WEBVTT 00:00:00.442 --> 00:00:06.187 But I want to talk about the discipline of study for one minute, and I've said this before at Trinity over the years, but it has helped me. 00:00:06.187 --> 00:00:21.103 Mark has taught for years I know at course and TCOM on the disciplines, and I've been a man who has studied the disciplines, and one of the disciplines God uses to change us is the discipline, the study for the renewing of the mind. 00:00:21.103 --> 00:00:28.553 And George Barna, in one of his works not long ago, made this statement about Americans. 00:00:28.553 --> 00:00:30.908 It may be an exaggeration, but not greatly. 00:00:30.908 --> 00:00:41.579 He said one half of Americans are functionally illiterate, unable to read the Scripture with understanding and unable to comprehend the sermons we are preaching Now. 00:00:41.579 --> 00:00:47.652 If that is true, is it because we are less capable than our ancestors? 00:00:47.652 --> 00:00:48.762 I don't think so. 00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:57.825 The most critical issue facing Westerners at the beginning of the 21st century is we have allowed our brains to become flabby. 00:00:57.825 --> 00:01:04.528 So here's some questions to think through, and this is not our teaching. 00:01:04.528 --> 00:01:05.962 This is preliminary. 00:01:05.962 --> 00:01:10.793 It's free for a love offering of $29.95. 00:01:10.793 --> 00:01:13.748 Here's some questions that challenge me and I hope they challenge you. 00:01:13.748 --> 00:01:18.150 Number one is your mind able to sort ideas? 00:01:18.150 --> 00:01:26.334 Do I think critically and analytically before accepting information that comes my way as truth? 00:01:26.334 --> 00:01:31.650 Here's a good one, and this one has challenged me over the years. 00:01:31.650 --> 00:01:44.391 As a disciple, am I settings life's agenda according to an order of priorities that flow from my understanding of truth, or do I allow myself to drift along with the flow of culture? 00:01:44.391 --> 00:01:53.802 One of the disciplines that God uses to change us is the place of the mind in the discipline of study And in Romans 12,. 00:01:53.802 --> 00:01:55.049 Now my experience. 00:01:55.049 --> 00:02:03.191 When I got saved, i joined a church and I thought for four years that Romans 12, 2 said be transformed by the removing of your mind. 00:02:03.191 --> 00:02:04.743 I really did. 00:02:04.743 --> 00:02:20.730 It was a shock to me when, after four or five years in the faith that Romans 12, 2 was not the removing of the mind but the renewing of the mind, and that challenged me to recognize that I had to do something about my mind. 00:02:20.730 --> 00:02:22.262 Listen to this quote. 00:02:22.641 --> 00:02:32.070 People who are out of shape mentally usually fall victim to ideas that are destructive to the human spirit and to human relationships. 00:02:32.070 --> 00:02:43.211 They are victimized because they have not taught themselves to think, nor have they set themselves to the long pursuit of the growth of the mind. 00:02:43.211 --> 00:02:50.472 Not having a strong mind, they grow dependent upon the thoughts and opinions of others. 00:02:50.472 --> 00:02:52.462 Now just ignore that. 00:02:52.462 --> 00:02:53.706 We don't have that problem in the church. 00:02:53.706 --> 00:03:02.348 Rather than deal with ideas and issues, they reduce themselves to lives full of rules and programs designed by others. 00:03:02.599 --> 00:03:08.611 Now, if this is true in mental flabbiness as a national epidemic, what is the cause of it? 00:03:08.611 --> 00:03:13.711 At the top of the list has to be and believers need to take note of this laziness. 00:03:13.711 --> 00:03:19.567 How many know it takes sharp work And we have different capacities in this room of mental ability. 00:03:19.567 --> 00:03:31.604 I'm aware of that, but at the top of the list, i think, is laziness, because how many know it takes work to keep sharp mentally. 00:03:31.604 --> 00:03:37.512 It means staying open to new ideas as well as taking the time and effort. 00:03:37.512 --> 00:03:46.250 And how many have discovered, as the older you get, the more settled you feel like you are in certain crystallized capacities of thinking. 00:03:46.250 --> 00:03:59.169 It takes work to stay mentally alert, but one of the reasons this is an issue for our culture in this day and those of you who are older who aren't on the web I think you have an advantage here. 00:03:59.169 --> 00:04:02.829 The web is wonderful, but it also contributes to that. 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:18.692 Mental flabbiness is also created by excessive consumption of junk information, because the truth is, our brain craves stimulation the same way the body craves food. 00:04:18.692 --> 00:04:34.004 In fact, did you know that recent studies show that babies who are stimulated with music at infancy and words and touch develop brains that are much more active than babies who are left to themselves. 00:04:34.004 --> 00:04:48.548 Other studies have shown that one of the ways that people can ward off the effects of Alzheimer's disease and senility is to continue to work the brain with challenges, understanding that these things are certainly genetic as well. 00:04:48.548 --> 00:05:00.523 And we have to make decisions in our culture, because never has there been a culture that has access to information, junk and otherwise, like the men and women sitting in this room At our fingertips. 00:05:00.523 --> 00:05:02.670 The web scares me. 00:05:02.670 --> 00:05:07.620 I get on it and I love it and I hate it Because it's overwhelming. 00:05:07.620 --> 00:05:15.947 Yesterday I was on it to pursue a path of study and got sidetracked for 10 minutes because it was, you know, it's just there. 00:05:15.947 --> 00:05:18.564 We have to make a decision. 00:05:18.564 --> 00:05:29.468 We can feed our minds on the junk food of TV sitcoms, unnecessary web surfing, dime store novels, trashy magazines. 00:05:29.468 --> 00:05:30.324 We can do that. 00:05:30.324 --> 00:05:40.714 Or we can choose to nourish our minds with, of course, scripture and Christian books that are worth reading, but great literature and music and information. 