In his sermon titled 'Romans 1:1-3a The Gospel of God Part 1,' Pastor Steve Hopkins begins a series on the book of Romans by discussing the apostle Paul's introduction in the epistle. Paul identifies himself as a servant of Jesus Christ and an apostle, emphasizing his total commitment and calling to spread the gospel. Hopkins highlights the transformation of Paul from a persecutor of Christians to an apostle sent by Jesus himself, a calling that was neither sought nor anticipated by Paul. The sermon delves into the origins of the gospel, stressing that it was not a new message but one promised in the Old Testament scriptures. Hopkins references Genesis 3:15 as the earliest proclamation of the gospel, where God promises a Redeemer to crush the serpent's head, symbolizing Christ's victory over sin. The sermon further explains the first act of redemption in Genesis 3:21, where God provides coats of skins for Adam and Eve, prefiguring the sacrificial atonement of Christ. Hopkins urges the congregation to engage deeply with the scriptures and grow in their faith by understanding the profound truths of the gospel as revealed in the Bible.

Thanks for joining us at Burnett Bible Church. This week Pastor Hopkins is beginning a new series in the book of Romans. Good afternoon again. We are finally going to do this. We're going to be starting a new book after three years and quite a few topical messages.

Here we are. Turn with me in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Romans, the epistle of Paul to the Romans, chapter 1 and verse 1. And if you would stand with me for the reading of the Word of the Lord. We're gonna read seven verses. We'll see how far we get.

I hope to get through at least verse 5. Let's read together. 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. Among whom are you 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. Let's pray.

Father, our Father, who art in heaven, high above all, hallowed, O God, be thy name. God, we pray that your name might be set apart as holy in this place. We pray, God, that you might receive the glory, do your name, as we open these scriptures. God, we acknowledge that we are not worthy of the least of all the mercies and the truth that you've already shown us, but for the sake of your Son, we ask that you would send your spirit, send your spirit God, open up the understanding of our hearts that we may receive truth and understand your word and that our minds might be renewed And that every one of us might grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We might be more conformed to the blessed image of your only begotten Son.

For we ask it all in His holy name. Amen. Let's be seated. As we open the epistle of Paul to the Romans, the apostle identifies himself as the author, the first word in our text, Paul. Paul, also known as Saul by his Hebrew name.

What follows, we might refer to as Paul's calling card. You know how somebody will introduce themselves and then they give you this card and this is who I am and this is what I am and Paul is now going to identify who he is and what he is. He says I am Paul, he begins I am Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. A servant of Jesus Christ. I don't watch a lot of the so-called gospel movies or Bible movies that are out there because most of them are inaccurate.

Most of them have actors who attempt to portray biblical figures and they rarely get anything right. But I watched a movie, it was made about three decades ago, and in this movie there was an actor and he was portraying the apostle Paul and they got something right. In the movie, this actor portraying the apostle is shown standing on a ship and his hands are bound with chains and he is being delivered to a Roman guard and this Roman soldier looks over at Paul and he says very sternly, are you the man called Paul? And the reply, he looked at the guard and he said, slave of my Lord Jesus, slave of my Lord Jesus. They got it right.

The Greek word, a translated servant in our text, is not a servant in the sense of one who is in the paid service of another, but of one who is the purchased possession of another. Paul is a slave of Jesus Christ. He has been bought with a price. He was once a slave of sin, but now he has a new master. Now he has a new owner and his name is Jesus Christ.

And if you are a believer in Jesus Christ today, you are a purchased possession of Christ. You too were bought with a price. You too were purchased off of the slave block of sin, and you are now in the service of another. Now you are a servant, a bond slave of Jesus Christ. Christ who paid the penalty for your sin, Christ who set you free from its dominion and tyranny.

But Paul was not only a slave of Jesus Christ, Paul was called to be an apostle. Our text says Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle. And that is no ordinary calling. Acts chapter 9 provides us with the account of that calling With the account of the calling of the Apostle Paul He wasn't looking for it. He wasn't asking for it.

He wasn't desiring it. He was doing just the opposite. In that account, we find Paul, and he's on the road to Damascus. Just look over the passage there for a moment. He's on the road to Damascus.

He has letters in his hand from the high priest giving him authority to arrest the followers of Jesus and to bring them bound to Jerusalem. On the way, when his mind is completely in another direction, when he is wanting to persecute the followers of Jesus of Nazareth, something happens. On the way, he encounters the risen Christ. And we are told that a light shone round about him. And we're told that he fell down to the ground.

And that he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Why persecutest thou me? Who are you, Lord? Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus.

I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the pricks. And trembling, we read, and astonished the text says and I might add humbled to the dust Paul says what do you want me to do What would you have me to do? Arise and go, Jesus says. Get up and go where I send you.

