Romans Review, Part 1 (Romans 1-8)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:03.240 We are going to be. I'm going through the entire book of Romans, 2 00:00:03.799 --> 00:00:08.070 both read and preached over over two sermons. Are Two services. Rather, 3 00:00:09.789 --> 00:00:14.910 will cover eight chapters this morning and eight chapters this evening, and sets of 4 00:00:15.070 --> 00:00:18.070 two, and I hope that that will be a real blessing to you to 5 00:00:18.190 --> 00:00:24.260 be able to hear God's word in as it holds together. A lot of 6 00:00:24.339 --> 00:00:29.339 times we get little tiny pieces and chunks to be able to feel the the 7 00:00:29.500 --> 00:00:34.700 flow of it, see the structure. I'm see how themes and words repeat 8 00:00:34.740 --> 00:00:40.490 over and over and over again. I trust that many of you will see 9 00:00:40.609 --> 00:00:44.770 things for the first time that you haven't seen before and I hope that you 10 00:00:44.850 --> 00:00:50.719 all will believe what you hear. One of the reasons the book of Romans 11 00:00:50.759 --> 00:00:56.159 has been so loved in the church and it's as one of its special qualities 12 00:00:56.320 --> 00:01:03.719 is the way it puts forth so much of the faith in such a complete 13 00:01:03.799 --> 00:01:07.030 way. The things that we've just sung in the apostles creed are found here 14 00:01:08.629 --> 00:01:15.549 in the book of Romans. Let's begin this morning by hearing Romans Chapter One, 15 00:01:15.230 --> 00:01:26.980 and to my God bless the reading and preaching of his word Romans Chapter 16 00:01:27.099 --> 00:01:34.129 One. Paul a Servant of Christ, Jesus called to be an apostle, 17 00:01:34.489 --> 00:01:40.609 set apart for the Gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets 18 00:01:40.689 --> 00:01:45.890 in the holy scriptures, concerning his son, who was descended from David according 19 00:01:45.930 --> 00:01:49.760 to the flesh and was declared to be the son of God in power, 20 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:55.719 according to the spirit of holiness, by his resurrection from the dead. Jesus 21 00:01:55.760 --> 00:02:00.079 Christ, our Lord, through whom we have received grace and Apostleship, to 22 00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:05.390 bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the 23 00:02:05.469 --> 00:02:10.669 nations, including you, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, to 24 00:02:10.830 --> 00:02:15.060 all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints. 25 00:02:15.819 --> 00:02:21.780 Grace to you and peace from God, our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 26 00:02:23.580 --> 00:02:27.180 First, I think my God, through Jesus Christ, for all of 27 00:02:27.300 --> 00:02:30.569 you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. My God, 28 00:02:31.050 --> 00:02:36.050 for God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel 29 00:02:36.129 --> 00:02:39.009 of his son, that, without ceasing, I mention you always in my 30 00:02:39.210 --> 00:02:45.360 prayers, asking that somehow, by God's will, I may at last succeed 31 00:02:45.599 --> 00:02:49.439 in coming to you, for I long to see you, that I might 32 00:02:49.639 --> 00:02:54.199 in part to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, that 33 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:59.590 we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. 34 00:03:00.710 --> 00:03:02.990 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often 35 00:03:04.110 --> 00:03:07.550 intended to come to you, but thus far have been prevented, in order 36 00:03:07.629 --> 00:03:13.539 that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of 37 00:03:13.580 --> 00:03:19.539 the gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both 38 00:03:19.659 --> 00:03:24.620 to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the 39 00:03:24.740 --> 00:03:30.330 Gospel to you also, who are in Rome, for I am not ashamed 40 00:03:30.370 --> 00:03:35.689 of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone 41 00:03:35.770 --> 00:03:39.729 who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, for 42 00:03:39.889 --> 00:03:45.120 in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith, for faith, as 43 00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:51.199 it is written, the righteous shall live by faith, for the wrath of 44 00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:58.189 God is revealed from Heaven Against All ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who buy their 45 00:03:58.189 --> 00:04:02.310 unrighteousness suppress the truth, for what can be known about God is plain to 46 00:04:02.389 --> 00:04:06.949 them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, 47 00:04:08.030 --> 00:04:14.099 namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation 48 00:04:14.219 --> 00:04:18.220 of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without 49 00:04:18.220 --> 00:04:24.180 excuse, for, although they knew God, they did not honor him as 50 00:04:24.329 --> 00:04:28.170 God or give thanks to him, but they became few rudle in their thinking 51 00:04:28.730 --> 00:04:32.529 and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools 52 00:04:32.649 --> 00:04:41.800 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds 53 00:04:41.879 --> 00:04:46.920 and animals and creeping things. Therefore, God gave them up and the lusts 54 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:53.149 of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 55 00:04:54.029 --> 00:05:00.589 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the 56 00:05:00.790 --> 00:05:09.819 creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever amn. For this reason, 57 00:05:10.699 --> 00:05:15.459 God gave them up to dishonorable passions for their women, exchanged natural relations 58 00:05:16.300 --> 00:05:21.170 for those that are contrary to nature, and all the men likewise gave up 59 00:05:21.170 --> 00:05:28.649 natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing 60 00:05:28.689 --> 00:05:33.129 shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the doe penalty for their error. 61 00:05:34.329 --> 00:05:40.160 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God. God gave them up 62 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:45.600 to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were 63 00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:51.870 filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are 64 00:05:51.949 --> 00:05:59.550 full of envy, murder, strife, to seat maliciousness. They are gossips, 65 00:05:59.829 --> 00:06:05.379 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of 66 00:06:05.500 --> 00:06:14.860 evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though 67 00:06:14.980 --> 00:06:20.170 they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, 68 00:06:21.370 --> 00:06:28.730 they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. Therefore, 69 00:06:28.810 --> 00:06:32.040 you have no excuse, Oh man, every one of you who judges, 70 00:06:32.759 --> 00:06:36.759 for in passing judgment on one another, you condemn yourselves because you, 71 00:06:38.360 --> 00:06:44.079 the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of 72 00:06:44.199 --> 00:06:48.389 God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, Oh 73 00:06:48.509 --> 00:06:54.029 man, you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, 74 00:06:54.870 --> 00:06:59.189 that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume, 75 00:07:00.110 --> 00:07:05.860 on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's 76 00:07:05.899 --> 00:07:12.019 kindness is meant to lead you to repentance, but because of your hard and 77 00:07:12.139 --> 00:07:16.970 impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself. On the day of 78 00:07:17.129 --> 00:07:25.649 Wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed, he will render to each 79 00:07:25.689 --> 00:07:29.889 one, according to his works. To those who, by patience and welldoing, 80 00:07:30.040 --> 00:07:33.600 seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 81 00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:39.959 But for those who are selfseeking and do not obey the truth, but obey 82 00:07:40.519 --> 00:07:46.750 unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury, there will be tribulation and distress 83 00:07:47.589 --> 00:07:56.189 for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 84 00:07:57.350 --> 00:08:01.779 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew 85 00:08:01.899 --> 00:08:09.379 first and also the Greek, for God shows no partiality. For All who 86 00:08:09.420 --> 00:08:13.810 have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who 