00:05:40.714 --> 00:05:52.550 Obviously, the ultimate discipline of the mind, of discipline of study, is that we would regularly engage in the study of the Word of God. 00:05:52.680 --> 00:06:02.949 Richard Foster, who wrote what many would say in the 20th century the most prominent work on the spiritual disciplines, called the celebration of discipline. 00:06:02.949 --> 00:06:11.173 Talking to his congregation he was a pastor made this statement ecstatic experiences alone will not free us. 00:06:11.173 --> 00:06:14.108 Getting high on Jesus will not free us. 00:06:14.108 --> 00:06:22.668 An awful lot of hot tears have spilled in the sanctuary over the years as men and women were touched by the Spirit of God and stirred in the emotions. 00:06:22.668 --> 00:06:26.788 Thousands of joyous songs have rung from the rafters of this place. 00:06:26.788 --> 00:06:35.142 The release of these emotions is great and healthy, but neither tears nor joy can replace the Word. 00:06:35.142 --> 00:06:48.846 Without the guidance of the truth of Scripture, our worship experience will gradually degenerate into nothing more than an exercise in sentiment, a ritual practice that warms our emotions without changing our lives. 00:06:48.846 --> 00:06:56.374 Of course, emotions in worship are important, but they cannot replace the Word of God in our lives, amen. 00:06:57.463 --> 00:06:59.528 So with that, i like to. 00:06:59.528 --> 00:07:00.151 I do. 00:07:00.151 --> 00:07:03.721 I talk about that every time I start a series, almost in any church. 00:07:03.721 --> 00:07:11.399 I've been in because you came tonight, because you're hungry and I believe you want to engage in the discipline of study Now. 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:16.271 I also tell people and I got this from Oswald Chambers, remember the brain is a muscle. 00:07:16.271 --> 00:07:18.064 It hurts when you first use it. 00:07:18.064 --> 00:07:22.463 I got that no offense. 00:07:22.463 --> 00:07:23.887 Chambers gave that to me. 00:07:23.887 --> 00:07:27.887 People used to say we can't conceive of what you're saying. 00:07:27.887 --> 00:07:35.029 And he'd say push your mind, because it's a muscle and it hurts like it does when you go in the gym and use muscles. 00:07:36.899 --> 00:07:42.812 So this evening let's pray and let's dive into our subject, which is introductory tonight. 00:07:42.812 --> 00:07:56.992 And then I have one aim tonight and that is to hook you on why you and I need to make the investment to study the wonderful book of Romans, and the corollary is the book of Galatians. 00:07:56.992 --> 00:08:04.353 I want to hook you on why it's worth your bother and hard work to study this book. 00:08:04.353 --> 00:08:14.985 This book has changed my life, father, tonight thank you for every man and woman here and thank you, jesus, for the hunger you've put in people to learn and grow. 00:08:14.985 --> 00:08:21.630 And we thank you, lord, that both word and spirit are our tools by which you change us. 00:08:21.630 --> 00:08:32.993 And we invite you tonight, lord Jesus, to take the power of the truth of the Word of God and transform our minds, our emotions and hearts. 00:08:32.993 --> 00:08:36.850 But more than anything, we would see Jesus. 00:08:36.850 --> 00:08:38.904 We want to see Him in Romans. 00:08:38.904 --> 00:08:41.528 We want to see Him come alive in Scripture. 00:08:41.528 --> 00:08:52.135 Lord, we realize these words are dead words on a page unless the Spirit operates through them to quicken these words and reveal to us your lovely Son. 00:08:52.135 --> 00:08:57.229 So, lord, show us Jesus in these words tonight, and that will change us. 00:08:57.229 --> 00:08:59.942 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:09:01.980 --> 00:09:15.187 Romans 15 is an introductory text tonight and I'll read a few verses and then I'll explode Romans 15, 14. 00:09:15.187 --> 00:09:20.475 Let's start in 18, for I will not venture. 00:09:20.475 --> 00:09:27.668 And, by the way, when I'm done tonight, i'm gonna take you on the internet, on these screens, and show you where all the material for this class is. 00:09:27.668 --> 00:09:28.383 It's on the web. 00:09:28.383 --> 00:09:30.606 You can download it from our site. 00:09:30.606 --> 00:09:34.089 And before I read the text, tyler, are you in here? 00:09:34.089 --> 00:09:36.307 Do we have the pages? 00:09:36.307 --> 00:09:39.866 I totally forgot, i'm sorry Those of you who want the focus sheet. 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:41.827 The focus sheet lets you take notes. 00:09:41.827 --> 00:09:47.868 If you didn't go on the web and print it off and I sent out an email then we have printed them for you tonight. 00:09:47.868 --> 00:09:49.586 So why don't we pass those out? 00:09:49.586 --> 00:09:51.926 and that way everybody can take notes. 00:09:51.926 --> 00:09:53.330 If you want to, you don't have to. 00:09:53.330 --> 00:09:59.745 After tonight I'll show you how to get on the web and print these off for yourself. 00:09:59.745 --> 00:10:01.306 So please those of you. 00:10:01.306 --> 00:10:07.349 By the way, if you don't have web access and you want these notes, there's a form we're gonna give it to you tonight. 00:10:07.349 --> 00:10:20.606 If those of you who aren't on the web, you're blessed, you're free And you can fill out the form telling us you want the notes, and there's a couple dollar charge I think it's five to cover for all the 13 weeks. 00:10:20.606 --> 00:10:23.947 I should have done that first and I was negligent. 00:10:23.947 --> 00:10:30.008 So, okay, we're gonna read while the notes are being passed out, in Romans 15, 18. 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:50.524 For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, to bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that, from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum, i have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ. 00:10:50.524 --> 00:11:01.023 And thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written. 