All right, grab the book of Romans and
let's stand and we'll read a little of
it Romans 1 verse 1 Paul a servant
of Jesus Christ Called to be an apostle
separated unto the gospel of God We'll hold
it there because that's as far as we're
actually gonna get tonight.
But next week we're gonna be really Cranking
so let's pray I'm serious, but we're really
gonna pick up.
I promise you Father we thank you for
your word and we ask that as we
kind of lay the foundation for this book
tonight that you would Minister to us Give
us an understanding of this great book your
great love and grace that you have for
us We ask it in Jesus name.
Amen Just a little bit first about the
book before we actually kind of do get
into it that is Well, it helps give
a few insights.
I think into the book itself Of course
as far as the author of the book
of Romans, there's some of the books in
the Bible There are some questions about who
wrote them some of them legitimate questions sometimes
just other Questions that maybe liberal theologians have
had about them but the book of Romans
seems to be one of those books that
has very few if any Arguments at all
as to who the real author was and
it's believed of course to be the Apostle
Paul As far as the writing of the
book, it's one of those books That is
very interesting to me in the sense that
there's really two aspects of the book that
I think are quite Interesting in one sense
to look at in the sense that I
when Paul wrote the book I Believe that
there was something kind of on his mind
that he probably Felt that the Lord had
laid upon his heart that he was writing
about that.
He did write about I doubt that he
really understood at the time that the Lord
was also giving him a book for the
ages a Book that there was going to
become a very foundational primary Theological book you
might say of the whole of the New
Testament I doubt if he really saw that
far into it He probably was just looking
at a church in Rome Things that were
upon his heart that he was kind of
wanting to write to them about to deal
with But little did he know I suppose
at the time the had the magnitude Of
course of what this book was ultimately to
mean to the New Testament to Christianity it's
one of those books that is essentially as
well to me when you look at it
the first eight chapters or maybe even up
to 11, but our chapters that To me
sometimes I almost think that if you got
a team of the finest lawyers Christian lawyers
in the world and asked them to begin
to write out a Argument for Christianity to
take to the Supreme Court of the land
and to lay it down and present it
to me This would almost be something that
mind a set of geniuses would have written
in a sense It is so awesome to
stand back and kind of look at The
way that that Paul takes the case for
Christianity and not only coming to Christ But
living in Christ so tremendously in this book
and It's something that is he is actually
though at the time of the writing the
Rome's Jewish community It was there of course
in Rome It was the the some wealthier
as is in all sorts of communities some
poor some highly educated Some not so highly
educated And the primary language of the Jews
in Rome though was not so much Latin
that of course the Romans primarily spoke But
it was Greek and Paul wrote the book
to them in in Greek it was believed
by Historians at the time there were maybe
around 50,000 Jews there in Rome at
the time as far as a little of
the situation with the writing of the book
is That of course the founders of the
Church of Rome are no doubt Jews as
Acts chapter 2 would suggest for us and
But around 40 AD the Emperor Claudius like
an earlier Emperor Tiberius he had expelled the
Jewish community out of Rome Acts chapter 18
tells us a little about that and So
the Roman Church was for a while almost
composed entirely of Gentiles, but then with the
death Of Claudius the edict was reversed and
the Jews returned now the Jews had kind
of returned back into a church that's there
now the Gentiles have a very strong kind
of a position in it but the Jews
are coming back with their identity their culture
and their feeling as Christians and Jews and
in a sense of some of the things
that Paul is dealing with there's Obviously as
you get into later on in the book
when now the application of a lot of
the things that he's tells in the first
Chapters, he's wanting to apply them to now
enact these things in Christ And but you
can tell there's some tensions between the Jews
and the Gentiles within the church That is
going on and there's probably some very valid
cultural differences between them the way they were
raised The way that they were living and
so Paul as he writes this book To
them wanting just to strengthen the church is
no doubt when Paul wrote his other epistles
to the other churches There were problems in
most all the churches that he would write
to he'd lay out the foundational aspects who
they are in Christ How they ought to
be living and walking then Paul had this
wonderful way of now Applying the message to
the church that at hand for which he
was writing and Romans has that aspect to
it But as Paul is writing to them,
he's he essentially now is reminding in the
first three chapters Essentially the book we'll see
when we get into it that essentially the
Jews were just as condemned They were just
as damned essentially without Christ is all the
Gentiles Paul is going to be laying out
a tremendous case for condemnation ultimately for all
The world there, but he lays out the
Jews Particularly well in the sense of wanting
them as they've now kind of come back
into the church No doubt thinking they're still
a little special being Jews after all being
the identity of the Messiah himself Having the
law having the covenants having all these things
kind of given initially to them now They're
kind of coming back to the church having
a little strain with the Gentiles and some
of those tensions But as Paul's writing to
them, he's wanting to remind them by the
way, all of us are totally condemned outside
of Christ And he wants to remind them
as well that their spiritual Heritage not their
ethnic heritage is the real aspect thus in
chapters 4 and in 9 He reminds them
about Abraham and speaks to them about the
issue is not are you?
Ethnically identified with Abraham, but are you spiritually
by faith?
Do you understand the steps and the processes
of faith as as revealed in Abraham?
