Romans

Steven Lawson

Sumário
01. Romans 1.1-2 - Getting the Gospel Right, Part I................................................1
02. Romans 1.3-7 - Getting the Gospel Right, Part II...............................................8
03. Romans 1:8-13 – Profile of a Servant................................................................15
04. Romans 1:14-16 - Three Great I Am's..............................................................22
05. Romans 1:17 – The Heart of the Gospel............................................................30
06. Romans 1:17 – Concerning Faith......................................................................38
07. Divine Wrath - Romans 1:18.............................................................................48
08. No Excuse - Romans 1:19-23.............................................................................59
09. Abandoned by God - Romans 1:24-27..............................................................73
10. Death of a Society - Romans 1:28-32.................................................................87
011. The Moralist Condemned, Part 1 - Romans 2:1-5...........................................98
12. The Moralist Condemned, Part 2 - Romans 2:6-11.........................................112
13. Those Who Have Never Heard- Romans 2:12-16............................................131
14. Condemned By the Law- Romans 2:17-24......................................................161
15. True and False Circumcision - Romans 2:25-29.............................................174
16. Answering Objections - Romans 3:1-8............................................................191
17. The Final Verdict- Romans 3:9-20..................................................................206
18. The Heart of the Gospel- Romans 3:21-26......................................................219
19. Three Great Implications - Romans 3:27-31...................................................233
20. Abraham, Paul and David: Romans 4:1-8......................................................245
21. Faith Alone - Romans 4:9-17...........................................................................260
22. The Nature of Saving Faith - Romans 4:18-22................................................284
23. The God Who Saves - Romans 4:23-25...........................................................298
24. Justification Benefits, Part I - Romans 5:1......................................................313
25. Justification Benefits, Part II - Romans 5:2....................................................333
 01. Romans 1.1-2 - Getting the Gospel Right, Part I

[[@Bible:Ro 1:1-2]] Dr. Steven J. Lawson

Acesso em: 08 out. 2018

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures (Romans 1:1-2).

The imminent theologian and author R.C. Sproul taught Systematic Theology in seminary for
many years. He began each semester by asking his students this simple question: What is the
gospel? As he listened to the answers, he was amazed at how few men aspiring to the ministry
could give a correct answer to this basic question. What an important question to answer
correctly. You cannot be wrong about the gospel and be right with God. To be right about the
gospel is to be right about everything that truly matters. Getting the gospel right is that
important.
There is no better place to acquire a right understanding of the gospel than in the book of
Romans. This is the apostle Paul’s magnum opus, his greatest work among the thirteen epistles
that he wrote. Romans was intentionally placed first among the twenty-one epistles in the New
Testament, not because it was the first epistle written, because it was not. The letters of James
and Galatians were written first. Romans was placed first, immediately after the four Gospels
and Acts, because it towers in importance over the rest of the epistles. To understand the
message of this book is to understand the gospel.
The great German Reformer, Martin Luther, said of Romans, it is “a gateway to heaven,” “an
open door into paradise.” He claimed it is “the chief part of the New Testament,” and “the very
purest gospel.” Luther also stated, “Every Christian should know [Romans] word for word, by
heart…[and should] occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul.” According
to Luther, Romans “can never be read or pondered too much. The more it is dealt with, the more
precious it becomes, and the better it tastes.” This book is that important to every single
individual, whether they recognize it or not.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ
The central theme of the book of Romans is found in its opening verses. In reality, the entire
book of Romans is found in condensed form here in this opening prologue. There is no doubt
what this chief of all books is about. It is about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I cannot think of a
better study for us to undertake than for us to deepen our understanding of and commitment to
the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In the opening prologue, Romans 1:1-17, we see the gospel directly mentioned five times. In
verse one, “the gospel of God.” In verse nine, “the preaching of the gospel of His Son.” In verse
fifteen, “I am eager to preach the gospel.” In verse sixteen, “for I am not ashamed of the
gospel.” In verse seventeen, “for in it,” referring to the gospel. This book is all about the gospel
of Jesus Christ. As we look at these verses, I want to set before you several headings that will
help us in getting the gospel right with great precision. {{field-off:bible}}
[[@Bible:Ro 1:1]] I. The Messenger of the Gospel (1:1)
First, we note in verse one the messenger of the gospel and author of this book, “Paul, a bond-
servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God” (verse 1). Never
had anyone more opposed to the gospel become its strongest exponent. “Paul” had previously
been Saul of Tarsus, a devout Jewish Pharisee, who was hardened in external religion and self-
righteousness. He was determined to eliminate Christianity from the face of the earth as its chief
persecutor. But then the risen Christ appeared to him on the Damascus road and he was
suddenly converted to faith in the Lord Jesus. Once an avowed enemy, he was now the leading
preacher of the gospel he once opposed.
“A Slave of Christ Jesus”
So humbled was Paul by this dramatic change that he first identified himself as “a bond-servant
of Christ Jesus.” The word “bond-servant” is better translated as “slave.” There is a noticeable
difference between the two designations. A bond-servant was hired by a master, who paid him
wages for the services rendered. But a slave was owned by his master, who has paid a price to
purchase him. While a bond-servant still retained some degree of personal rights and freedom, a
slave was much like an acquired piece of property by his master.
All the needs of the slave were met by the master. What the slave owed his master was
unwavering obedience. As he served in his master’s house, he was to give unwavering devotion
to his desires and pleasures.
This is precisely how Paul saw himself, as a slave in the employment of his master, Jesus
Christ. Paul recognized that his life was no longer his own. He now belonged to Jesus Christ,
who had bought him at the cross with the high price of his shed blood. Paul gave himself
entirely to the cause of Christ, which was centered in the gospel. For the rest of his life, he was
devoted to the preaching and teaching of the truths of the gospel.
“Called as an Apostle”
Further, Paul identified himself and one who was “called as an apostle.” He had certainly not
sought this position. Nor had he signed up for it. Paul had been sovereignly chosen and “called”
by God Himself for this ministry position. He would state, “God…set me apart even from my
mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I
might preach Him among the Gentiles” (Galatians 1:15-16). This was the work of the gospel to
which Paul had been called from before the foundation of the world.
Specifically, Paul had been called to be “an apostle.” This word (apostolos) means ‘one who is
sent’ or ‘a sent one.’ It referred to a delegate or messenger who has been officially
commissioned on a mission. An apostle in New Testament times was one who received direct
revelation from God and was given a delegated authority from Jesus Christ to preside over the
affairs of the church. Paul makes this designation so that the believers in Rome will know that
he writes with infallible and binding authority over the affairs of the church. Everything that
follows in this letter is the unvarnished truth that directly proceeds from Jesus Christ Himself.
“Set Apart for the Gospel”
Moreover, Paul makes known that he is “set apart for the gospel.” This is to say, he has been
singled out and separated by God for the service of the gospel. All else was secondary, and this
was primary. This word “set apart” (aphorizo) means ‘to mark off by boundaries to set apart for
a special purpose.’ It carries the idea of separation to a specified assignment. Paul understood
that he had been set apart by God for the specific purpose of spreading the gospel far and wide.
This was his God-chosen mission upon the earth. He had been sovereignly separated to the
propagation of the gospel.
 
By these three designations – slave, apostle, and one set apart – Paul is wanting there to be no
misunderstanding about who he is. He is merely a messenger of the gospel, not its author. He is
simply a servant of the gospel, not its originator. He has been dispatched by God to bring this
saving message with greater clarity to his readers. But let there be no mistake. He is only the
messenger of a much higher authority, God Himself. In turn, his readers must receive the truths
that follow as from the throne of God.
II. The Source of the Gospel (1:1)
Second, we note the source of the gospel at the end of verse one. Who is the author of the
gospel? From whom does it come? Paul says in verse one, “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus,
called as an apostle, set apart…” Paul wants us to know that he is only the messenger. He is not
the author, but simply one who has been sent as an ambassador to bring this gospel message. It
does not originate with him.
When Paul says at the end of verse one, “for the gospel of God,” it means not only that the
gospel is about God – meaning His holiness, His love, His wrath, and His righteousness – but
also that this gospel is God’s gospel. It has come down from the throne of God above. It means
that God is the source of the gospel. He is the author of the gospel. He is the architect of the
gospel.
The gospel is God’s solution to our dilemma. It is the good news that has come down from the
infinite genius of God.  If we divided up into small groups today and met nonstop for the next
ten thousand years brainstorming a plan of salvation, we could have never designed the gospel
message. It could have only come from the sheer infinite genius of God.
Who but God could have designed this gospel message? That God would send the second
Person of the Trinity, His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into this world to rescue us. Who but
God could have designed this? That He would be born of a virgin. That He would live under the
Law, and with perfect obedience keep the Law that you and I have broken day after day. Who
but God could have designed this? That He would go to the cross and be lifted up to die. That
all of the sins of all the people who would ever believe in Him would be transferred to Him, and
that He would bear our sins in His body upon the cross. Who but God could have designed this?
That He would be taken down from the cross, buried in a borrowed tomb, and on the third day
be raised from the dead. That He would ascend on high and whosoever shall call upon the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Who but God could have designed this gospel message?
No denomination could have designed it. No church could have crafted it. No seminary could
have scripted it. No board of elders could have ever come up with this plan. Only God could
have come up with this solution. The source of the gospel is God Himself. That is why to
receive the gospel is to receive God Himself. To reject the gospel is to reject God Himself. God
is the source of the gospel. That is why there is a zero tolerance policy for any tampering with
the gospel. No church, theologian, or pastor may add to the gospel, take away from the gospel,
or try to tweak the gospel. This is the gospel of God.
III. The Meaning of the Gospel (1:1e)
Third, we note the meaning of the gospel. We see it at the end of verse one, “the gospel of
God.” It begs that we ask the question: What does the word “gospel” mean? “Gospel” a
compound word in the original language, meaning two words that come together as one. It is the
Greek word euangelion. The eu at the beginning means ‘good.’ Someone might give a eulogy,
which means ‘a good word,’ at a funeral. You can hear the Greek word angelion in the word
angel, meaning a ‘messenger or message.’ When those two Greek words come together, the
word gospel simply means ‘the good news, the good tidings, the glad tidings.’
The gospel is the good news of salvation through the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, to
rescue us from the wrath of God. Romans 1:18 says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men…” God is angry with the wicked
every day. It is through the gospel that sinners like you and I are delivered and rescued from the
wrath of God. You will never hear anything better than the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not just
good news, it is the greatest news that will ever enter your ear and come into your heart.
Martin Luther said:
Evangel (gospel) is a Greek word that means a good message, good tidings, good news, a good
report, which one sings and tells with rejoicing. So when David overcame the huge Goliath, the
good report and the comforting news came among the Jewish people that their terrible enemy
had been slain, that they had been delivered, and that joy and peace had been given to them; and
they sang and danced and were happy because of this.
So the evangel (gospel) of God…is also a good message and report. The gospel has resounded
in all the world, proclaimed by the apostles. It tells of a true David who fought with sin, death,
and the devil, overcame them, and thereby delivered, without any merit of their own, all those
who were held captive in sin, were plagued by death, and were overpowered by the devil. He
made them righteous, gave them life, and saved them.
This is what the gospel means. It is the good news of our deliverance from destruction, of our
rescue from wrath. It should cause our hearts to rise up with joy and bless the name of the Lord.
IV. The Exclusivity of the Gospel (1:1)
Fourth, we note the exclusivity of the gospel. As we look at verse one, note the last four words:
“the gospel of God.” You see the definite article, “the” in “the gospel.” This speaks to the
exclusivity of the gospel, meaning there is no other gospel. The gospel is never couched as “a”
gospel, as if it is one of many paths that lead up the proverbial mountain that leads to God.
There is only one gospel, and it is God’s gospel, which He has revealed to us. The definite
article “the” is not in the original language here, but neither is the “a.” It is to be understood that
“the” is implied by the reader. It is found in verse nine and verse sixteen. Every time the gospel
is mentioned, it is mentioned as “the gospel,” implying the one and only gospel.
1 Corinthians 15:1 refers to that which is of first importance, “the gospel.” Galatians 1:7 speaks
of “the gospel.” The only time “a gospel” is ever mentioned in the Bible, it refers to “a gospel
contrary to what you received” (Galatians 1:9), for which men who preach or believe it will be
eternally damned. “The gospel” is spoken of in Ephesians 1:13, Ephesians 6:15, Philippians
1:5,7,12,16,27, Colossians 1:5,23, 1 Thessalonians 2:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:8, 2 Timothy 1:10,
etc. and etc. It runs rampant throughout the entire New Testament. The gospel is always
presented as the one and only gospel.
We need to understand that there are many roads to hell, but only one road to heaven. Proverbs
14:12 says, “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Every
self-conceived way to God, whether by human religion, wisdom, or morality, leads to eternal
death. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but
through Me” (John 14:6). Jesus claimed an exclusive monopoly on how to come to God. Peter,
as he stood before the Sanhedrin, said “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other
name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). 1
Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus.” There are as many mediators as there are gods. There is one God and,
therefore, one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
We live today in a world that strives for political correctness, that is tolerant of every religion as
having some part of the truth. It is claimed that every religion makes some contribution to the
overall body of knowledge about God. The fundamental core value today is tolerance. I fear this
spirit of the age has crept into the church. It has lulled us to sleep into accepting this worldly
philosophy. Everybody is right, it seems, and nobody is wrong. Let me be crystal clear. There is
only one way to God – not two or three ways –  and that one way is through Jesus Christ the
Lord. Every other religion is a path to hell. We are not just dogmatic about this, we are bull-
dogmatic about this. I trust that your faith is in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, for there is
salvation in no other name. {{field-off:bible}}
[[@Bible:Ro 1:2]] V. The Antiquity of the Gospel (1:2)
Fifth, as we come to verse two, I want you to note the antiquity of the gospel. What Paul wants
us to know is that the gospel is not a trendy new message that has only recently come onto the
scene in New Testament times. Paul asserts that the gospel is rooted and grounded in the fertile
soil of Old Testament Scripture. The gospel is as old as the world itself, even longer.
“Promised Beforehand”
In verse two, Paul begins, “which He [God the Father] promised beforehand through His
prophets in the holy Scriptures.” The impersonal pronoun “which’ refers to the gospel. This
means that the gospel was promised long ago from the beginning of time, throughout all the
centuries of Old Testament history. This gospel was prophesied and promised throughout the
pages of the Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi. It was announced to Adam and Eve in the
garden of Eden. It was believed by Abraham when he reached the promised land. It was
received by Moses at Mount Sinai. It was pictured by the Levitical sacrificial system in the
Law. It was proclaimed by the prophets of Israel. This is not a new way to heaven that has
recently appeared in New Testament times. Paul wants us to know that the gospel is not ‘Plan
B’ in the New Testament. It is not an addendum added to the first testament. There is only one
way of salvation in both the Old and New Testaments, and it is exactly the same gospel
message.
Anytime anyone anywhere has been saved, from the dawn of human history to the last of the
elect to be saved, it has always been by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. There
was not an Old Testament way of salvation that is different from the New Testament way of
salvation. There was not an Old Testament path to God, and now there is a New Testament path
to God. There was not a Jewish gospel in the Old Testament, and now a Gentile gospel in the
New Testament. No, there was and is and will always be only one way of salvation, which was
“promised beforehand through His prophets.” There is no other way to be right with God.
By Faith Alone
Whether a person lived in Old Testament times looking ahead to the coming of Christ, or
whether they are in New Testament times looking back to the coming of Christ, we are all saved
by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. It is all about Christ. That is why, when Paul
comes to the end of this prologue in verse 17, he affirms salvation is by faith alone by saying,
“as it is written.” He then quotes the prophet in Habakkuk 2:4, “but the righteous man shall live
by faith.” By this Old Testament citation, Paul is driving home this truth deep into our minds.
The Old Testament gospel is the New Testament gospel, which is the only gospel.
Later in Romans, Paul will establish the doctrine of justification by faith alone by using two Old
Testament figures, Abraham and David. He is like an attorney in a courtroom who calls to the
witness stand Abraham and David and submits them as evidence for our understanding of how
we may be made right with God in New Testament times. The point that Paul makes is that the
way that Abraham was saved is the way David was saved, and it is the same way that you and I
are made right with God. It is through this one gospel, whether a person lives before or after the
cross. This is why it is so critically important that we get the gospel right, because there is no
other rope to grab hold in order to be saved from perishing. There is no other way that leads to
God. There is no other access to the throne of grace, but through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Live with Eternal Purpose
As Paul was set apart for the gospel, we too are separated from the mundane things of this world
unto the eternal realities that surround the gospel. We must live to make Jesus Christ known,
whether in our families, workplaces, or ministries. This is why God has left us here after He
saved us. It is to be His witnesses for the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must commit ourselves to
spreading the gospel by every means possible.
The story is told about Mr. Armour, who was the head of the Armor Meat Packing empire. He
was a man well-known to be successful in his enormous business. One day, he boarded a plane,
and a young salesman sat next to him. To make conversation, the upstart businessman
introduced himself to Mr. Armour, not realizing to whom he was speaking. “And what do you
do for a living?,” he asked. The famous, older Mr. Armour replied, “My name is Mr. Armour.
My job is to tell other people about Jesus Christ. I just pack a little meat on the side.”
The same is true for you and me. We may teach school or practice law. We may raise cattle or
drive a truck. But our business is to tell others about Jesus Christ. {{field-off:bible}}
 02. Romans 1.3-7 - Getting the Gospel Right, Part II

[[@Bible:Ro 1:3-7]] {{field-on:bible}} Dr. Steven J. Lawson

Acesso em: 08 out. 2018

Concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was
declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit
of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to
bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, among whom
you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 1:3-7).

The gospel is the good news that God has provided salvation for perishing sinners through the
person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ. But the gospel is more than good news. It is the best
news that anyone will ever receive. No one will ever hear better news than what they hear in the
gospel of God. Here is the glorious news that there is deliverance from the gathering storm of
the coming wrath of God on the last day.
The book of Romans contains the most comprehensive treatment of the gospel to be found
anywhere in Scripture. In this letter, the apostle Paul traces the building development of the
gospel, from condemnation to glorification, from guilt to glory. In this epistle, Paul follows the
logical development of the gospel from the depths of human depravity to the heights of divine
grace. Here is the full spectrum of the gospel that reaches back to eternity past and extends into
eternity future. Here is the alpha and omega of the gospel, the beginning and the end, the first
and the last.
In our last lesson, we began looking at the opening prologue to this epistle to the Romans.
Specifically, we began looking at verses one through seven and were only able to investigate the
first two verses. In this lesson, we want to continue where we concluded and consider verses
three through seven. As we do, I want to extend the same outline that we began using last time.
To this point, we have seen: (1) The Messenger of the Gospel (verse 1), (2) The Source (verse
1), (3) The Meaning (verse 1), (4) The Exclusivity (verse 1), and (5) The Antiquity (verse 2).
Presently, we will consider more aspects of the gospel in verses three through seven.
What we are considering in this opening prologue is a matter of first importance to our Christian
faith (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). This is not incidental, but fundamental to our spiritual lives. This is
not peripheral, but primary – it is not secondary, but supreme. Let us give our utmost attention
to the gospel truths contained in these verses. {{field-off:bible}}
[[@Bible:Ro 1:3-5]]{{field-on:bible}}
I. The Subject of the Gospel (1:3-5a)
Sixth, we note the subject of the gospel in verse 3. Please note the first word “concerning.” The
gospel deals with what will follow in the next verses. Here is the substance of the gospel,
namely, Jesus Christ. The Son of God is the alpha and the omega of the gospel. The gospel is
rooted and grounded in the person and work of Jesus Christ. John Calvin rightly said, “The
whole gospel is contained in Jesus Christ.” As we look at these verses, verse three gives us
the person of Christ, verse four gives us the proof of Christ, and the beginning of verse five
gives us the provision of Christ. The whole gospel is found in Jesus Christ. If you have Christ
you have everything. If you do not have Him, you have nothing. “He who has the Son has the
life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life” (1 John 5:12). {{field-
off:bible}}
[[@Bible:Ro 1:3]] The Incomparable Person of Christ
Paul begins his explanation of the subject of the gospel in verse three with
the incomparable person of Christ. What makes this verse so remarkable is that this is one of
the rare passages where we find both the deity and the humanity of Christ joined together in one
text. He writes about the gospel that it is, “concerning His Son.” There can be no mistake but
that the gospel concerns the eternal Son of the living God, the second Person of the Trinity. He
is the One who is coequal and coeternal with the Father. Jesus Christ is as much God as God the
Father and God the Spirit are God. That the gospel focuses upon and concerns itself with Jesus
Christ is why Paul said, “we preach Christ crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:23). He also said, “I
determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians
2:2).
Someone may say, “Wait a minute, Paul. You wrote thirteen epistles in the New Testament and
covered the full counsel of God. You addressed all ten major areas of theology – bibliology,
theology proper, Christology, pneumatology, angelology, anthropology, soteriology,
hamartiology, ecclesiology, and eschatology. Paul, you covered the full gamut. Why would you
say to us that you determined to know nothing among us except Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
when you said to the elders in Acts 20 that you have declared the full counsel of God?” The
answer is that out of every area of theology, the lines rise and intersect at the highest apex in the
person and work of Jesus Christ. He is the very heart and heartbeat of the gospel. In Colossians
1:28, Paul puts it even more succinctly, “we proclaim Him.” That was the sum and the
substance of the gospel that Paul preached. It was all about Christ.
What is the Gospel?
A few years ago, I was preaching at the Shepherd’s Conference in Los Angeles. I did a radio
interview with Todd Friel and at the end of the interview, he asked me to tell the large crowd
gathered there what the gospel is. I made a beeline to the Lord Jesus Christ. I launched into His
virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, present enthronement, and
imminent return. After the interview was over, I went to the speakers’ room where I spoke with
John MacArthur, Al Mohler, and others. They asked what I had been doing, and I told them
about the interview. Dr. MacArthur replied, “Ok, what is the gospel?” I went into a discourse on
the Lord Jesus Christ. Shortly after, I flew to Ligonier and was sharing with Dr. Sproul about
the interview. He asked me, “Ok, what is the gospel?” I again proceeded to give a diatribe on
Jesus Christ. We should be able to wake up at 3:00 in the morning and, within two seconds, give
the gospel of Jesus Christ.
If you know anything, you have to know the gospel. You cannot be saved without the gospel.
You cannot be a witness for Christ without the gospel. You might say, “Well, I will just live it.”
Then people will go to hell thinking you are a good person. No one can be saved apart from the
gospel.
Truly God, Truly Man
As verse three continues, we see the humanity of the Son of God. We read in verse three, “who
was born of a descendent of David.” Eternal God without beginning was born? He entered the
human race as a descendant of David, according to the flesh. This alludes to the virgin birth, to
be like us, yet so unlike us. He came in the royal lineage of David that had been marked out
through the centuries past by the prophets. Jesus was the God-man, truly God and truly man, not
half-God and half-man. Jesus was God in human flesh.
Jesus Christ had to be truly God, truly man in order to be our mediator. A mediator stands
between two parties who have had a falling out in order to make peace between the two
offended sides. These two parties are at enmity with one another. Or worse, they are at war with
one another. In order to make reconciliation, a mediator has to be equal to both sides. There can
be no partiality toward either side. Jesus had to be truly God if He was to represent God to us.
And He had to be truly man if He was to represent us before God. No one else could have stood
between God and the human race and mediated reconciliation between the two separated
parties. No one else could have propitiated the righteous anger of God toward us. No one else
could have redeemed us out of the slave-market of sin. No one except one who was truly God
and truly man.
We could not lift ourselves up to God by our own self-righteousness. We could not ascend up to
God by our good works. God had to come down to us. That is what He did for us in the person
of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus entered the human race and got into our skin. He
became one of us, that He might lift us up to the heights of heaven by His sinless life and
substitutionary death. The person and work of Christ is the very heart and soul of the gospel that
we have believed and preach. Whenever you give a witness to someone, you must speak of
Christ. Spurgeon said, “The more gospel we would preach, the more of Christ we must preach.”
There is no gospel outside of Jesus Christ. {{field-off:bible}}
[[@Bible:Ro 1:4]] {{field-on:bible}}The Indisputable Proof of Christ
In verse four, Paul writes about the indisputable proof of Jesus Christ. It says that He was
“declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.” This is the ultimate
validation that Jesus Christ is exactly who He claimed to be. Early in his public ministry, Jesus
said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). By this, He was
referring to the temple of His own body and His own resurrection. Jesus later said, “Just as
Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so will the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). Jesus also said, “The Son of
Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been
killed, He will rise three days later” (Mark 9:31). The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
unmistakably affirms His full deity.
In reality, the resurrection was a Trinitarian resurrection. In verse four, Paul notes the
resurrection of Jesus Christ was, “according to the Spirit of holiness.” This is a Hebraism,
meaning “by the Holy Spirit.” In many passages, the Scripture teaches that God the Father
raised Jesus from the dead (Acts 13:30). Here, God the Holy Spirit raised Him from the dead.
God the Son said that He would raise Himself from the dead. Jesus said, “I have authority to lay
[my life] down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My
Father” (John 10:18). All three Persons of the Trinity were active in the resurrection of Jesus
Christ.
Jesus Christ Our Lord
Notice the last four words of verse four, “Jesus Christ our Lord.” What Paul is saying is so
important that he gives all three names for the Son of God, the Son of Man. Lest there be any
misunderstanding of who is the subject and substance of the gospel, Paul uses all three names.
“Jesus” is His saving name. It means “Jehovah Saves.” Matthew 1:21 explains, “You shall call
His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Jesus is His saving name. That is
the mission. “Christ” is His strong name. It means “the anointed one.” He was anointed with the
power of the Holy Spirit in Luke 3:21 as He inaugurated His public ministry. He was endued
with power from on high in order to carry out His enterprise of salvation. He is the Christ, the
anointed One, the One who was endued with supernatural power, even to hang upon the cross in
His humanity. “Lord” is His sovereignname. Here, the Greek word kurios is used, meaning
‘despot, ruler, Lord over all.’ It is also used in Philippians 2:10-11 as Paul declares, “That every
knee would bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.” Paul belabors this at the end of verse four, as if to take a pen and underscore it before
our eyes. “Jesus Christ our Lord” is the subject and substance of the gospel. John 4:42 tells us,
“this One is indeed the Savior of the world.” {{field-off:bible}}
[[@Bible:Ro 1:4]] {{field-on:bible}}The Infinite Provision of Christ
In verse five, we see the infinite provision of Christ. We have seen the person of Christ, the
proof of Christ, and now the provision of Christ. Verse five begins with “through.” The word
“through” means ‘a means or a channel.’ It is like a pipe through which something is flowing.
“Through whom,” “whom” is a personal pronoun. Paul is not talking about an impersonal
‘what’ but a personal ‘whom.’ We are not talking about a mere plan, but about the person of
Jesus Christ. “Through whom we have received grace.” “We” refers to all believers. There is
nothing we can do to work for grace. It can only be “received.” “Grace” is not a reward for the
righteous, but a gift for the guilty. It can only be received with the empty hand of faith. We did
not earn it. We do not deserve it. We have not merited it. We did not work for it. God’s grace is
freely given as a gift purchased by Jesus Christ.
This includes every aspect of grace – saving grace, sanctifying grace, strengthening grace,
serving grace, and sustaining grace. We have received “grace upon grace” (John 1:16). Grace
has been “multiplied” to us. This speaks of the overflowing, abundant grace that is flowing into
our lives. All grace is through Christ. There is not one drop of grace outside of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the only mediator by which the grace of God comes flooding into our lives. It all
comes through this exclusive channel, through this one and only means, through the person and
work of Jesus Christ.
We can give our testimony and tell others about what God has done in our lives. But that is not
the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is not about us. It concerns Jesus Christ. Charles
Spurgeon said that a sermon without Christ – or we could add, a witness without Christ – is like
a day without the sun, a night without the moon, the ocean without water, the skies without the
stars. A sermon without Christ is an empty well that mocks the traveler or a cloud that never
rains. Christ is the Savior of sinners, the very subject and substance of the gospel.
II. The Demand of the Gospel (1:5b)
Seventh, we see the demand of the gospel. In verse five, Paul continues to say that the gospel is
intended “to bring about the obedience of faith.” The “obedience of faith” means the obedience
that springs from faith. In other words, true saving faith produces obedience to the Lord Jesus
Christ as His sovereign will is revealed in His written word. The gospel calls for obedience at
the moment of any person’s conversion. Obedience to Jesus Christ is not an optional step that
occurs three or four years subsequent to our conversion. Obedience starts at conversion, because
the gospel itself is more than merely a public proclamation. It is more than a free offer or an
open invitation. It is these things, but it is more than that. The gospel is a divine imperative that
commands our repentance and faith. Jesus inaugurated His public ministry preaching, “Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). “Repent” is issued in the imperative
mood, making it a command. Saving faith is a decisive step of obedience to the command of the
gospel to believe in Jesus Christ. Unbelief is defiant disobedience (John 3:36), because God
commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30).
At the moment of conversion, genuine, true, saving faith immediately produces the initial
obedience to Jesus Christ as one submits his life, denies himself, takes up his cross, entrusts his
life to Christ, and walks through the narrow gate. Faith and obedience cannot be separated. True
faith always produces obedience that leads to a transformed life.
John Stott writes, “Paul looked for a total, unreserved commitment to Jesus Christ, which he
called the obedience of faith. This is our answer to those who argue that it is possible to accept
Jesus as Savior without surrendering to Him as Lord. If there is no obedience, there is no faith.
It is just talk. It is just raising a hand, walking an aisle, signing a card, and getting wet. True,
saving faith immediately comes under the Lordship of Christ and obeys Him even to receive the
gospel.” This is precisely what the apostle Paul is teaching.
VIII. The Scope of the Gospel (1:5c)
Eighth, we see the scope of the gospel. As we continue in verse five, Paul writes, “among all the
Gentiles.” This message that the gospel is to be preached to all the world, and it must be
received by all the Gentiles. All tribes, all tongues, all nations, and all peoples must have the
gospel brought to them. This is why we are committed to world missions and the global task of
bringing the gospel to all peoples. There must be the worldwide endeavor of taking the gospel to
every individual on the planet. The gospel is for everyone. If you are breathing today, you need
the gospel.
This reality brings us back to the point made earlier on the exclusivity of the gospel. If the
gospel is for “all the Gentiles,” then there is no other message in the world by which men and
women may be saved except through this gospel. There was not one way for someone to be
saved in Rome, but a different way for people in Asia to be saved. Nor could there be a different
way for the Russians to be saved apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is God’s only
saving message for the world.
IX. The Sake of the Gospel (1:5d)
Ninth, Paul stresses the sake of the gospel at the end of verse five. He says, “for His name’s
sake.” The gospel is for the honor and glory of the Son of God. Here is the highest purpose of
the gospel. This saving message is, ultimately, for the fame of the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is that there would be a vast multitude of voices in the Hallelujah Choir, singing the
praises of His name. The gospel is for the lofty purpose that throughout all the ages to come,
there would be myriads upon myriads of fervent worshipers who will magnify the excellencies
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the purpose of the gospel. Getting people out of hell and into
heaven is somewhat peripheral. What is primary is the magnification of Jesus Christ.
At the heart of the gospel is that the Son of God would have a chosen bride who would be
conformed into His image and who would sing His praises throughout all the ages to come. The
gospel is the means by which this glorification of Jesus Christ would come to pass. The sake of
the gospel is that Christ would be known, that Christ would be embraced, that Christ would be
worshiped, that Christ would be honored, that Christ would be obeyed, and that Christ would be
followed. The gospel is what elevates and exonerates Christ. {{field-off:bible}}
[[@Bible:Ro 1:6-7]]{{field-on:bible}} X. The Success of the Gospel (1:6-7a)
Tenth, Paul addresses the success of the gospel in verses six and seven. The apostle next
addresses the believers in Rome as “among whom you also are the called of Christ Jesus; to all
who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints.” “You” clearly refers to all believers and
believers only. They are “the called of Jesus Christ.” In the Bible there are mentioned three
different calls of God, and each must be distinguished one from the other. R.C. Sproul said to
me several times, “A good theologian makes careful distinctions. He knows how to slice a
subject and make distinctions.” When we come to the matter of the call of Jesus Christ, there is
the external call and the internal call.
The external call is the voice of the preacher, the voice of the Sunday school teacher, the voice
of the mother or father, the voice of one who would give a witness. As we say out loud,
“whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21), that is the external
call. It can go only to the ear and no further. No one will ever be saved until there is this second
call.
One, there is the call to vocational ministry, we saw that in verse one. Paul was called to be “an
apostle.” Everyone has received a vocational call to serve God in some capacity. Two, there is
the external call of God whenever the gospel is made known. Jesus said, “Many are called, but
few chosen” (Matthew 22:14). Three, there is the internal call of God that draws the elect to
faith in Jesus Christ. Theologians refer to it as the effectual call, meaning there is a cause and
effect relationship between this call and saving faith. The effectual cause will always bring
about the intended effect for which God extended it. This divine call apprehends the one called,
and in that moment overcomes all human resistance. This call conquers the heart and brings that
one to faith in Christ. It opens the heart and takes out the old heart of stone and puts in the heart
of flesh. It writes God’s word upon the tablet of the heart and deposits the Holy Spirit within the
one called. This summons causes the one subpoenaed to walk in the written statues of God. The
Spirit of God, in that split second, grants repentance and faith. The sinner cries out, “Lord Jesus,
have mercy upon me, the sinner.”
In this saving process, the conception took place before the delivery. God had already been
sovereignly at work in that heart. All those whom He foreknew He predestined, and whom He
predestined He called, and whom He called He justified, and whom He justified He glorified
(Romans 8:29-30). The group He began with in eternity past is the group He will conclude with
in eternity future. There are no dropouts along the way. There are none added along the way.
God will have His way with His chosen people. In the day that God calls, the gospel will have a
reception. The gospel will not go unheeded. There will be many who will reject it. But all those
whom He foreknew and predestined, He will call into the kingdom. He will justify His called
ones, and He will one day glorify them. This is the guaranteed success of the gospel made
certain by God Himself.
Our responsibility is to proclaim the gospel to as many people as possible and leave the results
with God. We are to scatter the seed of the gospel as far and as wide as we can. That is what the
word ‘broadcasting’ means. It is to cast the seed of the gospel as broad as we can. We must
leave the results with God. God has already purposed and decreed that there will be a positive
response to the gospel. {{field-off:bible}}
[[@Bible:Ro 1:7]] {{field-on:bible}} XI. The Blessings of the Gospel (1:7b)
Eleventh, we see the blessings of the gospel in the second half of verse seven. Paul concludes,
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Both of these
blessings flow from the gospel. Apart from the gospel, neither come to any person. The order of
these words is important. First comes grace and then peace. These come from God the Father
through the Son, applied by God the Spirit. The grace of God brings His peace to those called.
The overflow of divine grace is supernatural peace.
In verse seven, Paul does not say peace with God, but peace from God. He does not refer here to
objective peace with God that is the result of justification. We find this objective peace
mentioned later in Romans, “having been justified by faith, we have peace with God” (5:1). In
Romans 1:7, the reference is to the subjective peace of God, which is the inner calmness and
tranquility of the heart that comes from God alone. This subjective peace is found in Philippians
4:6-7, when Paul writes, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which
surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Only those
who know God the Father through His Son, Jesus Christ, experience this all-sufficient grace and
internal peace in the heart. {{field-off:bible}}
Conclusion
I want to ask you, does there need to be a response in your heart today to the gospel? Have you
believed in Jesus Christ? Have you entrusted your life to Him who is the only Savior of sinners?
Have you entered through the narrow gate? Have you been born again by the Spirit of God from
above? Have you laid hold of Christ by faith?
If you have never believed upon Jesus Christ, I am extending to you the external call on behalf
of the King, who has sent me as His ambassador to proclaim to you the good news that God
receives sinners into His kingdom. God has thrown open the gates of paradise, and the Savior is
standing in the gateway saying, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will
give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew
11:28-30). Jesus says, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in
Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water’” (John
7:37-38). Come to Christ now!
Have you ever come to Christ by faith? Come to Him this moment. This is more than an
invitation. The gospel is commanding you today to step out of the shadows and darkness of your
unbelief and to enter into the light of His grace and His mercy. He will receive you. He is a
physician who has not come for those who are well, but for those who are sick. He has not come
for the righteous, but for the unrighteous. He has come for those who are just like you. If you
will come to Christ in repentance and faith, He will gladly receive you. Come to Him in
humility and submission. Come to Him in saving faith, and He will gather you into His loving
arms and never let you go.
 03. Romans 1:8-13 – Profile of a Servant

[[@Bible:Ro 1:8-13]] {{field-on:bible}} Dr. Steven J. Lawson

Acesso em: 08 out. 2018

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed
throughout the whole world. For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel
of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers
making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. For I
long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that
is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith,
both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to
come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also,
even as among the rest of the Gentiles (Romans 1:8-13).

In this opening prologue, the apostle Paul is primarily concerned with establishing the essential
truths of the gospel. Everything that he will explain in the rest of this epistle is found in seed
form in these opening verses. But Paul is also concerned with the messenger of the gospel.
There is a certain kind of man, marked by personal holiness, that God uses to proclaim the
glories of the gospel of God. It matters to God that the saving message be proclaimed by men
who are possessed with the heart of a servant.
This being so, Paul is transparent with the believers in Rome in these verses as he gives them a
brief insight into his inner spiritual life. He wants them to know his desire to sacrificially serve
them in the Lord. His heart is humble, and his motives are pure. They must receive the message
that he is writing to them, because he writes to them as a servant of the Lord, who gives himself
to them, selflessly, for their spiritual good.
In the last two weeks, we have looked at Romans 1:1-7. These verses begin the prologue for the
book of Romans, which continues to verse 17. These verses are designed to point us to the
central theme of the entire rest of the book, which is the gospel. In one sense, to understand this
opening prologue is to understand the whole rest of the book. Romans is Paul’s major treatise
for the gospel of God. In fact, it is so for the entire Bible. Here is the fullest theological
treatment on the gospel in recorded Scripture.
It has been well said that the apostle Paul was the greatest Christian who ever lived. That would
be hard to dispute. Paul was the most dynamic, and, arguably, the most die-to-self, live-for-
Christ believer who ever walked this earth. In these verses, we are allowed to peer into Paul’s
heart and see what drove him in his ministry for the gospel. We need the same qualities to be on
the inside of each one of us, driving our spiritual lives. These same realities need to be found in
our souls as well. Here is the kind of man whom God uses, and we must pursue being the same
kind of person.

A God-Given Love

What is amazing about Paul as he writes this epistle is the fact that he had never been to Rome.
He had never met these believers to whom he is writing this letter. It was not as though Paul had
been planted the church in Rome, seen their faces, known their names, and is writing to those he
knows intimately. He has never been to Rome at this point. Yet this is how large-hearted the
apostle Paul was. The more Paul loved God, the more he loved the people of God. His heart was
enlarged for his fellow believers with warm affection. The same will be true in our lives. The
more we love God, the more we have the love of overflowing from our heart for others.
People who love God never stay isolated from others. Those who love God want to impact this
world for Jesus Christ. They do not withdraw into seclusion to be removed from people. To the
contrary, they are advancing to the frontlines of this world, where they can rub shoulders with
others who need the gospel. They have a contagious faith to impact and influence others with
the gospel. That is why the Lord has left us here on the earth, and why we are not already in
heaven. We remain here to be a witness with the gospel and to try to reach as many people as
we possibly can with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Simply put, we must try to take as many people
with us to heaven as we possibly can.
A Life of Service to Others

As Paul is writing verse 11, look at it again. “For I long to see you so that I may impart some
spiritual gift to you.” He is saying, “I want to come see you so I can give to you, so I can pour
my life into you. Not so I can take from you, but so I can sacrifice for you and help you in your
Christian life.” This has to be our spiritual mindset as we live for Christ. It is an attitude that I
am here to be a servant of God and to minister to others with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As we consider these verses, I want to extract some timeless principles that we need to be real in
our spiritual lives. It is one thing to know the gospel, but it is something else to be used by Him
to impart the gospel to others. Now that we know Christ through the gospel, we need these
character qualities to be dynamically alive within us. The following virtues should be present in
our lives as servants of God. {{field-off:bible}}

[[@Bible:Ro 1:8]]{{field-on:bible}}I. A GODLY SERVANT IS SPIRITUAL (1:8)

 
As Paul begins in verse eight, I want you to see his spiritual-mindedness. Paul sees everything
in life through a spiritual lens. He says, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all,
because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world” (v. 8). What excited Paul
was these believers getting the gospel out to other people. This is how he sized up a church, by
how well they spread the gospel. This is Paul’s spiritual mindset, his spiritual orientation.
 
It is so easy to be sidetracked when you are trying to size up a church. What makes a church
great? It is easy to be lured in estimating the greatness of a church. I once pastored a church
with a facility that is jaw-dropping.  When I first went to preach a trial sermon, they had a
sanctuary that was built to hold 4,000 people. As I stepped into the pulpit, I stood on an Oriental
rug. There were brass chandeliers and a white marble floor. When the choir sang and the
orchestra played, it felt like the heavens had opened up. That was heady wine for a young
preacher to step into that glamorous setting and to begin to preach. I accepted their call to be the
pastor and once I was there, it dawned on me that this was an unspiritual church. They were a
major section of people who did not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I remember the
Sunday morning when I said, “Take your Bible and turn with me to Romans chapter 1,” you
could almost see the flowers on the altar wilt when it dawned on them that we were going to go
verse by verse through this whole book. I was learning to size up the greatness of a church
differently than I had before, not by its size, but by its spirituality – or lack thereof.
 
As Paul sees the church in Rome, what catches Paul’s attention is not the building. Who knows
what that would have been like in Rome in the first century? They were probably meeting in
catacombs underground, for all we know. They were certainly meeting in houses. It was not the
oriental rugs or the brass chandeliers. The church in Rome certainly had none of those things.
The true spirituality of a church is found in their personal faith in Jesus Christ. Their authentic
godliness lies in their knowing God through His Son, Jesus Christ. They were moving out as
they lived out their faith.
 
“Your Faith is being Proclaimed” 
That is really the idea of what Paul is saying down in verse 17: “For in it the righteousness of
God is revealed from faith to faith.” This is saying that we start with saving faith, which
progresses to stronger faith as we grow in grace. It is not merely an initial step of faith as we go
through the narrow gate. It is a maturing faith as we walk down the narrow path that leads to
life. Faith is not stagnant after we commit our life to Christ. Saving faith is only the beginning,
and we continue to grow from faith to faith. This is what Paul is referring to here in verse eight
when he writes, “I thank my God…because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole
world.”
 
These earlier believers to whom Paul writes are in Rome. That is not exactly the buckle of the
Bible belt. There was not a more wicked, immoral, pagan cesspool of iniquity in the entire
western civilization than Rome. Every foul depravity grew in Rome. Yet this is where God
planted a vibrant church. This should be an encouragement to us, because God never needs the
circumstances to be right to establish His church. Sometimes we think a church can only work
in a certain zip code, or a church can only work if you get the right people to come together.
God delights in building churches on the doorsteps of the gates of hell. He glorifies Himself by
establishing a gospel witness in the most difficult, dark, demanding places. That is exactly what
happened in Rome.
 
The reason their faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world is because Rome was the
nerve center for the known world. All roads led to Rome, and travelers leaving Rome took their
Christian testimony with them throughout the Empire. They did not have a modern day media
ministry to get the word out. Their faith spread by word-of-mouth. Their faith was so dynamic
that it was out in the open. As they lived for Christ in Rome, they stood out like stars on a dark
night. Even the unbelievers could see the reality of their commitment to Christ in that sin-
infested city of Rome.
 
“I Thank My God”

As Paul begins verse eight, he expresses, “I thank my God.” Please note, he does not say, “I
thank you.” He says, “I thank my God…for you.” This is a subtle acknowledgment that God is
the Author of everything spiritual that is taking place in their lives. God is the Author of their
regeneration, conversion, and saving faith. That is why he thanks God, because he recognizes
that the growth and outreach of their faith has come from God. If it had not come from God,
why thank Him? This is an acknowledgment that there is no way we can grow in godliness
except by His grace. What a spiritual mindset Paul has. When he thinks of the believers in
Rome, he thanks God for their vibrant, robust faith in Jesus Christ.
 
We need to be known for the same contagious faith in God. We must not hide it. We must not
conceal it. It should go out to the whole world. People should know where we stand with Jesus
Christ. As you think about your church, what should come to your mind is not the building or
the choir, although those things are fine in their place. They are only secondary to what is
primary. What is primary is faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ and making Him known to the
world. It is not merely that we have been baptized and joined the church. It is not just that we
grew up in a Christian home or attend a Bible study. We must be known for a living faith in a
living God. That is the priority. {{field-off:bible}}
 
[[@Bible:Ro 1:9]]{{field-on:bible}}II. A GODLY SERVANT IS Sacrificial (1:9a) 
Second, I want you to see Paul’s commitment to serving God sacrificially. He writes, “For God,
whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel” (verse 9). Paul understands that he is
on the earth to serve God. For him, it was principally to serve God through the teaching and
preaching of the gospel. He knew that he was saved to serve. This word “serve” is translated
other places in the New Testament as ‘worship.’ For Paul, his service was a form of
worshipping God. He did what he did for the glory of God. As he ministered the word, it was an
act of worship. Worship was a lifestyle for him, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The same must be true for each one of us. Not one of us is saved to sit on the bench. Not one of
us is saved to be a passive observer of what is going on in the church. We need to be putting our
shoulders to the plow and doing our part in serving God. Think of it this way. Every one of us is
either a swamp, a desert, or a river. The swamp is where there is a stream of water flowing into
it, but nothing flows out of it. That pictures someone who is receiving the word of God, but is
not passing on the truth to anyone else. They are a spiritual cul de sac. The truth is self-
contained within a believer, but it never moves through him to other people. That life is a
spiritual swamp. There is a lot of bacteria that grows in swamps. You do not want to be a
swamp. Other people are like a desert. There is little to nothing flowing into their life. They go
to a church where the word of God is not preached or taught. The worship service is either an
entertainment hour, or it is a dead, dry funeral service. There is no truth being pumped into their
lives, and it is no wonder they are a spiritual desert. There is very little spiritual growth in their
barren lives.
Yet other believers are like a mighty river. Much truth is flowing into them and rather than
remaining with them, it is flowing out of them into the lives of others. The truth is not just for
their own sanctification, but it is for the good of other people. It is so that they can be equipped
to serve other people. The most fulfilled Christians I know are those who are under the
preaching of the word and are being used by God to get the word out to other people. Their
minds are constantly thinking about how to impact others with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We Never Retire
None of us will ever retire from doing God’s work. You may retire from the bank, you may
retire from the real estate company, but you will never retire from God’s work. As long as you
are on planet earth, there is work for you to do in the will of God. In fact, Ephesians 2:10 says
He has foreordained good works for us to walk in. God has already written the script of what He
wants you to do. There is a sense of destiny about every moment of our lives with every
opportunity we have to serve God. We are fulfilling the eternal purposes of God through our
lives as long as we are here on this earth.
This is how Paul lived, and it needs to be how each one of us lives our lives. How has what Paul
writes here already triggered your mind in regards to how you need to be serving God? {{field-
off:bible}} 
[[@Bible:Ro 1:9-10]]{{field-on:bible}}III. A Godly Servant is SELFLESS (1:9b-10a) 
In the middle of verse nine through the first part of verse ten, Paul goes on to say, “how
unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers.” Here is a clear indication of how
selfless Paul was. He was constantly praying for others. He had a focus that was off of himself
and onto others. He is not merely thinking about them, but actually interceding with God on
their behalf. Paul continues, “making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may
succeed in coming to you” (verse 10b). He was praying that he would be able to come to them
so that he can serve them.
Paul understood the necessity of praying for those to whom he ministered. He was constantly in
prayer for the believers in Rome, long before he arrived there. If anyone could have relied
solely on their own giftedness, it would have been Paul. He was trained at the feet of Gamaliel.
He was taught personally by the risen Christ Himself. Paul had everything going for him. He
was the writer of thirteen books in the New Testament. If anyone could have rested on their own
preparation, their own giftedness, and what their brain knew, it would have been the apostle
Paul. However, he understood that he must pray for the people he is trying to reach. This was a
key part of Paul’s selfless Spirit.
You and I need to be much in prayer. I have never met a Christian yet who has said, “I think I
pray too much. I need to cut back on my prayer life. There is too much prayer going on.” That
has never been true in my life. I am always convicted that I need to be praying more. I even find
myself starting a lot of my prayers confessing that I have not prayed enough. Our prayers need
to be inclusive of praying for needs in the lives of other people, especially people to whom we
want to minister, because ultimately the success of our ministry to them lies in the hands of
God. I can deliver the message to others, but God must open their ears, move their hearts, and
enlighten their eyes to receive the truth. D.L. Moody once said, “I must speak to God about men
before I speak to men about God.”
There has recently been a shift in how I pray before I preach. Previously, I have been so focused
on myself, praying, “God renew my mind and enflame my heart.” I still pray for that, but I have
been convicted that I need to be focused on those to whom I am speaking. I need to pray that
God would prepare their hearts to receive the message. I need to pray that those who hear me
will be sanctified and edified. I am totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit to bring this message
home to their hearts. You need to be praying for others. You need to be praying for the circles
of people around you, for the success of the gospel with them. {{field-off:bible}}
[[@Bible:Ro 1:10]]{{field-on:bible}}IV. A Godly Servant is SUBMISSIVE (1:10b)
Another aspect of a godly servant is found in verse 10, and it is the quality of being submissive.
Paul says, “If perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.” Here, we
see that he was submissive to the sovereign will of God in his life. Proverbs 16:1 says, “Man
plans his ways, but God directs his steps.” Paul understood that truth. Ultimately, the Lord Jesus
Christ alone holds the keys that open the doors of providence. Paul knew that he could not go to
Rome, which he desired to do, except by the will of God. There is a submissiveness that Paul
understands. He could not use his influence and make it happen. There was the recognition on
Paul’s part that he can push on doors, but it will not open except by the sovereign purposes of
God. Paul will eventually make it to Rome, but it will not be by the means he thought he would
travel to Rome. He had no idea he would be the prisoner of the Roman Empire and spend two
long years under house arrest in Rome. He finally made it to Rome, but not the way he thought
it would work out.
All of us need to have this same submissiveness to the overruling, overarching, eternal purposes
of God. There have been many doors in my life I have tried to open that were like pushing on a
brick wall. They would not budge. But God knew better and had a better plan for my life than
what I thought was supposed to happen. This is true in our lives, is it not? Even when we reach
the desired end we had in mind, God often uses a far different path for us to arrive at that end.
We must submit to the sovereignty of God over our lives. {{field-off:bible}}
[[@Bible:Ro 1:11]]{{field-on:bible}} V. A Godly Servant is Steadfast (1:11)
In verse 11, we see that a godly servant is steadfast in pursuing God’s will. Paul says, “For I
long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you so that you may be established.”
Paul was not merely a project man, but also a people person. It is not either/or, it is both/and. As
Paul was in the gospel ministry, he was also in the people business. He persevered in trying to
reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul realized a sacred stewardship had been
entrusted to him, and he must invest what has been deposited with him from the Lord. When he
says “spiritual gift,” he is not referring to a spiritual gift like what he mentions in Romans 12
and 1 Corinthians 12. Rather, he is talking about a spiritual blessing, that is, a spiritual good for
others. He desires that their roots will be more deeply grounded in the Lord. It would have been
selfish for him to keep the Christian faith to himself. It would have been self-absorbed for him
to horde the doctrine that he knows. Conversely, he was selfless to expend himself for the good
of other people.
This is a good word for us. Having the knowledge of the truth is not the end game. The goal is
to do something with all this information. The goal is to reach people with the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Success is having it in peoples’ souls and having it in their lives. That means we have to
go to where people are and bring the message to them, whether that is at your office or at a
family Christmas gathering. However that works out for each of us, we are to reach out to
others.
We all have different arenas, different venues, and different ways that this is done. For some, it
is to preach. For you, it may be a one-on-one lunch conversation. It may be talking to one of
your children in their bedroom. It may be ministering to your wife. It may be teaching a class. It
may be speaking up in a small group Bible study. It may be being in a car with another
businessman and, at just the right moment that God has prepared, you are able to talk to them
about the Lord. We must seize the moment and capture these opportunities, some of which will
never come about again. There are times when we are given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
We must love others enough to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. {{field-off:bible}}
[[@Bible:Ro 1:12]]{{field-on:bible}} VI. A Godly Servant is humble (1:12)
Next, I want us to see Paul’s humility in serving the Lord. He writes, “That is, that I may be
encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and
mine” (verse 12) That is a humble statement by the apostle. In many ways, Paul is on a level by
himself. He could have easily said, “You know, I will just have fellowship with myself. I will
drop some crumbs down to the rest of you pedestrians in the Christian faith.” But instead he
expressed, “I need you just like you need me. I want to encourage you, but I need you to
encourage me.” Paul understood that fellowship is a two-way street. He knew that whenever
they would be together, he would not do all the talking. Paul realized that he needed to hear
from them too. He wanted them to minister to him as he ministered to them. “As iron sharpens
iron, so one man another” (Proverbs 27:17).
How extraordinarily humble Paul was and how contrary this is to what you see with many
believers who strut around like peacocks. Too often, each one ties to outdo the other with what
they are doing for God. They come across as egomaniacs. But for Paul, he says, “I want to come
to Rome. I want to give of myself. I want to pour myself into you. I want to give everything I
have to you. Oh, and by the way, I want you to minister to me.” He is inviting them into his life,
anticipating that time when he will come and they will minister to one another. Paul does not
have an elitist mentality. He has a very humble, selfless heart, making him easy to talk to. I have
been with some pastors that are very hard to talk to, as so must we. {{field-off:bible}}
[[@Bible:Ro 1:13]] {{field-on:bible}} VII. A Godly Servant is sensitive (1:13a)
At the beginning of verse 13, we see that a godly servant is sensitive. Paul writes, “I do not want
you to be unaware, brethren, that I have often planned to come to you (and have been prevented
so far).” Why would he say that? The reason is, because they were expecting him to come.
However, he had not yet arrived, and they were doubting his sincerity in waiting to come. They
are thinking, “If Paul really loved us, he would be here.” Paul has a genuine sensitivity for their
feelings. He wants them to know that he has been trying get there, but the will of God has not
yet provided the open door he needed. God had not opened that door yet, but Paul wanted them
to know that his desire was to be there with them.
Here is a sensitivity toward others that is needed by every one of us. We need to be thinking
about what others are feeling toward us. We have certain expectations of each other and must be
aware, as best we can, to how we may be disappointing others around us. We must anticipate
and discern how we may have injured others. We see Paul’s sensitivity as he takes into
consideration the feelings of the believers in Rome. We would do well to do like toward those
to whom we minister.
VIII. A Godly Servant IS SOULWINING (1:13b)
The last character quality of a godly servant is found in the middle of verse 13, that of a soul
winner. Paul sought to reach people with the gospel so that they may be saved. He says, “So that
I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.” This “fruit”
refers to people being brought to faith in Christ and being conformed into His image. This is
what Jesus said, “You did not choose me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go
and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain” (John 15:16). He was referring to a fruitful
gospel ministry. Paul’s belief in sovereign election in no way hindered his aggressiveness to
share the gospel with others. In fact, the doctrines of grace fueled his aggressiveness to reach
others with the saving message of Christ. Wherever Paul went, his goal was to win souls. He
wanted people converted to saving faith in Christ.
Paul was not content to merely proclaim the gospel, and his listeners could either take it or leave
it. Paul was driven that people be saved. He longed for people to be converted. As he made the
gospel known, he urged and pled with people to commit their lives to Christ. He did not just
toss out the truth with a cavalier attitude. He must see fruit from his labor – and so must we. We
must see a harvest from our labor. Why be here if people are not being brought into the
kingdom through our efforts as we lock arms together?
Martin Luther talked about the drunk man on the horse. He is always falling off the horse to one
side or the other, and that is the way we tend to be in our Christian life. We fall out of balance.
We are either so turned on by the doctrine, and rightly so, that we lose sight of our personal
responsibility to tell other people about Christ. Or some people are so into evangelism, yet they
are shallow and superficial in their knowledge. They have little gospel gimmicks that they are
trying to toss out to people. What a challenge it is to be right in the center.
This is not just an external routine for Paul to go through. There is an internal driveshaft. It is in
my spirit. It is in my bones. It is down deep in my soul. This is bleeding out of me. It is pouring
out of me. This is not just man-service on the outside. This is not just grit your teeth and do it.
This is in my spirit down deep. This is who I am and what I am. In many ways “in my spirit” is
the eye of the storm here. It is the very center of this whole bridge section, and this is the way
we need to be.
The earnestness to me speaks of sincerity. The word “sincerity” out of the Greek language, is
the idea of ‘without mixture of alloy.’ In other words, there are no other false motives mixed in
with this. This is a pure, gospel-driven desire to see people warm to Christ and conform into His
image. As pure as it can be in a sinful saint.
Are You a Servant?
As I have gone through these character qualities, let me ask you this question: Which one of
these has most convicted you? Which one of these has most challenged you? It may be different
for each of us. Which one of these made you think, “I need to get back in the game on this. I
need more of this in my life?” That would be a very important self-diagnosis for you to have.
On the other end of the spectrum, as we have looked at this, how do you see God at work in
your life right now? Remember Philippians 2:12-13, “For it is God who is at work within you,
both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” God is the one who is driving our
sanctification. Where do you see God at work in your life in these areas? Where do you see
progress? Where should you be encouraged because you see the hand of God at work in your
life? {{field-off:bible}}
 04. Romans 1:14-16 - Three Great I Am's

[[@Bible:Ro 1:14-16]] {{field-on:bible}} Dr. Steven J. Lawson

Acesso em: 08 out. 2018

I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So,
for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not
ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the
Jew first and also to the Greek (Romans 1:14-16).

There is a sacred stewardship that has been entrusted to each and every one of us in the gospel,
and we must invest it aggressively. The message of salvation in Jesus Christ is like money that
has been given to us. We have to invest it into the lives of people. We cannot hide the good
news in a jar and bury it in the ground. We have to put it out in the marketplace. We have to get
it into the lives of people. We cannot be a hoarder of the gospel, but be an investor of this sacred
message, and see it yield a great rate of return for eternity.
Part of our accountability when we stand before the Lord on the last day will be: What did we
do with the gospel? We will not be asked what our pastor did with the gospel. Nor what our
elders did with it. Each of us, individually, will have to give an account to the Lord on how we
invested or how we hoarded the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not enough to come to a Bible study
and take notes. It is not enough to be able to articulate what the gospel is. Rather, it must be
invested. The gospel must be proclaimed to this lost and perishing world so that people may to
come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
We are continuing to investigate the opening prologue of Romans, which is all about the gospel.
This is the good news of salvation that is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ. We
looked at the specifics of the gospel in the first seven verses. In verses 8-13, we looked at some
of the defining qualities of the servant of the gospel in Paul himself. Now, we want to look at
Romans 1:14-16. The thrust of these verses is very simply, it is not enough to know the gospel.
It is not enough to just have it in your head. It is not enough to be able to answer questions
about it. You have to share the gospel with others.
Obligated, Eager, and Excited
As we look at Romans 1:14-16, these verses are known as Paul’s “Three Great I Am’s.” The
apostle begins verses 14, 15, and 16 with the strong resolve of “I am.” They reveal Paul’s
compelling sense of obligation regarding the distribution of the gospel. These three “I am’s”
reflect eagerness with and excitement for the spread of the gospel. It is as if we are lifting the
hood and looking down into the engine of the apostle Paul. Here is what drives and accelerates
him. Here is the burning passion of his soul. Here is what motivates him. Here is what propels
him forward. Here are the three great “I am” statements of Paul. That which fuels Paul must fuel
us as well. {{field-off:bible}}
[[@Bible:Ro 1:14]] {{field-on:bible}} I. I AM UNDER OBLIGATION (1:14)
Paul begins by saying, “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise
and to the foolish” (verse 14). Notice how this begins, “I am.” Not, “I will be.” Not, “I once
was.” Paul uses a present tense verb, “I am.” He is referring to the state of his life, every
moment of every day. No matter when Paul would say this – whether he had just become a
believer on the Damascus road, whether he is on his first, second, or third missionary journey,
whether he is in a prison cell in Rome about to have his head severed – no matter where Paul is,
he is always under obligation.
This is a constant state of obligation. Paul is not saying, “I am under obligation on Sunday
morning.” Nor is he saying, “I am under obligation when I am teaching on Monday.” It is not
simply, “I am under obligation on Tuesdays.” This is not a multiple choice, and he gets to pick
and choose when he wants to be under obligation with the Lord. This sacred duty is twenty-four
hours a day, seven days a week. Right now, you and I are under this same constant obligation.
“Under Obligation”
When Paul says, “under obligation,” the King James and New King James versions say, “I am a
debtor.” That is very much the idea, though, obligation works as well. It is hard to go from one
language to another language, but the word and its background speak of a financial obligation. It
is as if you are in debt to someone, and you have an obligation to pay off the debt.
This should initially strike us as surprising for two reasons. The first reason is that salvation is a
free gift. How can Paul be a debtor if he received grace as a free gift? Paul will talk about
salvation as a pre-paid gift, “Being justified as a gift by His grace” (Romans 3:24). Likewise, he
writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). How did Paul end up
in debt after he received a free gift for which he paid nothing? How could Paul say he has gone
into debt for a free gift? How did that work? Those are the questions we need to think about. 
The second reason this is surprising, if you think about it, is that Paul has never been to Rome.
Neither has he bought anything in Rome. He has never even met these believers. He claims to
be in debt with people he has never been to see. How does this work? You can be in debt two
ways. One way to be in debt is if someone was to lend you $100. As long as that $100 is in your
pocket, you are a debtor to the lender. You need to give it back to him at some point. The other
way would be if someone gave you a $100 bill and said, “When you see a certain person, give
him the $100 bill.” This results in a two-way debt. As long as this $100 is in your pocket, you
are in debt to the lender and to the person to whom you are to give it. That is the second way
this debt works.
A Two-Way Debt
As this related to Paul, he understood that the riches of the gospel had been deposited into his
account the moment he became a believer. He is now the recipient of the free gift of salvation.
But he is charged to give it to others. He must share the gospel with unbelievers. He must talk to
people about Jesus Christ and the way of salvation. The same is true for us. As long as I
withhold talking about Christ to someone else, whether it is in my office, in my family, at
school, or someone I sit next to on an airplane, I am in debt to them, because God has given me
the gospel to give to them.
However, in a more primary way, I am in debt to God, not to pay for this gift, but with a sense
of accountability before Him. On the last day, I am going to have to stand before God and see if
I invested the gospel into the lives of others or if I hoarded it and kept it to myself. It is my
responsibility to share the gospel with others, and I am accountable to God for whether or not I
do this.
A Watchman on the Wall
In the Old Testament, the imagery of being under obligation was presented with a different
metaphor than being a debtor. The prophet Ezekiel said he was like a watchman on the wall, and
there were people going about their day-to-day business behind the wall. If the watchman sees
the enemy coming, he must blow the trumpet in warning. If the people do not respond, and the
enemy comes and destroys them, then their blood is on their own hands. That is to say, their
death was their own fault. If the prophet blew the trumpet, but they chose to turn a deaf ear to
the warning, they will die because of their own refusal to act upon the truth. On the other hand,
Ezekiel says that if he sees the enemy coming and chooses not to blow the trumpet, and the
people are destroyed, their blood is on his hands. He was charged to warn them, but if he failed
to do so, he was culpable for their death.
In Acts 20, when Paul met with the elders at Ephesus after he had been with them for three
years, he was about to say his farewell. They were going to hang on his neck with tears and say
goodbye to him. Paul said, “My hands are free from the blood of all men.” I have spoken up
both publicly and house to house, both in big groups and small groups, and I have not failed to
blow the trumpet. Therefore, my hands are free from the blood of all men. If any turn a deaf ear
to the gospel I preach, their destruction is due to their own unbelief. That is what Paul is saying
in Romans 1:14 when he says, “I am under obligation.”
The same is true with you and me. Just like the watchman on the wall, we will each give an
account on the last day for whether or not we shared the life-saving message of salvation. We
are under obligation to do something with the message of the gospel. We must give it to others
as the opportunities arise. I want you to think about who you will cross paths with today. You
must have this predetermined mindset that if God gives you the opportunity to witness for the
Lord, you are resolved to capture the moment. You are going to talk to them about Jesus Christ.
You are not going to have to pray about it, because you have already decided to testify for Him.
You are looking for these opportunities.
“Both to Greeks and to barbarians”
Notice to whom Paul is under obligation. He says, “both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the
wise and to the foolish” (verse 14). Here, Paul is using a literary method called “parallelism.”
There is an A line and a B line, which is a way to say the same thing, but with different words.
We will look closer at both lines and the meaning behind Paul’s words. When Paul says, “to
Greeks,” he refers to those who are at the top of society’s ladder. They were the cultured and the
educated of the ancient society. The Greeks were refined and polished. They loved the arts.
They had been trained in social graces and social skills. The Greeks were those who had arisen
to the top of the social and cultural scene of the day. The Greeks had read the philosophers of
Athens. The Greeks were very conversant with people on many learned subjects, as though they
had an advanced liberal arts education. They had ascended to the highest levels of society.
But Paul also writes that he is under obligation “to barbarians.” The barbarians were the total
antithesis of the Greeks. If the Greeks were at the top of the social ladder, the barbarians were in
the basement. You could not be any more base than the barbarians. The barbarians were crude
and rude, lacking in any social graces. They were without any cultural polish. They had no
learning, they could not even read. The word “barbarian” was a derisive term used by the
Greeks who looked down upon them. To the Greek mind, when the barbarians spoke, their
accent and pronunciation of words was so rough that they abused the language. They could not
even be understood in what they were saying. When they spoke, it sounded as if they were
saying, “Bar, bar, bar, bar, bar.” That is where the word ‘barbarian’ comes from. It is not even a
word, but a mocking of people who have never been taught how to read, write, or speak with
elegance.
By this phrase, “both to Greeks and to barbarians,” Paul uses a figure of speech known as
inclusion, where the author states the two extreme sides. What is implied is that he is also
addressing everyone in-between. It would be like saying this, “From the east coast to the west
coast of America.” That means not just New York and California, but implies every flyover
state in-between – Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and everywhere else. When Paul says, “I am
under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians,” he means not only to those on the top rung
and the bottom rung of life, but to every rung on the ladder in between. In other words, he is
under obligation to everyone. If a person is breathing, he is under obligation to them before God
to talk to them about Jesus Christ, as God gives him the opportunity.
“Both to the Wise and Foolish”
Paul then says, “Both to the wise and to the foolish” (verse 14). This is another way of saying
the same thing. It is another layer of parallelism. “The wise” does not refer to those who are
wise in the things of the Lord. The reference is to those who are wise in the things of this world
(1 Corinthians 1:18-25). These are those who are wise in their own eyes, those who have
excelled to the highest level of school and society. They are wise in the philosophies and
ideologies of this world. But the sad fact is, they are unaware that they do not know the most
important thing in life. They are not wise in the things of God. Rather, they are wise in the
things of this world, which is spiritually bankruptcy. “The wise” refers to the Greeks.
“The foolish” match up with the barbarians. They have never been to school. They grew up on
the wrong side of town. They have not had the advantages and privileges that have been
afforded to the wise. They are not just foolish in the things of the Lord, but are even foolish in
the things of the world. Paul knows he is under obligation to the foolish as well as to the wise,
and everyone in-between. Paul cannot say, “My ministry is only to upper-class people.”
According to Paul, that kind of smug attitude is wrong. Whoever God providentially brings
across his path as he travels the road of life, he is under obligation to talk to them about the
gospel, as God gives an open door. By and large, he is meant to bloom wherever he is planted,
according to God’s sovereign providence. He is going to talk about Jesus Christ to the people
who are the closest around him.
We Are Under Obligation
There are a lot of Christians today that I hear saying, “We are all under grace. There is no such
thing as duty or obligation. There is nothing laid on me. If you talk about obligation, you are a
legalist. You are under the law. I am free. I can do what I want to do.” Let me say, that is sheer
fool’s talk. The fact is, as believers, we are under obligation to God, we are under obligation to
Christ, and we are also under obligation to others. Paul makes that abundantly clear in this text.
Wherever the Lord sends you, you are under obligation to speak to people about Jesus Christ as
God opens doors of opportunity. I am not talking about being a wild-eyed fanatic, standing on a
street corner, and intimidating people with the gospel. I am talking about building bridges
towards people, befriending them, getting to know them, and as God gives you the opportunity,
talking to them about the gospel. We have been building bridges with people for years. At some
point, we have to carry the gospel across that bridge to others and talk to them about Jesus
Christ in order to discharge our responsibility.
When the apostle Paul says, “I am under obligation,” we must understand that what he says
applies to us as well. What is true of Paul is true for every one of us. Paul is not standing in a
special line by himself, while the rest of us are in a different line. Paul is not the only one under
obligation. He is speaking for every believer.
In witnessing, the easiest thing to do can be to get on a plane and go to a far-away foreign
country to witness to people you will never see again. It is easier for us to be bold with them
than with people we see everyday in our daily lives. Short-term missions is easy in that regard.
You want to know what is hard? It is to be a witness for Christ in your own family. That is
tough, because you are going to see them next Christmas, during summer vacation, and next
Thanksgiving. It can be equally hard to witness to the person with whom you work. When you
speak to them about the gospel, it can be offensive to them. Being bold with them is much
harder than talking to a stranger. We must talk about the gospel on an ongoing basis with those
to whom we are the closest. The Lord has sovereignly placed you in their lives to point them to
Jesus. Just like Paul, we, too, are under obligation to all men. {{field-off:bible}}
[[@Bible:Ro 1:15]] {{field-on:bible}} II. I am Eager (1:15)
Next, Paul writes, “So for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in
Rome” (verse 15). In other words, no matter what everybody does, for my part, he is eager to
preach the gospel. “Eager” (prothumos) is a compound word that pictures the forward lean of a
runner. He is pressing forward with the gospel. The main root word for “eager” is the same
word (thumos) for passion. It literally means ‘heavy breathing.’ The word gives the picture of a
horse that is heavily breathing, ready to charge ahead in the day of battle. The word passion
even carries the idea of the heavy breathing of a husband and wife’s intimate, physical
relationship. There is a heated excitement to press forward in the pursuit of something. It
pictures charging ahead. That is the word here for “eager,” and it has a prefix (pros) in front of
it that intensifies the word. When it comes to the gospel, Paul is leaning forward to preach its
truths to all people. If everybody is in on this or if nobody is in on this, for my part, I am eager
to do this. It is like the coach talking to the kickoff team saying, “Listen, you cannot wait for
Fred to make the tackle. You cannot wait for Kent to get off the bench. For your part,  you must
make the tackle.” Paul is owning up to his personal obligation in preaching the gospel.
Every one of us needs to be able to say, “For my part, I am eager.” It is one thing to have an
obligation to pay a debt, but it is something else to be eager to pay it off. Anyone can be under
obligation and drag their feet to discharge their duty, thinking, “Can I just get this over with?”
However, it is something else to be spring-loaded, sitting on ready, eager, and wanting to do it.
Just like Paul, we must have a mindset that it is a privilege to tell others about Christ. It is a joy.
It is fulfilling the purpose of why we are breathing on planet earth.
“To Preach the Gospel”
Paul says, “I am eager to preach the gospel.” He is not just eager to live the gospel in front of
people, as important as that is. If he only lives the gospel, people around him will go to hell
merely thinking he is a good person. What did that get them? In fact, it would be rather self-
serving that he is only living as a good person in front of them, but not speaking the gospel to
them. It is taking the easy road, keeping a comfortable distance, so that their feelings will not be
hurt by the offense of the gospel. Nobody is going to heaven because they think he is a good
person. He must open his mouth and speak the gospel to others.
 The words “to preach the gospel” is one word in the Greek (euangelizo). We derive the English
word ‘evangelism’ from it. The one Greek word comes to us as three or four words in English,
“to preach the gospel.” You can almost hear evangelism in euangelizo. The word “also” clearly
implies he has been preaching with eagerness wherever he goes. That means whether Paul is in
Corinth, or Ephesus, or wherever, he is eager to preach the gospel, no matter where he is. For
the apostle, his strongest passion is to reach Rome with the gospel.
Hardest to Reach
This is an amazing statement. The toughest place in the known world to preach the gospel
would have been Rome. This was the capital of the Roman Empire. There was flagrant
depravity everywhere in Rome. It was a cesspool of inequity as the most idolatrous, most
immoral, most incestuous place on the planet. Yet Paul declares that he is eager to go to Rome,
the toughest place, to share the gospel. He has the mindset that the darkness cannot expel the
light, but the light will always expel the darkness. Paul is ready and eager to go to Rome.
Paul’s own conversion is a prime example of one who was the hardest to reach with the gospel.
No one was further away from Jesus Christ than Saul of Tarsus. Paul understands that if he can
be brought to faith in Christ, anybody can. If the Lord can capture him, the Lord can capture
anyone, because he was the chief of sinners. He was one who would be labeled as “hardest to
reach” with the gospel. Yet he was the one who the Lord saved.
This begs the question: What is your Rome? What is your hardest place to witness? Is it with
your closest relationships? People you work with? Family members? Who are those people that
you have almost written off as the hardest people to reach with the gospel? Paul is challenging
us. We have to be ready, but we also have to be eager to reach those who are the furthest away
from the Lord. Paul is eager to go to Rome. He is like Caleb going into the Promised Land, who
wanted the biggest mountain with the biggest giants. We must be ready and eager to go to the
hardest places to reach the hardest people with the gospel. {{field-off:bible}}
[[@Bible:Ro 1:16]] {{field-on:bible}} III. I AM NOT ASHAMED (1:16)
There is one more “I am” statement that Paul asserts. Not only does Paul say, “I am under
obligation” and “I am eager,” but he also says, “I am not ashamed” (verse 16). Please note again
the full impact of these two words, “I am.” He does not say, “I will be,” as if one day he will
finally be this. He does not say, “I am hoping to achieve this.” Nor does he say, “One day I will
arrive at this.” No, Paul declares, “I am,” in the present tense. “This is my constant state.” In
other words, “This is my habitual lifestyle.”
Paul puts this statement in the negative by using a rare figure of speech known as litotes, which
is a deliberate understatement that involves using a double negative. He combines the word
“ashamed” with “not” in front of it. This means the total opposite of being ashamed. He states
dramatically that he is unashamed. Isaiah 55:11 says that God’s word will not return to
Him void. That means, it will powerfully perform all that He intends. This figure of speech
known as litotes uses two negatives to make one positive. This form of expression
communicates a truth with an especially strong effect. It carries an extra punch that lodges what
it asserts into the reader’s mind. Paul could have simply said, “I am fired up for the gospel. I am
excited and eager to preach it.” But there is a far greater impact to put it in a double negative. “I
am not ashamed” is an even stronger expression than saying, “I am excited” or “I am
enthusiastic.”
“The Power of God”
Paul is not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.
When he states, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation,”
“it” refers to the gospel. This is why Paul is so eager as he stated in verse 15. This is likewise
why he is not ashamed in verse 16. It is because the gospel has the power to liberate anyone
who believes in Jesus Christ from their bondage to sin. It does not matter how sinful a person is
with their life. It does not matter into what deviant lifestyle they have fallen. It does not matter
what their sin has been. It does not matter if you are a Greek or a barbarian. It does not matter if
you are wise in your own eyes, or if you are foolish. It does not matter who you are, what you
are, or where you are. The gospel is far more powerful than your sin. The gospel is far more
powerful than any hardened resistance against God. The gospel is far more powerful than
whatever lifestyle in which anyone has been entrapped.
This word “power” comes from a Greek word (dunamis) that translates into the English
language as ‘dynamite.’ The gospel is the explosive dynamite of God. There is no more
powerful message in the entire world than the gospel of Jesus Christ. No message has a greater
life-changing, eternity-altering impact than the gospel. No message makes a deeper effect upon
a person’s life. No message has the power to change them from the inside out than the gospel.
Every other message is mere behavior modification. Mere religion is simply an outward face
life of a person’s life. Only the gospel has the divine power to revolutionize a person’s life so
that they are no longer the same. When the gospel explodes in their life, they are not the same
person any longer. Paul writes elsewhere, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old
things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
A Total Transformation
No one can receive the gospel, and it not dramatically impact their life. When you believe the
gospel, you are radically transformed at the deepest level of your being. The gospel is not just
painting the outside walls of your life. This is a total reconstruction process. The old things
within you are torn down. New things are put in place. You are totally rewired and restructured.
You have a new mind, a new heart, and a new will. You have a new disposition. You have a
new standing before God. You have a new priority. You have a new pursuit. You have a new
life direction. You have a new destiny.
There could not be a more dramatic makeover of your life than what happens when you receive
the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is not just a box you check on a religious survey card. This is
the total transformation of your life from the inside out such that you will never be the same
again. That is the supernatural power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to say this
emphatically. If this dramatic change has not happened in your life, then you have never
received the gospel. The gospel explodes in a believer’s life like an erupting volcano.
The person who wrote this verse could not have been anymore in opposition to the gospel. He
was hell-bent on apprehending Christians and dragging them back to Jerusalem. He was intent
on putting them to death, like Stephen had been put to death. He believed that the gospel was
blasphemy against God for saying that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. But in one life-changing
moment, Paul was taken down by the power of the gospel. He was knocked off his high horse,
and His entire life was rerouted in the opposite direction. He was transformed from death to life,
from darkness to light.
“Unto Salvation”
Paul says that the gospel is the power of God “unto salvation.” The word “salvation” (soteria)
means ‘deliverance from great danger, rescue from ruin.’ What is this danger from which the
gospel saves? The answer is, from the wrath of God. Romans 1:18 states, “The wrath of God is
revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men.” God’s steaming-hot
vengeance and fiery hatred of sin is right now bearing down upon every unbeliever. Those
outside of Christ are but a heartbeat away from this soul-damning wrath. There is much more to
the gospel than, “Smile, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” On the contrary,
it is as Jonathan Edwards said in his famous sermon, all without Christ are sinners in the hands
of an angry God. Edwards got it right out of the Bible.
To be saved by God means to be rescued from His wrath. The gospel does not save from surface
felt needs like loneliness. It does not deliver from a bad job. It does not rescue from personal
insecurities. The gospel saves from God Himself. There is only One who can save from God,
and that is God Himself. Only the power of God can rescue from His wrath. If God does not
rescue, God will damn all sinners. They will suffer the torment and affliction of eternal hell.
Hell cannot be hot enough for the person who is outside of Christ, who has risen up in rebellion
against the holy God of heaven and earth. Every one of us desperately needs to be rescued from
the imminent danger of the vengeance of His wrath. Hebrews 10:31 tells us, “It is a terrifying
thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” 
There is only one way to be saved, and that is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is another
reason why Paul is so eager to go to Rome, because people there are under the wrath of God,
who need to be delivered from eternal destruction. There is only one way for them to be saved,
and that is through the gospel. 
“To Everyone Who Believes”
Paul continues that the power of God in salvation is “for everyone who believes, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek.” This gospel is for “everyone,” whether Greek or barbarian, wise or
foolish. Paul will now distinguish the world religiously. In verse 14, he distinguished the world
culturally, by seeing it as comprised of Greeks and barbarians, wise and foolish. In verse 16, he
distinguishes the world religiously, as Jews and Greeks.
Whether you are a Jew or a Greek, salvation is only through the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is
not one way for a Jew to be saved and a different way for a Gentile to be right with God. There
is only one narrow gate that leads into the kingdom of God, and that is through the gospel.
When Paul says the Jew first, he is picturing the spread of the gospel like a ripple effect caused
by tossing a pebble into a pond. The ripple begins where the rock first hits the water and
subsequently moves out from the center to the perimeter. The gospel came initially to the Jews,
and they were to take it to the world. However, they hoarded the saving message to themselves.
In fact, when the prophet Jonah was commissioned to go to Nineveh, he ran in the opposite
direction. He did not want the Gentiles to be saved, but wanted the gospel to stay inside Israel,
the way it had always been. He did not want foreigners to receive this salvation. He wanted to
keep the gospel to himself. So he boarded a ship and headed to Tarsus, which is modern day
Spain. That is like being in Dallas, when God calls you to go to New York, but you get on a
plane and fly to Los Angeles. Jonah was trying to go as far away from what God wanted him to
do as he possibly could. He did not want anyone else to have this salvation that had been given
to the Jews. 
What a miserable mindset. What a selfish, self-absorbed, self-consumed way to live on planet
earth. But it is not just Israel who acted this way. It can be also the church. We can act as though
we want to keep the gospel to ourselves. We can become inward focused as if we do not want
anyone else to have this salvation. We can act as if we do not want anyone else to have this
glorious grace of God that we have received. How contrary to what Paul says of the Jews, “We
are going to take the gospel to them, but then we are going to take it to the Gentiles, to the
Greeks. We are going to go to everyone with this gospel.”
The Powerful Message of the Gospel
One way we overcome it is what Paul says in verse 16, the realization of what the gospel can do
in a person’s life. We often forget how much power the gospel has. We think the power has to
be in our presentation, but nothing could be further from the truth. God works through weak
people to spread a powerful message. The power is in the gospel. We do not have to make it
powerful. It is powerful. All we have to do is present the gospel as God gives us opportunities.
Then we pray that God will work into their souls to receive it. The gospel is a supernatural
message with supernatural power. It is come from God with the power that God possesses. 
 05. Romans 1:17 – The Heart of the Gospel

