Route 66: Romans - Understanding the Gospel of Righteousness

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Romans, chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Verses 16 and 17.

I'm going to start with reading these verses Romans 1, verses 16 and 17.

Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew and also to the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.

Just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith.

Father, please help us again.

We always need your help.

We need the work of the Spirit.

We want to magnify Christ in every way tonight.

Thank you for this glorious letter and would it minister that glory to our own souls.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Minister that glory to our own souls.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

This might be a hypocritical message.

I'm on record as saying you can preach any portion of scripture in any amount of time.

You could do a book of the Bible in 15 minutes.

You could do a verse in an hour and a half.

You just got to hone in on what you want to say.

But Romans in much less than an hour and a half.

That's a tough one.

So this could be a hypocritical sermon, fair for warning up front, but I'm very excited for this book.

Martin Luther said this letter, the letter of Romans, is truly the most important piece in the New Testament, it's purest gospel.

It's well worth the Christian's while not only to memorize it word for word but also to occupy himself with it daily, as though it were the daily bread of the soul.

And for Luther this book is very personal.

He labored for quite a while under deep distress of conscience, fearing God's judgment, and it was in large measure through Romans that God brought him deliverance.

And he says one day that the righteousness of God, as he meditated on the verses I just was reading, is that through which the righteous live by a gift of God, namely by faith.

Paul writes this letter to Christians in Rome.

You can see that in chapter 1, verse 7.

And what Paul is doing in this letter, under inspiration of God, is he is explaining his missionary purpose with a doctrinal foundation.

Let me say that a little different way.

In order for the good news to spread to the ends of the earth, we have to understand God's righteous gift.

In order for the good news to spread to the ends of the earth, we have to understand God's righteous gift.

So we're going to look first at that missionary purpose of Paul.

We'll move through this one more quickly.

But chapter 1, verse 5, through him, paul says we've received grace and apostleship to bring about.

Through him, paul says we've received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the Gentiles.

Do you hear Paul's passion and thrust there to get the message out?

Now turn over to chapter 15.

Keep your fingers ready.

We'll be hitting a lot of passages in Romans tonight.

Chapter 15.

Paul speaks of fully proclaiming the gospel from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum.

In chapter 15, verse 19.

Then verse 20.

My aim is to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named, so that I will not build on someone else's foundation.

But as it is written, those who were not told about him will see and those who have not heard will understand.

So Paul is again reiterating it's his goal, it's his passion, it's his calling from God to be someone who spreads the message of the good news to the ends of the earth, to those that haven't heard.

There's Paul's missionary purpose.

We often think of Romans as a doctrinal letter, and we should, because the bulk of Romans is taken up, with Paul explaining what is this gospel message that he's so eager to get out to the ends of the earth, that he's so eager to secure support for from the Roman Christians, that he's so eager to secure support for from the Roman Christians.

So you can go back to chapter one and we can take as our theme for this doctrinal foundation.

Paul says in the gospel, verse 16, it's the power of God for salvation.

It's the power of God for salvation.

And then, sorry, verse 17,.

In it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.

If we're going to spread God's glorious gospel to the ends of the earth, we have to understand his righteous gift.

Paul, when he talks about what the gospel is, the good news, he ties it in with this righteousness of God that's revealed through the gospel and the words righteous righteousness, the justice, justification, that group of words that's related in the original languages, that comes up over and over again in Romans.

So we're going to work through that doctrinal foundation of this idea of God's righteous gift, and I've got four headings for you.

I'll give those up front.

Number one the righteous God judges unrighteous people.

Chapter one, verse 18.

Through chapter three, verse 20.

Roman numeral two God gives the gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ.

And I've got that as chapter three, verse 21,.

All the way through chapter eight, number three, god's righteousness is questioned.

Chapters nine through 11.

And then number four God's righteous gift leads to a righteous life, chapters 12 through 16.

So let's jump in with that first heading.

What is this doctrinal foundation of the righteous gift through the good news?

Well, the first thing Paul's going to spend significant time unpacking is that the righteous God judges unrighteous people.

So we see in verse number 18 of chapter 1, god's wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who, by their unrighteousness, suppress the truth.

