ROMANS 1-5 NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL PART 12014 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Romans 1-5 Not Ashamed Of The Gospel Part 1

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2014.

As we look at the book of Romans this evening, we'll be looking at the first five chapters because that's what we read this week as we're reading through the Bible in three years. And I'm sure if you've been reading along with us and as we go through the chapters tonight, you'll see this is powerful stuff.

And going through, you know, chapters 1 through 5 this evening, I kind of liken it in my mind to drinking from a fire hydrant. It's just going to be whoosh, you know, there's just so much power, so much truth in the book of Romans and in these chapters that we will be studying.

And I'd like to take this opportunity to encourage you. You know, the best way for you to be able to capture these things in your heart, to have them embedded in your heart, is to be reading with us through the Bible in three years. Their schedule's on the back table. It's also available on our website.

And just day by day, spending, you know, a few moments reading through. And then when we come together on Wednesday evenings, then the Lord is solidifying the things that he's already been teaching you and showing you as we go through the chapters from the week. And so I do want to encourage you to continue with us and be faithful to dig into the word of God on your own because that's

When it really will have the power that it can have in your life. And as we go through these things, we'll just be scratching the surface. But there's much more that God wants to show you as you read his word day by day. But as we get started in the book of Romans this evening, looking at the introduction, we know that the author of Romans is Paul. He introduces himself in the first verse of the first chapter and so lets us know who wrote it.

He probably wrote this book around 58 AD during his third missionary journey, and we'll see that in just a moment. He was writing to the church or the saints that were in the city of Rome. It's a place he has not been as a believer in Jesus Christ, but he's writing to them in preparation as he plans to head over there after he goes to Jerusalem.

And so the purpose of this letter that he writes to them, this is really better understood as a letter. It's often called an epistle, which is just a fancy word for a letter. And so it's him writing a letter to the saints in Rome and this threefold purpose. Number one, to prepare them for his visit. He says, hey, I want to go there. I'm planning to go there. And so this is just a little bit of preparation for that.

Secondly, he was presenting God's plan of salvation. And that's the major thrust throughout the book of Romans is God's plan of salvation, the gospel message, what it is, the doctrine behind it, so that you can understand what salvation is all about. And then thirdly, he was explaining the relationship between Jew and Gentile.

In the church at Rome, you had both Jewish believers and Gentile believers, also referred to as the Greek believers. And so the Jews and the Greeks were having some difficulties. They came from completely different backgrounds. And so Paul is explaining to them throughout this letter how they relate to one another and that they're equally important in the plan of God. And so he'll be, you know, hitting that over and over as we go through the letter.

The theme that you can see throughout the book of Romans is the righteousness of God. Again, it goes back to God's plan of salvation and how the righteousness of God is established, is received, and how it impacts our lives. And so we're going to be talking a lot about the righteousness of God throughout this letter.

Well, when you look at the timeline, again, I said this was written probably around 58 AD, right near the end of Paul's third missionary journey. During this journey, he wrote three epistles, three letters, two to the Corinthians, the church at Corinth, and then one to the Romans. And so this is the one that we're looking at, the one to the Romans, as he is

been establishing churches all over and he wants to go to Rome, but he hasn't quite made it there yet. And so here's a look real quickly at the geography of Romans as Paul was on his third missionary journey. The purple arrows there outline that missionary journey. And right towards the end of it where he was at Corinth,

It's probably where Paul was when he wrote this letter. And you can see that because he talks about the different collections that he was receiving from the churches in Macedonia and then in Corinth. And then he explains in chapter 15, he was taking that money to Jerusalem and then his plan was to go to Rome after that.

And so by the timing of, you know, his mention of those different gifts that were given, we can see that he was probably there in Corinth. He had just received the money that they had set aside for the church in Jerusalem. And now he was going to take that money to Jerusalem. And he was going to be, you know, his plan was to head to Rome. Now, we finished Acts last week. And we know that he does go to Rome, but not the way that he planned. He goes...

as a prisoner, and he appealed to Caesar. And so he goes to Rome as a prisoner to stand before Caesar and give a testimony of Jesus Christ. And so the plan is fulfilled, but just not quite the way that he was expecting.

