We want to say shalom and welcome everyone to the Bible classes of the Holy Scriptures and Israel. We were just singing together this amazing song, Our God is an awesome God. He is an awesome God indeed, and He is the one that is ruling and reigning over this world, and we are very thankful belong to him and i trust that all of you who listen to the Bible studies belong to our Lord Yeshua Jesus our Messiah so we want to pray together and we will commit the meeting to the Lord we are studying in the book of Romans we're in Romans chapter one i hope you have your Bibles with you open the the Scriptures the word of God so we will be able So Abba, our Father, Abba, our Father, we just ask your blessing upon the Word of God as we return to the Scripture.

We commit ourselves to you today, for we ask it in Yeshua's name, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So, beloved friends and dear brothers and sisters, turn with me to the book of Romans. Way of introduction to the book of Romans chapter 1 of course and I would like to continue in Romans chapter 1 from verse 5 and I'll read a little bit further towards verse 17 although I'm confident that we will not cover all these verses for this meeting so Romans 1 and verse 5 the apostle Paul Shaul Paul he continues to write to introduced himself to the Roman believers and he's saying to them by whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ to all that be in Rome beloved of God called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Yeshua HaMashiach.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make. Of you always in my prayers, making requests if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift to the end ye may be established, is that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that of time, of ten times, I purposed to come unto you but was let hitherto, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles. I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and the unwise, to the unwise. So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Mashiach. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For therein the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. And I'm stopping here, beloved brothers and sisters, with this verse 17. Reading this introduction to the book of Romans, the apostle Paul is introducing himself to the Roman believers to remind us all that Paul was never at Rome, at least until the time that he had arrived finally and was in prison in Rome later on, by the time that we arrived to chapter 27 and 28 of the book of Acts. He didn't establish the assembly, the congregation at Rome. Some others that have come to Rome share the gospel and there was a local assembly that had been established in the city of Rome.

So Paul is writing this very important letter that the theme of this letter is the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God that a holy God because of the fact that salvation was a. On the basis of the death burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus the Messiah a holy God can receive a sinner who believe in Jesus in Yeshua and receive forgiveness of sins and Paul wanted to emphasize the fact that the believers in the Lord Jesus the Messiah now are justified they have been reconciled and they will be ultimately glorified So he's writing this long letter in order to instruct the believers at Rome concerning the truth of justification.

The justification is strictly on the basis of faith and faith alone in the person of our Lord Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus Christ, Jesus the Messiah. Before us in Romans chapter 1 verses 1 to 7 really Paul is presenting himself before the believers at Rome he doesn't know them obviously they have heard of him he hasn't been there so he's writing to them and he's introducing himself so in the first seven verses beloved brothers and sisters Shaul Paul presents himself before the believers at Rome and you notice in verse 1 he gives his name notice that we have already read that in our past meetings Paul in verse 1b he continued and he called himself notice that in the second verse he's calling himself an apostle the word apostle apostolos in the Greek he was the one that was chosen by the risen Messiah by the risen Christ to be a messenger to the Gentiles to the going and so he is presenting his name Paul he is an apostle notice that he's Paul he's a he's a also a servant and an apostle notice the words servant actually come before the word apostle he's a servant this is the word doulas he is a servant of Jesus Christ and he.

Is called to be an apostle you remember we said that in verse one the word to be is in italic and the word to be should not be there he is called by the Lord Jesus the Messiah to be in a service of apostleship then he continued to tell us to tell them that he was a separated to the gospel of God in verse one he was chosen by God he was called he was chosen by God to be separated to preach the message of the gospel of God and we mentioned that in verse 1 at the end it is a gospel of God in verse 1 at the end it is the gospel of his son in verse 9 it is the gospel of the Messiah in verse 16 and it is my gospel as he calls it in chapter 16 and verse 25 so what we really have here beloved brothers and sisters.

