Monthly Archives: September 2015

Romans 2:12: Turn to Jesus

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Introduction:

Think with me for a moment about justice:

 

The traditional view of justice is the picture of the blindfolded statue with the scales in hand, trying to weigh out equity without being influenced by the appearance of anyone.  This idea that justice is blind simply means that justice does not want to take into account anyone’s looks or anyone’s position in life or anything other than the truth itself.

Years ago in ancient Greece and Rome, justice was pictured not only with eyes that were blindfolded but with no hands, so that justice could not see and justice could not receive.  It could not choose on the basis of appearance and it could take no bribes.  It could not be bought.

There’s an ancient story of a man who, in spite of all of the passions of a father, had to pass the death sentence on his own two sons for he was the leader of his country and his sons had conspired to overthrow the government.  According to the historian, the youth stood before the man, who was named Brutus the Elder, and they pleaded and they wept and they hoped their tears would be the most powerful defense with a loving father.  The men who sat behind the ruler whispered, “What will he do?  These are his children.”  He said, “To you, the executioners, I deliver my sons.”  And the historian wrote, “In this sentence he persisted inexorable, notwithstanding the weeping intercession of the multitude and the cries of the young men calling upon their father by the most endearing names.  The executioner seized them, stripped them naked, bound their hands behind them, beat them with rods, and then struck off their heads, the inexorable Brutus looking on the bloody spectacle with unaltered countenance.  Thus, the father was lost in the judge.”

That may be a good picture of how it will be someday with God, who offers Himself as a loving father, but someday the father will be lost in the judge.  And God’s justice is even more inexorable.  God always does what is just.  In Leviticus 19:15, God indicts the people in anticipation, as it were, of their sins of injustice, which will become a part of their life.  He says, “You shall do no injustice in judgment.  You shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.  You shall have just balances, just weights, and a just ephah” – ephah was a measure of grain – “and a just hin” – another form of measure.  “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” [1]

So as we think about justice let’s let those thoughts stir as we think about our salvation.

Some day God’s wrath on sin will be manifested and none of us are ready for that. In Romans 2:11 the Bible says that there is no partiality with God.

God is the just judge.

Does anyone get a free pass into Heaven?

Actually we all do, everyone of us…

However, we do not get into heaven based off of birth, country of origin, culture, etc.

So, I want us to look at Romans 2:12 and tell you that we all need Jesus. Everyone needs Jesus.

Here is a personal application:

 

We don’t get into Heaven simply based off of being “Raised in the Church.” In other words, God does not have grandchildren.

Let’s look at this:

Read with me Romans 2:12:

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.

  1. God will be a just judge, there is no impartiality with God. We see this in verses 11-13.
    1. We don’t get into Heaven simply based off of being “Raised in the Church.”
    2. I said this already but allow me to elaborate. At some age we must make our faith our own. I believe strongly that some never make their faith their own. Some are still committed to Jesus based off of the parents faith, grandparents or even further back in the heritage. We cannot be saved because of a tradition.
    3. Others laugh at your witness. They actually laugh. They laugh because they see through your hypocrisy. They see what you miss. They see that you are committed to a history of religion, not a relationship with Jesus.
    4. You are committed to a history of religion, not a relationship with Jesus.
    5. I know this because I see it too often and in my family.
    6. Then you wonder why your kids don’t go to church.
    7. How does this fit into this passage?
    8. The Jews thought they got a free ticket into Heaven by simply keeping the law.
    9. The Jews thought they got a free ticket into Heaven because they were circumcised.
    10. The Jews thought they got a free ticket into Heaven because they were Jewish.
    11. Nothing could be further from the truth.
    12. This is why verse 11 says God is not partial.
      1. Just because you are Jewish does not mean that you are Heaven bound.
      2. Or, just because you were baptized as a baby or dedicated or raised in the church or serve on a board or team or teach Sunday School or whatever else does not mean you are Heaven Bound.
    13. So verse 12:

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.

