The Book of Romans: Introduction & Context (Part 1)

The book of Romans has rightly been called the foundational epistle of the Christian faith. Before we can understand its doctrine, however, we must first establish the importance of biblical context. While all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for our instruction, faithful Bible study requires that we ask who God is speaking to, when He is speaking, and how each passage fits within His unfolding plan. Rather than forcing every verse to apply in the same way, believers are called to rightly divide the Word of Truth and interpret Scripture according to its intended audience and purpose.

In this introductory message, we explore the unique place of Paul's nine church epistles and why Romans stands first among them. As the doctrinal foundation for the Church, Romans establishes the truths upon which the rest of the New Testament builds. We also examine the book's threefold structure—doctrinal, dispensational, and devotional—and its central theme: the righteousness of God revealed through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Finally, we consider the distinct revelation entrusted to the Apostle Paul concerning the mystery of the Church, God's eternal purpose, and the dispensation of grace. As we begin this verse-by-verse study through Romans, this message provides the biblical framework necessary to understand the epistle in its proper context and to appreciate the remarkable calling God has given His Church in His eternal plan.

Thanks for listening to the Living Faith St. Louis podcast. This episode is part of our weekly sermon ministry from Pastor Blade Sbisa, with occasional guest speakers and special series.
 For more information, visit the LFSTL website.

Transcript

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The reason we looked at that short series on our identity in Christ is because it's a setup, it's a primer to the book of Romans. Because in that discussion, we talked about three major doctrinal aspects of the Christian experience, and they are justification, sanctification, and glorification. And those topics really set a great deal of doctrine for us in the first nine chapters of the book of Romans. Before we hop right into Romans chapter 1, which starts with the word Paul. Paul. I think it is good for us to establish context. Because as we begin to study any text in the Scriptures, we remain safe when we first ask the Lord, where is this? Where is this book in relationship to its surrounding history? So there's obviously an historical application of Scripture, and we want to understand that historical context. Typically, when people use the word context, or they say something like, When we study the Word of God, we need to understand context. That's how they mean it. Have you ever heard somebody teach that? I hope so. I hope somebody's challenged you in your understanding of God's word by considering what is the context. But while there is a historical context to the Bible, there is also a doctrinal context to the Bible. In other words, there is a place that a particular book or passage sits in the whole of God's counsel. And I want to suggest to you that the book of Romans is arguably the most important book for the Christian. It is the most important book in the Bible for the Christian experience. As you already know, the full counsel of God's Word is critical for our understanding, but the Book of Romans is without a doubt vital if you want to be victorious and successful in the Christian life. The book of Romans lays the foundation that the Christian has to have in their understanding so that things can be built upon. If you go wrong in the book of Romans, especially, and the first five chapters, and you misunderstand five chapters where Paul's trying to articulate to you what justification is, you will get no other doctrine right beyond that point. You have to understand what Christ has done through the cross. And more than that, if you don't understand justification, you will never understand how functionally you're supposed to live unto holiness through your sanctified life as you begin to work out all of that doctrine. If you've ever noticed in the Pauline letters or the epistles written to churches, the books are very information heavy on the front end. Almost every one of the epistles gives you doctrine up front, and then following that doctrine, there is an active use of that doctrine or description of how those realities become true in the Christian experience. Take the book of Ephesians, for example. The book of Ephesians starts with really doctrine for three chapters. We learn about our heavenly citizenship, our adoption and the dispensation of the fullness of times in chapter one, and then our heavenly citizenship and the nature of our sanctified life that follows justification by grace through faith in Ephesians chapter two and verse eight. And then chapter three is dedicated to describing this mystery that was hid so that God can articulate what he's doing in this time. It's just information, you understand? It's just God saying, I have some things to teach you conceptually. But then God's like, I want you to understand those concepts in practice. And there's a practical application of the doctrine. And so Ephesians 4 turns, you know, the page turns, and we learn about our vocation. We learn about how we're we're supposed to walk, and we learn about our relationship as individuals to the body of Christ. That's the key passage there. Ephesians 4 is about the body of Christ, one baptism, one spirit, one body, and the distinct roles in the body, how God gave apostles and prophets to, you know, kind of set out the initial course of what he was doing in the church, and then pastors and teachers, evangelists, that we might all come in perfect unity under the stature of the fullness of Christ. And then five, what do we learn about? We learn about husbands and wives, and six, the armor of God, and we learn about how now our life begins to functionally play out in relationship to that doctrine. Okay, there's just the example. The reason I bring that up because is because the book of Romans, in relationship to the other books, is doing the same thing. It is setting a doctrinal foundation for you to then understand how to live your Christian life. The book of Romans is without a doubt vital if you want to be victorious and successful as a Christian. Why is that? Well, it's because while all the Bible is profitable for you, not all of the Bible is written directly to you. And if there is anything in Bible study that I want you to understand as we meet in the parsonage next door, or you hear the teaching of God's Word here, it is this simple principle. If you can get this down in your mind and you can begin learning God's word in this way, thinking, is this to me? Now it's clear in the scriptures that all of the Bible is for you. In other words, it's profitable for your learning. You can go there and you can learn things about God, you can learn things about human nature, you can learn about God's eternal purposes and plans, you can learn about Satan and all of his devices, you can learn a lot through all of the Bible. But there is only a small section of Scripture that is actually written directly to you as a Christian. Acts chapter 11, I believe it's verse 26. It says they were first called Christians and Antioch. And so we're going to continue as we work through the book of Romans and really as I preach every sermon talking about what it means to understand God's word in its proper doctrinal context. Whether you're reading Genesis or you're reading the Gospel of John or the book of Galatians, you can know that God is desiring for you to learn and profit from those texts. However, you and I must slow down and ask, what is the historical and doctrinal context of those passages? 