The Book That Changed the World | Part 1

How has the book of Romans influenced our faith?

Adrian Rogers. There's been no book that's ever influenced or impacted the world like the biblical book of Romans. Some of the fathers of our faith and greatest minds have called it the Constitution of Christianity. Before we dive into the text itself, we need to familiarize ourselves with the context in which it was written. So if you have your Bible, turn to Romans chapter one as we hear Adrian Rogers reveal the basics of the book that changed the world.

Would you take your Bibles and find, please, the book of Romans? We're beginning a brand new series of messages entitled Foundations for Our Faith, a solid word for an unsure age. Now, if in your life the bottom is falling out, you better examine the foundation.

You need a foundation. We need a sure word, a solid word for an unsure faith. And today we're going to talk about the book that changed the world. Books have power, but no book has the power that the book that you have open in your hand right now has. Power for good for God and power that has changed the world radically, dramatically, and eternally and a book that will go on through the ages. It is the book of Romans. It has been called the Constitution of Christianity.

Let me tell you the power of this book. There was a Roman Catholic monk. His name was Martin Luther.

Martin Luther had tried to get right with God by ritual, by penance, by good deeds, by all of the accouterments of the church, but his heart was empty. He took a pilgrimage to Rome. In Rome, there were some stairs purported to have been the stairs that Jesus ascended in Pilate's judgment hall. They felt that the blood of Jesus had surely dropped on those stairs. Martin Luther went to Rome, got on his knees on the Santa Scala, the holy stairs, and on his knees he began to pray on every step, kissing each step as he went up, asking God to bless him, trying to get closer to God.

He himself said, I was no closer to God when I got to the top than I was at the bottom. His heart was hungry, but Martin Luther had been studying the book of Romans, and Romans 1.17 burst alive in his heart and mind, the just shall live by faith. And he saw justification by faith, which is the theme of the book of Romans, and he was saved, converted, born again. The Protestant Reformation began. There was a great awakening. It swept Europe.

It swept the world. We've entered into it today, the power of the book of Romans. You go down to my home state, Florida, you come to a town called St. Augustine. I understand the oldest city in America. Well, that town, St. Augustine, gets its name from a man, Augustine. Augustine was a young college professor who lived a wicked, wild, lascivious life, consorted with prostitutes, and he had a burden of sin, tried to alleviate himself of that burden of sin, and one time he was out in a garden seeking God, and he heard a little girl singing a song over a garden wall, a little song, take up the book and read, take up and read.

He thought, what is this about? He opened the book of Romans and began to read, and there he found a verse that stabbed him in his heart, and the Lord Jesus Christ became the man that people today call St. Augustine. Augustine, one of the great theologians of the early church. Back in the 18th century, there was a man named John Wesley.

John Wesley, very religious, very well motivated, so motivated that he left England and went to America to be a missionary, to convert the American Indians. He went to the state that we call Georgia. He stayed there. He had a fruitless ministry there. He got on a ship to come back home discouraged, dispirited, feeling a failure, and he met some Moravian missionaries, and these Moravian missionaries had the light, the beauty, the joy of Jesus. He knew they had something he didn't have. He went back to London. There he was at a place called Aldersgate. He went into a little meeting, and there they were studying the book that you have open in your lap, the book of Romans. Jesus said, I went to America to convert the Indians, but who will convert me? He said there as he heard this introduction to the book of Romans, this preface to the book of Romans, he said, I felt my heart strangely warm, and I had the assurance of my salvation.

Out of that experience, the great Wesleyan revival began that swept across England, and out of that experience, the Methodist church was born. John Wesley, whose hymns we read and preach and sing and enjoy, John Wesley had an experience with the book of Romans. Coleridge said the book of Romans is the greatest piece of literature ever written. If I were shipwrecked on an island and could only choose one book of the Bible to take with me, I wouldn't have to stutter, stammer, think about it.

Oh, yes, I would. But anyway, after I thought about it a lot, I'd take the book of Romans to be very honest. Boy, thank God we don't have to take just one. Hallelujah.

Thank God we've got all 66. Praise God for that. But what a wonderful book. What a wonderful book. A masterpiece is the book of Romans. Now, we're going to look at the book of Romans, and we're going to think about it as the book that changed the world, for indeed it did.

