When in Rome (Intro to Romans) | Louis Azuma

Speaker: The book of Romans is where you're gonna be.

It's in the New Testament, right?

The book of Romans.

And we are just gonna be doing an overview of Romans.

Okay?

So tonight we're gonna kind of give you a big picture of.

Of what this letter is all about.

Now, you might be thinking, why did you pick this, right?

You could have picked any book in the Bible.

You had 64 other options because we just did Matthew 64.

Other options.

Why in the world would you pick Romans?

Well, I, I want you to know that this is probably, I think, I think

definitely the most important letter that has ever been written in the

history of letters, in the history of writing, in the history of language.

This is the most important letter.

That has ever made.

In fact, you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the book of Romans, because

the book of Romans is what started what we call the Protestant Reformation.

The book of Romans started.

This, this monk in Germany who said, you know what?

I don't think people are really saved by works.

So he read the Bible, he read the book of Romans.

He was like, that's what God says.

God says, we're justified.

We're saved through faith not works.

And so we're here because of the book of Romans.

So the book of Romans, I hope is gonna change your life and I'm

so excited to be studying it.

But the reason that we're doing, Ezekiel freaked out a little bit on the worksheet.

He said Romans one through eight, you're preaching eight chapters in one sermon.

Yes.

And the reason we're doing that is 'cause I want you to have a picture of the

whole, the whole book, or in this case, the first eight chapters of the book.

That's what we're gonna be studying this year.

And I want you to, to see what kind of the whole roadmap is all about.

It's kind of like.

The first time that I saw Avengers, the 2012 first one, right?

The first time I saw the Avengers, I had no idea what this thing was.

So, you know the opening scene with like Loki and the, and he's in that like

Shield lab and he comes outta the portal.

I had no clue what this was.

I was, I didn't see Captain America first.

I didn't see anything.

I was like, what is the deal with this blue box and why is it, why is everyone

fighting for it and why does it kind of.

Seem like it's like a nuke and, but also not like what is going on, what's

happening with this blue box, right?

I wanna help you understand this book and not just jump into it right away, right?

I want you to, to, to see the whole map of, of what everything's, what

the context is, what's happening.

I want you to see all that so that way you're not like me watching the Avengers

wondering what this blue box is and if you still dunno what the blue box is.

Watch Captain America, and you can find out, but Romans, what Romans is all about.

If you could put Romans in one sentence, here's what it is.

You ready for it?

Whole book of the Bible in one sentence.

Here it is.

Romans is all about the gospel, the good news.

The good news, and the good news does something, it shows us, it

reveals the righteousness of God.

The gospel reveals the righteousness of God.

That is the book of Romans in one sentence.

The book of Romans is all about how the gospel shows us that God is righteous.

Now, maybe you've never thought about that before.

God is righteous.

I thought righteousness is something that I need, right?

I need to be righteous.

But we're gonna look at how God is righteous and then he gives his

righteousness to us through the gospel.

But if you don't believe me, one chapter one, look at verse 16, right?

Book of Romans chapter one.

Look at verse 16.

This is kind of the thesis statement of the book.

So if you've ever.

Written a paper, you know, or, or written a, a paper in school that your teacher's,

like you need a thesis statement, right?

You need a thesis statement at the beginning of your paper that tells

you what your paper's gonna be about.

This is the thesis statement for the book of Romans, okay?

Chapter one, verses 16 and 17.

So Paul is writing it, the gospel.

Paul is writing book of Romans.

He says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, I'm not ashamed of the gospel

for, because it is the power of God.

For salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and

also to the Greek or the Gentile.

Verse 17, four.

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

For faith.

As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

Now, where did, where did this come from?

From this?

Well, look at this.

Paul's not ashamed of the gospel.

Why is he not ashamed in it?

Power of God has revealed everyone who believes four, because in the gospel.

You see it?

What's it?

It's the gospel.

The righteousness of God is revealed.

See that?

That's Paul's thesis statement.

The gospel reveals it, shows us the righteousness of God.

