesus. It's by faith in Jesus Christ that we receive all the good things that God has for us. And so he says we've received grace through him and apostleship. So this call, this role that he has as an apostle, it was received by grace through Jesus Christ.

He didn't deserve this. If you remember, we call him Paul the Apostle, but before that, he was known as Saul of Tarsus. And he was the notorious persecutor of Christians. And he persecuted Christians. He tortured them. He sought to cause them to renounce their faith and deny Jesus Christ. He wasn't just like on the fence about Jesus. He wasn't just...

An unbeliever, he was a destroyer of the faith, trying to cause people to turn away from Jesus Christ. And yet God, in his infinite grace, reached out to him, opened his eyes, and invited him to be an apostle, to be one who then went from persecuting those who had faith in Christ to bringing this gospel message to those who needed to hear it. Incredible.

the grace that is extended to the Apostle Paul. And Paul tells us, I'm the example. I'm the worst of the worst. So God's grace to me shows everybody that he can have grace upon anybody. It's grace that is permanently, eternally attached to this gospel message. Through him, we've received grace. Then notice what he goes on to say. He says, "'For obedience to the faith among all nations for his name.'"

So this grace, this goodness that's to us that we don't deserve, how do we get it? How is this grace applied to us? Well, something that we'll see over and over again is that grace is received by faith. He says, this grace we've received for obedience to the faith. Now, notice he doesn't say we've received this grace just for obedience, right?

We've received this grace because we keep laws. We keep God's word. We're faithful to church. We follow these rituals. He doesn't say we've received grace because we've been obedient, but he says obedient to the faith, obedient to the doctrine that God has brought forth, the truth about Jesus Christ and receiving him by faith. And then notice he also says,

And so Paul is obedient to the faith, and so he's received grace, and he's been called not just to some people or certain people, but to all nations. This gospel message is not just for the Jews. In fact, Paul was specifically called to be an apostle to those who were not Jews. That was any nationality.

This is not a message that's just for a particular people group, but this is a message for all nations. This grace is extended to all people. This gospel message is something that everyone needs to hear. Even if they have their own religion, they need to hear the gospel because there's one way to the Father, and that is Jesus Christ. And that is a firm foundation that we can be sure of and be certain in.

Well, then in verse 6, he says, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. So as he's talking about all these nations that they're called to preach the gospel in, that they would be recipients of the grace of God and the gospel message, he says, you also are part of that group. He's talking to the church at Rome and he says, you're part of all the nations that we're called to preach to.

You're part of the group of all the nations that we're called to deliver this message to. And as you and I read this today, of course it extends to us. You and I are part of this group. We are among all the nations and we are called of Jesus Christ. He says you are the called of Christ. You are part of the group of all nations. And if you respond today,

to this gospel message. He says, you are the called of Jesus Christ as you respond to grace by faith. He says, you're called or the called of Jesus Christ. I like the way that the New Living Translation puts it. It says, and you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ. You've been called to belong to Jesus.

The ESV puts it the same way, which I'm sure makes Jake really happy because I quoted the ESV. You belong to Jesus. You've been called, or put the way I'm talking about it tonight, you've been invited to belong to Jesus. And so as he's writing to the church at Rome, he says, listen, I've been called, I've been invited to be an apostle of this incredible gospel message to all nations, and you're part of that. You're part of all those nations. And so I'm coming to you.

And I want to unpack for you in this letter the gospel message. And I want to come and remind you of that when I arrive, that I want to deliver this message to you because, well, you're part of what God's called me to. You're part of what God's called me or the people that God has called me to reach out. And God has called you as well. He hasn't just called me to be an apostle, and I'm the only one that's called. He's only extended an invitation to me.

No, he says, you also have an invitation. You're invited to belong to Jesus, to be part of Jesus. Now think about this as believers. You're familiar with some of the language that we often use as believers in Jesus, right? We are called in the scriptures, the body of Christ. What does that mean? That means that we belong to Jesus. We are his body, right?