In your life, that is what truly matters
not your ethnicity but your spiritual identity and
he also points out to the Jews as
well that Even though they yes, they did
come from Abraham But they also came from
Adam who we all sinned in Who all
were found to fall and there to sin
in Adam in that chapter 5 he lays
that out so we're all in the same
sort of a problem and then he Carefully
and wonderfully lays out that the law those
that live by the law and works and
standards that justifies Absolutely.
Nobody at all.
Let alone Israel.
You may think you're somebody but you're not
and so and he also though Reminds the
Jews that the Gentiles there in the book
as well that they were were grafted into
Judaism by faith and Therefore they'd better dare
not be anti-semitic in any way at
all And he lays that out in chapter
11 that they've got to get along with
and respect the culture And the practices of
their Jewish brethren They're all one family learning
to work these things through and so Paul
Essentially in chapters 1 through 11 lays out
a lot of theological facts and then in
chapters 12 through 15 He now takes these
facts and he deals with them Relationally in
reconciliation within the body of Christ.
It's kind of like he just first here's
who we are And here's who the Jew
is.
Here's who the Gentile is.
Here's who the heathen is Here's the processes
that we all have got to go through
if we're going to have life in God
at all in any hope Any redemption and
he kind of sorts us all out and
then after he does all this then he
kind of brings all these things Back now
into the application within the body and he
says now you've got to work these things
out Amongst yourselves and getting along and reconciling
the service that you're to have to the
Lord and to one another your relationships And
and here on one hand though Paul was
no doubt writing these things to a church
that had some problems Again, they're such great
and phenomenal truths that they're they're endless.
Of course, they they apply Everywhere because the
same truths are the same needs in every
church everywhere As far as kind of the
resulting history a little bit of the book
is that it's become in a sense Romans
kind of a cornerstone of The New Covenant
in a sense Particularly among the the body
of Christ the evangelical body of Christ Through
history and in the sense that Martin Luther,
I suppose really brought it to the forefront
once again and to the body of Christ
when there he raised under the law and
raised under Catholicism and raised under works and
when he discovered Romans 117 the just shall
live by faith and there when he broke
through with that realization There that that's the
great issue in life.
It isn't works He's looking there at his
church system that he was around and the
indulgence is going on the abuses the corruptions
of his day Living by works and by
effort and legalism and they're coming to the
realization.
Is it Paul as it hit Martin Luther?
No doubt there that the whole issue of
Salvation is a work of God's grace his
unbelievable wonderful unmerited favor and And here the
book of Romans shows to us that is
by grace in grace alone And it's only
through the work of Christ that we could
be saved Doesn't make any difference whether we're
talking to a Jew or a Gentile a
heathen of the worst Variety or of a
good, you know law abiding, you know Pharisee
They all were ultimately in the exact same
condition It takes the same amount of faith
the same amount of mercy the same amount
of grace to save anyone But it is
all of Christ and everyone comes to God
on the exact same terms having there's no
difference Whether it has with with anything has
nothing to do with ethnic issues religious issues
Educational economic and whatsoever any condition at all
every human being is in the exact same
spot in the eyes of God and To
be saved and that's something that I suppose
It shouldn't be all that enlightening To us
but it seems to be again and again
We have this tendency that we rate ourselves
and who how who's good and who's bad
and and who's the best and who's the
worst?
And where we kind of fit and can
God love me and it takes the same
amount of love We will find through the
book of Romans for God to have saved
Anybody over anybody else?
There's no difference at all the same redemptive
work on the cross The exact same shedding
of blood the exact same aspect of mercy
and grace and kindness and patience All of
which was different which was exactly the same
and no difference whatsoever and And that is
something that it will see as we get
into the book and as we find ourself,
you know kind of going through it and
I my plan is is to which It's
a wonderful plan that I have here and
Is to spend three to four at the
most weeks per chapter Going through the first
part and at the most and I really
believe we're going to be able to do
that But the foundation tonight a little bit
I is I want to dwell on it
just a little bit and then we'll take
some much larger Port portions as we go
through but here chapter 1 verse 1 is
there is so much to me in This
one verse and here is Paul writes of
it He begins Paul a servant of Jesus
Christ called an apostle separated unto the gospel
of God And here is Paul talks about
the Christian life I believe one of the
reasons that Paul introduces himself the way that
he so often does when he calls himself
a slave or a servant or a bond
slave a Doulos of Christ and which is
what he calls himself there But it is
something there that he has the same Things
that he's constantly trying to relate by his
own identity his own title that I believe
Paul desires that every one of us Understood
these things that I believe God would love
every one of us to be able to
take our name and To be able to
put it into chapter 1 verse 1 and
And then be with a desire to say
I would love to put my name right
there where Paul's is and then finish the
verse And to be able to say that
in the desire to say it with all
my heart I hope even as we look
at that Even as we're thinking of it
right now that it might be something that
each one of us would say Well, why
in the world shouldn't I want this?
It's the most ridiculous thing in the world
not to or to have a desire anything
less than this Who in the world with
any, you know half an ounce of sense?
