Richard Cimino - Amazon S366/20160321_Roma… · Richard Cimino – Route66 ... But let me say this...

Richard Cimino – Route66 - 20160321_Romans

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ROUTE 66 Destination: Romans

Well, for those of you who are joining us tonight for the first time in our drive through the

66 books of the Bible, or those of you that are watching online that are in the same

place, tonight we come to another very important landmark.

As of tonight we’ve made our way through

the 39 books of the Old Testament,

and the first two sections of the New Testament.

The first section of the New Testament is the Gospels, the four accounts of the sinless

life, sacrificial death and victorious resurrection of Jesus.

The second section of the New Testament consists of a single book, the book of Acts.

And we looked at that last week. And the book of Acts is the selective history of the 1st

century church, penned by a guy named Luke.

Tonight we’re entering the third section of the New Testament. And it’s called the

epistles. An epistle was the name given to a written message or a letter. The New

Testament contains 21 of these letters. The epistles were essential for the 1st century

church to –

survive,

and thrive.

And nothing has changed up to the 21st century. Without them we could not survive and

thrive in a broken world –

in a world that we’ve been called to live on mission in,

in a world that has become the Great Commission for us as Jesus said, “Go into

all this world. Make the name of Jesus known throughout all the world.”


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You see, as the Gospel was being proclaimed and churches were being birthed in the

1st century, it became necessary for instruction to be given to the believers concerning –

the essentials of their faith,

and the practice of their faith.

What did they essentially believe?

And how were they supposed to live in this world?

What they believe about Jesus - we call that doctrine. I know that’s a word that is not a

comfortable word for a lot of people. It sounds stuffy. A lot of people say that if you’re

really interested in doctrine you’re kind of like the Pharisees of the Gospels. Nothing

could be further from the truth. The Bible is filled with doctrine – the things we believe –

about God,

and about His Son,

and about the Holy Spirit.

They needed to know about –

what they believe about Jesus,

and how they’re to live their lives for Jesus in a fallen world –

doctrine,

and practice.

The 21 epistles were Heaven’s solution for the church. And by way of those letters the

Holy Spirit unpacks the Gospel. The Holy Spirit, by way of these epistles, instructs the

believer about who Jesus is, what Jesus did, instructs the believer about the life

changing power that’s at work in their lives, in the lives of those who believe, what new

life in Jesus looks like as it’s being expressed from the inside out. The epistles instruct

the believer about how the redeemed are to live in their relationship vertically with their

Redeemer, how they’re to live horizontally as the redeemed living out their lives in

relationship to others who have put their faith in Jesus, and how to represent their


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Redeemer in a world that so desperately needs to be redeemed. That’s the importance

of the epistles.

The 21 epistles, they divide into three unequal parts.

There’s the general epistles, or epistles written to the church in Ephesus, or to

the church in Philippi, the groups of people that were gathered there in those

cities, generally to them. That’s Romans through 2nd Thessalonians, by the

way - the general or church epistles – Romans through 2nd Thessalonians.

Then there’s the pastoral epistles - that’s 1st Timothy through Philemon.

Then there’s the Hebrew epistles – that’s the book of Hebrews through that short

little epistle titled Jude.

And that brings the whole of the New Testament up to the last book of the Bible at that

point.

The authors of the epistles include Paul, James, Peter, John, and Jude. The epistle to

the Hebrews is the only one of these letters whose authorship is uncertain.

There are people who say, “Oh I think it’s Paul who wrote this.”

There are others who say, “No, I don’t believe it was Paul. I believe it was

somebody else.”

But let me say this – J. Sidlow Baxter, he wrote a book called, ‘Explore the Book’.

You can get it in digital media now. If you can find it in hard copy it’s about that thick.

And it takes you through all the books of the Bible. Generally each book is explored

from about two or three different angles. J. Sidlow Baxter makes this remark

concerning the importance of the epistles –

“All Scripture from Genesis to Revelation is written for us. But not all is written about us

or directly to us as Christian believers. The one part of the Bible that is written

specifically to us and about us as members of the mystic body and bride of Christ is that


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part which consists of the 9 church epistles and the 4 pastorals. Therefore, if there is

any part of Scripture which Christian believers ought to know thoroughly it is this part.”

And then Baxter went on to say something that I think is so relevant to modern church

culture. He says this –

“Nowadays in our churches there is a pathetic deficiency in the grasp of Christian

doctrine.”

And I can only say, “amen” to that, a long time after he died. Baxter lived in the early

20th century. He attributed that deficiency to how few believers actually have a grasp of

the letters that are contained in the New Testament. You see, while the Gospels

present the life of Christ, and the book of Acts explains how the Gospel went from

Jerusalem to Rome and beyond, it’s the epistles that unpack the Gospel.

They explain, they inform, they define, they direct the life and the mission of the

believer.

They inform, they define, and they direct the life of the church as we live between

the already and the not yet.

So we come tonight to the first of the epistles that we read in the Scriptures. The book

of Romans was not the first epistle to be penned. But it is first in the list of epistles.

And there’s a reason why. It’s first because it’s such a powerful and prolific

presentation of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit has used this single letter to impact lives

that would shape Christianity and history.

One of them, a guy named Augustine of Hippo, a very important person in the early

church, he was converted in the year 386 A.D. while he was reading Romans 13:13,

14. The Gospel just burst into his heart and his life as he was reading it. He was a

brilliant man, an educated man. And yet he was a grossly immoral man. And he was

troubled by the weight of his immorality. And in Romans 13:13 where it says - put off

immorality and all of these particular sins - and it says – and put on the Lord Jesus

Christ – he was like overwhelmed, and got saved from reading those two verses.