00:11:01.023 --> 00:11:06.909 Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand. 00:11:06.909 --> 00:11:28.368 This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you, but now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, i hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain and to be helped on my journey there by you once I have enjoyed your company for a while. 00:11:28.368 --> 00:11:50.889 At present, however, i'm going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints, for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem, for they were pleased to do it and indeed they owe it to them, for if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought to be of service to them in material blessings. 00:11:50.889 --> 00:11:58.767 When, therefore, i have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, i will leave for Spain by way of you. 00:11:58.767 --> 00:12:06.913 I know that when I come, i will come to you in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. 00:12:08.059 --> 00:12:15.062 I've often been asked this question if I could teach one book of Scripture, and one only, what would it be? 00:12:15.062 --> 00:12:16.883 And I'm in a struggle. 00:12:16.883 --> 00:12:21.186 It's a toss up between two books, romans or Hebrews. 00:12:21.186 --> 00:12:24.945 I don't know why I like Hebrews, but I can't decide. 00:12:24.945 --> 00:12:49.044 But actually believe it or not, i think Romans would win out, because you will discover as you take time in this book, that it is arguably the most important book in Scripture, because no other book attempts to so completely and systematically set forth the doctrinal structure of the Christian faith. 00:12:49.044 --> 00:12:50.767 There is no book that comes close to it. 00:12:50.767 --> 00:12:55.583 It is in fact the closest thing the apostle ever wrote to a book himself. 00:12:56.299 --> 00:13:05.323 Martin Luther, in his preface to Romans said quote this epistle is the chief book of the New Testament, the purest gospel. 00:13:05.323 --> 00:13:17.610 It deserves not only to be read or known word for word by every Christian but to be the subject of his meditation, day by day, the daily bread of his soul. 00:13:17.610 --> 00:13:25.150 The more time one spends in Romans, the more precious it becomes and the better it appears. 00:13:25.150 --> 00:13:27.505 Coleridge pronounced Romans. 00:13:27.505 --> 00:13:31.669 Quote the most profound work ever written. 00:13:31.669 --> 00:13:40.291 Godot, the great French theologian, referred to it as the cathedral of the Christian faith. 00:13:40.291 --> 00:14:01.668 And Godot said the Reformation was undoubtedly the work of this epistle to the Romans, as well as that of the Galatians, and the probability is that every spiritual revival in the church will be connected as effect and cause with a deeper understanding of the book of Romans. 00:14:01.668 --> 00:14:10.068 And JI Packer states, quote there is one book in the New Testament which links up everything else in the Bible. 00:14:10.068 --> 00:14:12.628 That is the epistle of Romans. 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:58.690 In Romans, paul brings together and sets forth, in systematic relation to all the great themes of the Bible sin, law, judgment, faith works, grace, justification, sanctification, election, the plan of salvation, the work of Christ, the work of the Spirit, the Christian hope, the nature and life of the church, the place of Jew and Gentile in the purpose of God, the philosophy of the church and of world history, the meaning and message of the Old Testament, the duties of Christian citizenship, the principles of personal holiness and ethics. 00:14:58.690 --> 00:15:10.590 From the vantage point given by Romans, the whole landscape of the Bible is open to view and the broad relation of the parts to the whole becomes plain. 00:15:10.590 --> 00:15:17.828 The study of Romans is the fittest starting point for biblical interpretation and theology. 00:15:17.828 --> 00:15:28.629 Those of you who will be in Mark's class the tech class this Sunday about getting to know your Bible, you imply the things that he's gonna teach to Romans and it will take you to another level of biblical understanding. 00:15:28.629 --> 00:15:39.109 Now I wanna talk about three reasons that are practical, that I'm taking you through many weeks in the first four chapters of Romans and some of Galatians. 00:15:39.109 --> 00:15:41.063 There are three reasons. 00:15:41.063 --> 00:15:46.081 There are many, but there are three that are pastoral and primary Number one. 00:15:46.663 --> 00:15:50.331 Romans is an unfolding of redemption. 00:15:50.331 --> 00:15:55.164 Romans attempts to tell you what happened to you when you get saved. 00:15:55.164 --> 00:16:03.028 How many of you discover that when you first partake of the grace of God, you don't really understand fully what's happened to you? 00:16:03.028 --> 00:16:04.923 You're walking around. 00:16:04.923 --> 00:16:06.201 It was true for me, i mean. 00:16:06.201 --> 00:16:12.149 You know you've entered a new sphere of life, you know things are different, you've dropped off old habits. 00:16:12.700 --> 00:16:13.904 Remember the night I was converted? 00:16:13.904 --> 00:16:25.405 four of my friends were waiting for me at my apartment in Miami in their car with marijuana and alcohol and all this stuff, and I was saved about two hours. 00:16:25.405 --> 00:16:28.625 But I knew one thing I knew nothing. 00:16:28.625 --> 00:16:32.907 I was zapped and I stuck my head in the car and they offered me this stuff and I said no. 00:16:32.907 --> 00:16:40.288 And I knew that no came from, not from my head only, but something that had changed in my heart. 00:16:40.288 --> 00:16:42.307 But I didn't understand Christianity. 00:16:42.307 --> 00:16:45.846 I knew something had happened, but I had no understanding yet. 00:16:45.846 --> 00:16:54.609 Well, romans is an attempt to explain what happened to us when we entered the domain of the grace of God. 00:16:54.609 --> 00:17:04.906 And, by the way, it's great to have your heart changed, but at some point you want to update your head to what your heart's experienced. 