Intro:

We are now well into our series on the book of Romans together, and now would be a good time to pause and look back at what we’ve covered. To zoom out and see the forrest, because sometimes you can lose sight of the forrest in the book of Romans because there are so many individual points that you are focusing on. So let’s zoom out, and look at what’s happening together in the book of Romans.

Romans is different from any other book in the New Testament that Paul has written, and that makes it extremely special. How is it different?

When Paul wrote 1 & 2 Corinthians, he was writing to a church he had been too already. Paul physically, in person, preached the gospel in Corinth to the Corinthian believers and so when he writes his letter he is reminding them of what he’s preached to them before.

[1Co 15:1 NKJV] 1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,

So Paul had already been to Corinth and preached the gospel, which means that the book of Corinthians assumes that his hearers have heard the gospel already. Now in a review, do you cover all the fine details again, or just some of the high points? If I take the trouble to spend four hours teaching how to make a cake, and then at the end I give a review am I can repeat the 4 hour lesson over again, or just going to hit the high points?

So when Paul writes to Corinth, he assumes they know the gospel, and he is just reminding them of the gospel he preached.

The same thing in Galiatians.

[Gal 4:13 NKJV] 13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at

the first.

[Rom 15:19 NKJV] 19 in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

Now some assume that Illyricum is a city (I did when I first read this), but it’s not. Illyricum is a Province of the Roman Empire (You might say it’s kind of like the State of Oregon — or more like an occupied country) — Illyricum is a large area that we know today as Yugoslovia! Paul is saying I preached in Israel (where Jerusalem is), I’ve preached up through Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Macedonia, Yugoslavia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, & Slovenia — That takes you from Israel right up to the borders of Italy.

Now where is Rome? In Italy… Paul has preached in every country from Israel right up to Italy, but not in Italy yet. Not in Rome yet. And why is this significant?  

When Paul writes his letter to the Romans, he is preaching to them the gospel for the very first time (Now they have heard it from other preachers, but not from Paul). Romans is not an overview or a review of something he’s already said — This is Salvation 101, 102, & 103 all in ONE book! So Romans is the complete picture of the gospel, and presents the gospel in a way you don’t see in any other letter that Paul wrote. Why? Because they are hearing the gospel for the first time from the pen of Paul… And remember… Every letter of the New Testament was not read one by one, by each member of the church… The Letter was read out loud in Church! This Letter would have been the Sabbath morning sermon for the Church in Rome — Read by the leading elder of the Church, and listened to by the whole church. They didn’t have 3ABN back then or Hope Channel, in the New Testament no one skipped church to sleep at home, or go on hikes. Oh no, when your life is on the line for your faith, you value, you depend on that weekly fellowship. Plus they believed what the Bible teaches — Church is not an option, but a holy requirement from the Lord of the Sabbath:

[Lev 23:3 NKJV] 3 ‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day [is] a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work [on it]; it [is] the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

Some say, how do I know that Saturday is the day God wants me to worship? #1 The Sabbath was sanctified and set apart as holy at Creation (No other day was blessed and sanctified at Creation), #2 The Ten Commandments sets Saturday, the Seventh-day, apart as a day that is holy (That is not done for any other day) #3 The Seventh-day is declared as a day of Holy Convocation, which means it is the day we gather together as a group for public worship. #4 Jesus declared that the Sabbath was made for mankind, not just the Jews #5 The Apostles kept the Sabbath after the Crucifixion every week as the day of worship, #6 The Bible says all nations will gather before God to worship Him on the Sabbath in heaven.

So all the members of God’s Church in Rome, unless they were deathly ill, came to church to hear the letter of Paul read on the Sabbath — and there they heard the gospel sermon for the first time that Paul had preached at every other church in person from Jerusalem up to the borders of Italy.

So what does Paul begin with, as he launches into the gospel message?

Romans 1-3:   (Romans 3:23) All Have Sinned & Fallen Short of the Glory of God

Paul begins his gospel message with a presentation on the hopeless condition of all humanity.  

[Rom 1:18 NKJV] 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

[ungodliness = If you break God’s Law, you have earned the wrath of God] (The Law is at the foundation of the gospel message of Paul — it is breaking God’s law, which is ungodliness, that places us in our condition of needing God’s grace = The Gospel)

Then Paul goes on to show the depths to which sin has plunged the human race— He focuses on idolatry, homosexuality, sexual perversion, and then goes through the a list of sins to which humanity has sunken — and then lays out that those

[Rom 1:32 NKJV] 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

Does this not describe the condition of society today in America? Do we see that those who should know the righteous judgment of God that practicing such sexual perversion is deserving of death, and yet we not only practice these things, but approve, applaud, and celebrate the sexual immorality that has debased our world today? The Rainbow that originally was setup by God to celebrate his covenant with man to never again destroy the world by a flood, is now marched down streets to celebrate the very perversions for which the flood was sent!

