I'm glad that you could come and join with us
today. I'm going to ask you to take your Bible
and come with me to the Book of Romans. Today
we're going to begin studying the Book of Romans
on a verse -by -verse basis. But to do that,
we're first going to spend a week getting the
overall view of this marvelous epistle. We're
inserting a book in today, a copy of a suggested
outline for the book of Romans, which you may
want to place in your notebook for future reference,
because we'll be following this outline as we
study our way through the book. Someone has called
Romans the most complete statement of theology
in the New Testament. Not that there aren't other
passages that are theological in nature. In fact,
the passages that deal particularly with a person
of the Lord Jesus Christ are not found in Romans.
They are found in Philippians and in Colossians.
But taken as a whole, this book is the most logical,
sequential statement of New Testament theology
that could be found. Martin Luther... said about
this book, it is the masterpiece of the New Testament.
It deserves to be known by heart, word for word,
by every Christian. It was the in -depth, detailed
study of Romans that led Luther to the point
of initiating the great reformation of centuries
ago. The truth of justification by faith alone
apart from works, not only saved him, but it
created through him a tidal wave of reclamation
that changed the course of world history. The
Book of Romans comes in a unique place in the
New Testament. It is the first of the epistles.
Up to this point, the books of the New Testament
are historical books. The first four, based upon
the life of Christ, the Book of Acts... the story
of the early church. Beginning, though, with
the Book of Romans, we have an epistle or a letter.
John Christensen, who was a marvelous preacher
and who was bishop of Constantinople, had the
Book of Romans read to him two times each week,
so valuable that he considered the words of it.
Even Samuel Polary, A couple hundred years ago,
the English poet and philosopher said this about
the Book of Romans. It is the profoundest piece
of writing in existence. A grasp of the content
of this one book of the New Testament will prepare
a person to well understand the whole of the
Bible. If we were to take the epistles and to
subdivide them, you would notice that Romans...
is the first of the church epistles. Romans,
1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians,
Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, were all written
to churches or bodies of believers. The other
epistles of Paul were written to individuals.
Titus, Philemon, Timothy, and so on. And so Romans
comes as the first of the epistles written to
the church. Now, because of that, this book is
worthy of our special attention, too, because
all of Scripture is written for us, but not all
of it is written directly to us or about us as
the Church. The Old Testament, for example, is
written to Israel and is about Israel. It is
for our learning. We learn by the examples of
the Old Testament. The principles of the New
Testament are illustrated in the Old. When we
come to the New Testament, we have the part that
is written to us. and most specifically those
epistles that might be called the church epistles.
Therefore, I think it's fitting that we give
special diligence to look at them. The Book of
Romans was written by the Apostle Paul. Of course,
Paul was a very unique individual himself. C
.A. Fox has made a good summary, I think, of
the life of Paul. If you may exercise, please,
the discipline of listening for a moment to someone
to read. Mr. Fox says, many apparently opposite
qualities went to make up the special fitness
of St. Paul for his great life work. He combined
in his own unique experience a personal connection
of the closest kind with the three principal
social spheres of his age. He was called out
of the very heart of Judaism. Jewish legalism
he knew from end to end. He was called out of
the very heart of the Greek culture. for he lived
his early life from infancy in one of the great
centers of Hellenic life and was familiarized
with all that was great and noble in Greek literature.
He had, moreover, enjoyed from birth all the
varied privileges of Roman citizenship. He was
thus a Hebrew to the backbone. He was a Greek
in the fullest sense of the term, and he was
a Roman citizen freeborn. But besides all this,
he united in his rare personality an unusual
vigor of intellect, strength of will, depth of
feeling, and sympathy. Intensity was the mark
of his character, whether intellectually or morally.
