God's Faithfulness (Romans)

We long to be amazed. We make great effort to be in awe and to wonder. This is why we love children. It's easy for them. They're so quickly and fully delighted. But we oftentimes have to make great effort. We make efforts to go to the beach so we can see the vastness of the ocean and see how great this creation is. We may go hike old rags so that we can stand atop the mountain and see the glory of God as the ranges just come into view from a distance. We see the valleys down below. We go to the natural bridge to wonder, how did this come about? We may go further to see the garden of the gods, painted pots, giant redwoods, volcanoes in Hawaii, and so on and so on. What we see here is that God did create this world to amaze us. And every time we go somewhere and we see something new, it amazes us. Now people don't go to the Grand Canyon to think about how great they are. They go so that you look at the splendor and the greatness to be overwhelmed with how small they are. That's how God designed us in the creation. Well, if you think about it, we have to go great distance to get a little glimpse of the glory of this creation. And we never, ever, any one person could never comprehend the greatness of the beauty of this creation. How much more the greatness and glory of God. We will never comprehend how great and mighty and big God is. At the same time, we can have full assurance that we can know who he is because he's spoken. We can never comprehend God because if we ever comprehended God, he's not God because that meant we wrapped our head around him. He's greater than anything we could think of. But we can know him truly. We can know him surely because he's spoken. And here we have 66 different books from which he's spoken, which he speaks. And they're different. There's genealogies, everybody's favorite. There's historical narrative. There's poetry. There's epistles. There's sermons. There's proverbs. There's a variety of ways God has spoken, and each book is trying to cast a different vision of God for us to see him truly. And each one's a different perspective of the same true God. This is the glory of the Bible is that it's diverse, but it's about the one God. And we're constantly trying to study each book, because each one challenges us in a new way. Tell us something more about ourselves. Tell us something more about God. And each time we read it, we should learn more and more. Now some argue that certain books say more than others, are more than others, more important than others. Some say certain books should be prioritized. Every word is inspired. Every word is good for us. But if it were true that some books should be prioritized, Romans is one of those books. And so the buildup. Romans, as John mentioned earlier, has been one of the most significant books in the history of the church because it says some of the most mind-blowing truths about God and about us. It lays out with such clarity and thoroughness We're going to be studying Romans for the next, well, few months. There's a schedule in the back for the fall. I do hope you'll take the study guide as the sermons try to follow along with those. I hope you'll be studying this with the church. As we study it, we're not going to turn over every rock. We're gonna try to give a big picture. We're gonna try to see how it all fits together. And this sermon is meant to be a complete overview to kind of give you some tools to use as you're going to study it yourself. So, turn to page nine in your bulletin and you'll see a handout. And this is meant to be helpful for you. Let's begin. Romans by just looking at some issues about it that will help us understand it. First, Romans 1, first word, Paul. Paul's the author. No serious critic denies this. It is well established that Paul is the author of Romans. You see here he's a servant of Jesus Christ. We'll see later how servant is a glorious word for Christians. More important, really, for the understanding of what Paul's saying is that he's called to be an apostle. Specifically, we know elsewhere that he's called to be an apostle to the Gentiles, and that's important for this book. Because this book is about Jews and Gentiles and how they're supposed to be united in the one gospel under the one headship of Jesus Christ. First Corinthians 15.8, Paul says he was untimely born. The point there is that he did not actually walk with Jesus. Remember, we're first introduced to Peter, I'm sorry, to Paul, not in the Gospels, but in Acts as a persecutor of the church. He's converted after Christ, has died, has risen, has ascended. He's the only apostle who did not actually walk with Jesus. Secondly, we can look to Ephesians 3. He's a prisoner for Christ on behalf of you Gentiles. The mystery is this, Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, partakers of the promise. Ephesians 3.8, he's been given a ministry to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. God's people for hundreds of years has been primarily the Israelites. Now he's reaching out to focus on the Gentiles and Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles. That's significant for other parts of this book. The date is significant. Most likely, 57 AD. 57 AD. If Christ rose around 33 AD, we can see how close this is to the resurrection, to the early church. He's writing from Corinth, probably during his third missionary voyage. We're around Acts 20. There's a significant historical event around 57 AD that helps give context. the Roman Emperor Claudius had expelled the Jews from Rome in 49 AD. So eight years prior to this book written, first to the Jew, then to the Gentile, the Jews had been expelled from Rome. And now they're starting to filter back and that is bringing confusion within the church as Jewish Christians are having to interact with