back to index2015-07-05 Introductions to Romans
00:00:00.000 |
I've been telling you that we're going to be in this book for a while, and we're finally 00:00:10.200 |
We're just doing an overview study, so I'm just going to read the first passage, verses 00:00:18.640 |
We're not going to get into any particular passage today. 00:00:20.800 |
It's going to be a broad study to get you a broad outline of what the Book of Romans 00:00:24.960 |
is so that when we actually jump into the verse by verse, that you'll be able to get 00:00:31.000 |
But I'm going to read the first seven verses before we jump in. 00:00:36.000 |
"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of 00:00:40.240 |
God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning 00:00:44.960 |
his son, who was descended from David according to the flesh, and was declared to be the Son 00:00:49.080 |
of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead, 00:00:53.240 |
Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about 00:00:58.000 |
the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you 00:01:02.200 |
who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, to all those in Rome who are loved by God 00:01:07.160 |
and are called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord 00:01:16.440 |
Gracious Father, we entrust this time to you. 00:01:19.480 |
We ask, Lord God, that you'd open up our hearts and soften it, Lord, that we may hear 00:01:26.500 |
You are the potter and we are the clay, so we ask that you would mold us, that you would 00:01:31.680 |
sanctify us, help us, Lord God, to hear from you and not from man. 00:01:39.000 |
Protect us, Lord God, from wrong thinking, even wrong feelings. 00:01:43.840 |
And we are utterly dependent upon you to lead and guide us, so help us, Lord God, to be 00:01:47.880 |
humble before your throne and that your word would speak clearly. 00:01:52.840 |
And again, as we begin our new series, we ask for your blessing over this time, Lord 00:01:56.220 |
God, that everything that we study would be more than just simply academics. 00:02:01.020 |
It really would penetrate and judge the thoughts and intentions of our hearts and our lives, 00:02:06.300 |
that our church, our family, and our very lives, Lord God, may be molded according to 00:02:18.740 |
You know, I've been telling you we wanted to study through the Book of Romans, or I 00:02:21.940 |
wanted to study through the Book of Romans for a while. 00:02:25.580 |
I personally have benefited tremendously from studying quiet time, scripture memory, small 00:02:32.660 |
At the very beginning of the church, there's actually just a handful of you guys who were 00:02:37.140 |
here, maybe about 15, 16 years ago, we were studying through the Book of Romans on every 00:02:41.660 |
Friday evening, and it took us maybe about a couple years. 00:02:46.360 |
And I remember the beginning of the study every Friday, because we weren't able to have 00:02:51.060 |
We were working during the weekday and just didn't have the time in the beginning of the 00:02:55.420 |
And I remember the grumbling that I heard on some, not everybody, but some of the people 00:03:03.500 |
Because some of the youth group students who are now in their mid-30s, I remember, because 00:03:07.980 |
they were in the youth group and there was a lot of activities, and they come to church 00:03:11.300 |
and it's like, "We're just having Bible study." 00:03:13.700 |
And at that time, I really did not have time for anything else. 00:03:17.020 |
So if I'm going to invest in something, I'm going to invest in this. 00:03:20.020 |
And I remember just on Fridays, even though people were attending, they were just attending 00:03:26.300 |
because it's the church that they were at, but I saw a tremendous difference in the beginning 00:03:33.240 |
Because at the end of the study of the Book of Romans, I could begin to see the seeds 00:03:36.540 |
that were being planted, and not just from the content of the Book of Romans, but I began 00:03:41.940 |
to see people realizing why the study of the Word of God is so important. 00:03:46.440 |
In particular, this book, every part of Scripture is obviously important, but the content in 00:03:52.260 |
the Book of Romans is the foundation upon which we build Christianity. 00:03:57.740 |
Sometimes if the foundation is shaky, and if the foundation is not strong, whatever 00:04:04.260 |
So just like the Scripture says, if you build upon sand, when the storms come, it starts 00:04:11.700 |
I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the Book of Romans is the foundation 00:04:17.860 |
If you know it superficially, your application in your Christian life is going to be superficial. 00:04:24.740 |
If you appreciate it superficially, your appreciation of Christ and what it is you have in Christ 00:04:32.940 |
If there was one book, and again, I know it's an introduction and some of you may think 00:04:38.160 |
But if there was one book, I would say that I would choose to have it memorized. 00:04:42.680 |
If I couldn't have the rest of the Bible, if there's one book that I would put to memory 00:04:47.320 |
so that even if I didn't have Scripture, which book would I choose? 00:04:52.080 |
Without a doubt, it would be the Book of Romans. 00:04:53.480 |
In fact, I probably would not be the only person. 00:04:56.400 |
In fact, many people in history have said that. 00:04:59.600 |
If you study the beginning notes of the Book of Romans in any commentary, there's always 00:05:04.160 |