Spiritual or otherwise, I suppose shouldn't look there
and think eternally and realize I want to
have eternal thoughts and eternal plans for my
life And here is Paul looks at his
life and he says Paul a servant of
Jesus Christ He introduces himself there into the
Christian life essentially by telling us one of
the keys that is so Fundamental to Paul
and that is if this the Christian life
is the greatest aspect of it one of
the primary focuses and functions and blessings and
identities of the Christian life is the Christian
life is a servant's life and Something there
that most people wouldn't agree with but as
far as Paul was concerned He did he
looked at that and when he says Paul
incidentally the name Paul, it's interesting.
It means little or Small is what the
word name means and of course if you're
familiar You know that that was not his
name that his mother gave him that was
a name that he took himself Felt whether
the Lord has never given to us exactly
how the name change came He was Saul
of Tarsus, of course But then after God
did a great work within him He changed
that name from Saul to Paul of his
own will of his own desire And and
as much as he loved the name servant
He loved the name it seemed Paul because
at the same time as you and I
just used the name Paul today You just
it's as if the made the name meant
it wasn't so much the word as we
called the name Paul like oh That's Paul.
There's John.
There's Peter.
There's Dave or somebody but the word meant
when he took it it meant little It
meant small it's as if he said because
he came up and he said I what's
your name?
Yeah, my name's little what's yours?
My name is small.
What's yours?
And here was something that he actually had
within him a choice there That was what
what it really was And and of course
the name Saul as you may be aware
as they've had some discussion over the real
root of the word But most seem to
agree the word essentially means desired one In
that there Saul when his mother named him,
you know, he came along or whoever named
him It is named there, you know was
desired one And of course what a name,
you know That's suppose most of us if
we're to you know, pick between little or
desired one We'd probably take desired one, you
know over little, you know in the sense
of area.
Hi, my name is desired one Nice to
meet you desired one and my name is
not so desired or less desire or whatever
We'd we'd take the name desired.
I'm sure with it and But once Paul
came to Christ, it was as if this
name that he once had saw desired one
I'm sure that he loved that name But
after coming to Christ, he no longer seemed
to like his name after the flesh that
is any longer but he changed it there
too little and You see once though.
His name was that he never would have
been called Paul He's I'm sure the name
desired one meant a lot to him because
he is clearly a man in the Bible
That was a man.
He was a force in and of himself.
He was a man to be reckoned with
He was you know Somebody in and of
himself when you and even read of his
own Testimony as he gives it to us
in the book of Philippians We won't go
to it tonight, but you realize that he
was a man that he lived by his
own testimony for his own gain Whatsoever was
a gain to me he was in it
for himself It was in for his own
glory as he lays out.
He lived for essentially his own purposes somehow
another He'd taken his gain in his glory
and his purposes and he had mixed them
up with religion but nonetheless when he was
able to still set back and once look
back at his life regardless of how he
Candy-coated in his behavior in a sense.
He lived for his gain What motivated what
drove him was his own gain his own
glory his own identity his own purpose and
It's clear by Paul's testimony.
He loved his pedigree.
He loved his education He was very proud
of his accolades of his successes of the
things that he had achieved in life And
those were the things that just made the
name Saul all the more Made there what
he was just really come to life a
parent mother can give you a name But
only you can do with it, and I'm
sure he was glad what he'd done with
it I'm sure he was somebody that day
by day nice She gave him a name,
but he had done something with it That
is until one day of course when he's
on the road to Damascus and you know
the story there Of course as he's going
down and all of a sudden God knocks
him off his high horse Literally or donkey
or and any other word you want to
use for an animal like that?
I suppose but anyway finds himself They're blind
in there this man so desired so high
so lofty so important in his own eyes
There he's in his blindness.
He's now sent to town somebody's got to
lead this man in his blindness to town
Get him in there where now God calls
upon the humble Christian Who actually were feared
when he heard of going there when he
said Dan and I has to go there
to Saul He was the Saul was so
infamous to the New Testament Church He was
the most feared man no doubt on the
planet And he's instructed now to go and
lay hands on him And to pray for
him that he would receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit and he went and there
as he laid hands upon him The Spirit
of God came upon Saul of Tarsus and
here you see a man there.
That's absolutely transformed There is he's baptized into
Christ Surrendered his life after they're on the
road when they're this arrogant man is knocked
down and if you can imagine this Conversation
when they're in his blindness.
He hears the voice Saul Saul why persecute
is thou me and he's looking around He
says who are you?
Who are you?
Lord, I mean here he called him Lord
before he even knew who he was But
anybody that could have that kind of power
And blind him and knock him down and
do such an awesome thing like that out
of nowhere There there was no question He
was he had a power beyond anything he'd
ever dreamed of and immediately had demanded reverence
had demanded lordship And he gave it to
him not even knowing who he was.
Who are you?
And if you can imagine the shock to
his ears when he heard I'm Jesus Whom
thou persecutest And here if you could imagine
hearing that that the one that he had
been fighting against All these years Was Jesus
You know, I wonder how many of us
think where he never thought he was fighting
against Jesus.
It was people It was these messed up
people.
It was this cult.
It was these other and that's who he
thinks he's fighting against That's where his anger
and his tension and his energy is all
being focused and so many people there Where
our energies where our focus where our fight
is Fighting the good fight and getting on
the freeway and we're going to work and
we're trying to do this in the home
and what's Wrong with this wife of mine
and what's wrong with these children, you know
And we're fighting the world so often and
I think many people are just waiting for
the day.