[[@Bible:Ro 1:17]] {{field-on:bible}} Dr. Steven J. Lawson

Acesso em: 08 out. 2018

All right, Romans 1:17, we are in the heart of the gospel. If there was ever a bible study for you
to be a part of this is it today. You're in the right place, at the right time. We're looking at
Romans 1:17. I want to begin just by reading this one verse. You may say, "Well, how could we
spend a whole study on just one verse?" My challenge is going to be to get it all in in one study.
This verse is easily the most important verse in the entire book of Romans. This verse has been
called the most important verse in literature period. The importance of this verse cannot be
overstated. It is the central theme of the book of Romans. To understand this verse is to
understand the book of Romans. It's that important.
This is the acorn in which the entire forest is found. Everything is flowing out of this verse. This
is the heart that's pumping out the blood into the entire book of Romans. Let's look now at this
fountain of truth that just flows.
Paul begins for in it. It's important that we understand what the it is. The it is the gospel of Jesus
Christ, which has been the dominant theme of verses 1-17. Just to point this out to you at the
end of verse 1 the gospel of God in verse 15, "I'm eager to preach the gospel." Verse 16, "I'm
not ashamed of the gospel." Now everything is built up to this high water mark. To this
crescendo for in it. It's all in the gospel. The righteousness of God is revealed.
Now for us to get our arms around those few words, the righteousness of God is revealed is to
understand really the gospel. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed- a righteousness that
is by faith from first to last. Paul now goes back to Habakkuk 2:4. It really speaks to how well
he knew the Old Testament. That he could just dip back to one of the minor prophets and just
pull out of the back of his mind Habakkuk 2:4. He now quotes that for us, "The righteous man
shall live by faith."
This is a blockbuster verse. This is the heart of the gospel. Everything here in verse 17 revolves
around this critically important word righteousness. It's probably a word that if we passed out
paper and we asked everyone to write a definition of righteousness, we might be circling the
airport just a little while to try to land a definition of – so what does righteousness mean?
The point of beginning for us in the study is we need to understand what righteousness means.
The whole rest of the entire book of Romans unravels like a thread on a sweater and the whole
sweater just unravels from this one word righteousness.
If we understand righteousness we're going to understand the book of Romans. If we miss this,
then we're lost our ball in the weeds. It's called a mulligan. The word righteousness. Here's what
it means. It means conformity to a standard. Just write that down. It means conformity to a
standard. That's the most succinct simplest kind of vernacular definition I can give you without
giving you a long lengthy dense definition. Conformity to a standard.
It's drawn from the marketplace in bible times. A woman would go into the marketplace and she
would want to purchase a measure of grain. She would go up to the merchant and express her
desire. I want to purchase a measure of grain. He would push forward his scales. On one side of
the scales he would poor out what he would think to be a measure of grain. On one side of the
scale. You can just see it now go like this. He would then take a one measure stone and place it
on the other side of the scales. They would then go like this. He would see maybe he needs to
pour a little bit more grain on or take a little bit off until the scales were righteous. Until they
were in perfect conformity. Such that what's on one side of the scales equals what's on the other
side of the scales.
That's what the word righteous, righteousness means. It's important for us to understand this
standard over here on this side is the absolute perfect holiness of God. What is being measured
and required is that we be brought into conformity to God himself to the perfect standard of
God's own holiness. Which means primarily his transcendent and majestic. Secondarily that he
is flawless and blameless. He's morally perfect.
Now some people have the idea – and on the other side of the scales is our life. Some people
have the idea that okay, well, I just need to be close to righteous in order to be right before God.
That God will grade me on the curve. I am better than other people. Well, on this side of the
scales is not the average morality of an American. On the other side is not the guys I hang out
with and I measure up to them. It's not my pastor. It's not my mother. It's the perfect
righteousness – it's the perfect holiness of God is on one side of the scales. Our life is poured
onto the other side of the scales.
You know when weighed in the balances we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
That is what the word righteousness means. If we could really trace this out more theologically I
would just simply add this, that there are curses and blessings associated with this. There is
punitive punishment for failure to be in perfect conformity to the holiness of God. That's called
hell. That's called eternal punishment. There is blessing to be in perfect conformity to the
holiness of God and that is salvation and all the blessings that come from that.
The word righteousness means conformity to a standard. That standard is God's own perfect,
pure, flawless, blameless, holy character. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.
Now the whole rest of the book of Romans spirals out, spins out of this word righteousness.
And I want to just now do a fly over of the entire book of Romans for you to show you how
everything is bound up in this one word. Starting in the next verse, 1:18 and extending through
3:20 is righteousness demanded. It shows that we have all sinned. It's Paul's case of indictment
against the entire human race.
Jews have sinned and fall short of this perfect standard required by God. Gentiles have sinned
and fall short of this perfect standard required by God. Then Paul summarizes in Chapter 3 and
lumps it altogether and says that every mouth is closed before God. And the entire human race
has been weighed against the perfect standard of God's holiness and is found wanting and as
you see in 1:18 is under the wrath of God. The wrath of God is God's holy vengeance against all
that is sinful. The infliction of his just punishment upon all that is sinful and is not perfectly in
conformity to his own holiness.
To put it in one word it is condemnation that we all lack righteousness. We all fall short of the
standard that is required by God. There's no grading on a curve. There's no sweeping our sin
under the carpet. There's no looking the other way by God. There's no pretending that it just
never happened. Every sin will receive a just penalty. More sin, more punishment. Hell will not
be the same for everyone. Some places of hell will be hotter than other places. Because God has
taken it all down. On the last day the books will be opened. Every single idle word will be
brought to the forefront. Every sin of what I did that I should not have done that I did not do, but
I should have done or what I did with a wrong motive and a selfish motive. It is possible to do a
right act with a wrong motive and that's sin.
God has the entire record permanently recorded in his books. When you were in junior high
school, when you were in high school, when you were at the frat party, when you were overseas
with the military. What you said something to your little sister. What you said to your father
growing up. The entire record, your every thought, your entire thought life, every fantasy, every
idle word, every slander, every gossip, God has impeccable records. It is the condemnation of
the entire human race.
That's big boy football. That's Chapters 1 through the first part ever Chapter 3. Righteousness
required. Righteousness demanded. We don't have any. All our righteousness Isaiah says is as
filthy rags. That means menstrual rags in the eyes of God. The best you have to bring to the
table, God says that's like a woman's rags in my sight.
Within move to the next section. Righteousness declared. Righteousness declared and it started
in Chapter 3:21 and it is what we call justification. That when we believe in Jesus Christ – when
we put our faith in Jesus Christ the righteousness that God demands of us that we cannot
provide God credits to our account. He deposits to our account. He declares us as a judge would
declare a guilty criminal, as we stand before God. God declares us to be the righteousness of
Jesus Christ.
Now we have broken the law of God. Let's just take the ten commandments. We have smashed
to smithereens the law of God. Every single one of us every one of the ten commandments.
When Jesus came into this world he was born under the law. Galatians 4:45 so that he might
keep the law that you and I have broken and Jesus for over 30 years perfectly obeyed the
standard that we are being measured against. It is called his active obedience. And the active
obedience of Christ is critically important just as his substitutionary death upon the cross.
Because we are saved not only by the death of Christ, we are saved by the life and the death of
Christ.
It's critical to understand this, because you don't hardly ever hear that from a pulpit. You don't
hardly ever hear that in a bible study. You need to take careful note of this. Jesus obeyed the law
that you have broken in your place. He lived in your place and kept the law that you and I have
broken again and again and again. So that when we now believe in Christ God takes his perfect
conformity to the moral law of God. He now credits that to our account, declares us to be the
perfect righteousness that Christ lived under the law.
That's unbelievable. You need far more than forgiveness of sin. Forgiveness of sin only washes
away your sin, but that only gets you back to zero. Zeros don't go to heaven. You have to have a
positive righteousness. Positive righteousness in order to be accepted before God. This
righteousness comes through Jesus Christ. There is no righteousness for us outside of Christ.
We fail to conform to the standard. Jesus lived and perfectly conformed to the standard in our
place.
That active righteousness, he secured it. He with his own sinless life lived the life that you and I
cannot live, have not lived, will not ever live. He lived it in our place. He met the standard. He
conformed to the standard. God takes that and now declares it to be ours in the act of
justification. Here's another thing you need to know. The word justification and the word
righteousness came from the very same Greek root word. They come into the English language
as if one is right field, the other is left field. They don't even sound the same. You go into the
original language in which Paul wrote this, very same Greek root word. Justification means God
brings the gavel down and declares us to be the righteousness of God in Christ, in Christ. So
that's chapters – in Romans it's 3:21 through the end of Chapter 5.
Now we're going to keep going. Starting in Chapter 6 of the book of Romans. And going
halfway through Chapter 8 is now righteousness pursued. And it is living the Christian life. And
we now daily must pursue practical righteousness. The standard is Jesus Christ himself. We are
daily now being shaped and molded and conformed. Hear that word conformed into the imagine
of Jesus Christ. I'm becoming less and less of what once was. I'm becoming more and more of
what Jesus is. I am now talking more like Jesus. I'm thinking more like Jesus. I am obeying
more like Jesus that is practical righteousness.
Justification is what we would call positional righteousness. It doesn't – we don't live perfect.
We're just declared to be perfect before God. If you see the distinction. Now what Paul will
argue in the book of Romans – and this is critically important. Everyone who is genuinely
justified will begin this pursuit of practical righteousness. Such that you can tell who is saved
and who is not saved by looking at the fruit in their life. Jesus said you'll know them by their
fruit. We're not to judge one another in a censorious sense, but we are fruit inspectors.
We are to be looking for fruit in our children's lives. We're to be looking for fruit with people
we come in contact with. Because I need to know, do I need to witness to you the gospel or not.
And sanctification becomes a validation that you're actually a real Christian, because we see the
evidence of it. No fruit means there's no root. If you have the root of justification, by necessity
there will be the inevitable fruit of sanctification. It's a package deal. They go together.
Down here in the buckle of the bible belt, being here in Texas, there are a lot of people who say
they're Christian. And assume that they are justified. But there's no sanctification – yourself
deceived. You've talked yourself into this. If you're truly justified you will be pursuing
sanctification. Practical righteousness. Your life will be increasingly progressively over time
becoming more and more like the standard of Jesus Christ. Now let's keep moving. The last part
of Romans 8 is righteousness secured.
That you cannot lose this righteousness that God has declared you to be. And he will build this
extraordinary argue. Those that he fore knew, that he predestined, he called and he called he
justified. Whom he justified he glorified. God's golden chain of salvation, it's in irrevocable
declaration by God of the righteousness of Jesus Christ to us. If you are in Christ today, if you
have been justified you are as certain this moment for heaven as if you've already been there
10,000 years.
You're not going to be justified on the last day. You're justified now. And if you're not justified
now, you may not ever be justified. We're not waiting for the final verdict on the last day. We've
already settled out of court. We have been declared righteous. We are now pursuing a practical
righteousness. It is predestined that this righteousness belongs to us and can never be taken
away from us.
Paul launches into this huge thing at the end of Romans 8 and you know these verses where I'm
convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to
come, nor powers, nor height, nor death, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. A few verses earlier he says God is the one who
justifies. Who is he who condemns? And no one can overrule God's verdict.
Righteousness secured we'll call glorification. Here are the keywords: Condemnation,
justification, sanctification, glorification. It's a package deal. It's not multiple choice. We get to
pick three out of the four. It's all or another nothing. And it all is related to righteousness.
Then in Chapters 9 through 11 is righteousness predestined or chosen. And it's Paul's
extraordinary taste for the doctrine of sovereign election. He uses the chosen people of Israel
and chose that well not all Israel is Israel. They are an elect nation but there's a remnant that has
been chosen for salvation inside the nation and then he says yeah and gentiles too are chosen for
this righteousness.
It is the most extraordinary case for the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation. If you're in
Christ this morning. If you're justified, ultimately it is because God chose you by himself and
for himself in eternity past. Before the foundation of the world. It's all God. Paul will wrap up
this whole section at the end of Romans 11 – Chapter 11:36. It's my favorite verse in the bible.
People ask me to sign one of my books, I sign my name and I put Romans 11:36 underneath my
name. Because there is no statement in all of any language that tops this verse. It's the most all
inclusive statement in the universe. There is nothing outside of Romans 11:36. Everything is
inside of Romans 11:36. If you understand Romans 11:36 you sir are a good theologian. If you
don't understand Romans 11:36 you're in VBS backyard club.
Romans 11:36. Let me just at least read it, with all that build up. Romans 11:36 “for from him
and through him and to him are what? Audience: All things.”
All things. Do you think anything is outside of all things? All things is all things. There's
nothing outside of all things. This is how absolutely sovereign God is, my friend. Even the devil
at Martin Luther said is God's devil. And God is using the devil for God's own purposes. From
him, that means – God is the architect. He is the author of this gospel. He is the provider of this
righteousness. Through him he is the applier of this righteousness. And to him he is the aim of
this righteousness. He's the author of it or the architect of it. He is the applier of it. And he is the
aim of it. It is all about him. It is not about us. It is all about him.
At the end of verse 36 is the only rational, logical response that there could possibly be. If we
don't conclude as Paul does at the end of verse 36 we didn't understand the first part of the
verse. When you understand the first part of the verse, you will respond with the latter part of
the verse. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
Paul ties up Chapters 1 through 11 with that statement. It's all of God. He provided the gospel.
He provides faith. He provides repentance. He provided the savior. He provided the
righteousness. He provided everything. Then he's the one who applied it your life. Working in
and through you. It is all for his own glory. If it was any part of us then it wouldn't – all the
glory would not go to God. Now Chapter 12 to the end – Chapters 1216 is just righteousness
practiced. It is the practical spelling out of Romans 6, 7 and the first part of 8. What it looks like
in a practical way in your life.
You remember I told you a couple of times ago I had a professor say he was going to come here
– each one of us preach. He's going to sit on the front row. He's going to hold up a sign it had
two words on it. So what? In other words guys you're going to have to get through the doctrine
and get to the exhortation. If there is no exhortation there is no preaching. And if there is no
exhortation you are a bridge that's not connected to the other side. You're a bridge that's only
connected to one side of the chasm.
Beginning in Chapter 12:1 the word therefore is maybe the most important therefore in the
bible. Because it's the bridge from Romans 1-11 to 12-16. And Chapters 12-16 gets down into
the nitty-gritty and just the so what. Paul tells us how this is fleshed out in our daily lives. He
becomes painfully practical. Christianity is unbelievably practical. It's not a head game. It's not
a mind game. It's not us sitting in an ivory tower and staring at our navel and answering
philosophical questions no one is asking.
It is down in the weeds, down in the roots, getting down into the fabric of our lives. How we
live every moment of every day. And by the way that's what the word belief has – it comes in
the English language by live. How you by live. What you really believe, you live by. Everything
else just talk. Everything else is just you're checking a box. But what you live by is what you
really believe.
Chapters 1216 is this practical righteousness pursued. How we are to be increasingly living in
conformity to the standard of God's own holiness which is revealed in Jesus Christ. Okay? Now
let me just stop for a moment. I usually wait until the very end before I throw it open for
questions. Let me just drop anchor for a moment. What questions would anyone have? What
thought would you like to put out on the table? I know this was crystal clear in the teachings.
Any questions on you really? Obviously it's a lot to get our arms around, isn't it? I'm trying to
measure my words and be as economic as I can be and not be long winded to go through this
whole thing.
Audience: I understand the righteousness of God. I want the righteousness of God, but I'm not
certain I have it. You know I've been around it all the time. But I'm not certain about it. Then
what? You're talking about assurance of salvation?
Audience: Yeah, like how do I know for sure?
Well, first of all, you need to know the gospel itself, that it's not by my works. It's not by my
righteousness. It's exclusively by the righteousness of Jesus Christ, his sinless life, his sin
bearing death, my faith, my total commitment of my life to Christ. That's really where assurance
of salvation begins. I mean do you understand what you've put your faith and trust in? Because
you just can't commit your life to thin air. You have to know the truth. The word faith as we've
talked true saving faith three components, mind, heart, will. Simple, mind, heart, will. You've
got to knows gospel with your mind. You've got to be persuaded of the truthfulness in your
heart and give assent to it. Then with your will take that step of faith and commit your life to
Jesus Christ. Not just think about it. Not just pray about it. But actually as an act of your will,
you commit your life to Jesus Christ. Nobody else can do that for you.
Your mother can't do it for you. Your roommate can't do it for you. Your wife can't do it for
you. This is a personal commitment of your life to Christ. So that's really where assurance of
salvation begins. Some people have committed their life to thin air. Some people have
committed their life to just religiosity. Have committed their life to own morality. Have
committed their life to their church. Have committed their life to their pastor. Have committed
their life to the ten commandments. Have committed their life to trying to do good. But that's
like grabbing a hold of a rope of sand. Trying to pull yourself up. You're not going up. You're
going down. That's where it begins.
Second it involves saying this fruit of righteousness being produced in your life. Do you see
your life – do you see yourself being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ? Do you see
yourself becoming more like Christ?
Christianity is Christ. Christianity is not church. Christianity is not a bible study. Christianity is
Christ. Christ will get you in church and Christ will get you into bible study. But you can know
the bible and go to hell. You can be a member of church and go to hell. Church won't is save
you, bible study won't save you. Christ is the savior. You have to commit your life to Christ.
And when you do you begin to follow Christ.
You begin to live like Christ. You begin to imitate Christ. That's what it is to be a Christian.
You know what the word Christian means literally? It means a little Christ. It's a diminutive
form of the word Christ. It means you are a Christette. You know? Whatever the masculine
form of Christette is. That's what you are. You're a little Christ. You need to be thinking like
Christ. You need to love what Christ loves. You need to hate what Christ hates. You need to
live like Christ lived. You need to mimic Christ. That's what being a Christian is.
You do it in the power of the Holy Spirit. This isn't like going on a diet. You just grit your teeth
and I'm all in. Let's just do this. You know which never happens. It just never happens. It's only
by the power of the Holy Spirit does it happen. Paul will belabor that for first half of Romans 8.
Now the last way you know that you're saved there's the inward witness of the Holy Spirit. The
inward testimony of the Holy Spirit. That is subjective. The one who convicted you and called
you and converted you confirms you in the truth. And I know that I know that I know that I
know that I'm saved. Because within the Holy Spirit is pulling strong on my heart. That I belong
to Christ and is bearing witness to me that I belong to Christ. That too is in Romans 8. The first
half of Romans 8. So that's how you know you're saved. And that's huge. Especially in this part
of the world. I go preach up in Boston and New York, nobody is – no one is struggling with
assurance of salvation up there. Basically because no one is saved up there. Except for a few
people.
I go to California, and there you are either in or out. It's the most polarized place on planet earth.
I mean you're either the biggest nut who ever walked the earth or you're the strongest Christian
who ever lived and nobody is straddling the fence in California. Because you're going to be
shoved one way or the other. There's no gray area. But in the south and in the southwest there's
a lot of gray. A lot of gray. People born in church, grew up in church. Daddy was a deacon. We
got a little plaque on the punch bowl in the fellowship hall.
The last church I founded, the first rule I made in the elders meeting there will be no plaques in
this church with anyone's name on it. Nobody is hanging on by a thread of some kind of
salvation because you're related to whoever's name is on that plaque or you knew them or
whatever. Here in the south you really need to have a genuine assurance of salvation. I'll tell you
the worst thing in the world is to be unsaved by think you're saved. To wake up in hell. How did
I get here? I thought I was waking up in the new Jerusalem. And I just woke up in hell and I'm
never getting out of here ever. It's called self-deception.
You have so convinced yourself that you're a Christian, you've learned vocabulary. You know
which pew to sit in. You know what to wear. You know how to answer a few questions. You
know when to be quiet. You know which Christian concert to listen to. You just fit in. You just
blend in. That is called being lukewarm. You're just room temperature. You just fit in to your
environment perfectly. You're not hot. You're not cold. You're just lukewarm. Jesus said I spew
lukewarm out of my mouth. It's a stronger word than spew. It means I vomit you. I regurgitate. I
just throw up that kind of an empty confession. It's a dead testimony.
Matthew 7 talks about it. Not everyone says to me Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven. But
he who does the will of my father who is in heaven, that person will be clearly evidenced by the
fruit of obedience in their life. Let me just quote that verse one more time. I'm not quoting a
commentary. I'm not quoting a systematic theology. I'm quoting Jesus Christ who is the truth,
who is the head of the church. "Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord." And it's repeated
like, Lord, Lord you know me. What am I doing here? You know me? "Shall enter the kingdom
of heaven, but he who does the will of my father." That is not saying that you must earn your
way into the kingdom of heaven by doing good works. It is saying that you will reveal that
you're in the kingdom by your path of obedience. No obedience it's obvious there's been no
justification. There's no sanctification. There's been no regeneration. You're just saying Lord,
Lord until you're blue in the face.
Then he goes onto say, "And on that last day many will say to me, Lord, Lord –" same group.
"Did we not prophesize your name? Cast out demons you name. Did many wonders works in
your name?" I mean we were down at the church. We were at the bible study. We even
preached. We cast out demons. No, you didn't. You were so self-deceived about your entire life,
you actually thought you were casting out demons. You thought you were prophesying. And
you thought you were doing good deeds. In reality you were doing nothing. You were play
acting. That's what the word hypocrite means. One who puts on a mask and plays a role on a
stage. You were just playing the part.
Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, lord, will enter of the kingdom of heaven. But he who
does the work of my father. On the last day many will say to me, Lord, Lord do we not
prophesize on your name. Did we not cast out demons? Did we not perform many wondrous
works?" I will say unto them on that day I never knew you.
Now I know all about you. I just never knew you. I never had a personal relationship with you.
So Kit, your question. I didn't mean it go off on an excursion, but your question is critically
important. Because what we're talk being here is do you have the righteousness of God or do
you not have the righteousness of God. If you don't have the righteousness of God, you're in big
trouble.
Come back to Romans 1:17. We've just got a minute. I told you we wouldn't be able to get this
all in. Because you're not listening fast enough. Okay?
Let me just pull out one thing. Then we're going to come back to this next Thursday morning. In
verse 17 for in it in the gospel the righteousness of God. That little prepositional phrase of God,
huge. We're going to make a mountain out of an apparent mole hill. This means the
righteousness that comes from God. It means it's God's own righteousness. Yesterday I pulled
out my Greek dictionary and looked up this word, just like let me just bore down. What does
this word of mean? Have you ever thought about the word of means?
In this context it means the righteousness that comes from God and it means that it is the
righteousness that belongs to God has come to us. Every one of us is clothed in either our own
righteousness or God's righteousness. And if we're clothed in our own righteousness, I mean we
just have filthy rags on. Or kicked out of God's presence. God provides the righteousness for us.
Here's the sentence what God requires God supplies. And God will not lower the standard one
half inch to meet anyone where they are. God is not going to meet us halfway. The standard is
what the standard is. The standard is God himself. The standard is God's own holiness. The
conformity that God requires to his own perfect holiness God supplies in the gospel.
When we believe upon Christ and believe the gospel, God takes his own righteousness in Christ
and supplies it, gives it to us, declares it to be ours. Deposits it into our account. Clothes us with
it. The great exchange of the cross all my sin taken off me placed upon Christ. He bore my sin.
His righteousness taken from him placed on me. I now have his righteousness. When Martin
Luther came to this text he was converted by this text, Romans 1:17. Martin Luther 500 years
ago. When he came to this verse, it was like every light in the room went on. In a moment he
saw it. That what God demands God supplies.
He put his faith in Christ and he was justified before God. Martin Luther called this
righteousness. You can write this down. He called it an alien righteousness. A foreign
righteousness. Meaning outside of himself. It comes from another realm. It comes from another
kingdom. It comes from another country. It's foreign to us. It's alien to us. It has come down
from God himself. It was secured by Jesus Christ in his mission here upon the earth. And that
was spelled out in verses 35 of Romans 1. It's Christ's perfect righteousness given to us. Our sin
given to him.
That's a good deal. That's buy low, sell high. You want to get in on that deal. You want as much
of that action as you can possibly get. You'll never hear better news than that. I don't care how
long you live. I don't care where you go. I don't care who you listen to, you'll never hear better
news than the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Let's just wrap it up here. We'll actually pick it up here next time, because there's still some
meat on the bone. There's still some coins on the table. Okay? And we still need to finish this.
This is so important. It's like we're standing on top of Mount Everest. Let's just enjoy the view
for a moment. Okay, because it's going to be a tough walk down. It about killed me to get up
here. Let's just enjoy the view. Because this is as good of a view as you're going to get. This is
the heart of the gospel.
Let me just say a word to those watching on live stream, thank you for joining us. People are
joining us all around the world from Singapore to Dubai to Iraq to Europe to Africa, Mexico, all
over the world, thank you for joining us for this bible study. We're going to be here next week at
this very same time. We're going to finish out verse 17, because there are some great truth
remaining in verse 17 that we need to get our teeth on. Let me just close in a word of prayer,
thank you for being here and you have to be here next week.
Let me just close in a word of prayer. Father, thank you for providing this righteousness for us.
We cannot conform to your standard. Can't do it. We are condemned, but thank you that you
have provided one to stand in our place and to live perfectly where we have failed. And to die
on the cross and take our sins far away. Thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ and now this
perfect righteousness that you have provided for us. I pray that you be with these men. As they
live today, help them to pursue a practical daily righteousness. Help them to be more and more
conformed into the image of Jesus Christ. And tell others this message that we talked about
today. In Jesus name, Amen.
 06. Romans 1:17 – Concerning Faith

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

Acesso em: 08 out. 2018

Today we are going to look at Romans 1:17 one more time. Just to remind you, this is the key
verse for the entire book of Romans. To understand this verse is to understand the book of
Romans. It is the mountain peak of this epistle, the very summit, and it comes at the end of the
prologue, which is Romans 1:1-17. Everything has been building up to verse 17, and we now
find ourselves standing at the top of this extraordinary peak of truth. In Romans 1:17, Paul
writes:
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘But the
righteous man shall live by faith’ (Romans 1:17).
Luther’s Conversion
This was the text that ignited the Reformation 500 years ago. This was the verse that God used
to convert an Augustinian monk, who had become a professor of Bible at the University of
Wittenberg. His name was Martin Luther. On October 31, 1517, Luther nailed his Ninety-Five
Theses to the front door of the church in Wittenberg. This was a protest as well as a call for a
public debate regarding how a man could be right before God. At the time when he posted the
Ninety-Five Theses, Luther was unconverted. It would be two years later, in 1519, that Luther
would be saved.
At the time of his conversion, Luther was in the tower of the Castle Church, meditating on this
very verse, Romans 1:17. He had assumed for many years that the righteousness of God was
what God required of him. He knew he could not meet that standard, and he was angry with
God. In fact, he hated God, because God had set a standard of righteousness that he could not
meet. Luther’s understanding of God’s requirement of moral perfection is true for every one of
us. The standard that God has set is absolute sinlessness. God does not grade on the curve or
lower the bar to come down to our level, so that we can get over the bar. The bar is God's own
holiness and His own moral perfection. We have all sinned and fallen short of that standard.
Luther understood that. He pushed himself by fasting and praying, and he would even beat up
his own body in order to show God how sincere he was, to try to commend himself to God. He
would sleep outside in the freezing cold without a blanket just to buffet his own body. But in all
of these efforts, he felt like he was growing further and further away from God, rather than
closer and closer. He realized that there was nothing he could do to commend himself to God,
yet he realized that God required this perfection.
Luther was well taught in the Bible’s original languages, including the Greek language in which
Romans was written. As he was meditating on Romans 1:17, it was like a light bulb suddenly
came on, and he saw the truth. This righteousness of God is, in reality, the righteousness that
comes from God. It is the gift of God. What God requires, God gives in the gospel.
Righteousness from God
This word “righteous” means to be right with God. It means to be declared right before a holy
God in heaven. That is not something that we can work up. It is something that comes down
from above, from God Himself. God provides the righteousness that every one of us so
desperately needs in order to be made right with God. If we do not have this righteousness of
God, we are not right with God. If we do not have this righteousness, we are going to hell.
As Romans 1:18, the very next verse, says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." This includes every person who has ever
lived. This wrath of God is the vengeance of God, it is the fury of God, it is the holy anger of
God by which He damns sinners forever. And rightly so, because God is a holy God.
As Luther meditated on Romans 1:17, he finally understood the gospel. He said, "It was as if the
gates of paradise were slung open to me, and I was born again." That is what it is to be a
genuine Christian, a real authentic Christian. It is to be born again. The gates of paradise are
swung open, and we enter into the kingdom of God. The only way is for us to receive the
righteousness of God that has been secured for us through the person and work of Jesus Christ.
I have already discussed it, but it was Jesus’ sinless life and His substitutionary death that
secured this perfect righteousness. He obeyed the law of God perfectly in our place, and He died
upon the cross in our place. Those two aspects come together to achieve this perfect
righteousness. By His life and death, Christ secured this righteousness on our behalf.
How Righteousness is Received
Now we must ask: How is this righteousness received? How will you receive it? It is the Giver
of righteousness who sets the terms. We see clearly in verse 17 that this righteousness of God is
received by faith alone. Faith, apart from any works. It is not faith and works. By faith alone.
Paul begins verse 17, "For in it..." The word "for" gives a reason why. We have to look back at
verse 16, which says, “It is the power of God for salvation.” Verse 17 is an explanation of “the
power of God for salvation.” It says, “For in it,” and the "it" refers to the gospel, "the
righteousness of God is revealed."
This word for “revealed” is the word from which we derive the English word apocalypse, which
means ‘an unveiling.’ Something was hidden, and then it is uncovered. For example, if a
museum commissioned an artist to construct a statue of a famous person, there would be a
public ceremony, and the statue would be there before the front door of the museum with a
canvas that would drape over it. The people would be gathered, and at the proper moment in the
ceremony, the canvas would be removed, and there would be an unveiling of the statue.
Everyone would be able to see what had been previously hidden. 
This is what this word “revealed” means. It is the unveiling of the message of how sinful man
can be made right with holy God. God must reveal it. We cannot discover it on our own. We
cannot find it. We cannot make it up or invent it. God must take the initiative and reveal it, or
unveil it, to us. It is all by God's initiative. You will also note “reveal” is in the present tense,
meaning this gospel is always being revealed as the word of God is being taught and being
preached. It is the continuous, ongoing unveiling of this message that we are looking at today.
As we continue in verse 17, “…is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘But the righteous
man shall live by faith.’” Three times in this one verse we see the word “faith.” That is very
significant. This is a rare verse in which the same word is used three times, and it becomes very
obvious that the building focus that Paul has here – this righteousness from God, secured by
Christ – is received exclusively by faith. So, what can we say about faith – saving faith? We are
going to look at this word, “faith,” and I will give you ten headings that will help us understand
it better. 
I. The Meaning of Faith
Number one is the meaning of faith. What does faith mean? Faith (pistis) means a commitment
to, it means a trust in, it means a reliance upon. Those are all synonymous statements for what is
true saving faith. It involves the mind, the heart, and the will. With the mind, you must know the
truth of the gospel. You must know the truth about your standing before God, that you are
unrighteous and under the wrath of God. Then with your heart, you must be persuaded of the
truthfulness of that reality. Then with your will, you must make the firm commitment with your
life to Jesus Christ in order to receive the righteousness you desperately need.
You must take the step of faith and entrust all that you are to the Lord Jesus Christ. No one else
can make this decision for you. It is a commitment that only you can make. Your wife cannot
make it for you, your parents cannot make it for you, and your kids cannot make it for you. This
is the commitment of your life that you must personally make, and it happens at a fixed point in
time. 
This is the decisive moment when you enter through the narrow gate. One moment, you were
outside the kingdom, and the next moment you are on the inside. By faith alone, you come to
Jesus Christ and receive His righteousness. Charles Spurgeon said that faith is the eye that looks
to Christ. It is the hand that reaches out and grasps Christ. It is the mouth that devours Christ.
And I would add it is the feet that run to and after Christ.
That is what faith is. Faith does not sit still. Faith does not sit back. Faith does not simply think
about it. Faith does not merely have warm feelings about it. True, saving faith goes yet further.
Faith gets up and goes to Christ and looks to Christ and embraces Christ and receives Christ.
That is the meaning of faith. So that is number one. We must be crystal clear about what faith is.
II. The Object of Faith
Second, we see in this prologue the object of faith, because faith by itself is impotent. Faith is
no more powerful that its object. It is the object of faith that saves, and the object of faith is
found in Romans 1:2-4. In this prologue, it is the object of faith that is written in the Holy
Scriptures. Do you see that in verse 2? Specifically, the holy Scriptures testify about the Lord
Jesus Christ. They tell us that He is the Son of God, He is the Son of David. The Bible clearly
testifies to the person and work of Christ.
We do not have faith in our self. We do not have faith in a church. We do not have faith in a
Bible study. We have faith in the person of Jesus Christ. If you put faith in anything else, you
are unconverted and without hope. You cannot have faith in faith. It must be faith in Jesus
Christ, as presented in the word of God. He is the sole object of saving faith.
III. The Evidence of Faith
Third, as we come to verse five, we see the evidence of faith. Paul talks about the obedience of
faith, which means ‘the obedience that comes from faith.’ In other words, it is faith that
produces obedience. Disobedience is the result of unbelief. Obedience flows from faith. The
book of James will tell us that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). That means
disobedient faith is no faith at all, it is just religious talk. Genuine saving faith is an obedient
faith. With this decisive step of faith, you come under the authority of the lordship of Jesus
Christ, and you immediately begin to walk in obedience to the word of God. As soon as you
come through the narrow gate, you are under new management, as you are now under the
authority of the word of God.
A lifestyle of living in obedience to the Lord Jesus is not something that happens five years
later. It is not something where you finally go to a men's retreat ten years later and you say to
yourself, "You know, I think I now need to get committed to Jesus Christ and His word." No,
this kind of obedience is first activated on the front end of the Christian life. The moment you
take the step of faith through the narrow gate and enter into the kingdom, you immediately are
in submission to the authority of the word of God. It is not a one-two delayed reality.
This is critically important. This obedience begins when the gospel is presented to you, because
the gospel is more than a free offer. It is a divine command. We are commanded to repent. We
are commanded to believe in Jesus Christ. Either we are obedient to the gospel or we are
disobedient. It is a serious thing to hear the gospel. When we do, we must make the choice, to
either be disobedient or obedient to the command of the gospel to believe upon God's Son, Jesus
Christ.
This obedience of faith continues throughout the entirety of our Christian life. It is not just an
obedient first step. It is obedient steps, plural, for the rest of our lives. Do we ever disobey? Of
course we do, but we confess that disobedience, and we repent. We then continue on our
journey of faith.
IV. The Cause of Faith
What produces faith? Where does faith come from? Faith does not originate within us. We were
spiritually dead in our trespasses and sin. Nothing can come out of death, apart from God
working within us to raise the dead.
I will never forget the day I was in seminary, and the professor asked this question, "What can a
dead man do?" Someone on the back row yelled out, "Stink." That is all a dead man can do, just
stink. With that one question, my entire understanding of salvation came crashing down, like
taking one rock, throwing it into a glass window, and the entire window is shattered. In that
moment, as we were studying the preaching of George Whitefield, I saw that there is nothing
that a spiritually dead sinner can do. Dead men do not come to Christ. Dead men do not believe.
Dead men only stink and, really, run away from Christ. God must give the gift of faith, and that
is what God provides.
Verse 6 is tied in with the call of Jesus Christ. In verse 6 Paul says, "Among whom you also are
the called of Jesus Christ." This is the effectual call of Jesus Christ. It is a divine summons that
apprehends the one called. It is even stronger than a summons, it is a subpoena. When Jesus
calls, He makes us willing in the day of His power, and we come. This is just like when Jesus
stood before Lazarus' grave and said, "Lazarus, come forth." If He had not said, "Lazarus,” the
whole graveyard would have risen and come forth. That is how powerful His call is. He calls us
individually by name, and in the day that He calls us, we come to faith in Jesus Christ.
In that same moment, Jesus grants us the gift of repentance. He gives us the gift of saving faith.
That we repent and believe is all of grace. It is all the result of God working in us. That is why
Romans 11:36 says, "From Him and through Him and to Him are all things." Even the faith we
exercise in Jesus Christ is from God. So the cause of faith is God Himself. It is God alone who
birthed you into the kingdom. 
I could put the question this way, "What did you do to be born?" Very little, like zero, with the
edges trimmed off. You had less than nothing to do with your physical birth. You just showed
up. Jesus intentionally chose to use that metaphor of being born again, because it is all a work of
grace. The cause of faith is the call of God. When God summons us to faith, He gives us faith in
that split second. When He calls us, we believe.
V. The Priority of Faith
Number five, the priority of faith. I want you to look at verse 8, because faith is mentioned
multiple times in this opening prologue. Paul says, "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ
for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world." Do you see
how Paul elevates faith and establishes its priority? In other epistles, he will say, "faith, hope,
and love," and that triad of Christian virtues is really the priority in the Christian life. But the
letter to the Romans is such a gospel-centered book that he mentions only faith, because that is
the dominant theme running through this opening prologue. He will mention faith again in verse
12. He will mention it again in verse 16 with the word "believes," and he will mention it three
times in verse 17. 
Their faith is what was being proclaimed throughout the whole world. Look at what is
happening under Cesar's watch in Rome. Look at what is happening in the most immoral,
pagan, wicked, foul, cesspool of a city. These believers are sparkling diamonds in this dark
coalmine. It is their faith that is shining so strong and bright in this dark place. Because of their
faith in Christ, they are not being squeezed into the mold of the evil world system. They are not
trying to be like everyone else in the culture. They do not want to be lukewarm and blend in
with the environment around them. They are distinctively standing out, and what is causing
them to stand out is their faith. Everyone is talking about it. Even the unbelievers are talking
about it – the whole world, referring here to the whole known world in the Roman Empire.
The importance of faith is understood in Hebrews 11:6, which says, "Without faith it is
impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a
rewarder of those who seek Him." In simplest terms, that is precisely what faith is. It is
diligently seeking after God and living in obedience to God. The priority of faith is clearly seen
here, and there must be this priority of faith in your life.
There must be that aspect of your life which cannot be explained apart from your faith in God. It
cannot be explained by your natural gifts and abilities. It cannot be explained by your
intelligence. It cannot be explained by this or that. There is no explanation for what is going on
in your life, apart from your faith in God.
VI. The Power of Faith
Number six. I want you to see the power of faith. The next time faith is mentioned is in verse
12. Paul says, "That is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us
by the other’s faith." Do you see how powerful faith is? When we come together as believers,
we encourage one another to trust God more. My faith is contagious with you, and your faith is
contagious with me. We ignite one another’s faith, and we encourage one another by our faith.
When we are spiritually dull and our faith is not strong, we have a minimal effect upon other
believers. But when I am living full-tilt for the glory of God, when I am sold out, when my
emergency brake is not on, when I am in fifth gear, when I am pressing on to live for God, that
has a ripple effect with others who are around me. It is not just me – it is you and every one of
us in this room. I need your faith to be strong so you can encourage me. You need my faith to be
strong so that I can encourage you. In that sense, we rub off on one another. Even the apostle
Paul needed the faith of the Romans to encourage him.
In this light, none of us are immune to discouragement. None of us are immune to the danger of
cooling off in our spiritual life. We all need other believers to stoke the flames of our heart in
our fellowship with one another. That is what Paul is acknowledging here in verse 12. This is
the power of faith. It impacts other people. It impacts your wife. It impacts your children. It
impacts your work associates. It impacts others who come in contact with your life.
VII. The Necessity of Faith
Number seven, the necessity of faith. Verse 16 is the next time we see the same root word. It is
the word "believes." That is the verb form of faith, which is used as a noun in verse 17. Belief
and faith come from the very same Greek word. In verse 16 he says, "I am not ashamed of the
gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and
also to the Greek." This is the necessity of faith. We cannot experience the salvation of God, the
deliverance from the penalty of sin, and deliverance from the power of sin, except by faith alone
in Jesus Christ alone. Please note, it is not faith and anything else. The hymn rightly says, "In
my hands no price I bring, simply to thy cross I cling." This is the necessity for everyone. We
must believe in Jesus Christ, or we are doomed to perish. There is no other way to come to God
except through faith in Christ.
This begs the question, "Have you believed in Jesus Christ? Have you committed your life to
Christ?" It is very possible to have this truth in your head, and it is very possible to have warm
feelings in your heart. But in true salvation, you come to the altar, almost like in a wedding
ceremony, and commit your life to the head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ. You must take
the decisive step of faith, as an act of your will, whereby you entrust your soul to Jesus Christ.
VIII. The Perseverance of Faith
Number eight, the perseverance of faith. As we continue in verse 17, Paul says, "For in it the
righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith." Among reliable commentators, there are
numerous ways to interpret that statement. We would have to come back tomorrow morning for
an entire study just to go through all of these different options. Great men have differed on this,
but I am convinced that this is correct interpretation. When Paul says "from faith to faith," he is
saying, "it is by faith from start to finish." You began the Christian life by faith, you continue by
faith, and you will conclude by faith. That is, ‘from faith’ is saving faith. Then, when he says
"to faith," that is daily faith. That is living by faith. That is pursuing faith, moment-by-moment
and day-by-day.
This is very important, because it is not that someone merely prays a prayer, walks an aisle,
raises a hand, and joins the choir, and they think they are in the kingdom of God. Because they
are baptized, they think they are in. But then, they go back to the world and live the same way
they previously did, where nothing has changed. That is not a true conversion to Jesus Christ.
That is a false conversion of self-deception. True conversion begins with genuine faith, and it
continues day by day in a walk of faith, a life of faith. That is the meaning.
 
“Live By Faith”
I will tell you the second reason why I am convinced that this is the proper interpretation. Look
at the end of verse 17. Paul says, "But the righteous man shall live by faith.” This person is
converted by faith. That is assumed from verse 16 and the first use of the word faith in 17, but
he is talking about a living, daily, practical faith, in which "the righteous man shall live by
faith." 
When Paul says "the righteous man," he is referring to the man who has exercised saving faith
in Jesus Christ. He has been justified by faith and declared righteous by God. His legal standing
before God has now been changed. He is right before God under the law, because of Christ and
what He has done for him. 
But it is not that he only stands by faith. He now lives by faith, 24 hours a day, seven days a
week. This is the daily reality of the direction of his soul. True faith is not just a Sunday
morning deal. This is not a one morning a week thing. This is not just a Christmas experience or
an Easter experience. This is living by faith throughout the entirety of one’s life.
You persevere in this life of faith regardless of the challenges, regardless of the temptations,
regardless of the difficulties, regardless even of the persecution and the rejection. You live by
faith. You press on in this lifelong journey of faith that you have begun. This is the perseverance
of faith.
Faith that Perseveres
We must understand that saving faith is the gift of God. When God gives this gift of faith, it is a
faith that will never implode. It is a faith that will never stop believing. It may weaken. It may
slow down at times, but it will never dissolve. A believer will never become an unbeliever. For
faith in Jesus Christ to ever become unbelief again is theologically impossible, doctrinally
impossible, exegetically impossible, any way and every way you want to slice it. 
Look at verse 17 one more time, "From faith to faith." It is impossible to go from faith to
unbelief. You can only go from faith to faith. It is impossible to go from faith to apostasy. It is
impossible to go from faith to unfaith. No, true faith can only go in one direction, because this
involves such a powerful work of God in the soul. This is not what we do. Instead, this is what
God does in us. It is from faith to faith, that is, saving faith can only move forward. It goes from
faith to faith. “It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure"
(Philippians 2:13)
Spurgeon said, "Noah fell down many times in the ark, but he never once fell out of the ark."
We can fall down in the Christian life. But we will never fall away from the Christian life. It is
not a matter of me holding onto God; it is a matter of Him holding onto me. There is a huge
difference in that.
I have my son James here. When James was a very young boy, we would be crossing the street,
and I would have ahold of his hand. He would be holding my hand, but there would be times he
would let go of me. He would step off the curb, but he would be swinging in mid-air, because I
have ahold of him, and I would never let go of him, even if he let go of me. That is the way it is
in genuine, true salvation. God gives us a faith that goes from faith to faith. God will never let
go of us.
IX. The Dynamic of Faith
Number nine, the dynamic of faith. We see this in verse 17 also. I have already underscored
this, and perhaps I got ahead of myself a little bit earlier. The dynamic of faith is found in the
word "live." That is not a static word, but an active word. That is a dynamic word. We live by a
living faith.
Genuine faith, as I have already said, is full of energy. It is energetic. That is why we have to
move out. We cannot say, "Let us just pray about it." We do need to pray about whatever is
before us. But we also need to do more than pray about it. We need to take steps of faith to
obey. 
X. The Breadth of Faith 
Finally, we see the breadth of faith. This is implied when Paul says, "live by faith." This refers
to the entirety of our Christian life, which is to be lived by faith. This refers to not just our
church lives, not just our spiritual lives, but to our business lives, our family lives, our
recreational lives. Every component part of our lives, every room in the house of our lives, the
entirety of our lives is to be lived by faith. 
Throughout our Christian lives, we are not meant to be self-reliant. None of our lives should be
lived in self-dependence. We should always be anchored to God in every aspect of our lives.
We need God, not just to go to heaven, but to go to work. We need God, not only for our
relationship with Him, but in all of our relationships upon the earth. Every aspect of our lives is
to be lived by faith. It is our whole lifestyle.
 
Conclusion
What I want us to see in this study is this major theme of faith that runs throughout this opening
prologue. Faith is specifically mentioned in Romans 1 verse 5, verse 8, verse 12, verse 16 as a
verb, and three times in verse 17. The importance of faith is clear.
You cannot be saved apart from faith. You cannot be sanctified apart from faith. You cannot be
what God desires you to be and experience the abundant life that Christ has come to give you
apart from faith. Remember, though, it is an active faith, it is a faith that works, it is a faith that
moves out, and it is a faith that produces obedience. Nevertheless, faith is the fountain from
which your daily life of active faith flows. “From faith to faith.”
I will drop anchor here. As we have gone through these verses, tell me what leaps off the page
and grabs your attention? What is tapping you on the shoulder? What is pulling on your lapel as
you look at these verses? It may be something that you have already known, but is a needed
reminder, or it may be a new insight that we have uncovered today.
 
Audience:        I was thinking how it is comforting to know that I am inadequate. I am not
anything spectacular at all. It is comforting to know that everything was done by the Lord. I
need to remind myself of that, and trust in Him that he is going to provide. As you were saying,
"What God requires, God provides." That is in my mind. I do not know how He is going to do
it, but He does know how. I know that everything is possible with Him. That is something I
need to cling to everyday, because, as you were saying, wherever I go, I need the Lord. 
Dr. Lawson:    Thank you for sharing that. This was really the heart of the issue with Augustine
and Pelagius at the beginning of the fifth century. Augustine said, "What God requires, we
cannot give." Pelagius, who was an unbeliever, said, "That makes no sense," and started the
heresy of Pelagianism. Augustine responded, "What God requires and what I cannot provide,
God supplies." That really became a major point in the development of doctrine in the church. It
would be that very point that Luther, Calvin, and the Reformers would go back to 1,000 years
later. Allen, you put your finger on a major point. That was a mountain peak of church history,
and the whole issue, as Augustine saw, was that what God requires, God supplies. That is a
huge point. 
Audience:        In verse 17 and verse 18, the verb "revealed" is used. It says righteousness is
revealed in verse 17, and then unrighteousness is revealed, or specifically, “the wrath of God is
revealed,” towards unrighteousness, in verse 18. Same verb, two diametrically different
situations. Is there anything more that we can draw from that?
Dr. Lawson:    Yes. I find it very important that these are both in the present tense. In verse 18,
"the wrath of God is revealed from heaven." It is not that one day it will be revealed in hell. But
right now, this very moment, the wrath of God is already hovering over every unbeliever and is
ready to be unleashed upon the sinner the moment they die. There will also be other expressions
of divine wrath that will fall upon them, even during this lifetime, certain cataclysmic events. It
is a present reality in verse 18. It is not one day at the great white throne judgment, the wrath of
God will be revealed. It will be revealed then, but it is already, right now, in the present tense. It
is suspended and hanging over the unbeliever.
Likewise, in verse 17, it is in the present tense. You wanted me to dig down just a little bit on
this. If you turn back to Romans 3:21, we see the verb used. It is translated in the American
Standard as “manifested.” "But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been
manifested" (Romans 3:21), or revealed. It is in the past. That points back to the cross where the
righteousness of God was supremely revealed 2,000 years ago at the cross.
The only time that phrase, "the righteousness of God" is used in the New Testament, outside of
the book of Romans, is in 2 Corinthians 5:21. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our
behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” That is referring to the
cross. My sins imputed to Christ, credited to Christ. His righteousness credited to me. That took
place, according to Romans 3:21, 2,000 years ago at the cross. Here in Romans 1:17, it is
present tense. That is why verse 17 refers to the present ministry of the word of God and the
preaching of the gospel. There is this present revelation of what Christ did 2,000 years ago
every time we open our Bible, and every time the word of God is preached. We preach Christ
and Him crucified. There should be this revelation of the righteousness of God as we speak, and
as we preach, and as we witness to one another.
This very second, the righteousness of God is being revealed to you through this verse as we are
looking into God's word. For unbelievers, it is being revealed to them, but so also is the wrath of
God being revealed to them. Now, that wrath is no longer being revealed to us, because in
Romans 8:1 it says, "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus." 
That is because Jesus propitiated, which means ‘satisfied or appeased or placated,’ the wrath of
God in Himself. He became, not only our sin bearer, but also our wrath bearer. Upon the cross,
Jesus bore the penalty for our sin, which was divine wrath inflicted upon Him. It is a package
deal. If you bear the sin, you bear the wrath upon the sin. There is no wrath left for us.
The wrath of God, metaphorically, was in the cup as Jesus said, "Father, if it be possible, let this
cup pass from me." He knew He would have to drink that whole cup empty. All the foul dregs
in that cup, He would drink, and take to Himself the judgment of God for our sins, the wrath of
God. He drank every single drop for all for whom He died. There is not one drop of wrath left
for any believer to ever have to undergo or to experience. Christ took it all to Himself.
If you have put your faith in Christ, I can think of no better news than this, that there is no wrath
left. Christ perfectly propitiated, that is the biblical word in Romans 3:25, “propitiation.” That is
an awkward word, I admit. We do not use it in day-to-day conversation. But it is God's word, it
is a biblical word, and it means that the wrath of God has been fully satisfied and appeased
toward all who put their faith in Christ. 
The moment you believe, you go from being under the wrath of God to no wrath. That is a
really big deal. Even with the elect, the wrath of God abided upon them before they were
converted to Christ. In Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul says to the believers in Ephesus, “you were dead
in sin, you were a child of wrath,” meaning a child deserving wrath. You walked according to
the course of this world, and according to the prince of the power of the air. Everyone who was
chosen in Christ, redeemed by Christ, and sealed by the Holy Spirit, was under the wrath of God
until they came to faith in Christ, when God called them to Himself.
Thanks for the question, and teeing us up to dig down a little bit more in that verse. That is all
we have time for today. Next week, we will look at Romans 1:18. {{field-off:bible}}
 07. Romans 1:18 - Divine Wrath

[[@Bible:Ro 1:18]] {{field-on:bible}} Dr. Steven J. Lawson

Acesso em: 09 out. 2018

We are in Romans 1:18 and looking at this one verse that is so critically important. This text
reads, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” You no doubt see the stark
contrast between the good news of what preceded in verses 16-17 and the bad news of verse 18.
This is a shocking transition to verse 18 as Paul declares, “For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven.”
This announcement of wrath begins an entirely new section in the book of Romans. This verse
serves as the topic sentence over the entire section that lies ahead. This first major section of the
book begins here in Romans 1:18 and will extend to Romans 3:20. To reduce the central theme
of this section to one word, it is condemnation. Paul will make his case, like a prosecuting
attorney, and bring the indictment of God against every member of the entire human race who
are outside of Jesus Christ. It is a monumental portion of Romans that speaks to the total
depravity of every person and the wrath of God abiding upon all.
 As Paul is making this case, the purpose is to show why everyone desperately needs to hear and
believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. In this section, Paul goes for the jugular vein with this
argument. He does not say you need the gospel because you have been leading an unsuccessful
life. He does not say you need the gospel because you have been lonely. He does not say you
need the gospel so that you can find the right spouse. He does not say you need the gospel
because you are feeling insecure. Paul says that you need the gospel because apart from its
truth, you are presently under the wrath of Almighty God and are going to hell.
 I. The Reality of Divine Wrath (1:18a)
 The word ‘wrath’ is the Greek word orge. You can almost hear the English word orgy that is
very closely related to it. An orgy is a place of sexual licentiousness in which there are heated
passions in the participants. The people are worked up into a mindless enthusiasm of lust. That
is an orge in the most negative sense. But there is also a positive use of orge which involves
God. Obviously, anything with God is holy, pure, and perfect.
 The word ‘wrath’ in Romans 1:18 describes the heated passion of God that is enflamed against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness. God is not a stoic sovereign. He is not a mechanical Maker
of heaven and earth. He is not passively observing what is happening upon planet earth. God is
a holy God, and there is a moral indignation within Him against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness upon the earth. If this were not so, God would not be God. If this were not so,
God would not be perfectly holy.
 When Paul says, “for the wrath of God,” he means the wrath that comes down from God. Paul
will talk about the wrath of God in a twofold way in the book of Romans. He will talk about His
future wrath in eternity future and His present wrath now, within time. I want to take us to a
couple verses on future wrath, the reality of future eternal wrath. In Romans 2:5, Paul says,
“Because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in
the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” Every sin that an unbeliever
commits is storing up more wrath from God. The more people suppress the truth about God, the
more they are accumulating more and more wrath.
 In his famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards likened it to
a river of wrath that is flowing from the throne of God down from heaven. At this moment, that
river of wrath is being dammed up by the mercy of God. God is giving opportunity to sinners to
repent of their sins, to repent of their stubbornness, and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in saving
faith. But this whole time, the dam of mercy is holding back the surging, rising river of divine
wrath. The river is building and increasing, and the pressure upon the dam is growing
exponentially by the moment. When this dam of mercy is withdrawn, a tsunami of wrath will be
unleashed upon the sinner. He will be swept into the bowels of hell and will be under oceans of
wrath throughout all eternity.
 There is also present wrath, which are preludes of future wrath. That is the meaning here. Paul
is announcing that there is a present wrath that God has toward all that is contrary to His own
holiness. This announcement of the smoldering wrath of God is not the superficial message that
we hear from many today, that says “Smile, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your
life.” This pronouncement of divine wrath that is being revealed at this moment is the sheer,
unvarnished, unadulterated truth of God Himself.
 II. The Revelation of Divine Wrath (1:18b)
 Notice that Paul uses the present tense when he says, “For the wrath of God is revealed.” He
does not say that the wrath of God “will be revealed” at some point in the future. That would
mean that a person could procrastinate, getting around to believing the gospel one day, as if the
wrath of God will not be revealed until some time in the future. But to the contrary, this is a
present revelation of wrath, which makes the gospel message so urgent. That is why every
person on planet earth desperately needs the gospel of Jesus Christ now, without delay.
 Given what follows later in this chapter, this present revelation of wrath, understood within
context, is what can be called abandonment wrath. It is when men repeatedly reject God, He
may come to the place when He abandons them and turns them over to their own ways. A
person can reject God to the point that God rejects them. At that time, God turns a person over
to go their own way, which is further away from Him. When that occurs, they cannot come back
to God unless He, in an extraordinary measure of mercy, brings them back to Himself.
 That abandonment is found in Romans 1:24, 26, and 28. This is the present wrath of God
described in verse 18. Verse 24 states: “Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their
hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.” Verse 26 reads: “For
this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural
function for that which is unnatural.” It is lesbianism. Verse 27: “In the same way also the men
abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another.”
Homosexuality. Then in verse 28: “Just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any
longer…” This wrath is their rejection by God.
 “They did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over” (1:28). This is the
third time Paul says that God gave them over. It is the slippery slope that leads further and
further away from God. By their continued rejection of God, they are descending deeper and
deeper into sin. It starts out with immorality, and then it comes down to the grossest of all
immoralities, lesbianism and homosexuality. But it does not end there. There is a basement even
lower than that. Verse 28 asserts: “God gave them over to a depraved mind to do those things
that are not proper.” In verses 29-31, Paul spells out that this final stage of abandonment wrath
results in the depraved, reprobate mind of men and women that can no longer rationally think.
They can no longer differentiate between right and wrong. They cannot think their way morally
from point A to point B.
 This present unleashing of wrath is an abandonment by God. This is the scariest thing that can
ever happen to a person, culture, society, denomination, seminary, ministry, or movement. It
comes because they reject God. They reject the virgin birth. They reject the substitutionary
death of Christ. They reject the inspiration of the Scripture. They reject the bodily resurrection.
They reject eternal hell. When this occurs, God will give them over to ungodly leaders and even
homosexual ministers. But it will become worse. Such God-rejectors will make a series of
decisions that will take them further and further, and still further and further away from God.
They think are serving God, but they are like a dead fish floating downstream who do not know
that they are spiritually dead.
 This is exactly where a major portion of America is. Many people are making the most insane
decisions, and we think, “How in the world could you possibly have come up with that
decision?” This passage explains how such insanity occurs. This present wrath is abandonment
wrath. It is God turning a people over to go their own way. When God gives you over, you keep
making decisions that take you further away, and further away, and further away from God.
 III. The Reasons for Divine Wrath (1:18c)
 In verse 18, the apostle Paul declares God’s wrath is “against all unrighteousness and
ungodliness of men.” Paul does not talk about felt needs, because such superficial needs are not
a person’s real needs. One’s real needs lie much deeper within their soul. A person’s real needs
are to escape the wrath of almighty God that will come down against every unbeliever who is
outside of Jesus Christ.
 This verse clearly declares that God is angry with sinners every day. This moment, God is
rightly  angry and full of heated vengeance and boiling fury against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men. Without any hesitation, Paul speaks very directly to this truth of the
abiding wrath of God toward sinners. There is no fine print in what he writes in the book of
Romans. There is no withholding this truth on his part until the end of the book. There is no
tickling their ears and telling them first what they want to hear. Paul is a straight shooter, and he
cuts to the bottom line on this. He says, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven.” When he
adds “from heaven,” the idea is that it is descending down from God. It is plummeting down
from His omnipotent hand with devastating power. It is coming down with overwhelming force
upon this sinful and rebellious world.
 Notice that Paul does not say that the wrath of God is revealed against
merely some ungodliness. Not against most ungodliness. Not against a lot of ungodliness.
Rather, this says it is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.
 There is a distinction that Paul makes between ungodliness and unrighteousness. He is not
being redundant and the order of the two words is very important. Words always mean
something specific to Paul when he writes. As this brilliant intellect writes under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, Paul first addresses God’s holy hatred of ungodliness before he moves to
unrighteousness. Ungodliness is man’s unbelief directed towards God. Unrighteousness is his
unbelief directed towards man. Ungodliness is vertical, while unrighteousness is horizontal.
 “Ungodliness” Toward God
“Ungodliness” literally means ‘irreverent,’ and it is irreverence in the hearts of unbelievers
towards God. This is where everything begins, with one’s relationship with God. Here, it starts
with one’s lack of relationship with Him. You tell me what your relationship with God is, I will
tell you everything else about your life. A.W. Tozer said, “The most important thing that will
ever enter your mind is what comes to your mind when you think of God.” What a person thinks
about God is the lead domino, and everything else is a consequence of who they believe God is
and what they do with this knowledge of God.
 Your knowledge of God will chart the course for every step of your life. It will impact the
decisions you make, how you live your life, your motives, your ambitions, and your priorities.
This is the trigger point for everything, including who you marry, where you work, how you
work, how you raise your kids, and how you face adversity. Your relationship with God is that
determinative.
 When Paul says “ungodliness,” the word (asebeia) means ‘irreverence towards God.’ It
includes idolatry, impiety, a failure to take God seriously, a failure to commit one’s life to God,
a failure to live for the glory of God. All these are an aspect of irreverence. “The wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness.” Paul will open this up in verses 19-21, and this
idolatrous irreverence becomes the lead sin of humanity. It becomes the chief sin before all
other sin. He says in verse 19, “Because that which is known about God is evident within them,
for God made it evident to them.” In verse 20, God has made Himself known. Verse 21
continues, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but
they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” That is an
expansion of this word ‘ungodliness.’
 No Fear of God
At the end of this section, in Romans 3:18, we find Paul’s indictment of the entire human race,
both Jew and Gentile, both nonreligious and religious, both pagan and those who had been
raised in Judaism. Romans 3:18 summarizes this ungodliness that Paul is addressing in Romans
1:18. He says, “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” What is so striking today is that
many churches want to make an unbeliever feel as comfortable as they possibly can. They
remove everything that would cause any to fear God. They stroke their egos and tell them how
great they are. All this shallowness perpetuates no fear of God. Despite this approach, the fear
of God remains the very heart of authentic Christianity. That is why elsewhere in Job, Psalms,
Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs, it says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of everything that is godly and right.
 A lack of fearing God produces false converts. No one giggles their way into the kingdom of
heaven. No one comes laughing into the kingdom of heaven. The only ones who genuinely
come into the kingdom of heaven are those who realize they are under the wrath of God and
have the fear of Him alarming them. They come to God with lowly humility. They come with
brokenness and emptiness. It is not, “Repeat this prayer. Oh, okay. You said those words, so
you are in.” To the contrary, down deep in the soul, is the fear of God within anyone who is
right with God. A reverential awe of God comes from the realization that you are under divine
judgment. You must be convicted that you are under the condemnation of God for your sin. You
must know that you are foul, wicked, and depraved. That is who you are, and that is what you
are without Christ. That is the issue in your life.
 “Unrighteousness” Toward Men
Look at the next word, “unrighteousness.” Paul writes, “For the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.” The word “unrighteousness” deals with
one’s conduct in life. It deals with the steps that a person takes, and how he conducts himself.
How he lives his life. It speaks of lawlessness and immorality. It speaks of going one’s own way
and doing one’s own thing. It speaks of breaking the law of God. Paul is not needlessly
repeating himself. He is not saying the same thing with two different words.
 This two-fold aspect – “ungodliness” and “unrighteousness” – is how the Ten Commandments
breakout. The first four of the Ten Commandments govern your relationship with God. The last
six commandments govern your relationship with man. First the vertical, then the horizontal.
The horizontal begins, “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not take the name of
the Lord your God in vein. You shall not make any graven images. You shall honor the Lord on
the Sabbath.” Then comes the horizontal dimension, “You will honor your father and mother.
You will not bear false witness. You will not steal. You will… etc.” This is what we see here,
compact in these very few verses. Paul first addresses our ungodliness, then follows with our
unrighteousness.
 IV. The reaction of Divine Wrath (1:18d)
 Verse 18 continues, “who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” The word “suppress”
(katecho) means ‘to hold back, detain, restrain.’ It can indicate a person who is trying to hold
something under. The illustration has been given of a beach ball at the lake, full of air, and you
try to push it down under the surface of the water. But the second you let go of it, it comes
popping back up. That is the idea here. These unbelievers try to get rid of the knowledge of
God. They try to hold down the idea of the existence of God. They try to submerge their
accountability to God. But they are only suppressing the truth that comes right back up.
 The truth about God is not going away. Paul will go on to tell us in the next verses, Romans
1:19-20, and in Romans 2:14-15, that God has put the truth of His existence in their conscience.
He has made it clearly evident to all men. The fact of creation obviously implies there is a
Creator. No one can get away from the fact of the existence of God. Whatever mind game
someone tries to play to explain away God, they are only suppressing the truth about God that is
clearly evident in creation itself.
 In verse 20, Paul says that everyone on the planet is “without excuse,” concerning the existence
of God. No one gets an exemption in their accountability to God, because He has clearly made
Himself known to all. The fact of the existence of God and something of His character has been
made evident to every person on planet earth. Not everyone knows the way to God, because that
is only found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not everyone hears the gospel. But everyone knows
that God exists. But tragically, everyone, because of the depravity of their heart, is trying to
suppress the truth about His existence. Verse 18 says, they “suppress the truth in
unrighteousness.” The “truth” refers to the truth about God, what He has made known about
Himself to man.
 The greater the suppression of the knowledge of God, the greater will be the wrath of God
unleashed upon that person. There will be more wrath for some than for others. The greatest
wrath will be upon those who have heard the truth of the gospel and have rejected it. If you are
going to go to hell, do so from a remote place in Africa where the gospel is not being preached.
Do not go to hell from Dallas, Texas where there is an abundance of gospel witnesses. Hell will
be hotter for people who have heard it over, and over, and over, and over, but blatantly reject it.
They keep playing church, and keep hopping from one church to the next. They keep flipping
through the dial and listening to the television preachers. But they are never born again. They
never come to faith in Christ. They never come to the end of themselves. They never humble
themself and repent of their sin.
 The greatest sin is rejecting the greatest revelation of truth concerning God Himself. When God
is intentionally refused, everything comes spiraling out of this. This is far worse than even the
sin of immorality. It is far worse than the homosexuality, and the lesbianism, and all of the rest
of the licentious sin. In Romans 2:8, Paul writes, “But to those who are selfishly ambitious and
do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation” await them. This awaits
those who are just living for themself. Those worshipping at the shrine of the unholy trinity: me,
myself, and I.
 This is not a tame, moderate wrath, but the passionate, heated wrath of God. In the Old
Testament, the word for “wrath” indicates a heated fury of God that will be unleashed upon
sinners. The exercise of this wrath is not a little push into hell. Once sinners are in hell, they will
be made subject to the fierce, relentless pounding of the wrath of God without end. This is not
self-inflicted wrath in hell. Nor is it the devil inflicting this wrath. It is the omnipresent God,
who is everywhere present, even in hell, inflicting this wrath. Sinners in hell only wish they
were separated from God.
 Romans 3:5, “The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is he?” The answer to this
rhetorical question is, no. This wrath is well-deserved. It is not capricious. It is not undeserved.
It is entirely just and equitable. It is necessary. In Romans 9:22, we read, “What if God,
although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much
patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?” This is the infliction of the wrath of the
final judgment and the eternal torment of the damned in hell.
 V. The Rescue from Divine Wrath (1:18a)
 There is one more thing I want to show you here. In verse 18, the first word is “For.” That word
(gar) introduces a reason or explanation for what preceded. This is also how verses 16, 17, 20,
and 21 begin, with the word “For.” This indicates an ongoing sequence of explanations. Paul is
a logical thinker, who is linear in his thinking. He thinks in a straight line, from one to two, to
three, to four. He coherently reasons from A to B, from B to C, from C to D. Great teachers are
not circular in their rationale, but are linear like a laser beam. Their mind works in a straight line
that is easy to follow. They think with consecutive thoughts, not launching off into the wild blue
yonder, chasing every stray thought. Paul is such a linear thinker.
 In verse 16, Paul begins, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel.” This “for” explains why he is
so eager to preach the gospel in the previous verse, when he wrote in verse 15, “I am eager to
preach the gospel to you in Rome.” Why is Paul so eager? The answer is, because the gospel is
“the power of God unto salvation.” That is why Paul was so eager, because this message of the
gospel that he will preach will explode in hearts and turn them away from sin and idolatry. The
gospel is that powerful. We then ask the question: Why is the gospel so powerful? Here is the
answer in verse 17, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed.” The gospel is so powerful
that it can take unrighteous people and make them righteous.
 Why is the gospel so necessary? Paul answers, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.”
The gospel would not be necessary if it was not for verse 18. This is why we must believe the
gospel, why we must preach the gospel, why we must bear witness of the gospel. “For the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men.” He will
further unpack the necessity of the gospel in verses 20, 21, 25, and 26. These verses all begin
with the explanatory word “For.” Paul is unpacking his explanation of why the gospel is so
desperately needed by every person on planet earth.
 Even if a person never hears the gospel, when they die, they die under the wrath of God. They
go to hell and suffer for the sins that they have committed throughout their entire life. That is
why Paul will say in chapter 10, “Blessed are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good
news… Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word Christ” (verse 14). We have to get the
word of God out to the world, because everyone, whether you have heard it yet or not, is under
the wrath of God with no way to escape apart from the gospel.
 This wrath of God is the necessary expression of the holiness of God against all that is unholy.
A holy God hates sin and must punish sin. A holy God must damn sinners, or He, the Judge, is
indicted with the crime. God must punish sin.
 All Are Under Sin
This is why we are so committed to the gospel, as Paul is building his case for the gospel. This
is the opening verse of this section in which Paul builds an insurmountable argument for the
need for the gospel. Let me look ahead ahead for a brief moment with you, and show you where
this argument is heading. In Romans 3:9, Paul says, “We have already charged that both Jews
and Greeks are all under sin.” This announces the universal condemnation of the entire human
race. Verses 10 and 11 say, “There is none righteous, not even one. There is none who
understands, there is none who seeks for God.”
 You may say, “What about people in religions in the Far East. They are so religious. Are they
not seeking God?” It is the total opposite. They are running away from the one true God. They
have invented their own gods because they do not want to deal with that which is made known
about God to them. They are not running to God, they are running away from God. There is
none who seeks for God.
 Look at the next verse, “All have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none
who does good, there is not even one.” Now Paul describes their total depravity, “Their throat is
an open grave.” In other words, only lies come out of their mouth. “With their tongues they
keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and
bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their paths, and the
path of peace they have not known.” The climax is found in verse 18, which reads, “There is no
fear of God before their eyes.” You say, “Who is he talking about?” He is describing everyone
outside of Christ. This is Paul’s diagnosis of the human race. Verse 19 says, “So that every
mouth maybe closed, and all the world may become accountable to God.” That is a sobering
truth, but it is nevertheless reality.
 Saved From the Wrath of God
This is why the gospel is so precious. It is why the gospel is everything. In Romans 5:9, “Much
more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God
through Him.” This is what salvation is. It is not rescuing you from a lonely existence. It is not
delivering you from a bad job. It is not saving you from having personal insecurities. It is not
saving you from being unhappy with yourself. It is saving you from God, and there is only One
who can save from God, that is God Himself. Salvation is God’s grace saving us from His
wrath. This great salvation is done through the work of His Son, Jesus Christ.
 The way this deliverance from divine wrath takes place is found in Romans 3:25. It is found in
one word, “propitiation.” Romans 3:25, “Whom God displayed publicly,” talking about Christ,
“as a propitiation in His blood.” The word “propitiation” means ‘appeasement or satisfaction.’
The death of Christ satisfied the wrath of God toward us. He took this wrath to Himself. When
Christ bore our sin, He then bore the wrath of God upon our sin. There is not one drop of wrath
left for those who put their faith in Christ. That is why Romans 8:1 says, “Therefore, there is
now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” There is no divine wrath left for us
because Christ has taken it to Himself.
 Conclusion
What is the “So what” of all this? The “so what” of this is what humility, what thankfulness,
what praise to God there should be in your heart and in your soul for what God has done for you
in His Son Jesus Christ.
 Proper Perspective
Further, this rescue from divine wrath puts all our present problems in proper perspective. In
comparison to this divine wrath, you do not have a problem in your life. You may have a few
issues, but this supreme of all problems has been taken care of. This is the ginormous issue in
your life. It is for you to be made right with God, and for you to escape the wrath of God that is
going to be unleashed upon sinners.
 If you have committed your life to Christ, the biggest issue of your life has been taken care of. I
do not mean to minimize whatever issues are going on. I realize that life’s struggles can become
big and seemingly swallow us up. But in comparison to these trials, this fact that we have
escaped the wrath of God causes everything else to be seen with right perspective.
 Proper Diagnosis
Do you want to know what is wrong with the world? Do you want to know what is wrong with
America? Do you want to know what is wrong with the Democrats? Do you want to know what
is wrong with the Republicans? Do you want to know what is wrong with everybody? It is the
rejection of God on God’s terms. If you reject God on God’s terms, you are going to be turned
over to go your own way. Sin makes you stupid. Sin makes you make the worst decisions you
could ever possibly make with your life. There is only one cure. There is only one way to sort
out what is going on in this world. Ultimately there is only one cure, and it is the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
 Nobody wants to talk about wrath these days. Everyone wants to pretend like it is not there.
Everyone wants to play hide-n-seek and go to other parts of the Bible. But Paul begins his case
for Christianity right here, that all people are under the wrath of God. There is only one means
of escape, and that is through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
 So, I have got to ask you, have you committed your life to Christ? Have you believed upon the
Lord Jesus Christ? I cannot end this lesson without calling for the verdict. Where are you in
this? Going to church does not save you. You are going to need to go to church, if it is a good
church, but you do not go to heaven because you go to church. You are not right with God
because you come to a Bible study. You are only made right with God if you have repented of
your sin and committed your life to Jesus Christ. Every inch and every ounce of you. If you
have never done that, I would plead with you to do so before it is too late.
 I am going to assume that most of you who come to a Bible study like this, have a right
standing with God. But in a group like this, there is always someone who needs to take this
decisive step to commit their life to Christ. You need to do that, and you need to do it today.
 Let me close in a word of prayer.
 Father, thank You for the time that we have had here today. Thank You for the salvation that
You have provided for us to escape this deluge, this tsunami of Your wrath that is being
unleashed. God, we treasure the Lord Jesus Christ. We embrace Him, and we praise You that
You have had mercy upon us. You have demonstrated Your love toward us in Christ. Father, I
pray that everyone here in this room today is truly, genuinely in Christ. For those who are
listening who are not, may they run to Christ, and flee to Christ this very moment. In His name.
Amen. {{field-off:bible}}
 08. No Excuse - Romans 1:19-23

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

Because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to
them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine
nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are
without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks,
but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to
be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in
the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures
(Romans 1:19-23).
 
In the book of Romans, the apostle Paul is writing to the church in Rome in order to present his
most profound case for the gospel. This is his magnum opus, his most extraordinary treatise for
what the gospel is. In this theological argument, Paul begins with every person’s need for the
gospel, which is, namely, the condemnation by God of the entire sinful human race. The apostle
starts here because the good news of the gospel is never good news until you first know the bad
news. So, he starts with the bad news, which establishes the necessity for the gospel.
 
Paul commences his presentation with the wrath of God, because the entire human race is under
His fierce anger. Therefore, the entire human race desperately needs the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Everyone that you and I meet today as we go to our places of business, everyone with whom
you rub shoulders during the day, is in dire need of this gospel, because apart from it, they are
under the wrath of Almighty God.
 
What is the wrath of God? The word wrath (orge) refers to a settled, determined indignation
against sinful mankind. It is His holy vengeance that reacts in judgment against all that is
unholy. It is His righteous indignation and fierce anger against all that does not conform to His
perfect character. In the book of Romans, Paul pulls no punches, but repeatedly addresses this
aspect of God’s perfect character (1:18; 2:5,8; 3:5; 4:15; 5:9; 9:22; 12:19).
 
This is where Paul begins his argument for the gospel. In verse 18, he wrote, "For the wrath of
God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress
the truth in unrighteousness." That is the present wrath of God that is presently being revealed
against all unrighteousness, wherever it is on the earth. Apart from the gospel, all mankind is
under divine condemnation.
 
This declaration of sinful mankind’s standing under condemnation is very graphic and grim.
Paul certainly does not tell us what we want to hear, but rather what we need to hear. The Bible
does not sugar coat the message, but tells it in a straightforward fashion. There is no fine print
hidden at the end of the Bible. This truth is made known in large print at the beginning. I would
remind you, this teaching is placed at the very beginning of the book of Romans. Paul does not
hold back this news until the end because it is so unpalatable. Rather, he front-loads the subject
of divine wrath at the very outset of the book of Romans. This mention of divine anger against
sin is very direct, emphatic, and even abrupt. The apostle makes no apologies. There is no
attempt to tone down this reality that threatens all who are without the gospel. This is the sheer,
unvarnished truth from God coming through the pen of the apostle Paul.
 
To summarize, whether a person has heard the name of Christ or not, the entire human race is
found guilty before God and is under His eternal condemnation. The human race has been
weighed in the balances of divine justice and are found wanting. There is no excuse that any
sinner can render to God to escape the judgment before Him. On the last day, Paul says that
every mouth will be closed before God (Romans 3:19). No guilty sinner will be able to open his
mouth to render a counter-argument against God.
 
As we come to our verses for this study, Paul establishes that God has made Himself known to
every man (verses 19-20). However, every person has rejected this knowledge of God (verses
21-22) and replaced it with idolatrous thoughts of another god of their own making (1:23).
 
I. The Revelation of God (1:19)
 
Paul writes, "because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it
evident to them" (verse 19). In this passage, Paul is describing God’s revelation of Himself to
all people. This is what theologians call general revelation. To be clear, there are two different
kinds of revelation by which God has made Himself known to man. These two categories are
general revelation and special revelation. We have to keep those two categories distinct. Let us
consider each.
 
Special Revelation
The special revelation is what we have in His written word. This revelation is often referred to
as saving revelation because it is absolutely necessary for someone to receive in order to be
converted to faith in Jesus Christ. Special revelation is a fuller disclosure that God makes of
Himself to mankind that unveils the truth about the way to know Him. This saving revelation is
found exclusively in the written word, which alone tells us about the living Word, Lord Jesus
Christ. What we know of the person of Christ and the plan of salvation is found in the written
word of God.
 
Paul will tell us later in Romans 10:17, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of
Christ." No one can be saved without the gospel that is found in special revelation. That is why
we preach the gospel to the world. That is why we must send missionaries. That is why we must
go to the ends of the earth to testify of the Lord Jesus Christ to people who have never heard of
Him. No one can be saved merely by general revelation. They can only come to a saving
knowledge of Jesus Christ by the special revelation found in the Bible.
 
General Revelation
On the other hand, the general revelation is the self-disclosure of God in a general, non-saving
way. It is called general because this knowledge about God is made known to the entire human
race. There is no one on planet earth, on any continent, on any island, who has not received
general revelation about God. General revelation reveals the existence of God and makes known
His attributes. But it does not reveal the way to know God. This knowledge of God is sufficient
to condemn, but it is not sufficient to save.
 
As Paul is speaking in verse 19, he is referring to general revelation. He is addressing what is
generally revealed by God, about Himself, to all men. When Paul writes in verse 19, "that which
is known about God," he is referring to the truth about His existence and attributes. When he
explains that this knowledge "is evident," he means that this truth about God is clearly seen. It is
obvious to all people. This divine self-disclosure is out in the open. The fact of God’s existence
is not hidden from the human race. No matter where a person is on planet earth, the reality of
the person of the person of God is glaringly obvious to all.
 
At the end of verse 19, Paul further explains, "for God made it evident to them." This is an
important statement, because no man has ever found God on his own. God must take the
initiative to reveal Himself to man. God must make the truth about Himself evident. If God is to
be known, He must act first and disclose Himself to the human race.
 
No matter where a person is on planet earth, God is speaking to them. It is the very nature of
God to be revealing Himself to mankind. Francis Schaeffer wrote a book many years ago
entitled God is There and He is Not Silent. Schaeffer argues this very point, that God is a
speaking God, who is always revealing Himself throughout the whole earth.
 
II. The Reality of God (1:20)
 
In verse 20, Paul enlarges upon what he has said when he writes, "For since the creation of the
world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen." This
says that God has revealed Himself to man from the beginning of time. This divine self-
disclosure started long before New Testament times. This started before the birth of the nation
of Israel. This started before the Tower of Babel or the flood. This general revelation began at
the creation of the world.
 
God is Omnipotent
The apostle explains that creation itself reveals "His invisible attributes." This means the
character qualities that pertain to the divine nature of God. Paul will specifically enumerate one
of these divine attributes when he next mentions, "His eternal power." Anyone can know about
God’s eternal power by looking at creation. Anyone can observe creation and logically surmise
that it was made by a Creator who is powerful beyond human comprehension. A person would
have to be intellectually dishonest to deny the reality of the power of this Creator. Such a person
would have to create an illogical explanation for the origin of the universe. Creation implies and
even demands the reality of a Creator.  
 
You can look at creation and conclude how powerful the Creator is. You know that He must be
very powerful to have filled the vast oceans, heaped up the towering mountains, laid the
foundation for the continental masses, and hung the sun, the moon, and the planets in outer
space. This Creator must be awesome in His power beyond our greatest imagination. His power
far exceeds any power that human beings can conceive.
 
God is Eternal
General revelation also communicates God’s eternality, because Paul speaks of God’s “eternal
power,” the emphasis here is upon eternal. The Creator must have preceded creation. There had
to have been an initial first cause from which everything else is the subsequent effect. God
Himself is this sole first cause for all that exists. If there was ever a time when there was no
God, then there could never be anything. The fact that there is a creation demands logically,
philosophically, and biblically the conclusion that there was a first cause that created
everything ex nihilo, out of nothing. God is the only logical explanation for the creation of the
universe. No scientific reaction of gases or chemicals could have created everything out of
nothing. What would be the origin of those elements? There had to be an outside force who
created.
 
God is All-Wise
Creation reveals that God is stunningly brilliant and all-wise. He is able to create with a
perfection in His design that reveals His own perfection. Think of how the earth is tilted on its
axis, spinning at the perfect rate of speed in 24-hour rotations. Think of the exact perfection in
the distance of the earth from the sun. If the earth were any closer to the sun, it would burn up.
If this planet was any further away, it would freeze. As the earth spins, it is perfectly exposed to
the sun so that there can be the growth of plant life.
 
Think of the rivers flowing into the ocean, the evaporation of water into clouds, the moving of
those clouds by the wind over the landmass, the rain that ensues, the dropping of the water back
onto the landmass, the way that it runs off into streams, and the streams into the rivers, and the
rivers back into the ocean. This is the brilliant design of God. As you look at creation, you see
the sheer genius of the Creator.
 
My father was a professor in medical school for several decades. He once told me that he would
be a Christian if the only proof of God he had was the human eye. He explained to me that the
precision, the detail, and the expert craftsmanship of the human eye is beyond any explanation,
except that there was a brilliant Designer who created it. And that is just one small part of our
human body.
 
“Being Understood Through What Has Been Made”
We see the faithfulness of God in creation through the rotation of the seasons year after year.
We see His faithfulness through the harvest every year, through God providing food for us day
after day, year after year, as we live upon the earth. We see the power, wrath, and anger of God
as we look at the hurricanes, tornadoes, and tsunamis. We see something of the peace of God in
the calm after the storm. God has made Himself known to every single person through what He
has made and controls. To believe that all that exists merely happened by sheer chance, or that
everything has been created by itself, is absolutely non-sense.
 
Paul adds that God’s being is “clearly seen" in creation. That is to say, His existence is not
dimly revealed, nor faintly observed in creation. Rather, it is plainly witnessed in broad
daylight. Paul contends that the truth of God’s existence and character is "understood through
what has been made." This general revelation of the being and attributes of God, Paul says, has
been made known to such an extent that every person is "without excuse." There is no person
who will be able to stand before God on the last day and say that He did not reveal to them that
He existed. By this, the entire world is rendered accountable to God.
 
IiI. The Rejection of God (1:21-22)
 
But tragically, men have rejected this general revelation from God. The world is not gladly
receiving this truth about God and saying, "Give us more knowledge about God." Instead, the
very opposite is occurring. Though God has revealed Himself, man has chosen to turn away
from this truth and totally reject it. This refusal underscores the total depravity of the human
heart. “There is none who understands, none who seeks for God” (Romans 3:11).
 
In verse 21, Paul says, "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give
thanks." This does not mean they knew God personally in a saving relationship. Rather, it
simply means that they knew about God. What they knew about God is the general revelation of
Himself that is mentioned in verse 19. Paul says that even when they knew about God, “they did
not honor Him as God.” That is, they did not give Him the glory He rightly deserves. They did
not bow down before Him and call upon Him. They did not humble themselves beneath this
God and seek to know Him.
 
Paul adds, neither did they “give thanks.” That is, they did not acknowledge God as the source
of all good in their lives. They did not give thanks to Him for all that He had provided for them.
They did not give thanks for the food they eat, nor for the rain they receive, nor for the breath
they take. They did not give thanks for these many provisions that God gave them. And they
certainly did not give thanks for the self-revelation that God had given them.
 
“Futile in their Speculations”
When a person rejects the truth about God, it puts him in a very dangerous place. We see the
result of their rejection of God as Paul continues in verse 21, “They became futile in their
speculations.” “Futile” (mataioo) means ‘useless, worthless, vain, foolish.’ They conjured up in
their minds futile speculations about who God is. They began to have vain imaginations about
God that have no basis in reality whatsoever. They began to create with their hands images of
what they perceived God to be like. In doing so, these God-rejectors became idolaters who
create gods of their own insane imagination. This idol-crafting is the result of rejecting the truth
about God when it was made known to them.
 
Paul says, they became futile “in their speculations.” He uses the word “speculations”
(dialogismos) in a degrading manner. Paul accuses them of inventing concept about God that
are vain, useless, and base. They become plagued with empty thoughts about what they think
God is like that are entirely false and even blasphemous.
 
Paul emphatically asserts that, "their foolish heart became darkened.” “Foolish” (moros) comes
from the Greek word from which we derive the word ‘moron.’ He is saying that they became
moronic, incapable of having rational thoughts about God. Simply put, sin makes you stupid.
Sin has a devastating effect upon your thinking process. It short-circuits man’s rationality. Paul
says, their foolish heart was “darkened." Rejecting the light, their hearts became darkened. This
is because God blew out the candle and left them to grope in the dark about who God is and
what He is like.
 
“Professing to be Wise”
In verse 22, Paul states, "Professing to be wise, they became fools." This profession by fallen
man documents how boastful and arrogant mankind is without God in their life. They profess to
be wise, beating their own chest and elevating themselves in their own eyes. They proclaim the
greatness of their own intellect. They think they are wiser than Whoever made everything out of
nothing. What is the result? Paul states, “they became fools.” Instead of being wise, they
became absolute fools who are incapable of any sound thinking about God and the ultimate
issues in life: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? What is life about? What
is my purpose? How am I to live? What is death? What awaits me after death?
 
Here is the tragic picture of the human race. As we watch the news, who among us is not seeing
our world unraveling before our eyes? What we are seeing before our very eyes is these verses
in Romans 1. Our world is unraveling at mach speed, and we are seeing those verses lived out
on a daily basis before us.
 
IV. The Replacement of God (1:23)
 
The end result of this rejection of God is found in verse 23. Please note this downward spiral
that descends from the revelation of God in verses 19-20, to the rejection of God at the
beginning of verse 21, to insanity before God at the end of verses 21-22. Where this ends in
verse 23 is idolatry. Idolatry is not man spiraling up with higher thoughts about God. Idolatry is
the total opposite. It is man spiraling down into a lower state of debased thinking and living.
 
The Terrible Exchange
The consequence of rejecting the truth about the existence and being of God is devastating. Paul
writes that they "exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of
corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures." This replacement
is a terrible substitution. This trade is giving up diamonds for dirt. This is buying high and
selling low of the worst sort. They “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God” for what is
worthless.
 
The word “incorruptible” (aphthartos) means that God is never decaying, never dying. They
swap the “glory” (doxa) of God, which means the outshining radiance of this knowledge of
God, “for an image in the form of corruptible man.” They trade the knowledge of the ever-
living, all-powerful God for pieces of wood and metal and crafted an image of a man or animal
as a replacement for the truth about God. They then bowed down before it and worshiped the
product of their own hand. How insane can insane be? How base can a mind be? How low can
the human mind sink to?
 
Then these God-rejectors devolve even lower into the gutter and worshiped images of “birds
and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.” This is exactly the foul dregs into which the
Egyptian dynasty had sunk. This is exactly the spiritual darkness in which the Babylonian
kingdom had submerged. This is exactly where the Assyrian kingdom had fallen. In fact, this is
where Abraham was in Ur of the Chaldees. He was a moon-worshipper when God called him.
Rather than worshipping the Creator, Abraham was worshipping the creation that God had
made. How blind can blind be? How foolish can foolish be?
 
The Downward Spiral
In the verses that follow, we will see that this downward death spiral does not end with idolatry.
There are yet even lower steps leading further down into grosser debauchery that go from worse
to worse. In verse 24, Paul announces that God gives these God-rejectors over in judgment.
When God gives them over, there are three lower rungs on the ladder as man is still moving
further and further and further away from Him. You see, no one is actually seeking God. It is
the very opposite. By nature of the doctrine of total depravity, men are running away from the
knowledge of God. Their fingers are in their ears. Their eyes are covered.
 
In verse 24 we read, "God gave them over in the lusts of their heart to impurity." In verse 26,
"God gave them over to degrading passions." Then in verse 28, "God gave them over to a
reprobate mind," to a depraved mind. This downward descent of mankind to as low as we could
possibly be ends in verse 32. Not only are people now involved in the grossest of sins, but verse
32 says that the world is actually giving approval to the grossest of sins. There is no shame. The
approval ratings go up the more wicked and vile and depraved it becomes. This is a sobering
picture of the downward decline of the human race.
 
The human race has started at a point of the knowledge of God, and then rejected the knowledge
of God, and then exchanged the knowledge of God for their own handmade idols, and God has
then given the human race over to its own degrading passions. It is the ultimate slippery slope. It
starts with monotheism, the recognition that there is only one God. In this devolving, man
begins to create his own gods and moves into polytheism, the creation of other gods according
to man's vain imaginations.
 
What we have here is the history of the human race. We have the history of culture, the history
of society, the history of nations. It starts with the knowledge of God. Then there is the rejection
of that knowledge of God. When you reject the knowledge of God, you have gone into a free-
fall in which you are going further and further away from God. There will come a point where
God will, in essence, give those people a push in the direction that they have chosen to go. This
is called abandonment. At that point, they cannot get back to God, apart from divine
intervention.
 
Conclusion
So what does this passage say to us about our responsibility to God? What do these verses
require of us? What positive application can there be from such negative statements?
 
Be A Worshiper of the True God
First, we must do the very opposite of what we see in these verses. It says in verse 21, “they did
not honor Him as God or give thanks.” We must pursue the very antithesis of this. We must be
those who give glory to God. We must be worshipers of God. We must bow down before this
one true God and come to Him through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the only way we
can find acceptance to come before His throne of grace with confidence.
 
You and I have been created to worship God. We are not to worship the creation, but the
Creator. As you and I live our life, we must be those who give glory to God as a lifestyle. We
must do this not just on Sunday mornings from 11 to 12, but every moment of every day. We
must be giving glory to God on Monday morning, Tuesday afternoon, and Friday night.
 
The Westminster Catechism begins by asking that most important question: What is the chief
end of man? What is your chief end? The answer: To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
This is our response. We must live contrary to what we see in Romans1:21-23. We must be
those who give glory to God and worship Him.
 
Give Thanks to the True God
Second, we must be giving thanks to God in everything. If unbelievers withhold the giving of
thanks to God, we must be those who give Him thanks for what He has down for us and what
He is to us. Worshipers cannot be complainers. We cannot be whiners or grumblers. We must
be those who are continually giving thanks to our God. Even on our deathbed, we should have
an anthem of thanksgiving arising from our lips. We must give thanks to God for small things,
for big things, for His provision for us, for His protection, for His care, for His providence in
our lives, for His Son, for grace, for salvation. Let us rise up and give Him thanks.
 
The largest part of our gratitude arises from the fact that God has had mercy upon our once
spiritually dead soul. We have been plucked as a brand out of the fire. That God would have set
us apart, out of this corrupt world, is cause for great thanks to be given to God. The mere fact
that you know God should cause a stream of thanksgiving to flow from your lips. Left to
myself, these verses about rejecting the truth about God would be my spiritual biography. Apart
from God’s grace, this would be the story of my life.
 
How humbling it is, that you and I know the Lord. Every one of us should say, "Why me, Lord?
Why have I been singled out? Why did you even have me born in America? In a place where
the gospel is preached. Why was I not born in North Korea? Why was I not born in China? Why
was I not born in Siberia? Why was I not born in the Sudan? Why was I not born someplace
where even the name of Christ is not known? Why was I born at the intersection of so many
churches? With all these different churches and gospel witnesses flowing like Niagara Falls into
my life?" Every one of us should be humbled at how merciful God has been to us that we are
not sucked down into lower levels of depravity and ungodliness and unrighteousness.
 
Be A Witness of the True Gospel
Third, we must be actively involved in taking the special revelation of God to those who are in
need of the knowledge of God. That involves everything from being a witness for Christ to
supporting missions, to supporting ministries, to supporting your local church. It involves going
on sort term missions. It involves encouraging those who are actively engaged in doing what
they can to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. This requires us to do all that we can to be
involved in reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
 
Question and Answer
I am going to stop right here and open this up for discussion. Tell me what you think about
these verses. What taps you on the shoulder and says something very specific to you?
 