Gentile Christians again. kind of gives some helpful context as to why he talks about so many Jewish and Gentile issues. The occasion of the letter is to clarify the gospel. As we'll see next week, Paul is coming to preach the gospel to the church. He's not coming to preach the gospel only to those who don't believe. He's coming to preach the gospel to those who already believe the gospel. is what we have to constantly hear and believe. The occasion is that he wants this church to be a launching point for a mission work to the West. Ephesus had been that in the East. The occasion is that he's trying to bring reconciliation between the Jews and the Gentiles so there'll be one church. The purpose, he wants the church to be built up on the one truth, the gospel of Jesus Christ. So here's the message. And this is, it's hard to be simple with the message without being over simplistic about the message here. But here's a simple summary of the message of Romans. God's righteousness is revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Romans says a lot more than that. but that is at least what it says. God's righteousness is revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. So if we're to look for a thesis, a clear declaration of the purpose of this letter, it's Romans 1, 16 to 17. So look with me, if you're using a pew Bible, this is on page 939. If you don't have a Bible, please take that with you. So I believe this is the thesis of Romans. For I am not ashamed of the gospel. What is the gospel? For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. Now we'll discuss that in more detail next week, but that is the main declaration. God has revealed the gospel that saves every kind of sinner. I think we can actually turn to Romans 15, verses eight and nine, for a summary statement. Romans 15, eight and nine. For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, in an order that the Gentiles might glory God for his mercy. Here they're a summary. To the Jew first, God has been faithful to his promises. To the Gentile, glorify God for his mercy. Most important thing we need to understand about Romans, and there's a summary of the sermon series for the fall, and you'll see this more thoroughly there. Romans is a book about God. We're going to be doing a lot of theology over the next few weeks and months because it's about God. Theology is the study of God. Go back to Romans 1. We want to emphasize that this is about God because Paul references God at least 166 times in this book. That's on average more than 10 times a chapter. He talks about God in this book more than any other book. And I just want to highlight, let's just look at a few sections here. Here are the references to God in just verses one through four. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which God promised beforehand through God's prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning God's Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness. By the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. Begin in verse eight. First, I thank my God, through Jesus Christ, for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow, by God's will, I may now at least succeed in coming to you. 16 and 17, for I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God, for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. Go to verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. What can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, had been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made, so they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. They became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Very quick, simple summary. Therefore, God gave them over to their lust. Verse 26, for this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Verse 28, and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. It's about God. As you heard there in chapter two, it's about God's worship. God has saved us from our sin so that we might worship. We just sang the Romans doxology, which is a summary from a song from Romans 11. Here's the doxology from Romans 16. Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that has been kept secret for long ages, but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made to all nations according to the command of the eternal God to bring about the obedience of faith to the only wise God, the glory forevermore through Jesus Christ, amen. You heard something else there. The righteousness of God has been revealed. The wrath of God has been revealed. And here we see it has now been disclosed. Friends, God speaks. Our God is not silent. He speaks. He speaks through these words that the church is to be built upon. So we must listen. As you see here, I've provided an outline and these numerous qualifications. I'm not going to give them to you now. Romans 1, 1-17, God's righteousness revealed. The topic there, it's an introduction. We see here an introduction to the letter. The next topics are going to be building on one another after the introduction. Romans 1, 18-320. Our problem of unrighteousness, sin. The topic's sin. Romans 3.21 through 5.21, God's provision of righteousness. Topic's salvation. The topic is salvation. Romans 6 through 8, God's purpose for righteousness. The topic is sanctification, God making us holy. Romans nine through 11, God's plan of righteousness. Topic is sovereignty. He will show mercy to whomever he chooses to show mercy. Romans 12 through 16, our practice of righteousness. Sacrifice, we're called to be living sacrifices. I want you to notice something about that outline. Sin, salvation, sanctification, sovereignty, sacrifice. Those are the five easily memorized, memorable topics. I want you to notice something about what I provided in the bulletin. It starts with our problem of unrighteousness and it ends with our practice of righteousness. It starts with our problem and ends with our practice and everything in between is what God does to declare us righteous, to help us pursue his righteousness. to abuse glory in his righteousness. So let's begin to walk through this book about God and his righteousness. As I said, the thesis is Romans 1, 16 to 17. So let's go back to Romans 1. Look at verse 17. For in it, the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. I want you to notice a very significant transition from 17 to 18. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed, verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed. The righteousness of God has been revealed, the wrath of God has been revealed, and they're revealed in two different ways. Here we actually see, I think, important categories. There's general revelation, there's special revelation. General revelation simply is truths about God that are open to the general public. Everybody has access to them. We should all be able to see the truths about God that he has written everywhere for all people at all times. Notice there, everything that can be known about God should be plain to them. Verse 19. God has put his fingerprints on everything we see. Our sin keeps us from seeing it. General revelation is obvious to everybody. His special revelation, him speaking, not everybody hears that. Not everybody is spoken to by God directly with his salvific word. Throughout the Old Testament, it was the nation of Israel primarily who heard the words of God and they didn't obey them. I want you to notice something else about the general revelation and the specific revelation of what they accomplish. Look at verse 20. Look how it ends. So they are without excuse. That which has been made known generally, what it accomplishes is that we are without excuse. We should be able to see that there is a God worthy of worship, and we will be held accountable for not worshiping Him. What Jewel Revelation does is it is accountable to us. It holds us accountable to what we have not done. Notice what Special Revelation accomplishes. It's the power of God to save us from that sin, from not, it's the power of God to save us from not worshiping Him. Beginning in verse 18, Paul is building up an argument. This is how Paul begins the entire thorough, very clear argument that he's trying to establish for the Romans, and he has to begin with the fact that we have dishonored the one who is worthy of honor. Chapter one, verse 21. We have exchanged the glory to worship things that are not glorious, our fleshly desires. All people have sinned against God, the people with the law, the Jews, the people without the law, the Gentiles. The end conclusion is none is righteous, no, not one. No one is righteous. We all deserve the wrath of God. God is just. The argument ends with that frightening declaration. We're all worthy of wrath because of what we have refused to give to God. Now in the middle of this, I want you to notice he's ended chapter two with a grand declaration to make this argument. The grand declaration is this, Jews are ones that have been circumcised in their heart. A Jew is not someone who's been circumcised just in their flesh, it's someone who's been changed in their heart so that worship happens. It's not an outward thing, it's an inward change that then affects how we live outwardly. And then notice what he does in chapter three. This is his rhetoric. Notice the kind of questions he's asking. Then what advantage has a Jew? The advantage the Jew has is that they've been given the oracles of God, they were given the Old Testament. Are we then any better off? Chapter three, verse nine. No. No, because we're all sinners. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. The next major transition, chapter three, verse 21. But now the righteousness of God has been manifest. Chapters 118 through 320 have been establishing that no one is righteous, but here we see the righteousness of God, it is being declared. This is the key transition in the book. Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus for all who believe, there's no distinction for all of sin, and fallen short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. The only way we can ever be removed from the wrath of God because of our unrighteousness is to have a foreign righteousness given to us. Jesus Christ, the one perfect righteous son, the one perfect righteous man, he lived the perfect life that we could not live. So that when he died on the cross, he died as if a sinner. So that all the sins that we have committed, all the wrath of God that should be poured upon us, is poured upon him who does not deserve it. The righteous one suffers wrath for unrighteousness he did not commit. So that God is just. He's just. And we are given his righteousness. We are declared innocent and right before God because he is the justifier. That is the great declaration. Look at the end of chapter 26. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. That is the key verse. Now chapter three. Verses 27 to 31, they go again with some loaded questions. Is he the God of the Jews only? No, he's the God of the circumcision and the uncircumcised. Is the law overthrown by faith? No, it's upheld by it. Then chapter four, verse one, begins with a doozy of a Jewish, of a question for a Jewish Christian. What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? Paul's argument's pretty interesting here because he's making sure you understand the time sequence. There's a thing called sacred time. God has been speaking through time. History matters. Abraham was declared righteous because he had faith. He was circumcised after he was declared righteous. Circumcision is only a sign of the work God has already done because of his faith. So those who are truly children of Abraham are not children who are circumcised, they're children who believe. So if you are not of Jewish descent, if you're not circumcised, but you believe that Jesus Christ is a fulfillment of the promises given to Abraham, you are a child of God. of Abraham. That's the beauty of chapter four. All the promises of inheritance for Abraham, they're ours. We weren't born into it. We were given a new birth, being born from above, but it's ours through faith. We then go into chapter five. which really I had a hard time putting with chapter four or chapter six. It starts a new section, but it's about salvation still. We see here the great declaration that we've been justified and therefore we have peace, we have grace, we have hope. Some of the most amazing declarations of Romans is found here. While we were sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. Verse eight, God shows us his love in that while we were still sinners, Christ came to die for us. Verse 12, he shows how powerful sin is. It corrupts everything. It destroys everything. And then he shows how powerful Christ is. He changes everything back. He's a new creation. And then chapter five, verse 20, where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. Grace is greater than sin. After chapter five, We see a question again proposed. What shall then we say? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. Verse 15, what then? Are we to sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? By no means. Paul here is making it clear. We are now called to give ourselves over to be slaves to righteousness. Chapter seven, verse seven, makes another transition with a question. What shall we say? Is the law sin? By no means. The law shows us our sin. It does not make us sin. This section on sanctification ends with chapter eight, arguably the greatest chapter in the Bible. If you're going to memorize something from Romans, here it is. He declares our sure standing before Christ because of his spirit. He tells us that there is an everlasting, all enduring, never giving up, able to save you love that God gives us. He's with us, he's for us, he's perfectly loving us. He'll never leave us. So we've seen the argument. All have sinned and no one is righteous. But God declares us righteous in Christ. He walks through the history of Abraham for the Jews. He then asks a question, should we continue to sin so that grace may abound? Absolutely not, we're called to give ourselves over to Christ. Is the law sinful? No, it only reveals sin. Chapter eight, he gives us such great love. Chapters nine through 11 seek to answer a different kind of question. Is it unjust for God to harden whom he desires and to show mercy to whom he desires? That's gonna be a heavy question to answer. Paul says we see the glory of God and his mercy. We can go back to Exodus 34 when Moses said, God, let me see your glory. And God said, my glory is this, I show mercy. To whom I show mercy. That's his glory. He is sovereign and able to save. After chapters nine and 11, another key transition. Our unrighteousness, God's righteousness, now our practice of righteousness. We're called to be a sacrifice. And I want you to notice that the sacrifice focuses on being one member or members of one body. And there's a lot to do about weaker brothers and sisters and stronger brothers and sisters. And finally, chapter 16, the greeting. Now what I wanna do next, is I wanna walk through and I wanna try to answer some questions that'll keep you from enjoying this book. I wanna try to go through and try to avoid some pitfalls that people typically have as they read through Romans, chapter by chapter. So let's go back to chapter one. The first pitfall that we should have from reading chapter one is this. Am I really an idolater? That's the first pitfall we should actually have from reading Romans 1. And the answer is yes. We have all turned from worshiping the one God in a way that he is worthy of worship. We have all turned from honoring him and seeking to honor those things that are less glorious. Here's the hard part. We usually make idols out of good things God gives us. We make idols out of our family, our jobs, our wealth, our positions, our significance. All the good gifts God gives us, we look at them and we say, look how great I am. See what that does? It does not honor God, it does not give thanks to God. That is idolatry. I want you to see something that's frightening. When we do not honor God, We do not give thanks to God. There's only two responses that God gives. He either gives us over to our sin or he gives us his son to die for our sin. Friends, that should frighten us. Sin is deceptive, enslaving, and empowering. And without the grace of God, we are left to its destruction. But God, Romans 2, does circumcision have any value? No, it doesn't. And this is why we chose Jeremiah 31 as a scripture reading, because the covenant, the new covenant, there's a great change that takes place. It's one truth, one plan of God, but history matters as the plan progresses. So we ask, does circumcision have any value? Well, it depends on what you mean. For those of you who were with us when we were studying Deuteronomy, we saw in Deuteronomy 30 that God will circumcise our hearts. That circumcision matters. God cutting out our idols, God cutting away that part of our heart that longs to worship everything that is not God, that is the circumcision, the inward circumcision that makes us children of Abraham. That matters. The outward circumcision, it doesn't matter anymore because it was a sign to remind Israel God has made promises. That sign no longer matters because all those promises have been fulfilled. Christ has come. He put an end to the religious practice of circumcision. It's now the new