Adrian Rogers - The Book that Changed the World
Would you take God's Word and turn to the book of Romans, Romans chapter 1. You know, books are an interesting thing, I have a library full of books, and my books have been my good friends. I think of books that have changed the world. I think of a mad man named Hitler who wrote a book, Mein Kampf, and there in that book he put his Nazi philosophies. And the outgrowth of that book was a world war with its devastation, the Holocaust, and six million Jews put to death; a book written by a diseased mind! Now Hitler had been reading books. Hitler had been reading Nietzsche's, Man and Superman, and that's what put those ideas into Hitler's mind.
Nietzsche was a perverted atheist who said, "God is dead". Other books have been written that have changed the world. Karl Marx wrote, Das Kapital and his Communist Manifesto and enslaved so much of the world. And millions and millions and millions not only were enslaved, but died because of the perverted ideas in a book. Charles Darwin wrote a book, The Origin of the Species. He said that, "We are the product of blind evolutionary forces. We were not created by Almighty God".
And men have read that book and tried to make a monkey of themselves, make themselves an orphan of the apes. Books have incredible power. But there has been no book that has ever influenced or impacted the world like the book you've just opened and hold in your hand; it is the book of Romans. There's no other book like the book of Romans. The book of Romans has been called the Constitution of Christianity. Coleridge said about the book of Romans that, "It is the greatest piece of literature ever written". I say it has impacted history. There was a Roman Catholic monk whose name was Martin Luther. He wanted to be right with God. He was doing all that he could do to be right with God. He had tried. He had worked. He had fasted. He'd prayed. He took a trip to Rome, a sojourn to Rome, a pilgrimage to Rome.
There in Rome he found what is called the Santa Scala; that is, the Holy Stairs. These were stairs purported to have been the stairs that Jesus Christ had climbed in Pilate's judgment hall. And they supposedly had the blood drops of the Lord Jesus on those stairs. And people thought perhaps if they could get on their knees on those stairs and say their prayers climbing those stairs that perhaps they could be expatiated for their sin. And so Martin Luther, there on his knees saying his prayers, one step at a time, there where perhaps the blood fell, praying and saying, "Oh God, oh God, I want to know You. I want to be right with You".
But when he got to the top of those stairs, he was not one wit closer to God than he had been. But Martin Luther had been studying the book of Romans, and there a light burst into his heart and into his mind. Romans 1 verse 17, "The just shall live by faith". And he saw, "I'm not saved by my good works. I'm not saved by my religion. I'm not saved by my ritual. I'm not saved by my good intentions. I am saved by the grace of God when I put my faith in what Jesus did for me on the cross".
Martin Luther was born again, and the Protestant Reformation began in 1517 that changed the entire world. How? The book of Romans. John Wesley had gone to the United States. He'd gone to Georgia, in the United States, to try to convert the Indians. He'd gone as a missionary. He had a futile endeavor to bring the Indians to Christ. On his way back, he met some missionaries, Moravian missionaries, and he saw a quality in their life that was so different from his. And he saw the reality of Jesus Christ. They're the kind of people who could have sung, "Hallelujah, Oh, What a Savior". He knew that his heart was empty. Back in England, seeking God, he went to a place called Aldersgate. And he slipped into the meeting.
And there was a Bible study on the book of Romans. And John Wesley heard that Bible study. Let me quote what he wrote in his journal. He said, "I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation, and assurance was given to me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death". He was the one who said, "I'd gone to Georgia to convert the Indians, but who will convert me"? But when he heard the truth of the Word of God there in that book of Romans, John Wesley was saved, and a revival swept England that changed the course of history.
And out of that meeting at Aldersgate where John Wesley heard the truth of God, the great Methodist church was born and the Wesleyan Revival began. It all started in the book of Romans. Now, what we have here in the book of Romans is a letter. This letter was written from Corinth to the church at Rome. There was a little colony of Heaven in Rome. Now Rome ruled the world. The Roman Empire was at its height. Rome with its intellectualism. Rome with its militarism. Rome with its laws. Rome with its roads. Rome with its heroes. Rome ruled the world. But Paul writes a letter to a little colony of Heaven. They were about to turn Rome upside down, that letter you hold in your hand.