Audience:  Is there reason we have to hope for those that have general revelation? Those who,
through the course of their lives, are not reached with the gospel? That, as we cannot canvass
the world, there are people who will live their lives and not be exposed to what we are talking
about this morning? It is a sobering thought to think of those people and then think of the
privilege that we have, by contrast, to be immersed in this. How are we to view that hard
question?
 
Dr. Lawson:    Well, it is a hard question. Let me reaffirm that there is no way that they can be
saved without special revelation. Which is mentioned in verses 1-17. For us to have any hope
that they would be saved would require that, somehow, they had a handheld radio. Or that
somehow there was a missionary, unknown to us, who brought the gospel to them. Or somehow
there was a Bible in a language that they could read. That somehow there was this knowledge of
God.
 
We read in Acts 8 of the Ethiopian eunuch. God had to reroute Phillip out of a revival meeting
into the middle of nowhere, and providentially place him at the chariot of this man who was
returning back to Africa. The man was lost and under the wrath of God, but had bought a copy
of Isaiah 53 at a very high price. He has resources, because he was the treasurer for the nation.
Then Phillip explains the written word of God to the Ethiopian eunuch. That was how he was
brought into the kingdom. The written word of God and the explanation of the written word of
God to him.
 
Then you read in Romans 9 of Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. Christ uniquely
appeared to him because Saul was to be an apostle. There had to be an encounter with the living
Christ. Then in Act 10, Cornelius and Peter had to bring the gospel. Starting in Act 13, Paul's
first missionary journey, then his second, then his third. It required taking the gospel with great
sacrifice and great effort. The Bible does not leave any other option or any other hope for
someone to enter the kingdom of heaven apart from the special revelation of the message of the
person and work of Christ. So that heightens our sense of urgency about the task of global
evangelization.
 
That is a great question. It is a question that has to be asked. We cannot come up with an
alternative answer from Scripture. Someone else?
 
Audience:        You know, Phillip was sent by the Lord. "You are going to go." Every
missionary out there has been sent by the Lord. You just said he is the first, the cause of
everything subsequent to that. So, just because we do not see God at work, that does not mean
that He is not bringing His elect home. If He created the universe and everything in it, God
reaching out to an anonymous guy in an anonymous place far away from what we know is not
where we have a problem. They are chosen. If they are chosen, the Lord is going to bring them.
It is not an excuse not to evangelize or not to go into missions. But it is also a comfort that for
all those who we do not know, the Lord knows them by name. And if He decides that they are
His, He is going to send Phillip to the middle of nowhere to bring him home.
 
Dr. Lawson:    Good answer. That is absolutely correct. God has appointed not only the end, but
He has appointed all the means to accomplish the end. The end is the salvation of His elect. And
He will accomplish all the means. The sending of missionaries. The providential meeting of a
missionary with the elect sinner who needs Christ. The opening of the eyes of the one who is
dead in sin. To bring about the conversion which will then lead to, prayerfully, the planting of a
church and the spread of the witness in that part of the world so that more of the elect can be
brought to faith in Christ. Thanks for that. That is so true. Someone else?
 
Audience: You said no man has ever found God by himself. This text screams of our total
inability. But for sovereign grace, this is where each one of us once stood, in darkness. That is
amazing. It is amazing.
 
Dr. Lawson:    It is. We have many reasons to be humble, do we not? This stands at the head of
the list. It screams of where we once were when the Lord found us. We were contrary, in this
downward pull. Absolutely. Someone else? How should we live?
 
Audience:        Can you reinforce how we would support to the outside world that the “outside
force” is the Creator, God, that I worship and I know exists. How can I reinforce that this
outside force is the Creator, God?
 
Dr. Lawson:    Sure. Well, it is the testimony of the Bible and the testimony of Scripture. There
are many reasons why we believe that the Bible is the word of God.
 
The very first verse in the Bible says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
Who is this God? Which God? Well, there is only one God. He has revealed Himself to us in
His written word. There are objective reasons why we believe that the Bible is the word of God.
I preached a sermon at Ligonier National Conference several years ago, “Ten Reasons Why We
Believe the Bible is the Word of God.” I would refer anyone to that message. There are
objective, tangible, hardcore reasons. It comes back to the authenticity of Scripture.
 
Audience:        I think you had a lot to say earlier too, about having to be intellectually
dishonest to refute that. I think that is where he was going. Like, that argument getting fleshed
out to say that nothing produced something. We have the word of God, but we also have science
on our side, although people do not recognize that. It is hard to support, it is hard to get to the
point of something coming from nothing.
           
Dr. Lawson:    You cannot get there. R.C. Sproul preached a message a couple of years ago at a
Ligonier Conference, in which he belabored the point that if there has ever been a time in which
there was nothing, then there could never be anything. Philosophically, logically, intellectually,
that is a self-contained truism. It necessitates that there was God in order for there to be
anything. Otherwise, it is intellectual suicide. You end up with what Paul says, speculations.
That is all human philosophy is. It is just a blind man groping in the darkness searching for
some rope to hang onto and trying to convince himself with his own little explanations that
implode under their own reasoning.
 
Audience:        How would you help each of us to explain to others how and why God
chooses? Why does God choose to reveal Himself to some and not to others?
 
Dr. Lawson:    Yes. Well, because God is God. God has a sovereign plan and a sovereign will.
God has chosen to reveal Himself to some, so that they will be trophies of grace and give Him
glory. He has chosen not to reveal Himself with special revelation to others. Ultimately, they are
vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. God is also glorified in their destruction, as His wrath
and His patience is made known in them. God has chosen to put His attributes of grace and
mercy on display in some vessels. He has chosen to put other attributes, such as wrath and
patience and power, on display in others. God is glorified in both. It is at the discretion of God.
 
Now, I realize that in a witnessing situation, that is probably not the place to start the argument.
I would try to begin with the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man and the provision in
Christ. Spurgeon used to give the illustration of the house that was on fire. On the fifth floor is a
man who is trapped in the fire. The fire department comes with their nets and they are ready to
catch the man. They say, "Jump," and the man says, "I must know if I am predestined to jump."
They yell back, "Just jump! We will explain it later." Then the man says, "Well, I must know
the origin of the fire." They yell back, "Just jump! We will explain the origin of the fire later."
Spurgeon goes through a series of things that the man would put up as excuses, like he has to
have all of his questions answered before he jumps.
 
That is a foolish place to be. You just need to jump and commit your life to Christ. We will
explain what mysteries we can. If I am in a witnessing situation with someone, that is going to
be my tact and approach. I am not going to want to end up in this cul-de-sac over here. Having
said that, I have preached on the doctrine of reprobation and people have been saved. I have
preached on sovereign election and people have been saved. So God can use any portion of
Scripture to bring people to Himself.
 
That is a great question. Men, thank you for being here. I pray that this has been profitable for
your soul and for your understanding of the truth of God. As you leave, may you go with verse
21 on your mind, that I must be one who gives glory to God today. I must be one who gives
thanks to God today. We have so much for which to give glory to God and thanks to God. We
will pick it up here next time. Let us pray.
 
Father in heaven, thank You for this study. Thank You that Your word is, as ever, true, and it
speaks truth to us. As we now begin this day and live for You, may we be those who give You
glory and who give thanks to You. Lord, we desire to clothe ourselves with humility this day.
As a result of seeing this text, we see that we have every reason to be humble. I pray the
knowledge and the truth that you have given to us of Yourself, that we would rightly respond to
it and not exchange it for some humanistic philosophy or lie. May we would cling to the truth
that You have made known to us. Bless these men now as they go about their day. In Jesus'
name. Amen. 
 09. Abandoned by God - Romans 1:24-27

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would
be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and
served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God
gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that
which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the
woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts
and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
 
Among the many distinguishing features of the Bible is the fact that whatever subject it
addresses, it does so in an amazingly straightforward manner. The Scripture is a most
outspoken, candid, and frank book. It never beats around the bush, but always tells it like it is. If
we have trouble with the Bible, it is not because it is hard to understand, but is hard to swallow.
The Bible never sugarcoats its message. It never pulls any punches. It never softens the hard
blow of truth. To the contrary, the Bible speaks forthrightly in a most direct manner.
 
The passage for this study, Romans 1:24-27, is no exception. Here in these verses is the graphic
portrayal of the world in its age-long rebellion against its Creator. This passage brings an
excoriating indictment against fallen mankind for its prolonged cosmic treason against God. By
this brutally honest portrayal, it may be rightly assumed that the Bible must be the word of God.
If you and I had written the book of Romans, we probably would have left out this dismal
section from our account of human history. We might have felt it is too negative to win over an
audience with our readers. Or if we did include these verses, we might have hidden it at the end
of the book of Romans where it would not be read by most readers. But not the apostle Paul
writing under the influence of the Holy Spirit. He intentionally positioned these verses on the
front doorstep of the book of Romans for all to read. Here it is, front and center – God’s
abandonment of portions of the human race.
 
No reader can encounter this book without being immediately confronted with the radical
corruption of the human race. What is even more startling, here is the unbelieving world’s
abandonment by God in His severe judgment. In these verses, here is the sobering reality of
God forsaking those who have repeatedly turned their backs on Him. There is nothing more
terrifying than what we see here. When a person is turned over by God to his sins, he has
reached the point of no return. This tragic reality has occurred to many nations, cultures, and
denominations. It has even occurred to many individuals down through the centuries. Here is
the explanation for much of what we see in the world around us.
 
I. The abandonment declared (1:24a)
           
This new unit of thought starts with the word "therefore" (verse 24), which reaches back to what
Paul previously said and pulls it forward to his continuing argument. “Therefore” serves as a
bridge that connects what he just said (verses 18-23) with what he will now say (verses 24-32).
This important word – “therefore” – leads to the necessary conclusion to what he just asserted
and further advances his argument. In order to understand Paul’s unfolding logic, we must
remind ourselves of what he wrote in the previous cluster of verses in which he described
mankind’s intentional rejection of the knowledge of God. In the preceding paragraph (verses
18-23), Paul declared that the human race has committed the most flagrant crime that can be
committed. Mankind has rejected the truth about God Himself and in so doing, has rejected
Him.
 
As earlier established, God has revealed Himself to every single person through the works of
His creation (verses 19-20). The existence of God the Creator should be obvious to every
person, because the reality of the created universe and all it contains necessitates the existence
of the Creator. To look at the many complexities of the solar system and planet earth, as well as
the multi-faceted intricacies of the human body, and then assume that this just happened by
mere chance, out of nothing, should be utterly absurd to any logically-thinking mind. But sadly,
many reject the clear witness of God concerning His own existence and perfect character. Paul
explains that in rejecting the knowledge of God, they exchanged that truth for lies (verse 23).
Lost humanity has replaced the knowledge of the Creator with the worship of what the creature
has made with their own hands. This mind-numbing trade off is the ultimate insanity, giving up
God for vanity. The Bible says of these individuals, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no
God’” (Psalm 14:1).
 
When anyone refuses the truth about God, he has chosen a path that is taking him further away
from God. Such sin-hardened unbelief places one on a dramatic departure further away from
God at an accelerated speed. This person is like a boat once tied to a dock, but a powerful river
current has unloosened its rope, causing the boat to drift downstream. The longer the boat is
drifting, the swifter the current becomes, taking it further away. In like manner, these God-
rejectors are adrift from the knowledge of God, being taken further and further away from Him.
 
From this sobering truth, we learn that no person is ever static in their relationship with God.
Everyone is either drawing closer to God, or they are drifting further away from Him. But no
one is stationary with God. No one stands still in their proximity to Him. By this account, those
who reject God are drifting further away into the darkness of sin.
 
At a point known only to God, this rejection of Him inevitably leads to divine abandonment.
Paul writes, “God gave them over in the lust of their hearts to impurity” (verse 24). This is a
severe judgment issued by God in which He delivers them over to deeper sins. There are some
Bible commentators who presume that this means that God merely allows sinful man to go his
own way.
 
While initially that may be true, that is not what this verse says. To the contrary, this
pronouncement is far more judicial. God is the One who is taking the active role in this severe
judgment. This is not God merely observing or permitting men to go their own way. It is not
God simply letting go of the rope and allowing the current of sin take this individual further
away from Him. Instead, God is the One who is shoving this life downstream. This is God
saying, "So, you want to go away from Me? Then I am going to give you a shove in that
direction you want to go. I am going to send you further away from Me."
 
Here we learn that there comes a point in time, whether it is with a God-rejecting nation, a
Scripture-defying denomination, church, or seminary – or an individual – when God gives them
a shove to believe the lies of this world. This abandonment by God turns them over to the
judgment of becoming engrossed yet further in their sin.
 
“God Gave Them Over”
The verb, "gave them over" (paradidomi) means ‘to be handed over to judgment.’ This same
word is used elsewhere in Romans to describe when Jesus Christ was handed over to judgment
for our sins. Paul writes that Jesus “was delivered over because of our transgressions” (Romans
4:25). This verb describes Him being given over to the judgment of God upon the cross when
He bore our sins. We see this word used the same way again in Romans 8:32, when Paul again
writes, "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over." Jesus was delivered over
unto the most stringent judgment imaginable. Jesus suffered for our sins upon the cross and
came under the full force of the holy wrath of God. He was abandoned by the Father upon the
cross and only the damned in hell know what He experienced.
 
This is precisely the same verb, paradidomi, that Paul uses in Romans 1:24 when he writes,
“Therefore, God gave them over.” Those who repeatedly reject God are in danger of being
sentenced to the most severe judgment. They are perilously close to suffering divine
abandonment because they, first, have abandoned Him. It is soul-threatening – and possibly
damning – for any person to reject the knowledge of God. Everyone is held accountable by God
for the truth that is revealed. When a person defiantly rejects the knowledge of God, he may
cross the line and be given over unto divine judgment.
 
So emphatic is Paul about this divine abandonment of persistent sinners that he repeats these
sobering words three times in these five verses (verses 24, 26, 28). After first saying “God gave
them over” (verse 24), Paul again says a second time, “For this reason God gave them over to
degrading passions” (verse 26). Then the apostle writes a third time, “Just as they did not see fit
to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over” (verse 28). In rapid-fire succession, we
see this truth reinforced three times. It is impossible to miss the devastating force of this three-
fold repetition.
 
Sending a Deluding Influence
This divine abandonment of impenitent sinners is not an isolated truth is taught only in this
passage. Paul describes this same divine judgment in 2 Thessalonians 2:11, “For this reason
God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false.” The word
“deluding” (energeia) really means ‘a working of error, a straying to a wrong opinion, to be led
into error.’ We ask, who is sending this deluding influence? Who is causing someone to believe
a lie? Is this Satan causing men to believe what is false? Are these demons causing the unbelief?
The sobering fact is that sending this deluding influence is God Himself. This teaches the
knowledge of God that a person has becomes deluded, because God sends a deceiving influence
so that they will believe what is false. This divine activity causes them to believe what is false.
Being forsaken by God causes these unbelievers to plunge deeper into unbelief, causing them to
believe a damning lie. By this startling verse, we learn that God is the primary cause that they
believe what is false.
 
To the church in Thessalonica, Pail explains why God gives them over. It is, “in order that they
may be judged” (2 Thessalonians 1:12). Being turned over to their sin is the judgment of God. It
is when He sends this deluding influence.
 
Why does God judge them? The answer is, because they "did not believe the truth." When they
had the truth about God, they blatantly rejected it. Because they turned away from the
knowledge of God, there came the point when He gave them a shove in the direction they had
already taken. God sent this heart-hardening influence that causes them to believe the lies of the
devil. This is not against their will, but according to it. Jesus explains this when He says,
“whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him” (Matthew 13:12). Or
“So take care how you listen…and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be
taken away from him (Luke 8:18). In other words, if a person does not act upon the truth when
it is made known to him, he is in danger of it being removed from him.
 
Taking Pleasure in Wickedness
Returning to Romans, we discover that these who did not believe the truth, instead, “took
pleasure in wickedness” (verse 24). When a person does not believe the truth, they will take
pleasure in wickedness. Because they rejected the light, God will cause them to grope in the
darkness. Their refusal of the truth turns them over to greater wickedness. There is no neutral
ground here. Regarding one’s relationship to God and the truth, there is no middle ground with
the knowledge of God. If a person rejects the light of truth, he will be given over to the darkness
of sin. Because he rejects the light, God will push him further into the blackness of lies and
lawlessness.
 
When Wisdom Refuses to Answer
We see this same truth in the opening chapter of Proverbs with the teaching of Solomon. When
God, through His wisdom, calls out to those passing by, many people foolishly reject its appeal.
At a later time, they will call out to God and His wisdom, but He will refuse to heed their call.
Wisdom rebukes these people, saying:
 
Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; and you
neglected all my counsel and did not want my reproof; I will also laugh at your calamity; I will
mock when your dread comes, when your dread comes like a storm and your calamity comes
like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call on me, but I
will not answer; they will seek me diligently but they will not find me, because they hated
knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would not accept my counsel, they
spurned all my reproof. So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way and be satiated with their
own devices (Proverbs 1:24-31).
 
This stresses how critically important it is that whenever wisdom calls to us, we embrace it. If a
person deliberately denies the knowledge of God for an extended time, He will turn this one
over to even deeper, darker sin. Such a person will never see the light again.
 
II. The Abandonment Described (1:24b)
 
Paul advances his argument, stating that God gave them over “in the lust of their heart to
impurity” (1:24). The "lust" (epithumia) that grips them is a strong word that describes strong
cravings for the sin that is forbidden. “Lust” refers to the vile passions that are bound up in their
depraved heart. The prophet writes, “The heart is deceitful above all else and desperately
wicked. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). The unconverted heart is sinful beyond any
human comprehension, wicked beyond man’s imagination.
 
When Paul says that God abandoned them “in the lust of their hearts to impurity,” he means that
they are going from bad to worse. The “lust” in their heart leads to “impurity.” They are
descending lower and lower, from one level of wickedness to a deeper involvement in impurity.
Such a person finds himself on the slippery slope of immorality, plummeting downward to baser
forms of impurity. When God gives them over, He sends them into yet deeper sins of
defilement.
 
This “impurity” (akatharsia) is a general word that speaks of all kinds of immorality in
profligate living. It is used in 1 Thessalonians 4:7, where Paul says, "For God has not called us
for the purpose of impurity but for sanctification." In this larger context, “impurity” refers to
“sexual immorality” (verse 3). This word “impurity” is also found in Galatians 5:19, “Now, the
deeds of the flesh are evident,” which include a list naming “immorality, impurity, sensuality,”
and many others. “Immorality” is a broad word that includes every category of sexual deviation
committed by mankind. It encompasses every unlawful sexual perversion that is outside of the
husband-wife relationship. It includes every filthy sexual act, from pornography to adultery,
bestiality, and those things improper to mention. These physical debaucheries are the wicked
deeds of the flesh. When a person rejects God, he is set on a course in life that spirals
downward, leading to the next word in this list, “sensuality” (aselgeia), indicating wanton
fleshly, sinful desires.  
 
The Bible teaches that any society that rejects God is devolving downward into baser sins. Left
to itself, no culture is evolving upward to a higher level of morality. By its rejection of God,
every society is being flushed down the toilet into a foul cesspool of iniquity.
           
These who reject the knowledge of God find themselves wallowing in lower forms of immoral
filth. Whenever any society or nation rejects the knowledge of God, it descends into
unrestrained sexual immorality. Whenever a religious group or church denomination choses a
course that rejects the clear teaching of God’s word, it will eventually tolerate and even endorse
immorality. This will even be true of the lifestyle of its own pastors and membership. That
group will be like a dump truck, barreling down a hill without any brakes. The runaway truck
picks up speed as it plummets down the hill, until it crashes at the bottom, where it empties its
trash on the landscape. So it is with any people who reject the truth of God. They will be
abandoned by god and given over to lower and lower immoral filth.
 
Paul specifies the result, “so that their bodies would be dishonored among them” (verse 24).
This word “dishonored” describes all kinds of degrading sexual acts committed in their bodies.
Paul designates sexual sin as being in a special category unto itself. It is a self-inflicted
destruction that does harm to one’s own body. Concerning immorality, he states elsewhere,
“Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his
own body” (1 Corinthians 6:18). Describing sexual activity outside of marriage, the Bible asks,
“Can a man take a fire into his bosom and be not burned?” (Proverbs 6:27). This question is
rhetorical, anticipating a negative answer. The one who commits sexual sin is playing with a
consuming fire. All sexual sin is a self-damaging sin and leaves a permanent scar.
 
III. The abandonment explained (1:25)
 
Next, Paul clarifies why God is against such sinners. He writes, “for they exchanged the truth of
God for a lie” (verse 25). This means they once had the truth of God made known to them. But
they cast it aside and instead believed a lie. Consequently, they “worshipped and served the
creature” (verse 25). This restates what Paul wrote earlier, that they “exchanged the glory of the
incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed
animals and crawling creatures” (verse 23). How could anyone end up in such a degrading
place? It is because they rejected the knowledge of God when it was made known to them. They
find themselves groping in increased darkness, grasping for anything to worship. Many worship
their own body. Others worship their possessions. Still others worship their career. But they
worship an idol, something or someone other than God.
 
What is an idol? It may be something cut out of wood or stone that is worshiped. But an idol can
also be anything that a person loves more than God, fears more than Him, or serves more than
Him. It is anything that is more important than God. An idol is not necessarily something that is
intrinsically evil. An idol can be something that is good in itself. An idol can be something as
noble as a job or a bank account. It can be a girlfriend, a wife, or a hobby. It is anything that a
person pursues, prizes, or is preoccupied with more than God. The Bible says, “Little children,
guard yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). Earlier, the apostle has written, “Do not love the
world, nor the things in the world” (1 John 2:15).
 
Everyone worships something. When people reject the knowledge of God, they are going to
give their most cherished affections and chief allegiance to something else. Whatever that
something is, it becomes an idol of their own making, whether crafted with their hands or their
minds. Whatever a person worships is what he will serve. Tell me what a person worships, and I
will tell you where he is giving his time and investing his resources. Where a person’s heart is
determines what he is going to serve. An idol causes an individual to serve the creature rather
than the Creator.
 
“God is Blessed Forever”
Amid this heavy section on judgment, the apostle suddenly expresses a celebration of praise:
“The Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen” (verse 25). That God is “blessed forever” (verse
25), the idea is, “Blessed be God.” This word "blessed," comes from a Greek word (eulogetos)
from which we derive the English word ‘eulogy.’ This literally means ‘to say a good word.’
Here, “blessed” is synonymous with praise to God. As Paul considers the judgment he has
escaped, he sounds forth a good word about God, who must be praised.
 
Paul cannot mention God without bursting forth into praise for Him. In the midst of this
condemning passage, the mention of the Creator causes Paul to declare his praise for Him. This
may seem an odd place to record this celebration, but Paul cannot withhold his adjuration. He
cannot postpone declaring the greatness of God to a later doxology. He gives his adoration for
God. In this dark section on condemnation, Paul bursts forth into this declaration of worship to
God. There is no time or place when our praise for God is inappropriate.
 
Praise to God should be offered "forever" (aion). This word literally means it must be given to
‘an unbroken age,’ or ‘throughout the ages to come.’ That is, there should never be an end to the
praise that we give to God. Paul punctuates this call for eternal praise by saying, "Amen." The
word "amen" (amen) means, ‘it is so’ or ‘it is true.’ “Amen” is a strong affirmation that God is
blessed in Himself. Further, Paul is not backing off of what he said in verses 24-25. There is no
apology for these strong words, only his hearty “amen.” He is saying “amen” to every hard truth
he has taught in this section. Paul loves all that God is and all that He does. This includes the
unleashing of judgment, for which he must resound in praise for Him.
 
III. The abandonment intensified (1:26-27)
 
Paul continues building his case when he says, “For this reason God gave them over to
degrading passions.” The word "degrading" (atimia) means that which is ‘disgraceful,
dishonoring, shameful, vial, depraved.’ It describes the fomenting foul lust in a person’s heart
when they are abandoned by God. What do these evil passions produce? Paul begins with the
women: “For their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural.” The
natural function would be for these women to marry a man and bear children. It would be for
them to have an intimate sexual relationship with their own husband and produce a family. That
is the way God designed them to be. But these women, who are abandoned by God, “exchanged
the natural function for that which is unnatural.” This is a bizarre trade off to the extreme.
 
When a woman has degrading passions for another woman, this is contrary to God’s design.
Any lesbian activity is a blatant violation of the divine plan. It is because they reject the
knowledge of God that they commit this sin. They have rejected the knowledge of God and
have exchanged the truth for a lie. Consequently, God gives these women over to desire other
women. They have swapped the created order of God for a lie. Therefore, God will see to it that
they trade their natural desire for men for an unnatural desire for women. Because they have
exchanged the truth for a lie, God will cause them to exchange the natural function for an
abnormal function – a woman desiring another woman. The rejection of the knowledge of God
inevitably leads to grosser sexual sins. But this abandonment by God does not stop there.
 
Paul continues to trace this descent downward into further sexual sins. He adds, “and in the
same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire
toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons
the due penalty of their error” (verse 27). Regarding the male gender, the natural function is for
a man to marry a woman and have a sexual relationship with her that produces offspring. But
here, those who are abandoned by God have abandoned the natural attraction for the opposite
gender. They have desires for other men. This desertion by God occurs because they rejected
God. The root is unbelief, the fruit is this depraved sin.
 
Tragically, Paul writes that they “burned in their desire for one another, men with men
committing indecent acts” (verse 27). This divine judgment leads to an increased desire for the
same sex. This attraction rages in an unquenchable “desire.” This “desire” (orexis) means ‘an
excitement of the mind’ that creates sensual fantasies in their lustful imaginations. This drive
leads to forbidden appetites for other men. Consequently, this produces “men with men
committing indecent acts.” The word "indecent" (aschemosune) means ‘shameless’ or
‘unseemly.’ This enticing appeal is the inevitable result of rejecting God.
 
Paul concludes by saying, they will be “receiving in their own person the due penalty of their
error” (verse 27). The just penalty of their sin is eternal damnation. That is, they will be
consigned to the fires of hell forever. The apostle states elsewhere that no homosexual will enter
the kingdom of heaven: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom
of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor homosexuals…will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). The burning desire
of men for other men will lead to the burning of their soul and body in hell forever.
 
There is no politically correct spin to put on this. The Bible addresses it most clearly. This
strong teaching is diametrically contrary to what we most often hear today. This teaching by
Paul is a long way from, "Smile, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." What
Paul teaches could not be any further away from today’s popular teaching, especially in
mainline, liberal churches.
 
Application: So What?
So what is the application for these verses? I want to give you several thoughts. Then we will
open it up for discussion.
 
Truth Revealed Increases Accountability
First, every one of us must be careful that we act upon the truth when it is made known to us.
We must obey the truth whenever it is made known to us. We must not have a head full of
knowledge, but fail to live it with our lives. The mere possession of knowledge is not going to
get us anywhere God wants us to be. We must obey the truth that is revealed to us. To know the
truth but not act upon it will increase our condemnation. It would be better not to know the
truth, than to know the truth and reject it.
 
There are degrees of punishment in hell. Eternal torment will not be the same for everyone. The
more truth a person knows, the greater his accountability to God. As believers, we will never go
to hell, being eternally secure in Christ. But there is a principle here that God holds us
responsible for the truth revealed to us. The point is clear, the greater the truth entrusted to us,
the greater our responsibility to believe and live it (Luke 12:48).
 
The Bible says, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren. Knowing as such we shall
incur a stricter judgment” (James 3:1). There is a stricter judgment for those who know more
truth than for those who know less truth. If you are not going to live the truth, it would be better
to attend a liberal church that does not even preach the truth than for you to go to a Bible-
teaching, Bible-preaching church and not live the truth. For the lost person, if you are going to
go to hell, go to hell from Africa. Do not go to hell from Dallas, Texas with a strong gospel
witness because it is going to be so much hotter. Jesus repeatedly said, “He who has ears to
hear, let him hear” (Luke 14:35). It is critically important that every one of us respond to the
truth whenever it is made known to us. This begins with each one of us individually.
 
Truth Revealed Increases Sin
Second, the result of rejecting the knowledge of God leads to sexual perversions. Do not think
that these deep, dark sins against one’s own body appear out of thin air. Do not think it is the
result of bad DNA. It is crystal clear from this text that sexual perversions of the grossest order
are the result of the rejection of the knowledge of God.
                       
Men, we must guard our minds and our hearts. We must fight to remain pure. We cannot flirt
with allowing our eyes and hearts to go where they must not go. We must refuse to look at
pornography or watch whatever. We are fools to do this. We might as well be playing with
twenty rattlesnakes in our den, than to swing open a door and allow this kind of an influence to
come into our life. Let us not kid ourselves. This sin starts with apathy towards the truth.
Sometimes it is not necessarily the rejection.
 
We are believers, but lukewarmness, apathy, or spiritual coldness is going to take you
somewhere you do not want to go. Opening our lives to these things would be like living in the
country and leaving the front door wide open all night. Who knows what all animals and you
are going to wake up with in the morning. When I went to sleep last night, the last thing I did
was double-lock the front door and put the security code on.  When you reject the truth, you are
opening your mind up to whatever the world is going to dump into it.
 
Truth Received Requires Grace
Third, any conversion to Christ is a miracle of sovereign grace. Do you see what a supernatural
thing it is for someone to be saved out of sin? Any sinner who is converted to Christ is like a
brand plucked from the fire. It is only by the irresistible grace of God that any of us are
converted. No sinner is in a neutral state. Every sinner is somewhere on the slippery slope. You
may not have been given the push yet and been given over like this, but you are on the slippery
slope. You are going down. You are going away from God.
 
It is extraordinary, divine intervention when God reaches in and converts someone. This text
almost makes you think, “Can anyone be saved?” It is only by sovereign grace. It is a big deal
that you are saved, even if you grew up in the church.
 
Truth Learned Requires Witnessing
Fourth, there must be a sense of urgency in our evangelism. As those who are saved, we cannot
sit back in apathy. People's hearts are being hardened, and hardened, and more hardened. They
are drifting, and drifting, and further drifting. They are plunging down deeper and deeper. We
must reach people with the gospel now. We cannot be passive. We cannot sit back. Because
they are picking up speed in their downward descent away from God.
 
However God can use you, wherever God can use you, you must reach out to others for Christ.
This is like an intervention we have seen on television, where a family member comes into a
den, and all of the sudden there are 20 other family members in the room. They say, "Dad, we
have got to say something to you," and the whole family has this intervention. We need some
interventions in people's lives that say, "Dad, you are going to hell." My friend, my business
partner, "You are gambling your soul into hell." It is getting worse and worse, the more they are
rejecting God. There comes a point, as you can see, where they are no longer just drifting with
the current. God gives them a shove in that direction.
 
Truth Embraced Increases Worship
Fifth, we must worship God based upon what we know of God. Our theology must ignite our
doxology. Our revelation of God must produce our adoration of Him. The word of God must
inspire our worship of Him. Even in the midst of this passage on total depravity, radical
corruption, and the sinfulness of man, Paul immediately bursts into praise – and so must we.
 
If you are riding in the car heading to your next business appointment, you need to praise God.
If you are sitting at your desk, you need to praise God. Throughout the day, you need to give
glory to God. That is what we see Paul doing.
 
The other time he does this is kind of interesting. In Romans 9:5, after Paul has just said in verse
2, “I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.” Verse 3, “I could wish that I myself
were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my kinsman.” In other words, he is saying,
"I am willing to go to hell if that would mean they go to heaven."  I ought to tell you, I have not
gotten to that point yet. I am happy to go to heaven. If you want to come, fine. If not, that is
your deal. I am going to heaven. Paul is so burdened for his fellow Jews that he says, "I could
wish myself accursed," meaning damned.
 
Then at the end of verse 5, in the midst of this intense, dramatic section, as he is heading into
“Jacob I loved, Esau I hated,” and the Potter and His right over the clay to make vessels of
wrath prepared for destruction and vessels of mercy prepared for glory, in the midst of this
towering chapter, at the end of verse 5, he does it again. “Christ…who is over all, God blessed
forever. Amen.” Even in the midst of this, he praises God. How much more so should you and I
be praising God throughout the day?
 
Truth Revealed Shows Reality
Sixth, this is the only explanation for what is going on in our world around us. We are living in
the midst of a society that can only be described by what we see in Romans 1. This is right
where we live today. We do not have to go to another city to experience this. We live in the
midst of it. There is an obvious relevancy to this passage that is more up-to-date than
tomorrow's newspaper. This should sober us to the reality of what we are seeing take place all
around us.
 
How can they ordain to ministry those living in open sexual sin? They rejected the Bible long
ago. They rejected the virgin birth long ago. They rejected the bodily resurrection long ago.
They rejected the exclusivity of salvation in Christ long ago. They rejected the deity of Christ
long ago. Those were the greater sins. This is where those sins lead a person. They ordain
lesbians and homosexuals. It is God giving a people over in judgment to their own sin.
 
In our next study, we will pick up at verse 28. There is one more “God gave them over.” This is
a bad laundry list, and it is right where we are as a country. That is right where we are as a
people. And this, what I have just been talking about, this is where a lot of denominations are.
This is where a lot of churches are.
 
Response
I would like to open up now for comment, feedback, or thoughts. This is a weighty matter,
especially in our culture today.
 
Audience:        Raising kids in this world where you are seeing this happen, is challenging. What
a responsibility I have to live as Paul did and bless the Lord, sharing the love of Jesus with them
day in and day out. Whether they are watching the puberty video this week in fifth grade, to
whatever else, it is coming. It is different and challenging.
 
Dr. Lawson:   We cannot lose sight of the fact of how degrading it is and how unnatural it is
because we are being desensitized.
 
Audience:        You know, something that has to come to our minds and our hearts is a sense of
thankfulness. Because the difference between these people and us is, as you were saying, that
God chose us and rejected others. We should have eternally grateful hearts because we are no
different than them.
 
Dr. Lawson:   That is a great point, and that needed to be said. I am glad you said it. This should
really humble us that we are not a part of this abandonment. We are not one of these dead fish
floating down the stream. God has had mercy on us. He did an intervention with us.
 
Audience:        How do we look upon these evangelistically, how do we look at those that are
actually sitting in judgment? Their lives are actually a result of judgment?
 
Dr. Lawson:   There should be a sense of urgency that we reach them with the gospel, because
they are under judgment, but they have not yet entered into the far greater judgment. While
there is time and while there is opportunity, we must plead with them to be saved. There must
be love in our hearts. Genuine, authentic, God-given, Christ-centered, Spirit-produced love. Not
adding to condemnation – vengeance belongs to God – we are to reach out in love. The most
loving thing that we can possibly do is share the gospel with people who are entangled in this.
 
This is so hard. The wind blows where it wills. God is long-suffering and so patient. We do not
know where this line in the sand is with God when He gives over, after He has been pleading,
inviting, calling, and summoning. Even within the larger contexts, this falls heavy on some, but
not on all across the spectrum. God's hand comes down stronger on some than others. Though in
the end, as the end of verse 27 says, there will be a just penalty for the error of their way.
 
Audience:        Steve, I think, you alluded to it, but in 1 Corinthians 6:11, there is a good
comfort for that, “and such were some of you.” Though we may not be able to identify
personally with some of this, if you get down to Romans 1:29, every single person in this room
can identify with something in that list. 
 
“And such were some of us.” That is the slogan of everybody that has been redeemed. It gives
me great hope knowing that when you see somebody in the midst of a far-off lifestyle, they are
those whom God is plucking out. But they have to hear the gospel. It goes back to what you
said. We have to be fervent with the gospel, and bold with the gospel, and consistently give
them the gospel.
 
Dr. Lawson:   And we have to be bridge building. Our national tendency might not be that, but
by the grace of God, we have to be bridge building. Reaching out in the name of Christ to show
love, to show patience. Thank you for saying that. It is so true. “And such were some of you.”
This list at the end of the chapter, which we looked at last time. We are all experts in gossip. We
are professionals in gossip.
 
Audience:        About that illustration of God delivering them over – what you are saying in the
translation of that word is not only letting them flow with the current, but pushing them off. As
you encounter people that are living a lifestyle like that, it gives us a little foundation to say,
"Look, you are really not choosing that. The Lord is pushing. The Lord is letting you do that. He
is even paving the way for you to do it because you have rejected Him."
Dr. Lawson:   Yes, He is pushing. It is a visitation of divine judgment. It is a chilling thought. It
is a humbling, sobering thought. But there it is, and it is in chapter 1.
I am loving this study and what it is doing in my own heart. My own heart greatly needs these
truths. These truths are being deeply embedded in my heart and soul, and I pray that they are
being deeply embedded in your heart and soul. That you will be more Christ-like and more
godly as a result of this. Thank you so much for all your feedback and the way you support this.
Let's pray.
Father in heaven, thank You for this time this morning. There is a sense of reverence and awe in
our hearts as we have looked at these verses. There is no glee in our hearts and there is no
apathy. We are moved by what we see here, and we are humbled and affected by what we see
here. We praise You that You have chosen us for Yourself. That You have pulled us out of the
cesspool of this world, that we would be pursuing holiness this day. It is so counterintuitive to
what we see here, and we know it is only a work of Your grace that You have done within us.
So we come this day asking that You give us further instruction, even as we meditate on these
verses throughout the day and the week. Thank you for these men. In Christ's name, amen. 
 10. Death of a Society - Romans 1:28-32

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a
depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness,
wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers,
haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without
understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of
God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but
also give hearty approval to those who practice them (Romans 1:28-32).
 
Before we can understand the good news of our salvation in Christ, there has to be the
understanding of the bad news of our condemnation in sin. Before we can appreciate the grace
of God, there has to be an awareness of the guilt before Him. This is the importance of this
opening section in Romans 1:18-3:20 that focuses upon the judgment of God upon the human
race. Our study in this lesson is upon Romans 1:28-32, which contains the bad news that makes
the good news of justification by faith so wonderful. Here is the black velvet backdrop that
makes the diamond of God’s grace shine brightly.
 
In this text, we find the warning signs of the impending death of a society. The appearance of
these distinguishing marks denotes the death of any nation, culture, or empire. The graveyard of
past civilizations has proven this unbreakable principle to be true. As we examine this passage,
it raises the questions: Can any nation survive without God? Can any society function without
the acknowledgment of God? Can any culture endure without the morality of God? Is there any
hope for a collective group of people to function successfully without God in the center?
 
In these final verses of Romans chapter one, here is Paul’s analysis of any society that rejects
the knowledge of God. These verses address any collective group of God-rejecting people
descending morally in a death spiral. This describes the slippery slope for any society, that has
turned its back on God. This moral decline goes down and down, accelerating at a rapidly
increasing speed. Here is the accelerated pace of decreasing morality in which a people unravels
like a cheap sweater and self-destructs.
  
The foreboding truth found in Romans 1:28-32 helps us to understand the world in which we
live today. You are not going to hear this message of impending doom any place other than
where the full counsel of the word of God is taught. In many ways, this teaching is totally
antithetical to what the world believes. This understanding of world history and this present
generation is totally counterintuitive to every other man-centered worldview. This is the eternal
perspective of God that He has revealed to us.
 
I. THE REJECTION of God (1:28a)
 
Paul begins, “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer” (verse 28). The
word that piques my curiosity is “they.” Who is this “they?” As we look at its antecedents, we
find in the previous verse, “their women acknowledge,” “their desire towards one another,” and
“their error” (verse 27). Then, “For this reason God gave them over” (verse 26).
“They exchanged the knowledge of God for a lie” (verse 25). “God gave them over in the lusts
of their hearts to impurity so that their bodies would be dishonored” (verse 24).
 
As we keep tracing this flow of thought back to the beginning of this stream of thought, we
read, “They became fools” (verse 22). “Even though they knew God they did not honor him as
God or give thanks. They became futile in their foolish speculations” (verse 21). “They are
without excuse” (verse 20). “That which is known about God is evident within them for God
made it evident to them” (verse 19).
 
We have to go back to verse 18 before we actually have a definitive antecedent that tells us who
is the “they” of verse 28. In verse 18, Paul writes, “For the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in
unrighteousness.” “They” in verse 28 are the God-rejectors in verses 18-27. This describes those
who are outside the kingdom of God, who live with ungodly attitudes and unrighteous lifestyles.
 
The Collective Society
This is not intended to suggest that everyone who rejects God becomes a lesbian or a
homosexual, as verses 26-27 address. The apostle is not identifying a specific “he” or “she.”
Rather, Paul is using the collective plural, “they.” This represents a large group of people in a
general way. Here is a God-defying society as a whole. Here is a collective society that is
represented in different ways, with different people, to different degrees. This describes a
society that has refused God. As they deny God His rightful place in their lives, this refusal
sends them into this moral tailspin. Because they reject God, He rejects them. Paul later writes,
“‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19). Due to their defiance of
God, it is only right that He repays them with His wrath.
 
A Beacon of Hope
The only solution for this perilous condition of being under the wrath of God is found in the
gospel, as summarized in Romans 1:1-17. The only way to come out from under this
condemnation is by the power of the good news of Jesus Christ. Only saving grace can reverse
this divine curse and deliver sinners from eternal destruction. No one can work their way out of
this helpless state. No one can become religious enough to escape this threat to their soul. No
one can become moral enough to alleviate this soul-threatening dilemma. There is no way out of
this perilous danger apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ.
 
Within these apostate nations and defiant cultures, God always has a remnant of godly people
according to His gracious choice. God has His people in every place. They shine in the darkness
of the culture as bright witnesses of the gospel of Christ. They are to testify of the grace of the
gospel and call people out of the darkness of their sin and into the light of salvation. There is a
stark contrast between the people of God and the people we read of in this passage.
 
A Reemphasized Truth
When Paul writes, “They did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer” (verse 28), he is re-
emphasizing this ongoing theme of rejecting God that began earlier in this section concerning
“men who suppress the truth” (verse 19). The truth about God is made known to them, but they
choose to suppress it. They hold down the knowledge of God in order to no longer have to deal
with it. Paul continues describing this rejection when he writes, “Even though they knew God,
they did not honor him as God” (verse 21). He further identifies them, “They exchanged the
glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and
four-footed animals and crawling creatures” (verse 23). Reinforcing this same truth, Paul adds,
“They exchange the truth of God for a lie” (verse 25). This stream of thought flows until it
becomes a polluted river that spills over its banks and floods a society with its corruption.
 
This is the fifth time in this section that Paul has stressed the intentional rejection of God (verses
18, 21, 23, 25, 28). He writes, “they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer” (verse 28),
which means they once had the knowledge of the truth about God, but choose to reject Him.
God has made Himself known to every person on the earth through general revelation (verse
19). Yet they deliberately rejected Him and suffer the devastating effects of that unbelief.
 
A Severer Punishment
It is a serious matter to reject the truth about God. There is a severe condemnation for those who
reject the general revelation of God in creation. But how much severer punishment awaits those
who refuse the special revelation of the gospel. This certainly describes the spiritual history of
the United States of America. There has never been a nation in the history of mankind that has
had so much gospel truth as this country. There have been an unprecedented number of church
pulpits, Christian television, Christian radio, Christian Bible colleges, and Christian publishing
houses that have proclaimed the message of salvation in Jesus Christ. There has never been a
people that has had more direct exposure to the special revelation of the word of God. Yet no
people have so resolutely rejected the knowledge of God.
 
There is no more serious sin than the rejection of God. The rejection of God is the tipping point
for any society. God Himself is always the issue for every generation in every nation, culture,
and society. What we are witnessing in our day is the aftereffect of an all-out war against God.
This nation has made it clear that we do not want the truth of God in the public schools. We do
not want the justice of God in the courtroom. We do not want the mind of God in the public
arena. We do not want to see the name of God in the public square. We are seeing the
repudiation of God in our national life that arises from the total depravity of the unconverted
human heart.
 
II. THE RETRIBUTION From God (1:28b)
  
As Paul continues, he states that there is divine retribution for any society of people who reject
Him. The apostle gives the inevitable result, “so God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do
those things that are not proper” (verse 28). This is the third time in these few verses Paul has
announced, “God gave them over” (verses 24, 26, 28). This threefold repetition is an intentional
emphasis that comes with blood-chilling force. The verb “gave them over” (paradidomai)
means ‘to be given over to judgment.’ It was used this way in Romans 4:25 and 8:32, when
Jesus was given over to stand in judgment before Pilate and be condemned in our place. The
word is used numerous times in the book of Acts to describe one who had been arrested and
given over into prison (Acts 8:3, 12:4, 21:11, 27:1, 28:17). In every one of these instances,
Christians were put in chains, locked up, and confined to jail.
 
When Paul writes, “God gave them over,” he means that God has delivered them over to divine
judgment for their sin of unbelief. This announces a sentence of condemnation by God. It
likewise indicates that they are imprisoned in their own sins so that they cannot escape. They
are now locked up in their sin and there is no hope of escape by their own efforts.
 
In this judgment, Paul writes, “God gave them over to a depraved mind.” This is the third time
they have been given over to their sin. At first, God gave them over to sexual immorality (verse
24). Then God gave them over to lesbian and homosexual activity (verse 26-27). Now God
gives them over to a “depraved mind” (adokimos). This means that their thinking is no longer fit
for the intended purpose for which it was made. It means that they are unable to think rationally
or logically. Their mind is rendered incapable of rational thought. They make insane choices
that they would have never made otherwise. They are like a drowning man being handed a
heavy brick that causes him to sink even faster. He cannot be strong enough to escape death.
 
Whenever a collective society hits this point, they have sunk to new lows. They have reached
the point of no return.  Their depraved mind is unable to think rationally and makes illogical
decisions. This is what we have in the transgender bathroom situation. Is there anything more
insane than that? You get to decide which gender you are each time you go to the bathroom.
That is a depraved, reprobate mind that is incapable of sound thinking. And who knows what is
next? Paul says these are things unlawful to mention in public.
 
III. THE Rottenness Without God (1:29-31)
 
The tragic result of this depraved mind is found in verses 29-31, which can be called a vice list.
A similar break down is found in other places in the Bible, but this one is longer than anywhere
else in the Bible. This is the most comprehensive index, even though it is not all-inclusive, but
simply representative. This is merely the tip of the iceberg of a society that is abandoned by
God. This catalogue of corruption is the concentrated synopsis of a godless people.
 
There are twenty-one sins listed in Romans 1:29-31 that are arranged in four sections. This
collective culture is described as “being filled with” (pleroo) all kinds of evils. This is the same
word, “filled,” that is used in Ephesians 5:18, where believers are commanded to be filled with
the Spirit. To be filled with the Spirit means that one is supernaturally energized by the Spirit to
do the will and work of God. Such a person is under the control of the Spirit and dominated by
Him. This is what is being described except the indwelling power is the sinful flesh.
 
This Greek word (peleroo) means more than they are filled up with unrighteousness. Rather,
they are in the strong grip of unrighteousness and cannot escape. They are under the dominant
control of these wicked ills. They are not mere casual partakers of evils, but are under the power
of them.
 
Section One: Sinfulness
The first section consists of the four initial words clustered together. If you have a New
American Standard Bible, you will notice the sections by the punctuation. Though there was no
punctuation in the original Greek, it is supplied in any English translation to help the reader.
You will note semicolons have been placed in the New American Standard Bible to help the
reader see these divisions. These designations are helpful to our study of this list.
 
Paul writes, they are “being filled with all unrighteousness.” The word “all” means
unrighteousness at every level. This first description is like the topic sentence in a paragraph
that describes all that follows. The word “unrighteousness” (adikia) means ‘violating a law, a
departure from a standard.’ This word was used earlier in verse 18, “for the wrath of God is
revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.” Ungodliness is the internal
attitude, unrighteousness is the external action. Ungodliness is any irreverence towards God,
where unrighteousness is any lawless behavior before Him.
 
Paul next addresses “wickedness” (poneria), which means ‘evil plots and purposes.’ In other
words, there is a scheming by these evil men to commit their deeds of wickedness. They do not
wait for sin to come to them, but they initiate plotting to sin. Next is “greed” (pleonexia), which
is ‘an evil desire for more.’ They have a total lack of contentment with what they have in life.
No matter where they are in society, they are restless to grab more of this world. They must
always have more. What is feeding this craving for more is envy.
 
Completing this first section is the next word “evil” (kakia), which means ‘a desire to injure
others.’ They do harm others in order to get what they want. They run over people to work their
way up the ladder. They step on people in order to fulfill their greed. These sins are like
multiple links in one chain, each interconnected with the next, each pulling the others along.
 
Section Two: Sinful Pursuits
The second part of this list starts with “full of” (mestos), meaning that something is so full it is
overflowing. It is like pouring water into a cup until it is overflowing. The idea is that the heart
cannot contain the rising evil that fills it. The first evil that fills the heart is “envy” ( phthonos),
which means ‘jealousy and wishing ill will.’ It is desiring that others not have what they do
have and, instead, wanting what they have. It is the desire to injure others in order to obtain
what they have. This does not describe merely one person, but a collective society of people
filled with envy. This pictures the mass chaos of a collective society, where everyone is jealous
for what others have.
 
The next evil is “murder” (phonos), which indicates a person is willing to kill in order to take
what others have. In many cases, a person is willing to take the life of someone else who
prevents them from having what they want. Here, a mother would be willing to kill her own
baby in the womb just to keep her job and make more money. Then comes “strife” (eris), which
means ‘contention, quarreling, arguing, bickering.’ They will fight anyone to achieve what they
want. This embattled spirit is followed by “deceit” (dolos), which means ‘trickery.’ These
people are willing to lie and deceive others so that they can get what they want. The last word in
this second section is “malice” (kakoetheia), which speaks of the malignant hatred that is
foaming up inside of them.
 
Section Three: Sinful Practices 
The third section of this list says these God-rejectors are “gossips” (psithyristes), meaning,
literally, they are whisperers. They secretly murmur in hushed tones behind the backs of others.
It conveys the idea of a clandestine conspiracy being conceived in darkness. There is evil
plotting and sinister scheming that is hidden behind the scenes. Nothing is out in the open, but
lurks unseen. They are “slanderers” (katalalos), which are those who defame others. The root of
this evil is, they are “haters of God.” These who have rejected God now hate Him. This sin is
number twelve in this list of twenty-one evils, standing in the middle position. The heart of the
problem is the problem of their heart.
 
Further, they are “insolent” (hybristes), which describes those who are ‘lifted up with pride.’ It
portrays ‘a verbal attacker heaping insults on others.’ This prideful man looks down on others
and degrades them with insults. Followed closely are the “arrogant” (hyperephanos), which are
those who ‘raise yourself up above others.’ Such a person possesses an overwhelming sense of
himself. He is riddled with self-entitlement, self-centeredness, and self-ego. This person is
literally strutting to hell like a peacock. They are boastful, smiting their breast, and pontificating
about their own greatness with no regard for the well being of others.
 
Just when we thought this list could not be any darker, these people have taken it to a new low.
They are described as being “inventors of evil.” This is to say, they concoct new forms of
wickedness that earlier would have been totally unimaginable. It is inconceivable by pure minds
what baser evils are being devised by reprobate men. They invent new types of evil that did not
previously exist. Pushing the boundaries, they invent a whole new stratosphere of sin than had
been previously known.
 
Next, Paul writes they are “disobedient to parents.” This sin of rebellion was so serious in the
Old Testament that it required the death penalty. They utterly have no regard for authority, and
this begins in the home. Submission to authority must be learned in the home, but here it does
not. When respectful obedience by children to their parents is gone, a society is set on a course
of anarchy that knows no limits. Where there is no regard for one’s parents, this moral
breakdown leads to no regard for the civil or criminal law. There is no respect for police officers
or any institutional authority in the classroom or the workplace. They become like lawless gang
members with no compliance for any authority. Here every man is doing what is right in his
own eyes (Judges 21:25) and is willing to kill others to get their own way. 
 
Section Four: Sinful Perversions
The fourth category begins in verse 31, and each of these descriptions start with the same
prefix a, which is translated as “un.” The first is “without understanding” (asynetos), meaning
there is no intelligent thought concerning God or morality or any decision-making capability.
They have no comprehension of God, His moral law, or any common decency. They do not
understand the truth of God at the most basic level. Their consciences are seared as with a hot
iron. They live in spiritual darkness.
 
The next word is “untrustworthy” (asynthetos), which literally means ‘covenant breakers.’ Their
word concerning their pledge to do something no longer means anything. They break their
marriage vows or a business agreement. They are the ultimate pragmatists, a people without any
principle. They do whatever is most expedient to fulfill their selfish desires, regardless of what
is right. Lastly, Paul writes they are “unloving” (astorgos) and “unmerciful” (aneleemon). The
idea is that there is no compassion for those who are in need. Their only desire is self-
gratification, while having no regard for the good of others. This is the inevitable result of their
rejecting God.
 
This has been the moral decline of countless other peoples and empires, whether it be Sodom
and Gomorrah or the Roman Empire. So it is happening before our eyes today in the United
States. Any civilization that rejects God will not long survive. These are the telltale signs of the
death of any godless society. We are living in the midst of it, up to our nostrils.
 
IV. THE rebellion against god (1:32)
 
As this section concludes, Paul reinforces the final mark of those who reject God and are
abandoned by Him. The apostle reaches the bottom of the barrel as he now writes, “and
although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of
death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them”
(verse 32). He reiterates the fundamental reason why they are given over by God. Although they
“know the ordinance of God,” referring to the moral law of God, they continue to reject it in
order to live for sin. Romans 2:14-15 says that God has written the moral law upon their heart.
The conscience of every person bears witness within them concerning what is right and wrong.
The conscience is like a built-in alarm that informs them of what is pleasing to God and warns
them what is not pleasing to Him. It tells them when they have crossed the line established by
God and entered into forbidden territory.
 
But in this case, even though they know the law of God, Their conscience no longer stops their
evil. Unrestrained, they “practice such things” as a habitual lifestyle. Thus, they “are worthy of
death” (verse 32). This death is eternal death in hell. Not only do they commit such sins, but
they “give hearty approval to those who practice them.” Society is now so deviant that they
applaud and celebrate these debaucheries. These sinful acts are no longer hidden in the closet,
but strutting down main street. They are proud and defiant in their evil ways. This flagrant
immorality causes television ratings to soar. To produce and promote such wickedness is good
business. It sells more copy and expands their viewing audience, because this is what evil
people want. It is easy for this depravity to increase, because the collective society is giving
“hearty approval.”
 
This is the trajectory on which we find ourselves in this present hour. Our decaying society is on
the slippery slope, descending into the flames of hell below. Our nation is nearing the bottom of
immorality. There is only one hope to pull out of this death spiral. It is what Paul declared in
Romans 1:16. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to
those who believe.” We cannot change the culture by petitioning city hall. We cannot change
the downward plunge of society by lobbying our politicians. We cannot hope to change the day
by merely voting in certain people into office. We should do all we can to influence the civil
process. But it is not going to change the evil hearts of people. Only the power of God through
the working of the gospel can reverse this downward course.
 
Conclusion
What do we do? How shall we then live?
 
We must be sobered by this divine abandonment. We must have the realization of what is going
on in our world today. We must have a Christian worldview with the mind of Christ. We cannot
do everything, but what we can do we must do, and what we must do we will do. We must do
all that we can to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Through our churches, Bible studies, and
personal witnessing, we must work through every means possible. We must give resources,
books, and tracks to people in need of the Lord. We can get the word of God out however we
can. This task of world evangelization is beyond any one of us. But we must do what we can do.
We cannot sit back.
 
God has always desired to work through the remnant, through the few to affect the many. The
only way that God gets the glory is when He works through the small remnant to change the
large majority.
 
Response
I need to stop and open this up a little bit. What are your thoughts on this?
 
Audience:        I think of Bruce Jenner and the applause he received. He became the “it” of the
year. They put him on ESPN, and they hold him up saying how great it is. You have
commentators on television talking about how great people are when they come out of the
closet. The guy that plays football for Missouri, the whole basketball arena stands up and
applauds him when he comes out as homosexual. It is just unbelievable.
 
Dr. Lawson:    Yes. We are without shame. That is what Isaiah 5 said. They became a nation of
unblushables that did not blush at anything anymore.
 
Audience:      It is absolutely incredible.
 
Dr. Lawson:    We have got to go to every person without Christ and reach them with the
gospel. There is no other way to get them out of the prison of their sin.
 
Audience:      Briton said it last week. You said total depravity. This was us. But it is Ephesians
2:4, “But God.” I think the motivation to share the gospel with the lost is the fact that we realize
that God elected us unconditionally. His grace makes it effective. It is irresistible, and it should
cause us to drop to our knees because all of our hearts are desperately sick without Him. I think
that the motivation behind doing this is because we are products of grace and we know what the
Lord can do. “But God.”
 
Dr. Lawson:    Yes. One theologian put it this way as I was reading for this. The seeds of all of
this is in every one of us. It is just that, by the grace of God, those seeds have never really
germinated to this extent. With regeneration, they have passed away and new things have come.
But there is a solidarity of the human race as sons of Adam, until there is regeneration.
 
Audience:      I thought about the importance of preaching precise words when you teach. Each
and every one of us are shepherds because we have children. If you do not have children, you
will at some point, Lord willing. As you said, everything starts at home. If you are not teaching
the gospel to your children, why are you not doing it? This is an urgent matter. Their souls
depend on it. So when you go to church, you need to make sure that the gospel is being taught.
Because someone else’s experiences, and adventures, and stories are not going to save you from
this. It is only the gospel. If you do not know the gospel, you are going to be lost like a sheep.
You are going to be helpless. This is the sense of urgency. We need to know this, and we need
to teach it to our kids. So even though you are not a “professional,” it is your full-time job
because your family depends on this. You are the steward of that family.
 
Audience:      That is really good.
 
Dr. Lawson:    Yes. To add to that, what I said earlier is so important. Yesterday was my twin
boys’ thirty-fourth birthday, so there was a lot of reflection. Teaching them to be under
authority. You know, if they are under authority at home, when I drop them off at school, when
they are on a football team, or a basketball team, or at church, or wherever, they have a certain
influence upon them. Not that they are perfect or anything. But they respect authority. That
really starts at home. When you have disobedience to parents, no society can survive that.
Everybody is doing whatever they want to do when they want to do it.                                   
 
We will close here. Next time, we are moving into Romans 2. We have some great truths to
cover in Romans 2. Let us pray.
 
Father, thank You for the revelation that You have given to us in Your word. We have now
been taught and instructed. You have imparted Your wisdom to us, and I pray that You would
help us assimilate this now, and incorporate this into our daily lives, and cause us to walk in
humility. Because, there but for the grace of God, go I. Thank You, that You have saved us out
of this death spiral and given to us eternal life. We pray this in Christ’s name, Amen. 
 011. The Moralist Condemned, Part 1 - Romans 2:1-5

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

I want to begin in a word of prayer. Father, as we come to this time to look together into
your word, we believe that your word is living and active and sharper than any two-
edged sword, and we pray that your Holy Spirit would take your word and apply it
deeply within our soul. I pray that the Holy Spirit would be our primary teacher, that
you would use me as a secondary teacher, and that each one of us would be sanctified
and our minds would be renewed and our lives would be set apart to live for your glory
all the more. We ask now that your hand rest strongly upon us as we study your word
and I pray for all those who are watching around the world, that you would meet with
them as we met together in Christ's name. Amen.
 
Okay, take your Bible and turn to Romans, are you ready for this? Chapter 2. We're
making progress, men. We are now in Romans 2.
 
We're in Romans 2 and Lord willing, we're going to look at the first five verses this
morning. We'll see how our pace goes. I want to begin just by reading this passage so
that you can have it set before you and if you're taking notes, a title on this would
be The Moralist Condemned, and that's the succinct summary of what this paragraph is
about. Paul being, "Therefore, you have no excuse, every one of you who passes
judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who
judge practice the same things and we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon
those who practice such things, but do you suppose this, O man, when you pass
judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will
escape the judgment of God?
Or, do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience, not
knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance, but because of your
stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of
wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God."
 
Let me just read verse 6 as well. "Who will render to each person according to his
deeds." Paul here, obviously, is continuing to drill down yet deeper in the sin of
unconverted men and women. He is drilling down yet deeper into total depravity. He is
drilling down deeper in this opening section that we can label condemnation and it's
absolutely necessary that he keep drilling down, because the higher the skyscraper, the
deeper the foundation must be, because Paul is about to erect, beginning in the middle
of chapter 3, the most monumental high rise, skyscraper that will tower with the saving
grace of God and nowhere else in all of Paul's writings will he open up the truth of
salvation, justification, propitiation, redemption, reconciliation, sanctification,
glorification.
 
It will be jaw dropping, but before Paul can go up, he first has to go down, and that's
where we find ourselves. Unless you think are we ever going to move on to the message
of salvation? We're going to get there, but Paul is not building a two-floor apartment.
He is building a skyscraper that goes all the way up through the clouds, literally to the
throne of grace and he must build a very firm deep foundation in the doctrine of total
depravity, the doctrine of radical corruption, and that is what is taking place here. As we
come to chapter 2, this is the issue that is on the table. We have just gone through the
end of Romans 1 and Paul has taken us through a section that is extraordinary.
 
I mean, he has taken us through what we looked at in verse 24, given over to
immorality, verse 26, given over to lesbianism and homosexuality, verse 29,
wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, slanderers,
haters of God, insolent, arrogant, etc, etc, etc. There are people who say, hey, I haven't
been pulled into this. I haven't killed anybody. I'm not a murderer. I'm not a
homosexual. I'm not a lesbian. This does not fit me. I'm not there. I'm not in this
cesspool of inequity that is laid out here. I'm a fine person. I love my family. I'm
hardworking. I'm a good citizen. I help people. This shoe does not fit me. Paul, who's
always out ahead, I know what you're thinking. He gets out ahead of this parade and
beginning in chapter 2, verse 1, he addresses what we will call the moralist. The person
who is outwardly upstanding, high moral values, loves his family, cares for his family,
but here's the deal.
 
This person has never come to faith in Jesus Christ. This person is simply resting in
their outward morality. This person is just resting in their own personal goodness to get
them to Heaven and Paul is gonna head this off at the pass and beginning in chapter 2,
verse 1, and extending, and we're not gonna be able to get through this whole thing, but
through verse 16, he addresses this person who has the outward façade. This is just like
the nicest person I've ever met.
 
I was reading this morning. I had just a couple seconds. I picked up a Golf Digest and
I'm reading in this thing about Arnold Palmer, it's a tribute to Arnold Palmer, who I just
love to death, and I had the chance to go to Latrobe, like, two years ago, three years ago
right before he died, and sit in his office with him, and just interact with him and every
trophy he's ever won, etc, etc. I mean, this is the greatest most fine upstanding person.
At his funeral up in Pennsylvania, Matt, they — I mean, the choir sang the "Battle
Hymn of the Republic". I mean, this was an American flag icon, but it doesn't matter
what a good person you are. Good people don't go to Heaven. Hell is full of good
people. The only way that you are right with God, is to believe upon the Lord Jesus
Christ, and that is the argument that Paul is making here in these verses. Now, I want to
give you three headings as we walk through this. It'll be very simple, very easy to
follow me. Now, the third heading will have a couple of subpoints.
 
We're gonna look first at the addressee. Who is Paul addressing here? Then second the
approach and finally the argument.
 
I.               THE ADDRESSEE
 
I want you to note first, the addressee, and I'm gonna tell you what I've done in my
preaching Bible here. I've taken my ballpoint pen and I've drawn a circle around every
time I see the word you. Beginning in verse 1, "Therefore, you". Who is the you?
"Therefore, you have no excuse, every one of you who passes judgment for in that
which you judge another you condemn yourself or you who judge practice sin." Five
times in the first verse, he says, you. Any careful Bible student is gonna have to get to
the bottom of who is the you? But it doesn't slow down. In verse 3, "But do you suppose
this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things," at the end of
the verse, "That you will escape the judgment of God?" Verse 4, "Or do you think
lightly?"
 
At the end of verse 4, "This should lead you to repentance." Stop right there. This
person is obviously unconverted. Whoever this you is, because this person needs to
come to repentance and we'll talk about repentance in a little bit, and then in verse 5,
"You are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath." You is under the wrath of
God. You is unrepentant. You in verse 5 is stubborn and is unrepentant and in verse
1, you go around judging everyone else with a holier than thou attitude." That you're
above it. The you is the person who is a fine, moral, upstanding person who is
unrepentant, who is under the wrath of God, who thinks he's better than other people,
but has never seen himself as God sees him. That's who this you is. He's not talking to
the believers in the church at Rome. The believers in the church at Rome are not under
the wrath of God. The believers in the church at Rome are not unrepentant. They are
repentant and they have escaped the judgment of God through the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
 
The person that Paul is addressing here, if you'll look ahead in verses 9 and 10, he talks
about both Jew and gentile, and in verse 12, whether you have the law or without the
law, whether you're a Jew, whether you're a gentile. The you here, who is being
addressed is a self-righteous person who thinks that the gospel is for someone else. This
is the single hardest person to reach on planet Earth with the gospel. They don't know
that they're lost. They don't think that they're lost. The people in Romans 1 kind of have
an idea — they don't care, but they're easier to reach with the gospel, because we don't
have to convince them they're a sinner. They know they're a sinner. They just don't
wanna deal with it, but this person in Romans 2, if this person was a fine church-going
person, maybe even someone who grew up in church, someone who knows all the
answers, but someone who has never been regenerated by the Spirit of God and has
never been born again.
 
This is who Paul is addressing and he doesn't want this person to get off the hook. Just
because, as we looked at Romans 1 and see this foul comprehensive gathering of
unsaved people, he doesn't want the moralists to say, yeah, Paul, you keep talking to
them. You keep preaching to them. I'm just fine. That is who the you is.
 
II.             THE APPROACH
 
Now, second, the approach. Paul is gonna use a rhetorical device known as a soliloquy
where you carry on an imaginary conversation. He will do it later in Romans 9. I mean,
"Who are you, O man, who answers back to God?" The thing molded, say to the maker,
say to the potter, he's carrying on an imaginary conversation. It's a very effective form
of communication. Sometimes when I'm preaching, I'll say in the sermon, I know
exactly what you're thinking. You're thinking and I'm trying to answer questions as you
are raising them in your mind.
 
That's a very effective form of communication. I need to do more of it. Paul does it all
the time in his letters and for example, in verse 3, "But do you suppose this, O man?"
See, can you see the conversation that he's carrying on with an imaginary figure? He's
not talking to the believers in Rome, because they have repented and they're not under
the wrath of God. He is raising this person who is a representative person. He is a
representative, imaginary person, and in verses 3 and 4, you'll notice both end with
question marks in your Bible. He will ask rhetorical questions, probing questions. Just
like a lawyer will put someone on the stand and begin to ask questions to bring out what
they know. That's the approach that's going on here and this leads us now to really the
heart of what we wanna talk about, the approach, and Paul will have five things to say
regarding the approach, and I want you to track this with me.
 
I've been kicking the tires on this all week and trying to find the thread that runs through
these verses and I think I finally have latched onto this thread that runs through this and
I want to give you five very simple statements that will help us walk verse by verse
through this second. The first is in verse 1. He says, "You practice the same sin." You
Mr. Moralist practice the same sin. What same sins? The same sins as we just saw at the
end of Romans 1. Maybe different in extent, maybe different in trajectory, maybe
different in manifestation, but when you peel it down, and you get to the very heart, it's
the very same root. You're breaking the same ten commandments. It's just a different
manifestation of your sin. Notice what he says in verse 1, "Therefore," and the
word therefore, connects Romans 1 to Romans 2. Therefore, pulls forward what he just
said. "Therefore, you have no excuse."
 
This moralist has been coming up with all kinds of excuses, like, this doesn't apply to
me, and he says, no, you have no excuse. He just said that in verse 20 of chapter 1. At
the end of verse 20, in chapter 1, he says, "They are without excuse." Do you see that?
Paul now attaches this to this moralist, saying, and you, too, are without excuse, before
God. No matter how outwardly good you may appear to be, if you have not come to the
end of yourself and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are practicing the very same
sin. Verse 1, "Therefore, you have no excuse, every one of you." That's a blanket term.
That just throws the blanket over everyone in this category who passes judgment,
meaning looking down your long nose at others and passing judgment upon them for in
that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge, practice the
same things.
 
Now, if we take the ten commandments and impose that over these verses at the end
of Romans 1, you've committed the very same sin. For example, the easy ones. He says
in verse 29, they're murderers. They actually were. Jesus will say in Matthew 5, "If you
have hatred in your heart for another person, you've committed the very same sin." You
are a murderer and in fact, you are guilty enough to go into the fiery Hell or in verse 26,
gave them over to homosexuality and lesbianism. The ten commandments say you shall
not commit adultery. Did you lust in your mind? Do you fantasize in your mind? Do
you go places where you should not go in your thought life and enter into illicit
relationship in your mind? You're guilty of the very same sin. You are an adulterer in
the mind of God and in the judgment of God and Jesus says so in Matthew 5. It's as
crystal clear as can be.
 
That's when Jesus said, if your right eye causes you to stumble, you better pluck it out
or you're going to Hell, and then he says, and if your right hand causes you to stumble,
and with the right eye, he's talking about fantasizing and looking at another woman and
your right hand, you go even further and put your hand where your hand should not be,
you are guilty of breaking the commandment that says, you shall not commit adultery,
even if you don't commit the actual act. That's why here in verse 1, Paul says, you are
practicing the very same sins, and we don’t have time to go back through and
breakdown everything in verses 29, 30, and 31. You probably don't want me to go back
through that laundry list right now. I mean, we got it the first time, but this is Paul's
point. You practice the same sin and you can be a fine, upstanding person, nevertheless,
if you're not converted to Christ, you have been weighed in the balances, and found
guilty of the very same sin.
 
That's in verse 1. Now, he advances the argument yet further in verses 2 and 3 and the
second thing that he will say is, "You will suffer the same judgment." Number one, you
practice the same sin. Number two, you will suffer the same judgment. You're not going
to have a separate line to stand in on the last day. You are going to be in the very same
line of those who are guilty, who will be standing before God. Look at verses 2 and 3
and we know. That's a way of saying, this is common knowledge 101. If you're
breathing and have two brain cells touching between your ears, you ought to know this.
This is kindergarten information and we know that the judgment of God. Now, this
judgment of God is entirely different from man's judgment in verse 1. You've been
holding court on other people, you're about to be subpoenaed to God's court, and you
who judge others in verse 1, you are going to appear at the judgment of God.
 
You, yourself and it will be a perfect judgment. Notice he says that rightly falls upon
those who practice such things, and this is referring to the moralists. You practice these
things just like this other person. You just haven't extended defenses as far enough out
yet for your actions to go yet further and you have a slightly different coating around
your sin that's a little bit more respectable, but when you peel back the bark, and you get
down at the very heart and root of this sin, it is the very same seed of sin and you
therefore, will suffer the very same exposure before God, and condemnation by God.
That's what he is saying and he says, "This judgment of God rightly falls upon the
moralist." He does get an exemption, because his outward façade, his outward
packaging. "Man looks on the outward appearance. God looks on the heart." 1 Samuel
16:7.
 
When he says, rightly falls, literally out of the original language, it is
translated according to truth and it will be a right judgment according to truth. The truth
about you will come out. You will be judged by the truth of God's word. You will suffer
the same judgment. Now, look at verse 3. Paul really kind of amps up his rhetoric here
and just when we think — I mean, if I was preaching this, I probably would back off.
Like, the tide goes in, the tide goes out. You advance your argument and then, maybe
you kinda take a step back and let the congregation gather themselves, maybe say
something kind of pedestrian, and then you recharge. Paul just keeps charging. He
doesn't pull back and in the next verse, in verse 3, and there is a note of intentional
sarcasm here. God himself uses sarcasm when he speaks. Just read Job 38 and
following. Paul uses sarcasm.
 
Sarcasm is a very effective form of communication when it is used properly and
effectively and Paul is using sarcasm here carrying on this imaginary conversation with
a representative person. He says in verse 3, "But do you suppose this?" He's tossing this
out. "O man," what a belittling, shrinking this person down. "But do you suppose this, O
man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same
yourself that you will escape the judgment of God?" And he's talking about the great
white throne of judgment. I mean, he's talking about that judgment on the final day
when him whom sat upon the throne, all Heaven and Earth fled away, and the books are
open and the Book of Life is open and the sea gave up the dead which were in them, and
those who have committed unlawful acts, will have their day in court before God.
 
That is what the reference is here, and so, he's saying to the moralist, you're not going to
escape the judgment of God. You're going to stand in the same courtroom and you're
going to stand before the same judge and you will be found guilty of the very same sin
and there is no out for you just because the thin veneer on the external packaging of
your life is more respectable. Down on the inside, you are filthy and on the inside, you
are totally depraved. This is the argument that Paul is making. Now, he advances it yet
further. You're guilty of the same sin, you suffer the same judgment, and now, in verse
4, you resist the same kindness. In verse 4, he continues to talk to the same person. "Or
do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience?" That is a
question. That is what we call a rhetorical question. It is a literary device. You raise the
question and in reality, you're making a statement.
 
It's like your wife saying to you before you go out to eat dinner with another couple,
“You're not going to wear that shirt, are you?” That is not a question. That is a
statement. You cannot wear that shirt tonight, it doesn't even begin go with your plaid
pants. As Paul raises the question here, it's intended to be provocative, to surface to your
mind that you yourself answer this question. The answer is “you do regard lightly the
kindness of God that has been extended to you.” Now, to regard lightly is a Greek word
that means to think down on, literally, to think down on, to look down upon and the idea
is to be dismissive, to underestimate, to devalue, to pass over, to disregard. That's the
idea here and when he says the kindness of God, it begins with common grace and then
it extends to the offer of saving grace. Let's just begin with common grace.
 
God has been so kind to you Mr. Moralist, Mrs. Moralist. He's allowed you to be
married. He's allowed you to have children and the joy of raising a family. He's allowed
you to go to school, to have friends, to play sports. He's allowed you to have good
health. He's allowed you to enjoy music. He's allowed you to enjoy the beauty of his
creation. He's allowed you to breathe his air, to drink his water. God has been so good
to you. I mean, the rain doesn't just fall on the elect. The rain falls on the just and the
unjust. He has swung open the windows of Heaven and is good to all and you think so
lightly of God's kindness that has been shown to you? And then more than that, not just
common grace, but saving grace. You have heard the gospel and what Christ has come
into the world to do and you have devalued this and think, well, it's only for these
people in Romans 1. I do not need this or do you think lightly of the riches, the riches,
plural, of his kindness?
 
For God to be rich in anything is just incomprehensible. He could just say his kindness,
but the riches of his kindness is a treasure house of kindness that has overflowed and his
tolerance and patience, how long suffering God has been with you? The more he has
given his kindness to you, the more you have disregarded him, and just gone your own
way, and you've actually thought that in your business — all your successes, that this
was actually your genius and your ingenuity? You actually thought that you were
turning all of these deals? You actually thought that all of this that's falling in your lap is
because of your industry? When it is God who has given you life and breath and even
providentially has caused these things to fall in your lap. Notice what he says at the end
of verse 4. Not knowing that the kindness of God, not the wrath of God, the kindness of
God leads you to repentance.
 
All of God's goodness and all of God's kindness and all of God's patience with you, he
should have struck you dead after the first sin. He should have struck you dead as soon
as you came out of your mother's womb. He should have struck you dead long ago. The
soul that sins, it shall surely die. The wages of sin is death. He's been so patient with
you Mr. Moralist. All of this should have melted your heart down and brought you to
the point of repentance. Now, what is repentance? Literally the word repentance, means
a change of mind. As you open up the scope and the entirety of the Bible, it means a
change of mind, a change of affections, and a change of will. All three basic
components, a change of mind, a change of affections, and a change of will, and it is a
turning to God and if you turn to God through Christ, you are automatically turning
away from what you were facing.
 
Now, if I take this watch, if this watch is facing me and if I now turn it around and face
it in that direction, the other side of the watch is now facing me. If you take a coin,
heads and tails, and you turn it around, you turn both sides of the coin. You can't turn
heads without turning tails and repentance is a necessary component part of true saving
faith. There is no true saving faith without repentance and saving faith is turning to
Christ. The repentance is the turning away from your stranglehold of sin. You do not
become perfect. We'll get to Romans 7 in a couple years. You will never become
perfect, but listen, it is a change of direction, and it is a change of affection and if that
hasn't happened, you're not a believer in Jesus Christ. You have a non-saving faith and
there is a faith that does not save. Read the end of John 2. Read James 2. Even the
demons believe. I can assure you that they have not come all the way to repentant
saving faith.
 
Repentance is here a synonym for saving faith and there are times in the Bible when the
gospel is preached and the only requirement is repent. Now, let's just do a quick walk
through this and you're gonna have to do this quickly with me, but go to Matthew
3, Matthew 3, Matthew 3:2. "Now, in those", verse 1, "in those days, John the Baptist
came preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying, 'Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven
is at hand.'" That's the only requirement that is given here is repent and there are times,
especially in the narratives, in the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and then
in the book of Acts, where all you hear is the word repent. You don't even
hear believe and repentance is used synonymously here with saving faith and then in the
next verse, verse 3, he quotes from the Old Testament from Isiah 40:3, and he says,
"Make ready the way of the Lord, make his path straight", and that is a turning away
from sin in order to turn to the Lord.
 
Now, come to Mark 1, that was John the Baptist. That was John the Baptist's message.
In Mark 1:15, this is the inaugural preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ and how does
Jesus begin his public preaching ministry? What was his message? And in Mark 1:15,
I'm going to start in verse 14, John, who had been taken into custody, Jesus came into
Galilee, preaching the gospel. So, how do you preach the gospel of God? Saying the
time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.
Sometimes it simply says repent, other times it says repent and believe, other places in
the Bible it simply says believe. These are all one and the same. All true saving faith has
repentance in it. There is a change of mind. You now see yourself for who you are and
you see the way of salvation and you see your need of it. There is a change of affection.
You now are convicted of your sin and you feel the heavy weight of guilt in conviction.
 
No one giggles into the Kingdom of Heaven. No one goes skipping through the narrow
gate. Blessed are those who mourn, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven, for they shall
be comforted, and then there is a change of will where you turn away from your life
pursuit of sin, and you now turn and embrace the Lord Jesus Christ. Doesn't mean that
there is any perfection, but is now a new direction with a new affection. Otherwise, you
have not believed in Jesus Christ. Now, come to Luke 24. You have to see all of
this. Luke 24:47, and the great commission when Jesus sent out his disciples to preach
the gospel of Jesus Christ, what did he tell them to preach? We have it
in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts. Five times we have the great commission.
We'll look at here in Luke's gospel. "Thus, it is written," verse 46, "that the Christ
should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day." That's the substance of the
gospels.
 
The person and work of Christ. Now, verse 47, is the terms of the gospel. What must
you do in order to have the saving work of Christ in your life? And he says in verse 47,
that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the
nations. No matter where you go on planet Earth for the rest of your life, you are to
preach repentance for the forgiveness of sin. Meaning, no repentance, no forgiveness of
sin. There must be repentance, a brokenness over one's sin, a sorrow over one's sin, and
a turning away from that sin. The woman at the well in John 4, "Sir, give me this
water." How many husbands do you have? Almost any Evangelical pastor today would
have said, you want this water, let's just pray right now, and receive Christ into your life
right now. No, we're gonna have to deal with repentance. We're going to have to deal
with sin. You can't continue to be shacked up and to live in open morality.
 
You have, four or five husbands and the man you're living with is not even your
husband. She goes, sir, I perceive you're a prophet. I mean, he just read the letter
without opening the envelope. You have to deal with sin. It's the message of repentance.
Now, come to the book of Acts, comes to Acts 2. Acts 2, probably the greatest sermon
ever preached in the era of the church. It's the first sermon preached in the ear of the
church. Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost. You know the message. It's the person
and work of Christ. Acts 2:37, "Brethren, what shall we do?" They interrupted the
sermon. I've actually had this happen to me before. I mean, this is a preacher's dream.
You dream about this. Someone interrupts your sermon and they can't wait any longer,
what must get to the application, for Heaven's sake. I got the truth. What do I do with
this? What must I do to be saved? What does Peter say?
 
I mean, this is the time to tell it straight. He doesn't even say believe. He doesn't even
say have faith in Christ. He says repent, because it's used as a synonym here for saving
faith. Other places, like when Jesus said, repent and believe, true saving faith has
repentance in it. Do you see the importance of preaching repentance? Comes to chapter
3, Acts 3:19, remember I told you I had the professor that would hold up the sign that
just says, so what with a question mark? Here's the so what. Act 3:19, "Therefore,
repent and return so that your sins may be wiped away." If you don't repent, your sins
will not be wiped away. How crystal clear can this be? All true saving faith has
repentance in it. When you turn to Christ, you turn away from your pursuit of sin. Not
perfectly. We continue to sin. You're not going to continue to be shacked up. You are
going to hate what you once loved.
 
That's the mark of genuine regeneration. You're not just checking boxes. Yeah, I believe
this. Now, comes to Acts 20:20, you have to turn faster now. Acts 20:20, "I did not
shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable." I mean, Paul says, listen, I
put it out there. I didn't hold back. I didn't shrink from declaring to you anything that
you needed to hear, teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying.
He was serious as a heart attack about this, to both Jews and Greeks, of repentance
toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are twin sisters.
Wherever you find one, you'll find the other. Wherever you find genuine faith, you will
find genuine repentance, and when you find genuine repentance, you will find genuine
saving faith. It is the heads and tails of the same coin. I wish I could trace this out a ton
more.
 
It's the fastest and the quickest I can do to impress upon you the necessity of repentance
for anyone to come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Come back to Romans 2:4 and we
need to wrap this up. Now we understand in verse 4, "Or do you think lightly of the
riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience not knowing that the kindness of God
leads you to repentance?" This should be leading you to Christ. This should be leading
you to saving faith in Christ. That's what he is saying and you resist the same kindness
as the person in Romans 1. You are stiff arming the same mercy of God that is being
extended to you.
 
III.           THE ARGUMENT
 
Now, I’m going to at least give you one more. Number four, we're doing this argument.
This is the unfolding argument, number four. You store up the same wrath. You are
storing up the same wrath and that's verse 5. Don't think there's not wrath being stored
up for you Mr. Self-righteous, Religious-but-Lost, Church Member, fine upstanding
citizen.
 
You get the yard of the month every month for your front yard. Look at verse 5, "But
because of your stubbornness". Because of your stubbornness, that means callous,
hardness of heart, obstinacy, unrepentant heart. It's the same word for repentance, but
with the prefix a in front of it, which makes it a negative, like I told you last week.
Museum is a place you go to think, amusement is a place you go not to think. The
prefix a is the negative. This is non-repentant, unrepentant heart. You, the same person,
you Mr. Moralist, are storing up wrath and the idea — Jonathan Edwards put it this
way, the dam of God's kindness and patience and tolerance is holding back the stream
and the river of his wrath and it's holding it back from you, but the longer you remain
stubborn and stiff necked and unrepentant, it's just building and building and building
and one day, God is going to remove this dam and there is going to be an even greater
accumulation of wrath that will come.
 
Momentarily right now, it's being held back by his patience and his tolerance, giving
you more time to repent, but the longer you refuse to repent, this wrath is accumulating
exponentially and there's coming a day when God will remove the dam of his kindness
and patience and tolerance and it is going to swallow you up into the belly of hell.
That's the truth and I can't be too dramatic in my choice of words on this. That's exactly
what Paul's saying. Look at again, verse 5, that because of your stubbornness and
unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself. This couldn't be any more
personal. Remember I told you great preaching gets to the you. It gets beyond the we
and the us and it gets to you. This is great teaching and preaching by Paul.
 
This is painfully personal. You are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath.
That's what the final day is. There will not be, listen to this, there will not be one drop of
mercy. There will not be one ounce of grace on the last day. It will be pure, shear,
unadulterated, unvarnished wrath and the word wrath. You can hear orgy. It means
heated passion and the heated passion of God. God will not be a stoic judge on that day.
He is a holy God who will be so full of vengeance. He will be breathing terror out of his
nostrils as the wrath of God is poured out upon the moralists. Storing up wrath in the
day of wrath and revelation, is the Greek from which we get apocalypse, the unveiling,
the unveiling of the righteous judgment of God. You're storing up the same wrath.
You're committing the same sin. You will suffer the same judgment.
 
You're resisting the same kindness. Who do you think you're kidding? Who do you
think you are? The worst form of human badness is human kindness when it becomes a
substitute for the new birth. Romans 1 is John 4, Romans 2 is John 3. Romans 4 is the
woman at the well with five husbands. Romans 2 is Nicodemus. Mr. Fine Upstanding
Pharisee, moral, upstanding, damned unless he is born again. Now, I'm going to just toss
out what we're going to look at next Friday. I'm just going to tease you with this, with
the fifth heading. It's starts in verse 6 and we're gonna pick it up next Friday. "You will
be judged by the same standard." That's verse 6 and it continues throughout the rest of
these verses and that standard is your deeds. Notice, "who will render to each person,"
the who refers to God, God will render to each person according to his deeds. Now, you
can go ahead and write this down.
 
We are saved by grace. We are judged by works. Saved by grace, judged by works, and
all of your deeds have been recorded in a book and that book will be open on the last
day. So much sin, so much judgment and hell will be hotter for some people than other.
It's going to be hot for everybody who's there, but there will be some who will have
accumulated more sin and they will have stored up more wrath, but they will be judged
by their deeds and I've gone through the next verses with my little ballpoint pen and I
have drawn a circle around every time I see the word do, doing, does, and it just flows
like a river from verses 6 through 14 and that's what we're going to look at next time.
That all judgment is by deeds and the moralist has plenty of deeds that will condemn
him on the last day. What's the application? The application, if you'll come back to
verse 5, there's a word we just breezed over and it's the word heart.
 
Everything is a matter of the heart. It's not the outward packaging, it's the heart. Do you
have a believing heart? Do you have a repentant heart? Do you have a pure heart? Don't
be caught up with the outward morality. Obedience is important. No question about it,
but man looks on the outward appearance. God looks upon the heart. Watch over your
heart for from it flows the issues of life. I want to ask you where is your heart today?
Because your heart is the real you. Your heart is the engine that's driving your life. Your
heart is your soul. It's your mind. It's your affections. It's your will. It's what you are on
the inside. It's everything I can't see, but God can see. I can only see the outside, but
God sees the heart. You've got to watch over your heart, because it's possible, like this
moralist, to fake it on the outside. It's a religion that begins with the heart. Blessed are
the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
 
Blessed are the poor in spirit, spirit, heart, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Where's
your heart? Do you have a heart for God? Do you have a repentant heart? Even now as a
Christian, we are repenters for the rest of our life. The initial repentance is only the first
step leading into the kingdom. It's not over, it's just the beginning. We are to be
repenters. David was a repenter. Peter was a repenter. We are to be repenters every step
of the Christian life. There's got to be this growing hatred of our own sin and a growing
love for God's holiness as we live our Christian life and we can mask our hearts as we
live with one another in fellowship with one another, but as we're alone with God, it's
our heart that God is after. Second point of application is we need to witness to people
who are moralists, good fine upstanding people in this world.
 
