Introduction
When I was a kid, my parents gave me an allowance. I didn’t really earn this money. They gave it to me because I was part of the family and they wanted to teach me how to better handle finances. I wasn’t really a big spender when I was young. I figured that it would be a waste of that money to spend that money on candy or clothes or small impulse buys. (My parents bought a lot of those things for me anyway) I liked to save my money up for big items. I loved the payoff of putting together all the money that I could gather for months and months and saving up to buy something really big like a new bike.
Notice that I said that it was all the money I could gather… As a kid, I didn’t really have the ability to earn my own money. I didn’t really have any marketable skills to use in the workplace. I mostly just gathered other people’s money and spent it on things for myself. As a kid, I was living off someone else resources. Kids live off of someone else’s resources. As Christians (Children of God), we live off Someone else’s resources as well… Living the Christian life utilizes Christ’s resources, not ours….
One thing I want us to understand from last week’s teaching is that all the power we use to live a godly life and to further the kingdom of God, does not come from ourselves…it belongs to Christ. I’m spending Christ’s power to accomplish good works for his glory and for my blessing (like when I was kid & I was depending on my parent’s job so that I could spend their money in order to get things for my “blessing”).
Paul identified himself as a servant of Christ, but that does not mean that Christ is dependent on either Paul or you or me in order for his work to be accomplished. Christ is God. He is all powerful. You and I can either choose to be used to further his kingdom or we can choose to stand on the sideline and miss His blessings and power in our lives. Don’t for a minute think that Jesus will not accomplish his purposes because He is waiting on you.
BUT… the man who willingly (and truly) gives his life over to Christ as a servant, does so because he can’t wait to be used in the service of the King. It’s what he was made for. It give him tremendous satisfaction and pleasure to serve the Savior.
If someone does not want to serve Jesus as Lord, we have to wonder if Jesus really is Lord of that person’s life. In other words, is that person really saved? People who are saved, serve. Our goal at Canyon Bible Church that every believer who attends here:
- Walks with Christ (being in the word)
- Worships Christ (together with God’s people and throughout their lives)
- Works for Christ (Joyfully serves Jesus as Lord)
Christ’s servant is not thinking that he has to serve Jesus and has to obey His commands….No… He’s celebrating that he GETS TO serve in the kingdom of God. AND… he GETS TO use the power of Christ in his life to love others and to complete good works. In Romans 15:18, Paul says, “For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me…”
In other words, Paul is in the service of Christ and he’s using the power that Christ provides in order to accomplish the tasks that Christ assigns. That is meaning behind the verse where Jesus says, “…even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45) We serve Christ by obey His commands and Christ serves us by giving us the power to obey His commands.
We’ll mess up the whole meaning of Romans if we don’t come to the understanding that a servant of Jesus serves Jesus in the power that Jesus provides so that Jesus alone gets the glory for the good works that Jesus assigned. Jesus is at the center of our service and Jesus is at the center of the gospel.
Last week we took a look at Paul and the Roman church. This morning I want us to take our eyes off of Paul and off the Romans and focus them on the purpose of the letter – the one who is at the very center of the gospel of God – Jesus. The very first thing that Paul explains about Jesus is that he is not the founder of a new religion, but he is the fulfillment of a very old one.
Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures
Verse 1 explains that Paul was set apart for the gospel of God. Verse 2&3 explain that it was a gospel “2 which he
It always cracks me up when I walk into a place (like the Christian book store) and see a picture of Jesus with long flowing beautiful blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and looking like one of the elves from Lord of the Rings. Jesus wasn’t really like that as all. He was very Jewish. And one of the most Jewish statements you can make about Jesus is that he was the son of David. It was deeply rooted in Jewish history, tradition and expectation that the Messiah would be born into the kingly line of David.