Yet the one thing which surpassed all else in
preparing him for his apostleship has yet to
be mentioned. His sudden and miraculous conversion
and call. by the direct interposition of Christ
himself beyond all else, fitted him to compare
together Judaism and Christianity with perfect
fairness, and enabled him to set the two systems
side by side in vivid, startling contrast, as
well as empowered him to testify how that Christianity,
instead of being a violent antagonism and outrage,
upon pure Judaism was the legitimate outcome,
development, and completion of Old Testament
truth. I think that paragraph by Mr. Fox certainly
summarizes the things that we might say about
the Apostle Paul as we begin talking about a
book penned by him. It was penned by him during
his third missionary journey. During that journey,
he... stayed in the city of Corinth for a period
of some three months. It was delivered to the
Romans, apparently, by a godly woman whose name
was Phoebe. We would get this from chapter 16,
verses 1 and 2. The letter was written in 56,
perhaps 57 AD, depending upon how you work out
the chronology of Paul's life. It was written
to the church in what city? Can you tell me?
Right, see, you're a Bible scholar and perhaps
didn't know that. The city of Rome, and that's
why we call it Romans. It was written to believers
in Rome. Now, the interesting thing is that Paul
had never been there. In fact, here in chapter
1, he indicates that that had been his desire.
For instance... In verse 8 he says, First I thank
my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because
your faith is being reported all over the world.
God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching
the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly
I remember you in my prayers at all times. And
I pray that now at last, by God's will, the way
may be open for me to come to you. Paul had never
been there. So the question arises, where do
these believers come from? There is a vast multitude
that says that the church in Rome was founded
by Peter. And yet there is no evidence in Scripture
or in any secular history that Peter ever visited
Rome. In fact, there is good reason to believe
because of some internal evidence in the New
Testament. that Peter did not, in fact, ever
visit Rome and was not the founder of the church
there. I'm referring to the fact that Paul did
not go where others had already laid a foundation.
You'll recall that one of the principles of his
ministry was that he did not go to where other
men had labored. He went to fresh territory.
And had Peter already been there in Rome and
ministered to them and laid the foundation, Paul
would have found no reason to go there. But in
fact, he wanted to go. He might be able to teach
them the truth as he had received it from the
Lord Jesus Christ. How then were these people
saved? The best answer to that seems to be that
they were saved through the ministry at Pentecost.
In fact, in Acts chapter 2, it specifically mentions
that there were people there in Jerusalem on
that occasion from Rome. They were saved undoubtedly,
those Jews. or Jewish proselytes, and carried
the gospel as they understood it in its embryonic
form back to Rome. And there shared it with others
of their faith, Judaism. And undoubtedly there
were many people saved as a result of that. But
the Roman church was made up as well of many
Gentiles. In fact, in chapter 16, there's a long
list of some 27 individuals that Paul greets
in the church in Rome. Examining that list will
reveal that two -thirds of those people have
Gentile names, indicating perhaps that the majority
of those believers in Rome were not Jewish but
rather Gentile. So probably as Paul was preaching
the gospel throughout the Roman Empire up to
this point, there were those who traveled from
these cities to Rome and took the gospel there
as well. Rome, of course, was the heart of civilization
in that day, and it would only be expected that
the gospel would eventually circulate through
the city because of commercial travel and so
on. The theme of the Book of Romans is designated
by most Bible teachers and scholars as the righteousness
of God. You'll notice that that is the theme
that we have assigned to the book as we're going
to study it during these next few months. The
word righteousness, in some form or other, is
used some 67 times in the Book of Romans. Sometimes
it is translated right, righteous, righteousness,
just, justify, justification. Greek word. So
dominating is this theme of God's righteousness
that I think it deserves a careful examination
in this book as it is revealed. To understand,
though, a little bit of the background of the
word righteous as the Greeks understood it in
that day, it might help us to see how the classical
Greeks used this term. eternal principle of right
and wrong. They felt that was born within the
human consciousness. They personified that principle
of a difference between right and wrong by creating
in their mythology a goddess whom they named
Themis. Themis is pictured as a woman who stands
at a scale in her hands. on which scale, they
say, was weighed out right and wrong. This principle
of right and wrong to the Greeks required that
men should be shown or pointed to that which
is, according to it, proper. And so there developed
out of this kind of innate sense of right and
wrong a definite code of duties and obligations.
