Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Romans

Introduction Part 3

I. Why was the letter to the Romans written? (continued from last week)
    A. The Big Picture
         Last week I said that the churches in Rome were made up of both Gentile and Jewish Believers. I said the joining of these two different people groups into one church was problematic. (Eating or not eating food sacrificed to idols, the advantages of being a Jewish rather than a Gentile Christian, Jews and the Law and Gentiles and faith) And on it goes.

         How were these two people very different people of God going to be made one?
                   (John 17:11 "...that they may be one, even as We are one.)

         How was  God going to make them one body in Christ? (Rom. 12: 4-5 'For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.') Remember I said that God was doing a great work and that the churches in Rome were to be the physical representation of what God was  doing on a spiritual plane?   Here is why I believe Paul wrote this Letter.

    B. The New Humanity
         Paul was showing the Roman Believers that thru salvation in Jesus Christ there is now a 'New Humanity', a new people of God, combining first the Jew then the Gentile. God promised that thru Abraham  ALL nations will be blessed. The condition was Israel's faithfulness to God. But Israel failed miserably. And according to God's plan it  had to be Israel who would turn the hearts of the world to God. Well, God's purpose was realized in JC, the perfect Israelite, the perfect prophet, priest and king. Israel's champion.

NOTE: Do you know what a Champion is? Ever watch or read the story of  King Arthur and Camelot? A knight who stands up for the honor of His queen, is considered her champion. If the knight is victorious in battle his queen is  vindicated If he loses in battle, the queen loses her life.

         JC was Israel's champion. He represented Israel and won the victory over Sin and Death, over Satan himself. He did what no other Israelite could do. He was righteous. Paul's letter to the Romans is the story of God's faithfulness to His covenant. His promise to call a people unto Himself. And a great and exciting story it is.

         ONE BODY, ONE PEOPLE OF GOD, the NEW HUMANITY, and the TRUE ISRAEL whose king is God. Amen! Isn't that great?

Trans: How did God work this out?  Well, that is what we will look at next.

II. What is the message of the Letter to the Romans?
    A. The Righteousness of God is Revealed in Jesus Christ.
        1. Righteousness: dikaiosoonay.
            -The character or quality of being right or just before God. Conforming to the entire will of God.
        2. of God: gar teou
            -of or belonging to God. God's Righteousness. It is not man's attempt to be  righteous 'like' God.
        3. Is Revealed: apokaluptetai
           -To uncover that which has been previously hidden    or unknown by experience. Apocalypse: Making known not by
            working thru history,  but by breaking  into history. A direct intervention by God.

Summary: This kind of righteousness, God's righteousness, could never have been found by man. Nor could it ever have been achieved by man, it had to be miraculously revealed and given by God Himself.

        4. In Jesus Christ: The miracle of this revelation was in  Jesus Christ. He is the righteousness of God.

Summary: The idea here is that mankind could never achieve right standing before God by anything they chose to do for God. God, broke into history in the man Jesus, a Jew, a perfect Jew who was the Christ, God's Son.  He lived a totally right life, a life wholly committed to doing God's entire will.

         The message of the Letter to the Romans is that there is hope for us to be MADE right with God thru a love relationship with Jesus Christ His Son. God has been faithful to His promise in providing Jesus Christ. He is the vehicle that by faith has made us right before God. God gave us what we could never attain ourselves... His  own perfect righteousness.

TRANS: Everything we look at along our journey on the Romans Road will be viewed from the perspective of the WHY and HOW. This is the key to understanding the many stops we will take along this road. Well, what will we be doing?  What stops will we take along this journey?  Take out the insert and lets see the major attraction along this road trip thru Romans.

III. The Road Map of the Letter to the Romans.
Use overhead and explain

IV. The Challenge of the Letter to the Romans.
    A. The effect of this letter on early Christian leaders.
         1. Augustine: Augustine, came to conviction of sin and to salvation after reading some verses in  Romans 13.  After he read it he said 'No further would I read' Nor had I any need. He accepted JC as his savior and he became one of the most brilliant theologians of the early church.

         2. Martin Luther: Martin Luther rediscovered the doctrine of Justification by Faith from his studies on Romans 1:17 and went on the start the Protestant Reformation.

         3. John Calvin: John Calvin said 'When anyone gains a knowledge of this epistle, he has an entrance opened to him to all the most hidden treasure of Scripture.

         4. John Wesley: John Wesley went unwillingly to a meeting where someone was reading the intro.  to Luther's commentary on Romans. Wesley, although an Episcopal Priest at the time, wrote this in his journal that night. 'While he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for my salvation; and an assurance was given to me that He had taken my sins away, even mine; and saved me from the law of sin and death.' John Wesley founded Methodism and was a catalyst for  the great 18th century evangelical awakening.

         5. John Bunyon: John Bunyon was so inspired as he studied the Letter to the Romans that in a Bedford jail, he wrote The Pilgrim's Progress.

NOTE: There is no doubt of the power of the Letter to the Romans in the lives of individuals and churches who read and study it.

    B.  Why is the Letter to the Romans relevant today?
         1. Modern society has no idea of who God really is.

         2. Modern man's preoccupation with himself has produced such an incredible self-centeredness that we are called the
             'me first' generation.

         3. Post Modernism, the idea that truth is in the eye of the beholder has attached itself to our society. Whatever is true for
             me IS truth. And we a;; must be tolerant and accepting of how others perceive truth to be for them.

         4. To this world the Letter to the Romans speaks.
             -Man is exposed as the shameful sinner his actions and desires clearly show him to be.
             -God is revealed as just, merciful and gracious.
             -Salvation is revealed as  God's idea, not ours.
             -Human history is the arena where the eternal plan of our sovereign God is moving steadily to it's climatic conclusion.
             -Man, as an individual, naked before his God, guilty and w/o excuse is shown also to be a creature of infinite worth to
              the very same God.
             -The hopeless and helpless are introduced to the     Gospel of Hope and the giver of help.

Conclusion:

 Let me ask  you  something.  How  do you view the Letter to the Romans?

 1. Is it a letter written only to the Believer who lived in Rome at the time of Paul? If that's all it is, quite honestly, you will get
     bored with this study.

 2. Is this letter a doctrinal treatise only? If that is true your head will be filled but your heart and soul will remain empty.

 3. Is it a personal letter to you? If this is true you will not be disappointed.