Now some of those in Rome who were sitting in the church had the cultural baggage of believing that somehow because they were born jewish (born Seventh-day Adventist), they weren’t as hopelessly lost as the gentiles who were born outside Judaism. But Paul carefully dismantles this misconception

[Rom 2:11 NKJV] 11 For there is no partiality with God.

[Rom 2:14-15 NKJV] 14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness…”

The Jewish converts to Christianity had a superiority complex (They were the favored of God because they had the Law) — Paul says, NO — you are favored by God if you KEEP the LAW It is not attending a commandment keeping conservative church that keeps you in God’s grace — attendance, and membership only hold value, when you keep the commandments in your heart. If you don’t keep the commandments, but you do attend church, there is no extra merit you can claim over the revelers who dance around the streets of Portland. & The man who never steps foot in a church, because he’s never known that there is a need for church, but he does know something of what he should do, because the Holy Spirit has prompted him in his heart. If he follows the Lord’s promptings, and stops drinking, stops smoking, stops an illicit life, calls on the Lord — even if he never steps within the boundaries of the church, is more accepted than we who attend church and have the law, and yet trample on it in our own hearts.

That’s the point!

So now the Jewish Christians in Rome think, “Well Paul, I’m circumcised — that gives me an extra point over the gentiles in the eyes of heaven — Its a physical sign i’m part of God’s family” — So to meet this objection, Paul then reveals that circumcision of the skin means nothing unless you have a circumcised heart. — We may say, but I’ve been baptized! and Paul would say to us, your baptism has become un-baptism, if you have not been baptized in your heart! But I’m a member in good standings in the church, and Paul says, but your good standing in the Church means NOTHING if you don’t have a good standing with God in heaven who searches the heart of every man and woman to discover if they are honest.

[Rom 2:25-26 NKJV] 25 For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?

Are you following the logic of Paul here? Paul concludes this section of the gospel by saying:

[Rom 3:9 NKJV] 9 What then? Are we better [than they]? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.

[Rom 3:23 NKJV] 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

So now that Paul has leveled the field (destroying every stereotype and prejudice we may have along the way), and let us all know that none of our good works mean anything if we are counted breakers of God’s Law in our hearts— That’s everyone, whether your in church or not, in the parade or not! Now, with this view he turns to the Grace of God & Justification by Faith.

Just as we are all lost because we are breakers of God’s law, God has provided a way (Through

Faith) that all (those in the church and out of the church) can be saved.

[Rom 3:29-30 NKJV] “Or [is He] the God of the Jews only? (We might say, is he the God of Seventh-day Adventist only? Sabbath Keepers only?) [Is He] not also the God of the Gentiles? (Those Portland Party-goers also) Yes, of the Gentiles also, 30 since [there is] one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.”

Now that’s a hard pill to swallow that God’s salvation reaches outside the borders of our faith — It was a hard pill for the Jews to swallow, and it’s a hard pill for SDA’s to swallow. What? You can be saved outside Judaism, and outside of Seventh-day Adventism? YES, but you can not be saved outside of Christ! Abraham was not  a Jew or a Seventh-day Adventist, in fact Paul says he wasn’t even circumcised when Righteousness was credited to him from God.

[Rom 4:9-10 NKJV] 9 [Does] this blessedness then [come] upon the circumcised [only], or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 10 How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.

And we could also say, that righteousness was gained by Abraham through faith before he was even baptized! So Abraham, a non-baptized, non-circumcised, non-jew, non-seventh-day Adventist, non-Christian — who came out of an idol worshipping family from the middle east city of Baghdad simply places his faith in the word of God and it is accounted to him for righteousness!

Now some will say, what’s then the point of being baptized and becoming a Seventh-day Adventist? This was the same question the Jews asked, What’s the point then of being a Jew or being circumcised?

Paul answers, [Rom 3:1-2 NKJV] 1 What advantage then has the Jew, or what [is] the profit of circumcision? 2 Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.

If you have the opportunity to be baptized, Scripture says out of Faith in God, you must be baptized!  

[Mar 16:16 NKJV] 16 “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

[Act 2:38 NKJV] 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Baptism is the appropriate step that God has given us to take when we have placed our faith in Him. But the point Paul is making in Romans is that, Salvation comes to the heart of him who places their faith in Jesus Christ even before they are baptized.