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Chrysostom, the archbishop of Constantinople, during the late 4th century, he had the

book of Romans read to him once a week. He sat and had it read to him.

And that would be the equivalent of taking it out on our iPhone, your Metro Calvary

church app, go to the book of a Bible, and it will read it out loud for you while you’re on

your way to work or school, taking a walk, working out.

Martyn Luther, his understanding of salvation was radically changed in 1513, as he

began to compare Psalm 31:1 to Romans 1:17, which essentially rehearses Habakkuk

2:4. And as the Lord showed him the tremendous reality of justification by faith, it’s the

thing that spurred the Protestant Reformation. It changed history.

John Wesley, the great English evangelist and founder of Methodism, he was

converted in 1738 by hearing Luther’s sermon on the introduction to Romans read at

Aldersgate Street in the city of London.

Luther said this about the book of Romans –

“This letter is truly the most important piece in the New Testament. It is purest Gospel.

It is well worth the Christian’s wile, not only to memorize it word for word, but also to

occupy himself with it daily as though it were the daily bread of soul.”

What a challenging declaration by this guy the Lord used to start the Protestant

Reformation! He goes on to say this –

“It’s impossible to read or to meditate on this letter too much or too well. The more one

deals with it, the more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes.”

So I think this is a good stop, a good spot, excuse me, to stop and look at why this book

is so important to us. Sidlow Baxter, talking about the doctrinal weight of this book,

Luther, his life so transformed, and being transformed in his understanding of how a

man can be saved, he’s at the forefront of the Protestant Reformation. This book is

packed with words –


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words that are at the core of what we believe,

words that explain the very nature of salvation,

words that explain why we need to be saved,

words that explain how we are saved,

words that tells us –

what God was doing for us by way of the death of His Son,

and what He accomplished by way of the death and resurrection of His

Son on our behalf,

words that tell us –

what it means to be saved,

what happens if we believe with our hearts on the Lord Jesus Christ.

In, other words, there are singular words that are packed with doctrine and theology.

Here are some of those words. You can write them down –

“righteous” or “righteousness” – we find those words nearly 40 times;

here’s a trio – “just”, “justified”, “justification” – we find those words more

than 25 times;

we find the word “gospel” more than a dozen times;

we find the word “sin” close to 40 times;

“faith” – that word over 45 times;

“grace” – that word nearly 20 times;

the word “law” – over 50 times;

the word “Spirit” – over 25 times;

and the word “flesh” – over 20 times.

Guys, simply put, salvation and the Christian life cannot be understood apart from those

concepts. And that makes Romans so incredibly important to us.


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You know, have you ever seen, I saw one in particular, like those late night talk shows,

they send out interviewers. They’re asking them questions. And people act like they

know the answer to them; but they really don’t know anything. And one time, I think it

was Jimmy Kimmel had somebody out, going out in different places, and saying, “Are

you gluten free?” “Oh, yeah, I’m gluten free.” “Really, what’s gluten?” “Uh, uh.” “Well,

why do you want to be gluten free?” “Well, because it’s really good for you to be gluten

free.” But none of them knew what in the world they were talking about.

And I was thinking, ‘What would happen if you did that in the parking lot of a church with

- “Are you justified?” “Oh yeah!” “Well, what’s that mean?” “Well, you know, it means

I’m justified.” “Well, no, really, what’s it mean?” “Are you saved?” “Oh yeah!” “Really?

How are you saved? What saves you?” I think we’d get some embarrassingly empty

answers.

Guys, Romans gives us a clear picture of what salvation and the Christian life are all

about. It gives us a clear picture, first of all, of the sinful condition of man.

We learn about sin in the book of Romans.

We learn where sin came from in Romans 5:12.

We learn about who sins in Romans 3: “23 all have sinned…”

We learn what sin does, and how it impacts our relationship with God. “The wages of

sin is death.” It kills man’s relationship with God. The entrance of sin brought death.

It created all of the wreckage we see on this planet.

We learn what can’t save us from sin. In Romans 3: 20 we’re told that good works will

never save you from sin.

We learn the one and only way to be saved from sin. In Romans 3:21 it says – “but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe.”


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We learn about the importance of proclaiming the Gospel. In Romans 10:13 Paul says

for people to believe they need to hear the Gospel;

for people to hear someone needs to preach or proclaim the Gospel;

and proclaimers must be sent out.”

And, by the way, when we dismiss at the end of every service, here that’s what you’re

being sent out to do. With your life and with your words you’re being sent out to

proclaim the message of salvation.

People need to hear the Gospel.

For someone to hear, somebody has to proclaim the Gospel.

Proclaimers need to be sent.

So let’s dive into - let’s dive in first of all to the author.

The first word of the first verse of the first chapter identifies Paul as the author of

Romans.

Romans 1: “1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,” At the end of the book in Romans 16:22 we’re told that essentially a guy named Tertius

transcribed it.

Romans 16: “22 I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.” There’s zero scholarly reason to doubt the authorship of Romans. Even the ancient

heretics ascribed this letter to Paul. When we first meet the author of the letter to the

Romans we know him by another name. We know him by the name of Saul. And we

meet him first in Acts 7:58.

Acts 7: “58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.”


