Romans chapter number one, the title under the book of Romans here in our notes says, The Great Doctrinal Platform. And of course, you know, those of you that have been here on Sunday nights for quite a while now, several months, a number of months, we've been going through the book of Romans verse by verse. We're nearing the end of that now. We'll be finishing up Romans 15 this evening, Lord willing. a great book that we can learn so much from. It's not by accident, I mentioned this when we were going through the book of John, it's not by accident that one of the most largely produced portions of scripture that is distributed is John and Romans. We give people, we print the book of John and the book of Romans. The book of John tells them about Jesus and who He is, and we've been studying that on Sunday mornings. And then the book of Romans tells them about who we are supposed to be and how God desires to work in and through us and about sanctification and different things like that in the book of Romans. And it's just full of truth for a Christian. And a great, great study and important book for us to read and to be familiar with. Of course, you have the Romans Road and other things in the Book of Romans that are just so beneficial to Christians today. As a New Testament Christian in the world that we live in, it is essential that you be familiar with the Book of Romans. The key verses for our study this morning is Romans chapter 1 verses 16 and 17. Romans 1, 16 and 17 says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. Obviously, some very, very important and pivotal verses for the Book of Romans. Even if you just look at, break down those couple of verses, you look at the very beginning of verse number 16, Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. The good news of Jesus Christ, unfortunately, in the world that we live in today, far too many Christian people are ashamed of the gospel of Christ. They're afraid to share it with people. They're ashamed to tell people what Jesus has done for them. Paul says, I'll be the first to tell you, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. And I'm not ashamed of it, not because of me, but because of what he says next in that verse. He says, for it is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel of Christ the good news of Jesus Christ what Jesus Christ has done is the thing that saves souls That it's only through the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ that people can come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ Paul says I am NOT ashamed of it because it is it the good news of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation to Everyone that believe it to the Jew first. Bible says Jesus came to the Jews first and also to the Greek, to everyone, to everyone. Paul said, there's nothing for us to be ashamed of. It's not about me, it's about the Lord Jesus Christ and what He's done for other people. He says, I'm not ashamed of that. The power of God unto salvation, everyone that believed to the Jew first and also to the Greek. But then verse 17 says this, for therein, that being in the gospel of Jesus Christ, is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. Without faith, what? It is impossible to please Him. It takes faith to accept what Jesus Christ has done, but then it takes faith to live in that. It takes faith to continually, on a daily basis, on a minute-by-minute basis, to live in that. then and only then in living in and through that can we live and experience the righteousness of God. His righteousness has been imputed unto us at salvation, but to really live in that and to rejoice in that, we have to live by faith. The key words for the verse, or for the book rather, the word law is used 78 times. the law. Part of the reason, those of you that have been here on Sunday nights and those that probably have known this before as well, you see in the book of Romans, Paul dealing with a situation where the Jewish Christians that had grown up in the Old Testament Jewish religion were still in a lot of ways living by the law and trying to bring the Gentiles into that and expected the Gentiles to live according to the law, whether it be circumcision or different feasts and things that they kept and traditions of their church. And so Paul addresses that throughout the entire book of Romans, talking about the law. The first use is in chapter 3, verse 28. The most significant use would also be that same one. Let's look at that for just a moment. Romans 3, verse 28 says this, Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. That's a great summary of the book of Romans, really. Therefore he gave he lays the groundwork for all of it and then he comes to that verse there in 28 and he says therefore in light of all these things in light of what Jesus has done in light of what he said in light of what the Word of God says Because of all of that We conclude the logical conclusion is that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. It's not the law that makes us justified. And that's how he addresses the law. The book of Romans, you say it's used 78 times, the word law. That's not because the book of Romans is all about the law and legalism and all that. It's because Paul is addressing law and grace and how they go together. Then you see faith. The word faith is used 39 times. First used in chapter 1 verse 5 most significant use that we read earlier is chapter 1 verse 