In this last statement or last word here in verse 1, he is an apostle separated unto the gospel of God, the gospel of his son, the gospel of the Mashiach, and my gospel. He mentioned it four times in the book of Romans. We've also continued and we covered verses 2 and 3 and verse 4 as well. And in verses 2 and 3 and 4, this gospel was promised. And listen to this. One more time the gospel according to verse 2 which had which he had promised before by his prophets in the holy Scriptures in other words God had promised of the besorah the gospel the good news the glad tidings he have already promised in the Hebrew Scriptures in the holy Scriptures through the prophets of Israel old and we enumerated the many verses that were found in the Hebrew Scriptures in the Tanakh the Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim the law, the prophets and the writings some called it the Old Testament but it is the covenant that God have made it's never old we have established now a new covenant on the basis of the death resurrection of the Lord Jesus the Messiah but that Scripture is still a.

Powerful the Scripture is it is available for us to be used today and the promises that God had given through the prophets that there will be glad tidings to the world that the Messiah will come that the Redeemer will come and that he will die for the sin of this world first Corinthians 15 tells us that Christ the Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures this is the holy Scriptures and that he was buried and he rose again for our justification according to the Scriptures first Corinthians chapter 15 the first three verses of this chapter so in verse 2 it was promised by God it was promised by God through the prophets and it is written for us in the holy Scriptures and you notice what it called what Paul called it the holy Scriptures the word of God is.

It's set apart. It is not like an ordinary book that you and I may pick up in a bookstore today or somebody wrote it today, but it is holy. It is set apart by God. It is the word of the Lord. When the Lord says, thus says the Lord in the Scriptures, it is the word of God. And it is set apart. It is holy Scriptures. Word of God indeed and then you notice beloved brothers and sisters we read verses three and four what do the holy Scriptures said what did the prophets of Israel communicated in days of all in the holy Scriptures notice the gospel the good news it is concerning notice these beloved brothers and sisters it is concerning his son you notice that concerning his son Jesus Christ, or Yeshua HaMashiach, our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, but declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead.

In other words, beloved brothers and sisters, the Holy Scriptures declare the message of the glad tidings, the good news, that the Mashiach will come, that the Messiah will come. That there will be good news to a lost world, but it is concerning, in other words, the basis of this great message of the gospel. It is based upon, listen to verses 3 and 4, it is concerning His Son. Who is that Son? This is the Son of God. It is concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, our Lord, which was born or was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. In other words, when the Messiah entered into this world, he entered into this world as a man and as descendants of David.

Notice again, according to the flesh, he came into this world according to the flesh as the son of David. But if you will make a note of it in the gospel of Matthew many a time beloved brothers and sisters and dear friends the Lord Yeshua the Messiah called the son of David ben David Matthew 1 the whole gospel of Matthew began the book of the generation of Yeshua HaMashiach Jesus Christ the son of David the son of Avraham that's how the whole new covenant began that Jesus Christ that Yeshua HaMashiach is the son of David ben David in Hebrew that's why he was called in the Hebrew Scriptures many times son of David son of David ben David ben David because when God the son entered into this world he took union humanity with his divine nature and he began he became a man the seed of the woman the seed of.

Abraham, but the seed of David, Ben David. In Matthew 1:20 we read: "But while he thought of these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, this is to yourself, and he said to yourself, Thou son of David, fear not, for unto thee Miriam thy wife will be the one you should take her, and because she will be the one that will conceive by the Holy Spirit." In chapter 9 of the Gospel of Matthew and verse 27, When Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying and saying, Ben David, thou son of David, thou son of David, have mercy on us. In Matthew chapter 12 and verse 23 we read, And all the people were amazed and said, Is not this the son of David?

They were amazed. Paul is saying in chapter 1 of the book of Romans concerning his son, this is God's son, this is his divine nature. Jesus Christ is God the son who became a man, our Lord, which was made or which was born of the seed of David according to the flesh. Remember what we have already covered in John 1. Word was with God and the word was God and then verse 14 and the word became flesh if there is a way for salvation to be provided for humanity God had to enter into this world because no other man can ever provide salvation for another man or another person because all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God so Again, there are plenty of Scripture that we can read in the gospel that he was called Ben David.

