Open your Bibles now to the book of Romans. Come to the majestic mountain peak of Romans. And we're going to try to handle the whole thing today. So 16 chapters of Romans. If you're using Pew Bible, it's on page 1196 or something. Maybe it's close to that. Chapter 1, we're going to read verses 15 to 17. Verses 15 to 17. I'll read that in a minute. The first five books of the New Testament are history books, much like in the Old Testament, you have history books. In the New Testament, we also have history books. The four Gospels tell the story about Jesus, his life, death, and resurrection. And then in Acts, it tells about how the church, which now serves the risen and enthroned king, which is now also filled with the Holy Spirit, how this church now grows like crazy and advances against the darkness. And what we see here is that finally the dysfunctional church of the Old Testament, which is never really able to get off the ground, is now all of a sudden spreading all around the world. It's a church filled with life and zeal and power. And the kingdom is finally advancing. Now, those are the only history books. Those first five books, the rest of the letters, the rest of the New Testament are letters written to the church. And they're taking the reality of the cross and resurrection and the reality of Pentecost, the outpouring of the spirit, and fleshing out what that means for us as Christians, what that means for us right here and now. Almost all the letters of the New Testament were written during the period of time that was covered in the book of Acts. or shortly thereafter. And the only exceptions are the books of John. So John wrote a gospel and three letters, and then the book of Revelation. And he wrote those a few decades after the last chapter of Acts. So the Apostle Paul wrote 13 of these New Testament letters. Romans, by word count, is the longest of his letters. But it's not his first letter. By the time he wrote Romans, he had already written Galatians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Corinthians. So he'd already written five books, but he wrote the book of Romans toward the end of his third missionary journey while he was in the city of Corinth there in Greece. And as he was there in Corinth, he was dreaming of what his next trip would bring. He was dreaming of going farther west But he knew that he had to return to Jerusalem first. So he was gonna head back to Jerusalem and then go on another missionary journey, that was his plan. And he says in Romans 15 that he had hoped to pass through Rome and visit the church there on his way to Spain. So he's planning his fourth missionary journey, which actually never takes, or maybe it takes a different form, because he never travels freely there, he's later arrested. So when he goes back to Jerusalem to deliver the gift, he's arrested there, and then he's taken to Rome for trial. And so he does make it to Rome. But when Paul wrote this book, he had not yet been to Rome, at least hadn't been to Rome when he was a Christian. And so that means that he didn't actually plant the church there. Someone else did. And actually in Acts chapter 2, remember the day of Pentecost, it says that there were Jewish visitors there in Jerusalem from all around the world, and it specifically says that among these visitors were those from the city of Rome. And they heard the gospel, and apparently they took that gospel back to the city of Rome, and for about 20 years that church grew. And so without Paul, the church has been growing and maturing there. When Paul was on his second missionary journey, before he'd written this book, of course, we're told in Acts 18 that he met a Jewish man named Aquila and his wife Priscilla, who were members of the church in Rome. But it says that they left Rome because all the Jews had been expelled from Rome. They were expelled by the emperor, commanded to leave, because apparently as the gospel grew there in Rome, the Jews who opposed Jesus, their opposition became so violent and so zealous that it caused such turmoil in that city that the emperor simply expelled all the Jews, no matter what they thought about Jesus. So what that means is that all of a sudden, what you're left with there in Rome are a few Gentile Christians. And so here's a young church. A lot of their church leaders, perhaps, have been forced to leave. And these Gentile believers are forced to stand on their own. So it's during the third missionary journey. So he met Aquila and Priscilla on his second missionary journey. It's on the third missionary journey that he actually wrote this letter. And he was writing in part because he heard some challenges that they had faced. But the primary reason for this book was to ground this young Gentile church in the gospel. The Book of Romans is the most thorough explanation of the gospel in the Bible. If you want to understand the gospel, read the Book of Romans. He's building a gospel foundation, which is why it's so fitting that it's the first of the New Testament letters. because we need a good foundation to start from. So with that, let's listen to God's word and be grounded in the gospel. Listen as I read. Romans 1, verse 15. So 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. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. And that's where I'll end the reading of God's word. May God grant us the ears to hear, the minds to understand, and the hearts to believe. When you are looking to buy a new house, You find the house that you like, and it's good to get that house inspected. And you hire someone to come, an inspector to come. He'll go through the house with hopefully a fine-tooth comb and take note of all the problems with the house. And of course, he will find problems. But all those problems fall on a spectrum. On one hand, you have the cosmetic problems that are much easier to resolve, like a broken doorknob. Not hard to fix. On the other end of the spectrum, you have major problems that can make the house unbuyable or even unlivable. One of those uninhabitable problems can be a bad foundation. When you have a failing foundation, the whole house reveals evidence of it. It has cracks in the walls, sticking doors, sagging floors, to name a few things. And these problems are not so easily fixed. You may try to fix the cracks in the walls, but they'll just continue to grow and the floors will continue to sag until you fix the foundation. Every house needs a firm foundation. Well, that's true when it comes to our lives as well. Every person needs a firm foundation on which to build their lives. And when you have a bad foundation, it's going to reveal itself in all kinds of places, unhealthy relationships, a quick temper, mixed up priorities, bad habits, jealousy, self-hatred, self-righteousness, and on and on and on. And what we do so oftentimes in the Christian life is that we, or in life in general, is we try to fix these symptoms without really addressing the root of the problem. We try to fix the walls without looking at the foundation. Your life has to be built on a solid foundation, the kind of foundation that's not going to crack and crumble under life's pressures. Well, that foundation is found in the book of Romans, and it's the gospel of Jesus Christ. through this book go step by step, slow and steady, through the gospel to clearly explain who we are and what God has done for us through Jesus Christ and how that changes everything. The cracks in our lives, the cracks in our society, the cracks in our world are not just cosmetic problems. They're foundational. The problems that you're struggling with, the sins that you're getting tripped up by, the relationships that are unhealthy, the feelings of self-hatred or self-righteousness, most of the time they're merely symptoms of a bad foundation. And we can't just try to fix the, we can't try to just fix the symptom, but rather we have to address the gospel. We have to believe, we have to address the foundation, we have to believe the gospel in all its facets. And when we fix the foundation, it squares up every other part of our lives. Build your life on the solid rock of the foundation of the gospel. That's the message of the Book of Romans. So let's take a look at this book. After Paul makes his introductory comments, introducing himself, expressing love for the saints there in Rome, even though he's never met them, he introduces us then to the purpose of his book in the verses we just read. He says, I am eager to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome. It is the gospel that's the power of God to save. And this gospel comes to us by faith. This gospel is received by faith. This gospel is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes. That's the summary. That's his thesis statement. And with that introduction, he begins. I'm going to try to outline this book with 10 statements about the gospel, 10 statements that Paul makes about the gospel. And he begins first with the need for the gospel. We need the gospel. There are lots of people who know about God, who've heard the story about Jesus and the cross and the resurrection, but they don't realize how badly they need it. And in verse 18, Paul talks about the descent of mankind into sin. He says that the wrath of God is coming upon us because of our sin, and it all begins with our refusal to honor God as God, verse 21. And when we refuse to honor God as God, we descend into this dark abyss of sin and wickedness and perversion, and we become fools, destroying our own lives. We become filled with all sorts of things that he names, sexual immorality, envy, bitterness, violence, gossip, arrogance. And he says we're so good at sinning that we invent new ways to do it. Truth is, in this world, there are lots of people who think that they're not that bad. They think that might describe some people, that doesn't describe me. But in chapter two, Paul speaks even to the best people, people who have the appearance of godliness. He's speaking to the self-righteous. And he shows without exception that they stand condemned before a holy God. So it's not just the blatant sinner, but it's the self-righteous. the stands condemned, and Paul summarizes the first section here in chapter three, verse eight, for all, both Jews and Greeks, meaning every ethnicity, no matter who you are, we are all under sin and will be crushed by the wrath of God. He's saying you need the gospel because you're a sinner, just like the rest of us. You may live under the illusion that you aren't really that bad of a person, and the reason why you can believe that is because you're comparing yourself to the worst kind of people, to really bad people. We