The Thief on the Cross never had an opportunity to be baptized, but placed his faith in Jesus and Jesus said “You will be with me in Paradise”… The Promise of Jesus will not be broken! We will see that thief there — You being baptized will be there, he being un-baptized will be there! You may not have attended the same church, you may not have been part of the same religion, but you placed your faith in the same person — and the words of Jesus to the thief are words he wants to speak to you today — “You will be there”

If you’re preparing for baptism this morning, and today your life ends before you can joyfully proclaim your devotion and faith in God through the waters of baptism, don’t despair that maybe your salvation is unsure or unsealed because you didn’t get the opportunity to step in the tank, or dip in the river. Oh no, your salvation is sealed the moment you cast your helpless weak soul upon Christ — By Faith His Righteousness is imputed to you! His perfect life is given to you! You may not have bought the ticket, but the lottery is yours through Jesus Christ!

[Rom 4:6-8 NKJV] 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed [are those] whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; 8 Blessed [is the] man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.”

Why faith? Why are we saved through faith? — Paul says, it is of faith, so that God’s gift can be given through His Grace!

[Rom 4:16 NKJV] 16 Therefore [it is] of faith that [it might be] according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all

Now that Paul has laid out that all can be saved by Faith, he turns his attention fully upon Christ and unpacks how Christ saves us — and how completely and fully it was CHRIST who saved us, and how totally destitute and worthless our own efforts at salvation are.

• Christ reached us when we were enemies of God (Romans 5:8)
• Christ reconciled us to God (breaking apart every barrier that would separate us) (Romans 5:10-11)
• Christ’s Faith Justified Us, and Brings Us Peace With God — (Romans 5:1; Galatians 2:16; Revelation 14:12)
• Christ Overcame The Fall of Adam In Human Weakness (Taking Human nature when it had been weakened by 4,000 years of sin — taking the nature of mankind after Adam) (Romans 5:18-19)

THE GOSPEL STORY RECAP IN ROMANS:

• ALL ARE LOST — GOD SHOWS NO PARTIALITY (Romans 1-3)
• ALL HAVE ACCESS TO SALVATION BY FAITH — GOD SHOWS NO PARTIALITY (Romans

4)

• ALL HAVE BEEN GIVEN GRACE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST — GOD SHOWS NO PARTIALITY (Romans 5)
• PAUL’S CONCLUSION: SALVATION IS THE INITIATIVE, THE WORK, THE GRACE, AND THE GLORY OF GOD NOT MAN!

So if Salvation is ALL God’s Grace, and NOT my works — If we are reconciled while enemies of God — If Jesus accomplished all that is needed, He lived the perfect life, He died my death

Then:

[Rom 6:1 NKJV] 1 “… Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”

If God is glorified through His grace, and grace is given because of my lost and sinfilled condition, shall we continue in sin? The deeper the sin, the deeper the grace? That’s the gospel story Paul is preaching! There is no place so deep you have fallen, that Jesus grace, sacrifice, and righteous life can not be poured out on you there. So shall we stay there in the hole of sin as recipients of His grace?

KJV — “God Forbid”

NKJV — “Certainly Not”

NLT — “Of Course Not”

NIV — “By No Means”

CSB — “Absolutely Not”

NASB — “May It Never Be”

DBY — “Far be the thought”

[Rom 6:2 NKJV] 2 “…How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”

The WHOLE point of the gospel is that as humans we are thoroughly, completely, and totally wrecked in sin! We are degraded, debased, and headed for destruction! We pride ourselves because of our religious community, but we who condemn others practice the same things…

The point of the Gospel is not to celebrate in sin, but to celebrate redemption from SIN! The angel said to Mary:

[Mat 1:21 NKJV] 21 “…. you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Yet Today Christianity has quasi-accepted the gospel of salvation by grace, without the need of total transformation — but Grace without Transformation is not grace at all. If all we preach is IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS, but we somehow leave off Romans 6, that transformation is a necessary, essential, and consequential part of the gospel (If a changed life is missing from our message)— Our baptism has become un-baptism as Paul puts it… We are just scrolling words on a screen, or as sounding brass in the pulpit.

The point of the inclusiveness of Romans 1-5 is that all are lost, but all can be restored! Notice that inclusiveness to Paul, does not mean universalism — Paul’s breaking down of religio-racial barriers was not to produce a religion without standards, morals, or transformative requirements. Remember the bedrock of Paul’s Gospel that he begins with in the Romans 1 is the LAW — All have fallen short, we have all sinned, we are all judged and condemned by the law we have broken — God’s Law. But that doesn’t mean that we do away with the law, and set-aside the standards.

[Rom 3:31 NKJV] 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

Grace does not cover sin, it deals with sin so completely that the sinner is transformed.

The Gospel is not avoiding offending someone because we are inclusive, accepting, and safe!

No friends, The Gospel is not about accepting sin because someone identifies with it, The Gospel is meant to win the offended to Jesus, to eternal life, & to truth everlasting so that they no longer identify with sin but with Christ. The homosexual, & heterosexual, the prostitute, and the pedophile, the Addict, & the Adulterer — find a new identity in Christ.

