7: In our neighborhood.
The mail truck makes a very distinct sound.
There's no staking it now, not so much today,
but back in the day, in the past,
the sound of the mail truck would generate a lot of excitement in our house.
It's like, it's the mail truck. It's the mail truck.
I wonder whether they bring it. I mean, who knows what they could be bringing?
You think they're bringing a letter? It could be a package,
maybe it's a check package letter,
check package, letter check. What are they bringing? What are they bringing?
Here it comes, let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question.
How many of you wrote and sent a letter
this week? Great.
How many of you wrote or sent a letter this month?
Now I'm not talking about an email, I'm not talking about an email.
I'm not talking, you know, you know a text message.
I'm talking about a pen and paper and a stamp and a
painful trip to the post office.
Anybody A letter this year sent a letter. Oh good. Yeah.
So a handful of of people that have done this is a time consuming process,
isn't it?
I mean it's a time consuming process because you want to communicate something
that you think is important to somebody that you think is
important. When was the last time?
Come on, think about this. That you handwrote a letter.
When was the last time, let me ask it this way,
when's the last time that you received
a letter? A handwritten letter in the mail. And let me ask you this,
when you received that letter, how did it make you feel?
How did receiving that letter in the mail, how did it make you feel? For years,
I've carried around two letters with me that I received.
I carry 'em around in my bag and I, you know,
and when I see 'em and when I touch 'em,
I'd like to keep 'em because of how they make me feel. And when I see 'em,
I'm reminded of with joy and happiness because of the words that
they use are words of gratitude and words of encouragement.
And I like how it makes me feel.
When was the last time that you received a letter
like that?
When was the last time you got in the mail a letter like that?
What do I want us to do today? We're gonna go back in time.
We're gonna go back in time about 2000 years when letter writing,
when letter writing then was a different level of inconvenient.
I mean ink and paper were pretty difficult to find.
And if you got ink and paper, then there was no post office system,
there was no UPS.
You had to find somebody who was going the direction that you wanted the letter
to go and ask them, would you mind taking this to there?
So it was a whole process.
It was a whole process
to get a letter somewhere back in that day.
But I want to tell you about a letter that has become really,
really important to me.
And I think if you spend time in this letter reading this letter carefully,
that it will become really important to you as well. In fact,
this letter has influenced a lot of well-known followers of Christ.
A lot of well-known Christian leaders,
they can trace their spiritual formation back to this letter.
And interestingly enough,
this letter is required reading for first year students at Harvard Law School.
This letter is considered the high point of the Bible.
And I'm talking about Romans. Romans.
It was written by a guy named Paul to people like you and me,
people who need to hear encouraging and positive words.
People who need to be reminded of important truths when they're
experiencing the challenges of life.
Imagine getting a timely word when you are feeling anxious.
Imagine getting a timely word when you're feeling overwhelmed.
When you're feeling uncertain.
Imagine getting an encouraging word when you're experiencing pain
and you're going through difficulty and you're feeling fatigue and you're tired
and you're lonely and you're dealing with doubt and you're dealing with
encouragement. And then you hear the mail truck.
Today we're starting a series that's gonna be looking at what is considered
the high point of Romans. So if Romans is the high point of the Bible,
Romans chapter eight is considered the high point of Romans.
So this is the peak and we're gonna spend a number of weeks in this and like the
excitement when the mail truck comes down your street, and maybe it's for you,
it's the Amazon truck,
but that excitement when that is coming,
that's what I hope you feel about what you're about to receive today and
over the course of this series. In fact, it is the desire of the teaching team.
It is our desire that you would follow Jesus by
living and thinking biblically.
We want you to be able to use your Bible for life change so
that you can reach your full potential in Christ.
That's our desire for you. So as we get into this,
I wanna make a quick look at a couple of things in Romans eight,
and then we're gonna back up from there.
So a quick look at two significant statements and I want you to see that these
are important because they're actually on the negative side,
are actually live options. And apart from a miracle,
they are the most probable outcome that we could experience.
