Would you take your Bible, please, and turn with
me to Romans, Chapter 1. Someone has said that
Romans is the epistle of resurrection. The truth
of resurrection is mentioned at least 13 times
in these 16 chapters of Romans, including the
text that we will look at today, verses 1 through
7. Romans is the only letter that Paul wrote
to an assembly of believers which he had not
personally founded. The theme of this book is
the righteousness of God, both his personal righteousness,
the attribute of his perfect righteousness, and
that righteousness which he gives to men and
women. who trusts his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
as Savior and Lord. You'll notice in the first
paragraph, which we will read together, Paul
begins by identifying himself. He's the author.
In verse 7, he tells us to whom he is writing,
and then he gives his salute to them and his
greeting in the last part of verse 7. Follow
along, please, in your Bible as I read. Paul,
a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle
and set apart for the gospel of God, the gospel
he promised beforehand through his prophets in
the Holy Scriptures, regarding his son, who as
to his human nature was a descendant of David,
and who through the spirit of holiness, or that
might be better read, or who as to his spirit
of holiness, was declared with power to be the
Son of God by his resurrection from the dead,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him and for his
name's sake, we received grace and apostleship
to call people from among all the Gentiles to
the obedience that comes from faith. And you
also are among those who are called to belong.
to jesus christ to all in rome who are loved
by god and called to be saints grace and peace
to you from god our father and from the lord
jesus christ let's pray father in heaven as we
come to the book this morning we confess before
you the frailty of our human minds to grasp the
content and the meaning and the application.
Thus we submit ourselves to the teaching of the
Holy Spirit, the author of these words. We pray
that you will enlighten our minds and hearts
as to what is here for us today. And as we go
away from your house, may our lives be stronger,
may we be encouraged. May the needs that we have
spiritually be met through the grace of Jesus
Christ. And we pray this in his name. Amen. Paul
had never met these people, and so he begins
by introducing himself. He surely did not have
to do that, for he was well known among the believers
throughout the Roman Empire. But it's interesting
how Paul chooses to identify himself to these
people whom he had never met. In verse 1, we
see him using three words or phrases to do so.
First, he calls himself a servant of Christ Jesus.
And then he calls himself an apostle. I think
it's worthy of note that Paul chose to identify
himself first as a servant. and then in the exalted
office to which God had called him in the church.
Paul saw himself as a servant. That was his heart.
When you read through the books that he wrote
in the New Testament again and again and again,
this theme comes through from this mighty intellect,
this gifted man. He sees himself as a servant
of Jesus Christ. The idea of a servant is one
who is given completely to the will of another
person. The verb of this particular noun means
to bind something. And so sometimes in the New
Testament we see it translated, at least in the
King James Version, a bond servant or a bond
slave. It is one who has voluntarily bound himself
to his master. in this case. And do you know
the keener we become aware of the purchase price
that was paid for us on the cross of Calvary,
the more we are prone to bind ourselves as servants
of Jesus Christ. For we see that we are not our
own, but we have been bought with a price, the
precious blood of Christ. That truth so gripped
Paul. that he identifies himself as a servant,
a doulos, a bond slave, willingly and gladly
of Christ Jesus. And then notice that he says,
called to be an apostle. Actually, the words
to be are not in the original language. What
he says here, a servant of Jesus Christ, a called
apostle. The word called is an adjective here
describing his apostleship. He is one who has
been called of God and sent forth on a mission
to serve him. That's the meaning of an apostle,
one who is sent forth. In this same sense, Jesus
Christ himself is called an apostle in Hebrews
3 .1. For the Father sent him on a mission into
the world. And here the apostle Paul says he
is an apostle who has been called of God. Not
called of men, not self -appointed, but called
of God. And it was this divine call that impelled
him forward in his ministry, despite the sufferings
that he endured. And then he says, and set apart
for the gospel of God. That is a verb there,
and Paul uses it in such a tense as it means
it happened a long time ago. but the results
of it are still present in my life today. Paul
is looking back to something that happened in
his life, and he says, that had such an impact
on me that still today I feel the result of it.