  1. The Gentiles are without the law and that is how they will be judged.
  2. The Jewish people have the law and that is how they will be judged.
  3. Later in verses 17-24 Paul turns his attention to the sinfulness of the people of God.
  4. Then in verses 25-29 focus on the circumcision.
  5. Many of you know that being circumcised was very important in Judaism. In that day and age the Jewish people would think they had a free pass to Heaven because of circumcision.
    1. Circumcision is of no value if you do not practice the law.
    2. Verse 26: if the uncircumcised man practices the law it is as if he is circumcised.
  • Verses 27-29 are saying that circumcision and being a Jew is about the heart.
  1. We see that God is the just judge. God is impartial and we all need Jesus.
  2. This fits with the overall theme of Romans. Romans is all about salvation. We are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8). We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Where are you at?

Are you committed to Jesus?

Share Jesus with everyone.

Walking Down the “Romans Road” to Salvation . . . .

  • Because of our sin, we are separated from God.
    For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  (Romans 3:23)
  • The Penalty for our sin is death.
    For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
  • The penalty for our sin was paid by Jesus Christ!
    But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
  • If we repent of our sin, then confess and trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will be saved from our sins!
    For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.  (Romans 10:13)
    …if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.     (Romans 10:9,10)[3]

Go and share the Gospel:

Pray

Go and share the Gospel:

[1] http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/45-20A/principles-of-gods-judgment-part-4a

[2] Janet Wise shared this with me in comments on the sermon.

[3] http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/about/becoming_a_christian.aspx

[4] http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/about/becoming_a_christian.aspx

God’s wrath on us points to our need for Jesus (Romans 1:18)

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Introduction:

In Lee Strobel’s book, The Case for Grace he gives real testimonies of:

  • Racists transformed by God’s grace
  • Addicts transformed by God’s grace
  • Murderers transformed by God’s grace
  • The Abused transformed by God’s grace
  • The Abusers transformed by God’s grace

From street children to death–row convicts, this book shows time and time again that grace can break through every circumstance, situations and darkness. It is an unstoppable force for good, one you can chose to revolutionise your life and others around you today.

I remember jogging up Georgetown road listening to one of the “Case for…” books as Lee writes about a man formerly on death row who had been transformed by Christ and is now a pastor.

How does this happen? How do people change? What is the big deal?

C.S. Lewis writes about our moral law and believes that this is evidence for a God. Without God, how can we know that there really is a right and a wrong?

I want to get into a passage about this very thing and my theme comes from Romans 1:18 and is:

God’s Wrath on us Points to Our Need for Christ

That is my theme. As we look at this passage and the messages over the next few weeks, we will see that we all, and everyone, need Jesus. No one is good enough.

Application:

Trust in Jesus and point others towards Him as well.

Read with me Romans 1:18:

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness…

 

  1. First let’s look at the context of this passage.
    1. From 1:18-3:32 the major point in Romans is that being Jewish does not give one salvation, nor does being gentile. No one escapes the consequence of their sin.
    2. Remember Romans is Paul’s great treatise on Salvation. This is called This is very important for us to take seriously.
    3. As we look at the following verses we see a litany of sins.
    4. As we jump ahead we see chapter 2 which is directed at the Jews and begins with: You, therefore, have no excuse.
    5. As we get into chapter 3 Paul begins with What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of Christ.
    6. In 3:10-20 there is a quote from the Psalm regarding Jewish unrighteousness.
    7. Then we come to 3:23: for all have sinnedand fall short of the glory of God,
    8. But check out verse 24:
    9. and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
    10. Do you see my point?
    11. Prior to looking at these passages and thinking, “How legalistic Paul is!” Prior to looking at these passages and thinking, “I cannot believe Paul would mention these political incorrect things!”
    12. Realize that Paul is pointing people to Jesus.
    13. Paul and the other Inspired writers of the Bible were not afraid to offend people and this is because we must be aware of our sin so that we realize that we need a Savior.
    14. Preach the Gospel
    15. I read somewhere: Nobody in hell says, “I’m glad my feelings were never offended.” Preach the gospel.”
    16. Spurgeon said: “I will not believe that you have tasted of the honey of the gospel if you can eat it all by yourself.”
  2. I do wish to briefly talk about this passage. First let’s read it from the Message translation:

            But God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.

24–25                So God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!

