Lesson 1: Chapter 1: 1-7

A Greeting

“Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God ² which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, ³ concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, ⁴ and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. ⁵ Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, ⁶ among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; ⁷ 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.”

What a greeting Paul opens with. I want to open our study for 2020 with a look at this greeting. This a greeting filled with hope, confidence and truth. A greeting that resonates with us even to this day some 2,000 years later. A greeting that tells us a lot about the man and makes us check ourselves as well. We recall Paul was once named Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee he tells us in Philippians 3:4-7,

“Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.”

Paul once had confidence in his fleshly place. He was a Jew who followed the Law to the letter, or so he thought. He was a Pharisee, one very zealous for the Law, and he was blameless in his righteousness, not sinless, but he was blameless as far as following the law. He took his commitment to Judaism and the Law so far that he hated Christians and hated the local churches. He actually presided over the murder of Stephen, the first martyr, whose death is recorded in Acts 7. We find Saul in Acts 7:58 overseeing his murder. But here in this letter to the believers and churches in Rome, we see Saul of Tarsus, now Paul, writing about the grace of God in Romans 1:7; he is calling himself a ‘bondservant’ to Christ and he is an apostle sent by God to teach about the person of Jesus Christ.

Paul now has no confidence in his flesh, no confidence in himself or his self-discipline, no confidence in the Law, and only confidence in Jesus. What could have brought this type of change? What could have facilitated this complete turnaround? What would have made the hunter choose to become the hunted?

As we explore the lessons of the Book of Romans, we will find all these answers and more. But for today, let us look at the greeting that met all who would read this letter, including us here in 2020.

1. A Bondservant, verse 1.

In the book of Deuteronomy, we find Moses giving instructions to the people of Israel as they are about the enter the Promised Land. He is addressing the children of those who had once been slaves in Egypt. Their parents died because of rebellion, and so Moses has to give the children a bit of a history lesson. He reminds them that they too were once slaves and he tells them that if a Hebrew brother or sister becomes poor and needy and becomes one of their slaves, they can only be slaves until the 7th year, and then they must be freed. But if the slave begins to love his or her master and family, then they can choose to stay; and once they do, it is a lifetime commitment. See Deuteronomy 15: 16-17, 

“And it shall be, if he says unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house because he is well with thee; Then thou shalt take an awl and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also, unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.”

This servant would be marked for life by boring their ear with an awl, then putting an earring in, usually the sign of the family. They were becoming bondservants; they did it out of love. They could have been freed from their debts and free to leave, but they chose to stay of their own free will.

Paul calls himself a bondservant of Jesus Christ here in verse 1. A servant because of love; not compulsion, not coercion, but love. He was a slave to the Law, but now he is free in Jesus. This is what true Christianity is all about. We love Jesus. You and I, mere humans, love the God of gods, the King of kings, and we choose to serve Him. The longer we serve Him, the more we love Him. The longer we serve Him, the more we understand and stand in awe of His love for us. There is trust and confidence that transcends the ups and downs of life, and we are secure in Him. This is no mere infatuation; Paul would die for this Savior. He was a hunted man from the day that He was saved in Damascus; finally, the hunters would catch up with the hunted, and they would take his life. Paul loved Jesus enough to die for Him.

Just this past week we can check the news and see that Christians in Nigeria and other places are being executed for the name of Jesus. Though we have not come to death yet, make no mistake the tides have turned in North America, and the cost of Christianity is becoming more and more expensive. I don’t know if executions will come to us, but we should not be surprised if they do.

Are we, like Paul, in love with Jesus enough to die for His Holy Name?

1. Separated, verse 1.

Paul is not only a bondservant, but he is separated unto the Gospel of God. If you are a husband or a wife, you are separated from all others unto your spouse. Because of your love for them, you have chosen to be separated from all other men or women in an intimate way for the bond that you have. Paul understood that you cannot be ‘halfway’ in as a Christian. Jesus pretty much said the same thing in the Gospels. See Matthew 6:24, 

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

The principle is that you cannot be a bondservant to two people at once. You cannot be a bondservant of Jesus and anyone or anything else at the same time. You and I must be separated unto the Gospel of God. Elijah made the same call to the nation of Israel in 1 Kings 18:20, and Joshua made the same call in Joshua 24:15. If we truly are bondservants to Jesus Christ, then we must be separated to the Gospel of God.

What is the Gospel of God? Paul explains this to us in the next few lines of Romans 1: 2-4,

“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.”

Jesus came as fulfillment of the scriptures in the Old Testament, like Genesis 3:15, Genesis 22:8, Isaiah 53, Isaiah 7:14, Micah 5:2, Hosea 11:1, Psalm 40:6-8, Isaiah 9:1-2, Isaiah 35:5-6, Isaiah 40: 3-4, Zechariah 9:9, and on and on I can go. There are some 300 prophecies about the first coming of Jesus in the Old Testament; and Paul, as a former Pharisee, would most likely have known all of them, but probably saw and understood them for the first time when he met Jesus.