Again, I want to say it is called by many the Constitution of Christianity. It's the foundation of our faith. I believe, if we'll study together the book of Romans, we will have personal and corporate revival. Now, any book has a Table of Contents. What is the book of Romans about? Let me just give you an outline of the book of Romans right now, real brief, okay? This is just sort of a Table of Contents. In the first three chapters, they deal with sin. They tell us what is wrong, and the emphasis is upon God's holiness as compared to our sin. And then, chapters 4 and 5 tell us about salvation. Chapters 1 through 3 tell us the problem; chapters 4 and 5 tell us the answer; they tell us about salvation.
Then, chapters 6 through 8 talk about sanctification, because all of us know it's one thing to get saved, but it's another thing to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So sin, salvation, and then, sanctification. Then, if you start in chapters 9 through 11, those are strong chapters that deal with God's sovereignty and show us that, that the sovereign God is ruling the world and the nations and that He is in charge. And then chapters 12 on through chapter 16, the end of the book, deal with service. And so, there you have it: sin, salvation, sanctification, sovereignty, and service.
Now that's the Table of Contents to the book, okay? Now let's talk a little bit about the author of this book of Romans, okay? Now we know that God the Holy Spirit is the ultimate author. But who was the human author? Well, let's just look here in Romans chapter 1 verse 1. Are you ready? "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God".
Now, folks, I want to tell you when I got right here, the first verse, I said I'll never get finished preaching this first verse. So we're just going to touch the top of it. You see, in Bible times, a man did not do what we modern Americans do: we write a letter and sign our name at the end. Have you ever gotten a long letter and you begin to think, "Who wrote this thing? What is all this about"? Frequently I get letters, three or four, five pages. After a while, I turn to the back and see who am I reading? Who is this that is talking to me? Well, people in Bible times had caller ID. I mean, it was right up here at the front, "Paul! I want you to know who it is that is writing this letter. I want to give my credentials to begin with".
I heard about a preacher one time. We had a skeptic out there. As a matter of fact, a recalcitrant who really didn't like the pastor, he thought he'd play a little joke on him. So he wrote a note and handed it to the usher and said, "Would you give this? It's for the pastor. Give it to the pastor". The usher thought it was legitimate and handed it to the pastor. When the pastor opened the note, there was just one word on it. In big, block letters it said, "Fool"! The pastor took the note to the rostrum and said, "You know an unusual thing has happened today". He said, "Many times I have gotten a letter from a person who forgot to sign his name, but this is the first time a man ever signed his name and forgot to write the letter".
Well, Paul has signed his name right up front. And he tells us that he is the author of this book, this Constitution of Christianity. Now, let's just describe him. First of all, you're going to get a blessing out of the very first word, "Paul," because that wasn't always his name. His name used to be Saul. And who was Saul? When his mother got ready to name him, his mother named him after a king in Israel whose name was Saul. King Saul was head and shoulders above everybody else. King Saul was a handsome, but self-willed, carnal man. And so the very name Saul reeks with pride. Saul was so filled with pride.
And now this Saul, that we now call Paul, was named after that Saul, and, indeed, he was a man himself who had been filled with pride. I mean, this man who wrote this book was an unusual man. First of all, he was a Jew. He was one of the chosen. And then number two; besides being a Jew, he was a Roman citizen. He was a free man. Besides that, he was an honors graduate from the University of Tarsus. Besides that, he was world traveled. On top of that, he was fluent in many languages. On top of that, he learned at the feet, he'd been set to Jerusalem to sit and to be the personal scholar of Gamaliel, known as the greatest teacher there in the world at that time.
And Saul had been taught by Gamaliel. And besides that, he was a Pharisee. And besides that, he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees; that is, he was a leader of the leaders. He had been petted and praised and prized. Folks, he was a big shot, and he had a big shot name, Saul. And do you know what happened? He said, "I'm going to change my name". And he changed his name to Paul. Do you know what Paul means? Paul means little. Paul means small. This man, who had been so arrogant and had been so bold, he met the Lord Jesus, and the Bible says in Second Corinthians 5 verse 17, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature".
So the first thing we'll learn about old Paul was that he was saved. Now let me show you how he thought of himself now. Put in your margin Ephesians 3 verse 8, "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given". "I am now Paul, less than the least, less than the least". First Corinthians 15 verse 9, "For I am the least of the Apostles. I'm not meet to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the church of God". I believe he'd been saved, don't you? I mean, here's a man that had been so arrogant and so proud.