[1Co 6:9-11 NKJV] 9 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 homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

The phrase is “past tense” — “were some of you” not “are some of you”… When we come to Jesus Christ and receive His gift of salvation. When by Faith we look upon the work of Christ for us, and fall at His feet and cry “but for the Grace of God I would be lost”. We take on a new identity in Christ! We no longer are the sins of our past, but we are now the righteousness of

God.

[2Co 5:17 NKJV] 17 Therefore, if anyone [is] in Christ, [he is] a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

You’re identity is new in Christ… You aren’t the same in Christ…  

[Jhn 1:12 NKJV] 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

BC — Before Christ you may have bore the title of sin, your deeds done in darkness. BC you were called an Addict — BC you were called sexually deviant — BC you bore the label of Adulterer, infidel, thief, murderer

But AC — After Christ you bear a new title and with that title comes a new life by faith. AC — you are called “Child of God”; AC — you are called “The Righteousness of Christ”; AC — you bear the name “Remnant” ; “Redeemed” and “Renewed”.

And friends if you are new, then the old has died — Not only the Old Titles, but the Old Life.

[Rom 6:3-7 NKJV] 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be [in the likeness] of [His] resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with [Him], that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.

“he who has died, has been freed from sin” — Now here is where Paul may twist up our brains. How many are dead today? Well you check your pulse, listen for your breathe, feel your temperature and say “I have all the signs of life, I must be alive”… But Paul is not talking about physical life, or death — When Paul talks about life and death, he’s talking about who is in control in your life.

You see when we are alive, we are in control. Our Will is in full activation — When WE are alive we are in full control of our choices, and our choices are made to please SELF. We chose our job, our house, our food, our spouse… When WE are alive our WILL is SELF-CENTERED!

Some would say: “What’s wrong with that?”

Although many of our choices may be ok, not inherently sinful, but the root problem is that when we are ALIVE we are running our life — and if we are running our life, what nature motivates our decisions (A sinful human nature prone to error and lust).  

[2Co 5:15 NKJV] 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

In contrast to being ALIVE, Paul describes the alternative as having “DIED WITH CHRIST”. Now why this analogy? Can a dead man choose anything for himself? He can’t. Others choose where he goes, and where he is placed. The Revelation is that as long as we are alive and directing our own life, we are destined to live in slavery to sin — But when we die (which is to give our life, our will, our decisions submitted to Christ) When Christ controls us, we can live a victorious life. This is how Paul describes it in Galatians (The companion book to Romans)

[Gal 2:20 NKJV] 20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

“The warfare against self is the greatest battle that was ever fought. The yielding of self, surrendering all to the will of God, requires a struggle; but the soul must submit to God before it can be renewed in holiness.” SC 43.3

Those who are trying to live a perfect life, have not yet submitted to God, because

Righteousness is a gift “Imputed” and “Imparted” to humanity.

“What you need to understand is the true force of the will… Everything depends on the right action of the will… Through the right exercise of the will, an entire change may be made in your life. (So what is the right action of the will? Is it trying harder to be perfect? Is it working harder to keep the Law?) By yielding up your will to Christ, (The right action, the right exercise of your will, is to what? Yield it to Christ — Give it to Christ — Place your will in His hands — Put it on His side… Lord here is my heart, my will, my life, take it, purify it, keep it by your power… when we do this she says) you ally yourself with the power that is above all principalities and powers. You will have strength from above to hold you steadfast, and thus through constant surrender to God you will be enabled to live the new life, even the life of faith.” SC 47-48.

Do we then make void the law through faith? Shall we sin that grace may abound? Absolutely NOT! Not, When Christ has given ALL that you may have victory. Grace is not a license for sin, but a key to transformation and eternal life. You were saved that you may be reconciled back to a holy God to live the life God destined us to live in Adam before the fall. Eden restored is God’s goal for your life, which includes a new nature — Remember before the fall Adam had the nature of God, after the fall he took on the nature of Satan and passed this fallen nature to all his sons and daughters. Christ took upon Himself our fallen nature, and triumphed over it in victory that He might restore unto us the Divine nature lost by the first Adam. We will never experience this nature while we are alive and in control, It is only when the life is submitted to Christ in all points that we die, and Jesus Christ now lives His life in us and through us.

Romans 1-6: Can be summed up that apart from Christ we are destitute and lost regardless of

Jew, or Gentile, or Adventist — race, ethnicity, religion makes no difference. all are equally lost. But if ABIDE in Christ, if our LIFE is hid in HIM, if our WILL is centered on Him — The promise of a divine life imparted to us, and imputed to us by Faith is available to ALL. IF Christ is living in you, You will see His Life THROUGH you!

If you do not see the life of Christ in you, it is because YOU are still alive — You are not in

Christ!

Appeal: Today, Jesus invites us to come to Him… Will you choose to die, that you might be alive in Him?