Romans 1 pt 2
THE DECLARATION THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
Pr EDI GIUDETTI
20-01-2019
1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, calledto bean apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, 2 (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) 3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; 4 And declaredto bethe Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: 5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: 6 Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: 7 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, calledto besaints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the first message relating to the first two verses, we identified among the many things there written that;
- It was a Sovereign Serviceto which Paul had his calling. “Paul a servant of Jesus Christ” and noted this calling was;
- A Pre-Ordained calling” when he was “Called to be an Apostle”. This sovereign service and calling was therefore;
- A Devine Separationbecause he was “Separated unto the Gospel of God”. And we were able to draw the conclusion that the work he was separated unto was the most secure employment of all because, not only was the service the employment of the sovereign Lord, and not only that the calling itself was Pre-Ordained and separated unto God, but finally that it was;
- A Prophetic Promisespoken of and witnessed to by all the prophets in who have written of the precise events that would occur concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. (v2)
The context of the passage is presented to encourage us all in the work for which we ourselveshave been ordained to undertake. This is by far the most exiting adventure of our lives, the most effective work we can undertake, with a REWARD THAT IS INFINATE IN SCOPE!!!!
All that we do in this temporal life, will have wages appointed of eternal significance.
Todays message follows on from last week in consideration of verses 3 to 7 and acknowledging;
THE DECLARATION THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
The realisation of the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, motivates our mission!
It was atheist HG Wells who is reported to have said
“If God does not exist, nothing matters, if God does exist, nothing else matters”.
It was the apostle Paul who wrote;
“And if Christ be not raised, your faith isvain; ye are yet in your sins.”
What have these two statements got in common?
One simple reality changes everything
Jesus Christ Was Made Man, According To The Flesh
Jesus Christ Was Declared God, By The Resurrection From the Dead
Jesus Christ Was Received By The Apostles, For the Preaching to the Nations
Jesus Christ Called us to be saints in the work of the Gospel
Jesus Christ Was Made Man According To The Flesh
1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, calledto bean apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, 2 (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) 3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
Paul wonderfully teaching that that gospel of God, that he had long ago promised and spoke through the prophets of old and have it recorded for us in the holy, that is, the true, perfect, pure and dependable scriptures, was that which concerned his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
This third verse;
3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
Gives to us an understanding firstly; that Christ is the Son of God(Which we will address in some detail in the next point).
Secondly: that he was made man.
Thirdly: that his decent followed after the natural order of man(notwithstanding the uniqueness of his birth).
Jesus Christ Was Made Man According to the Flesh.
Christ had flesh and bone, he bled like all men do. He got tired and slept like all men do, he grew as a child, was weaned from his mother, was subject to his parents as all good children are.
The Lord Jesus Christ lived a mortal lifein which he died a mortal death. He hungered and ate, he wept and mourned the passing of a loved one.
Jesus Christ feared like all men do, desiring to be saved from the death that should come;
Hebrews speaks to this (Heb 5:7)
“Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;”
Luke provides the record of the extreme stress experienced by the Lord as he, three times, prayed the cup he was to drink be removed from him, sweating great drops of blood, a condition known today as Hematidrosis and experienced by those under the most extreme forms of stress.
Typically a deathful fear.
Jesus experienced the love of some, the hatred of others.He had those faithful to him, but also experienced the betrayal of one he loved and even abandoned by all close to him at his time of need.
Jesus demonstrate anger and frustration; in fact all the range of emotions we all experience was experienced by Jesus.
Speaking of Christ as our High Preist, Hebrews 4:15 says “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like aswe are, yetwithout sin.”
Jesus Christ Was Made Man According to the Flesh.
He knows our weaknesses, he understands our temptations and our trials, he knows our fears and our sorrows.
Isaiah speaking of Christ centuries before he Was Made Man According to the Flesh, says he was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3)
Jesus knows all you go through and more and is the very reason why we can Cast all our “care upon him” as Peter writes about in 1 Pet 5:7.
Jesus Christ was made man according to the flesh.
Why such an important truth to know?
- BECAUSE HE COULD NOT TAKE OUR PLACE OTHERWISE.
AND
- BECAUSE HE COULD NOT JUSTLY JUDGE THE WORLD OTHERWISE.
The only way the crime of a man can be properly paid for is if the man pays for it himself, or if it is paid for by another man.
For example:
Australia has had a history of shark attacks and people being taken by sharks in our beaches. For years sharks themselves were hunted and destroyed for the taking of human life. But never did the thought come to mind to hunt and destroy crocodiles in the place of sharks for the attacks of sharks, neither did we hunt Sharks for the attacks of Crocodiles.
A man who commits murder cannot have his faithful dog pay the punishment for his crime, but another man may certainly offer himself in his place.
The famous novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, has Sydney Carltongo to the guillotine in the place of Charles Darnay during the French Revolution. Charles was loved dearly by Lucie Manette, the woman Sydney himself loved with a sacrificial love.
Only a man can pay the penalty for the sins of man.