Go into the city and it will be told you what you must do. The word apostle means one who is sent. Jesus personally called Paul on the road to Damascus. And Jesus personally sent him. And Paul, now born from above, Now with a new heart, now a slave of a new master obeys.

And by the time we get to verse 19 of Acts chapter 9, Paul, who has just had to be led by the hand blind into the city has his sight restored, he has been baptized, and he's now found preaching Christ in the synagogues of the Jews. That he is the son of God. This is Paul, slave of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, sent, and separated under the gospel of God, our text says back in Romans, separated under the gospel of God. Look at Galatians chapter 1 verse 15 for just a moment. Galatians chapter 1 verse 15.

If you don't have a Bible there's some in the pews I think in front of you. In Galatians chapter 1 verse 15, Paul tells us, speaking to the church at Galatia, that God called him by his grace and that he separated him unto the gospel before he was born, even while he was still in his mother's womb. This Paul, slave of the Lord Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, was separated by God unto the gospel of God while he was still in his mother's womb. He is separated by God under the gospel of God, not into his own gospel, not into some gospel that originated with him or with other men, but separated under the gospel of God that came from God. This is the message from God.

He's been separated to the good news, which is what gospel means, of God that came from God. And verse 2 tells us that it wasn't something new. This isn't a new thing. Unless anyone should conclude that the message he preached was something never heard of before, he goes on. The gospel, the good news that he has been sent to Harold, that he has been separated unto even from his mother's womb, was the same gospel, the same message that God had already promised many times before by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.

And of course the only Scriptures they had in their possession were the Old Testament Scriptures written of the prophets of old. The New Testament hasn't been written yet. So he's saying, the good news from God that I have been sent to herald is the same message God promised before by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures. This isn't something that's new. This isn't a new message.

This is the same message that you've heard from the beginning. Turn with me to Genesis chapter 3 because we really need to understand something here. The gospel of God that the Apostle Paul was separated unto even from his mother's womb and sent to preach the same gospel that all of the Apostles of the New Testament are sent to preach is the gospel which had been promised by God before by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures. It's not something new. And in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, we see the first proclamation of this gospel.

Here we see it first proclaimed in the Holy Scriptures, the Scriptures that they were reading in their synagogues every day. And these scriptures were written by one of God's prophets, Moses. The promise that comes forth here is the promise of a Redeemer. And this is the first time that the gospel of God that came from God is proclaimed in the Holy Scriptures in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15. And you might say, well, I don't see it there.

I want you to read the passage in your mind and then just let it sink in and ask God for understanding and I want you to remember something here as you look at this passage from Genesis 3 15. Adam and Eve were created good by God and Adam and Eve were under a covenant of works. Keep my word, keep the law that I've given you. Don't eat of this tree, of the knowledge of good and evil in the center of the garden. Obey me and live.

But Adam and Eve did not remain long in that state in which they were created by God. Now by the time we get to this passage they have sinned and having sinned their nature is now utterly corrupted. Corrupted in every part. They are nothing but sin from the top of their head to the soles of their feet. Everything is infected with sin and the wages of sin is death.

Remember we went through this months ago. It was told them by God on the day that you eat thereof you will surely die and the skeptics say But Adam lived to be 930 years of age the Bible is wrong. It didn't die on the day. He ate thereof he died He died a spiritual death. His fellowship with God was broken.

His nature is plunged into corruption. He's spiritually dead. He has no interest in the things of God. He's running with Eve from the presence of God and it's God who comes to them and not the other way around. Adam and Eve are running from God, from the very presence of God.

They don't want anything to do with God. They know they've got shame, the guilt is upon them, and they run out and hurriedly try to sew fig leaves together to cover their shame, But God doesn't leave them in that situation and we're going to get there in just a moment. Because first, the first proclamation of a coming Redeemer, verse 15 of Genesis 3, and then the first act of redemption. It's all here. So we get to Genesis 3 and verse 15.

God promises a Redeemer. Praise God. Amen. Here is the first promise of the Redeemer who is to come, a seed to come. And notice he will suffer a blow to his heel, but he will crush the serpent's head.

And look what the Lord God says. God says, I'm going to put enmity, that is hostility, between you and the woman, that is between you, Satan, the serpent, and you, Eve. And I'm going to grant you, Eve, repentance. I'm going to turn your utterly depraved affections from the devil, you've been listening to him, toward me. Affections from the devil toward me.

I'm going to put enmity between your seed, he says to the serpent, the reprobate, children of the devil, sons of their father the devil, as Jesus will later call them to their faces, and her seed, which is Christ, and all those in Christ by faith of whom he is their representative head, the new Adam, as Paul will say later, the children of God. And here's how I'm going to do it. The seed of the woman is going to bruise your head. That word by the way in Hebrew means to crush. Same word used in Isaiah 53 when it says it pleased Yahweh to crush him, talking about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To bruise Him, it's the same word. The seed of the woman is going to bruise your head on the very day that you bruise His heel, pointing to Christ's victory on the cross. You know it's one thing if your heel is crushed, right? Let's say like with a hammer and nail. It's another thing if your head gets crushed.