In Matthew chapter 22, I'm just jumping a little bit. In verse 42 we read, saying, What think ye of Mashiach, of Christ? Whose son is he? They said unto him, everybody knew in Israel's history, they said unto him, Ben David, the son of David. Roman believers emphasize the fact that in his humanity, when God the Son entered into this world in order to provide salvation, he was made or was born, according to verse 3 of Romans chapter 1, of the seed of David according to the flesh. But then in verse 4, which we have also covered, beloved brothers and sisters, it says, In other words, when God the Son entered into this world and he as man died on a shameful Roman cross and was buried and then he was resurrected from among the dead the resurrection of Christ the resurrection of the Messiah declared publicly to all that this is the very one whom God had promised to send to this world to be the Redeemer he was risen from among the dead in fact beloved brothers and sisters both Isaiah 53 and verse 10 and.

And Psalm 16 verse 10 declare already in days of old that the Messiah will be resurrected. Thou shalt not leave my soul in Sheol, neither thou shalt leave thine holy one to see corruption. David said in Psalm 16 and verse 10, and Isaiah the prophet speaking about the Mashiach at his first coming, Isaiah said in chapter 53, In verse 10, we do read, beloved brothers and sisters, listen to this. It says, After the Mashiach will die and he will be buried, God will prolong his days. He will raise him from among the dead and he will place him at the pinnacle of the universe. And so he is both the son of God and the son of man.

He is both a divine person and also human being at the same time. God would provide salvation for mankind. Who can be the one that will provide forgiveness? Only God, in the person of the Son, who entered to this world, and as men, He was punished, and He died for your sins and for mine. He was bruised for our iniquities. This is fascinating. Paul is introducing himself to the believers at Rome, and he's telling the believers at Rome that he was a servant, that he is an apostle, that he was separated by God, and that he is presenting this great gospel message, glad tidings, the good news, the besorah, that was already spoken by the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures, and it is concerning God's Son, world through the seed of David the seed of the woman the seed of Abraham the seed of David zera David and he will be declared to be the son of God with power according to the holy Spirit to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead in fact what we have here is the whole gospel you remember John 3 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only.

Begotten son. God gave his son. And how did he give him? He sent him down to this world. A holy God judged this man, Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, on the tree. He was buried and he rose again for our justification. And then it says in the second half of John 3.16 that whosoever believeth on him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Course do you believe do you believe on him and if you do sincerely you have everlasting life so as Shaul Paul continued to present himself before the believers at Rome now he continues on beloved brothers and sisters in verses 5 6 and 7 Paul is presenting himself as an apostle to the Gentiles You see, he has a special ministry, that he was raised by the Lord Jesus Christ, by the Lord Jesus the Messiah, to be an apostle, a messenger to the nations of the world.

In contrast to Shimon, Simon Peter, who was called by the Lord to be the apostle to the Jews. Jewish people. And so what we really have, beloved brothers and sisters, these specifically two ministries, one to the Gentiles and one to the Jews. One is Paul to the Gentiles and the other one is Peter to the Jewish people. And so specific call for a ministry, presenting the same message, the same glad tidings, but one was called by God to minister to the nations. Paul. Another was called by God to minister specifically to the Jewish people, but both of them were called by the Lord Jesus to be an apostles, messengers.

And here you notice now in verse 5, Paul continued to say in his introducing himself to the believers at Rome, he's saying to them in verse 5, by whom, in other words, by whom we, in other words, by the same Lord, by the same God, by the same Holy Spirit, We have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name. Verse 6 and 7, among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ, to all that be at Rome, beloved of God, called to be saved, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Yeshua HaMashiach.

Is interesting these three verses are very interesting why because you notice that he's emphasizing his apostleship specifically among all the nations and so he says by whom notice who is whom by whom meaning by the same God by the same Lord by the same Spirit by the way you notice that in in the verses that we have already covered, verses 1 to 4, you have the three persons of the Godhead mentioned. It says in verse 1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle separated unto the gospel of God. This is God the Father. Then he continues and he says in the same next verses, which he had promised for by the prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning concerning His Son, Jesus Christ.