Again we have the words righteousness all linked in there.

Again we have the words righteousness all linked in there.

What is righteousness?

Righteousness means to measure up to a standard.

So someone who's unrighteous has not measured up to that standard.

And if we then ask, well, what's the standard?

God himself is the standard.

He is the righteous God who defines what it means to be the right kind of person and do the right kind of thing.

He's revealed throughout his word who he is, what he loves, what he wants, what he desires.

There's his standard and everyone falls short of that standard.

So everyone is unrighteous.

There's an underlying theme throughout the book of Romans of Jews and Gentiles.

So Paul's giving the gospel to the Jew first, but also to the Gentile.

He wants the word of God to go out not just from Jerusalem but all to the ends of the earth.

So the gospel is going to all kinds of people and he's showing here, in this first section of Romans, why all people need the gospel, because they're all unrighteous.

So if you look over at chapter 3, go ahead and turn over to chapter 3.

, verse number nine.

What then?

Are we any better off?

Not at all, for we've already charged that both jews and greeks are all under sin.

And then he goes on to quote many places from the old testament that detail the nature and extent of sin, that it impacts all of us, every part of our lives.

And you see this in the list of specific sins Paul's already brought out from Romans 1.

You see it here and it's easy sometimes for us to say, well, I'm not indulging in that form of that specific sin.

But when you look through this you realize if you're rightly seeing God's righteous standard, I fall woefully short of that and this is important for us, even in our own lives, not to be self-righteous and overlook our own unrighteousness.

And sometimes in our world it can be tempting for some people to say, well, this group of people is definitely a bunch of sinners, but this group of people is definitely in the free and clear.

Paul has none of that.

Groups of people may sin in different ways, but the bottom line for Paul is we're all sinners who are unrighteous, and we all need the good news.

Number two God gives the righteous gift through Jesus Christ.

Chapter three we're going to learn in chapters three through eight about this righteous gift and one thing we learn is that it comes by faith, not by works.

Paul gives examples of Abraham and David.

You can find that actually in chapter four and those examples would have been key for his Jewish listeners who looked back and looked up in tremendous ways to Abraham and David.

Even Abraham and David, these key figures in Jewish life from the past, even they, as he says there in Romans, chapter 4, look at verse number 3, what does the scripture say?

Romans 4 · chapter mention

Abraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness.

Or if you look down at verse number 6, what does the scripture say?

Abraham believed God and it was credited him for righteousness.

Or if you look down at verse number six, david also speaks of the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works.

Blessed are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the person the Lord will never charge with sin, by faith and not by works.

Back to chapter 3, look at verse 26.

And you can see the turn already in verse 21,.

But now, apart from the law, righteousness has been revealed.

So here's a turn to this righteous gift, but look at verse 26.

To this righteous gift, but look at verse 26.

God presented him, that is, jesus Christ, to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

The in Jesus part is crucial here.

Sometimes people think of salvation by faith, apart from works, and they think of faith as like a mini work, like God's made salvation a lot easier than it used to be.

He saw that we couldn't really measure up to the law, so he gave us just a little bit lesser, easier tasks to just fulfill this and then that'll count for his righteousness.

It's not faith that saves us, it's the object of our faith, jesus Christ.

It's faith in Jesus Christ that saves.

God didn't lower the standard.

Jesus came and kept the whole standard.

Jesus measured up to God's law and his perfect, righteous life, so that now the righteousness of Christ can be credited or imputed or charged to believers and our sin is charged to him.

So you see that there in verse number 25.

In his restraint, god presented passed over the sins previously committed.

Why did he do that?

Because Jesus Christ verse 25, is given as the mercy seat.

Is what the CSB here says.

Yours might say the propitiation or sacrifice of atonement, other words there.

But Christ suffered for our sins, bearing all of our unrighteousness.

That's the good news.

It's a free gift to be received.

Turning into chapter five, this gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ comes to us not merely as a transfer from one bank account to another.

It is a credit the word credit is used there but it comes to us wonderfully, in God's kindness, as we're united to Christ.