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In Acts 9 we’re told that Saul was originally from Tarsus. This guy Saul was a Jewish

rabbi. He belonged to a sect of Judaism known as the Pharisees. And as a member of

the Pharisees it mean that this Saul of Tarsus was ultra-devoted to the book of Moses,

was zealous in his adherence to all of the religious traditions of the Jews – circumcision,

dietary laws, the keeping of the Sabbath. This Saul was radical in his opposition to the

Gospel. And he was fanatical in his zeal to eliminate Christians and Christianity. In

Philippians 3:6 Paul would write concerning himself before he came to faith in Jesus –

“as to zeal, a persecutor of the church”.

In the book of Acts we’re told that he was wreaking havoc on the early church. And the

word there to wreak havoc means – it’s like a term they would use when they were

describing what a wild animal would do to its prey. Saul, in his letter to a young man

that he personally discipled, a guy that he led to faith and discipled in ministry, a kid

named Timothy, Paul described himself in his first letter to Timothy as a persecutor, and

as injurious. Saul was the ruling authority in the murder of the first martyr in the history

of the church, a young man named Stephen. Saul authorized it. He supervised it. Saul

hated the name of Jesus. Saul hated those who loved Jesus and proclaimed Jesus as

the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world. Now why so much hatred? Well,

Saul, the zealous Pharisee believed that Jesus and those proclaimed the good news

concerning Jesus posed what we would just say is an existential threat to the religious

security of the nation of Israel. But all of that changed one day while he was on his way

to Damascus. And he was going to Damascus.

And in a couple of weeks a bunch of us are going to be in Israel. At the end of that tour

we’re going to be up on a place called Mount Pantel. And we’re going to look out. And

from that mountain we’re going to see the road to Damascus. It’s amazing to look at.

He was on his way to Damascus. And he had permission from the religious leaders of

Israel to go all the way to Damascus to persecute and imprison Christians. And there

on the way to put Christians in jail, or put Christians to death, he met the risen Lord

Jesus. And in a day –


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he went from being the archenemy of Jesus,

to being a disciple of Jesus;

he went from the most strident and violent opponent of the Gospel,

to the greatest proponent of the good news of Jesus.

And the one who inflicted so much suffering on the lives of those who loved Jesus was

himself so radically transformed by the life and the love of Jesus that he would say this

later. He would say in his second letter to Timothy -

“Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” Before, he was inflicting suffering. And now he says I’ll endure anything so that other

people will come to know Jesus, the Jesus that loves me. The Jesus that I persecuted,

and yet he pursued me and saved me, I’ll suffer anything for Him so that those who are

going to be on their way to Heaven would know Him. Well, his name was changed to

Paul. And the Lord called and appointed him to be an apostle. Paul traveled as a

missionary all over the ancient Roman world. Wherever he went people believed the

account of all God to did to save us in the sending of His Son Jesus. And those who

believed they started to form communities. They started to gather. And Paul identified

those collections of believers by the Greek word ‘ecclesia’. And we find that word some

136 times, at least in the ESV version of the New Testament.

14 of those times it’s translated as “assembly”.

4 of those times it’s translated as “congregation”.

118 of those times it’s translated as “church”.

Over time Paul wrote letters to those local assemblies of believers to address problems,

to answer questions, because, you see, nothing’s changed in the history of the church.

Churches have problems. I think some people, the first problem they run into in church,

they run out the door, and go look for another church. Surprise, you’re going to find

problems, because you’re going to find people - sinners that have been saved by grace.


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And we’re all broken people that Jesus is turning into something wonderful. The book

of Romans is one of those letters.

So here’s a list of those letters that Paul wrote by date and place written, okay? So

here they are. This is the chronological order that they were written -

He wrote 1st Thessalonians while he was in Corinth in 52 A.D.

He wrote 2nd Thessalonians while he was in Corinth in 52 A.D.

He wrote 1st Corinthians while he was in Ephesus in 57 A.D.

He wrote 2nd Corinthians while he was in Macedonia the same year.

He wrote Galatians while he was in Corinth in 57, 58 A.D.

And he wrote this letter that we’re looking at tonight, Romans, while he was in Corinth

in 58 A.D.

Then he wrote Colossians while he was imprisoned in Rome in 63 A.D.

Ephesians and Philippians – all the same place, all the same time –

Philippians as late as 64 A.D.

When you read Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome have you noticed how all of this

amazing content, this doctrinal, theological, practical content concerning the Gospel,

that it’s framed out in this kind of bouncing back and forth from Gentile to Jew? There’s

kind of this tension as you’re reading the content, as Paul is trying to frame out Gospel

truth between Jewish and Gentile people. I believe that that’s at the heart of why Paul

wrote to the church in Rome. In Acts 18:1 we see that the church in Rome was made

up of Jews who had come to believe in Jesus, and non-Jewish people, Gentiles who

had come to faith in Jesus.

A number of years before Paul wrote this letter the Roman Emperor Claudius had all of

the Jews banished from Rome. He drove them all out of the city. About five years later

the Jews, including Jews who had become Christian, they were allowed to return to

Rome. But, you see, when the Jewish Christians came back to the community of

believers in Rome that community of believers didn’t look very Jewish anymore. It

looked much more Gentile. It had become very non-Jewish.


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And just as we see throughout the journeys of Paul in the book of Acts, a lot of tension

began to surface around the relationship of the Gentile Christian to the Old Testament

Scriptures. It centered around how the Gospel believing Gentile was supposed to relate

to things like the Sabbath, and dietary laws, and circumcision.