So if you have your Bible, go ahead and grab it, your electronic device,
meet me at Romans eight, we're gonna be all over it. Alright, Romans eight,
chapter one. There is therefore now no condemnation.
Take note of that condemnation.
That's what I want you to take note of condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus. And now we're gonna fast forward all the way to the end of the chapter.
We're looking at two bookends, the first and the last.
So here's what we find at the end.
Paul writes this for I am sure that neither death nor life,
nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers nor height,
nor depth nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate. Take notice of that word, condemnation,
separation,
nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus,
our Lord.
Now it's interesting that he says these two things and you need to understand
that these are live options. Condemnation and separation are live options,
but not for those who are in Christ. Those that are in Christ.
There is no condemnation, there is no penalty,
there is no punishment for those that are in Christ. There is no separation.
You can count on the presence of God.
So that's what we have as we start our glance into Romans chapter eight.
But now we need to look at, well how did we get there?
How did we get there? So my time before we get there today,
my task is for me to set for you the context of what
happened before chapter eight. And let me show you why that's important.
Let's go back to Romans eight, one. There is therefore
now no condemnation.
The therefore calls us back to something that has happened prior.
Now there's a lot of debate about how far back do you go?
Are we going back one chapter? Are we going back a handful of chapters? Well,
today we're going all the way to the beginning.
Now last century in London there was a pastor called Martin Lloyd Jones and
he preached through Romans in 14 years
you might wanna get comfortable .
So trying to get through seven chapters today may be a little bit ambitious.
So just to understand that you're not gonna get all the details today,
but we're gonna get a helicopter view that sets us up
for what we're gonna experience in Romans chapter eight.
So let's dive in and building up to chapter eight,
I think Paul makes at least four arguments.
Paul makes at least four arguments in the first argument that he makes is that
there is a God, there is a God, God can be known.
And he has shown himself Romans chapter one beginning with verse 19,
for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown
it to them for his invisible attributes,
namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived
every since the creation of the world in the things that
have been made there is proof of God in
creation. And then he points out.
And so where without excuse God has revealed enough of himself
in creation, that everyone knows that he exists though he is invisible,
he's clearly seen. And then Paul goes from there and says,
not only is there a God by creation, but our conscience proves it.
We turn over to chapter two, he's speaking to the Gentiles in chapter two,
verse 14,
but then drops down in verse 15 and says this about that they show that the
work of the law is written on their hearts while their
conscience also bears witness. So what we're seeing so far,
and again I know we're moving quick,
but God is real and God is righteous and we are without excuse.
Righteousness is required.
But this brings us to Paul's second argument. There is a God.
Second argument is there is a problem, there is a problem.
And you've probably have experienced this in real time.
The problem is sin and sin is, is is missing the mark,
the missing the mark of God's standard. It's wandering off the path,
it's putting anything in place of God as the source of,
of satisfaction and fulfillment in your life. And here's the problem with sin.
It is pervasive. It touches everything. It makes everything worse.
You can't sprinkle a little bit of sin on something and it flavors it better.
It makes it worse.
It makes us want to separate and it makes us feel like
condemnation is deserved.
Paul sums it up with a well-known verse in Romans 3 23
For all have sinned and have fall short of the
glory of God. All have sinned. And I know what you're thinking. Some of you're,
I mean you're just thinking, yeah, I mean sins pretty bad. It's pervasive.
There's a lot of sinners. I'm just not sure it reaches all the way to me.
Maybe, maybe just maybe you're thinking that you might be the exception.
Let me just encourage you with what Paul has to say about that.
He says in chapter three, beginning with verse 10, that none are righteous.
No not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God.
All have turned aside together. They have become worthless.
No one does good, not even one.
And then he puts another exclamation point on that in 6 23 when he says,
and the wages of sin is death.
So Paul has given us this diagnosis as well as a prognosis.
And honestly this looks pretty bleak.
But until we see the depth of our sin,
we will not recognize our need for a savior.
Until we recognize or acknowledge that we are a hopelessly lost
sinner that deserves death,
we will not appreciate the gift of grace.
So Paul is saying this, that there is a God, that he is righteous,
that we are unrighteous, there is a God, he is righteous.