One of the first things that true salvation does; it humbles us. And I get a blessing in the very first word. The man has now called himself Paul. And come up here close and I want to tell you something. You will never be too small for God to use you, but you may be too big. You may be too big. And nothing will keep you out of the devil's reach more than genuine humility. All right. So the first thing I want you to learn about this man is that he was a saved man. You learn that by the very name Paul. He's been changed. But not only was he a saved man, he was a surrendered man.
Notice what he calls himself, "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ". But the word servant is the word doulos, and it literally means slave. Paul said, "I'm a slave of Jesus". But it literally means bond-slave. Now what was a bond slave? Well, in Bible times, if a man owed somebody money, and he could not pay the debt, he was in servitude to that man. He was sold into slavery. He became the property of the one to whom he owed money. But there was a law in Israel, that after seven years he had to be set free. You could not keep a man as a bond slave for more than seven years. So at the close of seven years, the bond slave had to be set free.
In the Year of Jubilee he was set free. But sometimes there would be slaves who would have a master who would be so kind, so loving, so good, so providing that the slave didn't want to be free. He wanted to stay. He wanted to keep his master because he loved his master. He would say, "I love my master". Now, if he came to this place, he said, "I want to continue to be a bond slave," they would put his ear up alongside the doorpost and pierce his ear. And he was now a bond slave of his own choice.
As a matter of fact, just put in your margin Exodus chapter 21 verses 5 and 6, "And if the servant shall plainly say, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,' Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; and he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him forever". Paul said, "I love my Master. I am a bond slave of the Lord Jesus Christ". Now, you say, "Well, I don't want to be a slave". You already are. Everybody is a slave to something or someone.
Now, if you're in bondage to sin, you're in the worst kind of slavery. You know, the unsaved man says, "I won't to be free". And as he seeks freedom, he goes into the worst bondage of all, the bondage of sin. But, when a person comes to the Lord Jesus and says, "Lord Jesus, You are Lord. You are Master," then that individual receives glorious freedom. John 8:36, "And if the Son shall make you free, you will be free indeed". Now, what is this freedom, being a bond slave to the Lord Jesus Christ? It doesn't mean, "Well, now it's His will instead of my will".
That is not what it means. It means this, and listen carefully or you'll miss what I'm going to say. It means that His will is now my will. Not His will instead of my will. His will is now my will. When you understand that, so many things will break out in your heart and in your mind. His will is now my will. It's not His will instead of my will. "Lord, I yield my will to You". Have you ever read that verse over there in Psalm 37 that says in verse 4, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He'll give you the desires of your heart"? How could God make such a promise? You say, "Well, God, I love You. I want to be a multi-millionaire". No! When you said that, where is your delight? In money! In money!
You say, "Lord, I delight myself in You. I want to be famous". Where's your delight? In pride! "When you delight yourself in the Lord, He'll give you the desire of your heart," because what is the desire of your heart? What you delight in, the will of God. Isn't that wonderful? You see, let me tell you something; you can be a Christian and do whatever you want; just want what God wants. Just be a bond slave. You know, people say, "Well, you know, if I believe in eternal security, I'd get saved and sin all I want to". Well, I sin all I want to. I don't want to. Why? I want to do God's will. If you still want to, you need to get your wanter fixed or you need to get a new wanter. Paul said, "I am a bond slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have surrendered myself willingly to the Lord Jesus".
All right. Now who's the author of this book? Well, first of all, it's Paul. He is saved because he's now Paul. Number two, he is surrendered. Number three, he is sent. Look again at this. He says, "Called to be an apostle". Or, literally, a called apostle. He didn't choose to get into the ministry. I didn't choose to get into the ministry. God chose me. God called me into the ministry. I believe in a God-called ministry. Now I'm not an apostle, but I can preach with the authority of an apostle if I preach what Paul preached, because Paul said in First Corinthians 11:1, "You follow me, as I follow Christ".
But here was a man, look at it, he's saved. The apostle Paul was surrendered. The apostle Paul was sent. Actually, the word apostle means one who has been sent. And all of us, in a sense, have been sent because as you go on down here in a few verses, he says in Romans 1:6, "You also are called". Now we're not all called to be the same thing. We're not all preachers, but we're all reachers. We're all part of getting out the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now here's the next thing I want you to see. He was separated. Now we're going to spend a little time right here. Notice, he was saved. Yes, he was. He was surrendered. Yes, he was. He was sent. And now, notice this, he was separated, "Unto the Gospel of God".