a history behind the preaching of the Book of Romans. 00:05:07.840 |
And again, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the preaching of the Book of Romans, 00:05:14.000 |
the contents that are in the Book of Romans, was credited for a lot of revivals that took 00:05:23.480 |
Some of you guys may know who he is or may have heard of Augustine. 00:05:26.880 |
Augustine is a very important figure in church history. 00:05:30.120 |
And he was a fourth century monk who became a Christian as a result of his study in the 00:05:39.160 |
And after studying the Book of Romans, you know, basically the outline of the Book of 00:05:48.320 |
Why we need salvation, how do we get saved, what's the result of salvation. 00:05:51.600 |
And basically by the time you get to Chapter 12, it basically says, "As a result of knowing 00:05:59.720 |
Well Augustine, who's been a tremendous influence in right thinking and about church and our, 00:06:06.560 |
when we say we're an evangelical Christian, so much of our doctrines and our thinking 00:06:10.880 |
and our church polity comes from the writing of this man Augustine. 00:06:15.600 |
And he says, after reading Romans 13, 13 to 14, where it may not even sound that spectacular 00:06:21.600 |
to you, but this is a result of years of studying and reading this text, he says, this passage 00:06:28.000 |
says this, "Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not 00:06:32.240 |
in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling, not in jealousy, but put on the 00:06:36.560 |
Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desire." 00:06:41.480 |
Now if you look at that text, it's just an imperative saying this is how you ought to 00:06:46.120 |
But this is after his heart has been cultivated, after his heart has been softened, and when 00:06:52.280 |
he heard these words, he said he was stopped at his track. 00:06:55.760 |
And literally this is what he says in his book, Confession, "No further would I read, 00:07:03.480 |
Instantly, at the end of this sentence, a clear light flooded." 00:07:07.680 |
And that was his testimony of his conversion. 00:07:11.280 |
Martin Luther, who's been heavily influenced by this man Augustine, says of the book of 00:07:16.200 |
Romans, "The Epistle is the chief book of the New Testament, the purest gospel. 00:07:21.360 |
It deserves not only to be known word for word by every Christian, but to be the subject 00:07:28.080 |
The daily bread of his soul, the more time one spends in it, the more precious it becomes, 00:07:35.640 |
There's always a danger whenever we get into an academic study of a text where it just 00:07:41.040 |
Where at the end of the study you can say, "I know this, but it makes no difference 00:07:53.200 |
In fact, at the end of an academic study of the scripture that doesn't change you, it 00:08:01.320 |
Because all it does is fill you with spiritual pride, thinking, "I know the scriptures." 00:08:05.160 |
And you end up judging people based upon what you know and what they don't know. 00:08:09.680 |
But there's also a danger to think, "Therefore, we don't need this. 00:08:19.720 |
If we apply the Word of God without properly knowing the Word of God, you'll end up building 00:08:25.400 |
a Christian life on wrong and shaky foundation. 00:08:29.480 |
So we have to make sure that we understand that the study of the academic study of the 00:08:33.600 |
Word of God, that our ultimate reason for why we study is really revival. 00:08:40.720 |
And that's the main reason why I want to spend time in the Word of God. 00:08:44.360 |
There are some things in the Book of Romans that are highly technical, especially when 00:08:48.360 |
he gets into the relationship between the law and the Spirit, you know, the flesh. 00:08:55.280 |
And when you get into those nuances, by the time we get to chapter 5, chapter 6, chapter 00:08:59.200 |
7, there's going to be a lot of grappling over, "What does this mean? 00:09:05.280 |
And we can easily just kind of get in that mode of, "You know what? 00:09:10.200 |
Well, the primary way that the Holy Spirit speaks to His people is through the Word of 00:09:17.120 |
So a church who kind of nonchalantly commits himself to the Word of God is also limiting 00:09:25.640 |
Now all of this is to encourage you that, again, maybe some of you guys are in the habit 00:09:32.760 |
And what I mean by that is you come every Sunday to judge me, right? 00:09:37.120 |
You come to judge me to see, "I like the sermon. 00:09:52.040 |
And just passively listen to see, "What does He have for me?" 00:09:56.120 |
I want to encourage you, especially as we begin to study the Book of Romans, to be active 00:10:00.080 |
listeners, meaning to come prepared with your heart ready. 00:10:03.920 |
You know exactly where we're going to be the next week. 00:10:06.720 |
You know, we're going to say, obviously, we're going to be done with a few verses. 00:10:10.800 |
Next week we're going to be covering the next few verses. 00:10:13.120 |
And what I really want to encourage you to do is to examine these verses before you come. 00:10:20.800 |
So if you come and say, "Lord, bless me," and all you brought was a little thimble, 00:10:28.840 |
So what I'm asking you to do by being an active listener is to bring a bigger container. 00:10:34.240 |
You know, get your heart ready to soften your heart. 00:10:37.280 |
Be prepared and not to see Sunday morning as just, "I went and I went home." 00:10:42.720 |