That's not just kind of like a off-the-wall metaphor, you know, to kind of paint a picture that doesn't mean a whole lot. You know, just like, it just sounds nice. It's not just that, well, Jesus is far away, and so he needs hands, and he needs feet, and so, you know, in that sense, we're his body, and we get his work done since he's not actually here. Yeah, there's elements of truth to that, but even more than that, we...

are part of Jesus. As believers in Jesus, we belong to him. We're part of him. We're part of, well, that's why we talk about baptism. Baptism, right, as we immerse the person in water and then bring them up.

We talk about identification. It's you being included with Christ, identified with Christ in dying to sin and then being resurrected from the dead. Again, those aren't just nice pictures that we talk about, but there's reality, there's truth to that. You are part of Jesus in his death as a believer in Jesus. You were included with him in his death as well as his resurrection as a believer in Jesus. You are part of him.

It's an incredible inheritance that we have. Again, it is God's grace towards us. It's not just that as we receive the gospel message, he keeps us from eternal judgment, but it's also that he includes us in eternal blessing as part of Jesus, as belonging to Jesus. That is, we are his. We are his children, not just in the sense of we are God's creation, but

but we belong to him. Now that's something really incredible because it makes it very personal. What we have with Jesus is a very real and intense connection. We're not some distant person that he doesn't pay much attention to or care about, but we are people that belong to him, that are part of him. Think about it this way. If you stub your toe, you pay attention. When part of your body gets hurt,

you pay attention and you're part of Jesus. We are the body of Christ. When you hurt, he pays attention. You're part of his body. If I lose a shoe and so, well, my foot begins to get cold and it begins to get bruised and cut by the ground and it needs to be taken care of, well, it's part of my body. And so I pay quick attention to it and I take care of it. In the same way, if you're lacking and something's missing,

Jesus is paying attention. You are invited. You are called to be part of Jesus. You're called. You're invited to be part of Jesus in this way where you belong to him and you're his and you entrust yourself to his care and he provides for you and you are part of him and his work and

That's the gospel, that's salvation, that's eternity, but that's also all of life. You have this great invitation by grace to be part of Jesus. It's incredible what God has extended to us by faith in Jesus. You have this invitation to belong to him in a very close and personal way. Well, the final point found in verse seven is that you are invited to be set apart for Jesus.

So we looked at Paul being invited to be part of God's work, and you and I have that similar call to be involved as members of the body of Christ in ministering to one another, but also to be involved in declaring and sharing the gospel message. But then also you have the invitation to be part of Jesus, to belong to him. And now finally, you are invited to be set apart for Jesus, to be devoted to him.

In verse 7, it says, And so now as Paul addresses the letter, the first few verses was just his introduction. And yet, you know, as Paul does in an amazing way, he's wrapped the gospel message and important and powerful truths into his introduction of saying, hey, I'm Paul, right?

He introduced also this incredible gospel that we have. And now he says, all right, who am I writing to? I'm writing to all who are in Rome, who are the beloved of God, who are called to be saints. And he says, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He writes to the people of Rome, the church of Rome, and he says, you are beloved of God. You are beloved of God.

Again, just as we were talking about being part of Jesus and him having that special attention because we are part of him, we see that also reiterated here. You are beloved of God. As one who has responded to the gospel and received by faith the gospel message, you've come into this status. You are in this condition of being beloved of God so that God is, well, he's paying attention to you. You are beloved of God.

of him. He loves you intensely. He loves you dearly. Sometimes we feel really distant from God. Sometimes we feel that God is really distant from us. Sometimes we feel like God's only casually interested or concerned about what happens. But he says, you are beloved of God. God is paying attention to you. He is expressing and extending his love to you. But notice he says, you are called to be saints. You're called to

to be saints. This word saint, it means to be set apart. Sometimes it's translated holy, sometimes sanctified, but the basic meaning is to be set apart. And it really comes from God's call to the nation of Israel. Remember, he called them to be set apart, to be different than the surrounding nations.