He was set apart. Literally, that means to mark
something off from something else, to draw a
boundary around something. Paul is looking back
in his mind to a time when God... set him aside
to a special purpose. And as we think of that,
we think of the time when he was traveling on
that road to Damascus. Do you remember the story?
On his way to that city to persecute Christians,
to arrest them, because of his great zeal that
he had for Judaism. And on that road somewhere,
the Lord met Paul. Saul was his name at that
time. And there Saul was saved. And then as he
went on to Damascus, he went to the house of
a man who then on behalf of the Lord told him
what his commission would be, and that was to
preach the gospel primarily to the Gentiles.
And so as the apostle reflected back upon that
experience in his life, he said, God set me apart.
This was not something that he chose, but God
did it. And so right from the very first verse
in this epistle, we are confronted with a theme
that runs throughout it, and that is the sovereignty
of God. God does what he chooses. God does what
pleases him. It was he who confronted Paul on
that road to Damascus. It was he who led Paul
to faith in Jesus Christ, the one that he so
hated previously, and it was he, God, who then
set Paul apart to the special ministry of apostleship,
primarily and especially to the Gentiles. I think,
though, that we can go back even further regarding
his apostleship, because Paul did. In Galatians
chapter 1, he makes the amazing statement that
while he was still in the womb of his mother,
God set him apart to his ministry. That's difficult
to reconcile theologically for some of us, maybe.
But the apostle nonetheless declares it to be
true, that from the time that he was conceived,
there was a special purpose for his life. May
I say to you that that is true of every Christian,
and not just of the apostle Paul? There is a
sense of destiny that should fill the heart of
every truly born -again Christian, because God,
from before the foundation of the world, as a
matter of fact, had you in mind as one of his
own. That should fill you with wonder and amazement.
It does me. The apostle's life purpose, for which
he was set apart, was to preach the gospel of
God. All other issues or concerns that confronted
him were but a drop in the bucket compared to
that major concern of his life to preach the
gospel. When he was uncertain as to what to do,
it was this guiding principle that gave direction
to him. God had called him to preach the gospel.
For example, there was a time... when he was
in Athens by himself. His co -laborers had not
come as they were supposed to do. He was concerned
about them. Paul undoubtedly wondered, what should
I do? And yet it was this principle that gave
him direction for while he was in Athens by himself
in this state of mind, he preached the gospel
and delivered one of the masterpieces of all
time recorded for us in Acts chapter 17. A few
weeks ago, I was on the West Coast and toured
on an afternoon the Queen Mary. Some of you have
perhaps been on that ship. It is now permanently
stationed in Long Beach, California. It's an
amazing ship to see. It was my first time on
a vessel that large. One of the things that I
was especially impressed by was the pilot house.
As we went up there to the very top deck of the
ship, We were able to see the instruments that
were used by those skilled pilots and navigators
to direct that ship across those vast reaches
of water when the ship was sailing. And they
showed us the navigational instruments that were
used and the backup systems in case they failed
because it's extremely important that all the
time... Those who are guiding that ship know
exactly where they are, though they may not be
able to see land. Though perhaps the sky is cloudy
and they cannot get a reading from the stars,
it is important that some way they know exactly
where they are, and so they had navigational
instruments to do that. Even in the midst of
a wildest storm, they were able to use their
instruments because of certain safeguards built
in to protect them so that they would be accurate.
My friend, I'm saying to you that the Apostle
Paul had some kind of a compass like that too.
And even when he went through tough experiences
in life, there was something that gave him direction,
and that was his commission to preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ. No matter what else was going
through his mind, whatever concerns may have
been his, though as it were he rolled through
the waves of life like we all do, he kept on
course because he kept before him is commissioned
by God to be an apostle and to preach the gospel
of Christ. And I would suggest to you and to
myself today that we, although we may not be
apostles, have nonetheless a commission from
God to be his ambassadors. And though there may
be times in our life that we wonder what direction
we should go or what decision we should make,
there are times when troubles seem to heap upon
themselves in our lives. And we say, God, what
am I supposed to do? Whatever your circumstances,
you have this principle to guide you. Wherever
you are, whatever situation you're in, God has
called you to be a faithful witness for Jesus
Christ. If you keep doing that, you'll stay on
the right course, though you may be in a fog
as far as you're concerned. The apostle's theme
in the paragraph that we've read this morning
is the gospel of God. You'll notice how he leads
into that. Set apart for the gospel of God, and
then if we skip over verse 2, which is really
a parenthesis, it goes on to say, the gospel
of God regarding his son. That is Paul's heart.
That is his theme in these verses. I want you
to notice that he calls it the gospel of God.
There are times when he calls it my gospel, but
when Paul did that, he was simply saying, this
is the gospel that I trusted. And this is the
gospel that I have to give to people. But Paul
is not saying that he's the originator of it.
He's telling us here that God is the author of
it. It is God's good news to the world, the gospel
is. It is his good news that men can be made
right with God. And that, of course, is the theme
of this whole book. The gospel is not good advice.
It is good news from God. And there are four
truths about the gospel that we see in our text
today. I encourage you to use the outline that
you received in your worship folder and follow
along as we look at the four truths regarding
the gospel of God. Truth number one is that God
promised it. We see that in verse 2 in the parenthesis
that we've suggested. He says the gospel he promised
beforehand. through his prophets in the Holy
Scriptures. That word promised means more than
just an announcement. There is involved in that
word a commitment. In other words, God committed
himself beforehand to bring about the gospel.
Who promised it? God did. God used the prophets
of old. He's looking primarily here, of course,
at the Old Testament because the New was not
written. He's saying that God used those prophets
of the Old Testament, those writers of the Holy
Scriptures, to point to the gospel, the good
news that was coming, that men could be right
with God and how that could be. Over in chapter
3, verse 21, we have a parallel verse in which
the apostle says, But now a righteousness from
God. apart from the law, has been made known.
That is, this is the righteousness that God gives
to men who repent of their sin and trust Christ.
And he says, to which the law and the prophets
testify. In other words, as we go into the Old
Testament, we should be able to see Jesus Christ
there. Dr. W .A. Criswell, pastor of the First
Baptist Church in Dallas, in one of the great
orators. of our day, great pulpiteer, some of
you have heard him, has a sermon that's called
The Scarlet Thread through the Bible. His deacons
always teased him that he never quite got through
with the message, so he would preach for an hour.
And so one time he said, well, why don't you
give me an opportunity to preach my whole message?
And they said, fine, do it. And so he said, well,
I'll do it at the watch night service. And so
in a watch night service, a number of years ago
now, Dr. Criswell started preaching at 7 .30.
And he concluded sometime after midnight. And
what he did during that message was to trace
the scarlet thread of the promise of redemption
from Genesis to Revelation. You know the amazing
thing? When he began at 7 .30, people had packed
the auditorium. By the time he finished, after
midnight, they were standing in the aisles all
the way around him as he traced the theme of
the gospel from Genesis to Revelation. That sermon
is available in a book now that you can purchase
called The Scarlet Thread Through the Bible.
You see, from the book of Genesis, God promised
redemption for man. That's what he's saying here
in our verse that we're looking at, verse 2 of
Romans 1. God promised it through the holy prophets
of old as they wrote scripture that redemption
was coming. I'm asking you to turn now to Luke
chapter 24 as we come to a resurrection scene.
Only Luke records this particular incident that
occurred on that day of the resurrection. Two
of the followers of Christ, not of the immediate
group of disciples, but of the broader group,
were returning to their home in Emmaus, which
was about seven miles or so from Jerusalem. They
had heard the reports of the resurrection. Of
course, they had not believed that. And Jesus
came and walked with them. They didn't recognize
him. And it says in verse... He said to them,
how foolish you are and how slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken. These
are the words of Christ to these two disciples.
