Paul Washer | Q&A, Romans 1 | University Lectures

the last week we looked at just some things about the book of Romans about why it was written Paul is making a journey hopefully to Spain and he's going to stop by Rome and he wants Rome to know what is the content of his gospel and it turns out that Romans is probably the most extensive theological document that we have in the scriptures it's not a systematic theology but it is like it in some ways now I always say before I get started does anyone have a question about anything that we did last week or does anyone have a question about anything that has to do with God or the Bible or or anything I said this at V Tech last week and I got an hour's worth of questions so uh nothing all right yes yes the word repentance comes from the Greek word Metanoia which it means basically to change the mind now that doesn't that doesn't sound like a big deal does it sounds a little superficial someone just changes their mind but you have to understand the biblical concept of mind or heart the mind is literally the control center of everything that you are in the scriptures and so to change one's mind has an impact on every other aspect of your life on your will your emotions your actions let me give you an example let's say that there's no fire here just but let's say that you're sitting here in the seat and you believe that this building is not being consumed in flames so you sit here that's what you believe in your mind okay and that has an impact on your emotions your calm has an impact on your will you just to sit here and it has a concept it has an impact on your actions you actually do sit here calmly okay now let's say you change your mind and in one moment you discover that you were wrong and that the building actually is consumed being consumed in flames that's what you have come to believe you have changed your mind now can you imagine the impact that's going to have it's going to have an impact upon your emotions being calm will be turned to fear okay being sedate and seated will turn to probably panic and running so you see that to change one's mind now a perfect example of that would be the Apostle Paul all right before the Apostle Paul was the Apostle Paul he was the greatest enemy of the church and he was leaving Jerusalem on his way to Damascus and what did he think what was he doing what was he thinking he was thinking that Jesus of Nazareth was the greatest and most evil false prophet that had ever appeared in Israel he is thinking that his followers the followers of this Nazarene deserve to be imprisoned or to die that's what he thought and so he left Jerusalem with letters to do that very thing to blaspheme the name of Jesus and to either in prison or even stone to death the followers of Jesus because that's what he thought but on his way to Damascus he has an encounter with the resurrected Christ and what happens his mind changed now think about this I mean it's almost like a matrix moment he realizes in one moment this this scholar of Scripture supposedly he realizes in one moment that he has been wrong about everything he's been wrong about reality itself okay and this appears in that later on we see him right after this event he's just sitting there for three days and moan eat well drink he sees Jesus of Nazareth he sees that he is the son of God and what happens his mind changed he he once thought that Jesus was the greatest false prophet in the history of Israel only to believe that he was the long-awaited Messiah and the son of God he thought that the the Christians deserved to die only to come to understand that he himself was killing the people of God can you see what a transformation that is all right so he changed his mind now when he changed his mind what else happened well his emotions changed she sat there for three days and didn't eat or drink but what else changed when he got up he was baptized he publicly identified with the name of Jesus and then went out and preached the very Jesus that he was persecuting that's repentance now let's put it on another level let's say that there is a girl in in college okay and she is like the girl supermodel you know I mean she's a cheerleader she's in the best whatever sorority thing is best she's in all of that okay and she is a snob I mean she almost she almost falls over her feet because she if she walks by a window she's like a parakeet she's got to look at her reflection I mean everything is about her she has the best clothes she has the coolest friends she has the best car everything everything everything and it's all her life is that's what it is it's it's fashion its clothes it's having the right friends it's you know what I mean all right but every day when she goes to the cafeteria to see her cool friends there's this one girl sitting over there who's just a girl who's not into any of that at all and she's not she's not a homely girl she's not a ugly girl she's just a girl she's very just the pleasant simple beauty about her she's a girl and she sits over there at lunch and she has her Bible open and she reads her Bible well every day you know when this girl walks in she she looks at her and she can't stand her and they all make fun of her Plain Jane you know religious Sally everything else this girl thinks she's fantastic and this girl what a loser and one day she sits down with her though with an intention of making fun of her and says so what are you reading and the little girl looks up boy the young lady looks up with a smile and she says well I'm reading the Bible why would you read that book well I believe it's God's Word and it changed my life what do you mean it changed your life well this is the message and she begins to share with her and something happens the Spirit of God is working and what happens this girl sitting across the table realizes she is a fool she has literally been wrong about everything about everything about her looks her friends what she thought was important her her relationships her association's her money her father everything she realized she's been wrong about everything do you see that it's kind of like realizing that the Sun doesn't revolve around the earth