Calvary Church is
dedicated to doctrine, and we want you to experience
the life change that comes from knowing God's word
and applying it to your life. So we explain the
Bible verse by verse, every chapter, every book. This is Expound. Good evening. I trust that you
did your homework, that you read the first two
chapters of the book of Romans. So let's turn to that book
tonight as we get started. If you are new to this format,
this evening's study or a study like this, we will be in the
scriptures for the next hour. If that's something you
did not bargain for, if you think that's way too long
for you to be able to sit still or you might change your
mind in the middle of it, we ask you to, as we pray, bow
our heads, and close our eyes, speak now or forever
hold your peace. You could get up at that time. You could then move to the
very back row or slip out or-- then you wouldn't be-- otherwise you will
be a distraction if you do it in the
middle of the message. So we consider this a holy
time, a time set apart. So we like that once
you're in, you're in. You're in it to win it. [APPLAUSE] Let's pray. Father, thank you
for the grace of God that has been shown to us, the
unmerited, undeserved, lavish favor that comes from your
hand and has been experienced in our lives. Lord, I pray that
you would give us ears to hear what
lessons you have for us in the book of Romans,
this incredible treatise, this monumental letter by Paul
the Apostle, and that we would see just how much you
have loved us to establish a relationship with
us, to call us, to convince us of
our need of you. Strengthen us as
we, as a church, study this portion of scripture. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. I'm guessing, I believe, this
is my seventh time teaching through the book of Romans. And yet, I feel inadequate. It is such an incredible
scope and breadth of truth that I always approach this
book with great anticipation. I'm stoked to go
through it, but also a little bit of
fear and trepidation because it is so monumental. We come in Romans to
the third major section of the New Testament. The New Testament begins
with a four-fold testimony of the life of Jesus. Those are the Gospels-- Matthew, Luke, and John. The second section is the
historical section, telling us about the growth after the
birth of the early church, how it spread to different
areas of the world and how it was taken by Paul
the Apostle to different parts. Then we get in Romans throughout
the rest of the New Testament until the book of Revelation, we
get the letters, correspondence written by men of God to
different churches because of different situations
that we're going through. So this is the first of that
section, of the epistles or the letters of
Paul the Apostle. You remember that Jesus,
in the Book of Acts, told his followers that
they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea,
in all Samaria, and to the uttermost
parts of the Earth. As far as Jerusalem
was concerned, Rome was pretty uttermost. Though it was the
center of the world, as far as Jerusalem was
concerned, it was way far away. But Jesus said,
you're going to be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost
parts of the Earth. What's interesting about
that is, at that time, Paul the Apostle
was not a saved man. And he would be the
one to take the gospel to most of the uttermost parts
of the Earth at that time. God will get a hold of
him in Acts chapter 9, but when Jesus spoke that
promise, at the very beginning part of Acts, the uttermost
parts of the Earth had really remained untouched. The gospel was just
taking root in Jerusalem, but it was Jesus' intention
that it go everywhere. And Rome was the
center of the world. As far as Rome is concerned,
it was like a magnet for Paul the Apostle. He had always
wanted to go there. When we start reading
the Book of Romans, he will express his desire to go
to Rome, having not been there when this book was written. Now, chronologically, when we
left off in the Book of Acts, which was some time
ago, but we already saw that Paul does
make it to Rome in the 28th chapter of Acts. He gets there. But when he writes the
letter to the Romans, it was still a desire in his
heart, wanted to go there, tried to go there, he mentions,
but he couldn't make it. Something got in the way. You remember, I'm sure,
in the Book of Acts, Paul the Apostle was in the
temple in Jerusalem one day. He had gone there. He had taken a vow with four
other men, a Nazarite vow. He had paid the money for the
completion of the Nazarite vow in the temple, the shearing
of the hair, the sacrifice. And when he was in the
temple, some of the Jews saw Paul the Apostle
recognize him. That Saul of Tarsus
turned Paul the Apostle. And since there was an
Ephesian in the city that week named Trophimus that
the Jews recognized, a very famous Gentile,
they made a mistake thinking that Paul
had brought Trophimus into the temple itself. And so a riot broke out,
and they apprehended Paul. They wanted to rip
him limb from limb. The Garrison of the Roman guard
got wind of it, apprehended Paul to protect him. And then Paul stood up
and gave a testimony before his Jewish brethren,
which made them more unglued. He went into Roman
custody again. And while he was in
prison that night, the Lord gave Paul a promise. He said Paul, don't fear. As you have testified
for me in Jerusalem, so you will bear witness
of me in Rome also. So it's like, yes, I've
always wanted to go to Rome, and now the Lord has made
me a personal promise-- I'm going to go to Rome
and bear witness of him. Can't wait to go there. I'm already planning
my missionary trip. I've already got the
agenda going in my mind. What Paul did not bank on
is how he would go to Rome. I'm sure he thought it would be