Well, that brings us now to our chapters for the evening. We'll start out in Romans chapter 1. And the key verse for Romans chapter 1 is verse 16. It says, Here Paul is beginning his dissertation, his, you know, dissertation,

of the gospel message and he starts out by saying, I'm not ashamed of it. And we'll go from there to see that he is not ashamed and he is able to clearly explain what the gospel is.

But the letter starts out in verses 1 through 7 with what was normal for them. He says, Paul, a bondservant of Jesus, to all who were or who are in Rome. It was normal for them to introduce themselves as well as greet the recipient at the beginning of the letter.

Now that's something we do, you know, when we're writing to people that we don't know. We say, you know, here dear so and so or to whom it may concern, my name is Jerry Simmons. I'm writing to you to ask for a million dollar check or whatever it is. You know, we introduce ourselves a little bit. But they, you know, Paul you could see introduced himself and then addressed his audience and he's talking to all the saints who were in Rome.

Now it's interesting because we don't know how the church in Rome began. Paul's never been there. We know that later on Peter goes to Rome, but it doesn't seem that it happened before this time. And so we don't know exactly who established, you know, a church in Rome, how the gospel message was brought there. We don't know that, but there is a gathering of believers. And by this time, Paul even knows some of those believers already.

For example, Priscilla and Aquila are there. And we saw them in the book of Acts. And so he met up with them on the second missionary journey. And now a few years later, they've made their way to Rome. And so maybe they brought the gospel there. We really don't know. But a church has been established. And so he's writing to them to instruct them about the gospel. He goes on in verses 8 through 15 to explain that he longs to see them.

He says,

And so he's saying, I want to be there. I want to go there. I want to see what God is doing. He says in verse 11, I want to impart some spiritual gift to you. So I want to exercise my spiritual gifts with you. But then also in verse 12, he says that we may be encouraged together.

And so there's this encouragement that Paul's going to bring, but also the encouragement that the Romans will bring him. And that is the way that God works. As we serve him in the midst of his people, we get to impart the spiritual gift

that he's given to us and we're strengthening and encouraging others. But at the same time, there's the strengthening and encouraging that we receive as we fellowship together. And that's how God has designed it. It's always that way. If you really want to be strengthened and encouraged, serve other believers. And as you serve other believers, you get strengthened and encouraged as well. It's the way that God works. Well, he says, I've been hindered from coming until now.

But he says, now I've got these plans. I'm on my way and I'm ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also, he says in verse 15. And so the rest of Romans will be looking at this preaching of the gospel. He says, I haven't been able to be there. And so I'm sending this letter to outline to you, to give to you the gospel message in the form of a letter. He goes on in verse 16 and 17 to say, I am not ashamed of the gospel.

He says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation. The word gospel means good news, but it's specifically referred to the message of forgiveness and life by believing in Jesus Christ. And so it's that good news of what Jesus has accomplished for us.

And so he says, I'm not ashamed of this. People might mock the gospel. They might scoff at the gospel. But I'm not ashamed of the gospel. And he says, here's why. Because it is powerful. It is the power of God to salvation. He says, the gospel message, although it might seem too simplistic for some people,

Although some people might ridicule the idea of the gospel, he says it's the gospel that has the power of God to bring people to salvation. It's powerful. It's effective. He's explaining here there's no other way of salvation. He's not ashamed of the gospel because it's the only way that people can be saved. It's the only way that people can be forgiven and have everlasting life.

And so he says it's the power of God to salvation. But notice he says, for everyone who believes. And so here he explains how to receive the gospel. And that is to believe. That this salvation that is accomplished is not done by works. It's not done by keeping the law. It's not done by practicing good deeds or being religious. But it's

The gospel is powerful for salvation to everyone who believes. And then he also says for Jew and Greek. And again, you can see this. He's already dealing with these two groups of people that are having some difficulties. He's saying, look, the gospel message is the same for everybody. If you're a descendant of Abraham or if you're not a descendant of Abraham, it's the same way.

It's powerful to salvation if you believe. There's no partiality. There's not different ways to be saved for different groups of people.

And that's something we need to understand. There's not different ways to be saved for different groups of people. And so the idea that's common today is, well, we all believe in the same God and, you know, these guys believe in God and they call their God, you know, this name and then these guys call their God this name and they just worship him differently. They practice different things, but it's all the same thing. No, Paul says no. It's the same for all people groups.

