Romans Chapter 1:5-7

We can experience God's forgiveness.

How can we experience that? Because Jesus Christ paid for it. We can experience joy freely because Jesus paid for it. See, God is blessing us in grace through what Jesus suffered and went through. He paid for us to be able to receive these things. So grace is the unearned favor of God.

Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. It's been said that grace is God's riches at Christ's expense. Find out how the gift that Jesus has given us can change your life as David McGee continues in the book of Romans chapter 1. But before we get into today's teaching, every marriage needs course corrections from time to time.

So how do we make sure our marriages stay on track when the struggles and pressures of life hit? Find out how in Pastor David's new three DVD series, Endless Love. It's our gift to thank you for your donation to help Cross the Bridge broadcast on this and other stations, helping more people cross the bridge from death to life. Visit crossthebridge.com now to request your copy of Endless Love.

Again, that website is crossthebridge.com. Now here's David McGee with his teaching, We Are the Call. Turn with me to Romans chapter 1. We're looking at the life of Paul. Paul at this point, he's not been to Rome. He's writing this probably from Corinth. And in a timeline sense, you have to peel back a few chapters in the book of Acts because Acts closes with Paul being in Rome.

Okay. But at this writing, see that the New Testament wasn't written in chronological order in the exact timeline. There's books that are written earlier that come later in the New Testament. And in Romans, he's not yet been there, but it comes after the book of Acts.

So we're kind of peeling the clock back a little bit. And chapter 1 verse 5 says, Through him, notice the capital H, speaking of Jesus, through him, we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name. There's a couple of words here that he uses that we need to understand. The first one there is grace, grace.

We use this word, but do we really stop to think about what it means? And as we go through this chapter by chapter study of the book of Romans, let me assure you, it's going to be life-changing. It's changed the lives of people like Martin Luther, John Wesley.

They were changed to this book of Romans. Same word of God, same spirit of God can change your life. And you can have a richer, fuller, deeper walk with the Lord if you come to a deeper, richer understanding of this word, grace. So what is this thing called grace?

We know it's a woman's name. We know when we pray over food, we call it grace. Well, grace, I'll give you something to remember it by. Grace is God's riches at Christ's expense. God's riches at Christ's expense. We can experience God's forgiveness, the richness of his forgiveness this morning. Why can we experience that? Because Jesus Christ paid for it. We can experience joy freely.

How can we experience that? Because Jesus paid for it. See, God is blessing us in grace through what Jesus suffered and went through.

He paid for us to be able to receive these things. So grace is the unearned favor of God, the unearned or unmerited favor of God. You don't earn grace. There's nothing that you can do to earn grace. Grace is given to you. Ephesians 2 8 and 9 talks about that. Now it's something that not everybody thinks they want, amazingly enough.

There's a lot of people in the world saying, you know what? I'm good. I don't need God's grace. But in reality, friend, everybody needs God's grace. And it's not just you need grace the first day you come to the Lord.

No, what you'll find out is you need grace every single day of your life to walk with the Lord, to follow the Lord. See, the law of Moses, well, justification, we'll talk about that word in a couple of weeks, or forgiveness, doesn't rest on the law of Moses, but on the mercy of God. See, because of our sinful nature, we fall short of God's standard of perfection. So what happens is God is willing to give us His grace, and it's His goodness that He makes us offer to forgive us. His goodness, not yours. See, some people think, well, God sees this spark of innate human goodness, and He desires to fan the flame of that until I'm a really good person.

No, that's not it. See, friend, when I came to the Lord, and when people here came to the Lord, they had nothing to offer God, nothing, except their sin. And somehow He wanted that. Well, what about you give the Lord your life? Where'd your life come from?

At best, friend, all you can do is give back your life. So we come to God only through His grace. The New Living Translation in this verse says this, through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them so that they will believe and obey Him, bringing glory to His name.

You've got to get this grace. You have to understand this concept in order to move forward in your life with the Lord. Because if you don't understand this, you are going to spend a lifetime trying to earn God's favor when, through grace, God has already given you His favor, given you forgiveness. So the life lesson here, Christianity is built around what God has already done for us, not what we can do for Him. Christianity is built around what God has already done for us, not what we can do for Him. Years ago, I was talking to a Christian musician, and he said, well, I was in a time of prayer, and God said that He needed me to give him my musical talent so he could do things with my life.

I said, time out, friend. God doesn't need your talents. He doesn't need your giftings. He desires your talents and giftings.