You know, "I attended this Sunday morning, but I really come to worship." 00:10:49.720 |
Again, you can sit in the same service and while somebody hears the Word of God and is 00:10:53.840 |
convicted and broken and life has changed, somebody can sit here year after year after 00:10:57.960 |
year after year and all they hear is, "I heard that." 00:11:01.120 |
I'll bet you there's somebody in this room already thinking, "I know Romans." 00:11:17.400 |
Maybe some of you are already thinking that, you know. 00:11:20.840 |
But again, the goal of our study is not simply to get you. 00:11:24.520 |
I've been preaching at this church for over 18 years. 00:11:29.280 |
Some of you who've been here, there's nothing that comes out of my mouth that hasn't come 00:11:37.120 |
Nothing that I say, even just what I just said right now, I said that about 100 times 00:11:41.720 |
There's nothing I'm going to say that's going to be new, right? 00:11:46.640 |
So if our ability to listen is simply like it's something new, it'll be harder and harder 00:11:54.160 |
The longer you're a Christian, it'll be harder and harder and harder to listen to anything 00:11:58.160 |
new that is going to have any kind of impact in your life. 00:12:04.880 |
And the most dangerous place for a Christian to be is when the things of God becomes old. 00:12:11.680 |
Because once it becomes old, your heart becomes hardened. 00:12:15.880 |
Once your heart is hardened, you no longer are a worshiper of God. 00:12:20.520 |
You can attend service, you can study the Bible, you're not worshiping. 00:12:24.600 |
God is not speaking to you, and you're not speaking to God. 00:12:29.200 |
My goal and my desire for the study of the Book of Romans is that as it has impact on 00:12:34.680 |
me, and I'm praying that as we go through it, as we dissect and as we study through 00:12:39.680 |
the detailed nuances of what the Gospel is and what the result of it is and how we ought 00:12:44.680 |
to live as a result of understanding this, that that's exactly what would happen. 00:12:49.440 |
The intent of this letter would not simply be, "I know this." 00:12:53.280 |
The intent of this letter would be the very result that Paul intended, the Holy Spirit 00:13:05.980 |
I think the most difficult place to be in a community is a bunch of people who are fake, 00:13:17.480 |
No one wants to be a part of that, where we say one thing and do something else. 00:13:23.520 |
I don't want to be fake, you don't want to be fake. 00:13:25.840 |
You don't want to listen to a pastor who's fake, nor do I want to lead a congregation 00:13:30.640 |
Whatever it is, even while we're struggling, even while we're wrestling, even with sin, 00:13:41.760 |
No matter where we are in our walk with God, I pray that the study of the Book of Romans, 00:13:46.720 |
and as we, again, to dig in, that we would recognize where we are and then recognize 00:13:52.920 |
what He's given us, and that we would be sanctified, we would mature and grow as God intended. 00:13:59.320 |
So this morning what I want to do is, I'm not going to be jumping into any one particular 00:14:05.760 |
Remember, I think it was about six, seven months ago, remember I asked you to draw stick 00:14:11.160 |
figures, and I said to draw a triangle, draw a square. 00:14:19.720 |
All right, so remember when we did that, and after I drew it, I showed you, like, okay, 00:14:24.160 |
what I intended for you to draw is a house and a tree, right? 00:14:27.820 |
But when you didn't understand what I was asking you to draw, all you drew was triangle 00:14:31.320 |
and some stick figures, and it didn't look like anything. 00:14:35.200 |
So to study the Book of Romans, or study any text in the Bible, without understanding the 00:14:40.800 |
bigger picture, you're not going to get as much out of it, right? 00:14:45.600 |
So the goal of this morning is I want to present to you the big picture of the Book of Romans, 00:14:50.640 |
I want to give you the big outline, and then we're going to jump into the text itself next 00:14:56.940 |
How many of you have heard of the term "Romans Road"? 00:14:59.640 |
Raise your hand so I know how many, okay, "Romans Road." 00:15:04.240 |
Okay, so this term, "Romans Road," for those of you who haven't heard it, basically is 00:15:09.520 |
a way of presenting and understanding the Gospel. 00:15:13.160 |
So those of you who've maybe studied it, maybe in Sunday school, maybe you were going out 00:15:16.720 |
to missions and you were memorizing certain texts, you had the Book of Romans and certain 00:15:22.320 |
verses in the Book of Romans that you put to memory, and if you memorize it in sequence, 00:15:29.880 |
And so, Book of Romans is presented very logically, systematically, where Paul builds upon one 00:15:37.720 |
argument over the other argument and the next argument. 00:15:40.400 |
So I know that we have a tendency to memorize scripture, like we'll get a verse like Romans 00:15:44.520 |
3.23, you know, we'll get a 6.23, and we have a tendency to memorize these scriptures, but 00:15:51.680 |
this book in particular is not meant to be studied in isolation of the other texts, because 00:16:01.080 |
Every argument he makes in Chapter 1, he refers back to and builds on that in Chapter 2 and 00:16:06.400 |
So if you jump in at Chapter 5, of course you can still gain something from that, but 00:16:12.240 |
that is a conclusion of four chapters of theological foundation that he builds, and then he builds 00:16:19.880 |