Here then is the Gospel: that Jesus is God in the flesh, that He died for our sins, and God raised Him up on the third day, and that one has to believe and place one’s trust in this death, burial and resurrection for the complete removal of one’s sins. Paul would later put it this way in Romans 10:8-10,

“But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.”

This Gospel is good among all nations. It is all the Gospel, all the Good News they have. This is why we must be separated unto God. There is no other name for salvation to any man anywhere but Jesus. This is it; we must be committed to this no matter what. This is why it is so important that we love Jesus. Only a fervent love for our Saviour will bind us to Him, His Gospel and His promises. Paul was all in; he did not waver. He committed to Christianity with the same passion that he had for the Pharisaical order. He was all in. He pursued the doctrine if life, the Gospel, with the same intensity that he has pursued the doctrine of death.

2. Grace and Peace, verse 7

The Law did not know grace and it offered no peace. Paul knew this. The Law drove him to beat, imprison and at times kill Christians. The Gospel drove him to become all things to all men; the Gospel drove him to teach to Gentiles, those whom, in the Law, he would have shunned. In Galatians 3:21, Paul tells us that the Law could not bring righteousness, it only reminded us how sinful we were and in need of a Saviour.

Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.

Nothing has changed in the almost 2,000 years since. Jesus is still the only Savior and the Law; other philosophies cannot save. Jesus and Jesus alone. We, like Paul, are to preach Christ and Him crucified. We too, like Paul, can offer grace and peace to all men. The grace of God in that He is willing in Jesus to save us and bring us into His family and that we can have the peace of and with God; once we are saved and our sins washed away by the blood of Jesus, we are no longer the enemies of God and we have true eternal peace. The peace that is eternal and surpasses all the trials and troubles of life.

Many of us wonder if we will ever attain the level of the apostle Paul. But here in the very opening verses, Paul gives us a simple formula to be like him for Jesus. Be so in love with Jesus that you serve Him willingly; be separated to the Gospel, don’t mix it, don’t dilute it, don’t change it and don’t be quiet about it; and finally, tell others the Gospel; tell them about Jesus, His death, burial and resurrection and offer them grace and peace. This offer is good for all people, in all nations. This is what Paul did.

As we enter a New Year, let us seek to be in love with Jesus and give ourselves to be His bondservants, and let us be separated unto the Gospel of God.

Grace and peace to you all.

God bless you,

Pastor Sean Gooding

Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

 

John 14: 25-27 “All this I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.”

John 16: 7-8 “But I tell you the truth, it is for your benefit that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And when He comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because they do not believe in Me.”

Over the past two weeks as we headed into the Christmas time, we spoke about God the Father and then about Jesus, the perfect Christmas gift. Today I want to talk about the Holy Spirit. I grew up in a very conservative church and still pastor a very conservative church. And at times, in response to the abuse of the person of the Holy Spirit in other churches, I find that we conservatives, maybe not all of us but many of us, can become so protective that we almost stop talking about the Holy Spirit. Over the years I have been able, along with the work and study of other pastors, as well as with lectures in my current course of study, to come to learn and now to lean more on the Holy Spirit than ever before.

First of all, if you are saved, if you have accepted the free gift of salvation that Jesus paid for in His own blood, then you have the Holy Spirit living in you.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Do you not know that your bodies are temples 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. Therefore, honor God with your bodies.”

This is one of the great mysteries of the New Testament believer that is a genuine treasure.

In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came and went on the believers. One of the only people that He stayed with for his entire life was King David. We see this in 1 Samuel 16:13. But we have the Holy Spirit in us, sealing us and securing us in Jesus until the Rapture or death will unite us face to face with Jesus.

When we consider the two sets of verses from John’s gospel that we quoted above, we will see that there are some great benefits to having the Holy Spirit here with us all the time. Let us look at these things together. This is very important.

One of the biggest issues of the last days is deception. Jesus told us in Matthew 24 that false christs will come. He warns us over and over not to be deceived. So, what John has to say to us about the Holy Spirit is relevant to us today, and especially we that are eagerly awaiting our Lord’s return, those of us that are looking and listening for the trump and the shout. We need to have the Holy Spirit in us to temper our enthusiasm and focus us on the right things.

In John 14, Jesus is having a conversation with His disciples, sparked from a question in verse 8 by Philip, asking to see the Father. Jesus promises them a Comforter, the Holy Spirit, and He is tasked with several jobs on our behalf:

The Holy Spirit is our Advocate. In his commentary on John 14, David Guzik offers this: “He will give you another Helper. Helper translates the ancient Greek word parakletos. This means a person summoned to one’s aid, and may refer to an adviser, a legal defender, a mediator, or an intercessor.”