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16 and 17, a familiar text. This is actually just 16 on the screen. It says, All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction, and righteousness. It goes on to say that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished under every good work. And uh I think when we consider this verse, it's important for me, for you this morning, to emphasize this word for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness. Uh, an illustration or an example of what I mean by all the Bible is profitable for you, but not written directly to you, is that of a handwritten letter. If I were to write a letter to my wife acknowledging how precious she is to me and how beautiful I think she is, and how I I feel bad about how I spoke to her this week, and and how I I wish you know we could find some just time together to kind of you know reconcile. And I were to hand that to Tyler, and I was like, hey, hey Tyler, can you give this to my wife? Um and Tyler on his way, he he secretly kind of opens up the letter, begins to begins to read my words. And he's like, Man, Blade is kind of freaking me out. He's saying some things to me that that first don't make any sense, but if if I try to make sense of them and I force them onto my relationship with him, like, what is he talking about? I'm beautiful, weirdo? And that that's because Tyler took something that wasn't to him and tried to make it to him. Now it was for Tyler for a purpose, for Tyler to bring that to my wife. And it's for Tyler in that as a friend and as a leader in his life, he can begin learning of me. He can learn what type of husband I am, he can learn how I communicate, he can learn how I use specific words. That's weird. He called me L. It's like, well, no, that's actually the very endearing name that I give my wife, Gabrielle. I call her L. It's like, no, I'm not, Tyler, I'm not calling you uh L. I'm calling my wife that. And so you can you can begin to see an illustration how Tyler can learn things about me, but if he fails to understand that that's not directly to him, he'll begin to misunderstand what I'm actually teaching. And this is the same with God, right? God has written things directly to us, and he's written things to other people. If we go and read those things written to other people and begin to try to force them to make sense in the Christian experience, we may end up confused. It doesn't mean you can't learn things about God in the Old Testament or under the law. It just means you have to learn certain things about the law in relationship to your Christian life. I hope that illustration clarifies this language, but I think it is important. I want us to acknowledge this because as we begin the book of Romans, we are laying that base. And the stronger that base or that foundation is, the more we can build upon it. And I know that I'll fail in the process of that, but I'm hopeful this morning to just begin the conversation. I want you to note that many people do this mistake of applying verses out of context because they try to make everything in the Bible about the cross of Christ. They have a Christocentric view of the scriptures. Now let me pause here and say, yes, Christ is all over the Bible. That's what we've been looking at in our Bible study. You can see him from Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1, as you compare scripture with scripture, all the way to Revelation 21. He's everywhere. You can see him everywhere, but to force the narrative of every single text and the main theme of every single passage to be about the cross and the Christian experience is a great failure. Because if you do that, you'll be left confused. God doesn't want you to do that. And so the main theme of the Bible is not Christ on the cross or even Christ resurrected. Maybe you've heard that taught. All of the Old Testament is looking towards the cross, and all of the New Testament is looking back to the cross. Has anybody ever heard that? Yeah, right? It's pretty common. I actually heard it this week in a reel. I was like, man, I should comment on this because that's not right. That is not right. It is true. The most significant event that ever happened in human history yet is the cross. I mean, it is important to acknowledge that God accomplished a great work by coming, by becoming a man, manifesting himself in the flesh, living a perfect life, dying for our sins, becoming our sin, bearing that sin, and rising again to new life. Yes, it's significant. I'm not denying that. Jesus is the central person of the Bible, but it is not the Christian experience that is the main theme of the Bible. It is Christ as king and his kingdom and the details of it. I mean, the majority of your Bible is about Jesus Christ, the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. It is about a kingdom, not Calvary. To say that all of the Old Testament is looking towards the cross and all the New Testament is looking back is devotionally nice sounding, but it's just an oversimplification of the Bible. Yes, Jesus is the most important figure of the Bible, but to not understand the central theme is not salvation, but a kingdom. And that the primary reason for God preserving the Bible is to teach us about his kingdom is an heir. And so, moreover, the Bible's, you know, not trying to tell us that the greatest day in human history will be God Himself hanging on a tree, but rather the greatest day will be when he establishes his kingdom and rules over the heavens and the earth. And this is why the Lord is actually given the title the Most High God. If you were to study that out in Scriptures, you would find that it's directly in relationship to him having authority over the heavens and the earth. And the Bible is a story about that. Please hear that this morning. The Bible is a story about God reconciling the heavens and the earth back to himself. The heavens and the earth back to himself. The heavens and the earth back to himself. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And something tragic happened. Right, we're rushed right into the story. And darkness fell upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. The thing that God had created had become void. But the Bible tells us he created not the earth in vain, but to be inhabited. See, the earth is a place that God wanted to set up his kingdom. And before he created man, the Bible actually speaks of him walking through the earth and finding a place, laying a foundation before man was even created. Something tragic happened, and God creates man to replace that great chasm in the very beginning of Scripture. If we don't understand the broader story and the broader timeline of what God's doing, we can't make sense of doctrine because it fits into the greater puzzle of a book that is complex. Now, at some level, the Bible is simple. You read it, you can take it for what it is, you can trust that as you read, the Spirit of God can teach you the truth of God. But do not hear what I'm not saying. The Bible is very difficult at times. And it's confusing. It's a book filled with people and stories and histories and doctrines and changing and changing economies. God doesn't change, but his dealings with people do. And so we we are left with a responsibility to study so that we can make sense of the text. Furthermore, as we open the scriptures and we begin to read, God ushers us into a grand and glorious narrative about his desire to dwell on earth forever, with a redeemed people who love him and serve him from Jerusalem to the uttermost, to an ever-expanding universe where there are no boundaries and where there will be no end. This is Luke chapter 1, I think in verse 13. Where there is no end. This is Isaiah chapter 9. And the government and of his government there will be increase without end. This is God's desire to set up a kingdom and a place where he dwells here, and then he expands everywhere, populating the universe with sons of God. Those that would represent his glory and his holiness well. As the story unfolds, we quickly learn about the fall of man, God's redemptive plan and his mercy. Then as we turn to the New Testament, we discover our specific and splendid part and his eternal purpose that he determined before everything began. And that's what I want to talk to you about this morning. The thing that God determined about us before we even existed or anything did. on and on. You see the point here. Romans to Philemon. And so all of the churches, but then a small group of letters written directly to church leaders. So 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon. These are all letters that Paul has written. Nine churches, I'm sorry, nine epistles, seven churches. These epistles, these letters written by Paul, were written directly to us and for the church's edification and well-being. Nowhere in the Bible do we see such liberty in the scriptures to directly apply the words to our circumstances and lives. If you've ever been reading from the books of Romans to Philemon, you should just read those and think, this is for me and to me. I am to receive this and respond to it. In the other text of the scripture, we have to begin making sense of how those doctrines, maybe pertaining to Gentile nations or even Israel in the Old Testament, or pre-Israel, before the nations established through Abraham's line, what God is saying and what it means for us as we rightly divide the word of truth. And so we have to think how do the other parts of the Bible fit or apply for instruction, for our learning, and our edification? The church epistles were written with you as their primary audience. You can read these words knowing that God has a direct message to you. This conversation will be can be continued. I'm getting tripped up in my words because I'm just thinking of so many things that I want to articulate about this topic so that you can have a better sense of the Word of God. But we've got to keep moving. I want to express to you the importance of establishing proper context and give you a simple visual help for you to think about how you should approach any word, verse, or passage as you read Scripture. And so let me ask you all, have you ever been confused reading the Bible and wondering to yourself, again, how does this apply to me? Or why does God want me to know this? I'm sure there are some passages you can think of. There are plenty that I think of. I'm like, why in the heck has God preserved this in his word? Why am I supposed to know about the she bears? Why am I supposed to know about Elijah and Elisha? Why am I supposed to know about the Red Sea? What does that have to do with me, Lord? Why am I supposed to know about the water from the rock and the striking of why am I supposed to know about the brazen serpent? Why am I supposed to know about and on and on and on and on and on? I mean, there's some strange passages in the scripture. I name some reasonable ones. God is trying to bring us into a greater narrative than just Jesus Christ is crucified and your sins are forgiven. He's trying to teach us about the reconciliation of the heavens and the earth. The Bible is a much bigger book than the simple but wonderful and grand message of the gospel. It is important. The gospel is the foundation. We have to understand it in the Christian life, but God has so much more to tell us. Typically, the confusion that we have in reading the scriptures will immediately be resolved if we approach the text asking, where does it fit into that grand narrative of what God is doing? The Bible is confusing at times, but if we simply ask the question, what is the context? I believe that that will quickly resolve most of our questions. And I just want to give you another illustration, and that is hiking in the woods without a map in the dark on a cloudy night. Now, I don't think probably most people in this room have ever done that. I don't know if I've ever done that. But I want you to kind of place yourself there or think about, you know, those YouTube documentaries that you've seen or the National Geographic documentaries or what it- whoever it might be that you watch, and think about that man or that woman placed in this remote location where they have no bearings on anything. They can't look at the sun, they can't see carnal directions, they're set in a forest, they don't know where the water is, they begin looking for it. It's nighttime, so obviously the sun isn't able to be seen then, but they can't even know the moon or the orientation of the moon or the moon phases. They don't know what time of year it is. They have no clue where they're at, but they're trying to make sense of how to walk. So many people enter into the Bible that way. Oh, let's hop into the book of Ruth. Here we are. Let's try to make sense of the book of Ruth, but you have no bearings. You have no sense of the grand narrative of what God is doing. And so you just begin applying the scripture because you know God wants you to read his word. Doesn't God want me to know his word? Word and read his word. And as a Christian, isn't it healthy for me to take in spiritual food? Because man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God? Yes. Yes. You gotta read the Bible. It's good for you, even when it doesn't make sense. You don't like eating your veggies. Do it anyway. It fills your belly, it's important. Your spiritual life needs spiritual food. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. But God wants you to get past eating like a toddler. Right now I've got two little boys under three. The way they eat is quite comical. And it teaches me a lot about how Christians often eat. Man, just anything, everything, what they don't like, I'm not gonna eat that, even if it's really good for me. We just like taking it, we like making messes, and we we though we are fed, and God's merciful in the process of that, man, we just don't we don't get it. And God has some amazing meals that He wants to set out in front of us as we study and discover the Word of God. Right now, I just want you to think about the most amazing meal that you've ever had in your life. Most amazing meal. What is it? Steak? Lobster? Maybe there's some vegans in the room. The most amazing meal you've ever had in your life. God wants to bring you dishes like that. God wants you to actually be the chef. That's not my job. I want to help you cook in the kitchen of God's word so that you can enjoy the resources and the blessings he's given you in his word, and you can begin to make a spiritual meal that actually makes sense for your spiritual life. This is what I want to show you as a way of example. It's probably been on the screen for like the last ten minutes, but nonetheless, you've been thinking about it. And this is the point. No matter where you are at in your Bible study, you're asking, what does this word mean? Or you're asking, what is this verse trying to teach me? Or you're asking, what is this chapter all about, or the book, or the Bible. You are always trying to answer the question that's small by first making sense of that which is large. You can't ask what a word means until you consider what that word means in relationship to the verse. And you can't consider what that verse means or begin to apply the verse to your life without considering where that verse sits in the whole of the text or the scriptures. Take James 2, for an example, which a lot of people get confused about because it teaches this idea of justification by faith and works. There are 13 questions being asked in the book of James. If you run to James chapter and James chapter 2, 13 questions. If you run to those and try to begin to apply questions to your Christian life, you know what you're going to do? You're going to be really confused. Why? Well, because they're questions. The questions are leading to a point. They're not the point themselves. And so you have to understand the verse in relationship to the chapter. And the chapter in relationship to the book. Why is James and the end of James so confusing about works and faith? Well, I don't know. The whole thing's actually about people that are rich, not dealing with those that are poor in the congregation there. Well. You know, the book begins with the twelve tribes who are scattered abroad. Not to the churches that James is overseeing. We'll look at that here in just a moment. Many times we we try to make sense of the Bible by getting way too far into the details before even understanding what we're trying to build. For anyone who's built something, maybe they're like my father's a mechanical engineer, and so growing up, I was always working on things or taking things apart. As a little kid, I I loved getting RC cars to just disassemble them and pull out the little motors, and then I'd like to go build like a foam boat and put it in our pool. And it's like I didn't even know what I was doing, but I'd disassemble these things, and then I'd think, I kind of want my RC car back, but I don't know how to build that again. And so I'm gonna just take this little RC motor and hook it up to a battery and make something else with it. And you know what? That the thing I made was pretty lame. It would have been way more fun to play with this other thing. Again, silly example, but Christians do the same thing. Pull apart God's word, begin to love the individual parts, begin to try to make something of those individual parts, and it's just a poor substitute for actually what God desires to do and teach. And so the illustrations could go on, but we've also got to go on. We've got to keep moving in our study this morning by way of introduction to the book of Romans. A lot of people do this with the Bible, and what I want to submit to you this morning is that it's not enough to just make devotional points in the Bible. We also have to do the hard work of studying God's Word so that we can rightly divide the word of truth. Second Timothy chapter 2 and verse 15. It says, Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Rightly dividing the word of truth. Now, I want to ask you. I want you to think about this. It's important. God tells you to divide his word, not harmonize the whole thing. You know, division actually is forcing you to separate things. So many Christians want to try to make sense of the Bible and say, isn't this thing unified? No. It is unified because God is one he's never changing. He has a purpose that was planned out before he started all things and put everything into motion. But he's working with different audiences differently or different stewards differently. And so the text comes, 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 15, and you are told you've got to do the hard work of understanding that word in the context of the whole Bible by rightly dividing the Bible. And so my question, I haven't asked it yet, where would the first division in the Bible be made if you were to make it? Where would you draw the line? How would you cut it? You say, any any ideas? I'm just curious. Anything running through your heads? Yeah, Old Testament, New Testament, right? That that I hope is the first division. You're thinking, okay, God clearly in the Bible has divided the Bible by an Old Testament and a New Testament. The question. Where does the New Testament begin? That's a good question. You think, well, what is a testament? What does it mean to begin? Now, in your Bible, you likely have the Old Testament, literally, with a header, Old Testament, and then a blank page, 400 years of silence, and then a page that says New Testament. And then the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter 1, the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of Abraham, the son of David. Is that the New Testament? I don't think so, because the book of Hebrews, as you compare Scripture with Scripture, you learn that the book of Hebrews says that it is by necessity that the testator dies before a New Testament can come in. And so you know that at least the New Testament can't happen until Jesus Christ dies. What does that mean? What it means