87 00:08:13.810 --> 00:08:18.810 have sinned under the law will be judged by the law, for it is 88 00:08:18.930 --> 00:08:22.930 the hearers of the law who are righteous before God. Or for it is 89 00:08:24.050 --> 00:08:28.079 not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers 90 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:33.159 of the law who will be justified. For when gentiles who do not have 91 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:37.320 the law by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to 92 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:41.470 themselves, even though they do not have the law, they show that the 93 00:08:41.549 --> 00:08:46.029 work of the laws written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness 94 00:08:46.429 --> 00:08:50.509 and their conflicting thoughts accused or even excuse them on that day when, according 95 00:08:50.509 --> 00:08:56.620 to My Gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. But 96 00:08:56.659 --> 00:09:01.299 if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God 97 00:09:01.500 --> 00:09:07.019 and know his will and to prove what is excellent, because you are instructed 98 00:09:07.059 --> 00:09:11.690 from the law, and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide 99 00:09:11.690 --> 00:09:15.769 to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness and instructor of 100 00:09:15.850 --> 00:09:20.730 the Foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of 101 00:09:20.929 --> 00:09:26.279 knowledge and truth. You, then, who teach others, do you not 102 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:33.799 teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who 103 00:09:33.879 --> 00:09:39.269 say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You Who 104 00:09:39.470 --> 00:09:45.429 Abhor Idols, do rob temples? You who boast in the law, dishonor 105 00:09:45.629 --> 00:09:50.669 God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, the name 106 00:09:50.750 --> 00:09:58.340 of God is blasphemed among the gentiles because of you. For circumcision, indeed, 107 00:09:58.580 --> 00:10:03.340 is a value if you obey the law, but if you break the 108 00:10:03.460 --> 00:10:11.809 law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps 109 00:10:11.850 --> 00:10:18.370 the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 110 00:10:18.409 --> 00:10:24.120 Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will con them. You 111 00:10:24.120 --> 00:10:30.879 who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For No one 112 00:10:31.159 --> 00:10:37.750 is a Jew who is merely one outwardly. Nor is circumcision outward and physical, 113 00:10:37.830 --> 00:10:45.309 but a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the 114 00:10:45.470 --> 00:10:50.700 heart, by the spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not 115 00:10:52.059 --> 00:11:01.700 from man but from God. Let's consider what God has said in these couple 116 00:11:01.779 --> 00:11:11.370 chapters briefly. These days, after a person dies, there's a process called 117 00:11:11.529 --> 00:11:18.320 embalming. The process involves washing the body, massaging the limbs, putting them 118 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:28.320 into a comfortable looking position. Fluids are replaced with a formaldehyde solution, the 119 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:33.950 eyes are fixed closed, the jaws fixed shut, and then various cosmetic improvements 120 00:11:33.950 --> 00:11:39.669 are made. Clothes are put on, the hair is styled, makeup is 121 00:11:39.710 --> 00:11:46.909 applied. This, of course, can be a controversial practice, but there's 122 00:11:46.950 --> 00:11:52.419 one thing about it that's totally uncontroversial, and that's that. Embalming does Ab 123 00:11:52.820 --> 00:11:56.860 solutely nothing to bring a dead person to life. It's not the goal, 124 00:11:58.220 --> 00:12:01.250 and we all know it. You can put the finest clothes on the body, 125 00:12:01.289 --> 00:12:05.730 the most expensive jewelry, you can massage and shape the face into the 126 00:12:05.850 --> 00:12:15.049 most natural of all looking positions, but giving the appearance of life is totally 127 00:12:15.250 --> 00:12:22.039 different than life itself. And there is, Paul says, a spiritual reality 128 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:28.960 that corresponds to this. Apart from a miracle, you can't bring a dead 129 00:12:30.110 --> 00:12:35.309 person to life, and this is as true of those who are physically dead 130 00:12:35.070 --> 00:12:41.269 as it is of those who are spiritually dead. What does it mean to 131 00:12:41.389 --> 00:12:46.299 be spiritually dead, though? What does it mean to be spiritually dead? 132 00:12:46.379 --> 00:12:52.179 Paul describes that in these chapters. First he describes it of the gentiles and 133 00:12:52.299 --> 00:12:56.500 then he describes it of the Jews. At the end of the chapter. 134 00:12:56.620 --> 00:13:03.250 There you heard language about outward things mattering nothing like circumcision if the inward things 135 00:13:03.289 --> 00:13:11.289 aren't really there. What does a spiritually dead person look like? What are 136 00:13:11.330 --> 00:13:15.919 they like? Well, just quoting from various things in these chapters, they 137 00:13:15.960 --> 00:13:22.120 are people filled with sins. They suppress the truth in unrighteousness spiritually dead people 138 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:28.309 no God, but deny God. They refuse to honor him, they refuse 139 00:13:28.389 --> 00:13:33.470 to thank him, they refuse to serve him. Instead of the Creator, 140 00:13:33.590 --> 00:13:39.029 they worship his creation. Spiritually dead people are people who are feutile in their 141 00:13:39.110 --> 00:13:43.620 thinking, darkened in their hearts, swamped by all manner of lusts and, 142 00:13:43.820 --> 00:13:48.340 despite knowing that all of this sin, in the corruption of their soul, 143 00:13:48.460 --> 00:13:58.370 deserves death, they pursue evil and godless living with zeal. To summarize, 144 00:13:58.409 --> 00:14:03.850 spiritual death can be defined as the state of a soul that has been corrupted 145 00:14:05.450 --> 00:14:11.679 by sin, even though a person may know that such corruption leads to things 146 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:18.960 like tribulation, distress, wrath, fury and eternal death for all who commit 147 00:14:18.120 --> 00:14:24.429 such things. The corrupted soul does nothing about it. Why? Because it's 148 00:14:24.509 --> 00:14:31.629 corrupted, because it's dead. It's incapable of doing anything good, anything worthy 149 00:14:31.789 --> 00:14:39.100 of justification. Instead, it only does things worthy of condemnation. A soul 150 00:14:39.259 --> 00:14:43.940 with sin is like a cup of water that has poison in it. Poisoned 151 00:14:43.059 --> 00:14:48.940 water is now bad water. It is not capable of doing anything good, 152 00:14:50.100 --> 00:14:52.210 of giving life, of sustaining life, just the opposite. A Cup of 153 00:14:52.690 --> 00:15:00.929 poisoned water brings death. I should also point out that once water has poison 154 00:15:00.970 --> 00:15:07.679 in it, it's impossible for the water to unpoison itself. It's corrupted in 155 00:15:07.799 --> 00:15:11.759 such a way that it's incapable of doing good, it's incapable of real change, 156 00:15:13.799 --> 00:15:16.639 and that's why I say, apart from a miracle, dead is dead, 157 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:24.669 no matter how you might try to dress it up. God's wrath is 158 00:15:24.830 --> 00:15:30.470 coming, Paul says, apart from a miracle, the soul with sin will 159 00:15:30.789 --> 00:15:37.019 remain dead and like a glass of poison water, it is worthy only to 160 00:15:37.139 --> 00:15:43.659 be cast out. All this explains what the apostle means. In chapter one, 161 00:15:43.740 --> 00:15:50.889 verse eighteen, the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven Against All ungodliness 162 00:15:52.169 --> 00:16:00.889 and unrighteousness of men. But this explanation of spiritual death helps us also understand 163 00:16:00.970 --> 00:16:07.480 what Paul writes about in verses sixteen and Seventeen, where he famously says the 164 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:15.360 Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to 165 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:19.309 the Jew and also to the Greek. Why is it the power of God 166 00:16:19.389 --> 00:16:26.950 into salvation? Because he says in it, the righteousness not of man but 167 00:16:26.149 --> 00:16:33.100 of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the 168 00:16:33.179 --> 00:16:40.100 righteous shall live by faith. That's what this book is about. It's about 169 00:16:40.139 --> 00:16:45.379 how the whole of humanity, Jews and Greeks, have been given a miracle 170 00:16:47.059 --> 00:16:55.610 capable of bringing dead people to life, and the miracles name is Jesus. 