That's what Rowans is all about.

Now, what is God's righteousness?

Maybe you've never thought about this.

What is God's righteousness?

What's two things?

It's an attribute and it's an action.

It's something about God.

It's a quality that God has, and it's also something that we see in God's action.

That's how the gospel shows us.

It's something we see in God's actions here.

Look at that.

God's righteousness.

It's an attribute.

So it's his like sense of justice, right?

His self-defined moral standard.

God always does the right thing.

God is just, remember you've heard that, right?

God is just, God is a good judge.

God always does the right thing.

That's what God's righteousness means.

But also, also it's an action.

It's his righteous rule it we So right?

You can't see God.

So how do we know that God's righteous?

Well, he does things that are righteous.

He rules like a king or a judge, and his actions also make things right.

I think it might be helpful to think about what's unrighteousness, right?

Unrighteousness is something that's not right.

You're like, that's not okay.

So for example, let's say you were playing dodgeball and you were

holding a ball, and then someone threw the ball at you, and you dropped

the ball when the ball hits you.

Then you're the guy in charge of the game was like, you're out.

Let's say that happened to you hypothetically, right?

Hypothetically, let's say that happened to you when you were playing dodge ball

and you were like, that's not fair.

How is that okay?

I blocked it with the ball.

That's not okay.

You would think that's unrighteous, right?

That's not fair.

Referee, you're not doing your job.

Maybe you come out and argue with the umpire and you're like, what

are you doing Is a terrible call.

What's going on?

Right?

See, what you don't understand is that in a game, right, the referee or in a game

in true North, your leaders, your leaders in this case are always in the right.

Whenever we play a true north game, your leaders are always right.

If a leader says, you're out, you're out.

Right?

This, right?

If you, if especially, especially something like this happens, right?

If we did leaders versus students, and a leader says, you're out.

You're out.

Right?

The leaders.

Are are righteous, right?

Your leaders are always in the right.

Your leaders always make a right decision in dodgeball, right?

If your leader says that you didn't catch it, it means you didn't catch it.

If your leader says that you're out, it means you're out.

If your leader says that they caught it, it means they caught it.

That's kind of the way that God is, right?

God is righteous.

He always does the right thing.

He has a self-defined standard.

This is what's right.

This is what's good.

This is the right thing.

God has a standard, and that's why you have a conscience.

You have a conscience.

'cause innately, God has put his standard into your heart.

He said, I'm gonna give you a sense of what's right.

And that's why when you get cut in line, you're upset.

You're like, that's not fair, because God has taken his righteous standard

and put it into your heart so you have a sense of what's right and what's not.

So Romans is all about God's righteousness.

Now here's how the gospel in Romans, don't write this down, don't write this down.

Don't write this down.

Okay?

Uh, I saw everyone reaching for their pens.

I was like, no.

So the gospel reveals God's right actions.

How to do that?

Well, there's five parts to the book of Romans, right?

First part, the gospel shows that God's wrath against sin is righteous,

so that it's actually a good thing.

It's the right thing for God to be angry at sin.

God's response to sin is wrath, and that's a good thing.

That's the first part of Romans second part, the gospel shows that God's

forgiveness of sinners is righteous, and we'll get here in the sermon, but

if you believe this, then why should you believe that God should forgive anyone?

If you really believe that God should show his wrath against sinners, then why should

you think that God should forgive people?

Right?

What?

How is it okay that God forgives people?

If He, he should do is punish them?

How is that okay for God to just be like, no, it's okay.

I forgive you.

Romans is gonna show us that that's actually the, that's,

that's a good thing that God does.

And it's okay for God to do that and still be a good judge.

Maybe you've never even had that question before.

We're gonna talk about that in Romans third part.

The gospel shows that how God's relationship with forgiven sinners works.

That's five through eight.

These are some of the most famous chapters in the Bible, but it's gonna talk at work.

We're, we're gonna talk about we, how God can relate to someone

who's still not perfect, right?