The gospel or salvation is accomplished by believing the gospel message, by believing in Jesus, and then by believing in Jesus, it is the power of God unto salvation.

And so we're going to be talking about the gospel throughout the book of Romans. This is just the beginning of it. And now the chapters that build on this are going to be building on this understanding of what the gospel message is. And it's an exhortation for us. And I want to encourage you to be paying attention because we need to take the same stand as the apostle Paul and not be ashamed of the gospel. Paul will give us a solid case. It's reasonable. It's logical.

to believe the gospel. And so do your best to grasp hold of these truths so that you will not be ashamed of the gospel, that you'll be able to declare the gospel to the world around you. Well, he'll begin now talking about this gospel in verses 18 through 23. He says, "...men knew God, but did not glorify Him as God."

And so to begin to talk about the gospel message, he kind of starts with the bad news in order to get to the good news. In verse 18, he says that men suppress the truth in unrighteousness. That the world knows the truth, but that they're suppressing the truth with their unrighteous deeds or their wicked actions.

And you might think, well, the world doesn't know the truth. And so Paul explains further in verse 20. He says, Verse 21.

And so here Paul explains what he's trying to say. He says, look, we refer to this as general revelation. He says, creation itself reveals that God exists.

Since the creation of the world, God's invisible attributes are clearly seen. He says they're understood by the things that are made. And so Paul is making the case here that creation is enough for people to understand and recognize that God exists. Now this is important because this means that it is accessible to all people.

Every person, every human being can understand that God exists by the very fact that, well, the world exists by the creation that he has made. And he is explaining here that creation itself is sufficient for anyone to know that there is a God. Now, once they know that there is a God, God's promise is if they seek him, they will find him.

And we can wrestle over, you know, how people hear the gospel message in various parts of the world. But that's beside the point. The point here that he's making is it's enough that we exist, that there is creation. It's enough as people experience and look at the world around them. It's enough for them to know that he is God. So they know that he is God. Everybody knows that there is a God.

but they suppress the truth with unrighteousness. And so he goes on in verse 21 to say, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God. And so they recognize that there is a God, but they will not submit to God. They will not glorify him as God. And so then the result is their foolish hearts are darkened. And so Paul explains here, when we refuse to acknowledge the truth, we end up embracing God.

If we will not glorify him as God, then we will embrace darkness, the things that are not true, and we'll deceive ourselves in those things. Going on in verses 24 through 32, he explains that God gave them up to uncleanness. He says in verse 28, "...even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting."

They refused to acknowledge God and so he allowed them, God gave them over to their debased mind. It's not that he gave them a debased mind, but they chose to have a debased mind and so he let them make that choice. He let them choose those things which are not fitting.

He let them pursue the things of unrighteousness because God honors our choices. Now, here in Romans chapter 1, this passage is often used to talk about the subject of homosexuality and the reality that those practices are sinful. But I'd like to point out in verse 29, that's not the primary theme that Paul is addressing here. In verse 29, he talks about all unrighteousness.

And just to list some of the things that he mentions here, so immorality is one of them, and it's not just homosexuality, but all types of immorality.

Whether it be fornication, that is sexual relationships outside of marriage, or adultery, or pornography, all kinds of immorality is what he's referring to here. But then also covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, strife, deceit, backbiters, boasters, and those who are disobedient to parents. We dismissed the junior hires a few minutes ago, so I'm not going to hit that one. But just kidding. Okay.

But he gave them over. He allowed them to make that choice. And so now their lives are filled with all unrighteousness. That is the general condition of humanity. When we refuse to acknowledge God, we chase after all of these things and we suppress the truth. Although we know that he is God, although we know that there is a God, we suppress that knowledge. We try to drown it out with all types of unrighteousness.

Well, now going on into chapter 2, verse 12 is the key verse. He says, Now in verses 1 through 11, he goes on to explain that the judgment of God is according to truth. Remember that

there is no chapter breaks in the original. So as Paul is writing this letter, he doesn't say chapter two and then, you know, write a new subject. He's just continuing on. And so as you go on into chapter two, he's continuing on talking about all those unrighteous things that men practice. And so then he goes on in verse one to say, therefore you're inexcusable in

Because if you judge somebody else, you practice the same things. But then in verse 2 he says, but we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. That's all the unrighteousness that we were just talking about starting in verse 29 of chapter 1. And so he's going on now to explain, we do the same things that we judge other people for.

