Romans Intro

Hello. Welcome. We'll go as long as my body holds up today. If we have to stop, we'll just pick up where I stopped and we'll go from there next week. Roger said it was OK if I did that. So I've got this virus. You know, when you fight a virus for like 10 days and you think, well, you start asking people for advice. And finally, you call the wonderful Dr. Echo. He says, get over to the emergency room and find out what's the matter with you. So I did, Friday night. Three hours later, they said, we can't find what's amended with you. We can't give you any medications. Your vitals are all fine. So go home and take a Tylenol and get a nap. So, you know, when you're in that shape, you don't want to hear that kind of thing because you're hoping they're going to give you something that's going to make you feel better. And this is one of those viruses that part of the day that your temperature is way up here and then it's down here and then it's way up here.

99 to 104. Really fun. So. As long as I was going to say, as long as my strength holds out, which is really, I should say, as long as my weakness holds out. We'll keep going. So we're talking about the Book of Romans. That's going to be what we're going to study over the next, we're thinking, maybe two years. So a little history, a little testimony.

27 books in the New Testament. Most of the books are actually letters, sometimes called epistles. Paul wrote the epistle of Romans from Corinth. We've just finished about how much fun he was having in Corinth. So why did he do it? The book of Romans was written, like I said, we'll see in Romans 1.1. He wrote this in 56 AD, which doesn't mean a lot to us at this point. Paul had never been to Rome. So he was not the founder of the Roman church. I don't think anybody's ever been identified as to who might have been, but there were plenty of people there who were believers.

And having been in Rome this summer, you can sure see what a place, I mean, the discussion and the debate, and then here comes these people in with this new thing called Christianity. So there were Christians, there were a lot of them, and in the Roman Empire they were the big dog of the time, you know, they're like we used to be. What this letter is going to tell us, it's going to carefully show us how a man can be right with God. Now, righteous, justified. So if we look at the Book of Romans, we shall remember that this was a letter written from Paul and sent to the believers living in Rome. But we should also remember that as we read the Bible or any of the 66 books in the Bible, we are reading a love letter written by a living God who loves us and sent personally to me and to you so that we could understand.

Even in the book of Romans, we can read God's amazing loves towards us, Romans 5.8, 8.35. So I've mentioned this over the last some weeks that Romans is a study of a justified man on the earth. and what his practice and conduct of that man, which is suitable to a justified man. So you have to ask yourself, what is a justified man? Or what is a righteous man? God is totally righteous in himself, meaning that he does everything perfectly. Everything is right. He never makes a mistake. And he's got a purpose.

What do you think the purpose is? You ever think about way back in Genesis, God said, let's make man in our own image and likeness. Why did he say that? Let's make man in our own image and likeness. I think God wanted to have creatures who could know him, be like him, and exchange with him all that there is in being a righteous person. And I don't think that that goal has ever changed. Every time, I don't care if it's the Old Testament or the New Testament, quickly you're going to see that God is always wooing us. He's always pursuing us. And He wanted man to be with Him and be like Him.

So He creates Adam. puts him in an absolutely perfect environment. It met all of his needs. There wasn't anything he was lacking, except maybe he couldn't find any girls in the neighborhood. So God creates Eve. And she's perfect. And she fits him perfectly. And both of them fit righteous God perfectly. But there's more to this story.

In Romans 1 20, we see, for since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power, and his divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood, through what has been made so that they are without excuse. So here is God, from the very beginning, demonstrating his invisible attributes so that people would know, his creatures would know, that he had a purpose.

Fine's Dictionary says the character or quality of being right or just used to be spelled right-wiseness. I like the word, but you get the red underline in Microsoft Word, which clearly expresses the meaning. It is used to denote an attribute of God So Romans gives us a system of practice and conduct that is characteristic with a righteous man. As we talked about a couple of weeks ago, there are two books or two letters in the New Testament that talk about, give you an overview of man and then how he should live. based on what his position is. In Romans we have, what's the word I'm looking for, the revelation of God showing us what a righteous man on the earth, one, what he looks like, and two, how he functions.

I don't know why we have such trouble with that, but that's what he's doing. So is that a great deal? That God would put the standards so high and the requirements so great that we couldn't live up to them? This in Ephesians is the only two letters that do that.