00:17:04.906 --> 00:17:09.589 I'm not suggesting you'll ever know at all you won't. 00:17:09.589 --> 00:17:20.068 But Romans is an attempt to update your brain as to what actually happened when you were dynamited by God into the realm of the grace of God. 00:17:20.068 --> 00:17:28.549 And I would say that really, we have some knowledge when we're saved, but we don't yet have full understanding. 00:17:28.549 --> 00:17:37.748 That's where Romans is so vital to us grasping what has really happened to us when we entered the domain of the grace of God. 00:17:37.748 --> 00:17:47.294 Number two reason to study Romans Romans has caused more than one revolution in human history. 00:17:47.294 --> 00:17:49.103 Are you aware of that? 00:17:49.103 --> 00:17:54.832 Romans has caused more than one revolution in human history. 00:17:56.240 --> 00:18:07.130 Take arguably the greatest church father as far as the Latin world is concerned Augustine of Hippo, 4th century AD. 00:18:07.130 --> 00:18:16.451 Destined to become the greatest Latin father of the church, but he lived his life as a youth in sexual promiscuity. 00:18:16.451 --> 00:18:21.882 He had a mistress, but he had a praying mother. 00:18:21.882 --> 00:18:25.724 Monica was Augustine's mother and she was praying for her. 00:18:25.724 --> 00:18:29.202 And how many know, when you have a praying mother, you're condemned to salvation. 00:18:29.202 --> 00:18:35.397 That's why Timothy in the Bible his mother was a Christian, his grandmother, he didn't have a chance. 00:18:35.397 --> 00:18:45.525 Well, monica was praying for her son, augustine, who lived his young years in sexual promiscuity and partying, no interest in the things of God. 00:18:45.525 --> 00:19:02.865 But when he moved to the city of Milan, somewhere around the year 386, he came under the preaching of the bishop Ambrose, who was an incredible preacher, and he began to have a crisis in his soul. 00:19:02.865 --> 00:19:08.366 He began to find that his soul was engaged in a deep struggle. 00:19:08.366 --> 00:19:23.065 And one day, in the midst of the struggle of his soul, as he was being drawn by God to Jesus yet he was not ready yet to give up his promiscuity He went into a garden to pray and he threw himself under a tree. 00:19:24.634 --> 00:19:44.180 You can find this in Augustine's Confessions, and he says this happened, quote suddenly I heard a voice from a nearby house, chanting, as if it might say, as if it might be a boy or girl, saying and repeating over and over again pick up and read, pick up and read. 00:19:44.180 --> 00:19:53.580 I interpreted it solely as a divine command to me to open the book and read the first chapter I might find. 00:19:53.580 --> 00:19:58.003 So I hurried back to the place where I had put the book down of the apostle. 00:19:58.003 --> 00:20:05.647 When I had gotten up, i seized the book, opened it and, in silence, read the first passage on which my eyes lit. 00:20:05.647 --> 00:20:23.801 Here was the passage not in riots and drunken parties, nor in eroticism and in decencies, not in strife and rivalry, but put on the Lord, jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh and its lusts. 00:20:23.801 --> 00:20:28.506 Romans 13, verses 13 to 14. 00:20:28.506 --> 00:20:37.460 And here's what Augustine says when he read that passage, i neither wished nor needed to read further at once. 00:20:37.460 --> 00:20:44.946 With the last words of the sentence, it was as if a light of relief from all my anxiety flooded in my heart. 00:20:44.946 --> 00:20:48.423 All the shadows of doubt were dispelled. 00:20:48.423 --> 00:20:50.118 I was saved. 00:20:50.118 --> 00:21:04.067 A passage in Romans was used by the Spirit to convert arguably the greatest church father, who influenced not only the Latin world but was a precursor to the Reformation. 00:21:04.067 --> 00:21:16.262 Well, fast forward a thousand years and come with me in Germany, where another professor was overtaken with a similar experience. 00:21:17.674 --> 00:21:36.305 Martin Luther was not headed to the monastery, he was headed for a legal career when an lightning bolt almost struck him And, being a good Catholic boy, he devoted his life to the monastery, took it as a sign from God and went into an Augustinian monastery. 00:21:36.305 --> 00:21:41.505 That was the way that he knew that, if you want to be right with God, that's the way you did it. 00:21:41.505 --> 00:21:45.925 You became a monk and you devoted your life to the cloister serving God. 00:21:45.925 --> 00:21:52.346 And when he arrived in the monastery, they told Martin what he must do to be right with God. 00:21:52.346 --> 00:21:54.481 But Martin thought that was for wimps. 00:21:54.481 --> 00:21:59.042 He went way beyond that And he put himself under requirements. 00:21:59.042 --> 00:22:07.942 In fact, he kept going to his confessor and finally the confessor got sick of him and said would you please come when you have real sins to confess? 00:22:07.942 --> 00:22:10.740 Because Martin was making things up. 00:22:10.740 --> 00:22:12.356 I'm not making this up, this is true. 00:22:12.356 --> 00:22:21.165 But regardless of what Luther did, nothing he found ever pacified his tormented conscience. 00:22:21.165 --> 00:22:29.337 So they decided, not knowing what to do with him, let's appoint him to a professorship of the Bible. 00:22:29.337 --> 00:22:33.545 And they sent him to Wittenberg, a university town. 00:22:33.545 --> 00:22:36.805 They said you work in the university, study the Bible and preach it. 00:22:36.805 --> 00:22:38.118 We'll get rid of Martin that way. 00:22:38.118 --> 00:22:38.801 And he did. 00:22:38.801 --> 00:22:49.708 He went to university, became a Bible professor And while he was studying Psalms and Romans, he began to make an incredible study. 00:22:49.795 --> 00:22:57.682 The first thing he did is realize that the word righteousness, both in the Psalms and what he was finding in Romans, terrified him. 00:22:57.682 --> 00:23:04.608 Now some of you will dismiss what I'm about to say and say well, luther just needed to know the love of God and he was hung up. 00:23:04.608 --> 00:23:09.906 And all this stuff about being terrified by righteousness was really unfortunate. 00:23:09.906 --> 00:23:17.949 But the truth is, luther properly understood that righteousness the word should terrify sinners. 