So if you jump in at Chapter 5, you're not going to get the full meaning of what he means 00:16:24.920 |
You're not going to be able to interpret Chapter 7 without having properly interpreted 00:16:32.680 |
So obviously, all of New Testament should be studied systematically, but this book in 00:16:37.760 |
particular, if you jump in in the middle, you can easily use it out of context, which 00:16:46.040 |
So I want to give you a big picture of the Book of Romans, and a big outline. 00:16:51.000 |
So basically, the Romans road goes like this, okay? 00:16:54.760 |
And there's different variations of it, and some of you may have studied it and say, you 00:16:58.000 |
know, you're going to come up to me and say, "That's not how I learned it," right? 00:17:00.680 |
But there's different variations of this, but in the end, this is the Gospel message 00:17:07.460 |
So those of you who are taking notes, you can just kind of put that on your notes and 00:17:14.100 |
The first part of it, he spends three chapters talking about the need for salvation. 00:17:21.040 |
And then Chapter 3 and 4, the second part, he talks about after he established the need 00:17:25.640 |
for salvation, he talks about the provision for salvation. 00:17:34.860 |
The third part is, here's the need, here's the answer. 00:17:38.880 |
The third part in Chapter 5 through 8 is a result. 00:17:47.260 |
And then after, again, so the meat of the Book of Romans is the first eight chapters. 00:17:51.660 |
First eight chapters just kind of gives us, why do you need salvation? 00:17:54.940 |
Well, what did he give so that you can be saved? 00:17:57.920 |
And if you're saved, what happened to you as a result of the salvation? 00:18:02.260 |
And then the fourth part is the scope of salvation. 00:18:10.020 |
And he talks about the relationship between the Gentiles and the Jews. 00:18:12.960 |
And so he talks about that in Chapter 9 through 11. 00:18:16.060 |
And then the fifth and final part is Chapter 12 through 16, where he talks about the life 00:18:23.540 |
So if you study, again, carefully the Romans Road, the Gospel presentation basically goes 00:18:35.060 |
And as a result of what Jesus has done, this is what you received. 00:18:42.380 |
And as a result of that, in view of this mercy, this is how you ought to live. 00:18:48.500 |
So it's important for us, before we jump into Chapter 12, say, "Hey, this is what you ought 00:18:53.740 |
Let's figure out what Paul, the foundation that he lays on, on the meaning of all of 00:18:59.700 |
Now, again, some of you guys may sit here and think, "I know this." 00:19:04.700 |
If you're not a brand new Christian, you didn't get baptized yesterday, you've heard 00:19:12.260 |
But studying Scripture is kind of like digging for treasure. 00:19:16.060 |
If you dig just on the surface, there's something there on the surface. 00:19:24.280 |
So you get a little scooper and you scoop in and you dig a little bit more and there's 00:19:29.460 |
In fact, the more precious stuff is underneath. 00:19:35.980 |
You might bury it $2 on the surface and somebody finds it, no big deal. 00:19:39.420 |
But if you have real treasure, you want to bury it deep. 00:19:42.260 |
If you have hundreds of thousands of dollars and you don't trust the bank, you're going 00:19:48.100 |
That may be a bad analogy, but you understand what I'm saying. 00:19:52.260 |
Scripture, studying the Scripture is like that. 00:19:53.660 |
So if you sweep it superficially, and you say, "Yeah, I get it. 00:20:00.220 |
I want to dig and I want to help you see the dots, the connection and how this is a foundation 00:20:06.560 |
not only for Romans, but all of what we know about Christianity." 00:20:15.580 |
The first, and I'm not going to say the most important, but it is most important because 00:20:20.980 |
if you miss this, all the other parts aren't going to make much sense. 00:20:26.280 |
It may make sense, but it's going to be very superficial. 00:20:30.140 |
Have you ever tried to share the Gospel with somebody and they don't see a need? 00:20:43.660 |
It's like, "You know, I know, I know I did some bad stuff, but you know, when I die, 00:20:51.180 |
You can never share the Gospel beyond that point. 00:20:54.580 |
If the person says, "I don't think I need a Savior." 00:20:58.260 |
If they don't recognize their sin, if they don't recognize the desperateness before God, 00:21:07.180 |
How do you explain to somebody that Jesus is a Savior when they say they don't need 00:21:14.420 |
How do you, you can have the nicest Lamborghini car and you go to the village and you say, 00:21:21.140 |
"I can give you this Lamborghini if you feed me, but there's no roads." 00:21:28.420 |
So no matter how precious this gift is, if that person doesn't see the need for it, it's 00:21:36.260 |
So what Paul does in the first three chapters, three whole chapters, is to set the foundation 00:21:45.580 |
Now we may look at it and say, "Well, I'm talking to a room full of believers and why 00:21:48.220 |
do we need to spend, you know, three chapters, so if we go fast, it might be three months, 00:21:56.340 |
Two, three months I'm going to be telling you, you're a sinner. 00:22:05.140 |
Get ready, you know, because we're going to spend a good chunk of time to go through the 00:22:10.540 |
Romans to recognize what Paul says in need of salvation. 00:22:15.740 |
Even as Christians, you know, the Bible describes us when we fall away from God. 00:22:20.100 |