171 00:16:56.730 --> 00:17:02.440 The miracle of Jesus, the miracle who is Jesus, comes into the world 172 00:17:02.759 --> 00:17:07.680 with power to save us, to give us a righteousness of God and take 173 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:17.910 our unrighteousness for himself. So put away your makeup bags, put away your 174 00:17:18.029 --> 00:17:26.230 combs, for in Jesus, God actually brings the dead to life, as 175 00:17:26.349 --> 00:17:30.940 the second verse of our next Hymn says, in thy Dear Cross a grace 176 00:17:32.220 --> 00:17:38.220 is found. It flows from every streaming wound whose power are inbred. Sin 177 00:17:38.460 --> 00:17:52.410 Controls, breaks firm the bond and freeze our souls. Let's continue on our 178 00:17:52.490 --> 00:18:03.480 hearing of God's word. Now in Romans Chapter Three. Then, what advantage 179 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:07.720 has the Jew or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. 180 00:18:08.839 --> 00:18:12.589 To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. 181 00:18:15.029 --> 00:18:19.269 What if some were faithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 182 00:18:21.430 --> 00:18:25.549 By no means. Let God be true, though everyone were a liar. 183 00:18:26.269 --> 00:18:30.779 As it is written that you may be justified in your words and prevail when 184 00:18:30.779 --> 00:18:36.819 you are judged. But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, 185 00:18:37.059 --> 00:18:41.130 what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to Inflict Wrath upon us? 186 00:18:41.410 --> 00:18:47.089 I speak in a human way, by no means. For then how 187 00:18:47.130 --> 00:18:52.289 could God judge the world? But if, through my lie, God's Truth 188 00:18:52.329 --> 00:18:56.680 Abounds to his glory, Why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 189 00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:02.839 And why does not, why and why not? Do Evil that good may 190 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:07.400 come? As some people slanderously charge us with saying, their condemnation is just. 191 00:19:10.109 --> 00:19:14.549 What, then, are we Jews any better off? No, not 192 00:19:14.750 --> 00:19:21.069 at all, for we have already charge that all, both Jews and Greeks, 193 00:19:21.269 --> 00:19:26.339 are under sin. As it is written, no one is righteous, 194 00:19:26.859 --> 00:19:30.259 no, not one. No one understands, no one seeks for God. 195 00:19:32.339 --> 00:19:37.660 All have turned aside. Together, they have become worthless. No one does 196 00:19:37.019 --> 00:19:41.490 good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use 197 00:19:41.569 --> 00:19:47.410 their tongues to deceive. The Venom of ASPS is under their lips. Their 198 00:19:47.490 --> 00:19:52.650 mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. 199 00:19:52.279 --> 00:19:57.000 In their paths are ruin and misery and the way of peace. They 200 00:19:57.079 --> 00:20:04.519 have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now 201 00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:08.589 we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under 202 00:20:08.589 --> 00:20:14.509 the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may 203 00:20:14.549 --> 00:20:19.509 be held accountable to God, for by the works of the law no human 204 00:20:19.589 --> 00:20:26.460 being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of 205 00:20:26.579 --> 00:20:33.420 Sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, 206 00:20:33.460 --> 00:20:38.049 although the law and prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God 207 00:20:38.369 --> 00:20:45.410 through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction, 208 00:20:45.410 --> 00:20:49.680 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are 209 00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:56.319 justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ, 210 00:20:56.359 --> 00:21:02.440 Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to 211 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:08.390 be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine 212 00:21:08.430 --> 00:21:14.829 forbearance, he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness 213 00:21:14.829 --> 00:21:21.539 at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the 214 00:21:21.619 --> 00:21:26.259 one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It 215 00:21:26.420 --> 00:21:32.660 is excluded by what kind of law? By a law of works? No, 216 00:21:33.609 --> 00:21:37.609 but by the law of faith, for we hold that one is justified 217 00:21:37.650 --> 00:21:41.369 by faith, apart from the works, of the law. Or is God 218 00:21:41.569 --> 00:21:45.690 the God of the Jews only? Is he not the god of the gentiles 219 00:21:45.730 --> 00:21:52.000 also, yes, of gentiles also, since God is one who will justify 220 00:21:52.200 --> 00:21:59.680 the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do We then overthrow the 221 00:21:59.720 --> 00:22:03.869 law by for this faith? By no means, on the contrary, we 222 00:22:03.509 --> 00:22:08.109 uphold the law. What, then, shall we say? was gained by 223 00:22:08.150 --> 00:22:14.750 Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified 224 00:22:14.789 --> 00:22:18.299 by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 225 00:22:18.460 --> 00:22:26.539 For what does the Scriptures say? Abraham believed God and it was counted to 226 00:22:26.619 --> 00:22:32.609 him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wages are not 227 00:22:32.809 --> 00:22:37.130 counted as a gift, but as his due. And to the one who 228 00:22:37.130 --> 00:22:41.130 does not work but believes in him, who justifies the ungodly, his faith 229 00:22:41.529 --> 00:22:47.799 is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the 230 00:22:47.960 --> 00:22:53.559 one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless 231 00:22:53.599 --> 00:23:00.910 deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom 232 00:23:00.910 --> 00:23:07.309 the Lord Will Not Count His sin. Is this blessing, then, only 233 00:23:07.430 --> 00:23:14.859 for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith 234 00:23:14.980 --> 00:23:18.299 was counted to Abraham is righteousness. How, then, was it counted to 235 00:23:18.380 --> 00:23:26.059 him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not 236 00:23:26.099 --> 00:23:32.329 after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as 237 00:23:32.369 --> 00:23:37.970 a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. 238 00:23:37.930 --> 00:23:42.359 The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being 239 00:23:42.519 --> 00:23:48.799 circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to 240 00:23:48.920 --> 00:23:53.160 make him the father of the circumcised, who are not merely circumcised but who 241 00:23:53.160 --> 00:23:59.710 also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he 242 00:23:59.950 --> 00:24:04.869 was circumcised. For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be 243 00:24:04.910 --> 00:24:11.740 the heir of the world did not come through the law, but through righteousness, 244 00:24:11.099 --> 00:24:17.140 through the righteousness of faith. For it is the adherents of the law 245 00:24:17.180 --> 00:24:22.019 who are to be his heirs. Or for if it is the in adherence 246 00:24:22.099 --> 00:24:26.609 of the law who are to be the heirs. Faith is null and the 247 00:24:26.690 --> 00:24:32.970 promises void, for the law brings forth wrath. But where there is no 248 00:24:33.089 --> 00:24:38.160 law, there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith in 249 00:24:38.279 --> 00:24:42.960 order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring, 250 00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:48.279 not only to the adherents of the law, but also to the one 251 00:24:48.440 --> 00:24:52.200 who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. 