This is God the Son. And then he continues, he says, concerning His Son, Jesus the Messiah, 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. In other words, according to the Holy Spirit. You have God the Holy Spirit all the three persons of the Godhead in a plan and a program of God had this in mind that the message of the gospel the good news will be proclaimed to the whole world because God loves humanity he loves the human race and he wants people to turn to him he's not wishing that and willing that any should perish He desired that all will come to the knowledge of the person of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, and be saved, be forgiven.

And so all the three persons of the Godhead were involved really in the call of the Apostle Paul for that ministry to the Gentile world. And so in verse 5 we do read, of the Godhead one God three persons not three gods but one God you remember the verse in Deuteronomy 6 and Deuteronomy 4 and verse 6 Shema Yisrael Adonai 6.4 Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad hear O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one there is no three gods there is only one God but within that Godhead. Persons, distinct one from another, yet one. Deuteronomy 6 and verse 4, hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

So God, the Father, the Son, the Spirit, is the one by whom, notice that, we, verse 5, have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name you see that we is very interesting because you will notice that in verse 5 he used the word we and in verse 6 he used the word ye you notice that in verse 5 by whom we have received and in verse 6 among whom are ye also are called of Jesus Christ Now the "we" of course is in reference to number one the Jewish people as a nation from among the Jewish people but also specifically to the apostles who were called by the Lord Jesus from among the nation of Israel but also the apostles which include also Shaul Paul.

Who did not see and was not one of the twelve initially when the Lord Jesus the Messiah was here on earth. He met the glorified Messiah on the way to Damascus. So he is including himself in the we, in the apostles, among the apostles, and among the nations of Israel. When we study the book of Ephesians, Paul is using the word we and ye we and ye we applying to Jewish believers and ye applying to gentle believers who are united together in the body of Christ in the body of Mashiach and so here he is including himself to be as one of the apostles from among the nation of Israel and he is saying in verse 5 by whom we have received grace face.

Number one. Secondly, we have received apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name. Now you notice, brothers and sisters, if you just for a moment turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew for a moment, and you notice in the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 10 and verse 1, Yeshua. His disciples in chapter 10 from disciples to apostles and we read in verse 1 of Matthew chapter 10 and when he had called unto him his 12 notice that 12 disciples 12 talmidim he gave them power against unclean spirit to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of of disease but then notice in verse 2 these disciples talmidim became apostles it says here now the names of the 12 apostles apostolos so they were disciples who followed the Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah but they became apostles they became sent ones and so he's calling here's the names now the names this verse 2 of Matthew chapter 10 now the names of the 12 apostles are these the first was Simon who is called Peter and Andrew and his brother James this is Yaakov and the son of Zebedee and John Yohanan his brother and Philip and Barthalmai and Thomas and Matthew the publican and Yaakov this is James.

The son of Alphaeus and Libyus, and then whose surname is Thaddeus, and then verse 4, Simon the Canaanite and Judas Ishcriot, who also betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent forth, and he commanded them, saying, Go not, and he told them in the beginning only to go to the Jewish people, but by the end of the Gospel of Matthew, he says, preach the gospel, make disciples. And out of the 12 here, one of them by the name of Judas, Yehuda Ishkaiot, he was the one that betrayed the Lord, sold him for 30 pieces of silver, killed himself, and was no longer part of these 12 apostles. He was only chosen for here to show us what to fulfill what we read in the book of Psalms.

How that one will rise to betray the Lord, go against him. And then Matathias was replacing Judas, and we have here 12 again, Matathias in Acts chapter 1. And then the apostle Paul, Shaul Paul, he became the one who was 13. 13, 12 plus, unique one, the apostle Shaul Paul, that was the apostle to the Gentiles. And here we can see, beloved brothers and sisters, that he is one that was called, notice that, that I'm going back to Romans 1 and verse 5, by whom we, this is the disciples, the other apostles, the 12 plus me, we have received two things. Number one, grace, and number two, apostleship. In other words, they receive specific grace.