It typically happens when we're desperate, we cry out to God. 00:22:23.180 |
When God hears us, you know, we're thankful and we become satisfied. 00:22:28.820 |
And then once we become satisfied, we forget God. 00:22:35.580 |
We start drifting out to idolatry and then judgment comes. 00:22:39.020 |
And then it's that cycle over and over again. 00:22:41.220 |
And where the judgment comes is the moment that we forget that we need God. 00:22:45.620 |
And usually when that happens is when life is going well. 00:22:49.780 |
That's a challenge for all of us because we live in the comforts of Orange County. 00:22:54.860 |
Well, most of us, some of us in other counties, right? 00:23:03.380 |
So sometimes you don't even recognize the spiritual stupor that you and I are all in 00:23:10.980 |
Travel somewhere else, travel to another country and you come back and realize you can actually 00:23:15.420 |
feel and sense there's a different spiritual environment. 00:23:20.940 |
In Orange County, because this is where we live, the greatest challenge that we have 00:23:26.540 |
is that there is no sense of urgency for anything. 00:23:36.940 |
You know, we talk about all this persecution because of the gay rights and, you know, all 00:23:41.980 |
We hear about it in liberal parts of the world. 00:23:45.900 |
But to us, it's not real because we live in Orange County. 00:23:50.780 |
You know, Orange County is known for mega churches. 00:23:54.940 |
We have mega churches probably every six to seven minute drive from here, like in any 00:24:01.460 |
And it doesn't mean because there's a mega church that everybody is spiritually good. 00:24:05.940 |
You know, what it means is there's a lot of people go to church. 00:24:09.940 |
And as a result of a lot of people going to church and a lot of religious activity, there 00:24:14.460 |
is a false sense of security of being a Christian in Orange County because there's no sense 00:24:22.820 |
I believe that this part of the Book of Romans is probably one of the most important parts 00:24:34.060 |
Because the moment we forget who we are before God without Christ, the Gospel becomes old. 00:24:40.820 |
Church just becomes a community of people that we hang out with. 00:24:48.060 |
When there is no sense of urgency, first thing that happens is we don't pray. 00:24:59.320 |
The first thing that happens is we don't pray. 00:25:06.100 |
That's why the first summary and conclusion of what he says in Chapter 3, this is what 00:25:15.420 |
And again, in our generation, to say this is very offensive. 00:25:21.220 |
And later on we're going to go into a little bit more detail of what Paul means. 00:25:24.260 |
This is the conclusion of what he's been trying to say. 00:25:32.180 |
For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin. 00:25:36.180 |
As it is written, none is righteous, no not one." 00:25:48.440 |
You committed all your life to be a faithful Jew. 00:25:53.620 |
And when you gave sacrifices, that's financial. 00:25:57.660 |
Because that's how they measured someone's wealth. 00:26:00.060 |
So when you went all your life to give financially, you've fasted. 00:26:05.060 |
In fact, you've traveled long distances to proselytize other people to be a Jew. 00:26:11.540 |
And all your life you've been trying to be faithfully committing and to obey the law. 00:26:18.540 |
Here's Paul when he says, "None is righteous, including you. 00:26:23.540 |
All the things that you've been doing up to this point add nothing to your righteousness. 00:26:34.020 |
I've had this memorized since I was five years old. 00:26:43.340 |
I mean, there are some Bible scholars in our generation, but in the Old Testament era, 00:26:49.340 |
you know, a child by the time he was 13 had big chunks of the Torah memorized. 00:27:08.540 |
If he just ended there, it would have already been offensive. 00:27:13.700 |
You mean all this time that I've been pursuing God at the temple, you're saying I'm part 00:27:22.780 |
I mean, you know, kids play what we call the, what do you call it? 00:27:40.420 |
And we're so concerned about the self-esteem of our children that we're going to ruin them 00:27:46.180 |
And as a result of that, I think that has brought corruption. 00:27:49.660 |
But here he says, "No, everyone has become worthless. 00:28:03.620 |
Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. 00:28:24.060 |
He's referring to Gentiles, where God made it very plain to them through the creation 00:28:30.220 |
And he says, "The only reason why you don't know God is because you suppress the truth 00:28:38.860 |
And as a result of that, you say you don't understand. 00:28:44.540 |
But God says that was not an intellectual problem. 00:28:53.060 |
And you're saying that you've been obeying the law, but by the law you are judged. 00:28:57.700 |
If you were judged by the law, you will all be under the curse. 00:29:06.780 |
And here's… let me go a step further than that. 00:29:10.020 |
This is who we are the moment we forget Christ. 00:29:14.180 |
The moment that we are not motivated by the love of Christ. 00:29:16.980 |
The moment that we are not affected by the cross. 00:29:29.020 |
I've never met somebody who just kind of woke up and did nothing and at the end of the day 00:29:35.300 |
I've never met anybody who just kind of drifted along two, three years like that, just wasn't 00:29:41.860 |
And I woke up one day and was like, "Man, I love Jesus." 00:29:47.780 |