the Earth revolves around the Sun she realizes and what happens may not be quite as dramatic she may have a lot of struggles being pulled back to her friends and then not and struck but her mind changes it really does and everything else around her also starts to change do you see that that's repentance that's repentance when a guy thinks it's all about drinking and chasing girls only to realize that he's just been a loveless fool an animal a beast you see and so that's repentance from sin but then there's also what we call the repentance from good works and I know that sounds really strange because you know we want to do good works right well what that means is imagine this person who wants to go to heaven and and they they think that to go to heaven that God's kind of like got a scale okay and if you have more good works than bad works you get into heaven and so this person is constantly laboring to try to do good things go to church pray write read the Bible enough walk the walk talk the talk everything else dress right do this and then starts even heaping other rules upon himself that God didn't even make you see and then maybe is just miserable because he knows he's failing or he becomes this this religious person like kind like a Pharisee self-righteous and thinks you know I am the one I am going to heaven I've done it everyone else is a sinner I'm making it you see and then one day he hears the gospel he hears a preacher preach about radical depravity about how sinful men are that even our best religious works are nothing more than filthy rags and that we can't earn heaven by doing a bunch of good stuff and what does he do he repents he changes his mind with regard to all his deeds and he says these deeds can't save me I cannot be saved through this because even when I try to do good I don't good and even when I do good it's not a hundred percent good and God is so holy and God is so righteous that if I send one time I'm totally disqualified forever and he says these things can't save me because my works aren't perfect and now he turns from that and he trusts in the perfect work of Christ on his behalf now as a Christian he's going to want to do good things but he knows that those good things are not adding to his salvation he did not get saved by doing those good things he was saved 100% because of what God did for him not what he did for God but since he is now saved has eternal life and pardoned because of God's great work on his behalf he now wants to do good things but it's not like slavery now let me let me give an example of two women both of them I'm going to use language please don't get angry with it but let's say that both of them both of them are very good wives to their husbands they they serve their husbands but one lady just serves her husband was just such a joy she's just so joyful and the other woman serves her husband but she's just nervous and and fearful and and she's never settled and she's always afraid and she doesn't okay what's the difference what's the difference between these two women this woman who is afraid and scared is she going to do the wrong thing as her husband going to leave her she is serving her husband in hopes that her husband will love her the other woman is serving her husband because he does love her you see the difference one is terrible bondage one is delightful service one is bearing a yoke you can't bear and the other one is freedom and that's what we're talking about see like when I'm around college students it's unbelievable how many college students that that I talk to they've been raised in a church their parents are good people and I'll say are you a Christian and they'll say I'm trying to be are you a Christian well I go to church I read my Bible I try to do good things do you see what's going on there they're revealing that they don't even understand what Christianity is because to them Christianity is I'm trying to do good I'm trying to do this I'm going to church when I do something bad I I asked for forgiveness and I try to do you see that's not a Christian that's not a Christian that could be a well-meaning person and I really want to talk to him but that's not a Christian I've been I've been a Christian for about 35 years or more I've been serving the Lord in the ministry for almost that long the missionary in South America all kinds of things helped out and starting orphanages you name it you know all kinds of good stuff if I died right now I would go to heaven for the same reason a friend of mine who is in prison for murder and one of the worst prisons in America I'd go to heaven for the same reason he's going to heaven because Jesus Christ died for sinners it's it's not 99.99999% Jesus in point zero zero zero zero one you because you can't even do that point zero zero zero one you see Christ did at all and I trust in him okay and so that that's what we mean I mean there are people who are just given over to sin man that's bad but you know what's even more dangerous when you're given over to religiosity and doing good works and trying to earn your way to heaven that's just as bad if not worse and so that's what Paul's going to you know Paul in the first three chapters of Romans he's going to say some really ugly stuff he's going to say some really hard stuff about humanity why because he loves humanity he said well what do you mean I remember when my mom I went with her to the doctor and there was suspicion that she had cancer and my mom was very very strong woman very strong woman it's a good thing to be a strong woman she was strong and the doctor knew it so he knew that she wasn't going to accept treatment there are all kinds of stuff because my mom was just you know I'll whip this thing on my own type thing and I'll never forget he walked in the office and my mom was feeling you know she was in a pretty good mood and I was sitting there and that doctor came in with a stack of data you know what his sole purpose was to hurt my mom his sole purpose was to ruin my mom's day and and I couldn't have respected a man more you see if that doctor had walked in and said you know I'm okay and you're okay my mom would have left happy but she would