17 Where it says there in his righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written. The just shall live by faith Not by the law. Does that mean that we don't keep the law? We don't keep some of the Old Testament traditions, but we need to follow You know, we're still to keep the Ten Commandments and the law that God lays out for us to keep in his word. I But the difference is we do it by faith and out of a heart of love, not out of a heart of obligation and fear. There's a huge difference in that, the importance of faith. Obviously, Paul stresses it over and over and over again throughout the book of Romans. The theme for the book, number one, righteousness of God through Jesus Christ. Number two, justification by faith. And number three, the gospel or good news of Christ, the power of God to believers. Where do we get our power? Why don't we have to fear the devil? Why don't we have to fear the world? Why do we not have to fear what man can do unto me? Because of the power of God, which we received through salvation and continue in through a life of faith. Written in AD 58, written by the Apostle Paul, to a small group of Jewish believers in Rome, possibly saved at Pentecost." Now, there was some, also it was written, to the church at Rome, and there was some Gentile believers there, which is why you have that written, but there had been, you know, it's kind of like if you picture, just say it, Zion Hill Baptist Church. Zion Hill Baptist Church and the people of Zion Hill Baptist Church had this this Idea of we for no more shut the door if you're not exactly like us. You're not welcome. You're not invited here We don't want any part of that if you walk through the doors You better talk right walk right act right look right know everything if you're not that way then forget it How much do you think that this church would grow? It wouldn't and there are churches like that that that don't experience growth. I So you've got a small group here at Rome and you see because of the spirit that they had that Paul Addresses in this book a good reason for why it was a fairly small group Because Rome is a Gentile City. Yes, there's Jews there, but it's a Gentile City and For the Jewish believers to be saying hey Unless you're exactly like us you're not welcome or you can come in but you have to take you have to accept all of our traditions and laws and rules and all those things and Paul addresses that through the whole book. And so at the time, not a large church, but God used this, I believe, in the church at Rome to see and experience growth. He taught them grace. It was written to a small group of Jewish believers in Rome, possibly saved at Pentecost, as I said, from Corinth on Paul's third missionary journey. This is the 45th book of the Bible, 6th book of the New Testament, 16 chapters, 433 verses. The purpose for the book was to set forth the cardinal doctrines of Christianity. He's training them in what it actually means to be a New Testament Christian, which is all the more reason for us to study it and then to teach others that are newly saved to tell them, hey, you need to read and study the book of Romans and to help them through it. I've got down in my office a couple of different lesson series that are discipleship materials walking a new Christian through the book of Romans for this very purpose. of, hey, it sets forth kind of the cardinal doctrines of our church or of Christianity. Number two, to tell of Paul's coming visit to Rome. And we've discussed that in the last chapter here, 15, that we've been going over now in the last couple of weeks in Romans there. Paul tells them of his plan. Remember he said, I'm going to be going to Spain, but first I've got to go to Jerusalem and deliver this offering from the people here, but then I plan to go to Spain. When I go to Spain, I'm going to stop by and I'm going to visit you and be encouraged by you. And that was his plan when you get to the end of the book there. The divisions of the book, four of them here. How, number one, how the gospel relates to sinners in chapter one through three. How does the gospel, how does it affect, what effect does the gospel of Jesus Christ have on a lost person? How does it change things? It changes everything. It changes everything. And then number two, how the gospel relates to saints in chapters four through eight. Then chapters 9 through 11, Paul talks about how the gospel relates to the select, that being the Jews. He says, now, remember, that's where, what advantage then, half the Jew? What advantage is it to be an Israelite? Paul spends the preceding chapters saying, hey, the gospel of Christ is for everybody and there's nothing special. You're not any more saved as a Jew than a Gentile is. And he addresses all some of these different specifics about that. And then he comes into this portion and he says, then what's the advantage of being a Jew? He says, much in every way. And He addresses, then, in those chapters, 9-11, kind of, these are the advantages of being a Jew. Then, you get down to chapters 12-16, how the Gospel relates to the servant. How the Gospel relates to the servant. You and I as an individual, servant of Jesus Christ. What does it mean for me today? An outline of the book we see here. Roman numeral one Well, you have the introduction is chapter 1 verses 1 through 17 and then Roman numeral 1 all men are under condemnation that's 118 through 320 he says all men are under condemnation