CALLED OUT

0:00 What's the most important letter you've ever received? I've been thinking about that. I mean, letters, either it's snail mail or email, right? Maybe you've gotten a letter that told you about the birth of a child and you were like, wow, what a letter. Maybe you've gotten a letter from the IRS. You're like, whoa, I've never forgotten that letter. Maybe you've gotten a letter of appreciation from someone. You know, they reached out and just said something about you, and it really made your day.

0:37 Letters. There's no doubt about it, the most important letter ever written, I mean, you could drop the mic on this one, is the book of Romans. it's a letter to believers to Roman believers to Jews to non-Jews but it's a letter to you and me so in reality the most important letter that's ever been addressed to me and to you is the book of Romans we're going to delve into this book over the next who knows, six, seven, eight weeks. You know, I'm a PK, a pastor's kid. And I remember dad preached through the book of Romans. It took him a year and a half. I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that. isn't it interesting that this area is famous for its foundations? Have you ever thought about the foundational issues? Lisa and I have flipped a lot of houses during, during our lives. And we always talk about and think about the foundation, the peer and beam slab, whatever, because if you don't have a great foundation, well, your building or your house is not going to be that much. And the same is true in the Christian life. We've got to have a firm foundation.

2:00 And that my friend is what the book of Romans is all about. The book of Romans is about the gospel of God. The gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So if you want to know, and I'm sure you do want to know, how to apply the righteousness of God to your life, how to live your life, you want to be here for the next year and a half. who wrote the book of Romans? That's a great question because whenever you're reading a book, you want to say, okay, who wrote it? The apostle Paul wrote it. Paul. I mean, I'm talking about Paul y'all. Paul, St. Paul. Thank you. So before, before he was named Paul, he was named Saul. did you know that some of you are like okay yeah the the the name the name paul means small it means humble yet the name saul is like prideful it's like i'm the man think about king saul back in the day in the old testament prideful arrogant so before paul became a believer However, he was prideful and arrogant.

3:23 He was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was a member of this sect. They had to keep over 613 laws. I mean, they were so strict. If the fringe on their garment was too long, they got in trouble. Or if the garment just brushed up against a non-Jew, they got in trouble. That's how set apart, that's how strict Paul was. Paul spent his time studying. he learned under one of the great scholars in that day, Gamaliel, Paul persecuted. You ready for this? Paul, Saul, but let's call him Paul. Saul, his name was Saul. He persecuted the church. He had Christians killed. I mean, that's hardcore, isn't it? And the Bible tells us, as you read, that he was a bystander when one of the first martyrs, Stephen, was stoned to death.

4:18 Paul. He was like applauding it, cheering it on. And then we know in Acts chapter nine, Paul was on that Damascus road, again, going to persecute Christians. And boom, he met Jesus. Jesus said, why are you persecuting me? So he became a follower of Christ. He was born again. He was saved, rescued, and he changed his name from Saul, Mr. Big Shot, big time, to Paul.

4:58 Small. God cut him down to size, didn't he? Here one day he was prideful, and now he's walking in humility. Paul obviously had a genius IQ. He was saying in Corinth at a guy's home, who was a wealthy Christian, his name was Gaius. I wouldn't recommend you using that name, moms and dads, if you're thinking about having another child, but it was an interesting name. And he wrote the book of Romans from Corinth. He had never visited Rome. So he's writing this letter inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. You see, the Holy Spirit of God used personalities, intellect, everything, as the Holy Spirit revealed the words to the writers of Scripture, from the Old Testament to the New Testament.

6:03 So that's what's happening with this situation. Now, Paul did not actually write the letter. He didn't take a pen to parchment. That's what it was written on. There was a guy who was his personal assistant named Tertius, and Tertius was the one who actually wrote the book of Romans. And you can tell by some of the run-on sentences, you can tell by some of the long sentences that he was like, oh, Paul, I can't keep up with you. I mean, this is, so that's what happened. Then, and I'm telling you a lot, but I'm going to go somewhere with it. Then a little girl named Phoebe, she was the one that delivered the mail to the Roman churches. Paul was writing this letter, remember, to little colonies of Christ followers. And these colonies were in Rome. You might be going, well, how did that happen? Go back to the book of Acts.