Just because they're a good person by human standards on the outside, does not mean
they're born again, does not mean they're repentant. Nicodemus was the straightest
arrow that walked in Israel at that time. He was a paragon of morality, but he was lost.
We need to recognize that there are many grandparents, in-laws, people we work with,
who have never repented and have never been broken over their sin and turned away
from it and turned to God and then, third, this is a call for every one of us to examine
ourselves whether we'd be in the faith and for those who are watching on livestream, I
mean, have you repented for the forgiveness of sins? Have you thought lightly of the
kindness of God that should lead you to repentance? Every one of us, no matter how
respectable our external may be, it doesn't matter if you're a church member, if you've
been baptized, if you take the Lord's Supper, if you teach a Sunday school class, if you
give to the church, if you help old ladies across the street, if you mail in your vote early
on election day, I mean, none of that is going to get you to Heaven.
 
You must repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. For those around this table and
for those watching on our livestream, I just say to you what John the Baptist said, what
Christ said, what Peter preached, and what Jesus sent the disciples out to preach, repent
and believe the gospel. Turn to Christ and turn away from your self-righteousness and
your pursuit of sin.
 
Thank you for being here. I really wish we had had time to discuss this, but I really wish
that you would internalize these verses, what I've said and what I've said is, I'm just an
echo chamber of what Paul has taught here. Next time, we're going to drill down on
these deeds that will be judged on the last day. Remember, we're going to get to the
skyscraper, but we can't build up until we drill down and lay a foundation.
 
Let's pray. Father, thank you for this study in your word. We want all your word. We
want the full council of God. We want everything that you have to say to us. We want
not just the good news, we want the bad news. We want the whole truth and today, we
recognize is another installment. Help us to watch over our hearts and not be just
concerned with the outward packaging. Cause our hearts to be pure and to be repentant
and to be trusting and believing in you. I pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
 12. The Moralist Condemned, Part 2 - Romans 2:6-11

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Romans 2 and let me welcome those who are watching
us livestream. Literally, everywhere I go, people come up to me and say they're watching on
livestream. Thank you for being a part of this study. You're really sitting around the table with
us and we're in Romans 2 and I wanna begin by reading what's gonna be our passage that we'll
look at today and the heading on this is really part two from what we looked at last time, the
moralist condemned and the moralist is the person who is outwardly very moral, but inside their
heart, they're just as corrupt as the person who is involved in deep sin actions of sin and so Paul
wants to address the moralist now, that don't think that you will escape the wrath of God if
you've not been born again.

I do want to read this, but before I read this, let me just remind us — get a walking start,
beginning in verse 1, I gave you five statements last time, and I'm just gonna walk back through
those and I wanna make sure that you got these because we're gonna expand the fifth and final
statement here. In verse 1, Paul says, "You practice the same sin. Therefore, you have no
excuse, every one of you who passes judgment. For in that which you judge another, you
condemn yourself, for you who judge practice the same things." He's referring back to the end
of chapter one.

You practice the same things, just different manifestations of the same thing, different extent of
the same thing, but you've been weighed in the balances, and you've been found guilty of the
very same sin, and then second, in verses 2 and 3, you'll suffer the same judgment, he says.
Verse 3, "But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such
things and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?" It's a rhetorical question
implying the negative answer, no. You will face the same judgment. You've committed —
you've practiced the same sin, you suffer the same judgment. Verse 4, "You resist the same
kindness or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness?" Then in Verse 5, "You store up
the same wrath. You are storing up wrath until the day of wrath."

You're in the very same boat as these immoral people at the end of chapter 1, and then the fifth
and final statement is, "You will be judged by the same principle." That leads us now into verse
6, and this is where we find ourselves. Let me read this passage, beginning in verse 6, "Who
will render to each person according to his deeds? To those who by perseverance and doing
good seek for glory and honor and immortality eternal life, but to those who are selfishly
ambitious and do not obey the truth, they obey unrighteousness, wrath, and indignation. There
will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of
the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good. So, the Jew first and also
to the Greek for there is no partiality with God." Now, these verses really need some
explanation, but once we have this unfolded before us, I think you're gonna see how powerful
these verses are, and it's a very simple little outline to follow under you will be judged by the
same principle.

I.               THE PRINCIPLE

First in verse 6, is the principle. Verse 6, states the principle by which every person in the world
will be judged both believer and unbeliever. Now, in verse 6, I'm gonna read it again, "Who will
render to each person according to his deeds." This is a direct quotation from  Psalm
62:12 and Proverbs 24:12 and the reason Paul quotes it from the Old Testament is to show us
it's always been this way. This is the way God has always operated. This is not something new
in the New Testament times. He quotes from the Old Testament to show how timeless this
principle is. Now, every word of verse 6 begs for some kind of comment. When he — it starts
off with the word who, which is a reference to God. God is the last word of verse 5, and we call
that the antecedent. The executor of this judgment is God himself. God is the one who will
render this judgment. The word will speak to the certainty of it.

God will render to each person according to his deeds. It is absolutely certain this is going to
happen. Then the word render, means to pay as wages. It means to give a recompense for work
done. It would be like if I came over to your house and I mowed your yard, then you would give
me a certain amount of money as payment. Not as a gift, I've actually earned this. I've worked
hard for this and what you would give me would be my recompense. That's the very word that is
used here and there's gonna be a payday someday. There is going to be a payoff, in which God
will render, note, to each person. That speaks to both the individuality of it and the universality
of it. I guess that's a word. Every single person will be rendered according to his deeds and what
we're gonna find in this passage, not only unbelievers, but also believers. We all need to pay
attention to this.

Then, he says, according to, which means in direct proportion, to his deeds, and his deeds speak
of the accountability of this. The word for deed is a Greek word that means according to his
labor, according to his work, according to his actions, according to the things he has done,
according to his industry or his business, and the word has all of these meanings. This is the
principle that Paul is establishing here. Now, we need to remember that God is keeping
impeccable records on every person's life. Every deed, every action of every person in the entire
human race, God has it all recorded in his book and just for a moment, if you wanna turn with
me to Revelation 20, I mentioned, I just preached on this this past Wednesday night and I think
it would be good just for me to draw our attention for a moment to Revelation 20:11, this is at
the end of time. In Revelation 20:11, "Then I saw a great white throne."

Great speaks of its power, white speaks of its purity, throne speaks of its purpose. "And him

who sat upon it," referring to Jesus Christ, "from whose presence Earth and Heaven fled away
and no place was found for them and I saw the dead, the great and the same." The great referred
to people who have lived with great influence and great power in human history whose names
are well known to us around this table as well as the small, the little insignificant people who
live little insignificant lives and we don't even know who they are, they will all stand before the
throne, every unbeliever, and books were opened and these books are the detailed record of
every action and every deed and every thought and every motive of every unbeliever in the
history of the World and this is the evidence that will be presented in this court on that day.
Every idle word, Jesus said, men will render account of it in the judgment and then he said
another book was opened, which is the book of life and the dead were judged from the things
which were written in the books, please note, according to their deeds.

So much sin, so much judgment and it will not be the same for everyone and there will be
degrees of punishment in hell according to degrees of evil deeds that were done by unbelievers.
This is a terrifying passage. Verse 13, "And the sea gave up the dead, which were in it and death
in Hades gave up the dead, which were in them, and they were judged every one of them
according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown in the Lake of Fire." This is the
second death, the Lake of Fire, and if anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life,
he was thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the ultimate fulfillment for unbelievers of the
passage that we are reading in the Book of Romans.

Come back to Romans and we see the principle established. Now, not only will this be so of
unbelievers, there is a judgment for believers, also, and if you'll come to Romans 14:10-12, we
will read of the judgment for our deeds when we stand before the Lord at the judgment seat of
Christ and in Romans 14:10, "But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do
you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God."
The you refers to believers and we, too, will stand before the Lord, and we, too, will have our
live and our ministry examined and scrutinized by the Lord, and there will be a judgment for
our works as Christians and as believers and rather than there being degrees of punishment for
the unbeliever, there will be degrees of reward for the believer. For those of us around this table,
there will be different degrees of rewards given at the judgment seat of God according to how
strategically and purely we have invested our lives in the things of God and in the purposes of
God.

Now, we will never stand in the judgment for our sins. There's now, therefore, no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus, but we will stand in judgment and there will be a scrutiny of
how we invested our time, our treasure, and our talent for the things of God. Come back now
to Romans 2, that is the point that Paul is establishing. This is the principle. I want everyone to
understand that this principle is applicable not only to the unbeliever, but also, to us as
believers, and if you want another cross reference, 2 Corinthians 5:10, says, "Therefore, we
shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each many may receive a recompense for
the deeds done in his body whether good or worthless." All right, now, verse 6 is the principle.

II.             THE APPLICATION

Verses 7-10 is the application and as we look at versus 7-10, and these are just an initial reading
of these versus, they're a little hard to understand. What is Paul saying here? Here's what he is
saying. The believer will have this principle applied to them and that's verses 7 and 10. The
unbeliever will have the principle applied to them and that's verses 8 and 9. And this is what we
call an a, b, b, a argument, a, b, b, a. This will go believer in verse 7, unbeliever verse 8,
unbeliever verse 9, come back to believer in verse 10. It's called a chiastic argument.
  

1. THE BELIEVERS DEEDS

Now, he starts in verse 7 and he says, "To those who," this is referring to believers, "by
perseverance in doing good, only a believer perseveres in doing good," and this presupposes the
new birth. This presupposes a new heart with a new direction and with new affections.

The word perseverance here, this is the mark of the true believer. You've heard of the
perseverance of the saints? We know the five doctrines of grace. This is the fifth and final
doctrine of grace. The perseverance of the saints. This is one passage that teaches the
perseverance of the saints. It means to endure with constancy and steadfastness throughout the
entirety of one's Christian life. Now, we just have to go to two cross references. Come
to Hebrews 3:14, I mean, after all, this is a Bible study, right? Hebrews 3:14, just for us to see
that perseverance and doing good identifies the elect and identifies those who are true
believers. Hebrews 3:14, the writer of Hebrews says, "For we have become partakers of Christ."
Another way to say this, we have become believers in Jesus Christ. We have received Christ
and are partakers of Christ. If we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.

You have heard me say before “the faith that fizzles before the finish had a flaw from the first”.
Let me repeat that. The faith that fizzles before the finish had a flaw from the first, indicating
that was not a true believer. That a flawed, counterfeit faith, if you do not persevere faithful all
the way to the end, because God is the author of saving faith and when God grants saving faith,
it is a faith that causes one to persevere in obedience throughout the entirety of one's life. That's
just Bible doctrine. Now, Colossians 1:22-23 is the other passage and we just need to touch on
this very quickly, but what we see is the consistency with which scripture teaches this, and trust
me, there's 20-30 other verses we could hit. This is just a little mountain peak. Colossians 1,
look at the beginning of verse 21, "You were formally alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in
evil deeds, yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death in order to present
you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach."

Verse 23, "If indeed you continue in the faith, firmly established, and steadfast and not moved
away from the hope of the Gospel, which you have heard." It couldn't be any more clear. The
one who is a true believer begins in the faith, perseveres in the faith, continues in the faith, and
there is a finality at the end of their life in doing good and in pursuing godliness. There may be
seasons of pockets of carnality, times of being tripped up, doesn't mean perfection. This is the
direction that a true believer is headed. Period. Paragraph. Continue to look at this with me,
now. Come back, now, to Romans 2, and I'm going to try to keep us in Romans 2 now. Verse 7,
"To those who by perseverance in doing good." This word doing, I just had to look it up and this
is a Greek word that means labor, toil, and work. It's a very strong word. There's no passivity in
this word doing.

It speaks of labor to the point of exhaustion, labor, toil, work, and the word good, means that
which is upright and honorable before the Lord and morally excellent. True believers persevere
throughout the entirety of their Christian life in doing good and here we see that this habitual
conduct reveals the condition of one's heart. You'll know them by their fruit. Now, continue to
look at this, because this is so good. "Seek for glory and honor and immortality and eternal life."
Now, this word or this verb, seek for, is in the present tense, meaning they are habitually,
continuously keeping on seeking for glory, honor, immortality, and eternal life. Now, this needs
some explanation, because I know what you're thinking is what I was thinking. It's like, we're
not supposed to seek our own glory, right? It's not about us, it's about God.

This glory here is actually a glory that we do seek. It points to our final stage state of
glorification that Paul will have much to say about in the rest of the Book of Romans and in
reality this seeking for glory is seeking for the glory that God will give to us in Heaven as we
will share in his character and we will become like his son, the Lord Jesus Christ and just to
take you quickly to a couple passages, Romans 5:2 says, "The out working of justification by
faith is that we exult in hope of the glory of God." That refers to not giving praise to God. That
refers to our being glorified in Heaven and becoming fully conformed to the image of his son,
Jesus Christ. We are seeking this. We are seeking this right now, to become more like Christ,
and to become more Godly right now in the way that we conduct ourselves and the way that we
conduct ourselves and the way that we live our Christian lives, because we are followers of
Christ and we are seeking that future day when we will be fully conformed into Christ's
likeness. Now, the next word is honor.

 
Do you see that? We are seeking glory and honor. This is not an honor for ourselves. It is an
honor that God will give to us on the last day when he says, well done, good and faithful
servant, and you're gonna wanna hear that from the Lord on the last day. This honor is honor
that comes from God to us on the last day as he recognizes our faithfulness in doing good
works. This is the Lord's approbation on the last day and then he says, "immorality" and that is
referring to the resurrection. That we will be raised in a resurrection body in which we live
forever and ever and ever with God and then he says, "eternal life" and this is really the full and
final realization of our salvation. Eternal life really begins the moment we're born again. The
life of God is put within us, but this is pointing to the final outcome of this life with God when
we will be glorified, when we will receive honor from him when we will receive immortality
from him in a resurrection body, and we will receive the final phase of eternal life, life in the
very presence of God in Heaven forever and ever.

Now, this is true not of unbelievers. This is true of believers and we as believers are those who
pursue good deeds, we practice good deeds and we will be judged for our good deeds. This is
quite a motivation for us to be serving the Lord and to be obeying the Lord and to be doing
God's work. R. C. Sproul writes an article and every Tabletalk magazine that is entitled "Right
Now Counts Forever" and I want to tell you how you live your Christian life right now counts
forever and we can't be lulled to sleep by grace and just think it doesn't matter how I live as a
Christian. No, it does matter and on the last day, we'll face the record and we'll give an account
to the Lord and some of us will have built with gold, silver, and precious stones and others of us
would have built with wood, hay, and stubble, but the last day will test the quality of each man's
work according to what he has done and some will receive greater reward than others, because
they were far more engaged in what God had for them to do.

Now, let's just keep pressing on this and one last comment before I press to the next verse. I just
want to stress this that real obedience will receive a real reward on the last day. Your obedience
is a very important matter to God. Now, as we come to verse 8, verse 8 begins with the
conjunction but and this tells us we're shifting from believers now to unbelievers. This
word but makes a stark contract with the preceding verse. In verse 8, he will now talk about the
application of verse 6 to unbelievers. Verse 7 was the application of verse 6 to believers. Verse
8 is the application of verse 6 to unbelievers.

 
1. THE UNBELIEVERS DEEDS

"But to those who are selfishly ambitious," this refers to unbelievers, and different translations
translates selfishly ambitious in different ways, but the idea is you just still are living for
yourself. You have never denied yourself. You have never died to self. You have never come to
the end of self. You're still doing what you want to do, how you want to do it, when you want to
do it, with whom you want to do it. You're not living for Christ, what he wants you to do.
You're living for self and he says, "But to those who are selfishly ambitious," and now he
identifies them with a negative and positive. There can be no misunderstand with whom he is
addressing. He says, "They do not obey the truth" and that's in the present tense. They keep on
not obeying the truth. It is a big picture of their life. It's a snapshot of their entire life. It's not a
movie of every incident of their life, it's one big picture, snapshot.

It can be characterized, they do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness. Please note
everyone lives a life of obedience. You're either living in obedience to the truth and God or
you're living in obedience to sin and unrighteousness. Everyone is a slave. You're either a slave
of God for righteousness or you're a slave of sin for unrighteousness. No one in the purest sense
is just doing their own thing. Every one of us has a master. Either Jesus Christ is your master
and you are serving Jesus Christ and following him or sin is your master and you are living in
open sin and you do not obey the truth and you are obeying unrighteousness and there's not a
middle category. Now, this is a very strong text and we saw the same a couple of months ago
when we looked at Romans 6:16 and it really begs to be read right now.

Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves to obedience, you are
slaves of the one whom you obey either of sin, resulting in death or of obedience resulting in
righteousness, but thanks be to God, that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient
from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed? Everyone is obedient to
their master and you either have Jesus as your master and you now follow him in obedience to
the truth or you have sin as your master and you are living in obedience to unrighteousness.
That very clearly is what verse 8 is teaching. Now, he goes on to talk about the recompense or
the reward that unbelievers will receive for not obeying the truth and for being selfishly
ambitious and for obeying unrighteousness and here is the unfolding payback from God when
God judges them for this kind of a lifestyle, wrath, indignation, tribulation, distress. \
  

1. THE UNBELIEVERS REWARD

That's the payback. That's the wages that they have earned and that is the paycheck they will
receive. The word wrath is a Greek word, I'm going to pronounce it, because you can hear an
English word in. You can hear the word orgy. Heated passion, in an orgy it's heated wrath. It is
heated divine passion. Holy passion and it speaks of the violent anger of God against the
ungodly and the word indignation, means much the same. The idea is boiling up. Something is
so heated and so hot that it's boiling up and bubbling up and that is the angry, heated passion of
God against the wicked, because God is a holy God, and all that is antithetical to his holy
character. He strongly reacts against it and he pours out vengeance against all that does not
conform to his character and in those who are outside of Christ and then he throws in there will
be tribulation and distress for every soul, and every soul here refers to an unbeliever who does
evil.

This is the antithesis of what we saw in verse 7 of the one who seeks to do good deeds. This,
now, is the mark of the unbeliever who habitually does evil and the word does here is a very
strong word and it means to perform, to work, it's in the present tense. This one continually does
evil and the word evil doesn't need much comment, but it is that which is wicked, that is which
is bad, corrupt, and depraved. What we have here is the principle in verse 6 being applied to two
different groups. First to believers who seek to do good deeds, then to unbelievers who are
continually performing evil deeds and both will receive a recompense. Believers will receive
reward. Unbelievers will receive punishment. According to the measure and the number of
works that they perform. For the believer, good works. For the unbeliever, evil works. Now,
continue to look at the end of verse 9.

It's kind of an interesting thing he concludes with, "Of the Jew first and also of the Greek."
Now, that's interesting, because we read in chapter 1:16, that the gospel will go first to the Jew,
then to the gentile. What this is saying judgment will come first to the Jew, then to the gentile.
We ask why? Because they have had greater light. They have rejected greater light. Therefore,
there is greater accountability and greater responsibility. There will be greater judgment
depending upon the measure of light of the truth that you have had. That is why he adds that.
Now, in verse 10, he comes back to the believer. We know that because verse 10 begins with
the word but. Again, a strong contrast, stark contrast, but, and now this is what comes to the
believer who seeks to perform good deeds, glory, which is praise from God, affirmation from
God on the last day, and being conformed more fully in our final state to the character of God.
Paul says in Romans 8:30, "Those whom he called, he justified and those whom he justified, he
glorified."

This is that glory, but glory and honor, this is a repetition of verse 7, he's already said that. This
is a literally device meaning inclusion, where you finish the argument the way you begin the
argument. In other words, you start by saying something, then you say other things, and then to
end, you come back with what you started with. It's a very effective teaching method and that is
what Paul is doing here. He is coming back to the beginning of his argument. Glory, honor, and
now he says peace and peace speaks of two things, one it speaks to the wellness of our soul and
it speaks to the tranquility of our soul and in Heaven, there will be no sorrow, no pain, no
illness. It will be a state of pure and perfect peace. Now, what is the mark of the one who
receives from God glory, honor, and peace? He says to everyone who does good. He repeats this
emphasis on deeds.

Please see the focus on deeds that is running throughout this entire chapter and this is something
that is really not addressed today in many, even reformed, circles. There is such an emphasis on
grace and rightly so, but at times, there is a neglect on the importance of the deeds that we
perform, and people go, "Performance. See, you're just on a Pharisees treadmill.” You need to
read this passage to see how important deeds are for the believer in order to receive a measure
of glory and honor and peace on the last day from God and so, verse 11, we're seeing the
principle, we're seeing the application, third is the explanation, verse 11.

III.           THE EXPLANTION

Here's the explanation for verse 6, for there is no partiality with God. This means God will
judge both the believer and the unbeliever, both the Jew and the Greek. There's no partiality
with God. God will judge everyone on the last day.

 
That's why I think of this verse often for me, James 3:1, "Let not many of you become teachers,
my brethren, knowing as such we shall incur a stricter," what's that last word? Judgment. There
is a stricter judgment if you teach Sunday school. It will be stricter for some than for others, but
there is a judgment that is coming even for us as Christians. This is a strong passage that as I've
looked at it the last couple of days, has really kinda grabbed me by the collar and grabbed me by
the lapels and it's just kinda drawn me up straight in my chair as I need to be reminded of this
that obedience is very important to God. Obedience is very important in my life and it's very
important in your life and the deeds that I do. I mean, we can't just sit back on a sofa and be a
spiritual couch potato and we have to be in the game and we've got to be doing what the Lord
has put in front of us to do.

I'm going to wrap up now.

Participant:                 As you look at your life, it is with awe and fear and trembling,
specifically, when you consider what you've already done and the time you've wasted. There's a
gravity, there's a weight to it. There's also a pleading with the Lord that he would, in the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit, empower me to stay on the right path, to encourage me — to
energize me to walk in these good works that he's prepared beforehand. To truly — in this
passage, there's a battle that goes on in each one of our minds daily as a believer, am I going to
satisfy myself or am I going to seek to live obedient to him? That's the battle and that's the —
it's the awesomeness of the calling. I think that sometimes we view salvation and we think, we
were lax and we think we're good, but we don't realize and think what — time is limited and
we've gotta redeem the time. I mean, that's what this is for the believer.

I really like your cross reference to Ephesians 2:10. "God has prepared good works for us to
walk in." There is an accountability on our part to perform these good works that he has
prepared for us to walk in. That's good, Mark. Thank you. Someone else? Grant.

Participant:                 I wanna get your take on what you were saying in the beginning about
greater judgment from believers, but also this idea of greater reward for believers, and I've heard
multiple opinions about this, but what's kind of the take on if there's going to be, tiered system
of believers, how is it going to be in Heaven? I guess, as a human being, we would think, I'm
gonna have envy of somebody else or I'm gonna have regret about something I didn't do. What
do you think about when we're all perfect at the end how that's gonna look?

We're gonna receive an approbation and we'll also receive crowns. Now, we're — this crown is
gonna be cast back at the Lord's feet. We're not gonna be strutting around Heaven like it's a
letter jacket. In Heaven — no, we'll have this crown. We'll cast it back at his feet, but you're
gonna want some crowns to cast back at his feet, and he says, "Behold, I come quickly and my
reward is with me to give to each man according to," I think it's his deeds. I need to even check
myself on that, Revelation 22:7, but — ask me the follow up question, 'cause I wanna be — I
missed it by a verse here. Why am I having trouble finding in my own Bible? Anyway, he's
coming back and his reward is with him. How about that?

Participant:                 Yeah, verse 12?

Is it verse 12?

Participant:                 "Behold", this is Jesus talking, "Behold, I'm coming soon, bringing my
recompense with me, to repay each one"?

Yes thank you, Eric. "Behold, I'm coming quickly, and my reward is with me to render to every
man according to what he has done." I mean, that means something. I mean, how this is gonna
look and flesh out, there's not gonna be any envy in Heaven. In fact, I will be excited for you to
receive great reward. I mean, almost like a stadium cheering the team on the field when it wins.
There's no envy in the stands. There is excitement. That is the excitement we will have for one
another as we are recognized by the Lord for our good deeds. Ask me something else on that
Grant. I've told you more than I know on that. Yeah, someone else?

Participant:                 I think grace is such a huge emphasis, and it should be as you mentioned,
and I think of a story where a young lady told me and I think it applies to this. I know in my life
where she was in a counseling session with Christian women somehow and this woman said,
"I'm a Christian. I can go ahead and get an abortion, because God will forgive me." The
tendency, I think, in our sinful nature is to think, okay, I've got this hall pass to live and do
whatever I want, because I've got this forgiveness, and I mean, that's — it's in my own life.
There's just not enough, because we want balance. We don't want to get too far this way or that
way, but it's so important we talk about teaching the whole council of God, not just this, but all
of it. This is something that we don't talk about much.

Yeah, no, we don't.

Participant:                 Why not?

I think we're drawn probably most easily to passages that talk about grace and forgiveness and,
again, rightly so, but that we pass over verses like this to get to those verses, and it isn't being a
pastoral emphasis to encourage people, and again, rightly so, but we also need a fire lit under us
as well to motivate us, and I know grace is a motivation, but so also is judgment a motivation as
well, and it's not either/or, it's both/and, and so it would be incomplete if we only spoke of grace
and it would be incomplete if we only spoke of judgment. It's both grace and judgment should
be great motivators in our Christian life. The sense of accountability before God, but also the
sense of his forgiveness and empowerment in our lives. Allen, what do you think?

Participant:                 I think about what Kevin was saying, there are people that think like that,
that you have a _____ to do whatever you want, and that's evidence of your lack of knowledge
of scripture. Your preacher or someone failed you. You failed on your own, and I guess a
wakeup call for all of us that we have people that we're teaching, you need to let them know
what this means, exactly, what's the application? And as you were saying, the good news,
there's also bad news. Bad news or what made the good news really good news and then for us
is knowing what the scripture says. It is really important and, as you were saying, there's gonna
be a stricter judgment and if you're in front of a group of people, you have the responsibility of
knowing this exactly. What does this mean for me and for you?

Yeah. No, absolutely. Thank you, Allen, for that — reinforcing that. _____, how does this strike
you?
 

Participant:                 I feel a great tension in the verses, because when I look at the — I desire
to persevere and do good, but I often see myself giving — having evil thoughts and just the
internal struggle that I have. I just — just thinking about Paul in a few chapters about —

Yeah, Romans 7.

Participant:                 The desire to do good and just so thankful that this perseverance in doing
good is all contingent upon Christ's imputed righteousness and that — my entrance into Heaven
is not contingent upon my good works, my rewards might be, and I'm just — I feel a great
tension in the midst of the verses, just personally as I set an example in my heart and thoughts.

Uh-huh. Sure. We persevere in reality, because the Lord is persevering with us.

Participant:                 Philippians 1:6.

And in us. Being confident of this very thing that he who began a good work and you shall
perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus and then in next chapter Philippians 2:12-13, "Work out
your salvation in fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work within you, both to will and to
work for his good pleasure." It's this tension, human responsibility and divine sovereignty and
that tension.

Participant:                 And you said the encouragement and judgment and there's
encouragement and grace and we're not — 2 Corinthians 5:15, is one of my favorite verses on
this motivation, "And he died for all so that they who live might no longer live for themselves,
but for him who died and rose again on their behalf." _____ _____. I strive to do good works,
because I know that I'm right with God, and I want to honor him in what he has already
accomplished on my behalf.

Participant:                 I think you make a note of that, 'cause that's just a heart thing, right?
 

Yes.

Participant:                 Because you can still play the outside and be wrong on the inside and
that's the battle —

That's the pharoses. That's the pharoses.

                                    [Crosstalk]

Participant:                 I want you to do it for the outside to prove myself, instead of a proper
response for what Christ has done for our —

                                    [Crosstalk]

Participant:                 Still that tendency a Christian or my life to check the boxes, but I'm not
where I need to be.

Yeah.

Participant:                 You quoted precious stone, woods, straw from 1 Corinthians 3 about fire
revealing it at the end, which is — which is right on what you're talking about.

Yeah, it is. I mean, it's the same foundation, which is Christ, and we build up with different
materials, and some build with gold, silver, and precious stones, others with hay and stubble,
and says, the fire will test the quality of each man's worth. Now, Rick, you're kind of a builder,
aren't you?

 
Participant:                 Uh-huh. See, I feel like I may have a little gold and a lot of hay.

Participant:                 I gotta fix something.

Yeah. Let me tell you, you'd rather have a handful of gold than a truck full of hay. That's why
he says he will test the quality, not the quantity. We in America and in American churches,
we're into quantity. Bigger is better. God is into quality and he will test the quality of each man's
work and — think about this. Gold, silver, and precious stones go through the fire. In fact, it
actually purifies the gold, the silver, and the precious stones. They last and he says, they shall
receive reward. The wood, the hay, and the stubble, when the fire is put to it, and it pictures the
Lord testing us on the last day by fire. It will be consumed, because they are combustible and it
says, "They will be saved, yet so as through fire." And the idea is — I mean, there's no reward. I
mean, you poorly invested your Christian life. You're saved, yet so as through fire. That's a
challenging passage I would think for all of us that we'll stand before the Lord one day and each
man will be rendered according to his deeds. We gotta be in the game and we gotta widen our
stride and pick up our pace.

Participant:                 No neutral. You can't —

I mean, there's just no room for neutrality. In fact, if you're neutral, you're going backwards, and
it's like you said, there's only so much time, as Mark said, and Jonathan Edwards has an
incredible sermon, called The Preciousness of Time, that really launched the great awakening,
and he just talks about when you waste time, you now have less time to do more work, and you
just don't wanna get in this catchup mode. Who else?

Participant:                 One of my favorite verses as one who's reformed is 2 Peter 

Yeah, yeah.
 

Participant:                 I mean, we're elected, we're chosen, and we wanna confirm that. I think
that goes along with really the gift of assurance. If we look and we're living like one who is the
elect, it'll confirm and _____ to us that we're — that we are new creation, that we don't look like
we once did, and we're not still walking with the power of the flesh, but I love that verse. It goes
along with, I think, _____ to say, if you're not sure if you're part of the elect — if you don't
know if you're part of the elect, make sure that you are. It's a great _____.

Yeah. No, he got a way — yeah, I'm just looking here at that passage you just quoted and the
previous verses talk about those things by which we make certain our calling and election. One
of which is perseverance. In fact, it's mentioned twice in the previous verses. Yeah. You can
know that you're one of the elect by your pursuing that which is pleasing to the Lord, because
the non-elect are not doing that. I see that it's 8:00. Anyone else have a parting word of wisdom
for us? I wanna thank you for all that you've contributed and I want to thank those who've
watched with us on this study.

Let me pray. Father, thank you for this study this morning and for these verses. I pray your spirit
would be the primary teacher in what we've taught and what we've discussed. I pray great
clarity, even greater clarity, would be brought into focus in our thinking and in our lives. Father,
thank you that you have changed our affections and you have changed our direction by the new
birth and that you've put us on the new path. Father, we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
 13. Those Who Have Never Heard- Romans 2:12-16

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

Father, thank you for this time for us to be able to come together. I appreciate it all the more
after not meeting the last two weeks. I pray for your guidance and direction; not only for myself,
but for all these men, as we look together in to your Word. And I pray that you will enrich us,
edify us greatly, bless those who are watching live stream. I pray this in Christ's name, amen.

Let’s dive in to this, Romans 2:12-16, and let me tell you what the title of this message is. The
title is Those Who Have Never Heard. The question is always raised, "Now what about those
people who have never heard? How do they stand before God?"

"Will God grade them on the curve; will God judge them in comparison to a moderated standard
of morality? Will God measure them by others in their culture? Is there another way, if they're
just religious and if they're just sincere, can that gain them acceptance with God?"

There have been many times that I have witnessed people, and they inevitably want to chase this
rabbit. This is good for us; this will help equip us as we talk to people about, "Well what about
those who have never heard?" This is the signature text, and we have a lot to pull out of this. I
want to leave time for us to discuss this.

I don't know that we can even get it all in. I don't want to rush this, because I think that this is a
very vital subject. Let me just read the passage, starting in Verse 12, and I'm going to start
reading in Verse 11 really just to get a running start at this.

"For there is no partiality with God." And you'll notice verse 12 now starts with the word, 'for;'
meaning this explains Verse 11. This explains that there is no partiality with God in judgment.

"For all have sinned without the law," verse 12, "will perish without the law, and all who have
sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are just
before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the
law, do instinctively the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law unto themselves,
in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness,
and their thoughts alternatively accusing or else defending them."

"On the day when according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ
Jesus." This is a very strong passage on those who have never heard. What I want to do is lay
this out in a little bit different way.

I want to give you several points; I want to give you several headings to walk through this
concerning those who have never heard. What I need to do is reach back for just a moment to
Chapter 1. Then after we walk through this I'm gonna reach forward to a couple other portions
of the book of Romans.

As we start this, I'm not going to tell you how many headings I have or you won't write them
down. Let me just start – go back to Chapter 1, verse 18. Let's just get a running start.

I.               ALL PEOPLE ARE UNDER DIVINE WRATH

Here's the first heading, is that all people are under divine wrath; that's Chapter 1, verse 18. And
when we say all people we're talking about all people who are unconverted by the Gospel; all
people who are outside of Christ. Verse 18: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all'" – not some, not most – "all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress
the truth in unrighteousness."

This is true of those who have heard the Gospel and reject it. This is true of those who have
never heard the gospel and live their lives without gospel knowledge. Either way they are
already under wrath, and you'll note in verse 18 it's the present tense verb, "For the wrath of
God is revealed."

 
Right now, this very moment, wherever a person is on the earth, they are under divine wrath if
they are outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's crystal clear; there's not another category;
there's another line for some people that they're in. Second is in 1:19-20.

II.             ALL HAVE THE GENERAL REVELATION OF GOD

All have general revelation of God and are without excuse. All have general revelation of God
and are without excuse. Verse 19-20 to makes this very clear: "because that which is known
about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them."

God has revealed himself to every person on planet earth with general revelation, which gives
the knowledge that God exists. And it tells us in general ways something about what God is
like. Verse 20: "For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes" – and now he spells
out these attributes – "his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen; being
understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse."

Every person on planet earth, whether they've heard the Gospel or not heard the Gospel, are
directly accountable to God and are without excuse. Because they know that there is a God. Any
thinking human being can look at creation and know there has to be a creator.

Out of nothing nothing comes. If there's anything that presupposes and necessitates that there
was an original first cause, and the only original first cause must be an uncreated entity. And
that uncreated entity, which is the first cause, is none other than God Himself. The creator's
thumbprints are all over what He has made.

You look around and you clearly see that God is awesome. God is powerful; God is orderly;
God is perfect; et cetera; et cetera. We've already talked about this, but we need to lay that back
down as we walk in to Chapter 2, Verse 12.

 
Number one: all men everywhere are under divine wrath because of their sin. And we said
number two: all men everywhere have general revelation of God and are without excuse. No
one will be able to say on the last day, "Well God I didn't know."

No, God has revealed Himself and His existence to every man. Now come to chapter 2 and
Verse 12 and we'll walk in to now this new section. Number three, here's the third thing as we
build this case for those who have never heard: all have sinned without the law. All who are
without the law have sinned.

III.           ALL HAVE SINNED WITHOUT THE LAW

In verse 12 it's crystal clear: "For all who have sinned without the law will perish." Here's the
point, those without the law and those who have never heard are not innocent, and they are not
righteous. They are sinners who have rebelled against God, and who are in defiance against
God.

They have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and this word 'sin' comes from a Greek
word that means: to miss the mark. It's the idea of an archer aiming his bow and his arrow at a
target, and they have dramatically missed the mark. They haven't even come close to hitting the
mark of God's perfect holiness.

That's number three, and this is a very important point. We must understand that, again, they're
not in a state of innocence and they are not righteous; they are unrighteous. Now number four:
all who are without the law will perish.

IV.          ALL WHO ARE WITHOUT THE LAW WILL PERISH

Look at Verse 12 again: "For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the
law." And that word 'also' is very important, because what it indicates is whether you have the
law or whether you do not have the law, without the Gospel you're gonna perish. The word
'perish' here refers to eternal destruction; eternal punishment; eternal damnation.

This is a very strong statement. It does not say that they will be saved; it says they will perish
without the law. According to 1 Corinthians 1:18, they're already perishing right now; they are
self-destructing by their own life lived without God. They're like a cheap sweater that's
unraveling as they live their life.

All right number five: they instinctively know what is in the moral law of God; that's in Verse
14.

V.            THEY INSTINCTIVELY KNOW WHAT IS THE MORAL LAW OF GOD

Now let me just say this, I skipped over verse 13 – and I do want to make a comment on Verse
13, though it's not a part of our main focus today. Verse 13 is an explanation of the end of verse
12.

At the end of verse 12 he says, "All who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law."
This refers to Jews, who, at this time, have received the moral law of God from God, and it has
been passed down from generation to generation; and it's read in the synagogue; it is
memorized. They are under the law, meaning they have the law and are directly accountable to
the law.

They have sinned and they will be judged by the standard that is in the law. Now verse 13
begins with the word 'for' and verse 13 is now an explanation of the end of verse 12 about those
who are under the law. He says: "For it is not the hearers of the law who are just before God but
the doers of the law will be justified."

 
Now this is a very important verse, and I want to make sure we get this. Let me begin by saying
what it does not say, and then tell us what it does say. Or what it does not mean and what it does
mean.

What it does not mean, verse 13, is that there are people who can keep the law, obey the law, do
the law and they will be justified by God. The whole rest of the book of Romans makes that
crystal clear that that would be a wrong interpretation of what Paul is saying here. And as you
remember, in verse 7, and 8 and 9, he's already been talking about those who do and who are
doers, who do good, etc, etc.

Even in the context, verse 13 is talking about those who keep the law but they are not justified
by keeping the law. So what is verse 13 saying? It is saying that if you are more than a hearer of
the law, but you are a repenter and a believer in Jesus Christ, who is presented in the gospel,
you will immediately begin to live in obedience to the law of God.

That is crystal clear from verse 13. He is saying just because you have the law doesn't mean that
you're right with God. You've have to be a doer of the law to prove that you are right with God.
And this really goes back to Chapter 1 and Verse 5, and it would be worth our just turning back
for one second.

Paul has already established this truth at the very outset of the book of Romans. And in Romans
1:5 he talks about the obedience of faith. What that means is the obedience that comes from
faith; the obedience that is produced by faith.

All true faith is an obedient faith; there's no such thing as faith that is disobedient. All true
saving faith produces obedience. James 2 is abundantly clear; a blind mean could see it; a deaf
person could hear it; it is crystal clear. Obedience is a very important truth.

Faith is the root; obedience is the fruit. It's just a cause and effect; it's a direct cause and effect.
And if you don't get that you miss a lot of proper understanding of Scripture.

 
Even Jesus, in Matthew 7:21 says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father." So verse 13 is addressing
those who have repented of their sins and have true genuine saving faith in Jesus Christ as
presented in the Gospel. They are known as doers of the law, and they alone are justified by
God.

Those who do not do the law are unconverted; they are religious but lost. We would say today
they're just lost church members; unconverted religious people who have a form of Godliness
but deny the power thereof. That's what verse 13 is saying, and it is a follow-up explanation of
the end of verse 12.

Those who have sinned under the law and who are judged; not saved; judged by the law. That's
a parentheses; so if you've got a ballpoint pen you can just put a parentheses around the second
half of verse 12 and all of verse 13. When we come to verse 14 we come back to his original
argument, which is the first part of verse 12.

We go back now to talking about those who are without the law. Those who have not received
special revelation. Those who have never heard the Gospel.

This now brings us to verse 14 and the sixth proposition that I wanna set before you is: that
those without the law instinctively know to do what is in the law.

VI.          THOSE WITHOUT THE LAW INSTINCTIVELY KNOW TO DO WHAT IS IN

THE LAW

Now that's an important point, and we'll address it here in just a second. The reason is God has
written it upon their heart.

 
Now just pause and meditate on that. The invisible finger of God has written upon the tablet of
every human heart is law. It is a limited knowledge of the law. It is not enough to be saved; it is
enough to condemn.

Now this is what we call, big boy football here. Verse 14: "For when the Gentiles, who do not
have the law, do instinctively the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to
themselves." God has written it upon the tablet of their heart, and therefore they are held
accountable to God for the choices that they make.

As we'll see in a second, not just for the choices, the deeds, but for their very thoughts; for their
conscience; for the very secrets within them they are held accountable before God. Verse 14
shows that they are accountable to God for the law that is within them. They're not off the hook;
they're not in no man's land; they are not without accountability to God.

Now let me just give you a footnote here, those who have the law have a stricter accountability
to God, because they have greater light. And those without the law that have only the law
written upon their heart is a lesser accountability, but nevertheless it is an accountability. It
would be better to have never heard the truth than to hear the truth and reject it; that is the point.

Now let's continue to verse 15; as we come to verse 15, number 6: God has written the same law
upon their hearts. Verse 15, in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts. Now
how is it written in their hearts?

Well there's only one who can write it in their hearts, and it is their Creator; it is their Maker as
they are made – as a part of being made in the image of God that you have the law written in the
heart. What this means is they instinctively and intuitively know the difference between right
and wrong. Now this is not referring to the ceremonial law, and the civil law, and all of that; it's
referring to the moral law of God contained in the Ten Commandments.

 
They instinctively know they should honor their parents. They instinctively know they should
not steal. They instinctively know they should tell the truth. They instinctively know that they
should love other people and show compassion to other people.

They instinctively know that, and God has written it upon their hearts. Now let's continue to
walk through this. Number 7 is in Verse 15, they have a conscious that bears witness to them of
right and wrong.

VII.        THEY HAVE A CONSCIOUS THAT BEARS WITNESS TO THEM OF RIGHT

AND WRONG

Every human being on planet earth has a conscience. And a conscience is that which
instinctively tells you when you have crossed the line and violated the law; or it tells you when
you have kept the law. Your conscience is like a smoke alarm that goes off in the middle of the
night that wakes you up and alerts you when something's wrong. Your conscience is like feeling
pain in your body when you have broken your ankle.

You need to know that; you don't need to keep walking around on your ankle. You need to
know that you have broken something and pain is your friend because it tells you that
something is broken. That is what the conscience does, and your conscience may be clean; your
conscience may be guilty; your conscience may be weak; your conscience may be strong.

It just depends upon how many stop signs have you been running as the law of God is telling
you, "Stop this, stop this, stop this." And there comes a point where that conscience becomes
seared as with a hot iron, and it no longer feels what it once felt. Now there are no brakes in the
car; and there is now no moral restraint; and you just blow down the highway of sin.

That is a seared conscience, but as you humble yourself and keep the law that strengthens the
conscience. You become more sensitive to even little things. And I have people who will call
me after I've had a conversation with them and say; “oh would you please forgive me? I
shouldn't have said whatever or whatever”; and I'm not even aware anything wrong took place.
 

I have to assure them, "Hey there was no problem; I didn't even take it that way." It's because
their conscience is so sensitive because they've been walking in the truth and walking with the
Lord. Other people, it would take a sledgehammer across the forehead for them to even ponder
the thought that this might be blasphemous. Because they have worn the brakes off their car;
because they have just been plowing through their conscience until they have no conscience
now.

Now they just come out of the closet; now they don't hide it anymore; now they just tell
everybody, "Yeah I've been doing whatever, or whatever, or whatever." Where earlier they had
enough moral restraint to hide it. Now there's no longer that; they just flaunt it now.

We're in verse 15: "And if they show the work of the law" – and the work of the law is really
what the law requires – "written in their hearts, their conscience" – please note this – "bearing
witness." Their conscience is giving a clear and strong signal; it is giving a strong testimony
regarding what is right and what is wrong. Now number eight – and we're talking about those
who are without the law.

VIII.      THEIR THOUGHTS ARE ACCUSING THEM OF THEIR SIN

Their thoughts, in verse 15, their thoughts are accusing them of their sin. Look at verse 15, their
thoughts at the end of verse 15 alternately accusing or else defending them. And it's not
either/or; it's both/and; that how much sin does it require for someone to be under the divine
wrath of God?

One; just one; let alone a mountain of sin. Their thoughts and the thoughts here are connected to
their conscience. Their conscience is bearing witness of their thoughts; accusing them.

The idea there is bringing conviction and pressing down – and you feel a sense of guilt. Guilt is
a good thing; it's not a bad thing; it's a good thing. Guilt is telling you, "Hey you need to get
right; something is wrong." Now there is a false guilt but there's also a true guilt.
 

Guilt is a haunting thing, and you know that you have violated your conscience. Your
conscience is connected to the law of God written upon your heart. This person without the law,
this person who has never heard special revelation, their conscience is accusing them before
God.

It says, "Or else defending them." Yes every so often they help old ladies across the street.
Every so often they fold the laundry for their mother. I mean, every so often they do some right
things.

But they're also doing that which their heart – the law written in their heart forbids. Let's keep
going here. Verse 16 – we come to verse 16, number 9: "All without the law will stand at the
last day before God."

IX.          ALL WITHOUT THE LAW WILL STAND AT THE LAST DAY BEFORE GOD

In verse 16 it says on the day, when according to my Gospel, God will judge the secrets of men
through Christ Jesus.

There will not be a reprieve; there will not be a settling out of court. There will be their day in
court on that day. He calls it 'on the day,' and we know what that day is, because in verse 5 – if
you'll look up ahead – he talked about the day.

The day is so dramatic and graphic that he only needs to refer to it as 'the day.' In verse 5:
"Because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in
the day of wrath, in revelation of the righteous judgment of God." Those who have never heard,
those without the law will be there on that last day.

Number 10: they will be judged on that last day.

 

X.            THEY WILL BE JUDGED ON THAT LAST DAY

It's not just that they will appear, but they will be weighed in the balances by God against the
standard of the law written on their heart. They have the law written on their heart and they will
be measured against the law written upon their heart.

They will be judged. Please note: not saved but judged.

They will be judged by the Gospel. Note verse 16: "On the day when according to my Gospel
God will judge." There'll not be a different standard.

The Gospel includes the message of condemnation. The good news includes bad news. There is
no good news if there's not bad news.

The bad news of the gospel is found in the section that we're in; chapter 1 verse 18 all the way
to chapter 3 verse 20; chapter 1 verse 18 all the way to chapter 3 verse 20. This is the foundation
for the gospel. It's the bad news of condemnation upon which the good news of salvation will be
built. But they're inseparably bound together; they are connected together.

You have to be saved from something; you're not just saved unto something. But you're also
saved from something; and you're saved from the wrath of God and condemnation. Verse 16
says that on that last day they will be judged according to my Gospel; or the Gospel.

This is important, the judgment, again, it will not be by their own morality as compared to other
people. They will not be judged on the curve. They will not be judged to see have they done
more good than bad.

 
They will be judged by the gospel, and the gospel commands that all men everywhere repent
and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I've got a couple more here. Number 11: those
without the law will be judged by God.

XI.          THOSE WITHOUT THE LAW WILL BE JUDGED BY GOD

I've already basically said that and alluded to that, but in the middle of verse 16, it couldn't be
any more clear. It just says, "God will judge" – do you see that – "on the day, when according to
my Gospel God will judge." It doesn't say they'll be saved; it doesn't say they'll be pardoned; it
says they will be judged.

Those without the law will still be judged by God in accordance to the law written upon their
heart. But it goes deeper; number 12: those without the law will have all their secrets judged.
Verse 16: "God will judge the secrets of men."

XII.        THOSE WITHOUT THE LAW WILL HAVE ALL THEIR SECRETS JUDGED

It's not just their deeds, but it's their secret thoughts. As verse 15 talked about: "Their thoughts
alternately accusing or else defending them." What will be on trial goes deeper than just their
actions that violate the law of God written on their heart.

It goes deeper than just their actions; it's their attitudes; it is their motives; it is their hidden
thoughts; it is their selfish ambitions; it is revenge; it is anger; it is hatred. All of that will come
out in to the open before God on the last day. The evidence will be overwhelming for those who
are without the law.

Now let's just keep pressing here. At the end of verse 16: "Those without the law will be judged
through Christ Jesus." I love how verse 16 concludes: "Through Christ Jesus." And the idea is
that – or the truth is that God has given all judgment to His Son. And it is before the Son of God
that every person without Christ will stand.
 

In John 5:22 it says that God has appointed all judgment to His Son. In Revelation 20, the great
white throne judgment. Him who sat upon that throne, heaven and earth fled away, and there
was no place found for them. The books were open, and the book of life was opened, and their
deeds were judged according to what they have done.

It will be before Jesus Christ Himself that all without the law will stand. Now I've got just a
couple more as we continue through the book of Romans. Number 13, as we come to Verses 3
Verse 9 is really the summation of this entire section; all are under sin.

XIII.      ALL ARE UNDER SIN

In Verse 9 he says, "For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin."
And the Greeks here are those without the law. They are under sin, and therefore they are under
the curse of the law, which is death.

Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death; that is the curse of the law." Now let me give
you two more and then we're gonna open this up for discussion. And thanks for tracking with
me; this is a lot to take in.

All right number – what is it – number 14; come to Chapter 5 and Verse 12: all mankind has
Adam's original sin imputed them.

XIV.      ALL MANKIND HAS ADAM’S ORIGINAL SIN

Romans 5:12: "For just as through one man sin entered in to the world and death through sin,
and so death spread to all men because all sinned." When Adam sinned, his original sin was
charged to the account of every person who would ever be conceived in the womb of a woman.

 
This is why there are miscarriages. That is why there is death even in the womb, because the
moment of conception – or really 6,000 plus years ago – Adam's sin was charged to every
person who would ever be conceived in the mother's womb. If that sin was not imputed to that
child in the mother's womb at the moment of conception; that child would never die.

The mere fact that there is death in the womb bears testimony that Adam's sin has already been
imputed to that person in the womb; or there could never be death in the womb. The rest of
Romans 5, and I'm not gonna walk us through the whole thing, but it is so crystal clear that by
Adam's one act of disobedience, the many were made sinners. That includes not only those who
are under the law, but also those who are without the law.

They too enter in to this world already with Adam's sin charged against them, and already in a
state of death. Therefore the final point, in chapter 10 in verse 14, and then we'll wrap this up.
Chapter 10 beginning in verse 14: all who are without the law are in desperate need to have the
Gospel brought to them.

XV.        ALL WHO ARE WITHOUT THE LAW ARE IN DEPSERATE NEED TO HAVE
THE GOSPEL BROUGHT TO THEM

In Chapter 10 beginning in Verse 14: "How will they call on him in whom they have not
believed?" That's a rhetorical question; the answer is they cannot. They cannot call upon Him in
who they have not believed.

"And how will they believe in him whom they have not heard?" You can't believe in that which
you have not heard. "And how will they hear without a preacher?" And the answer is they can't
hear unless someone tells them.

Whether it is one who holds the office of pastor/preacher; or whether it's a parent; or a business
man bearing witness and preaching the Gospel one on one. Whatever it is, no one can be saved
without hearing the Gospel. Then Verse 15: "How will they preach unless they are sent?"

 
Just as it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things" –
verse 17 – "so faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." This is why we
must be so resolutely committed to the cause of world missions; and global evangelization; and
one on one witnessing. You don't have to go to the other side of the world to meet people who
have never heard the Truth.

You can just walk across the street and meet people who have never heard the truth, and many
of them are in churches where they never hear the truth. It's just show time; it's just
entertainment; or it's just dead ritual and routine; or whatever it is, anything in between. I mean,
you don't have to go to Africa, or China, or India to find people who have never heard the truth;
they live right here in Dallas, TX.

The pure simple saving gospel message. What this is talking about is the vast majority of people
on planet earth. This is not a little pocket of people; this is not a little cul-de-sac of people on a
peninsula sticking out from some continent on the other side – a little island someplace.

We're talking about billions of people who are exactly being addressed in these verses who are
without the law and who have never heard the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, they
have the law written upon their heart, and their heart is accusing them that they have sinned and
fallen short of this standard. They will stand at the judgment before God on the last day and all
of their secrets, their thoughts, their ambitions, their lust, their motives will all come out as well
as the entire record of their deeds.

It will be Jesus Christ before whom they will stand, and they will have no defense whatsoever to
give. Their only hope – they will have already past the point of any hope at that moment. The
only hope they would have is in this world now, and for us to take the gospel to them now.

But they're not just on the other side of the earth; they're in your zip code; they're in your office;
they're in your family; they're in your neighborhood. Who still think you have to work your way
to heaven; still think they have to say Hail Mary's to get to heaven; still think that they have to
go to church a certain number of times and do good to certain people in order to meet a standard
in which they will find acceptance with God. Still on the treadmill of self-righteousness, and
who have no concept of the saving grace of God.

This passage is really a – it's a sobering passage. Let me bring this to a close; let me open it up
for thoughts, feedback, questions, insight. You knew I was going to ask you this so who wants
to hop in? So how does this strike you?

Audience:                    I always thought that every – okay I'll be first – that everybody else
–

Audience:                    Everybody has to hear the good news, and when everybody does
that's when the end times will come. That's not the – that's kinda just the misconception.
Everybody does know the good news. Now –

They don't know the good news; they know the law.

Audience:                    That's right; well they have to add faith to the law to be saved, right?

They have to have the Gospel – faith in the Gospel to be saved.

Audience:                    Right.

The law is knowledge to condemn; but the law is knowledge that should point us to the need for
a Savior, who is Jesus Christ.

Audience:                    Right.

 
That's the deal on that, but the law is a tutor who takes one by the hand and leads them to Christ.
But it is only Christ who can save; the law can only condemn; the law cannot save.

Audience:                    Yeah I was sitting there thinking the guy that hung himself, Aaron –

Audience:                    Hernandez.

Audience:                    He knew it was wrong. He was so guilty he couldn't bear himself.

Audience:                    Hmm, that's what –

His conscience was killing him.

Audience:                    His conscience killed him.

The only way to turn the conscience off, and there he is in prison; he's like, "I can't live with
myself."

Audience:                    Mm-hmm, young guy conscience just –

Accusing him and accusing him; think of Judas; that's what Judas did.

Audience:                    That's right.

Audience:                    Judas did the same thing.

 
He went out and hung himself.

Audience:                    Yeah, I mean –

That only made it worse. Then you, in one second, are in the flames of hell and you live with it
through all eternity.

Audience:                    I mean a conscience – I mean, what you were saying about the
conscience is – that alone that God would put that in us. That's it; without the conscience we've
got no idea. You look out and see the beautiful trees, or the clouds, or the rain or, "I was rude to
that person;" or, "I cut the person off." I mean that's all – you know?

Yeah the conscience is an ally to help us as we witness the lost

Audience:                    It's huge. It's huge, our conscience, huge.

Audience:                    Yeah.

Audience:                    Huge.

It is, but there are people who have so violated their conscience that it's like seared as with a hot
iron. When something is seared you don't feel it anymore. You hit a point of, "Hey this isn't
wrong; I'll just keep doing this."

Audience:                    And you rationalize it. I mean –

Yeah.
 

Audience:                    Who do we see – Where you people have claimed Christ and they're
living together. And they just keep living together, but they're going to church, and they're
ignoring Christ. But their conscience they're just searing; they know it's wrong; they know it's
wrong.

Of course they do.

Audience:                    And you've seen them where they rationalize it, "Everybody's doing
it." Society says it's okay.

But in their heart God knows that – He placed it in there that it's wrong.

Audience:                    If you don't know Christ; you don't have that assurance.

Yeah we don't know what to do with the guilt and the accusation within your own breast; you
don't know what to do with it.

Audience:                    You keep trying to sear it; or you kill yourself; or you run to Christ,
yeah.

Sin will make you stupid. I mean, it'll just lead you to make more bad decisions. Yeah
somebody else? Thumbs up/thumbs down? I got a thumbs up there. All right Mark you've
always got some great insight for us.

Audience:                    You said at the very beginning, you alluded to it, that you'll get to
this passage; somebody will eventually take you down the trail. What about the person who's
never heard, how can God hold that person responsible? That's not fair; you know all the
arguments. And the person is basically – doesn't understand that when Adam fell – he was a
federal representative – that they fell. And at the same time they are accusing or impugning the
character of God. And what this passage does as you step back, the Lord has – you said when
He created man in His image, in Genesis 1:26, He put His fingerprint on us; and His conscience
in our conscience. And over – as you were going through this systematically, the Lord is fair;
the Lord is just; He is righteous; and He is good.

Audience:                    More than fair.

There is no partiality with God in this. It's a just –

Audience:                    Yeah because the argument from the unsaved, "Well I don't believe
in that God; that's not fair." We've all heard the arguments, but it's a lack of understanding used
in general revelation. It's Psalms 19: "The heavens are declaring the glory of God." The Lord
has put it on full display, and so the presupposition is all men should go to heaven. When the
reality is all men should go to hell. And then you get to Romans 10:17 and the sovereignty of
God, 'cause all of us were saved because He opened in our heart in the ministry of the Holy
Spirit. He created a new heart; we heard the Word; and He allowed us to respond in faith. So
instead of being unfair, He is so gracious and merciful.

He is; His grace has triumphed over His judgment as it'll say at the end of Romans 5, yeah.

Audience:                    And so that salvation now that we lost in Adam is now – through

Christ is bringing that relationship back through sanctification and salvation. And hopefully our
consciences are becoming more Christ-like; we're growing more; and we're coming full circle
back to the Truth that we lost in sin, right?

Yeah we gain more in Christ than we ever lost in Adam.

Audience:                    Yeah.

 
There are three imputations, just a footnote. The first imputation was Adam's sin to the entire
human race. And someone might say, "Well that's not fair."

Well first of all, if you were there you'd have made the same decision. Second of all, the other
two imputations are positive, and they're not fair either. Before you say, "That's not fair," you
need to hear about the other two imputations.

The other two imputations are: all the people who would ever believe upon Christ, their sins
have been imputed to Christ at the cross; that wasn't fair. Him who knew no sin God made to be
sin for us. Then the third imputation is: the perfect righteousness of Christ is imputed to all
those who believe in Christ. And that's sure not fair either, but it's by the mercy and grace of
God.

Those are the three imputations, and that really succinctly summarizes the big picture of
salvation. And when we get to Romans 5 that's the case that Paul will make: "By the
disobedience of the one the many were made sinners; by the obedience of the one the many
were made righteous." And so that's the great exchange in salvation.

Adam's sin imputed to me; my sin imputed to Christ; Christ's righteousness imputed to me. You
gotta follow the bouncing ball on that but that's salvation. And so even the one who's never
heard, Adam's sin has already been imputed to them. They would never die if that were not the
case.

And they commit sin against the law written upon their own heart otherwise they would never
die; they would just live forever. But death is entered in to the world through Adam's one sin
because of the solidarity of the entire human race in Adam. It's like a football team, one man
jumps off side, the whole team is penalized; everybody moves back five yards; the one man.

But the good news is one man scored a touchdown.

 
 

Another man slam dunked it in the end zone, and we share his victory and triumph, and we're
high fiving and we didn't do a thing. I mean, we're just standing – as a wide receiver just
standing out there.

Audience:                    We're in the bleachers.

Yeah, I mean, we didn't do anything. But his victory is now our victory. Adam's defeat our
defeat; but Christ's victory our victory. That's the good news of the Gospel, and we gain far
more in Christ than we ever lost in Adam.

So anyone else before we wrap this up? I've got four more minutes here; this is awesome.

Audience:                    We had a guy on the live stream say you don't want fair.

Yeah, yeah you don't want fair.

That is so true; you want mercy; you want grace. You don't want justice; justice will damn you;
grace will save you, yeah. Well someone else; Alan what have you got for us?

Audience:                    Well I think about what Mark was saying, you have heard all the
arguments, and we need to speak up _____ you praise the Word of God. It is a reason for you to
know it; know it well; and transmit it to people. Because the reason why they don't know is
because most of the times preachers are silent. We have been somehow convinced that we
should keep silent. We talk to our congregation; we talk to those who come; but we go out and
we don't say a word; we're just another guy. And that's not the way it works. You said it, you
find people across the street that have never heard the news; it is your job. You know it in your
–

 
Just because they've heard of Jesus Christ doesn't mean that they've heard the Gospel. I mean,
listen I've been around plenty of people lately saying Jesus Christ, but it was cussing, swearing.
It wasn't the plan of salvation.

Audience:                    Yep, yep so you need to speak up; you need to say something. It is
our responsibility and there is no way around it.

And I also think there's a hesitancy on our part to even speak of the word judgment;
condemnation; which is just, like, right there. And that's a part of what we must say to people so
that they will treasure the good news of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well guys we've all
gotta talk this up.

We've gotta tell people about Christ, and we've got to figure out how to build bridges. And
sometimes it takes time to build those bridges; and at other times it's just a passing opportunity.
But we've gotta take advantage of those opportunities.

Audience:                    We have to realize we're the sower not the reaper. We have to
always just be sowing and don't put too much pressure on our self to get them to the finish line
afterwards. God'll work in their hearts on His time.

Absolutely.

Audience:                    You know, we get panicked like, "Oh my gosh I didn't get them to
the finish line." That's not our job.

Yeah that's not our job; that's a great point Chris. We just sow the seed; I mean, that doesn't take
a whole lot of ability.

Audience:                    No we get discouraged by it and then we shouldn't be.

 

Yeah, I mean, God even cultivates the soil, and tills the soil, and germinates the seed, and brings
forth life according to His purposes. We just leave that with Him; we're to be faithful not
successful. Well guys we gotta carry this out.

I mean, this should be a strong motivation to every one of us to capture opportunities to witness
for Christ; to tell others about Christ; to support God's work around the world.

Let me just close in a word of prayer. Father thank you that you have revealed the Truth to us.
Thank you that we have heard the Gospel of Grace. You have shown favor, and mercy and
grace to us.

We don't deserve it; we praise you that you opened our eyes; and opened our ears; and opened
our heart. And caused us to be born again, and we praise you. And we're now debtors of your
grace. So use us in this room, and those who are watching with us to reach others around us
with the message of your saving grace. We pray this in Jesus's name, amen.
 14. Condemned By the Law- Romans 2:17-24

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

We're in Romans 2, and we're going be looking, depending upon our time at verses 17 to 24. I
want set the context before I read the verses. Just to remind you of where we are in the Book of
Romans, as you recall, the whole Book of Romans is about the Gospel. In Chapter 1, Verse 1,
Paul writes that this is about the Gospel of God. We're in the first main section on the Gospel,
which is the need for the Gospel, the necessity for the Gospel, and no one will ever be saved
until they know what their true need is for the Gospel.
 
Paul is laying this foundation, and it's a massive foundation. The taller the skyscraper, the
deeper the foundation has to be. What Paul is getting ready to tell us and teach us about the
Gospel, it's going to be soaring to the heights of Heaven. There's has to be a firm base, and that's
what he is laying. We're in this first section that in one word, it would be reduced to
condemnation. Now I know how negative that sounds, and it is negative, but there is no true
desire for the positive until you know what the negative is. You have to know what the bad
news is before the good news. It's really great news. Grace will never be amazing grace until
you know what the bad news is, so that's where we are in the Book of Romans. We're in
Chapter 2, and we're in the very middle of this section on condemnation and our desperate need
for salvation. When we get to salvation, Paul is just going to soar to the heights of Heaven, so
just know that that's coming. But he's tightening the screws right now and he's driving these
nails down deep in the board so that they're very securely fastened in our thinking.
 
As we come to verse 17, the transition is from the Gentile to the Jew. Last time in verses 12
through 16, Paul addressed the one without the law, and that the law was written upon their
conscience and upon their heart, and that refers to the pagan Gentile, who is without the law,
who has never heard the law, has never heard the Gospel. Now as we come to verse 17, you'll
note the very first word of verse 7, "But," and that's a sharp contrast. That's a sharp pivot point.
Whenever you see the word 'but', the argument's going to go in a different direction. So
beginning in Verse 17 he says, "But if you bear the name Jew." Paul is putting his arms around
all of humanity. He has addressed the one without the law, the Gentile; and now he is going to
address the one with the law, the Jew so that whether you are without the law or with the law,
whether you've never heard the Gospel or whether you have heard the Gospel, all are in
desperate need of salvation.
 
Beginning in verse 17, he now addresses the Jew. Now before I read this, I want – I just wanna
get out ahead of our thinking in this regard. If you're like me, as soon as I hear Jew, I
immediately go, "Well, I'm not a Jew, so this doesn't really apply to me. I'll start listening when
we get back to the Gentile." Well I want to head that off at the pass, okay, before we go down
that road, because the similarities between the Jew and you and me are nevertheless very closely
tied in that the Jew grew up in a very privileged nation in which there was great exposure to the
word of God, in which there was some degree of external morality, and that's – that is you and
me living in America with great exposure to the word of God. Now, I know there are those
watching around the world right now that – you don't live in a nation like that. But for us here in
America, and especially what I would call the buckle of the Bible Belt, here in the south,
southwest – Dallas, Texas – I mean there's almost a church on all four corners of an intersection.
 
They are everywhere, and people grow up hearing the truth of at least an outward framework or
morality and righteousness, though many never hear the true Gospel. But as we look at this in
verse 17, this is really some mail that is still nevertheless addressed to us, because we can put
ourselves into the sandals of these Jews who have grown up in a privileged place of hearing the
word of God, but as Paul will argue, if you do not act upon this word and believe in Christ, in
reality you're worse-off, because it will be a greater judgment that you have had the light but
then don't act upon the light. Having said all of that by way of introduction, let me read verses
17 through 24.
 
"But if you bear the name Jew; and rely upon the law; and boast in God; and know His will and
approve the things that are essential being instructed out of the law; and are confident that you
yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish,
a teacher of the immature, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth,
you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not
steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?
You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law through your breaking the
law, do you dishonor God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of
you," just as it is written.”
 
Now, those verses are rather hard to follow. These were rather hard to track, and one benefit of
an outline is it helps you walk through a passage that is difficult to get your arms around. I'm
going to give you the outline.
 
All you need is the outline, okay? It's a killer outline, but it will help us walk through this
passage to see the framework. Here is how this lays out. In verses 17 and 18, four privileges.
Then in verses 19 and 20, four practices. Then in verses 21 and 22, four charges. And then in
verses 23, and 24, one judgment. How simple is that? Four privileges, four practices, four
charges, one judgment. And that outline really serves like a skeleton that will help us put the
meat and the flesh on this skeleton.
 
I.               FOUR PRIVLEGES
 
Paul begins in verse 17 – this is kind of an unusual section, the way it's laid out, but it's a
powerful argument. He begins with four privileges and he says in verse 17, "But if you bear the
name Jew." The word 'but', as I've already mentioned, pivots from the Gentile previously
mentioned without the law now to the Jew who has the law. And he says, "If you bear the name
Jew" – and there's a little bit of sarcasm there, meaning, well, you're not a true Jew. You're only
a Jew in name only.
 
A true Jew would be a born-again Jew. A true Jew would be one who is not only circumcised in
the flesh, but circumcised in the heart. And Paul will talk about that at the end of this chapter.
When he says, "But if you bear the name Jew," there's a little bit of distance saying that Paul
wants to make here that you really are a Jew in name only, by your heritage, by your birth, by
your upbringing. And so he says, "But if you bear the name Jew" – and now he gives the four
privileges. Number one, "...and rely upon the word." Now this is the number-one privilege, and
there's a reason why this is number-one, because of the importance of special revelation.
Remember we said no one can be saved without special revelation, and the law is a part of this
special revelation. Now I want to mention the law here, because I took a copied page of my
Bible yesterday and took a yellow highlighter and just highlighted every time I saw the law. It's
kind of interesting.
 
In these verses, verses 7 through 24, the law is mentioned four times. In verses – in the previous
section, verses 12 through 16, the law is mentioned 10 times; and in verses 25 and following –
verses 25 to 27, it's mentioned five times. That's a total of 19 times in just this cluster of verses.
The law is dominant in this section of scripture, so I think we need to think for a moment. When
he says the law, what's he talking about? Because we don't normally think about the law, and I
don't think we don't – I think we don't think about it enough. Now the law is referring to the law
of Moses, given to Moses, divided out into three sections: moral law, ceremonial law, civil law.
You've gotta make those three distinctions. Moral law is how you're to live, ceremonial law is
how you're to worship and approach God, civil law is how you are to function as a nation and
society.
 
If Paul is mentioning the law here, he's referring to the moral law. He is referring to the
embodiment of the moral law as found in the Ten Commandments, and the Ten Commandments
are still directional in our life today. Nine out of the 10 are repeated in the New Testament. If
we had time, we could trace down every one of those. And the only one that has been fulfilled I
think is the Sabbath Requirements. I do think you can eat in a restaurant on Sunday. I do think
you can mow your backyard on a Sunday. I don’t think we're still under the mosaic
requirements on the Sabbath. But the other nine, these are still in play in our spiritual lives, and
we would be antinomian if we did not hold to the teaching of the Ten Commandments. I mean
who's going to argue with that, that God should be number-one in your life, that you shouldn't
have graven images of God, you shouldn't take God's name in vain, that you ought to honor
your father and your mother, that you shouldn't steal, you ought to tell the truth, you shouldn't
covet within your heart? I mean who here would argue that, no, that doesn't have an affect upon
my life? No, it must. The law is very important.
 
Now what are the purposes of the moral law? I want to give you five purposes of the moral law
only because, in this section, the law is so emphasized and it's still a part of our lives today, the
Ten Commandments. Number one, it reveals the holiness of God. It reveals the character and
the attributes of God. We see in the Ten Commandments God's holiness, we see His
righteousness, we see His sovereignty, His right to command our lives, we see His love and that
it directs us into the center of His will. We learn much about God by simply looking at the Ten
Commandments. You learn a lot about the author by looking at what he writes. Second, the law
reveals the sinfulness of man. We are measured by the law and we are found that we have fallen
short of the Glory of God.
 
Spurgen uses the analogy that the law is like tin plow sheers that plow up the hardened soil of
our heart so that the seed of the Gospel may go down into our heart. When our heart is just
hardened, the seed of the Gospel just bounces off. Even in our evangelism, there is a place for
the use of the law to bring about conviction of sin. Look at Jesus when he talks to the rich,
young ruler. How did Jesus do evangelism? He appeals to the law. There is a place, a rightful,
proper place for the use of the law to reveal the sinfulness of man. Third, the law is to be a tutor
to lead us to Christ. Galatians 3:24 talks about this, that the law is that which points us away
from itself to Christ, because Christ alone is the one who obeyed the law perfectly, and Christ
alone is the one who can forgive us our offenses of the law. Then fourth, the law is a restraint to
evil in society. It is a limited restraint, but nevertheless it does serve as some degree of a
restraint.
 
That's why you would want laws in a general way to say you cannot kill, you cannot steal. If
you come into a courtroom, you should tell the truth. The law does function as a restraint of
evil, somewhat limited, admittedly. Then fifth, for us as Christians, the moral law of God
reveals the will of God. It points us into the very center of God's will. It tells me how I should
relate to my parents. It tells me what I should teach my children. It shows me how I am to work.
It shows me how I'm to be content. It shows me how I am to use my mouth and my lips. The
moral law of God is like a moral compass that is pointing us into the will of God. That's just a
brief footnote, just a brief caveat to remind us of the importance of the law. Please know, Paul is
still talking about the law in the New Testament.
 
Let's come back now to Romans 2. He says in verse 17, "But if you bear the name Jew, and rely
upon the law" – and when he says rely upon the law, he is saying that you have a knowledge of
the law. You have a knowledge of the word of God and you are relying upon your head
knowledge of the law. "And boast in God:" you boast in having this special relationship with
God, because you have the law. Then the third privilege: you know His will. Well how do you
know His will? The law. The law reveals the will of God. And then he says, "And approve the
things that are essential." How would you know the things that are essential? He says at the end
of verse 18, "Being instructed out of the law."
 
Paul is not here in New Testament times just discarding the law and setting it aside. No. He is
saying that the law is written upon every persons' heart. He is saying that the law reveals the
things that are essential. The law gives the knowledge of the will of God. This is very much a
privileged position to know the law and to have access to the commandments of God, those
things that are pleasing to God and those things that lead us into the very center of His will.
These are the four privileges, and this is where he begins. Those of us who live in this part of
the world and in this part of the United States, we have these very same four privileges also.
 
II.             FOUR PRACTICES
 
Now, he advances his argument from four privileges to four practices, and these Jews who have
the law are not inactive, but they are active with the law. They are ministering the law. They are
teaching the law. They are preaching the law. They are passing down the law to their children.
Note now the four practices. He says in verse 19 that you are confident that you yourself are.
Now let me just stop right there. This confidence brings about a false assurance that just because
you have the law, and are using the law, and telling others about the law does not mean that you
have taught yourself the law. You are very good at passing it on to others, but you yourself have
not applied it to your own life. That's where he's headed, but for right here the four practices of
the law – and these come in rapid fire succession. I mean there's no verbs here. It's just all
statements here of pithy, short statements. You are confident that you yourself are, number one,
a guide to the blind.
 
The blind here refer to those who are without the law. It refers to the Gentiles. It refers to the
Pagans. It refers to those who are outside the community of the faith. To be a guide to the blind
means you're a teacher to those who are without the law. You bear witness to those who do not
have special revelation in the written word of God, so he says you are a guide to the blind. Now
as Paul says that, in reality the Nation of Israel at this time was not exactly a missionary force to
the world. I mean they had become a spiritual cul de sac that they had become a self-contained
holy huddle. They weren't going out into the world. They weren't trying to reach the
surrounding nations. They were very self-content in just sitting on the law, and just hording the
law, and just keeping it to themselves.
 
Even as Paul says this, there is a bit of sarcasm almost prodding them, almost shaming them by
saying what they are doing when in reality it's what they should be doing, but – and really are
not doing – that they have just become an inner circle unto themselves a holy huddle. That's an
awful place to be. Look at these four practices, and in reality this is what you ought to be and
should be doing with the law. A guide to the blind; and then second, a light to those who are in
darkness. Now the darkness here refers not to physical darkness. It refers to spiritual darkness,
and it refers to those who are without the knowledge of the law. And even in Isaiah 42:6, it says
that Israel was appointed to be a light to the nations, and Christ himself becomes the ultimate
fulfillment of this Isaiah 42 passage, that Christ will be a light to the nations when he says in
John 8:12, "I am the light of the world," and then sends out the disciples to preach the Gospel to
all the nations.
 
Where Israel failed, Christ has commissioned the Church to go preach the Gospel and be a light
to the nations, but this was expected of the Jew, though the Jew is not fulfilling us. Do you
remember Jonah, when God said to Jonah to go to Ninevah and to preach the Gospel there?
Jonah was in essence in Dallas, Texas, told to go to New York City and preach the Gospel. He
gets on a plane and flies to Japan. I mean he goes in the opposite direction. He tries to go as far
away from New York City as he possibly could, because he doesn’t even like the Ninevites,
because they're such wretched sinners. They don't deserve the word of God, and so he wants to
just horde it and keep it within the nation. The best way he knows to keep it to themselves is
he'll just get on a ship and go to Tarshish, which is in reality Spain. It's just in the opposite – it's
like a – in reverse.
 
He says, "You are confident that you yourselves are a light to those who are in darkness,"
they're not being this, and in reality this is an indictment of the nation that they're not even using
the law, passing on the law in the way that they should've been. And then he adds to that in
verse 20– and Paul is just driving this nail deeper and deeper into the board as he's stacking
these up like pancakes. He goes, "And a corrector of the foolish." Well the foolish refers to
those who have worldly wisdom, and in 1 Corinthians 1, we'll talk about that. They are those
who sit at the feet of Aristotle, and Plato, and the Greek philosophers; and they think that
wisdom is found in the brilliance of the Greek intellectual mind. They need to be corrected of
such foolishness. So Paul says that these are – that this is another way that they were supposed
to be carrying out the law. And then fourth, a teacher of the immature. Now the immature here
refers to spiritual babes who are lacking the knowledge of God's word, and this could have
reference even within Israel to their own children, who must be taught.
 
Deuteronomy 6 says, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord your God is one god," and you shall bind it on
their forehead and bind it on the back of their hands, and write it on the door leading into the
house, probably a reference here to teaching a new generation that is coming up even within the
nation, the law of God. Then he adds at the end of verse 20, "Having in the law." It tells us that
being a guide, a light, a corrector, and a teacher has to do with the law. "Having in the law," he
says, "the embodiment of knowledge and of truth." That's not a bad thing. That's a good thing.
When he says the embodiment of knowledge and truth, he's really referring to the form and the
structure of the knowledge of God, and the knowledge of man, and the knowledge of the need
of salvation, and the knowledge of the need of Christ, and the knowledge of how a believer is to
live his life.
 
The law contains the embodiment, the internal superstructure, if you will, the infrastructure, we
would say, of knowledge and of truth. What a privilege that the Jew has had this embodiment of
knowledge and truth and entrusted to them. Men, I can easily say to us before we move on to
the next verse that there has been a stewardship entrusted to us of knowledge and of truth. Later
this year I'll have the privilege to go to places on the other side of the earth that there is not this
knowledge of the law and this knowledge of the truth. You and I are really in the epicenter of a
privileged place. I don't know that there's a place on planet Earth right now. I mean just think
about that. I don't know that there is a place on planet Earth that is more privileged than Dallas,
Texas and the surrounding metroplex of just access to the Bible and to truth, so we could easily
place ourselves right here where this Jew is. As Paul will advance his argument, it's very
important that every one of us in this room examine ourselves.
 
Have I been born again? Have I exercised saving faith in Jesus Christ? Do I have more than just
the embodiment of knowledge and in truth? Do I have it in my heart through the Gospel of
Jesus Christ? What have we said to this point? Well Paul has said there are four privileges and
four practices. He now comes to four charges, and really the four practices that we just looked at
were a backhanded way of giving four charges. But now he's much more direct and so he says,
beginning in verse 21, "You, therefore." Great preaching gets to the 'you'. It becomes very
personal; very personal. And Paul is very personal. For those of you who teach the word of God
and for those of you who preach, there has to come a point in our preaching and teaching where
we become extremely personal and we get to the you. Where are you as it relates to what we've
been discussing? That's where Paul is right now in verse 21.
 
III.           FOUR CHARGES
 
Four charges. Therefore – you, Mr. Jew, with the law – you, Mr. Teacher of the Law, here are
the four charges: number one, who teach another, do you teach yourself? You're really good
about running everyone else's life. How are you with yourself? You're very good about telling
others how they need the Lord. Do you teach yourself how much you need the Lord? This is in
the form of a question. I will also say if you're a teacher or a preacher, or even a parent who's
teaching your kids, learn the powerful use of the question. To ask the question causes the
listener to think, because I'm not giving you the answer. I want you to come up with the answer.
Paul puts this in the form of a question, and it's very provocative to self-examination and to run
a self-audit of your own spiritual life.
 
He says, "You, therefore, who teach another, do you teach yourself?" and it implies a negative
answer, that you have not been applying the law to yourself. You should know how holy God is,
and you should know how sinful you are, and you should know your desperate need for one to
stand between Holy God and your sinful life, and to be a mediator between the two. You should
know of your need for the Lord Jesus Christ and the Gospel. Second charge, he continues in
Verse 21: "You who preach" – so he goes beyond teaching to preaching. "You who preach that
one shall not steal, do you steal?" It is as though Paul is putting the witness on the witness stand
and is examining the witness with questions. Where were you on the night in question?" You
who preach you shall not steal, do you steal?" The appeal here is to the eighth commandment.
 
Paul is still dealing with the law. The eighth commandment says, "You shall not steal," and Paul
is using the law as an evangelist to drive the Jew away from self-righteousness to one who has a
righteousness that they so desperately need the Lord Jesus Christ himself. The answer implies a
positive answer here. You who preach that you should not steal, you do steal. And they may
say, "Well, we don't break into people's houses and take money from people." Maybe not, but
you're still a thief, because you rob God of his glory, because you do not put God in the very
center of your life. You rob God of the glory of the Gospel, because you have not repented of
your sins and you have not believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You have robbed the poor of
what you should give to them in benevolence and in kindness. No, you are a thief of a very deep
nature in your own heart. You rob from God and from others what rightfully belonged to them.
 
Now in verse 22, he continues to advance this by asking these soul-searching questions. In verse
22, "You who say" – so please note even the parallelism here. In verse 21, "You who teach,"
"You who preach," and now in verse 22, "You who say." For those of you who are in any form
of communication, please note how Paul alternates his words and does not repeat himself. He
layers them out. That's very effective teaching and preaching. That is very effective
communication. To you who teach, you who preach, you who say. In a sense he's saying almost
the same thing, but he's using alternate words to hold the attention and to pry a little bit deeper
into the thinking of the listener. Verse 22, "You who say that one should not commit adultery" –
now that's in the law, is it not? That's the seventh commandment in the law. Paul won't let go of
the law, and I just want to say again, I think we need more appeal in our own lives to the law: in
our evangelism, in our Christian living. The law is not a bad thing; it's a good thing.
 
"You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?" and it implies a
yes answer, and we can hear Jesus in Matthew 5 say, yes, but you have lust in your heart for
someone who is not your lawful spouse, and that is adultery. Paul is bringing these charges, and
now he brings this fourth charge. And please note how aggressive Paul is in exposing sin, and I
think most preaching today pulls back from this kind of exposure, and I think most witnessing
today pulls back from this kind of exposing of sin in the life of other people. He says, "You who
abhor idols," well this is an appeal to the law again to the first and the second commandment
that you shall have no other gods before me and you shall not have a graven image by which
you worship me. That's clearly stated in the first and the second law. Guess what? That's still in
effect today. That has not gone away.
 
"You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?" and the answer to that is yes. And you may say,
"Well, we're not running over here to these Canaanite temples and fishing out idols, and
breaking the first and the second commandment," but Paul's reasoning is, yes, you do break the
first commandment and even the second commandment in that you have allowed other things in
your life to become more important than God. An idol is anything you love more than God, fear
more than God, and serve more than God, that that is an idol in your life. An idol may be
something that's even something good that is elevated to a place beyond what it should be
elevated. Your job can become an idol. Your ministry can become an idol. Your family can
become an idol. Your health can become an idol.
 
I mean if that's what you spend your time daydreaming about, and investing in, and being
preoccupied, then that has taken a place in your life that should be reserved exclusively for God
alone. He says listen, nothing should be more important in your life than God, and for him to be
at the very center of your life, and for you to follow God. This is a charge saying, yes, you do
have idols in your life, and those things that are more important than God. He is leaving them
indicted before God and is charging them with sin just like he charges the Pagan heathen with
sin, even those who are within the circle of sitting under the teaching of the word of God and
having access to the word of God. But if you have never applied it to your own life, first of all
with repentance in faith, then you're in the same boat with the man who's never even heard the
Gospel.
 
IV.          ONE JUDGMENT
 
This now leads, in verse 23 and 24, to one judgment, one indictment. We've had four privileges,
four practices, four charges – you see how logical Paul is in his thinking too? These verses
though as I read them may have seemed to be somewhat difficult to follow. In Paul's mind, they
are highly structured. Paul is very linear in his thinking. He is very logical in his thinking, and
he is laying this out in systematic fashion. There's more perfection here than what originally
meets the eye as far as the arrangement of his thoughts and the bringing of his case against those
who have access to the law. This now leads to one judgment. Verse 23 and verse 24, Paul now
brings this down to a bottom-line summation, and I will say great preaching and great teaching,
you have to get to the bottom line. You've got to get beyond the facts to so what does this mean
to me?
 
Well here is now the so what, and please note the very first word of Verse 23, "You,". There is
no mistaking who Paul's talking to. Nobody can say, "Well, I wonder if he meant me? I wonder
if he was talking to me?" No. It's very clear – very directive. Great preaching and teaching is
very directive. It gets out of the we and the us, and it gets down to the you. Verse 23: you, Mr.
Jew, who has access to the law; you, who boast in the law, you boast in your possession of the
law, you boast in your knowledge of the law, you boast in your ministry of the law, you boast in
your teaching of the law, you boast in your preaching of the law, you boast in your speaking of
the law. Notice what he says: "Through your breaking the law, you dishonor God." You're a law
breaker just like everyone else. You're no better than the man on the other side of the globe
who's never heard the Gospel. You're in the same category.
 
You too are a law-breaker, and because you're a law-breaker, the wages of sin is death: Romans
6:23. "And because you're a law-break, you are under the curse of the law:" Galatians, 3:13.
"And the curse of the law is death." You have broken the law. You haven't made a mistake. You
haven't made an uh-oh or a boo-boo. You are a law-breaker. You have violated the law of God.
You are an offender of the law, and you are guilty of the law, and you are condemned by the
law, and that won't go away. When you break the law, note at the end of verse 23, you dishonor
God. That's not a small thing. That is a gigantic thing. You dishonor God. That's what you do
when something else is placed before God. That is what you do when you break his law. You
are a flagrant dishonorer of God. And Paul is so tightening the noose here and so setting the
knot that when he will get to the Gospel in the next chapter, people are going to be sprinting to
the Gospel. They're going to be running to the Gospel. They're going to be falling at the feet of
Christ and begging for mercy.
 
But he doesn't stop there, and now verse 24, he concludes by quoting from the Old Testament.
And the reason he quotes from the Old Testament is to show that this indictment is nothing new,
that this isn't just a New Testament thing. This isn't something that just came onto the scene a
few years ago with the public ministry of Christ and his death. No. It's been this way all along,
even in the Old Testament, and Paul's argument without saying it is, "Oh, I thought you knew
the law so well. I thought you were Mr. Old Testament." In verse 24, he now quotes from Isaiah
52:5, and it is a citation from Ezekiel 36:20 and following: "The name of God is blasphemed
among the Gentiles, because of you," just as it is written.
 
Here we see to dishonor God leads to blaspheming God before other unbelievers. And again,
there is a note of intended sarcasm here. You who are the guide to the blind, you are
blaspheming God to the blind. You who are a light to those in darkness, you are in reality
blaspheming God to those who are in darkness. You who are a corrector of the foolish and a
teacher of the immature, you're not doing that. You are actually blaspheming the name of God
by the fact that you have a superficial religion. It is a religion of all externals. It is a religion
simply of selective rules-keeping. You do not have a religion of the heart, and your heart has
never been circumcised by this law, and you have never been born again and birthed into the
kingdom of God. In reality you have stiff-armed God and kept God at safe distance away from
you just so you can continue to live your safe little moral life in which there is no conviction of
sin, and no need of repentance, and no need for self-denial, and no need for self-humbling. You
just simply have a convenient little religion where you're not disturbed by anything.
 
In reality, you're a blasphemer and you blaspheme the name of Holy God before the very
unsaved Gentiles that you ought to be reaching with the message of salvation. You are
compounding your guilt and compounding your judgment when you will stand before God. You
who have been given so much, never have so few done so little with so much, to reverse the
Churchill quote. You have been given the treasures of Heaven displayed before you and you
have buried them just so that you don't have to change your life and alter the course of the way
you're conducting yourself; and where you can just keep everything on the outward façade of
your life and never allow it to penetrate into the depths of your soul; and for your soul to be
opened up by the law, and for it to drive you to Christ in repentance and faith, and to receive his
mercy.
 