Did not the Christ have to suffer these things
and then enter his glory? Look at verse 27. And
beginning with Moses, Moses wrote the first five
books. And all the prophets, he explained to
them what was said in all the scriptures concerning
himself. You talk about a Bible commentary. They'd
only had a tape recorder with them on that day
and could have recorded the words of Jesus himself
as he explained in the scriptures of the Old
Testament how they pointed to him. Then look
down a few more verses to verse 44. where he
says to all the disciples now, this is what I
told you while I was still with you, that is,
still in my physical body before the crucifixion.
Everything must be fulfilled that is written
about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and
the Psalms. Those are the three divisions of
the Old Testament scriptures as the Jews commonly
divide the Old Testament. In other words, Jesus
is saying, in the Old Testament, I am spoken
about. Now, we're not going to take time this
morning to trace this through the Old Testament,
but we will look back at one verse in Genesis
chapter 3, because this is the initiation of
the scarlet thread that runs through the Bible.
If you have a study Bible, you may have study
aids. in your Bible which will help you trace
the theme of redemption. What a marvelous systematic
study of the Bible that would be. In Genesis
chapter 3, we have the account of man's fall
into sin. In chapter 3, verse 15, we have these
words of the Lord, and we're coming really into
the middle of a statement to get the verse we
want. He says, I will put enmity between you
and the woman. He's speaking here to the serpent.
And between your offspring and hers. Now notice
he's talking about the offspring or the seed
of the woman. And he says, he will crush your
head. The seed of the woman will crush the head
of Satan, the serpent. And you will strike his
heel. Well, that's the story of the crucifixion.
Because there, as it were, Satan, like a serpent,
struck the heel of the Lord Jesus. Pain and suffering
was inflicted upon him. But as a result of his
death and his resurrection, he crushed the head
of the serpent. Absolutely destroyed his power.
The sentence that was pronounced upon that day
is yet to be fulfilled, but Satan knows that
he's finished. God has already proven and accomplished
the victory over Satan. And from this point on,
we have the record of God providing clothing
for Adam and Eve by the killing of an animal.
The skin of the animal was taken to be clothing
for them. The shedding of the blood of that animal
was for them. The clothing given to them is a
picture of the righteousness that God gives to
the believer. who trusts in the shed blood of
God's Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. So right here
in Genesis chapter 3, we have the beginning of
the whole theme of redemption that runs throughout
the Bible. And so now going back to Romans chapter
1, we have a little bit of an idea as to what
Paul is saying when he says that this gospel
was promised beforehand through the prophets
in the Holy Scriptures. The gospel, folks, was
not an afterthought by God. The death, burial,
and resurrection of Christ was not a reaction
of God because of man's sin. As a matter of fact,
the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus
Christ was the plan of God from eternity past.
It was part of God's plan before the world was
ever created. that Christ would die for the sins
of man who was yet to be created, that he would
be raised again, and that men could be redeemed
through him. God knew all of that. God planned
all of it in advance. A marvelous truth. Mysterious,
but marvelous. God promised the gospel. Now,
the second truth that we see about the gospel
in our text today is that God fulfilled it. As
Jesus said, the Father sent the Son to be the
Savior of the world. The Son is the subject of
the gospel. You'll notice that. He talks about
the gospel of God, verse 3, regarding his Son.
The gospel is all about Christ. Yes, it deals
with man. It shows man's sinfulness, man's inability
to save himself. But the message of the gospel
is that Christ saves. And notice how he describes
the Son of God. In verse 3, he says, human nature,
he was a descendant of David. That's his humanity.
But then in verse 4, he covers the other side
of Christ's person, and who through the Spirit,
or who as to his Spirit, or his divine essence,
was declared the Son of God. And so there is
his deity. Jesus Christ was a unique person.