Apostles, unique ministry to reach out the world with the message of the gospel of our Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah. And so he's noticed that he's mentioning this grace. And you know, beloved brothers and sisters, what is grace? In Hebrew, we call it chesed, unmerited favor. All of us receive this unmerited favor of God. You remember what Paul said in Ephesians 2, by grace are ye saved through faith. The same grace that saved the one who believed in Yeshua is the same grace that we need to, and Paul specifically said, we receive this grace to continue on in a ministry that the Lord had given to me.

The message of the glad tidings. And you notice that he called it here in verse 5, we have received. The other apostles receive it. He himself received that grace and apostleship. They were specifically called to be apostles, apostolos, sharing the message of the gospel with the world. And while we are all called to be sent the world to share the message of the grace of God there were only these unique 12 plus 1 that are unique with an apostolic authority that none of us have today but Paul as the other apostles had an apostolic authority as he was sharing the message of the gospel with the nations of the world and so notice that that beloved brothers and sisters in verse 5 he also this expression for obedience to the faith.

Obedience to the faith among all nations for his name. You see, to hear the message of the gospel is one thing, but to be obedient to the faith, it simply means to obey what God has declared concerning the need to believe. In the person of his son, the Messiah, Yeshua, Jesus, in order to receive forgiveness of sins. And then to live their lives as believers in the light of the faith, which was once and for all delivered unto the saints. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, obedience. You see, becoming a child of God, And believing in the person of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, is obedience to the faith.

It's not a different God than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The very God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who declared through the Hebrew prophets concerning the person of his son that will come to this world, and he declared it, and it is written in the Holy Scriptures. Responsible to be obedient to the faith turn with me to chapter 16 to the last chapter of the book of Romans Romans chapter 16 and you notice that Romans chapter 16 and verse 26 there we listen to this verse 26 just towards the end but now is made manifest and by listened by the Scriptures of the prophets this is the Tanakh the Hebrew Scriptures according to the commandments of the everlasting God made known to all nations for the obedience of faith everyone in this world is responsible to obey God's word and accept the person and the work of our Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah if he or she are to be redeemed and forgiven That is so important to understand.

In fact, there's another verse in chapter 15 of Romans, in verse 18 and 19 we do read, For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not wrought by me to make the Gentiles, listen, to make the Gentiles obedient. By the word, by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about unto Elikrium, I have fully preached the gospel of Mashiach, the gospel of Christ. But it is the need that the Gentiles will hear the message and be obedient to, the faith that the apostle Shaul Paul presents. Faith in the person and in the work of the Lord Jesus the Messiah.

In fact, brothers and sisters, there is another verse that I think we should read. It's found in Acts chapter 6. Listen to this. In Acts chapter 6, already in Acts chapter 6, we read in the early days in the city of Jerusalem, in the land of Israel, that there were many from among the Pharisees that believed they were obedient to the faith. They have already then and there accepted the Messiah, according to Acts chapter 6. Listen to this, what we read in verse 7. The word of God increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. And listen to this. Of the priests were obedient to the faith.

Obedient to the faith. Already in the city of Yerushalayim, many of the priests in Israel were obedient to the faith. Just like Paul is calling the Gentiles to be obedient to the faith. That's why we read in Romans chapter 1 and verse 5, Why? For obedience to the faith among the Gentiles, among the nation, for his name. You see, Paul was so burdened to share the message of the gospel with the nations of the world that he wanted many to become obedient to the faith. Which was once and for all was delivered unto the saints, the early saints, in Jerusalem, in Israel, and is preached among the nation of the world.

And this is faith in the person and in the work of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. If thou shalt believe, if thou shalt confess in thy mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God had raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Romans 10 verses 9 and 10. One must believe. And believing is being obedient to the faith. Now, of course, we are all called to live a life of obedience as believers. But in the context here, this is a faith unto salvation. Believing in the person and the work of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, the one who is called the Son of God, and was buried and he was resurrected by the Holy Spirit of God from the dead.