For the Jews, there had never been a king as highly esteemed as David. He was a man after God’s own heart. God had made a promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:16 that “…[David’s] house and [David’s] kingdom shall be made sure forever before [God]. [David’s] throne shall be established forever.” The Jews understood passages like this one to mean that when the Messiah came, he would from the house of greatest king in their history – King David. Listen to some of these other prophecies about the Messiah:
- Jeremiah 23:5 “5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”
- Ezekiel 34:23-24 “23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.”
Israel went through some extremely difficult times as a nation while they were waiting for the Messiah to come, but they held out hope that the Messiah was on his way and one way they would recognize Him is that he would be a descendant of David… The line of King David would live on through the Messiah!
It is not uncommon for the New Testament writers to stress that Jesus was the son of David. Even though Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, the New Testament writers meticulously retraced the genealogy of both Mary and Joseph to show that both family lines are linked to the royal family of King David.
When Paul writes “concerning his Son, who was descended from David” it is like he is shouting out:
- He has come.
- The Messiah you were looking for is here.
- The Son of David has arrived!
Now let me draw your attention to the next little phrase that says, “according to the flesh.” Jesus came according to the flesh. What does that imply? It implies that Jesus is fully man.
Jesus is Fully Man
Jesus is not a demigod, like the Roman gods. He’s not a like a spirit. He’s not like an angel. He’s not a phantom. He’s not a figment of the imagination. He’s not the product of folklore and legend. He was fully man. He was born. He had a mother and a family.
Jesus ate and slept. We see him walking, running, speaking and shouting. On the cross, we see Him dying. BUT…Jesus had to be more than just a mere man if he was going to conquer sin and death for all of mankind.
Before I say any more about his humanness, let me stress the fact that he was different than any other human who has ever been born. He was sent. He was sent for a purpose. He came to rescue mankind. Jesus was not formed on the day of his birth. He is eternal, just like His father. Jesus was (and is) fully God. He is from eternity past. He has existed in perfect fellowship with the Father as the Perfect son for all of eternity.
Romans 8:3 says, “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh…” God sent Jesus. God had Jesus take on flesh.
There is a false doctrine called Adoptionist Christology. Some cults have this belief. Let me define it for you so that you can identify it: Adoptionist Christology is a belief that Jesus was born as a regular guy (like you and me) and for 30 years, he was very righteous. Because of how righteous he was, he was appointed by God for a special task (namely to be sacrificed for all mankind on the cross). Jesus, the regular guy, proved to be so spiritual that God entered him and equipped him and, as a result, adopted him to be His Son. This view fails to take into account the full counsel of scripture and the reality that Jesus was the Son of God for all of eternity past. There was a connection, relationship and fellowship that existed eternally between God the Father and Jesus the Son.
Namely: The Son existed as the Son of God before he ever came to be a man. The way that Jesus relates to the Father as the perfect Son of God is unique. It is utterly unique in this:
- There was eternal, perfect fellowship between Jesus the Son and God the Father.
- Having been in perfect fellowship for all of eternity past, there is no closer relationship in the universe than the relationship that exists between God the Father and Jesus the Son and God the Spirit
- (To read more about the eternal relationship that existed between the members of the Trinity, I would recommend “The Pleasures of God” by Dr. John Piper)
- William Barclay says, “the connection of Jesus with God is so close that he can only be described in terms of God and God can only be described in terms of Him.”
We don’t even have the terms to describe one without referring to the other. “What is Jesus like? He’s like God. What’s God like? He’s like Jesus…” (One is not God and the other one man) They are two of the same kind of thing. Both are both of the essence of God
This means that Jesus is and was the Son of God in a way that is utterly unique – it is not the same way that we are called sons of God. But Jesus, the Son of God, was sent to be a man. Jesus was not a product of creation, but creation was made through him. Colossians 1:16 says, “For by him [Jesus] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him [Jesus] and for him [Jesus].”
Although He was the creator, He came to serve us as fully man. Does that kind of blow your mind? It should. We don’t have a file for a creator who becomes a creation for the well-being of the creation, but this is a case where we have to take the Bible at its word. The work he had to do required that fully divine, eternal Son of God would take on human nature for the salvation of mankind.