missionary journey number four. He had been on three
missionary journeys. He couldn't wait to make
number for his trip to Rome. He would make a
fourth journey, he would go to Rome, though
not as a missionary, but as a Roman prisoner, for he
was arrested in Jerusalem, as I mentioned, taken to
Caesarea later on. He will spend three
years in that city going through successive trials before
the governor Festus, Felix-- Felix, Festus, and then King
Agrippa, King Herod Agrippa. He gets accused every time. They make up
accusations every time. He thinks the trial is over. He keeps going through the same
rigamarole for three years. Finally, he pulls
out a right that is the right of every Roman
citizen called appellatio. Appellatio is the Latin
word for, to make an appeal. It was the right of
any Roman citizen, if he felt his case was not
being tried fairly, justly, with equity, to make a
personal appeal to have none other than Caesar
himself hear the case. That was the right of
every Roman citizen. So finally, he just had enough
of the going round and round and round. And he thought, I
appeal to Caesar. And King Herod Agrippa
said, you know, this guy could have gone free,
but he appealed to Caesar. To Caesar he will go. Now Paul is taken and put on
a grain ship as a prisoner, and he makes his
journey to Rome. So he goes,
incarcerated, in chains, but what's cool about that
is instead of raising money from the churches to send
him on a fourth journey, the Roman government pays
for his trip to Rome. I love that. You're going to Rome, Paul,
and all expenses are paid. I've got you covered. I'm going to make sure
you not only go to Rome, but you don't have to raise
money from the brethren. You don't have to raise
money on your own. You don't have to use
any of your own funds. The Roman government will
pay for your trip to Rome. I do believe that God is
interested in economy. And if you're
looking for a deal, maybe God can get you a deal,
although the outcome may not be what you intended. So he goes as a prisoner,
and he makes his way to Rome. But here, in this book,
he has not yet gone. It's his desire, as we will see. And what can we say
about the book of Romans? Well, it has been
called the manifesto of the Christian life, the
great Christian manifesto. Now, there are
some repeated words you need to know
about in this book. The word law appears 78 times. It doesn't just refer
to the law of Moses. Sometimes, it is used
like a principle. Now Paul will say, "For
the law of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from
the law of sin and death." He's not speaking
of the law of Moses. He's speaking of the
principle of life and the principle of faith
versus the principle of death. But 78 times the word law is
used in the Book of Romans. The word righteousness
appears 66 times, and the word faith
appears 62 times. So by looking at the
repetition of key words, we get an idea of what
the theme of the book is. The theme of the book--
put those words together. It's how we are made
righteous before God by faith, the principle
or the law of faith, not the law of Moses or
the principle of death. We are made right before God. We are given a
righteousness by our faith. The great summary statement
for the entire book can be found in chapter 1,
verse 16 and 17 where he says, "For I am not ashamed
of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God
to salvation for everyone who believes, for the
Jew first and also for the Greek or the Gentile. For in it, the
righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the
just shall live by faith." The book of Romans
can be traced-- a study of the
book of Romans can be found in every major
revival in church history. Just think of that for a moment. Every major revival
in church history, you will find the
leaders transformed, touched by, influenced by their
study of the book of Romans. One is the great
Protestant Reformation. This is the book
that transformed the life of Martin Luther. Martin Luther became
an Augustinian monk. At 21 years of age, he was in
the halls of Erfurt, Germany as an Augustinian monk. But he struggled. He struggled with the
burden of his own sin. He wanted to be free from that. He found the book
of Romans, and he decided I'm going
to make a prolonged study of the Book of Romans. And Paul the Apostle
said, the book of Romans is the chief part of
the New Testament. It is the purest
gospel to be found. But let me tell you a
little bit about what he found to get there. Martin Luther, as I mentioned,
was burdened with his own sin. And as he started reading
the Book of Romans-- we just read that little phrase
in chapter 1, verse 16 and 17-- his greatest
impediment was a phrase that bothered him greatly. It was the phrase "the
righteousness of God." That bothered him because
Martin Luther interpreted that to mean that
God is righteous, and the righteousness of
God is the righteousness that God has by which he
punishes the unrighteous. But as he kept reading
through the Book of Romans, he found that he had
defined it wrongly, interpreted it wrongly. The righteousness of God
that Paul was speaking about isn't a righteous God judging
an unrighteous world, as much as a righteous God
imputing righteousness to an unrighteous world
by faith, that he would use his righteousness to
forgive the unrighteous, and it totally changed his life. God justifies the ungodly. So one of the great commentaries
on the book of Romans-- and I know I'm belabor-- I'm giving you a
long introduction. And believe me. I intended to go through
chapters 1 and 2, but I always bite off
more than I can chew. And sometimes I feel
you need to know a little bit of the background. So Martin Luther
wrote a commentary on the book of Romans. And in the 18th century, a