00:23:17.949 --> 00:23:28.362 See, luther was a lawyer and he came to the conclusion that if God is righteous, i am not and I am worthy of condemnation. 00:23:28.362 --> 00:23:34.002 And he didn't take it lightly The word righteousness, he said in fact in his writings. 00:23:34.002 --> 00:23:40.787 He said before I was converted, i hated God because he was righteous and I knew I wasn't. 00:23:40.787 --> 00:23:48.542 And no matter what I did, i couldn't become righteous And therefore God justifiably could condemn me to hell. 00:23:48.542 --> 00:23:50.307 And he didn't find relief. 00:23:50.307 --> 00:23:51.699 He didn't know what to do. 00:23:52.535 --> 00:23:55.022 But then then it happened. 00:23:55.022 --> 00:24:22.546 One faithful day, as he was studying Romans one, luther discovered that the righteousness of God that Paul is talking about is not merely a quality in God that he possesses whereby he can condemn everyone else, but that righteousness was in fact something that God had to give freely to sinners or they never could change their standing before God. 00:24:22.546 --> 00:24:23.673 And Luther. 00:24:23.673 --> 00:24:36.838 Suddenly a window opened up that the medieval church for centuries had been promoting this idea that righteousness was earned by men and women who work hard at trying to be right with God. 00:24:36.838 --> 00:24:46.758 And Luther saw that righteousness could only be a human possession if it was received totally freely as a gift. 00:24:46.758 --> 00:25:03.821 And not only was Luther liberated from his own bondage to Catholicism and religious ideas, but it opened up a vista of understanding of the Scriptures. 00:25:03.821 --> 00:25:15.942 In fact he had 95 thoughts about the Scriptures that he very innocently nailed to Wittenberg Castle as a point of dialogue for their small group. 00:25:15.942 --> 00:25:20.361 And the rest was history. 00:25:20.361 --> 00:25:35.696 Luther didn't know that when his own soul was liberated from bondage, seeking righteousness by works, it would spawn one of the greatest moves of God in human history the Protestant Reformation. 00:25:35.696 --> 00:25:48.086 Funny thing is, when I tell this story about Luther I suddenly discover there are people in churches who should be free, who are still trying to earn righteousness like Luther did. 00:25:48.086 --> 00:25:50.039 But I won't go there tonight because I love you too much. 00:25:52.755 --> 00:25:53.836 Fast forward three centuries. 00:25:53.836 --> 00:26:17.148 John Wesley, an Anglican priest, just sitting in a chapel listening to Luther's introduction to his commentary on Romans being read in Aldersgate, when he testified that his heart was strangely warm. 00:26:17.148 --> 00:26:21.643 It was listening to Luther's introduction to Romans in his commentary. 00:26:21.643 --> 00:26:26.798 That was the means of regenerating John Wesley. 00:26:26.798 --> 00:26:29.605 And of course the rest is history. 00:26:29.605 --> 00:26:44.461 He and George Whitfield changed the face of England and this continent and arguably America would not have been born as a free nation if it had not been for the great awakening in the work of Wesley and Whitfield on this soil. 00:26:44.461 --> 00:26:56.184 So you could argue that we became a nation due in part to the liberation that Romans brought to men who understood the gospel. 00:26:56.315 --> 00:26:57.336 But there's a third reason. 00:26:57.336 --> 00:27:03.200 I want you to journey with me through this study of Romans, and this is the more important one. 00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:12.824 We have the argument of history and we have the fact that we need to know what has exactly happened to us when we've been dynamited into the kingdom. 00:27:12.824 --> 00:27:21.644 But the third reason is more pastoral and burdens my heart, and I call it the unsettled state of God's people today. 00:27:21.644 --> 00:27:25.202 The unsettled state of God's people today. 00:27:25.202 --> 00:27:26.758 What do I mean by that? 00:27:27.634 --> 00:27:48.717 As I look at the church, i see that the norm in the church seems to be that people are constantly tossed about with condemnation, failure, sin, bondage, and the remedy that is given to them is often nothing but legalism, religious ideas having nothing to do with the gospel. 00:27:48.717 --> 00:27:56.527 If you were like me, i grew up in a church that we had a service on Tuesday night. 00:27:56.527 --> 00:27:59.362 we affectionately referred to it as condemnation night. 00:27:59.362 --> 00:28:10.141 That's the night we found out how miserably we failed at the Christian life that week And we came to the altar every week and rededicated our dedication This week. 00:28:10.141 --> 00:28:10.863 We'll do it good. 00:28:10.863 --> 00:28:17.440 We'll pray more, we'll read more, we'll fast more, we'll do more, and there's nothing wrong with those aspirations. 00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:26.391 And we committed ourselves all over again Tuesday and by Friday we were looking ahead to the next Tuesday because we were finding it slipping through our fingers. 00:28:26.391 --> 00:28:30.508 Does anybody live this way, or am I speaking to the wind? 00:28:30.508 --> 00:28:55.450 Occasionally we might feel a sense of breakthrough, but then we go right back to the doldrums of a guilt-plagued life, making new resolutions, getting on the legalism bandwagon, rather And I want you to know that aspirations to be different and be holy are from God, but this is not normative Christian experience. 00:28:55.450 --> 00:28:59.269 This is not God's heritage for His people. 00:28:59.859 --> 00:29:01.005 You know a survey was done. 00:29:01.005 --> 00:29:17.199 This is shocking and I never knew this, but a survey was done a few years ago of Americans And you know what the greatest problem Americans cited as the most pressing issue they're dealing with Unresolved guilt. 00:29:17.199 --> 00:29:21.269 I would have thought it was financial or we need a new political system. 00:29:21.269 --> 00:29:32.208 Most people in this survey, this particular survey, said their greatest problem is unresolved guilt, which is why Americans consume more barbiturates and sleeping pills than any culture. 