No one is... was ever like him, and no one ever
will be again, because he was both God and man.
Sinless humanity and fullness of deity in one
person. He came as a man born of the Virgin Mary.
He was a descendant of David, as the Old Testament
said he had to be, not only of the seed of Abraham.
but more specifically than that, of the family
of David. And significantly, two times in the
New Testament, genealogies are recorded regarding
Christ. One in Matthew 1 and another in Luke
chapter 3. Both of them relate Jesus Christ back
through David. Matthew stops with Abraham, but
Luke goes all the way back to Adam to show the
genealogy. of the Lord Jesus Christ through Mary.
He was fully human. That is the miracle of the
incarnation. That's Christmas and what we think
about then especially. That God came into the
world and became flesh, became as we are but
without our sin upon him. That's why the virgin
birth is a fundamental doctrine of the Bible.
One cannot be a Christian and deny the virgin
birth of Christ, because the virgin birth is
essential to the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ,
as well as his humanity. But then he talks about
the deity, and he says that as to his divine
essence, or the spirit of his holiness, he was
declared the Son of God with power. When it says
this, it does not mean that he became the Son
of God after his resurrection. As one writer,
Thayer, says, for although Christ was the Son
of God before his resurrection, yet he was openly
appointed such among men by this transcendent
and crowning event. He was the Son of God from
eternity past, but he was officially designated,
appointed, Son of God among all men by his resurrection
from the dead. God fulfilled the gospel in the
death and resurrection of Christ. And it says
that his resurrection came about with power.
With power. He's talking here not just about
the power of the resurrection itself. And it's
impossible for us to understand the kind of power
that that took. We look at the space shuttle
go up, and we are amazed at the sight, the awesome
sight, of that vast amount of weight being shoved
up through the sky into space. And it seems on
television even, you can almost feel the vibrations
of that, the gigantic engines that produce the
thrust to get that up. And yet, that kind of
power is but a thimble compared to an ocean when
we talk about the power of the resurrection.
It took to bring one back from the dead, glorified
as he was. The Son of God declared, appointed
the Son of God with power. And that power, folks,
is still expressed today. We see it expressed
in the early church in a lot of ways. We see
it expressed, for instance, in Acts chapter 4
over disease. As they heal a man in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see it in Acts chapter
3 in the same way. We see it expressed in Acts
chapter 5 for salvation through the living Christ.
God's power to salvation, and that's what verse
16 of the same chapter says. I am not ashamed
of the gospel because it's the power of God for
the salvation of everyone who believes. He is
the Son of God with power over demons. In Acts
chapter 16, the Apostle Paul is... preaching
the gospel there in Philippi, and there's this
little maiden who has been victimized by evil
men, who is demon -possessed. She walks around
behind Paul and Silas, and she says, these people
are declaring to you the message of the Most
High God. Listen to them. What's wrong with that
statement? What she said was absolutely true.
The problem was that her saying that identified
her with the gospel, you see. And after several
days of that, Paul finally turned around and
said to the spirit, get out of her. And the spirit
left that fast, and the girl was delivered from
her possession. The power of Jesus Christ to
deliver from demonic possession is absolute,
complete, total. And then in Acts chapter 17,
we see that he is the Son of God with power and
judgment. Looking to the past, the apostle says,
in the times of this ignorance, God overlooked.
But now he commands all men everywhere to repent
because he has appointed a day in which he will
judge the world by that man whom he has appointed.
And he has given assurance to all men of this
truth because he raised him from the dead. The
power of the Son of God to judge. Someday Jesus
Christ will judge every person who's ever lived
in the face of the earth. He'll be your judge
and mine. Every person will see him face to face
and stand before him, either saved or lost. Will
stand before him either to have his works examined
for reward or stand before him for condemnation.