Even if you're a Christian, you've been forgiven of your sins.

You're no longer under God's wrath.

You're still not perfect.

So how can God still have a relationship with you?

What does, how does that work?

What does that look like?

That's what we're gonna learn in this third part.

And then we won't get to these parts because otherwise we'd be

here for like six hours every night.

But the fourth part, the God the gospel shows that God's

plan for Israel is righteous.

'cause if you're thinking about this, you're like, wait, I thought

God chose Israel and all that stuff.

And then this last part of Romans, the gospel transforms the way Christians live.

And there's a lot of really cool, practical stuff if you wanna

think of these as questions.

I already did that for you.

Look at that.

These are some questions you probably have had before.

Why does God send people to hell?

We're gonna be talking about that Romans one through three.

How can God forgive sinners and still be a good judge?

We're gonna talk about that.

How does the gospel impact my relationship with God?

Now that I'm saved?

What happens?

We're gonna talk about that right here.

We won't talk about these, but these are some really relevant

questions that you probably have.

How can a righteous God choose whom he saves?

How can you save some people and not others?

That's what Romans nine through 11 is all about.

And then how does the gospel change my everyday life?

That is what 12 through 16 are all about.

So we're gonna be focusing on Romans one through eight this year.

Okay?

Romans one through eight.

So the first 60% of what I just showed you right here.

Okay?

That's what we're gonna be looking at today, and I'm gonna give you a brief

snapshot of that tonight just to kind of overview it, see where we're going and

what that's all gonna look like this.

Is what we're gonna be looking at this year, all the way until the end of May.

So Romans, God is righteous, and the gospel shows that.

And the first thing that we see the gospel shows about God is

that his wrath is righteous.

And that's your first point tonight.

Point number one, God's wrath is righteous.

God's wrath is righteous.

I'm gonna move this way to help you guys see.

And that's the first three chapters of Romans.

God's anger against sin, God's desire to punish sin is right.

It's good.

It means that God is doing the right thing.

It's the right response against sin.

Now that sound might sound like a weird place to start a letter, right?

If you're the apostle Paul, how are you gonna start your letter?

He's like, well, God's wrath, right?

That's what he's gonna do.

Why?

Well remember.

In his thesis statement, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

For the power of God.

For salvation.

For salvation.

Now, if I came up to you, let's say you're just like in the lunch line

at school and someone comes up to you and they're like, you're saved.

You'd be like, okay, cool.

From what?

Maybe, right?

You'd be really weird.

You'd be like, I don't know.

I don't feel like I need saving.

I don't know what's happening.

I, I, cool.

Right?

What are we being saved from?

Well look to verses later.

The wrath of God.

The wrath of God is what you're saved from.

Maybe you've heard, oh, I need to be saved from my sin.

Well, the reason you need to be saved from your sin is because God's response,

God's right response to your sin is wrath.

The right response God should have against your sin is wrath.

And when you think about it, you want God to care about other people's sin, right?

If you want God to do something about someone who hurts you, you want God

to do something about someone who does evil to, you know, make a really bad

person like, like Adolf Hitler, right?

You wanna do, you want God to do something about him, but ultimately

we do similar sins, right?

In our, in our hearts, maybe we do the same thing.

The wrath of God is revealed.

It's shown against sin, and that's what we need to be saved from.

And so that's where Paul starts.

He's saying the gospel is the power of God to save people from what.

From the wrath of God.

Now, maybe you're sitting there, you're like, that seems extreme.

I don't think God should be this angry about sin.

Or maybe you're thinking, I don't deserve God's wrath.

I'm a good person.

I'm totally fine.

I, I'm in a good spot.

I don't think that God should do this.

Well check this out right here.

These next three verses, the wrath of God is revealed from

heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who, by their

unrighteousness, suppress the truth.

First, this is like a, like a court case against all of us, and Paul's

starting it right here, that we all suppress the truth suppress.

The best way I can describe it is like, you know when your trash can's full,

you don't wanna take the trash out.

What do you do?

You suppress it, right?

