Called To Be - Part 2 (Romans 1:1-6)

church turn to the book of romans chapter one as we are continuing on in our introduction and diving into uh the book of romans and uh i'll read verse one of chapter one if you'll pick it up out of the new king james version uh if you would if you don't have that version look to the screens if you pick it up in verse two uh we'll read down to verse six together romans chapter one paul a bond servant of jesus christ called to be an apostle separated to the gospel of god concerning his son jesus christ our lord who was born of the seed of david according to the flesh through whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name and all god's people said amen you can be seated you read those first six verses and you can already get a a glimpse into the gravity and the scope of paul's theology i mean look at the just even in english the the the way that he has structured his argument he gets so deep so fast that in those first six verses he actually puts together in a miraculous form a grand overlay of the book in fact listen to this dr albert barnes writes for the purposes of systematic theology it that is the book of romans is the most important book in the bible more than any other it has determined the course of christian thought that's a huge statement another great comment from a preacher of yesteryear 1814 professor robert findley said where is the christian constitution it is the book of romans to master its content is to be grounded and settled in the faith that's a great word in fact some scholars will tell you that the book of romans you can take that book and commit to memory out of the 16 chapters you should commit to memory 16 themes one for each of the chapters because if you commit to memory the theme for example of chapter one it is the depravity of man chapter two you'll understand that it speaks about our inability to become righteous by the law and he goes on all the way through and listen scholars tell you that if you get a grip on the book of romans then you have a grip on the bible itself is that amazing this is why the book of romans theologically is the crowning pinnacle of our christian endeavor regarding bible study this is deep stuff and i told you last week there's a reason why we're doing this and i don't mean this to be rude in any way shape or form but uh this church uh like other churches that that are open and coming through the year of 2020 uh there's been abnormal growth tremendous growth uh but now is a time for us to make sure that as a church we don't turn into some sort of uh spectacle and to do that what do we do we go to the book of romans because the book of romans will teach the christian what it is to be a believer in the lord jesus christ and and the doctrinal questions are going to get answered here and that will by nature flush out those who don't want to draw near to jesus that they just might maybe want to traditionally attend church on sunday because there's nothing else on tv or whatever i don't know but listen if all of you just put yourself and determine i'm going to go through this book i'm going to go i'm going to start it and i'm going to finish it well then blessed are you because you're going to wind up growing like you've never grown before and that's a promise that god gives us in his word so we're going to jump into where we left off last time but this time we'll get into these points as we look to this study that is themed right now called to be called to be you're going to hear that over and over again in the book of romans called to be an apostle called to be servants listen call to be saints call to be you're going to hear that why because what god communicates to you in the book of romans is this grand invitation grand invitation to even be called to be a slave of the lord jesus christ a word that you would not normally mention in our day and age would you but the fact of the matter is it's exactly what the bible talks about and we'll look at it this morning in our study called to be number one in our consideration called to be if we look at it mark it down church verse one opens up with the challenge for you and i to be a new man can you write that down and if that bothers you you can be a new man or a new woman okay but when i say man i mean a new mankind right this is christianity and paul's going to be speaking to us about what are we called to be well the first thing is we're called to be a new man and i love the romance that we see right here in the opening up of it verse one paul a bond servant of jesus christ called to be an apostle separated to the gospel of god what we see right out of this mark it down if you would is authority it's a it's an issue of authority as believers we're called to be a new person but the first thing that we need to realize is paul being a great example for us is that paul was invited by christ into a new authority a greater authority so when he says paul a bond servant we need to dissect these names of his paul remember last week we got an introduction i said we might get to the opening p of the word paul and maybe the l well we didn't so here we are now paul the man paul who used to be known as saul saul in his hebrew language paul in his greek or latin language paul we know him affectionately as paul the apostle but he was not always paul the apostle he wasn't born with some apostolic glow he was born in the home of a wealthy jewish family we know that by the level of education that he had we don't know if his parents or his family were diplomats were they