He called them to be different in their diet. He called them to be different in their laws. He called them to be different in their worship. He called them to be different, to be devoted to him. And that's kind of the idea that is carried forward in this idea of a saint. Now,

Sometimes we think of the word saint and we connect, you know, it to like someone who's perfect, someone who's holy, someone who's performed a miracle. You know, we kind of apply those kinds of criteria, but the way the Bible uses the word saint, it's something that applies to every believer in Jesus. And so you may not think of yourself as a saint. You may not think of yourself as perfect, which of course in this life you're not, but God has called you perfect.

To be a saint, to be holy or to be set apart. I like the way that Spurgeon puts it. He says, these believers in Rome were called saints. They were not called because they were saints, but they became saints through that calling. They weren't called saints because they were perfect, because they were holy, because they were set apart, but they became set apart. They became holy because

Through the invitation, through that call. And as they respond to the gospel message, through that, they become saints. They become set apart. And so you and I have this invitation to be set apart for Jesus. Now this idea of being holy or set apart, you can, well, you can break it up into two parts. One part of being a saint, being set apart, is that you are set apart from sin. That you are

stopping the sinful activity, that you remove yourself from sin. But then another part of being set apart or holy is that you, well, are devoted to something. So you're set apart from sin, but you're also set apart for Jesus. There's an example that I use very often, and I'll share right now, but I share it all the time because when I learned this, it changed my life.

Those towels that are in the restroom that are decorative are not to be used for drying your hands. It's a transformative truth. It's changed my life. I learned it late in life. Some of you knew this very young. I didn't know it very young. So I would always use the decorative towels until one day I learned, you're not supposed to use those. Those are decoration. Those towels are set apart. They're not to be used in that way. Now, you could understand how, well, how,

terrible it would be then if I took one of those decorative towels that are not to be used for washing your hands, if I took one of those into the garage and began to change my oil and wipe my hands on this towel, you could understand that would be something that would be frowned upon by, well, any woman in the galaxy. You're not supposed to do that, right? It would be horrible to use that in the garage.

It's not to be used that way. It's to be set apart from the garage, to be set apart for this particular purpose. Now you could use another example if you want, like China, right? China is set apart. It's dishes that you don't use for just anything. You don't microwave your burritos on it. No, you bring it out when there's guests. You bring it out on special occasions. When I was growing up, we had this plate displayed on the wall, right?

And we would always get very excited when we got to use it because we would only use it for birthdays. And the plate said all around the room, you are special today. And so on your birthday, you got to eat off of the special plate. It was devoted to, it was set apart for those special occasions. Well, in a similar way, you are called, you are invited to be set apart.

You're invited to be set apart for the Lord. You're called to be saints. That means that you are invited to be removed from sin, that you don't just practice any old common thing like everybody else does. You're invited to set yourself apart, to remove yourself from those things that are defiling, that are dirtying, that are grease and junk. But it's not just that separation from things, but also separation.

separated for things, that you would be devoted to the things of God. You're invited to be part of the work of God and part of Jesus and part of it in such a way that you are devoted, that you keep yourself from things that are not of God, but that you invest yourself and you on purpose involve yourself in things that are of God. You're called or invited to be saints, to be set apart.

And so Paul, as he begins this letter in verses 1 through 7, explains to us our invitation. It's an incredible invitation that we have to be part of God's work, to be part of Jesus himself, part of his body, belonging to him. But also we get to be set apart. But notice that it's an invitation. None of these things are forced upon anybody.

None of these things will be forcibly applied to any human being. God doesn't work that way. He extends to us the opportunity. He calls us. He invites us. He says, hey, I have great things in store for you. But then he gives us the opportunity and the responsibility to respond. And so as we conclude our time in the word this evening, I want to encourage you as you

Consider these invitations to make sure that you respond to them. The invitation to be part of Jesus. We respond to that by faith. We receive that grace, this gospel message, by faith, by believing in Jesus. And so make sure that you do that. We respond to the invitation to be set apart for Jesus, well, by responding as he reveals things in our hearts.