But God is God. There's nothing that He needs from us. Contrary to popular teaching, God doesn't need your money. He desires your heart and your life. He desires your obedience. And yes, part of that obedience, according to Scripture, is tithing. But God just, He wants you.

That's what He wants. Now, grace here, it says, grace and apostleship for obedience. What's apostleship?

We talked about it last week. It's somebody that's on a mission, biblically speaking, on a mission for God, on a mission to proclaim His good news. And it says for obedience to the faith. Do you understand that we are supposed to be willing to reach out to people, that we're supposed to be willing to join together to reach other people with the good news?

If you feel yourself resisting that, it reveals something about yourself. Because you're following Jesus, who was willing to be, not only inconvenienced, but was willing to be executed on behalf of those who don't know. And He told us we're supposed to be involved with this. Matthew 28, called the Great Commission. Verse 18, Jesus came and told His disciples, I've been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I've given you and be sure of this. I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

I love the way He closes there. He says, go and do this. And I'm going to be with you. I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to turn my back on you or forget you or anything.

I'm going to be with you while you're doing this. The life lesson here is we should all be a part of reaching and teaching the world. We should all be part of reaching and teaching the world.

It's not a certain segment. It's not missionaries who alone are supposed to do this. It's not pastors who are supposed to do this. This is what we're always supposed to be doing.

Now part of the challenge, I guess, is what? Finding a church where they think this is important. Finding a place, finding a church where there's an environment where they welcome people to come in that don't know Jesus.

Because friends, when you do that, understand things can get messy. But churches aren't supposed to be these sterile environments. They're not supposed to be a museum for saints. It's supposed to be a hospital for sinners. Jesus said, be fishers of men.

He didn't say be keepers of the aquarium. This is what we're all supposed to be doing. All of us. Now, as we look at this verse and understand too, and I know I'm spending some time on these, but I've got to build the foundation for this book and these words and things will keep coming up. And we need to understand Paul's heart and what our heart is supposed to be. This environment here in this church is a team. It's a team.

You need to understand that on Sunday mornings sometimes when people come forward and they ask Jesus to forgive them of their sins, they've been born again. That's not my win. That's our win. If you serve here, if you give here, if you pray for us, that's our win. The people that are out in the parking lot, helping people park cars and welcome them, that's our win. The people that are greeting out here, that's our win. People serving in the cafe, these guys back at the media team, we try to keep up with my whole frenzied approach to teaching. They are there and when somebody comes to the Lord, it's our win. I want you to think about that. When you get to heaven, somebody's going to come up to you that you've never seen before and don't know and say to you, hey, I just want to thank you. I came to the Lord in China and there was a missionary there that y'all helped support. That's how I came to be here and I want to say thanks. What an awesome moment that's going to be. And again, these are our wins.

A team approach to reaching and teaching. You're listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge. He'll be back with more in just a moment. God desires to reveal Himself to the world and the Bible teaches that marriage is supposed to be a picture of God's love to others. Pastor David and his wife Nora want to show you how to make your marriage one that proclaims God's love in their new three DVD series, Endless Love. It's our gift to thank you for your donation to help Cross the Bridge air on this and other stations, helping more people cross the bridge from death to life. Go to crossthebridge.com now to request your copy of Endless Love. This is Pastor David McGee with Cross the Bridge.

You know, I want to thank you for listening to Cross the Bridge. I also want to tell you about an exciting website. The website is lostlovedones.org and it works very simply like this. You go to the website and you put the first names of up to 10 people that we begin praying that they get saved. Now it takes two things to get saved, presentation and prayer. And what we're offering is prayer and also there's different tools there to help you present the gospel to them. So we're there with you, helping you with the presentation, helping you with the prayer.

There's over 920 people that belong to the prayer team on Lost Loved Ones and you can join the prayer team as well and help us to pray for others who don't yet know Jesus and together we can see a huge revival starting with your lost loved ones. Now back to today's teaching. In verse six Paul continues, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ.

Let's go ahead and read seven. To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, great to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The called, in verse six, among you also are the called. Now there's a word that needs some defining.

Why? Because we feel like the called are just a small segment of the population who have been actually called. What happens is God sees that spark of innate human goodness again. If you're walking with the Lord long enough and you're righteous enough for long enough, then God will call you into ministry. If you go to school long enough, God will call you. Is that what the Bible says? Let me tell you, I'm firmly convinced God doesn't have me here because of my righteousness. You know, some people once or twice a week come to church, that's good. God wants me here like five, six days a week so maybe He can keep an eye on me.

I don't know. But it wasn't my righteousness. More than anything, friend, it was my availability.

It was my availability. See, because understand, we are all called. We are all called.

