RomansReview to Chapter 9

I took a long break from Romans and need to go back and enter chapter 7 and 8. But when I returned to the book, I did a review that will bring us up to speed in the book and set us up for the next lessons.

Paul the Apostle, styling himself as SERVANT, SENT, and SET APART to preach to the Gentiles, open this discourse which he wrote on his third missionary journey around 56-58 AD form Corinth.

In chapter 1:1-17 his purposes are to give an extended writing on the teaching concerning salvation. He is also clarifying certain problems in the Church, maybe a Jewish/Gentile conflict and in the latter parts (12-13) shows the need of love for the brethren, disputes over religious liberty (14-15(and divisions in general in ch 16-17.

So far we’ve looked at chapters 1-8

Chapters 1:18 through chapter 4 deal with he truth of salvation by Grace instead of law.

He began by showing that the Gentiles were judicially condemned because of defection form the truth. NO ONE likes to be shown up as sinful. No one wants to hear that they are condemned either...but this message is one that HAS to be proclaimed because it is Biblical truth.

We saw God’s wrath revealed against unrighteousness, particularly because having known the truth, they suppressed it and so God was angry. He gave the reasons for this wrath. The creation shows 1. There is a God and 2, He is powerful, so they have no excuse.

Why do they have no excuse? Because they didn’t act on the knowledge they had “professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” “The fool hath said in his heart there is no God.”

They developed a philosophy that knocked God out of his spot and put chance or something else in God’s spot.

In vv 24-32 we saw the result of Man’s rebellion expressed in the finality of the words “God Gave them up.” ( three fold repetition) to uncleanness because they chose immorality, sexual perversion and homosexuality. They dropped God in favor of their idols, so God gave them up to idolatry. They dropped God from their knowledge so God gave them up to their own philosophies, and he concludes with a list of the fruits of disobedience.

Fornication, illicit sex, inward viciousness,selfish greed, a desire to injure, hatred, envy, contentiousness (want to pick a fight) backbiting, despiteful, no love for family or kindred and on it goes. He states that the Gentiles are condemned because they defected from the truth (the Jews said AMEN) But right in the middle of the Jewish AMEN, Paul continued in chapters 2-3 to show that the Jews as well as the Gentiles are under condemnation for their disobedience. He states that birth has no bearing on salvation, only the NEW BIRTH.

No one gets special privileges, it isn’t law that saves but grace through faith. Humanity is ONLY saved by grace.

That was the premise of section one, the next major section in chapters 5-8 showed us LIFE UNDER GRACE. Not only are we saved by God’s free Grace, we are also KEPT by Grace. We cannot earn salvation nor can we merit keeping it, it is of God. He is the author and finisher of our faith.

Chapter 5 shows Paul using an “much more than” arguments to show God’s grace in keeping power. “If when we were sinners Christ died for us, how much more,now that we are saved, will God keep us.”

This provokes a needful question as to sinful living of a true saint. In Chapter 6 Paul deals with that question.

He says “because where sin abounds grace abounds should we not live in sin so grace would be poured out all the more?”

Paul points out our position as “Dead” with Jesus by identification with him and also alive with him. Because of his resurrection we are empowered to walk in newness of life.

He says “If you are all out serving sin then make no mistake, you never owned Jesus as master. If you serve Jesus you will desire to make sure to avoid sin and show Jesus is your master.

In chapter 7, Paul uses illustrations that once more show our deliverance from sin’s power by being in Christ and in chapter 8 He concludes the discussion of the law / grace problem.

In verses 1-4 he showed the realm of our position in Christ. “We are not in a position of death because we are alive in the Holy Spirit shows once more that the law couldn’t save because we could not obey it in the body, but Christ came and fulfilled the law in his body and by him God took care of sin.

SO, God sees us in Christ who has met the requirements of the law if we are saved, we ARE in the spirit.