guy by the name of John Wesley started reading it. And it so greatly
influenced John Wesley that John Wesley, just
reading the introduction of the commentary by Martin
Luther on the Book of Romans, says "my heart was strangely
warmed by the truth that I was reading" in the
introduction of the commentary. And that provoked a
great evangelical revival of the 18th century under
John and Charles Wesley. So again, every great revival-- and you just find it over
and over again-- will trace some of its influence
back to the book of Romans. In the book of Romans, just
about every major doctrine, biblical doctrine is
found, usually articulated and spelled out,
but at least found-- every major biblical doctrine. Now let me give you a
quick outline of the book. The Book of Romans falls
into four categories, easy to remember-- the wrath of God, the grace
of God, the plan of God, and the will of God. That's the entire book. So chapter 1 to chapter 3, verse
20, is about the wrath of God, actually beginning in chapter
1, verse 17, the wrath-- or 18, the wrath of God
becomes the focus. From chapter 1, verse 18,
to chapter 3, verse 20, Paul will paint
a dark background about the wrath of God,
followed by the grace of God, chapter 3, verse 21,
to chapter 8, verse 39, or the end of chapter 8
is all about God's grace. He will really,
in depth, dissect that idea of God's grace. Then, in chapters
9, 10, and 11, it's the plan of God for
the Jew and the Gentile because they had all sorts
of questions about, well, if we're saved by faith,
what about the Jewish race? What about the Jewish nation? Does God have plans for Israel? So that's chapters
9, 10, and 11. And then beginning in chapter
12 to the end of the book, it's all about the will of God
in the life of the believer. So we begin. "Paul, a servant
of Jesus Christ"-- called an apostle,
literally, the words "to be" are not found-- "called to be an
apostle, separated to the gospel of God." Ancient letters always put
the author's name first. In our Western culture, we
put the author's name last. We put the recipient's
name first. If this were a Western letter,
it would say "dear Romans." And then we'd have 16 chapters. And then finally, it would
say "Paul the Apostle, servant of Jesus Christ." And so we would get this long
scroll, the Book of Romans that it would be
to us, the Romans. And you'd look at it and go,
well, who wrote this thing? And you'd go all the way
to the end of the scroll, turn it over and go
all the way to the end. Oh, Paul wrote it. So I think it's just better
to begin the letter by saying, "Hi, this is me, I'm
writing this letter," so you don't have to go to the
end and find out who wrote it. The author always names
himself or herself first in ancient literature. So Paul, Paul
writes this letter. Paul writes so many of the
letters in the New Testament. The word Paul, the name
Paul means "little." Of course, his
Hebrew name was Saul. And Saul means asked of God. He was named after
King Saul, who was the first King of Israel
from the tribe of Benjamin. Paul the Apostle
was also a Benjamite from the tribe of
Benjamin, and he was named after one of the
heroes in antiquity, King Saul. Saul of Tarsus was his name. He was from the area of
Cilicia, ancient region which is today Eastern Turkey. And he was from
the city of Tarsus. The name Saul, I get. The name Paul, as I
mentioned, means little. Now, we don't exactly know
why he was named Paul. That's his Gentile name
or his Greek name, Paul. I have told you before,
though, that in ancient times, people would name their
children based on circumstances of their birth. It could be that Paul
was a small child, and he could have grown
up to be a small man. Now, we don't know. However, there's only
one piece of information regarding how Paul the apostle
looked from ancient records, only one. And it could not be-- it could
be true, it could be false. We don't know. But the only
surviving description we have of what Paul the apostle
looked like is interesting. It says he was a very short
man, and he was sort of hunched over. He had a hooked nose, according
to this description, losing his hair on top,
and he has one-- his eyebrows, it says,
joined in the middle. So a unibrow-- hooked nose,
unibrow, balding, short guy, and, the description
says, bow-legged. So maybe it's true. Maybe it's not true. It is interesting
if that's the way he looked because he will
mention that, when you look at me, you might not
think I'm impressive, but wait till you read my stuff. He's very, very powerful--
not much to look at in person, but quite bold and quite
persuasive in his speech and in his letter. So Paul, and he
introduces himself as a servant of Jesus Christ--
not Paul the Great Apostle, but Paul the Slave. It's one of his favorite
titles for himself. Doulos is the Greek term. "Called an apostle,"
and I like this, "separated to the
gospel of God." Before Paul was saved,
he was a Pharisee. He says in Galatians-- Philippians, when
he writes a letter, "I was a Pharisee, a
Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law a Pharisee,
concerning righteousness which comes from the law,
I was blameless, perfect." The word Pharisee
means separated. Perushim is the Hebrew word. It means to be separated. And the idea is
separated from people, separated from activities,
separated from sinfulness. I live a life of separation
from these things. Very stringent Pharisees
prided themselves and in being unlike everybody
else, separated from them. And so you would see devout
Pharisees walking down the streets. And if Gentiles were
coming their way, they would-- the Pharisees
would take their robes and place them very tight across
their bodies as if to say, I won't even get close to