252 00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:56.750 As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations, 253 00:24:56.869 --> 00:25:00.710 in the presence of God, in whom he believed, who gives life to 254 00:25:00.829 --> 00:25:07.539 the dead and calls into existence the things that did not exist. In Hope, 255 00:25:07.579 --> 00:25:11.500 he believed, against hope, that he should become the father of many 256 00:25:11.579 --> 00:25:17.740 nations, as he has been, as he had been told, so shall 257 00:25:17.900 --> 00:25:22.769 your offspring be. He did not weaken in his faith when he considered his 258 00:25:22.970 --> 00:25:26.210 own body, which was as good as dead since he was about a hundred 259 00:25:26.250 --> 00:25:32.609 years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's Woo woomb. No 260 00:25:33.450 --> 00:25:38.480 unbelief made him waver. Cons are sorry, no unbelief made him waver concerning 261 00:25:38.519 --> 00:25:42.720 the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave 262 00:25:42.759 --> 00:25:48.119 glory to God, fully convinced that he was able, that God was able, 263 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:52.150 to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was counted 264 00:25:52.230 --> 00:25:59.549 to him as righteousness. But the words it was counted to Him we're not 265 00:25:59.710 --> 00:26:04.299 written for his sake alone, but also for ours. It will be counted 266 00:26:04.380 --> 00:26:10.579 to us who believe in Him who raised from the dead, Jesus, Our 267 00:26:10.700 --> 00:26:15.579 Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. 268 00:26:18.690 --> 00:26:22.250 This ends the reading of God's word for the moment. May bless it to 269 00:26:22.329 --> 00:26:29.650 us all over the course of these four chapters, God has made two things 270 00:26:29.890 --> 00:26:33.960 perfectly clear now, and you ought to believe both with all of your heart. 271 00:26:36.039 --> 00:26:42.799 First is that our sinful works earn US condemnation and death. But I 272 00:26:42.920 --> 00:26:48.869 can through faith, God gives us the righteous work of Christ so that we 273 00:26:48.950 --> 00:26:55.029 may receive justification in life. If we stand in our works, we die. 274 00:26:55.549 --> 00:26:59.230 If we stand in the works of Christ, through faith in him, 275 00:26:59.589 --> 00:27:04.259 trusting in him, we live. It's beautiful, isn't it? It's grace. 276 00:27:04.299 --> 00:27:11.299 Let's consider both. First, condemnation. These chapters have made it very 277 00:27:11.619 --> 00:27:18.369 clear, crystal clear, that we are all sinners every single one of us. 278 00:27:18.410 --> 00:27:22.769 It was stated in many ways, and and in and and very explicitly. 279 00:27:22.890 --> 00:27:29.009 No single person has the personal righteousness that they need in order to be 280 00:27:29.289 --> 00:27:33.200 justified by God, in order for God to say, yes, you have 281 00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:37.440 done well, you are innocent and perfect and holy according to the law. 282 00:27:37.640 --> 00:27:41.960 This even includes the two God two of the godliest men who have ever lived, 283 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:48.549 Abraham and David. To put it plainly, from chapter three, verse 284 00:27:48.630 --> 00:27:53.230 eleven, no one is righteous. All have sinned and fallen short of the 285 00:27:53.309 --> 00:28:00.779 glory of God. No one has an excuse. Paul has been saying that 286 00:28:00.019 --> 00:28:07.259 both Jews and gentiles have had access to God's law. We all know this, 287 00:28:07.980 --> 00:28:11.299 we all know what is moral and we know that we ought to obey 288 00:28:11.339 --> 00:28:18.049 it. The problem is that we don't. We Sin Against God, we 289 00:28:18.289 --> 00:28:23.890 break his commandments, and yet we know that every one will be judged according 290 00:28:23.890 --> 00:28:30.720 to what he has done. May I speak plainly to you from the Bible. 291 00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:37.559 If any part of you is pretending that maybe, just maybe, you 292 00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:44.349 happen to be the one person who is not corrupted by sin, let's stop 293 00:28:44.470 --> 00:28:52.549 that thinking right now. You know, I know, and, most importantly, 294 00:28:52.670 --> 00:28:56.900 God knows that you know the difference between right and wrong, good and 295 00:28:57.059 --> 00:29:03.339 evil, and yet, at least sometimes, and honestly, much more than 296 00:29:03.420 --> 00:29:11.529 that, you still purposefully choose to do the wrong thing. You know what 297 00:29:11.769 --> 00:29:17.210 is right, and yet you do what is wrong. And we also know 298 00:29:17.369 --> 00:29:22.210 that God, on the other hand, is good, perfectly good, and 299 00:29:22.369 --> 00:29:29.160 God is just. And because of these two things, God must and God 300 00:29:29.400 --> 00:29:36.440 will hold us accountable for the sins that we have committed. He will not 301 00:29:36.759 --> 00:29:41.670 fail in this task. God is not blind, he is perfectly good and 302 00:29:41.869 --> 00:29:47.710 fair, he is all seeing, he is all powerful, he is holy 303 00:29:47.910 --> 00:29:56.819 and, most wise, he will judge us according to our sins. For 304 00:29:56.019 --> 00:30:03.579 some of you, this is perhaps a wake up call. If you have 305 00:30:03.740 --> 00:30:11.809 been pretending, ask yourself how long have you been ignoring this fact, denying 306 00:30:11.849 --> 00:30:17.809 the true nature of your sin, denying the judgment that is to come? 307 00:30:18.369 --> 00:30:26.000 Five years, ten, twenty, fifty? How many more times do you 308 00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:32.400 think God will let you hit the snooze button before he sends his angels to 309 00:30:32.599 --> 00:30:38.269 come and bring you before the judgment seat of God? Paul is very clear 310 00:30:38.349 --> 00:30:44.190 here. No one is righteous, not even one, and God will come 311 00:30:44.470 --> 00:30:52.380 and judge the world. You may not have even one more hour. Is 312 00:30:52.500 --> 00:30:59.059 this a wakeup call? To you. If so, let it be and 313 00:30:59.220 --> 00:31:07.130 wake up out of great, great love, before the judgment of the world. 314 00:31:07.769 --> 00:31:11.130 God has sent Jesus, his son, into the word old so that 315 00:31:11.329 --> 00:31:15.930 our sins, which we will all be judged for, might be judged in 316 00:31:17.130 --> 00:31:22.519 him. God sent his son into the world that he might be delivered up 317 00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:27.759 for our trestpasses and raised for our justification. As he says in four hundred 318 00:31:27.759 --> 00:31:34.150 and Twenty Five, Jesus Christ provides salvation. God is going to judge us 319 00:31:34.269 --> 00:31:37.710 one way or another. The question is, will he judge us as we 320 00:31:37.869 --> 00:31:42.670 stand before him in our sin, or will he judge us as those who 321 00:31:42.670 --> 00:31:48.059 have for sin is already passed away because Christ bore it for us on the 322 00:31:48.180 --> 00:31:56.859 Cross. If we cling to ourselves and our sinful, corrupt natures and all 323 00:31:56.019 --> 00:32:04.450 the sins that we have committed, we will find condemnation. But the Bible 324 00:32:04.490 --> 00:32:07.970 is saying, God is telling us if we trust in his works, we 325 00:32:07.089 --> 00:32:14.450 are given justification and all the blessings that come with it. This is why 326 00:32:14.490 --> 00:32:23.160 it's called Gospel Good News. God is offering us salvation from judgment, salvation 327 00:32:23.400 --> 00:32:30.309 from death, salvation from condemnation by having our death and condemnation placed on Christ. 328 00:32:31.950 --> 00:32:36.990 This is not something we force on him, this is something he gives 329 00:32:37.349 --> 00:32:44.700 to us out of his great love. Did you hear the words of David's 330 00:32:44.740 --> 00:32:52.660 Song in four or seven? Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and 331 00:32:52.900 --> 00:33:00.049 whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord Will Not 332 00:33:00.250 --> 00:33:07.009 Count His iniquity. Blessed indeed, to stand before God and not have your 333 00:33:07.210 --> 00:33:13.119 sins counted against you, to stand before God and know that your lawless deeds 334 00:33:13.160 --> 00:33:22.680 have been forgiven. What else could you possibly ask for? No one, 335 00:33:22.599 --> 00:33:30.390 except for God can atone for our sins, as Christ did. That's why 336 00:33:30.630 --> 00:33:35.029 we come to him and that's why, in our next song, we sing 337 00:33:36.190 --> 00:33:40.660 thy works, not mine. O Christ, speak gladness to this heart. 