somehow uh they themselves pharisees somehow of of uh maybe uh merchants we don't know but they were wealthy and we know this by the level of education that he had he was saul of tarsus born a jew connected to the hebrew world very uniquely prepared by the way born a jew directly connected to the hebrew world but listen he was born in tarsus of cilicia which means that he was born into the empire but thirdly he was born a freeborn citizen which means he came out so to speak of the womb with legal documents backing up his citizenship as a roman citizen which is extremely powerful and we all need to take notice of that today every one of us have been brought into this world and each of us have some form of influence that god has put in your life and number one we need to take a deep breath and realize that uh i need to find out what that is you need to find out what that is because it's part of what we're arguing about today but it all comes down to authority saul his authority as you'll see today was challenged by god and by himself he had to take a look at it and so when we think about paul or saul the interesting thing is that he was no stranger to authority authority he had been schooled in what is known as the ivy league institutions of this day paul had been brought up under the uh the tutelage of uh some masters and one of them is gamaliel himself which is famous in secular history but um paul also would have had what we refer to as a pedagogus or a pedagogy see what is that the word is schoolmaster he had an in-house teacher that was assigned to him because of his upbringing in other words everywhere he went all the time there was someone there to be schooling and instructing him even in between classes by these notable teachers this guy was immersed in education and i love that but this pedagogues his job was to do something of this in fact those of you who are public school teachers or those of you who are home school teachers it doesn't matter kids nature is the same you always got to tell your kids stop it stop looking out the window look back on here now put that down i said no right here now we're doing we're doing this now and no you you can't have that until you finish this do you hear me this is a that's that is a pedagogues it this one is a schoolmaster comes along and says this is what you're going to learn next and this is what you're going to learn after that and it's my job your parents pay me to make sure you're the brightest so here we go and they drive and push and drive and push so that this person comes out on the other end after all of those years having been under the authority though this kid is heir to the throne so to speak right think of it there's this external source that has been purchased as a instructor in the house to raise up the kid and paul had that and by the way he's going to use that in future teachings he's going to tell us that the law has been our pedagogues to drive us to christ that's a huge statement if you're jewish by the way i was so blessed last service last service a man came to me and he said i've been visiting i've been coming here and i'm jewish and he said i don't know what's going on but i have to keep coming here and he started getting all emotional he said i don't know what's happening to my heart but something's happening and i said i know exactly what's happening you're going to find out more and i'm going to i'm going to enjoy watching what happens to you but the god of abraham isaac and jacob is getting a hold of you and that's what's going on why because the pedagogus the holy spirit takes the law of god that drives you you know the law is always poking you you shouldn't do this you shouldn't do that and it frustrates you to the point where this is driving me crazy i can't take the pressure and that's all by design because just like that teacher was desiring to get that student to graduate top of the class so the law of god brings to the point of total absolute frustration to bring you to rise to the top of the class how do you rise to the top of the class i can't do this only jesus only jesus and the law is to drive you to a personal knowledge of jesus christ and paul had been living a life very schooled in the law and very adept to authority and he himself of course became a man of authority as a pharisee paul was a pharisee which means that he had to be married he was married once we don't know what ever happened to his wife maybe when he became a christian she left that would have been normal in that culture maybe she died we don't know but he was a pharisee which means he was very very knowledgeable of the hebrew scriptures a man of religious authority and power we're going to see how much so in a moment but authority is something that he would have understood the word name paul means a little one or of no uh significance that's his name paul he said what well honestly chrono in a chronological way his name saul meant that which is asked for or that which is requested for maybe maybe it was his mother's prayer god i'm asking you for his son and when he came out maybe the parents named him saul because he was asked for it could also mean that he would be somebody that would grow up being desired by others that they would ask for him whatever it is saul is a name of pride a lot of hebrew boys had the name saul but saul met jesus christ and became paul he came from the one of being requested to the one whose name means very small very little insignificant i want to submit you this morning that the bible is telling us that there was a great