You push it down, you're like, I don't wanna deal with it right now.

I'm gonna push it down and I'm gonna just pack it in and ignore it.

That's what we all have done or maybe still are doing with the truth.

God is righteous and we're not.

We're sinners, we're guilty.

We're suppressing it.

Or we have in the past, before we became Christians, suppressed it.

And maybe that's you right now.

Maybe you hear sermons, you went through revival.

You, you come to true North, your parents teach you and, and you're just like,

I don't wanna deal with it right now.

Maybe later, I later I'll become a Christian, or I don't really feel

that bad about it, or I'll just go home and start scrolling and forget

about feeling bad about my sin.

So he's saying all these people know deep down and they suppress it.

Four, what can be known about God is plain to them, it's obvious.

So it's not like God didn't make it clear.

It's obvious because God has shown it to them.

So God did something.

He said, here I am, and he's, he's made himself obvious to 'em.

He's made his standard obvious.

We all have conscience, right?

You all feel bad when you sin.

Four, God's invisible attributes, his eternal power, his divine nature,

have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world.

So for all of time.

People have known God and his standard, and so you and me we're without excuse.

We can't say, oh, but God, uh, whatever.

Fill in the blank.

Excuse.

Paul is saying that every single person is accountable to God.

We all fall short of God's standard and all of us are guilty.

All of us are guilty.

You still don't believe me, but look at Romans three.

Look how Paul finishes this section.

Just do you think, do you think Paul's making this point kind of clear?

No one, none is righteous.

No, not one.

No one understands.

No one seeks for God.

Everyone has turned aside together.

They've become worthless.

No one does good.

Not even one.

And in case you didn't get the point there, verse 23 of

chapter three, all has sin.

Raise your hand if, if this, this is talking about you.

If you're all, that's you.

Everyone has sin.

We're all guilty before God.

We all fall short of the glory of God.

God's standard isn't just being a good person.

God's standard is himself.

His righteousness, God's standard is His glory, his perfection.

I heard one time, I've heard multiple times since then, but I've heard,

I remember the first time I heard it, it really stood out to me.

It was in a rap song, funny enough.

Um, but this guy, he's, he's rapping and he's talking about truth and

he's talking about God's standard.

And he, he starts talking and he goes, um, if you want God to take

away all the evil in the world, right?

A lot of people, they say, oh, well I don't believe in God.

'cause there's so many bad things, right?

All these bad things happen in the world.

Well, how much evil do you want God to take away?

Do you want God to, to put all the murderers away?

Do you want him to get rid of them?

Yeah.

We want God to, well, what about Jesus says, if you're angry at someone,

you've murdered in your heart.

What about those people?

What about the liars in the world?

Do you want God to get rid of those people too?

Because that means we're in that group, right?

So really we're just saying, well, God, yeah, I want you to get rid of like

the really bad people, but not like the other really bad people who are just

secretly bad and not publicly bad, right?

If your objection is, oh God, I don't believe in you, because there's

so much bad things in the world.

Well, if you want God to get rid of all the bad things, guess who?

He's gonna get rid of.

Me and you.

'cause we're sinners.

We fall short of God's glory.

We're not righteous.

We seek our own way.

We put ourselves first.

We're selfish, we're liars.

We have impure thoughts and impure hearts.

We're prideful.

You and I all fall in this category.

We deserve God's wrath.

That's the first section of Romans that God's wrath, God's

response to sin is righteous.

It's the right thing.

And you want God to do something about sin, don't you?

Just not yours.

And ultimately, if you want God to do something about other people's sin, God

needs to do something about your sin too, because he is a good judge, right?

God can't say, well everyone else, everyone besides Lewis's

sin, I'm gonna get rid of it.

Right?

That's not okay.

So God's response to sin is righteous.

The problem is, is that puts us in a bad spot, right?

If we all deserve God's wrath and it's a good thing for God to be

angry at sin and to punish sin, then we're, we're not looking good, right?

We are under God's wrath.

We're under his condemnation.