The Lord knocked them down and Bill said
isn't you when you're fighting against it isn't
them.
It's me.
It's my lordship It's my right to rule
and reign in your life.
That's who you're fighting.
It's not your wife.
That's your husband.
It's not your child It's not people didn't
your job in your career isn't your health
and in your finances?
It's me that you're fighting and here is
like the Lord knocks him down He says
you want to have at me take a
good shot You can't see anything But go
ahead and swing away if you want to
and and finally something broke when he realized
how ridiculous it is to fight God It
even imagine the shock he had that that's
who he'd been fighting all of his life
But there as much as the fight that
had now, you know been Against the Lord
now became in a sense for him And
now he in the rather than that, you
know I mean going on his life is
so turned around and there he begins to
preach he begins to minister So much so
there in Damascus and now the Jews who
he was their great warrior leader now, they're
so angry They're after him So they literally
to save his life have to put him
in a basket hide sneak him out of
town lower him down over the roof Or
over the wall to get him out of
there and so for a little while he
was kind of a basket case, I guess
you could say but the Sorry, it's a
John Corson good thing in it.
But anyway but the But there is you
find this guy when he begins to emerge
from there He turns and now he finds
himself.
He is now Paul a servant He's no
longer You know high and mighty he's no
longer somebody he is now a servant or
a bond-slave of Jesus Christ the word
means they're a man of servitile Condition one
who gives up his life to the will
of another Devoted to another to the disregards
of one's own interest is what the word
means In other words when Paul he says
I am now from this day on I
am a servant Of Jesus Christ the one
that I met there on the road to
Damascus the key to my life the key
to my identity The key to everything that
drives me the key to my existence the
key to my understanding Is all rooted in
the fact that he is Lord and that
makes me a servant that makes me his
body His vessel brought into willful servitude of
him I'm a bond slave do losses what
the word in the Greek but it's a
slave by love It's a slave by choice.
Not if not a slave by pressure not
a slave, you know by force but a
slave by choice it actually the word actually
comes back from out of the the book
of Exodus in Exodus 21 and It's interesting
right after Exodus 20 where the Ten Commandments
are given to us of all of the
ordinances all the laws all the things That
God was ever to have to say to
somebody that couldn't keep the commandments They're there
in Exodus 20 The next thing to follow
is now this wonderful little story in Exodus
21 where it says if thou by a
Hebrew servant There he says six years.
He shall serve in the seventh year.
He will go out free for nothing He
says if he came in by himself, he'll
go out, you know by himself He was
if he was married then his wife should
go out with him But if a man
there is somehow or another under the Old
Testament laws when you couldn't pay your debts
When you've borrowed money from somebody and For
whatever reason you were in debt to them
and you could not pay it off You
literally when you were to weigh out getting
yourself into debt Very very seriously because if
you could not for any reason fulfill the
debt you now became their servant Not a
slur not a servant by force but a
servant by your own choice when you entered
into that agreement with that person you borrowed
the money from them and They then you
know, then you couldn't pay it for whatever
reason, you know you were gonna get your
farm up and going and you know, the
Weather didn't happen or the thing that you
whatever it was It didn't come through and
you willfully you you came to him and
said loan me the money But if if
anything happens, I will pay you back by
act of my own willful servitude in a
sense There and I will do you know
to where they were a submissive agreement Essentially
and but if a man came in by
himself and then he went out by himself
and he couldn't pay it now He had
to come in.
He became a servant But if the man
came in he had a wife and his
wife goes But if something happened during these
six years Say the man there he comes
down to the seventh year and after these
six years He is now what happened no
matter how much you owed it may have
been a huge amount But you worked for
six years the seventh year you went for
out free for nothing.
The debt was erased gone But if at
the end of this something has happened you
have now looked around you realize, you know
something All right.
I came in here by force in a
sense.
I came in here under pressure.
I couldn't pay my bill I had no
choice and I made the agreement.
I will work for you But so I
I did not willfully go to work for
him in a sense I I went into
him under a forced will in a sense
idea.
I had no other option I agreed that
I would if I had to pay it
and this is the only way I could
pay it.
So here I am But now after I've
worked for him these six years I've come
to realize I love my master.
I Love working for him.
I love who he is.
I love what he does I love the
way he works and then I thought that
this forced servitude I thought that this this
bondage that this being a slave was going
to be terrible but when I look here
Master's given me a wife.
The wife has borne me life and wife
and Born me children.
I have a family.
My life has been blessed It's come together
before I ran my own life and I
ran it bankrupt I got myself from trouble
to trouble to trouble and then one day.
All right, I'm forced in here I pay
it off.
But while I've been paid off something's wonderful
has happened in my life.
I Love him.
My life has come together You know, I
think most people wouldn't when we come to
Christ at least when I came to Christ
I didn't know him.
I just heard the rumors You know, I
isn't that true with most of us.
We heard he loved us.
Everybody said he loves you.
He loves you Are you sure?
Yes positive.
Yes You really yes, he'll forgive you.
You're sure.