And they called that which constituted right,
dike. And that is the word that is the root word,
etymologically speaking, of righteousness here
in the book of Romans. It was a strongly moral
term to the Greeks. A righteous person was one
whose behavior fitted into the framework of society.
Eventually the word picked up a religious connotation
and it came to mean to fulfill one's obligations
to the gods. Now when the Hebrews translated
the Old Testament into the Greek language about
200 years before Christ, they used that term
out of the Greek heritage. They used it in a
broader sense, though, than just right and wrong.
They incorporated with it the meaning of mercy
and of kindness as they translated the Old Testament.
And so the word picked up that flavor as well.
By the time that Paul uses that word in writing
this epistle in the New Testament, that word
applied in a number of ways. For instance, God
is called righteous in the New Testament. Jesus
prayed in John chapter 17 to the righteous Father.
In 1 John 1 .9, John uses the term as he speaks
of God who is just or righteous to forgive us
our sins when we confess them. It is a term that's
also used in Jesus Christ, and again John uses
it in 1 John 2 .1. He says, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ, the what? The
righteous one. And so Jesus Christ is referred
to with this same term. It is a term when replied
to God that refers to impartial justice. The
righteousness of God is his transparent holiness
of character, which leads him to be absolutely
fair in dealing with every man. No one can accuse
God of being unjust because he is righteous.
Everything about him causes him to be fair and
just. When this term is used of man in the New
Testament, and it is, it refers to one who is
upright in life, who is virtuous, who is correct
in his thinking. Paul uses it here to describe
the standing or the state between a man and God.
It is that state that must exist for a man to
pass the test of God's judgment. For a man not
to be condemned, he must be righteous in the
eyes of God. And that's really the theme of the
book of Romans. Because how does a man get to
be that righteous? There's no man in the history
of the world besides Jesus Christ, the righteous
one, who can measure up to God's standard of
perfect justice and kindness. Not one. And so
the apostle develops through this book of Romans,
how can a man be right with God? And may I suggest
to you, that there is not a more relevant, pressing
theme for any of us today to learn about than
how we personally might be right with God. We
go up with the idea that somehow God is in the
end going to measure out our bad deeds on one
side and our good deeds on the other, and if
this gigantic heavenly scale measures our good
deeds to be weightier than our bad deeds, God
will overlook the bad and say, well, come on
in. But that is not God's thinking. That's man's
thinking. In order for a man to enter heaven,
he can have nothing on this side of the scale,
the unrighteous side. He must have absolutely
perfect righteousness to enter into heaven, to
have eternal life. I think, I hope, that all
of us know ourselves well enough today to have
to confess that we are not that righteous. Then
how can I be made righteous in God's sight? How
can I know that I'm going to heaven? Or how can
I be saved, as the Philippian jailer put it,
to the Apostle Paul? Well, that is the theme
of the book of Romans. When we talk about the
theme of Romans being the righteousness of God,
we are not talking about the attribute of God,
which is righteousness, but we are talking about
the relationship of being right into which God
puts the man who believes. How to be right with
God. Well, the first three chapters essentially
deal with this theme of the need for God's righteousness,
that man is a sinner. Getting in chapter 1, verse
18, through chapter 3 and verse 20, the apostle
deals with this matter of man's lost condition
before a righteous God. Man is not right with
God naturally, Romans says. He is a sinner who
must in some way be made righteous by God. I
think it's important for a man to know that he's
lost before he's told how to be saved. I fear
in the day in which we live, we have a lot of
people who are quote -unquote accepting Jesus
who don't really know why they're doing it, because
they don't have a knowledge of how lost and undone
they are in the sight of God. And so the apostle
begins at the logical place by pointing out man's
sin. I wish we had time to select a few verses
through here, but we're going to jump to the
end of this section, to chapter 3, and look at
verse 9. Of course, in weeks to come, we will
look at these intervening verses, one by one.