To put it simply, when they whipped Jesus, he bled. He was fully man, but He was more than just a man, though. He was the Son of God. He was sent here on a mission and for a purpose. Look at Romans 1:4
“4 and [Jesus] was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead…”
The Greek word for “declared” is the same word we get our word “horizon” from. It means to divide one thing from another. Jesus was set apart, divided from the rest of mankind for the express purposes of fulfilling the perfect will of His Father. He perfectly obeyed the Father because Jesus was the perfect son. A perfect son would perfectly obey the will of his perfect Father.
When Jesus came on the scene, the entire Jewish world was up in arms. They were threatened by him. It became clear that Jesus did not claim to be just a man who was sent by God, but He claimed something much greater than that….
Jesus claimed to be fully God
Jesus is Fully God
Paul clearly understood Jesus’ claims. In Colossians 2:9, Paul writes, “…in [Jesus] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily…” When Paul says in Romans 1 that the gospel of God has to do with His son, he’s referring to the fully divine, eternally existing Son of God.
- The gospel is not about trying to rearrange human affairs.
- It’s not 10 ways to have a better life.
It is about God penetrating human affairs from the outside through the person of Jesus Christ.
The phrase that Jesus “was declared to be the Son of God in power,” is highly significant. The Jews used the term Son of God and Messiah interchangeably. I could show you many examples, but there is one that I like the best because it is in a courtroom and life and death are hanging in the balance. The words in this historical account are very carefully chosen and are highly significant. Turn in your Bibles with me to Matthew 26:63.
“Christ” is a title and not Jesus’ last name. In His culture, Jesus would have been called Jesus the son of Joseph or Jesus of Nazareth. (“Jesus” was as common of a name in their culture as “Joshua” is in our and both names mean the same thing – “Jehovah saves.”) When we call Jesus “the Christ”, we are proclaiming him as Messiah.
Look at how the Jews used the terms “Son of God and “The Christ” [or the Messiah] side-by-side in the deathly serious interchange between Jesus and the high priest:
Matthew 26:63 And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ [The Messiah] , the Son of God.” 64 Jesus said to him, “You have said so….”
Jesus in essence said, “you just proclaimed the truth about who I am.” Jesus was very aware that by claiming to be the Christ, the Messiah, he was signing his own death sentence before the high priest.
In this scene, Jesus had every reason to deny that He was the Messiah, but instead He claims to be the Messiah before the High priest. These were legal proceedings and in the most scrutinizing situation, both Jesus and the high priest connected Jesus claiming to be the Son of God as being the same as Jesus claiming to be the Messiah.
Jesus Is the Messiah
It is clear throughout the New Testament text that “Son of God” is a messianic title. In Romans 1:4, when Paul says that Jesus “was declared to be the Son of God in power,” he is clearly saying that Jesus is separated from all the rest of mankind and singled out as the Messiah.
Here are the truths that we have proclaimed, so far, about the gospel of God:
- The coming of the Jesus through the line of David was clearly planned by God
- Jesus was pre-existent. He is both fully Divine as well as being Fully Man
- Jesus is the Messiah. He is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecy and He is central to the message of the gospel in the New Testament.
Critics have said, “Those seem like a lot of nice words, but anybody can claim to be the Messiah.” Lots of people have claimed to be the Messiah over the years. Why should we believe Jesus’ claim? Here’s the hard facts: If it is true that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah, it would be both exhilarating and devastating for the Jews.
Why would I say that it would be devastating for them? It would be devastating because:
- …most Jewish people in Jesus’ day expected the Messiah to be a political or military leader.
- They expected the Messiah to overthrow Rome and to lead them into a season of political freedom and prosperity.
- They expected him to set up an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem and live triumphantly forever with His people.
But…Jesus of Nazareth didn’t do that. What does He do instead? He dies! How does he die? Does he die in a blaze of glory? Does he at least die an honorable warriors death? No he dies in the most gruesome and humiliating way imaginable… like a criminal
Messiah’s don’t die. Messiah’s rule. They conquer. After Jesus was killed, a man named Cleopas expressed this common sentiment about the Jesus. He said, “we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.”