We have this problem,
we are unrighteous and we don't have the ability to make ourselves righteous
with our own skillset. You can't go to Home Depot, you can't go to your garage,
your garage, you can't go to your make.
There's no you don't have tools or something in the cupboard or the cabinet or
in the pantry that you can get together and whip it up and make yourself right.
We're in a tight spot. And the tight spot is this,
it's a place of condemnation and it's a place of separation.
But fortunately, fortunately, Paul makes a third argument.
He says There is a solution. There is a solution.
God in his kindness sends his son who is sinless,
he's righteous and sinless and he comes to take our place as a
substitute in love.
Jesus takes on our sin and transfers to us his righteousness.
And then in this beautiful thread,
Paul gives us summary of what Jesus has actually done.
Now there's a lot of theological language in here and that's a good thing,
but just don't be intimidated by it.
But just understand this is a summary of what has actually been done for you.
We are justified by his grace as a gift
justified we're declared, declared not guilty through redemption.
A price has been paid to redeem us from the of sin through the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation.
There's a word to use at your next meal. You'll impress your,
you'll impress everyone. But it means to appease God's wrath,
propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.
This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine
forbearance he passed over former sins.
It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might
be just and the justifier of the one who
has faith in Jesus.
And then from there, this is what Paul does.
He turns to an Old Testament example to help us understand well how do
you get made right with God? How?
How do you get right with God? He provides an example that God's righteousness,
righteousness can only be obtained by faith.
And then maybe we need to pause and say, well what exactly is righteousness?
And are we sure that we want that
righteousness means to be right, to be judged, to be just.
It's the act of doing what is in agreement with God's standard.
The bottom line for righteousness is, is this.
It's being in proper relationship with God
and that's what we need desperately.
A righteous person then does right things for the right reason.
Our families need to see that. Our communities need to experience that.
In chapter four,
Paul begins to unpack the example of Abraham and how one becomes right.
And really I see this as how not to do it because he says we
can't be made right by our own works.
For some of us that would be really cool. Just tell me what to do.
Let me do the things, let me do the things.
And then Paul says this in in four two, for if Abraham was justified by works,
he has something to boast about. Because if we could do it and earn it,
then we could brag about, look what I've done, why are you in heaven?
Well this is why. Look at the things I've done. Paul says,
but not before God. And then he gives us the other side of it in verse five.
And to the one who does not work,
realizing it's not about the works you do but believes. Believes in what?
Believes in him, who justifies the ungodly.
His faith is counted to him as righteousness.
Righteousness comes through what he's done, not what we do.
And then he lets us know that it we, we can't be, be,
become righteous by religious rituals or religious activities.
And this is disappointing as well.
It means you don't necessarily get credit because you've come to church.
How many Lord suppers have you taken well on this? Have you been baptized?
Have you, how many Hail Marys have you gone to Mecca?
What are the things Paul's saying? It's not by religious activities.
It's not by religious rituals.
And the example he uses in the life of Abraham has to do with circumcision.
Is the blessing then only for the circumcised or also
for the uncircumcised.
For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.
Verse 10, how then was it counted to him?
Was it before or after he had been circumcised?
It was not after, but before he was circumcised.
He was made righteous before he responded with right acts.
Paul go,
goes on and and continuing to making the case using Abraham's example and
letting us know that it's not about our abilities,
but it's about the power of God. See,
Abraham was given a promise that the savior, the rescuer,
the deliverer would come through his line,
the Savior and the rescuer would come through his line.
But then you start looking around and sometimes it's easy to get distracted by
our circumstances and wonder what is God up to?
Trusting can be a challenge in certain circumstances because if you're waiting
for an heir to come through you and then you check your birth certificate and
realize that you're a hundred,
it seems like that would cause you to waver.
And then you look over at your dear wife and she's 90 bless her
heart.
But it's amazing to me that that Abraham looks at this and doesn't
dwell on his circumstances or his abilities,
but trust in the power of God.
Because look at this is amazing to me in verse 19.