That word, and we talked about this last week, called means invited. The Lord has invited you on this adventure. Now we're called to do different things. I'm called to be the senior pastor here. God called me. Didn't a group call me or a committee call me or pastoral search?

No, no. God called me to be here. And I will be here until God takes me home or God moves me somewhere else. The average tenure for a senior pastor is about three years now.

You need to understand, that's not my plan. I'm not waiting for some bigger church to call with a better package and a higher salary and more benefits. God called me to be here. God called me to be here. So I'm going to be here. Now, God called you too. I understand what happens.

The same thing. When God called me, I was like, you got the wrong number. You meant to get my neighbor's house.

He's a really good, solid guy. No. I said, no, I'm calling you. And of course, I went through the reasons why that calling shouldn't happen to me.

Perhaps you're going through those reasons now. And friend, we're not unlike other people in the Bible. When God called Moses, Moses started telling God why he couldn't do it.

And you think God, God looked him in the hole. That's a really good issue. She didn't think of that one. Okay. Don't be the deliverer.

That's not what happened. God said, you know what? I'm going to be your strength and your weakness. So we sit here and we run through, well, this and that. Here's what the Bible says, friend. First Corinthians first, uh, first chapter 26 verse. Remember dear brothers and sisters, a few of you were wives in the world's eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God deliberately chose the things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose the things despised by the world.

Things counted as nothing at all and use them to bring the nothing what the world considers important so that no one can ever boast in the presence of God. Some of you read those verses. Now I understand why you're a pastor. Praise God.

That's what God does. So friend don't sit there and go, well, I'm this I'm weak. Oh, you're in that verse. Well, people don't like me. Oh, you're in there. Well, people think I'm foolish. Gotcha right there, man. I'm talking about you. Isn't that glorious?

Now at the same time, it kind of takes away our excuses, but here's the glorious thing. See, at some point in your Christian walk and following of Jesus, you're going to be discontent with just sitting in the bleachers. And friend, I got to be honest. If this is your church, I will make sure of that. I am committed. If it takes me stirring you up, stirring you up, I'm committed to doing that.

I love you that much because at some point you've got to leave the bleachers and get into the game. Christianity is not a spectator sport was never intended to be when Jesus sees people coming in. He's not saying well done now. Good and faithful spectator. No, he says, well done.

Good and faithful servant, but here's the great thing. The moment you walk on the field to join the game, you've won. You've won. It's not a matter of what happens during the course of this life you have by walking onto the field.

You are a winner by not friend you lose because God's called you to more than just being a spectator. And that's what he was talking about. Jesus said these things that are just so strange.

He said, you know what? If you want to know what life is all about, give your life away. But if you try to hold onto it, you're going to lose it. It's going to go through your hands like shifting sands.

Most of you folks decided to walk on the field and be winners and I am eternally grateful. Some of you are still wondering. Some of you are afraid. Let this verse minister to you. It doesn't matter if you're weak or frail or not powerful. Maybe you're foolish or despised or counted as nothing at all. God can use you.

See, there's like a timeline if you will. Out here is, hey, I'm giving my life away. I'm serving. I'm giving.

I'm doing. Maybe you're in the middle kind of still on the fence. Well, I'm not sure about this. I'm not sure about that. I'm still looking for the perfect church and the perfect pastor.

When I find that, then I'll give, then I'll serve. You're on the fence. You need to get off the fence. Some of you, maybe you just came to the Lord.

Lord, I want you to forgive me. That's awesome. That's a great place to start. Head this way. That's what's a beautiful thing about people getting saved here.

They're not birthed freshly into a church that says, okay, now you need to go sit on the bleachers for five years. Okay, now that's awesome. Great step. Here's where we're going.

Where are you on this timeline? The Lord's asking you that this morning. Not me. The Lord is asking you, where are you?

Are you over here? If you're not here, you're frustrated. You're lacking peace. You don't have the joy.

Why? Because you're not giving your life away. Maybe you got saved and you're like, well, I don't understand. I don't understand what the joy and the peace are. The joy and the peace come as you give your life away. Granted, the day you get saved, man, that joy and peace, you get a taste of something awesome. You get a little taste of heaven. But Jesus says, go this way.

Where are you on here? The Lord did something interesting in the Garden of Eden, Genesis 3, verse 9. Then the Lord called to Adam and said to him, where are you?

Let me ask you a question, friend. Do you think God wasn't sure where Adam was? That somehow he couldn't find him? No, God knew right where he was.

But he wanted to ask Adam a question. Where are you? What are you doing?