7:01 You got Pentecost. And the result of Pentecost was people being dispersed all over the place. And some of the people were from Rome. And they went to Rome, back to their home, and started churches. So that's what Paul is doing. This book was written around AD 57, which is another important thing to remember. This is not the first letter that Paul wrote. It's probably his fifth or sixth. Now, normally I don't spend this much time going historical on you about the context of what I'm preaching about. But Romans is so critical. It's like, again, the greatest letter you've ever received. It has changed the course of history. This book that we're reading has transformed lives.

7:56 Think about Martin Luther. Think about John Calvin. Think about the Wesley brothers. Think about Whitfield. Think about the Protestant Reformation. Think about the Great Awakening. Romans! So we can study the same book and read the same letter that changed the course of history. Billions of people have been changed by this letter. So if I'm you, I would have my rear here at Fellowship Church. I would. I would. Because it's going to be a blessing. People always say, well, man, how can God change my life? And how does this transformation take place? Paul's going to show us. Romans is set up in about five sections. Do you mind if I go through those? I can tell you can't wait. The first is sin. And that's not a pretty subject, but it starts with sin. Then from sin, it goes to salvation. Isn't that cool? So Paul starts with sin. We got a problem. We're separated from God. And then salvation, God sent Jesus Christ to do what he did on the cross, rise again. And we have the opportunity to apply that. Go. Sin, salvation, sanctification.

9:08 You remember in the series I did on theology last year, sanctification is a set apartness. It's growing in Christ. It's maturing as we go through those phases of spiritual infancy to a full court follower of Christ. From there, we have the sovereignty of God. That's the fourth section, the sovereignty of God. God is in charge. He rules and reigns. And we don't always understand everything about that. Yet, God is sovereign. And the last section would be service. You remember Bob Dylan? Anybody remember him? Bob? I'm the only one? 1979? You got to serve somebody.

9:54 How in the heck is he one of the greatest musicians of all time? I don't know. No, he's a talented songwriter. I'm kidding. Some are like, I'm just joking. Sometimes people don't get my humor. we were having a study session this week in my office. And one of the pastors I work with is literally a genius at AI and chat. So he makes this picture up of me. And he goes, he goes, Ed, let's post it. And I'm like, oh, everyone will know I'm joking. No, they didn't. I, my, man, my phone, I felt terrible. My phone was blowing up. It was a little bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. It was like going viral.

10:47 We're like, we got to shut it down. So I did another post where I said, hey, I'm just joking. I did not have Campisi's pizza with President Trump. I didn't do that. Some of you are like, I thought it was real. isn't that funny aren't we talking about the book of Romans what was I saying the fifth one you gotta serve somebody yeah that's the application that's how we serve we're not here to swerve we're here to serve think about the power of letters think about the power of books. Have you ever thought about that? I've written 25 books. And obviously when you read my books, you know they're from me.

11:46 You can go, oh, only Ed would say something that's stupid. You know me. Oh, he's talking about college basketball again. Yeah, so you understand me. Mein Kampf, written by Adolf Hitler. millions and millions of Jews were exterminated because of that book Hitler drank from the words of Friedrich Nietzsche Nietzsche said God is dead Nietzsche lived a miserable existence the last 10 years in a comatose state Hit later. Dos Capitale by Karl Marx. study Karl Marx.

12:42 He lived in squalor, highly immoral, impregnated his housekeeper and never even said that was his son. Barely made it through school, horrible student. Befriended a rich guy who pretty much bankrolled everything he did. And he wrote that life-changing for a lot of people book. He wasn't a good guy.

13:14 Charles Darwin, a card-carrying racist. His racist views are seen in his book, The Origin of the Species. Now, I'm not saying there's not some truth in some of these writings, except for Mein Kampf. But the others, there's some truth there, but you have to look at the authors. And amazingly, we're like, oh, oh, did Karl Marx said it? Sigmund Freud said it, who's a cokehead and a pervert. So I just believe it, hook, line, and sinker. Come on. You've got to think deeper than that. Yet in our universities, oh my gosh, they're gods.

14:09 Try reprobates. So the apostle Paul, I mean, again, we're talking about Paul, y'all. Look at the apostle Paul. I know what you're thinking. Ed, I have a family member. I have a father. I have a cousin. I have a daughter. I have a coworker. And there is no way they're going to become a follower of Christ. I mean, they kind of do this every time I talk to them about Jesus. If the Holy Spirit of God can change the life of the Apostle Paul, he can change your friend and mine, your family member and mine. Isn't that true? Also, we're going to see something else. We're going to see the power of the letter. Do you write letters?