Paul was a man of tremendous vision. And he saw the importance of Rome in the

advance of the Gospel westward into Spain and beyond. Paul talks about how he

wanted to get to Rome, and he wanted to minister there, and bless them, and

encourage them, and from there go on to Spain. Paul wanted to preach the Gospel

where people had never heard. And Paul understood that the church in Rome would be

a sending church for him, would send him with the Gospel to places that the Gospel had

never been preached.

But he understood that unity within the church in Rome was crucial for the advance of

the Gospel. And let me tell you something – If you want to see the advance of the

Gospel brought to a screeching halt, it happens by way of dividing churches. It’s one of

the enemy’s greatest tools - is to get at work within a congregation, within a local

assembly of believers, and divide them on any ground, for any reason, because it brings

the real work of the Gospel to a grinding halt. And that’s why we see the Gospel

explained in a way that connects Jew and Gentile to Jesus.

Romans is a long letter. It contains four movements of thought. You can write this

down real fast. And we’re going to work our way through it rather quickly.

1. Chapters 1-4 is the first movement.

2. Chapters 5-8 is the second.

3. Chapters 9-11 is the third.

4. Chapters 12-16 is the fourth.

So let’s move through the first major movement – Chapters 1-4.


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In chapter 1 Paul begins to tell the story of the non-Jewish world. He tells his readers

that all of humanity is just trapped in sin, that sin is just pulling all of humanity downward

into corruption and being condemned before God. And he says that the heart of every

man, every woman is turned in on itself because of idolatry, because they’ve given

ultimate allegiance to created things rather than God who’s the Creator. And there in

chapter 1 Paul shows how idolatry has totally distorted what it means to be a real

human being. He says that in Romans 1:21-32.

Romans 1: “21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and 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. 28 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. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” It’s powerful. It is so powerful. Just reading it through today, I’m just going, ‘What a

wreck sin has made of human beings.’ There in chapter 1 he tells how idolatry left man

desperately in need of God’s grace and God’s mercy in Romans 1:18.

Romans 1: “18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” In chapter 2 Paul paints the picture of how the Orthodox Jew responds to that condition

of man. The descendants of Abraham would be thinking, ‘Well, it’s good for us that God


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showed us grace and mercy. God led us out of Egypt. God showed us how to be

really, really the people that he made man to be, because he gave us the law. And he

gave us the practices of keeping the Sabbath, and eating Kosher, and being

circumcised.’ And Paul has to point out to them that history, the history of Israel proves

that the descendants of Abraham are just as corrupted in their hearts as any Gentile.

And Paul says that the Jews are just as sinful, just as lost, just as desperate for grace

and mercy as the Gentile world.

In chapter 3 Paul concludes that all of humanity is broken, all of humanity is trapped in

their sin, their rebellion, their selfishness, their idolatry. Look at Romans 3 with me if

you would, verse 9 – He says -

Romans 3: “9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”” And then at verse 18 – He says -

Romans 3: “18 There is no fear of God before their eyes. 19 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 the whole world may be held accountable to God.” That’s the condition of man – Jew and Gentile. The resolution for this hopeless mess of

humanity is found at the end of chapter 3 where Paul unpacks for us the ultimate

significance of Jesus, the ultimate significance of the good news concerning His death

and His resurrection, and why His death, why His resurrection really is good news to us.

He makes it clear that Jesus is the promised Messiah of Israel. He makes it clear that

the death of Jesus on the cross was a sacrifice, that there on the cross Jesus bore all of

humanity’s wickedness and sin - everything that he laid out with no censorship in

chapter 1. Jesus bore all of humanity’s wickedness and sin so that through Him all sin

and the penalty, the just penalty for sin could be paid for once and for all. And Paul

says that it’s by trusting all that Jesus did for us by His death on the cross, and only by


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trusting Him, that we can receive forgiveness of sin, come into a right relationship with

God, find life, real life in that relationship with God, who is life.

Paul has a word for it – it’s a very important word for what Jesus did for us that

becomes ours only by trusting in who He is and what He did for us – it’s the word

“justification”. It’s a big, big word.

In Romans 3: “21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, …”

That word “propitiation” – wrath appeasing sacrifice.

In Romans 3: “25 … by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he (this is God) might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” You see, Jesus settled the problem of judgment of God for us. God is just to forgive us,

because Jesus paid the just penalty. And if we believe in Him, He justifies us. He

cannot justify you and me, make it just as if we’d never sinned, if he hadn’t taken care of

Divine justice.

Paul closes the section by saying that God’s purposes for humanity have been fulfilled

through Jesus, the one who’s the Messiah of Israel.

But Paul makes it clear that –

you don’t have to become Jewish to be justified;

you don’t have to become Jewish to have that relationship with God.

And that, guys, was an utterly scandalous concept to the Jew, beyond comprehension

that the crucified Messiah of Israel died to save people out of all the Gentile nations.


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And Paul makes it clear, he says, “Man, I’m not in any way contradicting the Law and

the Prophets.” He explains to them that Jesus is what the Law and the Prophets were

all about. And what Jesus did was already foretold and contained in the Law and the

Prophets. And that’s why he turns to the story of Abraham in chapter 4.

In chapter 4 Paul reminds them of how before there was the Law of God, that God had

promised Abraham that through Abraham all the nations of the world would be blessed.