He did not weaken in faith. I mean, come on,
in certain circumstances how many of us we just,
we begin to weaken in our faith.
It says in verse 20 that no unbelief made him waver.
I don't know about you, but I feel like I waver all over the place.
Moment by moment, day by day, Abraham did not waver.
And not only did he not waver,
but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,
he was fully consent convinced that God was able to do what he
had promised. He was trusting not in his abilities,
but in the power of God.
He was trusting that God was good and that God was able and wanted better for
him than he wanted even for himself. See,
this is the way I look at it in Abraham, even in this circumstance,
in this situation, he was faithing forward.
He was faithing forward.
He was looking ahead and trusting in the power and the goodness and the
greatness of God and was not wavered by it.
He didn't give up, he didn't give in. He continued to show up,
he continued to trust. And I don't know about you,
but that's a massive challenge in my life.
And we are on the other side of who Christ is and what he's done.
So we are faithing backwards. He was faithing forward.
It's about trust.
And as he comes to the end of his illustration of using Abraham,
he points out to us that it's not about our plans,
but it's about God's provision. It's not our plans,
but it's about God's provision.
He says it will be counted to us who believe I in chapter four, verse 24,
who believe in him who raised from the dead? Jesus our Lord.
So he's pointing to the resurrection,
who is delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our
justification.
It's not about our plans of how we can get right and how we can become
righteous. It's about how God provides for us.
Will you trust in God's way or does it have to be your way?
Paul then reminds us of how we even got into this mess in the first place.
How did we get into this mess in the first place?
And how will God provide a way out?
He references all the way back again to the first book of the Bible genesis and
to the first man Adam. And this is what he writes. Therefore,
as one trespass led to condemnation, there's our word,
remember that from the beginning, condemnation for all men.
So one act of righteousness leads to justification
and life for all men. And then this is what happened.
But God
shows his love for us that while we were still sinners,
while we were not seeking what was right, we were not doing what was right.
We're not seeking, we're not looking, we're not doing any of that.
While we were still sinners.
Christ died for us.
But here's the challenge. Maybe you experience this. I know I do.
We have this built in propensity to resist and reject both the problem and
the solution. We resist and we reject. We we're thinking,
I'm not a sinner and I do not need a savior because at the end of the day we
think we, we've got this massive heart problem.
And maybe this challenge needs to become a choice.
We need to choose to follow. Maybe you've never followed before,
you've never made this decision. Maybe that's the challenge.
Maybe we need to choose to be faithful.
We need to choose to keep on choosing the life of faith, even when our,
our circumstances look bleak.
And then when we go back to chapter one and we get a a,
a glimpse at the theme that Paul is trying to get to in
Romans in chapter one, verse 16, he says,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
For it is the power for salvation to everyone
who believes to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. He says, for it is the righteousness of God.
The righteousness of God is revealed from faith.
For faith as it is written,
the righteous shall live by faith.
Will you live by faith? See, the heart is tricky and shame will bubble up.
And when shame bubbles up, I,
I will resist and reject transformational news if I'm ashamed that I need it.
And this will lead to misguided thinking.
And then we'll begin to deny the truth and we will begin to suppress the truth.
And then we'll start looking for substitutes that we think will give us
satisfaction and fulfillment. Now, I would like to say this,
that when we get to there's a, you know there's a a God,
there's a problem and then there's a solution and now there's happy music and we
skip off into the sunset. I would love to say that,
but just not yet.
There will be resolution but just not yet.
Paul makes another argument that there's this ongoing struggle,
this ongoing struggle as we strive for righteousness.
I see two wrong ways towards righteousness. One is that we abuse grace.
We abuse grace. Grace is this unmerited transforming favor of God.
But we begin to think because of God's grace that we can live however we want.
We can do whatever we want and there are no consequences.
And we are in this mindset that,
well doesn't God want me to be happy?
Maybe you've even said that. Doesn't God want me to be happy?
And I may surprise you, but the answer is yes. He does want you to be happy.
And that's why he cannot support you living in sin.
But it can condemns you and separates you from what is best
him.
It condemns you and separates you from what is best
him. That's why Paul asked the question, what then are we to sin?