Although that's not something we would like to admit, but we can recognize that it's true. We do this when we judge other people for their actions. He says it's not fitting because, well, we practice those same types of things. We have those same kinds of issues. But he's explaining this to say God is not like this. He's not like us. He doesn't practice unrighteousness. And so his judgment is based on truth.

It's according to truth. It's not partial. Sometimes we judge one another and we're more lenient on some because, well, they struggle with the same things that we struggle with. But then when we come across someone who doesn't struggle in the same way that we struggle, boy, do we bring down the hammer on them because how could you practice such things? Their sin is much worse than ours in our opinion.

But God is separate from sin. And so he judges according to truth without partiality. He goes on in verses 12 through 16 to explain that God will judge the secrets of men. And so he's not just judging based on the outward, which when we judge one another, that's what we're determining. That's what we're using as our basis. But God looks deeper than the surface. And he looks at what's going on in the heart. And he knows what's the truth.

And so his judgment is right. In verse 12 he says, For as many as have sinned without law will perish without law. And as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law. Here Paul is explaining that all humanity is in the same position. There is judgment for those who have the law. That is speaking specifically of the Jewish people. There's judgment for them.

Because they don't keep the law. But then he also goes on to say there's judgment for those who do not have the law. So whether you have the law or you don't have the law, there's judgment that's reserved, that's built up for both groups. Because those who have the law cannot keep it. So yeah, you have the scriptures, you have the Ten Commandments, you have the law, but you don't practice it, you don't follow it. But then those who don't have the law...

Well, he explains God's inscribed his law on their hearts and they don't follow that. That is, they violate their own conscience. And so both groups violate God's law. Both groups have God's law in one form or another. Both groups are in the same position of deserving judgment. And so no matter how good we look on the outside, we look really good because you keep those Christian laws in

But verse 16, he goes on to say, God judges the secrets, the heart. He judges what's within. And when you factor in the heart, well, then you realize we don't keep the law. Remember the Jewish leaders that Jesus came in conflict with, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, they all put on this outward show of keeping the law. And so people thought they were super righteous.

And they proclaimed themselves to be super righteous. They had determined, yeah, I'm righteous. Because they had all these outward things that looked really good. But then Jesus dealt with them pretty severely because, well, their hearts were far from God. And so he described it like you look good on the outside, but inside is corruption, is dead men's bones. And it's the heart that God's concerned with.

And so whether you're Jew or Gentile, all are in the same condition as what Paul is explaining because God is dealing with the heart. And whether you have the law or you don't have the law, you're in the same spot because you violate. Even if you keep on the outside looking really good, the inside, our hearts, are still a mess. And we still are deserving of judgment.

In verses 17 through 24, he challenges those who have the law. He says, you who boast in the law, do you break the law? And so he's challenging those who hold fast. These are the Jews who had the law. They boasted in it. We have the law. We have Moses. We have the prophets. He says, you're confident in that. You declare that you have the light and you are the teacher. But then he says in verse 21, do you teach yourself? You have all this confidence and boasting, but you need to hear God.

What you're saying. You need to listen to the truth that you're proclaiming. Verse 23, he says, you who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? It's a rhetorical question. Yes, you dishonor God by breaking the law even though you teach the law. Those who have the law also break the law. There's nobody who can keep God's law. That's the point of it.

They looked really good on the outside. They boasted of all the law that they had. But it was their hearts that was the real issue. Pastor Chuck said that your heart determines your salvation. And your present life can invalidate the meaning of any ritual you may have experienced. They were religious. They practiced rituals. Circumcision was one of their highlights. They said, we practice this. We follow this just like the law says. But if your heart's far from God...

then those religious expressions don't have any significance. And so he goes on in verses 25 through 29 to say, he is a Jew who is one inwardly. So the Jews were proud of their genealogy. They were proud of their heritage, their biology, their DNA. I have DNA that descends from Abraham. I'm in his bloodline. I'm a descendant of Abraham.