But he says in verse 9 of Romans chapter 3, What
shall we conclude then? Are we better than they?
Not at all. we have already made the charge that
Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As
it is written, there is no one righteous, not
even one. There is no one who understands, no
one who seeks God, and that is true of every
one of us. We will not come to God unless he
draws us. Because we are depraved in our sin.
Jesus said no one would come to him except the
Father would draw him. Verse 12, all have turned
away. They are together become worthless. There
is no one who does good, not even one. Do you
understand that? I want to ask you a question
today. Have you ever faced your personal sinfulness?
Have you ever confronted what you really are?
Or have you passed through life glossing over
and making excuses for and trying to justify
yourself for the bad things you do? Have you
ever confronted your sinful condition? and admitted
before the righteous God of the universe that
you are unrighteous, that you're a sinner. None
of us can be saved until we first come to that
point of understanding how undone and lost we
are. But always say to someone, I'm pretty moral.
As a matter of fact, I'm a good person. And I
look around me and see some people who call themselves
Christians, and I live a better life than they
do. Have you ever heard that? Have you ever said
that? My friend, when you stand before a righteous
God, it's not going to be on the base of what
somebody else has done. It's going to be the
base of what you've done. No matter how moral
any of us have been or how good we have been,
as we have grown up, or how faithful we have
been in our marriage, or how generous we have
been with charity, or how sincere we have been
with church ritual or any other good works. All
of that does not amount to anything when compared
to the righteousness that God demands for us
to enter heaven. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. All of us. If we had to
leave it at that point, it would be pretty depressing.
The blessed truth is, in the second section of
this book, that God has provided a righteousness
for us, and by this we are saved. Notice in verse
21 that he changes the whole direction of his
thought. He says, but... 180 degree turn. Now,
a righteousness from God, apart from the law,
has been made known, to which the law and the
prophets testify. This righteousness from God,
that is a righteousness which God offers to us,
a perfect righteousness, this righteousness from
God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all
who believe. You know what he's saying here?
He is saying that God offers to you and to me
perfect righteousness by which we can enter into
heaven and have eternal life. He can offer us
that because of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
on the cross. We are coming into Passion Week,
as it is called, and we are reminded during these
days of our Lord's suffering. That is not just
a cultural observance, I hope, to us, but I hope
that annually this is a time when we reflect
afresh and anew upon what Jesus did for our sake.
He says in the middle of verse 22, there is no
difference, for all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God and are justified freely
by his grace. through the redemption that came
by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice
of atonement through faith in his blood. The
Lord Jesus Christ is God's sacrifice so that
the penalty for the sin, your sin and my sin,
the sin of the world was paid by him. When he
said on the cross, it is finished, he meant it's
finished. The price has been paid for the sins
of the world. Does that mean that all men are
going to be saved then? No, it does not. For
each man must appropriate for himself that forgiveness
that God offers and that righteousness which
he will give. In fact, in these verses, verses
21 through 26, at least nine times the word faith
or some form of it is used, and that tells us
how we are saved. He says we are justified freely
by his grace. That word freely is an interesting
word. It means that we are justified without
a cause. You remember when Jesus met with his
disciples in the upper room? He was explaining
to them how the world was going to hate them.