All the nation would be blessed, not by adhering to the Law, but by being like Abraham,

by simply putting their faith in the promises of God. Abraham was, and we’re told there

in verse 21 –

Romans 4: “21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” Paul wraps up this first section by saying that you belong to God by putting your faith in

Jesus, who was the one through whom all of God’s promises are fulfilled. So this first

section, the first four chapters, all humans are a hopeless mess, we all need to be

saved by God’s grace, that salvation comes through trusting Jesus, the promised

Messiah of Israel. We’re not saved by keeping the Law. We’re not saved by keeping

the Sabbath, eating Kosher, being circumcised. God’s purposes in redemption has

always been to have a kingdom and a people that extend beyond the descendants of

Abraham. And as we see in the book of Revelation, His is a kingdom that includes

people from every nation.

Revelation 5: “9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.””

every tribe,

every ethnicity.


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Second section – Chapters 5-8

In this section Paul goes on to explain how the death and resurrection of Jesus –

make us not just members of God’s family,

but make us actually brand new human beings.

The really big idea in this section is justification through faith. Romans 5:1 is one of the

massive declarations of the entire Bible. The whole of the Old Testament was moving

towards this declaration. And this declaration in Romans 5:1 it does two things –

1. It explains the work of the cross;

2. And it explains the way we benefit from what Jesus did by His death on the cross.

Romans 5:1 – Look at it in your Bibles please -

Romans 5: “1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, …” This is so huge. When people trust in the sinless life and sacrificial death of Jesus –

they’re justified;

they’re forgiven of their sins;

and they’re put into a right relationship with God.

From there Paul explains how that truth shapes their lives.

Here’s how one guy put it. He says –

“God isn’t just populating His kingdom. He’s making a new humanity in Jesus.”

And that’s why Paul goes all the way back to the very first human, Adam. His name

means – man or humanity. Paul points out that Adam chose sin. He chose autonomy

from God. He wanted to be independent from God. And the outcome of that choice is

what’s behind the wreckage of the world around us. Sin and death entered the world by

way of Adam –


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not just cessation of biological life,

but the absence of life derived from a fellowship, a living relationship with God

who is the author of life itself.

In the Gospels, in John 10:10 Jesus said –

John 10: “10 I came that – so He’s saying, here’s why I came - I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” He was talking to living, breathing human beings. Biological life was not a problem.

They were all there. Hearts were beating. Brains were functioning. Gasses

exchanged. But He says, “I came that you can have real life.”

So ever since Adam, because –

all humanity has chosen to sin,

all of humanity has chosen autonomy from God;

He says that mankind, as a result of that, has –

earned God’s righteous judgment,

and has become slaves to sin.

And then Paul contrasts Adam with Jesus. Now this is so important, guys. And I really

want to challenge you. Dig in here, and follow, please. Jesus is the new Adam. He’s

the one who perfectly obeyed God. And then in an act of perfect love He offered His

sinless life as the sacrifice for our sin. And now He offers His life; He offers His love to

fallen men and women, who by faith in Him can be justified, made right with God, and

receive the very life and the very love of Jesus Christ.

Jesus stands as the head of a whole new humanity, even as Adam stood as the head of

the old humanity.

Jesus stands as the head of a whole new humanity that’s being transformed by His

love, and by the gift of life that He has given to us.


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Guys, according to the Bible there are two categories of humanity.

Now let me tell you why this is so important to you, because if you get this –

you’re going to understand the news at 10;

you’re going to understand the first page on your web browser of whatever your

news source is;

you’re going to understand the wreckage that you see;

you’re going to understand the brokenness;

you’re going to be able to understand life.

You see, everybody, nobody is questioning whether or not the world is broken.

They’re all trying to explain why it’s broken, and how it can be fixed.

Get this, and you’re going to be able to engage them.

According to the Bible there are two categories of humanity.

1. There’s the old humanity that’s fallen and broken because of sin.

2. And there’s a new humanity that’s being created in Jesus.

There are –

those who are in Adam,

and those who are in Christ.

The two categories of humanity -

those who are in Adam,

those who are in Jesus.

We tend to see things not quite that way.

We see things in terms of nations and races.


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We see genders and cultures.

We see social-economic backgrounds.

Guys, you can take –

all of the nations,

all the races,

gender,

culture,

social-economic backgrounds;

But in all of that there are two categories.

those who are under Adam,

and those who are under Jesus.

And here’s what Paul is saying, okay?

Those who are under Adam receive his sin.

Those who are under Jesus receive His sinlessness.

Those who are under Adam die.

Those who are under Jesus live.

Those who are under Adam are experiencing condemnation.

Those who are under Jesus are experiencing justification.

Those who are under Adam are unrighteous.

Those who are under Jesus are made righteous by Jesus.

And I’m going to pause there. Guys, you and I by nature are no more righteous than

anybody under Adam. If you’re a Christian you are not by nature any more righteous

than anybody who’s still under Adam. We are made righteous by Jesus. God has

taken His righteousness and put it on us by faith, okay?


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Under Adam there are those who are disobedient.

And those who are in Jesus are obedient.

To be under Adam you need to be born.

To be under Jesus you need to be born again.

Outside of faith in Jesus –

Adam’s sin is imputed, reckoned and imparted to you, okay?

Adam’s sin is imparted, imputed, reckoned to you.

By faith in Jesus righteousness and salvation are imparted to you through –

His sinless life,

His substitutionary death,

His bodily resurrection,

and His victory over sin and death itself.

What a contrast!

You are either under Adam;

Or you’re under Jesus.

Under Adam – death, sin and Hell.

Under Jesus – life, forgiveness and Heaven.