transformation that took place in this lofty intellects life and that is a very good thing that's something that needs to happen let me run through some verses to kind of back that up for you the bible tells us in acts chapter 9 verse 1 then saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the lord wow think of paul think of saul being like the isis of the day he was hunting down christians and having them murdered for following jesus went to the high priest verse 2 of acts chapter 9 and asked letters from the from him to the synagogues of damascus so that he might find anyone who were of the way that was that was the the believers were called those of the way back in those days they they weren't called christians back then not until antioch when the community turned on the way uh in antioch they created a derogatory term it's a nasty word and they said you know what we're gonna call these people christians it's a bad word it means little jesuses oh look at you you little christ-like ones it was a derogatory term but the early church said well we know how you mean that but we kind of like that and yeah we'll be little jesus is in our world that's what we're supposed to do anyways follow him but the bible tells us that he's out to persecute those who are of the way whether they be men or women and he that he might bring them bound to jerusalem why for their hearing and for their trial and stoning because christianity was viewed as a cult in those days the religious hierarchy viewed any challenge of the resurrection that crucifixion that somehow fulfilled the ancient hebrew prophecies they wouldn't even go there that's why still today many synagogues will not teach on old testament prophecies that speak of the messiah suffering for the sins of the world did you know that they completely avoid it because they might they're fearful that you might find out that jesus is the one of the scriptures that spoke of him but that's the man saul threatening the church acts chapter 22 verse 3 tells us later on listen to this paul is now a christian he's come to christ he's a follower and in acts 22 3 he says i am indeed a jew born in tarshish of silicia but brought up in this city at the feet of gamaliel taught according to the strictness of our fathers the law or our father's law and was zealous toward god as you are all today he's speaking regarding the passion that the jews had of course to defend their traditions philippians chapter three you guys okay we're just beginning so write these down philippians chapter three now paul has been a follower of jesus for years but listen to what he says philippians 3 verse 4 if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh i more so do you hear listen he's setting you up because people were talking about well i'm pretty good i'm pretty good yeah i'm pretty good paul says excuse me if you guys all think you're pretty good listen to me if anyone thinks see something listen to this verse five i'm i've been circumcised on the eighth day every jew would have went oh wow i i was circumcised on the ninth day paul said not me i was circumcised on the eighth day that's that's that's what moses said to do that's what happened to me so all the jews would have went wow that's something of the stock of israel my lineage can be traced back wow they would have said of the tribe of benjamin what tribe of benjamin man that's where kings come from paul said those are my peeps [Applause] i got the blood of kings flown in me and he says a hebrew of the hebrews at that that is such a huge statement that he's talking about there's us who are hebrews you know but i'm a hebrew of the hebrews i'm a leader of the hebrew world and nobody could refute this friends concerning the law a pharisee i had the authority i had the power i had the education i had it all is what paul is announcing verse 6 concerning zeal persecuting the church concerning the righteousness which is of the law blameless can you imagine saying that he literally believed that according to the law he was blameless that's how established this man was so if you want to put your good works up against paul and say that you know what i don't need jesus i'm good i'm good like paul paul's the one who would tell you from antiquity hey don't put me in your camp you're not even close to my camp paul would say to you and i today i'm so far above anything you're trying to be it's ridiculous go home in other words we would say he's arrived that's pretty powerful so i built them up according to scripture as paul announces but look at philippians chapter 3 verse 7. but what things were gained to me these i have counted lost for christ yet indeed i also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of christ jesus my lord that's a statement of humility for whom i have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish you know what this word means all of the things i just spoke you about when i met jesus christ all that stuff became absolutely nothing why because of this reason i was once saul and now i'm paul i thought i was something and everybody wanted me then i found out meeting jesus i'm of no significance in the grand scheme of things it's all about him and to kind of bring that together acts chapter 13 verse 9 says then saul who is also called paul filled with the holy spirit looked intently at him and paul was involved in ministry right there at that moment and the holy spirit came upon him but here's the bible in acts 13 9 telling us that the man saul is the same man paul and i love that people listen up how many