15:01 I know you write emails. I know, I know. And emails are cool because when you get emails, you know who it's from right up front. And then also too, it tells you if it's been sent to some other people and that's cool. But emails are fine and dandy, but how about old school, take out a pen and write it down because when I write you a letter, I can say things to you that I can't always put in words. And did you know we have an entire letter writing ministry right here at Fellowship Church? So who do you need to write a letter to? Who do you need to say, hey, thank you, you're awesome. Who do you need maybe just to say, hey, I wanna share with you what Jesus has done in my life and you write it out. There's power, sheer power and octane in a letter. And Paul's going to teach us that we as believers are all about sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. We have that responsibility to, to carry the good news to others. Paul was basically saying, because Paul had some people with him, he was basically saying what Deion Sanders said last year. We coming. That's what Paul was saying. We coming. So now let's dive in to the book of Romans and get ready. God is going to bless your life and transform your life. Okay.

16:38 Let's look at Paul's identity. I told you a little bit about him from Saul to Paul, this metamorphosis. Paul, the Bible says in verse one, a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God. Paul says, that's my name. There's no shame in my game. And he says right up front, I am a servant. Say that with me. Servant. Yeah, servant. You know, in this translation, the New International Version, they kind of decaffeinated the word. Are you feeling me? They kind of sanded the edges off the power and the bite of the real word. The real word is slave.

17:29 Now that was super unpopular. For Paul even mentioned the S word back in the day because there were 60 million slaves in play in Rome. 60 million. And it was not because of race. It was because of a number of issues and backgrounds that these people were slaves. Paul, though, is saying something even deeper than just a slave. He's saying, I am a bond slave to Jesus Christ. A bond slave, a bond slave. Okay, back in the day, if you were indebted to someone, you couldn't pay their debt, you would literally become their slave, their bond slave. So you owed this person X amount of money, you couldn't pay it.

18:21 Hey, my man, I am gonna serve you. I'm gonna be literally your slave. I'm bonded to you. That's a bond slave. there was something that happened every seven years called the year of Jubilee, which freed up every seven years all of the bond slaves from their masters. That was a very popular year.

18:51 So some slaves, when they experienced the year of Jubilee, as they were freed up. They were like, I'm going back to my master. I love him, his family. I love what we did together much better than that stuff. They would voluntarily and lovingly become a bond slave. we're freed from sin we have an opportunity do we not to voluntarily and lovingly become the bond slave of Jesus that's what Paul was driving at he goes I'm not just a servant I'm not just a slave I'm a bond slave and it was not like okay you know it's not my will but it's your will. No, no, no, no, no, no. A bond slave would say, your will is my will.

20:04 And my will is your will. That's why the Bible says in Psalm 37, delight yourself in the Lord. He will give you, give you and me the desires of your heart. That does not mean, all right, I just prayed this prayer, God, give me $10 million. That doesn't mean that. God might one day, who knows, but it means that you give your life to the Lord, you become a bond slave, and literally you trade in your desires, your everything for him. But notice this, I love this part. As a bond slave, you don't have any negotiating power. Zero, none. Nada. Jesus tells you and me serve in the local church you have no power I have no power saying well I can't my kids are in kids sports and I'm really busy on the weekend and I've got this golf game I mean great you have and I have no power to negotiate the same is true with bringing your tithes We don't force anybody to tithe.

21:20 And really tithing is not being generous. It's being obedient. So God tells it to us and we either negotiate or not. So you see, it's about obedience because we're gonna discover God's will is the best way to live. God's way is the best way to live in marriage, family, being a single parent, a grandparent, a student. It's the best way to live. And one day you wake up and go, this is awesome. My desires, God, are your desires and your desires are my desires. That's just one word in Romans chapter one, verse one. Somebody slap somebody. So Paul says, Paul, we know, small, right? Humble, radically changed, a servant, really a bond slave.

22:19 And notice next, he's called. He's called. You remember when kids used to play outside? You remember that? I grew up in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina before I moved to South Carolina. I had some friends. I would always play with. Man, we played so many games, had so much fun. Robert Campbell, Gary Ford, Mike Harkins, and me. I remember, again, we played outside, that when the sun would set, we knew it was inevitable, the call would come. And as I look back as a kid, it's just funny to see the different calls that their parents made to summon them back home. Robert's mom, Robert Campbell, she had a voice that was unbelievable.

