WHAT THIS CHURCH OF ROME BELIEVED

 

WHAT THIS CHURCH OF ROME BELIEVED

September 8, 1963

Pastor Henry F. Kulp 

 

Romans 1: 1 - 5 PAUL, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of god, (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:

This Book of Romans is a very important portion of Scripture—we should all understand it, we should all read it and re-read it and re-read it. I am glad that in the early part of my ministry, the man who led me to the Lord, Mickey Walsh, told me as he was holding a week of meetings for us in the church we had in Brooklyn, to re-read and re-read the book of Romans. It has been one of the greatest blessings in my spiritual life.

1/  It was in this Book that Luther found the great truths with which he carried on the Reformation. He wrote a commentary on Romans, and a little company of people in England were reading Luther’s commentary on Romans, and a man by the name of John Wesley was listening, and he was saved by hearing this document on Romans. So what does Romans mean to us today? It means the Reformation—it means Luther and Wesley—two men who stirred the world for God.

2/  Now the main teaching in the Book of Romans is justification by faith. In other words, that we are saved by faith alone. And, of course, as Paul brings out—justification by faith, that we are saved by faith alone—he shows the utter ruin of man. Paul actually shows that man is a sinner in a two-fold way. First of all, he shows he is a sinner positively and negatively. Positively, because he has an abundance of sin.

3/  I wonder if you realize that the complete transformation in the life of Luther when he read, Romans 1: 17 “the just shall live by faith.” For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Now, Paul, of course, is the author of this epistle, and it was addressed to the little church, which had been established in imperial Rome. Paul had never been to the capitol of the empire, and he had a great desire to go there. He wanted to go there because he wanted to teach them the great truths that God had revealed to him.

4/  No one knows how the church at Rome had become established. Certainly none of the twelve disciples had been there—and Paul tells us this, in no uncertain terms in the closing portion of this Scripture as we shall study later on, and, of course, this disposes of the idea that Peter had been to Rome and founded a church there. For Paul tells us for many years he had a desire to come to Rome to preach where no disciple had been before him. Now, Peter was not the important man in Rome, for Paul was. Paul was the one who sent forth this glorious truth that is in the epistle of Romans.

5/  Romans 1: 1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

You will remember that all the epistles of Paul begin with his own name, and in Romans he does not link any other name with his own. In some epistles he says, Paul and Timotheos, or Paul and Silas, but Paul is alone in the Book of Romans. This is the truth he got directly from God by revelation. This proves to me that Hebrews is not a book written by Paul. For Paul always identified himself in the very beginning. He always began with his own man.

6/  Then, you’ll notice, that Paul calls himself a servant of Jesus Christ. In the original language, there is a figure of speech, hidden in the word that is brought forth here. Paul calls himself more than a servant—he calls himself a bond slave of Jesus Christ—the phrase goes back to a ceremony described in the Book of Moses. 

Exodus 21: 1 - 5 Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:

Now in the law of Moses, there were laws governing about a man who got into debt. When he got into debt, he became the property of his creditor, in fact, he became his slave. But this slavery had an end in view—it wasn’t for all time. When the seventh year rolled around, all the slaves were liberated and could go free once more as their own masters. Some of them, however, realized certain things about heir own lack of ability to maintain themselves in the rugged economy of a cruel world. They remembered when they had been their own free men, they just hadn’t eaten too well, they didn’t always have a good shelter over their heads, but now they had a kind master, and they were well-housed and well-fed. They looked forward to their future freedom with some fear and trembling, and they realized that they might soon again be living a life of hunger and cold. Now, no doubt, there were some who sought to escape the bondage of masters who were unkind, who were cruel, but there were others who treated their slaves with kindness, and as a matter of fact, the slave would come to love his master, and he would realize was much better off as a slave tooth’s man. This one could go to his owner and tell him that he desire to remain a slave. He would then be taken to the tabernacle, where the priest would lead him to the door posts and bore a hole in the lobe of his ear with an awl. From that time on, he was a slave of his master—he was known as a bond slave. Remember, he could have been free, but he chose to remain a slave of his master, because he loved him. Wherever he walked his ear proclaimed the character of his master. It said, I love my master—that hole in the lobe of the ear, shouted forth the praises fo the master—a slave-owner.

8/  Men talk about the freedom of worship. There is no such thing outside of Jesus Christ. There is no way to get to God the Father, except through the Lord Jesus Christ. God has not given you a choice of freedom of worship. It is either Jesus Christ or nothing. Bt maybe I had better add in here, and add it very clearly, I do not believe, and God has never taught, that w are to force people to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. Men do have a freedom of choice—do they want Christ, or don’t they want Christ? My mind always goes back to Luke 13: 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!

Christ never thought of forcing men to worship HIm. Remember, He came to Jerusalem, and He cried out—Thou that killest the prophets, and stones them that are sent unto thee—how oft would I have gathered thee to my bosom, as a hen gathers her chicks, but ye would not. 

