Why Romans? For the Gospel | Romans 1:1
Romans: For the Gospel • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Today, we are beginning to endeavor to work through one of the most influential books of the Church age of history.
I’ll admit it that in the 15 years I’ve been a pastor, I have never once preached a series through this book. I’ve preached sermons on texts in the book, but I’ve never preached through it.
Why? Because I’ve been scared to. I’ve know that no matter what I do, no matter how hard I study, no matter how much I try I am going to come to the end of it and believe I’ve done a terrible job on one of the most influential books in all of scripture.
So why now?
So why now?
We are in a particular time in history, a time of great upheaval and change in our world. I am cautious to call it one of the darkest times in history, because if we look at all of human history then we can definitely point to darker times, but I will call it one of those times upon which great changes and currents that will affect the next 400 years of human history will be affected by events in this day.
Throughout history there have been moments, points in history where the world has been influenced by certain advances that have changed the nature of human history. The advance of the Road system of the Roman Empire, the invention of the printing press, the advance of the scientific method, the industrial revolution, and now the digital revolution. All of these points in history have greatly effected life for all of mankind. And each had changed the course of human history.
And in the center of each of these technological revolutions we find God using these advances to spread the gospel and mold the church. Whether it be the initial spread of the gospel that was assisted by Rome’s vast network of roads, the Reformation that occured because of the access the masses had to scripture for the first time in history or the Great Awakenings and revivals that occured during the midst of the scientific and industrial revolutions, in the middle of each of these is the book of Romans.
Perhaps no single book in scripture, save the gospels, has so influenced and shaped the church as this epistle, written by a former Pharisee to the fledgling church in the capital of the greatest empire of that time.
So today, I begin to correct the fact that I have never preached through Romans by beginning this year, and perhaps even longer than that, to go through the entire book of Romans.
But why? You may ask? Well, I think there a few reasons:
The Greatest Men in History Knew It’s Importance
The Greatest Men in History Knew It’s Importance
Augustine said that in Romans “all the shadows of (his) doubt were dispelled.”
John Calvin spoke of Romans as his “entrance ... to all the most hidden treasures of Scripture.”
“This Epistle is really the chief part of the New Testament and the very purest Gospel, and is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. It can never be read or pondered too much, and the more it is dealt with the more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes.” ~Martin Luther
“I think it meet that every christian man not only know it, by rote and without the book, but also exercise himself therein evermore continually, as with the daily bread of the soul. No man verily can read it too oft, or study it too well; for the more it is studied, the easier it is; the more it is chewed, the pleasanter it is; and the more groundly it is searched, the preciouser things are found in it.” ~William Tyndale
Romans was what ignited the Reformation
Romans was what ignited the Reformation
In Fact, it was this book that drew Martin Luther to the truth of the Gospel by Grace Alone, through Faith alone in Christ Alone.
The protestant reformation, which began over 500 years ago, was a reformation back to the Gospel. It was a refocusing on the simple gospel of Jesus Christ. Martin Luther, the sometimes brash, and often outlandish German Monk was transformed by the gospel through the study of the book of Romans and the world has been transformed by it.
Martin Luther described the gospel as being like a man falling down the shaft of a bell-tower—unsure of what the purpose of his life was and what would happen to him when he died—who reaches out in desperation for the rope, and as he grabs it, it not only breaks his fall but wakes up half of Christendom.
Paul’s purpose in writing this gospel is simple and can be found in the first five verses:
Paul wrote the book of Romans to introduce the TRUE GOSPEL to the church at Rome. It’s not that Paul questioned their faith in Christ, but Paul wanted them to know the gospel he received from Christ on the Damascus Road.
In this letter, Paul logically and faithfully presents the gospel message to the church at Rome.
It is this gospel, that is the central theme and which acts as the hub for all else that Paul says in the letter of Romans and John Piper notes that Romans 8:28 is at the bright center of the whole letter.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
“When it comes to the architecture of future grace and the buildings we call the promises of God, Romans 8:28 shares the tribute of being one of the two or three greatest. This structure is staggering in its size. The infinitely wise, infinitely powerful God pledges that in this building, future grace will make everything beneficial to his people! Not just nice things, but horrible things too – like tribulation and distress and peril and famine and sword (Romans 8:35-37) Once you walk through the door of love into the massive, unshakable structure of Romans 8:28, everything changes.”
So as we begin our study of Romans, word by word, verse by verse, I think it’s important that we begin where Paul begins, with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now let me first note that many of you may be concerned
So what is this Gospel that has captured so many? What is this “Roman Road” that has become ubiquitous with Evangelism?
What is this Gospel?
What is this Gospel?
Now let me recognize that some of you are beginning to check out right now. For some of you, you are saying to yourselves, “Let me change the channel, I already know the gospel.”
But let me encourage you today to stay with me. I think if we are going to understand Romans we must understand the gospel.
We are HOPELESSLY SINFUL
We are HOPELESSLY SINFUL
The first think that Romans teaches us is that we are hopelessly sinful. Romans 1 begins by Paul noting to his Christian audience the decadence and sinfulness of the gentiles, the non Jews that lived around the church. He noted that when man rejects God, that the natural result is the worship of and veneration of man.
Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
But he also noted that even when we are given the truth, as the Jews were, that our sinful hearts are hopelessly bent and that in our sin we still are unrighteous.
For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
That is why in Romans 3:10-12 Paul notes:
as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
So Paul concludes with
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
We are all hopelessly sinful.
We are Deserving of Judgment
We are Deserving of Judgment
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
This seems like a inoccous sentence. But it was this verse, Romans 1:17 that spurred the conversion of Martin Luther and led to the protestant reformation.
“I hated that word ‘righteousness of God,’ which I had been taught to understand is the righteousness with which God punishes the unrighteous sinner...Nevertheless, I beat importunately upon Paul at that verse, most ardently desiring to know what St. Paul (meant by this.) At last, by the mercy of God... I began to understand that the righteousness of God is righteousness with which the merciful God justifies us by faith. Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates.” –Martin Luther1
We are all deserving of God’s divine judgment.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And this is not something that happens to us when we sin. We are born morally corrupt and sinful.
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
And yet, as Luther notes:
God is Graciously Forgiving
God is Graciously Forgiving
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
This is perhaps one of the greatest verses in all of scripture. I think we’re so familiar with it that we forget the weight and the power of this one verse. God in his mercy has chosen not to punish our sins, but instead he has forgiven us and freed us from our sin.
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God has given us a “free gift”. It is the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.
But more than that, God takes us and makes us like Christ.
Romans 8:15 tells us something Amazing.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Notice the truth of the gospel, we who were sinners can receive adoption.
John Stott it described like being a prisoner on death row who not only receives a pardon, the Judge hangs around this prisoner’s neck the Congressional Medal of Honor and awarded him a graduate degree with honors from the most prestigious university. Everywhere this prisoner goes he is greeted and welcomed as a hero who has accomplished great things rather than a criminal.
That’s what it means to receive salvation.
So How Am I Saved
So How Am I Saved
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Notice what the writer says here.
1. I must PUT MY FAITH in Christ Jesus.
1. I must PUT MY FAITH in Christ Jesus.
We must put our faith in Christ and him alone for salvation. This seems simple enough, but it’s more than just a mental assent to a truth. It’s more than saying, “Ok Jesus, you are who you say you are and you can save me.”
It’s about losing all our faith in everything else to save us. It’s about letting go of any trust in myself, or my family, or my history, or my goodness.
As R. C. Sproul noted, “Anybody can believe in God. What it means to be a Christian is to trust him when he speaks, which does not require a leap of faith or a crucifixion of the intellect. It requires a crucifixion of pride, because no one is more trustworthy than God.”
2. I must REPENT of my sins.
2. I must REPENT of my sins.
testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
So how do I repent. I’ve heard it said, but what does it mean?
Cotton Mather notes the following:
1. You must heartily and bitterly Bewail all your Sins.
Your Original Sin, your Actual Sin; the monstrous Aggravation of your Sin; You must be convinced of it.
2. Secondly; You must make a Penitent Confession of your Sins; a Remorseful confession of them, All your known crimes, you must as particularly as you can, Enumerate with shame and grief before the Lord.
3. Thirdly; Every way of Sin must be Abhorr'd, must be Avoided, must be Forsaken.
We must mourn our sin, we must confess our sin, and we must hate our sin. This is what God calls us to in scripture.
3. I must seek to live a life of HOLINESS
3. I must seek to live a life of HOLINESS
True confession of Christ as Lord, and true repentance of sin will necessarily lead to a desire to live a new life in Christ.
But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
If we have been set free, we have been set free to live life the way God created us to live it.
This is the GOSPEL.
INVITATION
What about you? Where are you? If you were to die today, and stand before a holy and righteous God, are you confident that you would go to heaven? Do you know that you’ve put your faith in Christ. Do you know that you’ve repented of your sins? Do you know that you are seeking to live a life of holiness? If not will you do so today? Right now! Don’t wait.
bow your head and tell God. Confess your sins. Mourn your sin.
CLOSING
This year, we are asking you, WHO’S YOUR ONE. We’ll take some time to explain this more as we go through Romans together. But this year we’re asking you to find one person at least per person in our church that we are going to:
PRAY for
INVITE to Church
Don’t know who to invite. Let me give you 3 keys, 3 NOT statements that you can listen for to help you decide who to invite:
1)Things are not going well
2) I was not prepared for that
3) I'm not from
You might start by inviting one lost person per month to your house for dinner.
SHARE the gospel
We don’t want anything to get in the way of the Gospel in 2021. We don’t want anything: Our history, our culture, our traditions, anything to get between people and the gospel.
This year, we are praying for 21 baptisms in 2021. I know that’s a Big Hairy Audacious Goal, but we need to set some big goals as a church. I know this may seem to be the worst time to do this, but I believe that this pandemic offers us the opportunity to speak into the lives of hurting people the life-giving truth of the gospel.
WY1 forces us to ask the personal question, “Am I as eager to share the gospel and invite someone into this spiritual journey as Paul was?”
Are you ready?
Let’s pray