26–27                Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn’t know how to be human either—women didn’t know how to be women, men didn’t know how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men—all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it—emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches.

28–32                Since they didn’t bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it’s not as if they don’t know better. They know perfectly well they’re spitting in God’s face. And they don’t care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best![1]

  1. I recently read someone had said “the difference between God and us is that God never thinks He is us.”
  2. This passage is about pride, Pride puts us in the place of God and makes us think we can do whatever we want.
  3. Understand that God has set up a way in which we should live and we have all broken it. We all have dealt with pride in these ways. But this is no excuse to keep living in them.
  4. Once you commit to Christ, live for HIM!
  5. How many of you have committed to Christ?
  6. Live for HIM.
  7. This list of sins is not complete.
  8. Additionally, though these lists are pointing us to Jesus this also means that Christ followers must work diligently to let the Holy Spirit reign with us and not live in them.
  9. We have been bought with a price. (1 Cor. 6:20)
  10. This passage is about the holiness of God and the wrath of God on sin. These are things that we do not understand, though we must. We must take these seriously.
  11. It seems as though there are many sins in this list which we have tried to excuse and in so doing we are also excusing our need for a Savior. I will repeat that:
  12. It seems as though there are many sins in this list which we have tried to excuse and in so doing we are also excusing our need for a Savior.
  13. Look at verse 25:

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

  1. God is to be praised, don’t exchange His Truth for the world’s lie.
  • Let’s apply this:
    1. Trust in Jesus and point others towards Him as well.
    2. Who are you trusting in for Salvation?
    3. Are you recognizing that you need Jesus?
    4. Do you recognize that others need Jesus?
    5. Point others to Jesus?

Close:

There was an episode of the hit show The West Wing in which a lobbyist comes in to see the President and she is against something on Biblical grounds. The President responds using Old Testament Scriptures for example:

Lev 19:19

“‘Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.

The problem with this is that then the West Wing is teaching Theology and Bible. But it is not only the West Wing. It is all of the world.

The writers of The West Wing are not Biblicist. They are not Theologians. They apparently don’t understand hermeneutics which is the science of interpretation. In the Old Testament They had civil and ceremonial laws. God was setting up a Jewish Nation state so when something is in the Bible one time in the Old Testament and not repeated it could, just maybe, be something for Israel. The Jewish dietary laws were settled in the New Testament in Acts 15 as was the rite of circumcision.

These things in the world cause us to question and step away from God’s way but understand where they are coming from.

God has a standard.

We need Jesus.

Don’t miss that.

Point people to Jesus.

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

[1] Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), Ro 1:18–32.

Not Ashamed Romans (1:16-17)

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I read recently:

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Race to Nome.”

In January of 1925, Nome was this remote outpost, faced suddenly with a deadly outbreak of diphtheria, and virtually no vaccine to stop it. The National Health Department in Washington concluded “an epidemic of diphtheria is almost inevitable.” That meant up to 75% of the children in and around Nome could die.

Well, a train brought the needed antitoxin as far as the train could go – to Nenana. That’s 640 miles from Nome. From there, it had to be dog teams, taking the mail route that they called the Iditarod Trail. But that was usually a 25-day trip, and that was way too long to save the lives in Nome.

Knowing that their mission was life-or-death, the mushers and their dogs defied the weather; they defied the odds to do what had never been done before. Like the Pony Express, one team went as far as they could and then handed it off to another musher and his dogs. And history records that the winter of ’25 was one of the worst ever, with temperatures that plunged to 60 below. Then the blizzard closed in around them. The only doctor in Nome said, “All hope is in the hands of the dogs and their heroic mushers.”

At 5:30 in the morning on January 30, the final musher drove his dogs – and the serum – into the streets of a sleeping Nome. It took twenty men; it took 150 dogs to get it there. Amazingly, they made the trip in just five and a half days, breaking the world record, and more importantly, saving hundreds of lives.

The drama of that desperate race to Nome touches something deep inside me, because it’s a picture of a race for life where the stakes are even higher; a race that began on an old rugged cross 2,000 years ago. Our word for today from the Word of God in 1 John 3:16 and chapter 4, verse 9, says this: “Jesus Christ laid down His life for us that we might live through Him.” The news of His death for our sins and His game-changing resurrection – that’s the only “serum” that can save a person from a hellish eternity and give them heaven instead.