are christians this morning raise your hands according to god according to god there's a name there's a name that you had before you came to christ and there's a new name that you uh that you have according to god i i want you to know that you may not know your new name yet i don't know i don't know my new name god says in the bible he's going to give us a new name now some of you have wonderful names well good for you uh but back there in acts 13 i appreciate that the bible says saul who is called paul speaks about what should always be before us we need to remember from where we've come that you and i right now until christ comes for us you and i live in two worlds at the same time you and i live in the world that you and i came from but you and i also live in a world that you and i now belong to and one of them we went by a certain name and everybody in this world or in our sphere of influence our friendship or circle knew our name and by the way this church people visit i went to people from junior high that i went to junior high school they come and visit now is it you is that really you jack it's pretty scary because there's some high school friends now who attend this church and um one of them a couple weeks ago said god does do miracles [Applause] and uh it was in the foyer and i didn't even want to talk to her i just like have a nice day [Applause] but listen in revelation chapter 3 verse 12 in revelation 3 12 jesus is speaking to his church and he says he who overcomes i will make him a pillar in the temple of my god and he shall go out no more watch everyone i will write on him the name of my god and the name of the city of my god the new jerusalem which comes down out of heaven from my god here it is number two i will write on him my new name so which one is it it's both jesus is speaking to you and he's saying you know what i'm going to write on you the name of my god remember jesus christ is god come in the flesh and resurrected from the dead glorified flesh jesus today in heaven is the god man 100 god 100 man representing us when jesus says he's my god he's representing us in this flesh are you with me he's the great go-between so he's saying i'm going to write on you the name of my god and i'm going to write on you my name now i don't know about you growing up i think maybe i do but i grew up i grew up i think the last i had the last generation of fun growing up i think in my opinion i grew up in the best time and during that time right [Applause] during that time we actually had school everybody in the whole world had school like this we all had summer off at the same time remember that and uh it was fantastic and uh anyway all summer long we played army we played army we don't we'd all ride our bikes to the army navy uh store would buy all kinds of junk we'd wear army clothes all summer long we had helmets that were way too big for our head we're wearing army jackets that we'd buy we played we played army with what with our massive collection of gi joes i had every gi i had them all i had them all and so did my uh my neighbor friends we all had them and we all sometimes we had war and we knew how to do it back in those days listen back in those days we literally you had gi joes with with firecrackers as for dynamite sticks we were blowing stuff up we we would have we put dirt stuff with a tube of glue underneath and light it up and then blow the tractor up let it come by and it was you know what it was living man that was life it was awesome we grew up having a ball and uh here's the thing at the end of the day we're loading up our gi joes and our gi joe carrying cases and what was amazing i learned very quickly is wait wait i'm missing a gi joe ain't going to happen again i took all my gi joes home took all their shirts off put them face down and i put jack on the back of my gi joe's put his clothes back on and went to war the next day and then at the end we're counting them up and dividing them up so wait a minute i'm short i'm short again oh no no you're not no that's it shirts off shirts off right now and all i had to do listen all i had to do was look for this if joe said jack then you've got to give it back all joe had on his back was jack why because i wrote on him a new name it wasn't joe it was jack i gave him the name and i put it on him my friends didn't know i knew i sovereignly knew who belonged to me and who didn't why because my name was written on them and god says i've written my name upon you i have marked you and called you out by my name and so your name might have been saul your name might have been saul but now it's paul and by the way when god renames you it always goes to a more humble place to remind us that all the glory belongs to him and so i don't know what my new name is going to be in heaven he hasn't revealed that to me uh but i'm going to i'm very happy uh jack is not the best thing to have if you want to get into meanings you know saul meant that and paul met the other let's be honest my name people it's not easy it's not easy nobody wants to say hi to me on an airplane [Applause] i'm just saying it doesn't go over well they just nod nobody says a word [Applause] and then the other thing is um people say no it's okay it's okay because your name is probably john right on your birth certificate on your passport it's john right no it's jack that's my real name oh really well that's okay so so somebody has the meaning of their wonderful name my name my name what jack listen it's so bad people say man this thing's all jacked up that doesn't help or you don't