That's another thing altogether. This is victory at the cross. The God of Scripture, the God of heaven and earth who made all things and made Adam and Eve, He's just told the Serpent, you're going to crawl on your belly all your days licking the dust. That's your future. And on the very day, you Serpent strike his heel, the Redeemer who is to come is going to crush your head.

On the very day Jesus is nailed hand and foot to the cross, he will crush your head. At the cross, the victory will be complete. So this again, this is the first proclamation of the gospel of God concerning Jesus Christ in scripture. Someday it would be interesting for us to look at the seed of the serpent, the seed of the woman, those who are the sons of the devil, those who are in Christ and of the family of God, and the ongoing war and conflict and how that manifested itself down through history. We don't have time for that this afternoon, but sometime we should go through that because it's a very interesting account of history.

When you look at the war and the ongoing war, the ongoing battle of which Christ is the victor and his people with him. But this again is the first proclamation of the gospel of God concerning Jesus Christ in Scripture. And then look at verse 21. In verse 21, the first act of redemption follows. And I want you to see how it concerns Jesus Christ, the gospel concerning his son Jesus Christ.

In verse 21 Moses writes, under Adam also and to Eve his wife Did the Lord make coats of skins and clothe them? So remember, they're fleeing from the presence of God. They don't want to be in God's presence. They want nothing to do with God. They're spiritually dead.

They're alienated from God and they're running and hiding and trying to to make themselves acceptable and cover their shame and their nakedness by the works of their own hands and they can't do it. It's all futile and God comes to them. And it's the same way with every one of us. You weren't running and fleeing and hiding and covering and you turned to God. You were running and fleeing and hiding and covering or attempting to cover your shame And God came to you if you're saved He came to you While you were hightailing it in the other direction Under Adam also into Eve his wife did the Lord make coats of skins?

Remember, God came to them. He comes to them. Going on, Adam. And All the excuses start coming in. But God comes to them and here's this first act of redemption in Scripture that we see.

He makes coats of skins. What do you have to do to make a coat of skin? You got to kill something, right? Blood has to be shed. God sheds the blood of an animal and he makes coats of skin to clothe Adam and Eve, a picture of the coming Christ who is the Lamb of God whose blood will be shed and His righteousness clothe all those who are in his son by faith.

Without the shedding of blood, the author of Hebrews said, there is no remission of sins. God gives this first act, which is a picture, a shadow of Christ to come by killing an animal or animals, providing a covering for Adam and Eve, which points to Christ's sacrifice on the cross, the shedding of his blood, and the perfect righteousness of the Redeemer, of the Son of God clothing his people, making them now for the first time and forever accepted in the sight of God, positionally safe in the sight of God, being clothed in the perfect obedience of his son and his death for their sins. Remember we talked about what does the righteousness of God constitute when we talk about the righteousness of Christ in Scripture. What is it? I explained it to my children this way.

The act of obedience of Christ, like you're running, he kept the law perfectly in behalf of his people and the path of obedience of Christ, he died for our sins and paid our sin debt. Both of those are necessary for anyone to stand before God and they're ours by faith when we come into union with Jesus Christ by faith who never sinned, fulfilling all the law on behalf of his people and in laying down his life and dying and paying the sin debt, the penalty for their sin that was due. Amen? So points to Christ to come. To Christ to come.

In his perfect righteousness, all the redeemed of God will be clothed, their shame once and for all time covered. Bless God. This is the gospel of God, which was promised to four by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament. And the gospel that Paul, slave of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle was set apart to proclaim concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's pray.

Father, We are grateful again for your holy word. We praise you God that we have your word in our possession today. Lord, we grieve when we think of all of the nations who Do not have copies of your word and would pay most anything to get it. We thank you God that we have your word. I pray Lord that we would remember throughout the week to feast on it.

There'd not be a soul here, Lord, who would set it aside. We'd all feast upon your holy word, Lord. We'd all be on our knees in prayer, communing with you, God, who saved our souls by your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Help us, God, to use the things that you've given us the means of grace that you've given us. Help us to grow throughout the week in the grace and knowledge of Christ by feasting on your word taking it in drinking it in consuming your word and communing with you in prayer speaking to you in prayer and hearing from you in your word.

Help us Lord to be conformed more to Christ in this week ahead. And help us to remember the things that we've heard today. And just glory in Christ and the gospel of God. The gospel of God concerning His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. For it's in His holy name we pray these things.

Amen.