The Holy Spirit is One who is beside us all the time. He is God’s presence with us, helping us. And make no mistake; He is God. The word for another in Greek is allen, meaning another of the same kind. Thus, the Holy Spirit is another just like Jesus; He, like Jesus, is God. Remember one of Jesus’ names at birth was Emmanuel which is translated God with us. When Jesus was leaving to go back home to Heaven, He left us the Holy Spirit to be with us, our Helper our Advocate who never leaves us, ever.

The Holy Spirit is our Teacher. If you want to know the answer, God will show you the answer. The Holy Spirit is there to teach us the truth. Notice, He will teach us all things. There is no area of life that stumps the Holy Spirit. He is never dumbfounded nor caught off guard. Open your Bible and ask God to show you. Seek and you will find God; you will find the answers; you will find what you need to do to change and to grow in the Lord and become more like Jesus. The Holy Spirit, if you listen to Him, will help you be a better man, woman, wife, husband, sibling, church member, pastor, servant, worker, and on we can go. He is here to teach us. Since God cannot lie and the Holy Spirit is God, He will only teach us the truth; thus, we are armed to spot counterfeit teachings, armed to recognizes lies and false teachers.

The Holy Spirit is our Reminder. When our kids leave the house to go out, my wife usually sends them off with “remember whose you are.” This is exactly what the Holy Spirit does for us; He reminds us whose we are when we are down, when we are tempted, when we are doubting, and when we fail.

Remember He is our Helper. The Holy Spirit also reminds us of what we have learned. All those verses that you read but you think they don’t stick, or all the sermons that you have heard but you think they were a blur, or all the devotions that you have done but you are not sure that you got it – the Holy Spirit is there to recall these things for you, to make you understand what that verse meant and how to apply it. But, remember He helps you recall; you have to be an active participant and read, study, attend church and lessons, and you have to listen to the Holy Spirit when He is speaking.

I heard a very famous preacher talk about being in an elevator once with two attractive young ladies who began hitting on him, and how the Holy Spirit helped him to recall verses about purity, faithfulness, and whose he was in Jesus. The Holy Spirit reminded him and equipped him to make the right decision.

The Holy Spirit is our Peace. The whole world wants peace, but they don’t want Jesus. Well, He is the very author of Peace. And, in His absence, He has sent us a Peacemaker just like Him to calm us in this hectic world. Notice Jesus says to the disciples “My peace.” It is His to give, and we have it in the Person of the Holy Spirit. The first kind of peace we have is security. In Ephesians 4:30, we are told that we are sealed until the day of redemption, referring to either the Rapture if we are living or the grave if we die before the Rapture. We are sealed by God with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:13-14 tells us this,

“And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.”

The Holy Spirit is the pledge, the down payment on our salvation. He is the Guarantee of our salvation. We are called God’s possession in verse 14 above. There is peace in knowing we are God’s no matter what; we are in Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is in us.

John concludes in John 14:27, don’t let your hearts be troubled; be calm, don’t be anxious, be at peace; God has you. In Romans 15:13, He is not just our peace but also our joy. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is God’s Power here. In the second set of verses we highlighted at the beginning, we are told that it is the Holy Spirit that convicts the world. We are not called to convince the people around us about the Lord, about salvation, or about Heaven or Hell. We are simply told to tell the whole world about Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit that does all the other work. What a burden is taken off of us. We are simply watchmen, responsible for making the alarm and warning the people. God will make sure, via the Holy Spirit, that they know about righteousness, judgement and sin.

The Holy Spirit prays for us. He prays for us and intercedes for us before the Lord.

Romans 8:26-27 “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”

Have you ever just called out the name of the Lord but you are at a loss for words? The Holy Spirit is there praying on your behalf. He takes your mumbled thoughts and turns them into words. He takes your hurt and translates them into words. He always prays for us within God’s will for us. Oh, what a prayer warrior we have in the Holy Spirit! We have not been left to our limited minds and finite vocabularies; no, no, no. We have God the Holy Spirit in His infinite wisdom praying for us.

Jesus promised that He would not leave us alone and friendless. No; rather, He has given us the Holy Spirit, God with us, to comfort, carry, encourage and correct us when needed. The Holy Spirit preserves us, prays for us and offers us God’s peace. We are constantly in the presence of God if you are saved. The Holy Spirit never leaves you, never abandons His post, never forsakes His calling, and never gives up on us.

We/I should discipline ourselves to listen more intently, obey quicker and be in constant gratitude that God would be mindful of us. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit: all One, all God, all Powerful, all here for us all the time.

I pray that as you and I enter this New Year, 2020, we will seek the power and leadership of the Holy Spirit in our lives, that we will bask in His peace no matter what the circumstances of life, and that we will our life in Him. He will never lead us astray and always lead us to truth and obedience.

God bless you,

Pastor Sean Gooding

Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca