The Power of the Gospel

Transcript

GR 1484
10/23/11
The Power of the Gospel
Romans 1-16
Gil Rugh

We have spent the last couple of years going through the book of Romans together, and I want to look one more time into the book of Romans with you today. And we've worked through the details of Romans, I would like to go back and walk through the whole book of Romans with you together today. Just so we're sure we have all the parts together and see something of the majestic message of the gospel of God as unfolded in the book of Romans. The book of Romans occupies a unique place in the Scripture for here more fully and clearly than in any other portion of Scripture God unfolds the details of the gospel of His Son, Jesus Christ. The details of what He has done to bring His righteousness to us as sinful people, to provide for us to live lives of holiness as testimonies to this gospel in the world.

So what we're going to do is simply highlight ourselves through the book of Romans, looking at the major divisions, the major sections. That will be review for many of you but if you've been here we've repeated the various sections as we've gone through the book, but let's tie it together.

Starting in chapter 1, as we've noted the first 17 verses are an introduction to the book. It will be balanced by the conclusion at the end of the book, we'll note that when we get there. In this introduction sometimes called a salutation, Paul really gives us an introduction to what he is going to talk about. Some basics, after introducing himself, and even in introducing himself he ties it to what will be the emphasis of this extended letter. He started in verse 1 by saying Paul, a bond servant of Christ Jesus, called an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. And that's really the theme of the book of Romans—the gospel of God. The word gospel means good news, a good message. It is the message that God has given concerning His Son who is the Savior of the world. So Paul has been set apart as God's representative to give out the gospel, the message from God regarding His salvation. It concerns His Son and so beginning with verse 2 this message was promised in the Old Testament, verse 3, it concerns His Son. His Son a descendant of David and declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection of the dead. So He is both Son of Man and Son of God. He's the descendant of David, He is the Son of God. He has become the subject of the gospel. And Paul's burden in life is to present the message of Christ primarily to the Gentiles so that they may respond in faith and receive God's salvation.

So in verse 5 he said, we've received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among the Gentiles. That response of faith becomes a key emphasis as we'll note in a moment in this gospel. That's why Paul wants to come to Rome. Down in verse 14 he says, I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. Having been entrusted with the gospel puts him under obligation. One thing that we all ought to keep in mind. We bear now a responsibility, we have a debt. Paul says I am a debtor, under obligation to all of these. Why? To bring them the gospel. So for my part I am eager to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. I want to fulfill my debt. Everywhere I go I present Christ, it's an obligation, a debt that I have that I must fulfill to tell others about Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, the Son of God.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written in Habakkuk 2:4, but the righteous shall live by faith. Verses 16-17, you remember, are the theme verses of the letter. It's about the gospel which is the power of God for salvation. The two words that are mentioned here are going to be repeated again and again and again in this letter. The first is the word righteousness. In this gospel, verse 17, the word righteousness, the righteousness of God is revealed. That word righteousness will appear 35 times through the book of Romans. It is a constant emphasis. Righteousness, the righteousness of God. It is revealed in the gospel and it is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written, the just, the righteous will live by faith.

Let me just note on that word righteous. The word just is a translation of the same basic word. So if you went to the Greek it's the same basic word, different endings basically. Just, righteous. It means to declare righteous. Justify, declare righteous, just, to be righteous. That's 35 times as we mentioned. The word faith, it's mentioned even more often—55 times in Romans. Through the 16 chapters of Romans 55 times he'll talk about faith or belief. Again a Greek word, we translate it faith or believe or belief. Same basic Greek word, forms of it.

The gospel is the power of God for salvation. It's for everyone, verse 16, who believes, who has faith. In it, the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. How do we come to know about God's righteousness? The righteousness that He requires of us? If we are to experience His salvation, how do we acquire that standing of being declared righteous before God? It's by faith. It's from faith to faith, it's all about faith. Even as the Old Testament prophet said, the righteous shall live by faith.

That is an introduction, he's ready to move into the gospel. The first major section of God's good news begins, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. That doesn't sound like good news. We're going to start out and talk about the message from God, it's the gospel of God. And what do we start out? The first major section is the righteousness of God revealed in the condemnation of sinners. Condemnation is the first major section, to put it in one word. That will cover Romans 1:18 through 3:20. So an extensive section to start the discussion of the gospel, making clear that every single person, whether Jew or Gentile, all are under the condemnation of God because they are sinners. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. It starts out under this section of condemnation, the first thing he is going to talk about is the condemnation of Gentiles. We break it down a little more in detail from verse 18 through verse 32. All the rest of chapter 1 really focusing on the Gentiles, the non-Jews and their guilt before God. They are guilty because God has revealed Himself and they have rejected that revelation. The creation reveals the true and living God.

Verse 20, since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power, divine nature have been clearly seen. But we reject that revelation, we suppress it. The end of verse 18, we suppress the truth in unrighteousness. So they are without excuse. They, talking about unbelieving Gentiles, primarily. The end of verse 20, they are without excuse. Even though they knew God. How did they know Him? Through creation. The revelation is clear. You understand it, it is absolutely clear. God holds man accountable for this revelation. Today we are explaining creation and the existence of all things without any reference to God. In fact in our schools you shouldn't even bring God into discussion. What does God say they are doing? They are suppressing the obvious, inescapable truth that He has revealed Himself in this creation. And there is no excuse. So there is guilt. And so their response then is to suppress that truth that is so clear and they proceed to compound their guilt by worshiping the creation rather than the Creator. Even though they knew God, they didn't give Him thanks, their foolish heart was darkened. Verse 23, they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and other created things—the birds, the animals, the crawling creatures. They worship the creation, starting with themselves.

Eastern mysticism makes its way into our society and we talk about you have the power within you. One very well-known person who passed away recently, how did he talk? He talked about you have that power within you, all of us have that potential. No wonder he talked like that—married in a Buddhist ceremony. And he talks about the god within you. You are worshiping man, you are worshiping yourself. God is man and man is God. You have the power within you, you can do it. It's just all a form of worshiping the creation rather than the Creator.

And so God turns them over to their own desires. And you have that through the rest of the chapter. And sin consumes them in all its forms, including the corruption of the sexual desires and even the perverting of that which is natural to that which is unnatural. Homosexual and lesbian relationships. We see how base the world is today. And that's not all. All kinds of sins, and he just gives an example of the way this rejection of God and the judgment of God in turning man over to pursue his own sinful desires. And it manifests itself in verses 29-31. And all kinds of sins and you'll note the mixture. We like to categorize sins, we think that one is not so bad, this one is worse. God mixes them all together. Verse 29 he'll talk about greed, envy. The next sin is murder. Gossips, slanderers, followed by haters of God, disobedient to parents. It's all a manifestation of our unrighteous, ungodly character as those who have suppressed the truth that God has made known and have turned to the worship of the creation. And now are pursuing all their sinful desires.

Chapter 2, still talking about condemnation, remember, through the bulk of these first 3 chapters. Therefore, you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment. In chapter 2 he talks about the fact that the Jews are guilty and condemned by God as well because the Jews would have read chapter 1 like a religious person would today and say yes, there are some people who deserve punishment, deserve to die. Child abusers and people who do horrible things, they are really bad. But very religious, moral, good people in the eyes of man, that's the way the Jews would have been. They wouldn't have thought of practicing the sexual perversions here. They would have adhered to a good, upstanding “moral,” in the broad sense, life. They saw the pagan Romans as deserving of condemnation. God says you understand, you religious Jews, you have no excuse either. Just as he set up at the end of verse 20 regarding the Gentiles, they are without excuse, now he is going to tell the Jews, you have no excuse. You think because you have the Law of God, because you are religious people you will escape the judgment of God. You understand God is going to judge your heart without partiality. Jeremiah the prophet told us, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. That was a Jewish prophet who spoke to the Jews. God will judge without partiality.

He will judge the secrets of men, verse 16 of chapter 2, according to my gospel, the gospel that God has given to Paul. God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. But if you bear the name Jew and rely upon the Law and boast in God and know His will and all of that, but you really don't keep the Law. You are sinful yourselves. And what you require is an inner transformation, called in verses 28-29 the circumcision of the heart. That's not new. When we studied this we looked into the Old Testament said that you had to have a circumcised heart, a transformed heart.

So down through the first 8 verses of chapter 3 he's really talking still to the Jews. They have advantages, they have the Word of God. But having the Word of God and submitting to the Word of God are not the same things. People bring their Bibles here, but you understand having a Bible, bringing a Bible doesn't mean you are saved. So the Jews have the advantage of having been entrusted with the Word of God. That's additional revelation to creation that the Gentiles had, they just had the creation. But their response to the creation shows their sinful character. The Jews had the additional revelation of the Law of God and they are sinners, too.

So in verses 9-20 he ties this all together, this section on condemnation that both Jews and Gentiles alike are under the condemnation of God for their sin. Verse 9, what then, are we, Jews, better than they, Gentiles? Not at all for we have already charged both Jews and Greeks, referring to non-Jews are all under sin. There is no escaping. Then he goes on, there is none righteous, not even one. Not even one among the Jews, not even one among the Gentiles. None who seeks for God, they have all turned aside, and so on. Wrapping it up in verses 19-20, you understand this does include the Jews and the Gentiles who are the sinners.

You know this is starting point of the gospel. We like to start off positively, say good things. You can have a better life, you can know more about the meaning of life, it will bring more joy to your heart. Those all may be true but if we're not careful we end up covering the gospel. People don't mind hearing that. Do you know what they don't want to hear? You are under the wrath of God. There is a problem we all have, the Bible says it is sin. The seriousness of sin is revealed by the fact that God says that puts you under His wrath, makes you the object of His wrath, His condemnation and ultimately His judgment to an eternal hell. This is a serious matter. If we don't understand that, the issue of sin, the gospel makes no sense. The problem people have is they are self-righteous. They don't understand being self-righteous does not mean that you are righteous in the sight of God, that means you are righteous in your own sight.

I was watching an interview a week or so ago on the news, talking about the demonstrators in some of the cities we have now. And this person being interviewed was a young person who also writes a column for a magazine and was supportive of the demonstrators. They said, do you think that they think they are deserving of something? This person without blinking an eye said, it's been shown that our generation has the highest self-esteem of any previous generation. Nobody knew quite what to say to follow up. What does that have to do with anything? As though I have high self-esteem, therefore I deserve something.

People have high self-righteousness, a high of their own righteousness, therefore they think they are righteous before God. That's the whole point of the first 3 chapters of Romans, there is no one righteous in the sight of God. We all start out in the same place. It doesn't matter how religious you are, how good you think you are, it's the evaluation of God who will judge all impartially and He says there is none righteous, not even one. That's the only evaluation that counts, the judge who is going to pass sentence.

So having established that all are under condemnation because God has found all sinners and guilty before Him, he moves into the next major section of the book of Romans—justification. The righteousness of God revealed in the justification, in the righteousness provided by Christ, making possible for the guilty sinners of the first section of Romans to be declared righteous by God. Righteousness, justification. To be justified is to be declared righteous. That means God says you have been found not guilty. I declare you righteous. How does that happen?