The ancient heresy that Christ was not fully man neglects the legal ramification of the nature of his sacrifice for man.
Jesus Christ was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
So much more we could say to this but, suffice for the point of the message to understand that Jesus Christ came as the descendant of the royal line of Kings from David the King as told in the Bible.
Turn to Isaiah 9:6-7
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase ofhisgovernment and peacethere shall beno end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Jesus Christ was made man according to the flesh, this was the first requirement necessary for the declaration to come to change everything!
Jesus Christ Was Declared GodBy The Resurrection From the Dead
3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made 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:
Not only was Jesus Christ made man according to the Flesh, but he was also declared God by the resurrection from the dead.
The phrase Son of Godrefers to God, having the same nature and state as God. The Jews charged him with Blasphemy because he declared to them the truth of the question they desired of him asking “Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” (Mrk 14:61)
Nothing declared the truth of the nature of Christ more than the Resurrection from the dead.
In that Jesus Christ was, as in our text, declaredto bethe Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
THIS IS THE DECLARATION THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING.
Just as Psalm 19 recalls for us that “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. That 2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. So too does the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead provide the proof of himself being in very nature “God manifest in the flesh” (1 Tim 3:16).
His RESURRECTION cries out the truth of it. It logically concludes the reality that Jesus must also be God. No man can raise himself from the dead, no man can truly come back to life from the dead.
Jesus Christ was three days and three nights dead in a rich man’s tomb. None expected him to be raised from the dead, that he did rise again, and gloriously risen, changed everything.
Consider the state of those who loved him, followed himand hung off his every word for three years.
Peter, so confused by the events that were leading up to the capture and judgement against Christ, denied the Lord three times. Never did he expect to see his Lord, the King of Israel taken and killed, especially not when his very expectation was that Christ would be crowned not crucified.
Three times he denied the Lord even though he had witnessed his miracles.
All the disciples of the Lord were grieved at the experienced. It is in Luke 24:19 where we find two walking back from Jerusalem, and as they were walking they were sad at the events of the days preceding.
And, midway through verse 19, concerning Jesus of Nazareth they said, “which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: 20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. 21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel:”
Disappointed and confused was their confession to this stranger, who had walked up to them enquiring of their conversation and sadness. But they continued saying;
and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. 22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; 23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. 24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and founditeven so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
At this they were willing for their lives to continue on as if death had taken the only hope they thought to have. Life will turn now back to the way it was, the events of the last three years JUST ANOTHER ANOMOLY IN THE ANNALS OF HISTORY to be spoken of but not understood.
Prior to the witness of the resurrection of Christ, nothing changed. The response of them all was normal, as expected!
Consider the disciples of the Lord who gathered together in John 21:2-3
There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and thesonsof Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.
Forgetting the words of Christ recorded for us in Luke 5:10 when the Lord said to them, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men,they went back to their work, back to that most familiar to them, The realisation of the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, had not yet motivated their mission! NOTHING CHANGED!
Even after all they had seen and witnessed concerning Christ, nothing had changed.
What did it?
Thomas, the man I often refer to as The Eeeaww of the discyples, that wonderful Character in the Winny the Poo series who seems always to be in a melancholy mood, Thomas was cast down and would not believe in the good news related to him by the discyples.
Turn to John 20:24-29
24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them:thencame Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peacebeunto you. 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrustitinto my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessedarethey that have not seen, andyethave believed.
And declaredto bethe Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness,
by the resurrection from the dead:
That Jesus was a man was vital to the Gospel, but it was not the fulfillment of it.
A man certainly can sacrifice his life for the life of another man, but who is it that might sacrifice themselves for the sins of all mankind?
The value of a mortal life is snuffed out once it dies for another life, but the value of an infinite eternal life can never be depleted.
We strike one match and the flame of that match is extinguished when its fuel is exhausted, but what if the flame was eternal?
Jesus Christ Was Declared God By The Resurrection From the Dead AND EVERYTHING CHANGED!
It is by THIS you can know that your sins have been paid for by Christ.
Not only a man was he, not only could he relate to you in all ways yet without sin and not only can his life as a man pay for the sins of another man chosen and lived by him, but AS GOD THE SON his life was a ransom for the sins of the whole world!
EVERYTHING CHANGED
NOW, A just and legal remission of sins can be attained by your faith and claim in Christ to have paid for it.
- Do you believe Jesus died for your sins?
- Will you believe Jesus died for your sins?
Sydney Carlton died for the crimes of Charles Darnay, Darnay accepted the love of Carlton and lived.
Christ died for your sins, will you accept the love of Christ now that his resurrection from the dead has declared him not only willing, but able to die for your sins?
Thomas, who witnessed Christ with his eyes;
… said unto him, My Lord and my God and EVERYTHING CHANGED
To Thomas EVERYTHING CHANGED
To Peter EVERYTHING CHANGED
To Paul EVERYTHING CHANGED
To all who witnessed and to all who heard of that witness of Christ for almost two thousand years, EVERYTHING CHANGED, NOTHING STAYED THE SAME ANYMORE.
