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“If you’re able...” Read Rom. 1:1–17. “...Thanks be to God...”
If I gave this box to you and said that “inside was something better than you think,” what would you think it is?
But what if I said, It’s even better than any of those things.
Now, it could be that you suspected that. You know the gospel, and you knew that would be my answer.
For some of us, that could be because we don’t believe the gospel. You don’t even know what I’m talking about. I hope by the end of the morning you do understand it—and believe it—and say yes, it’s even better than I could hope!
But for others, the gospel is no longer new: grace, forgiveness, redemption, God giving us Christ’s righteousness—these aren’t new ideas any more.
Maybe we’ve lost sight of the fact that the gospel and all it brings is ALWAYS AND FOREVER BETTER THAN WE THINK! As good as we think it is, IT’S ALWAYS BETTER!
To help us see this, we will look at the New Testament book of Romans.
Martin Luther said of Romans,
This Epistle is really the chief part of the New Testament and the very purest Gospel, and is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. It can never be read or pondered too much, and the more it is dealt with the more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes
Martin Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans[1]
We will take a while with this greatest of all letters. First five chapters from now till May. Then a break. Then another several months in Rom. 6–8. Break and then finish Rom. 9–16.
This morning to help us get our bearings, we’ll do an overview of Rom. 1–5.
I’ll have two points: (1) The Letter; (2) The Argument.
Prayer – Western Carolina; Samaritan’s Purse; World Magazine Headquarters
Let’s begin at the beginning, Romans 1:1.
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God... (Rom 1:1)
He [Claudius] banished from Rome all the Jews, who were continually making disturbances at the instigation of one Chrestus.
Suetonius, The Lives of the Twelve Caesars[2]
“I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.” (Rom 16:22)
In the 1930s a famous professor from Yale Divinity School described the liberal Christianity that was being preached in pulpits throughout America. He said in this so-called Christianity,
A God without wrath brought men without sin into a Kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross.
H. Richard Niebuhr, The Kingdom of God in America[3]
Not so different from what gets labelled “Christianity” by many today.
Such a gospel is a million miles away from what we have in Romans.
This morning we’ll work through the key steps of Paul’s argument to see the true gospel.
Paul’s opening paragraphs are not throw away lines to get on to the good stuff.
He does greet these Christians warmly and express his heart for them—his heart to bless them and see them flourish in Christ.
But almost immediately he begins to teach them. He is preaching God’s truth. God’s truth about Christ.
Let’s read Rom. 1:1–4. The good news for us is good news about a person, “Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Believing what is true about this unique person and following this unique person, is what Christianity is.
He goes on to describe his ministry desires for Rome. He wants to visit them personally. He wants to do that for a specific reason, “TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO YOU ALSO WHO ARE IN ROME” (Rom 1:15).
Then he gives a brief gospel message which is also the THESIS OF THE BOOK.
Read Rom. 1:16–17.
The gospel is glorious because it brings “salvation to everyone who believes” in Christ.
But how? By giving to us something essential to receive God’s blessings: the very “righteousness of God” (Rom. 1:17).
See this with Noah:
These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. (Gen 6:9)
And in Ezekiel:
“If a man is righteous and does what is just and right....walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord GOD.” (Ezek 18:5, 9)
What’s so radical and unexpected in the gospel of Christ is that we are declared righteous APART FROM OUR OWN BEHAVIOR!
Romans 1–5 works through this idea step-by-step.
Starts by introducing the problem. We’re not righteous! We need God’s righteousness but we don’t have it!
For almost three chapters he’ll make this point—Rom. 1:18–3:20.
If you’re a Roman pagan, you don’t meet the standard. But if you’re a Jew who doesn’t believe in Christ, you don’t meet the standard either.
Apart from Christ, no one meets the standard.
He’ll close this part of his argument with some of the most sobering words in all the Bible. He quotes from the Psalms (Ps 14:1–3; 53:1–3).
Rom. 3:10–12:
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Rom 3:10–12)
Look at the repetition of “no” and “no one” and “not one.”
If you take all the people who have ever lived and line them up. And then say, “Okay, all the righteous people, take a step forward.” No one would.
Technically, one person would: The Lord Jesus Christ. At this point, Christ isn’t in view.
Remember the graphic for the series: Background is “WORSE,” because you’re worse than you think, and w/o Christ your situation is worse than you think.
If all you have is YOU, you’re in trouble.
That’s where the gospel comes in.
Jerry Bridges on this passage:
The single passage in all the Bible that most clearly and completely explains the gospel is Romans 3:19–26. A minister friend of mine calls this passage “The Heart of the Gospel.” So if we are going to preach the gospel to ourselves every day and learn to live by it, we need to understand Romans 3:19–26.
Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace[4]
He's right! This morning I’ll just read two verses from this passage:
Rom. 3:23–24:
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (Rom 3:23–24)
Verse 23 reiterates the problem. But then in verse 24 we discover the answer. “Justified” means “to be declared righteous.”
“Justified” means you have the status of “righteousness.” The very thing we need Paul says we have here “by his grace as a gift.”
This happens “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Christ’s work in his perfect life and his shed blood on the cross is what he’s talking about.
Faith in this Lord Jesus Christ means faith in his work of redemption. And that gives us righteousness “as a gift.”
If it’s as a gift, it’s not earned, not “wages,” it’s undeserved—opposite what we deserve.
And that’s the glory of the gospel.
In chapter 4 the argument goes back to the Old Testament. That’s a huge emphasis in our New Testament, how Jesus and the gospel are right there on the pages of the Old Testament.
The Old Testament is like a huge finger pointing ahead to Christ.
Paul will show that in chapters 4–5. Abraham, then, David, then Adam.
In Rom. 4:2–3 we read:
2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” (Rom 4:2-3)
He quotes Genesis 15:6. In that passage God made a promise to Abraham. And because Abraham “believed” that promise, “it was counted to him as righteousness.”
Abraham was righteous before God the same way we are!
Then Paul mentions King David in Rom. 4:5–7:
5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.” (Rom 4:5–7)
Paul’s gospel has to do with WHO is declared righteous, who is JUSTIFIED. His gospel is that God “JUSTIFIES THE UNGODLY” (Rom. 4:5). That phrase tells us so much about the true gospel!
Are you “UNGODLY”? You qualify!
Here he tells us that King David preaches the same gospel. To make the point he quotes from Psalm 32. The Psalm talks about the man who is “BLESSED.”
We’re used to seeing in the Old Testament that we are blessed if we obey, if we keep God’s commandments. And that’s true.
But in Psalm 32:1–2 the message is that we’re “BLESSED” if we’re “FORGIVEN” and if our “SINS ARE COVERED.”
That implies we’re sinners, that we have sins that need forgiven, sins that need to be covered.
Not sure if you’ve had this experience. But every so often I end up in a restaurant or hotel that just feels above me. But you know, when I check-in to the hotel and tell them my name, they just give me a key to my room. And with that key, I can go to that room and just go in.
Even though I don’t feel worthy of that room, I have the key. And that key gives me free access. I have the status I need to enjoy the benefits of the hotel. Maybe not all of them, but some of them!
In Romans 5, we learn that our NEW STATUS does not only change our eternal destiny, it brings unspeakable benefits! It’s truly “BETTER THAN WE THINK!”
Just a few from Rom. 5:1–2:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Rom 5:1–2)
“Since we have been justified by faith, WE HAVE...”
It’s always better than we think, as good as think it is. It’s better!
The last part of Romans 5 again looks at the Old Testament, but this time at Adam.
Paul will show how the first man Adam and Jesus Christ have a similar role in God’s plan for humanity works.
Both of these men played a special role that no one else did. They were REPRESENTATIVES, what some have called being a FEDERAL HEAD. Their obedience or disobedience did not just affect them but a whole race of people connected to them.
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. (Rom 5:18)
Just as Adam’s sin and judgment gets transferred to us, for Christians Christ’s obedience and life get transferred to us.
In Christ we have the status of being RIGHT WITH GOD.
But that’s not all we have. We also have new life in Christ. Romans 6–8 emphasizes this new life. Just one example:
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Rom 6:4)
Then in Romans 9–11 he’ll look more closely at the issue of the Jews. If the gospel Paul is preaching is so much a part of the Old Testament message, why aren’t more Jews responding? His answers are profound.
Chapters 12–15 work through the behaviors we are to model as God’s righteous people. We’re saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is not alone. It will lead to new acts of obedience. Rom. 12–15 describes that new obedience.
Paul’s ends by describing his missionary strategy and with personal greetings.
That’s the argument of Romans. In Christ, God has provided a way to solve our greatest problem. We are worse than we think, but in the gospel is a remedy even better than we think.
It’s possible you’re hearing me and you’re thinking, “I have bigger problems.”
The gospel is the remedy that helps you with ALL YOUR PROBLEMS.
I’ll close with a reminder from Jerry Bridges. To make this gospel a daily reality.
Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need for God’s grace.
Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace[5]
Closing Prayer and Song
[1] Martin Luther, “Preface,” Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Works of Martin Luther, trans. J.T. Mueller (1932), VI:447.
[2] See the complete book at https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6400/6400-h/6400-h.htm#link2H_4_0006.
[3] H. Richard Niebuhr, The Kingdom of God in America (1937; Repr., Wesleyan University, 1988), 193.
[4] Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2006) 46–47.
[5] Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace, 18.
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