Yes You know or whatever else he but
only you know under you know, fear of
death or hell or Damnation and fire and
brimstone or trouble or somehow or another your
soul gets bankrupt and you look around and
you're out of options and All right.
I'll try Christ You open your heart you
give him a you give your life to
him and you begin serving him You really
don't know much of him But as you
begin to work as you begin to serve
one day you look around and realize look
what's happening to my life It's coming together
And look what he's doing least of it.
Look he's showing me how to live.
He's showing me how to build a relationship
He's showing me how to walk.
He's showing me how to think and how
to function.
He's doing all these wonderful things within me
And all of a sudden one day now
after you've been there and you've been around
him now You've got the capacity to make
a choice not under pressure not under fear
not under they you know The debt of
hell and sin which are very valid in
one sense Obviously, but now out of the
emotion and the desire and the love of
your own heart to sit there and realize
now I know And now one day you
turn around and you say I love my
master my wife and my children.
I don't want to go free At that
point God tells Moses.
He said if such a thing like that
happens to a man He says then I
wanted me to take him under the the
leaders of the judges of town and he
will plainly say I love My master my
wife and my children They'll lean his head
up against the door and they'll take in
an all and they'll pierce his ear They'll
drive it through and there at that point
the man becomes a doulos a slave by
love a slave by choice Now the master
says oh well, all right, you can stay
here You can continue to carry out your
life and work for me and be a
part of my you know my plan my
vision my scope my kingdom and I want
to use you in the building of my
kingdom and the building of my world and
I'll continue to take your life your Family
your children near that you love and you
care for and all and watch what we'll
do with all of them and now that
person became a slave by love a slave
but choice in Here, this is what Paul
had become not only Paul, but by the
way, also this is exactly what Jesus himself
was there's a wonderful messianic Psalm in Psalm
40 and In verse 6 It's messianic.
It says their sacrifice and offerings for sin
or thou does not desire mine ear hast
thou opened Burn offering and sin offering thou
has not required then said I low I
come in the volume of the book It
is written to me.
I delight to do thy will.
Oh my god.
Thy law is within my heart Now this
is actually a messianic Psalm.
It's about Christ and we know it is
because Hebrews tells us Hebrews 10 5 Tells
us this is wherefore When he came into
the world and it's right if you pick
up Hebrews 9 10 Well, all of it
you realize this is all about Christ and
it tells us there and then it quotes
psalm 40 It says wherefore when he came
into the world He said sacrifice and offerings
thou wouldest not but a body thou has
prepared me and burnt offerings and sacrifices for
sin Thou hast no pleasure then said I
low I come in the volume of the
book.
It is written to me I delight to
do thy will and here so here we
have this wonderful messianic Psalm talking about Christ
Talking about Jesus when he and it tells
us in Hebrews Interesting and wonderfully enough when
he came into the world He then turned
right around he says mine ear has stopped
pierced Sacrificed offerings burn offerings for sin.
That's no desire Body that was prepared me
Jesus it was like he looked around and
says father a little time energy effort a
little ministry a little service here And there's
not what you're interested in.
It's not what I'm interested in either It's
my body it's the offering of my body
ultimately in the text of Hebrews It's there
for the the sacrifice of sins for the
world But it is also the great concept
as well of Jesus standing before the father
and say I'm not just giving a little
bit of me to you I'm giving all
of me and it's interesting Hebrews tells us
when he said it When he did this
you may wonder when did Jesus Christ fully
give himself to his father when he was
12 in the temple or When he was
being baptized at 30 and the Spirit descended
upon him.
No, it says when he came into the
world he said Can you imagine this it's
one of the most astounding concepts in all
the world and it's one There's no question
that it happened exactly this way because the
Bible says it happened this way But to
think they're on that very first the very
first Christmas morning In a sense when God
the Father offered God the Son of body
here Prepared it for you a body thou
has prepared me That Jesus essentially turned around
says sacrifice and offerings burn offerings for sin.
You have that's not it a Body thou
has prepared me then said I lo it
is written of me in the volume of
the book to do thy will Oh my
god, thy law.
I delight to do thy law.
Thy law thy word is within me and
There that very first morning when God the
Father gave God the Son a body He
then turned right around and gave it back
He then turned right around.
I don't have to wait till I'm 12
or 15 or 20.
I have to go out and party and
Cruise Colorado Boulevard and sing doo-wop, you
know or whatever else to decide I want
to give you my body Decide I want
to yield my life I know I've known
before the foundation of the world what I
do with this thing and there if you
could imagine now you and I we Can't
comprehend anything like that because very simply the
Bible tells us we were born in sin
None of us remembers our birthday Unless you're
Ruth Carter Stapleton or somebody like that But
the you know who thinks you remember everybody's
or something else, but none we weren't we
we could we had no consciousness We had
there was nothing there But when Jesus born
of the Spirit There with the wisdom of
the ages taking that body for his own
there with all of the genius of eternity
Now he turned right around five six seven
eight pounds father jurors and That's bond slave.
My near hast thou pierced.
I Don't know.