There's a personal intimacy to this gospel and gift of righteousness and it begins on a legal basis All throughout chapter five, paul compares Adam and Christ says all humanity is born in Adam.

We're sinners in him, and sinners by our own choice.

He's the head, we're in him and we're guilty.

But because God counts us to be in Jesus Christ and his grace, all of Christ is ours and we're united to him.

So look at those verses.

Verse number 19, I'll just point to this one in chapter 5.

For just as through one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, speaking of Adam and humanity, so also through the one man's obedience, I'll just point to this one in chapter 5.

Chapter 6 goes on to speak of our union to Christ, our union in every aspect of his life on earth.

His death, his resurrection is ours.

We belong to him and gloriously he belongs to us.

Despite struggles, despite setback, we can say and now I'm gonna press all the way into chapter eight, so keep moving.

I know we're moving through this.

There's a lot, but chapter eight is this glorious rehearsal of what's come before in Romans.

There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.

There's the same language of union Comes through faith.

But because we belong to Christ, we don't have to fear the righteous judge that Paul spent those chapters talking about and addressing.

Righteous judge that Paul spent those chapters talking about and addressing.

Are you hurting tonight?

Are you feeling the weight of conviction.

Go to Christ, think about your union with Christ, live out from your union with Christ.

That's Paul's encouragement for all of us who are here.

Point number three, third main heading of four God's righteousness is questioned.

I said there's this thread of Jew and Gentile throughout the book of Romans.

Paul's got a missionary passion and purpose to get this message of good news out to the Jews, also to the Gentiles.

Jews, even though they have the law, failed to keep it.

So they're sinners, just like the Gentiles are sinners.

And because they're all sinners, they all need this gift of grace.

But Paul, part of what he does in this letter is he anticipates objections that people might bring or things that they might say.

So he says already in chapter 6, should we continue in sin so that grace could abound?

By no means, and he's going to end the letter with this goal of a righteous life.

But he brings out another potential question someone might have in chapters 9 through 11.

Well, hold on a second here.

So God's a righteous God who always keeps his promises.

He always does what's right.

What about all those things he said about Israel?

If he's their God and they'll be his people, and then in the present day.

Yeah, some Israelites are believing, some Jews, but many are not.

What happened to God's word?

Is God really righteous?

Paul's anticipating that potential thought process, verse number six.

And you can guess.

Paul's initial statement right, verse number six.

Paul's initial statement right, verse number six, chapter nine.

Now it's not as though the word of God has failed.

Paul's never going to say you know what?

Yep, god's not righteous, he just blew it with Israel.

That can't be the answer.

The answer has to be God's word has not failed.

But then Paul's going to explain how and why it hasn't failed.

And he gives the first and basic answer there, at the end of verse 6 in chapter 9.

Because not all who descended from Israel are Israel.

It's a little bit strange to say on the surface, little bit strange to say on the surface, what he means by that is, within the nation of Israel, within the ethnic group of Israelites, there's always been a remnant who are God's chosen people for eternal salvation.

It was not God's purpose to save each and every Israelite who has ever lived eternally, but it was his purpose to maintain and preserve a believing remnant.

So the word of God hasn't failed.

The believing remnant existed in the past.

It exists in the present, it'll exist in the future.

Look over to chapter 11.

You can see this same point that Paul makes again.

He brings out the passage from the Old Testament.

Paul's always proving things from the Old Testament.

It's a great example for us.

He brings out this passage about Elijah, verse number three Lord, they've killed your prophets and torn down your altars.

I'm the only one left, god, I'm the only true believer around here.

There's a bunch of idolaters and pagans, and woe is me.

But what was God's answer to him?

Paul asked in verse four I've left 7,000 for myself who have not bowed to Baal.

No, elijah, you're not alone, not everybody.

But 7,000, that's not a small number.

And then look at Paul's reasoning.

He's not right here giving a counseling session for the depressed.

That can work too, but that's not his purpose here.

Verse number five in the same way, then there is also, at the present time, a remnant chosen by grace.

Always been a remnant.

Remnant in the present will be a remnant in the future.

Well, chosen by grace, a remnant, okay.

So God's word is going to always come to pass.

He's always righteous.