When we don't pay attention, when we aren't anchored, when we're not pursuing, and we're 00:29:51.620 |
not paying attention, our natural inclination is to drift away from God. 00:29:57.100 |
See, that's why Paul says, "Before I can even tell you about who Jesus is, do you know 00:30:07.940 |
We can talk about justification by faith until we're blue to the face and that we become 00:30:17.540 |
And we become experts of propitiation, about adoption, about atonement. 00:30:26.700 |
We can become experts in all of this, and yet have no effect on us. 00:30:34.540 |
Because the only way that we can be affected by the cross is when we first and foremost 00:30:40.260 |
And the people who are the most deeply affected are the ones who are the most deeply recognizing 00:30:49.820 |
And that's why it's so hard to reach religious people. 00:30:54.340 |
It's so hard to reach people who are at the church doing the right things, and yet it's 00:31:03.860 |
Because we talk about need for Christ, we praise God, and His name is on our lips constantly, 00:31:19.140 |
We don't realize, when we look at the cross, that that's the only way that I can possibly 00:31:26.180 |
And when I talk about live, I'm not just talking about breathing, I'm talking about living. 00:31:30.180 |
We spend so much time and energy and money to pretend like we're living. 00:31:36.460 |
And that's why we get so caught up in entertainment and traveling and all this stuff, and none 00:31:41.900 |
But so much of that is so that we feel like we're living. 00:31:45.740 |
See, that's why Paul spends so much time trying to convince them, pleading with them, "You 00:31:58.620 |
The whole book begins, Romans 1:20, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against 00:32:02.580 |
all ungodliness, unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth." 00:32:07.500 |
Wrath of God is being poured out, and you don't even recognize it. 00:32:12.180 |
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:32:14.020 |
That's why Paul, recognizing this, in 2 Corinthians 5:20, he describes his ministry as imploring 00:32:26.940 |
He didn't just casually spread the word, you know, "I'm going to spread the seed and see 00:32:31.740 |
In fact, what does he say later on in the book of Romans? 00:32:34.700 |
He said, "Knowing the judgment that's coming upon my people, the Jews, I wish I could be 00:32:39.260 |
accursed, because I wish that all these countrymen would come to recognize who Jesus is and why 00:32:49.500 |
Even as he asked for prayer, in 2 Thessalonians 3, he says, "Finally, brothers, pray for 00:32:57.900 |
Pray for us that the word of the Lord may be spread rapidly." 00:33:02.860 |
Speed ahead, it says in the ESV, but in the NIV and in the New American Standard, it says 00:33:12.860 |
Paul didn't simply say, "Can you pray for us that the doors will open?" 00:33:15.660 |
And I just kind of sit casually until the door gets open so that we can do the ministry. 00:33:18.900 |
There was a sense of urgency in him, you know. 00:33:22.260 |
He was kind of watching the world drifting away, and the end of it, the Niagara Falls 00:33:31.380 |
And so there's a sense of urgency in him in ministry. 00:33:37.860 |
When we don't recognize our need, worship becomes dull. 00:33:43.020 |
Yes, we know justification by faith, but it doesn't inspire worship. 00:33:50.980 |
Not only does it not inspire our worship and devotion, there's a sense of urgency to spread 00:34:02.540 |
I think everybody here, if you see a hungry child on the street, you'll have compassion. 00:34:07.960 |
If you see people, you know, I told you stories in the Philippines, and these young, young 00:34:13.220 |
teenage girls, barely teenage girls, selling their bodies so they can feed their family. 00:34:16.980 |
I mean, doesn't that just get you right here? 00:34:22.620 |
Even though you weren't there, even though you didn't meet them, just the thought of 00:34:25.700 |
that, doesn't that instill some compassion in you? 00:34:31.580 |
When compassion is not there, when we see people and we recognize that the wrath of 00:34:36.420 |
God is upon them, and we do not recognize, we don't have compassion, something has definitely 00:34:44.460 |
That's why Paul says first and foremost that we need to recognize. 00:34:51.300 |
Christians, religious people, committed Christians. 00:35:02.140 |
After he sets that foundation, the second thing that he goes to is the provision. 00:35:12.100 |
You've probably heard that term many times before. 00:35:15.260 |
Our whole Protestant Reformation was about justification by faith alone. 00:35:24.940 |
In Romans 3.23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified 00:35:29.220 |
by the grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." 00:35:39.820 |
Again, you may not be challenged in the church, you may not be challenged in this fellowship, 00:35:45.060 |
but I know that the moment you step out of church and you're at work or you're at school, 00:35:55.060 |
How can you possibly believe that Jesus is the only way? 00:36:03.060 |
I can accept it if you say Jesus is maybe a God and he was a great man and does great 00:36:07.100 |
things just like a lot of other people have said. 00:36:09.660 |
But to say that Jesus Christ is the only way? 00:36:14.100 |
You see, if our goal is to become better people, I don't know if you've ever read Buddhist 00:36:22.100 |
There's a lot of earthly wisdom in Buddhist literature. 00:36:24.860 |