00:29:32.208 --> 00:29:38.000 Unresolved guilt. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:41.909 And it's even harder if you're a Christian, because the church world suffers the most. 00:29:41.909 --> 00:29:48.884 I mean because in the world I had guilt but I didn't have too many absolutes so I wasn't bothered too much. 00:29:49.859 --> 00:29:51.885 But when you get saved, you come into the church. 00:29:51.885 --> 00:29:58.469 You have the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount and a thousand church rules that I still can't find in the Bible. 00:29:58.469 --> 00:30:06.210 Well, I got good news for you. 00:30:06.210 --> 00:30:12.682 Romans supplies us with an answer By the Holy Spirit. 00:30:12.682 --> 00:30:27.211 Romans says that the only answer to this dilemma is we must find a full and sufficient Christ who is able to answer every need that human beings have. 00:30:27.211 --> 00:30:31.969 And that's what Paul will do for 16 glorious chapters. 00:30:31.969 --> 00:30:34.527 We're not going to study all 16, but you will later. 00:30:34.527 --> 00:30:38.769 He shows that God has one provision for the human race. 00:30:38.769 --> 00:30:42.150 It's the only provision he's ever had and it's the Lord Jesus. 00:30:42.150 --> 00:30:49.765 And in showing us this provision, he's going to start by showing us this provision against the backdrop of the problem. 00:30:49.765 --> 00:31:03.353 We can't appreciate the provision until we really understand the problem, and Paul will take time in these first three chapters to paint the blackness of the situation. 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:07.470 The problem with legalism is not that we don't know the love of God. 00:31:07.470 --> 00:31:16.726 First and foremost, we don't understand the depths of sin and how black the situation was before Jesus of Nazareth remedied it. 00:31:16.726 --> 00:31:23.508 And the problem was severe with the human race. 00:31:23.508 --> 00:31:24.080 It wasn't. 00:31:24.080 --> 00:31:26.609 Human beings are a little off course. 00:31:26.609 --> 00:31:29.426 They smoke and drink, tell dirty jokes. 00:31:29.426 --> 00:31:30.730 That wasn't it. 00:31:30.730 --> 00:31:33.047 It wasn't a need for a little adjustment. 00:31:33.047 --> 00:31:36.026 The human race, according to Romans, one. 00:31:36.026 --> 00:31:38.932 The blackness of it was dire. 00:31:38.932 --> 00:31:46.573 In fact, the problem, paul will tell us, is not what we do, though that becomes a problem. 00:31:46.573 --> 00:31:48.163 It is who we are. 00:31:48.163 --> 00:31:55.873 We are part of a race called Adam and that race is in rebellion to God. 00:31:55.873 --> 00:32:12.153 Now we're in Christ, now Everything's changed, but we have been part of a race called Adam and Paul will not deal, in Romans, with peripheral problems loneliness, sorrow, grief, rejection, fear. 00:32:12.153 --> 00:32:30.371 They are symptomatic for Paul of a greater problem, and he will take a lot of time to show us the blackness of the problem, because the blacker we can see it to be, the whiter and the grander and the more clear is the remedy. 00:32:33.559 --> 00:32:38.243 Like you and I were so bad, we didn't need a moral guide, we needed a savior. 00:32:38.243 --> 00:32:41.383 Did you realize that? 00:32:41.383 --> 00:32:49.288 It's not like you had most things right, but you just you know Jesus needed to come and give you a shot in the arm and say you know you can do it. 00:32:49.288 --> 00:32:53.443 Try harder, pray more, read more, do more, come on, you can do it. 00:32:53.443 --> 00:32:57.559 Jesus didn't come to give us a shot in the arm and be a second Moses. 00:32:57.559 --> 00:32:58.785 Well, listen to some people. 00:32:58.785 --> 00:33:04.230 I think they think that Jesus is sort of a second Moses who gives us the power to be a little different. 00:33:04.230 --> 00:33:04.731 He's not. 00:33:04.731 --> 00:33:07.787 He's a savior, and that's strong language. 00:33:07.787 --> 00:33:14.467 You have to be really in trouble to need a savior And, by the way, you weren't just saved from hell. 00:33:14.467 --> 00:33:15.702 That's the end product. 00:33:15.702 --> 00:33:20.644 You need a savior from sin, you and I need a savior from self. 00:33:24.261 --> 00:33:50.425 Well, romans is Paul's attempt to say whatever human beings will ever need ever is found in one place, in a full and sufficient Christ who, by the Holy Spirit, is revealed to us, who alone takes care of every human need, and he alone can deal with the central issue. 00:33:50.425 --> 00:33:52.872 That's wrong with believers. 00:33:52.872 --> 00:33:57.844 By the way, romans will not only instruct you and I on what it means to live in the grace of God. 00:33:57.844 --> 00:34:03.412 It's so instructive in terms of how we teach and preach the gospel to people. 00:34:03.412 --> 00:34:21.030 People are saying things about the gospel that aren't true, and this unsettled state is a burden on my heart because when I see the unsettled state of people, it is a result of the fact that they don't know the gospel. 00:34:21.030 --> 00:34:30.344 When I tell you that everything is in the gospel, i don't mean most things are and then you need other things. 00:34:30.344 --> 00:34:32.443 I mean it's true, it's all there. 00:34:33.679 --> 00:34:40.784 Now, the question tonight I just want to prepare you for for a moment is why did Paul write this letter of Romans? 00:34:40.784 --> 00:34:42.983 Fortunately, we don't have to wonder. 00:34:42.983 --> 00:34:44.728 He tells us himself in the book of Acts. 00:34:44.728 --> 00:34:58.079 Tells us How many remember that three times the apostle Paul sailed off from the city of Antioch on three apostolic journeys in which he planted the body of Christ with other team members throughout the Roman world. 00:34:58.079 --> 00:35:06.213 And at the end of the third apostolic trip, in Acts 20, we find Paul in the city of Corinth. 00:35:07.141 --> 00:35:11.429 Once again, this is after he has established the Corinthian church. 00:35:11.429 --> 00:35:19.385 He's visiting the church and he is in the port city of Centuria staying in the home of a brother named Gaius. 00:35:19.385 --> 00:35:24.760 Gaius is his host and he's pondering his future. 