is that you are still under the Old Covenant up until the point of Jesus' death. What does that mean? That means when I read the gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, I'm reading doctrine pertaining to the law or to the old covenant. Look at the handout I gave you. Okay, this is filled with a lot of information, some stuff that goes really deep, even into the book of Daniel, some things that are set out with respect to the five courses of punishment for Israel and their disobedience, outlined in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. It's a deep study, okay? I get that. I'm just wanting to call your attention to just a couple things. As you can see in the bottom line or thread, you see the books of the Bible. Genesis, Exodus to Malachi, that is the second book of your Bible, up until the last of your Old Testament. At least as it is structured in your text. But as we just learned, Matthew through John is also the Old Covenant. And then you have the book of Acts, which is super transitional, and we'll talk about that briefly this morning. And then Romans. The first book that's written directly to Christians. And then Hebrews. Just listen to the name, y'all. Hebrews. Hebrews. 1st and 2 Peter. Revelation. There's some books missing there. James. They're right after Hebrews. And then obviously the other general epistles. But what I want you to see is just that little line right above that says, you know, Jews, Israel, the twelve tribes, the old covenant, the body of Christ, and grace, and that dark orange, and then the Jews, Israel, the twelve tribes of the new covenant. What I want to express to you this morning is that what God is doing in this age and in this time is distinctly different from everything that you would have ever heard in the Old Testament. It is so different that God never spoke of anything that he's trying to accomplish in this age in the Old Testament. There are some overlap. There is some overlap. There are some doctrines that pertained to Israel that also pertain to the church, like Christ our Redeemer. Fair enough? Israel is going to be redeemed because of the blood of the eternal Lamb of God. That's what John the Baptist was preaching as he looked and saw Jesus Christ walking towards the Jordan. That's true. But what God is doing now is something he never told anybody about prior to this age and prior to the Apostle Paul. And because of that, when we open to a text like the book of Romans, we are learning things that never got spoken of prior to this text. And if you don't understand that, and you don't understand the book of Romans in relationship to the whole of God's grand narrative, to set up a kingdom that's reconciling the heavens and earth, then you'll probably begin to force all of the Bible to harmonize with the book of Romans, and it'll lead you into chapters like Romans 9, 10, and 11, trying to make a devotional or a an allegorical application of the Old Testament to the Christian experience. And those are things we'll talk about in weeks to come. But I I want to just suggest to you that the New Testament by necessity begins after the Gospels. Jesus Christ has to die. And so so much of the doctrine that's being outlined for us in the Gospels is actually pertaining directly to the kingdom that God wants to offer Israel. And one of the doctrines, as you can see in your notes, I actually don't have it in front of me. This is a wrong copy of the timeline. You should have like a little word bank in the bottom. And you see some like major categories and terms that relate to some of these prophetic future periods. And the reason I give those to you is because they begin to allow you to have a handle on the way that God uses words and language to teach you where you're at in any given time in human history. The thing I want to call your attention to now is the phrase the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of God, it's an italicized words, I think under the church age, and then the kingdom of heaven, which should be under the millennium. But it is a doctrine that separates what God is offering to Israel, a kingdom related to his physical presence here on earth, as juxtaposed to what he is doing in the church, the body of Christ. The kingdom of God, the gospels say, are God Himself in you. Whereby God actually accomplishes spiritual things to reconcile the heavenly places back to himself. That's how we'll conclude our time this morning. What God is doing this time was never spoken of in the Old Testament. So let me pause here and just continue by telling you you need to rightly divide. One of the ways that you divide the scriptures is by asking, not who is this for, because all scripture is profitable for us, but who is this to? Who is God speaking to? First Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 32, it says in this text that there are three distinct people groups, the Jews, the Gentiles, and the Church of God. The Jews, the Gentiles, and the Church of God. And so any time you come to the Scriptures, you should be asking, is this written to a Jewish audience? Is this written to a Gentile audience? Or is this written to the church? We've been talking about church age epistles, Romans to Philemon. And part of that is so that we can begin to process what does it mean for something to be considered in context? You know, is God speaking to the Jews? We have an example of that pretty clearly in the book of James. If you're to look at James chapter 1, I think this is, is this in the PowerPoint? Yeah. James chapter 1, it says, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings. In other words, the book of James is written to, you guessed it, what the Bible says, the twelve tribes scattered abroad. Now, there are many things to talk about and to be said here, but I just want to give you the next example, and that is when the Bible is articulating a text written to the Gentiles. Obadiah chapter 1 and verse 1. It says the vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom, a Gentile nation or a non-Jewish nation. We have heard a rumor from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen. Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle. That is God telling us this text is for Edom. Edom. Or the church, which we've already been discussing, Romans to Philemon. You know, when is God speaking is important. Were these words written before or after the fall? Were these words written before or after the law? Were these written before or after Israel's exile? Like when you read the prophets, are these prophets warning Israel to repent because judgment's coming if they don't? Or is this a prophet writing, looking back at what had happened in the Old Testament under the Assyrian captivity and Babylonian captivity, and talking about how there is hope because God has a future planned for them because he promised to make of them a great nation. Is this before or after the cross? On and on and on. We can ask questions like this because it helps us understand. What am I reading? Who is this to? What is God trying to teach me? As we understand the intended audience and time, we begin to understand how we should or how we should not make application, right? As the text says in 2 Timothy chapter 2, we are to be rightly dividing the word of truth, and the implication there, the implied point, is that we can wrongly divide the word of truth. As it relates to the church epistles, they were written by Paul following the cross to Christians, as the apostle, distinct apostle called out of due time to the Gentiles, to us. And yet, some are directed to the Jew first. There's an interesting point that we'll consider as we move into the book of Romans. There are some epistles, as you read the book of Acts, the book of Acts, you can see on the timeline, is a transition from the old covenant where God has really only talked to us about the law, to a secret mystery that's never been revealed. The book of Acts is teaching us how Israel has fallen. This is the language used in Romans 9, 10 and 11. How Israel has fallen and how she is being diminished. How she is being diminished. That's what we're observing in the book of Acts. How the things that God was doing with Israel are slowly falling off. And while that's happening, while that transition is being made, God is bringing us into a conversation about him turning to the Gentiles through the Apostle Paul and bringing in a mystery that's never been revealed before. And then we get to Romans. And here's the point there are some epistles that the Apostle Paul wrote to Christians while the diminishing was happening. And so there's a lot of confusion because a lot of the churches are struggling with doctrine because Israel is still in the picture. But then Paul goes into prison and he begins to write a few epistles regarding, I'm sorry, uh regarding Christian doctrine while while there. I think that would not be true of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. But the the text on the front end of that diminishing of Israel, Paul is writing and he's actually correcting the churches because of their misunderstanding of doctrine. So Romans is about justification and sanctification and glorification. Paul's addressing the churches of Corinth because of their misunderstanding of liberty and their abuse of liberty. It's horrible. They're deeply in sin. He then writes to the Galatians and he talks to them about their need to return because they're going back to the wrong gospel, the gospel of the kingdom pertaining Israel, that was preached by Jesus because his ministry was to the Jews. These are things we'll unpack at a further time. The epistles of Paul, as we begin to make sense of them, are giving us insight into God actually moving away from how he was trying to reconcile the world to himself through Israel. Anybody ever left confused with the sign gifts, the apostolic gifts like speaking in tongues, healing, gifts of prophecy, a word of knowledge, anything like this? Maybe you've looked at Christianity and you've thought, man, there's some churches that do some weird things that I don't really understand. Maybe God's in that, maybe not, I don't know. Because they left, the couple that was just in here, the reason I was standing up here with this gentleman who was wearing the collar was because they came from like a charismatic background. And uh the first thing he said to me was an unknown language. And he began to talk to me for about a minute in tongues, in some unknown language that I didn't know about, and he began to describe how God is still working according to Jewish sign gifts. Is that what we're supposed to do today? Let me say plainly, that is not what God is doing today. And that doctrine is corrected in 1 Corinthians. And so once again, this is the importance of understanding your Bible in context. Did God work that way? Yes. Can God heal? Yes. Is God able to, you know, overpower a language to give some supernatural gift to a missionary to preach to some tribe who knows where? Yes, absolutely. God is able to do whatever he wants, isn't he? He is. He's just not distinctly working in that way or using those gifts. Because Israel has fallen. They killed Stephen after three honest opportunities to repent, and they have been diminished. The temptation is to think God's done with Israel. God has no interest in Israel anymore. And that's why Paul pauses the book of Romans and says, Hey, don't boast yourself against the natural branches. You're a wild olive branch grafted into what God has been doing. And do not boast yourself, because, listen, if her fall and diminishing were the riches of the Gentiles, how much more her fullness. When you look at this timeline, what you're seeing is a pause or a parentheses in the timeline of God's economies. And you're seeing God put a hold or a judicial blindness on the nation of Israel, ushering in something he never told anybody about, the church, the body of Christ, to reconcile the heavenly places to himself, to declare that he has authority over those places. That's why our conversation is in heaven. That's why we're seated in Christ Jesus in heavenly places. That's why we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but principalities and powers. That's why. Why everything that Paul has to talk to you about is spiritual. And then we get caught up, we get brought up out of here. Praise the Lord. And God brings Israel back to a place where they're able to see their Messiah for who he is, and he causes her to walk in his ways. And though they are truly wicked right now, truly hostile towards the gospel, Romans 11 says they are enemies for the sake, for your sake pertaining to the gospel. But how much more their fullness. God is not going to break his everlasting covenant with Israel. He's going to take everything that we get to partake in right now, and he's going to extend that to Israel and bless the Gentiles through the nation of Israel. You say, but the Bible says in Ephesians chapter, I think it's two, in Galatians chapter 4, that through the gospel there is neither Jew nor Greek, but all are made one in Christ Jesus. You're right. One new man. That's what we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 32. Three distinct people groups. It is not that the gospel has completely undone national identity. It is that God has moved to something he's never talked about before in all of human history. It's amazing. I just don't know if we really realize how precious and splendid the time is that we live today. Moreover, the book of Romans comes first in all of Paul's epistles and he outlines for us major doctrines pertaining to our Christian life. The first book that God wants us to understand is a book whose major theme, or which major uh which the major theme is righteousness. It comes up some 43 times in the text. And it is ultimately the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the righteousness of God, revealed to man in us giving uh