And from generation to generation that life-saving message has been entrusted into the hands of every person who’s been saved by hearing it. And today, it’s in my hands and the hands of every person who belongs to this Jesus.

Getting Jesus’ message to the people within my reach is not some casual, “get around to it sometime” thing. It is urgent beyond words. In the Bible’s words, it’s snatching “others from the fire” (Jude 23 ), it’s rescuing “those who are being led away to death,” it’s holding “back those who are being led away to slaughter” (Proverbs 24:11 ). People I know. People I see all the time. People whose forever depends on what I know about Jesus. They are one heartbeat away from meeting God. Waiting any longer to tell them is gambling with their eternity.

Somewhere along the way, the cause for which Jesus died has become, well, like the Iditarod, a spectator sport, lots of activity but no thought about the lives at stake. But those of us who’ve been saved by the serum of the Gospel are responsible before God to get that serum to those who are going to die without it. Jesus expects that the driving passion of His people and His Church, will be the passion that kept Him on the cross, “to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10 ). In a very real sense, we hold their eternities in our hands.

It really is a race for life

So, this is the purpose of Romans. Romans is all about the Gospel. Romans is all about Paul getting the good news of our salvation out to the world. He wanted to spread the serum.

Let’s look at the thesis statement:

Read with me Romans 1:16-17:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Now, turn to Romans 15:20:

It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

My theme and application:

Don’t be ashamed of the Gospel. Take the Gospel seriously.

  1. Let’s look at Romans 1:16-17 and 15:20
    1. We already read them, but we can see a corresponding passage in 2 Timothy 1:12, turn there:

That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

  1. Verse 17 references “The righteous man shall live by faith and this is a quote from Habakkuk 2:4: The Righteous shall live by faith
  2. Now, let me talk about these two verses with applications for us:
  1. We must be also eager to preach the Gospel.
    1. Paul says that he is not ashamed. If we go back and look at verse 14 he says that he is under obligation to preach the Gospel to Greeks and Barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
    2. Barbarians would be anyone who did not speak Greek. This is based off of their language.
    3. 1 Cor. 9:16 Paul writes: For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 
  2. We must not be ashamed of the Gospel. Let’s make this more personal.
    1. We must not be ashamed at school.
    2. We must not be ashamed at work.
    3. We must not be ashamed in public.
    4. We must not be ashamed on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
    5. We must not be ashamed at church. At church? You are wondering what I mean by this. Even churches are compromising the Gospel. We are compromising the Scriptures and compromising our Savior.
  3. We must proclaim the Gospel.
  4. We must have a Gospel mindset, always praying and thinking of opportunities to share.
  5. We must recognize the exclusivity of salvation and the inclusivity of the Gospel.
    1. The Gospel is the only means to salvation. So in that way Salvation is exclusive, only through Jesus. But the Gospel is inclusive, opened to all.
    2. John 3:16-18; 14:6

 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 

John 14:6:

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

  1. So, get this in John 3:18, rejecting the Son means rejecting the Father.
  2. Notice John 14:6: Jesus is the only way.
  1. Luke 9:23:

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

  1. We must recognize that the Gospel represents the Power of God. I must be compelled to worship our Mighty Savior.
  2. We must recognize that God’s righteousness is revealed. We are only righteous by faith in Christ. We are only right before God by faith in Christ. (Eph. 2:8-9) This must compel us to worship.
    1. This passage, this phrase “righteousness of God is revealed” has brought a lot of theological debate. I had a note in my Bible that says “our faith alone for salvation, not works.” I think that is key. Some would say this is talking about God’s righteousness in the way we are saved. Others would say that we only receive righteousness by trusting in Jesus. I really like both. God is righteous. But we only receive right standing before God by trusting in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Close:

A bazaar was held in a village in northern India. Everyone brought his wares to trade and sell. One old farmer brought in a whole covey of quail. He had tied a string around one leg of each bird. The other ends of all the strings were tied to a ring which fit loosely over a central stick. He had taught the quail to walk dolefully in a circle, around and around, like mules at a sugarcane mill. Nobody seemed interested in buying the birds until a devout Brahman came along. He believed in the Hindu idea of respect for all life, so his heart of compassion went out to those poor little creatures walking in their monotonous circles.