And I love this. You see, Christians are to be separated. Christians are to be different. We are to stand out, we are to stand out like a diamond in a coalmine; we are to be different. The people in this church ought to be different than the people out there. We're a sheep fold. But, in many churches we don't hear anything about separation anymore. We're afraid we're going to offend somebody. And so, rather than being in a sheep fold we become a zoo. Christians are to be different. Second Corinthians chapter 6 verse 17, "'Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate,' saith the Lord, 'and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.'"
So we are to be separate. But I want you to notice a key word in this phrase, "Separated unto the Gospel". Now, if you don't mind making a mark in your Bible, mark that word unto. It is not primarily separation from; it is, "Separation unto the Gospel". It is not a negative separation; it is a positive separation. Now the kind of separation that Paul had already been doing was the separation of a Pharisee. The very word Pharisee implies separation. Paul is separated. He probably lived a less worldly life than many of you here today, but he had not been separated unto the Gospel. And some people say, "Well, I live a separated Christian life. I don't smoke, and I don't chew, and I don't go with the girls who do. I am separated".
Well, a fence post doesn't smoke or chew or go with girls who do. So you don't have any more religion than a fence post if that's what your separation is. And quitting those things will not make you one wit more like the Lord Jesus Christ. You can walk the straight and narrow. "I don't do this. I don't do this. I don't do this. I don't do this," and you'll be a proud, bitter Pharisee. That's what Paul was before he met the Lord Jesus Christ. He was already a Pharisee. He was already separated from, but now he is separated to, and that is the difference. And it is a wonderful, wonderful difference. Actually, the word separated here, it's the word in the Greek that we get our word horizon from.
Have you ever been up on a tall building and just looked as far as you could see until the Earth dips over? That is your horizon, okay. It actually is two words. It means from off the horizon. Now why would that word be translated separated? Well, you see, when your center changes, your horizon changes, isn't that right? A boy is looking for a girlfriend. And he dates Susie. He dates Mary. He dates Debbie. He dates this girl and that girl. And then, one day he meets Jane, and Jane becomes the center of his life. From there on his horizon is different.
You see, your horizon changes when your center changes. And when Jesus Christ is the center of your life, then your entire horizon has changed. Do you understand what we're talking about? See, that's the kind of separation that the Apostle Paul is talking about. He is separated unto the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, is Christ the center of your life? If Christ is the center of your life, you're going to be separated unto the Gospel of Christ. Now that's the author of the book. Now let's talk a little bit about the hero of the book, because every good book of this genre not only has an author, but it has a hero.
Now who is the hero of the book? Well, Romans 1 verses 1 through 3, "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ," there he puts Jesus right in the first verse, "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".
Now, no doubt about who the hero of this book is. No doubt about who this book is written about. This book is written about the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the center of that, that circumscribed Paul's horizon. And so he begins right away to talk about the Lord Jesus. Now let's see what he says about Jesus. Are you ready? First of all, he says, "He is the Promised One". Look, if you will. It says here in Romans 1 verse 2, "Jesus, which He had promised afore by His prophets by the holy Scriptures".
Now Paul is not inventing a new religion. The Old Testament; when Paul said, "The holy Scriptures," folks, the New Testament had not been written. Paul, when he says, "Holy Scriptures," he's talking about the Old Testament. He's talking about Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. He is talking about the Old Testament. He's talking about Isaiah and Jeremiah and Daniel. He's talking about the Psalms. And he says, "Jesus was promised in all of the old Bible". There you have to understand this. One of the ways that we know that Jesus Christ is the Messiah is fulfilled prophecy. There's absolutely no way that these prophecies could have been fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ by accident. It is a statistical monstrosity to say that these prophecies just happened to be fulfilled in the Lord Jesus.
One wise man said that after Saul met the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus, you remember he went out into Arabia, he went out into the desert. And he went out there with the books of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms in his knapsack. And he came out of the desert with Galatians and Ephesians and Romans in his heart and in his mind. Why? Because now, since he'd been saved, he opened the Old Testament and on every page he saw Jesus. And so will you. And, if you read the Old Testament and you don't see Jesus, go back and read it again, for Jesus Christ Himself said in John 5:39, concerning the Old Testament, "Search the Scriptures, for these are they which do testify of Me".