know jack it's very offensive i'm always offended and then on top of it is if you look up jack it's an it's an implement or a tool by which you can lift heavy objects it gets worse [Applause] it is one of the members of the equine family [Applause] if i have to explain equine to you i'm not going to tell you what it means [Applause] god will give us a new name but here is where you and i revel church in the fact of a new name the bible tells us in second corinthians 5 15 that he jesus died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves listen now saul lived for saul paul lived for jesus but for him who died for them and rose again therefore from now on we regard no one according to the flesh even though we have known christ according to the flesh yet now we know him thus no longer in other words we knew him when jesus walked on earth but now he's ascended to heaven and that's our focus in other words he's been glorified christ is risen that's our identity now with him he's christ above he is our savior our lord our king our redeemer he's up there that's why it says we do not regard him after the flesh but listen it gets to me it gets even better when he says we don't regard anyone or of ourselves according to the flesh any longer to me this is one of the most attractive reasons why many reasons why but an attractive reason why church is so precious according to scripture in this passage i'm reading listen to what it says and let me revisit even though we have known christ according to the flesh yet we know him thus no longer verse 17 therefore if anyone is in christ he's a new creation all things have passed away behold all things have become new meaning what meaning this you and i in church a church family we are to be a people who do not know one another's past it doesn't exist you see well that's kind of weird really don't you wish that there's a that the world did not know certain things that the world knows about you don't you wish you could go back and erase some things of your past well guess what the answer is in the church of the living god none of us should walk into this place and meet somebody and say hey what's your name bill hi bill can you tell me about your past that would be so weird and so not church you know what the great thing is look at a look at this place it's packed out with what with who if i were to tell you if i told you what i knew no i would never do that you could be sitting next to a murderer you could be sitting next to a thief the glorious thing is this that's what they used to be see we don't regard one another anymore after the flesh now if the world understood this i think the world would blow up our walls and run in here to try to be like us say wait a minute you guys are willing to completely forget about my past yeah as long as let's just have a disagreement i'll forget about your past if you forget about my past that's why when people from my old life walk into this church it's unspoken i look at them they look at me and it's like not a word why it's under the blood it's washed away that's not me that's listen that was saul now it's paul a different name a different life jeremiah 15 16 says thy words were found and i did eat them thy word was unto me the joy and the rejoicing of my heart why why jeremiah are you so excited about reading the bible oh because of this i'm called by your name oh lord of hosts oh god of hosts that you're hidden in christ it's absolutely awesome which brings us to the response watch everyone if this love grace and mercy is available to you that god changes names because he changes lives he takes what you once were and he uses that to glorify himself and make you new that your old life has done away behold all things have become new is the greatest news that the world could hear today they've got to hear it and that comes through us there's no other way for them to hear it well listen what is he what is he doing he's bringing us to this all of this regarding this tremendous word regarding authority is this word bond servant look in your bible circle that word bond servant i don't want to belabor this but i've got to be blunt and exactly to the point some of your bible translations instead of the a word that it is slave it's supposed to be slave the bond servant is doulos in greek and it means slave in our day and age you're not supposed to mention the word slave well i'm going to mention the word slave hear me out slave means you have no rights you have no choice you have no recourse you're owned are you with me slave some of the publishers of bibles change the word to what's in your bible servant servants get paid servants can get days off servants can move on to a different occupation or a different master so to speak it's the wrong word the word is slave and we've got to keep it a slave or else we're going to rob god of the glory and here's the reason why paul is saying i'm writing to you romans tens of millions of you are slaves watch i'm a slave the romans might shout back shout back to paul and say yeah right i have no rights i'm owned by my master sometimes he beats me sometimes he starves me i have no life i'm not only sure about my name i'm a slave in the roman empire and paul says i am too i'm a slave i'm in the roman empire but i want to tell you something about my master that's the difference watch a slave of this world does not willingly submit to his earthly master he obeys because he would rather obey than die are you hearing me paul uses where they're at and he says to them you want to become a slave even lower