That's unfolded from chapter 3 verse 21 through chapter 5 verse 21. Look at verse 21 of chapter 3 that starts this section. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, revealed, made known, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe. You see that connection. It's the righteousness of God, it's the righteousness of God that comes to a person through faith in Jesus Christ. For all those who believe, who have faith there is no distinction. For all have sinned, all Jews and all Gentiles. So no matter who you are there is only one way to be the recipient of the righteousness of God, to have God declare you righteous. And that is through faith in Jesus Christ.
Verse 24, we are justified, declared righteous as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation, a satisfaction, in His blood, His death, through faith. So he keeps talking about righteousness and faith, righteousness and faith. Verse 26, for the demonstration I say of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just, righteous, and the justifier of the One who declares righteous. He who has faith in Jesus Christ. Verse 28, we maintain that a man is declared righteous by faith. That whole emphasis, that's where it is, that's it. You see if you don't understand sin and if you don't understand how God has provided righteousness, you can be the most religious person on the face of the earth, living your life under the condemnation of God, on your way to an eternal hell because righteousness is not by being religious. Righteousness is not by possessing the Word of God as the Jews did. Righteousness is by faith in the Savior that God has provided. Verse 30, in deed God will justify, declare righteous, the circumcised, the Jews, by faith and the uncircumcised, the Gentiles, through faith. There is no other way. It doesn't matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, salvation, righteousness from God comes on the same basis. It's by faith in the death of Jesus Christ. Nothing else.

Chapter 4, the illustration of that, the example of that. Going back to the Old Testament. Remember he went back and looked at Abraham. Abraham is the father of the Jews. The Jews would respect what is said about Abraham. Abraham establishes a clear pattern here. Abraham lived 500 years before the Mosaic Law was given and yet in Genesis 15:6 the Bible tells us that Abraham believed God, had faith in God and what God had said. And God credited it to him as righteousness. How was Abraham saved? Not by keeping the Mosaic Law, the law wouldn't be given for 500 years. Not by being circumcised, he's years away from being circumcised. God declared him righteous in Genesis 15, Abraham wasn't circumcised until Genesis 17, years later. Upon what basis did God declare Abraham righteous? Abraham believed God. Not just being a person of faith, as people like to talk about today, which is meaningless. Of course people have faith. There wasn't anyone in the days of Abraham who didn't have faith in something. There wasn't anyone in the days of Paul who didn't have faith in something. The pagan Romans had faith in their pantheon of gods. Being a person of faith is nothing. It's faith in the God who has manifested Himself, made Himself known, His truth and ultimately His Son that brings salvation. So Abraham is the example.

It just boggles my mind, frankly, here is God unfolding through the Apostle Paul the good news of His salvation that we are condemned as sinners but He has provided righteousness. That it is by faith alone in Christ alone. And we have deluded people today who are in religious systems and they think because they get baptized they are saved. How clear could God be? Just tell me in what chapter of the Bible was Abraham baptized? Never. In what chapter of the Bible did Abraham do all the religious things we do? No, he believed. Salvation is by faith. Not by faith plus the sacraments plus confession plus. No, by faith, by faith. That's chapter 4.

Romans 5 explains justification by faith. Chapter 5 opens up and if you were here for our study you probably have circled the words faith and believe from chapter 3 verse 21, all through chapter 4, down starting chapter 5. Again and again it's by faith, it's by faith, it's by faith, it's by faith. Chapter 5 opens up, therefore having been justified, declared righteous, by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is focused specifically. Because I recognize what God says, I am a sinner under condemnation, His Son, Jesus Christ became a man, died to pay the penalty for my sin, He shed His blood. I have believed in Him and Him along, the payment He made for me. I have been declared righteous by faith. I have peace with God. I stand by faith, verse 2, in the grace of God which provided this salvation.

That sustains us through our trials and troubles. Verse 6, while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Verse 8, God demonstrates His own love toward us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having been declared righteous by His blood, His death, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. Then in verses 12 through the end of the chapter Paul gives that great explanation that ties this section together, both on justification, then he pulls in the condemnation of the first section. So the first two parts of the gospel, condemnation and justification, are pulled together. How did man in his totality, all inclusively become sinners. Because of the first man, Adam, who sinned and brought death to the human race. But there is a second man, Christ, who by His obedience, He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, as Philippians 2 says. And He brought righteousness and life.

So verse 21 of chapter 5, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Everyone in Adam, and that includes all of us because we are all descendants of Adam, are found to be sinners. Do you have any doubt about it? You're dying. In a hundred years you won't be here, and for most of us a lot less than a hundred years. But Jesus Christ came and provided righteousness. So you see sin reigned in death because the result of sin is death. Grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ. So you have the two men at the end of this chapter that explain condemnation, judgment, sin and death. And Jesus Christ, the second Adam, bringing life and righteousness.

So we've gone from condemnation to justification. Now we come to sanctification in chapters 6-8. Sanctification, another one of those words built on the Greek word and we may lose the connection. The same Greek word is the basis for our word sanctification, saint and holiness. It seems to be separated, to be separate. God is holy because He is completely separated from sin and all defilement of sin. We are to be holy because we are to be separated from sin. We are sanctified, set apart by God for Himself. We are called saints in the Bible. We could have translated that and said holy ones. I don't know if I want to be called a holy one. That's what God calls you. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you are one of His saints, you are one of His holy ones. One of those He has set apart from sin for Himself. And chapters 6-8 talk about the provision of God for us to live new lives as those who have been declared righteous. It's not just we appear in the courtroom of God and He declares us righteous, innocent, not guilty because our penalty was paid by Jesus Christ. We've been absolved of our guilt because One took our place. Now God declares us righteous, He credits us with His righteousness. Our sin was placed upon Christ, His righteousness was placed upon us.

But now we don't walk out of the courtroom and say, now what do I do? Sometimes you watch a program, there have been people in prison for a long time. They'll be interviewed. I saw one recently. And what are they saying? I don't know how I can live out there, how I'll do. I'm used to being told what time I get up, what time I go to eat breakfast, what time I do this, what time I do that, what time I go to bed at night. Everything has been told to me. Now I'm afraid, will I be able to just live outside. But God doesn't send us out of His courtroom saying, I declare you righteous. In that gospel He has also provided for us to live new lives. So chapters 6-8 talk about sanctification.

Chapter 6, foundational to understand the new life in Christ. What happens, we were identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. That's why God can declare me righteous. The penalty for sin is death, but I died. When did I die? I died when Christ died and I was raised to new life so that, the end of verse 4, we might walk in newness of life. Verse 6, knowing this our old self, our old man, was crucified with Him in order that our body as controlled by sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. In chapter 1 we saw people living under the control and domination of sin, slaves to their sin. But when you believe in Christ you are set free from that slavery. So we are responsible now to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ. Verse 12, therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body. Sin would like to assert itself in my body, have me pursue the old lusts, the old desires, the old activity—lying, deceiving and so on. Don't do it. People say, that's a simplistic answer. It is in one sense, it's the biblical answer.

People come and say, I'm a believer and I'm struggling with this sin and I know I shouldn’t do it, but I just can't stop. Liar. Now you've compounded your sin, you are sitting here lying. Why? You said you can't stop, but you said you are a believer. You are a liar. You are either not a believer or you are a believer who is lying. Which is it? What does God say? Don't go on presenting the members of your body to sin. Present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead. Use your bodies for righteousness. You can't go back, you have to be careful. You go back and indulge in sin, you find out sin wants to enslave you. But verse 18 says, we've been freed from sin. We became slaves of righteousness. Verse 22, having been freed from sin and enslaved to God. Those who have truly experienced God's transforming power have been made new. We live new. We have some kind of muddled idea of the gospel and God's salvation that now you have escaped from hell but now you just have to sort of muddle along and maybe nothing will change. Everything changes, everything changes. I mean, you died with Christ, you are raised now. The power of sin has been broken. I never sinned from the day I was converted because I had to. I'm not a slave of sin. Any time I sin I do it because I want to. There is a certain pleasure in sin. Various ones of us find different sins give us greater pleasure, so we continue to indulge them. But we have been set free in Christ. That's the provision of God to live a new life. That's why believers are to stand out. We don't get swept along and become like the world. We'll talk about that in a moment. So chapter 6, we were freed from the slavery to sin.

Chapter 7, the Jews were freed from all obligation to the Law. The Law is not a way of salvation, it's not a way of sanctification. Reform theologians are confused on this. They think, we are not saved by keeping the Law, but the Law is necessary for sanctification. It is not. That's the point of Romans 7. We have been freed from all obligation to the Law. It's not a way of sanctification. You don't think by keeping the Ten Commandments you'll be saved. No. You don't try to keep the Ten Commandments to be sanctified. No. Freed from the Law.

Well what is God's provision? He has broken the power of the slavery of sin, He has severed the responsibility to the Law, He has provided the Spirit. Chapter 8. And so there is not condemnation, the chapter opens up, for those who are in Christ Jesus for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. And we do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, the end of verse 4. Verse 9, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. And if the Spirit of Christ doesn't dwell in you, you don't belong to Him. And if you are walking according to the flesh, the Spirit of Christ doesn't dwell in you. The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, verse 7, doesn't subject itself to the law of God. It is not able to. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

That's why reform, this is what happens often with young people. They grow up in a Bible teaching church, grow up in a Christian family. They try to conform but that becomes a burden. And what happens when they become adults able to make their choice? They are done with it, they are on their own, they are out there. That reveals where they really are. We need to pray for them accordingly, we need to share the truth of God with them accordingly. We like to comfort ourselves, well, they were saved when they were 4 but for the last 40 years they haven't been living for the Lord. Those who walk according to the flesh don't have the Spirit

The contrast at the end of verse 4 is those who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. The provision God has made is the Holy Spirit who indwells us, who empowers and enables us. So the freedom that we have in Christ is now characterized by exercising that freedom to live in obedience to Christ. And that work of the Spirit will continue until the time when we are ultimately brought into conformity with the glory of our Savior. And that's what the last part of Romans 8 does, tells about that ultimate time. Verse 23, the redemption of the body. And this section concludes then with that glorious hope that everything he has said up to this point—our condemnation, our justification, our sanctification all come together to realize that God's work in us can never be undone. As awful and ugly as the sin was, the righteousness and sanctification of God are more powerful. So nothing can separate us from the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus. Verses 38-39, I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels, principalities, things present, things to come, powers, height, depth or any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Remarkable. That's our sanctification.

Now chapters 9-11, the vindication of God's righteousness in His dealings with Israel. What about the nation Israel? If what we say is true, what has happened to Israel? The church at Rome would have been primarily a Gentile church. Paul says, I am writing to you as Gentiles. There may have been a few Jews sprinkled in but basically it is a Gentile church and maybe a few Jews sprinkled in here. But basically a Gentile church. Is God done with the Jews? How does that fit then with what we have talked about, the salvation of God and His promises? And now He made all those promises to the nation Israel and they are cut off. What does that mean about the promises of God?

So he unfolds the sovereignty of God in salvation, the doctrine of election and God's work in choosing Israel and those within the physical nation Israel. So His purposes are being accomplished and carried out. The Gentiles are experiencing salvation right now because they are not trying to be saved by their works, they are trusting Christ. The Jews are not being saved because they continue to think they can be saved by their religious activity and they can't. That's what he says in verse 30 ff. It's by faith, they stumble over Christ and He becomes to them a stumbling block.

Paul reminds in chapter 10, his heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is for their salvation. They are religiously zealous for God but they are in ignorance. That's true of religious people today you talk to. They are zealous, they may be really committed to their religion. But they are ignorant. You have to present the gospel. So he unfolds the gospel again for them. How do you get righteousness from God? Verse 3, not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. They are trying to work to accomplish their own righteousness. They don't need more of their own righteousness, they can never be righteous before God. They need God's righteousness. I mean, if I've only committed four murders in my life, I can never be not a murderer. Think of how many days I have lived over my many years, and I've only murdered people on four of those days. This is an illustration, not a confession. I am guilty. But I did a lot of good on the rest of the days. Guilty. Sinners can never absolve themselves of their guilt and be found innocent. I'm going to clean up my life, I'm going to do better, I'm going to stop this sin. You may stop that sin but you won't stop being a sinner. You need the righteousness of God.