have died a lot earlier than she did that doctor walked in he sat down and knowing that my mother could get mad at him that I could get mad at him he ruined my mother's day because he said mr. washer here's first evidence you have cancer second evidence you have cancer third evidence if we don't do something you're going to die fourth F it ends fifth evidence until my mom went from you know denial to anger to just totally okay doctor what do I do that's exactly what the Apollo the Apostle is doing and see that's why people a lot of people really hate Christianity because we're kind of you know we're in this world now where I'm okay you're okay we're the only thing that you can ever say that's wrong is to say something's wrong unless you say something's wrong then that's wrong you see that's what kind of world we live in so when everyone is running around going I'm okay you're okay and the Christian stands up and goes well you're not okay I'm not okay as a matter of fact nobody is okay that just ruins everybody's party and what's the first thing that someone's going to say you're so hateful you're so intolerant you're such a hate monger why can't you love people well that's what I would have said to my doctor right why don't you love my mom why did you have to ruin her day why did you have to tell her all this bad stuff because it's true and she's going to die if she doesn't do something about it and that's what Paul the Apostle he's going to tell us later in Romans chapter 3 that his purpose is to condemn everybody why well he's gonna put bars here and bars here bars here bars here he's going to pour a concrete floor so you can't escape and now there's only one place to look up to the mercies of God in Jesus Christ okay any other question yes like I guess like the works part I don't like in the book of Acts a certain frame Peter says repent so like it's what is the baptism following in that relationship baptism is an outward and public identification of an inward reality remember the thief wasn't baptized and Jesus said today you will be with me in paradise okay Paul said Christ did not send him to baptize but to preach the gospel baptism is important in that it is a it is me publicly identifying not only with Jesus Christ but with his people okay as I shared last week I'm going to be a good citizen I'm gonna obey the laws of America but my country country is the kingdom of heaven and my people people are people from the Philippines in Africa and China everyone who calls on the name of Christ that's my people that's my brother that's my sister you see and so baptism is important but it does not save us no rights no ordinance taking the Lord's Supper does not save us but we take those things because we have been saved by faith in Jesus Christ okay well let's look at Romans in verse 16 of chapter 1 Paul says I'm 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 we looked at that last week now look at 17 for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written but the righteous man shall live by faith you see that's what Paul is constantly getting at and in his arguments in Romans and Galatians he'll constantly go back to Abraham who was the first Jew and he'll say how did that happen did Abraham become a Jew because he was circumcised no Abraham became a Jew became the people of God through faith in the promises of God and that's how it's always been you see here's what you need to understand it's really helpful if you just go back to the garden when someone says they can save themselves through works I just go back to the garden how many times did Adam and Eve sinned before they were cast out of the presence of God once how many times have you sinned you can't even count I mean it take like a mega computer so you see it's not it and someone said well my good works you know balance out my bad works well the problem is you you really don't have good works with regard to God's standard God's standard is perfect you have never and I have never loved the Lord our God with all our heart soul mind and strength not once has it been 100% love and that's what's required and we don't do that also even if you did have good works you see if you know you're speeding down the road and the policeman pulls you over he's getting ready to write you a ticket say oh don't write me a ticket because I didn't break these laws over here it doesn't matter you broke this one you see and so salvation has never been through works many people think in the Old Testament that people were saved by keeping the law know the law showed people their sin in the need for a sacrifice no one's ever been saved by keeping the law that was never the purpose of the law now he says he's not ashamed of the gospel and he says in verse 17 for in it the righteousness of God is revealed now this is a very difficult text because what does he mean by righteousness here and I'm going to give you the the possibilites righteousness especially in the book of psalms righteousness is identified with God keeping his promises you see when Christ came and Christ lived and he died there's so many prophecies in the Old Testament that predicted the coming of the Messiah and Christ fulfilled them so in a way you can say that the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel because the gospel is the answer to all those promises and all those prophecies that God would send a saviour ever since genesis 3:15 when Adam and Eve fell in the garden God said that someone was going to come who would crush the Serpent's head he himself would be wounded in the heel but he would crush the Serpent's head he would undo this work that the devil has caused okay so the righteousness of God was her via is revealed in the gospel because we see all of God's promises fulfilled in the person of Christ Paul goes on to say Eve and that in him you know all the promises of God are yes and amen okay he's the fulfillment of everything but it can also mean this all throughout the Bible there's a problem we're going to talk about this a lot in the book of Romans and what is that problem it's the greatest problem in the Bible most people don't even know it exists but it's this if God