02 | Romans | Romans 1-4 | Grace Alone Through Faith Alone

Scripture Reading: Romans 3:21–26

INTRODUCTION

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The Gospel in Romans | the power of God for salvation

Our prayer for this series is that over the coming years the Lord would build for us a foundation for our faith in the power of God for salvation.

Four-part mini-series through the whole book.

Romans 1-4 — Coming Under Grace | Grace Alone Through Faith Alone

Romans 5-8 — Living Under Grace | From Death to Life

Romans 9-11 — The Overflow of Grace | God's One Message of Salvation

Romans 12-16 — A Church Shaped by Grace | An Appeal in Light of the Power of God

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This morning we will begin to walk down the “Romans Road.”

I will point you to Church Center to see more of the Romans Road there.

PRAY

5:00

THE GOSPEL

What is Paul’s aim in Romans?

Romans 1:15 - Paul is eager to preach the gospel to this Roman church.

Read Romans 1:16-17

The gospel is the power of God

for salvation

This morning, in Romans 1-4, Paul is going to first demonstrate the severity of the need for salvation.

Then, he will demonstrate the futility of any attempt to save ourselves.

Finally, how God accomplishes salvation.

to everyone who believes

Paul, now, hints at one of the most central topics of his letter.

That is, faith!

to the Jew and the Greek

This is another major theme.

This church has both Jewish and Gentile members.

The Jews were expelled from Rome by Emperor Claudius sometime after AD41.

This would have included at least the ethnically Jewish members of the church, if not also many of the Gentile converts …

… as it would seem that, to many in Rome, Christianity was viewed as a Jewish sect.

So, Paul is writing sometime around a decade after the return of the Jewish Christians to their place in the church.

That means that the church to whom Paul writes has experienced a serious separation due to persecution that may explain some of the unity for which Paul argues throughout the letter.

the righteousness of God

I can’t wait to preach this passage in detail.

But for now, this is crucial!

The gospel reveals GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS, not ours!

The gospel outs us for the sinners that we are.

But as we cling by to the promise of God and fulfillment of Christ …

… the righteousness of God

… that alien righteousness

… becomes our salvation!

APPLY

What follows is how Paul explains these themes for the church.

10:00

THE WRATH OF GOD

Romans 1:16 spoke of the power of God for salvation

We can’t talk about salvation if we don’t first discuss the problem …

… in other words, the need for salvation.

Salvation is needed because of the spread of sin and idolatry to the whole of mankind …

… and God’s wrath, his just and good judgement, is upon sinners.

So, we need salvation from both sin and judgement …

… the wickedness of sin

… and the justice of God upon sinners.

We could start by recounting the story of the Fall.

Man was created perfect.

God made Adam and out of Adam he made Eve.

God made them male and female …

… in perfect fellowship with both God and one another.

But, we read in Genesis 3, that Eve was tempted by the Serpent …

… and Adam and Eve together disobeyed God’s command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

By rejecting God’s command they essentially shook their fist at God, crying, “On my own I can live!”

… apart from your provision

… apart from your design

… apart from your command.

But they were wrong.

God judged their sin and rebellion …

… casting them out of the garden

… and placing Adam and Eve and their descendants under the curse of death.

This is a right and true account of sin’s entrance into the world.

And it is a right and true account of why the wrath of God is upon humanity in their sin.

But, when I share this account I will often add …

… by our own sin and rebellion we show that we are rightly counted as children of our first parents, Adam and Eve.

You see, God is just to hold not only Adam and Eve to account, but all of humanity as well …

… for every one of us, also, has joined in their rebellion.

Paul begins at this point … with the spread of our first parent’s sin and rebellion

14:00

The Wrath of God is Revealed

Romans 1:18-32

I know it might seem odd, but I have come to love and appreciate this passage.

It helps me to understand the state of the world around me …

… and the state my own heart apart from the righteousness of Christ.

Four statements about the spread of sin and idolatry.

Idolatry is the heart of all sin …

… because it is a rejection of God’s rightful rule and ordering of our lives.

v18 - suppress the truth

As creatures, made in the image of God, we know that we are not our own masters …

… and yet by ungodliness and unrighteousness

… we suppress this truth.

v21 - failure to honor or give thanks

Again, we are creatures.

All that we have and all that we are belongs to our Maker.

The failure to honor or give thanks to God …

… is a failure to acknowledge reality.

It is a failure to acknowledge as good …

… God’s eternal power and divine nature.

v24-27 - God gave them up …

… to impurity … to dishonoring their bodies … to dishonorable passions

You remember that I said Adam and Eve’s rebellion is as though they shook their fist at God and said, “On my own I can live!”

This is as though the Lord said, “Okay, let’s see how that goes living on your own.”

v32b - do and give approval

I don’t think there is a phrase in the bible that better describes our cultural moment.

You’ve heard the phrase “misery loves company.”

There is no greater misery in this world than our sin.

And, as sinners, we love the company of sinners.

APPLY

The wrath of this opening passage is not the final judgement.

It is the wrath of God being worked out in this age.

It is the discomfort, the disorientation, the misery that the Lord uses by his Spirit and his Word …

… to convince sinners for their need for another way.

That, at some moment, by the prompting of grace

… we might see our sin and its effect

… and say, “On my own, I cannot live. On my own I am dying!”