Why do we need to go and tell the world about Jesus? Because if it wasn’t for Jesus –

if you’re a Christian, if it wasn’t for Jesus you would still be under Adam. And all that

would belong to you is sin and Hell. But because of Jesus what belongs to you is life,

forgiveness and Heaven - two humanities.

In chapter 6 Paul reminds the Christians in Rome that when they chose to believe in

Jesus and follow Jesus, they actually made a choice. They made a choice –


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to leave the old Adam humanity, marked by sin, and independence from God,

and to enter into the humanity that was being made new in Jesus.

And he tells the believers there in Romans 6 that there was something that was –

very symbolic,

very important,

very representative – of that decision –

and it’s baptism.

Baptism is an outward expression of the inward reality that the old humanity died and

was buried with Jesus, and that they were raised to their new humanity by way of their

union with the risen Jesus. Guys, this is so incredibly huge! In a literal and experiential

way the authentic Christian is united with Jesus in a life-changing, eternity-changing

way! Do you understand?

Being a Christian is not belonging to a sub-culture?

Being a Christians is not about –

I’m doing Christian stuff;

And I hang out with Christian people;

And I listen to Christian music;

And I do Christian stuff.

No, being a Christian means that in a literal experiential way you have been united with

Jesus. And your union with Jesus is life-changing, eternity-changing. What’s true of

Jesus is true of you. Your identity is literally rooted in Jesus. You see, when we believe

with our hearts on the Lord Jesus we’re liberated from that old life that was rooted in

what? – rebellion and autonomy from God – that was our identity. Our lives were rooted

in our rebellion and our declared independence from God. That’s who we were. But

when you believe with your hearts on the Lord Jesus we’re liberated from that life and

what we were rooted in; and we become new in every way. We become a people who

at the core are driven by a new desire, a desire to love God with all of our hearts, soul,


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mind and strength, and love our neighbor as ourselves. That starts to work in our lives

because we are rooted in Jesus.

In chapter 7 Paul sets out to answer a question. If creating this new humanity was

always God’s purpose, what was God’s purpose in creating the law? What was that

for? And you need to understand – and this is not a small side note – sometimes when

Paul uses the word Law he’s referring to the unified story of God in the Old Testament,

and in particular, the first 5 books of the Bible known as the Torah. But sometimes he

specifically, when he uses the word Law he’s referring to the 613 commands given by

God through Moses to the descendants to Abraham. And the latter is Paul’s focus in

Romans. So the question is – What in the world was the purpose of all those

commands? And Romans 7 is Paul’s answer. Romans 7 is Paul’s answer to what

was all that about? God, if your purpose from the very beginning was to create a new

humanity, why did you give the Law to Abraham’s descendants? Well, Paul says that

the commands of the Law - they’re good; they show God’s will for how Israel was

supposed to live, how they were to represent God in the world. But when you read the

storyline of their history, Israel broke all of them. The more Law they received, the more

they replayed the sin of Adam –

rebelled against God,

declared their independence from God.

And here’s the point – and it’s a big one – Giving people moral rules to obey did not fix

the problem. The problem was the sinful human heart. And Paul points out the

paradox that the Law that was intended to make us more good, actually made us more

guilty. And Paul is saying that the paradox is the point. Sin has hijacked the human

heart. The Law, as good as it is, can’t do a thing about the fallen human heart. But it

reveals how hopelessly lost we are, and how desperately we need a Savior.

Roman 7:24 - in the New Living Translation – “24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”


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The Law set forth Israel as the object lesson for all of mankind. It exposed and revealed

to Israel how their hearts were in bondage to sin. But God sent a Savior, Jesus. And

where Israel failed, Jesus dealt with and paid for all of that sin by His death and

resurrection.

In chapter 8 – it’s such a magnificent chapter. Paul is going to show that the Holy Spirit

is at work to transform sinners into the humans that look like Jesus.

God saved us from something.

But He saves us to something.

He’s going to show that the Holy Spirit is working in the hearts of saved men and

women so they can really live out the commandment of God to love God with all our

heart, soul, mind and strength, to love our neighbor as our self. And there in Romans 8

Paul goes on to show that God not only want to renew humans, He makes it clear that

one day he’s going to usher in a whole brand new creation –

where His love gets the final word,

where His glory is recognized as the only true glory.

And all of that raises a reasonable question. If that was God’s purpose, what about

Paul’s Jewish brothers and sisters who don’t recognize Jesus as the Messiah?

Because he’s dealing with these two people groups, right? –

those who were ethnically Jewish, but professed faith in Jesus;

and those who were not ethnically Jewish, who professed faith in Jesus.

And there’s tension. There’s things that need to be resolved. And he’s working his way

through those issues by bringing the gospel to bear on all of it.

And Paul addresses that question in the third major section – Chapters 9-11.


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Paul shows how God still has a plan for the nation of Israel. And I think this is so

important because, do you know what? – A huge, huge chunk of modern church culture

has no heart for Israel. They have no concern. They think Israel as a nation today is –

irrelevant,

and actually an irritant.

Paul opens this section by telling the Christians in Rome – remember this is a mixed

congregation – he’s telling the Christians in Rome about his profound anguish over his

fellow Jews who have refused to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. And what must that

have been like when it was read, when this letter was read? Imagine you’re a Gentile

Christian. And you’ve been living through this kind of tension on these issues with your

Jewish brothers and sisters in Jesus. And then Paul writes to you. And he says, “I

have anguish for Jews who don’t know Jesus.” Suddenly that just changes the scene.