And he said, all of this is happening so that
it will be fulfilled by the prophet, which says,
they hated me without a cause. There was no reason
for the world to hate Jesus, and yet it threw
him on the cross and crucified him. There was
nothing in him that deserved that. It was without
a cause. And you see, that's exactly the same
word used here. We are justified freely. In other
words, it was not a cause. There is not a thing
in you or in me that causes God to say, that
person deserves salvation. If we are saved, it
is by grace. We are justified or declared righteous
in the sight of God without any cause whatsoever,
except that we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yet I hear someone say, well, I've believed in
Jesus ever since I can remember. But I wonder,
my friend, if it's the kind of faith that saves
the soul. You see, there is a difference between
an intellectual belief or knowledge and a personal
trust in Jesus Christ. It is only the latter
which saves. Growing up in a quote -unquote Christian
society, we hear about Jesus, and we go through
Christmas and Good Friday and Easter from the
youngest of our age. And we learn the name, and
we learn something about the language. Jesus
died on the cross. There was a resurrection,
whatever that may mean to us as children. And
we grow up with the idea that all this is going
to save us, but it doesn't. We are not justified
or saved until we come to that point in our lives
where we realize how lost and undone we are in
the sight of a holy God. And we turn to Jesus
Christ and receive him as our Savior. Because
we need him. And we give ourselves totally to
him. I tell you, when that happens, there's a
change in the life. That's what chapters 6, 7,
and 8 talk about. That's what chapters 12 through
15 basically talk about. It's the change, the
transformation that takes place in the life of
the one who trusts Jesus Christ. It is impossible
for Jesus Christ to come into the life of a person
if that life remains the same. That life will
change. With some people it's a dramatic change
that occurs instantaneously. It's like night
to day with other people. It is a gradual change,
but a definite one. But there's always a transformation
because the life of God will make a difference.
Do you have eternal life? I'm not asking if you
have been dedicated as these babies were this
morning, if you've been sprinkled. I'm not asking
you if you've been baptized or immersed. I'm
not asking if you belong to this church or any
other church. I'm asking you if you are right
with God. Do you have confidence within your
own heart that you stand in a right relationship
with God? You see, all of heaven and hell depends
upon the answer to that question. The only way
that we can be made right with God is through
faith in Jesus Christ, confessing and recognizing
our sinfulness, our lostness, our undone -ness.
when compared to his perfect righteousness and
then receiving that perfect righteousness which
he will give as a free gift have you ever received
that righteousness have you ever received jesus
christ in your life if not i hope you will today
then you will enter into the fullness of what
romans is all about you will understand what
martin luther experienced when i have a very
religious life he was converted and saved by
the grace of God. Because he understood for the
first time what it meant to be justified by faith
alone, apart from works. Let's pray together.
As we bow together and wait upon God, I sense
that the Spirit of God is speaking to some people
here today. It may be that as a Christian, your
life has been a sham. And the righteousness that
God has been wanting to work out in your life
has been held back and suppressed by sin and
rebellion in your heart. As a Christian today,
you need to make things right with your Lord.
He has done something for you that no one else
could do. Are you living a life that evidences
gratefulness and love? But particularly, I am
concerned today if there would be anyone here
who has never truly been made right with God.
Being made right with God is a legal transaction.
It's a time when you add up all that you have
on the one hand and see how short it comes of
paying the debt. And you confess that sinfulness
and that unworthiness before God. And you receive
payment for your sins by the work of Jesus Christ.
And you receive his righteousness as your own
in the eyes of God. If you've never trusted Christ
as your Savior, if you're not certain that you're
right with God today, would you pray something
like this quietly where you are? Now, the words
are not that important, but the heart attitude
is. So pray something like this. Oh, righteous
God, I acknowledge before you my sinfulness.
I am a sinner. I am worthy of your condemnation.
and judgment. But I thank you that Jesus died
for me, that I received Jesus Christ into my
life. I ask you to forgive my sins and to give
me that gift of perfect righteousness that will
set me in a right relationship with you. My friend,
if you prayed that within your own heart and
you meant it, would you be willing to publicly
confess that? I'm going to give you an opportunity
to in a moment. Heavenly Father, I pray that
across this auditorium right now you will do
a work which no one else can do. I pray that
you will... Give courage and faith to individuals
to make a public profession and confession of
faith in Christ who have never done that before,
sincerely. I pray that there will be today a
movement of your spirit in our midst so that
there will be some here today who will be made
right with you and given that perfect standing
in the eyes of God. In Jesus' name, amen. I'd
like for us to turn in our hymnal to a song that...