 
Male 1:                        The thing that jumps out at me is the Jew part. The Jews were privileged.
I couldn't believe – they were given all of this for hundreds and hundreds of years and they were
privileged. And it just shows that we have to do something even more in the grace of God and
who we are and –
 
So how do we sit on it? How do we do the same, we who are privileged?
 
Male 1:                        Do the same thing? I mean it's them, but it's us too. How can we be –
that's us. It's a picture of us. It's a picture of me. It really is.
 
I mean we just can't horde this.
 
Male 1:                        Unto whom much is given, much is required. That's what I think of.
 
Yeah. We have to do all that we can first to examine ourselves that we're born again,
that we have the Lord; and second, to export this to the world.
 
 
 
Male 2:                        Dead, yeah.
 
Male 3:                        I mean even in our own lives. I mean speaking out but then – my quiet
time is really poor and I really struggle with it. It's just sporadic. It's – and that's burying that
treasure, in a sense.
 
Yeah, sure. Yeah. Well we have to discipline ourselves for the purpose of God _____ _____
person before _____. Yeah, no. Thank you for that. Someone else? I went way too long. I meant
for there to be more time, but someone hop in – someone else hop in.
 
Male 4:                        One thing I thought of that we would need to guard against is – reading
through this passage, you start thinking about all these pastors and preachers _____ _____
affairs or robbing from their church, and this, that, and the other. And it's so easy to say, "Well
I'm not them," when this is section intensely personal. It's you do this every single one of you,
so you have no right to push that guilt off on someone else when we are just as guilty as they
are. They may doing all these overt things, but the same sin lives in us. It's the same sin _____
_____ _____ that we do.
 
Now that's a very good observation. I mean Jesus – we've gotta remove the log out of our own
eye before we can remove the splinter out of someone else's eye. And he's not saying we
shouldn't remove the splinter; just you need to deal with your own eye first and get the log out
of your own eye. Then you can remove the splinter from your brother's eye. Yeah. Yeah,
someone else?
 
Male 5:                        Well it makes me think about that fourth charge you said. What are you
investing in in your life? And we think about selfish people, myself included. We look at how
things are going to effect us. What's best for me? Yet we ignore the greatest investment we can
possibly make. And then also I think it's important to think back to last week where it says – and
talks about the Gentile, saying – having the law written on your heart. So that really lets us
juxtapose ourselves here in Dallas to this – 17 through 24, and if there's any doubt in your mind
– I didn't – I'm trying to count, but I was also trying to listen, but I think 'You' is in there 16 or
17 times.
 
Oh, really? Good. That's a good observation.
 
Male 5:                        And so it's really –
 
Intensely personal.
 
Male 5:                        It's hitting you on the head with a hammer.
 
Yeah. No, that's good.
 
Male 5:                        Yeah.
 
I'm gonna have to go through and get my yellow highlighter back out.
 
 
Male 6:                        I've got 8:00.
 
 
Let me just close in a word of prayer. Please stay if you can. Father, thank you for this study and
your word, and it's very convicting and challenging, which I need and we all need. And it causes
us to treasure the treasure even more that's in the Gospel of Christ. So thank you for the way
that you led Paul to lay this case and this really solid foundation for our need for the Gospel,
and I pray that it would be clearly established in our own hearts today. In Christ's name, Amen.
 15. True and False Circumcision - Romans 2:25-29

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

I need to begin in a word of prayer. Father, as we begin this morning we are aware of our
dependence upon you for everything in our spiritual life. Everything in our physical life. Every
aspect of our life. We are totally dependent upon you. And as we come now to this study I ask
that by your Holy Spirit you would cause the truth to shine very brightly in this study.
Strengthen us, encourage us, sharpen us, in Christ’s name, amen.
 
We’re in Romans 2. No surprise to any of us. Romans 2. And today, Lord willing, we want to
look at verse 25 to 29. Today’s study is going be a little bit different in that we are going to need
to lay a foundation for this before this is really going to capture our understanding. We’re going
to do a walk through the Bible to get to this because this deals with circumcision. This is not a
normal part of our life as gentiles. And in order to understand what Paul is saying here we need
to look at some Old Testament verses, which we are going to do.
 
We’re in the section on condemnation. The need for the gospel. And beginning in verse 17,
which we looked at last time, Paul began to address the Jew. Which is very obvious. In verses
17 to 24, which we looked at last time, he said, you who are the Jew who have the law, why do
you teach others the law and you don’t keep it yourself? And you don’t follow it yourself?
 
So now as we come to verse 25, Paul goes for the jugular. I mean he pokes his finger into the
temple or into the apple of the eye of the Jew and addresses the one issue out of the law that the
Jew took most pride in. And that was circumcision. Beginning in verse 25 Paul will make a
distinction between the true and false circumcision. This is a part of our understanding the
gospel.
 
I.               THE CIRCUMCISED
 
Beginning in verse 25 he says, “For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the law. But
if you’re a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. If the
uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the law will not the uncircumcision be regarded
as circumcision? And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the law will he not judge
who though having the letter of the law in circumcision are a transgressor of the law?”
 
Now he gets down to the very heart of the matter here. He says, “For he is not a Jew who is one
outwardly. Nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one
inwardly. And circumcision is that which is of the heart. By the spirit. Not by the letter. And his
praise is not from men but from God.”
 
So just to begin to unsort what’s going on here, we are going to do a walk through kinda
quickly. I want you to go back to Leviticus 12:3. I want you to see that circumcision was a part
of the law. It was a part of the Mosaic Law. It was required of every male Jewish boy. That on
the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin on his male organ was to be circumcised, which meant
was to be cut. It was a sign of the Abrahamic covenant.
 
Leviticus 12:3. “On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.” Now this
really began earlier in Genesis with Abraham. But now that the law has come, it’s incorporated
in the law. Now it was to be a picture. Just like baptism is a picture, circumcision was a picture
of what must happen to your heart. Just as the foreskin was cut with a very sharp knife
signifying that this person is being set apart to God not in reality but metaphorically, a picture.
This is what must happen to his heart. He must have his heart pierced and cut to the core by the
sharp two-edged sword of the word of God and by the spirit of God. The heart must be set apart
to God. It is a picture of the new birth. It’s a picture of conversion. That the physical
circumcision is a picture of spiritual circumcision that must take place.
 
Come to the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 10:16. And Moses now gives the law to a
new generation. That is about to enter into the Promised Land. The word Deuteronomy means
the second giving of the law or the second law giving. This generation in the wilderness had
their body circumcised. They just had not had their heart circumcised. Moses now addresses the
new generation. And in verse 16 he says, “So circumcise your heart.” You see that? “And
stiffen your neck no longer.” An uncircumcised heart is also pictured as a stiff neck. That
picture’s an ox that will not submit to a master. When the master comes with a yoke to put the
yoke around the neck, the ox will pull up his shoulders and make his neck stiff so that the yoke
won’t fit around the neck. That’s what it means to be stiff-necked. You will not submit to the
yoke of your master. You are resistant and you will not humble yourself and you will not
submit.
 
In verse 16 he says, you’re stiff necked. You will not come under the lordship of God. You
refuse to submit your life to God. Therefore, circumcise your heart. You need to have your heart
pierced and with that piercing comes conviction of sin. With that piercing comes the painful
excruciating entrance into the kingdom of God. No one comes giggling through the narrow gate.
All who come come mourning over their sin as the painful awareness of one’s sin and then the
relief that is found in the grace of God.
 
Now come to Deuteronomy 30. We’ve got a lot of verses to cover here to get to Romans. In
Deuteronomy 30:6, in the book of Deuteronomy is a series of sermons that Moses preached. It’s
like a Bible conference. In verse 6 we see really the sovereignty of God in this. This is
something that man is responsible for but God must do it. And so in verse 6, “Moreover, the
Lord your God will circumcise your heart.” Just draw a circle around the word heart. “And the
heart of your descendants.” Referring to your children as they come under the influence of the
gospel and the truth. What is the result of having your heart circumcised? He goes on to say in
the middle of verse 6, to love the Lord your God with all your what? With all your heart. Three
times in this one verse. He says heart. “The Lord will circumcise your heart and the heart of
your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul so that you
may live.” If your heart’s not circumcised you’re spiritually dead. You have no life. You have
no spiritual eternal life.
 
This is the necessity of heart circumcision. Without your heart being circumcised you’re
separated from God. And you’re without spiritual life. You’re spiritually dead. And this heart
circumcision represents being set apart to God by the Holy Spirit in the new birth and in
conversion.
 
Come to the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah 4:4. We’re just laying the groundwork so that we can
really understand what Paul is saying in Romans 2. This is a necessary front porch to get into
the house.
 
In Jeremiah 4:4 the prophet Jeremiah says to the rebellious house of Israel, “Circumcise
yourself to the Lord and remove the foreskins of your heart.” Draw a circle around the word
heart again. He’s not talking about now as an adult to perform the surgical procedure of physical
circumcision. He’s talking about the real circumcision. Now that you’re an adult it’s not enough
just that you’ve had circumcision as an infant. That’s not gonna get you anywhere. Certainly not
into the kingdom of heaven. Just merely to have that. Now as an adult your heart must be
circumcised. When it is, it will cut the foreskin of your heart. You’re just thickheaded. You are
stiff-necked. It will remove the foreskin of your heart meaning it will remove your sinful
resistance to God. And the authority of God over your life. It will remove unbelief. And you
will come to the place whereby faith you believe God and you believe the gospel of God.
 
Now if you do not have your heart circumcised, notice the second half of verse four. “Or else
my wrath will go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it because of the vile of your
deeds.” It’s the foreskin of your heart that causing you to live such a sinful, rebellious life. Your
heart must be cut. The only instrument that is sharp enough to penetrate that thick rhinoceros
hide foreskin of your heart is the word of God which is living and active and sharper than any
two-edged sword when it comes with the power of the Holy Spirit of God.
 
While you’re in Deuteronomy, come to Deuteronomy 9 in verse 25. Now in verses 25 and 26 of
Jeremiah 9, he’s just told us in verse 24 and – 23 and 24 “that the supreme imperative of
knowing God in your heart, you know it says let not a wise man boast of his wisdom. Let not a
mighty man boast of his might. Let not a rich man boast of his riches.” Verse 23. “But let him
who boast, boast of this. That he understands and knows me.” That’s a matter of the heart,
right?
 
When we come to verse 25 he resumes this discussion on circumcision. He says, “Behold, days
are coming, declares the Lord, that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet
uncircumcised.” I mean you can’t have it both ways. Well, you can. Those who are physically
circumcised but are not spiritually circumcised. Do you catch the drift of what’s going on here?
I mean just like today you can be baptized and not be a Christian. You can be circumcised and
not be a true believer. Having the physical circumcision, that brings no redemptive reality.
Salvific reality to a person’s life. You must have the spiritual circumcision. But days are coming
when God will punish those who are circumcised yet uncircumcised.
 
II.             THE UNCIRCUMCISED
 
Now look at the next verse, verse 26. At the end this punishment will come for all the nations
are uncircumcised and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart. All the nations are
uncircumcised physically and they’re also uncircumcised spiritually. It’s a double
uncircumcision. But Israel is circumcised physically but the end of verse 26 says they’re
uncircumcised spiritually of heart. What that means is they’re unconverted. What that means is
they’re unregenerate. What that means is they are in the commonwealth of Israel but they’re not
in the spiritual kingdom of God. It means they go through the ritual, they’ve just never had the
reality in their heart.
 
Come to Ezekiel. Ezekiel 44. And we’re just doing a walk up to Romans 2. In Ezekiel 44 in
verse 7 God through the prophet addresses the nation Israel. In verse 6, now verse 7, when you
brought in foreigners. That refers to gentiles who are outside of the nation Israel. Uncircumcised
in heart and uncircumcised in flesh. See, he makes this distinction. The gentiles, who are the
foreigners, have had neither circumcision. They haven’t been circumcised physically and they
haven’t been circumcised spiritually. Then in verse 9 he says, “No foreigner uncircumcised in
heart and uncircumcised in flesh shall enter my sanctuary.”
 
In order to come into the presence of God in the sanctuary and be a true worshiper of God you
must have a heart that has been converted. You must have a heart that has been cut and pierced
by the word of God. To bring you into submission to the Lord so that you’re no longer stiff-
necked of heart.
 
Let’s come to the New Testament. You with me? Come to the book of Acts. Acts 7. And in
Acts 7, Stephen is preaching that incredible sermon before the Sanhedrin which was before the
70 Jewish leaders and the high priests of the nation Israel. And he just gave this walk through
the Bible. It’s the most incredible walk through the Bible that we have in Acts 7. He now comes
to the summation of this sermon. In Acts 7 and in verse 51 he’s addressing these unbelieving,
unconverted, unregenerate leaders of the nation of Israel when Israel is in spiritual apostasy.
They’ve just crucified the Messiah.
 
In verse 51, Stephen addresses them. “You men are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and
ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit. You are doing just as your fathers did.” That points
back to everything we were just looking at in Jeremiah and in Ezekiel and even back to
Deuteronomy. That the nation Israel has a longstanding history of being circumcised yet being
uncircumcised. There has always been a remnant within the nation that has been a believing
remnant, but the whole has been uncircumcised of heart.
 
Come to Galatians 6. Galatians 6. We just passed Romans. I want you to know that I know that.
In this walk up to Romans 2 we just overran second base. But Galatians 6 and verse 15, it’s a
key verse. He says, “For neither is circumcision anything.” Meaning it has no saving value
whatsoever. “Nor uncircumcision.” Meaning the gentile. “But a new creation.” The only thing
that matters is that you’re born again. The only thing that matters is that you become a new
creature in Christ Jesus.
 
In 2 Corinthians 5:17 talks about this new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold,
new things have come. If any many be in Christ he’s a new creation. It’s a metaphorical
expression for the new birth. Even still into the New Testament Paul is speaking in these terms
of circumcision, uncircumcision. And people, the false teachers had come into the churches in
Galatia after Paul left known as the Judaiers and were trying to put the believers back under the
Mosaic Law. And they were telling them in order to enter into the kingdom and be saved you’re
gonna have to be circumcised. Which is a painful thing for an adult.
 
First Paul begins this book by saying, you know that’s another gospel. Let them be in
Anathema. And now he concludes this by having to say to the believers, forget circumcision.
Forget uncircumcision. All that matters is are you a new creature in Christ Jesus? That’s the
argument he’s making.
 
Now come to Ephesians. Ephesians 2:11 and this subject resurfaces again. It’s still a part of
New Testament teaching. In Ephesian2 2:11 he says, “Therefore, remember that formerly you
the gentiles in the flesh.” In other words, you were born a gentile. “Who are called
uncircumcision and the Jews look down their long self-righteous noses at the gentiles and call
them uncircumcised, meaning unclean, by the so-called circumcision.
 
Now there’s circumcised physically. But there’s a note of intentional sarcasm here. You so-
called circumcised, because you hadn’t had the real circumcision. You’ve only had the
circumcision of your flesh. That doesn’t count for anything. You must have the circumcision of
your heart to be in the kingdom of heaven.
 
He talks about this so-called circumcision at the end of verse 11. Which is performed in the
flesh by human hands. That’s not the real circumcision. The real circumcision is not performed
in the flesh by human hands. It’s performed in the heart by the spirit of God. If you follow
Paul’s thinking and logic here.
 
Now come to Philippians. We’re in the neighborhood. Come over to Philippians. Walk next
door. In Philippians 3 we read again of these Judaizers who come into the church and try to put
believers back under the Mosaic Law, as well as even those who are not yet converted in the
church. Putting them under the law where they have to work their way into the kingdom. Paul
addresses these false teachers who have come into the church in his absence. Remember, Paul’s
in prison in Rome as he writes this and so he’s not there on site and he can’t deal with it
directly.
 
In verse 2, “Beware of the dogs.” Now the dogs are the false teachers. And they’re dogs because
they’re unclean. And dogs in this day and time roam the streets of Middle Eastern cities going
from trashcan to trashcan and they spread disease and filth because all they did was eat the
leftover scraps, but they would also visit the dunghill and eat their own vomit, etc, etc. And they
would just go from trashcan to trashcan spreading their disease. Paul now calls these false
teachers dogs because they are unclean and they’re spreading the false teaching that you have to
be circumcised to get into the kingdom and keep the rest of the Mosaic Law that was fulfilled in
Christ.
 
He says, “Beware of the dogs. Beware of the evil workers,” referring to the same group.
“Beware of the false circumcision.” He’s referring to the same group. Dogs, evil workers and
false circumcision all refer to one in the same group. They are the ones who are spreading this
false circumcision.
 
Now verse 3 Paul makes the distinction between these unbelievers and those who are true
believers. How would you describe a true believer? Verse 3, “For we are the true circumcision
who worship in the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”
When he says in the flesh there is an intentional allusion to the male organ and the cutting of the
flesh and the foreskin. We put no confidence in that kind of stuff.
 
Now Paul once did. If you look at verse five. There was a time in Paul’s life when he did put
confidence in the flesh that his male organ had been cut. In verse five he says, well, in verse
four, “I, myself, might have confidence even in the flesh.” If anyone else has a mind to put
confidence in the flesh, I far more – and now he’ll go through a litany verses five and six.
What’s number one on the list? In which he would put confidence to give him a right standing
before God, what is the number one ace of spades that he would throw down on the table that
would trump everything else, that would give him a right relationship with God? It is that he
was so properly brought up that even on the eighth day, the right day, he was circumcised in the
flesh.
 
He says in verse 3, he doesn’t put confidence in that anymore. Because that’s nothing. What is
reality and what is everything is to have your heart circumcised. And for God to perform
spiritual surgery. And for God to cut out your old heart and remove it. And God put in a new
heart of flesh, put his spirit within you, and cause you to obey his word.
 
I’ve got one mores passage to take you to. Colossians. Colossians 2. And in Colossians 2 – I just
want you to see how this thread runs through the entire Bible. And in Colossians 2, and this
would be so easy for us who are non-Jews to be reading our Bible just to kinda hydroplane over
this without really catching the impact of what is being said here. In Colossians 2:11 there was
again, even in Colossae what was known as the Colossian heresy. That had a mixture of Old
Testament and New Testament teachings and was trying to put the believers back under the law.
It was a mixture in verse 8 of humanistic philosophy and it was a mixture in verse 16 of Jewish
legalism. Down in verse 21 and verse 18, a setecism. There are like four streams flowing
together. Foul, polluted streams that made this river of the Colossian heresy.
 
Paul is addressing this head on. It’s a confrontation head on. In verse 11 he says, “And in him,”
referring to Christ, “ you were also circumcised. With a circumcision made without hands.” I
want to tell you, if you’re a genuine believer in Jesus Christ he has circumcised you. He has
circumcised your heart. This isn’t just Old Testament teaching here. As you see, this is New
Testament teaching that’s still on the books.
 
“You were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands.” Well, how would it be made
without hands? Well, the invisible hand of God by his Holy Spirit would bring the piercing and
the cutting to the heart. “In the removal of the body of the flesh.” And flesh here referring not to
physical flesh but your old man. Your sinful flesh. “By the circumcision of Christ.” Meaning
the circumcision that came from Christ and was performed by Christ.
 
This also helps us understand like in Acts 2:37 it says, “When they heard this they were pierced
to the heart.” It means to take a butcher knife and thrust it into the heart. Anyone anywhere who
has ever been saved has had the sharp instrumentality of the word of God fillet them. Cut them
to the core of their being. Bring them under conviction of sin. They see their desperate need for
the grace of God and the salvation of Jesus Christ. This is all a work of God in the heart.
 
Now for us who are not Jewish by physical descent, there are plenty of people who trust not in
circumcision. But who trust in water baptism, who trust in coming to the Lord’s Table, who
trust in other religious activities and rituals that are a part of the New Testament church. The
message is the same for us. There is no salvation in water baptism. There is no baptismal
regeneration. It’s only a picture of what the spirit must do. Spirit baptism. And even the Lord’s
Supper is but a picture of the reality of our drinking the blood and eating the flesh of the Lord
Jesus Christ in saving faith.
 
The point is it’s a matter of the heart. It’s a matter of the heart. Today the emphasis for us to
take from this, God’s after your heart. If the heart is right, the life will be right. If the heart is
wrong, the life will be wrong. Watch over your heart for from it flows the issues of life.
Solomon says. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and soul and mind and strength.
 
Today, even throughout the day as you are thinking about your walk with the Lord, just
remember it all begins with the heart. Then proceeds to the exterior. The outward sanctions are
important. But only if there’s the reality of the heart that’s under it.
 
Let’s come to Romans 2 now. I’ll just do this rather quickly in Romans 2 so we’ll have time to
talk among ourselves. Here’s the simple outline. I’ve got three headings here that’ll just help us
survey these verses quickly. In verse 25 is the circumcised. In verses 26 and 27 is the
uncircumcised. And in verses 28 and 29 is the true circumcised. It just divides out very easily.
 
In verse 25 he addresses the Jew who is physically circumcised. He says, “For indeed
circumcision is of value if you practice the law.” The only way you can practice the law is to
have a new heart. And the only way to have a new heart is to be spiritually circumcised.
Circumcision is of value if it as a sign or picture points you to the reality and drives you to
experience the reality of a heart circumcision. When you have had a heart circumcision, then
you will practice the law. You won’t practice it perfectly but you will practice it habitually and
continually because you have a new heart.
 
He goes on to say, “But, if you’re a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become
uncircumcision.” What that means is of no value. I mean if your heart hasn’t been changed and
there’s no life change, to be circumcised has no value. It is as though you are uncircumcised.
That’s the argument.
 
Now in verse 26 he speaks of the uncircumcised. That would be gentiles. If the uncircumcised
man keeps the requirements of the law – now the only way for him to keep the requirements of
the law is for him to have experienced a spiritual circumcision that has given him a new heart in
the new birth. And he will keep the requirements of the law not perfectly but, again, habitually,
continually in a new lifestyle.
 
“So will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision.” And the argument is though he’s
never been physically circumcised he knows the reality of what circumcision pictured. And it is
as though he is circumcised because the reality is in his life.
 
Verse 27. “And he who is physically uncircumcised – again, that’s the gentile – if he keeps the
law – and the idea of keeps is a present tense verb which the idea is just on an ongoing daily life
pattern – will he not judge you who though having the letter of the law and circumcision are a
transgressor of the law?” And the answer to that is yes. His very life will judge.
 
In reality, it’s God who judges. He’s just standing with God and the manner of his circumcised
heart and his new life stands as a judgement against those who have a physical circumcision but
have never had a spiritual circumcision. That’s what he is saying here.
 
III.           THE TRIE CIRCUMCISION
 
Now, verse 28 and 29 comes to the point of this. I think it should be clear to us. “For he is not a
Jew – and when he says not a Jew he’s referring to a true Jew. A completed Jew. An authentic
Jew. “He is not a Jew who is one outwardly.” Meaning he was born a Jew and was circumcised
on the eighth day. “Nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.” When he says
circumcision here he’s referring to spiritual circumcision. The real deal. The reality.
 
Verse 29, “But.” Verse 28 had two negatives. This is what it’s not. Now verse 29 is the positive.
This is what it is. Paul is such a good teacher. First negative denial, verse 28. Now positive
assertion in verse 29. There can be no misunderstanding. Verse 29, “But he is a Jew.” Now,
when you’re born physically a Jew you’re a Jew for the rest of your life. I mean there’s nothing
that can change that. But when he says here, “But he is a Jew,” He’s talking about a completed
Jew. He’s talking about a true Jew. “But he is a Jew who is one inwardly. And circumcision is
that which is of the heart.” How is it of the heart? By the spirit. Not by the letter. And the letter
here referring to just all the different requirements of the law that you would try to keep
externally by your own self will. No, true circumcision must be of the heart not in the flesh. It
must be performed by the spirit.
 
And then he concludes verse 29, “And his praise is not from men.” Why would praise come
from men for circumcision? Well, because if you’re a Jew you’re gonna applaud other Jews
who have been physically circumcised. Well, that, this kind of praise, the genuine praise is not
from men. It’s from God. And there’s kind of a pun going on here because the word Jew – have
you ever wondered what does the word Jew mean? It means praise. It comes from the tribe of
Judah. It means praise. So true praise can only come from a true Jew. And in reality, where
there is true praise from a true Jew it is God who gives praise for that. That’s what verse 29 is
saying.
 
I know that these verses maybe are a little bit complicated to follow. But then again they’re not.
Especially as we’ve seen the macro. The larger picture here. Here’s the question on the table.
Have you been circumcised? You’ve got to be circumcised. Now I’ve got good news for you.
I’m not referring to physical circumcision. I’m referring to spiritual circumcision. This becomes
a Biblical metaphor for regeneration and conversion. Which the New Testament, regeneration is
God’s part. Conversion is man’s part. And it’s the heads of tails of the same coin. And the rest
of the New Testament will give us a distinction in the order of salvation. Here with circumcision
it’s just kinda all bunched together.
 
Miracle of all miracles we have done this in 44 minutes. Now have 16 minutes to discuss your
circumcision. And Jonathan, have we got any questions that have come in?
 
Male:   [Inaudible]
 
Yeah. Questions from the table first. And maybe it’s like so who in the world is gonna call in on
questions on circumcision. But guys, tell me. Is this new? Have you had a handle on this? How
does this strike you? What have you learned? What question would you have? This is your time,
our time to talk this out.
 
And if you don’t say something I’m gonna fill up the whole rest of the time like I do every week
so.
 
Audience Member:      I really liked your point on the circumcision is just a really a metaphor
for the true heart is the same as the baptism. It’s really – you can do outward signs and
dedications of different aspects of it but it’s really only thing that truly matters is the heart and
the opening of the heart.
 
Absolutely. Absolutely.
 
Audience Member:      I really thought your point on that was right on. 
 
I mean you can be baptized 20 times and not know the Lord. Hell is full of people that have
been baptized. That doesn’t get you anywhere. Water doesn’t wash away sin. Only the blood of
Christ washes away sin. The ritual means nothing without the reality. Yeah thanks. Yeah.
 
Audience Member:      I was just gonna say the illustration of a _____, of an event, it happens
and it’s removed. Right. Your whole life is gone. Your new life is moving forward with Christ –
 
Yeah.
 
Audience Member:      - an illustration of that.
 
Yeah. And I love what you just said. Event. I mean this takes place in a point in time. The new
birth happens on a day. It happens in a moment. Just like your physical birth happened in a day.
You know you pull out your driver’s license. You look at your date of birth. It’s the month and
the day. And I can tell you the time I was born. By extension, so it is with this circumcision. It’s
an event. Doesn’t take place over three months. It’s an event. Now you may not be able to
pinpoint that exact moment. And a lot of people can’t. I understand that. But nevertheless it did
happen. In a moment. Yeah. What have you got there, Jonathan?
 
Audience Member:      We’ve got a question from Jacque in Senegal in Africa. He says, since
the Bible clearly presents the spiritual circumcision as the important one, why then do we still
see the Christians live and practice circumcision systematically all over the world? He says even
here in Africa Christians regard uncircumcised people with suspicion.
 
Well, they shouldn’t. There are Christians today around the world who still practice
circumcision but it has more of a medicinal reason to it. I mean there was a health factor
involved. I mean God is so wise that not only did it have a spiritual value in that it pointed to
what must happen in the heart, but there was also a health value as well. I have no problem with
Christians continuing to do that for health reasons. But for spiritual reasons that’s – that was
fulfilled at the cross. That’s not a part of the moral law. That was a part of a ceremonial law.
Which has all been fulfilled in Christ. I mean once you begin to go down that path, okay, we’re
gonna still practice circumcision, now you’re gonna have to still bring sacrifices to the altar.
You’re still going to need a high priest. You’re still going to have to have three annual feasts.
You know. There’s no getting off of this road once you put one foot on it if you’re consistent.
You just can’t pick and choose which part of the ceremonial law, okay, is gonna carry over and
we’ll just disregard at my pleasure the other part. No, it’s an all or nothing thing. I would say
there needs to be greater teaching. More specific a precise teaching on this.
 
Someone else?
 
Audience Member:      Well, it's all about, when you think about it, the whole problem with
Jesus coming was this fight over the law and the heart, right? I mean that was the whole issue
with the Pharisees, Sadducees. They were so concerned about what’s he doing with the law that
we’ve been keeping? Is he taking it away? What’s going on here? Because they were so tied
into the dos and don’ts. I think even as believers we, at least I do, I forget it’s still a matter of
the heart. God’s concerned with my heart even as a believer, as I walk and live with him. And
not, okay, I made Bible study again this week. Or made church. Or I did this or I taught Sunday
school. It is still an issue of the heart even as believers.
 
Yeah. I mean you can have your body in church but your heart be elsewhere. And that doesn’t
work. You’ve gotta have your heart there with the Lord. You’re getting ready to teach this
section in the Sermon on the Mount on the law there in Matthew 5:17 through 20. And then
starting in verse 21 he says, you have heard that it was said you shall not commit murder, but I
say to you if you’re angry with your brother you’ve committed murder. I mean it – Jesus took it
back to the heart even with the law. The keeping of the law begins with the heart. Yeah.
 
Audience Member:      And they couldn’t stand it.
 
Yeah. Well, it was unmasking their hypocrisy. Because they were – they had a triple major in
covering up their heart and just looking so spiritual on the outside. They just knew how to play
the role. That’s what the word hypocrite means. It means one who puts on a mask. It’s like a
Greek theater, you play a role. You put a mask, go on to the stage, you play a role, you
memorize your lines. Then when the play’s over you take your mask off and you go back to
being yourself throughout the week. And then Sunday comes, you put the mask, you know it's
that whole deal. Jesus was unmasking the hypocrisy of the false external religion of Israel that
had never been circumcised in the heart. I mean there were a few. There’s always a remnant.
But by and large that’s why Jesus contrasted the broad gate and the narrow gate. And the many
are on the broad gate and a few that come through the narrow gate. Yeah.
 
What else do you got, Jonathan?
 
Audience Member:      We’ve got one more. From Beatrice Lopez. She says, my sister and my
brother-in-law, they believe they’re Christians but they don’t have any fruit and they follow the
prosperity gospel. Are they saved?
 
No fruit, no root. I mean it’s pretty simple. If there’s no genuine fruit, and 1 John outlines the
nine evidences of a genuinely regenerated person. If there is no such fruit, and really this fruit is
Christ’s likeness. This fruit is the fruit of the spirit. 1 John even puts it through a different
paradigm. Then there’s no conversion. Jesus said you’ll know them by they’re fruit. And the
property gospel is a false gospel. It’s not a true saving gospel. It’s a physical message, not a
spiritual gospel. You almost have to be in America for it to work. It’s just kinda hard to do the
prosperity gospel in Russia. You know. It’s just hard to pull that off. It depends what zip code
they’re in.
 
What else? I mean I’ve got more verses. But what else, guys?
 
Audience Member:      Something I’d say –
 
Yeah, Will.
 
Audience Member:      one comment and one question. The comment is just how important it is
to study the word holistically. Because you could read through Romans 2 like what you started
and without the running start of the importance of circumcision in a Jew’s life. It wouldn’t have
the context. I think that was a reminder for me, just the importance of thinking through
whenever I read scripture to make sure and take it in the context –
 
Can I just put a footnote on that and then you keep talking? That’s why in Bible study we use
scripture to interpret scripture. And you never interpret the rest of the Bible in light of one verse.
You interpret one verse in light of the entire rest of the Bible. You bring the whole rest of the
Bible to bear upon one verse. Not the other way around. Or you’ll be like looking through a
telescope backwards. And rather than things being large they’ll be small and you’ll have a
distorted sense of reality.
 
I’ll just tell you this. Last night I couldn’t go to sleep. I drank some ice tea late in the afternoon.
And I tried to even say my wife poured it and she reminded me this morning I was the one who
poured it. I drank this huge thing of iced tea. I couldn’t go to sleep last night. I go back in my
study and I had these notes. And I had all these verses. We were gonna look at those last. And it
just dawned on me about midnight last night that no, no, no, we have to start with the macro and
work our way to the micro on this for this to make sense to us. Go ahead, Will.
 
Audience Member:      I think even then, you know in Philippians 3 the passage that you read
you see it come to a head with like Paul’s independent like as a Pharisee and, you know his
confidence in the flesh and then to throw that all out the door for the perspective of knowing
Christ Jesus his Lord. But the question that I had was at the start of that passage in verse two
when It’s talking about looking out for the dogs and the evil doers and those who mutilate the
flesh, I missed – you read through it but there was any point that you were talking about what
specifically that was saying?
 
The mutilation of the flesh?
 
Audience Member:      Is it about circumcision or –
 
All you’re doing is just mutilating the flesh. I mean there’s no spiritual value that’s coming to
you. Whatsoever. And the reason I didn’t read that it’s a textual issue whether or not that’s in
the original manuscript or not. It appears in later versions. But having said that, let’s just say it
is a part of the original. All you’re doing is just mutilating their flesh. I mean it’s put in such a
derogative, an intentionally derogative way. But that’s a great question. Will, you’re super
observant. Thank you.
 
Audience Member:      Dr. Lawson, do you think decisional regeneration is kind of a subtle
nuance to looking at my baptism or my circumcision where, okay, that doesn’t save me but I
have decided to follow Jesus. I walk that aisle. I prayed that prayer. You know I made that
decision. Is that – is there a subtle nuance there where we can look at –
 
Yeah. There can be. There can be. And here’s what we really need to see big picture with
decisional regeneration. Let me start by saying this. You really did decide to follow Jesus. It’s
just that God gave you the faith and gave you the repentance and opened your eyes and opened
your ears. God didn’t believe for you. That’s hyper Calvinism. And your parents couldn’t
believe for you and your wife couldn’t believe for you. You really did commit your life to Jesus
Christ. Let that be clear on the table. It would be hyper Calvinistic. And we’d be dead in the
water to say, no, I don’t have to decide to follow Christ. No, you’re gonna end up in hell if you
don’t decide to follow Christ.
 
Having said that, on the other side of the coin, it really depends who the preacher is. And what
kind of truth or non-truth you’re sitting under. And if you think that walking forward and
parroting a prayer and signing a card and joining a church and being baptized that in and of
itself will get you to heaven, the answer is no. that is decisional regeneration. That you are
exclusively looking to what you have done physically. Like I got up out of my pew and I
walked forward. That’s a part of my conversion. No, it’s not. Or that I repeated a prayer. I’m a
sinner. I’m a sinner. Jesus savior. Jesus savior. Whatever, whatever. However, I think that there
have been people who have gone – who have walked forward and have been saved. I think there
have been people who have repeated a prayer who have been saved. I mean they were genuinely
under the conviction of the spirit of God. They just happened to be in a church. That’s what was
going on.
 
We have to make a distinction on decisional regeneration. I hate this decisional regeneration.
Having said that, I don’t want to put the whole thing in the same omelet. No, you better decide
to follow Jesus. In your heart. You better commit your life to Christ. You can’t sit back passive
and going, well, God will believe for me. I mean that was the death blow to gospel preaching in
England about three centuries ago. There were some hyper Calvinistic particular Baptists who
really emphasized, yeah, no you were justified in eternity past. No, you weren’t. You were
chosen in eternity past. But you were under the wrath of God until you believed. And you were
justified within time. You weren’t justified in eternity past. No one was justified in eternity past.
 
You’ve got to make careful distinctions. Thank you for asking that cause that kinda tees me up
to be able to give a, I think at times a necessary clarification on that. I mean Jesus really called
people to believe in him. You know. We talked about that Sunday. I am the bread of life. If
anyone comes to me, he shall not hunger. And if anyone believes in me he will never thirst. I
mean that’s something you’re gonna have to do. However, you can’t do it. It’s more inability
until the spirit of God quickens you. And spiritually resurrects you to life.
 
Audience Member:      Why is legalism so attractive and so dangerous for us? Why do we – why
are we so drawn to checking a box?
 
Because legalism lets you reduce your relationship to the Lord to just like checking boxes and
like you’re going on a diet. You can kinda keep things simple and at arm’s length. Legalism
never deals with the heart. Which is the real you. You can just keep it external and I can keep
my Christianity in a little box on Sunday morning. I can do a few things during the week and
I’m okay, you’re okay, we’re all okay let’s keep going. Where in reality, genuine heart religion,
the closer I draw to the Lord the more I realize how far short I am. The further away you are
from the Lord, the better you feel about yourself.
 
It’s kind of a comfort zone Christianity. Legalism. I think the leaders in churches that are
legalistic, that they really have an intimidating control over people. Just like the Pharisees. The
reason the Pharisees were upset with Jesus is Jesus was busting up their power game with the
people. I mean it’s just like in the reformation. Rome got upset because now we’re not in
control anymore. Legalistic leaders can dominate people because you have to live your
Christian life through what I’m saying not through what God is saying. And you just keep
adding rules. Which is what the Pharisees did. I mean the Bible wasn’t enough for them. They
had more rules. And just like people today want to add more rules. And if you’re a good
Christian you won’t do this, you won’t do this, you won’t do that and you won’t do that. And
you’ll do this, this and this and this. Yet none of that’s in the Bible.
 
The hard part is, yeah, one more?
 
Audience Member:      Sorry. Hendriksen says, I heard there was mention that baptism does not
wash away sins but only the blood of Christ. I was reading Acts 22:16 and it says, and now what
do you intend? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins calling on the name of the Lord.
 
Well, grammatically as you look at that, and I don’t have my Greek Bible in front of me so I’ll
just have to give a quick answer on that. Grammatically when the main verb and the participle
and everything is put in place, it is the believing upon Christ is the main thing. The supporting,
subordinate part of that sentence is the being baptized.
 
The other thing I would say to that is is what we talked about earlier. You can’t take one verse
and now interpret the entire rest of the Bible. You’re gonna end up in some really wacky stuff.
You might as well be a foot washing church. You might as well require women to wear head
coverings. I mean we can just keep going down this list. If you just take one passage and read
that into that entire rest of the Bible, you’re reading your Bible backwards. Upside down. In a
dark room. With your eyes closed. With blindfolds on. At midnight. You have to take the wheel
rest of the Bible to bring to bear upon this one verse. And the entire rest of the Bible could not
be any more crystal clear. You ought to be able to be saved in the middle of the desert without
any water. You ought to be able to be saved while you’re being crucified upon a cross. You
ought to be able to be saved in a barrel. You know. The hull of the Mayflower. I mean, you
know wherever you are. Where there’s no water. So that would be my answer to that. Thank
you for the question. But that’s a false gospel. Because that’s a false addition to the truth of the
gospel. The fact is, believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. There’s not a drop
of water in that verse. For by grace you’ve been saved through faith and not of yourselves. It is
the gift of God. Not as a result of works lest any man should boast. There’s not a drop of water
there. We can come up with a thousand verses here. And then one little verse. But if we
grammatically understand what’s the main verb and what’s subordinate it becomes very clear.
But thank you for the question.
 
Audience Member:      And he says thank you for answering.
 
Wow. Well, thank you. do we know where he’s from?
 
Audience Member:      He didn’t say.
 
Okay. Tell him you gotta step out of the darkness and come into the light. We’re not gonna
come after ya. Let us know if you’re watching. And it’s encouraging to us. We actually love to
see – look at your comments. It especially encourages us to know where you’re watching from.
Please let us know that.
 
Let me close with a word of prayer. Father, thank you for the work of your grace within our
heart. That you’ve not just merely massaged the external façade of our life. But that you’ve
done a deep work within us and you have cut us down into our heart and you’ve given us a new
heart. Thank you for this spiritual circumcision that you have performed. I pray that we would
now walk in a manner worthy of our calling. In Christ’s name, Amen.     
 16. Answering Objections - Romans 3:1-8

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

Today, we are in Romans Chapter 3. We've made progress, Romans 3. We're going to be
looking at the first 8 verses. Let me just start with a word of prayer.
 
            Father, as we come to your word now, we ask that you would give us eyes to see what
you have put in your word. I pray your Holy Spirit would teach and guide us into the truth of
your word. I pray that there would be much relevancy that we would see for our own personal
lives. Incorporate this into the very fabric of our being. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
 
            As we look at Romans 3:1-8, this is a final section before Paul will wrap up the entire
section on condemnation. In Chapter 3, beginning in verse 9 and extended to verse 20 is his
summation of total depravity and his summation of the condemnation of the human race. But
before he comes to the summation starting verse 9, in the first 8 verses, he wants to answer
some objections. I've titled this message Answering Objections. And what we learn from this is
every teacher of the word can be easily misunderstood.
 
            Every teacher can be subject to false conclusions that the hearer will draw. Like based
upon – if you say A and B, there are listeners who will get out ahead of you and will assume
wrongly therefore you must be saying D and E. So Paul answers these objections because every
teacher can have his words twisted. Every teacher can have words put into his mouth that he
never said. I have certainly faced that. In my many years of ministry I have answered this in
congregational meetings in front of the entire church as false accusations have been brought
against me regarding things that I have taught and said.
 
I have faced them in elder meetings. I have faced them in deacons meetings. I have faced them
in the lobby. I've faced them in the parking lot. I have faced them all my life. It really goes with
the turf that if you're going to stand up and be a teacher you are a target, and there are people
who do not listen well. There are people who do not think well and they jump to wrong
conclusions based upon what you have said.
 
Well, that was what was happening with the Apostle Paul. In these verses he's put in the
somewhat awkward position of having to answer his critics and to answer imaginary objectors.
It's almost a conversation that's going on between Paul and Paul within himself, but he's getting
it out on the table as if, "I know exactly what some of your people are thinking." But he does
actually know what some of them are thinking and actually will say in verse 7 and 9, "You've
brought some slanderous charges against me and falsely accused me based upon what I have
taught."
 
I want to just read these verses, and when we first read them, they're somewhat difficult to
understand and to get into the flow of thought. Let me begin by reading it and then I want to
give I think a simple framework for these verses. Let me reintroduce you to these verses,
beginning in Romans 3:1:
 
“Then what advantage has the Jew, or what is the benefit of circumcision? Well, great in every
respect. First of all that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. What then as some did not
believe? Their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?
 
Verse 4: May it never be. Rather let God be found true though every man be found a liar as it is
written that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged. But if our
unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who
inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is he? I'm speaking in human terms. May it never be for
otherwise how will God judge the world? But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to his
glory, why am I still being judged as a sinner and why not say as we are slanderously reported
and as some claim that we say, let us do evil that good may come? Their condemnation is just.”
 
Now, just in initial reading of these verses, it's kind of hard to untie the knot here with what's
going on. Here's what's going on. This is a Q-and-A session with the Apostle Paul, question-
and-answer session. Paul is raising the questions that are on the minds of many of the people.
He gets inside of their thinking. I know what you are thinking. Some of it he is simply
anticipating what they're thinking. Some of it he's actually heard what they're thinking.
 
Now, there is a back-and-forth almost like a tennis match here, volley, back-and-forth. Paul will
raise eight questions, and they are in the odd-number verses; verse 1, verse 3, verse 5, verse 7.
There are two questions for each verse; two questions in verse 1, two questions in verse 3, two
questions verse 5, two questions in verse 7. You can see that. These are questions that Paul
knows are being raised. Paul is like an attorney who puts a witness on the stand and will raise
the issues before the other attorney can raise it. So he's in control.
 
The answers are in the even-number verses; verse 2, 4, 6, and 8. There will be eight questions,
four answers. The eight questions come in pairs and the eight questions are in reality four
questions stated twice. There will be a ninth question as Paul will answer a question with a
question, very Jewish. He will answer a question with a question, which is in reality a statement.
That's how the flow of this unravels.
 
I.               FIRST OBJECTION
 
The first objection is in verses 1 and 2, the second objection in verses 3 and 4, third objection in
verses 5 and 6, and the fourth objection in verses 7 and 8. So let's walk through these, and I
think that there's application for us. I have found as I have studied the Bible, sometimes it's
passages like this that appear to be most oblique, most obscure, that once we crack the  nut
yields the greatest blessing because there's a joy of discovery of what's going on here because it
forces us to think. This is one of those. We're going to have to think with the Apostle Paul. It's
not just laying on the surface.
 
Here is the first objection that Paul addresses, beginning in verse 1, and it is that he is being
falsely accused of being against the people of God, against the Jewish people. Like you're anti-
Jewish based upon what he just said, and in Chapter 2, he just said, "If you're Jewish, that's not
going to get you anywhere with God unless you believe in Jesus Christ." Paul's going to address
that now.
 
Beginning in verse 1: I just want to pause for a moment. The word then tells us what is in verses
1 through 8 is in response to what he's just said. It's in response really to verses 17 to 29 in the
previous chapter. "Then what advantage has the Jew?" What profit is it to be a Jew if just being
Jew does not guarantee your salvation? What good was that to be Jewish if just being Jewish
doesn't automatically mean salvation?
 
He then follows up with a second question," And what advantage of the Jew," that really
addresses verses 17 to 24 in the previous chapter. Now he goes to circumcision, which is a
follow-up verses 25 to 29 in the previous chapter of what benefit or what is the benefit of
circumcision. I mean, Paul has just belabored this that circumcision does not say. Circumcision
is only a symbol and a sign. Circumcision is simply the cutting of the human body but it does
nothing for the soul. What advantage was that?
 
Paul can anticipate that people are going to construe and misconstrue that Paul is against the
Jew and Paul is against what the Old Testament required for their circumcision. That's what's on
the table. And we could ask the same question this way for us. So what advantage was it to
grow up in a Christian family if that doesn't guarantee your salvation? What advantage is it that
you went to a Christian school if that doesn't put you in the kingdom of God? What advantage is
it for you to go to a good church, a Bible teaching church, if you can be in church where the
word of God is being preached and you still are not saved? What was that advantage?
 
I think that's a question that every one of us should ask ourselves. Paul will answer that, and he
gives actually a positive answer in verse 2. He goes, "Great. That's what the advantage is, great
in every respect." It's a huge advantage Paul says to be Jewish and to be subject to even
circumcision. He now explains. He goes, "First of all now this is number one on the list," and
it's so number one on the list, he never even gets to number two, three, four, or five. He just is
stuck on number one.
 
First of all “they”, referring to the Jew who is circumcised, were entrusted with the oracles of
God. The oracles of God refer to the Bible. It refers to the Old Testament. It refers to special
revelation. It refers to the message of the Gospel and the way of salvation made known to you.
Paul says, "It was an enormous advantage that you grew up hearing the word of God because
you cannot be saved unless you know the Gospel, unless you've heard the truth." Paul answers
this first objection that he is even maybe anti-Semitic, being anti-Jewish to say that, "Well, just
being a Jew doesn't make you a Christian." Well, the application for us is, "Hey, just being a
Baptist doesn't get you in Heaven. Just being a Presbyterian doesn't get you anywhere as far as
the kingdom of God."
 
Let me just add going to a Bible teaching church doesn't get you into Heaven. But it does give
you a great advantage because you have now had an exposure to the truth of the Gospel and you
are responsible to believe in the Gospel but an advantage and a profit has been afforded unto
you that other people have not had. You have had an advantage of all advantages because you
have been exposed to the truth.
 
Before I move on, I just want to make a very simple statement. The mere fact that you're in this
Bible study is an enormous blessing from God that this very millisecond you are exposed to that
which billions of people in the world have never heard. You are in a very privileged place that
you have access to this book and for this book to be opened and to be explained to you. This is
the first objection that Paul has to answer. He's not down on being Jewish. He is saying, "Wow,
you've had an advantage that the Egyptians never had, that the Babylonians didn't have, that the
Assyrians didn't have, that the Romans didn't have until the Gospel finally was there, but the
Aztecs never had, the Eskimos never had, that" – I mean, we can just go around the globe.
 
Before we move on, let's just pause here and really internalize this. Most of you in this room go
to churches were there's a pastor who stands up with an open Bible and who reads the text and
explains the text and applies the text. Most of you go to a Sunday school class or some kind of
teaching beyond the pulpit in which the word of God is made known to you. You are privileged.
You are the tip of the iceberg and the whole rest of the human race is submerged below water
level. You are blessed and favored by God, just like the Jew who had the oracles of God
entrusted to him. That's the first objection Paul addresses.
 
II.             SECOND OBJECTION
 
Now let's move onto the second. In verse 1 was the objection and two questions. The answer is
in verse 2. As we come to now to verse 3, here is the second objection, and it is stated in two
questions. What then if some did not believe? The some referred to Jews. We're still in this
context of talking about those who were born according to the flesh as sons of Abraham. If
some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?
 
Now here's what's going on behind this question. God has promised in his word that he will save
Jews. That's a part of the Abrahamic covenant. I mean, that is going back to Abraham and God
saving Abraham and God saving a remnant in every generation down through the Old
Testament there have been those that God has saved. Israel was to take this message to the
world. However, the majority of the nation of Israel has been in unbelief, have been apostate.
The entire generation in the wilderness wandering was basically lost and unconverted.
 
Does that therefore mean that the word of God has failed? Does that therefore mean, as Verse 3
would raise the question, that the faithfulness of God to his own word and to his promises has
failed? That was a question in the first century that needed to be addressed because that was the
very generation that crucified the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
Paul's answer in verse 4 is a very important answer. He says, "May it never be." In the Greek
language, it is [Greek], which is the strongest, most emphatic no that there could possibly be in
the Greek language. It is a, "No way, not at all". It's a dogmatic negative. It is an emphatic
negative, "May it never be." And what may never be is that God is not faithful to his word and
faithful to his promises. He says, "May it never be." Rather, meaning on the other hand, let God
be found true though every man be found a liar. And what he is saying is God will fulfill all of
his promises to the Jewish people though every man in the entire world was to say that God is
unfaithful to his word. All that matters is what God says. It doesn't matter what man says.
 
That's the argument that Paul is setting forth. That's an important truth for us to be reminded. It
doesn't matter what the opinion Paul will say. It doesn't matter what the majority say. The
majority have always been wrong. The majority has never been right. All that matters is what
does God say. And as you and I live our Christian lives, we are easily squeezed into the mold of
the thinking of this world. And we must remember that even if the entire world was to speak
with one voice and God was to say what was contrary, God is true and the whole world is full of
liars. That's how faithful God is to his word, the integrity of the word of God.
 
That is what Paul is addressing here because Paul has said in Chapter 2, "Well, Israel is lost
without Christ." What? Is God not going to keep his word? Paul just – he just cuts that off. He
just nips that in the bud and he says, "Listen, before we go any further with that kind of foolish
talk, you just need to understand if the whole world were to speak with one voice and God alone
said something is true, just be assured God is true and the whole world is full of liars." We just
need to know what God says. It is impossible as Titus 1:1 says for God to lie or verse 2, Titus
1:2.
 
May it never be. Rather, let God be found true, verse 4, though every man be found a liar. Now
Paul quotes from the Old Testament, which is kind of an interesting way to make his point. He
now quotes from scripture to show that scripture is true. As it is written – and he now quotes
Psalm 51:4, that you, referring to God, may be justified in your words; justified here means to
be proven to be right; and prevail when you are judged. What he is saying here, God's word will
prevail in judgment on the last day, not what man says or what man misconstrues. Every
judgment will be according to the word of God.
 
The application for us is very self-apparent: what confidence we should have in the word of
God and how reliable and how faithful are the words of God. And as we live our Christian lives
and as we chart the course for the path that we follow, all that matters is what does God say on
any matter whatsoever. I know that you believe that. That's why you're in a Bible study and
you're not off at a coffee shop someplace pooling people on what they think about a particular
issue. That's the second objection that Paul addresses.
 
III.           THIRD OBJECTION
 
Now, we move on now to the third objection, and that is found in verse 5. It is an objection that
people are assuming that Paul is making against the righteousness of God. The first one was
against the people of God. The second one was against the word of God or the faithfulness of
God. This is now – Paul's having to answer what people are assuming that he is attacking the
righteousness of God. Here's the objection in verse 5. It, again, comes in the form of two
questions. This now anticipates the imaginary objector. This anticipates what his critics are
saying.
 
If our unrighteousness, meaning the sin and the unbelief of the Jewish people; demonstrates the
righteousness of God, meaning enhances the glory of God. Now this is just a really nutty logic
that if our sin brings glory to God then why don't we just sin more if God's glorified in
everything. If God's even glorified in and through sin and the damnation of sinners then why
don't we just sin all the more? And he will address this later in chapter 6. What shall we say, and
the we refers to the imaginary objector. He's, in essence, quoting them.
 
The God who inflicts wrath; he's now quoting the imaginary objector again; is not unrighteous,
is he? Some were drawing the conclusion that God's judgment is unjust and that God's wrath is
unjust because if God's righteousness is demonstrated in man's unrighteousness then how can
God be righteous to pour out his righteous judgment? How can man be responsible is really the
logic. I understand that these are kind of dense verses. But that's the track that he's on. Then in
parentheses, Paul says, "I'm speaking human terms," meaning human logic. It's not divine
reasoning. It's human logic would come to that conclusion.
 
Paul answers that now in Verse 6, and he says it again what he said in verse 3 or what he said in
verse 4; may it never be. Paul just like brings the sledgehammer down on that faulty argument.
And, "May it never be," could be translated nonsense with an exclamation point. God forbid,
may it never be, for otherwise how will God judge the world? Then God would be barred from
judging the world following your logic that _____ the unrighteousness of man enhances the
righteousness of God then God could never judge and fairly and justly and rightly. He says,
"May it never be because God will unleash his judgment on all unbelieving Jews, just like all
unbelieving Gentiles."
 
IV.          FOURTH OBJECTION
 
Let there be no mistake, there's no special category for anyone to be who will escape the
judgment of God who is outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the third objection. Now the
fourth objection is in verse 7, and it, too, comes in the form of two questions. And it is a
supposed attack by Paul against the holiness of God. So in verse 7: But if through my lie the
truth of God abounded to his glory, in other words, if the more I tell lies that just causes God's
truth to stand out even more. It's the old illustration of the black velvet backdrop and the
sparkling diamond; the darker the velvet black drop the more the diamond sparkles.
 
The objection that is being raised against Paul, and in fact, in verse 7 it is so serious that it's not
an imaginary objection. This is what people are actually slandering against Paul and falsely
accusing Paul of teaching. Now, Paul's never said this, but people are not connecting the dots
correctly on his teaching. Look at verse 7 again: But if through my lie the truth of God
abounded to his glory, in other words, if my sin glorifies God, if the more a person lies the more
the truth of God is enhanced, he answers that or the logical conclusion is why am I also still
being judged as a sinner. Why does God still want to judge me if my sin would bring greater
glory to God because it's in such stark contrast with who God is? I mean, it's really bizarre how
some people will take your teaching and then extend it out to false conclusions and then lay that
at your feet.
 
It's almost hard to get into the mind of verses 1, 3, 5, and 7 because people have so exaggerated
what Paul has taught as found in chapters 1 and 2 that it's hard to actually get into the mind of
these questions because they're so far away from the truth and so far away from what Paul was
saying yet nevertheless that's the reality of the jungle that Paul's having to hack his way through.
 
Verse 8: And why not say – and in parentheses, as we are slandered; slanderously reported and
as some claim that we say; you know, you just can't stop the rumor mill and you just cannot stop
people talking behind your back and you cannot stop people's erroneous thinking when they are
away from you and how it's exasperated when they come together and talk among themselves,
which only intensifies how far away they are drifting from what the teacher actually said and
the truth that was put forward. They actually have a leverage principle at work as they talk
among themselves, they're just getting further and further away from actually the sound
teaching that was being said.
 
And I know that. For example, any time I teach on let's say the doctrine of sovereign election,
people – "Oh, he's anti-evangelism. He's anti-missions. He's anti-prayer. He's anti-personal
holiness. He's anti human responsibility." No, I never said that. I never even implied that. I
never even came close to implying that. But people will take what you say and then come to
wrong conclusions. Then as they talk among themselves they catapult themselves further away
from the truth until it comes to such a point they actually slander the teacher because they've
gotten so far away from what his words even actually were and, quite frankly, they weren't even
well-taught enough to be able to rightly connect what he was saying.
 
There were so many gaps in their understanding they were incapable in being entrusted with
what they were hearing. They were like little children playing with a loaded revolver. I mean,
they knew enough to be dangerous because they were drawing wrong conclusions based upon
the truth that was being taught. That's the dynamic of what's going on here. I do understand in
these verses it's kind of hard to get into the middle of Paul's thinking because it's kind of like
some of us may be thinking, "Well, who in the world would think that?" I mean that's, as Jay
Vernon McGee would say, "stinking thinking." I mean, that's just so far off. That's just – this is
hypothetical, isn't it? No, it's not hypothetical. Paul wouldn't waste eight versus in the book of
Romans to talk about something that's superfluous.
 
There's only so much – everything's important. This was obviously important enough that it
finds itself in the book of Romans that every time this book is opened there it is teaching every
generation down through the centuries of these erroneous, false conclusions that people come to
based upon sound teaching and based upon sound doctrine.
 
Back to verse 8, Paul will answer at the end of verse 8. In fact, Paul answers so abruptly that he
really doesn't even want to honor the bad question. The questions are so bad that he doesn't want
to waste ink to answer them. It's kind of like what he does in Romans chapter 9. He just cuts off,
you know, how does he still find fault – who are you, oh man, to answer back to God? Paul just
abruptly cuts off in Romans 9 this imaginary objector. That's what he does here.
 
He gives the answer to the two questions that are in verse 7 and then in verse 8, their
condemnation is just. Now we would ask the question who's condemnation. The people that are
asking these stupid questions, that's who's condemnation is just. In other words, don't lay this at
my feet. This is laid at their feet. This isn't a reflection on me. This is a reflection on them. Their
condemnation is just meaning they will be judged by God for such foolish, misunderstood,
misconstrued conclusions. Paul just cuts it off right here and just, in essence, this is the end of
this discussion. I have nothing more to say other than to turn you over to God and their
condemnation is just.
 
I understand that these are kind of challenging verses. They are for me if that's any comfort to
you to get into the argument that Paul is making before he will bring his summation, which we
will look at next time in verse 9. Let me wrap this up and I'm going to open it up for questions
and comments and insight. But here's the application- the so what. I've already said it but I –
some of these – but I want to make sure we get it.
 
Number one, how privileged you and I are to have been taught the word of God. I am in awe
that God has so favored me that I have grown up in a Christian family with Christian parents
and was exposed through Christian ministries and sound churches the truth of the word of God.
Lets us not let that pass our notice this morning. The argument that he makes here with the Jew
is the same argument to be made for each and every one of us. We are on an island of truth in
the midst of an ocean of lies and apostacy. I mean, we're like on a tiny, little island in the Pacific
Ocean, an island of truth in the midst of an ocean of lies and apostacy. What a privileged, small,
little plot of land we're on. We're not the only one, and God has a remnant. But relatively
speaking in this world right now, I don't know that we can fully comprehend how privileged we
are. That's number one.
 
You need to thank God that in the goodness of his providence he has put you in Dallas, Texas,
United States of America and given you access to churches and Bible studies where the truth is
being made known to you.
 
Second, I want to remind you of how trustworthy this word of God is, that God is true, and let
every man be found a liar who disagrees with God. All that matters is what does God have to
say. A one-word synonym for truth is reality. It's the way things really are. And the way things
really are is what God says in his word. Man is what God says man is. Sin is what God says sin
is. Salvation is what God says salvation is. Salvation is received as God says it is to be received.
Heaven and Hell is what God says Heaven and Hell is. The final judgment is what God says the
final judgment is.
 
That is reality. And anything that disagrees with the word of God is a lie. It is a lie from the pit
of Hell. That's the second thing that we take from this. The third is the certainty of the wrath of
God. And that's how Paul began this whole section in chapter 1, verse 18, and he comes back to
it now in verse 5 and 6, but God is the God who inflicts wrath. Hell is not air conditioned. Hell
is a real place that will go on forever, and the vengeance and the fury of an angry God will be
poured out with full vengeance, unmitigated vengeance, upon damned souls in Hell forever and
ever and ever.
 
The final thing is their condemnation is just. We see that at the end of verse 8. All of God's
judgments are right and they are true. There is never any injustice with God. There's never any
inequitable handling that God carries out with sinners. It is always an eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth. The punishment will always fit the crime perfectly. That's what an eye for an eye
and a tooth for a tooth means, and it's still in effect, that there will be perfect justice and
judgment administered by God on the last day. And their judgment and condemnation is just.
 
This is this kind of a difficult section, these are difficult verses. They're still a challenge to me in
some ways to totally wrap my mind around what all is going on here. I have more questions
than I have answers. But what I have said is true. So let me open this up for any questions or
thoughts, any down there your way, Jonathan? Okay, good.
 
Audience:        I'll go ahead and throw the first one out. Yeah, this is from Karen Sacoley. She
says, "Why is it so hard for so many Jews to accept Jesus is the messiah and the savior? Why do
they insist their messiah is still to come?"
 
Well, first of all, as we will learn later in the book of Romans that God has blinded their eyes
and deafened their ears and put a veil over them as his just judgment for rejecting the prophets
and for crucifying the messiah. They are in a place of hardened reprobation. There will yet be a
day when all Israel will be saved according to Romans 11. And that is yet future. But it is God's
just judgment for rejecting the light that has already been given to them.
 
            In addition to that, it's just the doctrine of total depravity. The same could be said of the
Gentiles. Why do Gentiles reject the Lord Jesus Christ and why do people in Dallas, Texas
reject Christ? It's because of the hardness of their own hearts and it's because of the radical
corruption of the human nature. So thank you for that question. Yeah. Someone else? Anyone
around the table even?
 
Audience:        What it be accurate to say that these objectors or these are not honest, well-
meaning objections; they're willful rejection of the truth, particularly when Paul is noting their
condemnation is just?
 
Yeah.
 
Audience:        I mean, it's not just stupid questions by people seeking the truth. Is that
correct?
 
Yeah. I think you're correct on that, David, especially as we get to verse 8 where we see that
they are slanderous. Their condemnation is just. This is not an innocent little discussion, how
many angels can dance on the head of a needle type of thing. These are people who are
intentionally evasive and pushing away from the truth, which is why Paul must stop and address
this because it's not mere innocent discussion. Yeah. Thank you. And I think your observation
helps clarify even a little bit more clearly what's being said here. Yeah. As I started looking at
these verses starting in verse 1, I didn't get the knockout punch until I got to verse 8.
 
            It starts off seemingly innocent. And then as you get to verse 8, it's like, "Oh wow,
there's a depth here that I did not initially see." Yeah. Someone else? Thank you for that?
 
Audience:        You want another one from comments?
 
Yeah.
 
Audience:        We've got Paul Von Buren Ruiz from Venezuela.
 
Tremendous.
 
Audience:        It's a bit of a longer question. But he says, "Does verse 6 have to do with the
Armenians' objection which attacked the doctrines of grace on the base that God would be
unfair to select people to go to Hell no matter what they do because they just simply were not
elect before the foundation of the world? How can we answer to that objection?
 
Yeah. I think Paul does address that in Romans 9. At the very center of Romans 9, becomes an
extension of this same argument in verse 6 and answer in verse 6. Then how can he still find
fault is what he will say in Romans 9. But the answer to that is man is 100 percent responsible
for all the choices and decisions he makes while at the same time God is 100 percent sovereign.
Therein lies the tension of mystery, an unresolved mystery, but we cannot throw the baby out
with the bathwater anymore than we could be confront – every major doctrine has this same
tension. I mean, let's just take the hypostatic union of Christ. He was truly God yet truly man.
You go, "Well, that's impossible and how he could be fully God yet fully man?" Well, he is.
And you can't discard one in favor of the other or you're a bona fide heretic.
 
You have to accept both though in our finite mind how can it be both. Well, just trust me it is.
Or we could say, "How can there be one God who exists in three persons?" You know, it's the
old thing, define the Holy Trinity and you use your mind. Deny the Holy Trinity and you'll lose
your soul. I mean, we can't totally wrap our mind around how God is one yet three, yet he is. Or
who wrote the book of Romans. Well, you say Paul wrote it. Well, I thought it was the word of
God. Well, it is the word of God. It's both. Well, how can it be both? Did Paul write one word
and then God write the second word and Paul write the third and then God the fourth? No. It's
100 percent God-briefed, yet Paul with his vocabulary, with his personality, with his
temperament wrote it.
 
It's the same with this. I mean, how can God be sovereign and judge sin and yet man at the same
time be held accountable for his choices and in a strange way God is glorified even in the
judgment of sin because he puts his wrath on display and he puts his vengeance on display.
Well, you know, we can't cut off one for the other. We have to believe the full counsel of God
and put our arms around it all and be content to live with some degree of tension. These lines
intersect far above our head. But that's a great question that we just had there from Venezuela.
So thank you for your question. Someone else?
 
Audience:        There are three things that really jump out at me. Number one, you're right
about the privilege. You talked about growing up in a Christian home, going to a church where
the word of God is expounded. I think all of us around the room could go – could tell the path
looking backwards at why were are here now.
 
Audience:        Some of us didn't grow up in a Christian home. Some of us didn't go to a
church where the word of God was expounded. And it's just a beautiful picture to praise the
Lord of his providence how he has guided us on this often not straight path to where we are
now.
 
Yeah.
 
Audience:        I think that you cannot echo the point enough how blessed we are. Number
two, it's interesting the logic of the unsaved mind, the logic of the depravity of man. It makes no
sense. And all the wisdom that is eternal his hidden in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's revealed in the
Lord Jesus Christ.
 
Yeah.
 
Audience:        And it's so interesting how we see it on display in life every day. We see
people that are rational creatures. They're smart. But they make utter foolish, eternally-damning
decisions because there is no light. There is no spiritual light. There is no indwelling of the Holy
Spirit. And the third point is the arrogance of man. And when I say the arrogance of man, as if
our opinion on what God should do, what is just, and what isn't just, if it has any bearing on the
reality of God. We're the creature and we're telling – we're defining the creator, the infinite, and
the almighty, and we're approaching God as if somehow our opinion or our actions are going to
affect him. It's so arrogant and prideful. It's lowering God to our level.
 
Right.
 
Audience:        But then you see in Isaiah 6 when a vision of the Lord is seen, Isaiah drops and
he says, "Woe is me."
 
No, that's very good, Mark. I love all three of those observations and insights. And, yeah, I'm
just still processing in my mind even what David said earlier. I'm just still thinking about Verse
8. I can't get Verse 8 out of my mind that Verse 8 really ends up being like the interpretive key
to understand the tone and the trajectory of what's being kind of thrown at Paul as he's having to
answer. And then, Mark, what you said about just unbelievers and the irrational, illogical
conclusions to which they come based upon when they hear certain Christian truths and they
take that to ridiculous conclusions. As the old saying, sin makes you stupid, I mean sin will
always lead you to draw wrong conclusions from what little truth you hear.
 
            And what you and David have said have actually helped even clarify it in my mind even
better what all – the dynamic of what's going on here. Yeah, and it's interesting the placement of
this at the end of this section before he does the summation. It's almost like someone preaching
a sermon and then after the sermon is over just opening it up for questions from the floor. But
Paul opens it up, but there's no microphone out there. Paul just asks the question himself based
upon these slanderous reports that have come to him of conclusions that people are drawing. So
it's just an interesting section to me. Yeah.
 
Audience:        I was just going to say just piggybacking off of that, I heard a lecture the other
day from Dr. R.C. Sproul. He was talking about how you have kind of two sides of the spectrum
some of the greatest minds in human history reach two vastly different conclusions. You have
believers who have come and they've embraced the full counsel of God's word and submitted
themselves to it, unbelievers who don't and they flat out reject it, brilliant minds.
 
What he said that I thought was fascinating was when you start with a foundation that there is
no God and you build that on a lie, the more consistent you are moving forward from there the
further and further away you get and the more you're going to distort your own worldview and
things just won't make sense because there's no cohesion. You've built your foundation on
quicksand essentially instead of the foundation of God's truth.
 
I just kind of see that with these distortions in the text. It seems like the further along you get
throughout the text the distortions grow, grow, grow, grow. It's just the inconsistency if you
have an unbelieving worldview or an unbelieving frame of mind, you have no choice but to get
to those crazy conclusions because if you're consistent that's where you're going to end up at. So
I've thought that was kind of –
 
Yeah, no, that is a very good observation. And there really may be a progression here of going
further and further away from the truth even from the first to the second to the third to the fourth
objection, straying further and further away. No, that's excellent. I like that. Allen, what were
you going to say?
 
Audience:        What I was going to say about your application that we're privileged but it is a
tremendous responsibility that we have. We've been entrusted with the scriptures. And now if
we do not remember and stay put on the idea or the reality that all that matters is what God says,
we are in danger of folding like many denominations and many churches have that they have
been entrusted with scripture and they have caved to the pressures of being inclusive and being
more open to change. And now all of a sudden what is wrong is correct and they preach that
from the pulpit and that's the danger. We all have that – we're all in that danger because the
world is coming after us and if we don't stand firm on the reality of scripture, if we do not
remember the wrath is coming and that whatever the judgment of God is just, we'll be no better
than those who have folded the facts.
 
That is very good that with this privilege comes great responsibility and a responsibility to hold
the line and drop anchor and not move. And it doesn't matter what the denomination says. It
doesn't matter what the world says. All that matters is what does the word of God say. And if
you're in disagreement with the word of God then you're just all a bunch of liars because God is
true. So I think that's a good place for us to wrap this up. But, Allen, thank you for that.
 
            Well, I'm looking at my friend the clock here and we actually do have a clock now.
We're going to be here in two weeks. I'm going to be gone to Germany next week to
Wittenberg, Martin Luther, and preaching there. So I'll be gone for a week, be back in two
weeks, and we'll put a bow on this whole section as Paul will summarize this entire section on
condemnation. And it is the signature text in the entire Bible on total depravity from the top of
man's head to the bottom of his feet, every inch, every ounce, his eyes, his ears, his mouth, his
feet, his hands, the poison of sin has permeated the entirety of his being.
 
            So that's what we're going to look at next time. It is the black velvet backdrop that this
diamond is going to be placed and it's going to be so bright and so sparkling that we're going to
be in awe that a God would be this gracious and this loving to such undeserving rebels as we
are. That's what we'll look at in two weeks. Thank you for joining us via our live stream. And
I'll look forward to seeing you in two weeks.
 
            Let me just close in prayer. God, thank you for this study. Weave it into our hearts and
soul. Cause the seed to grow. In Christ's name, amen.
 17. The Final Verdict- Romans 3:9-20

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

We're in Romans, chapter 3. We're beginning in verse 9, and if we can do this, we're going to go
through verse 20. This is Paul's summation for everything that he has said to this point in this
first major section of the book of Romans, which the one word that summarizes this first
section, is condemnation. Beginning in chapter 1, verse 18, is the final crescendo of this section.
There is no good news until we know what the bad news is. There is no understanding of
salvation until you understand what you have to be saved from. That's what this opening section
is. Beginning in verse 9, Paul presents this as a courtroom. The one who is being prosecuted is
the entire human race. The judge, the jury, and the prosecutor is God, Himself. Paul is simply
the court reporter. This is actually God's prosecution of the entire human race. The evidence that
is being submitted is the entire Old Testament. It is the law of God. It is the standard by which
the entire human race is measured and the verdict is guilty as charged. The entire human race is
under condemnation. No one is excused. There is no court of higher appeal. The verdict is
irrevocable and fixed.
 
As we look at these verses, this is how it lays out. In verse 9 is the charge. In verses 10 through
18 is the case. And in verses 19 and 20 is the condemnation. First Paul will make the charge on
behalf of God. Then he will bring his case, and he will present the evidence. It's irrefutable
evidence. And then, finally, the condemnation, which is the verdict of the court. This is a
dramatic ending to this opening section.
 
I.               The Charge
 
Paul begins in verse 9 with the charge. The charge is at the end of verse 9, but there is a build
up. What then? He asks the question. What more needs to be said? What more could be said
than what he has already presented? And then he says, "Are we better than they?" The “we” …
there's a difference of opinion here, whether the we refers to Jews, or the we is an editorial we,
Paul and all the believers in Rome. I think in the context it refers to the later. And this is really a
minor point, but it really shows how to do Bible study.
 
If you look in the previous verse, verse 8, we is used twice. "We are slanderously reported, and
as some claim, that we say." Now we come to verse 9. "Are we better than they?" In context,
Bible study is just like real estate. Location, location, location. The we here, I think, pulls down
from verse 8 to verse 9, and Paul is saying, "Are we Christians, we believers, are we any better
than those who are not Christians, not believers?" And he says, "Not at all." In other words, any
difference in us is only by the grace of God. It's not that we're better, inherently or internally,
than anyone else.
 
"What then? Are they better … are we better than they? Not at all, for we have already
charged," and he's pointing back now to chapters 1, 2, and the first part of 3. "For we have
already charged that both Jews and Greeks," and when he says Jews and Greeks, he's putting his
arms around the entire human race. Every person who has ever been born in the history of the
world, going all the way back to the first man who was formed by the hand of God and God
breathed life in him. "For we have already charged," and the charge here, it's a legal charge.
"For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin." There's no other line
to get in. There's no other category. This is the entire human race under sin. To be under sin
means to be under the penalty of sin, to be under the power of sin, and to be under the pollution
of sin. To be under sin is to be enslaved to sin, and to be dominated by sin. You're under the
tyranny of sin. You're under the domination of sin, and you're under the condemnation of sin.
It's as if you're under the whole pile, and you cannot get out from underneath it by your own
efforts.
 
This is where it begins. It will be repeated in verse 23 when he says, "All have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God. This is the charge. Now, lest there be anyone who would disagree
with this charge, Paul now makes his case. And really, the case is God's case, because what Paul
will now do, in verses 10 through 18, is he will throw out a litany of Old Testament citations.
The reason that he does so is twofold, in quoting the Old Testament here. Number one, to show
this is not Paul's case. This is God's case. He's quoting the word of God. This is not Paul's
opinion. This is not Paul's thoughts. This is not even the voice of society or culture. This is
God's prosecution. This is God's case against the human race.
 
II.             The Case
 
The second reason that Paul quotes from the Old Testament is to show that this case and
prosecution is nothing new. That this has been embedded in Old Testament scripture all along.
This is simply an echo, or a repetition of the case that has already been submitted in the court.
Now, as Paul quotes these Old Testament verses, there's some eight Old Testament verses.
Some of them, for example, Psalm 14, 1-3, is repeated in Psalm 53, 1-3. There's actually more
Old Testament verses being quoted here than what initially meets the eye. If you have a
reference Bible, you'll see the references out in the margin. Paul is just bringing witness after
witness after witness to the stand. In reality, this is God bringing these witnesses to the stand.
What we have here, in verses 10 through 18, is the supreme signature passage for the total
depravity of the human condition. This is the go to text, the go to passage for total depravity.
 
Now, I would imagine most of you around this table have heard this theological label, total
depravity. Some refer to it as radical corruption. When we say total depravity, what we mean is
that depravity has extended to the totality of the human condition. From the top of your head to
the bottom of your feet, every inch and every ounce of you has become poisoned with the
deadly venom of sin. Total depravity does not mean that every person is as totally depraved in
their lifestyle as they could possibly be. Some people, such as a Hitler reach a far greater
expression of evil than an unconverted grandmother. However, total depravity means that
Adam's sin nature has been passed down to the entire human race, and that it has now radically
corrupted the mind, the heart, and the will, every inch and every ounce of humanity such that
the mind is unable to think properly, and for any person to come up with their own
understanding of how bad off they are, apart from divine intervention. The heart loves what it
should hate, and it hates what it should love. That is the mark of total depravity.
 
Now, there are some Christians who think, "Okay, the mind and the heart are affected by sin.
But the will is still free." That is such a naive understanding of the Bible that it barely warrants a
comment. The will is simply a handmaiden of the mind and the heart. Wherever the mind and
the heart is, the will follows. The will never operates independent of the mind and the heart. The
will is the tail. The tail is not wagging the dog. The tail is simply following in behind the head
and the torso. Wherever the mind, and wherever the heart, the affections, desires go, the will
then always makes choices in accordance to the affections and to the mind. The will is not an
island out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The entire human nature is the Pacific Ocean, but
the will is unaffected by sin, and it is untainted and can somehow operate independent of the
mind and the affections.
 
What we have here is Paul's masterful use of the Old Testament to build his case one brick at a
time, as he makes now this insurmountable case. I want to just give you a walk through this
before we walk through it more carefully. In verse 11 he speaks of the mind and the heart. In
verse 12 he speaks of the will. In verse 13 he speaks of the throat, the tongue, and the lips. In
verse 14 he speaks of the mouth. In verses 15 through 17 he speaks of feet. In verse 18 he
speaks of eyes. Do you see that? You can just draw a circle around all the different parts of the
body, and they are representative of human faculty. It speaks of the human condition. It speaks
of the human character. It speaks of the human conversation that flows out of the character. It
speaks of the human choices that are the result of the character.
 
This is a comprehensive autopsy of the spiritually dead sinner. This board table, if we were to
take a dead corpse and just lay the corpse out on this board table, and start at the head and work
our way down to the feet where every different body part represents some aspect of the human
personality and the human nature, this is from A to Z. This is from coast to coast. This is from
the top of the head to the bottom of the feet. There is nothing left out. That's why we say total
depravity. There's not one leg over here that's not dead and on the table. There's not some limb
that has somehow not been poisoned by the venom of sin. It's like taking a glass of water and
having a syringe, and injecting cyanide into the glass of water. That cyanide will permeate the
whole of the glass. There will not be any part of the glass of water that is not poisoned by the
cyanide.
 
When you and I were born, when we were conceived in the womb, the sin nature of Adam was
injected into you and me, like a snake with its fangs, and injecting the venom and the poison
into the victim. And we came into this world with every faculty of our innermost being already
now poisoned by sin. This is a devastating case.
 
Let's just walk through this. Paul intentionally states most of these in the negative. There will be
six negatives and one positive. And even the positive is negative, because the positive is the
word all, A-L-L. The negatives, he says, none and not six times. And it's just a direct quotation
from the Old Testament. For any of us who would argue with this -and I'm sure none of us
around this table would argue with this- but for anyone who would argue with this, your
argument is with God. Paul is simply the court reporter. God is the prosecutor, and God is the
jury, and God is the judge. This is God's courtroom.
 
Let's just walk our way through this. He begins by quoting the Old Testament. He says, "There
is none righteous, not even one." Excuse me, I said six negatives. There are seven. I missed the
second one in verse 10, "note even one." I overlooked a not. There's none righteous. There
could not be a more comprehensive statement than this. Not one single person meets the divine
standard to gain acceptance with God. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The
word righteous means conformity to a standard. "There is none righteous." Then to be even
more emphatic, God's word adds, "not even one." There is no exception. By the way, just a
footnote, this is why Jesus had to be born of a virgin, so that the deadly fang of sin and its
venom would not be injected into him. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, not by Joseph.
Therefore, God had prepared a body for him, and he had all of the faculties of human nature, it
was without sin.
 
"There is none righteous, not even one." This is like what we call a topic sentence in a
paragraph. It's like the umbrella over the whole. He almost starts with the bottom line. "There is
none righteous, not even one." Now he begins to walk through this, step by step. He goes to the
mind. He says, "There is none who understands." There is none who understands their human
condition before God. There is none who truly understands how guilty and condemned they are
before God. There is none who understands that their only way of escaping is by the grace of
God. There is none who understands how holy God is, and how sinful they are. There mind
cannot function. It doesn't matter how smart they are. It doesn't matter how high their IQ is.
They may be a professor at the university, and writing the textbooks, and be the most brilliant
person in their zip code. But they don't get it. They do not understand, spiritually. In earthly
matters, they can be a brainiac but in spiritual matters, their mind and their brain cannot
understand.
 
Just for one cross reference, I Corinthians 2 verse 14 says, "For a natural man does not accept
the things of the spirit, for they are foolishness to him." The word foolish comes from Greek
word that we derive the English word moron. That you have no mental capacity to process the
data and the information of divine revelation that is being put before you. And now listen. He
cannot understand them. You know the difference between may and can. May is a word of
permission, can is a word of ability. Paul says, "He cannot understand him." He can't. You're
describing a sunset to a blind man. You are describing a symphony to a deaf person. They can't
see it, they can't hear it, they can't understand it, because they are spiritually appraised.
 
Paul begins with the mind. Everything begins with the mind. Then, he moves to the heart.
"There is none who seeks for God." To seek God is representative of a desire for God, a love for
God, a passion for God. There's none who seeks for God. By the way, this includes every false
religion, as well. People sometimes say, "Oh, they're so sincere, as they're seeking God in their
own way." No they're not. They're running away from God as fast as they can, and they have
succumbed to this idol, which is their way of running away from the one true living God who
has created all that there is. "There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside." This
verb, turned aside, means to lean in another direction. And the idea is, you're going in the wrong
direction on the wrong path. This, as Jesus will say in Matthew 7, is the broad path that is
headed for destruction.
 
Sin will always make you stupid. Sin will always cause you to make the worst decisions,
spiritually speaking. Here is the autopsy of the spiritually dead sinner, and he always makes the
wrong choice. He always turns aside and away from God. Now, he may know how to pick a
good house to live in. He may know how to match up his tie with his suit. He may know how to
do math as a CPA. But spiritual choices, he will always and inevitably make the wrong
decision, because his wires are not connected. He is spiritually dead. Then, he goes on to say,
"Together," and the word together has this summation feel of the entire human race. "Together
they have become useless."
 
Useless is a very intentionally demeaning word. You are totally, completely useless. As it
relates to the kingdom of God, as it relates to eternal things, you make zero contribution
whatsoever. Jesus, in Luke 14, will compare it to dung. It's not even useful for the dung pile.
The word useless here means worthless. It was used to describe milk that has turned sour, that
no one could drink or take in. Then he says, "There is none who does good." None. Now, you
may help old ladies across the street, and horizontally you may occasionally do some charitable
things. But from God's perspective, everything that you do is useless, as it relates to
commending yourself to God, and gaining God's approval. Then he adds this emphatic, at the
end of verse 14, "There is not even one."
 
This is one proof that the Bible is the word of God, because man would not condemn himself
like this. Man will always try to present himself better than what he is. Man will always over
promise and under deliver. Man will always buy high, sell low. Man will always try to dress
himself up better than what he is. This indictment of the entire human race shows that this has to
be the word of God, because no man would bring this condemnation upon himself like this.

Now, look at verse 13. In verse 13 and 14, the focus is upon the mouth. The mouth is simply a
window into the heart. There's an old saying, "What's down in the well comes up in the bucket."
And what's down in the heart comes out of the mouth. Sometimes someone will say something
and go, "Oh, I can't believe I said that." Are you kidding me? I can't believe you hadn't been
saying more. Knowing what's down in the heart, it's unbelievable the restraint that you've
shown. So, verses 13 and 14, the focus is upon the mouth, which brings indisputable evidence,
because it's so public, it's so out in the open. Everyone knows what your mouth has been saying.
Verse 13, "Their throat is an open grave." When he says, their throat, he's talking about
everyone's throat. Not just some people, everyone's throat who is outside of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Outside of the kingdom of God.
 
Now, graves are not left open. There's something going on here. Graves are sealed up. And the
reason they are sealed up is because when people go walking by, if it wasn't sealed up, if it
remained open, the stench and the decay and the wretchedness would be so odious and so foul
that no one would even come within a mile of this burial plot. It's a mercy to cover it up. For it
to be open, is just like an open sewer line with filth that is being pumped out. Paul says, "There
throat is an open grave." They can't keep their mouth shut. The more they talk, the worse it is.
The more they slander, the more they elevate themselves, the more they pontificate, the more
they posture themselves as an authority and an expert on every subject there is, the more they
love to hear themselves talk, the more they are the hero of their own stories, the more they
justify themselves, the more they put everyone else down. It's just an open grave.
 
The throat here is lower than the lips or the tongue, and it's showing that it's coming up out of
the heart, through the throat, out of the mouth, launched by the tongue. This is an extraordinary
picture that Paul is assembling here. Then with their tongues they keep deceiving. It's not just
that they deceive every once in awhile. They are nonstop deception. And it began that was as
soon as they were born. They wanted to be held. They had just been fed. They're crying, as if
they need to be fed again. No, they're just making this up. They came out of their mother's
womb lying and deceiving. And the word deceiving here carries … it's a word that was used to
bait a hook so as to lure a fish in to bite it. It's luring a prey by deception, and by camouflage,
and by deceit. And we have all been the victim of it. And we all do it.
 
I'm amazed at times how naïve I can be at times, as people will say certain things to me, and I'll
actually think it's a compliment. In reality, they're wanting me to do something for them, and
it'll take my wife explaining to me the game that's going on here, as people are just so deceptive.
I do it, too. We butter people up. Our tongues just keep deceiving. But it gets worse. The next
line in verse 13, "The poison of asp" … and an asp is a snake, is a serpent. "The poison of asp is
under their lips." This poison is the venom, that once the fangs are ejected and bite into the
person, and they release poison, it spreads death. It's the lips that are injecting death into other
people, to bring other people down, to destroy their reputation, to destroy their credibility, to
destroy their prosperity, to take advantage for yourself. The poison of asp is under their lips.
Even the imagery here of Satan, when he first slithered onto the page of scripture in Genesis 3,
and pontificates his lies. John 8:44, Jesus said, "You are of your father, the devil. He's the father
of all lies." The imagery there of the snake and the serpent is picked up here.
 
Again, this is a part of the total depravity. It's all being pumped out of the heart. Then in verse
14 is the mouth, "Whose mouth is full of," not partially full, but is full, filled to overflowing,
"with cursings and bitterness." The cursings here, refer to intense hatred. To curse someone is to
desire to bring judgment down upon them. Bitterness is just open hostility against an enemy.
 
Then verse 15, their feet. "Their feet are swift to shed blood." We go from the mouth and the
throat and the lips and the tongue to the feet. Do you see how this is all connected? You can't
have sin in one part of your life and compartmentalize it, and it not have spread to the whole.
Verse 15, the feet. "Their feet are swift to shed blood." The idea is sprinting and running.
They're not slow, they're not hesitant, they're not dragging their feet, they're not shuffling,
they're not walking, they're not crawling. They are swift, because the heart is driving them to
shed blood. The idea here is to kill. Jesus said, "If you have hatred for another person, you've
already committed murder." The animosity within the heart is now being carried out by the feet.
There's no disconnect in body parts here. The idea of the feet is the course of their life, the
direction of their life, the path that they have chosen to take in life.
 
Then verse 16, he continues with this imagery of the path, where all this path takes them. He
goes, "Destruction and misery are in their paths." I can't think of a more devastating audit of this
path. Their life is a train wreck. Destruction speaks of the destruction that they cause to other
people. The destruction to their business partners, the destruction to their spouse, the destruction
to their children, the destruction to their friends, much less their enemies, or much greater their
enemies. The side of the highway of their life is just filled with destruction. On I-30 today, this
morning, there was a huge semi-truck accident. It just clogged up everything. One person's
mistake affects thousands of people and just shuts down part of the city.
 
It is with people's lives. Destruction. You don't sin and it not affect someone else. It just leaves
destruction. The children are left to deal with it, because the decisions of the father, the
decisions of the mother, destruction and the result of what destruction brings is misery. No one's
immune to it. They only wish they could be numb to it. They feel the pain of it as this unsaved
person is just leaking oil and leaking gas everywhere.
 