And so they said, we're Jews. We have this special place in God's purposes and in God's kingdom. And Paul says, you're totally missing it. He says, look, the Jewish people are not those who are Jews by descent, by heritage, by DNA. Verse 29, he says, he is a Jew who is one inwardly

And circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God. Paul's explaining being a Jew is not external, it's internal. And so if you practice circumcision, but you don't circumcise your heart, that is you don't cut away the flesh and separate yourself to God, well, on the external, you might be a Jew. You might be a Jew by heritage or by culture.

But he says real Judaism is about the heart. It's the heart that God is interested in. And so he's explaining that all of humanity is in the same spot because it's our heart that God is concerned with. And God is going to judge perfectly our deeds as well as our heart. What we do as well as who we are. And so we're in the same spot as a result. Deserving judgment.

Well, now chapter 3, verse 28 is the key verse. He says, In verses 1 through 8, he explains that the oracles of God were committed to the Jews. So he's talking about real Judaism or, you know, real Jews are those who are Jews inwardly, who have set their hearts apart for the Lord. And then in verse 1, he anticipates their question.

He says, well, what advantage then has the Jew or what is the profit of circumcision? You'll see this throughout Romans. Paul anticipates their objections, their questions to the arguments that he is presenting. And so, well, if Jews and Gentiles are in the same boat, all deserving of judgment, well, what advantage is there for being of Jewish descent, for being a descendant of Abraham?

What's the advantage of being Jewish if all humanity has God's law and yet cannot keep God's law? Well, he goes on in verse 2 to say, Much in every way, but chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. So Paul says there's many reasons. The Jewish people are God's chosen people. And they are special to God, he says, in many ways or much in every way. But he says, let me highlight one. Here's the main one.

The Jewish people have the special privilege of preserving and delivering the words of God. And so they had this special place in the plan of God in preserving, well what we have is the Old Testament today, the scriptures from the Lord. And so he's explaining there is that advantage, there's many more advantages, but they don't believe and their unbelief doesn't change the faithfulness of God.

Well then in verses 9 through 20, he says, no flesh will be justified by the law. And so he's going back to this idea of all humanity. We're in the same boat, in the same condition. In verse 9, he says, Jews and Greeks are all under sin. This is our condition. This is the condition of all humanity. We all are under sin. And he quotes quite a few scriptures to back this up.

So he just talked about how the Jews preserve the scriptures. And so he says, let me point this out to you. In Psalm 5, Psalm 10, Psalm 14, Psalm 36, Psalm 53, Psalm 140, and then Isaiah chapter 59, he quotes snippets from all these different places to say, look, the word of God was preserved. It's true. And here's what it says. We all sin.

We're all confined to sin. We're all subject to judgment because of sin. Verse 20, he says, therefore by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. He says, keeping the law will not accomplish justification. The word justified, it means to be declared righteous. And Paul's explaining here that you cannot use the law

To declare yourself or to be declared righteous. Nobody will ever be declared righteous by the law. He says that's not what the law is for. The law declares our sinfulness. That's its purpose. By the law is the knowledge of sin. I kind of likened it in my mind to trying to use a dirty white glove to

to prove that you cleaned perfectly, right? Let's say you do a thorough cleaning of this sanctuary. And to prove it, you put on a white glove and you take it over the windowsill or whatever and you run it and you come back and then it's full of dirt. And you say, see, look, I cleaned it perfectly. And we're like, it's full of dirt. If you cleaned it perfectly, it'd be clean. But the white glove proves that it's not clean. That's what the law is.

The law proves that we're not clean. The law is not meant to prove that we're clean. The law is meant to prove that we're not clean, that we're sinful, and that we need a savior. And people get this backwards, and that's why they get caught up in legalism. They try to keep the law to declare themselves righteous. But that's not what the law is designed to do. The law is designed to show us that we don't keep the law, that we're sinful.

And so he says, no flesh will be justified by the deeds of the law. It's not possible for anybody to keep the law good enough to be declared righteous. Instead, in verse 21 through 26, he says, now righteousness apart from the law is revealed. Since nobody is righteous by the law, there needs to be another way to be declared righteous. And he says, there is another way.

There's a righteousness from God apart from the law that is revealed. What is that? Verse 22. He says, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. He says, for there is no difference whether Jew or Greek. And so the righteousness of God that's not from the law is through faith in Jesus Christ.