And so, put down, concerning the hero of the book, He's the Promised One. And then, put down, concerning the Lord Jesus, He is the Provided One. Look in Romans 1 verse 3 and 4, "Which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh". Now that's His humanity. He was a descendant of David, a rightful heir to Israel's throne, "Made of the seed of David according to the flesh". Now notice, "And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead". So in these verses you see His absolute humanity and you see His absolute deity. He is the God man. He is, "The seed of David according to the flesh". He's, "Declared to be the Son of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead".
Now Jesus was not a divine man. That is foolishness. Neither was Jesus a human god. Jesus, listen carefully or you'll miss this. We're talking theology now. Jesus was and is the God man, the God man, the God man. Not a divine man, not a human god. He is the God man. "He's declared to be the Son of God with power". This verse speaks of His absolute humanity, His absolute deity. It is as much a heresy to deny His humanity as it is to deny His deity. But now, watch it. Jesus, the hero of the book, He's the Promised One. Jesus is the Provided One. He is the seed of David. He's born into this world, born of a virgin. But not only that.
The Lord Jesus is the Powerful One. How do we know? Well, you say, "Fulfilled prophecy". Yes, but is there a better proof than that? Well, look in Romans 1 verse 4, "And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead". He walked out of that grave, folks. Well, you say, "How do I know that happened"? The Bible says in Acts 1:3, "He showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs". Scholars have said, "There's more proof that Jesus Christ rose from the dead than there is that Julius Caesar lived". If you do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it is not because you have genuine intellectual problems. You can believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. "He is declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead".
He lives! He walked out of that grave. He walked out of that grave. Paul now; I'm talking about an intellectual genius, has no ifs, ands, doubts, stutter, stammer, apology about it. He says that, "He's alive," and He went everywhere preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the hero of this book. But not only was the Lord Jesus the Promised One, not only is the Lord Jesus the Provided One, not only is Jesus the Powerful One, "Shown to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead". But, friend, He is the Pure One. Look, if you will again. The Bible says in Romans 1:4, "According to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead". He was absolutely, totally in His humanity, as well as in His deity, sinless.
John Philips wrote this about the Lord Jesus. It blessed me so much I copied it down word for word. I want you to hear it. "His life was perfectly holy. He never looked with lust. He never uttered a hasty, unkind, untrue or frivolous word. He never entertained an impure thought. He was never accused by conscience, never inflamed by wrongful passion, never out of step with the will of God. His time was never wasted. His talents never debased for selfish ends. His influence never bad. His judgment never wrong. He never had to apologize for anything that He did or retract a single word He said. He was never too late or too soon, never upset, never insipid, never shallow or afraid. He lived on Earth approximately 12,000 days, and every one of them was a marvel of holiness. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners".
Hebrews 7:26. "From the summit of the Mount of Transfiguration, He could have stepped straight into glory. He had absolute victory from the moment He drew His first breath in that Bethlehem barn until the moment He closed His eyes in death on the cross of Calvary. He was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness". Don't you like that? I want to tell you young people something. You're looking for a hero. Try Jesus! Try Jesus! Oh, What a Savior! I thank God for that song. He is the hero of this book. Paul was the author of the book. Now let's quickly kind of wrap up; folks, we're not getting anywhere fast, but we're having fun, all right. Now listen. We gave you the Table of Contents. We told you who the author is. We told you who the hero is.
Now let me tell you what the subject is. Every book has to have a theme. It has to have a subject. Well, the subject is the Gospel. Notice Romans 1 verse 1, "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God". Now the subject is the Gospel. And I want you to see that very much. He calls it, "The Gospel of God's Son," now in verse 1. It is, "The Gospel of God's Son". It didn't originate with Adrian. It didn't originate with the Baptists. It didn't originate with Bellevue. It is, "The Gospel of God's Son". He says in Galatians chapter 1 verse 12, "For nee, I neither received it from man, neither was I taught it by, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ".
Now Paul said in this Galatians chapter 1 verse 8, "If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which I have preached unto you, let him be accursed". Philipps' translates that, "Let him be damned". You see, it would be far better to say 2 and 2 is 19 than to preach any other gospel. There is but one Gospel. And in verse 1 it is called, "The Gospel of God". Don't tamper with the Gospel. Now Paul said in Galatians chapter 1 verses 6 and 7, "There are some who are preaching another gospel, which is not another". What he meant by that was, it's a synthetic gospel. Well, a synthetic gospel, a false gospel, leads to a synthetic salvation, that leads to a very rare, a very real hell. Paul was not bigoted when he said this. The source of the Gospel.