Verse 17 continues this same imagery of the feet." The path of peace they have not known." Not
for one second. They certainly have no peace within themselves. That's why they're so restless
to cause trouble for everyone else. They have not known peace with anyone else. They're just
trouble looking for someplace to happen.
 
Now, this is also by way of application. This is why you need to marry another Christian. What
fool would marry this person? Seriously, you want to be tied up with this for the rest of your
life? No. You better marry someone who has been born again by the spirit of God from above,
and whose live is dominated by God. Or you just bought in to major, major trouble for the rest
of your life.
 
Verse 18 now. We have to get to verse 18, guys. Verse 18 is the eyes, now. "There is no fear of
God before their eyes." This is categorically true. Not one drop of fear. There's no reverencing
of God. There's no taking God serious. There's no humility before God. There's no dread of the
final day. There's no dread of the final judgment. There's no dread of hell. If there was, they
would be running to Christ. Now, they may be loosing sleep at night, and they may be
traumatized. If they truly feared God they would run to the Saviour, and they would believe in
him and trust him. The mere fact that they remain in unbelief is proof positive that there is no
fear of God. You do not take God seriously. You do not take God's word seriously.
 
Before their eyes carries the idea of your whole world view, your whole life perspective. No
matter where you look, no matter what you're looking at, there's no fear of God. Whether you're
at the office, whether you're at home, whether you're at recreation, there's no fear of God. This
is a slam dunk case. How could anyone in their right mind argue against the doctrine of total
depravity?
 
III.           The Condemnation
 
This brings us to the condemnation. This is now the verdict. The judge's gavel now comes
down. He says, verse 19, "Now we know." Paul says that we all know this with certainty,
absolute certainty. That whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. Please
note the place of the law continues, even in the New Testament. The law reveals the holiness of
God and the sinfulness of man. Every commandment in the law is a revelation of the holiness of
God. Every commandment reveals our own sinfulness, in that we have disobeyed and fallen
short of the glory of God. The law is intended to be used evangelistically, also. There are
multiple uses of the law.
 
Jesus, when he met the rich young ruler, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said,
"Well, what does the law say?" Jesus uses the law. With another lawyer on another occasion,
"Who is my neighbor?" Jesus uses the law. That is what Paul is doing here. Those who are
under the law speaks of every person who has ever lived. In this sense, even Jesus was born
under the law. To be under the law means to have direct accountability to the law. Jesus was the
only one to obey the law perfectly, and to keep the law. This he did on our behalf. We'll talk
about that in our future studies. But at this point, the entire human race and the point is,
everyone outside of Christ is under the law, is accountable to the law, is judged by the law, has
been measured by the law, "so that every mouth may be closed." No excuses. No self-
justification. No self-vindication. No cry of mistrial. Every mouth will be closed because of the
irrefutable indictment that the law brings. The law cannot save. But the law brings a person to
the point where they know they need to be saved. The law is a tutor to take us to Christ.
 
It is the law that has shut every mouth. Everyone will be speechless. No one, on the last day,
will be pounding the table and saying, "You've got the wrong person. This wasn't true." The
testimony of the law will be so … and the books will be opened and the book of life will be
opened. Every mouth will be closed. All the world may become accountable to God, must
answer to God in the judgment.
 
He concludes in verse 20, "Because by the works of the law," meaning attempts at self-
righteousness, attempts to keep the law, "no flesh," … well there's an eighth no [Laughs] … "no
flesh will be justified in his sight." If there was ever a text in the entire Bible that says that you
cannot earn your salvation, you cannot work your way to heaven, it is this text. The cross is not
a ladder by which you pull yourself up to God by your own works. "No flesh will be justified in
his sight." To be justified, as we will see the next time we meet together, is to be declared the
righteousness of God and find perfect acceptance with God in heaven. He concludes, "For
through the law comes the knowledge of sin."
 
It's a closed case. This is why everyone needs the Lord. This is why everyone must be born
again, or you will not even see the kingdom of heaven. This is why you and I must tell others
about Christ. This is why we've got to reach the world for Christ. This should bring such a sense
of humility and gratitude and praise to every one of our hearts that we would be out from under
this indictment. The noose was around our neck. We were at the gallows. They were ready to
put the hood over our head and our face. They were ready to remove the floor beneath us, and
we were about to be hung. Then God intervened. He sent his son to die in our place, that we
would be set free. If the son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed.
 
The application is endless on this. We've got ten minutes here. I need to open it up.
 
QUESTION AND ANSWERS
 
Audience question: We have someone here. He says, for reaching the unchurched now, those
with no biblical knowledge or reference point, do we still begin with the law? Paul's audience
would have been familiar with the Old Testament quotes. What about the Gentiles in his day?
 
Dr. Steven J. Lawson: Well, the answer to that is, when you look at Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John, even how Jesus did evangelism, he didn't always start with the law. At the woman at the
well, he begins, "Give me some water," and builds a bridge, and uses the analogy of a fountain
and water, and living water, and drinking this water. To Nicodemus, before Nicodemus can
even ask a question, Jesus already answers it. With the rich young ruler, he does begin with the
law. So, I think with different people, there are different bridges we go across, and different
ways, different contact points. But the law is always right there in our right hand, ready to be
used at any point. And if someone doesn't see their own sinfulness, then I believe the law is our
ally in evangelism. And the fact of the matter is, God has written his law upon their heart. That's
a great question. So even in scripture itself, every gospel presentation does not … it's not
recorded that the law achieves.
 
But on the other extreme would be to never use the law, and to say the law's irrelevant, or the
law doesn't have a present ministry. That would be the other extreme, and that would be equally
devastating, as well. So, Matt, did I see your hand getting ready to come up there?
 
Audience question: Getting back to no one seeks, certainly we have those in false religions who
would be in the category of zeal without knowledge. And, of course, they're seeking idolatry.
They're not seeking the true God. But what's fascinating is, you go through the gospels, it struck
me years ago that people do seek Jesus, but they seek him for all the wrong reasons. You seek
me because you want your belly filled, or you seek me because you want me to be a rabbit's
foot, or you seek me because you're in a fox hole right now, and you need help for the moment.
But the only way they will seek him for the righteousness that he provides for heaven, is if he
seeks them first. That's the only reason that they seek him for the reason he came. And there's
many, I think, that were healed physically in his day that never received spiritual salvation, as
they sought to have their eyes fixed, but their heart remained unchanged. And he says, "Go and
sin no more." And so, it's fascinating that men do seek. I think we have these seeker friendly
churches, and people are seeking Jesus for a business deal. But they're not seeking him for
righteousness, because they can't seek him unless he seeks them first.
 
Dr. Steven J. Lawson: Absolutely. The distinction we need to make is between the Lord, and
what he gives and provides. And the people who are in this seeking, they're not seeking the
giver. They're seeking the gifts. So that's the distinction. No one is seeking the giver. They want
the gift.
 
Audience: It's no different than Romans 1. They go to an art gallery and they go up and they
hug the painting, and they forget Van Gogh.
 
Dr. Steven J. Lawson: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. No, that's a great point, Matt. No, I thank you for
that.
 
Someone else. What insight?
 
Audience: I think that time when you were saying that sin leaves destruction and affects others.
I think that just in society today, there's all these questions about why do you care what
somebody does? Why do you care if two gay people want to get married? Why do you care if
this woman wants to have an abortion? Why do you care if this person wants to spend their
wealth this way? Nobody's independent. People's sin affects an entire society. And I think that
that's forgotten, is that yeah, that's why we do care about the way people behave. And because
its going to effect even your trip to Germany. The community you were in is, it's infected.
 
Dr. Steven J. Lawson: Yeah. No, that's a great point, and I'm so glad for you to make that, that
everyone gets this, that no one sins in a closet, and it doesn't affect people outside the closet.
Yeah.
 
Audience question: We've got another one here. Says, "What do you say to those that say the
Old Testament no longer applies? We don't live by the Old Testament because we now have
Christ?" That was Pamela Tucker-Griffiths.
 
Dr. Steven J. Lawson: Yeah. Well what I would say to that is Paul obviously didn't understand
that. Paul makes his entire case using the Old Testament. And to understand the law, you have
to understand there's a threefold distinction. Moral law, ceremonial law, civil law. The
ceremonial law has all been fulfilled in the death of Christ. There's no more priesthood, there's
no more sacrifice to be offered, no more day of atonement, no more festivals and feasts, et
cetera. It's all fulfilled in Christ. And the civil part of the law I think does have some function,
though it is not totally imposed upon our culture. There was the death penalty for being
disobedient to your parents. There were 23 things that brought the death penalty. It's the mercy
of God that all those are not still in effect. But the moral law is still in effect. And here's the key
point Nine out of the ten are sited in the New Testament as still in effect and binding. And the
one on the Sabbath is the only one that there is a question even among Christians, to what extent
is the Sabbath still in effect? Proverbs is still in effect. Psalms is still in effect. There are still
prophecies in the Old Testament that are yet to be fulfilled in the second coming of Christ. So,
to try to segment the Old Testament and say it's not in effect today is really an odd, what I
would call a hyper dispensationalism that's just a bad place to be. In fact, in the book of Romans
and in I Corinthians, it says, "We still have the Old Testament as an example to us on how to
live." And when you look at Hebrews 11, the writer of Hebrews just points back to the Old
Testament, by faith, Enoch, by faith Noah, by faith Abraham, by faith Sarah, et cetera, et cetera,
pointing to the examples of the Old Testament that should inspire us to live our Christian life.
So that's a very good question, and I don't want to give a longer answer.
 
Audience: I heard someone say, one of your preacher friends, that we like to say, and we do, we
say we are no longer under the law, but we are under grace, which is true. But, there is a law in
grace. And there's grace in law.
 
Dr. Steven J. Lawson: And there's even grace in law, in that it's the ceremonial law that had the
whole priesthood was all a foreshadowing of Christ's sacrifice, and how he would give himself.
So there's foreshadowings even in the law, of grace.
 
Audience: There's law in grace, and grace in the law.
 
Dr. Steven J. Lawson: Yeah. It's a grace of God for him to say, "Honor your father and your
mother." It's a grace of God to say, "Do not steal."
 
Audience: And the standard's even higher than the law. That's the thing.
 
Dr. Steven J. Lawson: Yeah. Well, and here's another thing. Everyone in the Old Testament
who was saved was saved by grace. And in the New Testament, every imperative
commandment is law. You can't segment the Old Testament as just all law, no grace, and the
New Testament is all grace, no law. That doesn't even make sense. That's a poor view of
theology and Bible study. No one would have ever been saved in the Old Testament if there
wasn't grace. And on one would even know how to live their Christian life in the New
Testament if there's not the law of Christ and commandments to point and direct us how to live.
Thank you, Kent. That's a great point.
 
Audience: But when you hear people say, "Oh, once we're saved, it's just love that we follow,
it's the love of God we live, or love of Him." But you need direction.
 
Dr. Steven J. Lawson: Yeah. Of course we do. I think the moral law of God, even in the Old
Testament is still in effect. Paul, in Ephesians 6, for example, he's quoting the law when he says,
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." He's quoting the law. The law is just
repeated throughout the New Testament.
 
I think it's time for us to land this. Yeah. I'm so thankful for that clock, to be able to see what
time it is. Men, great study, because it's God's word. And we need to really embrace this. We're
going to get to the doctrines of grace, the doctrines of salvation, and you're not gonna want to
miss a single one, because we're going to be walking on the sunny side of Hallelujah Avenue.
 
Audience: Amen.
 
Dr. Steven J. Lawson: Amen, brother. Amen. All right. Let me close in a word of prayer. Father,
thank you for this study that we've had this morning. Set your word down deeply within our
hearts and souls. Not only renew our mind, but now compel us to take this message to those
who are around us, cause our hearts to be so thankful that you have raised us out of the grave of
being dead to sin that we would live for you. In Christ's name, amen.
 18. The Heart of the Gospel- Romans 3:21-26

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

Father, I pray that as we now come to this study, that you would bring your word to our minds
and to our hearts, that you would use this to further equip us to live the Christian life, use this to
conform us into the image of Christ and wherever people are watching this, for those who are
without Christ and without hope, I pray that you'll use this as a means by which they'll come to
saving faith in Christ. Father, we ask now your blessing upon this study in Christ's name. Amen.
Take your Bible, if you would. Turn with me to Romans 3 and we're going to be in verses 21-26
and we'll see how much time we have to work our way through this. Be thinking of questions as
well and I'm going to save us time at the end for us to discuss this, but of all the studies for you
to come to, this has got to rank near the top. I just want to begin by reading these versus and I'm
entitling this the heart of the Gospel.

Paul writes, beginning in Romans 3:21, "Now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has
been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God
through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction, for all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption
which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through
faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because in the forbearance of God, he passed
over the sins previously committed, for the demonstration I say of his righteousness at the
present time so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."
 
I hope we can get to all of these verses today but we're going to savor them. It's really the heart
of the Gospel. We’ve got a little building program going on here.

These verses, 21-26, the heart of the Gospel. Martin Lloyd Jones, the great expositor, arguably
the greatest expositor of the 20th century, actually says in the entire Bible, these are the greatest
verses. That's quite a statement coming from quite a man, so we really want to get down into the
nuts and the bolts of this for Lloyd Jones to say this. This is all about the doctrine of
justification, and to this point, beginning in 1:18 extending through 3:20, the umbrella over
those verses was condemnation, the condemnation of the entire human race, that the entire
human race, because of sin, is under the wrath of God, and that was a devastating case that Paul
presented that brought indictment to the entire human race.
 
As we come now to Romans 3:21, there is a dramatic change, as we go from condemnation to
justification, and justification is the total opposite of condemnation, and you'll note the first two
words of verse 21, "But now," and Martin Lloyd Jones has said, "Praise God for the buts in the
Bible." "But now," and everything pivots and hinges with those two words, "But now." It's the
bridge from the condemnation of the entire human race to now, a position and a place of
justification by the grace of God. This doctrine of justification, and you'll notice that it is
mentioned in verse 24, "being justified as a gift by his grace." It's the first time the word
justification or justified is found in the book of Romans, and everything to this point has been a
ramp up to come now to this extraordinary truth of justification.

Martin Luther, who was used by God to recover this doctrine 500 years ago in the Reformation,
has said that this doctrine of justification is appointed for the rise or the fall of the church,
meaning every true church holds to this doctrine and any church that does not hold to this
doctrine is a false church. It is outside the kingdom of God. This doctrine that we're looking at is
that important. It is that pivotal. There is no room for any equivocation whatsoever in this
doctrine and John Calvin said during the Reformation that this doctrine of justification is the
hinge of the Gospel. In other words, it's the tipping point. It's the turning point. Everything in
our understanding of salvation turns with this truth. It's that important.
 
And J. I. Packer has said that this doctrine of justification is the mighty atlas that upholds the
entirety of the Gospel. Everything is held up by this singular truth, so we can't afford to be
wrong, at this point. To be right here is to be right with God. To be wrong here is to be wrong
with God and still be under condemnation. We cannot overstate the importance of these verses.
 
Now as we go through verses 21-26, and we'll see how our time permits us to do this, I have
nine headings that I want to give you and I see that several of you are note takers, and I just
want to walk through this kind of phrase by phrase and for us to dig this out. The nine truths
about the heart of the Gospel which is justification, and the first is it is apart from the law.
 
JUSTIFICATION IS APART FROM THE LAW
 
He begins in verse 21, "Now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed."
When he says the righteousness of God has been revealed, he is referring to the righteousness
that we desperately need that can come only from God, that gives us a place of acceptance with
holy God in heaven. When he says the righteousness of God, he means the righteousness from
God, what God requires, what God provides, and what He says, No. 1, it is apart from the law.

When he says apart from the law, he means apart from any works of the law that we could ever
hope to perform or achieve. When he says apart from the law, he means from the keeping of the
Ten Commandments, apart from the keeping of the requirements that God has already revealed
in his written word. There is no way by our own efforts that we can pull ourselves up by our
own bootstraps and meet the high mark that God has required in order for us to enter into
heaven, and what God requires is absolute perfection. God will not grade on the curve. God will
not look for the happy medium. God has established the standard of his own perfect holiness.

In fact, at the end of verse 23, he says, "All have sinned and fell short of the glory of God," and
that is a standard of measurement which is the glory of God. We're not going to be measured
against other people. We're not going to be measured even against our own selves. It is by the
standard of the glory of God that we are weighed in the balances and by our attempts and our
own good works to keep the law. We could never achieve the righteousness that God requires.

This is where this first begins and I know that all of us here around this table surely understand
this, that it is not within us to be able to meet the standard that God has set for us, so that's
where it begins. It's apart from the law. Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace, you've been saved through
faith and that not of yourself." We bring nothing to the table. We have nothing to contribute to
our own salvation other than the sin that was laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all that we
bring to the table. In my hands, nothing I bring simply to your cross, I cling. That's No. 1. It's
apart from the law.
 
JUSTIFICATION IS WITNESSED BY THE OLD TESTAMENT
 
No. 2, it is witnessed by the Old Testament. He goes on to say, "Being witnessed," at the end of
verse 21, "by the law and the prophets." And when he says the law and the prophets, that is a
summary term that encapsulates the entire Old Testament, what is for us the 39 books of the Old
Testament from Genesis to Malachi for us in the order of the books in the Old Testament canon,
and he says that the entire Old Testament bore witness of the righteousness that God requires
and the righteousness that God will provide in the Gospel, and Paul wants us to know this is not
a new message. What he has to say is as old as the Old Testament. It is as old as the book of
Genesis. This is not a new way of salvation. This is not a new way now for gentiles to come into
the kingdom of God. There's only one way of salvation, whether it is the Old Testament or the
New Testament, whether it is for a Jew or whether for a Gentile. There is only one saving
Gospel.
 
I would refer you back to Romans 1:2 when we first began this study through the book of
Romans, Paul threw his cards down on the table at the very outset of this book and told us from
the very beginning that this was witnessed by the prophets and recorded in the Old Testament
scripture from the very beginning. In 1:2, he says, "Which," and the which refers to the Gospel,
not whom but which, an impersonal pronoun, "Which he promised beforehand through his
prophets in the Holy Scriptures." The Gospel was made known in the Old Testament and the
righteousness that was required.

If you would, turn back to Genesis 15 and we see a very clear statement of how Abraham was
made right before God. The Gospel was preached to Abraham and in Genesis 15:6, we read this
very simple statement, "Then he," Abraham, "believed in the Lord and He," referring to the
Lord, "reckoned it to him as righteousness." It's crystal clear. That is the doctrine of justification
by faith alone taught in the Old Testament, the righteousness that Abraham so desperately
needed to find acceptance with God, it was provided by God and God himself reckoned it,
meaning credited it, to the account of Abraham and it was credited exclusively on the basis of
faith alone in the Lord.

And in John 8, we understand that Abraham knew that it would be in the Messiah. It would be
in the one who would come in the fullness of time, the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham had Christ
preached to him and he believed and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
 
If you come to Psalm 32, just to give you another Old Testament passage in which we find this
imputation of the righteousness of God. In Psalm 32:1-2, David writes, "How blessed is he
whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. How blessed is the man to whom the
Lord does not impute iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit. God does not impute sin to
the one who puts their faith and trust in him, and instead there is the righteousness of God in
Jesus Christ that is imputed to them." Now the word impute is not a word that we normally use
in our daily English language, but it simply means to credit to the account of, to reckon to the
account of. It's a legal term in which a judge declares one who stands before his judgment bar to
be the righteousness of God in Christ.
 
I'll show you one more verse, Isaiah 53:11, and as soon as I say Isaiah 53, you know that this
will be a good verse. This is the summit of the entire Old Testament, Isaiah 53, and in Verse 11,
Isaiah records, "As a result of the anguish of his soul," and that refers to the suffering servant of
Jehovah, "the messiah who would come, he, God the father, will see it and be satisfied by his
knowledge, the righteous one, my servant will justify the many as he will bear their iniquities."
There is the doctrine of justification by faith alone. It was witnessed in the Old Testament and
there are many other passages to which we could go.
 
Paul wants us to know, as he enters this section now on justification, that this was taught in the
Old Testament, the law, referring to the first five books of the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and the prophets, referring to Joshua through Malachi,
all bore witness of this doctrine of justification. That's the second thing that we learn here. It
was witnessed by the Old Testament.
 
JUSTIFICATION WAS PROVIDED BY GOD
 
Now No. 3, it was provided by God. The beginning of verse 22, "Even the righteousness of
God." When he says the righteousness of God, he is not referring to the righteousness that
belongs to God. He is referring to the righteousness that comes from God. Now the
righteousness that comes from God is the righteousness that belongs to God, but this is referring
to the source of this righteousness. It comes from outside of ourselves, and it comes from
outside of the church, and it comes from outside of this world. It is a righteousness that comes
down from the thrown of God. It is what Martin Luther called a foreign righteousness, an alien
righteousness. It is a righteousness that God requires that comes from God himself and only
God could provide that which he requires because God's standard is absolute perfection in order
to be received by Him into His presence.

We must come to God to have this righteousness. We must receive from God the righteousness
that he alone can give to us. We have to do business with God to have this righteousness. We
can't go to a preacher. We can't go to a priest. We can't go to a church. We can't go to a
denomination. We can't go to an association. We can't go to a ministry. We have to go to God to
have this righteousness that He alone can give.

Here's what we're saying. This is the heart of the Gospel, this righteousness from God. No. 1, it's
apart from the law. No. 2, it is witnessed by the Old Testament. No. 3, it is provided by God.
No. 4, it is received by faith.
 
JUSTIFICATION IS RECEIVED BY FAITH
 
Paul goes on to say in verse 22, "Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ."
The only way to receive this righteousness is by exercising saving faith in God's Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and faith is only as good as its object, and it is only a faith that is in Jesus Christ
that will give to us the righteousness of God. If you put faith in anything else or in anyone else,
there will be no righteousness from God. God will only deal with us on the basis of faith in his
Son.
 
Now just to remind you what faith is, faith is the commitment of your life to Jesus Christ. It is
nothing less. It is more than mere head knowledge. It is more than warm feelings. It is the
exercise of your will to entrust your life to Jesus Christ, to cross the line, to enter through the
narrow gate, to entrust all that you are to all that He is, and a half trust will not get you there.
There must be the reliance of your entire life upon Jesus Christ. You cannot hold back any part
and try to contribute through your own good works a right acceptance before God. True faith is
only when you come all the way to Jesus Christ and there are some people who try to straddle
the fence and they want to have faith in Christ and baptism, faith in Christ and church
membership, faith in Christ and good works in order to commend themselves before God, and
it's not until you burn all your other bridges behind you, and you turn away from anything else
that you would rely upon, and turn exclusively to Jesus Christ alone, and put your full
confidence in him do you receive this righteousness from God.

You can't play all ends into the middle, "I believe in Jesus. I believe in religion. I believe in the
church. I believe in this and that, and this and that." That's not faith. Faith is when you take that
decisive step of faith, and you leave the world system, and you commit your life to Jesus Christ.
You leave behind the world of religion and self-righteousness and you entrust yourself to Jesus
Christ. It is the decisive step. It begins with the mind to know the truth, the truth of the Gospel,
the truth about yourself, the truth of the fact that you're under the wrath of God and that
salvation is found exclusively in Jesus Christ. You have to know this or you cannot be saved.
 
You also, in your heart, must be convinced of your need for this and convinced of the
truthfulness of this message, and the Holy Spirit has come into the world to convict men of sin,
and righteousness, and judgment, and then as an act of your will, on the basis of what you know
to be true and the word of God and on the basis of the conviction of the Holy Spirit and your
own heart and soul, you take that step of faith and you come all the way to Jesus Christ and you
embrace him as your Lord and Savior.

It is received by faith and Paul will belabor this point throughout the rest of this section, the
emphasis upon faith and I want to add the word alone, faith alone, not faith and, faith
alone, sola fide, by faith alone. You'll notice throughout the rest of this section in verse 25 he
says, "It is in his blood through faith." At the end of verse 26, "The one who has faith in Jesus."
verse 27," Know but by a law of faith." verse 28, "A man is justified by faith apart from the
works of the law." In verse 30, "God will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised
through faith." verse 31, "Do we nullify the law through faith? May it never be." Faith, faith,
faith, faith, and the word believe and the word faith are synonymous terms.
 
In 5:1, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ." Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace, you have been saved through faith and that not of
yourselves is the gift of God and as a result of works, lest any man should boast." This is the
distinguishing mark of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. Every other religious message in the
world is a message of salvation in which man makes some contribution to his own
righteousness. It is Christianity alone that is a message of pure grace that is received by faith
alone. What we're saying, No. 4, is what Paul is saying. It is received by faith, by the empty
hand of faith."
 
JUSTIFICATION IS NEEDED BY ALL
 
Now No. 5, it is needed by all. Verse 23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God." Every single person in the history of the world, and in this present moment, and until the
end of the age, has sinned and falls short of the glory of God, and that is a wonderful definition
of what sin is. There are many different definitions that are used in the Bible of sin. This is just
one of those. It is to fall short of the divine standard of absolute moral holiness. I want to say
again, God is not comparing us to our neighbor, to someone we went to school with, to the
expectations we would have of ourselves.
 
If you can picture a set of scales and on one side of the scales is placed the entirety of your life.
On the other side of the scales is the glory of God and the glory of God here refers to the sum
and the substance of all of the attributes of God and that starts with his perfect holiness, holy,
holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, and we have been weighed in the balances and measured
against the absolute infinite unvarnished holiness of God, the glory of God, and we have sinned
and fallen short when measured against that standard.

Every single person in the world desperately needs the righteousness that only God can give in
order to give them a right standing before him. Whether you live in the United States, whether
you live in China, whether you've heard the Gospel, whether you've never heard the Gospel,
whoever you are, wherever you are, whether you grew up in church, whether you grew up
outside of church, whether you're religious, whether you're not religious, whether you're male,
female, whoever you are, wherever you are, you have sinned and fallen short of the glory of
God.
 
I have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and so this righteousness of God is
desperately needed by all. You will never meet a person the rest of your life who does not need
the righteousness of God that is found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So that's No. 5. It is needed
by all.
 
JUSTIFICATION IS DECLARED BY GOD
 
Now No. 6. It is declared by God. At the beginning of verse 24, we read, "Being justified." We
are passive. Someone else is active. Someone else is justifying us. We cannot justify ourselves.
We are passive. Someone else is active. Someone else is the justifier. We are the one who is
justified, who is being justified. Who is this one who alone can justify us? And the answer is
stated for us very clearly in verse 26, "So that He, God, would be just and the justifier." You see
that in verse 26? It is God and God alone, and when we say God here, we're referring to God the
Father. It is God the Father who alone can bring the gavel down and declare us to be the
righteousness of God in Jesus Christ, and all that matters is what does God have to say on this
matter.
 
It is declared by God. Justification is what we call a forensic declaration and the word forensic
meaning a legal declaration. God the judge declares the guilty sinner to be righteous before his
judgment bar on the basis of what Jesus Christ has done on our behalf and this justification is
immediate. It takes place in a split second. It takes place in a moment. Sanctification is
progressive throughout the entirety of one's life. Glorification takes place in a moment and lasts
throughout all eternity. Justification takes place the millisecond one believes in Jesus Christ.
 
You walk into a Bible study lost and under the wrath of God and condemned, and in the middle
of that Bible study while the truth is being made known to you, you put your faith in Jesus
Christ and before you get up out of your seat and walk out to go back to work, you are
immediately justified before God. It is immediate second. It is irrevocable. It can never be
reversed. What God has declared stands in the courts of heaven forever. There is no higher court
that could overrule the declaration of God in heaven on this matter.
 
Third, it is complete. You can never be more justified than what you are the moment you
believe in Christ and God declares you to be the righteousness of God. This justification is the
reversal and the opposite of condemnation. Before you believe, you are condemned before God.
The moment you believe, you are justified by God. This is the very heart of the Gospel and it is
that which puts us in right standing before God.
 
Now it is more than the removal of the penalty of sin. It is more than being forgiven of your sin.
That's only the removal of the negative. Justification brings the acquisition of the positive. You
are given a positive righteousness before God. So please understand, all of us around this table
need far more than the forgiveness of sin. All the forgiveness of sin does is bring us back to
point zero and zeros do not go to heaven. Forgiveness washes away sin, but in order to have a
right standing before God, we must be more than neutral. We must be more than at ground zero.
There must be deposited into our account the righteousness of God.
 
In other words, what forgiveness does is it washes away the debt that we owe to God and brings
us back to square zero. We have a zero balance in our checking account because of the
forgiveness of sin. It removes the debt, but in order to go to heaven, there has to be a positive
deposit that is made, not just the removal of the debt but the positive deposit and what must be
put into our account is what only God can put into our account, his righteousness that comes
from him. This takes place in the split second of justification by faith when we believe in Jesus
Christ, so it is declared by God.
 
JUSTIFICATION IS GIVEN AS A GIFT
 
No. 7. It is given as a gift. As we continue in verse 24, notice he says, "Being justified as a gift
by his grace." You understand the difference between wages and a gift. Wages is what you work
hard for. You earn them. You deserve them because by your own efforts and your own work,
your employer now gives to you what is rightfully yours because you have worked and received
it. A gift, on the other hand, is the total opposite. There is nothing you can do to deserve a gift.
It's freely given. You've done nothing to deserve it. It is based upon the mercy of the giver to
choose to give something which you have done nothing to deserve. God gives his righteousness
freely to those who have no merit of their own, who have no basis by which to make any claim
on this righteousness, who have done nothing to work for it, who have done nothing to deserve
it.
 
In fact, it is the very opposite. They, in their life, have done everything to deserve condemnation
but God now freely chooses to give as a gift, and when he gives it as a gift, he is the one who
has paid for it. It is a prepaid gift. You can't even pick up the tip. It's not like, well, God will pay
for the meal and you throw down the tip, "Here, I got the tip." There's nothing you can add to it.
It's all been paid for and accomplished by what we're going to look at next.
 
JUSTIFICATION IS AQUIRED BY JESUS CHRIST
 
No. 8. It is acquired by Jesus Christ. God the Father, has sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into this
world to accomplish and pay for the entirety of this gift that the Father will give to those who
believe. As we continue in verse 24, "Being justified as a gift by his grace," and now at the end
of verse 24 and in verse 25, we see that it has been paid for in full by Jesus Christ. He says at
the end of verse 24, "Through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus."
 
The word redemption here means the payment of a ransom in order to secure the release of one
who is held captive under the tyranny of another, and Jesus Christ, when he entered this world,
he entered into the slave market a sin. He came into the prison house of this world and through
the perfection of his sinless life and through his substitutionary death upon the cross, through
the shedding of his own blood, Jesus Christ has purchased in full the redemption, to pay the
ransom, to secure the release from the tyranny and the mastery of sin everyone who will believe
in Jesus Christ. You'll never hear any better news than that the rest of your life. Everything else
is secondary. This is what is primary.
 
The entirety of this redemption, notice at the end of verse 24, it is in Christ Jesus. There's not a
drop of it outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not in the church. It's not in the pulpit. It's not in
the pew. It's not in the elders. It's not in the deacons. It's not in any teacher. It's not in a
denomination. It's not in any worship service. It's not in good works. It's not in the baptistery.
It's not in the communion cup. It's not in the bread that we take in the Lord's Supper. It is all in
the person and work of Jesus Christ, the entirety. This is why we say salvation is by grace alone
through faith alone in Christ alone. It is acquired by Jesus Christ.
 
Now in verse 25, he lets out a little bit more rope. The profundity of what he just said at the end
of verse 24, the height, the depth, the breadth, and the length of it is beyond our getting our arms
around it, but he lets out a little bit more rope in verse 25. He says, "Whom –" and whom is a
personal pronoun referring back to the antecedent, Christ Jesus. "Whom God –" referring to
God the Father, "displayed publically –" that refers to the cross, "his incarnation, his life, his
death, as a propitiation in his blood through faith." Now the word propitiation means
appeasement, satisfaction.
 
Now this is important. Not only did the death of Christ purchase our salvation securing our
release from our bondage to sin, it also satisfied the righteous wrath and anger of God toward
us. It did something toward us and it did something toward the Father. The death of Christ
toward us, it bought us, and the payment was paid to the Father. It bought us out of our slavery
to sin never to return to that state of slavery again. If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free
indeed, but it also did something toward God the Father, and let us not forget what it has done
toward God the Father. It has placated the righteous anger, vengeance, fury, and wrath of the
holy God toward all that which is violently offensive to his own holiness.
 
Psalms says God is angry with the wicked every day. God is angry with the wicked every day.
God has indignation towards the wicked every moment of every day. It is the death of Christ on
behalf of all who will put their faith in him that completely propitiates the righteous wrath of
God towards us forever. That is why Romans 8:1 says, "There is now therefore no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." There is not one drop of wrath or anger that
God the Father has left for you because Christ took it to himself upon the cross and when Jesus
died upon the cross, God the Father transferred our sins to him and him who knew no sin God
made to be sin for us, and when Jesus bore our sins, the Father unleashed the entirety of his
wrath for our sins upon Jesus Christ.
 
God did not pour out his wrath into a hole in the desert and just cover it up in sand so that his
wrath is now moved someplace else. God the Father unleashed the entirety of the fury of his
wrath and vengeance upon his Son as his Son was made to be sin for us, and the only people
who can even begin to some way comprehend what that is are damned souls in hell this moment
who are suffering under the wrath of God. The entirety of all those for whom Christ died was
unleashed in a moment, a tsunami of wrath, fell heavy upon his Son as he bore our sins, the
unleashing of the entirety of the wrath of God upon God's Son. There is now no more wrath for
you and me.
 
It was acquired by Jesus Christ, and if you want to think of a triangle, think of a triangle. At the
top is God the Father, at this corner is God the Son, and in the other corner is you and me. The
death of Christ is in the middle. On this line connecting God the Father and God the Son, that is
propitiation. God the Son propitiated the wrath of God the Father. Propitiation had nothing to do
with us. It had everything to do with God the Father. On the line connecting God the Son and
you and me is redemption and Jesus Christ has redeemed us out of the slave market of sin, and
on the line connecting us and God the Father is justification as God the Father declares us to be
the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.
 
Understand that simple triangle and you will understand the three theological words that are
found in this passage. In verse 24 is justification and redemption. In verse 25 is propitiation.
Justification occurs between God the Father and the sinner. Propitiation occurs between the God
the Father and God the Son. And redemption occurs between God the Son and the sinner, and in
the very middle is the death of Jesus Christ that he has accomplished on our behalf. Each of
those three theological words, are more than just words. They are theological realities, show
something of the multidimensional value and benefit of the death of Jesus Christ on our behalf.
We need more than justification. We need more than just propitiation. We need more than just
redemption. We need all three, and there are even other theological words that we'll get to like
reconciliation in Chapter 5.
 
Verse 25 and we'll wrap this up, "And God displayed publically as a propitiation in his blood
through faith." This was to demonstrate his righteousness. You see the righteousness of God
demanded that there be one who would suffer in our place if we were to be released from our
sin. The righteousness of God demanded it. God could not just wink at our sin. God could not
just sweep it under the carpet. Sin had to be dealt with in full because in the forbearance of God,
he passed over the sins previously committed and that refers to all the saints in the Old
Testament. Through the death of Christ upon the cross, God was able to pass over all their sins
in Old Testament times.
 
Verse 26, "For the demonstration I say of his righteousness at the present time." The end of
verse 25 refers to the past. Verse 26, at the beginning, refers to the present, so that, and here is
the mystery of the Gospel, that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in
Jesus. That God is just means he must punish our sins. That he is the justifier means that he has
devised the plan whereby another would stand in our place and bear our sins, and suffer our
punishment, and the wrath that is deserving us so that God can justify us without sacrifying his
own justice. God's justice is fully met in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. How could God be
both just and the justifier? Only in the cross of Jesus Christ.
 
And he ends in verse 26 with the emphasis that he's been making, "All this is by faith in Jesus."
You've got to put your trust in Christ. You must renounce your own self-righteousness. You
must turn away from any efforts on your part to commend you to God. You must turn away
from a life pursuit of sin and turn to God through Jesus Christ and commit your life to Christ,
and when you do that, God immediately declares us to be the righteousness that Jesus Christ
accomplished for us.
 
Well, I need to land this plane, but as you can tell, there is so much packed into these few
verses. Understand these verses and you understand the Gospel. This is the heart of the Gospel.
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
 
So, Mark?
 
Participant:                 Is Point No. 9, the just and justifier?
 
Yeah.
 
Participant:                 Okay. I just wanted to make sure I had that right.
 
Oh, okay. No, 9, I didn't even say it, declared by God. God the Father is the justifier. The basis
is God the Son. The instrumentality is faith. The object of that faith is also Jesus Christ.
 
So, Jonathan, do we have anybody checking in with us?
 
Participant:                 Yes. We have Mark Lysom from Charlotte, North Carolina. He says,
"Why do you think it's easier for people to believe in universal salvation rather than universal
condemnation?"
 
Because they're lost, and have a fallen nature, and because they're spiritually blind and cannot
see the truth, and it is only an unbeliever who would believe in a universal salvation. The
natural man receives not the things the spirit for they're spiritually discerned. He cannot
understand them. So in simplest terms, it's because a blind man cannot see the light. Yeah.
 
Someone else around the table? We've got just a couple of minutes here. Anyone have any
insight or thought, question? An amen? Mark?
 
Participant:                 (A) I'm reminded of how much I miss this study. (B) If we were doing
this, I was curious how far we'd be along, at this point.
 
[Laughter]
 
That was not a question.
 
Participant:                 That was commentary.
 
In fact, that's 15 yards for piling on.
 
Participant:                 No, as you were reading this, when someone comes to faith, you don't
really understand at that moment everything that has happened.
 
That's right.
 
Participant:                 And you learn it as you go through the Scriptures looking in the rearview
mirror. I think you said it earlier. You said knowledge and I would say assent would be
agreement to it and total commitment, and I think I spent about 20 years of my life with
knowledge and assent but no commitment. I went to church. I considered myself a believer but I
didn't have a heart that was seeking obedience, and so you said total commitment. I would say
trust and obedience.
 
They're synonymous.
 
Participant:                 And it isn't until I think the heart's desire is obedience. We won't fulfill
that because we're sinners, but this resonates so much with me because I spent so much of my
life with head knowledge but I would say without heart knowledge, and when you don't have
heart knowledge, your feet and your hands don't seek to please the Lord. I think a lot of people
in this country have head knowledge but they're not trusting, and I see that in your teaching but
you run across people all the time that say they're believers and then there's the biggest
negation, "but. I believe God, but."

                                    This past week, I was with a man and I told him I was a Calvinist and he
said, "I believe God is sovereign, but –." "But what?" But I think that's where most of the
church is.
 
I would agree with you. I think the broad path that's headed for destruction is the religious
crowd, those who are saying, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy on your name, cast out demons
in your name, perform many wondrous works." I was saying to them in that day, "Depart from
me you who work inequity. I never knew you." That's the religious crowd that are saying,
"Lord, Lord." And he says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom
of heaven but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
 
We're talking about essential matters here of life and death, and heaven and hell, so I just trust
all of us around this table and everyone who's watching really understands the magnitude of the
implications of this. This is not a peripheral issue. This is a primary issue. This is who's in and
who's out. This is who's in the kingdom and who's out of the kingdom. This is who is under
condemnation and who is justified by God through Christ, and saving faith means you come all
the way to Christ, not just in your head and not just in emotions and assent, but as the act of
your will. You make a decisive commitment of your life to Jesus Christ, so that's where it
begins.
 
Well, guys, I need to wrap this up and let you go. I've so missed this.
 
[Laughter]
 
Let's close in a word of prayer. Father in heaven, thank you [interruption in audio,
0:01:53]. There are so many people around this world who have never even heard what we just
looked at. You have blessed us beyond measure to open our ears, to open our eyes, to open our
mind to this truth, but more than that, you've opened our heart and you've activated our will to
put our trust in Christ. What a savior he is, and I just pray that throughout the rest of this day, as
you would give us opportunities to talk to others about Christ, that we would seize the moment
and we would tell them the greatest news there is. We pray this in his name. Amen.
 19. Three Great Implications - Romans 3:27-31

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

We’re in the study of Romans, and today we are looking at Romans 3:27-31. If you’re a note-
taker, the title of this is Three Great Implications. Just by way of reorientation, just to remind
you, the apostle Paul wrote this letter and he’s never been to Rome, he’s not met the people to
whom he’s writing this letter. And as you open your Bible the Book of Romans is the first
epistle; it’s not the first epistle that Paul wrote, it’s the fifth epistle that Paul wrote. But it’s
placed here first because it’s of first importance, it is the epistle; if you’re going to know one
epistle, this is the epistle to know. It is Paul’s magnum opus, the great writing.
A simple way to remember this: on Paul’s first missionary journey, at the end of it he wrote one
letter. At the, during the second missionary letter he wrote two letters. And during the third
missionary journey he wrote three letters. One, two, three. At the end of the first missionary
journey he wrote Galatians. During the second missionary journey he wrote 1 and 2
Thessalonians, so that would be the second and third letters that he wrote. On the third
missionary journey he wrote three letters: 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Romans.
As Paul writes this, he is in Corinth and it’s the year, it’s either at the end of 56 or the beginning
of 57 just to put this in a chronological sequence. But as they pulled the Cannon of the New
Testament together, they intentionally front-loaded the Book of Romans, they intentionally have
placed it here first. Not because it was written first, Galatians was written by Paul first, but
because it is of first importance. What we’re looking at in the book of Romans is of the most
primary importance because it is all about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In other letters Paul is
always having to fix something that was wrong in a church and that will preoccupy much of his
focus. There will be some things in the book of Romans that Paul will use or say to fix some
things in the churches in Rome. So there’s a sense in which it’s because of a problem in a
church, God always works for good, what has resulted is the epistles that we find in the New
Testament.
Romans is all about the Gospel. And just to reduce the book of Romans to eight words, I’m
going to give you eight words that will summarize, almost in a sentence, the entire book of
Romans. And it goes like this: introduction, that’s 1:1-17; condemnation, 1:18-3:20;
justification, 3:21- to the end of chapter 5; sanctification, chapters 7 and 8; glorification, which
is at the end of chapter 8; election or predestination, chapters 9-11; and then transformation,
chapter 12-16. And at the end of chapter 16 is the conclusion. Those eight words, introduction,
condemnation, justification, sanctification, glorification, election, transformation, and
conclusion. Voila, you have the book of Romans.
Where we find ourselves now in this study is in that third section on justification. It immediately
follows condemnation and justification is the reversal of condemnation. Paul begins with the
bad news, now he comes to the good news and that is in justification. We began looking at that
last time. And in chapter 3:21-26, he gave us the instruction for justification. Today we will
look at the implications of justification; next time we will look at the illustrations of
justification. Paul is so methodical as he makes his case, as he presents the Gospel. Last time as
you’ll recall, we noted that justification is apart from the Law, witnessed by the Old Testament,
provided by God, received by faith, needed by all, declared by God, given by grace, purchased
by Jesus, and designed by God.
Now as we come to verse 27, we come to implications. The implications of what he has just
taught. Now an implication is a logical consequence, to be drawn from something else that is
true. In other words, if A is true, then B, C, and D will be true. Verses 21-26 is A, and in 27-31
is B, C, and D. This is the necessary result of what he has just taught us. This is the reasonable
deduction of the truth of justification by faith alone. Now there are 3 great implications to be
drawn from the doctrine of justification by faith alone. The first is in verses 27 and 28. The
second is in verses 29 and 30. And then the third is in verse 31. Now as Paul does this, he is so
systematic, he is so orderly that there are three parts to each of these implications, to each of
these three implications. It goes like this, it would be very easy to follow Paul, question, answer,
explanation. Question, answer, explanation. Paul is a master teacher and this is almost like a
catechism. What is the chief end of man? Question. Answer, to glorify God, and to enjoy Him
forever. And then the supporting explanation with different text. That’s how Paul is operating
here.
There are three implications, each implication has three parts. They’re all the same three parts:
question, answer, explanation. Here’s the first implication of justification by faith and it’s in
verses 27 and 28 and it’s this, I’m going to give it to you in four words: all boasting is excluded.
I. ALL BOASTING IS EXCLUDED
Lest any of us have kind of a smug attitude, that we’re in and others are out. That there’s
something good about us that makes us better than someone else, lest we look down our long
nose at others from a self-exalting position because of this doctrine, Paul reminds us the first
implication is this ought to make you so humble. This ought to drop you to your knees, this
ought to take the air out of your pride balloon. Notice how this goes, he begins verse 27, here is
the question: where then is boasting? Now as Paul says this, boasting is looking to yourself, it’s
a self-exaltation, it’s not looking to God and exalting God, it’s looking in the mirror and
exalting yourself. It’s pride, it’s bragging on yourself and Paul, when he says where then is
boasting, it’s in relationship to justification by faith. If justification by faith is true, then where is
one drop of boasting in your heart or to ever come out of your mouth? If justification by faith
alone is true, then we ought to be walking in humility and there should be no boasting or self-
elevation or self-exaltation above anyone else.
All right, so that’s the question, verse 27, where then is boasting? Note the answer, he says it is
excluded, all boasting is excluded. And the word boasting here is a very vivid, graphic word that
means to shut something, to shut someone out, it’s the idea of slamming a door shut, it means to
prevent someone from coming into a house. When Paul says it is excluded, he is slamming the
door on any allowance on any boasting on our part in our salvation and pulling ourselves up
above others. It is excluded, totally, completely excluded; there is a zero-tolerance policy for
any boasting by any believer because of justification by faith.
Now, he gives the explanation. He says “By what kind of law? Of works?” and when he says
law here, he’s not referring to the Mosaic Law, he’s referring to law meaning a principle, an
operating principle. By what principle does God operate by in order to justify us? In other
words, so how is it that God has justified you? He then asks the next question, “Of works?” Was
it by your works that God justified you? And Paul comes down hard with a, like with a
sledgehammer and he goes, “No,” and this is the most positive no you’re gonna find. “No, but
by a law of faith,” and when he says law of faith, he’s talking about how God operates in
salvation. Law meaning an operating principle, the basis of operation. God operates in salvation
not by our works, but exclusively by faith alone.
And if it’s by faith alone, that means that therefore we had nothing to do with it. That it is all on
the basis of someone else’s works, and in reality, there should be some shock statement to what
I’m about to say, we are saved by works, just not our works. It’s by the works of Jesus Christ,
by His sinless life and substitutionary death we are saved, not by our works. All of our
righteousness is as filthy rags in His sight. It is by the perfect works of Jesus Christ imputed to
us as a result of our faith in Christ, that we are justified.
How can we be boasting about what we received as a free gift? Now in verse 28 he will
continue the explanation, and he will say in verse 28 for – and whenever you see the word for
starting a sentence, it will generally introduce an explanation. “For we maintain,” and when he
says maintain, he is saying we strongly assert, and you want a preacher, you want a teacher
who, who is, as I said not just dogmatic but bull-dogmatic, that is strongly asserts. Now that’s
Paul. “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith.”
What’s interesting, when Martin Luther translated the Bible into the German language in 1521
and 1522, it was published in 1522, let me just give you a historical footnote, this year is the
500-year anniversary of the start of the Reformation, 1517, October 31 Martin Luther nailed his
95 Theses to the church door. He was converted in 1519 in the tower of the college church there
and that was 2 years later. Two years after that, 1521, he is called to the Diet of Worms. Worms
is a city where he stood what became a heresy trial, and that’s where he made his great
statement and his books are in the middle of the table, “Martin Luther, are these your books?
And will you recant?” And he says, “How can I recant of my books, they’re filled with the
Word of God. To recant my books would be to recant the Word of God itself. My conscious is
bound by the Word of God, I can do no other, here I stand, God help me.”
And I’ll be standing right there in a little over a week, which is pretty cool. I’m practicing my
speech, my Luther speech. With that, the death sentence was set on Luther and he had like six
weeks to get his affairs in order. He leaves Worms and is kidnapped by his friends, a bag put
over his head, and he’s taken to the Wartburg Castle where no one knows where he is so that the
officials can’t kidnap him and kill him. Luther is sitting in the Wartburg Castle for a pretty good
period of time, he is hyperactive, he decides “I’ll just translate the New Testament while I’m
sitting here in this castle.” Luther translates the New Testament into the German language
which is a monumental achievement, and it was published in 1522. Tyndale will then use it as
he translates the Bible into English.
But when he comes to this very verse, Romans 3:28, as he is so meticulous in translating this, he
actually adds a word that was not in the original text to make it clear for the German-speaking
people what Paul is saying. And he added the word alone. “For we maintain that a man is
justified by faith alone.” Now the word alone is not in the original text but the truth of alone is
staring us right, right in our face. Because he follows up by saying apart from works of the law.
Well, if it’s apart from the works of the law, it has to be by faith alone.
Solo fide is one of the five solo’s that came out of the Reformation, by faith alone, which
became shorthand for justification by faith alone. And it comes from this very verse. Now
justification by faith alone is taught in multiple verses; it was taught in Romans 1:16 and 17, it
is taught in Galatians 3, it’s taught in numerous places. But this is the defining text for Luther as
he translates the Bible into the German language, and that is one of the hallmarks of the
Reformation as well, it is to give a Bible in the language of the people because previous to this,
the preacher preached in Latin. The problem is the people didn’t know Latin, so they’re coming
to a church service that might as well as have been in Swahili or something, they don’t even
know what’s being said. Luther gives this gift to the German-speaking people while he’s sitting
in this castle with nothing else to do.
Strange how sometimes God uses trials to bring about our most productive work. It’s apart from
works. Now because it’s apart from works and it’s all by faith, I mean where could there be any
boasting? I mean, I am what I am by the grace of God, Paul says. Let’s just look at a couple of
verses. 1 Corinthians 4:7 really needs to be read as a cross-reference at this point. 1 Corinthians
4:7, and the Corinthians were cruel to Paul, I mean they were a dagger into his heart, they were
a thorn into his flesh. The Corinthians were puffed up, they were arrogant, they were carnal,
they were boastful, they were prideful, they have pushed the limits to the ninth degree, like how
carnal can you be and still be saved, and still be in the Kingdom, I mean they pushed the fence
posts out as far as they can go without falling off the cliff. And so Paul has to address them and
he will quite frankly say, in verse 3, 1 Corinthians 4:3, it is a very small thing that I should be
examined by you. You know, I don’t know who in the world you think you are, to be looking
down your long nose at me. Paul will be put in a very awkward position of having to push back
on these boastful, arrogant, self-centered Corinthians. And it’s a very small thing that I should
be examined by you.
Now, you come down to verse 7, is the point that I want to make and Paul has to make it to
these Corinthians. He says, “For who regards you as superior? What do you, what do you have
that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received
it.” Tell me one thing good in your Christian life that God has not supplied. Well, I’m waiting
for the answer. You can hear the grass growing outside. Now there is nothing good in your life
but that God has supplied it. Everything bad going on in your life is your deal, everything good
going on in your life is God’s deal. But God is at work in your life, to work and, to will for His
good pleasure.
Even the faith to believe in Jesus Christ is a gift from God. And it’s not as if God contributed
the grace and I contributed the faith – no, even God gave you the gift to believe. Faith is the gift
of God, not as a result of works less any man should boast. The whole package of salvation, not
only redemption but even repentance and faith into redemption is a gift from God. So how in
the world could we ever have any pride in us? Well, obviously the flesh is still operating within
us, but Paul reminds the church in Romans, and he reminds us and he reminds me that
everything good we have, we have received it from God as a gift. Thus we ought to be the most
lowly of mind, humble of heart, denying of self-people on the earth. It’s our theology that
should produce this; our theology doesn’t, should not puff us up, it should humble us and bring
us down.
I’ll give you more verse. In John 3:27, John the Baptist is watching Jesus now come onto the
scene and as Jesus’ ministry is increasing, John the Baptist’s ministry is decreasing. And that’s a
bitter pill for any preacher to swallow. And so John’s disciples come to him and say “Wow,
there are more disciples with him than there are with us now. What do we do about this?” And
John the Baptist gave the right answer in verse 27, he said, “A man can receive nothing unless it
has been givn him from heaven.” Yeah, even the ministry we have is a gift from God, even the
success or the result is a gift from God, even the fruit that would come from our labor as we
serve the Lord is the gift of God. All of this speaks volumes that where then is boasting? There
is no room for boasting and the cornerstone for this is justification by faith alone, that’s the first
implication.
Great application here for us, it’s a call for humility. And let us be reminded, 1 Peter 5:5, “God
is opposed to the proud and he gives grace to the humble.” Do you want a greater grace? I do.
He gives it to only one person, He gives it to the humble. Do you want God opposed to you and
pushing against you? I don’t. God is opposed to the proud, he gives grace to the humble, where
then is boasting?
Second implication, we come now to verse 29. I’m gonna give it to you in 4 words: all
distinctions are removed.
II. ALL DISTINCTIONS ARE REMOVED
If justification by faith alone is true, then there can be no different classes of believers, we’re all
in one body, we’re all in one kingdom, and we’re not in different rooms, we’re all in this
together, there are no distinctions. In verse 29 he begins with the question, he will answer it, and
then he will explain it. And here is the question, or is God the God of Jews only? Transliterated,
this question is saying is God dealing only with the Jews? Is God saving only the Jews? Is God
justifying only the Jews? Is he only the God of the Jews? Paul answers the question with a
question, it’s very Jewish. He answers the question with a question.
It’s like when your wife says, “You’re not gonna wear that shirt, are you?” That’s actually a
statement, not a question. And you just say, “Who, me?” You answer with a question, so.
Is God the God of the Jews only? Here’s the answer, with a question, He is not the God of – is
He not the God of gentiles also? That’s a rhetorical question, the answer of which is yes, He is
the God of the gentiles also. For Him to be the God of the gentiles means that God is also
dealing with gentiles. God is also saving gentiles, God is also justifying gentiles. In fact, the
reason why God saved Jews was for them to go to the gentiles with the Gospel and to be the
great evangelist to the world and to carry the Gospel to the corners of the earth and to bring the
gentiles to faith in God through Jesus Christ.
But the Jews hoarded it, it was the ultimate hyper-Calvinism, they just kept the Gospel to
themselves, they wanted to sit on it, and when God said to Jonah, “I want you to go to Nineveh
and preach the Gospel to those gentiles there,” Jonah went in the opposite direction, he went to
Tarshish, got on a ship and went to Tarshish. That’s like being in Dallas, “I want you to go to
New York.” “Great,” and you get on a plane to go to Los Angeles. You’re just trying to get as
far away from those gentiles as you possibly could. So God had to send, obviously you
remember the storm and the fish, and reroute Jonah back to Nineveh and in forty days Nineveh
is to be destroyed and the greatest revival to ever occur takes place.
What does Jonah do? He just pouts about it. He never dreamed this would happen, that the
gentiles would be saved. He went there thinking “All right, this will be the final condemnation
of them, they’re gonna get what they deserve.” I mean, how arrogant, how boastful, how
prideful was he? And you remember in chapter 4 of Jonah he just sits under a tree and sulks and
pouts and whines and complains because, because they were saved. He just wanted to keep it in
house, he just wanted the holy huddle to remain the holy huddle. We’re not gonna go to the line
of scrimmage and run any plays, we’re just gonna stay in the huddle, we got the best
quarterback in town, we just love to hear him call plays. And just sit there in the huddle and
listen to him call plays, “Would you call that play one time? In fact, come up here Wednesday
night and we wanna hear you call the play again. I need a new moleskin to write down this play,
this is the best play I’ve ever heard.” But to go to the line of scrimmage and reach the world for
Christ, to go to the nations with the Gospel, forget that, I just wanna be in the huddle and listen
to my quarterback call plays.
The implications of justification is it’s not just us being saved, it’s not just Jews being saved.
God has a heart for the world, God wants to reach the world with the message of justification by
faith alone. And so there is no more of these distinctions, this us and them, it’s all us together in
the same boat in Christ. The answer, “Is He not the God gentiles also?” Yes, of gentiles also and
so now comes the explanation in verse 30. So Paul doesn’t just say yes, he explains it, a very
good teacher. In verse 30, he gives the explanations, very profound, “Since indeed God will
justify the circumcision by faith,” now that’s referring to Jews who have been circumcised, the
circumcision is just a label to put over the nation Israel. So how is a Jew saved? He’s justified
by faith, so he then says and the uncircumcised through faith. That refers to non-Jews, that
refers to the rest of the field, the rest of the world, they also are justified by faith.
Now before I look at the end of this verse with you, here again is another supporting text that
there’s only one way of salvation. There’s not one way for a Jew to be saved and a different
way for a gentile to be saved, both are saved by faith alone in Christ alone. Period, paragraph.
Now notice the end of verse 30, is one; now, is one matches up with God, since indeed God will
justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith is one. God is one, is what
he is saying. This is an echo of the great Shammah, Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord
you God is one God.” Now the point that Paul is making here, because there is only one God
there is only one way by which this one God is saving sinners. God is not divided. There is the
solidarity of God, the unity of God, and because there is only one God there is therefore only
one way of salvation. And there is only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ
Jesus, 1 Timothy 2:5.
Therefore all distinctions are removed. Jew and gentile are one in Christ, and at the cross Jesus
tore down the dividing wall between Jew and gentile and there is now only one body of Christ.
There’s not a Jewish body of Christ and there’s not a gentile body of Christ over there. And
neither is there a Baptist body and a Presbyterian body and an independent body and a
charismatic body and a Methodist body, etc, there’s only one body of Christ and that is
comprised of those who are justified by faith alone in Christ alone. This is the second
implication of justification by faith. There’s no other way of salvation and if there’s no other
way of salvation, then there, there is no division between people because there are not two paths
to God, there’s not three paths to God, there’s only one path to God.
That’s the second implication that Paul is led to stress and that is good for us to hear because we
become so stinking fractured in the body of Christ, it’s just going to take some kind of global
persecution or national persecution just to finally weld us back together again. I mean we are
like 20,000 dots, 20,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean that are just so disconnected. And yes,
there are doctrinal distinctions and we need to maintain sound doctrine but we also need to
remember that we have brothers and sisters in Christ who are in other parts of the body of Christ
and they’re in this with us. All distinctions are removed.
And you remember the church in Corinth, you remember how prideful they were? And they go,
“Well, I’m of Paul, and I’m of Cephas, and I’m –” and then the hyper-spiritual ones said, “Well,
I’m of Christ,” you know and it’s just like, you’re just divided up into all your little camps and
it’s just a reflection of, of really your boasting.
All right, there’s a third implication that, that Paul wants us to have and we’re just going where
Paul’s going here on this. It’s in verse 31 and to give it to you in four words: the law is
established.
THE LAW IS ESTABLISHED
Where Paul is headed with this is if we are justified apart from the law as he said in verse 21, so
is the law now nullified? Is the law of no effect? Is the law of no good, is the law of no purpose
if we’re justified apart from the law? Paul wants to deal with this and he wants to head off this
bad idea before it can spread in the minds of those in Rome. It’s going to be question, answer,
explanation. Here’s the question, start of verse 31, “Do we nullify the law through faith?” And
the word nullify here means to make of no effect or to cause to cease. Have we just buried the
law if we are justified apart from the law? Please note Paul’s answer, “May it never be.” It’s
two words in the Greek [speaking Greek], which is the strongest, most emphatic negative that
can be conveyed in the Greek language. [Speaking Greek], absolutely not. It’s not just no, it’s
like no, a thousand times no. May it never be.
Justification does not nullify the proper use of the law. Well, Paul, I need some explanation.
Rather than giving us a full explanation he really just gives us more of a confirmation in reality.
But please note, he says on the contrary, meaning it’s the total opposite of thinking that
justification nullifies the law. On the contrary, we establish the law. Now this word establish is a
very strong Greek word; it means to cause something or someone to stand. It was used in Acts 2
when the other 11 apostles put Peter forward to preach on the day of Pentecost, they caused him
to stand before that crowd. It means to make firm or to cause a thing to keep its place. Thus we
established the law.
Now, let me just say a couple things. Number one, even here in Romans 3 the law is used in
four different ways, so you have to keep your eye on the ball. In verse 19, the Law refers to the
entire Old Testament, the entire Old Testament. In verse 21, law refers just to the first five
books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Because it’s
distinguished from the prophets in verse 21, so obviously the law referring to the first five
books. Third way it’s used is what we just looked at is in verse 28 and 27, an operating
principle; law is used there as an operating principle. But the fourth way that law is used is to
refer to the moral law, which is succinctly summarized in the ten commandments. That is how it
is used in, in verse 20 and that is how it’s used in verse 27, 28 and now in verse 31.
Obviously the ceremonial law has passed away, we’re no longer brining animal sacrifices that
we hand to a priest to offer on our behalf on the day of atonement, that is over. The ceremonial
law has been fulfilled. And the civil law was uniquely for Israel in the promised land. But the
moral law of God is still in effect. I mean we are still to have no other gods before us, we are
still not to take God’s name in vain, we are still not to have a graven image of God, we are still
to honor our father and our mother, we are still not to bear false witness against our neighbor,
we are still not to steal, we are still not to covet. The only one that requires some modification is
the Sabbath and that’s an in-house debate within even reformed circles as to how the Sabbath
relates to the present moment. We’ll set that aside for another discussion. But here in verse 31,
when he says we establish the law, he’s referring to the moral law. And Paul will continue in his
other, the rest of his epistles to refer to the moral law of God as basis for his teaching.
For example, in Ephesians 6 when he gives instruction, “Fathers, do not provoke your children
to wrath,” he will refer back to the moral law to make his point and quote the fifth
commandment, “Honor your father and mother, that it may be well be with you and that you
may live long here upon the earth.” The implication of justification by faith is that we are still to
obey the moral commands of God. Justification by faith is not a free pass that you can live
however you want to live your Christian life. Justification by faith does not mean you have
liberty to anything and everything that comes into your mind to do. We are still under the moral
imperatives, first of all, the New Testament but second of all, even under the Mosaic law, the
ten commandments that I just walked us through. We are not antinomians, and the word
antinomian means against the law. We are not hyper-grace people who can just live however we
want to live. No, the word of God is still binding upon our lives and we are accountable to God
to obey the commandments.
Paul feels compelled to cut off any wrong thinking that someone would assume, “Oh, well if
we’re justified apart from the law therefore then I don’t have to obey God anymore; I’m
forgiven, I can live however I wanna live.” And Paul goes, “Time out. Wrong.” That is no, the
implication of this is we establish the law, we don’t remove the law, we don’t nullify the law,
the law remains established. In fact, no one would believe in Jesus Christ were it not for some
operation of the law because one of the ministries of the law, useful purposes of the law is to
reveal our sin and to be a tutor to take us to Christ for salvation. Now whether that law is
preached or whether it’s simply the law that’s written upon our hearts, the law brings conviction
of sin because we are able to see that we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You
would never know that you weren’t supposed to park in a no parking zone unless there was the
law that says you cannot park there. If there was no law then you could just park in the middle
of the street, I mean if there was no law you could just park in the middle of Central
Expressway if you wanted to. It’s the law that shows where the violation is.
Paul will go on to say in Romans 7 that the law is actually spiritual and that the law is actually
good. In Romans 7:12 he says the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and
good, and in verse 14 he says “For we know that the law is spiritual,” so these are the three
implications that Paul wants to establish with us to follow up immediately his teaching on
justification by faith. To bring us to humility, with no boasting, it should remove all barriers and
all distinctions ‘cause we’re all saved the same way, we’re all justified in the same way, brought
into the same kingdom, and it establishes the law, not nullifies the law.
And as we will see in the future, justification and sanctification are inseparably bound together.
Everyone who is justified is immediately sanctified and begins the lifelong process now of
growing in Christ’s likeness. No one will ever be justified without immediately being sanctified
and beginning this lifelong growth in grace. To put it another way, to go through the narrow
gate can only lead down the narrow path. It cannot lead down the broad path; narrow gate,
narrow path, broad gate, broad path. You can’t mix and match.
We have an eternity of time left. We have 12, 13, minutes left so let’s talk about this. What do
you like about this, other than everything? What, what has affected your thinking today? What
has had a positive effect in your life? What question do you have? Let me start around the table
and we, I’m sure we’ve got, with Jonathan some people queued up as well but anyone want to
go first here around the table? Someone else?
Male:                           I was thinking about what you were saying, the reference to 1
Corinthians that we’ve received everything and you made another comment that made me think
about our spiritual pride. I don’t know where I read it or heard or someone said that you know
some of us get enamored with our knowledge and there’s a professor, I’m not gonna say who he
is, but Dr. Almand says –
Dr. who -?
Male:                           Almand.
Oh, okay.
MALE;                        He says jokingly that you know DTS men know things that most people
don’t, to make a point that seminaries and people such, trade, they tend to puff up because of
what we know. And there is truth in our spiritual life, we would, we just came back from south
Texas and you know these, these churches over there, they don’t have a seminary of any sort
around. They learn from others and it’s sometimes kind of like the blind leading the blind, and
then you bring some people that have been _____, you know, great teaching all around, we have
very great churches here in town. And then you know that’s when it gets real that you start
thinking of how well-trained I am, and how below me these people are and that’s exactly the
wrong way to think about it. We’re all one body, we’re all one kingdom, there’s no one better
than the other one, and if you have more knowledge than your brother next to you –
It’s only ‘cause God gave it to you.
MALE;                        Exactly. But we, this is the issue that we do not remember, we just get
caught up in our success, in our achievements if you will.
Yeah, yeah.
MALE;                        But it is not so with the Lord at all.
Yeah, amen, that’s a very good point.
MALE;                        And what is –
I am so glad you’re convicted about that.
[Laughter]
We can just pray for Alan.
[Laughter]
That he can be like us.
[Laughter]
MALE;                        Well, and that’s the other thing, you said, you know, the Lord is with the
humble, but if you’re not humble the Lord is gonna push you against you; you don’t want that.
You don’t want that.
MALE;                        No.
Now here’s the deal, you’re gonna be humble one way or the other.
MALE;                        That’s true.
Either you humble yourself, or God’s gonna humble you. But I promise you, you’re gonna be
humble one way or the other. And if you push back on Him making you humble, He may just
take you out of this world and you’ll be humble in Heaven and just have a premature death. But
you’re gonna be humble one way or the other. So that is challenging to me and convicting to me
as it ought to be, and it needs to be more convicting as well.
Well, just to add a footnote to your footnote, knowledge is never an end in itself. It’s only a
means to the end that God desires. And we have to have knowledge but it’s only to catapult us
into what God has for us, to live, to minister, to worship, to serve, et cetera. But if it ever
becomes an end in itself, then we’re done, it’s just over. I mean look at how many books I have,
you know, look at what all I know, then it’s, we, in fact it’s become a curse now. It’d be better if
you didn’t know so much because you used to be humble, before you knew so much. Yeah, no,
thank you, Alan, for that. You know we were just kidding with you?
MALE;                        To add to Alan’s point –
Yeah?
MALE;                        And you said it earlier, the flesh is always trying to raise up and to puff
up individually.
Yeah.
MALE;                        And not only is it we’ve received everything but with the, as Alan says,
the knowledge –
No distinction.
MALE;                        No distinction.
MALE;                        Say bye to Alan, this is his last time here. He’s never coming again.
MALE;                        You know, rightly understood, it increases our responsibility. It’s God-
given, and not only is it not from us, but you said it earlier, we have all these distinctions, and
this is a point that Alan and I have talked about, we do want at times to stay in the holy huddle
instead of running the play. With the, with this being enamored with knowledge, we forget that
we’re supposed to go out. We’re supposed to go out and make disciples of men. And that’s
where the church has failed.
MALE;                        With, you know with great, with great blessings, you’re greatly
responsible.
And to whom much is given the same shall be required. The more you’re given the more you’re
accountable to God. No question about it. That’s why James 3:1, “let not many of thee become
teachers, my brethren,” meaning, you have greater exposure to the Word and you ought to know
more because you’re freed up to study it more. “But let not many of you become teachers, my
brethren, knowing as such we shall incur a stricter judgment,” stricter judgment. I used to think
about that every I’m walking into class; I didn’t think about it every day but I thought about it
regularly. I’m just upping the ante on my accountability. I’m going to have more to give an
answer for now. Jonathan, what question have you got down there for us? Or tell where from,
you don’t have to tell who, but where are they from?
MALE;                        Well, unfortunately the first question’s from Chris Kitchens, he did not
say where he’s from, maybe he’ll drop it in here in a minute.
Yeah?
MALE;                        But he has a question about Romans 3:30, where it says “Since God is
one who will justify the circumcised by faith, and the uncircumcised through faith,” he’s asking
is there –
The difference between by –
MALE;                        By and through? He wants to know is that intentional, is that important,
or is that just -?
See, I knew someone was gonna ask that question so I studied up this morning on that. No, I
mean it catches my eye as well. And I think Augustin had the best answer to that, that it’s just a
rhetorical device so that you don’t repeat yourself. Sometimes in parallelism you do repeat
yourself, sometimes in parallelism you say the same thing but in different words. And that’s
what Paul is doing here. It’s just a rhetorical device so that you don’t use the exact same word
but you’re saying that same thing. And they both mean that, it doesn’t mean that we’re saved by
faith, in the sense that faith saves us; there’s only one that can save us and that is Jesus Christ.
Faith is the means by which the merit of Christ is imputed to our account. So faith is that
channel, that instrumentality by which God saves us in Christ. But that’s a good question, Chris,
thanks for being on the ball on that.
MALE;                        He says he’s from Albertville, Alabama.
Oh, really? From the great state of Alabama. Or as it’s pronounced there, Alabama. Yeah, that’s
great. Anything else you got down there, Jonathan?
MALE;                        Yeah, we got one more from Paul Meredith, also from Alabama, in
Irvington. A lot of Alabama questions today.
Yeah.
MALE;                        He says he’s heard that many people have said that God provides the
grace and then they provide the repentance and faith. Are they saying, is that a valid profession?
Yeah, they can be saved. I mean I was saved as an Armenian and it took me many years before
I, and deeper study of the Scripture, and much soul searching before I even came to understand,
oh, even faith is a gift of God, and repentance is a gift of God. But that does not mean that I was
any less saved before I came to that understanding. So yes, you can still be converted to Christ. I
mean I believe John Wesley is in Heaven, like Whitfield said, we won’t see him in Heaven
‘cause he’ll be so close to the throne of grace that we won’t get that close to see him. And he
obviously didn’t, did not believe that faith and repentance were a gift but nevertheless saved and
not everyone who believes that repentance and faith is a gift are saved. I mean there are lot of
people who are orthodox but unconverted. You know, they can sign off on the Westminster
Confession of Faith, but don’t know the Lord. So it’s possible, to know John Calvin but not
know Jesus Christ, so.
All right, any other questions? I mean we’ve got like two minutes here before we wrap
everything up.
MALE;                        I have something real quick.
Yeah?
MALE;                        When he brought up the knowledge, it made me think of, knowledge is
certainly very important but I separate knowledge of something you know in your head and
wisdom of the way to carry that out and sometimes, at least for myself, as knowledge increased,
my wisdom decreased in a sense of, like them going down to south Texas, these people may
have a lot of wisdom in the way in the way that they are to their people they love and give their
times and resources. While we may have knowledge and go down and do stuff like that, pat
ourselves on the back, like we did the Lord’s work while they’re really in that grind and we go
back to our cush lives. And so my prayer is just that as knowledge increases, that our wisdom
increases right along with it.
Yeah.
MALE;                        Because it seems to, when I first gave my life to God I felt like I had a lot
of wisdom, so to speak. I was all for God and just, I would preach or minister to people and pray
with people and now it’s like I’m afraid like, well, what if they have different theology than me
and what if they’re not Calvinists and what if they – and so that it almost makes me pump my
brakes because I don’t want to get into all this theology stuff when the bottom line is the Word
of God, the sanctification, is glorification, is knowing intimately Jesus and spending eternity
with him, the Gospel. But we get so caught up in that, so my prayer is just that wisdom
increases with knowledge.
Absolutely. That’s well put and it’s not either, or, it’s both, and. And we have to have
knowledge first, and then the wisdom is how to put this knowledge into practice and daily
Christian living. And the word in the Hebrew is [speaking Hebrew], which means skill, like a
carpenter would have skill to take a hammer or a saw and make something beautiful with his
hands. That’s how the word wisdom is used in the Old Testament, that we would know how to
take the word of God and skillfully apply it and live it on a daily basis. So that, that’s exactly
what I need and what each one of us needs.
Father, you’ve given us knowledge, now we do ask for wisdom to know how to work this out in
our Christian lives in a way that will honor and glorify you. Help us to put this into practice,
especially this first implication on humility and this third implication on obedience to your
word. So God, we need you to work in our life; apart from you we can do nothing. In Jesus’
name, Amen.
 20. Abraham, Paul and David: Romans 4:1-8

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

Let me just begin in a word of prayer. Father, as always, we’re totally dependent upon your
grace to enable us to understand your word rightly. Thank you that you have given us a new
mind, and that you’ve put your holy spirit within us, and he is our teacher. I pray that you would
cause your word in Romans to be clear, plan to our understanding, and move us to live for your
glory. In Christ’s name. Amen.
 
We are in Romans chapter four. That just sounds good to say Romans chapter four. That means
we’re making progress- huge progress. We are in Romans four, and the subject continues to be
justification by faith. This is a major doctrine in the Bible. In fact, Luther, Calvin, the reformers,
they understood that this was the cornerstone. We are majoring on the majors to be in a
lockdown mode here on justification by faith alone. To this point we have looked at two major
paragraphs under justification by faith. We are now moving to the third major paragraph.
Everything began in chapter three verse twenty-one as it relates to justification by faith. In
verses 21 to 26, that’s the instruction. Paul lays out the doctrine of justification by faith alone.
 
Then, last time we noted in verses 27 to 31, the implications of justification by faith. Just to
remind you, and I didn’t say it in exactly these three words, but this succinctly summarizes the
three implications, meaning the application: humility, unity, and obedience. Those are the three
implications of justification by faith that we looked at last time. Verses 27 and 28 is humility,
where then boasting is excluded. Verses 29 and 30, unity. God is not only the God of the Jews,
but also the God of the gentiles. There is only one way of salvation and it is by justification by
faith alone. The third implication is obedience in verse 31. That just because we’re not justified
by the law does not now nullify the law. The moral law of God continues to be a guiding light in
our sanctification and in our Christian life.
 
Those are the three great applications for justification by faith. Let me say it again: humility,
verses 27 and 28; unity, verses 29 and 30, and obedience, verse 31. I stated it slightly different
last week, but I like a “less is more” outline, and to tighten it down one word for each
application. We all need all three of these. We all need greater humility. We all need greater
unity, one with another, and we all need greater obedience. We come now to chapter four in
verse one, and Paul just continues to roll this out. This is like a 777 taxiing down the runway.
This isn’t a crop duster. This isn’t a helicopter that’s going to go straight up. We need a long
runway to get – this big doctrine, as this truth is, up in the air and going.
 
As he comes to chapter four now, we move to the illustration. We’ve gone from the instruction
to the implications. Now the illustration. Paul will use the supreme example to make his point,
and he uses Abraham. If anyone was saved it was Abraham. If anyone was right with God it
was Abraham. Paul even passes over Moses to get to Abraham, and he even uses David, as
we’ll see in verses six through eight, to establish Abraham. This is going to be an argument
from the greater to the lesser. If the supreme example is justified by faith alone, then how much
more so everyone else who would come into the kingdom of heaven. I want to begin reading in
verse one, and Lord willing we’ll get through verse eight. These are some of the most important
verses for the Gospel that there are in the entire Bible. How important is the Gospel to you?
Very important. These verses are some of the signature text in the entire Bible.
 
Let me begin by reading starting in verse one: “What then shall we say that Abraham, our
forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has
something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham
believed God, and it was credited to him his righteousness. Now, to the one who works, his
wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but
believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.” Just as David
also speaks of the blessing, “On the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works.”
He now quotes Psalm 32:1-2, “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and
whose sin has been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.”
Well, it would be hard to find any more positive verses than these, any clearer verses than these,
and it would be hard to find any more important verses than these.
 
I want to break it out this way. You know I like an outline which helps give me the roadmap
through a text. This is very simple. In verses one through three, what Abraham found. Verses
four and five, what Paul taught. In verses six through eight, what David declared. We go from
Abraham, to Paul, to David. Let me just put a footnote on this. This speaks to the unity of the
Scripture. The perfect harmony from one Biblical author, writer to the next. They all speak with
one voice. They never contradict themselves. There are no contradictions in the Bible
whatsoever. It’s a seamless tapestry. Every thread woven together perfectly to make one large
tapestry of truth.
 
WHAT ABRAHAM FOUND
 
He begins with Abraham. What Abraham found, verses one through three. In verse one Paul
begins by putting it in a question form. He said, “What then shall we say that Abraham, our
forefather according to the flesh, has found?” As I’ve already said, he goes to the top of the
ladder. He pulls off the top shelf. The one supreme example of who is right before God. What is
interesting is he goes back to the Old Testament to make his case. This shows crystal clear there
is only one way of salvation in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament. As Paul
teaches justification by faith in the New Testament, he uses the Old Testament to make his
point. That can only be legitimate if there is only one way of salvation in both Testaments. We
want to be crystal clear on this: that anyone who has ever been saved in the history of the world
has been saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Period paragraph. End of
discussion.
 
What did Abraham discover? What did Abraham find regarding how to be right with God? This
was the whole issue of the Reformation. How can a sinful man be made right with a holy God?
That’s what the Gospel is all about. How can we find acceptance with God. We being sinful,
God being perfectly holy, how can we be reconciled to this holy God? That’s what the question
in verse one is all about. Now, verse two. It’s a hypothetical. “For if Abraham was justified by
works, he has something to boast about, but not before God” Now, when he says justified by
works he’s talking about his self-righteousness. He’s talking about his own morality. He’s
talking about his own self perceived goodness. What he can do to contribute to his salvation
whether it be in full, or whether it just be in part.
 
If Abraham was justified by works then he could legitimately have reason to brag about this,
could he not? That he has purchased his own salvation. He has contributed to his own right
standing before God. Well, it’s a hypothetical because in his own works he cannot be justified.
Paul is saying, “All right, let’s just trace this out. Let’s go with this for a moment. If Abraham
could be justified by works, then when he gets to haven he can look in the mirror and sing
“How Great Thou Art.” I mean he can pat himself on the back knowing that he got himself
there, and it would be the same with you and me as well.
 
At the end of verse two Paul just slams the door shut in the face of this argument, and he says,
“But not before God.” There can be no boasting before God. Zero. God is a jealous God, and he
will not share his glory with another. God never sings a duet. God only sings a solo. He will not
share the spotlight with anyone. One, because there’s no way that good works can remove the
stain of sin. Second, it can’t be true because if it were true then God would have to share the
glory with someone else, but God is a jealous God for his own glory.
 
Verse three now is the knockout punch on this. This is what Abraham found. Abraham – for
what does the Scripture say? I love how Paul is always appealing to the Scripture, to the word of
God just to anchor the point. He will now quote from Genesis 15:6, and again, this shows that
what Paul is teaching is nothing new. This goes all the way back to Genesis. This goes all the
way back to the earlier chapters in Genesis. This has been on the books for centuries. He says,
“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now let’s just think this
through for a moment. Abraham was an idolater. Abraham worshiped the moon God. Abraham
was as rotten, filthy, idolatrist as anyone could have ever been, as he lived in the Ur of
Chaldees. When God called Abraham there was absolutely nothing good in Abraham. The
pollution of sin reeked in his life. We’re talking about a man who had nothing good whatsoever
to commend himself to God.
 
Now, when we think of Abraham we think of Abraham the believer. Well, he wasn’t when God
first called him. He was Abraham the blasphemer is what he was. Notice, Abraham believed
God. In the original order that the words appear in the Greek New Testament. The word
believed is frontloaded. This literally reads believed Abraham God. That’s the order of the
words. When you want to draw attention to a work, you just lift it up and put at the beginning of
the sentence. We call that the emphatic position to draw our attention to this word. What Paul
wants us to see clearly is the word believed. Abraham believed God. That’s all he did. He
simply took God at his word. Abraham believed God. What was the result of Abraham
believing God? God had promised Abraham that a great nation would come from his loins. A
part of this great nation there would be the Messiah, who would be the redeemer of Gods
people.
 
The Gospel according to John 8 was preached to Abraham. Abraham knew the Gospel because
God made it known to him. Abraham believed God. That’s all he did. Not believed and worked,
just simply believed. What was the result of this? “And it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Now this word “credited” you will find in this chapter is mentioned nine times. This morning I
woke up early and took my little ballpoint pen and drew a circle around every time I see the
word “credited” in chapter four. Only one time in chapter eight is it translated a different way
taken to account, but you’ll notice verse three, “It was credited to him.” Verse five, “His faith is
credited as righteousness.” Verse six, “God credits righteousness.” Verse eight, “God will not
take into account.” That means not credit.  In verse nine, “Faith was credited to Abraham as
righteousness.” Verse 10, “How then was it credited?” Then in verse 11, “The father of all who
believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them.” You come to
the end of the chapter verse 22, “It was also credited to him.” Verse 23, “It was credited to
him.” Verse 24, “To whom it will be credited.”
 
Hello. I mean, a blind man could see this. Nine times in one chapter. This word “credited”. It
comes from a Greek word. I’m going to pronounce it because you can hear the English word in
it, logizomai. You can hear logarithms. You can hear logic. The word – it’s a bookkeeping term.
It’s an accounting term. It means to post to the account of. It means to credit to the account of. It
means to put to the account of. You move something out of one ledger account, and you transfer
it to a different ledger account. Financial banking, you take an asset out of one account and you
transfer it over to a different account. It’s very simple. That’s exactly what the word means.
 
Abraham believed God, and there was credited to him. Now please note the him. I want to make
a big deal out of a small word, him, H-I-M. Not to him and Sarah. Not to him and his children.
Not to him and his servants. Only to Abraham. Every person must believe on their own. Just
because the father believes doesn’t mean the whole family is in. Just because mom believes the
Gospel doesn’t mean all the kids are in. It is only the one person who believes, and it is credited
to him as righteousness. That’s what’s transferred. It’s transferred from God’s account.
Purchased by Jesus Christ. It’s transferred to Abraham’s account. The perfect righteousness of
God. There can only be perfect righteousness transferred out of God’s account into Abraham’s
account. Abraham has done nothing to deserve it, to earn it, to work for it. It is purely by the
grace of God, right?
 
This righteousness – the word righteousness means perfect conformity to a standard. It is perfect
conformity to God’s own holiness. That’s what’s transferred into Abraham’s account. Now, let
me just give you some words that describe this transfer. It happens immediately. It’s not
progressive like sanctification. This transfer happens in the twinkling of an eye. It happens the
moment, the exact split second that someone believes immediately the transaction occurs.
Literally one second you’re bankrupt, the next second you have all the riches of God’s grace
transferred to your account. Also, it’s a complete transfer. It doesn’t come in installments. You
get it all. It’s a present transfer, meaning in this lifetime.
 
There is some false doctrine being taught by a man named NT Wright, who has a new
perspective on Paul. Who says that, “This righteousness is not transferred until the final day, the
final judgement, and will have to evaluate your works on the last day to see if this transfer will
take place.” That is a false Gospel. This righteousness is presently transferred the moment you
believe. Look at the verb tense. Look at it in your Bible. Abraham believed God and it was. Not
will be. Was credited to him as righteousness. I want to give you one more word, it’s
irrevocable. Once it’s transferred over into Abraham’s account, it will never be reversed. It will
never be counter transferred back to God’s account where Abraham will then be without it. It’s
a once and for all transaction. It is a finished transaction. It is credited to him as righteousness.
 
Now, turn with me, if you would, to the book of Philemon. I’ll give you a moment to find it. It’s
a little one chapter book, as you well know, tucked away before the book of Hebrews, and after
the Pastoral Epistles. After first and second Timothy and Titus comes Philemon. I want you to
see verse 18. You’re familiar with the story of – that’s behind the book of Philemon. Philemon
was a man in the ancient world who had a slave named Onesimus. Onesimus didn’t like being a
slave so he ran away illegally, and ran to Rome to start all over to get a new life. In the amazing
providence of God, guess who Onesimus runs into? Paul, in his house arrest.
 
Somehow, someway Onesimus is brought by someone else into Paul’s house where he’s under
house arrest. Paul preaches the Gospel to Onesimus, and Onesimus is saved. So Onesimus says,
“So now what do I do?” Paul says, “You’re going to have to go back, and you’re going to have
to make things right with your master. You’re going to have to go back and serve him. You’re
going to have to take this up with him whether or not he wants to release you or not, but just
because you’re a Christian now doesn’t cancel out all your other obligations.” For example, if
you go buy a brand new car, and you’ve made four of sixty payments and then you become a
Christian, you can’t call the car dealership and say, “Well, this just wipes everything out. I don’t
have to pay you any more money because now I’m a Christian.” That’s just not going to work,
and it didn’t work in the first century either. Paul says, “You’re going to have to go back,” but
he says, “I’m going to write a letter that you can take with you and hand to Philemon, and I am
going to speak on your behalf, Onesimus, and let him know what’s happened in your life.”
 
When we read verse 18 here, Paul makes a very important statement. He says to Philemon, “If
Onesimus owes you any money, just put that on my account. Just charge that to me and I’ll pay
for it.” Look at verse 18, “But if he,” referring to Onesimus, “has wronged you, Philemon, in
any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. Just transfer that over, or I’ll just
transfer from my account to your account. I’m good for it. I’ll back it.” It’s like, “Whatever it is
I’ll pay it.” That’s the same idea over here in Romans chapter four, and that’s the perfect
illustration. Onesimus did nothing to work for Paul in order to earn this money that Paul would
then give to Philemon. It’s just purely a gracious gesture on Paul’s part.
 
Multiply that 10,000 times 10,000 times 10,000, and that is what God has done for us in the
Gospel. In essence, God is saying, “I’ll pay it all. I’ll just transfer from my account to your
account the perfect righteousness that you need.” Verses one through three, is what Abraham
discovered. I trust that you’ve discovered this. That you have found this. For those of you who
are watching us on live stream, it’s our desire that you have found the grace of God, and that by
faith you have believed in Jesus Christ. If you have believed in Jesus Christ, immediately the
righteousness of God is transferred from God’s account to your account, and you have now the
perfect righteousness that you need to stand faultless before God. This righteousness does not
come from you, and it does not come from anyone else. No other person, no church, no pastor,
no denomination can make this deposit into your account. Only God can transfer from his
account what you need in your account.
 
WHAT PAUL EXPLAINED
 
Second, what Paul explained. In verses four and five Paul now explains this. This shows that
Paul and Abraham are in perfect agreement. Now, verse four is one scenario. Verse five is the
other. He says in verse four, “Now to the one who works.” In other words, works to earn his
salvation. Excuse me, it’s just a general principle, “To the one who works.” If I came over to
your house and mowed your yard, and we had worked out a deal that you would give me $20 to
mow your yard, and I come knock on the door and say, “I’m mowed your yard,” and I’m just
like sweating like a pig and you go, “Well here, I’ve got a gift for you.” “Gift? No, these are
wages. I’ve earned this. I’ve worked hard for this.” Now, it could be that I’m out on the street
corner and I don’t have anything, and out of the goodness of your heart you walk up and hand
me $20. That wouldn’t be wages. That would just be a gift based upon your own graciousness
and benevolence towards me.
 