Because we are not under the law, but under grace, no,
by no means. And just to get into your business a little bit,
let me just ask you this question. Have you become,
have you become nonchalant towards sin?
Have you become indifferent towards sin? 'cause if you have your,
your abusing grace, the second wrong way is to ignore grace.
This is a bent towards being self-righteous or being a little bit legalistic.
It's the mindset of let me just keep the rules and perform my way into
righteousness. If I do the right things the right way,
then I'll deserve the right result.
But there's a problem with this also. And and and what I'm about to give you,
this is actually Paul's story who wrote a lot of the New Testament.
This is his thinking and this is him describing his experience even
after he is a follower of Christ. He says this in chapter seven, verse 15,
I do not understand my own actions.
I do not do what I want,
but the very thing I hate. Come on. Does that sound familiar?
Does that sound familiar? Because then he goes on and this is what he says,
for I know that nothing good dwells within me that is in my flesh for I
have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
I can't win what is going on in my head.
And I don't know about you in this moment,
but this is where I'm happy to judge others by their actions and judge myself by
my intentions.
But where does this leave us? Where does this leave us?
Can we just pause for a minute? Can we just, let's take a deep breath.
We've covered a lot of ground.
What is Paul saying in these first seven chapters? This is what he's saying.
This is for me. And this is not necessarily for you.
This is a fancy theological way to say it. A righteous God is righteously,
righteous. The unrighteous, come on. Isn't that clever?
? Come on a righteous God is righteously, righteous,
seen the unrighteous. But let me be clear this,
this is what really Paul is saying.
There is a God and he is righteous. There is a problem.
We are unrighteous. There is a solution.
God in his love send us his sinless righteous son so that we can have a
substitute and we can take on his righteousness.
But then there's that bit,
there's that ongoing struggling towards righteousness that we
are now living in. But chapter eight,
despite the problem and the struggle,
there is great comfort for those who are in
Christ. This is what I'm learning.
This is the reality that has set in for me as I've spent a lot of time in Romans
and in these chapters that I am more sinful and broken
than I ever imagined. Boy,
that's tough to admit in front of God, Jesus and all of y'all,
I am more sinful and broken than I ever imagined. Yet at the same time,
I am more loved and accepted in Jesus than I ever dared
dream. So why is Romans eight a big deal?
Romans eight is a big deal because it gives us assurance for the future
and responsibility in the present based on the work of Jesus in the
past. See,
once we've experienced righteousness and reconciliation vertically,
we have a responsibility to express it horizontally.
This way does not abuse grace, nor does it,
nor does it ignore grace. It simply receives grace.
And this is the way of transformation and this is the way of freedom.
This way results in no condemnation
and no separation.
And this is great news to receive in a letter that should be read
again and again and again. Each week of the series,
you're gonna get a greater glimpse into the reality of what it means
to be in Christ. Now as we wrap up,
as we wrap up, I want to give you this theologian,
JI Packer says,
when the message of Romans gets into a person's heart,
when the message of Romans gets into a person's heart, there is no telling
what may happen.
So I want to challenge you or encourage you or implore you or urge you.
What if you spent some time digging into Romans,
digging into Romans and what if Packer is right?
There's no telling what may happen.
Do you think that it would deepen your connection and your relationship with
Jesus?
Would it help you grow in living and thinking biblically?
So this is what I wanna challenge you to do. Over the next few weeks,
I want you to go to the Hope in Real Life app.
And there you can partner with us and be a part of the reading plan. Say,
here's a QR code.
Join our reading plan over the se over the course of this series,
and let's read through Romans eight together.
So we're gonna read the Bible together and then this is what I want you to do.
I want you to pray and ask God to speak to you.
So join us in the Reading Plan. Show up each week,
let's see what God will do and ask him to speak to us. Let me pray for us.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word.
I pray for all of us that you would give us a desire to be in
your word,
that you would give us wisdom and insight and understanding into your word.
And then I pray that you would give us ears that we would be able to hear you
speak to us. And it's in the strong name of Jesus we pray. Amen.