We're guilty and headed for punishment.

So then what?

What do we do about that?

Well, that is where the next part of the book of Romans comes in and the

rest of chapter three, and that's that God's forgiveness is righteous.

God's forgiveness is righteous

and this is a problem that you may have never thought about.

But I remember I was hearing this guy, he was talking to a Muslim.

He was talking to a Muslim and the the Muslim guy.

They were talking about how you can be sure if you're going to heaven.

Ultimately, the Muslim guy said, I'm not sure.

I don't know if I'm gonna be in heaven according to Muslim rules, because

the Muslim God, he doesn't forgive anyone.

He can't forgive you.

You have to earn it.

And so you, if you're a Muslim, you never really know if you're good enough

because you can hope you're good enough.

You can, you can do all the right things and really try.

But they believe that their God is, is just, he punishes sin.

That's what they believe, that they're God and we believe that about our God,

but they don't have forgiveness because they believe that God is just, and so the

Muslim lab is actually pushing back on the Christian, he was saying that, well,

your God doesn't do anything about sin.

He just forgets it and lets it go.

And that's the problem that Romans.

Three answers.

Look at verses 23 through 25.

Romans 3, 23 to 25.

So Paul, right, he's saying he's, he's made his case that

everyone's sinned, right?

All people have have sinned against God.

We're all guilty.

That's verse 23.

All have sinned and falls short of the glory of God, but everyone

who falls short can be made.

So in English you don't see this but justified.

The same root as righteous.

You think righteousness justice, it's the same, comes from the same word.

So whenever you see justified, think like righteous aside, okay?

Made righteous right.

So our made righteous by God's grace as a gift through the redemption that's in

Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as propitiation, which we'll all talk about

this in like four months, somewhere here by his blood to be received by faith.

What's the point of.

This is talking about the cross Jesus atoning work on the cross.

What's the point of that?

It was to show God's righteousness that God is still a good judge.

Isn't that weird?

Maybe you've never thought about, oh, the cross was actually to show

something about God, and you've always thought the cross is about me.

Yes, the cross is for you, but the cross is about God.

It's to show who God is because in his divine forbearance.

Now, what does that mean?

You probably never used the word forbearance this week.

Forbearance that means patient.

Think, see bear, God's like bearing, he's forbearing, he's being patient.

He's, he's putting up with stuff he had, what's he putting up with?

He's passed over former sins.

This is kind of linked to, if God is good, why do bad things happen?

Right?

If you think about for all of human history, God just let people sin.

God just lets people sin and doesn't do anything about it.

That's, that should, that should bother you.

Right?

God just lets school shooters do their thing.

God just lets people lie and nothing happens to them, right?

God just lets husbands and wives sin against each other and nothing happens.

God lets people look at terrible things online and say really hurtful things to

people and doesn't do anything about it.

Maybe you've never thought about that, but shouldn't God do something?

Where is God?

What's God doing?

He's being patient.

He's being patient.

That's what he's doing.

And now if you continue on that line, well, what about, what about Christians?

God never does anything about their sin.

He just forgives them.

Right?

Well, here's the thing.

He does do something about their sin.

He punishes Jesus for it.

That's what propitiation means.

Jesus is punished for the sins that God overlooks.

Right?

Think about, think about Abraham Abraham's sinned and didn't go to hell.

Why not?

Because God put Abraham's sin on Jesus and he waited to show

how that would work, right?

Imagine, I think I, I probably used this illustration.

Revival.

But imagine if someone came and stole everything in your house

and then you went to court and the judge was like, that's fine.

I'm a loving judge.

I'm a forgiving judge.

You're good.

Don't worry about it.

Bad judge.

Right?

That's not okay.

I don't want to go to that court.

That's why Jesus had to die.

'cause God can't just be like, oh, your sins.

No big deal.

You're lying.

All your selfishness, all your pride, all your hurtful words, all your

lustful thoughts, not a big deal.

Don't worry about it.

Right?

We don't want a God like that.