everybody doesn't matter Jew Gentile none of those things God doesn't pick anybody and say, you know, it's a great passage really to address Calvinism and some of these other things. God selected certain people and all these other, you know, predestination and all that. Everybody is under condemnation, but also God so loved the world. And that's what you see kind of brought together in those first few chapters. First of all, the shunned the law of nature. I'm sorry, Roman numeral A, the Gentiles were guilty. They were guilty because they had shunned the law of nature and two, because they had shunned the law of conscience. The law of nature and the law of conscience. They had turned their back on those and because of that, They were guilty but letter B the Jews were guilty So first he addresses the Gentile then he does go to the Jews. They had a greater privilege than the Gentiles and They had the oracles of God. Hey, don't mistake the fact that they had the Old Testament scriptures It had been given to them God spoke specifically to their prophets. I they had been given every advantage, every opportunity to be successful in spiritual things, more than anybody else, more than any other nation, more than any other people. The Jews had been given those opportunities. Yes, they were the select, but it's kind of like if you have You have one child that grows up in a family that is, you know, servants of the Lord, godly people. The Lord has blessed them financially. They live in a nice home, have everything they could want, go to the best schools. They have all the education that they could want. They have all of the advantages. And then you take a whole other group of young people that grow up broken homes, and mom and dad in prison, and drugs dealt out of their home, and all these other things, and say, God died for both of those groups of people, understand that. Everybody has to come to Christ the same way. But also understand, for that child that grew up, and when I say that, I grew up that way. I grew up in a Christian home, a godly home, in a nice place to live and went to a good school and got all of those advantages. But the Bible says, to whom much is given, much will be required. Much will be required. And you say, is there extra pressure then on those kids that grew up in church? There's extra responsibility. Absolutely, you better believe it. It's a biblical principle. And Paul in this book lays that at the feet of the Jews and says, look, you've had the oracles of God. You've had these things and what you've done is basically picked and chosen the things that you like and applied them to your life. You see it in religion all over the place today. Cherry-picking if you will out of the Bible and saying I like this, but I don't like that and I like this But God hasn't convicted me about that or God. Hey it the Bible doesn't work that way Paul basically lays it out for the Jews and says you need to know the whole book Not just the word not just the verses or the passages that you like But there's a lot more to it than that They had the oracles of God. They had greater privilege than the Gentiles and Roman numeral 2 you see salvation came through faith in Christ chapter 3 verse 21 through chapter 8 39 it included Justification aren't you glad that salvation includes justification? What a blessing that can you imagine? If the Lord said I'm gonna save you, but I'm not gonna justify you Think about that for a minute We are justified. Our salvation, it was a package deal. When you got saved, you were justified. I could spend some time on that. We won't this morning. Number one, God declaring men righteous. Hey, if we can declare ourselves righteous until we're blue in the face, but until the moment that God declares us righteous, it is to no avail. but for God to declare men to be righteous because of Jesus Christ. What a blessing that is. And then number two, it came through Christ. God declared men righteous through Jesus Christ. Letter B, it included sanctification. It included justification, it included sanctification. God making men righteous And it came through obedience to Christ. Now understand, sanctification is something that is up to us as far as what we do and if we're, as it says in that second number two there, being obedient to Christ. If we're obedient to Christ and obedient to the Word of God, that is how and when sanctification occurs in our lives. And it's something that is a progression throughout our entire lives. It's something that God is working on in and through us as we are obedient to him and his word. Letter C, it included glorification. It made our salvation, made believers heirs with God and provided for the redemption of all nature. Redemption of all nations. I'm not talking about animals being saved there, just to clarify when it says all nature, All mankind, it provided for the redemption of all mankind. Jesus Christ's death on the cross was the price for every soul that ever has lived, ever will live for salvation. The price has been paid for all mankind. There are no more additional sacrifices that need to be made. And we were made, we were glorified, we were made joint heirs with Christ. when we got saved, the moment that you got saved and that I got saved, we became joint heirs with Jesus Christ. We got all of that. Look at those, just those three things. If you think about that, glorification, sanctification, and justification all came through faith in