Paul is making this contrast between wages and a gift. Wages you have to work for it. You earn
it the old-fashioned way. The other way is as a gift. It’s just freely given. You haven’t done
anything to merit a gift. A gift is a gift. Notice in verse four now, “Now to the one who works.
His wage -” it wouldn’t be a gift. It would be his wage. “Is not credited as a favor, but is what is
due.” I mean Kent has to make payroll here at his company. When he meets payroll, the people
have earned it. I mean, they’ve gotten up early. They’ve come to work. They’ve done their job
description and leave at the end of the day. That’s not a favor. That’s a wage that’s due. That’s
one principle.
 
Now the other principle is in verse five, which is how the Gospel works. Verse five it says, “But
to the one who does not work. They have done nothing to earn it or deserve it, but believes in
him,” in God, in his word, “who justifies -” please note, “the ungodly.” God never justifies the
godly, and you want to know why? There are none who are godly. We have all sinned and
fallen short of the glory of God. Chapter three verse 23, the word ungodly means wicked and
irreverent. That’s exactly what Abraham was before he believed.
 
Paul says, “But to the one who does not work, but believes, and just only believes in him, and
only in him who justifies.” Remember the word justifies means to declare righteous. Again, it’s
the idea of transferring from God’s account, his perfect righteousness that was secured by Christ
in his sinless life and substitutionary death, transferred over to our account. Look at the result of
this. His faith is credited as righteousness. His faith activates the transfer that God has put into
motion, and is credited as righteousness. It’s abundantly clear to us that it is by faith alone in
God alone.
 
WHAT DAVID DECLARED
 
Paul adds a third heading to this section. In verse six, what David declared. He’s not using
David so much as an example, but using David, what David wrote as the confirmation for what
the case that he has made with Abraham. “Just as David also speaks.” Well, we could say what
David shouts and declares. “Of the blessing,” and blessing here refers to divine favor in
salvation. “On the man whom God credits righteousness apart from good works.” Now in verses
seven and eight he quotes Psalm 32:1-2. Let me just say at the outset, this is a slam dunk case.
For someone to miss this you would have to be reading you Bible in a dark room at midnight
with blinders on, and your Bible closed, and your Bible upside-down, and you’re in a dark cave.
There is no way to miss this.
 
“Blessed -” now the word blessed means the opposite of cursed. You’re either blessed or you’re
cursed. There’s no middle ground. To be cursed means you’re under the wrath of God. To be
blessed means you’re under the favor of God. You’re under the smile of God. You have
acceptance with God. I mean, can you think of a greater blessing than that? “Blessed are those,”
and the word those is very emphatic, and we could translate it – we could transliterate it this
way. This word is not in the original, but this is the idea, “And those only. Blessed are those
only whose lawless deeds have been forgiven.” Now, lawless deeds is in the plural, and the idea
is all of one’s lawless deeds: past, present, and future. Sometimes someone will ask me, “All
right, when I was saved God forgave all of my sins up until that point. What about my future
sins?” I said, “Listen, all of your sins were future 2,000 years ago when Jesus died on the cross.
They were all out on the horizon of time. When Jesus died they were all future. He paid for
every single sin a person would ever commit in the entirety of their life. The entire slate
whipped clean.”
 
He says, “Forgiven.” The word forgiven is a very picturesque word, and the word forgiven
means to send away. It’s actually used sometimes in the Scripture when a man would divorce
his wife and send her away. In other words, she’s out of the house. She’s sent away. That’s the
idea here for forgiveness. It means to send a debt away. To put away an obligation that is
against you. That is what the word forgiveness means. Here’s another synonym, to cancel it out.
Just to cancel out the debt completely and send it away. It’s no longer around. The Bible says
that, “God has taken our sins and buried them in the sea of his forgetfulness.” God has taken our
sin and placed them behind his back. God can remember our sin no more. It’s not that they’re
just still here in from of us. No, they’re sent away as far as the penalty that would have to be
paid for that sin.
 
Now, he follows up with a parallel phrase after he says, “Our lawless deeds.” By the way, all sin
is a breaking of the law of God. The moral law of God. That is another reason why the law, the
moral law of God is still in effect. Because if there was not the moral law there would not be
sin. It is a violation of the moral law of God. “Our lawless deeds have been forgiven.” Please
note the verb tense. It’s already happened. It’s not a progressive forgiveness. It’s not one day
we’ll be forgiven. It’s already happened the moment you believe in Jesus Christ. Now he
follows up with the next line in verse seven, “And whose sins have been covered.” So not only
are they canceled and sent away, they’re also a different metaphor here, they’re covered,
meaning they’re covered over such that God can no longer see them.
 
When he says sins at the end of verse seven, again, it’s in the plural. It’s not an isolated sin. It’s
all of them. The whole package has been covered up. The verb here means to conceal. Then in
verse eight he repeats, David repeats and Paul here quoting David, “Blessed,” and by saying
blessed twice at the beginning of verse seven, and the beginning of verse eight, it also reinforces
the idea of a plurality of blessedness. A multiplicity of blessedness. In the Hebrew and in the
Old Testament it’s actually in the plural, “Oh the blessednesses.” By repeating it here is to
emphasize the over flowing abundant blessedness that comes from God. “Blessed is the man.”
 
Please note the individual who believes. Not the family. Not the household. The individual who
believes. Because in many households the mother believes but the father doesn’t, or the father
does the kids don’t. Everyone has to believe on their own and for themselves. “Blessed is the
man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.” When he says sin, this time it’s in the
singular. He’s already stressed the plural, now the singular, and it’s all sins, every sin, even each
individual sin the Lord will not take into account. It’s the same verb that’s translated to count, or
credit to the account of.
 
Now, let’s just have a little theology lesson here just for a moment. Number one: there are three
creditings that happen in the Bible. We call it three imputations. A good theologian knows these
three. Number one: when Adam sinned, his sin was charged to the account of every person who
would ever live. At the moment that Adam sinned, you and I actually became a sinner
thousands of years ago. When Adam sinned, he was our representative. It’s kind of like when
one man jumps off side in football, the whole team is penalized. When Adam jumped off sides,
the whole team, the whole human race was penalized.
 
You may say, “Well that’s not fair.” Listen, you would have done the same thing if you were
there. In fact, you would have probably done it quicker. You’d a done it on your own without
your wife handing you the apple. Adam acted on our behalf. In Romans 5:12 is the verse to
back that up. “Therefore just as one man’s sin – just as through one man’s sin entered into the
world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” That’s the first
transfer. Adam’s sin to your account.
 
Second transfer, all the sins of everyone who would ever believe in Jesus Christ, were
transferred to Christ 2,000 years ago. “And him who knew no sin, God made to be sin for us,” 2
Corinthians 5:21. Adam’s sin impeded to the entire human race. The sin of all believers
transferred to Jesus Christ at the cross. The third imputation is what we’ve been talking about
here, which is the imputation from – the righteousness of God in Christ transferred to everyone
who believes. Follow the bouncing ball and you’ll understand salvation.
 
There is a negative and a positive that he talks about here on crediting to the account. He says in
verse eight, “There is something that’s not credited to our account.” In the act of justification,
which would be let’s say verse six, there’s something that is credited to us. Something that’s not
credited, and something that is credited. What is not credited to us according to verse eight is
sin. Our sin is no longer credited to us. Instead, our sin has been credited to Christ at the cross.
Jesus suffered, and bled, and died in our place upon the cross. Now, the righteousness of Christ
is credited to us. Our sin credited to Christ. Christ’s righteousness credited to us. That is – that’s
God’s accounting. That’s God’s bookkeeping in salvation. We could call it the great exchange.
The worst about you was credited to Christ. The best about Christ was credited to you. You
gave up dirt for diamonds. He gave up diamond for dirts – for dirt. This is a summary of the
Gospel.
 
APPLICATION
 
Now, let’s just think of some application, and then we’re going to go to Q&A time. First
application, the so what. You see how important the Old Testament is? Paul makes his case for
justification by faith. He’s just going back to the Old Testament, back to the Old Testament,
back to the Old Testament. This shows the Old Testament is still in effect. Obviously, the
ceremonial law has been abolished, and the civil law is not in effect for us, but the moral law is,
but the wisdom, the promises, the prophecies, all of this shows that we need to be reading our
Old Testament. We need to be very familiar with our Old Testament.
 
Second thing that we learn here is how important sound doctrine is. That Paul is belaboring this
doctrine of justification by faith. Sometimes we get in the middle of these theological sections
and we go, “When are we going to get into something practical?” Well, we’re going to get
there, but this tall skyscraper has got to rest on a deep foundation of doctrine. All duty rests
upon doctrine. All behavior rests upon beliefs. Paul is just clearing out a space that he will come
here in a little bit and add to what we are to do. Do you know there’s not even an imperative
verb given to us until chapter six? We’re not even told to do anything until we get to Romans
chapter six. Paul is just laying this doctrinal foundation. It shows how important theology is.
 
Third, what we learn from this is the hopelessness of our works to save us. If we get anything
out of this, we see it’s not by our works. As I told you last time, we can’t even throw down the
tip for the bill. Christ paid for salvation, and we can just throw something else on the table on
top of what he’s done. No, it’s all or nothing. Our works contribute zero to our right standing
before God.
 
Then fourth, here’s the power of the Gospel. Now just think about this. God called Abram an
idolatrist heathen to make him the premiere example of a true believer, and to be the father of a
nation, and to be the father of the faithful. Through his loins the Messiah would come into this
world. This is the power of the Gospel to take someone who’s nobody, and make them
somebody through the merit, and through the power, and through the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ in the Gospel. This ought to encourage us that God can transform people who are far
away from him, and bring them into a saving relationship with himself.
 
This ought to encourage us. You may have a family member. You may have a work associate.
You may have a good friend from school, and you may think, “Well, if anyone is not going to
be saved it’s this person.” God delights in taking the one who’s furthest away from him, and
bringing him to himself. That’s exactly what God did with Abraham. That’s exactly what God
did with the one who wrote the book of Romans. Saul of Tarsus. No one could have been
further away than Abraham and the writer of this book, Paul. God loves to show off. God loves
to showcase his glory, and his power, and it’s in the Gospel.
 
This should be a great encouragement to us in our witnessing to other people. Abraham wasn’t
the one who grew up in a Christian environment, went to a Christian school, and had Christian
friends. No, Abraham was as pagan, and as idolatrist as any person could possibly be, and yet
God’s grace found him out, and God just reeled him in. Abraham believed God and
immediately God credited to him his righteousness.
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Let me just throw it open for questions, and let’s just start around the table here. Then we’re
going to move to folks who have contacted us. What strikes you about this? What do you like
about this? What helps you from this? I’m going to keep throwing out something until I hit a
nerve. What do you not like about this? How are you encouraged by this?
 
From Anthony Melondez. He says he would like clarification on Acts 16:31. He says, “I’ve
responsibly preached the Gospel to my children, can I rely on Acts 16:31 as a promise of God
even though I don’t see real fruit or repentance on them.” He says he struggles with this, and
being sad that he doesn’t them searching the Lord. They are good kids in general, are respectful,
but he doesn’t see them searching the Lord. I’ll read Acts 16:31.
 
Yeah, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
 
You and your household.
 
Yeah, you and your household. Well, the household is going to have to believe. There’s no
promise there that everyone in your household is going to believe. There are many a believer
who have children who do not come to faith in Christ. That would be a vain promise to claim.
We can turn to it here real quick in Acts 16:31. Because later it says in this very context that
everyone in his household actually believed. Yeah, verse 34. At the end of verse 34, “Having
believed in God with his whole household.” Everyone in the household believed. So I mean you
can pray, but – look at even Jacob I loved and Esau I hated. I mean, the twins within one
household. One was elect, the other was non-elect. So I would just keep preaching the Gospel.
It’s really not real until there’s the fruit of repentance. There will always be the fruit of
repentance. That’s what makes child evangelism so difficult.
 
We have to approach that very cautiously. Because it’s easy to get a five year old kid to pray
something. You don’t want to go to hell do you? You don’t want to be separated from mom and
dad do you? Well, what else are you going to say? But as far as denying yourself and taking up
a cross, and following, and repenting, you would encourage a child to pray and commit their life
to Christ, but you can’t really, I don’t think except in maybe some rare situations, actually really
have an assurance. Just even a self-perceived assurance until there’s some issues on the table
that they have to deal with deny, resist temptation, et cetera. That’s a good question. I’m
thankful that God loves to put elect children into the families of those who are already believers,
so I would be encouraged, but it’s no promise.
 
Yeah. Okay, around the table. Guys, anything? Like it, don’t like it? I’m going to start calling
names here.
 
What a comfort.
 
Yeah.
 
What a comfort it’s not based on our work. It’s resting in the righteousness of Christ and being
found in him. So many verses in the – when we are found in him there is a change, and there is
a new trajectory of life. It gives us the motivation. Moving away from works to earn something
to working because you actually possess something. It’s just so great.
 
Yeah, amen to that. Say by grace through faith in Christ unto good works. Yeah. Thank you
Briton. So who else around the other table?
 
Well, I was thinking what Briton was saying, like if all of a sudden you become rich overnight,
the kneejerk reaction of everybody would be just to go play golf and enjoy your life and not do
anything, right? To just enjoy. But what Briton was saying, “Now you work onto Christ.” You
work for the Lord, so this doesn’t mean that you have and early retirement. This means that
you’re going to go out there and you’re going to proclaim to the rest of the world what Christ
has done for you. So this doesn’t mean that we’re going to sit on our behind and do nothing.
You were given much, and I’m going to require much from you. I give you a treasure, now you
need to go use it for the Lord. That’s what I think we see in Scripture, and that’s a big
responsibility for each and every one of us. We’re sitting here under your teaching and are
under each other’s pastor’s teachings. If they meant that I have given my life to Christ and
proclaiming his Gospel, we now have that responsibility of going to our house, proclaim that
Gospel to our children, to our coworkers, to our family, and to everybody in our circle of
influence.
 
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we don’t want to go to heaven alone, and we want to take people with
us, and begin with loved ones. We want to spend eternity with them. So obviously it’s all in the
Lord’s hands, but God works through names, works through us to carry the Gospel. Yeah,
someone else. Who else has got a great insight?
 
Great insight is an awfully high bar.
 
I guess you could kind of lower the bar just a little bit or none of us would get over. Yeah?
 
I really love the synergy, as you pointed out, between the Old Testament and how Paul fills his
case. Because so often it’s easy for me to get fired up reading through the New Testament. Then
I get back and start strong, and then it kind of peters out. Often times difficult for me to see how
it all ties together. It’s really interesting to see how he uses that to reinforce his case and to
make his point.
 
Yeah, absolutely. It’s interesting, too, just think about this, the only Bible Jesus had was the Old
Testament. The only Bible the apostles had, certainly, in the book of Acts at the beginning is the
Old Testament. James in Galatians were the first to be written. Galatians at the end of the first
missionary journey, so in that sense that was beginning to circulate during the second
missionary journey. Nevertheless, what they had was the Old Testament. That was basically it.
Certainly for Jesus and John the Baptist, and it was fully sufficient for them to carry out their
ministry. It should go along ways with us as well. Yeah, someone else?
 
I think the New Testament is needed as well because a lot of the false religions, the Muslims.
They look at Abraham as the father of faith.
 
That’s a good point. Yeah?
 
But they don’t bring it all the way through to what Paul is saying in the New Testament of how
it works, how that actually is credited.
 
Yeah, and then believing Jesus did the same thing _____ _____.
 
The same thing. The same exact thing.
 
Yeah, so I mean we need both don’t we? Someone has said it’s the two lips of God speaking to
us, upper lip, lower lip.
 
That’s good.
 
Old and New. Some people call it really – instead of the Old Testament and New Testament
they call it the first testament and the second testament. Well, anything else? We’ve got just a
minute here.
 
One thing that kind of hit me was this passage convicted me on my need to be far more
forgiving. When you think about the sin that we’ve been forgiven, and how heinous the crimes
are we committed against God, and he’s not counting those against us, what business do we
have getting angry or bitter over these tiny little infractions that people commit against us. I
mean, it’s not a deep theological point, but that’s a –
 
That’s a hugely practical point though. No, I’m so glad for you to mention that. I’m going to
write that in my notes. That’s a great application point on this of how forgiving we should be, to
put a covering over it and just send it away. Not chew on it. I’m not going to say anything, but
on the inside I’m grinding on this every time I see this person. No, I mean we need to be like
God. In fact, we’re commanded. If we don’t forgive, according to Mathew six, God won’t
forgive us. He’s not talking about eternal forgiveness, he’s talking about parental temporal
forgiveness. Listen, I need to be forgiven big time. Well, then I need to forgive big time and
learn how to drop it.
 
Yeah.
 
I recall an occasion where I reflected on running with a friend, how bad he felt with his foot and
I just made a comment. Then I mentioned to him, “Can you imagine how our sins spill out to
the Lord?”
 
I was wondering where you were going with this.
 
Yeah, that’s where that belongs. I mean, of how just offensive when you consider sins. Just a
scent of the sins of the Lord.
 
Yeah. No, we need to forgive one another. Even our forgiveness is a sweet smelling aroma of
life unto life. Yeah, Mark?
 
To build on both those comments, you said earlier about he hadn’t even got to a command yet.
He’s not even an imperative. We look at this as very doctrinal, but the application is is that
when you – it’s achieve verses receive. So it should because we are receiving. You read verse
eight, “The Lord is not taking our sin into account.” It should produce humility because we
didn’t achieve it. It should produce as you – the three points you made last week of unity. It
should produce a desire to be obedient. Rightly understood. Now, as it’s always, doctrine is
practical is my point.
 
No, absolutely. That’s a great point, and I’m thrilled for you to make that point. There’s nothing
more practical than doctrine. Now some people in their teaching make it such a head knowledge
thing that they almost conceal the application. The fact is it’s built into the doctrine. Truth
transforms. Well men, we’re going to be off for a while, which is why I really wanted to meet
this morning. I just want to take in, I love this study, and I love you men, and this is so good for
my soul. I’m getting so much more out of this than anyone.
 
Paul wants to plow into this some more, and they are brilliant points. I’ve kind of peeked ahead
and reminded myself what lies ahead, and it’s all phenomenal. We’re at the heart of the filet. I
mean, this is as about as pure and as good as it gets. I mean there are a lot of people who say if I
was on a deserted island and had one book in the Bible, what would it be. I mean, there’s a lot
of people who say Romans, and we’re like right in the middle of Romans. This is a great portion
of Scripture in which we find ourselves.
 
Yeah, I’ve got in there how to interpret the Bible, how to live the Bible, what is the Bible. Some
really good things that we’re going to be looking at, but I’ll look forward to being back here
with you. Then I’ll be here for a little bit as well, so I won’t be immediately leaving. All right,
let me just close in prayer.
 
Father, thank you for this study. Work it into our hearts and souls. I think of the last word there,
help us to be forgiving toward one another. Help us to put a covering over the sins that are
committed against us. I hear Christ say father forgive them, they know not what they do. Help
us to imitate this. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 21. Faith Alone - Romans 4:9-17

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

We are in the book of Romans, as you know, so I hope your Bible just naturally opens to the
book of Romans. I'm going to start, just as the launching point, in Chapter 1, Verse 1, just to
remind you of what this book is all about.

In Romans 1:1, Paul really tells us where he's headed with the entire book of Romans. He says
he's been set apart for the Gospel of God. That is the big idea of the book of Romans, the
Gospel of God, which means the good news of salvation that God has provided in his Son the
Lord Jesus Christ, how sinful man can be made right with Holy God. And the cornerstone of
this Gospel is the doctrine of justification, justification by faith. Everything else will build out
from the doctrine of justification.

I want you to turn to Romans 4, and I want us to step back into the doctrine of justification. Paul
has laid for us the doctrine of condemnation of the entire human race, who is under the wrath of
God because of their ungodliness and unrighteousness. Beginning in Chapter 3 and verse 21
Paul begins to build his case for justification.

The word justification means that God credits to the account the perfect righteousness of his
Son Jesus Christ to those who believe in him, that God imputes – reckons to the account of
guilty, hell bound sinners, who have no righteousness of their own whatsoever, the perfect
righteousness of Christ, and it is on the basis of faith.

As we come to Chapter 4, where we left off, we left off at verse 8, we're going to pick up with
verse 9. Romans 4 is really ground zero for justification by faith. This is where Paul presents his
argument for justification by faith. And I want to just give you the flyover. I think it's helpful to
see the big picture of a chapter in the Bible without us being lost in the forest. I want us to see
the big picture, and there's four things that I want you to see by way of overview. The first three
are negative; the fourth is positive.

 
Paul will begin this chapter by telling us how someone is not justified. Then he will tell us how
someone is justified before God. So the first three are negative. In verses 1 through 8 we are not
justified by good works. I am going to come back to all this, but I want you to get the skeleton
of this chapter.

Then, in verses 9 through 12, we are not justified by ceremonial rites. And then in verses 13
through 15, we are not justified by law-keeping. And then, finally, he gets to the positive, and in
verses 16 through 17 we are justified by faith alone.

This is the mark of a very good teacher: negative denial, positive assertion. There is no room for
misunderstanding. There's no wiggle room. There is nothing can slip through the cracks in
anyone's thinking. This is crystal clear. If someone says, "Oh, I just can't understand the Bible,"
that's just a smoke excuse. That's just a smokescreen. No. It may be hard for you to accept; it's
not hard for you to understand. A child can understand this and receive this.

I.               NOT JUSTIFIED BY GOOD WORKS

So he begins in verses 1 through 8 – we've already covered this, so I'm not going to plow this
back up, but to remind you we are not justified by good works. There is no amount of good
works, small or large, that you can bring to the table and add to the perfect righteousness of
Jesus Christ that will in any way contribute anything to your salvation. In fact, if you are
trusting in any amount of good works to what Christ has already done, you cannot believe in
Jesus Christ. You're still believing in yourself. You're still trusting in yourself.

As I look at verses 1 through 8, it just leaps off the page. verse 2: "If Abraham was justified by
works, he has something to boast about, but not before God." verse 4: "Now to the one who
works, his wage is not credited as a favor of what is due." In verse 5: "But to the one who does
not work…"

 
You remember when George Bush 41 said, "Read my lips. No new taxes"? All right. Paul could
easily say, "Read my lips. No good works whatsoever." All right. Say that with me. "No good
works."

We are saved by good works. It's just not our good works. It's by the finished works of Jesus
Christ on our behalf. He is the one who fulfilled the law in our place. He is the one who bore the
curse of the law in our place upon the cross. He is the one who interceded on our behalf as he
was nailed to the cross and bore our sin. We are saved by works, but it's not our works. It's by
the works of Jesus Christ in his sinless life and substitutionary death. So that's number one. It's
not by good works. And he appeals to Abraham in verses 2 and 3. He appeals to David in verses
6 through 8. It's as if Paul wants us to know the entire Bible speaks with one voice on this. This
is unmistakable.

I think of Ephesians 2:8-9: "For by grace you have been saved, through faith – and that not of
yourselves. It is the gift of God – not as a result of works lest any man should boast."

II. NOT JUSTIFIED BY CEREMONIAL RITES

Second, justification is not only not by works, but we advance the argument with Paul. It is not
by ceremonial rites. And Paul now pulls out the chief ceremonial rite under the old covenant,
which was the rite of circumcision. When I say rite, I mean R-I-T-E. So notice in verse 9 – and
Paul begins with a question; then he answers the question. He's the master teacher. This is
almost like a catechism.

In verse 9, he says, "Is this blessing then on the circumcised or on the uncircumcised also?"
Now, when he says blessing, he is referring to verse 3, "the righteousness of God in Christ
credited to those who believe," and in verse 7, "the blessing is forgiveness of lawless deeds, our
sins being covered," and in verse 8, "our sin not being taken into account." That's the blessing
he's referring to in verse 9. "Is this blessing " Is it on the circumcised or on the uncircumcised
also," and with this question Paul is pressing the issue of how this blessing comes to our lives.

 
He answers the question at the end of verse 9, "For we say" – when he says "we," he again is
putting his arms around all the biblical authors and all of the other apostles. There is no
equivocation. No one is saying one thing and someone else saying something else. We all say
this together. "For we say" – and he now quotes Genesis 15:6 – "Faith was credited to Abraham
as righteousness."

Now, you will note in verse 3 he's just quoted the same verse slightly differently. He's just
transliterating it, and he now makes the emphasis in verse 9 on faith. Do you see how faith starts
the quotation? "Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness." He is underscoring that it is
not on the basis of being circumcised or not being circumcised. It is only on the basis of saving
faith in Jesus Christ.

He follows up now with a second question: How then was it credited? While he was
circumcised or uncircumcised? That's the $1 million question. Abraham was circumcised. When
was he justified? Was he justified when he was circumcised, or was he already justified before
he was circumcised?

BACK TO GENESIS

Here's what we're going to do. We're going to go back to the book of Genesis right now. And if
you have trouble finding it, it's the first book. Turn back to Genesis 17. We're going to do a little
chronology on this just so that it is crystal clear in our thinking.

In Genesis 17: 23-26 – we're going to start at the end and work backwards. In Genesis 17: 23,
this is when Abraham was circumcised. So he says, "Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and
all the servants who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every
male among the men of Abraham's household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the
very same day, as God had said to him." verse 24, "Abraham was 99 years old when he was
circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin." verse 25, "And Ishmael his son was 13 years old when
he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin." verse 26, "In the very same day Abraham was
circumcised, and Ishmael his son." So how old was Abraham when he was circumcised? He was
99 years old. How old was Ishmael? He was 13 years old.
 

All right. Now turn back to Genesis 16:16. So Abraham was 86 years old when Hagar bore
Ishmael to him. Look earlier now in Genesis 16:4. "He" – Abraham – "went in

to Hagar, and she conceived." So the chronology is crystal clear here. Abraham is 86 years old.
He bears a son. Thirteen years later he, Ishmael, is circumcised, and Abraham is circumcised at
age 99.

Turn back one chapter earlier. We're reading the Bible backwards here, okay? This is the
reversed standard version. And so Genesis 15:6 says: "Then he believed in the Lord " –
referring to Abraham – "and he reckoned it to him as righteousness." That's when Abraham was
justified before God. That's when Abraham was saved. Thirteen years at least, if not more,
before he was circumcised, he was already justified before God. He already had the
righteousness of God credited to his account 13 – 14 years earlier, before he was circumcised.
How could anyone think that a ceremonial rite would bring about justification? He was already
justified.

JUSTIFIED WHILE UNCIRSUMCISED

So come back now to Romans 4. This is the case that Paul is making: Was he justified when he
was circumcised or when he was uncircumcised? The answer is clear. Look at verse 10. "How
then was it credited? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised?" Paul answers the question:
"Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised."

Circumcision adds zero to anyone's standing before God, just like any other ceremonial rite adds
zero to salvation. And for us today, it would be water baptism. Water baptism washes away zero
sin. Only the blood of Christ can wash away sin. No one is saved by being immersed in water or
sprinkled in water. Has absolutely zero to do with anyone's eternal standing before God. And
Paul will go on to tell us, in just a little bit, it's just simply a sign. It's just a picture. It has zero
redemptive reality to it. So Paul is really making this – concerning the Gospel – crystal clear to
us.

 
So verse 11, "And he received the sign of circumcision." Let me just pause there for a moment.
It's only a sign. A sign has no reality to it. Next week I'm driving to Memphis. I can go out here
on Central Expressway and see the sign. That's not going to get me to Memphis. That's not even
going to get me to downtown. The sign is merely pointing to the reality of I-75 and then I– 40 to
take me to Memphis. The sign brings nothing to the table. The sign is, in reality, pointing away
from itself to the reality. That's what circumcision was. It was just a sign on the side of the road
pointing to Jesus Christ.

"And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had
while uncircumcised." It was just a seal. It was just like an official document that would be
written up and then rolled up, and a piece of wax put on it, and a seal to seal it shut. It was the
authentication that what was on the inside is real. The seal is nothing. What's on the inside of
the document is everything. Circumcision is nothing. It's just a sign and a seal. So is water
baptism. It is nothing. It's just a sign and a seal of the reality that it pictures.

So look at verse 11. "He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the
faith which he had while uncircumcised." And he makes the same point again. Abraham was
already justified before he was ever circumcised. He had been right before God for 13 or 14
years. The circumcision was just an outward sign of the inward reality that had already taken
place.

So let's continue to read. verse 11: "so that he might be the father of all who believe without
being circumcised." And when he says "father" here, the idea is forerunner, the one out ahead of
all who believe. There is no other way for anyone to be made right with God except they believe
in Jesus Christ. Circumcision is nothing. Water baptism is nothing.

FAITH IN CHRIST IS EVERYTHING

The reality faith in Christ is everything. He says at the end of verse 11, "that righteousness
might be credited to them." And the "them" refers to those who believe, and only to those who
believe. Again, this is a banking metaphor when he says "credited." The account of those who
would believe in Christ, they have no spiritual capital in their account whatsoever. In fact, they
are in a negative standing before God. They are in debt to God. They owe a debt they cannot
pay. And when they believe in Christ, the riches of the righteousness of Christ are credited to
their account.

It would be like if someone handed you a check for $1 billion – and, as they say, that's with a B
– $1 billion, and you take your deposit slip and their check for $1 billion and go to the counter.
That $1 billion is deposited into your account. You didn't do anything to earn it, deserve it, work
for it, or merit it. It was just given to you as a gift. It's just your deposit slip and their riches into
your account. That's what Paul is saying, that the righteousness that you and I need to have to
obtain a perfect standing before God with acceptance before God is deposited into our account
simply by our faith in Jesus Christ. It is absolutely crystal clear. Nothing difficult to understand
about this.

Now, verse 12: "And the father of circumcision" – and that's referring to the Jews – "to those
who not only are of the circumcision" – meaning he is the father not only of Jews who believe
but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham, which he had while
uncircumcised. This is just simply saying the same thing. Whether someone is circumcised or
not circumcised, all that matters is faith in Jesus Christ.

How is someone justified before God? verses 1 through 8 – it's not by good works. verses 9
through 12, it is not by circumcision. We could say any ceremonial rite whatsoever. This
obliterates the position of baptismal regeneration, that you have to be baptized in order to be
saved. That's a false gospel. You have no understanding of the purity of grace and how that
operates.

III.           NOT JUSTIFIED BY LAW-KEEPING

Now Paul will give the third negative in verse 13. It is not by law-keeping. So verse 13: "For the
promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through
the law but through the righteousness of faith." That means the righteousness that comes to us
through faith.
 

The promise to Abraham here refers to the Abrahamic covenant and the promise that God made
to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3, that there would be a nation and there would be a land and there
would be blessing that would proceed from the loins of Abraham. But there is also another
dimension, that through the loins of Abraham would come the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Savior and the Redeemer.

GALATIANS SAYS THE SAME

If we come to Galatians 3, the apostle Paul unfolds that for us in Galatians 3. In verse 16 he
references this Abrahamic covenant to show that the pinnacle of the Abrahamic covenant was
the promise of one who would be born of the lineage of Abraham, who would be a son of
David, the Lord Jesus Christ.

In verse 16: "Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed." He does not say "and
to seeds," meaning plural, as referring to many, but rather to one – "And to your seed" – comma
– that is comma – "Christ." And so the promise that God made to Abraham was not just of the
promised land, and not just of a nation that would live in the promised land, and not just of the
salvation that would come to those of this nation who would believe and a salvation that would
be made available to all the nations, but it spoke ultimately of the one who would secure this
salvation, who would be born of a Jewish lineage, out of the loins of Abraham, the father of the
Jewish people, namely Jesus Christ the Lord.

In Galatians 3, this entire chapter really revolves around the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Verse 13: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law." What is the curse of the law? Eternal
damnation. The curse of the law is the second death. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the
law, having become a curse for us. He suffered our punishment as He hung upon that cross. As
he bore our sins, he suffered the wrath of God in our place. Verse 14: "in order that in Christ the
blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles."

 
Look at verse 22. "But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin so that the promise by faith
in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." Verse 24: "Therefore, the law has become
our tutor to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith." Verse 26: "For you are all
sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." Verse 27: "For all of you who were baptized into
Christ have clothed yourself with Christ." Verse 28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is
neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Verse 29: "And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to
promise."

This is phenomenal that everything is in Christ. If you have Christ, you have everything. If you
do not have Christ, you have nothing. And the only way to have Christ is not by circumcision,
and not by water baptism, and not by church membership, and not by taking the Lord's Supper.
The only way to have Christ is to put your faith completely in the person and work of Christ, to
have both feet in Christ and not straddle the fence and have one foot on your baptism or on good
works or on keeping the law and another foot on Christ and, "I'll just play all ends in the
middle." No, you haven't come to Christ until you put both feet on the Lord Jesus Christ and
you abandon all other hope and you trust exclusively in the perfect life and substitutionary death
of Jesus Christ. That is the argument that Paul is making. And Christ, by his death upon the
cross, has suffered the curse for us.

Now, as you're in Galatians 3, flip over to Galatians 4 just for a moment. This flashes into my
mind. In Galatians 4:4, he picks up Christ again. And this continues in the same vein of thought
from Galatians 3. He comes now to Galatians 4:4: "But when the fullness of time came" – in
other words, when the moment was ripe, when God had perfectly set the world stage for Christ
to come into the world, everything was set up perfectly. The Roman Empire, the Greek
language, the highway system, everything was set perfectly. In the fullness of time, God sent
forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law. To be born under the law means that he
would be accountable to obey the law, that he would be responsible to obey the law that you and
I have broken again and again and again. Verse 5: "so that he might redeem those who were
under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." We have broken the law. Christ
perfectly kept the law. It was a part of Christ redeeming us out from under the curse of the law.

 
I've just said a lot in a short period of time. I hope that it's clear what Paul is saying. So come
back to Romans chapter 4.

THE PROMISE TO ABRAHAM

This was the promise to Abraham in verse 13. "For the promise to Abraham or to his
descendants" – and the descendants here refer to his spiritual descendants –"that he would be
heir of the world" – meaning he would inherit the fullness of all that God has intended for those
who are his children – "not through the law" – meaning not through keeping the law. None of us
can keep the law perfectly, and that is what God requires is perfect obedience to his law – "but
through the righteousness of faith."

Verse 14: "For if those who are of the law" – meaning if you're trying to get to heaven by
keeping the law – "for if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is void." I mean faith and law-
keeping are mutually exclusive, not mutually inclusive. It's either/or, not both/and. You're going
to have to decide. It's either exclusively by faith, or it's exclusively by you keeping the law. You
pick. But if it's by keeping the law, you've already broken the law, and the curse of the law is
your eternal damnation, forever, in hell.

So verse 14: "For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void." You can't have it
both ways. You can't have faith in Christ and trust in any good work. It's either/ or, not
both/and. And the promise is nullified. The promise of salvation is nullified if you have even
one little pinky into the wading pool of good works, trusting in that to take you to heaven. It's
not until you cut the line and come all the way to faith along in Jesus Christ.

Verse 15: "For the law brings about wrath." If you want to go to heaven by keeping the law,
there is only the fury of divine wrath that is resting upon your head. But where there is no law,
there is also no violation. So God has given the law that we might know of the violation, that the
law might point us and be our tutor to take us to Christ who kept the law on our behalf.

 
So what has Paul said? We're getting ready to shift to the positive now, but he said three
negatives. A right standing before God is not by good works. It's not by ceremonial rite. It is not
by law-keeping. It's not by being a good person. It's not by honoring your father and mother. It's
not by not stealing. It is not by not telling a lie. Those are double negatives, I realize.

IV.          JUSTIFIED BY FAITH ALONE

Now we come to the positive in verse 16. After Paul has just knocked the feet out from under
every other argument, he now comes to set the cornerstone in place. It is by faith in Christ
alone. Verse 16: "For this reason, it is by faith." Please note there is no and after the word faith.
It is not faith and good works. It is not faith and ceremonial rites. It is not faith and law-keeping.
It is by faith "in order that it may be in accordance with grace."

You see, faith and grace work together. "For by grace you have been saved through faith." –
Ephesians 2:8. Faith and grace can never be partners with law-keeping. Faith and grace can
never be partners with circumcision or water baptism. Faith and grace can never work in
partnership with good works in order to give us a right standing before God. Faith and grace are
discriminatory. They will only work with each other. They work within the same economy of
salvation – "so that" – in the middle of verse 16 – "the promise" – referring to the promise of
salvation in Christ – "will be guaranteed to all the descendants."

The descendants here refer to spiritual descendants, those who have faith in Christ, whether
you're Jew or Gentile, whether you've been circumcised or uncircumcised, whether you're male
or female, whether you're civilized or uncivilized, and whether you're barbarian or Greek. Not
only to those who are of the law" – that refers to Jews – "but also to those who are of the faith of
Abraham who is the father of us all." And the word all includes even Gentiles, even Gentiles
who believe in Christ.

ONLY ONE WAY OF SALVATION

 
What we have underscored again for us is the exclusivity of salvation in Jesus Christ alone.
There's not one way for a Jew to be saved and a different way for a Gentile to be saved. There's
not one way for someone to be saved in the Old Testament and another way for someone to be
saved in the New Testament. There is only one way of salvation.

I remember back in the '60s. That was the mantra – "One way." On t-shirts and bumper stickers
and buttons was just a fist with a finger up in the air, and it was a loud and clear message: one
way of salvation. Well, that's kinda been diluted over the last couple of decades in a spirit of
tolerance, in that we’re told there are many roads that lead to heaven. No, there are many roads
that lead to hell. There's only one road that leads to heaven, and that is through faith in Jesus
Christ alone. Verse 16 makes that abundantly clear.

We'll wrap this up with verse 17: "As it is written" – and he now quotes Genesis 17:5 – "a father
of many nations have I made you." What that is saying is that there will be, out of the many
nations of the world, those who will believe in Jesus Christ for salvation, and they will have
credited to their account the righteousness of God in Christ, and they will have their sins
forgiven. This is not just a message for Jews. It is a message for Gentiles, and not just for
Gentiles in the Middle East or in Europe. "For Gentiles out of many nations" – meaning out of
all the nations – "in the presence of him whom he believed."

LIFE TO THE DEAD

At the end of verse 17: "Even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which
does not exist" – now what does that mean? First of all, it refers to how Sarah was barren, and in
the conception of Isaac, God created life in the dead womb of Sarah, and she miraculously
conceived and gave birth to a son of promise. That's the first fulfillment of this.

But there is a second fulfillment on a spiritual level: that everyone who believes in Jesus Christ,
who were spiritually dead in their sins, that God is the one who gave life to the dead and called
into being that which did not exist, which was their faith in Jesus Christ. Also, please note the
order. Regeneration precedes faith. Regeneration produces faith. Dead sinners do not believe.
Dead men do not walk. God must first give life. Then he calls into being the saving faith of the
one who believes in Christ.

So this is Paul anchoring the Gospel in our understanding. And if you have believed in Jesus
Christ, it is because God gave you life and God called faith into being in your spiritually dead
soul. This is one more affirmation for the bondage of the will. This is one more log on the fire
for the fact that no one can believe except God give life, and God gives saving faith, and God
called that person to faith in Jesus Christ. It's exclusively a work of sovereign grace. This is
getting the Gospel right.

WHAT IS THE APPLICATION?

You remember I gave you the illustration of the professor who held up the sign, said he was
gonna hold up a sign "so what"? What's the "so what" here? What's the application?

The first application is: have you believed in Jesus Christ? Have you put all your faith in Christ,
because if you're trusting in anything except Christ alone for salvation, your faith is void, and
the promises are cancelled. It is only by coming all the way to Christ. And for those watching
by live stream, and wherever you are when you might watch this later, you must come all the
way to faith in Jesus Christ in order to have the salvation that he alone can give. That's the first
obvious "so what."

The second is – and this should be a great encouragement to us – it doesn't matter how old you
are. You can be an old man. Abraham was in his 80s when he was converted. Some of you have
lost parents. Some of you have lost older siblings. Some of you have lost grandparents, and you
may think, "Well, they're so far down the path, they're never gonna be saved." Well, we
could've easily said that about Abraham. He was 80-something when he was saved. My father-
in-law was saved on his deathbed two or three days before he passed away. Abraham should
scream encouragement to us that someone who is advanced in age can still come to faith in
Jesus Christ.

 
And we need to keep on witnessing. We need to keep on praying. We need to keep on reaching
out to them. Until the day they are dead and in the grave, there is still the hope that they can
come to faith in Christ.

And then the last thing that I would say is it doesn't matter how far removed someone is from
Christ. Abraham was an idolater. Abraham was a moon worshiper. Abraham couldn't have been
in any more darkness. He was living in Ur of Chaldees. That is spiritual nowhere land. You
can't even get there from here. And God called him out of that darkness to a place, an appointed
place, at an appointed time that God had prescripted and that God had orchestrated, to bring him
into the Promised Land, and it would be there that God would meet with Abraham. It would be
there that God would preach the Gospel to Abraham. And it would be there that God would
impart life to a spiritually dead soul. It would be there that God would give him saving faith and
call into existence that which did not exist. No one is so far removed from Christ but that the
grace of God cannot conquer their heart and bring them to faith in Jesus Christ.

If there was someone we would have said that would never be saved, it was the man who wrote
this book. It was Saul of Tarsus who was public enemy No. 1 of the church. And in a split
second, God brought him down by the power of the Gospel. And God can do the same, and God
does do the same in this day and in this age.

So we ought to be encouraged by the mere fact that Paul is using Abraham, of all people, as the
example, who grew up in a pagan land, who grew up with pagan parents, who grew up under a
pagan religion, who lived a pagan lifestyle. He ends up being the one whom God saves and
chooses to birth the whole nation, and it will be through his loins that the Messiah would come.
God delights in taking those who are the furthest away from him and bringing them the closest
to him and using them because he gets all the glory. And the hardest person to reach in the
world is the person who's the closest to the message of the Gospel but yet doesn't know that
they're not converted to Christ. That's the hardest person.

This is an extraordinary chapter. I need to stop, and I need to open this up for questions,
thoughts, comments, feedback, affirmation. There can be no disagreement, okay? We will not
accept that today.
 

QUESTIONS AND ANSWER

Tell me your thoughts. How does this strike you? And I realize, in many ways this is bringing
ice cubes to Eskimos. This is bringing truth that you know to people – to you who already
believe this. I'm preaching to the choir in some ways, but you never know. You just never know
who is among us. Even Jesus had one among the 12 who had not yet come all the way to faith in
Jesus Christ. And because Paul belabors this, we're going to belabor this. Whatever Paul makes
into a big mountain, we're gonna climb that mountain and look at what he has to say. We're
gonna major on majors, and we've just majored on a major.

It takes me just a few minutes to kinda wind down. I'm putting the parachute out. The plane is
skidding down the runway. The pilot's standing on the brakes. There's trees at the end of the
runway.

Participant: Well, I think even all of us who believe– you can't hear this enough – God's work.
Still, our fallenness – you still have a tendency to think you're something, but just considering
again what God did to Sarah and his miraculous work, and what he does in all of our hearts is
just – I don't thing we can hear it too much.

Amen. I agree. We can't hear it enough that you can't be trusting Christ and your good works to
get you there. You haven't come all the way to Christ yet.

Participant: And the more I think we hear it, the more I appreciate it. And I can't appreciate it
enough, right?

Yeah. Amen

 
Participant: I want to keep enjoying it, appreciating it, thanking the Lord for it, and just – it's
coming back to the same sixes and sevens, you know, just the same thing. We gotta keep
remembering. It's the baseline.

Posture, grip, alignment. It's the basics. Yeah. Hey, thanks Kent. Somebody else.

Participant: I feel like this would be a tremendous message to deliver to the Muslim group
because of their like of Abraham. They love Abraham.

Participant: Yeah. That's a good point.

Participant: Have you ever had an opportunity to present this to a group like that?

I was in Berlin and got in a taxi. I knew I was gonna end up having a Muslim taxi driver. Sure
enough I did, and I knew, sure enough, he wanted to know why am I here and what it's about. I
think he circled Berlin 12 times just to keep the conversation going. Yeah. This was just very
recently. Yeah. He kept asking me, "What do you think?" I thought, "This is divine
appointment. I can't lay up short of the creek. I've gotta fire for the pen. There's no mulligans
here."

And so, yeah, I have, just even very recently. And I think there was more one person as well. I
just need to think that through. But yes. This also speaks volumes, one, to Muslims – and I'll say
something interesting. Even Ishmael was circumcised, but Ishmael was never saved. So you can
be circumcised; you can be baptized; you can be sanitized, you can be whatever-tized and not be
right with God.

Participant: And he was blessed, too.

Yeah, with common grace, but not with redemptive grace. I mean, there's a difference
 

This also speaks volumes to Roman Catholicism and the mass and the Virgin Mary, and the sale
of indulgences, and the treasury of merit, and church membership, and baptism, and last rites,
and and and, that no – and relics and pilgrimages – there is no salvation whatsoever, except by
faith alone in Christ alone. And that just pares the onion down to the essential message of the
Gospel. And man's nature keeps wanting to add, add, add. Every generation has to just strip it
all away and bring it down to the bare truth of the Gospel. By grace alone, through faith alone,
in Christ alone – period, paragraph.

Yeah. Thank you, Bill. I'm gonna think of the other one, too, 'cause I just had another one. I
thought, "Wow, being in Europe, this is everywhere."

Participant: The Mormon church too.

Yeah, the Mormon church.

Participant: They baptize relatives to save the past. That's that whole Ancestry.com. That whole
thing is the Mormon church.

Yeah. It's a false gospel. It leads to nowhere.

Kent just reminded me people are watching by way of our live stream. Please understand. The
Bible is crystal clear. It is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, the Son of Man, God in human flesh, born of a virgin, who lived a sinless and
perfect life, who went to the cross, who died in the place of sinners, shed his blood, made the
only atonement for our sin, was buried, was raised from the dead on the third day, has ascended
to the right hand of God the Father, and whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved – that Jesus, not another Jesus, not Jesus the prophet, not Jesus the good teacher, not Jesus
the moral example –  Jesus, God, very God, very man, the God man.

 
Someone else.

Participant: We got a question from online.

Yeah, Jonathan, fire away.

Participant: Ricardo Oliveras says, "Hi, Dr. Lawson. Is it possible that the ritual of
circumcision is another type of foreshadowing of the work of Christ? And, if so, could you
explain how? Thank you. Nice tie, by the way."

[Laughs] See he's a tie affectionato. Well, circumcision is the sign of being set apart. The
cutting of the male foreskin was a sign that one's heart must be cut and set apart to God and that
– Deuteronomy 30:6: "that God must circumcise the heart," and the physical circumcision is but
a picture of the spiritual circumcision that must take place.

Deuteronomy 30, if I'm gonna reference it, I at least ought to read it, says, "Moreover, the Lord
your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, so that you may live." It's a metaphorical picture of
even new birth and regeneration, God setting apart your heart to God.

Now, there are different other secondary parts of circumcision, but that's what's primary, that
your heart must be circumcised. And except your heart be circumcise, you're on the outside of
the kingdom of God.

Participant: Well, I would think the Jewish would be receptive to this. Going back to Genesis
15:6, talking about when Abraham was justified while he was still uncircumcised. What's their
argument about that?

 
Yes, well, there's obviously different parts of Judaism, from orthodox to Haddisian (??), to all
different kinds: those who believe the Bible, those who don't believe the Bible, those who are
strict, those who are just by name only. And, obviously, it's a sticking point. I mean, Dan, you
wanna add anything to that?

Participant: I'm of Jewish faith. I came to know Christ when I was 13-ish. I mean, to me,
growing up with family, it's – I mean there's truly a veil. There are scales over the eyes. So
what's so obvious – I mean it's kinda like a parable. It's obvious to the – we know what spiritual
meaning is, but we don't – but it's confusing to those that don't believe. So it's kinda God-
ordained. I mean you touched on it before. God calls us to faith. In our being, he calls us to
faith. Then we fully – so that's all of us, whether its Jew, Gentile, Muslim, Mormon. I mean it
starts there, and then I think if it's – I mean when we're called, we're called. When you believe,
it's just – to me, it's just so obvious, but it's just not to those that don't believe. Doesn't matter
where. So that's what I think.

Yeah. Thank you. That's perfect, Dan. In Romans 11:8, it says, "God gave them a spirit of
stupor, eyes to see naught, and ears to hear naught, down to this very day." Who did this? God.
Just like God hardened the heart of Pharaoh, so God has hardened the hearts of the Jewish
people. And Paul wept over this. Paul said, "My heart's desire is for their salvation. I'd be
willing to be accursed for them if they could be saved." So it's not a clinical thing. And we plead
for their salvation. We pray for their salvation.

At the end of the age all Israel will be saved, it says in Romans 11 later. It's at the end of
Romans 11. One of you can find it for me. I shouldn't have even started. I'm staring at it, and
God has blinded my eyes so that I will not see. Where is it?

Participant: 26.

Yeah, there it is. Yeah, so all Israel will be saved. I take that as physical Israel, and I take all to
be in a hyperbolic sense. A large, vast number of physical Jews will be saved at the end of the
age. And so God has hardened their hearts now, and God will circumcise their hearts at the end
of the age, and there will be a great national revival among the Jew. I take that at face value for
what it says.

Well, Jonathan, what's our time look like down there?

Participant: We're two till.

Two till, okay. Anything else?

Participant: Yeah. I could ask you that what's with the Jew, but the same thing with the
Catholic faith, and I think probably more so with the Jew, but tradition is such a snare.

Oh, it is.

Participant: You mentioned all those Catholic issues. So the Jews have even more traditions
_____ _____.

[Crosstalk]

I don't know. I think Catholicism has run the table on tradition.

Participant: Well, I know I had a hard time being – yeah. That's a good – you're probably right,
because I guess they probably apply more to a Christian perspective. That's a good point.

Yeah. Absolutely. Well, I tell you what: when God converts someone out of Catholicism, they
become phenomenal believers. I will say that. They have an inherent fear of God. They have an
inherent respect for Scripture and for God, and once they finally get the truth, they make
phenomenal believers. They usually start the thing with a full tank of gas.
 

Participant: Romans 9 – when I first accepted Christ, or left the church, I guess, is more correct
– you have that same sense of – you want to just draw the Catholic 'cause you – you worship.
You really do. You worship God. But I've seen where there is – yeah, you're right. It's probably
more severe than the Jew. The Jews don't –

Yeah. I think it is. I think it is, and they just keep adding layer upon layer upon layer. And that's
what the whole Reformation was about 500 years ago. It was coming back to the message in the
New Testament – and the Old Testament, as far as that goes.

Well, I see that it's 8:00. I would love to keep this going, but I know I need to respect your time
and let you head to work. For those of you watching, please send us an e-mail at what's
underneath the screen. We'd love to hear from you. Let us know that you're watching. It's a great
encouragement to know that you're out there, so we wanna hear from you, even if it's nothing
more than just to let us know that you've been a part of this study today.

Let me close in a word of prayer. Father, thank you for your grace that has been lavished upon
us and your son the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you that we're not having to climb a ladder to
heaven and to pull ourselves up by the rope of our own self-righteousness. Thank you. You've
come down all the way to us, and you've gotten in our skin in the person of your son, Christ.
And he lived in our place. He died in our place that he might take us to your place, to heaven.
And so continue to give us clarity of understanding in the truth of the Gospel, in Jesus's name.
Amen.
 22. The Nature of Saving Faith - Romans 4:18-22

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

This is going to be a great study. You are going to be glad that you are here. I’m glad that I am
here. I think we need to begin in a word of prayer, so let us pray. Father, as we begin this time
of study in Your word, we ask that Your Holy Spirit would be the Teacher. That He would
guide and direct our every thought and that You would give us clarity of insight into Your word.
And more than that, may we live out what we learn today. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
 
All right your Bible is open to chapter four. We are going to be in verse 18. This is all about
faith, true saving faith. Put a title on this lesson, it is "The Nature of True Saving Faith." We are
in the larger section on justification by faith. In chapter three of Romans we were looking at
justification. Chapter four is how justification is applied to our lives, which is by faith. Romans
chapter four is all about faith. When I say faith, I am specifically referring to saving faith – the
moment of your entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
 
The big picture of this entire book, just to remind you, Romans 1:16-17 is the signature text and
it is worth my repeating because what we are looking at today comes gushing out of this
fountain. Romans 1:16-17, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone who believes." That is the same word as faith. It is just faith in a verb
form. "To everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it" – referring to
the gospel – "the righteousness of God is revealed" – now listen to this – "from faith to faith.
Just as it is written, ‘The righteous man shall live by faith.’" So this whole book is about the
gospel and justification, but it is made real in our life by faith.
 
A lot of people think that they have faith, when in reality they do not have faith. Faith is more
than just an intellectual body of knowledge that you have. It is more than something you feel
deeply about. True saving faith goes all the way to the will. True saving faith makes the decisive
choice to commit one's life to Jesus Christ. In Romans four, where we find ourselves, Paul is
drilling down on this aspect of saving faith. This is so important. Remember in Mathew 7 Jesus
said, "Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who
does the will of my Father who is in heaven." True saving faith is not passive, it is not just
verbal, it is not just talking a good game, true saving faith puts you into the game and you step
into the kingdom of heaven.
 
It is so important that Hebrews 11:6 says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God. He who
comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek
Him." Without faith you are not even in the game. Without faith you are not even in the
stadium. It is only by faith that we enter into the kingdom of heaven. What we are looking at
here today is critically important. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where the
reality of sound doctrine gets into our skin, gets into our blood stream, and becomes reality.
This is where salvation gets off the shelf and gets into our life. As we look at these verses, come
with me to Romans 4:18, just so your eye can even see this focus on faith, "In hope against hope
he believed." That is the word faith in verb form.
 
Next verse, verse 19, "Without becoming weak in faith." Verse 20, please note, "he grew strong
in faith." And then in verse 24, "But for our sake also to whom it will be credited as those who
believe in Him." That is the thread that is running through this tapestry in Romans four
beginning in verse 18. Depending on how much time I have, I want to pull out of these verses
some distinctive qualities of true saving faith. The first is in verses 18 and 19: saving faith is in
God's word. In verse 18 Paul starts off, "In hope against hope he believed." Now when he says,
"In hope against hope," that is a seemingly paradoxical statement. Hope against hope. That is
like hope lining up and playing against hope. Hope against hope. Actually, it is a collision that
is going on here between hope and hope. The first hope is man's hope. Kind of a wishful
thinking. Kind of looking around and seeing what the situation is and just hoping that this will
work out. The second hope is a God-centered hope that is rooted and grounded in the word of
God. The first hope is our perspective in an impossible situation. The second hope is God-
centered assurance that if we put our faith in God, God will come through and God will do what
God says He will do.
 
I.               SAVING FAITH IS IN GOD’S WORD
 
That is where Abraham finds himself. He finds himself at an intersection, a crisis. His natural
eyes tell him one thing, his spiritual ears are telling him something else. Which way will he go?
Verse 18, "In hope against hope he believed." Rather than going by what common sense would
say, going by what rationality would say, he looked away from the circumstances, and those are
going to be in verse 19, we are going to look at this, and instead he went with the word of God.
His eyes were telling him one thing but his spiritual ears were hearing something totally
different. Saving faith goes with what God says in His word. Look at it again in verse 18, "In
hope against hope he believed." It is implied he believed in God and he believed what God said.
The word “believe” here means to trust in. To commit one's self to. To rely upon. To rest in.
 
That is where Abraham was and that is what Abraham did. It needs to be said that Paul is
putting up Abraham here as the ultimate example of faith. He is setting forth a patriarch,
Abraham, for saving faith. For us to learn what saving faith is. “In hope against hope he
believed so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been
spoken.” God said you are going to be the father of many nations. In verse 19 he looks at
himself and he realizes, “I do not have much game left.” He looks at himself and realizes he is
almost 100 years old. He is 99-years-old. He looks at himself and realizes Sarah is not getting
any younger either, and Sarah is advanced in age. So Abraham is impotent, Sarah is barren, and
as Abraham looks at himself in verse 19, it says that “he contemplated his own body, now as
good as dead.” That is just another way of saying he is an old man, impotent and unable to sire
an offspring or a descendant. Then he looks at his wife Sarah and he sees the deadness of her
womb.
 
Yet God said if you will believe in Me, if you will put your trust in Me, if you will commit
yourself to Me, you will be the father of many nations. You will have more than a descendant,
you will have descendants upon descendants, upon descendants all around the world.
 
This was the crisis in which Abraham found himself. At this moment, he is unsaved. At this
moment, he is unconverted. God has called him out of Ur of the Chaldeans. It has been a long
circular route to come into the Promised Land. He is an idolater. He is a moon worshiper. He is
a pagan. He is a heathen. He is separated from God. He is outside the kingdom of God. God
comes to him and speaks this word to Abraham. A part of this lineage that will come out of
Abraham, if he will believe in the word of God, out of this lineage will come the Savior, will
come the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Bound up in this promise is also the gospel itself. It
is more than just a nation, it is more than just land, it is one whom God will send born of a
woman in the fullness of time, born under the law, it would be none other than the Savior of
sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ. We know from John eight that the gospel was preached to
Abraham.
 
Abraham has to make a choice. He looks at himself, he looks at Sarah, and rightly concludes,
impossible. He hears the gospel. He hears the word of God presented to him. Abraham looks
away from himself. He looks away from how dead he is physically to bear a child, he looks
away from the impossible circumstances, and he chooses to look to the word of God and to
believe the word of God. Not based upon what his natural eyes tell him, but upon what his
spiritual ears tell him. The spoken word of God that has come to Abraham. Abraham chose to
believe God, and in that moment God credited righteousness to Abraham. That very defining
moment, Abraham, as a true believer, was clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ
and God reckoned the righteousness of God in Christ to Abraham. He becomes an incredible
illustration for us of what true saving faith looks like. This is like Saul of Tarsus on the
Damascus road. This is like Matthew getting up out of his tax booth and following Christ. This
is exactly like the woman at the well who believed in the Savior and was saved. This is
Abraham's defining moment of faith.
I think each one of us needs to ask ourselves, have we had such a time, such a moment like this?
Has there come that time in our life when we take the step of faith and enter through the narrow
gate that enters into the kingdom of heaven? You may look at yourself and say there is no way
God could save someone like me. There is no way that someone like me could be of any value.
But the word of God says, “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
That is where Abraham was, and I trust that has happened in your life.

II. SAVING FAITH IS IN GOD’S PROMISE

 
Now the second thing that we see, not only is it in God's word - and all saving faith is in God's
word. I need to circle back and just say this: Martyn Lloyd Jones says that saving faith is in the
bare word and nothing else. It is in the bare, naked word of God. For us, it is recorded in
Scripture. It is not Scripture and anything else. It is not believing Scripture and what your
church says about your traditions. It is not what Scripture says and whatever your denomination
has to say about anything. It is not what Scripture says and whatever some church hierarchy
says, or your thoughts, or your whims, or your fancies. How you imagined your relationship to
God to be and how you think it works out for you to enter in to the Kingdom. All of that does
not amount to a hill of beans. All that matters is what God says, and what God has said is
recorded in His word. Saving faith is exclusively in the bare, naked word of God.
 
Now second, as we look at verse 20, saving faith is in God's promise. Promise here becomes a
synonym for God's word. God's word is a promise. God has said what He will do. God has said
what He requires. If we will respond to what God requires, God is a promise-keeping God. God
will deliver what He has promised to do. In verse 20 Paul says, "Yet with respect to the promise
of God…" Now this word ‘promise,’ I want you to see this in the larger context, has already
been mentioned three times, in verse 13, verse 14, and in verse 16. It is a parallel term for the
word of God. We see in verse 13, "For the promise to Abraham." We see in verse 14, "The
promise is nullified if one does not respond by faith." And in verse 16, "So that the promise will
be guaranteed to all the descendants."
 
He picks this back up now in verse 20, "Yet with respect to the promise of God." You see,
God's word is more than just objective facts. It is more than just data. It is more than just
information for us to catalog and for us to bind up in a notebook. God's word is a promise to us.
God stipulates the terms of the promise. God guarantees to fulfill His part of the promise and
God makes the requirement that is due from us for the promise to be fulfilled. The ball is
severed into our court. The promise here is if Abraham will believe God, then God will deliver
on His promise. God's promise, first of all, is that Abraham will be credited righteousness.
Second, he would have a son and his son of promise would have many descendants after him
and would be a part of the messianic lineage that would flow through history until the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who is the Messiah, the Mashua. Abraham must make the
decision. Saving faith calls for action. If he will believe what God has said, then God will fulfill
His promise. There has never been a promise that God has made, but that God will fulfill it, if
man will act by faith.
 
In verse 20 look at it again, "Yet with respect to the promise of God." You need to know this is
intentionally at the beginning of the sentence. In fact, the promise of God is even before “yet
with respect to.” It is the way they emphasize something in the original language, you frontload
it and put it at the very beginning of the sentence. It is called the emphatic position. The promise
of God is put at the very beginning of this sentence to draw our attention to it. "So yet with
respect to the promise of God, he did not waiver in unbelief." He heard what God said. He
believed in his mind in what God said. He chose to believe in what God said. He did not wavier,
he did not stutter, he did not trip. No one trips through the narrow gate. No one just wiggles
their way through the narrow gate. It says, "He grew strong in faith, giving glory to God." That
he grew strong in faith means it was strong from the beginning and it grew stronger as time
unfolded. Whenever we take God at His word, believe what God says in His word, and choose
to act upon what God says in His word it brings glory to God. When we fail to believe and act
upon what God says, we rob God of His glory.
 
That is how serious unbelief is. We are robbing God of His glory. We are bringing glory to
ourselves because we are trusting in ourselves. We think we have a better plan. We think we
have more strength in what we do and that we can pull this off. Faith actually gives glory to
God because it looks to God. It takes God at His word. Faith is in God's promise. We need to
realize that everything that God stipulates in His word has His promise behind it, and God will
execute it. God will come through in what He says He will do. When Abraham chose to believe
God’s promise that he would be the father of many nations, did God come through? God came
through big time. God came through in spades. God came through exponentially. God gave him
a son when he was 99 years old, conceived when he was 99 years old. He got the son, I guess,
when he was 100. Sarah may have been a bigger miracle. Sarah becomes pregnant and bares a
son and lived through it. Then through Isaac, there came an entire nation and out of that nation
would come even Gentile believers who would come into the kingdom of heaven. God did
exceeding, abundantly, beyond what Abraham could have even dreamed at that moment. When
you put your faith in God, you are giving glory to God. When you decisively act in faith and
obey the word of God, it is the means by which you are magnifying the name of the Lord and
you are honoring Him. Faith honors God and God honors faith.
 
III. SAVING FAITH IS IN GOD’S POWER
 
 In verse 21 and 22, saving faith is not only in God's word and in God's promise, third it is in
God's power. Because faith believes that God has the power to do what God promises to do. In
verse 21, "And being fully assured" – Let me stop there for a moment. Saving faith is fully
assured. This verb is really a participle, ‘fully.’ ‘Assured’ means to be filled with certainty. It
means to be fully persuaded. It means to be fully convinced. It is used later in Romans 14:5. I
will just read it. Romans 14:5, "One person regards one day above another. Another regards one
day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind." It is the very same verb that is
used there. Saving faith is fully convinced in one's own mind. There is not equivocation, there is
not hesitation, there is not doubt. One is fully assured that God will do what God says He will
do in His word and that God has the power to bring it to pass.
 
In verse 21, "Being fully assured that what God had promised" – and there's our word promise
again – "he was able also to perform it." I do not know about you but I love that. It is one thing
to be Mr. Big Talk. It is one thing to make all these outlandish campaign promises. It is one
thing to talk a good game. Every one of us around this table can talk a good game. God does
more than talk. God backs it up and what God says in His word, that He will do. If we will
believe in Him, there has never been a time in the history of the world that God has not come
through and executed exactly to the full what He said He would do. Abraham was fully assured
in that moment of faith when he committed his life to what God said. That God is able. That is a
great word, ‘able.’ That God is able to perform it. Our God is able.
 
Verse 22 is kind of a conclusion, "Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness."
Again, that is a quotation of Genesis 15:6. What I want you to see here in verse 22, this is the
moment of his entrance into the kingdom of heaven. This is not Genesis 22, Abraham offering
up Isaac – a later test of faith. This is saving faith, converting faith. This is the faith by which
one enters into the kingdom of heaven. When one believes in Jesus Christ, it is with a faith that
God has the power to do what God has said He will do. He has promised to wash away all of
my sins. He has promised to clothe me with His perfect righteousness. He has promised to put
His Holy Spirit within me. He has promised that I will be a new person in Christ and the old
things passed away and new things have come. God has promised. As we believe in Christ, it is
not with any waffling. We are fully assured that God is able to do what God says He will do.
 
Now in the time that remains, I want to give you some words that flush out what true saving
faith is. For you guys who are note takers, you are going to want to jot down these words. I've
got several. Next week we will look at verses 24 and 25, which are really the heart of the
Christian faith.
 
1. Decisive
 
Here we go, saving faith – and when I say saving faith I mean genuine, converting faith –
number one is decisive. You cannot straddle the fence and come into the kingdom of heaven.
You have got to cross the line. You step across the line. You step through the narrow gate. It is
an all-out decision. When you come to the intersection, you are going to have to decide ‘Do I go
left? Do I go right? Do I continue with the flow of this world, or do I step out of the world and
decisively commit my life to Jesus Christ?’ Saving faith, number one, is decisive.
 
1. Dynamic
  
Number two is dynamic. It is never passive. It is always active. It is more than just emotional. It
is more than just mental. It is volitional, in which you move out from where you are and from
where you have been and you entrust your life to Christ. It is dynamic. It is active.
 
1. Personal
 
Third, it is personal. No one else can believe for you. You cannot hop in line with your youth
group and everybody walk forward at the end of the service and everybody goes to the narrow
gate together. It is personal. It is individual. There may be other people going through the
narrow gate when you go through, but it is as though there is no one else in the entire world that
is going through this narrow gate. It is you and you alone, and you own this decision. This is as
personal as it can be and no one else can make this decision for you. Your parents cannot make
this decision, your spouse cannot make this decision, your siblings cannot make this decision
for you. Your pastor, your elder, the evangelist, no one else. You take a piece of chalk and draw
a circle around yourself and everyone inside the circle is making this decision and that would be
you.
 
1. Cognitive
 
Fourth, it is cognitive. There is a mental aspect to true saving faith. You have to know the truth
of the gospel. You have to know the truth about God and about yourself and about Jesus Christ
and what God requires. Saving faith never takes place in an empty intellectual vacuum. There is
theological truth, doctrinal truth about the condition of your soul, the state of your soul before a
holy God in heaven and the provision that He has provided in the person of His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and what He requires in repentance and faith.
 
1. Repentant
 
Fifth, it is repentant. True saving faith has repentance in it and it reroutes the direction of your
life. You turn away from the direction that you have been traveling and you do a 180, and you
pivot and go in a totally opposite direction – that is what repentance is. Romans 2:2-3 says that
we were going according to the course of this world. Well what direction do you think that was?
We all like sheep have gone astray. Each one of us has turned to his own way. It was a course
going away from God. But with saving faith you no longer go according to the course of this
world. You turn around and now you come towards God and now you follow Jesus Christ who
is going in a totally contrary direction. You were once walking towards unholiness, you now are
pursuing holiness. You were once going towards hell, you are now going towards heaven. It is a
repentant faith, a complete turnaround.
 
1. Humble
 
Sixth, it is humble. True saving faith comes to Christ with empty hands. We have heard the
hymn, "In my hands no price I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling." You bring nothing to the
 table except the sin that was laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You come with a broken spirit.
You come declaring spiritual bankruptcy. You come knowing that you have nothing to
contribute to your own salvation, that God provides it all. There is a humility that is involved
that comes with that. I have told you before no one struts through the narrow gate. No one is
high fiving their way into the kingdom of heaven. We all come with a loneliness of heart and a
broken spirit into the kingdom of heaven.
 
1. Priority
 
Seventh, it is a priority. Saving faith is the priority. It is the most important decision you will
ever make in your life. If you are wrong here, it does not matter where else you are right. If you
are right here, everything else will line up in your life one way or another in the right direction.
It is the most important decision you will ever make and it towers over every other commitment
you will ever make. It towers over who you will marry, where you will go to school, what kind
of job you will have. Those things are admittedly important, but they are nothing compared to
the importance of this priority decision in saving faith. It is the defining decision in your life.
 
1. Irrevocable
 
Eighth it is irrevocable. True saving faith is a lifelong commitment. It is not a weekend journey.
It is a long obedience in the same direction. You have burned your bridges behind you. There is
no going back. A believer will never become an unbeliever. Just write that down. True saving
faith will never become unbelief in the categorical sense. Your faith may grow weak at times,
but it will never implode, it will never dissolve, it will never be eradicated, it is irrevocable. This
is because God gives the gift of saving faith. God does not give you a crumby faith with which
to believe. God does not give you a shallow faith for you to believe in the gospel. God gives you
a dynamic, decisive faith in your spiritually dead heart in order for you to believe in Christ, and
it is a faith that will keep on ticking. It will never run out of gas. It will never need to be
renewed.
 
1. Divinely Wrought
 
Ninth, and I just alluded to it, it is divinely wrought – it is authored by God Himself. He gives it
to His elect. We have no faith in the gospel except God gives us that faith to believe. Faith is the
gift of God. Hebrews 12:2, “looking at Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.” Philippians
1:29, "It is granted unto us not only to believe in His name but to suffer for it." It must be given
to us to believe. It is divinely wrought. It is a supernatural gift that God must give to us.
 
1. Life Changing
 
Number ten, it is life changing. Saving faith always changes the life. No one can believe in
Jesus Christ and their life not change. If you tell me you have met Jesus and your life has not
changed, I want to promise you that you have never met Jesus. Because Jesus is too full of
grace, He is too powerful, He is too dynamic for you to meet Him but your life not change. We
 can put it this way: wherever saving faith is the root, a changed life will be the fruit. It is a
packaged deal. Saving faith is never unaccompanied by a life that is unchanged.
 
1. Obedient
 
Number eleven – I have two more – number eleven, it is obedient. Saving faith is obedient. We
introduced that at the very outset of this book in Romans 1:5. Paul says, "To bring about the
obedience of faith," which means the obedience that faith produces. All saving faith is obedient
faith. The gospel is a command – you either obey or you disobey. It is in the imperative verb –
repent, believe, enter, come, eat, drink. Those are all verbs that are used in the gospels of what
is synonymous with true saving faith. It is more than just an offer. It is more than just an
invitation. It is that but it has more teeth in it than that. It is actually a command. In Acts 17:30-
31, "God has commanded that all men everywhere repent." If the gospel is a command, then to
respond to it is obedience. To remain in unbelief is disobedience and defiance and it is rebellion
against God. True saving faith is obedient. It obeys the imperative command to believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ.
 
The final thing I would give you, and I guess I could have kept this list going, but I want some
guardrails around this. Saving faith is used so vaguely today. It is associated with so many
things that are outside the boundaries of what true saving faith is. We need guard rails on the
side of the road that keep us hemmed in to a focused, clear understanding of what saving faith
is.
 
1. Confident
 
Number twelve, it is confident. True saving faith has assurance that God will receive sinners,
that God will save sinners. That where sin has abounded, grace does much more abound. That
God is able to take our sins and bury them in the sea of his forgetfulness. That God can take our
sins and place them behind his back and see them no more. That God can remember our sins no
more. That God can wash away all of our sins. That God can cloth us with the perfect
righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ. When a person responds to the gospel it is not an
unbelieving belief. It is with confident faith that I know I am a sinner and I believe that Christ is
a Savior and that if I will entrust my life to Him, He will openly receive me and make me His
own. True saving faith that God grants as a gift has in it assurance and confidence that God will
receive sinners. When I take that step of faith, I genuinely believe I have crossed the line and
have entered into the kingdom of heaven.
 
These are the distinguishing marks of true saving faith. One more cross reference under
confident – Hebrews 11:1, "Faith is the assurance" – did you hear that? – "Faith is the assurance
of things hoped for. The conviction of things not seen." True saving faith has assurance and
conviction embedded in it. I think we did pretty good to get through all that. So we have a
record amount of time left. I want us to be able to talk about this because this is a very important
subject that we are talking about. This is who is in and who is out. This is a defining subject
matter. I mean, we can define justification till we are blue in the face. We can be a theological
encyclopedia and regurgitate the party line, but it becomes real in our life when we exercise true
saving faith.
 
I want to open it up for discussion and I forgot to say at the very beginning that we will be
having discussion and if anyone has any questions to let us hear from you. But let us start in the
room and then Jonathan, you can tell me if anyone has any questions. What do you like about
this? What do you not like? How does this hit you? How does this impact you? How does this
affect your evangelism? How does this affect you talking to your kids? How does this affect
your own life?
 
Audience Member:      I had a guy call me wanting to come see me. He kept calling, calling,
calling and he wanted me to use his tile company. So I finally said all right come on by. He
comes in and has a yarmulke on his head, he's an orthodox Jew about 30-35 and we end up
speaking for an hour. I had been in Israel and we had seen orthodox Jews but what this guy does
living in Dallas to try to be saved is unbelievable. Goes to the synagogue three times a day. He
can only eat at seven or eight different restaurants because they have to be kosher. He went into
all the details – he undid his shirt showed me what he was wearing underneath it. It is
unbelievable. On Saturday he cannot drive his car. He has to be able to walk to synagogue. On
and on and on and he said, "You will never convert me to Christianity." And I said, "Maybe one
day God will show you grace. I will not be able to convert you, but God can." I've never met
anybody that it was so incredibly visible how they were trying to work their way to heaven and
they were headed to hell. It was just overwhelming to see his kids. What he was trying to do and
as earnest as he was trying to be.
 
Dr. Lawson:   That is a lot of hoops.
 
Audience Member:      And he's headed to hell. He knows the Old Testament, but yet he will
not believe it. So here's the point, I was convicted that this is true saving faith and how so many
people are headed a different direction. At one level or another trying to work their way, good
enough God will accept me. I've never seen anything like it.
 
Dr. Lawson:   Well you are right God has to convert. God has to do it but it is incumbent upon
us to do what you did and witness to him and tell him the truth. This is true faith.
 
Audience Member:      And yet he's looking at Abraham and he's not seeing it. He's not seeing
it. You can sit there and have it right in front of you and you cannot see it and be going to hell.
 
Dr. Lawson:   That is a great point. Thank you for sharing that. Somebody else.
 
Audience Member:      What always impresses me about Abraham as he's assessing himself is
that promise that he believed – it was almost ten years before. So it wasn't just the moment in
time where he's like “oh Sarah's not going to have a kid.” He believed that for a decade before
God blessed him with that next step. So he lived that faith for a long time.
 
Dr. Lawson:   That is a great point which shows faith does not implode. It grows stronger and
we press on. After we've come into the kingdom we continue to believe and trust God. Mark
what were you getting ready to say?
 
Audience Member:      Well you've always said “So what,” going back to seminary. So in verse
18, you said saving faith is in God's word. You quoted Martyn Lloyd Jones, "Saving faith is in
bare word." It is Romans 10:17, “so faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of
Christ.” So the “so what” is what Paul told Timothy – preach the word. Unfortunately in much
of the evangelical church today less and less time is given in every Sunday service on preaching
the word, which is the very means by which God draws His people to Himself. So that is
number one.
 
Number two, you kept banging on the point about saving faith, genuine faith, it is active faith, it
is dynamic faith, it is obedient faith. Then you cited it, James builds on this in James 2, that the
proof of Abraham’s faith is when he offered up Isaac on the alter. That was the fruit. As James
calls it – was he not justified, declaring something, about his faith? Genuine faith, as you have
said, has a different affection and a different direction. It results in something – a changed life.
To the point you made earlier, much of the professing church, specifically where we are at, does
not seem to have a changed life.
 
Dr. Lawson:   Yes. And they make excuses to continue to live in this way by deluding the
essence of what true faith is and negating repentance, obedience, things like that. They want to
minimize what true faith is, but it is so minimized that it loses its genuineness, its authenticity.
Thank you, Mark. That is a brilliant point. So what? There's got to be a ‘so what’ to this. I think
another ‘so what’ for us around this table, because I would assume that most of us in this room,
and I say most not all because only God knows, I would say most of us have exercised saving
faith. How thankful we should be to God that we are believers today because we would have
never been believers if God had not wrought this gift in us. It is truly a work of grace, and I
think another ‘so what’ is that we really should not be naïve, but be looking for fruit in other
people's lives. Because we really may need to be witnessing to them, even if they say they're a
believer. It does not mean they are a believer. There will be evidences of faith.
 
Online Audience Member:      Can you show that you have faith without the works that come
after?
 
Dr. Lawson:   Can you show that you have faith without works? No. Faith without works is
dead. It is not a true saving faith and that is quoting James 2. I mean, you can talk, but “not
everyone who says to me Lord, Lord shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” There will begin to
be evidences of a changed life as you now begin to walk down the narrow path. There's not a
gap between the narrow gate and the narrow path. There is not like this chasm that separates the
narrow gate and the narrow path. It’s not like you can come through the narrow gate and then
for ten years nothing and then you finally get to the narrow path. I mean that is silly. They're
just budded right up to each other. There's the narrow gate and it immediately leads down to the
narrow path.
 
The first step, you are on the narrow path now. You are beginning to walk with new affection
and a new direction. So there will begin to be some evidence even if it is initially in a humility
of heart and a brokenness of spirit and a desire to glorify God and honor God and now walk
with Christ. There will begin to be the evidence of this flushing out. It does not mean you end
up in the mission field the next day. And it does not mean that you are this highly visible,
dynamic Christian that the whole city knows about, but as the train pulls out of the station you
are on a new track. You are headed in a new direction. Thank you for that question. Someone
else, we’ve still got five more minutes here.
 
Audience Member:      Dr. Lawson, one of your favorite axioms that I always hear when you
preach is that high theology always equals high doxology. And with everything that has already
been said here and the discussions in the past that we just covered, we see Paul's utilization of
Abraham as an example of saving faith. But every time we look at Scripture, I just think of
‘what this is telling about who God is,’ right, because it is going to fuel our walk of life.
 
I think if we understand the nature of His faithfulness to keeping the covenant – I mean we see
Abraham, it takes us back to the Abrahamic covenant – and we see God's covenant faithfulness.
If we understand that God's always faithful to His obligations to the covenant, versus man's
inability to keep his obligation to the covenant, that will bolster our confidence and the efficacy
of God transforming our life and our confidence in God to keep the covenant. Then also that is
going to motivate us to be more diligent in pursing the glory of God in our own life.
Understanding that God is faithful, immutably faithful, to keep the covenant that He made, to
enter into by His own prerogative. That ought to fuel us in our walk of life. It ought to give us
confidence – His ability to change our life, to conform us to the image of Christ. I think that
changes everything. We understand that the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God is our
motivation and the source of the way that we live our life.
 
Dr. Lawson:   Amen. That is so well spoken. For all us around this table and for those watching,
whenever you teach a passage, one thing to always be looking for is where God is in this and
who is God. James Montgomery Boice, who we all love in this room, preached a sermon on
verses 18 through 22. I think it was on the attributes of God – what do we learn about God? Just
like what you are saying. He is the God of truth as He makes this promise. He is omnipotent.
He's able to back up his promise. He is faithful, as you said. He is immutable. Boice walks
through this passage and highlights the attributes of God. For those of us who teach Sunday
School lessons or occasionally preach a sermon, that is one paradigm to always be looking into
a passage, whether it is the sermon outline or whether it is just the application at the end like
what we are saying here. It has been well said that in every narrative God is the principle actor.
Whether He is seen or standing in the corner unseen, the object of the word of God is to reveal
the God of the word. Thank you that is tremendous. One more.
 
Audience Member:      One thing, this was about God's promise, His grace and His mercy, but
on the other side of that there's a wrath. But that is a promise that we forget about. This is a
sermon of great things and how to change and all the positives that come with being a Christ-
follower. Well people are motivated really by two ways, fear or pull right? You need to know
that God has a promise in the Scriptures that hell and damnation will follow. You have a choice.
 
When you do not receive the free gift, you are making the alternative choice. That is a promise
as well. You said it here about life changing – I thought about that, no one can accept a free gift
and their life not change. You haven't accepted it. So you are choosing the alternative promise.
 
Dr. Lawson:   That is so well put, Chris. I am so glad for you to say that because to not make a
choice is to make a choice. If you do not commit your life to Christ, you've made a choice and
God has a promise for you. If you die in unbelief, Romans 1:18 says, "The wrath of God is
revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men who suppress the
truth in unrighteousness." God is a promise-keeping God either way. I think that is a great way
for us to wrap up our study and we are so thankful that you have joined us for this Bible study.
 
You must believe upon Jesus Christ. You must commit your life to Him and if you will commit
your life to Christ, He will forgive you of your sins and He will clothe you with His perfect
righteousness. But if you die in unbelief, you will be the object of His eternal wrath forever and
ever. There is a real place called hell where you will suffer throughout all the ages to come. So
flee to Christ. Run to Christ. Today is the day in which He receives those who come to Him by
faith.
 
Men, what a great study. The nature of true saving faith. Next time we will look at the last two
verses, which are very important and we will meet next Wednesday. Please make every effort to
be here because these last two verses are so good I just did not want to hydroplane over those. I
want to dig down into this and it may even spill over a little bit into chapter 5.
 
Let’s close in a word of prayer. Father, thank You for the word that we have heard today in
Romans four. I pray that everyone of us in this room has genuinely exercised true saving faith
and have committed their life to Christ. If there are any here today who have not, Lord, may
You win their heart over today and may You draw them to Yourself. For those who are
watching, we pray the same. May the message of this lesson go out far and wide. We pray this
in Jesus name Amen.
 23. The God Who Saves - Romans 4:23-25

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

Father, as we look into Your word now, I pray that Your Holy Spirit would be the
teacher; you would work through me, and work through all of us as we look at the
passage and as we talk about it. We want it more than in our mind; we want it in our
heart and in our life, we want to live this out. Father, make this a great Bible study that
will glorify Your Son. We pray this in Jesus's name, amen.
Okay guys we are in Romans four; we are going to wrap up Romans four today.
Romans four and we have the last three verses to look at, Romans 4:23-25. I want to
begin by reading the passage.

And for those of you who are curious what translation I use, I am a New American
Standard guy. So beginning in Verse 23, "Now" – and there is a real summation feel as
he begins with the word ‘now.’ He is bringing this whole chapter down to a summation,
based on everything that he has said.

"Now not for his sake only" – referring to Abraham – "was it written that it was credited
to him" – and the 'it' refers to the righteousness of God in Christ. Verse 24, "but for our
sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our
Lord from the dead." Verse 25, "He who was delivered over because of our
transgressions, and was raised because of our justification."

There is a lot of theology in these verses, and therefore a lot of application as well.
There are different ways to look at these verses, but the angle that I want us to look at is
to see that God the Father is so actively involved in our salvation. When we think of our
salvation, we normally think of the Lord Jesus Christ, who John 4:42 says is the Savior
of the world.

The very name Jesus means Jehovah saves. Jesus is the Savior, but we need to also
understand that God the Father is the Savior and God the Holy Spirit is the Savior. All
three persons of the Trinity are the Savior. That is why when we baptize, we baptize in
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

That is not just to make a Trinitarian confession. It is to acknowledge that the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit are all three involved in our salvation. To truly
understand the work of grace in our life that delivered us from eternal destruction, we
really have to think about it on three different levels: the work of God the Father, the
work of God the Son, and the work of God the Holy Spirit.

In this particular text, what really captures my attention is the activity of God the Father.
As we look at this today, rather than just coming up with a grammatical outline, I want
to have a theological outline as we walk through these three verses. There are six truths
about God the Father that I want you to see as it relates to our salvation. To make it
more personal, as it relates to your salvation.
 
Now I am going to give you a point of application on the front end before we even look
at this. Why this is so important: as we worship, we need to give praise not just for God
the Son, but we need to worship God the Father, and we need to ascribe honor and glory
to God the Father. Because God the Father is so vitally at work in our salvation.

Before we look at these verses, and I give you these six things, if you would just turn
back to Romans 8 for a moment. This will set the parameters for this. In Romans 8,
these verses with which you are very familiar, verse 29 and verse 30, "For those whom
He foreknew, He also predestined." And in verse 30, "and those whom He predestined,
He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He
justified, He also glorified." Here is the million dollar question, "Who is He?" The He is
none other than God the Father.

He is the one who foreknew us. He is the one who predestined us. He is the one who
called us. He is the one who justified us. He is the one who will glorify us one day. That
is very clear, because in verse 29, the He is distinguished from His Son. In verse 32,
"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all."

The He is distinguished from God the Holy Spirit in verse 26, and 27 and verse 28 when
he says, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good." God
refers to God the Father in this text, so what we see in verse 29 and 30 is how
everything is flowing out of God the Father. It is God the Father who is the author of the
Gospel. God the Father is the architect of the plan of salvation. God the Father is the
one who has sent His Son in to this world to be our Savior.

God the Father is the one who has sent the Holy Spirit in to this world in order to
convict us of sin and call us to faith in Christ. Everything is flowing out of God the
Father. And so as we look at this passage in Romans four, I want us to always have a
God centered focus as it relates to our salvation.

Not just God the Son, but also God the Father. It is really impossible to believe in Jesus
Christ without also believing in the Father. There is no way to come to the Father,
except by believing in the Son.

They are inseparable. Having said that, come back now to Romans four, and we want to
look at the end of this chapter, and I want to give you six things that God the Father
does in your salvation. If you want to put a title on this Bible study, it would just simply
be, "The God Who Saves."
 
I.               GOD CREDITS RIGHTEOUSNESS
The first thing that we see in this text that God the Father does is that God credits
righteousness to believers. In the act of justification, it is God the Father who imputes
the righteousness of His own Son to us. So we see that in verse 23 and the beginning of
verse 24, "Not for his sake only" – referring to Abraham – "was it written that it was
credited to him."

Now the word 'credited' is a Greek word from which we derive the English word
logarithms (logizomai) and it means to count to our account; to impute to our account;
to reckon to our account. So the question is, "How does this righteousness come to be
deposited to our account, posted to our account?" Verse 24, "but for our sake also, to
whom it will be credited."

In the larger context, we will note that it is God the Father who takes the perfect
righteousness of His Son and credits it to our account. God the Father is actively
involved in our justification. Verses five and six earlier in the chapter make this clear,
especially verse six.

Look at verse six, "just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God
credits righteousness." We do not credit it to ourselves, obviously. The guilty do not
impute Christ's righteousness to themselves. In this larger sense, even Jesus is not the
one who is crediting His perfect righteousness to us. It is God the Father who takes the
righteousness of His Son and credits it to us.
 
So therefore, as we worship, we need to give praise not only to Jesus, who
accomplished our righteousness, but we must also give honor and glory to God the
Father, who is active in crediting the righteousness of Christ to our account. That is the
first thing that we note in verse 23 and the beginning of verse 24.