heart that's transformed and the new sign is baptism, which is put upon those who believe him. Romans chapter three. Here's the question, here's the pitfall. Am I really that bad? Am I really worthy of that kind of wrath? I know I'm better than that person. They are worthy of that wrath. That's the pitfall. It's very clear. No one can do anything to make themselves righteous before God again. Only God can do that for us. Our unrighteousness is an eternal offense and therefore there'll be an eternal hell. We cannot pay the sin debt of rejecting God as God. That's why chapter four, or chapter three, the second half is so important. The question there, can God save a wretch like me? Yes. God can save every kind of sinner. He doesn't make us better people. He doesn't try to fix us. He comes and he declares those that are guilty innocent. That justification section, verses 21 through 26, again, worthy of memorization, that's legal language. We are guilty, we're red-handed. It's obvious, it's written everywhere. No excuse. But God says, you're righteous. Once that legal declaration comes down, it is irreversible. Yes, God can save a wretch like me, and he can save a wretch like you. You simply have to believe Christ died for you, and he's the only way you can be forgiven of your sins, and he's risen again to give you new life. Chapter four is this. Who are the children of Abraham? We've already answered that. It's not people who are born of a certain tribe and nation. You're a believer in Jesus Christ. You're a child of Abraham. You're a child born to that inheritance, to those promises. Chapter five is a little more complicated. Am I condemned because of Adam? That's a very tough question for us because we think of ourselves too much as independent individuals. There's a concept in scripture called headship. A head is someone who stands as a representative of others. There are two heads in all of scripture for universal significance. There's Adam, there's Christ. There's Adam, the head of the first humanity, the one that rejected God, the one that continues to reject God, the one that continues to rebel against God, then there's Jesus Christ, the new Adam, the beginning of a new creation, new life. Friends, this is probably a new concept for many. There's only two races in Scripture. There's only two races in Scripture. The human race destined for destruction in Adam, the human race destined for eternal life in Christ. When we talk about race, that's how the Bible talks about race. And every one of those races has every tribe and tongue and nationality in it. There's only two races, that's the way the church has to think about race. You're either destined to destruction in Adam, or you're destined to eternal life in Christ. Though the beauty of Romans 5 is that we've all participated in Adam's sin. By faith, we get to participate in the cross of Christ, have a new identity, be his new creation. Romans 6, doesn't really get much easier after that. Am I free or a slave? Am I free or a slave? This is difficult for us, again, because here's the reality, no one's free. Everybody's a slave. Everybody's a slave to either sin or righteousness. Everyone's either a slave to their own sinful destructive desires or you're a slave to righteousness in Jesus Christ. You have been set free from sin to be a slave of righteousness. You're not set free to just do whatever you want. You're set free to live according to the grace of Christ. to be obedient again. We're set free from idolatry so that we might once again worship properly. Romans 7 has a practical question and a theological question. The first question in Romans 7 I wanna propose that is a pitfall. Am I that perverse? Look at chapter 7 verse 18. For I know that nothing good dwells in me. That is in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. The law is good. I can look at the law and I can say it's good, but apart from grace, if I try to obey that law, I cannot. Because my heart is too knotted with sin. My heart is too twisted with duplicity and deceitful desires. The hard truth of scripture is that we are perverse and it takes the grace of Christ to untie the knot of our heart. Romans 8. I'm sorry, the second question, Romans 7. Who is Paul talking about? Some of you know why that's kind of funny. The debate is this, is this Paul talking about himself prior to conversion, after conversion? I committed my entire vacation to try to answer this, and I had three different answers at different times on every day in which I was convinced. So I don't know. I hope I find out before I preach Romans 7. Romans 8. Does God really love me? We had to get here. Paul has to get here because we just talked about how we're idolaters. Yes, we're that sinful. Yes, we're that perverse. And yes, God loves me. Not because I deserve it, but because he sent his son to die for me. And now I get the love that he has for his son because I believe in him. Yes. Yes, God can love you. Yes, his love will never leave you. That's why Romans 8 is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible. Romans 9 through 11, it's a two-fold question. Does God harden hearts? And following that, is he worthy of worship if he does harden hearts? Does God harden hearts? Is he worthy of worship if he hardened hearts? I propose the answer is yes and yes. Romans 12, how much do I have to sacrifice? Everything. Whatever you are not willing to hold back to worship Christ, that's your idol. Whatever you're saying, I don't want to give for the worship of Jesus Christ to sacrifice for him, that's what you're worshiping more than Christ. It's fairly simple. The rich man, he won't give him his wealth. It's a gift from God we worship. So what is it that you won't sacrifice? It's a good identification for your idols. Romans 13. This is important in the midst