Pastor’s Pen Pulpit Romans

September 4, 2005 #3 in series

THE GOSPEL THAT PAUL PREACHED

Romans 1:1-7

Part two

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, caled as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In our second pen pulpit in Romans we looked at Paul’s relation to the Gospel. We saw that he was a servant of the gospel, he was sent with the gospel and he was separated to the gospel. In this issue we will examine God’s Revelation of the Gospel in verses 2-4.

The Gospel was CONFIRMED in the Old Testament Scriptures (verse 2). The message which Paul was given and which he faithfully preached was a prime topic of the Old Testament prophets (Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22). The Jews, of course, claimed that Paul was not a true apostle and therefore his message was not valid. He wants them to know that his message is deeply rooted in the Jewish Scriptures.

The Gospel CONCERNED His Son, Jesus Christ (vv. 3 & 4)

• Who was fully Man –v.3 Jesus came by the miracle of the incarnation. Note: His Son who was born a descendant of David according to the flesh”( Galatians 1:4; Matthew 1:1,20, 23). This is a reference to the miraculous conception, the incarnate Son of God. Christ’s humanity was not created (Genesis 3:1)5. His was sinless humanity He was completely human in every way except sin. This is necessary if He is to be the Savior of men.

• Who was fully God – v.4 He was actually vindicated by the miracle of the bodily resurerection. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is a verifible fact of history. It is an itegral part of the Gospel (I Corinthian 15:1-4). The Lord Jesus initiated His own resurrection (John 10:17,18; 2:19-21). This marked Him out and identified Him to be the Son of God. John MacArthur writes “Âccording to the Spirit of holiness is another way of saying according to the nature and work of the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit working in Christ  who accomplished Jesus’ resurrection and every other miracle performed by Him or associated with Him.” Thus the Holy Spirit is the One Who attested to His true identity. The unique Son of God!

I believe that Jesus is fully God. Isaiah 7:14 speaks of the virgin birth (or miracleous conception) of Jesus Chrust… Emmanuel meaning “God with us”. Isaiah 9:6 is a clear prophecy of Jesus Christ and in this prophecy the five-fold aspect of His Name can only be interpreted as deity. His eternality is clearly seen in Micah 5:2. In Isaiah 40 “the voice” would clear the path for Jehovah. In Luke 3:4-6 that voice is identified as John the Baptist whose ministry it was to prepare the way for Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 48:16 the triune God is seen. Psalm 110:1 with Luke 20:42 reveals that David recognized the pre-incarnate Messiah.

Many Biblical truths are dependent upon the histororic event of the Virgin birth of Christ. The virgin birth of Jesus Christ validates messianic prophecy for the Old Testament predicted His birth. If He was not virgin born, then He could not qualify as the only savior of men –for He, Himself would have a sinful nature which He did not have! His resurrection, His work in building the church, His second coming and His glorous reign are all dependent upon the fact that He was born of a virgin. In the incarnaion of Jesus Christ God condescended to take to Himself a perfect human nature and become a man for the purpose of providing a perfect redemption for Adam’s fallen and ruined race. That human nature was all that man was intended to be apart from sin (John 1:14; Philippians 2:6-8; Hebrews 2:14-16).

Christ’s deity and humanity are perfectly harmonized. Our Lord was not two personalities. He was always just one person. However, He possessed both a human nature and a divine nature. Neither was in contradiction to the other, neither were they mingled. He was fully God with a divine nature and human nature. He was also perfect man with a divine nature and a human nature.

The resurrecton of Jesus is the key to the Christian faith. Why? (1) Just as He promised, Jesus rose from the dead. We can be confident, therefore, that He will accomplish all that He has promised. (2) Jesus’ bodily resurrection shows us that the living Christ is ruler of God’s eternal kingdom, not a false prophet or imposter. (3) We can be certain of our resurrection because He was resurrected. Death is not the end –there is future life. (4) The power that brought Jesus back to life is available to us to bring our spiritually dead self back to life and to provide a daily victory over indwelling sin. (5) The resurrection is the basis for the church’s witness to the world. Jesus is more than just a human leader; He is the Son of God.

May these truths burn deeply into our hearts this week. What an awesome thing it is to KNOW we serve a Living Savior. God bless.