And I think that's a great question for us to ask. Where am I on this? Am I over here?

Or am I in the middle making excuses? Or am I giving my life away and experiencing the fullness of what God has for me in this life? We want to reach the world, and you can be a part of it here. Now, it goes into verse 7 and uses some phrases that are interesting. To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, graced to you in peace from God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I want you to notice something. When it says, beloved of God, called to be saints, if you're in the King James, I'm reading from the New King James, now think in the NLT as well, to be is an italics. Now, when you see something in the Bible that's in italics, what that means is it's not in the original languages. And the Greek's different than English, and the Hebrew in the Old Testament, Hebrew scripture is different from English. So sometimes they have to put these words in there to serve as connectors. They let you know that by through italics.

Why am I saying that? Well, because the phrase actually in the Greek there is called saints. Called saints. Not called to be saints, called saints. You understand the difference? Called to be saints says, oh, you're called to be something. Called saints says you are something. There's an important difference here. Why is that?

Because you need to understand, oh, this is good. You're a saint. Now, I know some of you may have come from movements or denominations that said, well, you got to do this, and you got to do that. You got to do a couple of miracles, and then we'll call you a saint.

And then there's just a few. There's St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, St. John, and just a few. And we build idols and worship you and pray to yourself. But that's not the biblical sense of sainthood. According to the Bible, the moment you come to Jesus and say, Jesus, forgive me of my sins, boom, you're a saint. How cool is that? St. David. Kind of like that. Maybe you're sitting there, that's just wrong.

Okay, put your name in there. Because according to the Bible, when you come to him, you're a saint. You're holy and spotless. And the Lord, he looks at you and doesn't see sin. He sees you covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. And then this other kleitos, the called, we've talked about that, invited, called saint, invited saint.

And then this beloved, beloved, agapeos, from agape. Let me explain that word love because we use the word love in some weird ways in the sense of I love pizza, you know, or I love food. And I understand, and I've said those things, but do you really love pizza?

I mean, do you really, are you willing to lay down your life? Well, that's probably not a good, some of you are willing to lay down your life to eat pizza. But is there, do you have, do you have like an emotional experience with pizza? No. I mean, do you have a relationship with pizza?

Hopefully not. Contrary to the Pizza Hut and Domino ads, you don't have a relationship with pizza. Now you might love eating pizza, but it's not like a love relationship with other people, but let's understand this too. This is even above that love relationship with people because we use the word love and sometimes we'll look at somebody and go, well, I don't love you anymore. Quit loving you. Then was it really love to begin with? And we use things like, I don't feel love for you. Love is not a feeling. It's a commitment.

It's an act of the will. And, but in this word agape, God is saying, you know what? I love you unconditionally. I love you when you're in church. I love you when you're out of church. I love you when all times, as a matter of fact, in Jeremiah chapter 31 verse three, it says, the Lord has appeared of old to me saying, yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love.

Therefore with loving kindness, I've drawn you the life lesson here. You are loved. You are loved. You're loved by the people here.

I love you guys. More importantly than that, God loves you. And he doesn't love you with this flippant love. And he's going to look at you tomorrow and go, well, I used to love you.

I don't feel it anymore. John three 16 says for God. So love the world. Now I just love the world. So love somebody can say to you, you know what?

I love you. And that's meaningful. But when somebody says, I so love you, that goes beyond that. How do we know Jesus loves us? John 15, 13. Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends. Jesus showed that.

He proved that. This word called is invited. Again, is that everybody?

It's everybody. You come to the Lord. You're the called. You're the invited. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Now God wants you to pray this prayer so much that he died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you.

You can call us toll free at 877-458-5508 to receive our first steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. Before we say goodbye, in both the Old and New Testaments, marriage is a practical picture of God's relationship with his people. People are intrigued and drawn to godly marriages.

And when they're drawn to our marriages, they're drawn to God. We want to help you keep your marriage in balance and proclaim Christ through it by sending you Pastor David's three DVD marriage series, Endless Love. This series is our gift to thank you for your donation to help Cross the Bridge air on this and other stations. So visit crossthebridge.com today to request your copy. Again, that website is crossthebridge.com. Also, if you're not able to make it to your home church this Sunday, why not join us for our live stream at 9 a.m. and 1130 a.m. Eastern. Just visit crossthebridge.com and click on our live stream link. There, you can watch Pastor David teach from his home church, The Bridge, in Kernersville, North Carolina. Again, that website is crossthebridge.com. And be sure to join us next time on Cross the Bridge with David McGee. We'll see you then.