What?

Why did he give some privileges to Israel and not the Gentiles?

Well, they didn't all receive it.

Many of them disbelieved it.

Yeah, but there was a believing remnant.

What about that believing remnant?

Why were they believers?

Why did God, in his grace, choose them for spiritual, eternal salvation?

That's a lot more important than just temporary earthly blessings Back to chapter 9, just temporary earthly blessings.

Back to chapter 9,.

Paul highlights God's sovereignty in election.

This is a passage that brings us to the character of God, and that's one reason why it's so important.

Everything in God's word that he reveals is good for us, good for our souls, but especially when we're talking about the character of God.

The whole gospel is to glorify God and his righteousness.

Faith is in him, not in ourselves, and you can see his character come up over and again in chapter 9, verse number 14.

What should we say?

Is there injustice with God?

Absolutely not.

So God's the God of justice.

And then verse 15.

For he tells Moses I will show mercy.

To whom I will show mercy and I will have compassion.

On whom I will have compassion?

That was his answer when Moses said show me your glory.

So if we're going to marvel at the glory of God, we've got to ponder this sovereign mercy that God lays out here, verse 17.

Paul and his missionary purpose is doing the very same thing that God has been doing from the foundation of the world displaying his glory.

And then verse 18, he repeats so then he has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

Who are you to object against God?

Paul says this is the glory of our Lord.

It's not well.

Why doesn't he show mercy to this person, this person and this person it's?

Why did he show mercy to anyone when we're all sinners?

Why did I receive mercy eternally?

Thank you, lord.

Application here we need to as we engage with people, it's okay to think about objections they might have.

Paul's doing that throughout Romans.

He's trying to anticipate reasons and arguments and he's engaging in those things with reverence and care, but sincerely.

Last heading for tonight chapters 12 through 16,.

God's righteous gift leads to a righteous life.

And I did so.

I did skip over, I'll acknowledge this.

Maybe some of you came just for this very point and I'm kind of skipping over it.

Well, there's always been a remnant.

There always will be a remnant.

What about in the futures?

Are going to be like?

Like a bigger remnant or like the whole nation becomes the spiritual salvation, chapter 11,.

He does say all Israel will be saved.

What does that mean?

If you want to come talk to me about that afterwards, I'll probably disappoint over 50% of you.

So if you want to get disappointed, come on up, talk to me.

Some of you that might think I think it's just.

That's the answer.

There's always been a remnant.

I have hopes for a greater ingathering than that, but then others of you that might see a lot of geopolitical purposes.

I don't really see that in Romans 11 anywhere.

So I'm going to disappoint you too.

So if you want to get disappointed, come on up and talk to me about that after the service.

This is not on that part of Romans only, it's the whole book of Romans.

So we're going to press into chapters 12 through 16.

God's righteous gift leads to a righteous life.

Chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies, are those the same mercies he's been talking about for 11 chapters?

He's like I brought all that to you.

Now what are we going to do with it?

Let me tell you there's doxology, which is how chapter 11 ends.

That's the beginning part, but then there's a life that's lived.

I urge you verse 1, to present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

This is your true worship.

Don't be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing and perfect will of God.

The same sovereign God who chose Jews and Gentiles to be part of his body and who so beautifully orchestrated this plan of redemption where Jews would have a remnant but the larger nation would reject God, but then, in their rejection, gentiles will be brought to faith and then Jews could see Gentiles come into Christ and become jealous and want to come to Christ and be grafted into the same olive tree.

The same God that has this glorious plan for salvation in the world has a plan for churches to have Jews and Gentiles, where people are living out their salvation life in Christ together.

So the basic step of a righteous life begins with the family of God, and he lists gifts there in chapter 12 and encourage people to use their gifts and to love one another.

Then, in chapter 13, he brings us to another component of a righteous life, not always the most popular, but right here in scripture submit to the governing authorities.

I'll leave that one with you to think about more Again.

You can get some more application on that from Ethan after the service, no problem at all.

But let's press on to chapter 14.