is just truly just and truly good he cannot forgive you now a lot of people what know if God is really a righteous and just and holy God he cannot forgive you you say well what do you mean let's say someone killed your entire family and you walked in on the murderer with blood on his hands and you threw him to the ground you tied him up and called the police police took him to the jail three months later he is presented in the court for trial and all the town is there because they loved your family and the judge walks in and he says you know I'm a very loving judge very compassionate slow to anger and abounding and loving kindness you're free to go what would you say would you go oh wow that wasn't that wonderful that's not what you would say there is something inside you as a matter of fact it's one of the evidences of the existence of God there's something inside you that understands justice you know that's wrong it's wrong and what would you say about the judge would you walk out saying with the townspeople walk out saying he was so loving that judge he was so kind know they would say he's corrupt right he skis as corrupt or more corrupt than the criminals he sets free and so the great question is how can God show mercy to sinful men while maintaining his justice these men deserve to die the wages of sin is death how can God simply pardon them because one thing you need to know about God he's not like us he's consistent all his attributes exist in perfect harmony so if someone tells you instead of being just God was loving they don't understand God because God is never going to be loving at the expense of his justice because that would mean that his love is unjust and see that's been the question throughout all history all history for example you know you look at the flood and you say wow God destroyed the world but the big problem is he didn't destroy Noah Noah should have died and Israel should have been abandoned so many times and David should have died and Abraham put his wife in jeopardy lied about her he should have died so how can God simply pardon well the big question is if God's pardoning all these wicked people is he righteous and the answer comes to us in the cross on the cross God proves that he's righteous how look at it this way imagine satan standing before the throne of God saying this how can you be call yourself righteous Adam and Eve deserved to die immediately Noah deserved to die Abraham you call him your friend he deserved to die David you said man after your own heart he committed murder he deserved to die how can you pardon them and still be a righteous judge God pointed to Calvary and said there's how I can do it my son dies for them all my son takes their place and dies for them all you see on the cross this is what we're going to get into a lot how does Jesus getting beat up by a bunch of Romans save us from our sin nails in his hands and feet I don't want to take away from that but how does that pay for our sin what you have to understand is that was just one aspect of the curse what you really need to understand is that when he was on the cross all the sin of God's people throughout the history of the world past present and future all that sin was laid upon Jesus all the holy hatred of God against evil all the punishment that a righteous God should pour down on evil it fell on his only Son and when Jesus Christ said it is finished that's exactly what he meant at the paid and so when you trust in Christ you see your past sins are paid for your present sins are paid for and your future sins are paid for it is finished it's done it's over so that for the believer there's no more wrath there's no more judgment in the sense of condemning wrath there's only love even when God disciplines us as his children it's done in love because he extinguished the wrath of God on Calvary and satisfied justice okay so that's what a lot of people think that this text means and I believe that meaning can be in there I believe all three of these meanings can be wrapped up in this text so first of all God's righteous because he fulfills all his promises he ever made especially with regard to salvation in the gospel God demonstrates that he's righteous okay how does he demonstrate it by condemning the sinner but then taking the sinners sin upon himself and dying in the sinners place but thirdly here's the big question that a culture like ours never asks and that's deadly here's the big question any man woman seen hope young person when they if they just consider this God is absolutely holy and then they consider themselves I mean they actually look at what they really are they're sinners I mean you know I could take out your heart tonight well if I could take out your heart tonight and put it on a DVD or thumb drive and show every thought you've ever had here on this screen you would literally jump on the camera to try to hide it wouldn't you you have thought things and done things so dark I mean even your best friends would get mad at you all right so all right so you would be ashamed for that to be made known even before people who are just like you so how are you going to stand before a holy God so the question of thinking people is this since God is holy truly holy no evil pure light pure love how can I stand before him approved how can I be righteous that's the big question and and you see in the Old Testament Saints you see them realizing this none of them thought that they were saved because they did good did well no they were all like you know how can a man be righteous with God how can a man stand before God you know the psalmist if you were to count our sin no one could stand before you how can I job oh if there was only a mediator who could stand between me and God that could lay his hand on God and lay his hand on me if there was only someone to come between us well Paul says there is now God's son died in our place and he's the mediator how can a man be righteous how can a woman be righteous before God only through the gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and I explain this a little bit last week but people will say and rightly so when you believe in Jesus all your sins are