He was appointed the Son of God with power. And
then we see a third truth in our text today as
we move along regarding the gospel. First, that
God promised it. Secondly, that God then fulfilled
his commitment. And the third truth is that God
is declaring this message. It is the only message
that I know that God has committed himself to
publish to the whole world. It's the only message
that God has given to us to disseminate to the
whole world. That is our purpose for being here.
And how is God declaring it? He's declaring it
through his church, through his servants. He
was declaring it through Paul. Paul says in verse
1 that he was called to be an apostle. And then
in verse 5 he says, Through him and for his name's
sake we've received grace and apostleship. So
Paul is talking about himself here, but by way
of application we can talk about ourselves and
the fact that God has chosen to declare the message
of the gospel through us. That's kind of amazing
when you stop to think about it. We would think
that perhaps God would use angels. I mean, wouldn't
it be a lot more spectacular to come to church
this morning and hear an angel stand up and preach?
I think it would. I know it would. Or we might
think that God would appoint kings and presidents
and rulers of the world to be his voices. Because
surely people would listen to them more than
they would listen to a commoner like most of
us. Or perhaps God would choose the wealthy.
They could afford to get the gospel out where
some of us of more meager income perhaps cannot
get it this far. We might think God would choose
the really wealthy people of the world because
they could use all that wealth to get the message
out. You see, God has done none of that. What
God has done, he's chosen the weak. Pardon me,
now we have a commentary on what we are. It says
in 1 Corinthians 1, God's chosen the weak and
the foolish, as the world counts foolishness,
the despised to carry the message of the gospel.
That's you and me. Why has he done this? So that
no one can get the glory and honor for it but
him. He will have no flesh glory in his presence.
God has done just the opposite of what men think
that he should do, and he always does. He has
chosen the unlikely to preach the unsearchable
message of Jesus Christ. And you'll notice that
Paul says it is through him that we've received
this grace and apostleship. It's not something
that we take upon ourselves. God has given it
to us. Nor is it something we can accomplish
in ourselves. It is only through him that we
can be sufficient for the job God's given us
to do. And he says that it's on behalf of his
name, too, that he's called us to do this. On
behalf of his name. Now that's an interesting
thought. That comes out of the Old Testament.
It was an expression among the Jews when they
spoke about the name of God. They signified all
that God is in his being. When they spoke about
the name, what they thought about was God's righteousness
and God's holiness and God's majesty and God's
power. Because when they spoke about the name,
which they never pronounced, they would never
pronounce the name of God. Too sacred for them
to do that. When they thought about that name,
they thought about all that God is. Now the Apostle
Paul, converted Jew, completed Jew, says, and
for his name's sake we have received his grace
and apostleship. See what he's really saying
here? He's saying that God has called us to advance
his name, his reputation in the world. We speak
about so -and -so having a good name in the community.
What do we mean? Well, he has a reputation for
being honest and upright. And when it says that
we have been called to declare his name and for
the sake of his name, what it means is essentially
that we are called upon to advance the reputation
of our God in our community. How do we do that?
Well, we do it in part by talking about him.
But tied together with that is the kind of life
that we live. We're not going to advance the
reputation of our God out there in the office
where we work if we live like the devil. You
see, the kind of lifestyle that we have is very
significant because that lifestyle reflects upon
the character and the reputation of God. So God
is declaring that message still today through
you and me who are his children. We were a part
of the church. And the fourth truth that we're
looking at today in our text is that not only
is God declaring the message of the gospel, but
God is using it. And what is he using it for?
Well, God is using it to call people to himself.
Notice how he says it here. Through him and for
his namesake, we've received grace and apostleship
to call people from among all the Gentiles. Folks,
it is the preaching of the message of Jesus Christ
that God has chosen to use to call men to himself.
That's it. A simple message, and yet a profound
one. The message of Christ's death for our sins,
his burial, his resurrection from the grave,
for our justification, that message is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.
What he says here is that God calls people to
salvation. Did you know that the human heart
is so depraved? and belligerent and rebellious
in sin, that if God did not call us to salvation,
we would never respond. There is in the scripture
a sentence in which God calls all men by his
grace. But there is definitely in scripture,
as I understand it, an effectual call of God.