Chapter 14 deals with matters of conscience and Paul's going to say within the body of Christ, you got Jews and Gentiles and there's going to be some things you don't always agree on, and that's okay, which at first glance might not seem to fit, because haven't we been saying all along doctrine's very important.

We've got to understand God's righteous gift.

We need to know about God's sovereign mercy in election.

We need to know about federal headship in Adam.

And if doctrine's so important, how can, in chapter 14, paul say well, this person considers this day, this person considers that day.

Let everybody be persuaded in their own mind.

And we're not talking.

This isn't merely like color of the carpet stuff.

These are convictions that relate to portions of scripture.

What about all those feast days that God said in his word for the Jews to keep?

What about all those food?

So this is questions regarding scripture.

It's not merely color the carpet stuff.

Part of the wisdom of a righteous life is asking for the Lord's help in this, to be able to discern what are the most important and key things that are central to the gospel and that glorify the name and character of God, and what are other things that are not as crucial for the gospel and for Christian life, not irrelevant to talk about, but that don't hold that level of importance?

It might hold level of importance individually, for your own conscience to be persuaded and to move on it, but not to demand of the whole body.

Sometimes we think people that are the most zealous in every conceivable way, in every step of life, those are the most mature people.

That's not actually what Paul communicates.

He says zeal is good, be fervent in zeal serving the Lord.

There's that claim in Romans, but he also says here, romans 14.

The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

He doesn't say the kingdom of God is not justification by faith alone and election, and he doesn't say that.

But he does say there, by faith alone and election, and he doesn't say that.

But he does say there's some things you need to understand about what's important, what has priority, and righteousness and peace and joy has more priority than your convictions about the exact kind of things you put on your lips or in your stomach, or the days that you might celebrate or not celebrate.

I had a list of some other potential applications in our own day, but I'll let you just think about how you can apply that in your own life and heart.

Chapter 15, verse number 7.

And what's amazing about this is those body life willing to love someone else and receive them, even if I have a little bit of a different conscience about this issue or that issue.

Receiving them ties back into the missionary purpose of God's glory in all the world.

So verse number seven of chapter 15, therefore welcome one another, just as Christ also has welcomed you to the glory of God.

He means here more than just when someone comes in the door shake their hand.

We love that.

He's been talking about people that have disagreements in strong consciences or weak consciences, and he's saying you've got to.

Even in their strong conscience or weak conscience that might be different than yours, you got to welcome them because Christ has welcomed you.

But then he goes on to tie it into what Jesus came to do, verse eight Christ became a servant of the circumcised, that's, the Jewish people, on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises to the fathers and so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy.

Jesus came on this mission to welcome and receive Jews and Gentiles.

You got to welcome and receive Jews and Gentiles in your own body and we can again apply that.

Different backgrounds, different expectations, different places, different things.

Chapter 16 is once again.

It's more than just a farewell tour of greetings to give to specific people.

It is definitely that, but it's shaping the contours of the righteous gift in the context of welcome and reception.

That matches what Jesus Christ has done to the gospel.

It's all tied back into his eternal mercy.

That's where the righteous life comes from.

And then look at the way he ends with this beautiful doxology, and we'll end with this for tonight, just with the way he ends Romans 16, verse 25.

Romans 16:25

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation about Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, kept silent for long ages but now revealed and made known through the prophetic scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God to advance the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles to the only wise God through Jesus Christ.

To him be the glory forever.

Amen.

Let's pray, lord.

Thank you so much for this letter of purest gospel Good news that comes with the convicting punch.

We have been those disobedient to parents.

We have been those reckless in our assessment of others and our kindness to them.

We have been those who have been self-righteous, and yet, because of Jesus, we find propitiation.

We find appeasement of wrath and satisfaction and atonement.

We find not just forgiveness but full acceptance because of the righteousness of Christ that is given to us.

Lord, we're thankful that, regardless of the state of our bodies or backgrounds, we can say that we're the circumcised, we're the Israel who has hearts that have been changed by you, and we do want this glorious good news to reach more and more people, whether Jew or Gentile.

So may it be our passion to pray, to send, to give, to go, that the righteous gift we've received might be announced and received by more and more all, to the glory and praise of our great triune God In Jesus' name amen.