than the slave that you are let me explain there's absolute freedom in liberty in becoming someone insignificant in the face of or in the presence of a master like i have listen all of us in this room are slaves of someone or something even if that someone is you a slave of yourself that's death maybe this message gets out to the part of the world where someone is a slave on the market today somewhere in the world paul the apostle is saying slave or not the greatest liberty and freedom of all is to become a slave watch this not by a master buying you off of the market and saying you're mine now carry this load oh no no paul is going to say my master is a master of character and quality to the point where he didn't make me a slave when i found out about who he is i made myself his slave friends this is christianity the world will rob you kill you and destroy you and when we're hurt we respond by boarding up our emotions and boarding up our lives and hiding from all of it and god comes along and says let's tear all of it down because i'm your master tear all of it down i'll take care of you and when you see that love that listen he's the one that forgives i mentioned this some time ago but remember the woman that was caught in the act of adultery in john chapter 8 when jesus forgave her don't you think emotionally and faith-filled wise that she became his slave in spirit so to speak she may never have seen jesus again but that kind of love caused her to say i'll go anywhere and do anything he says i submit and that's christianity friends that's being a christian that's him writing his name on you and you having a master that is so joyously beautiful to submit to and listen to this what's precious about that is a quote that i had that i can't find now it was really good too by dr charles ryrie to literally become his slave is to be bound to him of your own will the believer who voluntarily takes the position of being a slave to christ has no rights or will of his own he does always and only the will of his master for his part that is the master's part the lord binds himself to the care of his servant or of his slave this is christianity why should i become a christian because you become a slave why would i want to do that because our master is awesome our master loves us our master cares being his slave is the greatest freedom you can ever experience you need listen you need to replace your masters friends if your master is mammon it'll never be satisfied if your master is sex it will never be satisfied if your master is power they'll never be enough you'll never be content if your master lords over you and extracts and demands performance from you you'll never be free but when the master jesus comes and says come follow me he's inviting you to walk with him and he just begins to do it he begins to work his life in your life a tremendous word bond servant the bible tells us regarding this man paul who had this tremendous encounter it's a glorious moment of wills being changed acts chapter 9 verse 3 acts 9 3 listen to this paul is in that mode i should say saul he's not converted yet he's gotten letters from jerusalem from the hierarchy he's a pharisee and he's got documents for the empire to go to damascus syria to hunt down christians and kill them if you must imagine now he's in route he's in he's with an entourage we know this from other portions of scripture there's a there's a bunch of people with him you could just see this happening right they're probably black black they're wearing black black donkeys black tinted windows black antennas on the back of the donkeys and they're heading to damascus to hunt christians and verse 3 says that as they journeyed they came near to damascus and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him saul saul why are you persecuting me isn't that weird what did saul do to jesus you see when the church is attacked jesus is attacked and he said who are you lord and then the lord said to him i'm jesus whom you're persecuting it's hard for you to kick against the goads that's a great statement paul what are you doing saul it's me you're persecuting me oh i want to remind you about something think of a barefoot kicking against a a goad is a think of a two by four with 16 penny nails coming through it nails bunch of nails and it's a board and you take your foot and you keep kicking that board that's what it means so jesus says to saul what are you doing kicking the board that's riddled with nails you're not going to get anywhere you're not going to succeed you're just going to bloody yourself what a challenge look what happens verse 6 so saul trembling and astonished said lord what would you have me to do that's it the change just took place what would you have me to do do you understand that this man's life this guy is responsible for killing christians i don't care what kind of past you've had no matter what it is can you imagine paul living his christian life and he wakes up in the morning and the thought enters his mind that 17 years ago he's got pictures in his mind of where he had christians beheaded or stoned he watched stephen he remembered the first christian killed he was there in jerusalem and it was stephen and paul oversaw the killing of stephen you think that's in his mind don't you think satan brought that up to him all the time what makes you think paul ooh saul who's now paul that he's going to forgive you look at you why would god have you in heaven no wonder why the tremendous verses like a few i'm going to read you in a moment was part of paul's