And so here is the way to be declared righteous, he's explaining. It's not by keeping the law, but it's by faith in Jesus Christ. And this is to everyone who believes. Again, whether you're from Jewish descent, whether you have the law, whether your parents were Christians or whatever your background is, or whether you were heathens, whether you're religious or whether you're not religious, to be declared righteous, it's not done by keeping the law.

No, there's a righteousness apart from the law. Verse 23, of course, is a famous verse. He goes, "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." The reason why there has to be this righteousness apart from the law is because we all have sinned. And so we've already broken the law, and so the law just proves that we're sinful. But instead, verse 24, "...being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

So to be justified or to be cleared righteous, it's a free gift. It's by his grace. It's a gift to us through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, through what Jesus accomplished for us upon the cross. It's free to us because Jesus paid the price. And so righteousness apart from the law is revealed. Verse 27 through 31, he says, man is justified by faith,

apart from the deeds of the law. And so he's hitting this subject home. He's saying in verse 28, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. This is a truth that we need to allow to break through into our hearts, to break through the religiosity and the rituals, to break through the deception that is built up in our lives over time.

We are declared righteous by faith. By believing in Jesus Christ, God declares that you are righteous. It's not by the deeds of the law. We approach God many times in a legalistic manner. We approach God listing to him what we've done. All right, God, I'm pretty good today because I read my Bible today and I prayed today. And we try to declare ourselves righteous by

By the keeping of good things, good deeds, the law. Well, God, you know I'm not as horrible of a person as Harvey is. And so I declare myself righteous because I'm not as bad as he is. That doesn't work. Nobody is declared righteous that way.

If you want to be declared righteous, it has to be by faith in Jesus Christ and what he did. That's the only way to be declared righteous. That's the point that Paul is making. It cannot come from law. It cannot come from legalism or religion. It has to come by faith in Jesus Christ. Well, he'll give an example of this now in chapter 4. Verse 16, he says, "'Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace.'"

And so here, Paul uses Abraham as an example of the truths that he's been declaring. He says in verses 1 through 8, Abraham believed and it was accounted to him as righteousness.

So he takes us back to Genesis chapter 15, verse 6. He quotes that in verse 3, where Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. He says, look, Abraham wasn't righteous because he did good deeds. It says there in Genesis 15, Abraham was righteous because he believed God. He was not righteous because of what he did. He was righteous because he believed.

In verse 4, he explains, look, wages are not a gift. Wages are debt. If your employer does not give you a paycheck for the hours that you worked, it's illegal. It's a debt you're owed. They have to pay you. It's mandatory. Wages are owed. Now, Abraham was not owed righteousness.

It wasn't a debt that God had to declare him righteous. It was a gift. Abraham was not perfect. Abraham sinned, but he believed God. And so God says, all right, you believe me? Boom, here's righteousness. I'm going to declare you righteous because you believe. It's not something that God owes Abraham or any of us, but it's something he gives for those who believe. He gives another example. He quotes from Psalm 32 from the example of David saying,

where David says, blessed are those, this is verse seven, whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. He said there's a blessing to those whose lawless deeds or sin is covered. Now, that's not about works. It's about God's grace. It's about God giving righteousness, covering the lawless deeds, not because it's earned, but because God gives it.

And so David's not righteous, but he says, I'm blessed because my lawless deeds are forgiven. Forgiveness is not owed. It's not wages. We don't earn it. We don't deserve it. It's a gift that God gives to those who believe. In verse 9 through 12, he goes back to the example of Abraham, and he says, look, this was accounted to Abraham while he was uncircumcised.

He says, does these blessings apply only to those who are circumcised? That is only to those who are Jews. And he says, look at the life of Abraham. Abraham was accounted righteous before he was circumcised. He believed God. It was accounted to him as righteousness. And then later on, God gave him the instruction for circumcision. And so you cannot base righteousness from God upon circumcision because Abraham was counted righteous before.

before that. So again, it's not by keeping the law. The sign of circumcision, he explains in verse 11, is a seal of the righteousness of faith. It's after the fact. It's a demonstration that he was accounted righteous by believing in God. It wasn't the means for him to be counted righteous. It was just the demonstration that he was.