00:35:24.760 --> 00:35:27.047 He's in a very contemplative mood. 00:35:27.047 --> 00:35:29.585 He's pondering his future. 00:35:29.585 --> 00:35:39.085 He has successfully planted churches, as I said, throughout the entire extent of the eastern portion of the Roman world. 00:35:39.085 --> 00:35:42.307 And now his mind is thinking about the future. 00:35:42.579 --> 00:35:43.585 What do I do beyond that? 00:35:43.585 --> 00:35:59.333 He is immediately concerned with one thing, and you'll remember this from the Corinthian letters, that his concern now, and the reason he's at Corinth, is to take up an offering from all the Gentile churches which he is going to personally deliver to the Jerusalem saints. 00:35:59.333 --> 00:36:13.226 And this was important for Paul, not only because Jerusalem needed money, but because Paul was wanting to ensure solidarity between the Gentile churches that he had founded and the Jewish church in Jerusalem. 00:36:13.226 --> 00:36:22.847 And so this was not only an important measure in terms of helping poor saints, but of increasing unity between Jews and Gentiles in Christ. 00:36:22.847 --> 00:36:23.990 And there had been tension. 00:36:23.990 --> 00:36:30.813 But he realizes that, beyond this offering, his work in the east is done. 00:36:30.813 --> 00:36:41.367 There's not anything else to do, because he is operating on one principle that he tells us himself in Corinthians Not to build on another man's foundation. 00:36:41.719 --> 00:36:45.690 Paul's not about going to churches he didn't find and teaching them and ministering. 00:36:45.690 --> 00:36:51.532 He's about establishing churches wherever he can where the name of Christ was not mentioned. 00:36:51.532 --> 00:36:53.101 So he's done in the east. 00:36:53.101 --> 00:37:06.972 So naturally he begins to turn his mind to the western portion of the Roman Empire And ultimately he wants to go to the extent of the west, which was Spain in his day. 00:37:06.972 --> 00:37:10.568 That was the western boundary of the Roman Empire. 00:37:10.568 --> 00:37:12.963 But he has a problem. 00:37:12.963 --> 00:37:16.429 He needs a base of operations. 00:37:16.429 --> 00:37:18.666 He's never been in the west, as far as we know. 00:37:18.666 --> 00:37:24.623 And of course, if you're going to go to the west in the Roman Empire, there's one city you have to go to. 00:37:24.623 --> 00:37:25.106 What is it? 00:37:25.106 --> 00:37:26.202 Rome? 00:37:26.202 --> 00:37:29.786 And Paul has never visited Rome. 00:37:29.786 --> 00:37:46.342 So his hope is, if I establish myself with the Roman church, they can help me and send me to Spain, because at this point we know that Spain had not yet been reached with the Gospel. 00:37:47.880 --> 00:37:49.905 But he's got a problem with the Roman church. 00:37:49.905 --> 00:37:51.471 He didn't start it. 00:37:51.471 --> 00:37:58.168 All the other churches he wrote letters to, except for a couple he started, but he didn't start the Roman church. 00:37:58.168 --> 00:38:09.603 By the way, history seems to suggest that the Roman church started on the day of Pentecost, when Roman Jews went back to Rome after they received the Holy Spirit and preached the Gospel in Rome. 00:38:09.603 --> 00:38:17.451 So Paul's thinking how can I introduce myself to the Roman church? 00:38:17.451 --> 00:38:29.246 Now he's thinking of writing a letter, but of course it can't be like any other letter, because when Paul writes letters, almost inevitably he's dealing with problems in churches that he was the spiritual father of. 00:38:29.246 --> 00:38:34.682 But he was not the father in the Roman church and, as far as he knew, there were no problems to address per se. 00:38:34.682 --> 00:38:39.003 So what is he going to do? 00:38:39.003 --> 00:38:49.755 Just as he's thinking about this, there's a sister in the church at Centauria named Phoebe who announces she's going on a business trip to Rome. 00:38:49.755 --> 00:38:57.860 So Paul says in his mind this is a great time, i will write a letter to the Roman church. 00:38:57.860 --> 00:38:59.646 So he calls his secretary in. 00:38:59.706 --> 00:39:03.679 Paul dictated most of his letters and he begins to pour out words. 00:39:03.679 --> 00:39:10.393 If you read the Roman letter in the Greek original text, you would find that it's grammatically nuts. 00:39:10.393 --> 00:39:20.427 It gives the impression of a man who, when he gets one sentence out, is so full of matter he can't even wait and he pours out another sentence. 00:39:20.427 --> 00:39:22.032 Grammatically it's terrible. 00:39:22.032 --> 00:39:27.052 It's just sentence upon sentence of theology that he can't shut up about. 00:39:27.052 --> 00:39:28.623 That's Romans. 00:39:28.623 --> 00:39:33.384 When you read it in English it sounds nice, that's so you and I can read it. 00:39:33.384 --> 00:39:35.952 It wasn't in the Greek text. 00:39:35.952 --> 00:39:38.143 But what's he going to say to them? 00:39:38.143 --> 00:39:41.110 Again, he can't address a problem. 00:39:41.110 --> 00:39:42.882 He's not the apostle of the church. 00:39:42.882 --> 00:39:55.427 He probably didn't even know of personal problems, although there was one problem he will address and that is the relationship between Jews and Gentiles in the church at Rome, which, specifically, was important. 00:39:55.427 --> 00:39:58.777 But other than that, what can he say? 00:39:58.777 --> 00:40:02.789 Well, as he thinks about it, he decides. 00:40:02.789 --> 00:40:11.119 The most important thing he can do is introduce the Roman church to the gospel that he preaches throughout the Roman world. 00:40:11.119 --> 00:40:24.610 And as he's thinking about it, he wants to focus on one matter, that is, the heart of the gospel, which is where I want to take you in the last few minutes tonight, because that's where we're going to be parked for the next several weeks. 00:40:24.610 --> 00:40:26.956 When Paul thinks about it. 00:40:27.277 --> 00:40:27.880 Rome in his day was. 00:40:27.880 --> 00:40:32.715 You know what hate Ashbury was in the 60s. 00:40:32.715 --> 00:40:35.826 I'm dating myself Some of you are looking at me Hate what. 00:40:35.826 --> 00:40:46.054 It wasn't a neighborhood in California, i think it was San Francisco And hate Ashbury where was known any weird religion? 