like to compare ourselves to Hitler and Stalin and Mao and think, well, I haven't done that, so I must be a good person. The problem is, though, that we're comparing ourselves with the wrong person. Paul here compares himself or compares us to the righteousness of God. And when you do that, all your so-called righteous acts are like filthy rags, as he says in Isaiah. You might look pretty good compared to Hitler, but compared to God, even your little sins are highlighted as an act of high treason against the Most High. And even our little sins deserve the wrath of God. We are doomed by our own sin, and that's why we need the gospel. So that's the need for the gospel, number one. Number two, the provision of the gospel. The provision of the gospel, that's righteousness. After Paul makes it clear that we're all sinners under God's wrath, he announces the good news. He says in chapter three, verses 21 and 22, but now the righteousness of God has been revealed, a righteousness that he gives to all who have faith in Jesus. We are sinners, but God gives the gift of righteousness, and that is the good news. God is a just God, and because he is just, our sins require punishment. His wrath has to be poured out. He can't simply overlook sin, but it has to be dealt with. And the way he deals with it is by sending Jesus And Jesus came, he took our sins upon him. It's like God took the file, the big, fat, heavy file that contained every detailed record of all of our sins, and he placed that file into Jesus' hands as if they were his, and God pronounced judgment on his own son, condemning him as the greatest of sinners, sentencing him to the cross where he absorbed the full weight of God's wrath. So that in the death of Jesus, justice for our sins was satisfied. And then on the other hand, God took the file that contained, the big, fat, heavy file that contained all the righteous things that Jesus did, and he placed that in our hands, as if we lived the perfect life. And he gave us credit for all these acts of righteousness, and he justified us. He didn't just declare us not guilty, but he declares us as righteous. And in this way, and only in this way, could God be both just, as well as the one who justifies sinners. This is what we call the great exchange. The moment you believe God takes the record of your sin, that would condemn you to hell, and he gives it to Jesus, and he dies, and then he takes Jesus' righteousness, and he gives it to you and you live. The provision of the gospel is that God has given you, he's provided a righteousness for you. And that's the good news. You are declared righteous. Third, the history of the gospel. It's always worked this way, by the way, he says. In chapter 4, Paul points out that this was the way it's always worked. This is not a new gospel. It's not a new way of salvation. It's a very old gospel. And it was the way that God saved Abraham and David, two of the greatest patriarchs in the Old Testament. He first quotes from Genesis 15.6, which says, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. which Paul indicates here is the same righteousness that he's talking about that comes through Jesus. Through faith, Abraham received the righteousness of God, which is actually the righteousness of Jesus. And then he quotes the words of David from Psalm 32, blessed are those whose sins are forgiven. What he's indicating here, making clear, is that Abraham and David and all who believed in the Old Testament were saved the exact same way we are saved, by receiving the righteousness of Jesus through faith. It's always been this way. This is not a new thing. I remember a story that Dr. Spear told us in class. He's one of my seminary professors now, many years ago. He said that when he'd go to the barber, the barber knew that he was a professor of theology and he would sit down in the barber chair and the barber would ask him, so Wayne, what is new and good in the field of theology? And Dr. Spear would respond, he said, well, when it comes to theology, what is new is not good, and what is good is not new. And that's precisely the point that Paul's making here. He's showing it's always worked this way. This is nothing new. Abraham and David were men of faith who received the righteousness of Jesus. What that means is that the Christian religion didn't start 2,000 years ago when Jesus came. And if it did, it's a big scam. but rather the gospel was first preached to Adam and Eve in the garden, it was confirmed to Moses, promised to Abraham, guaranteed to David. We are sinners and we're saved only by the gift of righteousness that's given to us through Jesus Christ. It's the only way it'll work. What is good is not new and what is new is not good. The gospel is verified in history. Number four, the analogy of the gospel, the analogy of the gospel. In chapter five, Paul points out our relationship with two very important figures, two men. And our destiny depends on our connection with one of these two men. So first man is Adam. He says in chapter five, verse 12, sin came into the world through one man and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all sinned. What he means there is that when Adam sinned, we all sinned with him. And therefore, we are born in sin and are spiritually dead and condemned. We were all condemned even before we were born. But then