“I want to buy them all,” he told the merchant, who was elated. After receiving the money, he was surprised to hear the buyer say, “Now, I want you to set them all free.”

“What’s that, sir?”

“You heard me. Cut the strings from their legs and turn them loose. Set them all free!”

With a shrug, the old farmer bent down and snipped the strings off the quail. They were freed at last. What happened? The birds simply continued marching around and around in a circle. Finally, the man had to shoo them off. But even when they landed some distance away, they resumed their predictable march. Free, unfettered, released . . . yet they kept going around in circles as if still tied.

Until you give yourself permission to be the unique person God made you to be . . . and to do the unpredictable things grace allows you to do . . . you will be like that covey of quail, marching around in vicious circles of fear, timidity, and boredom.

Excerpted from Day by Day with Charles Swindoll, Copyright © 2000 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. (Thomas Nelson Publishers). All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.

People need Jesus.

Do you see the Gospel as healing serum which people need?

Paul was not ashamed. He wanted to preach the Gospel. He wanted to preach to those who have never heard.

Let’s review the Romans road to Salvation:

Walking Down the “Romans Road” to Salvation . . . .

  • Because of our sin, we are separated from God.
    For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  (Romans 3:23)
  • The Penalty for our sin is death.
    For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
  • The penalty for our sin was paid by Jesus Christ!
    But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
  • If we repent of our sin, then confess and trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will be saved from our sins!
    For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.  (Romans 10:13)
    …if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9,10)[1]

Go and share the Gospel:

[1] http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/about/becoming_a_christian.aspx

Be Gospel Centric as Paul was Gospel Centric (Romans intro)

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Introduction:

WHITE OUTS by Pastor Rick Sams

White outs come in the form of blizzards where you cannot see a thing. No wants to think about these after the brutal winter we’ve had.

Then there’s the kind we used before computers. Wite-Out dates to 1966 when an insurance-company clerk named George Kloosterhouse and a guy who waterproofed basements developed a correction fluid for typing mistakes. It was originally called “Wite-Out WO-1 Erasing Liquid.”*

Have you ever sent a text message that you regretted? Now you can electronically “white it out” by using Apple’s app called “Wiper Messenger.”**

Don’t you wish we had a “white out” for all your words and actions?

We try to use white out when we say we’ve “stretched the truth,” but we’ve flat out lied.

We call it “spin” when it’s actually false reporting.

“Re-inventing” products is really the same old stuff in a bigger package and bigger price.

“Revisionist history” is just bad research and recall.

“Pardon my French” is a cover up for swearing. I’ve heard French and what follows this phrase is not French.

“Bless their heart,” is often used right after we’ve smeared someone, as if this makes it right.

“Communication breakdown” is often a cover for laziness or somebody not doing their job.

“Mistakes” are too often sins.

“Affairs” are adultery.

“Issues” are really problems–usually big and bad.

But the Bible says there really are do-overs and white outs: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18b).

Jesus’ death on Good Friday didn’t just white out our sin. He took our pain and penalty on Himself, which was separation from God.

But you must RECEIVE this gift for it to “work.” You must receive HIM: “To those who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 1:12; 11:25).

What a Savior. What a white out.[1]

Okay, that is exactly what we are going to start talking about today. We are beginning a sermon series on Romans. We will go through Romans chapter 11 over the next few months. We will not hit every verse, but instead I will be picking out key sections in each chapter. Romans is all about our great salvation. This is Paul’s treatise on salvation.

Do you think about your salvation?

What are you saved from?

How are you saved? Are you saved by works? Can you earn your salvation?

We find a lot of those answers in Romans.

Today, I want to introduce Paul’s Thesis in Romans and give a little bit of background to Romans.

My theme and application:

Be Gospel Centric as Paul was Gospel Centric.