Now, listen, the subject of the entire book is the Gospel, and the source of the Gospel; we find it right there in verse 1. It is, "The Gospel of God". And the subject of the Gospel, verse 3 "Concerning His Son Jesus Christ". Now I want to say this very quickly, time is running. But, this is not a Gospel that mentions Jesus, not a Gospel that alludes to Jesus; Jesus is the Gospel. Do you know why we have churches that are filled today with moral worldlings? They have religion, but they've never met Jesus Christ. Christianity is not a creed, not a code, not a cause; it is Christ.
You can take Buddha out of Buddhism and still have Buddhism. You can take Mohammad out of Islam and still have Islam. You can take Confucius out of Confucianism and still have Confucianism. But you cannot take Jesus Christ out of Christianity and still have Christianity. It's like taking the water out of a well, notes out of music, numbers out of mathematics. So many people have had an encounter with religion. But the source of the Gospel is God. The subject of the Gospel is His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, "Concerning His Son the Lord Jesus". Now watch this, finally, the supply of the Gospel is grace.
Look, if you will, he speaks of this in Romans 1 verse 5, "By whom we have received grace and apostleship". The supply of the Gospel is grace. How are you saved? How was I saved, when as a teenage boy, I prayed and said, "Lord Jesus, come into my heart and forgive my sin"? You know, I went down the aisle in a church and I went forward. And they met me up here, and they shook my hand. And they sat me on the front row and said, "What is your name"? I said, "Adrian Rogers". "Well, Adrian, why did you come today"? I said, "Well, I want to be saved". "Adrian, did you want to be saved"? "Yes, sir". "Well, how do you spell your name"?
So forth, so forth. "Thank you, Adrian". That's what happened. And then, they lined us up across the front. My dad was in that line, and I was in that line. And they said, "We're happy today that Adrian has come to give his heart to Jesus". Well, I guess they were happy, I'd been a terror in the neighborhood. They said, "We're happy today that Adrian is come to give his heart to Jesus". And you know, I was sincere when I went down that aisle. But, folks, I was a bundle of ignorance. Nobody really ever explained to me the Gospel. I was very sincere. I wanted to do better. I needed God. I wanted God. I had a burden of sin.
And you know, to be honest, I think probably I was saved right then. But I rode a rollercoaster up and down and up and down. I didn't have that assurance of my salvation. Two or three years that I began to read the Word of God. I began to understand what I'm teaching you today from the book of Romans. And one day, I saw it. Friend, it's grace all the way. It's grace all the way. I stopped at the corner of 38th Street and Calvin Avenue in West Palm Beach, Florida, and I said, "God, I don't know whether I'm saved or lost. I don't know whether I'm saved and the devil's trying to make me doubt it, or I'm lost and the Holy Spirit has me under conviction. But, Lord, right now, with all of my heart, once and for all, now and forever, as much as in me is".
I didn't bow my head. I looked straight up into the stars. I said, "Lord Jesus, I receive Your grace. I trust You to save me, and that settles it". And a river of peace began to flow in my heart. Friend, the source of the Gospel is God. The subject of the Gospel is Jesus. The supply of the Gospel is grace. A little boy came down the aisle one time in a church. And they asked him, "Son, how did you get saved"? He said, "Well, I did my part, and God did His". They knew something was wrong with that. They said, "Son, you'd better explain that". He said, "I did the sinning, and He did the saving". That's the Gospel! That's the Gospel! That's what this whole book is about. Poor, lost, ruined sinners such as we are saved by the glorious Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Would you bow your heads in prayer? Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. If you're not certain that you're saved, would you like to be saved, would you? Would you like to know that you really do have life? Jesus said, "I've come that you might have life". Could I lead you in a prayer? We'll call this prayer the sinner's prayer. And you can pray and accept Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. You can do it right now. Would you pray this prayer?
Dear God, I know that You love me. Thank You for loving me. And I know that You want to save me. Jesus, You died to save me and You promised to save me if I would trust You. Jesus, I do trust You. I believe You're the Son of God. I believe you paid for my sin with Your blood on the cross. I believe that God raised You from the dead. And now I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Forgive my sin. Cleanse me. Come into my life. Take control of my life and begin today to make me the person You want me to be. And Jesus, give me the courage to make it public. Help me never to be ashamed of You. In Your name I pray, Amen.