He’s grieved in his soul, deeply grieved over his ethnic brothers and sisters who have

rejected Jesus. But then he acknowledges that none of it was a surprise to God. And

essentially he gives in short form a re-telling of the history of Israel. And he points out

that God had chosen a subset of Abraham’s descendants to be the lineage from which

the Messiah would come into the world. But then he shows simultaneously that God

has always intended to save men and women who were not descendants of Abraham.

Look at Romans 9:25. It says -

Romans 9: “25 As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people (in other words – not Israel) I will call ‘my people’, and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’” 26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people’, there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”” The people who were Jews would look at the Gentiles, and go, “You are not the people

of God.” God says, “No, they’re going to be called my people.”

In chapter 10 Paul explains why so many descendants of Abraham rejected Jesus. He

says that they became so focused on keeping the commands of the Law. And they saw

that as the basis of their relationship with God that they failed to recognize what God

was doing for them in Jesus. Man, in the Gospels, think about who were the enemies of


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Jesus – the religious leaders of Israel, the people who would say to Jesus, “Well, we

have Abraham as our father.”

In chapter 11 Paul asks the question – and this is so important – he really wants to just

burrow into the hearts of the Gentile believers in Rome –

He says, “Is God done with ethnic Israel?”

And he emphatically answers that. He says, “No.”

And he actually uses himself as living proof it. He says in –

Romans 11: “I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.” No, God’s not rejected His people. But He does say that many Jews reject Jesus. But

their rejection would be used by God to the saving of many Gentiles. And in that God’s

promise to Abraham in Genesis 22:18 where through Abraham all the nations of the

world would blessed, that’s being fulfilled.

Genesis 22:18 – in the New Living Translation – “8 And through your descendants, Abraham, all the nations of the earth will be blessed…” Those Gentiles who come to faith in Jesus, they don’t replace the nation of Israel in the

plans and purposes of God. In Acts 10 we see the Lord beginning to bring the Gospel

to those who were not ethnically Jewish - the house of Cornelius, a Roman guy, a

centurion. And from that time until today there are ethnic Jews –

who have recognized Jesus as the promised Messiah of Israel,

who have trusted Jesus to save them.

Our tour guide, in a couple weeks in Israel, is one of those Jews. He is ethnically

Jewish. But he met Jesus as his Savior.

But as a nation, as a nation, Israel is blind to the Gospel.


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Some of my first trips to Israel, like 6-7 busloads of people, and I would be like a pastor

on one of the buses, and each bus would have its own Jewish tour guide. And an

Israeli would be a tour guide. And my tour guide for the first couple of tours wasn’t a

Christian.

And you should have heard that guy quote the Bible.

You should have heard that guy talk about Jesus, chapter and verse.

And I will never forget how it hit me, the reality of what Paul was saying in the book of

Romans, where he says, “And God has given them over to partial blindness.” And

I’m thinking, ‘How can these guys do this for their living? They point out the very sights

where Jesus was. They understand that Jesus wasn’t fable; He wasn’t fiction; He isn’t

make-believe; He was a real guy who was really Jewish, who walked in their land. And

they don’t see Him as the Messiah, just as Paul explained in Romans. There in the 1st

century A.D. Paul says that the focus of God has shifted away from the nation of Israel

onto the Gentile nations, and that at this time He’s gathering countless Gentile men and

women into His kingdom.

But there’s going to come a time when God is once again going to deal with Israel as a

nation. And we find that in the book of Daniel 9. Daniel begins by saying that there are

seventy blocks of seven years determined upon Jerusalem and the descendants of

Abraham. And then he walks through how 69 of those blocks will be fulfilled up until the

coming of Jesus, who would be cut off, not for Himself, but for the nation. There’s still

one more seven year period of time in which God is going to deal with that nation again.

God is not done with Israel.

The church does not replace Israel.

That’s really fashionable in modern church theology today. Forget Israel. The church is

Israel. No it’s not. There are promises made to Abraham and his descendants that you

cannot, in any way, shape or form read as anything but literal to –

an ethnic group,


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and a specific plot of land.

The church doesn’t replace Israel.

The church is not Israel.

The rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948, the existence of a Jewish state in the Middle

East, is one of the most miraculous things in all of history. God’s not done with the

descendants of Abraham. During that last seven years of God dealing with the nation of

Israel that will take place during the Great Tribulation - that last seventieth seven is the

Great Tribulation. During that time incredible number of Jews are going to come to faith

in Jesus. And when Jesus returns to the Earth He’s going to be acknowledged by His

own people. Look at –

Zechariah 12: “10 And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.” When Jesus returns there are going to be Jews who are going to weep, going, “He was

our Messiah. And we said, “Crucify Him.”” Wow! Guys, simply put, God will never give

up on Israel, because His relationship with them is rooted in His covenant love.

And that brings us to the final section of his letter.

And Paul goes on to tell them how the family of God is to live out their new humanity.

In Chapters 12-16 – that’s the last section there.

In chapter 12 and chapter 13 Paul tells them what it looks like to live in unity, and to live

in peace. Guys, Gospel living begins and ends with surrendering to the Lord.

Romans 12: “1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”


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That’s so important to this subject of unity and peace that he wants to deal with. He

tells them that everyone is to use their unique gifts to serve each other. “Lord, I give

you my life. It’s yours. Use it as you want.” Concerning peace – they need to learn

how to forgive each other, and to live at peace with each other, and even live at peace

with government. But, guys, you need to understand that all of that hinges on a

surrendered life. Peace in any broken relationship begins when one person says, “I

surrender to God. I’m not surrendering to you. I’m surrendering to God.”

