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Private Notes
The book of Romans seeks to answer every essential question pertaining to God, man, Christ, the Holy Spirit, sin, salvation and newness of the Christian life. It is all about the gospel and the ability of God to redeem a broken and fallen world by providing the one thing people need the most: the righteousness of God. This week we'll begin our study by exploring the incredible power of the gospel and how we are saved.
As you consider sharing the gospel with someone you love, where do you begin? Many people naturally go to "God loves you" or "God has a wonderful plan for your life." Though certainly true, Romans begins the explanation of the gospel at the heart of depravity. Paul draws attention to what a society that rejects God and is given over to the lusts of their flesh, degrading passions and depraved minds looks like. This realization of personal moral darkness brings an even greater degree of value to the gospel. The beauty of the message of salvation is that despite our moral inability, God calls us out of darkness through the finished work of Jesus. Join us this week for a candid look at total depravity and the various forms this takes in our world.
Apart from faith in Jesus, nothing can make us right in God's sight. We have all sinned and there is nothing we can do to fix the problem we have. No law, not even God's Law, can change our flawed hearts. No good deed can make up for the sin in our lives. Nothing about us is right. Nothing. The question we ask this week is whether or not we are finally done trying, and ready to start trusting.
After three-and-a-half chapters of walking us through the doctrine of total depravity, and proving man's inability to make himself righteous before a holy God and escape the condemnation we fully deserve, the Apostle Paul shows us exactly how it is God saves us. This portion of Scripture is the epicenter of your entire Bible. It is the good news: the gospel. What we'll study this week has the power to bring us from death to life, if we'll only believe.
Justification by faith is a crucial theological truth packed full of real life implications. Based on the finished work of Jesus Christ we are declared righteous. And this is all accomplished by faith. But what is faith? Scripture reminds us, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). This week we dig into the mystery of faith and show that faith is moving beyond a belief about Christ to a solid conviction in Christ. Faith is our connection to Christ apart from good deeds, despite our poor moral performance and without religious assistance. Faith is our personal conviction placed in Jesus Christ and Him alone.
The first several chapters of Romans remind us that we are dead in our transgressions and sins. It ruthlessly points out the depth of our depravity and steadily reminds us that without faith in Jesus Christ we have no hope for salvation. But as the book continues, the hope in the gospel unfolds. This week’s message deals with the benefits of justification by faith and the privilege we have in Christ. Due to the finished work of Christ we are invited into participation in four key elements: let us enjoy peace with God, let us exult in the hope of the glory of God, let us exult in our tribulations and let us exult in God through Christ. The gospel not only grants us a positional peace with God but also offers us a tremendous invitation to enjoy the benefits of the gospel.
How can we who died to sin still live in it? In this passage, Paul is not speaking to the influence or presence of sin but rather the mastery and obligation to sin. The beauty of the gospel is that it both saves and sanctifies. We are brought to faith in Christ by the power of the gospel in our lives. Our union with Christ breaks the mastery and obligation to sin and we are therefore set free to walk in a newness of life. Our new pattern of life with Christ is not defined by a repeated cycle of struggle, shame and regret, but instead our identification with Christ sets us free. Our process of knowing what Christ has done for us, of considering ourselves dead to sin but alive to God, and the ongoing process of presenting ourselves to God redefines our spiritual journey. No longer trapped in an endless cycle, we are now set free to pursue Jesus and submit to His authority in our life.
As believers, we are no longer slaves of sin. But knowing and even believing that will do us no good until or unless we come to a place in our lives where we don't want to live a life of sin anymore. We no longer sin because we have to, but some of us continue to sin because, if we are honest, we want to. We see some sort of benefit to sin, at least from time to time. But this is a lie. We need to open our eyes to the devastation that all sin brings. We will never have victory over sin if we still see ourselves as slaves of sin. And we will never have victory over sin until we believe that sin – any and every sin – brings us death. Do you really believe that?
If we are "good" Christians, we try hard to not sin. We try to find out what God wants us to do, and then we try really hard to follow His laws. And yet so many of us, no matter how determined, continue to fail. What's wrong? Are we missing something? The answer is probably yes, but it may surprise you to find out what it is. It doesn't matter how many of God's laws you love and memorize. It doesn't matter how much willpower you have to follow them. Sin will always result as long as we continue to try with our own power and strength (what the Bible calls our flesh). Sin is too powerful and our flesh is too weak. But the good news is that God never left us to do it alone.
Our salvation was originated by God. Our sanctification is divinely produced as well. Yet too many Christians are trying to live their lives by human effort and self-motivation. Unfortunately these are ineffective agents for life change. Thankfully, upon placing our faith in Jesus Christ we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. God dwells among us and faithfully completes the work He started. He calls and we must respond. Divine initiative meets human response as we walk day by day, moment by moment, thought by thought, by the Spirit.
Throughout our study of Romans we've seen how the gospel has saved us from the penalty of sin and how it's currently saving us from the power of sin. But what about the very presence of sin that so easily entangles us and has brought about much suffering in this world? Is there a day coming when the very presence of sin will be done away with? In this passage, the Apostle Paul shows us how suffering is a divine requirement for the follower of Christ, yet in our suffering God has provided both a hope for a future day and a divine help for our present circumstances that helps us to persevere and hold on until the end. In God's sovereignty, He can use even the worst of trials to bring about our good and His glory.
Did God choose you or did you choose God? The answer is a frustrating yes. The Bible seems to teach both sides of this conundrum and does not apologize for the perceived contradiction. Depending on the text of Scripture we explore, the issue can be articulated from both sides. Our responsibility as people of the Book is to accurately explain each passage we encounter with a faithfulness to the text. Romans 9 has caused a stir in the faith community for centuries. In these verses Paul explains the concept of God’s sovereign electing purposes and clearly communicates Gods initiative in our salvation. Though our personal decision is certainly a part of the process, it is a much smaller part than we may have once believed. In fact our personal responsibility is shadowed by the sovereign electing purposes of God. This chapter expands our view of God and brings to our attention His initiative on our behalf from before the foundations of the world.
On the heels of Romans 9, where the Apostle Paul showed us an exalted view of the sovereign mercy of God in our salvation, Paul now shifts gears in chapter 10 to our responsibility as God's chosen instruments for delivering the message of that salvation to the world around us. In doing so, Paul also shows us some of the reasons why much of the Jewish nation currently rejects the message of Christ and why it's essential we continue to preach the gospel boldly, even amidst that rejection.
In the early pages of the Bible God promises to Abraham and his descendants that He would give them land, seed and blessing. In this promise hangs the faithfulness of God. If God is truly a promise-keeping God then we must anticipate a fulfillment of these things one day. Yet the church is a profoundly Gentile gathering and the nation of Israel today does not enjoy the peace God has ultimately promised. Thankfully Romans 11 shows us the eventual restoration of the nation of Israel and the complete fulfillment of these ancient promises. These verses remind us that God’s promises, His Word and His intention can be trusted. After three very difficult chapters of theological truth Paul ends this section with an incredible call to worship God for His wisdom, knowledge and judgments, for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