Here you are as a righteous man on the earth. And here's how a righteous man lives. You know where else you see that? You see it back in Exodus. When God takes, by grace, He takes all of the Jews from Egypt all the way to Sinai, and they didn't have to do anything but walk. That's all they had to do. Did you, I'm back. He fed them. Their clothes didn't wear out. Their shoes didn't need to go to the cobbler. So he gets them all the way over to Sinai.

And then he says to them, you are a set apart people to me. And I want you to see so that you'll understand. Because you are set apart to me, here's how you live. So the Jews and we look at that as, well, it's a bunch of rules that if we broke them, he would condemn us. That wasn't what it was. It was to show them, here's how a righteous man, a righteous Jewish man, separated unto God, is supposed to live.

And oh, by the way, if you trust me, I'll give you the grace to live that way. If Adam were to trust him, he would have given him the grace to live that way. If we trust him, He gives us the grace to live that way. So one comment about Ephesians, what's so interesting about the book of Ephesians or the letter of Ephesians, Paul writes that book or letter of Ephesians while he's in prison in Rome, probably in that Mamertine prison, I'm guessing.

And the Lord says to Paul, Now you come and instruct the church about what it is to be connected with the man in heaven. That's a quote from J.B. Stoney. Think about that. Now come and instruct the church about what it is to be connected with a man in heaven. We've had two people in the last two months find out what that is. They went home. They're learning. Oh my goodness, how cool is that?

So in terms of usage notes, the righteousness of God means essentially the same as his faithfulness, his trustfulness, his truthfulness, for that is consistent with his own nature. So when you talk about this righteousness as exhibited in the death of Christ, which is sufficient to show man that God is neither indifferent to sin nor regards it lightly. On the contrary, it demonstrates that the quality of holiness in God which must find expression in the condemnation of sin. I want to make one more question about this righteousness. Is it possible for me or you to have any kind of an ongoing relationship, face to face, back and forth, all that is encompassed in a relationship, if God is righteous and I'm not? Is that possible? What do you think? Nobody's doing this. Nobody's doing this. It's impossible. It's impossible. Why is it impossible?

Notice back in Genesis, we're going to make man in our image and likeness. He was going to bring man along so that he was righteous with God and he'd have a relationship. OK, well, I don't have to explain what Adam did about that. then go through the whole Old Testament. And he still, God is still on the same agenda. And if we would just, or any man would just believe Him, we would be righteous and we would be able to communicate back and forth. So in comes the New Testament and the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we're going to find out We're going to find out that the Lord Jesus Christ, being the Son of God and being righteous, has the same purpose. Why did He go to the cross? Well, He wanted to propitiate, satisfy God about the insult of sin in the world. So Christ became a sacrifice because God said, in righteousness, the soul that sins, it will surely die. So if you ever take a look at, you know, when God lays down a principle, he never varies from it.

And we'll find that out as we go through Romans 9, 10 and 11. So are you doing OK with him so far? That's going to be a challenge. Thank you. So let's talk about what some great men have said about the Book of Romans, the Letter of Romans. Chester McCauley says, it is the seedbed of all Christianity. To know Romans is to know Christianity. So if you're not up on Romans, what don't you know? Christianity. Romans is not about the gospel. It is the gospel. So everything from the first chapter to the last chapter about Romans is basically the gospel.

H. A. Ironside said, the epistle to the Romans is the most scientific statement of the divine plan for redemption of mankind that God has been pleased to give us.

And I love this guy, Francis Patton. He was the president of Princeton University in the 1800s. You know, in all those Northeastern schools that are now just as wokey as they can be, they were all instituted for the study of God's Word. This guy says, the only hope of Christianity is in the rehabilitating of the Pauline theology.

It is back, back, back, excuse me, to the incarnate Christ and the atoning blood where it is on, on, on to atheism and despair. What have we got going in our society today? We have atheism and we have unbelievable despair. Every level of humanity, economically, no matter where it is, There is no hope. There's only despair.