You know, saying, "Hey, he's telling us to be Buddhist." 00:36:28.700 |
Okay, wake up, that's not what I'm saying, right? 00:36:32.660 |
But if you've ever read Buddhist literature, the Buddhists spent a lot of time observing 00:36:40.380 |
Some of the best quotes of examination of life I've read from Confucius. 00:36:48.140 |
I don't know much about Shakespeare, but some of the things that I've read about Shakespeare 00:36:59.280 |
If you're looking to be a better person, there's a lot of stuff you can do. 00:37:07.580 |
If your goal is to be financially successful, you don't need Jesus. 00:37:12.860 |
Maybe praying to Jesus may be the easiest way. 00:37:15.380 |
Just like if you want to get an A and you didn't study and it was pray. 00:37:24.340 |
But if your goal is financial, if your goal is health, if your goal is social, you don't 00:37:31.940 |
One reason why you would need Christ is because you don't know what to do with the sin. 00:37:39.980 |
There is no answer to your guilt that comes from sin, the corruption that comes from deep 00:37:56.020 |
See which field has more potential to get ahead. 00:38:02.700 |
If you don't have friends, don't be so awkward. 00:38:18.020 |
If that's what we're seeking, you don't need Jesus. 00:38:21.700 |
If Jesus is just an easier, faster way, you don't need justification by faith. 00:38:31.740 |
He said, "I do all of these things so that you would know that the Son of Man has the 00:38:42.420 |
Until we recognize our corruption, justification by faith is just words. 00:38:53.740 |
But when you are desperate for holiness, when you're hungering and thirsting for righteousness, 00:39:02.660 |
there's no other name, no name given under heaven by which you and I can be saved. 00:39:12.500 |
That's why we establish the need, and then the means, which is Christ and Christ alone. 00:39:19.920 |
And then from there, he talks about the result. 00:39:24.020 |
If you see the need, and you cling to Christ, and if you cling to Christ and you are saved, 00:39:30.460 |
chapters 5 through 8 discusses what it is that you have in Christ. 00:39:33.980 |
And again, sometimes because we forget what it is that we have in Christ, and I think 00:39:37.820 |
again, part of the reason why prayer is so hard for us is because we forget what prayer 00:39:45.780 |
You heard that so many times, "Of course you're talking to God." 00:39:57.860 |
Some of you guys are looking at me, it's like, "Don't be stupid. 00:40:05.860 |
You know, maybe everything needs to be said three times, so let me say it three times, 00:40:22.020 |
The God who stops the ocean from, the water from coming in. 00:40:26.620 |
The God who keeps enough oxygen in this room so that you and I can breathe. 00:40:33.260 |
The God who was there from the beginning of time. 00:40:36.060 |
The God who's going to be there at the end of time. 00:40:44.900 |
Sometimes we forget what it is that we have in Christ. 00:40:53.180 |
And it just becomes a habit, and after it becomes a habit, you become blind, right? 00:40:58.300 |
You don't feel, it's just kind of like, "Oh, I heard this, heard this, heard this." 00:41:01.540 |
I've heard this so many times, you become numb to it. 00:41:05.220 |
I think it's important for us, as we study that, again, that section, like, we have peace 00:41:16.180 |
It's kind of like North and South Korea, you know, they get together, it's like, "Oh, they 00:41:18.940 |
go one country, and there's a whole country in South Korea just pleading to have peace, 00:41:26.980 |
And I can just imagine when North and Korea opens, South and North Korea opens up and 00:41:32.820 |
they become one, if that's within the will of God, I can imagine just, you know, 60, 00:41:38.740 |
70 years of being separated from your cousins and relatives, and I can just imagine the 00:41:46.620 |
I want to be there, if that ever happens, and the day that they open it up, I want to 00:41:50.820 |
be there, just to take pictures, just to take video, right? 00:41:56.820 |
Can you imagine all of human history has been separated from this holy God, and now God 00:42:10.100 |
That it would not just be some words that we express, it's not just some theological 00:42:13.760 |
thing that we sign, but we have peace with God. 00:42:18.700 |
And as a result of that, we have peace of God. 00:42:23.060 |
If you have peace with God, the peace of God will guard you in all things. 00:42:32.140 |
If I have peace with God, everything is good. 00:42:37.580 |
Sometimes I think about what's the most tragic thing that I could imagine in my life? 00:42:47.540 |
And not because of me, like I'm ready to go, because my kids and my wife, I don't want 00:42:52.460 |
to leave them, so in my mind, that's probably the worst thing that can possibly happen in 00:43:00.660 |
I worry a little bit about you people, but not as much. 00:43:04.900 |
You guys, I'm pretty sure somebody's going to come up here and do a better job than I 00:43:11.300 |
am able to do, but I'm the only father in my home. 00:43:14.660 |
But even then, when I think about the worst case scenario, I'm at peace. 00:43:29.980 |
How will He not, along with Him, give me everything? 00:43:32.100 |
Even if I die early, how will that not be in His control? 00:43:37.860 |
I have peace with God, therefore I have the peace of God, and therefore the scripture 00:43:50.260 |
You were once slaves to sin, now you're slaves to righteousness. 00:44:09.260 |
The life that you could not live because of sin, He gave life. 00:44:13.900 |