Read with me Romans 1:16-17:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Now, turn to Romans 15:20:

It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

  1. Let’s start with the point, person and time of the writing of Romans
    1. Over a million people lived in Rome at the time of this writing.
    2. Paul most likely wrote Romans from Corinth around A.D. 57.
    3. The theme of Romans is the revelation of God’s judging and saving righteousness in the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the cross of Christ, God judges sin and yet at the same time manifests his saving mercy.[2]
    4. Let’s think more about Rome.
    5. What are some things that you think of from Rome?
    6. Anyone answer this.
    7. Has anyone here ever been to Rome?
    8. The Colosseum is estimated to have seated more than 45,000 for gladiatorial spectacles.
    9. Daily life in Rome could be luxurious for the wealthy but onerous for others. Multiple aqueducts and a huge sewer system provided for the immense water requirements of Rome, including the many bathhouses, fountains, and latrines. Food had to be imported to satisfy the needs of this thriving metropolis, and the emperor often directly oversaw the vital grain supply. Luxury villas in Rome were the privileged possessions of the wealthiest families (often of senatorial or equestrian rank) and especially of the emperors, but most of the housing in ancient Rome consisted of insulae(multistory apartment buildings often constructed above first-floor shops). Contemporary authors spoke of a severely overcrowded, loud, and smelly city—a place that provided every virtue and vice known to mankind. The residents of Rome were mostly pagan, although a sizable Jewish population also existed (as evidenced both by 1st-century literature and by later remains of inscriptions). The expulsion of the Jews under the emperor Claudius (d. 49) was a limited measure.
    10. Getting into Romans:
    11. Some specific theological topics include principles of spiritual leadership (1:8–15); God’s wrath against sinful mankind (1:18–32); principles of divine judgment (2:1–16); the universality of sin (3:9–20); an exposition and defense of justification by faith alone (3:21–4:25); the security of salvation (5:1–11); the transference of Adam’s sin (5:12–21); sanctification (chs. 6–8); sovereign election (ch. 9); God’s plan for Israel (ch. 11); spiritual gifts and practical godliness (ch. 12); the believer’s responsibility to human government (ch. 13); and principles of Christian liberty “(14:1–15:12).
    12. The Epistle to the Romans is, by popular consent, the greatest of Paul’s writings. William Tyndale, the great English reformer and translator, referred to Romans as

“the principle and most excellent part of the New Testament.” He went on to say the following in his prologue to Romans that he wrote in the 1534 edition of his English New Testament:

“No man verily can read it too oft or study it too well; for the more it is studied the easier it is, the more it is chewed the pleasanter it is, and the more groundly [sic] it is searched the preciouser [sic] things are found in it, so great treasures of spiritual things lieth hid therein.”

  1. Martin Luther wrote the following commendation of this epistle. “[Romans] is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. It can never be read or pondered too much, and the more it
  2. We find Paul’s purpose written in Romans 1:16-17 and I believe in 15:20:

So, as we look at Romans, that is Paul’s Thesis:

Romans 1:16-17:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

We will come back to this next week.

But I see another core belief in Romans:

Now, turn to Romans 15:20:

It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

Paul wanted to go to Rome and use Rome as staging point to launch a ministry to Spain, wow!

But as we look at this passage, are you Gospel Centric? Paul was centered on the Gospel.

Next are you sure of your salvation?

Think about “white-out.” Have your sins been whited out?

Walking Down the “Romans Road” to Salvation . . . .

  • Because of our sin, we are separated from God.
    For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  (Romans 3:23)
  • The Penalty for our sin is death.
    For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
  • The penalty for our sin was paid by Jesus Christ!
    But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
  • If we repent of our sin, then confess and trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will be saved from our sins!
    For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.  (Romans 10:13)
    …if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9,10)[3]

So, have you asked God to use the “white out” on your sin?

Pray

[1] * I read this in Rick’s Ramblings from Rick Sams. He referenced: “Forgiveness Is God’s Gift to ‘Wite-Out’ Mistakes,” John Ortberg, PreachingToday.com 8/5/14 **“Delete Your Conversations from Other People’s Phones,” Kim Komando blog (9-9-14)

[2] ESV Study Bible

[3] http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/about/becoming_a_christian.aspx