you or let my robes rustle in your general direction. You are so stinking
defiled, you Gentile, that I'm not going to
get cooties from you, I'm just going to be
separated from you. But here, Paul doesn't say
I'm separated from something. He says, I'm separated
to something. That's important. A lot of people take refuge
in a negative righteousness. I don't do this,
and I don't do that, and I don't do the other thing. Cool, what do you do? What is it you do? What are you separated unto? I think it's possible to have
a saved soul but a lost life. Your soul is saved,
you're going to heaven, but you don't do
anything with your life. You're not separated
to some grand purpose to be used by God. I'm separated to the gospel. I want to make sure people
hear this good news-- that's what gospel means-- of Jesus Christ, which
He promised before, through his prophets,
in the Holy Scriptures. The Old Testament anticipated
the New Testament. The prophet Jeremiah
in chapter 39 said, behold, the
days are coming, says the Lord, when
I will make a New Covenant with the
House of Israel, not like the Old Covenant. So it was promised before
in the Holy Scripture. The prophet Isaiah predicts
the coming of Christ, predicts his sacrifice on
the cross in Isaiah 53. Concerning his son,
Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was born of the seed of
David, according to the flesh. God began to promise the
Messiah, very definitely, unmistakably, when David
was born and began to grow and God began to make a
covenant with King David. God appeared to him. God told David that he was going
to make an everlasting covenant with him. So one day, David-- this is how it all came about-- was living in his
palace in Jerusalem. He's the second king, he's got
it made, he's got servants, he's got a nice big screen TV. He's got lots of
donkeys in the garage. You know, he's got maids,
servants, et cetera. And he's just looking around
going, man, I got it good. But he looked out, and he
noticed the Tabernacle-- not the temple, the Tabernacle. There's a tent outside. They had taken the Ark of the
Covenant in the Tabernacle from the House of Obed-Edom
and moved it to Jerusalem, but it stayed a
Tabernacle, a tent. And David just said, man, here I
am living in this great palace, and God's living in a tent. He's camping out. And so he brought Nathan in,
the profit, and he goes Nathan, I've got this idea. I'm looking around, I got
this palace, I've got it made, I'm living high on the hog
in this beautiful, beautiful palatial expression. But God's still living in
that tent, that Tabernacle. I'm going to build got a house. I'm going to spare no expense. I'm going to make
him a great house. And Nathan the Prophet says
David, that's an awesome idea. Do all that is in your heart. That night, the Lord woke
Nathan up from a sleep. And he said, Nathan,
you've spoke out of turn, you spoke rashly. You told David, do all
that is in your heart. I didn't tell David
to build me a house, I didn't tell him to
build me a temple. In fact, David can't
build me a temple. His hands are full of blood. He's a bloody man. He's a man of war. I don't want him
building me a temple. So you're going to have
to go back and tell him he can't build me a temple. His son will, but
you go tell him, I'm going to build him
a house, a dynasty. I'm going to use
him and his children after him to build a kingdom,
an everlasting kingdom. Somebody from the House of
David will reign upon the throne forever. You go tell him that. So next day, Nathan comes in
and goes David, I'm sorry, dude, I spoke out of turn. And I told you he said, do
all that is in your heart. And God said, eh, can't do that. You're a man of blood. You're not building the temple. But that's the bad news. Now let me tell
you the good news. God's going to build
you a house, man. He's going to build
you a dynasty. And this covenant
that God made with him is the idea of this promise
that Paul is mentioning. It was mentioned before in the
Old Testament through David. By the time we get to Isaiah,
that notion is clearly established that the
Messiah is going to come. Somebody is going to come. Somebody is going to be born
to fulfill the promise that God made to David, "For unto us
a child is born, for unto us a son is given." And the government will
be on his shoulder. And his name will be
called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace. "Upon the throne of David,
to order it and establish it from this time forth,
even forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of
Hosts will perform this." So it's unmistakable. God promised a kingdom
through somebody from the line of King David. So that is important to the
Jewish mentality because of the promise that God
made to the Jewish nation. "And so it's concerning
his son Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was born
of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and
declared to be the Son of God with power, according to
the spirit of holiness by the Resurrection from the
dead through whom we have received grace, unmerited
favor, undeserved blessing, and apostleship." That's what he was called to do. He was-- an apostle
means a sent-out one. God sent him out with
a task, with a mission. "We've received grace and
apostleship for obedience to the faith among all
nations for his name, among whom you also, you and
Rome, you believers in Rome, are the called of Jesus
Christ, to all who are in Rome, beloved of God,
called to be saints." Now, look at the words "to be." They're italicized. See them? When they're
italicized, it means they're not in the original. They're added by
the translators. The translators are trying to
get us to make sense of it. But in the original,
it doesn't say, "You are called to be saints,"