23:15 And she would call him by his full name. Robert Perry Campbell, come home! See y'all. my friend Gary Ford I don't know if he had some sort of a I don't know what kind of problem he had but Gary sweated like a pack mule even when he was like 10 years old I don't know but but anyway Gary's father was a monster man I mean he's he's he's like a all-pro lineman for the NFL he He would just say one name, Gary. And man, Gary would run. My favorite though was Mike Harkins. We lived in a paper mill town and Mike's dad worked for this paper mill. It was called Champion back in the day. And he would kind of sneak up on us, take a long drag on that camel.

24:12 My, come on home now. God is calling you. I mean, in other words, you're called, Paul was saying. You're summoned by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Will you respond? You can be like Robert and go, yeah, I'm responding. Like Gary, even with sweat rolling down your face, I'm responding. Mike Harkins, following the trail of cigarette smoke, I'm coming. Have you accepted the call? Paul was called. He was called into the ministry. Now this is a little bit unique. Sometimes people ask me, uh, do you ever, uh, wonder what you would do if you were not a pastor? Well, not really. I don't. I, I did not go to some job fair and go, Oh, I want to be a pastor.

25:18 Yeah, that's what I want to do. Choose me. Here's my resume. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I was called to this. I was called to this. This is not something you want to do to like have this career or whatever. No, no, you got to be called to it. And 35 years ago, Lisa and I drove up to Dallas-Fort Worth with one car, one kid, one dog, and a little rental facility. Lived in a rent house. The foundations were cracking everywhere. And that's how we started Fellowship Church with a group of families who were totally and completely committed. So no, no, no, no, no. I didn't choose this occupation like, no, I'm not going to go into real estate. No, I'm not going to go into announcing.

26:13 I want to be a preacher. If that is you, don't preach or don't go into the ministry. My father, who pastored one of the largest churches in America, he just retired. I remember I was talking to him before I was called. I said, Dad, how do you know if you're called? He goes, son, if you can do anything else and be happy, do it. You don't pastor. And he, at the time, pastored the largest church in America. So I love being a pastor. I love it. Do I have times of discouragement? Yes. But overall, it is absolutely amazing. So we're called not into the ministry technically, but we're called into the ministry in a worldwide fashion. You're called into your ministry. You're called into your ministry, your sphere of influence.

27:08 You're called into your ministry. I'm called into my ministry, but my sphere of influence is gonna be different than yours, and yours is gonna be different than mine. But to sit there and say, no, I'm not called. That's a lie from the pit of hell. You, my friend, are called. You're one of a kind. You were bought with a price. And God has a great plan for you. He wants you to respond and to discover what it means to be his bond slave.

27:38 I've only gone through a couple of words. So Paul says his identity, I'm a servant, doulos. That's what the word is in the Greek. I'm called, summoned. And now I'm set apart. I like this phrase, set apart. Paul was set apart. It's the Greek word euphorizo. We get the word horizon from it. Isn't that interesting? So Paul understood what it meant to be separated. Remember, he was a Pharisee of Pharisees, he was called. All these laws and rituals and routines.

28:13 That's when he was Saul. He became Paul, and he had this deep relationship with Jesus Christ. He was literally set apart. Think about a horizon for a second. You know what a horizon is. You look and, oh man, there's the horizon line. Beautiful horizon.

28:37 Now, if you change your center, you will see a different horizon. Everything will look different. As you understand what it means to walk with the Lord Jesus, As you make him your center, your entire horizon will change. You're set apart, no doubt about it, but you're not alienated or separated. The Bible says we're in the world, but not of the world. Set apartness. Do people know that you're different? Do people see Jesus in your life? do they see that you have these boundaries? I mean, think about football. You know, we think about football all the time here, don't we?

29:31 Can you imagine if you watched a football game and the players were like, I'll forget the boundaries. I want some popcorn. And they would run up to the stands, have some nachos and popcorn. And they would just, you know, run around and just go absolutely crazy. You would go, oh, this is an awful game. They're not playing within the boundaries. You want to have a great life, a great game? Become a bond slave to Jesus and you will love, love his boundaries and realize why he has the boundaries. He has. They're not to rain on our parade. They're there for joy and freedom. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for what? The gospel, good news of God.