For by the Holy Spirit works in a man's heart
so that he is rendered willing to obey the gospel.
and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks
about that here. He says, we have received grace
and apostleship to call people to the obedience
that comes from faith. There's not a one of us
who can boast in the fact that we have trusted
Christ on our own. If in fact we have trusted
Jesus Christ today, and I hope all of us have,
it is because of the grace of God and because
of the power of God working in our hearts to
make us willing to trust the Savior. Salvation
is of the Lord. He says that we've been called
to obedience. In verse 6, he says we are called
to belong to Jesus Christ. What a tremendous
statement that is. There's a sense in which the
Lord Jesus Christ is God's love gift to the world.
But listen to me. You and I who trust Jesus Christ
are God's love gift to his son. We are special.
We are called to belong to Jesus Christ. Now
something that we can claim we've done in ourselves.
And then he says in verse 7, to all in Rome who
are loved by God, beloved of God. We are the
focus of his affection. We are the delight of
his heart. And then he says in verse 7, we are
called saints. Again, to be is not in the original.
Called here is an adjective describing the saints.
We are called saints. We are saints. Saints are
not those who have been declared to be saints
by men. The word saint in the Bible refers to
every person who has trusted Christ. As Bruno
McGee has said, there are two classes of people
in the world, the saints and the ain'ts. There
are those who are the called of God, the saints,
and there are those who ain't saved, who have
not responded to the gospel. Are you a saint?
I'm not asking if you live a perfect life. That's
got nothing to do with it. I'm asking, do you
belong to Jesus Christ? Have you been set apart?
This is a holy calling that we have. God has
separated us to himself, to belong to himself.
God is using the gospel to do that work. And
it does work. It does work. The oldest sister
of Daniel Webster. was married to a man named
John Colby. It is said that John Colby was the
wickedest man in his neighborhood as far as swearing
and impiety is concerned. One day news came to
Daniel Webster that a change had taken place,
and so he went to visit his brother -in -law.
On entering the house, he saw a large print Bible
open. which Colby had just been reading. The
first question Colby asked Webster was, Are you
a Christian? And then he suggested they both
kneel and pray. When the visit was done, Webster
told a friend, I would like to hear what enemies
of religion say of Colby's conversion. Here is
a man as unlikely to be a Christian as any I
ever saw. And he had gone his godless way until
now, with old age and habits hard to change.
Yet see him, a penitent, trusting, humble believer,
nothing short of the grace of Almighty God. You
don't have to be a young person to be saved.
It's interesting that most people are saved when
they are young. By far the majority are saved
before they ever reach 20. From that point on
in life, the statistics dropped dramatically
of people who trust Christ because of the effects
of sin and hardness upon the heart. But one doesn't
have to be young to be saved. I remember a delightful
old man in Kentucky who came to trust Jesus Christ
in his 70s. Up until that time, hardened in sin.
A life that was ungodly and then... Suddenly,
he responded to the gospel and was saved. And
that gospel changed his life. He is now in heaven.
What about you? The gospel is the power of God
to everyone who believes. Have you believed?
Have you trusted Christ? If not, will you do
it today and experience the power of God in your
own life? You may feel you're hopeless. You may
feel there's too much to change. You can't change
it, but God can. And God wants to. Will you hear
his call today? Let's pray together. Heavenly
Father, we thank you today for the gospel, this
message of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection
for our sake. We thank you that in grace you
have called us. to belong to Jesus Christ, how
we desire to live worthy of that calling. Wherein
we have failed you, we ask your forgiveness.
And to be some child of yours here today who's
far away from fellowship with you, who has strayed
into the world, whose lifestyle does not bring
honor to your reputation. I pray that you will
call that child of yours today back to a place
of faithfulness. If there be some friend here
today who's never trusted the Savior, who's never
known the power of God,