Jesus Christ, but through faith, not the law, through faith. The Roman numeral three, The Jews refused God's righteousness. Not necessarily these Jews that were at this church in Rome, but in general as a nation they had and they still do today refuse God's righteousness. They had great opportunities. You see that in chapter 9, verses 14 and 15. God was working His will in them. You see that in 9, 16. They deliberately rebelled against God. Chapter 10, verse 21. You can look at the Old Testament and see all over the place that they deliberately rebelled against God. The Jewish people as a nation had deliberately rebelled against Him over and over and over again. Can I tell you something? Our nation is doing the same thing. Our nation is doing the exact same thing. That doesn't mean that there's not anybody in the nation that's not, but in general, the majority of our nation is rebelling against God and we're beginning to pay the price for it. They had great opportunities. God was working His will in them. They deliberately rebelled against God. And then letter D, their failure brought in the Gentiles, chapter 11, verse number 11. And then Roman numeral four, Christians were to live righteous lives, chapters 12 through 16. First of all, their bodies were to be dedicated to God. Their body, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, chapter 12, verse one and two, Romans 12, one and two, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies, a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is a good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We talked about that just recently, going through that passage, but he says, look, that is what God expects. Paul says, I beseech you, I'm begging you. Their bodies are to be dedicated, letter B. They were to be righteous to those within. Those within the family of God, those within the church, they were to be righteous to those without. They were to treat them in a godly manner. People that are outside, lost people. Remember, we've talked about recently in our study being about the cross, and then at the end of last year, looking at things and saying, how would Jesus Christ himself deal with this situation? And then you look at some of the situations specifically that he dealt with, and I'm gonna address that a little bit this morning in our main service. You see how he dealt with people, his love for people. that helped Him to speak the truth to them, but also helped Him to love them in spite of themselves, in spite of sometimes even open sin, for Him to say, I love you and I want to help you and I can if you'll let me. So important for us to learn that today. Then letter D, they were to be obedient to civil authorities. They were to be considerate of all. In letter F, they were to shun false teachers. We'll be getting to that shortly here in chapter 16. To be careful of false teachers. Some miscellaneous things about the book. First of all, the house of Romans. Talk about if you look at the whole book as a house. Chapter one, you see the vestibule or the lobby, the entryway, if you will, into the house. Chapter one, verses one through 17. Then you see the room of sin. Chapter one, verse 18 through 331. The room of justification. Chapters four and five. The room of sanctification. Chapters six and seven. The room of glorification. Chapters eight through 11. And the room of service. Chapters 12 through 16 just another just kind of a unique way if you were building a house If you looked at the plans and you said I'm going to build a house All of these things all of those rooms Are present in the house the body of a Christian that's right with God You have the introduction in the beginning to tell you a little bit about it, but then you have the room of sin. Every single one of us is a sinner. We're all sinners, but then you have the room of justification. If you're saved this morning, you've been justified. You have that now as part of your makeup, part of what makes up this house, this temple. Then you have the room of sanctification is something we are to be constantly with the Lord's help working towards Allowing God to do in our lives as we're obedient to him How is the room of sanctification in your life this morning then you have the room of glorification I look forward to that glorification we've already been made joint heirs, but when we actually get to Experience that we get to heaven. I can't wait for that day I'm looking forward to that. But then the room of service. The room of service. A lot of Christians that today may say, hey, I know I'm a sinner. I have the room of sin and I know that I've been justified and I want to be sanctified, Lord willing, and I want to be glorified. I'm looking forward to glorification. But they're not real thrilled about that room of service. Not real excited about that room of service. There's others that have given their whole lives to that service. the book of Romans I Like some of these I like all of them really the book of Romans is the oracles of God the Word of God Not the opinions of men There's a lot of people and you address some of the things in Roman to Romans today in our society That when you look at some of these things, they'll say well, that's just man's opinion. No, it's not. It's the Word of God Holy men, Paul spoke and wrote as he was moved by the Spirit of God. This is for us. It's the meat of the word not the milk of the word. There's some there's some heavier things