comes Jesus, who is a figure just like Adam, And just as Adam's sin condemns us, so also in the same way, Jesus's righteousness saves us. And the question that remains here is, which man are you connected to? Are you dead in Adam or are you alive in Jesus? Paul really presents Jesus and Adam as two giants. the only two giants in human history. And these two giants are wearing clothes that are covered with billions of pockets, little pockets all over them. And we are born, every one of us, into Adam's pockets, one of Adam's pockets. And when Adam fell, we fell with him. When he sinned, we sinned with him. And death came to everyone because all of humanity was born into Adam. But when you believe in Jesus, it's as if God reaches into Adam's pocket where you were dead and he pulled you out and he placed you safely in one of the billions of pockets that are on Jesus' clothes. And because Jesus was righteous, that means that you are now righteous. You were dead, connected to Adam, but now you live by faith because you're united to Jesus. Every single one of us here, we are pocket dwellers. Either you live in Adam's pocket, and you're dead, and under the judgment of God, or by faith, you live in one of Jesus's pockets, and you live because of his righteousness. The question is, whose pocket are you in? Number five, the power of the gospel. In chapter 6, Paul points out the transforming power of the gospel. Which means that when you're connected to Jesus, you don't just have the privilege of going to heaven, but your life is changed right here and now. You are changed from a slave to sin to a slave of righteousness in order to serve God right now. When you believe in Jesus, Paul says you are baptized into his death, verse four there of chapter six. You died with Jesus, verse eight of chapter six. And that means that the person you used to be, who was enslaved in sin, addicted to perversion, condemned to death without hope, that person died with Jesus on the cross. And then when Jesus rose from the dead, you, the person you are today, that person rose from the dead with him You were born again and you started a new life. So now Paul says that you are now dead to sin, in verse 13, and you are alive to God as instruments of righteousness. He's saying that the gospel actually changes you. You're not a slave to sin anymore. You're a servant of God and a slave of righteousness. In history class, we learn about all kinds of things in history. We learn about the Revolutionary War. It was a war fought for the independence of our country. And we learned about it. We learned about the Redcoats and the Minutemen and Paul Revere and George Washington. We learned about those things, but we weren't there to actually participate. We didn't experience what that was like, but yet we still enjoy the benefits of the independence that was gained through that war. We weren't there, but we benefited from it. Well, oftentimes we look at the work of Jesus the same way we view the Revolutionary War. The work of Jesus is historical, like the Revolutionary War. And he did the hard work of saving us, and now 2,000 years later, after that event, we simply receive the benefits of that forgiveness, and we have that righteousness and the gift of eternal life. But Paul here is pointing out one major difference between the work of Jesus and the Revolutionary War. And the difference is this. When Jesus died, you died with him. And if you believe in Jesus, then you hung on that cross with him. And the old person you used to be, that slave to sin, he died. And when Jesus rose from the dead, you rose with him to a new life. You can imagine if we had footage of the Revolutionary War. Of course, we don't have any footage, but imagine we had footage of the Revolutionary War, and you get to watch this documentary for school or whatever, and you watch this footage of a bunch of foot soldiers fighting Minutemen who are fighting the Redcoats, and all of a sudden, to your shock, you recognize that one of these foot soldiers is you. And you're like, what? How could that be? How could you be on that video 250 years earlier? Somehow you were there. Well, this is sort of like what it's, this is what it's meant to be like when you read about the crucifixion and the resurrection. As those who follow Christ, we are not mere outside observers. But Paul says you were there because you were united to Jesus in a very real and spiritual way. You hung with him on that cross and you died. And then when he rose from the dead, you were raised to a new life. now dead to sin and alive to God, dead to sin and now a slave of righteousness. The gospel changes your life because you were there. You died as a slave to sin and you rose as a slave to righteousness. That's the transforming power of the gospel. Number six, the struggle of the gospel. The struggle of the gospel. It's not perfection. Although in Christ you become a slave to righteousness, which he just laid out there in chapter six, we still struggle with sin here in chapter seven. And Paul reflects on this inner struggle as a believer. He knows what is right, but yet so often he does what is wrong. He says in verse 19, for I do not do what I want, but the evil I do not want, that's what I keep on doing. He's like, ah, like he puts into words this struggle that we feel every day. He's saying that