Verse 13 through 18, he says, the promise is of faith that it might be according to grace. Verse 16 is one of my favorite verses in all the scriptures. He says, therefore, it is of faith that it might be according to grace so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

Paul's explaining in this passage that God's promise of many descendants to Abraham was not primarily about his genetics, but about his faith. That there would be many who come after him who believe like Abraham believed, and they will be his descendants. They will be his seed. And so he explains in verse 16 that God designed the gospel, he designed salvation,

to be by faith so that it could be according to grace. He says, so that the promise is sure to all the seed. That is, it's accessible to every person. If God had not made it by faith, then forgiveness and salvation would not be accessible by all people because you would have to have, well, whatever other means that God made it by. If it was the law, then you would have to have the law.

but God made it by faith so that it would be according to grace, so that it'd be a gift of God. Now, if God had made salvation available by the law, none of us would have it because we can't keep the law. The law proves that we're not righteous. So he made it by faith that it might be according to grace, that he and his goodness could give it to us as a gift. We don't deserve it. We never will. We can't earn it no matter what we do, but it's a gift.

And by faith, we must receive it. And in this way, God made it accessible and available to every human being. God designed salvation perfectly of faith that it might be according to grace, that the promise might be available to all people. Then verse 19 through 25, he says, righteousness shall be imputed to us who believe. He says, look, this example of Abraham that we're talking about here, this wasn't written for his sake.

It was written for our sake. Verse 24, he says, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. So Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness. Paul says God didn't record that in the scriptures for Abraham's sake. He recorded that in the scriptures for your sake so that you would know that when we believe God...

who raised up Jesus from the dead, when we believe God, he accounts righteousness to us in the same way that he did to Abraham. Now this answers one question that is common, and that is if Jesus paid the price for sin, for all sin of all humanity, past, present, and future, then why isn't everybody saved? If his sacrifice was sufficient to cover all sin of all people of all time,

then why wasn't everybody saved? And here he's explaining through the example of Abraham, it must be received. You must believe. Righteousness is imputed to those who believe. Look at the example of Abraham. He believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness. So it's by faith so that it could be according to grace that it's a gift of God and it must be received.

And so we must receive God's gift of salvation. We must believe. We must have faith. Well, now in chapter 5, verse 18 is the key verse. It says,

In verses 1 through 5, he says, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. So this idea of being justified, declared righteous, it's by faith. And because we've been declared righteous by faith, he says we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ in verse 1. We have peace with God. The word justified, it means declared righteous, but one way to remember what it means, it's justified.

Just as if I'd never sinned. That means that God relates to you as if you have never sinned. Think about that. How many times have you sinned today? How many times have you sinned in your whole life? That's a lot of sin. But when you're justified by faith, you're declared righteous by believing God at his word, then God relates to you as if you've been perfected

from the womb. That's pretty radical. That's how God looks at you when you believe him at his word. When you believe in what Jesus Christ accomplished for us at the cross, he looks at you as if you've been perfect and flawless your entire life. The gospel is radical. This is amazing. This is astounding. We have peace with God. There's no enmity for those who believe. God's not out to get you. He's not trying to beat you up.

Yes, he does discipline us, but it's out of love. We have peace with God. We have access to God. We can approach God freely, boldly, even in the midst of our weaknesses and failures. We have full access to God because God relates to you as if you had never sinned. Lord, let this truth be on neon signs in our hearts and in our minds always before us.

God relates to you as if you had never sinned. I like what Pastor Chuck says about this. He says, Satan troubles us constantly by claiming that the door is closed. He says, God doesn't want you to come. You failed to be righteous. That's what the enemy tells us. He tries to keep us from God. But the reality of the gospel message, and this is why we need to know this doctrine of the gospel, is those who have faith

in Jesus Christ, are declared righteous and you have peace with God. He relates to you as if you had never sinned. He grants you full access to himself. You can have relationship with God. You can be empowered by God. He'll minister to you and talk to you and lead you and guide you and bless you. Not because you deserve it, not because you're worthy and he doesn't withhold it because you've messed up. He relates to you as if you had never sinned.