00:40:46.054 --> 00:40:47.800 you could go to hate Ashbury. 00:40:47.800 --> 00:40:50.309 You'll find a hearing. 00:40:50.309 --> 00:40:53.059 There's some fruitcake in hate Ashbury that will follow you. 00:40:53.059 --> 00:41:07.610 There was a guy remember when I was a hippie Well, i was a weekend hippie, you know, i was straight till Friday night And there was a guy that he grew his hair out about 25 feet on each way and went to hate Ashbury and he started a cult. 00:41:07.610 --> 00:41:09.380 They followed him around because his hair just flapped in the wind. 00:41:09.380 --> 00:41:12.929 I remember that back when I was a kid in the 60s. 00:41:12.929 --> 00:41:19.867 Of all the things to remember, and Paul knows that, that's Rome. 00:41:20.728 --> 00:41:24.474 Rome was the seedbed of all religions. 00:41:24.474 --> 00:41:34.054 You could go to Rome and find any philosophy, any religion, any idea, any, anybody who put forth an argument. 00:41:34.054 --> 00:41:35.963 It was there at Rome. 00:41:35.963 --> 00:41:41.793 In fact, rome said it had a God for every possible contingency of life. 00:41:41.793 --> 00:42:04.570 But Paul knows that behind all these religions and all these weird ideas, there was one overall cry coming from the human heart, and it is how can a man or a woman know that he or she is right with a holy God? 00:42:04.851 --> 00:42:12.994 The people who are positing these may not even know the God of Scripture yet, although Romans 1 will tell us, everybody has some idea of what he's like. 00:42:12.994 --> 00:42:17.574 But they're all crying out, even though they come up with weird ideas. 00:42:17.574 --> 00:42:18.739 Is there a God? 00:42:18.739 --> 00:42:21.648 And if there is, how can I know him? 00:42:21.648 --> 00:42:27.623 And then how can I be right with him, not just know him intellectually, but how can I have a relationship? 00:42:27.623 --> 00:42:32.972 And there's one word Paul will use in this letter. 00:42:32.972 --> 00:42:39.907 That is the word that summarizes what it means to be in right relationship. 00:42:39.907 --> 00:42:43.173 It is this word righteousness. 00:42:46.659 --> 00:43:09.887 But Paul will teach that the God of Abraham, isaac and Jacob, the God of the Old Testament, has introduced this dynamic of righteousness by which men and women are brought into right relationship with God, and he did it apart from any idea anyone ever had or that religion ever can concocted One of the reasons I believe the gospel is divine. 00:43:09.887 --> 00:43:13.583 No man or woman could ever come up with this idea. 00:43:13.583 --> 00:43:21.403 In fact, paul himself was the ultimate person who had tried to achieve righteousness apart from the gospel. 00:43:21.403 --> 00:43:29.101 I am convinced that Paul was the greatest specimen religion ever could produce. 00:43:29.101 --> 00:43:39.132 If any man was ever going to achieve righteousness through human works of law, there was nobody who would ever attempt it like the apostle Paul. 00:43:39.132 --> 00:43:42.422 In fact, he says that much in Philippians. 00:43:42.461 --> 00:43:50.525 He says, as touching the law, it was blameless, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a descendant of the tribe of Benjamin. 00:43:50.525 --> 00:44:00.452 To say he was a Hebrew of Hebrews means that even in his home growing up, he spoke Hebrew, which was really really rare in the Roman world. 00:44:00.452 --> 00:44:04.081 As touching the law, he says I was blameless. 00:44:04.081 --> 00:44:05.764 The law could not indict me. 00:44:05.764 --> 00:44:09.932 I stood blameless among my compatriots in my day. 00:44:09.932 --> 00:44:13.387 As the law is concerned, no one could charge me. 00:44:13.588 --> 00:44:17.501 But then he made this statement but what things were gained to me? 00:44:17.501 --> 00:44:22.230 those I counted loss for Christ. 00:44:22.230 --> 00:44:28.184 From that word gain in English, we get our Greek word, our English word miser. 00:44:28.184 --> 00:44:32.434 From that word in Greek we get our English word miser. 00:44:32.434 --> 00:44:49.309 Paul says whatever things were gained to me, and you get the picture in your mind of a man sitting on a table and you ever see a miser where he's got his gold on the table and it's piled up and he's relishing in his gold and taking delight in his treasure. 00:44:49.309 --> 00:44:57.590 That's the word Paul uses regarding his own works of righteousness before his conversion. 00:44:57.590 --> 00:44:59.233 He says it was gained to me. 00:44:59.233 --> 00:45:06.382 I piled it on my table, i had all these good deeds that I could present to God and say look at my treasure. 00:45:06.382 --> 00:45:08.489 God, you have to love me. 00:45:08.489 --> 00:45:20.693 And now he says whatever was gained to me, now I count as one colossal loss that I may gain Christ. 00:45:20.693 --> 00:45:30.371 And I'm sorry if this upsets you, but he actually says in the next verse all that I thought I gained is horse manure. 00:45:30.371 --> 00:45:33.945 I'm being nice, that's what he called it. 00:45:33.945 --> 00:45:38.286 It's done. 00:45:38.286 --> 00:45:42.532 It cannot achieve righteousness. 00:45:42.532 --> 00:45:59.637 And he goes on and we'll talk about that in another session where he says now I know that my quest is to have a righteousness, not of the law, but a righteousness which is of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 00:45:59.637 --> 00:46:09.175 Sad thing, as I know a lot of Christians who still think this miser mentality is right. 00:46:12.820 --> 00:46:17.702 I remember going to a small group in our church in Florida For two hours. 00:46:17.702 --> 00:46:20.811 People were beating themselves up because they didn't read their Bibles enough. 00:46:20.811 --> 00:46:23.384 Now everybody understands. 00:46:23.384 --> 00:46:31.074 I think it's important to read the Bible, but it was a wonderful expression of condemnation Oh, i'm so terrible, i need to read more. 00:46:31.074 --> 00:46:39.853 And people were berating themselves And then everybody took a vow to read the Bible more at the end of the meeting. 00:46:39.853 --> 00:46:52.954