You know, I give you my body now
that you know that that I love my
master my wife and my children I will
not go free And when we understand this
and realize this is what Paul when he
looked there and he says I'm a slave
of Christ To him that was that was
the highest and the most glorious concept to
think there of actually a human being being
capable to turning right around with his body
and Giving it to the God of all
eternity Not giving it to himself Not to
give it to his job or his career
or the bank or some other entity But
the capacity to take human flesh a human
Carcass or whatever these bodies that we've got
and be able to sit there and realize
God says I'll take it And I'll do
something with it like no human or genius
could ever dream up I'll make it eternal
and I'll give it eternal words eternal destiny
eternal capacities if you'll give it to me
And Paul understood that he realized there that
he could actually take his body and give
it to God by love Not by force
not by pressure not by fear, but by
love and to him when Paul says I'm
a slave.
I Think he you know, though he looked
at it and this is in a day
and age, by the way that slaves they
were chattel Slaves were bought and sold and
could be killed.
They were the lowest piece of the material
almost They were right in there with any
animal or any other and you know Household
good that you could buy get on the
marketplace Then there was a human slave there
and forced into servitude and when you bought
that like here Give me a couple bags
of this.
I need one of those things Oh, give
me a couple of those slaves and but
they were they were Nothing and yet Paul
looked at that and he said it's everything
It's everything when you are a slave to
God's love To God's power to think that
I can fully and totally and completely Give
myself to him and be his servant day
and night 24 hours a day seven days
a week 365 days a year all of
my life Now a lot of people the
idea the idea of surrendering our life to
Christ from our fleshly perspective We we start
from another perspective.
We will you mean I gotta give my
life to God or I'm gonna I'm being
troubled I won't be doing well, and I'll
be holding back on my come.
All right.
God.
What do you want?
And we negotiate with God Can I be
a part-time slave?
Part-time, I mean, you know 40 hours
a house before it How about if I'm
a in 20 hours to 40 part, you
know, I mean, you know, but God I'll
be nine to five It's almost like I'm
gonna give you Sacrifice and offerings.
I'm gonna do a little here a little
there.
I'm gonna help out the kingdom And so,
you know and God has to negotiate with
us constantly, you know every time the contract
comes up to read Negotiated like a job
almost, you know, well, let's say I work
for you If nine to five, of course
every two hours want a coffee break and
then a lunch Don't forget I like a
lunch and then also what's the health and
dental and profit sharing and retirement and then
I also need an ergonomic chair and Keyboard
so I don't have to sue you, you
know or something, you know But I mean
the we're negotiating constantly with giving our lives
to God But slave means slave when somebody
looks there and realize God I want to
be your slave and It's one of the
most high and lofty concepts and yet as
far as heaven is concerned.
I'm I'm absolutely Positive or I mean that
when you we get to heaven You'll all
look and we'll look back You know We'll
see Kings and Queens and CEOs and presidents
and all the titles that any man ever
had upon himself and from heaven's perspective We'll
look back and realize the greatest title any
human being ever had was a bond slave
the highest They were the dreamers in this
world.
They were the ones that saw eternity They
saw the capacity of a human being like
nobody else.
They didn't sell out cheap They didn't give
their life away for nothing.
They went for the greatest of all and
When a person realizes that that's what God
has for us That's what he longs for
for us And the great regrets that we'll
have is when we didn't understand that and
the great failures are when we aren't enjoying
that And know about yourself, but most the
time when I'm in trouble is there's one
fundamental thing.
That's always there.
I forgot I was a servant.
I Been in here.
I'm going down the road and nobody else
knew the masters on the road Are you
walk into a place and the master is
here?
And I didn't nobody seemed to know the
master was there and they just walked past
me and I wanted some help and they
didn't Give me any help and I'm mad
and I'm gonna where's the manager of this
joint, you know And there were whatever it
is or you go home and when you
do you if you get a bunch of
servants in the house You've got a pretty
wonderful house You get a bunch of masters
and now so I'm master You were master
yesterday.
I am master today.
You do I beg your pardon you mastered
yesterday.
It's my neck You know where that's gonna
go and then particularly then we're then we
go create all these other little teeny masters
You know and bring them into the house
and just think you know They're cutie and
then we look at him and they say
they think they run this place Who in
the world do they think they are and
then you get a bunch of them and
you got a lot of trouble Until people
look around realize I Want to be a
slave a bond slave of Jesus Christ and
Jesus spent so much time Wanting this to
be understood When you look at there with
his disciples how much time he'd sit there
with him say he would be greatest among
you Will be the servant of all You
don't get it.
Do you he's watching these guys that on
one hand they're learning the doctrine.
They're learning a theology They're learning his salvation.
They're learning these great high wonderful eternal things,
but they had such a terrible time Understanding
the key to enjoying it all is that
I become a serpent a servant it opens
it up And he's there always constantly trying
to tell them.
He says you want to be great By
the way, there's nothing wrong with wanting to
be great.
Obviously Jesus.
He didn't say he who would be great
Ought to just be ashamed that you would
even want to be great you naughty little
rebellious child.
No, he didn't do that He said whosoever
would be great.
I Believe God desires that we would long
for a great life And not a not
the flesh, but I mean something that our
existence would have been we'd look and say
God it was great It was great having
left And that we would aspire but Jesus
said he who would be great Don't you
know it's through being a servant of all
and the teaching them to esteem He's trying
constantly to esteem other people is more important
than yourselves.