although the power of sin is broken, chapter six, the struggle of sin is not over. Chapter seven. Although we aren't slaves to sin anymore, chapter six, it remains a real temptation, chapter seven. And you can feel the frustration of Paul's words. I hate this struggle, but it's real. What he's getting at here is that What he said in chapter six about being a slave of righteousness doesn't mean that it's a life of perfection but rather it's a life of repentance. It's this ongoing process of hating our sins and putting them to death with the yearning for one day to finally be set free from the struggle when Jesus returns. The gospel life is not a perfect life. It's a repentant life, and that's the struggle of the gospel. Number seven, the promises of the gospel. The promises of the gospel. Although we struggle with sin in this life, we can still have confidence in God's promises. Romans 8 is one of the most glorious chapters in all the Bible because of the incredible promises that are laid out for us there. There are many times when we struggle with sin and we despair. Well, maybe God didn't really forgive me. Maybe I didn't really believe. Maybe I didn't repent right or adequately. Maybe I'm not really a Christian. When we struggle with sin, these doubts creep into our minds. Romans 7 is followed by Romans 8. The struggle with sin is followed by the assurance of God's promises. That even though we struggle with sin in chapter 7, we still have the assurance of God's incredible promises, chapter 8. And so he says, verse 1, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You've been adopted as children of God, verse 15. You are heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ, verse 17. You have a future glory that awaits you that far outweighs any struggle that you face in this present life, verse 18. God orchestrates everything so it works together for your good and his glory, verse 28. The God who first called you will carry you to glory, verse 30. And if he gave you Jesus, his own son, how will he not also give you everything you need, verse 32? Nothing in this world can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, verse 39. What he's getting at here is that through faith in Jesus, we have every spiritual blessing. And here in chapter eight, he just names a few. Through Jesus, God is with you, always to bless you with all his promises. Through the gospel, you have all the promises of God. That's number seven. Number eight, the sovereign God behind the gospel. The sovereign God behind the gospel. I find it so interesting that in this foundational explanation of the gospel, Paul is compelled to point out that God is sovereign in this whole thing. And he's the one who ultimately chooses those whom he will save. There's this grave misperception by many in the church that God is presented as this sort of helpless onlooker on the events of this world, and he wishes for people to believe, but they must do it all on their own. Apart from him, he can't intervene and help at all. But Paul makes it clear that for anyone to be saved, God must first act, and he must choose them. And Paul points out that this is how God has worked all throughout history. He chose Isaac, not Ishmael. He chose Jacob, not Esau. Not because either of them were inherently better, but to simply show that God is the one who saves. To make that abundantly clear. He points out God hardening Pharaoh's heart in order to create the opportunity for God to display his destructive power, his saving power for his people. And Paul says it then so clearly in verse 18 of chapter nine, God has mercy on whomever he wants to and he hardens whomever he wants to. And Paul says that's God's prerogative. And we can't accuse God of injustice, we can't blame God for the outcome. Paul says because he is the creator, he has the right to do whatever he wants with us. And so he displays the glory of his power through the destruction of wickedness. and He displays the glory of His grace through the salvation of His people. And so it doesn't depend on how spiritual you are or how smart you are. It depends completely on God loving you first. And the question is, why is Paul so compelled to point this out? This seems like a deep, doctrine of theology, but this is just like, we're getting at the foundation of the gospel. Why are we going into this? Well, he says, because it removes all reason for us to boast. If God didn't do the work, then the result, the conclusion would be that I was smart enough, I was spiritual enough, I was better than those people who have rejected it because I made the decision to believe. And it gives room for boasting. But if God chose you, and by his grace, caused you to be born again, and gave you the gift of faith, that means you have no room to boast. Because you are no better than the person next to you. You didn't deserve it one bit, but God saved you. And he gets all the glory. This sovereign God, who gives us the gospel, gets all the glory for our salvation. Number nine, the urgency of the gospel. We have to go. After reflecting on this sovereign choice of God, which many people say is the great unmotivator for evangelism, Paul sees it the opposite. He says, God is sovereign in salvation, so let's go. He expresses the urgency of the gospel message. In verse 10, Paul says his desire is for all