Pastor Chris and I were talking about this today. Marriage counseling – by the time

people usually get to us for marriage counseling, they’re so far down the road, and such

a wreck. They’re not coming usually at the front end, saying, “We’re having a little

trouble. Can you help us here?” Usually it’s been going on and on and on. And what

happens is people reach this point. And you’re just telling them the importance of

submitting your life to the Lord, surrendering to the Lord, letting God work things out,

humbling yourself before the Lord. Let His grace do a work. Be an instrument of His

grace. Be an instrument of His love in your marriage. And most of them by that time

they’re just going, “No, I just want out. I could never surrender in this relationship with

this person. They are this. And they are that.”

The point isn’t - are you surrendering to them?

The point is – are you going to surrender to Jesus?

And I can tell you in personal relationships there is never going to be a fix to a broken

personal relationship until at least one of those two people says, “I surrender to Jesus.”

In chapter 14 and 15 Paul focuses specifically on the divisions in the church. He tells

them that even when they differ sharply, differ passionately over things that stand on

where they stand in regards to Jewish religious tradition, that they need to show grace

to each other on non-essential issues. Romans 14 – look at it with me real quickly –

beginning at verse 13 -

Romans 14: “13 Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a


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brother. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat,” See, there was one of the points of contention – Kosher diet, right?

Romans 14: “15 if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. 20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.” Let’s put this into a different context.

Some people believe that a Christian should never have a beer.

Other Christians believe it’s okay for a Christian to have a beer.

If you believe that you can have a beer, the Bible says –

Don’t do anything in excess.

Do all things in moderation.

And if you can, before God, say, “Do you know what, God? I believe I have the liberty

to have a beer; but I’m not going to do it in excess.” The Bible says don’t be drunk.

Instead be filled with the Holy Spirit. I’m never going to be abusing my body. I’m never

going to abuse this substance. But I want to have a beer. And you have that liberty in

Christ to do that. But you’re with somebody who doesn’t share that same liberty, who

doesn’t share that same view concerning having a beer, then don’t have a beer,

because you’ll stumble them. Don’t insist on the liberties that you have in the non-

essentials, to the point that you’re going to stumble a believer - for you to say, “Well, I

am free to do this, brother. And so I’m going to do it.” Listen, at the core of this is not

Christians dos and don’ts. At the core of that attitude is about your personal allegiance

to Jesus. It’s my allegiance to Jesus that makes me not want to stumble a brother or

sister because Jesus loves them and died for them. They’re the work of my Savior.

Them living for Jesus is the work of God. They’re a miracle. Why would I want to

destroy the work of God over whether or not I think I can or can’t do something that’s


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not prohibited by God? There are things that God doesn’t prohibit that we don’t

absolutely have the right to exercise liberty in if it’s going to stumble another person. So

Paul’s answering these problems. He’s writing this letter for those things.

And then he closes the chapter, he closes book, excuse me, in chapter 16 with a long

list of people that he hadn’t seen for a long time.

You guys are awesome! That was some stuff! And, man, there was a lot of stuff

crammed there. Guys, we just cannot have, we just can’t act as though there isn’t that

stuff in the book of Romans. And this is going to be stuff that you can chew on, you can

digest. There’s going to be media available for you. These notes are going to be

transcribed. This study is going to be transcribed. It’ll be placed. It’ll be available at the

Metro Calvary church app alongside of the audio. And you can listen; you can read;

you can reference these things. But most importantly ask the Lord tonight, as we close

and take the bread and take the cup, ask the Lord what it is that you need to deal with in

these things that we’ve walked through. And ask the Holy Spirit to just treasure this up

in your heart so that through the course of this week there are going to be moments

when you go “Oh, that part about where we were talking about Christian liberty, I need

to think about that”, or the reality of justification, or looking at the world in front of you,

going, ‘Wow, these people, the world’s all concerned about gender identity, and socio-

economic identity, and all these things’, and you’re going ‘Whoa, whoa, I understand

something. It doesn’t matter what category you fall under as the world breaks down the

world, because they’ve got a million categories of human beings. God’s Word says

there’s just two categories. There’s an old humanity, fallen and broken, that’s under

Adam. And there’s a new humanity that’s being created in Jesus. And by His grace He

saved me. And I’m a part of it. And this is what’s mine because of Jesus. You see,

guys, why is doctrine so important? - Because the Devil is going to come to you; and

he’s going to lie to your face. And he’s going to try to condemn you. And if you don’t

understand concepts like justification, then you’re just going to go, ‘I don’t feel like God

loves me today.’ No, no, no, the Bible says you’re justified. That’s what it means to be

a Christian. You are justified. When you feel this tension between you and the world

that you were saved out of; and you’re thinking, ‘I’m being pulled towards; I’m being


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drawn towards’; and you’re confused about, ‘who am I really in this world?’ You go, ‘No,

no, no, wait, wait, wait! I have a new identity. And it’s rooted in my relationship with

Jesus. I just don’t believe about Jesus. Because I believe in Him with my heart, I’m

united with Jesus. And He defines who I am in this world. I don’t have to be this

anymore. I don’t have to do that anymore. I don’t have to have this anymore. I believe

in Jesus. And that’s who I am.’ This book of Romans is huge, absolutely huge!

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