Who is the author of this book? Well, we know ultimately the Holy Spirit is the author, but who is the human author? Well, let's begin in chapter 1, verse 1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.

Now, folks, I want to tell you, we could just stay here for a week, just in this one verse. This is the man who authored the book of Romans. Now, let me tell you about him. This man named Paul was a Jew. He was a privileged Jew. He was born in a place called Tarsus. He was a very brilliant young man.

He was an honors graduate of the University of Tarsus. He was fluent in many languages. He was a world traveler. He was very strict in his religion, very much a student, and very much aware of world affairs. This man was also, besides being a Jew, he was a Roman citizen. That meant that he had the privileges that Rome had at this day, so he was a free man. He was not subjugated like other Jews.

He could come and go, and he could travel as he wished. Beside all of that, he had the privilege of doing graduate work under a professor named Gamaliel. Gamaliel was one of the best teachers, if not the best known teacher in all that part of the world. Paul was his prized student. On top of all of that, Paul was a part of the most strict religious sect in Judaism, the Pharisees.

And not only was he a Pharisee, but he said later on, he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He was the highest of the high. He was at the very top. This man was prized and petted. This man had a pedigree a mile long.

He was a blue blood. But now I want you to learn some things about him, what happened to him. He met the Lord Jesus, you remember, on the road to Damascus, was gloriously, wonderfully saved, and now what do we learn about him? Well, let's just start with the very first word in the first verse, Paul. Paul, do you know what the name Paul means?

It means little. You see, his name wasn't always Paul. At first his name was what? Saul. His name was Saul.

And when the Lord met him on the road to Damascus, he said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Now, who was the original Saul? King Saul of Israel. King Saul of Israel was a big guy. He was head and shoulders above everybody else.

He was tall and handsome and arrogant and carnal. King Saul. The very name Saul reeks with pride.

It means big one, successful one. That was his name. That's the name of the guy who wrote this book. But he doesn't call himself Saul. He changed his name from big guy to small.

Why? Because God cut him down to size. I mean, if there's anybody who'd had a reason to boast, if there's anybody who had a reason to strut, it would have been this man, Paul, but he did not do that. He introduces himself as Paul. And by the way, I like the way that he introduces himself.

He starts the letter Paul. Have you ever gotten a long letter and don't know who's written it? You read and read and read. What do you do? You go to the end and say, who is this?

Who's writing? Well, the ancient people didn't do that. They put their name up front. That's a good idea.

We ought to start doing that. That's sort of a caller ID. You know, look, this is Paul that's writing to you and he gives his credentials. You need to know who the letter's from. I heard about a preacher who was preaching. There was a man in the congregation who didn't particularly like him. Thought he'd play a little practical joke on him and so he wrote a note to the preacher, handed it to an usher and said, this is for the minister. The usher thought it was legitimate, brought it to the platform. The preacher unfolded it and it was just one word on it in big block letters, F-O-O-L, fool. Preacher looked at it, came to the platform, said a remarkable thing has happened today. He said, many times I've received a letter from somebody who forgot to sign their name.

This is the first time a man ever signed his name and forgot to write the letter. Well, Paul signs his name up front. He lets us know who he is. He is a man who has been cut down to size.

Let me give you a couple of verses that give an indication of why he changed his name. Ephesians chapter three and verse eight. He says, unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given. Unto me, less than the least, less than the least. I'm talking about this big shock. I'm talking about this towering genius.

I'm talking about this blue blood. He calls himself less than the least. And then he says in 1 Corinthians 15 verse nine, for I am the least of the apostles. You know, he saw himself in the sight of God as a nobody.

Doesn't mean he had an inferiority complex. He just knew that he was what he was by the grace of God. You may be sometime too big for God to use, but you'll never be too small for God to use you. So this man just begins his name, the little guy.

The little guy. So right away it tells me he's saved. He's saved for if any man be in Christ Jesus, he's a new creature.