some more difficult things some doctrinal things It's not just the simple smooth easy always God just loves everybody and God just wants everybody to be happy and God's Name it and claim it all these promises of God. It's more than that. It's this is what God this is how God expects you to live if you want to experience the blessings of God and you can This is what it requires It's the front page, not footnotes. It's not just side notes. This is the meat of, this is the substance of Christianity. It's forethought, not afterthought. It's planning ahead. It's doing some things. It's looking ahead in your Christian life and making plans for the future. It's church truth, not kingdom truth. Message of grace, not a message of law. It's a you say laws mentioned 78 times. Yes it is, but it's about the law and how it relates to grace The lovely saints of Christ not the lost sheep of Israel. This is written to Christians. It's written to Christians And then you see on the last page there the righteousness in Romans the the importance of righteousness in the book of Romans gives us some passages regarding righteousness Can I tell you this morning, God is looking for righteousness in us. People say today, as I said, a lot of these feel-good churches and things like that, oh, God just wants you to be happy. Yes, He does, but if He's going to bless and bring happiness in your life, He's looking for righteousness. He's looking for righteousness. These are some things about righteousness in the book of Romans. First of all, it's required. Righteousness is required in chapters 1 and 2. It is revealed in chapter 3. It is received in chapter 4 and 5. It is rejected in chapters 9 and 10. And then it is reproduced in chapters 12 through 16. You see how our life is in relation to righteousness. And then this note at the end, there are more Old Testament quotations in Romans than in all of the other epistles combined. 70 Old Testament quotes in the book of Romans. We've discussed some of them as we've gone through the verses and looked at the book of Romans just this last week, we did again. But part of the reason for that is because of the dynamic of what Paul was dealing with in this church here. He's dealing with Jewish believers in Rome and the struggles they were having with the Gentiles, and so the best way to do that is to take them to their own book, the Old Testament that they based everything on, and show them how they were wrong out of their book. You know, it's something I don't know. I know some preachers well that have done a lot of studying on other religions and to be able to take a Catholic and show him from a Catholic Bible how he can be saved. or even a Jehovah's Witness. I've been talking to a gentleman that is a Jehovah's Witness, and we have a little bit of back and forth discussion on things occasionally. It doesn't get too heated, but I always, always, always take him back to the Bible, but then occasionally I'll take him to his book that is not the Bible and show him some things in their own writings and just say, This is what it says. One of the things he brought up to me this week, we were discussing, Acts 10, where it talks about that God had selected certain witnesses that would see Jesus ahead of time. God had pre-slabbed, I believe it's Acts 10, 42, 41, 42. And he says, you need to read that and see. And of course, they're Jehovah's Witnesses, and they think that they're the selected witnesses and all these different things. And so I said, yes, I saw that, but did you see the end of verse 36? because at the end of verse 30, of course, they deny that Jesus is God, and at the end of verse 36, it says that very thing, that He is Lord. And the importance of us being familiar with the Scriptures and being able to show people, This is what the Bible says. It's not the opinions of man, it's not just me, it's not just... But I told you about that man, that friend of mine that's a missionary to Russian-speaking Jews in New York City. And again, they don't acknowledge the New Testament, and he's a modern-day missionary, and so he said, I've gotta be able to show them the gospel of Jesus Christ in their Old Testament. But you can do that. Paul does that in the book of Romans. He says, this is what Jesus did. These are the prophecies. These are how they were fulfilled over and over and over and over and over again. And there's plenty of Old Testament passages that can show people Jesus Christ. So important, but a great, great book. I love the book of Romans. It's a blessing to me. It's a challenge to me. I learn new things every time I read it. Every time I read it, I was reading last night, and again this morning, and in just preparing for this evening, and every time I read it, I read thinking, man, I didn't see that before, I didn't think of that, or I see, it's just such a blessing, but we must, we must, we must know the word of God. absolutely essential. Let's pray this morning. Heavenly Father, I thank you for today. Thank you for the book of Romans, Lord. I thank you for Paul and for you using him, him being submitted to you as you used him to pen these words. I know that they were initially written to this group of believers at the Church of Rome, Lord, but so many applications in every single chapter of this book that are relevant for us today. I pray that you would help us to take your word and apply it to our lives that we might be sanctified and vessels that are fit for the Master's use.