He grants you full access to himself. We're going on in verses 6 through 11. I could spend hours and hours there, but we need to move forward. It says that God demonstrates his love in that Christ died for us. He says, look, maybe somebody would die for a good person, a righteous man. Maybe. It would be rare, but it might happen. But God demonstrates his love in that when we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We weren't good people. We weren't righteous. We weren't perfect. But even still, Christ died for us. And that demonstrates once and for all that God loves you. You know, we have the prayer shirts, right? It says on the front, Jesus loves you. Ask me how I know this is where you go when someone asks, how do you know Jesus loves me? Because when you were still a sinner, he died for you.

He didn't die for you when you, you know, cleaned up your life enough and then now, okay, now you're good enough, I'll die for you. He died for you. He died for me while we were still sinners. We're declared righteous by faith. And so we have peace with God. We're reconciled to God and we're saved from his wrath. How can this be?

Well, he explains it in verses 12 through 14. He says, Here, Paul looks at Adam and Jesus. And he says, let's compare and contrast a little bit here. Adam, going back to Genesis chapter 3, Adam blew it in the garden.

And we all suffer the consequences. Verse 12, he says, Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sin. So sin entered the world because of Adam. At the same time, death entered because of sin. And so death has spread to all. We all will die. We all know people who have died.

All people die because we've all sinned because Adam sinned in the garden. We inherited the sinful nature from Adam. He sinned, he died. We sin, we'll die. It's our inheritance. But in contrast to that, you have Jesus. So verse 18, he says, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation. Even so, through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.

So Adam sinned and brought death and sin to the whole world. Jesus, by his one righteous act, giving himself for us upon the cross in the same way, made righteousness available to all mankind. So we're all sinful. We all deserve judgment because of Adam. He was our representative. He was the best shot we had at living perfectly. But he fell just like we would have in his shoes. But Jesus...

our representative, fulfilled all righteousness and perfection and died upon the cross. So many were made sinners by Adam, but many are made righteous by Jesus Christ. And those who believe in Jesus are declared righteous. Well, I want to finish up by just kind of summarizing these five chapters and what I refer to as gospel truths. So truth number one from Romans chapter one,

There is no excuse for unrighteousness because God has revealed his existence to all humanity. There's no excuse because everyone knows that there is a God because God has revealed himself through creation. Truth number two from Romans chapter two. God's law applies to all humanity and he will judge perfectly according to their deeds and heart. So we all know that there is a God and

And God is going to judge us according to truth. That is what we've done and what's in our hearts, which puts us in a dangerous position because, well, according to truth, we're not righteous and we'll all be judged according to God's truth. So then truth number three from Romans chapter three, righteousness cannot come from God's law, but only from faith in Jesus Christ. So we're in this condition of deserving judgment, right?

because of our deeds and because of our hearts, and we can't resolve it by keeping the law. It can only come by faith in Jesus Christ. That's the only way to be declared righteous. Well, then truth number four from Romans 4, righteousness is available to all people because it is offered by grace and received by faith. So all humanity will be judged by God's law according to truth, what they've done and what's in their hearts.

And that's not good. That means we all deserve his judgment because we've all violated God's law. But the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is available to all people because he has made it available by grace. He offers it by grace, his goodness. He gives it to us and we receive it by faith, by believing in Jesus Christ. And so then the truth number five from Romans chapter five says,

All people sin and die because Adam sinned, but all people can have eternal life because Jesus died for us. He loves us so much so that he gave himself for us. And so it's accessible to any person, to every person, no matter what their history is, no matter what their background is, no matter how messed up they've been, it's available to us all. We're all subject to sin and death,

but we all have access to the life that God offers to us by faith in Jesus Christ. And my encouragement to you is to grasp hold of that life, to believe in Jesus Christ. But then don't just leave it there. Learn the gospel truth so that you can help others because it's available to them. And later on, Paul will say, how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they're sent? So let's be sent by the Lord and share the gospel.

I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would allow your truth to penetrate our hearts. And Lord, as we consider these things, we realize how good and amazing and gracious and merciful you are. And we're unworthy and undeserving. And so, Lord, thank you for your goodness. Thank you that we can be declared righteous by believing you at your word, by faith that

and what you've done for us. Thank you, Jesus. Lord, we receive your work of salvation, your offer of forgiveness. We believe that you died upon the cross and received the full penalty for our sin. And so, Lord, forgive us, wash us, cleanse us, and give us new life. We don't deserve it, but Lord, you promised, and we believe you at your word. So give it. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.