338 00:33:42.380 --> 00:33:54.380 They tell me all is done. They bid my fear depart. Let's continue 339 00:33:54.460 --> 00:34:00.329 in our reading of Romans now in Romans Chapter Five, and remember that the 340 00:34:00.410 --> 00:34:05.410 word of God, as he speaks to us, is always true, true 341 00:34:05.650 --> 00:34:15.280 in everything that he says. Trust, believe Romans Chapter Five. Therefore, 342 00:34:15.920 --> 00:34:22.679 since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our 343 00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:29.670 Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into 344 00:34:29.710 --> 00:34:34.469 this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the 345 00:34:34.550 --> 00:34:38.340 glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, 346 00:34:39.420 --> 00:34:46.300 knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 347 00:34:46.739 --> 00:34:52.380 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been 348 00:34:52.539 --> 00:34:57.449 poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. 349 00:34:58.849 --> 00:35:02.130 For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died 350 00:35:04.170 --> 00:35:09.119 for the ungodly, for one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though 351 00:35:09.159 --> 00:35:15.280 perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows 352 00:35:15.400 --> 00:35:20.280 his love for us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died 353 00:35:20.400 --> 00:35:24.909 for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, 354 00:35:24.909 --> 00:35:30.630 much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 355 00:35:30.949 --> 00:35:35.590 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the 356 00:35:35.670 --> 00:35:39.380 death of his son, much more, now that we are reconciled shall we 357 00:35:39.539 --> 00:35:45.980 be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God 358 00:35:45.219 --> 00:35:52.809 through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Therefore, 359 00:35:53.530 --> 00:35:58.889 just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through 360 00:35:59.050 --> 00:36:04.639 sin. And so death spread to all men because all sinned, for sin 361 00:36:04.760 --> 00:36:08.280 indeed was in the world before the law was given. But sin is not 362 00:36:08.519 --> 00:36:15.119 counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, 363 00:36:15.719 --> 00:36:20.510 even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was 364 00:36:20.590 --> 00:36:25.230 a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is 365 00:36:25.389 --> 00:36:30.110 not like the press trespass, for if many died through one man's trespass, 366 00:36:30.630 --> 00:36:35.780 much more have the grace of God and the Free Gift by the grace of 367 00:36:35.860 --> 00:36:39.980 that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many. And the free gift 368 00:36:40.139 --> 00:36:45.340 is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following 369 00:36:45.539 --> 00:36:52.650 one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift, following many trespasses, brought 370 00:36:52.889 --> 00:36:58.929 justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that 371 00:36:59.170 --> 00:37:04.960 one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the 372 00:37:05.079 --> 00:37:09.079 Free Gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. 373 00:37:10.199 --> 00:37:15.989 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act 374 00:37:16.030 --> 00:37:22.710 of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the 375 00:37:22.869 --> 00:37:28.949 one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience 376 00:37:29.349 --> 00:37:34.900 the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the 377 00:37:34.980 --> 00:37:39.539 trespass. But where sin increased, grace abounded, all the more so that 378 00:37:39.579 --> 00:37:46.449 as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal 379 00:37:46.530 --> 00:37:52.650 life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. What shall we say then? Are 380 00:37:52.730 --> 00:37:59.639 we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means, how 381 00:37:59.719 --> 00:38:02.800 can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know 382 00:38:04.199 --> 00:38:08.119 that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus, we're baptized into 383 00:38:08.199 --> 00:38:14.389 his death. We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, 384 00:38:15.269 --> 00:38:17.630 in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the 385 00:38:17.710 --> 00:38:22.829 glory of the father, we too might walk in the newness of life, 386 00:38:24.590 --> 00:38:30.179 for if we have been united with him in a death like his, we 387 00:38:30.340 --> 00:38:36.139 shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that 388 00:38:36.300 --> 00:38:40.449 our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might 389 00:38:40.530 --> 00:38:45.610 be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 390 00:38:46.849 --> 00:38:52.409 For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now, 391 00:38:52.489 --> 00:38:55.559 if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with 392 00:38:55.719 --> 00:39:00.760 him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never 393 00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:06.400 die again. Death no longer has dominion over him, for the death he 394 00:39:06.519 --> 00:39:12.230 died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, 395 00:39:12.269 --> 00:39:17.630 he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin 396 00:39:17.750 --> 00:39:25.059 and alive to God. In Christ, Jesus, Let not sin therefore reign 397 00:39:25.179 --> 00:39:30.500 in your mortal body so to make you obey its passions. Do not present 398 00:39:30.619 --> 00:39:37.619 your members to sin as instruments for UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, but present yourselves to God as 399 00:39:37.780 --> 00:39:42.730 those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God 400 00:39:42.849 --> 00:39:47.690 as instruments for righteousness, for sin will have no dominion over you, since 401 00:39:47.730 --> 00:39:53.000 you are not under law but under grace. What then, are we to 402 00:39:53.199 --> 00:39:58.639 sin, because we are not under law but under grace? By no means 403 00:39:59.880 --> 00:40:04.800 do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, 404 00:40:05.239 --> 00:40:08.230 you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which 405 00:40:08.269 --> 00:40:13.349 leads to death, or of Obedience, which leads to righteousness. But, 406 00:40:13.510 --> 00:40:16.710 thanks be to God, that you, who are once slaves of sin, 407 00:40:17.389 --> 00:40:22.460 have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were 408 00:40:22.539 --> 00:40:30.539 committed and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 409 00:40:30.380 --> 00:40:36.250 I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just 410 00:40:36.449 --> 00:40:42.969 as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, leading 411 00:40:43.010 --> 00:40:49.730 to moral lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to 412 00:40:49.969 --> 00:40:57.679 sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard 413 00:40:57.760 --> 00:41:02.199 to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things 414 00:41:02.280 --> 00:41:08.150 of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 415 00:41:09.510 --> 00:41:14.389 But now, now that you have been set free from sin and if 416 00:41:14.429 --> 00:41:20.179 becomes slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end 417 00:41:21.059 --> 00:41:28.219 eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift 418 00:41:28.300 --> 00:41:39.090 of God is Eternal Life in Christ, Jesus our Lord. So we have 419 00:41:39.250 --> 00:41:45.050 discussed what it means to be justified before God on the basis of faith, 420 00:41:45.289 --> 00:41:51.400 not of works, trusting not in ourselves but in the Free Gift of God 421 00:41:51.679 --> 00:41:57.960 through Jesus Christ. But now we have to ask what are the implications of 422 00:41:58.119 --> 00:42:01.670 this justification? What affect does it have on our lives? What does it 423 00:42:01.909 --> 00:42:08.070 mean to be a Christian? Paul begins to tell us in these chapters, 424 00:42:08.190 --> 00:42:15.030 and all highlight three things. First, he says that because we have been 425 00:42:15.190 --> 00:42:22.019 justified by faith in Jesus, we now have peace with God. Have you 426 00:42:22.059 --> 00:42:28.460 ever sinned against a friend and then been reconciled with that friend, found peace 427 00:42:28.579 --> 00:42:32.610 again with him or her? That's a wonderful feeling, isn't it? It's 428 00:42:32.650 --> 00:42:37.570 a wonderful thing to know that once was broken, a relationship that was broken 429 00:42:37.730 --> 00:42:42.610 is now mended and you are back together. It's like that with God. 430 00:42:43.570 --> 00:42:50.719 Through faith in Jesus Christ, his justification gives us access into a permanent grace, 431 00:42:51.280 --> 00:42:55.440 a permanent peace with God. And for people that were, up until 432 00:42:55.519 --> 