And Paul is presenting himself to the believers at Rome saying in verse 5, the ministry that I was called is to be an apostle to all the nations. And now notice that in verses 6 and 7 as we are drawing nigh towards the end of this message for today. 6 the Roman believers were also called by God because it says in verse 6 among whom are ye notice in verse 5 in whom we but in verse 6 among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ you see they were called in a sense of elected had chosen now this is not easy to understand because the message of the gospel and the call is to all humanity to all men but we learn another lesson that there is that specific call that God have called everyone who become or became a believer that we know we have been called from above we have been chosen in Christ in the Messiah before the foundation.

Of the world you remember what we read in Ephesians chapter 1 Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians and to them you remember what he said beloved brothers and sisters he said to them in Ephesians chapter 1 for by grace are ye saved I just want to read this to you because it's very important Ephesians 1 and I'll read actually verse 3 and 4 blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ Yeshua Hamashiach who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenlies, in the heavenlies or in heavenly places, in Christ, in the Mashiach. According, listen to this, Ephesians 1 verse 4, according as he has chosen us, in him, in Christ, in the Mashiach, when?

Paul continues, before the foundation of the world. Why? That we should be holy or set apart without blemish before him in love. God in his wisdom, God as a sovereign God, we cannot fathom that. We maybe don't grasp it. In fact, we are not called to grasp it, we are called to accept it. And his people before the foundation of the world. And because we are not God, we are human, we are his subjects, we don't know whom God has chosen. And the responsibility that Paul had, that you and I have, is to preach the gospel to all nations. And God will do his work.

He will open the hearts in due time and bring those that he has chosen to himself, and because he is sovereign, he has called a people for himself. And so in verse 6, the Roman believers are called, even though they were chosen in days of old, but in time they came to believe in the person of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. In fact, turn with me to chapter 8 for a moment. 8 and there we read listen to these verses in Romans chapter 8 and there we read in verse verse 29 and 30 for whom he did foreknow he also did predestinated or predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Then he tells us in the next verses, beloved brothers and sisters, in verse 30, moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called. Notice that. And whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified. People for himself and the Romans believers are told by the apostle Paul that they are called of Jesus Christ of Yeshua the Messiah it is amazing i remember many years ago to listening to a brother who was standing in a meeting hall and weeping and he said when i will stand one day before God i will wonder why did he choose me called me to be here it is simply entirely the grace of God none of us can ever claim anything that we have done we all are recipients of the grace of God beloved brothers and sisters and God have called us to be a people for himself he have chosen us in the Messiah before the foundation of the world and in time he used a way and manner whereby he had.

Share with us the gospel and by the Spirit of God he caused us to come to believe in the person and the work of our Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah and it has happened even in the life of the apostle Shaul Paul I want you just to read with me if in Galatians chapter 1 please turn with me to Galatians chapter 1 and I want you to notice what it says in verse 15 you see Shaul Paul when he was opposing the gospel, when he was persecuting his Jewish believers who were part of the foundation of the assembly, when he was bringing them to Jerusalem to be ultimately punished because they believed that Jesus was the Messiah.

He did not know that he was already chosen by the Lord even from his mother's womb. And so in Galatians chapter 1 and verse 15, Paul said to the Galatians, he said, Shaul, Paul, was already separated by the Lord. Notice that verse 15. Persecuting the early church saints, the Jewish church saints. He did not know that he was separated by God from his mother's womb. He was parush, Pharisee of the Pharisees. He opposed Yeshua, the Messiah. He opposed the early believers. He is the one that opposed Stephen. You remember Stephen? He was conceding to the death of Stephen, the first Hebrew martyr in Acts chapter 7? But you see, the Galatians needed to learn about the call of Paul, Romans needed to know who was Paul, but not only Paul himself, Shaul Paul, but the Romans who became believers according to verse 6, among whom ye are also called of Jesus Christ.