forgiven yes wonderful that's true but it's so much more it's so much more you see Jesus not only died for you did you ever hear that he lived for you now what do I mean in jesus's life I mean he was perfect and every time the father spoke from heaven this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased he was perfect okay now the moment you believe in him savingly you you do what we talked about you repent of you see your sin as sin and you repent of trusting in your good works and you see Christ is the only one and you trust in Christ what happens by virtue of Calvary all your sins are paid for and forgiven but also by virtue of his perfect life you're declared righteous he clothes you in his righteousness so that you stand before God the moment you believe you stand before God perfectly righteous without one spot or blemish that's your position now in in this world in your day-to-day life you're still going to battle with the flesh you're still going to battle with sin you're going to fail sometimes you're going to have to confess sin and everything but what you need to understand is that you're standing before God is absolute perfection she sees you as perfect he couldn't fellowship with you any other way if there was one sin outstanding not paid for no there's no you see he sees you as perfect he wraps you in the righteousness of Christ okay that's given to us a better way of putting it is when Christ was on the tree our sins were deposited to his account and he suffered the judgment that it was ours the moment we believed in him his righteousness is deposited to our account you and I were bankrupt of righteousness but now we stand before him righteous and see even when when I sin yeah it hurts me when I sin when I see Joshua it hurts and and I confess my sin but I'm able to do that with the assurances that nothing changed with regard to God's love for me nothing changed with regard to my standing now communion can be broken a bit my fellowship with him my capacity to enjoy him but his love for me and my standing before him doesn't change now here's the thing and this is where we'll finish Paul we'll get to Roman's 6 and he'll address an issue that's it's really just shows the heart of man so because Paul is teaching this some people twisted his words and said we'll then let us sin that grace may abound then if it's like this and we have a perfect right standing before God then let's just sin all the time let's just enjoy ourselves but here's what you have to understand those who truly believe in Jesus they believe in Jesus because a work of the Holy Spirit has happened in their heart they by the by a supernatural work of the spirit that's what we call regeneration or being born again something happens to their heart that the sin they once loved they now hate and the righteousness they once hated they now love and though we will still sin we don't like it and it breaks our heart especially as we grow to understand more and more of God's love more and more of God's love do you see and so I don't want to do those things and if I do sin when I do sin it hurts me why not because all I'm gonna go to hell now but because he's been so kind to me he's done so much for me and I am a new creature so even though the sin may wallow around a moment on my tongue when it goes down it will be bitter and make me almost want to will make me want to vomit because I'm not like before you see Christianity is not just it's not turning over a new leaf it's trusting in Christ and finding out wow something's happened to me I'm a I'm a new creature and then but let me say this as a new creature you're kind of like there's a term phrase we use in the in theology it's called the already and the not yet I'm this new creature that's my identity that's Who I am but I'm still there's an aspect of my unredeemed humanity in me that fights against me and I'm still in this world that's fallen and I still can be tempted and there's this battle going on but one day that battle will be over why because we'll be perfected you know that's why in heaven you get to do everything you want and anything you want why because you've been so transformed that everything you want and anything you want will be right will be holy will be good you see and and that's the gospel story that is the gospel story how can a man be made righteous how can a woman be made righteous because just so you know so that there's equality here I just want you to know women are just as sinful as men how can we be righteous it's only through the perfect work of Jesus Christ and I find that it's wonderful you know a religious person who earns his salvation or thinks he does gets really mad when he finds out that the thief on the cross didn't do anything but believe and was saved I don't get mad at all I'm like wow that's amazing there's hope for me you see I can be saved too and I am through faith in Christ and in all my years of service doesn't add one thing to my standing before God if it was judged it would just take away from my standing before God doesn't add to it you're saying and that's what I want you to see as young people this is not about Christianity is not primarily about morality even though it has a morality it's not about keeping rules even though it has rules to keep it's about a person and that's what makes it completely different from all other religions all other teachers you know supposed teachers from God just study them what did they do they gave principles to people that if you obey these principles you may be able to work your way to heaven okay Christianity doesn't give you a teacher who gives you principles through which you save yourself Christianity gives you a redeemer who saves you and then teaches you how to walk in life and life more abundant okay all right well let's pray father thank you so much for your word thank you for these students dear God please bless them please Lord that their eyes would be open more and more to the gospel of Jesus Christ and it's in his name we pray amen brother Evan

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Length: 41min 38sec (2498 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 27 2020