Go ahead and open your Bibles to Paul's letter to the Romans. Paul's letter to the Romans. Romans is on one level, if I can say this reverently, one of the most boring books in the Bible, because on one level, The whole point of the letter is Paul is saying, Hey guys, I'm, uh, on my way to Spain. I'm going to pass by and just want you to know who I am. That's, that's why Paul is writing the letter. Now on another level, the book of Romans is one of the most amazing books in all of the Bible because God used that simple ordinary circumstance to produce what many people think, um, is the greatest book in the Bible. I don't know if I would go quite that far. It is certainly one of the most influential books in the New Testament. That's not to say that it's more inspired than any other book. That's not true. But God has used Romans in very powerful ways through history. He used the book of Romans to convert the great Saint Augustine, who if you're not familiar with, get familiar with him. He's awesome. Everybody should read Confessions at least once in their life. God used this book to bring Augustine to saving faith. There's the famous story of him. He had been sitting under the teaching and ministry of Ambrose of Milan, and he's sitting outside, and he hears children playing, and they're singing a children's song, tole lege, tole lege, which means take up and read, and the way he tells it, Bible was next to him and he opened randomly to Romans chapter 10 that said, um, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. And in that moment he was brought to saving faith. God used the book of Romans to save the Wesley brothers who wrote, uh, many of the hymns that we sang, sing and preached many phenomenal sermons. Um, God, the, O for a Thousand Tongues, the hymn that you sing at the end of the morning service, if you were at the 8.30 or will sing at the 11, was written by a man converted under the reading of the Book of Romans. He used it to convert Martin Luther. Luther said, in a real sense, the reason the Protestant Reformation happened is because of the Book of Romans. Martin Luther said of this book, Romans is worthy, not only that every Christian should know it, word for word, by heart, but also that he should occupy himself with it every day as the daily bread of the soul. We can never read it or ponder over it too much, for the more we deal with it, the more precious it becomes and the better it tastes." Martin Luther launched the Protestant Reformation based on his understanding of Romans 1, 16 to 17. He says, after reading, I'll read those verses for us. For I, Paul writes, I am not ashamed of the gospel. For it, that is the gospel, is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. And, uh, Luther, as some of you probably know, had spent his adult life as an Augustinian monk, and he was trying to work for his salvation by repeatedly confessing his sins and seeking to pursue righteousness, which is a good thing to do, right? We want to do that. It's a terrible way to get saved. It does not work that way. In fact, he used to bother the priests with his confession because he would go on for like an hour about things that you and I probably wouldn't give a second thought to. One time his priest told him, brother Martin, uh, go out and come back when you have something worthy to confess. Cause like he, I don't know, he got frustrated with his, his pen was out of anchor. So you like something ridiculous in him and he expressed an unrighteous anger. And so he was constantly confessing his sins. But when he understood this, that it is not by his works that he is saved, but rather by faith in the Lord Jesus. He writes here, I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates. When he understood that his righteousness came through faith, that it was an alien righteousness, not something that he had worked up, but a gift given through faith by the Lord Jesus Christ. And, um, That's just my pitch for give yourself to the study of Romans. In fact, when I was working on this lesson, I thought about my comments that I would teach the gospel of John in the fall. And I probably still will, but I gave serious consideration to doing this again. And it would be different than the last time. Those of you that have already done Sunday school with me through Romans, it would be different, but it would be awesome. Not because I am, but because this letter is awesome. One thing that's unique about Romans is that Paul is not writing to a church that he planted or one that he founded or really had anything to do with. He knew people who were there as he greets them by name in chapter 16. In fact, chapter 16 is, go ahead and flip there. It's just this august Group of believers that he greets and I I always get a kick out of this chapter 16 verse 12 greet those workers in the Lord Tyrophania and chifrosha greet the beloved Paris who has worked hard in the Lord greet Rufus chosen in the Lord also his mother Rufus his mom made it in the Bible with a greeting from Paul and greet Rufus's mom. He loves these Christians that he knows there, but he's not really closely affiliated with the church itself. And that's why he spends an inordinate amount of time in chapter one introducing himself. You'll notice that the reading that Paul gives them is seven verses in chapter one, which is normally only two, maybe three. It's almost twice as long as the longer greetings that Paul gives to churches he knows because he's not affiliated with this church. And then he starts to unpack his doctrine. He's introducing himself and then he's going to unpack his doctrine. So we'll look at this book in chunks with the limited time we have. I won't spend any time on the introduction, but for those of you that like to have an outline, the introduction is chapter one, verses one to 17. And then chapter one, beginning in verse 18 through chapter three in verse 20 is condemnation. Condemnation 118 to 320. 