How wonderful it is, brothers and sisters, when we will stand one day in the presence of God, we will tell him, God, I'm so thankful that you have brought me to yourself, and my only claim is the finished work of my Messiah, my Savior, the Lord Jesus, who died and was buried and rose for my justification, every one of us will say. And for eternity and so as Paul is finalizing the introduction of himself in verse 7 he's telling to the Roman believers that they are saints in Hebrew they are separated people they're Hagios they were people who were separated by the Lord for himself and so in verse 7 he says to all that be at Rome he's writing into the assembly of the believers.

He's calling them beloved of God. And then notice he says, call to be saints, grace to you and peace, shalom, from God our fathers and from our Lord Jesus Christ, from our Lord Yeshua HaMashiach. You notice, beloved brothers and sisters, he says to all that be at Rome, this is the believers in the local church, the local congregation, the Kehillah. Assembly at Rome and he's calling them you notice what he's calling them he says that they are number one they are beloved of God you know they are loved by God you and I are loved by God God so loved the whole world we read in Scripture in Ephesians 5 for the Messiah loved the assembly and gave himself for the church for the ecclesia for the called out one We read in Jeremiah, God is speaking to Israel, I have loved you Israel with an everlasting love.

And Paul in Galatians 2 verse 20, he says, the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. You and I are loved by God. He's specifically in the context speaking to the believers at Rome and he called them beloved of God. But then he said to them in verse 7b. Called saints you know the word to be is in italic we are not only called to be saints we are called saints we are positionally saints what is a saint the Hebrew word just like the Greek in Hebrew mekudashim in the Greek is hagios mean set apart? God has set apart a people for himself.

Now although he left us here on earth and here on earth because of our sin nature we still oftentimes don't behave as saints should behave. We are called to behave saintly, set apart. We are called to live a life that is set apart for God but the context here called saints called set apart called mekudashim called hagios in other words you are called a people that are set apart for God and we belong to God the Roman believers we belong to God notice then they are beloved they are called saints and then he is establishing the. He says, grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Yeshua HaMashiach, our Lord Jesus Christ.

In other words, he is saying the grace and the peace. We need this grace and peace for our salvation. We need the grace of God and we need the peace of God, which we have because we have accepted the Lord. Romans will need it for our day by day living as we live our life. We need grace from God. We need the shalom, the peace of God as well in our lives as believers. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, as we conclude with these seven verses of Romans chapter 1, Shaul, Paul, introducing himself, presenting himself before the believers at the assembly at Rome. And he is calling himself a servant.

He is calling himself an apostle. He is presenting himself as the preacher of the gospel to the Gentiles. He is establishing the fact that this gospel was already spoken of by the Hebrew prophets, written in the holy Scriptures, in the Tanakh, in what is called the Old Testament. And it is the gospel is concerning the good news that Paul is speaking and sharing with the Gentile. It is concerning the person of God the Son who became a man and was born as a descendant of David, Ben David. And then Paul specifically in verses 5, 6, and 7 presented the fact that he in his ministry is called to serve the Gentile world the nations of the world and how he faithfully have done so in his ministry as he had his three missionary journeys sharing the message of the gospel with the nations of the world and many were used Paul was used to lead many to the person of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah and we have these letters that he wrote and the 13 epistles that he wrote.

That gives us instruction concerning the person of the Lord, Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah. And so we will finish with the introduction that Paul introduced himself. In the will of the Lord, we will continue in our next message together from verses 8 to verse 17. And there, Shaul Paul will express the theme, the theme of the book of Romans. And we will learn about that in the will of the Lord meeting together. Well, my dear friend, God bless you. Let's pray together. Let's ask the Lord to bless what we have heard and pray that the Lord will encourage you as you walk with him day by day. And so, Abba, our Father, we ask your blessing upon your word.

Thank you for the book of Romans. Thank you for Shaul Paul, whom thou had raised to be the apostle to the nations of the world. Bless your word today. We pray in Yeshua's name. Amen. Amen. God bless you, my friend. Shalom, shalom. Bye-bye.