of a presidential race season. Does God mean submit to this government? Well, when he wrote this, the Christians were being persecuted intentionally and actively by the government. So I'm pretty sure, yes, he means submit to this government as well. Romans 14 and 15. Who is the weaker brother? Is it I, Lord? Now, of course it's not me. Who here has ever actually thought they're the weaker brother? Okay, somebody's the weaker brother. Nobody thinks they're the weaker brother. That's the mesmerizing part about this particular aspect of First Corinthians and Romans. Who are the weaker brothers? How do we identify them? And then Romans 16, will I glorify God? the way he deserves. Let's pull back and think about the book one more way. I want you to see something that'll help you put the whole book into a certain perspective. He's writing to a divided people. Remember, the Jews are just not coming back into the church. The Jewish Christians are going back to the church. There's friction between Jew and Gentile. Paul is writing the gospel to say your one church under one head, Jesus Christ, you're all children of Abraham, but if you have faith in Christ, be united. In some way, this book is about what we call racism. In some way, this book is about what we call racism. I say that because there's only two races. But we call racism, this book is addressing it. This is a hot topic today. And I just wanna point out something very simple. Paul's solution to racism is the gospel. Paul's solution to racism is the gospel. Really a better word than racism because we need to think about that according to Adam and Christ It's about our bigotry. It's about our bigotry. It's about Jews and Gentiles not wanting to get together. Notice how many questions are about this. All the questions are race related. Do the Jews have any advantage? Are they better off? What about Abraham? What about the law? What about the people of Israel? I draw your attention to the end, because this is important. Chapters 12 through 15, they're focused on being one body of many members. I think the real application of Romans 12 through 15 is about the weaker brother, because they've got to figure out how are they all going to come together, united with all these different opinions and ideas, was by submitting to Christ's one word and his gospel. The hard thing we have to come to terms with is we're bigots. We're inclined to only like those who are like us. We're inclined to like those who are more like us. We're inclined to stiff-arm those who don't share the same opinions and convictions. We're giving this way to God. God, I only wanna worship you if you give me what I want. I wanna worship you when you do what I think is right. The whole point here is that God is always worthy of worship. As we end, we need to go back to the beginning. The glory that Romans ends with, it has to begin with a clear understanding that we're sinners. That is a beginning point to get to the glorious truths of salvation, sanctification, glorification, election, sovereignty, living out the Christian life. You have to begin with sin. That's how he begins the book. He's gotta convince us we're sinners. Go through all the gospels. The hardest part of Jesus' ministry is for him to convince people, I actually came to save sinners. I think the hardest thing for us is to accept we're sinners. The hardest thing for us to continue to grasp is that we are sinners and that sin has multiple levels and he's always trying to peel it back further and further so that we repent of more idols, so that we worship him more faithfully. The framework of Romans to get to the glory is important. It begins with truly believing I'm a sinner. I'm perverse, I'm a wretch. I have sinned against God. I am not worthy to worship him again, but yet he declares me righteous and invites me back into his worship and his love. It's a problem as we grow as Christians, as we think too much of ourselves. We forget those basic truths. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Don't graduate from that. Don't graduate from that. That defines us. My greatest concern for us as a church is that we know what it means to sound right, to look right. It's dangerous. If we forget how pervasive, how destructive our sin is, if we leave that behind, we become self-righteous. If we begin to boast in who we think we are and what we think we've achieved and what we think we've accomplished, we're going to lose the gospel. This is what happens. When we think too much of ourselves, we think too little of our sin. When we think too little of our sin, we think less of Christ. When we think too little of Christ, we dishonor Him and stop thanking Him. When we stop honoring Him and stop thanking Him, we begin to worship ourselves. Yes, we're idolaters, save to worship the one God. And it all begins with the clear conviction, I'm a sinner in need of grace. Do not let those first few chapters go over you as if you think that's who I once was. Some level, yes. But those sins, they linger. Psalm 19, the hidden sins, the presumptuous sins, the intentional sins. We are still sinners and we must hunger and thirst for God's righteousness. And we will be satisfied. Christ has come to save sinners. to be his slaves to righteousness. Will you pray with me? Father, we praise you and we thank you that you did not leave us in our own perversity. You did not leave us in our idolatry, you did not leave us under your wrath, but you sent your Son to forgive us. So that we might be declared your sons. We might be declared righteous. so that we might know you love us. Help us to be assured that we are your beloved children. Help us to know and identify our sins so that we can repent and worship you more faithfully and see you more clearly. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.