In vv 5-11 he reiterates the reasons we had to be in Christ. He says that those who live after human mindset, after the flesh, are God’s enemies. ON the other hand, those who are in the spirit or in Christ, saved, PLEASE Christ. The Spirit has made us alive.

Then, in verses12-17 he shows our service as sons to the one who has placed us in his family. Now we are GOD SERVERS not flesh servers. (why do we look for outs from that?)
Any who have the Spirit are sons of God and if you do not have the spirit you are not his children, plain and simple. So we are servants and sons we have the spirit as a witness and security and can expect our inheritance.

Our sufferings don’t distract from our hope, glorification has been ordained by God and will come. We will receive our new bodies and be confirmed to Christ’s image.

And Paul ends this chapter with our case before God and shows that Christ has freed us, God is on our team and we are super conquerors in Christ: Romans 8:31-39
31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That is where we ended last time we were in Romans before the long break, now I will quickly give a synopsis of the next 3 chapters which show the historical arguments what has happened to Israel as a people. Possibly this argument is raised from the content of chapter 8. If God has a plan for his elect to get them safely home,and no one is moved from God’s love, what happened to Israel,God’s chosen people?

Paul answers that as well as discoursing on an illustration of faith versus works. His arguments show that God did not exclude Israel but they excluded themselves from the gospel by their unbelief.

In these 3 chapters Paul shows his emotional passion for Israel’s salvation, his total dedication and s toward them.

Then Paul shows physical Israel versus Real Israel and that is, and has always been determined by FAITH. True Israel has always meant those attached to God by faith though the promises of God. And in chapter 10 he shows that Israel’s casting away is because they failed to come to their own messiah. Chapter 10 shows that salvation is available to all who will believe.

In chapter 11 we will see that Israel wasn’t castaway completely, some shall be saved by grace (a remnant) and he shows that they were set aside to allow grace for ALL and not only the Jews.

Paul cautions us gentiles not to make the same mistake and turn form a grace system for salvation or they will not be saved either...why? There is one way to be saved, BY GRACE. It si ony the grace of God, not any merit of humankind and all of the study this far cane be summed up by this: (Eph 2:8-9)

Think of God’s grace, freely bestowed on all who obey the gospel, all who hear and accept Jesus Christ, What would so great a grace motivate one to do?

We will get to that is some weeks in chapters 12-16 , but let’s recap grace one more time.
God told Adam to live in the garden and eat from every tree but one. Adam and his bride disobeyed and sin came into the world. Adam, as our federal head, to place all future generations in condemnation.

God, to point out man’s sinfulness, sent the law through Moses, as a schoolmaster to say to man,”You cannot meet God’s requirements, you have to have another way of salvation than self. Self action, keeping the law, never saved, faith always did, The sacrifices to cover sin in the law pointed ahead to a “once for all” sacrifice to remove the sin block. This is where Jesus, the second Adam, came in.

When a person, Jew or Gentile, realizes his or her own sin and helplessness and accepts Jesus, God in the flesh, realizes he came here to earth and on a cross paid the price for my sin...(and also gave new life with God) and receives him, says to God “I admit I am on the wrong side, I am a sinner and i ask that you forgive me and i trust NOT in my good deeds and good works but only in the work Jesus did on the cross and his keeping alone. Then God’s spirit places or baptizes you into the body of Christ, the family of God. That means you are spiritually given new life, born again, spiritually starting new with a desire to not continue in sin, but to live pleasing to God.

It is not joining a church (though joining a local church is good and important) not signing a card, it is a transaction between you and God and he will change you from a creature that serves sin to a creation that desires to serve God.

A simple prayer, if God is tugging at your heart, might be like this:
Thank you God for loving me and for sending your son to die for my sins. I sincerely repent of my sins and receive Christ as my personal savior. Now, as your child, I turn my entire life over to you.

And if you ask, he will come in and begin a new work in you and your life will change and you will be part of the family of God.

And if you happened to pray that, lease tell one of us today and we will be glad to rejoice with you.

 

Pastor Steve