because if we read that, especially some of us,
depending on how we grew up, we might start thinking oh,
well, maybe if I do good things and I die and miracles are
done after I'm dead in my name, and people pray to me once
I'm dead and things happen, and the church canonizes me as
a saint, then I'll be a saint. But notice, take out
the words "to be," since they're italicized
and not in the original. To all who are in Rome,
beloved of God, called saints. A saint is not a dead person. A saint is a living person. The word saint means
set-apart one, hagios. The word holy and saint
come from the same root word in Greek. So you're a saint. I grew up in the
Catholic Church. We had Saints that we prayed to,
Saints that had been canonized. That is not the biblical
notion of a saint. Saints are God's people, living. So you're a saint, I'm a saint. And feel free to
call me Saint Skip. It's got a ring to
it, don't you think? It's biblical. To all who are in
Rome, beloved of God, called Saints, grace to
you and peace from God our Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Paul had
never been to Rome. He's anxious to get there. He's just about to mention
his desires, long standing. But it begs the question, if
Paul is writing to Christians in Rome and Paul has never
been to Rome, then how did the church at Rome get started? Wasn't started by Paul. Probably, the church at Rome was
started as a result of visitors to Jerusalem on the
day of Pentecost. On the day of
Pentecost, the Bible tells us there were people
from all sorts of places in the world-- Elamites Parthians,
Medes-- visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes. So they came, they saw, they
heard the preaching of Peter. They were there on
the day of Pentecost. They saw the great
miracles that took place. Maybe some of them were
baptized of the 3,000 that were baptized that day
by the apostles in Jerusalem. And so they were saved in
Jerusalem, went back to Rome, started a church. And that church bore fruit. And Paul was anxious
to go see them. And so in verse 8, he says
first, "I thank my God, true Jesus Christ, for y'all"-- Paul is a southerner, you see-- "for you all, that
your faith is spoken of throughout the
whole world, for God is my witness, whom I
serve with my spirit in the Gospel of his Son. That without ceasing,
I make mention of you always in my prayers, making
request, if by some means, now at last, I may find a
way, in the will of God, to come to you, for
I long to see you that I may impart to
you some spiritual gift so that you may be established." Back to verse 8, Paul mentions
that he prays for them. He does that in
most of his letters. But notice how he begins
verse 8, his prayer for them. First, he says,
"I thank my God." It's a shame that some
of us think of prayer as a crisis event. I'm in trouble, I better pray. Things are getting really bad-- all we can do is pray. First, "I thank God." That's first in his
prayer activities-- not, I'm in trouble, help. First, "I thank God." "In everything, give
thanks," Paul said, "for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus, concerning you." Think of how much we
have to be thankful for. And that is something we
should be reminding ourselves of daily. And our thanks giving
should be daily. Psalm 103, "Bless
the Lord, oh my soul, let all that is within
me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and
forget not all his benefits." Who forgives all
your inequities, who heals all your diseases,
who rescues your life from destruction, who crowns you
with loving kindness and tender mercies, who fills your
mouth with good things so that your youth is
renewed, like the eagles. Gives you food to eat,
gives you tender mercies, gives you blessings,
forgiven your sins. Pause and think of those
things and go, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Some people hear that
and they go, yeah, but it's so much
more fun to complain. I just-- that's
just my nature, man. I like to gripe. Let me tell you that complaining
is not a spiritual gift. And when you complain,
really, half the people that hear your complaints,
they don't even care. And the other half
are glad you finally got what's coming to you. So rather than complaining,
it's better to be thankful. And you know, that's something
you learn as a Christian. Paul said-- while
he was in jail, he said I've learned in every
state, whatever state I am in, to be content. You learn that. You learn content, but
you learn thanks giving. I love the story about the
boy who built a little boat. He labored long on it. He glued it up. He painted it up. And it was just a perfect
day with a light breeze, and he took it out to
the pond near his house and he set the boat on the pond. And the little sails were
filled with a slight breeze, and it started going
across the pond. And he just took
such delight in it. It's like, man, I've been
planning for this day. This is perfect. But while it was right about
in the middle of the lake, the slight breeze developed
into a strong wind, and prevailing winds took over. And the little boat sank. And instead of complaining and
griping, he smiled really big. And he goes, what a
great day to fly a kite. And he went home
and got his kite. So that's a good
way to look at life. It's a good day to fly a kite. Didn't go as I planned, but I
wonder what God has in store. So first, I thank
God, Paul said. And then he made request. And he said, verse
11, "I long to see you that I may impart to use
some spiritual gift that you may be established." In other words, I want to
come, and I want to serve you. But look at how he adjusts
that a little bit in verse 12. "That is, that I may
be encouraged together with you by the mutual
faith, both of you and me." Paul the Great Apostle was never