getting access to that righteousness by faith. And so go to this next text. Or this uh next verse uh in the PowerPoint. The reason I'm bringing you to uh is there one? Did I skip? Go to Romans chapter 1 and verse 16. Is that in there? Hopefully. Maybe it's not. If not, grab your Bibles, turn to Romans chapter 1 and verse 16 through 17. I might have I might have missed it. Romans chapter 1 and verses 16 through 17. It says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Okay. Paul, when he first first gets saved, and while Israel is being diminished, he goes into the synagogues preaching to them that Jesus is the very Christ. And he's trying to persuade them to turn and repent and be brought into the revelation of the mystery. It goes on, it says, and also the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed, from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. From faith to faith, there's your division. From the faith of the Old Testament and the covenants pertaining to Israel to the faith of Jesus Christ. This is what the church needs to understand today. They need, we need, I need to see the righteousness of God revealed in his word and in me. This is also what the world needs. They need to see the righteousness of God revealed in and through our lives. Not as a message from a pulpit, not from a Facebook reel or Instagram reel, not a guy who has a great social clip who rallies people around lifting up the Word of God and being awesome for Jesus. They need to see Jesus. They need to see the reality of what God has done and what he's offering today. Again, I've already drawn your attention to the timeline that I've provided you this morning, but I do just want to emphasize here the radical nature of the change that's been made in God's plan and purposes with humanity. If you look at the timeline, what I want to just briefly call your attention to is another detail. And this is a reference to actually a man by the name of Clarence Larkin. It's just kind of modernized. But uh if you see that little line at the top of the timeline, it says what the prophet could see. What the prophet could see. And you can see the prophet of the Old Testament actually looking ahead and seeing what God has shown him through visions and revelations. And you can see that his eyesight goes to the cross, and he can see Christ as the Redeemer. And that as he looks onward, he sees Jesus Christ as the Redeemer, met with a lot of other details stacked behind, pertaining his kingship and his crown. Across a crown. And so in your Old Testament, when you're reading the prophets, what you find is that there is a lot of doctrine that pertains to Jesus Christ crucified and him receiving a crown. And all of that's brought together. That's why when Jesus shows up, the disciples are profounded and the Pharisees and the religious rulers of Israel are, because they're expecting Jesus Christ to be the dominant king of Revelation chapter 19, that he would come and establish his kingdom. But he comes as an infant, in a trough, humble, a servant, the son of a carpenter. They can't make sense of what was being spoken of. Why? Well, because God had a plan to also reconcile the heavenly places back to himself through the church of God. And that is the mystery that we get brought into because Israel has rejected her Messiah. Israel has rejected her Messiah. And so what you can see is the prophet could see the cross and the crown, but they couldn't see the church, the body of Christ. They could not see what God was doing in this age. From faith to faith, Paul is bringing us into a conversation about faith to faith. Romans chapter 6 and verse 14. I just want to show you that something has changed. Something's radically changed from how God was interacting with Israel to how he's interacting with us. Romans chapter 6 and verse 14, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. Was there an aspect of grace that was being offered through the Old Testament and the sacrificial system? Yes, absolutely. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Genesis chapter 6 and verse 8, the first mention. Ruth found favor or grace in the eyes of Boaz. Yes, God is offering grace in the Old Testament, but it's not the main thing that he's administering as a way to be in relationship with mankind. Rather, he's interacting with Israel according to the law. And if the Gentiles were to be blessed in the Old Testament, they were going to have to come through Israel. Now, God is saying, I'm doing something totally different. Henceforth, know we no man after the flesh. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Paul says, God's not dealing with us according to national identity anymore. He's dealing with us according to us being a new creature in Christ. And so we're not under the law, but under grace. Let's continue to look in Ephesians chapter 2 and verses 11 through 15. Let me read this quickly. It says, Wherefore remember that ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh who were uncircumcision or non-Jewish by that which is called the circumcision, the Jews in the flesh, made by hands. That at the time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now, okay, something has changed from faith to faith. There's been a divide. God's done something. There's something new. Verse 13, Ephesians chapter 2, but now in Christ, ye who are sometimes afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace who hath made both one and broken down the middle wall of partition between us, that is, Jews and Gentiles. Verse 15, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of the commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself, that is, of Jesus and his body, of twain, of two, one new man, so making peace. A new thing altogether. A new man altogether. And I'm somewhat concerned because while we are familiar with passages like this, they are presenting doctrine that is drastically and profoundly different than anything that's ever been presented before. So listen closely. I know the temptation is to think that what God is teaching us in the Pauline epistles is just prophecy explained. But it is much more than that. The temptation is to think that the Pauline epistles are just the full revelation of what God always intended and what he was trying to get Israel to see in the Old Testament. And now that Christ has come and died and risen again, we can now make sense of what God was doing. That is not the message. I know the temptation is to think that. Yes, it's true. Retrospectively or in hindsight, we can see what God is doing. We can read the Old Testament and have a better sense of the prophecies being fulfilled in Christ. But what Paul's trying to teach you are things that were never spoken of. Ever. They were hid. And I really hope you can hear that point. Take, for example, Isaiah 53. You guys remember Isaiah 53? Isaiah 53, verses 5 through 6. This is in the Old Testament, prophesying of the Lord's death, it says, And