diet of life and great sense of victory no wonder why he said lord what will you have me to do saul met someone greater than himself and the saul world came tumbling down until the only thing that was left was on his face in the dirt paul and that's what has to happen to us if you're going to see the kingdom of heaven is to have that crisis of faith and to meet jesus christ it's got to happen you don't sign on and sign christ on and get your card carrying membership of the what club i do not know and think you're going to be granted entrance into heaven there needs to be an absolute devastation where you see yourself in the face of god for all the truth of it and you say i need him i you and i need to experience that trembling astonishment where we surrender and become that slave where i am lost without you jesus how i need you and in that moment your name will be changed your nature will be changed the power of that how is it that christians i saw it this week in the news how christians in north africa are being killed because they will not deny jesus as lord why why are they doing this because they cannot do anything else they they can't lie against the truth they just they're being asked to denounce christ and they're saying i can't do it i mean i could say it but i won't mean it do you have that conviction for each and every one of us if you don't know what that's like if somebody walked into this room and said everyone who's not a christian get out quick run i'm going to kill every christian in here they did that in nazi germany what would you do i can tell you right now the grace of god will come upon his people and we'll say something to them like look we'd appreciate it if you're a very good aim don't wound me look i'm not even going to run around just i'll stand still just aim good will ya why because first of all i'm living for jesus and then listen second of all i die for christ it's by his grace to live is christ to die's gain okay but we need that encounter because in this day and age that's the confidence that we need say well jack how do i how do i maintain that how do i know that life how do i be a christian i'm glad you asked it's galatians chapter 2 verse 20. watch this i got to tell you this should be committed to memory for all of us i'm talking about the christian life now here's how we live every day this is paul's go-to verse every day of his life are you guys with me you're very quiet are you here okay galatians 2 20. watch now watch i have been crucified three statements all in past tense i have been crucified with christ so what wait wait a minute i've been crucified christ listen when you're crucified you die i've been crucified with christ yet look it is no longer i who live but christ lives in me let me explain this for a second um this happens this way aft let's pretend after church this morning you're gonna go get something to eat and you're how are you going to do that you're going to go somewhere and you are going to probably use a debit card or a credit card uh even if you were to write a check or do a transaction or these these new apps there's no money exchange but you do it you eat you pay for it you go how did that happen honestly how in the world did that happen what just happened when you do that what happened was there was money in an account somewhere that was transferred over to the merchant for the services rendered you paid for that right you had to have money in the account to pay for your expense are you tracking with me this is christianity jesus christ on the cross who died there and then rose again from the dead deposited in your account the riches of christ and the riches of christ in this case is your identity and he did that at the cross 2000 years ago it's there for the unbeliever that's not yet come to christ it's sitting there it's all been paid for but they never tap into it but the moment you come to christ what happens when he says i've been crucified with christ but it's not me who lives christ lives in me what happens christ's righteousness is in that account that's labeled with your name god takes it and puts it into your new name your new account and god looks at the account and says there's sufficient funds there how did that happen god paid for it god provided it and god transferred it that's why paul says it is no longer i who live but christ lives in me and the life which i now live in the flesh i live by faith in the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me it's all about him it's him and when you realize watch when a bad thought when a bad desire when lust anger you name it when it pops up this is what you do wait a minute wait wait um not good this is not good this is not going to go in a good way lord i'm reminding myself i've been crucified with christ nevertheless i live it is not i but christ who lives in me and so because of that because christ lives in me i am going to say right now to that temptation to that person to that thing no way that's not i don't want it i want it away from me i belong to him i'm dead to that i'm alive to christ jesus is living in me and jesus says no to that and i'm not gonna go to that bottle when life gets rough and i'm not gonna do it and when you take a stand then christ's power comes that's just the way it is take a stand then his power comes that's called faith every day walking by faith take a stand make the statement hold your ground then the faith comes the faith will not be there until you take a stand you got you got to put your foot in the water moses before the sea parts does