He says don't be like the Pharisees They
Lord themselves over everybody else.
You don't want to be that way taught
them when you go to when you go
someplace You go to a party you go
to a wedding feast take the lower seat
Take there the one there the serpents place
let everybody else have the chief seats They
all desire those things, but rather you take
the lower seat And of course Jesus modeled
this wherever he went it was always about
the business of serving others He looked there
and he says my meat is to do
the will of my father.
My diet is what he means Boy, you
want to know what energizes me and what
keeps me going you want to know what
my food is what my meat is It's
being a servant it's doing the will of
my master of my father being about his
business And there when Jesus he was such
a phenomenal servant Unbelievable service, you know servant.
That's all he was doing every morning noon
and night When you would watch him, he
never needed a vacation from being a servant
He never just looked there and one day
said, you know, that's it that I'm tired
of this.
I need I'm taking a vacation I am
gonna go be pampered and I'm gonna go
I'm gonna go Somewhere, you know, I'm gonna
do I'm gonna go hunting.
I'm gonna go quail hunting.
I'm just gonna go I Made him I'm
gonna shoot him, you know or something They're
aiming and it says I'm just gonna do
something for the fun of it, you know,
or whatever else He that there is his
mind me the nourishment of my life.
I Love doing the will of my father.
I love being a servant and the result
of that was is little children Poor people
sick people The people that kind of it
society ends up kind of down at the
lower ebb of it So often they're that
sometimes have the greatest perception lonely people people
in guilt and people in sin Rejected people
they looked at Jesus and by his very
countenance.
They knew there's a servant These kind of
people that were always coming up to Jesus.
They didn't go up to the high and
mighty Because they knew they're not a servant
and they don't want to talk to me
But there was something about Jesus the way
he lived and carried about it carried himself.
He's a servant and he loves it He
has found something in there that the whole
world has passed over and his countenance Emulated
it and whether he and he looked at
you and I and he says you want
to know a great key He says when
you go someplace to learn the servants life,
you want to know the happy life the
joyful life learn the servants life Go home
and be a servant To your husband go
home be a servant your wife go home
and just there you got I just want
to serve them Yeah, and you know let
everybody else argue over the top spot The
big you know, there's always you you know,
there's plenty of room there in the the
lower seats You can go home and everybody
will be glad you chose that seat But
the amazing thing is you will be the
happiest of all That you did When there's
something happens where we we realize though, that's
a it's an open seat.
It's a quiet seat it's a peaceful seat
and It's Jesus's seat He sits right there
and he says hey It's pretty nice here
You can come to like it.
It's a great place to be And it's
something there that when we begin to discover
that We all have a nature that doesn't
want it You know my I'm one of
these guys, you know, my parents named me.
They I'm Don Donald I don't know if
you know what the word Donald means, but
you get any baby book.
The word means chief And I'm I like
to be that like my name in fact
the Donald that's me That's me.
I'm the Donald.
I want a plaque the Donald, you know
or something my nature does But Jesus turns
around there and he says that really what
you want And all when we realize Paul
looked at this and it was a servant's
Life and he loved it and it was
also quickly two other things in this verse
that are so important.
It's a called life It's a called life
in the sense there when Paul looks there
and he says a servant of Jesus Christ
Called an apostle and that word called it's
a wonderful word.
It's words means invited as an invited to
a banquet Invited to obtain eternal salvation invited
into the kingdom Paul looked at himself.
He says I am a servant that's been
invited, you know by God And it means
as well to do this to discharge of
an office divinely Selected and appointed.
He says called Paul looked there and he
says I am a servant of the Most
High Everybody's serving somebody else.
He says here's who I serve.
I Have been called there of God If
he looked there, you know at his life
and and he and the thrill of having
something there of being called But I'll tell
you that is true of every Christian Every
Christian if you're here and you're a child
of God or wherever you are You're if
you're saved you're in you're a Christian you're
called In something that's waiting to happen The
only difference is some people have heard the
call some people know they've been called and
they've responded to it As far as Paul
tells us in Romans 8 he says those
whom he foreknew them also he Predestinated whom
he predestinated he called whom he called he
justified whom he justified he glorified Paul all
those are past tense, by the way, wonderfully,
but Paul looks at every one of us
He says if you're a child of God,
there's a call on you God has called
you Invited you into his service into his
kingdom Into his into a high and holy
and wonderful call to me It's his call
as much as Lazarus you can imagine They're
dead and you know with a in a
tomb and all of a sudden when Jesus
called him Lazarus Come forth Jairus's daughter Raises
her calls are from the dead Paul looked
at his life There was one who'd been
caught one is called from the dead under
a divine appointment to serve God This is
fundamental to the book of Romans.
It's fundamental the Christian life Our way our
problems.