321 through verse five is justification. Chapters six through eight is his doctrine of sanctification. Chapters nine to 11 are very interesting. Because in light of his doctrine of condemnation, justification, and sanctification, there raises a question. And we'll get to it when we get there. But for right now, the question that really is answered over those three chapters is, has the Word of God failed? Has the Word of God failed? Chapters 9 to 11. The answer, of course, is no. But he's going to deal with it when we get there. Chapters 12 to 16 are what my old New Testament professor called the hortatory section, which if you're not familiar with that word, I don't blame you. I wasn't until I had his class. But it just means how you're to live, behavior instructions, what you're to do in light of all this. So we'll start with condemnation. The first major section of Paul's explanation of the gospel that the righteous will live by faith begins with condemnation. Why do you suppose that is? Why would he begin there? Yes, Mr. Swanwell. You need to know what you're being saved from. Yeah. I offer you salvation in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay. Why do I need that? Right. What it's, it's, it's making clear why we need to embrace the good news. Uh, and we need to embrace the good news, but before we do, we have to understand the gravity of the bad news and specifically, how bad the bad news is, because it is so bad. Our condition is so bleak that apart from faith in Christ, apart from faith in the finished work of another, there is no hope of overcoming it. And he makes that painfully clear throughout this section. And there's a lot of things that I would like to focus our attention on in this section, but we don't have time for them. So I will dial in on two. The first is this, it's what I call the cycle of sin. And this is chapter one, verses 23 to 28, the cycle of sin. And I'm going to read these verses for us and just make some comments. Actually, I'll back up to verse 22. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man birds, and animals, and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. And all the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. So we see this cycle. Man refuses God in his worship, and so God gives him over to dishonorable passions. Man refuses to acknowledge God in his thinking, so God gives him over to a debased mind. Man refuses to acknowledge God's sovereignty over his behavior, and so God gives him over to do those things which ought not to be done. And that's how sin works. All the time. It's something that man chooses to do, and so God lets him run with what he thinks is best, and it ultimately winds up destroying us. God gives them up to the lust of their hearts, to dishonorable passions, and to a debased mind, and there's a progression there, right? The lust of the heart is the state that I think a lot of us are in when we commit sin, wherein I know in my mind it's wrong, but my heart desires it, so I'm gonna do it. I think we've all been there. I know in my mind that I ought not to do this, but the lust of my heart says do it and I do it. That's how it always starts. And then the next thing is dishonorable passion. So now not only do I desire it in my heart, but now I'm passionate about it. Now I'm persistent in it. Now it's a must. I know it's bad still, but I don't care that it's bad. And then the final stage of the cycle is the debased mind. Now I no longer think that it's bad. I'm actually calling what is wicked good. And that's where he ends that chapter. And he presses a home, this, this teaching that, that, that sin corrupts us completely. That's the second thing that we'll look at. And that's in chapter three, again, skipping a lot here, but chapter three, beginning in verse 14, Would somebody actually read verses 14 to 18? Chapter 3, verses 14 to 18. Reese? Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood, and their paths are ruined in misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Thank you. And so what we see here is that sin corrupts the whole man. It corrupts our words, right? That's verse 14. Their mouth is full of curses. It corrupts our words, but it also corrupts our actions. Their feet are swift to shed blood. It corrupts the way we use our bodies, the way that we, behave. And then lastly, it corrupts the way that we see and think about the world. There is no fear of God before their eyes. The way of peace they have not known. It corrupts us in our speech, in our actions, and in our thoughts. And this applies to everybody across the boards. It's generally, generally agreed upon that the, that first bit of chapter 18, Paul is primarily talking about pagans. It has direct application to us, but he's primarily thinking of pagans. And then in chapter two, he deals with the self-righteous religious elite. And he basically concludes in chapter three, by making the case, nobody has any excuse for sin because it does this to us. And we all know it at some level. He says that in chapter one, verse 19, for what can be no, excuse me, backing up to verse 18, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." Creation itself is evidence that there is a creator that we are accountable to. So there's external evidence that everybody has, and we're all accountable to. But there's also internal evidence of this corruption. And somebody please read chapter 2, verse 15. And he's talking about Gentiles who don't have the Bible, who don't know the word of God. What's he saying in chapter 2 and verse 15? Anybody? Mr. Johnson. He gives an internal testimony to the corruption of sin. He says they know because their conscience afflicts them when they lie, when they hate their brother in their heart, when they steal. Even non-believers know these things because it's not perfect, it's not purified, it's not a redeemed heart, but the heart of man, the conscience of man knows the law of God because man was created in the image of God. And so he concludes this section of condemnation this way in chapter three verses 19 and 20. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and that the whole world may be held accountable to God for by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law, comes the knowledge of sin. And so, again, remember the overall thesis, the overall point he's arguing for is righteousness comes by faith alone. And he has spent this section of condemnation explaining it can't come from your works because they're all corrupt. None of them are pure. None is good. No, not one. That's the section on condemnation. And from there, he launches into the section on justification. Chapter three, verses 21 to 26. One of, and I can't think of a better one off the top of my head. So I'm going to say it is the best statement on justification in the Bible. It's phenomenal. It leaves us knowing that it's by grace alone and the finished work of Christ alone received through faith alone. Would somebody read for us, we'll split this up into two, somebody read 21 to 23 and somebody else 24 to the end. Francis and who else? Three, 24 to 26. Mr. Leathers, all right. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance, He passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and justifier of the woman who has faith in Jesus. Thank you both. Such a rich and clear passage. The righteousness of God is received through faith, through faith in who? Through faith in Jesus Christ. So it's, it's only by faith. It is not by works. It is received through faith and we are justified by what? By his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forth as a propitiation by his blood. Now that's a word that I'm going to go on a limb and guess none of y'all have used in casual conversation in the last week. Probably not in your life, but we should know what it means. And I hope growing up in a church like this, you do know what it means. Can somebody tell me what the word propitiation means? Substitute. Substitute. Close. It's a little bit more than that. It includes that. Like a down payment? Down payment? Not quite. Isn't it like, um, something given like to appease wrath? Yeah. Very good. And Mr. Gamblin? Yeah, all of those are kind of hitting on the right thing. The way I describe it, propitiation is a sin atoning, wrath absorbing sacrifice. That is to say that the fullness of God's wrath against the sin of his people, which is real, was poured out on the Lord Jesus on the cross. All of it. Every drop of anger that God has at you for your sin was poured out on Christ on the cross. That's what it means when we say that he is the propitiation for our sins. This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. That is to say, in the past there was no public punishment of sin, but God is a righteous judge and sin must be punished. And so the cross shows his justice against sin so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ. That is, that God might be able to say with legal integrity that you are not guilty because the blood of Christ was shed on your behalf, because justice was actually done. And then he moves on in the section on justification to hammer on another really, really important point. This concept, this idea of justification by grace through faith, the finished work of the Messiah is not new, right? It's very important to Paul that people not think he's making something up. that he's, that he's somehow deviating from the faith once for all delivered to the saints. And so he's going to point in chapter four in anticipation of that objection, he's going to point to the proof. Uh, this is also a