II.             GOD MUST BE BELIEVED AS THE AUTHOR OF SALVATION

It is not directly stated there, but it is implied, and it is stated in the larger context earlier
in the chapter. Now the second thing I want you to note, not only does God credit
righteousness to believers, but second, God must be believed as the author of salvation.
In verse 24 it continues to read, "to whom it will be credited, as those" – now watch
these next four words – "who believe in Him."

The ‘Him’ is distinguished from three words later, "Jesus our Lord." The Him refers to
God the Father, and so please note it is not just that we believe in Jesus Christ; we
believe in God the Father who sent Jesus Christ. God the Father who delivered Jesus
over to die on our behalf. God the Father who raised Jesus from the dead.

God the Father who has seated Jesus at His right hand. It is impossible to believe in
Jesus Christ apart from believing in God the Father. It is very clear here in verse 24.
You'll note in verse five earlier in the chapter, Paul has already said this, "But to the one
who does not work, but believes in Him" – you see the ‘Him’ – "who justifies the
ungodly." That Him, H-I-M refers to God the Father.

So it is a package deal. You cannot believe in Jesus Christ without believing in God the
Father. And you cannot believe in God the Father without believing in His Son, Jesus
Christ. The two in that sense are one, as John 10:30 says, Jesus said, "I and the Father
are one." Not one in person but one in mission, and one in enterprise. That is the second
activity of the Father. He too is the object of our faith.
 
III.           GOD RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD
 
Number three, in verse 24 also, God raised Jesus from the dead. In verse 24, as we
continue to read, "but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who
believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead."

God the Father actively, powerfully, dynamically raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus also
raised Himself from the dead. John 10:17-18, "I have authority to lay my life down; I
have authority to raise it back up again. This commandment I received from the Father."
 
God the Holy Spirit also raised Jesus from the dead, and we saw that in Romans 1:4. It
says, "Jesus was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead,
according to the Spirit of Holiness." Which is a Hebraism for the Holy Spirit. The
resurrection is really a Trinitarian resurrection. All three persons of the Godhead were
involved in the resurrection.

In that sense, all three persons of the Godhead were involved in creation; the virgin
birth; the crucifixion; the resurrection; the ascension; the enthronement. All three
persons of the Godhead are vitally at work in every aspect of, not only creation, but
recreation or salvation. We should give praise to God the Father for raising His Son
powerfully from the dead.
 
IV.          GOD DELIEVERED JESUS TO THE CROSS
 
Now let's continue to walk through this. Number four, God delivered Jesus unto death.
As we look at verse 25 it says, "He" – referring to Jesus – "who was delivered over
because of our transgressions." That is what we call a passive verb; Jesus was delivered
over.

Now there was also the sense that He laid His own life down, and He took it back up
again. Jesus did deliver Himself over to death. But greater than that was, it was the will
of the Father. It was the Father who delivered Jesus over to death.

So often it is easy for us to have a limited perspective of the cross that it was the
Romans who delivered Jesus over to death. It was the Jewish leadership who delivered
Jesus over to death. It was the crowd that cried out, "Barabbas, Barabbas," and,
"Crucify, crucify Jesus."

They were but really secondary causes; the primary actor at Calvary was the invisible
hand of God. As God the Father was delivering over His Son to the cross that Jesus
would die for us. It was the Holy Spirit who was strengthening Jesus as He went to the
cross. As He hung upon the cross, it was the Holy Spirit who empowered Jesus in His
humanity to fight through the conflict of the cross and to remain steadfast to give up His
life for us.
 
Verse 25 is very clear that Jesus was delivered over. In that sense He was passive, it is a
passive verb. The ultimate one who delivered Jesus over was none other than God the
Father. We should give praise and thanks to God that God the Father took my sins and
transferred them to the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father is the One who delivered His
Son over to die for our sins.
 
I do not want us to have the concept that Jesus is the good guy and the Father is the bad
guy. Or that Jesus the Son had to save us from God the Father. Or that Jesus had to step
in and intervene. Yes He did, but it was the Father who sent Jesus. It was the Father
who delivered Jesus over, and it is the Father who raised Jesus. We must remember the
centrality of the Father, even in our salvation.
 
V.            GOD DEISNGED THAT JESUS DIE FOR OUR SINS
 
Now there is one more aspect that I want you to note. Number five, in verse 25 God
designed that Jesus would die for our sins. In the middle of the verse it says, "because of
our transgressions." It is not directly or explicitly stated, but it nevertheless is implied
from the larger context of Scripture, how did Jesus become sin for us? It was God the
Father who took all of our transgressions and transferred them to His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ.

There is also a sense in which Jesus took them to Himself. But in a greater sense, it was
God the Father who gathered up all of our iniquities and all of our transgressions and
laid that heavy burden upon His Son. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that God, "made Him who
knew no sin to be sin on our behalf." That is God the Father who made the Son to be sin
for us. What I want us to see is the driving activity, the initiative, of God the Father in
our salvation, and it comes through loud and clear in this text.
 
VI.          GOD WAS SATISFIED WITH JESUS’S DEATH FOR OUR SINS
 
Now there is one more aspect that I want you to note. In number six, God was satisfied
with Jesus's death for our sins. We see that in the last seven words of verse 25, "and was
raised because of our justification." Let me tell you what this is not saying and what this
is saying. This is not saying that we are justified by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead. We are justified by the life and the death of Christ. What this is saying is that
the life and death of Christ, the sinless life and the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ
provided the righteousness that is imputed to us in justification.
 
This says we were raised, not in order to have justification. This says we are raised
because of our justification. The resurrection of Christ from the dead becomes the
Father's validation that the life of Christ and the death of Christ was a perfect
righteousness that has been imputed to us. If Jesus had remained in the grave, it would
have told us that His life and His death was an insufficient provision of righteousness.
But the fact that the Father raised Jesus from the dead is the Father's authentication,
stamp of approval, that the death of Christ made a perfect atonement for our sin. Jesus's
life perfectly fulfilled all of the demands of the law on our behalf.
 
Look at it again, at the end of verse 25, the wording of it, "He was delivered over
because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification." We are
justified by the life and death of Christ. The resurrection validates the success of that
mission. So the Father was – to use a theological word – propitiated, and we saw that
word in Romans 3:25. The Father was satisfied; He was appeased; He was placated;
those are all synonyms for the satisfaction that Jesus accomplished to satisfy the wrath
of God towards us. Jesus, in taking our sin, stood in our place in the judgment at the
cross, and Jesus bore the wrath of God in His body upon the cross. The physical
suffering, in reality, was nothing compared to the spiritual suffering of Jesus bearing our
sins and being crushed by the wrath and the judgment of God upon Him for our sins.

It has been well said that only the damned in hell, this very moment, can even begin to
scratch the surface of understanding what Jesus suffered upon the cross. There were
thousands who were crucified upon crosses. That is not the uniqueness of the death of
Christ. The real suffering was not the physical torment. It was Jesus bearing the curse
on our behalf and suffering the damnation that was due us. The full fury of the wrath of
God was unleashed upon Jesus Christ, and what we would suffer in an eternity in hell
was compressed down to three hours upon the cross. It was so concentrated and so
intense that at high noon the sky became pitch black.

It was at that moment that our sins were transferred to Jesus. It was at 3:00 in the
afternoon that He said, "It is finished." It was from high noon to 3:00 that our sins were
laid upon Him and the wrath of God came down hard upon His Son. The Father held
back nothing; He – as I said – unleashed the vengeance of His holy character upon His
Son as He bore our sins upon the cross. He was taken down from that cross, He was
buried in a barred tomb, and because the Father was fully satisfied with the sufficiency
of that death, therefore the Father raised Him from the dead.
 
These are six things that the Father does as it relates to our salvation. Now in the time
that we have that remains, I want to walk us through some verses that speak to this
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Go back to the book of Acts. When we study
the book of Acts, we see the prominence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead. The resurrection of Christ needs to be very prominent in our thinking.
 
Matt, one of the last sermons I heard your dad preach at Grace Community was on a
Sunday night several months ago on the resurrection. As I came to church that Sunday
night, I thought, "Oh I know exactly what your dad's going to say. I know his sermon on
1 Corinthians 15." I am clicked in for automatic pilot on this like I am going to finish
the sentences for him. I know this message.
 
As your dad preached that night, it was a blockbuster sermon, and he began by saying,
"Christianity is a religion of the resurrection." We are a religion of the resurrection. He
went through a litany of verses, and it just blew me out of the water how powerful it
was that God will raise everyone from the dead. God will have the last say in human
history.

Everyone will be raised to stand before God, and there will be no escaping God. That is
a powerful truth of Christianity – we are a religion of resurrection. In Acts 2:22, "Men
of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God" – that
refers to God the Father – "with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed
through Him." The greatest miracle God performed in and through Jesus Christ is found
in verse 24, it is the miracle of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Verse 22, "you nailed Him to a cross," Verse 24, "But God raised Him from the dead."
God had the last word. You nailed Him to a cross; God raised Him from the dead. Now
we know that it was ultimately God the Father who delivered Him over to the cross. But
God worked through human instrumentality. God worked even through reprobates to
carry out His eternal purpose and plan as He worked through those Roman soldiers who
drove the nails in to His hands.

He worked through the Jewish leaders who delivered Him over to death. It was God the
Father who did this, but verse 24 says it was God who raised Him from the dead. The
ultimate purpose of that is in verse 22: He was "a man attested to you by God."

The resurrection is the attestation from God the Father that this is my Son; you must
believe in Him. It is a far greater attesting by the Father than even the voice that spoke
at His baptism, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." It is an even
greater attesting than on the Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus was on the Mount
with Peter, James and John, and the voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son;
listen to Him."

Even greater attesting by the Father than “this is My Son,” is the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. It is the ultimate validation that Jesus is exactly who He claimed
to be. Every other religious leader, their body is still dead and in the grave. Mohammed
is dead and in the grave. Buddha is dead and in the grave. Joseph Smith and Brigham
Young, their bodies are dead and in the grave. There is only one who has been raised
from the dead, He is the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Second, look at verses 31 and 32 – David looked ahead in verse 31, "and spoke of the
resurrection of Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer
decay." This resurrection of Jesus was prophesied in the Old Testament, in Psalms 16.
This is not just a New Testament truth, this is an Old Testament truth as well. Then in
verse 32, "This Jesus God raised up again." It was the resurrection that put steel in to the
backbone of the disciples. They scattered at the cross, but they rallied in the upper room
because they saw the resurrected Christ.

Now look at Acts 3:15, you “put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised
from the dead." Then at the end of the chapter, in verse 26, "For you first, God raised up
His Servant." All of this really begins in verse 13, "The God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus."

What the resurrection does is it validates that God the Father is the God of the Bible. He
is the true God of heaven and earth, because He raised His Son from the dead. He is the
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and He is the One who raised His Son from the dead.
Now Acts 4:10, "let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the
name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the
dead – by this name this man stands here before you in good health."

The resurrection validates that God is the God of salvation. That God has raised His Son
from the dead. A dead savior is no one's savior; a dead savior cannot even save himself.
A dead savior has no power to save. But a risen savior has power and eternal life to give
to all those who believe in him. It is the resurrection that demonstrates that God has the
power to save. If He has power to raise His Son from the dead, He also has power to
take our sins away from us and bury them in the sea of His forgetfulness.

Come to Acts 5:30, this repeated emphasis upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead. Here the resurrection demonstrates that we must obey God and not men. Look
at verse 29, "But Peter and the apostles answered" – well let me begin in verse 28. "We
gave you strict orders" – this is the Sanhedrin speaking to Peter and John – "We gave
you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled
Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. Peter and
the apostles answered, 'We must obey God rather than men.'" In other words, you can
tell us to stop preaching, but we will not stop preaching because God has commanded
that we be His witnesses in the whole world.

Now verse 30 follows up verse 29, "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you
had put to death by hanging Him on a cross." The resurrection means we must obey
God and not men. Our greatest allegiance and loyalty is to the God who raised His Son
from the dead. Even if the world tells us that we cannot witness in the name of Christ,
we must obey God who raised His Son from the dead.

It is the resurrection of Christ that makes obedience to the Father binding upon our
lives. Now come to Acts 13:30, and we are just cherry picking these verses on the
resurrection in the book of Acts. This was a dominant theme in the preaching of the
apostles. It was a reoccurring note.

Let's start in verse 29, but verses 30, 33, 34, and 37 are what I want you to see. Verse
29, "When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him" –  and isn't that an
interesting statement, as they executed Jesus Christ they were simply fulfilling what had
already been prophesied and written in Scripture – "they took Him down from the cross
and laid Him in a tomb. But God" – and I love how Martin Lloyd Jones says, "Praise
God for the buts in the Bible."
 
"But God" – whenever you see a ‘but God,’ you know whatever follows is turning in
the right direction. Momentum just changed jersey's. So in verse 30, "But God raised
Him from the dead; and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him
from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people. And
we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, that God has
fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in
the second Psalm" – and now he quotes Psalms 2 – "'You are my Son; today I have
begotten you.'"

Verse 34, "As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead" – he won't let it go.
Then down to verse 37, "but He whom God raised did not undergo decay." What that
means is God raised Him on the third day, before the decaying process could even
begin.

In our Christian faith and in our Christian witness, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead is a chief cornerstone. As we talk to people about Jesus – that Jesus died for
our sins – we must also then follow that up with, "But God raised Him from the dead,
and He is alive, and He is seated at the right hand of God the Father. And whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

The resurrection gives strength to our witnessing, to our teaching and to our preaching.
Now I have a great verse you must come to.
 
All this was a warm-up, okay, this was pre-game. Now is kick off. Acts 17:31, this is a
killer verse on the resurrection. Now look at this, "He" – referring to God the Father –
"has fixed a day" – there is a day that is fixed on God's calendar. It is written in indelible
ink. It cannot be removed. It cannot be erased. “He has fixed a day” – a point in time in
the future – “in which He” – God the Father – “will judge the world in righteousness” –
there is a payday coming, there is a final judgment for the world – "through a Man" –
and we know who that Man is, capital M, none other than the God Man, the Lord Jesus
Christ – “whom He has appointed” – God the Father has appointed His Son to carry out
the judgment – “having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” You
know what this means? There will be a final judgment, because God has raised the
judge from the dead.

The irony is every Easter there are so many CEOs in church, Christmas and Easter only.
Many of them do not know the Lord, and they are coming to celebrate Easter and
coming to celebrate their own judgment that God has raised the judge from the dead.
Now today, if you want to escape standing in court, you can actually escape standing in
court. You can catch an airplane and go to South America and never be found. You can
take an airplane and go to Africa and we will never hear from you again. You can go to
the Florida Everglades and go find some snake-infested place and you can escape your
day in court.
 
But this day in court is inescapable for two reasons: 1) God has raised the judge from
the dead and He has fixed a day in which this judge will preside in judgment over the
world. And 2) God will raise every living soul from the dead to appear in court, the
supreme court of heaven and earth on the last day.

The judgment is guaranteed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This is a
powerful truth, the resurrection. The resurrection of Christ guarantees the resurrection
of every lesser person who has ever lived on this earth. My body will be resurrected
unless I am alive when Jesus comes back. Your body will be raised from the dead.

Every funeral grave site that I have ever performed, that coffin is going to be blown
open and that body is going to be raised from the dead. Every lost person's body will be
raised from the dead and reunited with their soul and spirit. For our body in heaven, we
will be given a body perfectly suited for our new environment in heaven. It is a body
that will never grow tired and never grow weary in our worship of God, in our praise to
God, in serving God.

No need for sleep, no need for rest, we will have glorified eyes to behold the Lord Jesus
Christ, a glorified tongue to sing His praises, a glorified knee to continually bow before
Him, glorified feet and hands to carry out service for Him. It will be a body perfectly
suited for our new environment in heaven. We will eat from the Tree of Life. We will
drink from the River of Life in a glorified body that will never grow tired.

We will have an intensified capacity to enjoy pleasure in heaven and to rejoice in

heaven in this glorified body. On the other hand, souls in hell will have a new body in
which they will feel the suffering of the torment of the damned with even greater
capacity to suffer and a greater feeling of the inflicted pain in hell.

There will be a resurrection at the end of the age. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, "For the
Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the trumpet of God and the
voice of the archangel, and the dead in Christ shall be raised first. Then we who are
alive and remain shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Therefore comfort one
another with these words."

It is this resurrection that Paul emphasizes at the end of Romans four that is a
cornerstone and a hallmark of our Christian faith. I think every so often we need to have
this solidified in our understanding, that it is by this resurrection that Jesus Christ is
alive. He is alive today. He is alive this moment. We can know the risen Christ. We can
follow and serve the risen Christ. And on the last day even, we will stand before the
risen Christ and give an account to Him at the judgment seat of Christ. We talked about
that last time.
 
Also those without Christ will be raised for their day in court, and every sin will be
exposed, and every sin will bring a just punishment. Then they will be cast down into
the bowels of hell to suffer eternally in the lake of fire and brimstone. It is the
resurrection that guarantees that all of this will take place.
 
These are great verses that we have looked at today, and I trust that they will elevate
your faith and your walk with the Lord. So let me just throw it open – give me your
insight, give me your thoughts. What strikes you about what we have looked at today?
Whatever that is will be a source of encouragement for the rest of us.
 
Audience:          So do you believe at our physical death here on earth we will be
immediately in heaven?
 
Dr. Lawson:   Absolutely.
 
Audience:          Then you talk about the body reuniting with this soul, with the spirit.
So how is heaven different, I guess, before and after for us?
 
 
Dr. Lawson:    That is a great question. 2 Corinthians 5, beginning in verse 1 addresses
that. At the moment of our death, our body is placed in the grave – or a day later. But at
the moment of our death, for the believer, our soul goes immediately into the presence
of the Lord.

Our soul will be in heaven before our loved ones even know we are dead. Our body will
be placed in the grave. At the end of the age there will be a resurrection, and our body
will be raised to become like Christ's resurrection body. So the question is, what kind of
a body will we have in heaven before the resurrection?
 
It is represented in a metaphorical way as an earthly tent, that we live in an earthly tent.
Now an earthly tent is a temporal housing until the permanent body – or building that
we move in to. It is somewhat veiled to us exactly what it will be like.

2 Corinthians 5:1-3 says, "For we know if the earthly tent which is our house is torn
down" – well that is our present body – "we have a building from God, a house not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to
be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be
found naked." When we get to heaven we are not going to be a ghost or a spirit, and in
that sense, naked. God will clothe us with a temporal – and the best we can say is
"body" – whatever that is, we are not completely told. Verse 4, "For indeed while we
are in this tent, we groan" – referring to our present body – "being burdened, because
we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be
swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave
us the Spirit as a pledge."

We have the Spirit in us. The word ‘pledge’ there can mean either like a down payment
or an engagement ring. We have the Holy Spirit given to us as a pledge of what is to
come. Verse 6, "Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we
are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord." Right now we are at home in this
body. We are absent from the Lord. Verse 7, "for we walk by faith, not by sight" – verse
8 – "we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to
be at home with the Lord." So it is the moment I am absent from this body, I will be
home with the Lord.

Verse 9, "Therefore, we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing

to Him." To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord immediately, and I
believe we will recognize one another. Spurgeon said, “we know one another down
here, will we be bigger fools up there?” The answer is no, we will really know one
another up there. It will be more than just a recognition on the outside, we will know
one another even on the inside, as far as there will be no misunderstandings.
 
At the end of the age will be the resurrection. It is somewhat veiled as to what our spirit
will be in, but it will be some kind of a temporal body. That is the best we can say on
this, but that is a great question.

I will say this, God does all things well. Whatever that is going to be, it is going to be
extraordinary. It is going to be great. It is going to phenomenal. In a sense, we will be
glad to finally get rid of this old decaying tent and finally upgrade and move into
something better. It is certainly going to be a better neighborhood and a better house
that we live in.

Great question. Someone else, what strikes you? Help us with application. How should
this change our life?
 
Audience:          I know that a lot about heaven is unknown, and there are a lot of
different theories. But you were talking about how we would have no need for rest.
Equate that with how God rested on the seventh day.
 
Dr. Lawson:   Well first of all, God did not need to rest. God is eternal strength, and so
the fact that God rested is really just an example for us that we should rest one day out
of seven. It is not that God needed to rest, like God got tired or God needed to recharge
His batteries. It was simply an example to us that we would have a Sabbath rest.

In this life, I think the Sabbath principle is still in effect, yet without the ceremonial and
civil requirements of the Old Testament. I think you can eat in a restaurant on Sunday. I
think you can mow your yard on Sunday. I do not think we have all of the Mosaic
requirements attached to the Sabbath.

And the Sabbath was Saturday, and we, as Christians, worship the Lord on the first day
of the week, which is Sunday. Having said that, salvation is entering into the rest of the
finished work of Jesus Christ upon the cross. In heaven there is a sense in which we will
rest from having to work in this world by the sweat of our brow, under the curse in
Genesis 3, "Working in a world in which there are thorns and thistles."

We will enter in to the new Jerusalem, the new heavens and the new earth. There will be
no curse in that world. I believe we will work and serve the Lord there and derive great
fulfillment and satisfaction from that work. But we will not be taking off one out of
every seven days in heaven, because there is no curse in the world to come from which
we need to rest.

We will have turbo-empowered bodies that will just worship and worship and worship,
and fellowship and fellowship and fellowship, and serve and serve and serve. What that
is, I have no idea what that will be. But it is a part of being made in the image of God
that we work. We don’t want to get out of work. I don’t understand people who want to
retire and not do any work. You were made to work. Now you just have to transfer that
work, maybe from your career to the church or to ministry. But as long as you are on
planet earth, there is work for you to do.

When your work is finished, God will take you home. In Ephesians 2:10, God has
foreordained good works for us to walk in, and we are to carry out those works as long
as we are alive. So I think it would be an awful thing for me, and I think for you, just to
sit at the beach and look at seashells in retirement. I mean, what kind of satisfaction is
that? You will just have to do a honey-do list anyway when you get to that point.
 
We want to serve the Lord. We want to serve God. We want our life to count for time
and eternity. We do not want to just twiddle our thumbs. And we are not going to just
twiddle our thumbs in heaven either. Angels are not going to just be dropping grapes in
our mouth while we are on a cloudbank. That does not sound like a good deal to me.
Being made in the image of God means we do something with our life, and we derive
enormous satisfaction. We glorify God with our service in what He has called us to do.

Right now for you men vocationally, it is your career, it is your work that you are
glorifying God with. The integrity and honesty and with the provision that comes from
your labor. I know I went beyond your question on that, but we are not just going to go
to heaven and sit. It will not be a spectator game in heaven.

I don’t know that I would want to go there if that is it. We will be with God, but we
want to do something throughout all eternity, and we will have a glorified body with
which we can do it. There is still yet a lot unanswered, obviously.
 
Audience:          Since the damned will be resurrected in physical bodies for eternal
punishment, will the nature of the lake of fire be physical as well?
 
Dr. Lawson:   Absolutely it will. I believe it is real – it is a real lake of fire. Here’s the
deal, let's just play with this for a moment. If it is symbolic, the symbol never measures
up to the reality. The picture of your wife never represents the full beauty of who your
wife is. The symbol is always weaker than the reality. If it is only a symbol, you should
hope it is only a symbol, because whatever it is representing is far worse.
 
So that is not an end run. Having said that, I take the Bible at that point at face value. I
realize there are figures of speech that are used in the Bible. When Jesus says, "I am the
door of the sheep," He does not mean He is a piece of wood, it represents something –
that He is the door. I understand that. I am the light of the world – I understand that.
 
But having said that, we have no reason to believe that this is anything other than literal
fire in a real place on God's map known as hell. I think the lava that comes spewing out
from the center of the earth is about as close of a picture of the lake of fire and
brimstone as there is.

Thank you for that question, and it gives us opportunity to answer that. I would take it
as real until we find out otherwise. If we find out otherwise, it will be far worse than
what is pictured.
 
Audience:          And there is no annihilation.
 
Dr. Lawson:   No, there is no annihilation.
 
Audience:          Some would say there is annihilation. But there is a body that will not,
cannot, be in annihilated.
 
Dr. Lawson:   Yeah, it is a body that cannot be annihilated. It will be ever being burned,
but never consumed. Hell will be as long as heaven will be. The very same words in the
book of Revelation are used for the length of hell that are used for the length of heaven.
If you want to argue annihilation in hell, then you are going to have to be consistent and
argue for annihilation of saints in heaven as well.

That does not get you anywhere in the argument. It is forever and ever, the ages unto the
ages to come without end. There is no annihilation. That is just a pagan myth.
 
Audience:          Do you think in what we are talking about that we can say that God
keeps the books, Jesus opens the scrolls, and it is all together that this judgment takes
place?
 
Dr. Lawson:   Yes and no. In John 5 Jesus said the Father has given all judgment to
Him. So Jesus will be the executor of the Father's judgment. In Revelation 20:11-15 is
the great white throne of judgment. One who sat upon a throne from whose presence
heaven and earth fled away and there was no hiding place. The sea gave up the dead
which were in them, and etc., etc. If Jesus will be that judge on the last day, as He will
carry out on behalf of the Father the execution of the Father's judgment. And the Father
is keeping impeccable books – every idle word, every thought, every deed, everything
we should have done we did not do, everything we did we should not have done, every
motive. The unsaved man will give an account for that on the last day. It is a terrifying
scene in Revelation 20:11-15.

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. We must be about the
business of telling people about the Lord Jesus Christ, starting with our loved ones,
starting with those who are closest to us at work, etc.

Well men, ours is a religion of the resurrection, and it is the resurrection that guarantees
that the Father is pleased with the Son's sacrifice. It is the resurrection that validates
Jesus is the Son of God.
 
Father, thank You for this study that we have had. Seal to our hearts now the truth that
has been sown in to our hearts. Give us opportunities today to tell others about what we
have looked at today. Thank You that You will give us a glorified body one day in
heaven – never be sick, never be tired – with which we will be able to praise You
forever. We long for that day and we groan for that day, even right now as we live in
this earthly tent. In Jesus's name, amen.
24. Justification Benefits, Part I - Romans 5:1

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

We're in Romans 5. We are just plowing through this book of Romans at a record pace.
We've come to chapter 5. We'll see how many verses we work our way through but
we're going to be in verses 1-5 today. I think it would be good if I just read these verses,
just kind of set them out in front of you. Romans 5 beginning in verse 1 this is where
we're plunging in, "Therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through whom also we have obtained our introduction
by faith into this grace in which we stand and we exalt in hope of the glory of God. And
not only this but we also exalt in our tribulations. Knowing that tribulation brings about
perseverance and perseverance proven character and proven character hope and hope
does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

These are great verses. Just reading these verses is an encouragement to our hearts.
What these verses are all about are the benefits of justification. Every salesman knows
that you bring out the benefits to the buyer if you want to close the deal. Paul is bringing
out the benefits to us of our buying in to the gospel and to justification by faith. In these
verses, verses 1-5 we have five benefits of justification. This is what has come to us as a
result of justification. Now in chapters 3 and 4 where we have been Paul has made his
case for justification. What it is and how we come by it. Now in chapter 5 he wants to
talk about the package. What all comes with justification by faith? You go buy a car and
the salesmen tells you the package, well you get this and you get that, you get this, you
get that, that comes along. You get all the bells and whistles with it.

Paul wants to give us now the package the benefits that come with justification by faith.
Just to remind us all here, justification is when God declares us to be righteous in his
sight. When God imputes to us the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ to our account
in heaven. Now he does not make us righteous he declares us to be righteous and there's
a difference. If he were to make us righteous then we would be sinlessly perfect right
now. He has not made us fully, completely righteous in the practical sense. And starting
in chapter 6 we'll get into sanctification and God's working out now this salvation. But
he has declared us to be righteous. Like a judge would declare a guilty man to be
innocent based upon the righteousness of another which is Jesus Christ.

As we look at this now and I want you to think about your own relationship with the
Lord. I want you to think about your own walk with the Lord what all has come to you.
The first is in verse 1 and it is peace with God.

PEACE WITH GOD

In fact, let me just walk you through this real quick. In verse 1 it's peace with God you
see that. We have peace with God. In verse 2 we have access to God. It says, "We have
obtained our introduction into this grace." And we'll unpack this a little bit more. Your
translation may even actually have the word access but that's the idea. I'll bring that out
as we're there. We have access to God, peace with God, access to God. And then third at
the end of verse 2, hope in God. And that extends all the way down to the first part of
verse 5. The end of verse 2 to the beginning of verse 5 is hope in God.

Just to remind you this hope is not wishful thinking. It is a guaranteed certainty about
your future. Then fourth as we're in verse 5 the love of God. Verse 5, this has been
poured out in our hearts and it's an experiential love of God that we experience inside of
us. The smile of God upon us. Then finally we have his spirit within us at the end of
verse 5. Those are five incredible benefits that have come to us as a result of
justification. Let's just enjoy walking our way through this. I don't know if we'll be able
to cover all five or just the first couple it will depend on how fast you listen. The first is
peace with God. So look at it there in verse 1, "Therefore," and when he says therefore
he's connecting it to everything that has preceded. Specifically justification which he
began in chapter 3 verse 21 and has extended now to the end of chapter 4.

On the basis of having built his case for justification. I mean he laid a foundation a
skyscraper could easily rest on. It was an extraordinary case for justification. He says
having been justified by faith. Now let's just pause there for a moment. Please note the
verb tense that you have there in your bibles. Translate it as a past tense it's actually
what we call and aorist tense that in context is translated as a past tense. I just want you
to note when it was we were justified. We were justified the moment by faith we laid
whole to the Lord Jesus Christ. There are some bad teachers out there who have a
strange gospel that say we're not justified till the last day. In fact our works will have to
be examined on the last day and if the scales tilt in the positive direction then you will
be justified. Well that's just a cruel message. That's a cruel gospel and it's not gospel at
all because the bible teaches as you can well see in your bible that we've already been
justified and that happened at the moment of saving faith.

Now there are also on the other end of the spectrum some hyper, hyper, hyper Calvinists
who say we were justified in eternity past. No we were not justified in eternity past. We
were for known and chosen in eternity past but even the elect are under the wrath of
God until the moment they believe in Jesus Christ. We want to be very clear that we are
justified in the moment, it's an immediate transaction that occurs between God and the
sinner. The moment we by faith believe in Jesus Christ we are instantly, immediately
declared to be the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. It won't take place on the last
day and it didn't take place in eternity future. It takes place at the moment of our
conversion. This text screams this. And also please not we're justified by faith. The next
word is not and. By faith and good works. By faith and water baptism, church
membership, tithing, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. We are justified by faith alone. There
are no good works before faith and there's no works attached to faith and there's no
good works after faith it's just faith alone. Sola Fide by faith alone. And we understand
that faith is the commitment of our life to Jesus Christ. It is trusting in Jesus Christ as
our Lord and Savior. In order to trust Jesus you have to turn away from the world, you
have to turn away from your life pursuit of sin. You have to turn to the Lord Jesus
Christ and you have to believe in him.

This is a finished transaction and it's an irrevocable transaction. Once justified always
justified okay. Having been justified, now what comes with this. Well number one he
says, "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." The we refers to
everyone who believes in Jesus Christ. This isn't an upper tier, executive platinum level
for certain Christians to get into once you have obtained whatever, whatever. No if you
have believed in Jesus Christ the we refers to every genuine true believer. He says, "We
have," please note the verb tense here. This very moment, present tense, now, "You
have been justified therefore you now have peace with God." Now there are two kinds
of peace and we need to make this clear distinction. There is subjective peace and there
is objective peace. And we've talked about this before but it's worth noting again.
Subjective peace is a feeling. It's the peace of God. Not peace with God but the peace of
God. And it's the inner calm within the heart and soul because our faith is in the Lord
and the midst of the storms of life and the tribulations that we face and the difficulties
we still have peace, the peace of God.

Now there are other verses that teach that. John 14:27 Jesus said, "My peace I give onto
you. Peace not as the world gives. My peace I give onto you." And in Philippians 4:6-7,
"Be anxious for nothing but in everything through prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made done into God and the peace of God will guard
your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Now that would be a benefit but that's not the
benefit Paul's talking about here. He's talking about peace with God. And this is a bigger
deal than the peace of God. This is objective peace. This is not a feeling. This is a fact
and to have peace with God means the war is over. To have peace with God
presupposes that we were at war with God.

Now you may not have realized it when your mom was taking you to church and you're
a little kid but you were unsaved and unconverted you were at war with God. Or it may
have been that you never went to church as a kid and you just sowed your wild oats and
were praying for crop failure and you just lived a wild life and I don't have to convince
you that you were at war with God. Now what is worse than us being at war with God is
the fact that God was at was us. And there's more to the story than smile God loves you
and has a wonderful plan for your life. God did demonstrate his love toward us and
that's why we as sinners Christ died for us but the fact is as Romans 1:18 says we were
under the wrath of God.

Let me just remind us back in Romans 1:18 you remember the last decade when we
looked at this, Romans 1:18, "For the wrath of God is," present tense, "is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." So even the elect were
under the wrath of God before they believed in Jesus Christ. And the unbeliever this
very moment still has the tip of God's arrow pointed at his chest cavity ready for the
arrow of his wrath to be unleashed. Now we're in Romans 5 just peak ahead for a
moment at verses 9 and 10 because I want to convince you of this. Verse 9, "Much more
than having now been justified," that sounds familiar doesn't it, "by his blood we shall
be saved from the wrath of God." Even we who are believers, we've been saved from
the wrath of God. That means the wrath of God was threatening us. Verse 10 says, "For
if while we were enemies," we were enemies. The we refers to believers. We had
declared cosmic treason against God.

Whether it is active rebellion or passive indifference or somewhere in the spectrum in

between however it was played out in our life we were enemies of God. We were on the
other team, on the other side. John 8:44 says that we were sons of Satan, children of the
devil. "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of
son, much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by his life." The fact that we
now have peace with God that is enormous. That God is no longer angry at us. That
God is no longer full of vengeance towards us. I want you to turn back to Psalms just
for a moment and I want to just draw your attention to a few cross references because I
don't want this to pass over us lightly. I think sometimes we are just so lulled to sleep
with the love of God and we're going to get to that in verse 5 but this needs to sink in.
This is a big deal that we have peace with God.

In Psalm 5 - I didn't tell you which Psalm, it's a big book. Psalm 5:4-6 - it's right after
Psalm 4 - verse 5:4, "For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness." Well if
he doesn't take pleasure in wickedness he takes the opposite. "No evil dwells with you,"
now that's because God is so Holy, "the boastful shall not stand before your eyes, you
hate all who do inequity." Now please note it's not just that God hates their inequity but
he hates the person who does, who commits inequity. Verse 6, "You destroy those who
speak falsehood. The Lord abhors the man of blood shed and deceit." I'll tell you what
it's a big deal for that to be over. "God abhorred and hated us in our sin." Look at Psalm
7:11, turn to the right to Psalms, "God is a righteous judge and a God who has
indignation every day."

Please note it's not just on the last day that God will have indignation it's every moment
of every day God has indignation. Now verse 12 pictures God as the divine warrior,
verses 12 and 13 and verse 14 will be the target of his wrath. Note verse 12, "If a man
does not repent," well that's every unbeliever right, "he God has sharpened his sword.
He has bent his bow and made it ready." Meaning it's already locked and loaded. Verse
13, "He has also prepared for himself deadly weapons." Not a flesh wound but to take
down the object of his wrath. "He makes his arrows fiery shafts." This is God. As
Spurgeon said God never misses the mark. He never misses the target. The next verse,
verse 14 is the human target that the divine warrior is ready to sink his arrows into their
soul. Verse 14, "Behold he travails with wickedness," the he refers not to God but to the
sinner, "and he conceives mischief", that's obviously not God, "and brings forth
falsehood", that is obviously not God but the object of his wrath.

Let me just give you a couple more very quick, Psalm 9:7-8, "For the Lord abides
forever he has established his throne for judgement." God is a God of judgement and he
will judge the world in righteousness. He will execute judgement for the peoples with
equity. Now look at Psalm 11 beginning in verse 4, "The Lord is in His holy temple; the
Lords throne is in heaven. His eyes behold." In other words, he sees it all. His eyelids
test the sons of men. The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked. And the one who
loves violence his soul hates. Upon the wicked he will rain snares, fire and brimstone
and burning wind will be the portion of their cup. This is the God of the bible. He is a
holy God and because he is holy he hates all that is unholy. Not only in the sin but also
the sinner as well. Now I know what some people are thinking, "Well that's Old
Testament Dr. Lawson. We're in the New Testament." And right you are.

So let's come to the New Testament and see its second verse same as the first. John 3:36
and what I want you to see is every unbeliever, every unbeliever is under the wrath of
God. In John 3:36, this is the same chapter as John 3:16. John 3:36, I did all the talking I
need to get to it now, "He who believes in the son has eternal life. But he who does not
obey the son will not see life but the wrath of God abides," please note the verb tense.
Present tense abides on him. You're either under the wrath of God or you're a believer.
It's one of the two and nothing in between and the unbeliever, even the elect unbeliever
before he comes to faith in Christ is under the wrath of God. The wrath of God is his
smoldering fury and his vengeance and his indignation and his fierce anger towards all
that is contrary to his holy nature.

 
Now let me just give you a few more verses. Come to Ephesians 2. And I just really
want to anchor this in our understanding that there's more to the story then smile God
loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. No God is angry with the wicked
every day. Now in Ephesians 2 you're very familiar with this passage beginning in verse
1, "You were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formally walked." Now the
you refers to the elect. In chapter 1, "He chose you in Christ for the foundation of the
world and love he predestined us to the adoption of sons." Just so that we're clear on this
the you is referring to believers. This is our autopsy. This is the report of what we were
when we were dead in trespasses and sin. He says, "You formally," so these are our BC
days, Before Christ, "You formally walked according to the course of this world." That
means you were just going with the crowd. You were just going with the flow. You just
fit into the world so nicely because you were a part of the evil world system that was
anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-truth. Then he says, "According to the Prince of the Power of
the air." We know who that is that's Satan and we were held captive be a personal devil
who was the God of this age and the prince of this world that is now working in the sons
of disobedience. Every unbeliever is a son of disobedience and every true believer is a
son of obedience or you're not a son of God. I mean it's so simple.

Now look at verse 3, "Among them we too all," so it's true of every believer whether
you grew up in church, didn't grow up in the church, whether you grew up in a pagan
temple. Whoever you are whatever your background, "We to all formally lived in the
lust of our flesh indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind and we're by nature
children of wrath." That is a Hebraism for children deserving wrath, children under
wrath, children who are the object of wrath, "even as the rest." We were in that same
stream going according to the course of this world under the wrath of God. When Paul
says we have peace with God. Mercy. There's nothing bigger that's happened in your
life then for you to go from being under the wrath of God to now having peace with
God. As long as we're in Ephesians, look at chapter 5 verse 6. I just want to firmly
establish this in our thinking, "Let no one deceive you with empty words," okay so don't
let some slick talking television preacher come along and tell you otherwise. "Let no
one deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of God comes,"
present tense, "upon the sons of disobedience."

 
This is the state in which we were once in. If you're taking notes I'll just give you a
couple more verses. We won't turn to them. 1 Thessalonians 1:10 and Revelation 14:9-
10. Revelation 20:10 and 15. It's just an irrefutable case that the scripture makes that we
were once under the wrath of God in this world and the moment we believed in Jesus
Christ we went from being an enemy of God to being a friend of God and being a child
of God. The change in status was monumental. We went from God having the arrows of
his wrath pointed and aimed at us to now his arms are open and he's drawn us in and we
are in his bosom as his children the object of his affection and love. Now all of this,
come back to Romans 5, I know I've been taking you around the block but come back to
Romans 5:1, I know we've kind of pulled over and parked here but every so often you
just need to pull the car over to the side of the road and look out and look at the Grand
Canyon and see what it is we're passing by.

In verse 1 we have peace with God, pause and meditate on that, the warfare is over. I
was reading a sermon by RC Sproul a couple days ago and he was talking about when
he was a little kid. I can't remember if he was like six or seven years old. I know he was
born in 1939 so maybe we'll say six and he's out in the street playing stick ball and the
man hole cover is home plate and he's out there with his buddies and he said he's up to
bat and everyone just comes running out of their houses and apartments and his mother
comes out just her arms above her head and just all but dancing. And it was the
announcement that the war was over. World War II was over. And they went from
being in a state of dread to now the war is over and father can come home and we're no
longer in this stressful situation. That's what it is to be justified. It's that the war is over
permanently with God.

Now at the end of verse 1 he tells us how this has come about. It's another prepositional
phrase. In fact it's the third prepositional phrase in this one verse and Christianity has
been called a religion of prepositional phrases. You see by faith with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. The value of the prepositional phrase is you can have so much truth
just condensely packed into just a couple of words. He says through our Lord Jesus
Christ. Please note he doesn't just say Jesus and he doesn't just say Christ nor Jesus
Christ this is such a major point. I mean he throws out all three names, "Our Lord Jesus
Christ." I mean I knew whenever my father said, "Steven James Lawson." Whatever is
following is a big deal. Usually I'm in big trouble. Well Paul wants to underscore this,
"Through our Lord Jesus Christ." The entire mediation of this piece has been
accomplished through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And let me just tell you this there's not one drop of peace with God outside of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's all through the Lord Jesus Christ or we'll never have peace with God.
Now just to remind you Lord is his sovereign name, it's Kurios in the Greek K-U-R-I-
O-S. Kurios it just means sovereign, despite, king, supreme being, the one who's in
control of everything in the entire universe. He is the sovereign one whose will is
supreme. That's what Lord means. The moment that you are saved you submit and
surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Can you imagine some enemy crossing sides
and just saying well I believe you as savior but I'm still going to be your enemy and I'm
not going to surrender to you? I'm still going to be against you. No saving faith has in it
the recognition of the lordship of Jesus Christ.

You've been on the other side. Satan has been your master, sin has been your master and
when you now enter into the kingdom of God there is a recognition, you have a new
Lord, you have a new master, you're under new management, you're under new
ownership. Everything is new on this okay so you can't come up with some crazy
message that you can come into the Kingdom of Heaven but you're still going to have
your old loyalties and your old allegiances and your old master you just want fire
insurance. It doesn't work that way. It's a packaged deal. Our Lord Jesus Christ. It's all
or nothing. Can you imagine if I came to your house, knocks and you go, "Who is
there?" "Steven James Lawson." "Well Steve come in James Lawson you stay out."
"Well I can't come in what do you want me to cut off my arm and slide it under the door
and you get a part of me? No I can't come in until you say, "Steven James Lawson come
in." Okay now the whole of me can come in." Well you don't get a part of Jesus. It's our
Lord Jesus Christ.

And Lord means something and it means that he is the sovereign one who now you
have a new loyalty and a new allegiance to him as king over your life. And you now are
a son of obedience. You're no longer a son of disobedience. You spent your whole life a
son of disobedience. You now are a son of obedience to a new Lord. Now Jesus is his
saving name. Lord is his sovereign name, Jesus is his saving name and it means the
name Jesus means Jehovah saves and that's exactly who he is and why he came. He is
God Jehovah in human flesh who has come on a mission of salvation to save sinners.
Jesus. Mathew 1:21, "You shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from
their sins." And then finally Christ is his strong name and that means the anointed one.
In the Old Testament it's Messiah, Mashiach in the New Testament it's Christ. And both
Messiah and Christ mean the same thing just two different languages, Hebrew and
Greek. And Christ means the anointed one. And you anointed with what? Anointed with
the power of the Holy Spirit. The person in power of the Holy Spirit which at his
baptism the spirit came upon him to empower him in his enterprise of salvation.

Jesus in his humanity was empowered by the spirit to triumph in his sinless life and in
his substitutionary death. Now through our Lord Jesus Christ. It's all three. Now how
did Jesus provide what we need to remove us from being under the wrath of God. Two
things, his sinless life and his substitutionary death. In his sinless life Jesus obtained and
secured a perfect righteousness under the law of God. He obeyed for the sons of the
disobedience. He obeyed on our behalf that he could secure the righteousness that we
need because we have broken the law of God again and again and again. And it's that
righteousness through his active obedience to the law of God that's what deposited into
your account as if you have perfectly obeyed the law of God every moment of your life.

In this sense not only did Jesus die for you Jesus also lived for you. It's the whole
package. Then not only a sinless life but his substitutionary death and by his death Jesus
shed his blood. I'm going to give you two theological words here that were found back
and one of them in chapter 3 and one of them here in chapter 5 and I want to just dwell
on these two words for a moment, propitiation and reconciliation. Those are two
gigantic realities that Jesus accomplished for us. In Romans 3:25 it says, "That we have
propitiation in his blood." Propitiation it means the satisfaction of the wrath of God.
That the wrath of God towards believers was fully, freely, finally appeased by the death
of Christ on our behalf. When Jesus was hanging upon the cross he bore our sins and
the father unleashed all of his wrath upon his son Jesus Christ.

There is not one drop of wrath left for you and me. Jesus was crushed under this
tsunami of wrath that the father unleashed oceans of wrath upon his son that was
deserving you and me. What you and I the wrath we would experience in a million,
trillion eternities in hell it was all dumped upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The physical
suffering was nothing. We talked about that last week. The spiritual suffering was
everything as the father crushed the son. He came down hard upon the son. By his death
he has now, let me give you the synonyms, satisfied, appeased, placated, propitiated.
Pick your word. The wrath of God toward us. When he took the cup in the garden and
drank it there was not one drop left.

That is why Romans 8:1 says, "There is now therefore no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus." Jesus took it all to himself. I mean God didn't just dump it in the
ocean, all of his wrath. God didn't just snap his fingers and extinguish all his wrath the
father dealt with what is due us in a real way by transferring it to his son. Jesus suffered
the wrath of God in our place. Listen, we can never come to the Lord's table the same
again. Our hand ought to shake when we hold the cup and when we hold the bread that
he was crushed under the fierce vengeance and fury, the smoldering wrath of God that
was due us Jesus suffered it upon the cross.

The second key word is in chapter 5 and it found in verse 10, it is the word
reconciliation. First there had to be the propitiation then there was the reconciliation.
And reconciliation means you stand in the middle between two parties who are in
conflict with one another and who cannot get together. The one who stands in the
middle is often called a mediator. It's two parties who are at odds with each other and
the mediators brings about terms of reconciliation where he takes both parties, one in
one hand, one in the other and brings them in essence to the table and removes the
enmity that was between then and reconciles them together. The bible says that Jesus
has reconciled us through the blood of his cross, Colossians 1:21-22. It was the high
price of the reconciliation. He took Holy God in one hand - I know I'm raising my voice
but this is good stuff - he took Holy God in one hand and sinful man in the other hand
and brought the two together and there's no way they could have ever been brought
together except the mediator in the middle bring them together.

God's too holy and we're too wretched for us to ever be able to meet in the middle. Only
through the blood of Christ and his death upon the cross can the two be brought
together. To be a mediator you have to be impartial to both sides. To be a mediator you
have to be equal to both sides. That is why Jesus had to become a man. He had to
become a man yet remain fully God. He was the God man. Truly God, truly man.
Therefore, being truly God he could represent God with man and being now truly man
he became one of us. He got into our skin. He entered the human race. He was actually
born of a virgin. He can now represent us before God. There is no one else who could
have been this mediator, Moses, Abraham, David, Paul, Peter, none of them could have
been the mediator between us and God. It had to be someone who was fully God, truly
God and someone truly man who could stand in the middle and bring the two together
and he did that through the blood of his cross through his substitutionary death.

In Romans 5:1 there is a library of theology in this one verse. I had a feeling you
weren’t going to listen fast enough. I had a feeling that we weren't going to be able to
press beyond this but this is one of the mountain peak verses in the entire bible. This is a
towering Mount Everest. This is a verse you need to memorize. This is a verse you need
to tell others about, "Therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ." In other words Jesus went to war on our behalf and he
entered into the conflict on our behalf. That we could be released from the war with
God. I can't imagine a more terrifying state to be in than to be at war with God and have
God at war with you but Jesus through his sinless life and his substitutionary death
which accomplished propitiation and reconciliation. There's more that he accomplished
but those are the two biggies as it relates to having peace with God.

I'll just throw out one more word while we're on it, redemption, which means he bought
us out of the slave market of sin. And if the son shall set you free you shall be free
indeed. He paid the price with the silver and the gold of his precious blood. He
ransomed us. He bought us. So now get this we now belong to him. We are his
possession. He paid the price he bought us. That's why none of us are free to do our own
thing just live however we want to live. That's theological insanity. He paid the price by
the shedding of his blood. He purchased us from under the curse of the law and we now
belong to him and we now go where he sends us. We do what he requires we are under
his lordship and his mastery and his authority because we're his possession. It's a big
deal to be justified. It's a really big deal. This is only one of the five benefits that Paul
mentions, peace with God. There's a reason why it's number one on the list because the
rest of it just kind of falls in line. He leads with the biggest benefit.

When we leave here in just a little bit, when you get in your car and you drive to work
or you walk down the hall and sit down at the desk you need to just really exhale and
breathe a sigh of relief with thankfulness and gratitude to God that you once were an
enemy of God. You once were under the wrath of God. You once were dead in your
trespasses and sin. He had his arrows pointed at his chest cavity and the arrow of his
wrath was in the bow and he was ready to unleash it and Christ stepped in between you
and God. The father unleashed that arrow and it hit Christ instead and he suffered on
our behalf and none of us can even begin to comprehend what that staggering blow
must have been for him at the cross to bear the sins of all of his people but to suffer the
wrath of God upon the sins of all of his people at one moment. Basically from high
noon when God snuffed out the sun and it became pitch dark black as he hung upon the
cross at 12:00 noon until 3:00 when he cried out, "It is finished." It's been paid in full.
There's not a drop of wrath of left for anyone of us who are in Christ.

Now there are oceans still reserved for unbelievers. There is going to be a dam break at
the end of the age like we have no comprehension. And right now the dam of his mercy
is holding back this building river of wrath and it's just building and building and
building and the pressure is mounting and mounting and mounting and at the end of the
age when God pulls back his hand of mercy that wrath will be unleashed and it's been
building since Cane and Able. It's been building and building. And it will sweep sinners
into the bowels of hell forever and rightly so. That we have escaped all of that and have
been rescued out of that is ginormous. And we need to come back to verses like this
again and again and again as we kind of skip our way to work and whistle that this
reality has come to pass in our lives and everything else is dwarfed in comparison to
this. I mean whatever fingernail problem you've got going on is nothing compared to the
fact that your soul has been spared the wrath of God which it justly deserves. I need to
land the plane, park it in the hanger here for a moment. Let you breath. I need to let you
talk. As you're hearing this verse, these texts, expounded, opened up what comes to
your mind? What strikes you? What do you think? What do you feel? What do you do?

 
Audience Member:      So you could teach on this several weeks because it is so deep.
One of the applications is that God as one of the puritans says God justifies a man
through the conduit of faith. The means by which - how is this appropriated to an
individual? By faith. The way that God credits, reckons, imputes this righteousness is
by faith. And so then you Paul will write in chapter 10 verse 17, "So faith comes from
hearing and hearing by the word of Christ." So the application is that we have to tell
others about Christ because that's the means by which God will use to impute
righteousness to his people. The second part is -

Can I add a footnote to that? Not just tell them but persuade them. Like if your house is
on fire and you're asleep I'm going to do more than just tell you, send you a text. I'm
going to come shake you. You got to get up. You've got to get out of here. This thing is
going up in flames. All right go ahead.

Audience Member:      And yeah I mean it's eternal consequence. The second part is that
the mediator is the object of our faith. The mediator is the Lord Jesus Christ. I had to
look it up. It's Job 9:33 where Job says there's no umpire between us. There's no one
who can lay his hand on God's shoulder and my shoulder. Well there is and it's the Lord
Jesus Christ.

Yeah he's the only one that can be equal to both sides. Fully God, fully man and stand in
the middle.

Audience Member:      In all this you said earlier, we concentrate on love and I was
listening to actually S Lewis Johnson and he made the comment that we don't focus
enough on God's holiness.

Oh yeah.

Audience Member:      Which is all this context.

 
That's the one attribute that's raised to the third power in the scripture.

Audience Member:      I know this could be another whole hour but to those who are
non-believers you said it was an irrevocable transaction. So going back to like some
religions or denominations that believe in the age of accountability and some like as
Methodists they believe in prevenient grace when they baptize or as an infant. God can't
be where there's not grace that proceeds him. And so how do you like what about a
child that hasn't had the chance to make the knowledge to make that transaction. And
what about the child who as a really young child made a profession of faith as they
thought maybe they did and then now they call themselves an agnostic. I know John 28
says I am the sheep and no one can snatch them out of my hands.

Well to start at the very beginning I think a baby that dies goes to be with the Lord. I
think that's one of the Lord's. There are many verses that we could pull together to build
a case for that. I would start there. The second thing I would say is we don't know what
this age of accountability is. In the book of Jonah it's knowing the difference between
your right hand and your left hand whatever that signifies that there is some sense of
moral discernment. I think what about a child who says they believe in the Lord and
then they go live like the devil?

Audience Member:      Maybe or maybe not but then later on in life they say that made a
profession of faith they were baptized but then later on I've known people that say,
"Well yeah I was baptized as a child and I don't know why I did that because I don't
believe that now.

Well then, they never truly believed. They were just going through the external motions.
They're one of those that say Lord, Lord but don't know the Lord. It becomes real - it is
real when your life changes. You can't hop on board without you going in a new
direction now. And it starts with the heart and works its way out to the actions. Listen
there are so many people who just parrot a prayer as a kid and it's never real and they
continue to just live like the world and run with the devil's crowd and there's no life
change. Well Jesus said you'll know them by their fruit and if it's bad fruit that means
there's a bad root. And you're not rooted and grounded in Christ. Now there's a lot more
that can be said as far as variations and shades on this. I'm speaking in black and white
terms but you will know them by their fruit. You tell me what the fruit is and I'll tell you
where the root is. There is an inseparable connection between the root and the fruit.

There will be a life change. There will be a change of affections, there will be a change
of mindset, there will be a change of direction, there will be a change of priorities, there
will be a change of choices that a person makes when they are genuinely born again.
And the book of 1 John gives depending upon how you slice it either eight or nine
evidences of the new birth and it's not you get to pick three out of the eight. It's across
the board. All eight of these will be present, this fruit will be present in a person's life
when the root is in Christ. Jesus said you'll know them by their fruit and not everyone
who says to me Lord, Lord shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven but he who does the will
of my father who is in heaven. That's one of the eight evidences is now a heart of
obedience to keep the word of God. That's why unbelievers are called sons of
disobedience.

Shall we not say in them that day Lord, Lord did we not prophesize in your name? Did
we not cast out demons in your name? Did we not perform many wonderous works in
your name? And I will say into them in that day depart from me you who work inequity
I never knew you. You were just living a charade. You were living in a masquerade
world. You have so convinced yourself that you were saved that you actually thought
you were casting out demons, you actually thought you were serving me when in reality
the whole thing was just a charade it was just a game. You were self-deceived about
your relationship to the Lord. Depart from me I never knew you it's not that I once knew
you and then didn't know you. No I never knew you from the beginning. That's why
Jesus says enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is board that
leads to destruction.

In other words you can just weave all over the highway. You can just live however you
want to live. I mean nothing is out of bounds. It's just wide open but it's headed for
destruction. It says the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and few are
those who find it. And the gate and the way match up. You can't go through a narrow
gate and then go down a board path. It's a narrow gate, narrow path. Broad gate, broad
path. You can't mix and match. The narrow gate means you have to leave your baggage
on the outside. That's called repentance. You turn away from the idols and the
worldliness and you enter through the narrow gate and it's so narrow you can only enter
one at a time. And it only leads down a narrow path which is a path that is lived and 1
John gives you the eight characteristics. You now are one who confess sin, you are now
one who obeys the word of God as a lifestyle. It's not the perfection of your life it's the
direction of your life. You now practice righteousness, etc, etc.  

I wish I had time to go through 1 John. That's why he then says, "Truly, truly I say to
you he who hears these words of mine and acts upon them." It's like a wise man who
built his house upon the rock. And when the rains came and the winds blew and beat
against the house it did not fall because it was built upon the rock. He who hears these
words of mine and does not act upon them is like a very foolish man who built his
house upon the sand. When the rains came and the winds blew and beat against the
house great was its fall because it was built upon the sand. Now they both went through
the motions of building a house.

If you just stood there that day and you saw them both in church. You saw them both in
bible study. You saw them both helping old ladies across the street but one built upon
the rock and the other built upon the sand and the sand is a false conversion. The sand is
just an emotional feeling that you had or some head knowledge that you had. But there
was never the submission of your will to the Lord. You stayed behind the steering
wheel and you kept the Lord in the trunk. Well you're one of those who will be saying
Lord, Lord you know me don't you? Remember me? No I never knew you. Depart from
me. You who work inequity.

I know I'm kind of half way answering your question and more than answering your
question at the same time but that's why Jesus said you will know them by their fruit.
The fruit will tell you what the root is. The root and fruit are inseparably connected.
Good root produces good fruit. Bad root produces bad fruit. You want to know what
your root is look at your fruit. The fruit will tell you what the root is. And the fruit is the
lifestyle the root is either a genuine or a false confession in a faith in Christ. He's the
one saying Lord, Lord, you know me. You remember me. Lord, Lord. I mean it's
repeated twice like a sense of like hey, hey you know me and Jesus said no I never
knew you. Not that I once knew you. I never knew you from the beginning. Your whole
supposed Christian life was just a charade it was just a game. There was no reality in the
heart because if there had been the reality in the heart there would have been the fruit
that would have accompanied it.

You can know what the root is just by looking at the fruit. The root is under the surface
the fruit is wide open and it's an inseparable connection between the fruit and the root.
Well I've run 12 stop signs. I'm looking at the clock there but thank you for the question
and he who has ears to hear let him hear. Because it's like the old spiritual song not
everyone talking about heaven is going there. Guys we need to wrap it up. Next week
we're going to be right here on Wednesday and it's going to be verse 2. But verse 1 we
just had to pull over and park and get out of the car and walk around a little bit. We'll
look at verses 2-5 next time.

Let me just end by saying this, this is why 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, "Examine yourself
whether you be in the faith." Just because you prayed a prayer, walked an isle, signed a
card, joined a church, sing in the choir whatever that doesn't mean you're in. You need
to examine yourself whether you be in the faith. There's an inseparable connection
between the root and the fruit. If you want to know what your root is look at the fruit.
All right let me just close, Father thank you for this study. Seal it to our hearts, use this
around the world as people watch. In Christ’s name, Amen. 
 25. Justification Benefits, Part II - Romans 5:2
Dr. Steven J. Lawson
Hi we're live. I want to welcome those who are watching us by Livestream around the
world. Wherever you may be, welcome to our men's Bible study, we're thrilled that
you're a part of our study. Before we get started I want to pass out a magazine here,
which our ministry, OnePassion Ministries produces.

This year is the Reformation year; it's the 500 year anniversary of Martin Luther nailing
his Ninety-five Theses to the Wittenberg front door. Every issue has been on the
Reformation, and this issue is on the Scottish Reformation. I have an article on John
Knox, the father of the Scottish Reformation.

Sinclair Ferguson has a very substantial article on reflections on the pastor/teacher as

Reformer. Liam Gallagher, who is at Tenth Presb Philadelphia has followed James
Montgomery Bocce, has an article. John McArthur, if you've heard of him, has an
article. So if you don't have a subscription to this, I would urge you to get a
subscription.

For those of you watching on our Livestream, you can go on our website,
www.onepassionministries.org and there's a special heading to sign up and get a
subscription. If you're watching overseas, you can get it electronically; you can get it
electronically here in the States as well. I prefer the hard copy, but we'd love to send
you a subscription.

I think digitally it's $15.00 a year; and hard copy is $30.00 a year, or something like
that. But it's very substantial and it will give you a lot of great insight and reading.
We're in Romans 5 guys, so come with me to Romans 5; you know where we are.

As we look at this today, I have to tell you the big idea is the blessings or the benefits of
justification. We're looking at verses 1 through 5 of Romans 5, and there are 5 benefits,
blessings of justification that Paul brings out. And the first we looked at last time in
verse 1, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ" – that's the first benefit.
 
I.               PEACE WITH GOD
 
This clearly implies that before we had peace with God we had no peace with God. We
were born in to a state of war; we were at enmity with God. And what is worse, God
was at enmity with us; He has indignation with the wicked every day. That's the first
benefit: that we have moved from a state of hostility with God to now at peace with
God.
 
II.                               ACCESS TO GOD

Now today we come to the second benefit of justification, and it is access to God. The
first part of verse 2, and we'll see; this may be all that we can cover today. And every so
often, as I study my Bible, I open a closet door thinking it's just a closet, and I look in
there and it's like Aladdin's cave. There's so much in there that I'm in shock that I
haven't pulled over here and parked before.

This is one of those cases, so in verse 2 he says, "through whom we have obtained our
introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand." The word 'introduction' could
easily be translated 'access;' and your translation may have 'access.' I think in this case
that's probably a better translation of this word.

What this is saying is when we're justified by faith, it introduces us in to the presence of
God, and we have access in to a personal relationship with God. In other words, we
have more than just fire insurance; we have more than just being clothed in the
righteousness of Christ. We actually enter in to a relationship with God.

I want us to dig down in to this just a little bit. You'll note verse 2 begins, "through
whom," and the whom refers to Jesus Christ at the end of verse 1. The only way to have
access to God is through Jesus Christ; He has the exclusive monopoly on access in to a
relationship with God the Father.

He says, "through whom," and then the next word is important, it says, "also," which
means this is a package deal; this isn't separable. If you have peace with God, you also
automatically have access to God. The order is very important; if we didn't have peace
with God, you would not want access to God.

You would be trying to get away from God if you did not have peace with God. But
because first we have peace with God, now second what a blessing this is that we can
come in to His presence, and we are received and we can come in to His presence with
confidence. Now notice the next words, "through whom also we;" the 'we' refers to all
believers.

This isn't for just some believers; this isn't for an upper tier level of executive platinum
believers. This is for every single believer in Jesus Christ, we all have obtained this.
Now notice the verb, he says, "have obtained."

We have already received this; this is a verb tense that indicates this is a past action with
continuing result. We have obtained it; we obtained it the moment we exercised faith in
Jesus Christ. At that moment we obtained our introduction or our access to God the
Father.

Now, "through whom also we have obtained our introduction;" that's what I have in the
New American Standard. And this word 'introduction,' and we're going to talk about
here in just a second how it can just easily, and perhaps better, be translated 'access.' It
means a privileged access; to come face to face before someone that previously we had
no access to.

I want you to keep your finger here and I want you to turn with me to Ephesians 2, and
then we're going to look at Ephesians 3, the only two other places in the New Testament
where this word is used in the original Greek language. In Ephesians 2:18 we see the
second of the three times this word is used. It says – Ephesians 2:18, "through whom" –
excuse me, Him, "through Him" – the Him refers to Jesus Christ.

"Through Him we both" – the both represents both Jews and Gentiles – "have our
access" – there's our word right there – "in one Spirit to the Father." Please note the
Trinitarian focus here; we come through the Son, in the Spirit to the Father. That's
essentially how our prayers work; this is how worship works.

We come to the Father through the Son in the Spirit. It's the Spirit who draws us to the
Father, and the only way we can access the Father is by coming through the Son. This is
a very important verse, and what I want you to see is this word 'access' in your
translation and the idea of access.

The imagery here is of a king who does not allow access to commoners. Farmers,
blacksmiths would never be allowed in to the palace, would never be allowed in to the
throne room, would never be allowed to have an audience with the king. That would be
reserved for a very few, and you would have to be of an elite status; you'd have to be a
king from another country.

That's what this word 'access' signifies; that we have a privileged access to come before
the Father, through the Son in the Spirit. We'll talk about this later, but we can now
come before the Father and bring our prayers. We can come before the Father and bring
our praise and our worship. We can come before the Father and have fellowship with
Him, and have a relationship with Him.

This is a very privileged access to come before the sovereign king of heaven and earth.
Now turn to Ephesians 3:12, and I just want you to see the other place in the New
Testament where this word 'access' is used. In Ephesians 3:12 it says, "in whom" – and
the 'whom' refers to Jesus Christ, at the end of verse 11 – "in whom we have boldness
and confident access through faith in Him."

The 'Him' refers to the Lord Jesus Christ; it is implied that the access is to the Father as
we have exercised faith in Jesus Christ. This is an extraordinary thing that we would
have this introduction in to the presence of God the Father. Now introduction in verse 2,
back to Ephesians 5:2, "through whom we have obtained an introduction."

It's only the New American Standard actually that translates it as 'introduction;' the
ESV, the King James, the New King James, the NIV, the Holman Christian Standard,
and the new RSV all translate it as 'access.' And that probably paints a better picture in
our minds of being able to approach God the Father, and to be received. As we approach
God the Father, we may come boldly and with great confidence that we will be received
gladly by Him.

Now here is the sole prerequisite to have this access, "through whom we have obtained
our introduction by faith." It is by faith alone in Christ alone that we have this access to
the Father. And the word 'faith' has been the emphasis; you'll note in verse 1, "having
been justified by faith," as you will recall, the entire fourth chapter of Romans, the
whole focus is that we're justified by faith alone.

That was even introduced at the end of Chapter 3. This continues the focused emphasis.
Just to draw this to you attention in Chapter 4:24, "those who believe in Him;" and in
verse 20, "they grew strong in faith;" verse 19, "without becoming weak in faith;" verse
18, "In hope against hope he believed;" verse 17, "whom he believed." Verse 16 twice,
"For this reason it is by faith;" and then, "those who are of the faith of Abraham;" verse
12, "in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham."

Verse 11 twice, "a seal of the righteousness of the faith;" later in verse 11, "so that he
might be the father of all those who believe;" the word 'believe' and 'faith' are the same.
There's no need for me to trace this back up through the previous chapter anymore. But
the only way that we may access God the Father is through faith in His Son, Jesus
Christ.

Now, "by faith into this grace;" now we would expect that it would say, "Access in to
the presence of God the Father." Instead it says, "into this grace." What Paul is wanting
to emphasize is that none of us have any claim in and of ourselves to come in to the
presence of God the Father. It is exclusively by grace that we come, and it is in to this
grace that we stand as we come before the Father.

Grace, as you know, is God's free, unmerited, undeserved favor that God extends
towards unworthy, undeserving sinners. Grace denotes the state or the realm in to which
God's justifying work transfers us as believers. We now have been moved in to the
realm of God's grace.

Now you'll note it says, "in which we stand." This word 'stand' is very important; it
means to be made to stand. It means never to be ushered out of God's presence. It means
never to fall away from grace. It means to never fall out of grace.

That we will forever stand in this grace. He is able to make us stand in His grace. Now
as we stand in His grace, this grace is saving grace; it is electing grace; it is
predestinating grace; it is redeeming grace; it is reconciling grace; it is propitiating
grace; it is regenerating grace; it is sanctifying grace; it is securing grace.

It's the whole package of grace, from eternity past to eternity future, we now step in to
this favored privilege realm of grace as we access God the Father. Now this presupposes
that before we accessed God the Father we were on the outside looking in. This
presupposes that we were far away from God; that we were strangers; and we were
aliens of the kingdom of God.

I want you to come back to Ephesians just for a moment, come back to Ephesians 2. In
Ephesians 2, beginning in verse 12, I want us to be reminded of where we once were
before we were allowed this access in to the inner throne room where God is. In
Ephesians 2:12 it says, "you were at that time separate from Christ;" you were separated
from Him and there was an insurmountable chasm that separated us from Christ.

He says in verse 12, "you were formerly far off," and very far off; we were so far off
there was no way that we could gain any access to God. He says in verse 19 he says,
"you are no longer strangers and aliens" – that means we once were strangers and aliens.
And that we were strangers – this is a Greek word, [foreign language] from which we
get the word 'xenophobia,' fear of strangers, fear of foreigners.

We once were foreigners; we once were outsiders, strangers, on the outside of the
kingdom of God. We had no citizenship in the kingdom of God, and we were also
aliens, which is a pretty strong word, and that means we were outcasts. We were
without any citizenship in the land.

In Colossians 1:21 it also refers – says we were alienated from God; let's remember that.
Even if you grew up in church, even if your parents were believers and they brought
you to church when you were a little kid. That's true in your life; before you were born
again, before you were justified by faith, you nevertheless were a stranger to the realm
of grace. You were an outcast from the kingdom of God because of your sin.

It is only by faith in Christ do we obtain our entrance and our access in to the very
presence of God. We were barred from entering in to a relationship with God. That's
why in the parable of the Prodigal Son, he goes to a far country, a faraway country, and
that's where we all once were, before we were justified by faith.

But justification, now, gives us this access in to the presence of God, and I want to give
you some words now to help us define this access that we have in to the presence of
God.
 
a.     RESTRICTED
 
And number one it's restricted; it is a restricted access; everyone does not have this
access. It is only those who are believers in Jesus Christ have this access; all unbelievers
are barred from the presence of God.

All unbelievers are barred from having any relationship with God, and their prayers
have no entrance before the throne of grace. It is only by Christ do we gain this access
in to the presence of God.
 
b. DIRECT
 
Second word is direct; we have direct access in to the presence of God.

By that I mean we do not need any mediator; we don't need anyone else's mediation to
get us in to the presence of God. Jesus Christ alone has done it. We do not need a priest;
we do not need even a pastor or an evangelist. They can tell us the way to the Father,
but they have no mediation whatsoever.

We now come directly to the Father through the Son and there are no other access
points that we need to enter in through. If you have Christ, you have direct access to the
Father. This is really in contrast to the temple in the Old Testament, where as you would
enter in, there was the outer courtyard of the Gentiles.

The Gentiles could go no further than the outer courtyard, and there's a wall up. Only
Jews could enter in further, closer to God than the court of the Gentiles. Once you got
in, then there was a separation; there was a court of women, and the women could go no
further. And only Jewish men could then come even closer in the temple.

But then there was another wall, and only the priest could go any closer, and the rest of
the Jewish men had to stay out. But then there's another curtain that led in to the Holy of
Holies, and only one man could enter in to the Holy of Holies, and that just once a year,
and that was the high priest. It was such a privileged access that if the high priest was
not right with God, as he entered in, God would strike him dead.

They would tie a rope around the high priest and put a bell on him, and as long as they
could hear the bell, they knew he was moving around, he's still alive. But if they
stopped hearing the bell that probably meant God had struck him dead, because no one
else could go in to the Holy of Holies; God would strike them dead. With the rope they
would pull the high priest back out; no one was allowed to go in to this Holy of Holies
except the high priest.

All of this was an object lesson. You say, "Why would God keep the Gentiles out; why
would He keep the women out; why would He keep the Jewish men out; why would He
keep the priests out?" It's all just a symbolic object lesson to show us what a privileged
access you and I now have to come in to the very presence of – and to come confidently
and boldly, and know we're not going to be struck dead.

This is a privilege that is unspeakable that has been opened up to us, and we must
consider the privilege in prayer; the privilege in worship; the privilege in fellowship
with God to be a privilege of highest honor. That we can now have this direct access to
God the Father.
 
c.     PRIVILEDGED
 
Third, and I've already said this but I'll say it again, it's privileged access.

We're going in to the very presence of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. This is
not an access with our next door neighbor, or a football coach, or a businessman; this is
a privileged access in to the presence of the Sovereign of the universe.
 
d. UNDESERVED
 
Fourth, it's an undeserved access; none of us in and of ourselves have any basis
whatsoever to come in to the inner throne room, except through the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ.

e. PERMANENT
 
Fifth, it is a permanent access; we will never be expelled; we will never be cast out.
This access has been secured forever; good days, bad days, days when we're walking in
obedience, days when there is disobedience in our life. It is a permanent access.
 
f. SPIRITUAL

Sixth, it's a spiritual access; this is within our own heart. We're not talking about getting
out of this room and walking in to another room, and we would be any closer to God.
You can access God spiritually within your heart no matter where you are, whether
you're at church, whether you're at home, whether you're at work, whether you're by
yourself, whether you're in the middle of a football stadium with 70,000 people;
wherever you are.
 
g. CONSTANT

Seventh, it is constant access; this access is open to us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
There is never a time when this access is not open to us.
 
h. ANTICIPATORY
 
And then eighth, it is anticipatory, meaning one day in our future home in glory, we will
come immediately before the presence of God, and before the Lord Jesus Christ.

This present spiritual access is anticipatory of one day in heaven when we will come
immediately before the throne of grace, and it will not be just in our heart; it will be in
our glorified body. And with glorified feet we will approach the throne of grace; and
with glorified knees we will bow before Him; and with glorified eyes we will look upon
Him; and with a glorified tongue we will give Him praises. This present access within
our heart right now is anticipatory of that day when the full realization of this access
will be realized.

Right now is, in a sense, only prepatory for the ultimate access. When we die, we will
go immediately in to the presence of God. So this is an extraordinary access that we
have; this should not be taken lightly. And that's why, as I've been looking at this in
Romans 5, and I've got my notes for the rest of these verses, I just can't get past verse 2
at the moment; I'm stuck at verse 2.

I'm just savoring verse 2, and this is a truth and a thought that has not been at the
forefront of my mind like it should be, because this is an unspeakable privilege that we
have. It's not just that there's been some paperwork that's happened in heaven where
now I'm forgiven, and God credits this in to my account, and this is all taking place in
heaven. This is a real experience within my heart, and within my soul.

I now know God. I now have fellowship with God. I talk to God; He talks to me in His
Word. It is a living vital dynamic relationship that I have with God, just like I know you
guys, and like I know my wife, and I know my kids.
In reality, we know God even better, because He has opened up this way for us to come
before Him. Now I want you to come to the book of Hebrews, and this is an emphasis
that the book of Hebrews intentionally makes. There are different threads that run
through different books in the Bible, and one of the threads that runs through the book
of Hebrews 4:16 is this thread that we can draw near to God and come before God's
presence.

In Hebrews 4:16, "Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace" –
the throne of grace is the throne of God. He substitutes grace for God, again, to
emphasize how undeserving we are to be able to access the throne of God. Just as a
reminder to us; it's the throne of grace; it's not a throne of merit.

It's not a throne of worthiness; it's a throne of unmerited favor and grace. He says, "let
us draw near," meaning that by faith we draw nearer and nearer and nearer as we grow
closer and closer and closer to God. As we do he says, "so that we may receive mercy
and find grace to help in time of need."

Well that time of need is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Sometimes we're more acutely
aware of our need, in a crisis or in a trial, but the fact of the matter is we are in great
need of God's sustaining strengthening grace every moment of every day. As we draw
nearer to God in prayer, and in communion with Him, we find all that we need from
Him.

We find grace that gives us the strength to live the Christian life. All right come to
Hebrews 7:19; I want to trace this out for us this morning. He says, "there is a bringing
in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God." That word 'near' is a precious
word in the English language. We draw near to God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

He has opened up the way for us to access the Father, and He is now seated at the right
hand of God the Father. As we come, it is the Son who makes us worthy to approach the
Father. Look at verse 25, Hebrews 7:25, "Therefore He is able also to save forever those
who draw near to God through Him."

There again we see that he says forever. This access to God is permanent; it's eternal; it
is irrevocable. We will never fall away from God, and the reason is, he says, "He ever
lives to make intercession for us."

Hebrews 10:1, come to Hebrews 10:1, I just want you to see this theme drawn out. "For
the Law, since it was only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of
things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year,
make perfect those who draw near." The sacrifice of Christ has made us perfect that we
may genuinely truly draw near to God.

Look at verse 19, "Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place
by the blood of Jesus," verse 20, "by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us
through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of
God," verse 22, " let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith." Here
again we see that we are to draw near within our hearts to God. There are times in our
hearts when we become preoccupied with other things, and we're pulled away in other
directions.

We must be continually drawing near to God. There need to be times of focused prayer
in which we draw near to God. There needs to be throughout the day, bringing every
thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and thinking about how I need the Lord as
I'm driving in my car; as I'm sitting at my desk.

We need to be making intentional steps within our mind and heart to draw near to God.
So that's the focus here. Now I want to take you to one more verse and then we're going
to open it up. Come back to Matthew 27:51, and this all ties in together, as Jesus died
upon the cross, in verse 51, "And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top
to bottom."

The veil is what separated the Jewish men, the Jewish women, the Gentiles from being
able to enter in, even the rest of the priests. For only the high priest could enter in, and
that this veil was torn in two indicates that the barrier has now been removed, and that
we may enter in to the very place where the presence of God dwells. You'll note it's torn
from top to bottom, indicating that God's the initiator of this; it's not bottom to top, as
though we have done this. It's top to bottom, indicating it's God's work to tear it. You
have to be up on top to tear it so that it tears from top to bottom. If you are down below,
you would tear it bottom up.

It indicates it's the invisible hand of God reaching down from above that has ripped it
open, such that now there is this new and living way to come in to the very presence of
God. All of these verses in Romans, and Ephesians and Hebrews, here in Matthew, they
all tie together. Say basically one and the same thing: that we previously were outcasts,
we were foreigners, aliens, strangers; and through Jesus Christ we now can come in to
the very presence of God the Father and have this living relationship with Him; that we
can know Him.

By way of application, and I've already tipped my hand on this, but by way of
application, this speaks volumes to prayer. What a privilege prayer is, and that we can
only come in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; otherwise there is no access to God the
Father. What a privilege it is to bring our burdens, to bring our needs to the Father, and
receive mercy and find grace in a time of need.

He is there for us; He is ready to receive us; He is ready to hear from us every moment
of every day. Second what this says about worship, we should be worshippers,
continually praising the Lord throughout the day; bringing our praises to Him. And to
realize that we are in His very presence as we do.

Third this speaks to our fellowship; we do have vital communion with God the Father.
We have a living dynamic relationship with God the Father. We experientially know
Him in our heart. It's not just that we know about Him intellectually, theologically,
doctrinally, but that we actually know Him within our own soul.

I'm going to add one more here, there was a Latin phrase that came out of the
Reformation, coram Deo which means: in the presence of God. And the Reformers
understood that we live  coram Deo; we live in the presence of God. Therefore, every
conversation is in the presence of God; every act is in the presence of God.
Nothing is done away from God. When we go to work, we go to work as in the presence
of God, even if it's a foul godless office and environment, we live in the presence of
God. Therefore, we must do our work as unto the Lord. Not that unsaved boss, or that
unsaved contractor, or unsaved banker or whatever; everything that we do is in the
presence of God, as unto the Lord.

This should be a great encouragement and it should be a great challenge. It's a great
encouragement that He will never, never leave us nor forsake us; we are constantly in
the presence of God in our life. It should also be convicting that He is an observer, He is
a listener of every conversation, and of every deed.

Just because we walk out of the house and someone in the house can't hear the
conversation, God is where we are any moment of every day. This is a whole new
perspective for how we live our Christian lives. We stand in this grace; it is a posture of
strength; He makes us strong and He makes us stand in grace in His presence.

This is our study this morning, and I could kind of blow on and go on to the next part of
Romans 5, and I'm not going to slow down for every verse. I want to have some
movement here. But every so often I'm just awestruck by a particular truth that we come
across, and it's very worthwhile for us to pull the car over to the side of the road for a
moment.

Let's get out of the car and just look at the Grand Canyon, and observe the beauty of
this. We'll get back in the car and we'll go on down the road next week. But for today, I
want us to think about living in the presence of God. I want us to think about that we
have this access to God, and using this access to God, and how privileged we are to
have this introduction in to His grace and be able to approach the throne of grace with
boldness and with confidence.

And not because of us, but because of Christ. I'm going to wind down our study here at
this point. I'd love to hear from you; I'd love to know what you're thinking as we go
through this, or have gone through this. What impresses you; what encourages you.
 
What we studied in church on Sunday, talking about citizenship. In heaven, there are
walls in heaven, and this is our ID card, this is our get in to heaven card. Because it says
in Revelations 12:14 it talks about being aliens.

No aliens are permitted in heaven; this is our get in to heaven card. Our citizenship is
based on what you just taught us today.
 
                                             Yes our citizenship is in heaven from which we await a
savior.
 
                                             When we are – this is our firm affirmation that we are
saved and we have nothing to worry about once we get to the pearly gates. This is what
we – we're saved, right?
 
                                             Right. And we are just as certain for heaven this moment
as if we have already been there 10,000 years. Because we presently stand in grace;
we'll never fall away from grace; or fall out of grace.
 
                                             Yeah we have citizenship in heaven through what we
learned today.
 
                                             Right, exactly. That's great Chris. Someone else? Don't
make me call on you.

 
                                             Well I like what you said about just how we have
constant access and we have it through our own soul wherever we are. Just because you
think about today and all the technology innovation, always trying to get more access to
different things. But we have the best access we could ever have within us at all times.

That we just – I know for myself I don't use it enough as I should.

 
                                             Yeah, no absolutely, and I don't either, and I don't think
any of us do. I mean, who among us is gonna say here, "You know, I just pray too
much."

Liar pants on fire; none of us do. And to me one great thing about that, Luke, is I don't
have to be in a certain geographical location in order to access God. I don't have to be
sitting in church on Sunday morning in order to access God.

Now, I need to be in church on Sunday morning, but nevertheless, at the office Monday
morning; at the airport Tuesday, you know, wherever; on the golf course Wednesday I
can access God and find grace – the grace that I need to help in time of need. I mean,
He's always open. I was thinking about saying – I went to Africa two years ago, they put
me in a hut where I had electricity for only a third of the day.

The thought of having 24 hour electricity was just a great blessing to me, and just
thinking about this. I mean, God's throne of grace is always open to us. They're not
banking hours, you know, it's always open to us. And we need to take advantage of this
and use this access.
 
                                             Yes, this guy asked how is the Catholic Church able to
continue deceiving people when Romans, as well as other verses, describe our access
and citizenship to/with God?
 
                                             Yeah it's just a whole system in the Roman Catholic
Church in which it's a false system in which they have – they want to keep people under
the Law, and keep them bound, and keep people dependent upon them. We have no
need for a priest; Jesus is our high priest; and He has made us to be a kingdom of
priests. So why does a priest need a priest?

He's made us priest where we have the direct access. And how do they do it? I mean, it's
just very simply by keeping people out of the Bible to keep the game alive. Yeah, yeah?
 
                                             When you were talking about coram deo living in His
presence, and nothing we do is out of the presence of God. How do you see when we do
sin, is it – like, the Spirit that's in us, I mean, does God the Father look on sin; does
Jesus see sin; or is it just the Spirit? How do you envision how that works?
 
                                             Yeah well we do sin.
 
                                             I mean, 'cause I've always been taught God can't look
upon sin.
 
                                             Well God cannot look upon our sin in a judicial sense,
for eternal forgiveness. We have to understand there are two levels of forgiveness that
we need from God: 1) is judicial; the other is parental. Judicially we have been forgiven
all of our sins forever and ever, and in judicially He remembers our sins no more.

Now if that's all that it is, then God would never be able to discipline us and correct us
for sin in our life, if He never could see sin in our life. God does see our sin and know
our sin parentally, and that's a whole – once we're saved, God is no longer our
condemning judge. There is now, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus.

But we have entered in to a new relationship with God now and He is our Father. That
is why we must confess our sin daily to God, or as often as we're convicted of our sin.
So there's a hyper grace teaching out there today that's a total abuse of grace that says,
"Well you never need to confess your sin now; they're all forgiven."

Well yes, judicially, eternally, but I've entered in now to a new relationship with God
who is now my Father. And I need to confess my sin to the Father; Jesus taught us that
in Matthew 6, that we need to – as often as we're asking for daily bread, we need to be
confessing daily sins. So yes, God knows everything, so there are no blank spots in
God's knowledge.

It's not like we know about our sin but God doesn't. So we know something God doesn't
know? What kind of a crazy doctrine is that? Like we're omniscient but God's not?

The devil knows about our sin but God doesn't? So now the devil's greater than God?
No it doesn't work that way. It's a metaphor that He's taken our sins and placed them
behind His back; He's buried them in a sea of His forgetfulness; He can remember our
sins no more.

Yes and no; yes eternally, judicially; no parentally, daily. So we still have need of
confessing our sin to God; He knows all about it. He's the one who's bringing the
conviction by the Holy Spirit. So just because we're saved doesn't mean, "Okay now I
can live however I wanna live and God will never see my sin, and I'll just sin up a
storm."

I remember when I was in college, walking in to a friend's dorm room and he had a
poster that said – what did it say, "Sin in liberty; seek forgiveness in leisure," or
something like that. I mean, it was just a total blasphemous thing that he had up just
mocking Christian liberty. Be assured God sees your sin and God knows, and God will
bring conviction.

If you don't repent, God will bring discipline; and if you don't repent, there's a sin unto
death. God will just take you home early. He obviously sees what's going on, and He
obviously knows what we know, and He knows more than we know.

Thank you; that gives us a chance to say what needs to be said on that. Someone else,
what else? So the teaching was just so outstanding that nothing further can be said on
the matter?
 
                                             You know when you think about this, if you live your
life moment by moment, your thoughts – we get so bogged down in the minutia of life.
We get bogged down in the details of life, and it is wonderful to marinate in this great
salvation that we have, and all the blessings that we have in this salvation, and what
God has done for us and we didn't deserve it. You talked last week, you used the term
bells and whistles, talking about analogy of a car.

It's overwhelming what we have through the Lord Jesus Christ. This salvation is so
beyond what we can consider, and I think often in our daily life we take it for granted.
And so it is wonderful just to sit and meditate upon who God is and what He has done
for us.

It's great beyond our comprehension.

 
                                             It is, which is why when I was looking at verse 2 last
week, and looking at verse 2 this week, it's like you walk past a store window and you
do a double take, and maybe even a triple take. I mean, something just catches your eye;
as I just kept passing by verse 2, I just found myself turning back and glancing. Last
week I had verses 1 through 5 in my notes, and I just couldn't get past verse 1; it's just
so rich.

And I fully intended to do 2 through 5, and yesterday as I'm sitting looking at this, it's
just like they took me by the lapel and just drew me in. And it's, like, you know, I just
really need to contemplate what this is saying. I haven't been marinating on this
recently, and I hope that this is something that you need to marinate on, but I certainly
do.

Every word in the first half of verse 2 is just loaded, and I hate to slow down to a literal
word by word, and we're gonna pick it back up. But for the moment, I just needed to
just try to wring everything I can out of this, and then open up the lens, and take us to
some other verses. Yeah so what else? We've got maybe one minute.

It's time for us to wind this down, but as we slip out today and we go live our life today,
let's remember, I mean, we live in the presence of God. We stand in this grace, and
throughout the day we need to be drawing near, with our thoughts, with our prayers,
with our worship of God and have this living dynamic relationship with God. I think
Paul wanted us to know here it's more than just bookkeeping, accounting that's going on
in heaven.

That we actually are in the presence of God now. That's pretty incredible. Well let me
close in a word of prayer, Father thank you for this study. Thank you for the reality of
what we have looked at.

I pray that you would give us an increased understanding of this, but more than that, an
increased experience within our own hearts and soul of this. Father I offer much praise
and much thanks to you for this, in Jesus' name, amen.