above telling his audience, you really encouraged me. I really need to be
together with you. It's not just me
ministering to you. It's you ministering
back to me as well. And so he's writing a letter,
but he longs to see them. And there's something about
writing or texting or emailing that just isn't satisfying. You can only
communicate so much. You want to eventually be
eye to eye and see the person and get the body language
and hear the inflection and the intonation-- a full orbed communication. When I was dating my wife-- before she was my wife, she
was my girlfriend, Lenya. I lived in Huntington
Beach, California. She lived in Hawaii. And in those days, they didn't
have-- it wasn't like today with the cell phones. It was very expensive to
make a long-distance phone call to Hawaii. So it was very sparing. But we wrote letters. And I still have those letters. I've kept them,
that correspondence. And I go over it. I realize by the
longing in the letters, it's just very
unsatisfying to just write without being able
to see face to face. Now, of course, we have since
seen each other face to face. And the rest is history. But so it was with
Paul and the Romans. Verse 13 now, "I do not want
you to be unaware, brethren, that often I plan to come to
you but was hindered until now, that I might have some
fruit among you also, just as among the
other Gentiles. "I am a debtor,
both to the Greeks and to barbarians, both
too wise and to unwise so as much as is in me, I am
ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. I really want to go
to Rome, Paul said-- not as a tourist,
not as a sightseer, but as a fruit bearer. I want to bear fruit among you. I want to do something
spiritual in your midst. I want you to
encourage me, but I want to really be able to
minister to you in the spirit as well." Interesting, in verse
14, that phrase, "I am a debtor both to
Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise." Let me unravel that. There's a couple of
ways you can be in debt. Number one, you can borrow
money from somebody. Now you are in debt
to that person. You have to pay off whatever
you have borrowed from them, and you are in debt to
them until you pay it off. There's a second way
you can be in debt. You can be given
money from someone, for someone else, a third party. At that point, you are a
debtor to the third party. You have an obligation. You owe a debt, and
the way you pay it off is you take the
money given to you and not spend it on yourself. You deliver it to them. You are in debt to them until
you have given it to them. That's how Paul
uses this phrase, "I'm a debtor to both
Greeks and barbarians, both to wise and unwise." And what is the debt? The debt is the gospel. I am in debt to share
the message with people, including Romans. And my obligation is
to not hoard the gospel but to herald the gospel. That's the debt. I was reading it
just the other day, maybe it was yesterday
in Second Kings. So there was a famine in
Samaria up in Northern Israel, middle part of Israel. In the city of Samaria,
there was a famine. And the Syrian army had encamped
around Samaria to destroy it. And so in chapter 7,
it says, there were four lepers, guys with
leprosy, hanging out at the gate of the
city of Samaria. And they had a death
sentence, they had leprosy, so eventually the
disease in those days would consume their body. And they're starving to death. There's a famine in the land. So they look at each other. And one leper says to his
buddies, you know what? We're going to die. Why should we just
sit here until we die? If we just stay here,
we're, going to die. If we go into the
city of Samaria, we're going to die because
there's no food in this city. But what if we were to go to the
camp of the enemy, the Syrians, and turn ourselves in? It could be that they let us
live, and they feed us a meal. Now, it could be
that they don't. They could kill us. But so what? We're going to die anyway. If we sit here,
we're going to die. We go into the city,
we're going to die. We could try going
into the enemy camp and seeing if we could
turn ourselves in. They may feed us. We may live. What have we got to lose? So they go to the Syrian camp. Nobody's there. It's totally vacant. What had happened
is they imagined that they heard the
sound of chariots, and they thought an
army had come in, an army like of the
Hittites or the Egyptians that had been conscripted
by the Israelites. And so they said,
we're surrounded, and they fled the city. They ran away. So these four
lepers come in, they find all these tents filled
with food, wine, water, gold, silver. They start drinking,
eating, going from tent to tent, hoarding,
hiding all the stuff they found. They go, man, we're
just-- this is awesome. We're having a heyday. And then they realized-- they looked at each other again. They said, this
isn't right, man. What we're doing is not right,
for this is a day of good news, yet we remain silent. We have just found
the enemy camp with all of their supplies. We owe it to the
people in Samaria to tell them there's food for
you, there's water for you, there's supplies for you. This is a day of good
news, and we remain silent. Folks, this is a
day of good news. We have a debt to the world. We can't remain silent. There's salvation
for the taking, there's grace that
God is offering. So Paul said, I have a debt. I am a debtor to the Greeks,
to the barbarians, to the wise. Now, let me explain that,
Greeks and barbarians. First of all, the Jews-- the Jews divided the
world into two groups, Jews and Gentiles, non-Jews. And Gentiles-- a
stringent, devout Jew would say God created Gentiles
just to make hell hotter, to kindle the fires of hell. That's why God made them,
