Romans part V
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Grace Alone
Faith Alone
Christ Alone
The Romans used to have a saying, “All roads lead to Rome”. The Roman Empire had earned that phrase. They had revolutionized the way people traveled in the ancient world and had created an system that allowed people to travel at any time throughout the year. Roman roads branched out from the empire’s capital and stretched 50,000 miles spanning as far as the Britain, to Spain, To North Africa and beyond. This expression is used to describe the overall expanse and influence the empire had but also to describe a situation where there seem to be all kinds of options available but they all lead to the same outcome. It’s the idea that it doesn’t really matter which way you choose it will all turn out the same in the end. In chapter 5, Paul is going to focus in on a truth that is essential to us as Christians. All roads may lead to Rome, but not all ways lead to salvation. There is only one way that leads us to be reconciled with our heavenly Father, and that is Jesus. You may hear people say, well why is Christianity any different from any other religion? or Why is being a good person not good enough? or being a devout catholic, or Muslim? How can there be only one way?
In chapters 1-3 Paul was teaching us that salvation is a free gift by grace alone. It isn’t about anything we have done it is a free gift of grace. In chapter 4 Paul was teaching us that the way we receive that free gift of grace alone was through faith alone. Only by believing in the promise can we receive grace and be forgiven. Today Paul is teaching us of Him whom our faith is in, that is Jesus Christ. We do not put our faith in ourselves for salvation, we do not put our faith in Muhammad, or Joseph Smith, or any other person. The path of salvation is the one that is paid for by grace alone, received by faith alone, and is purchased and rooted in Christ alone.
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have peace in Christ
There is a great weight to the work of Christ. Our sin debt was substantial and the means Christ takes to bring about peace is far different than than what we might do if the circumstances were reversed. The Roman empire was very powerful and very influential in history. But Rome wasn’t built in a day. Rome is the product of conquest after conquest, and at the time Paul is writing this letter to the church in Rome the empire was continuing to conquer and expand. It wouldn’t be until 117 AD under the reign of Trajan that the Roman Empire would reach its peak. So these people knew very well the cost of peace and what would happen to those who opposed the Roman Empire. Rome was prone to ruthlessness. In their wars with the Carthaginians it is said that the Roman Republic stormed the city and killed or enslaved every living thing so that there would be nothing left of Carthage when they were done. They completely wiped a nation off of the face of the earth. They destroyed the city and even sowed salt in the ground as they left to ensure nothing would grow there. This is what it looks like to have peace in Rome. Another story is of the Spartacus rebellion around 70 BC. When Spartacus, a slave forced to fight as a gladiator, gathered an army of men to fight against Rome it is said that after their defeat the Roman Empire crucified 6,000 men along a 130 mile stretch of the Appian way, a road leading into the heart of Rome. That is about one person every 100 feet for 130 miles. That was how peace was achieved in to these readers. The amazing thing about what Paul is saying to the Romans he is writing to and the thing he is saying to us is that the God who created us, who formed us in our mothers womb, the God that we rebelled against and slandered, and blasphemed, He had every reason to treat us the way that Rome treated those who rebelled against them. We deserved no mercy, we deserved punishment and yet the way that God creates peace is not by crushing His enemies but by loving them enough to take their place. If Rome was offended by disobedience how much more so should a holy and almighty God? And yet, God makes a way for peace, not by declaring war against us by by declaring war against His Son Jesus.
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
We have Hope in Christ
This grace that changes us and this faith that we build our life on is not one of uncertainty. Our hope in Christ is an assurance of eternity with Him forever in glory. So that even when we suffer we have hope. Our suffering produces in us an endurance of faith that even when it’s hard we believe. When life is painful we trust all the more in God’s promises. That endurance creates in us character. Our circumstances act as a refining fire, burning away the impurities, burning away what is unlovely in us and producing something beautiful. I love the word that Paul uses. He says we have obtained ACCESS into this grace by faith.
We have Access in Christ
Yesterday Asher and I were waiting on Tiffany and so we needed to kill a little time. I decided to go to the library and get a library card. This library card gives me access to all of the books that the Clovis Public Library has to offer. I can go in and check out a book, a DVD, an audio book. Anything I want that they have, but I have to return what I borrow. In Christ we have been given access through faith into grace. We can freely access all the perks of having a relationship with God. We have direct access to every spiritual blessing in heaven in Christ. We can have peace, assurance, joy, forgiveness, love. We have new life in grace. We have an eternity of freedom in Christ. We can even take our requests and anxieties to God directly.
We have Assurance in Christ
The second we enter into grace by faith in Christ, God’s love is poured out in us through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. From the second we are saved by faith we have the Spirit of God living in us. That can never be taken away from us. Scripture tells us that it is by the Spirit we are sealed forever, that the Spirit works through us to produce good fruit and good works, and that it is the Spirit that intercedes on our behalf with God. That is so different from how Paul described us when we were dead in sin. God lives in us and because of that we have confidence and assurance.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
We have Reconciliation in Christ
I think this is one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible. It was when I was weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. Even while I was a sinner, when I wasn’t a good person Christ died for us. How beautiful is that. He didn’t wait for us to get our lives put together, He didn’t wait for us to say the magic word or be brave enough or do good enough. Even while we were sinners Christ died for us. The relationship that was broken by sin and death has been restored by Jesus through His death and resurrection. It is the blood of Jesus Christ alone that justifies us.