people to be saved, and we have to go to all the corners of the earth to share this gospel, because God is going to save the world. I watched a little video made by Global Frontier Missions. It's a mission organization that is focused on reaching the unreached. And they have this short YouTube video, you can find it online, it talks about how much more we have to go, how much farther we have to go to reach the whole world. And he said that about 29% of the world's population, which is about two and a half billion people, have still never heard of Jesus. They don't know the gospel, they don't have Bibles in their languages, they don't have churches, they don't have fellow believers. That's more than one out of every four people in the world still fit into this category. And it must be our heart's desire for them to be saved. It's urgent that we bring them the gospel. And in verse 14, Paul says, well, how are they gonna call on him whom they've not believed? And how are they gonna believe on him whom they've never heard? And how are they gonna hear without someone preaching? And how is someone gonna go preach unless they are sent? He's saying we have to go. Every day, 50,000 people at least die without ever hearing the gospel, 50,000 a day. At least 22 million people every year die without hearing about Jesus. Lift up your eyes. If the gospel is our foundation, If it is our only hope in this world, consider the urgent need around the world and go wherever the Lord calls you, for we are his instruments of righteousness, instruments of the gospel. We have to have the urgency to go. And now the last one, number 10, the fruit of the gospel, the fruit of the gospel. because of this good news. Now live your life as a sacrifice to God, Romans 12 one. A living sacrifice. This means let everything you do be in service to God. And then he talks about being humble, verse three, serving willingly, verse six, loving genuinely, verse nine of chapter 12. Submit to the authorities that God's placed over you, chapter 13. Deal graciously with one another, chapter 14. You now have this privilege of living your life showing that the gospel is real so that everyone can see that it's real. You're evidence that the gospel is real. If you get the gospel right, if it's your foundation, then it's going to bear fruit all throughout the rest of your life. There's not one part of your life that's going to be unchanged. That's the fruit of the gospel. And then with some concluding remarks and greetings, that's how Paul ends his letter. So there you have it, the most thorough explanation of the gospel found in all the Bible. It's the power of God. to save everyone who believes. And step by step, he walks us through this best news the world could ever hear. He shows the need for the gospel. We're all sinners. The provision of the gospel, his righteousness, the history of the gospel. It's always worked this way. The analogy of the gospel. You got Adam and Jesus. Whose pocket are you in? You got the power of the gospel. We're changed from slaves to sin, to slaves of righteousness. You got the struggle of the gospel. It isn't a life of perfection in this life. You got the promises of the gospel, so that even in our imperfections, we have all God's promises. Number eight, you have the God behind the gospel. He's the one who chooses, and he will save all for his glory. You have the urgency of the gospel. We need to go and take this message everywhere. And then last, we have the fruit of the gospel. Because of God's mercy, offer yourself to him as a living sacrifice. This is the foundation upon which we build every part of our existence. Every other foundation will crumble under the pressures of the world. But if you sure up the foundation of the gospel in your life, it's going to square up the rest of it. When you read of great men and women of the faith who have gone before us, Many times, many times their testimony has some connection to the Book of Romans. And I'll mention just two giants of the faith. When Augustine, the great leader of the church in the fourth century, he became a great church leader, he read the Book of Romans for the first time and he wrote this, a light flooded my heart and all the darkness of doubt vanished away. About 1,000 years later, Martin Luther was tormented in his soul over the sins that he'd committed, over his guilt, and he went to the Catholic Church for answers, and he saw that there was no sound foundation there. And it only increased his torment, because he could never get rid of his guilt. But one night after pouring over the Book of Romans, and particularly there, verse 17 of chapter one, which says, the righteousness of God comes by faith. He said that one verse changed everything. He said that place in Paul was truly the gateway to paradise for me. When the foundation of your life begins to shift and crack, when you see cracks all throughout your lives, let Romans be the cure. Believe the gospel and it will square up the rest of your life. Amen. Let's pray. Oh God, we thank you for this gospel, this good news. Let it truly be the foundation upon which we build every part of our lives. And let it bear fruit in our lives all for your glory. Let us be a demonstration that the gospel is real, and that the world turn to you. It's in Jesus that we pray, and together we say, amen.