That's why Jesus says, "I have come to give life, and give this life abundantly." 00:44:18.980 |
So if you're missing out on this life, you're missing out on the benefit of salvation. 00:44:28.660 |
That the greatest witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the life of the church. 00:44:35.620 |
You have been crucified with Christ, and you were united with Him in His death, but now 00:44:40.420 |
as a result of being united with Him in His death, now you are united with Him in His 00:44:47.260 |
I'm able to live because I don't have to be successful. 00:44:55.620 |
I don't have to walk down the street and feel any less than anybody else because somebody 00:45:02.420 |
Somebody is playing basketball better than me. 00:45:08.420 |
In the end, when I die, I'm going to be in heaven in eternity with God. 00:45:16.460 |
This miserable rat race that makes us feel less of a person because we're not doing better 00:45:23.100 |
Our family doesn't look better than the next family. 00:45:31.580 |
As a result of justifying our sins, we have new life in Christ, and as a result, not only 00:45:36.980 |
do we have new life, we are able to call Him our Abba Father. 00:45:40.100 |
He's not just some distant creator that He said, "Here I am, and just worship Me." 00:45:50.620 |
And then we're going to be, He's going to be talking about the scope in chapter 9 through 00:45:53.420 |
11, and again, we'll get into that more deeper. 00:46:04.460 |
His period of time, He's going to allow the Gentiles to come in, but He has not given 00:46:09.240 |
And again, for the sake of time, we'll jump to the last. 00:46:12.120 |
This life, in view of this salvation, if we quickly jump over all of this and say, "You 00:46:19.440 |
should do this, you should do that," we can change their behavior. 00:46:22.200 |
I mean, peer pressure has a lot of power over us. 00:46:28.800 |
And some of you guys are thinking, "No, I'm not." 00:46:30.320 |
You know, it was always interesting to me when I was younger, the punk rockers, when 00:46:43.520 |
They all had the mohawk, all dyed their hair the same way, all had a leather jacket with 00:46:51.160 |
No, you just created another society of anarchists. 00:46:53.200 |
You're just conforming to another group of people. 00:46:56.720 |
Even when we don't think that we're being influenced, we're all influenced. 00:47:03.480 |
So if you can come to church, and all it becomes is about change of behavior to fit into this 00:47:07.760 |
church, if we're not careful, we can easily become whitewashed tombs where we're washing 00:47:13.240 |
the outside of the tomb, but inside is the same, filled with dead men's bones. 00:47:18.880 |
What really changes us is when we recognize who we are before God, and what it is that 00:47:25.240 |
Christ has done, and that it is only Christ, and I'm desperate for Christ every single 00:47:31.560 |
And then we recognize what it is that we have in Christ, which is the reason why I worship 00:47:36.720 |
Not because if I don't worship, He's not going to bless my life, He's not going to 00:47:39.680 |
bless my business, He's not going to bless my marriage. 00:47:43.400 |
I don't worship God thinking that if I do some of these things that God's going to make 00:47:48.480 |
I worship because He's given me everything I could possibly think of. 00:47:53.320 |
What more could I ask for than the Son of God Himself? 00:47:59.040 |
And that's what worship is, coming into this sanctuary, living every day, and thank you 00:48:09.520 |
You know, I may not have all the money, I may not have all the blessings, I may not, 00:48:13.320 |
you know, have all these superficial things, but I have Jesus. 00:48:17.680 |
Who can separate you from the love of Christ? 00:48:20.400 |
And so you live a life of worship, and so therefore, chapter 12 through 16 is an explanation. 00:48:25.440 |
When you do this, when you are motivated, when your inwards are changing, and you become 00:48:30.600 |
a genuine worship of God, this is how you ought to express your worship to God. 00:48:37.920 |
So again, as I wrap up this morning, that's the big picture of what we're trying to get 00:48:43.800 |
Now some of these things we're going to go into and spend a lot of time digging through, 00:48:47.280 |
and again, my personal goal for this is not just, obviously it's not just academic. 00:49:00.800 |
Not because it's fun, not because I see something wrong, because when Christ is close, I experience 00:49:16.960 |
No matter how many trips you take, no matter how many shiny things you buy, no matter how 00:49:20.540 |
secure you are, no matter how healthy you are, if you've seen a glimpse of the glory 00:49:27.000 |
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you know that there is nothing like it. 00:49:32.080 |
So I pray that as we jump into the book of Romans, that the hungering and thirsting for 00:49:36.880 |
righteousness will be stirred up in us, that every time we come, that we would come ready. 00:49:56.040 |
Let's take a few minutes to pray before God as we ask the worship team to come up. 00:50:00.640 |
Again, it takes a few minutes to come before the Lord in prayer, examining our own hearts. 00:50:06.840 |
If we've been distracted, to take this time to come before the Lord. 00:50:10.240 |
You know, I pray that our Lordship would not just be words, and that we can honestly pray 00:50:26.120 |
So let's take some time to pray before God, that God will soften our hearts to speak to