Jesus had come to redeem Israel, but he did not come to redeem them from mere Roman rule. He came to redeem them for all of eternity. Rome was not mankind’s real problem. Sin was man’s problem. The rule of the government is very temporary, but the consequences for sin last for eternity. Jesus was far too holy and far too powerful and far too valuable to redeem Israel from just an evil government.
Jesus was aiming to redeem Israel and all the rest of mankind from the consequences of their sins for all of eternity. Jesus, the Son of God, would lay down his life and pay the price for our sins so that you and I might be called sons of God.
How did he prove that he had the power to forgive sins for eternity? He’d have to do something really radical to convince us that He was acting on behalf of God himself…
Look at Romans 1:4 again, “[Jesus] was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead.” If the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead after he had been ripped to shreds in crucifixion, that would be solid proof that Jesus is on a mission from God himself…. And that is exhilarating!
Jesus’ Claims to be the Son of God and to be the Messiah are Proven by His Resurrection
It is unusual how Paul phrased this verse. He says that Jesus was risen to life in “power according to the Spirit of holiness.” Why did he say it that way instead of saying that he was risen from the dead by the Holy Spirit? I think it is because Paul wanted to stress that Jesus’ rising from the dead was a very holy act… performed by none other than God the Holy Spirit. He was raised “according to the Spirit of holiness.”
Jesus was not raised from the dead by dark, cultic, magic arts. Dealing with the dead was dirty business in their day. Most people who were dealing with the spirits of the dead were witches and sorcerers. Whether you are in ancient Israel or modern day Sedona, sorcery and witchcraft is forbidden by God’s law. Séances (where the dead were “contacted”) were unlawful for God’s people.
- 2 Chronicles 33:6 says that dealing with sorcerers, mediums and necromancers provokes God to anger.
- In Galatians, Paul lists sorcery as a work of the flesh and warns us that any man who intentionally deals with sorcery will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. (Bad news for Harry Potter)
Dealing with the dead in occult practices is a kind of evil, dark, satanically fueled, black magic. Is that what raised Christ from the dead?
NO WAY! The Spirit of Holiness raised Christ from the dead! It was not evil black magic that raised the Savior, but the very Spirit of God himself that intervened. Jesus’ resurrection was holy and beautiful and good and right and clean and glorious.
The resurrection gave ultimate credibility to Jesus’ message. It proved that he is the man who is appointed to rule over God’s people. The gospel is the proclamation of Jesus’ perfect rule and an invitation for you and I to come under that rule. Look at verse 4 one last time:
“[Jesus] was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord”
Life Application: All who follow Jesus, follow Him as Lord
Some people believe they can have Jesus as Savior without having Jesus as Lord. They are sadly deceived. Any man who does not follow Jesus as Lord, does not have Jesus as Savior. Romans 10:9 declares, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” The kind of faith that saves you also fundamentally changes you.
Jesus came to rule in power. He did not come to give us good advice. He is not just a nice guy or a wise guru. He is a conquering King. When Jesus puts His power on display by rising from the dead, he moved from being the suffering savior who came in lowliness and meekness and self-imposed human limitation to being the Son of God who rules with power.
Look at the phrase that Jesus said about himself after the resurrection in Matthew 28:18, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Writing about the risen Savior, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:25, “25 For he [Jesus] must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.”
Jesus is the Messianic King. He is reigning over the world right now. He is in the process of putting his enemies under his feet while gathering together those who willingly follow his commands and submit to Him as Savior AND Lord.
There will come a day when He does establish a new kingdom on this earth. He will rule openly and gloriously over it. When Paul says that Jesus is the Son of God in power, he means that Jesus rules and reigns NOW. Right now, he is working out his purposes in the world, in His church and in the lives of his people.
AND…it means that a day will come when that gospel reaches its final consummation. He will defeat every enemy so that every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
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