Fishing for men had taken the place of fishing for fish, livelihood was no longer sustained by serving the land but by being a servant of Jesus Christ!
The new employment had taken the form of a mission in life.
CHANGED; EVERYTHING CHANGED because of the realisation of the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!
Has it changed you?
HAS EVERYTHING CHANGED FOR YOU?
Or are we living as if Christ had not risen? As if there is no resurrection from the dead, as if this life and this world is all there is?
1 Corinthians 15:12, turn there with me.
12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14 And if Christ be not risen, thenisour preaching vain, and your faithisalso vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faithisvain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
See the logical conclusion of Paul’s statement. If Jesus had not risen from the dead there is no reason to conclude that anything should change, ye are yet in your sins, that can’t be escaped from.
Denial of the resurrection of Christ helps no one, why? Because all it means is that your only hope is in a temporal life….but that life inevitably comes to an end and sin in life will have a just recompense of reward.
For the wages of sinisdeath; but the gift of Godiseternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
Jesus is both man and God, made according to the flesh, a descendant of David the King, but declared to be the Son of God, with power, by the resurrection from the dead.
The Hypostatic union, both natures of Christ, man and God, must be 100 percent true otherwise it is impossible for sin of the world to be paid for by the ransom of one.
Jesus Christ Was Received By The Apostles For the Preaching to the Nations
5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
It was given to a select few, chosen by Christ, to bring to the nations the truth of the Gospel.
Everything changed, the reality of the resurrection of Christ inspired the mission of the people of Christ to preach him among and throughout the nations. Their willingness to die for the sake of the Gospel was evident of the reality of a changed they witnessed in life.
There are those who try to make a comparative claim of the willing suicide of Muslims today for the death of many, and the willing sacrifice of the apostles of Christ for the Gospel of Christ, to be held in equal esteem.
They say that if we are to accept the apostle’s willingness to die for Christ as verifying the truth of Christ, why do we not consider the willing suicide of Muslimsfor the sake of their prophet as validating Mohamed?
The distinction is as simple as it is profound.
No-one is willing to die for something they know to be a lie!
History records that each of the apostles went back to a normal lifeimmediately after the crucifixion of Christ. The claim of the Jews that the disciples of Christ stole the body of Christ to explain the empty tomb, does not explain their willingness to die for him.
If the apostles created the resurrection of Christas some grand and elaborate scheme from which they would receive NO benefit whatever; not riches, nor power, nor wealth, not global rule or dominionas is desired and has been witnessed by the Muslim invaders since its establishment on the seventh century, what them was the motivation that CHANGED EVERYTHING?
What man is there that is willing to die for what they know to be a lie? If the disciples made up the account of Christ, they would have all known the truth of it.
The entire new Testament was not written hundreds of years after the death of Christ and his disciples, but written in their lifetime and affirmed by the witness of the time.
That is not the case with the suicidal deaths of the propagators of other religions.
No man or woman is willing to die for what they know to be a lie!
The concern of the apostles was for the eternal wealth of the world and they were willing to endure all that came their way for the sake of it.
Turn to 2 Cor 6:1-10
1 We then,asworkers togetherwith him, beseechyoualso that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. 2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, nowisthe accepted time; behold, nowisthe day of salvation.) 3 Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: 4 But in allthingsapproving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; 6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, 7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 8 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, andyettrue; 9 As unknown, andyetwell known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; 10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, andyetpossessing all things.
What about you?
Has everything changed for you as it did for them?
Has your desire for that which is eternal overtaken that with is temporal?
It was Jim Elliot, who was martyred for his witness to the remote tribe of the Auca people of Equador in 1956 at the tender age of 28 years who wrote;
“he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose”
The lives of the Apostles changed because The realisation of the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, was what motivated their mission in life!
Does it motivate yours?
Has your desire for that which is eternal overtaken that with is temporal?
The call was not only for the Apostles of Christ according to our passage in Romans 1
4. Jesus Christ Called us to be saints in the work of the Gospel
6 Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:7 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, calledto besaints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:
You and I are ALSO the called of Jesus Christ, we have been called to be the servants of the King of Kings, to be under his employ for which he has both equipped us and given us both purpose and ability, we will never be truly happy until we work according to that calling.
I have tried using tools that were not built for the purpose for which I had employed them.
No matter how often I tried to use a flat head screw driver, a key seemed to be the best suited for the purpose.
Everything works best when it is employed for that in which it was created.
No man is happy until he employs all his efforts into that for which he is suited.
The calling for us all is the same, the employment of that calling for us all will be different.
The calling is our separationunto the gospel of God, 2 (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) 3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; 4 And declaredto bethe Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
This is the overarching purpose of our lives, it is The realisation of the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that now motivates our mission in life!
The employment of that calling is as diverse as the gifts and talents and abilities that the Lord has given us as members of the body of Christ.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead has changed everything, you now have a purpose according to the gift of God given you from the foundation of the world.
What is it?
Will you now live as the Called of Jesus Christ?
0 Comments