throw them in there, make it nice and hot,
to punish bad people. That's why God made them. But we're the Jews,
we're the chosen race. Now Paul's going deal
head on with that. The Greeks also divided
the whole world up into two groups,
Greeks and barbarians. If you weren't a Greek,
you're a barbarian. The term barbarian is
an onomatopoetic word, meaning that the
sound of the word is the definition of the word. The Greeks would listen
to non-Greeks speak. The Greeks believe
that their language was the language of the gods. It's beautiful, it's
expressive, it's very precise, there's really nothing like it. I think, to this day, the Greek
language is an awesome language if you studied biblical Greek. Well, the Greeks took
pride in their language-- and their culture,
second to none. So if you're not a
Greek, high-cultured, you're a barbarian. And they would listen to the
language of the non-Greeks. And it sounded to them like bar,
bar, bar, bar, just gibberish. So they coined the term
barbarian, somebody who doesn't speak Greek. So when Paul says I am
a debtor to both Greeks and to the barbarians,
and he will also say Jew and Gentile,
what he means is, I have an obligation to the high
class and to the hick class, to the down and
outers and the up and outers because
they're both out. I have a debt to those who
study Socrates as well as those who can't even spell Socrates. An obligation to all
men for the gospel. So as much as is in me,
I am ready to preach the gospel to you
who are in Rome also, for I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ, verse 16, "for it is the power of God
to salvation for everyone who believes"-- notice this-- "to the Jew
first and also for the Greek." This is a phrase that will
be repeated, "Jew first, also to the Greek." That's a theological
priority, first of all. God made a covenant
with the Jewish people. God made promises to
the Jewish people. God promised the Messiah
to the Jewish people. So it is a theological
priority that first it would go to the covenant
people, the Jews. And the gospel did go
to Jerusalem and Judea. And also, it is a
chronological priority. Whenever Paul would go
into a city, a Greek city, a Roman city, he would always
go first to the synagogue and preach at the synagogue. The Jew first-- he wants them to
know their Messiah has arrived, all the promises in
the Old Testament they have been longing
to see fulfilled have been fulfilled in Jesus. Then, after the
synagogue, he would go to the agora,
the marketplace, the city at large, the
Gentile, and preach to them. So to the Jew first,
and also to the Gentile. "For in it"-- verse 17,
there's that great verse-- "the righteousness of God is
revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the
just shall live by faith." Now I told you
about Martin Luther. The verse that I
just read, verse 17, is the key verse
that transformed him. "The just shall live by faith." Martin Luther, as an Augustinian
monk in Erfurt, Germany, was so burdened by
his own failures, weighed down by his
own sins, that he went to confession daily. And his confessor, or the priest
who would hear his confession, was just sick of him coming so
much because he would, like, confess little tiny things
that weren't anything at all. And so finally, the priest
said to Martin Luther, go out and commit some sin
worthy of confessing instead of bringing all
this drivel to me. Paul then traveled to-- Martin Luther then
traveled to Rome. And in Rome, even
to this day, there's a historic church called the
Church of St. John Lateran. That's a very historical
building from antiquity. It was a palace, at one time, of
several of the Roman emperors. And it had been turned
into a church by that time. And the Church of
St. John Lateran has a set of stairs
called the Santa Scala, and it was believed,
purported by legend to be the very stairs up to
the throne of Pontius Pilate where Jesus stood trial. And so devout Catholics
in times past-- Martin Luther did it for this
reason-- to get on his knees and crawl up the stairs. And in so doing, a person
will bloody their knees. And they do it on purpose. You know, it's-- they
will crawl up the stairs. And people to this day do it. Pre-COVID, at
least, they did it. I don't know about now, but
every step up the Sancta Scala, you get so many years
off of purgatory. So here's Martin Luther trying
to burn all his sins off out of purgatory so
he can go to heaven. And while he's
going up the steps, since he was looking
at the book of Romans, this verse came to mind. "The just shall live by faith." It really was in that
moment and from remembering that verse that bore the
seed of the great Protestant Reformation. I'm not-- salvation isn't a fee. Salvation is free. It's not something I earn. It's a gift. That's what got him
up and got him back. And the Reformation was on. Now, in verse 18, there's
a little bit of a change. Notice it. "For the wrath of
God is revealed." This is the first
section of the Book of Romans, the wrath of God. "For the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth
in unrighteousness because what may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. Now, so far, the book is filled
with good news, chapter 1, until this point. It's the gospel. It's the good news. It's the righteousness of
God revealed, hallelujah. But now, storm clouds move in. Now, chapter 1, verse
18, to chapter 3, verse 20, the
theme over and over again is, you're all under
the condemnation of God, the wrath of God. Well, why? Wait, wait, wait. You're telling us all
about the good news, now you're just, like,
going to the bad news? What up, Paul? Here's what up. He's saying, you'll never
appreciate the good news till y'all understand the bad news. The bad news is what makes