This man even got a new name, but not only is he saved, continue to read. It says here a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle. Now look at the word servant. Do you see the word servant there? Well, the word servant is not as strong perhaps as it could be because it's the Greek word doulos, and that word means slave. Now slaves were called servants in that day, but we may miss it sometime in our English. The word means slave, and not only does it mean slave, it means a particular kind of slave. It's a word that means bond slave. Well, who were bond slaves? Well, if a man got himself in debt and he could not pay the debt, he became the property of the man that he owed money to in Bible times. He was what they called a bond slave, and he had to work for that individual because he had indebted himself to that individual. But the Bible in mercy set a law, and it was the law of Jubilee that after seven years, all the bond slaves had to be set free.

Now there would come a time when sometimes a bond slave at the moment of his freedom would say, hey, wait a minute. I don't want to be set free. I'm better off under this man than I was by myself. He feeds me, clothes me, cares for me, he loves me.

I'm like one of the family. I don't want to be free. I love my master. I want to stay under him. I want to be his bond slave.

Well, if he made that decision, he wanted to do that, they called the judges of Israel. They said, this man wants to stay as a bond slave. He wants to be a willing slave.

He loves his master. They would say, all right, let's put a mark on him. And they brought him to the doorpost, would take his earlobe and take an all AWL and put it through his earlobe. The Bible says, thou has opened mine ear.

That's what it's talking about right here. And there'd be a hole there. It would be the mark that he's a bond slave. The apostle Paul said, I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

He became a bond slave. That means he is a willing slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, you say, well, then you count me out, pastor. I don't want to be anybody's slave. You already are.

You already are. Either you're a slave of Christ or you're a slave of sin. Everybody is in bondage somewhere.

You see, here's the thing. The unsaved man says, I want to be free. I will be free.

I am my own man. He goes down into the worst degradation and bondage there is, the bondage of sin. Satan and sin and self are cruel taskmasters. But when a man says, I will become the bond slave of the Lord Jesus, I love my master, then the Bible says, if the son shall make you free, you'll be free indeed. He discovers the most glorious freedom in the Lord Jesus Christ. If I had 10,000 lives, I'd give every one of my lives to the Lord Jesus Christ because it is Christ through that perfect bondage that sets us free. You see, what is a bond slave? Now, listen very carefully.

Are you going to miss this? A bond slave is not somebody who says, all right, since I'm his slave, it's no longer my will. I'll do his will. No, no.

That's good, but that's not good enough. A bond slave doesn't say his will instead of my will. It says his will is my will. His will is my will.

It is not laying down arms. It is taking up arms for the one that you love. You see, have you ever thought of the scripture that says, delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart? That's over in Psalm 37.

Well, that sounds like too good a promise for God to make, doesn't it? You say, okay, Lord, I love you. I want a million bucks. No, because if you say, Lord, I love you, now give me a million dollars, what was the desire of your heart?

Money, money. You say, Lord, I love you. Give me the desire of my heart, fame and popularity. No, the desire of your heart is fame and popularity. But when you say, I delight myself in the Lord, you can have the desire of your heart because your desires are his desires and his desires are your desires. And therefore, you can be a Christian and do whatever you want.

Be a Christian and do whatever you want. Let me tell you something. I get drunk every time I want to.

And boy, I hope this doesn't have just a sound bite out of this message and that's all. I get drunk every time I want to. I don't want to.

Never been drunk, never intend to get drunk, and soon eat dirt. I don't want to. Don't want to. You see, people say, oh, if I believe in eternal security, man, I'd get saved and I'd send all I want to. Well, I send all I want to.

I send more than I want to. If you still want to, you need to get your wanter fixed. You need a brand new wanter. You need to be born again. Paul says, I am no longer big shot. My name is now Paul, not Saul. I am saved. I am surrendered. But let's continue to read.

Look at it again here. We're going to find something else about the author. He says, called to be an apostle. Literally means a called apostle.

He didn't say, well, I just believe I'm looking for a profession. I just believe I'll be an apostle. No, I believe in a called ministry. And he says, thanks to God who counted me worthy, put me in the ministry. I believe God put me in the ministry. I've sometimes thought about what I might do if I weren't in the ministry, but I can't think of anything. Somebody asked a preacher, said, do you take Mondays off? He said, no. He said, I don't want to feel that bad on my own time.

I really enjoy what I'm doing, but I would never choose it as a profession. I believe God put me in the ministry. But you see, this same chapter says we're all called. You know, not just the apostle Paul, but we're all called. Look in verse 6, among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ. God has called every one of us to our own particular sphere. We're the called. God has called us and he set us apart. So now listen, you say, why are you telling me all this about Paul? Because Paul said, you follow me as I follow Christ.