that make sense it's very important which leads us to this commissioning look at verse one called to be an apostle calling called the word called means by invitation that you've been brought in god invites you i love how god never put you in a headlock he's always inviting you paul is saying i've been called to be an apostle called an apostle christ invited me and jesus invites everyone who follows him he invites them every one of us he invites to come that is so significant so powerful another thing that is very uh strong about what is being said here is when god calls you say well when does god call what according to god god calls us before we were ever created did you know that it's pretty wild uh i'm gonna give you this verse i love this verse um when i was a brand new believer i came across this verse and because of my my past my background my background not my background but my my beginnings uh i grabbed onto it and it's jeremiah chapter 1 verses 4 and 5. it's my verse but you can have it too if you need it but jeremiah 1 verses 4 and 5 you talk about calling and being called i have no doubt that every one of you who named the name of jesus i have no doubt of your calling whatsoever you may doubt your calling i don't doubt your calling for this reason as a new believer i read this then the word of the lord came to me saying before i formed you in the womb i knew you that got my attention what [Music] before you were born well wait jesus before i was born i was a failed abortion attempt i um wait jesus before you formed me in the womb you knew me before i was born you sanctified me and so later on i was born you knew all this well god i don't know what this means but i'd like you to live out that reality in my life because i survived an abortion i was allowed to live into this world and so you must have a plan for my pathetic life so whatever you want to do god is okay with me because i was already scheduled to be dead so i've had that sentence before so whatever you want to do has got to be better than what the world was willing to do to me does it make sense so let's do this jesus and with that in my opinion there's the authority that we come under god with and now there's the commissioning of your life that he wants to use you he's you're alive for a purpose dear friend don't underestimate his glory that he wants to live out in your life and then finally we end right here uh we're called to be a new man because there's a greater purpose the authority changes the commissioning is different and our purpose for living is completely different he uses the word separated separated to the gospel of god this is a tremendous word it's not what you think separate when you hear the word separated you think of the word separate oh you put that away separate it from all the rest and put it over here this is so cool this word is amazing are you guys listening we're almost done i want you to miss this this word's amazing because it's separated watch the word implies that it's something that is on a a path that is very very tiny with no view it has no ability to see and it's very confined when this word separated to the gospel or separated to god the word means to take you from a very very bad view you know like getting a hotel at the beach but the hotel faces the freeway is that not the worst i think hell's going to be like that just what's worse than that oh you oh you went to maui not really the the room faced the freeway you're stuck this word tells us that when you come to christ under his authority with his commissioning you have a purpose and the word separated means you come into a place that is not only massive and expands but the word implies that you elevate upward and look down at it all so you could go listen you go down to john wayne airport you can't see anything you go through the terminal you get into a metal tube you sit there strap yourself in and you look at a little window and you can't see nothing right until what happens until it takes off and then all of a sudden that's how big the world is do you see that's the word that's the word separated when god takes his believer their world is narrow they don't have they don't have anything it's not come on it's terrible compared to the expanse of what god gives and with that is the purpose for living and it is to live breathe and to promote the gospel of jesus well hey thanks for listening and we appreciate you and of course we do in this time and in this age us being together and linking up together to get the word of god out is actually ministry being fulfilled and in fact if you would like to subscribe please do so hit the subscribe button tell your friends about us and listen if you'd like to help us get this out on a broader scale you can support us by hitting on the give now button and look we're going to continue on with or without you we're inviting you to join us no pressure but if you'd like to link arms in this venture you'd be greatly appreciated so listen keep praying for us we're praying for you god bless you and we'll see you back here real soon

Channel: Real Life with Jack Hibbs

Views: 95,102

Rating: 4.9295597 out of 5

Keywords: jack hibbs, romans, the book of romans, romans audio bible, the book of romans explained, romans bible project, jack hibbs romans, jack hibbs sermons, jack hibbs romans teaching, jack hibbs romans series, jack hibbs romans playlist, jan markell jack hibbs, amir tsarfati middle east prophecy update

Id: s_fIPVubiBQ

Length: 56min 47sec (3407 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 18 2021