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
For my pardon this I see
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
For my cleansing this my plea
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
Nothing can for sin atone
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
Naught of good that I have done
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
This is all my hope and peace
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
This is all my righteousness
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
O precious is the flow that makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know; nothing but the blood of Jesus!
Throughout Scripture there are presented to us these different archetypes for what Jesus would look like. Narratively, we see Jesus fill these messianic roles as they have been displayed throughout the Old Testament. Abraham is considered the father of the faith but Christ is the founder and perfecter of faith. Moses is priest and prophet, the great deliverer of Israel but Christ is our High Priest before God and delivers us from our slavery to sin. David is an anointed King but Jesus is THE Anointed Messiah and King of all Kings. Jesus is the Son of Man standing before the Ancient of Days in Daniel 6. He is the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53. He is the conquering leader like Joshua, a true Judge, He is the Word of God made flesh. Paul is going to emphasize the importance of Christ by taking a look at how Jesus fills this role of the second Adam.
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— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
In the beginning, God created everything perfect and without sin, but Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. It is because of Adam’s rebellion that sin and death exist. Through Adam sin entered the world and for all generations, whether those under the law or not, all generations have been under the consequences of sin that is death. Through one man sin entered into the world and now all are broken in sin, but there was one who would come to fix what was broken.
Jesus is to us a new Adam
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Sin and death entered through one man, but grace and redemption have come to the world through Christ. The consequences that came through Adam were earned by us. The condemnation and judgement we faced were brought on by our own sins, but the grace and redemption offered through Christ are given freely as a gift. We needed a reset and Jesus does that for us.
Joanna Lopianowki-Roberts published the largest ever cross stitch pattern in 2011. It was 40 inches by 80 inches (which is as tall as I am). It took ten years to stitch and 2,872 hours to finish. The pattern was the cieling of the Sistine Chapel. I have recently picked up cross stitching. I’m not terrible at it but like anything I was really bad when I first tried it. I find it to be a tedious hobby but one that is pretty rewarding to do. You have to count each square you do and if you mess up on a single one you have to go back and undo your work to fix it. Sometimes it is a small fix and sometimes it is just too much to undo and you have to start over. I could never achieve what she has accomplished, but sometimes I wonder what it would be like to not be terrible at my hobby. What if when I pick up that needle it was really Joanna doing the stitching?
I think our lives are very similar to that. God created us and He has a design in mind for our lives, but we choose to do our own thing. With any project it is easy to get to a point where you just say, “I can’t fix this”. And with Adam and with our own lives, sin has brought us to this place where we recognize, “there is nothing I can do to put these pieces back where they belong. No amount of fixing it can undo the damage I’ve caused”. I very quickly realize I am out of my depth and I have to recognize I need help. I have made a mess of my life and sin has made a mess out of humanity as a whole, but Jesus offers us a fresh start and a chance to be born into something greater. It isn’t like Jesus just forgives us only to say, “try harder this time” and leaves us right where we were. When we give our life to Christ Jesus lives through us. I can’t fix my sin problem but Jesus can, so I’m handing Him control in my life and I’m letting Him call the shots. I get to enjoy the freedom and the reward of holiness and perfection despite putting in non of the work. That doesn’t mean I will never be obedient or discipline myself in following Christ. What it means though is that my salvation and my righteousness is not dependent on what I have done but rests entirely on Jesus, the sinless Son of God.
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In a single moment, sin and death entered the world because of the actions of one man. Likewise, in a single moment, sin and death were defeated because of the actions of one man. The power of sin was death but the power of grace leads to eternal life through Christ alone. I find this encouraging. There is no purgatory where we go work off the sins we have committed. There is no waiting period for forgiveness. No line to stand in. Jesus’ forgiveness is immediate no matter how severe we think the sin. That gives me hope. Every sin I will ever commit has been paid for by Jesus. I am forgiven. I am redeemed. I am made new. Guilt and shame have no hold over me because I know how my savior sees me. I am free in Christ. Free from sin, free from punishment free from the law. I am free from death and free for all eternity. Next week we will talk about how we use our freedom and what it looks like to live in freedom, but for chapter 5, for right now the hope Paul is offering to us is that we can be free from what Adam has done. Free from the generational curse that hangs over us. Free from what we have made of our own lives and born again in Christ.
Through Adam we are all born to die, but through Jesus we can be born again to live forever
Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
Jesus is calling us to come and be born again, not of flesh but of the Spirit. This is the same call Jesus issued to Nicodemus late that night in Jerusalem.
Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Jesus, the last Adam, has become father to us all in faith. We are a part of His family by the Spirit and can have new live with Him for eternity by grace through faith, in Christ alone.