So here is the provision. We need to hear, the Jews need to hear and believe the message of Jesus Christ. It is salvation by faith in Him. Verse 14, how will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Verse 17, so faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. What do you and I do? We take the gospel that someone shared with us so that we might hear it and believe it. And now we take it and tell it to someone else so they can hear it and believe it. That's it. It's just that simple. That's what the Jews are missing, they are missing it down to this day. That's what the bulk of Gentiles are missing. So what can we do? We can go tell them the gospel. I can't make them believe it, but I can give them an opportunity to hear it so that perhaps by the grace of God they will believe it. And if they do, they will experience the power of God that brings them complete forgiveness and deliverance and enables God to declare them righteous. And now His provision to live for Him.

Chapter 11, God has not rejected His people that He chose for Himself. So all the promises of God through the Old Testament will realize fulfillment. Now God is doing special, He is bringing His salvation to Gentiles. But when this time of Gentile salvation come to completion, God will refocus again the work of salvation on the nation Israel and the nation will experience a turning to God by the individuals within that nation, Jews. Faith in Christ and His salvation. So what did Paul have to say? Verse 33, oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments, unfathomable His ways. Verse 36, for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever and ever. And what a plan.

Chapter 12, the last major division, the application of the gospel. This will run through chapter 15:13. And here he just shows what the gospel means and how we live in various relationships and in our conduct, both with unbeliever and believer. It changes who we are, it changes how we live. Down in verse 14 of chapter 12, bless those who persecute you. Bless and don't curse. Rejoice with those who weep. Be of the same mind. Never pay back evil, believer or unbeliever. We are not to allow ourselves to be conformed to the world but be transformed. The pressure is always for the world to mold us, to make us conform. We are transformed by the power of God.

Chapter 13, how do you live in a godless world under human government? We live under it with obedience. This idea that I am a citizen of heaven, I owe allegiance to no man but Christ. That's not biblical because God says there are no authorities but those which He has established, verse 1. So when you disobey the governing authorities, whatever level they are, you are disobeying God's authority, unless they are telling you must do something or not do something in direct, contrary violation to the Word of God. That includes taxes. You know we as Christians get caught up in this. You don't have to say much about politics to get Christians really cranked. If we could only get as excited and enthused and jump into the conversation with the gospel as quickly as we do about politics, we might see some eternal results. Pay our taxes. Do you think the Roman taxation system was just? Every time the Emperor wanted a new palace, he came up with a new tax. Every time he wanted to marry someone else, male or female, he found a way to fund it with the taxes. Do you think that was a just system? Doesn't matter. Pay our taxes. Do it without complaint. Do all things without grumbling. Good passage, right?

Chapters 14-15:13, how do we relate to one another as mature and immature believers. The sensitivity we are to have. And then the conclusion from chapter 15 verse 14 on to the end of the letter. And as we noted in our last study, verses 25-27 as he concludes ties us back to the introduction of the letter. It is all about the message of Christ which is the gospel. Verse 25, to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel, even the preaching of Jesus Christ. And this will bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations, the end of verse 26. To the only wise God through Jesus Christ be glory forever and ever. This is the gospel that's entrusted to us, that makes us now a debtor, puts us under obligation to share it with others by the grace of God that they might believe and experience the righteousness of God through the power of God working in their lives.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the gospel that is our gospel, that is the good news, the message of salvation from you. Lord, we are in awe, the simplicity that this message of Jesus Christ is the provision of your power for salvation in the life of every single person who will believe. Lord, what a debt, what an obligation we who have believed have to share this gospel with others so that they might have the opportunity to hear and believe in the Savior who loved them and died for them. May we be faithful anticipating the soon coming of our Lord and Savior, the One that we love and serve. We pray in His name, amen.