So even Martin Luther, the epistle to the Romans is the true masterpiece of the New Testament and the very purest gospel, which is as well worth and deserving that a Christian man should not only learn it by heart, word for word, but also that he should daily deal with it as the daily bread of men's souls. It can never be too much or too well read or studied And the more it is handled, the more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes. Martin Luther was a pretty cool guy. He had us going and eating. John Wesley. John Wesley's journal. Wesley was an unsaved preacher until he read the Book of Romans and he understood God's way of salvation.

Luther's 95 thesis, a Catholic monk, was greatly influenced by Romans 117, that just shall live by faith, which opened his eyes to the truth of justification by faith. Augustine, who this is probably the only thing I'd recommend from him, the city of God was founded on his study of the book of Romans. John Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress was written after reading the book of Romans in prison. Pilgrim's Progress became the best-selling book of all time next to the Bible.

So what an influence this book has. So one other thing I want to put in this is out of Newell, and this is for Courtney's benefit, he likes this. In Romans, a man is shown with righteousness. There is none righteous, no, not one. This involves a man's fundamental relationship to God. Every human being that does not believe in Christ has no relationship with God.

And we're going to find out that that's interesting because it puts them in a really tough spot. So Christ has been put forth as the propitiation of the satisfaction for the sins of the world, meeting all divine claims. You ever think about, you know, some Reformers say, well, God Christ only died for the elect. You know what the problem with that argument is? Well, what if you're not one of the elect, and it isn't about you?

The idea of righteousness has to cover all sin. Because you've got to look at it from God's side. You've got to look at it from a righteous man, a righteous creature, God. So if He didn't get them all, He didn't get any of them. So, is death releasing man from the necessity of a righteousness and holiness on his own?

I know a lot of you came to Christianity through an environment where you were instructed and coerced and encouraged to get this righteousness thing going on your own. Or maybe a little bit of both. Christ becomes a man's righteousness and a believer has the witness of the Spirit of God as a child of God. I might be running out of gas here.

So, if you look at the Paul's epistles in the New Testament, if you rank them in fundamental relationship to God, look at them from that perspective, not your perspective, God's perspective. How do they relate to Him? The first one is Romans. because it's the book of Christianity, and it gives you everything, not only about Christianity, but it is Christianity.

And then, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Roger and I were talking this last week, and he said, well, we're kind of going backwards here. We did Galatians, we did 2 Corinthians, we did 1 Corinthians, now we're doing Romans." I said, well that's okay. We're kind of slow. So as I've mentioned, and then the fifth one is Ephesians, men on earth seated in the heavenlies. And someday we'll talk about Ephesians. And Philippians, Colossians, first and second Thessalonians. So that's what Newell says is the spiritual order.

But two through nine makes no sense unless you have number one down. And I don't mean memorization, but you spend time, as much time as you can, alone with the Spirit of God in the Book of Romans and invite Him to show you what He means. Literally, it will change everything and the way you look, it will change everything the way you look at things. That this is about God's righteousness, not mine. It's about how He sees things and what He's after and you have to come to a conclusion. in the end, then what he's done is to put us in that position where by faith we believe him, he declares us to be the righteousness of God in Christ. What is the next thing? We get fellowship. We get to go to him and sit with him and just hang out with him.

You know, and I know a lot of times when I talk about this subject, you get a lot of people who think, boy, that doesn't sound too exciting to me. Don't you wish you could call up your dad or Winnie and say, how's it going up there? And they would say, I'm sorry, I can't take your call right now. So I think that's as much as I can do.

So next week, what I'm going to do is I'm going to go an overview of all 16 chapters with a six a large headings. And it's all every single one of them is about the righteousness of God revealed in everything that he does. Do you know that he reveals himself in condemnation? Think about that. He goes, he takes in the first three chapters, he condemns a lot of things, and it shows us his righteousness. And in that process, and we desire to enter into that righteousness.

So thanks for listening. Let me close. Father, how we thank you for your grace. How we thank you for your dear son, the Lord Jesus, who through his work, you have put every one of us in a position to make us righteous in Christ for one purpose, and that is to have intimacy and fellowship and communication with you. And we know that all that is required of us on the earth is to walk by faith, and that we are indwelt by the Spirit to implement in our lives how that righteous man or woman is to live. So all we need to do is trust you. So we thank you, Father. We pray in your Son's precious name. Amen.