00:43:01.469 the our justification were constantly warring with God, constantly at enmity with God, 433 00:43:02.590 --> 00:43:09.070 the is a very wonderful blessing. This leads to a second benefit. Because 434 00:43:09.150 --> 00:43:14.900 Jesus is salvation is permanent, so is our peace. And because our peace 435 00:43:15.019 --> 00:43:17.739 is permanent, it means our hope of glory of God, the hope of 436 00:43:17.820 --> 00:43:23.420 the glory of God is unshakable. So much more so that, Paul says, 437 00:43:23.539 --> 00:43:29.929 even in our sufferings, God blesses us and brings us closer to the 438 00:43:30.010 --> 00:43:36.449 glories of Heaven. Suffering, and suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, 439 00:43:36.769 --> 00:43:42.079 and character produces hope, hope that does not put us to shame. Why? 440 00:43:42.719 --> 00:43:45.480 Because we don't arrive at the end and realize I was running the wrong 441 00:43:45.519 --> 00:43:51.400 race. Because we are running in Christ, because Christ is already finished the 442 00:43:51.440 --> 00:43:58.110 race for us. We have certainty that even our sufferings, God is using 443 00:43:58.989 --> 00:44:04.550 and bringing us closer to the glories of Heaven. And there's more, another, 444 00:44:04.670 --> 00:44:07.949 a third thing. Not only are our sufferings perfected and used under the 445 00:44:08.030 --> 00:44:14.300 glory of God, but we ourselves are perfected and used under the glory of 446 00:44:14.420 --> 00:44:19.780 God. Instead of his enemies, we become his friends, his children, 447 00:44:20.380 --> 00:44:29.730 his servants. Instead of doggedly pursuing slavery and obedience to unrighteousness, we're now 448 00:44:29.889 --> 00:44:37.050 set free to with zeal, pursue the things of God. Justification, God 449 00:44:37.170 --> 00:44:45.840 says in Romans, six, does not lead to unrighteousness and sin, just 450 00:44:45.079 --> 00:44:51.760 the opposite. How can we who died to sin still live in it? 451 00:44:52.559 --> 00:44:57.469 Paul says, it just doesn't make sense. You can't die to something and 452 00:44:57.590 --> 00:45:00.670 yet live in that thing. No, if we are those who have been 453 00:45:00.710 --> 00:45:06.190 raised with Christ, then we are those who walk in the newness of life, 454 00:45:07.110 --> 00:45:09.699 as he says in six, verse five, we know that our old 455 00:45:09.860 --> 00:45:15.340 self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought 456 00:45:15.340 --> 00:45:23.210 to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. Another 457 00:45:23.289 --> 00:45:29.809 way to say this is that when you trust in Christ, you're finally free. 458 00:45:30.969 --> 00:45:37.440 Sin Is no the longer your slave master, you're no longer under its 459 00:45:37.559 --> 00:45:42.679 dominion and power. You are now under the grace of God and the power 460 00:45:42.880 --> 00:45:46.320 and the Dominion of Christ, as the very spirit of God works in you. 461 00:45:47.639 --> 00:45:52.510 Freedom from sin allows us to serve God as we never could before. 462 00:45:52.150 --> 00:45:58.469 It allows us to be perfectly and entirely devoted to him. The fruit of 463 00:45:58.590 --> 00:46:05.300 this is growing in holiness, sanctification, and the fruit of sanctification is eternal 464 00:46:05.460 --> 00:46:13.059 life. Before Christ, all that is different. Paul says in Chapter Five 465 00:46:13.219 --> 00:46:17.099 that because of the sin of Adam, the spiritual and biological father of the 466 00:46:17.139 --> 00:46:23.449 human race, our human nature has been corrupted by sin. It has been 467 00:46:23.570 --> 00:46:30.969 made sinful, it loves to sin. Before we are united to Christ, 468 00:46:30.769 --> 00:46:37.039 we love to sin, we don't like the consequences. We get frustrated at 469 00:46:37.079 --> 00:46:42.480 ourselves. We want something better. We know there's condemnation, so we don't 470 00:46:42.519 --> 00:46:49.309 love it because of that. But Yet our Lust's control us. The consequence, 471 00:46:49.389 --> 00:46:53.190 Paul says, is of course death. As Paul says in Romans Twelve, 472 00:46:53.789 --> 00:46:59.070 because sin came into the world through one man and death through sin. 473 00:46:59.550 --> 00:47:05.500 That death spread to all men. Romans Fourteen says death reigned from Adam to 474 00:47:05.619 --> 00:47:09.139 Moses, even over those who sinning was not like the transgression of Adam. 475 00:47:10.659 --> 00:47:19.449 Sin and suffering, transgression and death, hopelessness. These are the words for 476 00:47:19.570 --> 00:47:27.570 those who live under the death plague of Adam, but where the wages of 477 00:47:27.730 --> 00:47:34.719 sin is death for those who have died to sin. In Christ we find 478 00:47:34.840 --> 00:47:38.920 a new thing, the free gift of God, Eternal Life. In Christ, 479 00:47:39.000 --> 00:47:43.880 Jesus our Lord, and it brings a whole new set of words, 480 00:47:44.550 --> 00:47:50.590 righteousness, sanctification, character, endurance, hope. It brings in us a 481 00:47:50.710 --> 00:47:55.630 holy longing for God, instead of enmity with God. It brings in us 482 00:47:55.630 --> 00:48:01.380 a desire for him that he satisfies us. satify satisfies in us by giving 483 00:48:01.420 --> 00:48:08.780 US himself in Christ this is the great change that happens when we change from 484 00:48:08.820 --> 00:48:15.489 those who were once in Adam and in death to those who are in Christ 485 00:48:15.369 --> 00:48:22.929 and in life. Let's respond to this grace of God by singing him six 486 00:48:23.010 --> 00:48:29.039 hundred and sixty one. This hymn takes a comparison from psalm forty two, 487 00:48:29.920 --> 00:48:34.599 which says as the dear pants for streams of water, so my soul pants 488 00:48:34.679 --> 00:48:45.670 for you. We come to our last pair of chapters this morning. Pray 489 00:48:45.829 --> 00:48:52.829 that you are being blessed by hearing a God's word. Remind you that the 490 00:48:54.110 --> 00:49:00.739 fossil Paul Tells Timothy to devote himself to the reading of God, God's word. 491 00:49:00.860 --> 00:49:06.139 It's in that joy and spirit that I am happy to read to you. 492 00:49:07.099 --> 00:49:15.610 Let's hear God's word now from Romans seven and Romans A, as we 493 00:49:15.730 --> 00:49:20.610 conclude this half of the book this morning. Give your attention to this. 494 00:49:20.730 --> 00:49:25.920 It's God's word. Or do you not know, brothers? For I am 495 00:49:25.960 --> 00:49:30.639 speaking to those who know the law, that the law is binding on a 496 00:49:30.719 --> 00:49:35.159 person only as long as he lives. For a married woman is bound by 497 00:49:35.199 --> 00:49:38.789 law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies, she 498 00:49:38.949 --> 00:49:44.110 is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an 499 00:49:44.110 --> 00:49:47.710 adultress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive, but if 500 00:49:47.750 --> 00:49:52.980 her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries 501 00:49:52.019 --> 00:49:57.940 another man, she is not an adultress. Likewise, my brothers, you 502 00:49:58.219 --> 00:50:01.860 also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you 503 00:50:02.019 --> 00:50:07.010 may belong to one another, to him who has been raised from the dead, 504 00:50:07.889 --> 00:50:13.130 in order that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were 505 00:50:13.250 --> 00:50:17.050 living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were 506 00:50:17.090 --> 00:50:22.280 at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are 507 00:50:22.320 --> 00:50:27.760 released from the law, having died to that which held US captive, so 508 00:50:27.880 --> 00:50:30.239 that we serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old 509 00:50:30.320 --> 00:50:36.030 way of the written code. What, then, shall we say that the 510 00:50:36.070 --> 00:50:40.829 law is sin? By no means. Yet if it had not been for 511 00:50:40.949 --> 00:50:45.829 the law, I would not have known sin, for I would not have 512 00:50:45.989 --> 00:50:49.230 known what it is to cove it if the law had not said you shall 513 00:50:49.389 --> 00:50:53.900 not cove it. But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced 514 00:50:54.019 --> 00:51:00.619 in me all kinds of covetiousness. For apart from the law, sin lies 515 00:51:00.739 --> 00:51:05.730 dead. I was once alive apart from the law. But when the commandment 516 00:51:05.849 --> 00:51:10.969 came, sin came alive and I died, for the very commandment that promised 517 00:51:12.050 --> 00:51:17.599 life proved to be death to me, for sin, seizing an opportunity through 518 00:51:17.760 --> 00:51:24.239 the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is 519 00:51:24.440 --> 00:51:31.119 holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Did that which is 520 00:51:31.320 --> 00:51:38.550 good then bring death to me? By no means. It was sin producing 521 00:51:38.630 --> 00:51:43.389 death in me through what was good. Well, what is good, in 522 00:51:43.590 --> 00:51:47.860 order that sin might be shown to be sin and through the commandment, might 523 00:51:49.980 --> 00:51:55.019 and through the commandment, might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that 524 00:51:55.139 --> 00:52:00.179 the law is spiritual, but I, I am of the Flesh, sould 525 00:52:00.260 --> 00:52:05.889 under sin, for I do not understand my own actions, for I do 526 00:52:06.050 --> 00:52:08.329 not do what I want to do, but I do the very thing I 527 00:52:08.610 --> 00:52:14.650 hate. Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree 528 00:52:14.690 --> 00:52:19.079 with the law that is good. So now it is no longer I who 529 00:52:19.119 --> 00:52:22.519 do it, but sin that dwells within me, for I know that nothing 530 00:52:22.679 --> 00:52:27.960 good dwells in me, that is in my flesh, for I have the 531 00:52:28.079 --> 00:52:30.949 desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out, 532 00:52:31.789 --> 00:52:35.909 for I do not do the good I want, but the evil I 533 00:52:35.989 --> 00:52:38.909 do not want. Is what I keep on doing. Now, if I 534 00:52:39.110 --> 00:52:43.429 do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, 535 00:52:44.070 --> 00:52:47.619 but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a 536 00:52:47.780 --> 00:52:52.340 law that, when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 537 00:52:53.460 --> 00:52:58.139 For I delight in the Law of God in my inner being, but 538 00:52:58.219 --> 00:53:01.050 I see in my members another law, waging war against the law of my 539 00:53:01.210 --> 00:53:07.050 mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members, 540 00:53:07.929 --> 00:53:10.969 wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of 541 00:53:12.130 --> 00:53:16.119 death, thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So 542 00:53:16.400 --> 00:53:22.079 then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with 543 00:53:22.239 --> 00:53:27.909 my flesh I serve the law of sin. There is therefore, or now, 544 00:53:27.949 --> 00:53:34.550 no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of 545 00:53:34.710 --> 00:53:37.869 the spirit of life has set you free, in Christ Jesus, from the 546 00:53:37.949 --> 00:53:43.619 Law of sin and death, for God has done what the law, weakened 547 00:53:43.619 --> 00:53:49.219 by the flesh, could not do by sending his own son in the likeness 548 00:53:49.260 --> 00:53:53.980 of sinful flesh and for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh in order 549 00:53:54.019 --> 00:54:00.769 that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not 550 00:54:00.889 --> 00:54:05.570 according to the flesh but according to the spirit. For those who live according 551 00:54:05.570 --> 00:54:08.730 to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those 552 00:54:08.809 --> 00:54:13.760 who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. 553 00:54:14.880 --> 00:54:17.800 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set 554 00:54:17.880 --> 00:54:22.960 the mind on the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is 555 00:54:23.079 --> 00:54:29.309 set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to 556 00:54:29.429 --> 00:54:36.429 God's law. Indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please 557 00:54:36.510 --> 00:54:40.940 God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the spirit. 558 00:54:42.579 --> 00:54:45.099 If, in fact, the spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone 559 00:54:45.139 --> 00:54:50.139 who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But 560 00:54:50.300 --> 00:54:53.170 if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, 561 00:54:53.889 --> 00:55:00.530 the spirit is life because of righteousness. If the spirit of him who raised 562 00:55:00.570 --> 00:55:05.489 Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the 563 00:55:05.530 --> 00:55:12.199 dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in 564 00:55:12.440 --> 00:55:17.079 you. So then, brothers, we are debtors not to the flesh, 565 00:55:17.280 --> 00:55:22.230 to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh, 566 00:55:22.269 --> 00:55:24.710 you will die, but if, by the spirit, you put to 567 00:55:24.869 --> 00:55:30.550 death the deeds of the body, you will live. For All who are 568 00:55:30.550 --> 00:55:34.670 led by the spirit of God are sons of God, for you did not 569 00:55:34.909 --> 00:55:39.340 receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received 570 00:55:39.380 --> 00:55:46.900 the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry Abba Father. The Spirit 571 00:55:46.980 --> 00:55:52.530 himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if 572 00:55:52.610 --> 00:56:00.289 children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow airs with Christ, provided 573 00:56:00.369 --> 00:56:04.920 we suffer with him in order that we might also be glorified with him. 574 00:56:06.760 --> 00:56:12.760 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to 575 00:56:12.840 --> 00:56:16.119 the glory that is to be revealed to us, for the creation waits with 576 00:56:16.280 --> 00:56:21.989 eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God, for the creation was 577 00:56:22.309 --> 00:56:25.670 subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it. 578 00:56:27.349 --> 00:56:31.269 In hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption 579 00:56:31.309 --> 00:56:37.539 and obtain the freedom of the glory of the Children of God, for we 580 00:56:37.820 --> 00:56:43.739 know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until 581 00:56:43.780 --> 00:56:49.489 now, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the 582 00:56:49.610 --> 00:56:54.369 first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly, as we wait eagerly for adoption, 583 00:56:54.610 --> 00:57:00.849 is sons, the redemption of our bodies, for in this hope we are 584 00:57:00.889 --> 00:57:06.519 saved. Now hope that is seen as not hope, for who hopes for 585 00:57:06.599 --> 00:57:09.400 what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, 586 00:57:10.320 --> 00:57:16.389 we wait for it with patience. Likewise the spirit helps us in our weakness. 587 00:57:17.429 --> 00:57:21.989 We do not know what to pray for, as we ought, but 588 00:57:22.110 --> 00:57:27.789 the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he 589 00:57:28.070 --> 00:57:32.340 who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit, because the spirit 590 00:57:32.420 --> 00:57:37.539 the intercedes for the saints according to the will of God, and we know 591 00:57:37.699 --> 00:57:42.460 that for those who love God, all things work together for good and though, 592 00:57:42.780 --> 00:57:46.369 and for those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom 593 00:57:46.369 --> 00:57:52.289 he fore knew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his 594 00:57:52.409 --> 00:57:58.250 son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those 595 00:57:58.449 --> 00:58:02.519 he whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also 596 00:58:02.679 --> 00:58:09.400 justified and those whom he justified, he also glorified. What, then, 597 00:58:09.559 --> 00:58:15.510 shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can 598 00:58:15.550 --> 00:58:20.349 be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave 599 00:58:20.389 --> 00:58:23.349 him up for us all, how will he not also, with him, 600 00:58:23.630 --> 00:58:30.619 graciously give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect it 601 00:58:30.780 --> 00:58:35.539 is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one 602 00:58:35.579 --> 00:58:38.780 who died, more than that, who was raised, who is at the 603 00:58:38.860 --> 00:58:45.449 right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us? WHO shall separate 604 00:58:45.610 --> 00:58:52.289 us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine, 605 00:58:52.530 --> 00:58:58.679 or nakedness or danger or sword, as it is written? For Your 606 00:58:58.840 --> 00:59:01.599 Sake, we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as 607 00:59:01.679 --> 00:59:07.719 sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more 608 00:59:07.039 --> 00:59:14.869 than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, 609 00:59:15.389 --> 00:59:20.110 nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor 610 00:59:20.230 --> 00:59:24.099 things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor death, nor anything 611 