He wept, but He would not force them to believe on Him. And He will always weep as long as men remain away from Him, but He will not force them to come to Him. I do not believer in forcing people to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, they must of their own free choice chose Jesus Christ and become a slave to Him.

9/  Then notice, Paul was called an apostle. It is not called to be an apostle. The words “to be” are in italics. Now Paul was an apostle, and as such he was not one of the Twelve. He had a special apostleship—he used the de3finite article “the” before his apostleship many times in the Word of God, but before I show you that, I want to show you something about the word, apostle. 

Turn with me to Hebrews 3: 1 and there we read, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the holy calling, consider the apostle and high-priest of our confession, Jesus Christ.

Yes, Christ was the apostle, the word means, one who is sent. It emphasizes the fact of being sent on a mission. When God calls a prophet, He gives him a message, but He possibly had that man stay right where he is and deliver that message, but the word, apostle, emphasizes the matter of being sent. 

You remember, that Jesus Christ was sent from Heaven to this earth. 

Notice, John 4: 34 where He says, My meat is to dot the will of Him that sent Me. Jesus Christ is the apostle, He is the sent One of the Father.

Then notice, John 6: 38 For I came down from Heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. 

Christ was the apostle sent from the Father. He had a special ministry. With this thought in mind, let us go to Romans 11: 13 where he say, I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch, as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: 

He was the one who was sent to the Gentiles. Now it must not be concluded from what I am saying here that we consider Paul to be nearly as great as Christ or place him on the same level as Christ. Of course, that is not true—Paul was a sinner, saved by grace. We know that Paul was nothing in himself, while Christ was everything. But it is not the person we are interested in, but the position that God gave him as an apostle of the Gentiles. He said, I do not glorify myself, but I glorify or exalt my position—mine office.

10/  II Timothy 1: 11 where he says, Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. Paul had this unique ministry of going to the Gentiles. He is an apostle of the Gentiles.

11/  Galatians 1: 11, 12 And here Paul says, But I certify you brethren, that the Gospel which was preached of me, is not after man—for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. 

Notice clearly, he did not receive this message by a revelation from Christ merely, but by revelation from God the Father. It was the same way with Moses as it was with Paul. The Lord revealed Himself to Moses and spoke with him fave to face and mouth to mouth. And so it was with Paul. 

Notice what it says about Moses. Exodus 33: 11 And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

12/  Numbers 12: 6 - 9 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and he departed.

And I will speak mouth to mouth, even apparently—and that means plainly.

13/  Acts 26: 16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;

And here Paul tells us about the Lord saying to him I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness. 

So Paul saw Christ face to face, and Christ talked with him. And then also notice 

Acts 22: 17, 18 And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.

And I saw him saying unto me, make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem. So the Lord appeared to Paul again and again and spoke to him face to face and mouth to mouth and made him the apostle of the Gentiles.

14/  The apostle in II Corinthians 13: 2, 3 I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare: Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you.

 Paul wrote to the carnal Christians who had belittled his apostolic authority—the fact that he was the apostle to the Gentiles. They compared him with Apollos, Cephas and Christ, and he says, I will not spare, since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me. In other swords these folks minimized the office of Paul.

15/  I spent time with this, because I want you to recognize this Book of Romans is so important, that it is for the Gentiles in this day and age, and it is the plan of salvation. It is the Word whereby we are made wise unto salvation.

16/  Notice, Paul was separated unto the Gospel of God. Here you have a God-given separation. The Gospel, of course, means good news. God’s good news is about Jesus  Christ, for notice, II Corinthians 13: 3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;  The second verse is in parenthesis, so it should read, the Gospel of God concerning His Son.

17/  Now God’s good news is about Jesus Christ. As I sit down and meditate on those things and think of the world, and what men have done, I don’t think the world has any other good news but this. Let your mind go over human history. What has man done? What has anybody done? Aside form the cross of Jesus Christ, there has not been any good in tis world. Man may call it good, but in its final analysis, it is not good.

18/  God has nothing good to say to any man except, Christ died for you, and praise God it is for every member of the race—no one is left out. This is the best news under the sun—Christ Jesus has died for you and purchased salvation for you.

19/  Oh, you say, we do have good news, and I admit that perhaps you have good news that is for a moment. Perhaps somebody will say, I just got a new dress—a group of girls together—and the other girls say, that’s good news, you got a new dress. But that new dress wears out and has to be discarded. Some days it is used to polish the furniture, or perhaps to wash the windows on the car, it was only good news for a moment. Or you say, it is good news, so and so was healed of this sickness, he was on his death bed, and the Lord saw fit to raise him up. You say, that is good news. But wait a minute. If Jesus Christ tarries, that person is still going to die one of these days, so it is only good news for a moment—it doesn’t last. But the good news of Jesus Christ dying for us on the cross of Calvary, will be good news throughout all eternity.

AMEN

Ref: 09/08/1963 / WHAT THIS CHURCH OF ROME BELIEVED / 08/07/2020