As he speaks to you and shows you, you know, there's this activity that you engage in. There's this behavior that you have. There's this habit that you formed. And it's not good and it's not helpful and it doesn't cause you to grow. And so you need to remove yourself from that. You need to be set apart. It's an invitation. There's great blessing as we set ourselves apart, as we devote ourselves to the things of God. And you'll benefit greatly.

If you will respond to this invitation and those things that you're involved in that he's expressing to you, that's not good. You need to remove that. Well, respond to that invitation and turn from those things. But then also we respond to that invitation by committing to the things that he is calling us to.

And so maybe there's, well, some spiritual disciplines that the Lord's been putting on your heart. Maybe there's some devotional life changes that he's been putting upon your heart, saying, this is how I want you to spend time with me. But, you know, oh, it's really difficult to wake up at that time or to focus at that time or to be involved in that, to have that amount set aside. And maybe that's really difficult. But respond to the invitation of God and engage in those things as he's called you.

or being involved in serving in some capacity, or sharing in some capacity, or whatever it is that Jesus is putting upon your heart. It's an invitation. He's speaking to you. Respond to that, and commit to that, and engage in what he's called you to. And then you're also invited to be part of God's work. You're invited to be part of God's work in the lives of other believers, and you're invited to be part of God's work in reaching out to unbelievers.

And so we respond to that invitation by going, by doing, by reaching out and ministering as God speaks to us. The worship team's gonna come up now and conclude our service in a couple songs. And we're going to start this evening with, well, by start this evening, I mean, we shared about it last week, right? The ministry to one another. And tonight's our first opportunity to do that on a Wednesday night for a long time. We haven't done this.

but we're gonna be doing this every week. And so I would like to encourage you to use this time in the closing couple songs here to spend time with God, seeking the Lord and how you can respond to his invitations. Now, on the one hand, if you need to respond to the invitation to be set apart, use this time to do that.

to respond to what God's speaking to your heart and use this time to repent of sin if he's speaking to you about some sin in your life. Use this time to let him show you if there's things that he wants to remove you from and to call you out of. But then also if there's things that he's calling you to commit to, well, use this time to commit to the Lord in those ways and in those areas. Respond to this invitation that he extends to you.

But also I'd like to encourage you to respond to his invitation to be part of his work. And that is to minister to one another. And so anytime during these songs, you are free. You are absolutely set free to get up, to move around, to go and talk to anybody else and pray with them or encourage them or minister to them in some way.

And there's three basic things that we could talk about in that. Manifestations of the Spirit. This is what we talked about last week. And so if you weren't here, I'd refer you back to that. And you can dig into what it means.

But if God puts a word on your heart, he puts something specifically on your heart to share with somebody, then it would fit into one of these categories. And you don't necessarily have to know exactly what category, but if God's spoken to you to share something, then go and find someone to share it with during these songs. Or it might be a verse.

A verse that God's put upon your heart, maybe a verse that you've been chewing on that's really blessed you these past couple days. And any time during the song, you can go and share that with somebody else and encourage them with the things that God has been showing you. Or you also might have the opportunity to pray for one another. God wants to use us to be part of the work in each other's lives.

He invites us to participate. We don't have to. This isn't forced upon anybody. You're not going to be scolded if you don't do something, but he invites you. If you want to be part of his work and what he's doing in our lives, well then respond. And so use this time to respond to the Lord in setting yourself apart, but also use it to respond to the Lord in ministering to one another.

with the manifestations of the Spirit, with Scripture, or with prayer for one another. So they're going to close us out in a few songs, and as they do, you spend time with the Lord and be free to move about and pray and minister with one another. Let's worship the Lord together. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.