I believe in our life are directly related
very often to this very verse How many
of our trials and when I forget I'm
called of God that God has a call
God has a plan God has a message,
you know You know for me Paul writes
and he says for ye that were Gentiles
he carried away once by dumb idols But
he goes on he says that he gets
into the gifts He said now there are
diversities of gifts same spirit diversities of administration
same Lord diversities of operations same God But
the manifestation of the Spirit is given to
every man to profit with all and Paul
goes on there and he says Every one
of God's children has a call He they
God has given them a gift He's given
them a service He's given something that every
one of us He looks at he says
this is my call for you I believe
he desires every one of us to be
able to take our name and write our
name and say a servant called Called There
is a call upon my life and the
wonderful thing of this, you know this capacity
in Ephesians 4 he says there were to
every one of us is given grace according
to the measure of the gift of Christ
And then he says and then he gave
some to be apostles and prophets and vengeance
pastors and teachers But he says every one
of us God has a call on Every
one of our lives and to stop and
realize how wonderful that is and Paul looked
there and he says I'm called and you're
called Could you imagine and I think one
day when we get to heaven realize this
was the important thing in life called Did
I realize I'm a servant and there is
a servant?
I waited for my master's call and he
called me and I was about the business
that he called me to About the service
that he gave me to I I don't
think there's any concern to me of a
you know I can't imagine one day you
and I get into heaven And having done
nothing And have the Lord say oh My
fault I Don't know what happened.
I forgot to call you.
I Forgot to gift you I was cutting
it.
I mean the database I had a glitch
I look here now and realize I saved
you and I just Did Forgot forgive me.
I'm sorry.
I just let you do nothing Your whole
life.
I never called you.
I don't think so.
I Think rather than that we will look
there and why God why didn't I long
for the call?
And then he says a messenger there an
apostle there but the word there apostle does
me, you know We're all messengers in one
sense He looked there and and in every
day 24 hours a day we ought to
be a servant with a message God I
am a servant with a message And how
sometimes the amazing thing we can drift in
and out of that one time I'd gone
someplace to minister and I remember I did
a couples conference and it was one of
those kind of weekends It was just wonderful.
It's like couple after couple and then the
time of teaching it was just wonderful I
remember there's some pastors and their wives who
were going through some things and just spent
time with them It was just one of
those weekends.
It was just Wow Lord, this is so
wonderful and all the way there I mean
just called and called and blessed and servant
and this weekend.
That was just Phenomenal meantime, I come flying
back to the airport a little late.
I had a rented car and Then I'm
turning in the car and when I'm turning
in the car They wanted to charge me
more than was they've given me a free
upgrade when I got there for some reason
It's all here.
You can take well, then they charged me
for the thing and all of a sudden
I'm there Wait a minute.
You're not trying you know, you don't understand.
I'm Scottish You don't want to get into
this, you know or something with me You'll
lose, you know or whatever and then I'm
going back and forth with them on this
thing And finally there I get I can't
remember how it all came up other than
I'm getting on the plane and I'm the
whole weekends Gone, you know sort of every
blessing is gone.
I'm just so uptight getting on this plane
And then I sat there in the Lord
out and you know, you all of a
sudden you realize Don little Called to be
a servant of Jesus Christ and it's funny
How you can be a servant and be
a good servant at sometimes and it's blessing
you wonder more This is so wonderful.
And then a little freeway drive and all
of a sudden you think I'm still a
servant.
I'm just a bad one I still got
a message.
You just don't want to hear it You
know, but we all have we all have
that Constantly and you look there.
How am I so capable of doing this?
You know sort of it and you want
to say well I'll tell you why these
people wanted to a servant and these people
weren't asking for a servant So I said
I'm gonna show you what I could be.
Anyway, you know or whatever it is, but
the next thing, you know we're in trouble
and Paul the day I forget that I
To be able to take my name the
wonderful thing.
We slide it back in and say Lord.
I want to be little I want to
be a servant and Then lastly and we'll
look at this.
See you We'll finish it tonight separated.
We'll just leave it there.
But the word means to sever Separated he
says I've severed the past Separated it has
two aspects separated from sever severed for Separated
to but God to you know, I'm giving
you my life.
I'm severing this stuff in the past I've
severed it.
I'm separated from it and I am separated
unto you and your purposes And when we
realize that to me that's so foundational of
this wonderful book Wonderful book in the night.
Can you take your name and put it
there and Then say, you know a servant
a doulos of the Lord Jesus Christ called
With a message an apostle a messenger And
separate it.
Maybe you're not separated Maybe tonight the Lord
says you're in trouble because you're you were
separated and now you're in trouble again Well,
there's something here where he says you forgot
didn't you and now you in fact you
hear you now It's time to go home
and be a servant Go home and take
the little see go to work.
Take the last seat.
Take the quiet seat.
I'll be right there And you'll find out
some of the most wonderful things in the
world if you will Amen father, we thank
you for your love and for your word
and Lord we ask that as we do
get into this wonderful book that we would
Just be able to pause tonight and look
at our own life and realize Lord help
us be little How much of our problems
are because we're chief and We want the
chief seats Not the little seat the quiet
seat the humble seat Little do we know
that when we sit there There is where
your power and your love and your goodness
and your strength is found Lord, may you
teach us these things?
Forgive us Lord that we seem to have
the capacity.
It is a part-time job so often
Go and spend a weekend part-time and
the way to the airport all of a
sudden I clock out We can punch out
and be right back into our own world
Just like that Lord help us not to
be that way Forgive us Lord when we
do And Lord teach us the power of
your spirit Taking over and filling and anointing
and using our lives in Jesus name.
We pray Amen