the good news so good. And the bad news is the
whole world, Jew or Gentile, is consigned under
God's eternal judgment. And the wrath of
God is upon them unless they find themselves
in Christ by his grace and believe in him. So the grace of
God is shown later, after the backdrop
of the wrath of God. So though the theme is
the righteousness of God, he's showing us
the unrighteousness of humanity, which makes
God's imputed righteousness all that much more awesome. Now, a quick little
tidbit of information-- how often have you
heard people say, well, the God of the Old
Testament's a God of wrath, and the God of the New
Testament's a God of love. Ever heard that? These are people who don't
know either the Old Testament or the New Testament. The Old Testament has many
promises of God's grace and forgiveness and
many examples thereof, and the New Testament, including
Romans, including Revelation, have plenty of the wrath of God. And here's one of them. The wrath of God is revealed. This is in the book of Romans. "Because what may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them." Now how he explains it. "For since the
creation of the world, His invisible attributes
are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even his eternal power
and Godhead so they"-- the world, people in the
world-- "are without excuse because, although
they knew God"-- this is historically--
"although they knew God, they did not glorify him
as God nor were thankful but became feudal
in their thoughts. Their foolish hearts were dark
and professing to be wise. They became fools
and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an
image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed
beasts and creeping things." He's describing their idolatry. Now he's making a very
impressive argument to the Roman readers. He's saying that God is
invisible and unknowable. But he has made himself visible,
in a sense, and thus knowable. He has given you visible
proof of his existence in the creation. He's given you a conscience to
apprehend the visible creation around you. And so you're without excuse. The argument that Paul
is touching on or using, we would call the
teleological argument. The teleological argument
is the argument of design. If you look around,
the thinking person, and looking around at
the world understands the world in which I live looks
like it's been custom made. It's been designed. And if it indeed reveals
design, it must therefore infer a designer. So if the art hanging in the
skies is impressive, and it is, the artist must be
more impressive. The universe in
which we live-- that was the argument of
David in Psalm 19. "The heavens declare
the glory of God. The firmament shows his
handiwork, night into night-- or day into day,
they reveal speech. Night into night,
they reveal knowledge. There is no voice
nor speech where their voice is not heard." The artist-- just like
an artist reveals himself or herself by a poem or a song
or a sculpture or a painting, God reveals himself
through his creation. He is invisible, but he
has a visible expression in the world around him. But they change-- verse 23, "the
glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like
corruptible man and birds and four-footed beasts
and creeping things." Johannes Kepler-- some of you
are familiar with the name Johannes Kepler. He is the called the
father of modern astronomy. Johann Kepler said, "The
undevout astronomer is mad." I want you to hear that again,
"The devout astronomer"-- the person who is an
unbeliever, who doesn't believe in the things of God, he's
not devout toward God. And, "The undevout
astronomer is nuts." In other words, if
you can look around at the universe, the
planetary system, the balance, the design, and not see a
creator, you're like an idiot. The undevout astronomer is mad. That's the consensus of Paul. That's the consensus
of David in Psalm 19. And Paul shows the
stages of degeneration of the ancient world. But unfortunately, we have to
save those stages for next week because we're out of time. And it's always a Bible
teacher's great delight to hear the "aww" of people
wanting more after an hour Bible study. I really thought I
was going to make it through chapters 1 and 2. I'm prepared to go
through the whole book, but this is the
time we're allotted. We'll be faithful to it. That's no big deal
because we're going to pick up where we left
off and move on next time. Father, thank you
for the gospel, the good news of your grace,
so much so that Paul said, I'm not ashamed of it. It's powerful. It's the power of
God into salvation. For everyone who believes,
that's the ticket. It's faith. The gesture are made just,
made righteous by believing, by faith. It's not produced. It is received. And I pray for anybody
who has not yet received your undeserved
blessing of salvation. They would turn to the Savior
for the relief of their sin, for the forgiveness
of their sin. They would come into
relationship with you through your Son Jesus. If that describes you,
before we mosey on any more through the book of
Romans, make this the night where you commit
your life to Christ. If you're here and you've
not done that, say, Lord, I need you. I'm a sinner. Forgive me. I believe in Jesus. I believe he died. I believe he rose again. And I trust him to bear
the burden of my sin. I give it to him. He died for me. I'm going to let
him take my place and receive him as
my Lord and Savior. I turn from my sin. I turn to Jesus as Savior. Help me, Lord. Help me. Fill me with your Spirit to
follow him as Lord and Master, in Jesus' name. Amen. For more resources from Calvary
Church and Skip Heitzig, visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us from
this teaching in our series Expound. [MUSIC PLAYING]