00:59:24.139 --> 00:59:30.420 else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of 612 00:59:30.699 --> 00:59:45.130 God in Christ Jesus, Our Lord Amen to know that nothing will separate us 613 00:59:45.210 --> 00:59:52.239 from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, is a spectacular thing 614 00:59:54.000 --> 01:00:04.159 at it includes even our own sin. Our own sin will not separate us 615 01:00:04.639 --> 01:00:09.110 from the love of God in Christ Jesus Our Lord. And, as we've 616 01:00:09.110 --> 01:00:14.070 been thinking about, through chapter after chapters, Paul has been developing in all 617 01:00:14.150 --> 01:00:19.510 kinds of ways. That's amazing, because sin leads to death, sin leads 618 01:00:19.550 --> 01:00:24.380 to condemnation, and yet here we stand and say there is no condemnation for 619 01:00:24.500 --> 01:00:30.179 me. Somebody responds, but aren't you a sinner? Yes, but aren't 620 01:00:30.179 --> 01:00:36.010 you ungodly? Yes, then, how can you have no condemnation? How 621 01:00:36.050 --> 01:00:42.489 can there be no condemnation for you? Because I am in Christ, because 622 01:00:42.530 --> 01:00:49.409 I am held by the love of God in Christ Jesus Our Lord. What 623 01:00:49.530 --> 01:00:55.039 about the strength of your sin? Isn't it strong? Indeed? There once 624 01:00:55.159 --> 01:01:00.360 was a man who went into work. He saw a plate of cookies and 625 01:01:00.519 --> 01:01:05.750 next to the plate was a sign that said, please take only take one. 626 01:01:07.230 --> 01:01:13.710 He takes one, but he really wants to. Next Day comes into 627 01:01:13.710 --> 01:01:15.869 work and he sees the same plate of cookies again. There's a plate, 628 01:01:16.550 --> 01:01:22.619 plate there and a sign next to this as please only take two. Happily, 629 01:01:22.659 --> 01:01:28.139 he takes two. Cookies, but strangely now he wants three. You 630 01:01:28.260 --> 01:01:32.010 know this is true. You experienced this all the time. You see it 631 01:01:32.289 --> 01:01:36.969 happen all the time, and this is why we have all kinds of rules 632 01:01:37.010 --> 01:01:42.170 and regulations to sort of bound these things, to limit ourselves, to threaten 633 01:01:42.369 --> 01:01:45.809 judgment, to try and keep us on the same track, because sin is 634 01:01:45.889 --> 01:01:53.320 so strong, whether it's a plate of cookies or another man's wife. Conciousness, 635 01:01:53.400 --> 01:01:58.239 Paul says, came into him. He knew it and it was hard. 636 01:02:00.199 --> 01:02:07.829 This is what Paul's helping us to understand in chapter seven. Our Sin 637 01:02:09.070 --> 01:02:16.420 is hungry sin, the hunger of greed and of covetousness. Sin Is not 638 01:02:16.699 --> 01:02:22.219 nearly is not merely breaking one of God's rules. See and has this force 639 01:02:22.460 --> 01:02:28.300 in our flesh. When it comes into contact with the law, even a 640 01:02:28.500 --> 01:02:32.610 good law, even God's Law, Holy Law, sin begins to stir up 641 01:02:32.690 --> 01:02:37.690 in US disobedience which we commit with our bodies and thereby earn the wages of 642 01:02:37.809 --> 01:02:42.969 sin, which is death. Here's how Paul puts it in seven. Five 643 01:02:44.360 --> 01:02:49.719 for while we were living in the flesh, are sinful passions aroused by the 644 01:02:49.800 --> 01:02:55.159 law. Please only take one. Sin Gets aroused by the law works in 645 01:02:55.320 --> 01:03:01.150 our members and bears fruit for death, whether they're there. It's covetousness or 646 01:03:02.070 --> 01:03:07.869 or theft, or adultery or idolatry or any number of things. But of 647 01:03:07.949 --> 01:03:13.780 course this power of sin that's in US gets only worse, because when God 648 01:03:13.900 --> 01:03:17.619 judges this sin, or even when our own conscience is judge our sin, 649 01:03:19.099 --> 01:03:22.739 how does the flesh respond? With defiance. It stamps his foot and says 650 01:03:22.820 --> 01:03:28.889 No. The law says your guilty, and then, of course the sinner 651 01:03:29.170 --> 01:03:36.210 defiantly tries to excuse himself, often by lying, and the cycle continues. 652 01:03:37.210 --> 01:03:40.440 This is the power of sin, this is the power of a soul that 653 01:03:40.679 --> 01:03:49.840 is sick with sin. The cycle continues, a selfinflicted slavery of the soul. 654 01:03:51.760 --> 01:03:54.519 But Paul wants us to understand something more than the nature of Sin. 655 01:03:55.030 --> 01:04:00.829 He also wants us to understand the freedom that we have from sin, what 656 01:04:00.949 --> 01:04:06.710 it means that Christ has broken that chain, broken that cycle and made something 657 01:04:06.909 --> 01:04:15.420 new in us, given us his spirit. People can have freedom from sin 658 01:04:15.619 --> 01:04:20.179 through faith in Christ because on the Christ are, on the Cross, Jesus 659 01:04:20.380 --> 01:04:27.929 bore the penalty of our sins and released us from this cycle, released us 660 01:04:27.969 --> 01:04:31.170 from the debt we owe to God. More than that, Jesus has given 661 01:04:31.210 --> 01:04:36.170 us his spirit, which is opposed to the flesh, and this is a 662 01:04:36.250 --> 01:04:40.960 good thing, because the spirit of God, let me tell you, is 663 01:04:41.159 --> 01:04:45.199 very strong. Do you remember, at the very beginning of the world, 664 01:04:45.239 --> 01:04:50.199 who it was that was hovering over the waters as all before all of creation 665 01:04:50.360 --> 01:04:57.469 came into existence? Was the spirit of God. It is by the spirit 666 01:04:57.590 --> 01:05:00.710 that new life is brought into us, and that's why Paul says not just 667 01:05:00.909 --> 01:05:06.420 we're conquerors, but we are more than conquerors. I'm not even sure what 668 01:05:06.500 --> 01:05:12.139 that is, but it's certainly very high. We are powerful, we are 669 01:05:12.179 --> 01:05:16.460 strong, not because we are in ourselves, but because God has made us 670 01:05:16.980 --> 01:05:24.530 new, because we have something from outside of ourselves. We have been raised 671 01:05:24.610 --> 01:05:28.210 up by the spirit, the same spirit, by the way, Paul says, 672 01:05:28.570 --> 01:05:32.849 who raised up Christ's mortal body. If he raised up Jesus as body 673 01:05:32.969 --> 01:05:38.880 and you're in him, will he not also raise up your mortal body? 674 01:05:40.440 --> 01:05:46.599 Death to life, not styling hair, not putting makeup on, not dressing 675 01:05:46.639 --> 01:05:53.829 up clothes or adding jewelry to make it appear alive, real life, real 676 01:05:54.190 --> 01:06:00.829 conquering, being justified in Christ. Apart from the law means that we're no 677 01:06:01.110 --> 01:06:06.699 longer enslave to the law as we once were. This is what Romans eight 678 01:06:06.820 --> 01:06:14.739 six says. The spirit in US brings forth these flowers of righteousness, were 679 01:06:14.860 --> 01:06:21.730 only the barren desert of sin used to be. It's Christians, you may 680 01:06:21.889 --> 01:06:27.809 struggle to obey. You will struggle to obey for the flash on the spirit 681 01:06:27.849 --> 01:06:32.320 or at war when you there is a struggle there, but Paul makes very 682 01:06:32.639 --> 01:06:38.639 clear in these verses that that struggle will come to an end, and it 683 01:06:38.679 --> 01:06:46.230 will come to a good end. We are no longer held captive by the 684 01:06:46.309 --> 01:06:56.710 law. Instead, we are protected by God's grace. How much are you 685 01:06:56.909 --> 01:07:02.500 protected by God's grace? God tells us in Romans a. He tells us 686 01:07:02.579 --> 01:07:06.179 that the spirit of Christ himself is in US and is working in us, 687 01:07:06.579 --> 01:07:11.300 testifying to us that we are children of God. He tells us that the 688 01:07:11.420 --> 01:07:15.730 same spirit of Christ will raise our mortal bodies from the dead. He tells 689 01:07:15.769 --> 01:07:19.050 us that the spirit himself is interceding for us, helping us in our weakness. 690 01:07:19.530 --> 01:07:23.329 He tells us that we, who are in Christ, were chosen and 691 01:07:24.010 --> 01:07:28.730 loved by him before we even knew him, while you were yet sinners. 692 01:07:28.969 --> 01:07:34.000 Christ died for you, and that love, which predestined us for salvation, 693 01:07:34.599 --> 01:07:44.670 will one day lead us to glorification. And so nothing can separate you from 694 01:07:44.710 --> 01:07:49.869 the love of God in Christ, Jesus, Our Lord. The sinful flesh 695 01:07:49.949 --> 01:07:55.309 in you will tell you that you need all kinds of things to make you 696 01:07:55.550 --> 01:08:02.500 happy and to make you free but beloved. There's only one thing you need, 697 01:08:03.739 --> 01:08:14.090 and that's Jesus. Let's conclude this morning service by singing him four hundred 698 01:08:14.210 --> 01:08:16.810 ninety seven. I need the precious Jesus.