'cause what about other people's sin?

That's why God's forgiveness is righteous, because he's still a good judge.

One John one, nine, God is faithful and just, he's a good judge to

forgive sin because that sin that he forgives is paid for.

God's forgiveness is free for us, but it's not free for Jesus.

Jesus paid for it.

He bought it.

He said, I'll take the payment, the fine, the punishment that Lewis deserves.

Jesus took my sin.

He paid for it.

That's what redemption means, so that God could still be righteous.

So God's forgiveness is righteous, and that's what this passage goes on to.

Say.

God is just, he passed over former sins.

That's, that's a problem, right?

Why didn't God do anything about sin?

Well, he still remains just, and he's the justifier.

That means that God is the one who makes people righteous, right?

And, and you all hopefully have heard that before.

You don't make yourself righteous.

God makes you righteous.

God's forgiveness is righteous.

He's still a good judge in his forgiveness.

God is still a good judge in his forgiveness.

So.

First part of Romans one through three, right?

God's wrath is righteous.

God's response to sin is just, it's good, it's the right thing, but also

his forgiveness of sin is still okay.

It's still consistent with his righteousness because Jesus paid for it.

Then this last section, five through eight, talks about how the

gospel in powers righteous living.

How the gospel isn't just something for Christians.

When they get saved.

It's something for Christians for the rest of their lives.

That's our third point.

The gospel empowers righteous living.

The gospel empowers righteous living.

So a lot of you, I think, 'cause I was here at one point in my

understanding of the gospel, I thought of the gospel, right?

The good news, Jesus died for my sins.

He.

Gives me righteousness.

He died so that I could have hope to live forever after I die.

The gospel, I thought the gospel was kind of like, kind

of like a phone charger, right?

I use the gospel to get saved and then I'm done.

I'm gone.

Right?

I, I unplug the phone and I'm do the rest of my day without my charger, right?

Shoot.

But actually the gospel is more like a battery.

If I asked you what's more important, your phone's battery or your phone's

charger, they're both important, right?

They're both essential in some ways, but your phone will

not work without a battery.

Your phone will not survive literally without a battery.

Nothing happens without your phone's battery.

I think a lot of us think of the gospel as a charger.

I, I need the gospel for a little bit and then I'm done with it,

and I move on the rest of my day.

The gospel is Christian's battery.

The Gospel empowers the rest of the Christian's life.

Just like your battery and your phone, char it.

It powers the rest of your phone.

Your phone will not work at all without the battery.

The gospel is the battery for a Christian life.

The gospel does everything for a Christian, not just save them.

So how does the gospel do that?

How does the gospel empower righteous living?

That's what Romans five through eight is all about.

First part five, chapter five, the Gospel brings peace.

The gospel brings peace, and that's what we're gonna learn in chapter five.

But if you think about this, the gospel brings peace.

It means I can have confidence in my relationship with God

because as a Christian, you need this all the time, right?

If you're a Christian at one point in your Christian life, I'm sure

you felt, I'm not sure if I'm saved.

Or I'm too sinful to come to God.

How does God still love me?

After I just did fill in the blank, you need the gospel.

Still, as a Christian, the most experienced Christian still needs

the gospel because the gospel is what gives you confidence

in your relationship with God.

'cause the gospel is all about Jesus.

Jesus is the one who justifies you.

That's where your confidence for relationship with God.

Comes from, it doesn't come from you.

It doesn't come from how your Bible reading was this week.

Even as a Christian, right?

It's so easy as a Christian to start depending on, oh,

well, I started doing this.

I stopped doing this.

That all came after you got saved, that none of that saves you and

none of that keeps you saved.

The, the gospel brings peace because you can say, you know what?

I'm confident that Jesus represents me before God, not how I did this week.

Also the gospel, as Romans five will say, brings peace during suffering.

'cause I can say, you know what?

God saved me.

He will certainly help me when I suffer, when things don't go my way, when bad

things happen to my family, when I don't get what I want, when my school doesn't

go the way I thought I would, my friends leave me or I get hurt or injured or sick.