he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed. We, um, sorry, all we like sheep have gone astray, and we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Now, when Israel was hearing this by the mouth of Isaiah, they probably didn't understand fully what was happening. And now, retrospectively, we can understand that this is prof prophecy about the Lord Jesus Christ dying at Calvary, yes? And so, yeah, the New Testament brings us into this understanding. And while the New Testament certainly sheds light on the Old Testament, it is not that plain. Ephesians chapter 3, if you were to, I think hopefully you're in Ephesians 2 still. Ephesians 3 and verses 2 through 9. Listen to the language. It says, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given to me, you word. You know, a lot of times people mock the idea of dispensationalism because they read Bibles that have removed that word. But it is a very biblical word. It is God working or dispensing his grace through different economies or time periods or ages as different stewards come onto the scene as people die, and nations rage and change. If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given to me to you, word, in other words, not the law, how that by revelation he hath made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words, wherefore when ye read, ye may have understanding, and my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Hold on, listen closely, Ephesians three and verse five, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of the promise of in Christ by the gospel, whereof I am made a minister according to the grace, I'm sorry, the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effectual working of his power, unto me, who am less than the least of the saints, is this grace given. Again, not the law, God's doing something different, that I might preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. I hope you can see here that Paul himself is saying, God has revealed something to him that was hid in all ages prior. Is that a plain reading of the text? There's something that Paul got brought into in his knowledge and understanding that was never understood prior to Paul. He says here, which from the beginning of the world hath been hidden God, until him, until the dispensation of the grace of God was given to him to preach among the Gentiles. What was so important to God that he had to decide to keep it a secret from the beginning of the world? That is a more important question than you may realize. What is so important to God that he had to decide to keep it a secret since the world began? It is not that Jesus Christ would be the Redeemer, or that he would die and rise again. That was revealed before Paul. I mean, in fact, if you remember Acts chapter 8 before Paul was even saved on the road to Damascus, Acts chapter 9, Philip the evangelist preaches Jesus to the Ethiopian eunuch from Isaiah 53. The evangelist Philip preaches Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, and says, you need to believe upon Jesus Christ based on the Old Testament prophecy. So Philip knew something prior to Paul, and so the mystery isn't directly related to Jesus Christ being the Redeemer of Israel. So again, what is it? Thus the secret was still yet hid. That is the revelation of the mystery. And oh, by the way, the Ethiopian eunuch is a Gentile. So it's not just, the secret is not just that God would bring in Gentiles. That's the temptation as well. We think, well, God was only dealing with Israel, and now it's pretty special that through the cross Gentiles also get to be brought in. It's not just that. Because God desired the Gentiles to know him. Think about the book of Ruth. Think about the book of Jonah. Wasn't one of the greatest revivals in all of the world, Nineveh? God wanted the Gentiles in. That's not a secret. So what is it? What is God kept secret until Paul? It's important. We have to understand these things because it puts in context what we're being taught. Look at the next verse in Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 10. All of this is said, verse 9, to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hidden God who created all things by Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 10, the next verse. For the purpose of, or to the intent, that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus. You know why you exist? Do you know why God kept a secret for what he was doing with the church, the body of Christ? It's so. It's for the per it's to the intent that principalities and powers, that spiritual beings, that angels, can learn something about what God, you know, learn something about God's grace and his wisdom that they never knew prior to the church. According, as it says in verse 11, to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. So, by way of introduction to the book of Romans and conclusion, now I want to exhort you and tell you that God has revealed to us and invited us into something in this age that is so precious that we might miss it. It is his eternal plan and purpose to repossess the heavenly places through the church. And it is his desire to partner with us, to make known his manifold wisdom to the world and to angels as we become a spectacle of the outpouring of his grace. This is the first few chapters of the book of 1 Corinthians. I think it's in chapter 4. We are told that we have been made spectacles unto angels and men. God is trying to do something in a spiritual place as Christians are willing to not identify with their flesh, not identify with their national identity, but identify with Christ according to their heavenly citizenship. And it is in your willingness to believe doctrine that doesn't make sense in your physical, earthly experience, that God's able to actually build a spiritual kingdom. God's going to equip you for a place that you don't understand yet, and that I don't understand. And as we move through our Christian life, we are actually having things prepared in us so that in the day that the Bible says in Romans 8, there is the manifestation of the sons of God. God reveals what suffering produced in the Christian experience. You ever ask the question why is there suffering in the world? Well, there's suffering in the world today. Yes, because of sin. That's the simple answer. The deeper answer is because God's allowed it so that He can produce some glory in us that are willing to suffer with Christ. So that in a day when we get revealed and our bodies get changed, we're forever rewarded and he's forever glorified. It is awesome. I want to exhort you and just tell you, you get to be a part of a secret that God kept from everyone prior to the Apostle Paul. We yield to the indwelling Holy Spirit, and he puts on display his glorious work of redemption in our lives. Grace is not something that the angels get offered, but grace can go to work in your life to produce functional holiness that actually glorifies God. The law could never do that.