really important concept that Paul employs in the book of Romans. He anticipates objections to what he just said and then answers them because Paul has been a preacher for 20 years now. And so he knows what people are going to respond to. How many of you guys have a job? Okay. and you've worked there for a year, a couple weeks, a couple months, whatever it might be, and you know within that frame of time what questions your customer is going to ask or what expectations or objections your coworkers or your bosses might lay before you. Paul has been doing this for 20 years. He knows where the conversation is going. And so he says, this is not new. And he points to two key Old Testament figures. First, he points to Abraham. in Romans chapter four and verse three. Four, what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it, the belief, was counted to him as righteousness. It's not new. It's been this way since the beginning of the covenant people of God. It goes back to Abraham. And then he also brings in David just as David verse six speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. Paul is saying this is not a new teaching. This is a fuller realization, a fuller explanation of what has always been the case. Moving on to the section on sanctification. Again, this begins with anticipating an objection. Because Paul, if what you're saying is true, then I am fully and totally justified, not by anything that I did, but only because of Christ and what he has already done. If that's true, what do you think the objection is? Anybody? James. Why can't I just live in sin? Why not just do whatever I want then? Because what I do doesn't matter. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. I actually greatly prefer the King James translation there. God forbid. It is not possible for the one who has been justified by faith in Jesus Christ to think that way, to continue in sin. And then he goes on and says, how can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. He's saying, if you're part of the people of God, you're one of those who say, I am in Christ by faith, then you can't go on sinning. You can't be at peace with sin. It is interesting that he equates a baptism with, with the symbol of, of, of the, of the, the saving work of Jesus Christ, the righteousness that comes by faith. And just in two chapters earlier in Romans four, that he equates circumcision with that very same thing. But we don't have time to delve into the implications of that. That's a different lecture. But right now he's, he's on the, the newness of life that comes from union with Christ. Uh, Romans six, five, four. If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin for one who has died has been set free from sin. So Christ's death in a very real way is your death. It's the death of your sinful nature. Your sin was credited to him, imputed to him, and in some sense, united to his person on the cross and paid for by him. When he died, you died. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him for the death. He died to sin. He died once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. The point is that, you know, we just did, um, a bunch of membership interviews, and I did a lot of communicants interviews, and we asked the question, what has Jesus done that gives you the hope of eternal life? And almost everybody pointed to, actually, I think everybody pointed to, he died on the cross for my sins, right? That's my daughter's understanding of the gospel right now. She's five. He died on the cross for my sins. That's true, and amen, and praise the Lord. But Paul says that his death was your death and his resurrection is your resurrection. In other words, We are malnourishing ourselves spiritually. Do not consider that when we say that we have faith that Christ raised from the dead, that that resurrection is the power by which we now live our spiritual lives. If that power is at work in us, as Paul says it is in Romans chapter 8, that the spirit that raised Christ from the dead is at work in your mortal bodies, then I have no business thinking that I can just carry on and said, I must be being renewed in the whole man after the image of God enabled more and more to die into sin and to live under righteousness. And this is accomplished. All, all of the sanctity is accomplished by his Holy spirit. And that's really the big driving point of chapter eight. Um, And we'll skip down to the end of chapter 8, because it's, again, such an amazing passage, a broken record that keeps saying it's Romans, though. That because it's a work of God, it can't fail, right? Pastor Anderson alluded to it, and I'm preaching through Philippians in chapter 1 and verse 6. I am sure of this, that he who has begun a good work in you will bring it to completion. And so Paul was going to conclude this section on sanctification saying, God won't fail to do that. And he concludes it. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things who shall bring any charge against God's elect. It is God who justifies who is to condemn Christ. Jesus is the one who died more than that, who was raised, who is seated at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Jesus is praying for you right now, and he's praying for your sanctification, and his Father hears his prayer and will answer it. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No! In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure of this, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything, in case I left something out, nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. It won't fail. Now's the question time. Paul? If I understood you correctly, you said that God never fails and he never abandons his people and nothing can separate him from his people. I have a question. What about the Jews? Why are so few Jews who were God's covenant people in the Old Testament believers in Jesus. That's the question that's raised in chapter nine. And he answers it really throughout this section, chapters nine through 11. And he offers three very important answers to the charge. The first thing to point out that he points out is that salvation which is not the same thing as membership in the covenant community was never about ethnicity. It was never about who your parents were. And he points that again, he points to this from the old Testament scriptures in verses six to eight for the sake of time, we'll just do seven and eight. And not all are the children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but through Isaac shall your offspring be named." Right? So Abraham has two sons. He has many sons, but he has two that are listed in Genesis and discussed. There's Isaac and there's Ishmael. They're both sons of Abraham. And God says, not Ishmael, but Isaac. And then Isaac has two sons, Jacob and Esau. And Paul brings them up and God says, Jacob, not Esau. And the point is, it was never about ethnicity. It was always about the grace of God. That's the first answer to the charge. What about the Jews? The second thing is that it was always expected that the gospel, the message of salvation would go out from the, from, from the Jewish community and into the world. In fact, this is at the very beginning, Genesis 12 three, I feel like I mentioned that to you guys every week so that in you, all the nations of the earth will be, blessed. The gospel was always designed to go out. And Paul doesn't quote Genesis 12-3, but he does quote two Old Testament prophets. He quotes Hosea in chapter 9, verses 25 to 26. And then he also quotes the prophet Isaiah. And he says, those who were not my people, us, I will call my people. And her who was not beloved, I will call beloved. And in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people, There, they will be called the sons of the living God. And then the third answer that Paul gives, so the first one is, it was never about ethnicity. The second one is, it was always expected to go out to the nations. And then the third answer is, of course he's not done with the Jews entirely. Why? Paul speaking, because I'm a Jew, Romans 11, one. He says, I asked them, has God rejected this people by no means or God forbid for I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. So that that's, those are the answers to the question. Now I haven't studied it enough to have a well formulated answer, but there is, the question in Romans 11 as well, when Paul talks about that it's not that God is doing a new thing in the church, but rather that new people are being grafted into the household of God. He does say this very perplexing thing, and it's hotly debated even within the Reformed world. There are good godly men on both sides of this. Romans 11.26 says, and in this way, that's the bringing in of the Gentiles and some sense of restoration, all Israel will be saved. Now, on a caveat, again, I have not studied that particular verse in thorough detail, but I do hold in an orthodox view that lots of credible people do. I take that to mean that in the bringing in of the Gentiles and the bringing in of other ethnicities, all of God's chosen people will be saved. I think that's what he's talking about. Lots of other good godly men think that he's talking about a large scale great restoration of Israelite people at the end. Could be, don't know, but that's where he lands it. And then he moves on into chapters 12 through 16 with hortatory, that is behavioral teachings. What are we supposed to do in light of all this doctrine? What's the Christian life look like to live? That's chapters 12 through 16 that I'm going to just commend to you all and trust that you will read on your own. It's rich stuff, but time is fleeting. So let me pray and then we'll be done. God in heaven, we give thanks to you for the book of Romans. We thank you for its rich doctrinal teaching. We thank you for its Practical applications and I lament that I was not able to get to all of them to any of the latter and father I pray though that you would help us to think deeply about the salvation that you offer in the Lord Jesus Christ that he is the propitiation for our sins and that by the power of his death and resurrection we too are raised in newness of life and and able to Obey you and to grow in holiness, and I pray father that that you would help us to do that as we depart from this place. In Christ's name, amen.