Romans - Week 1

Jon Eagleson

The Book of Romans • Sermon • Submitted 8 months ago • Presented 8 months ago

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The governing point of Romans is this:

The Gospel is the summit of everything God has done through history

Jesus and the cross don’t sit as some random event that happened. From the Garden of Eden, God had a plan.

Genesis 3:15 NIV

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

And Paul talks about 4 BIG things we need to understand about the Gospel. I’ll go over them quickly now, but they’ll be the basis for the rest of our working through Romans, and we’ll go into a lot more depth on them all in later messages.

The Gospel is about God’s Righteousness

Not about ours. The Bible isn’t a story about human effort - it’s a story about a deep heart corruption present in every single one of us.

Everything we understand about the Gospel, the cross, the life of Jesus - it all leads us to this conclusion that GOD is righteous.

The Gospel is about a new way to be Human

Humanity was created with Adam and Eve. And it was redeemed and reclaimed with Jesus. Humanity from Adam to Jesus was defined by death and sin - but now we have a new way.

So at the cross, we didn’t just get given an escape plan. We got given an entirely new way to live.

The Gospel fulfills the promise through Israel

It’s not like, Israel was God’s first at-bat with humanity, and Jesus and the church was after strike 1.

God worked in Israel and through israel to fulfill his promise to the world. And israel played a bigger part than simply ‘the first guys who didn’t get it right’.

The Gospel supernaturally enables and powers unity

All the things we know and believe about Jesus, salvation, and the gospel should RADICALLY and FUNDAMENTALLY change how we act towards each other.

And this unity goes beyond simply holding a standard of truth - it is a supernaturally sustained way of living, and one we can only really do by the power of the Spirit actively living in every single one of us.

So we’re going to just move through Romans.

Everyone is trapped by sin

Romans 1:18–20 NIV

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

When we say, ‘everyone has sinned’, you’ll get pushback. And we tend to give two primary responses.

First -

We didn’t know any better

But Paul goes on to say -

Romans 2:1–4 NIV

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

The SECOND big argument against ‘everyone is trapped by sin’ -

We are the ones who know the truth!

Sin is so big and so severe, simply knowing the truth, or pushing information on people isn’t enough.

Romans 2:18–21 (NIV)

if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law;

if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark,

an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—

you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself?

Paul gives a really broad statement:

Romans 2:12 NIV

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.

So, he’s saying - those who reject or ignore the truth will be lost without the truth, and those who do evil under the truth will face judgment because of that truth.

The truth isn’t our way to feel better or superior -

The truth tells us that we’re all hopeless without Jesus

For sure, there’s an advantage to KNOWING the truth. But we need to know how to properly apply it.

In even the most simple matters, we need to be able to say - Here’s the truth, but I know that without Jesus in my life in this area, I’m just not enough.

That sounds like a depressing fact, but it’s not for two big reasons.

First, admitting that we need help is the first step to actually getting help.

But second, and this is the big Bible reason,

God worked through all of human history to rescue us because He loves us and He is so good

There’s a verse far down the line in Romans that really sums up this point:

Romans 8:31 NIV

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

We’ve always taken us to mean, if God backs up our message, if he agrees with us, who could fight against us. But that’s not Paul’s point.

Paul is saying - whatever we may face, whatever obstacles are in our lives, whatever ways that we are weak or unable on our own. If God is working on our behalf - who is powerful enough to stop him?

What circumstance could we face, what could ever possibly happen that God wouldn’t be able to save us?

We may all be lost, we may all be sinful - but God is good. And he is powerful. And he will help.

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