The gospel brings peace.

That's what chapter five is all about.

Chapter six is that the gospel changes your identity and your desires.

The gospel changes you.

So you can say, I'm not the same person and I don't wanna live the same way.

That's what Chapter six is all about.

It talks about being dead to sin, right?

Like in a relationship when you say, you're dead to me, you're dead.

You're cutting it off, right?

You're dead to sin.

You are not the same person anymore.

You don't, and then because of that, you don't do the same thing.

So you have a different identity.

The gospel changes who you are, and then because of that, it changes how you live.

It changes your desires.

Romans six talks about how you stop being strapped in sin and

now you're free to serve God.

You serve God because you want to, and that's where chapter seven goes.

Right after that, the gospel frees you from the law, because

if I'm a Christian, right, what do I do about all the commands?

What I do about all God's commands, the, the Old Testament

has 600 something commands in it.

What do I do with all this?

The gospel frees you from the law.

You're free from trying to be good enough because chapter five, you're

justified, you're made righteous.

You have confidence because of Jesus.

So now you say, you know what?

I don't need to use my good works.

I don't need to use my Bible reading or my prayer, or my church attendance,

or my Bible knowledge or my.

Or how am I, how I treat my siblings?

I don't need to use that to make me feel good enough.

I'm free from that 'cause I just, I serve God.

'cause I love him.

I'm a new person, chapter six.

I love God.

I have new desires.

I have a new heart.

I have new ambitions, I have new motives.

So I don't do the right things to be good enough.

I do the right things 'cause I love God.

'cause it's who I am.

That's just what I do.

Right.

A lemon tree just produces lemons.

'cause that's what it does.

It's a lemon tree.

That's how it works.

It doesn't do it to prove to be a lemon tree.

It just says, yeah, I'm a lemon tree.

It's what I do.

So the gospel frees you from the law, and then chapter eight, the gospel

guarantees God's love for you, right?

You can be a hundred percent certain that God loves you and is working

for your good because of the gospel.

Chapter eight verse 31 and 32.

Says that if God gave Jesus for you, if God sent his son to die for you, his

favorite person in the world, how will he not also give you all things that is

give you what you need, take care of you.

If God loves you enough to save you when you are a rebel, that's

what Chapter Five talks about.

Then how can you not trust him to take care of you?

If you can trust God with your eternal salvation, surely you can trust God with

your career or your school or your friend.

So the book of Romans is gonna show us that the gospel is for all Christians

forever, not just to get you saved and then you move on to to better things.

The gospel is essential for all Christians, no matter how long you've

been a Christian or how much you know.

So that's what the book of Romans is gonna show us.

It's gonna show us.

All of these awesome things about God, about his word, about

forgiveness, about how Christians live, about what Christians do.

And so I'm really excited to be studying this with you.

And so we're gonna talk about more of these things in small groups.

So I'm gonna pray for us and we're gonna head to small groups.

All right.

God, thank you that you came up with the idea to save us.

You didn't have to.

You weren't obligated to save us.

In fact, the only obligation you have as a good judge is to condemn us, to punish us.

It would be the right thing for you to do.

But instead, because of your great love, you decided to save us and forgive us of

our, of our sins if we trust in Jesus.

So I pray for anyone tonight who does not trust in Jesus, who is trying to be

good enough on their own because of what they do or, or who their parents are, or

what they've maybe tried to do for you.

I pray that, um.

They would rely on Jesus to save them and they wouldn't rely on themselves, but they

would put their hope and their confidence in Jesus to be their righteousness, to

make them good enough to be with you.

And I pray for those of us who are Christians, that we would continue to

live by the gospel, that we wouldn't try to go back to living the way we used to,

but that we would remember that you've changed who we are and so that we would.

Live for you because we love you and because we know that you love us.

So thank you for just the certainty we can have that you love your people,

you love your children, you've adopted us, and I pray that you would make

that even more clear to us as we talk about these things in small groups.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.