20:00

As we now turn to chapter 2 …

FAILURE TO REPENT

Let us remember that salvation is for everyone who believes.

Read Romans 2:1

In chapter 1 Paul argued that all of mankind has gone the way of sin and idolatry.

Here he makes it clear that we are simply without excuse.

We ought to have seen our sin and turned …

… but instead of turning from sin to God

… we turn to our fellow sinners and judge their sin!

Read Romans 2:2

God’s judgement is right … it is a righteous judgement.

But, please note this important distinction.

In Romans, the phrase “the righteousness of God” is not mainly about judgement …

… though, as we see here, Paul is concerned to ground God’s wrath, his judgement upon sin in righteousness.

God’s righteousness in Romans, as we saw in Romans 1:16-17, is the gracious gift of God provided to sinners for their salvation.

John Murray … “the righteousness of God” is not the attribute of justice but the righteousness provided in the gospel to meet the need of which the wrath of God is the manifestation.

But we are not righteous.

We are sinners …

… and instead of turning from our sin

… we turn to our neighbor in judgement.

More than that, we presume on the kindness of God.

Read Romans 2:4

Our responsibility is not to judge, but to repent.

And God has been patient.

God has given us a season in which to see the futility of our sinfulness.

He has held off the day of final judgement.

There is a judgment coming and that Judge is Jesus.

Read Romans 2:16

APPLY

God’s judgement is just.

He has given opportunity to see the folly of our own way and repent.

But we have continued in the rebellion of our first parents.

We need to be saved!

25:00

Now we continue to chapter 3.

NONE IS RIGHTEOUS

God’s wrath is revealed upon sinners.

And yet, if we know our biblical history …

… we know that while most of humanity were turned over to their ignorance, folly and rebellion

… there was one people who were given an authoritative account of the truth.

Their way of rebellion was interrupted by the grace of the revelation of God.

Read Romans 3:1

Begins by answering the question:

Seems like there is no advantage to being a Jew? (Romans 3:1-8)

The Jews had direct contact and revelation from God. Specifically, his steadfast love and mercy.

For the Lord is faithful, whether the law reveals the unfaithfulness of mankind or not.

Romans 3:9 — Note that Paul identifies himself as a Jew.

Whatever happens in Romans, one thing that cannot happen is anything close to anti-semitism.

There just isn’t any window or opportunity left open for that here.

Read Romans 3:10-18

From Psalm 14:3 (also Psalm 53:3)

We have no hope of salvation in ourselves.

There is no righteousness to be found within the human heart.

Whether Jew or Gentile …

… all are sinners.

While the Jew has the great grace to be interrupted by the steadfast love and mercy of God …

… the truth of the psalmist remains.

There are none righteous, no, not one!

Read Romans 3:23 - all have sinned …

Let us be clear. It is not accurate to define sin as that which makes us uncomfortable.

Sin ought to make us uncomfortable, but that is a far from adequate definition of sin.

Sin is to fall short of God’s perfect glory …

… the glory of his design for humanity

… as creatures made in his image

… and designed to walk in the way he sets out for us.

v24 - … and are justified by his grace as a gift

see the movement toward grace

Where there are are none who are righteous …

… God is just to forgive sinners.

Memorize Romans 3:26

This is an essential point of theology.

Psalm 85:10 (ESV) Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.

APPLY

We have seen the wrath of God upon sin.

We have seen our failure to turn in repentance, but instead to judge our neighbors and so prove our own sinfulness.

We have seen that none can escape this judgement …

… whether Jew or Gentile

… all are sinners in need of grace.

30:00

Romans 3:26 — One of our first real glimpses of justification in Romans.

This is the theme of chapter 4.

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

Definition of Justification: “declared righteous”

Read Romans 4:3.

Genesis 15:6 (ESV) And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

The argument: Romans 4:4-5

See Psalm 32:1–2 (ESV)

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Justification is God’s work.

It is in his will and by his way.

And so, since justification is according to God’s purpose …

… he also absorbs any responsibility (any implications of justice) for bringing about justification.

Salvation is not an obligation.

God is under no compulsion to save or to justify.

Justification is God’s will.

… And so, justification becomes God’s work.

Our work is to trust his good will and give thanks for his good work.

Remember, our responsibility from Romans 1:21 to “honor him as God” and “give thanks to him.”

Romans 4:10 is a crucial verse because it asks a crucial question. And the implications are profound.

One implication is this.

Abraham is surely the father of the circumcision

But, he is also the father of the people of faith.

And these are not identical.

There are those who are circumcised who do not believe.

And there are those who believe who are not human descendants of Abraham.

Justification, therefore, is not a matter of the flesh, but of faith.

see Romans 4:16 (ESV) That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,

“it” = the righteousness of God that comes by faith.

Romans 4:24–25 - This is the work of the gospel. This is the promise revealed.

35:00

APPLY

God’s wrath is upon sinners

God is just to judge sinners.

All have sinned and so God is just to judge all the world.

God has revealed not only his righteous wrath …

… but also a righteousness that can be obtained by faith.

Faith is the means by which we take hold of the righteousness of God that justifies sinners.

So that we are turned from idolators to worshipers.

Read Romans 5:10-11.

38:00