30:32 Did you notice the shirt I have on today? Did you see that? You see the cufflinks? Yeah? Okay. A couple of days ago, a lady in our church, she's been a part of our church for 30 years. she was having coffee with Lisa and I and she goes, Ed, I want to give you some of these cufflinks. I collect antique cufflinks. She goes, don't get scared. They're not real, but I want you to, I want you to have these cufflinks. How many people in here have cufflinks? If you're a guy, lift your hand. Very few. Back in the day, it was cufflink city. Not anymore. Not anymore. Do you know what a French cuff is? A lot of people don't know what that is. Do you? A few. Well, let me take this jacket off and show you exactly. Okay. You have folds of material. And this cuff link, see, links these folds together. The Apostle Paul is linking, we're going to find out, the Old Testament and the New Testament.

31:44 He's linking together so many deep and spiritual truths. Also, the cufflinks are small, but they matter. If I didn't have them on, I'd be a mess as far as my shirt and things like that. And then, here's the best. These cufflinks are set apart. They're different than just my normal button-down shirts. I only have a few of these, you know, French cuffs, and they're set apart. So that's my illustration for the guys. Cuff links. You get it, guys? Now let me give one for the females here.

32:29 Fine china. My wife has some fine china. We don't eat on the fine china very much. I mean, we eat on paper plates a good bit of time and we eat on just regular, you know, average, ordinary China, but not fine China. Fine China is set apart. It's in a cabinet. Only for special occasions. It's so awesome as believers. We're set apart.

33:11 We're fine China. We're cufflinks. You know what's so funny? We have these monitors up here, and they just said this to me, fix your collar. Thank you. So Paul's identity. We have three minutes to get through the rest of it. Now let's look at Paul's inspiration. Okay, 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 and the Holy Scriptures. Of course, this is the Old Testament prophecies. Jesus fulfilled over 300 of them. Let me say that again. 300 of them. And when these prophecies were being written, some of the dudes and some of the girls were like, yeah, I kind of get it, but they didn't really get it.

34:10 But when Jesus came, wow, everything came together. Everything connected, cufflinks. So the gospel promised beforehand through the prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David. Let me stop. That's talking about the incarnation of Christ. I just talked about the humanity of Christ. We need to defend the humanity of Christ as much as we defend the deity of Christ. He was 100% man, born in the lineage of David. That's why he had the right, obviously, to reign and rule and does on the throne. So that's his humanity. Look at his divinity. and who, verse four, through the spirit of holiness was appointed the son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead.

35:05 Jesus lived this perfectly righteous life. He was 100% man, 100% God. Don't worry, you'll never fully comprehend it or understand it. Yet he was and he is. And his resurrection, I mean, game over. The resurrection, game over. Appeared to over 500 people at one time, game over.

35:35 Paul's identity, his inspiration. I just read his inspiration to you. Now let's look at his invitation. He invites us somewhere in this letter. Through him, we've received grace and apostleship to call, there's a word again, to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his namesake. And you also are among those Gentiles who are, say it with me again, called to belong to Christ. That's his invitation.

36:03 Now notice his inclusion. I love this. He's including everybody. This letter is to everybody. It wasn't written directly to us, but it's for us. Are you feeling me? His inclusion. to all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people, grace and peace to you from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Friends, we are called. It's God's sovereign summons. And the Apostle Paul penned this chapter, which might be the most important chapter in the entire Bible, to you and to me. So here's the question. So what?

36:54 What are you going to do with this? Are you going to say, oh man, that was an interesting history lesson. I had no idea that the word servant was really bond slave. Oh, that's interesting about being set apart. No, no. What is this going to do in your life and mine? It will transform our lives. So I'm going to give you a review again. Understand, I'll say it again, the power of the letter. Write it down.

37:24 Remember, anyone can become a follower of Christ. If it happened to Paul, y'all, it can happen to anybody. And we're called to go. the book of Romans. Greatest letter ever written. It's the greatest letter I've ever received. Read it. Apply it. Digest it. And you'll not believe what Jesus will do. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for this message. Thank you for our great church. Thank you for your infallible, inerrant word. that is as relevant today as it was in AD 57. I pray, Lord, if there's someone here and you've never, ever, ever asked Christ to come into your life, that you would simply say, Jesus, I admit to you, I'm a sinner.

38:23 And I realize, God, that you did something because of my sin problem. You commissioned Christ to live righteously, to die sacrificially, and to rise bodily. And right now, right now, just say it to yourself, I give my life to you. I become your bond slave and I don't understand all the implications but I do I surrender my will, my desire my all, my everything to you because Lord Jesus you are the way the truth and the life so God continue to reveal yourself to us in a deep and profound way over the next several weeks we ask these things in Jesus name