He's an example for you. So he was saved. Yes, he was. And he was surrendered. Yes, he was. And he was sent. Yes, he was. He was called of God.

He had a purpose, a mission for his life. And I'll tell you something else now. Watch it very carefully. He was separated. Don't miss this.

Don't miss this. He says here, separated unto the gospel of God. Now it's very important. The key word there is not separated. The key word in my estimation is unto the gospel of God. Now Paul had already been separated. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. You talk about people who lived a, quote, separated life. That is, all of the outward sins of the flesh he abhorred.

He walked the straight and narrow. You see, if that's all the separation you have, you know what's going to make you a proud, bitter, haughty Pharisee like the apostle Paul was when he was persecuting the church before he met the Lord Jesus and before he found the grace of God. Nature abhors a vacuum. And so if you get these things out of your life, but you don't get Jesus Christ into your life, if you're separated from but not separated unto, you're going to become nothing but an old Pharisee. That's what you're going to become. And you need to ask yourself, is there a little Pharisee in me? Ask yourself that question, because you see, we're to be separated unto the gospel of Jesus Christ. And of course, when you're separated unto, you're separated from. But how do you get separated from by being separated unto, but you don't get unto by being separated from? I can't say it again, but it's true.

Now listen, it is absolutely true. The word separated here, the word separated is the word we get our word horizon from. It's a Greek word that we get our English word horizon from.

And so, and it's a compound word. It literally means separated off from unto, off horizon. Well, what does that mean?

Well, let's see if I can explain it. You know what the horizon is? If you go up to a tall building somewhere and look around 360 degrees, you'll see as far as you can see, that's what? The horizon. That's where the earth just tails off.

And that's your world. Now, do you know how to change your horizon? Change your location.

Here you just change your location. Every time you change your location, you change your horizon. So what determines your horizon is your center. What determines your horizon is your center. So, when Jesus Christ is your center, then that horizon is your world, you see. His life is the boundary of your life.

You're separated unto him. An old boy may be dating some girls, looking for that girlfriend. He's dating Susie and Melody, and he's dating Anne, and he's dating Debbie. And then one day he meets Jane, and she becomes the center of his life. And she's the center, and so all these other girls are just kind of out of bounds. They're out of bounds.

They're off the horizon for him, because his horizon is now, so far as his dating life, his love life, he has found a new center. And, friend, when you find the Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to find a new center. And it's not, you're not going to be talking about what you gave up for Jesus.

That's foolish. You're going to understand what you have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who was the author of this book? His name is Paul. And because of the name Paul, we know he's saved. We know that this man is separated. We know that he has been surrendered. We know he's been sent. He's just the author of the book. Thank God for the apostle Paul.

I believe the greatest Christian who ever lived. And one day in heaven, I'm going to sit down and let Paul teach me Romans. It'd be wonderful. It'd be wonderful.

Won't that be great? And coming up tomorrow, we'll hear part two of this important message. But maybe today you have questions about who Jesus is or what he means to you, how to receive the forgiveness that he's freely offering you right now. Go to our Discover Jesus page at lwf.org slash radio. You'll find resources and materials that will answer questions you may have about Jesus Christ. Lwf.org slash radio and click Discover Jesus at the top of the page. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, call us at 1-877-LOVE-GOD and mention the title, The Book That Changed the World. This message is also part of the insightful Foundations for Our Faith series. For the complete collection, all 27 powerful messages, call that number 1-877-LOVE-GOD or go online to lwf.org slash radio.

Or you can write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Well, thanks for studying in God's word with us today. As we heard in this message, the apostle Paul is an example of how God's grace humbles us. As you continue with your day, remember what Adrian Rogers said, one of the first things that true salvation does, it humbles us.

You will never be too small for God to use you, but you may be too big. Read scripture with humility today. Welcome whatever God wants to reveal to you and join us next time for The Book That Changed the World tomorrow, right here on Love Worth Finding. One of our great joys is hearing testimonies from listeners. We received this message that said, thank you for helping build my relationship daily with our God. I've been a listener of Adrian Rogers for some years and love is teaching.

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