00:00 Introduction to the Book of Romans

04:27 God's Righteousness Revealed

10:25 The Righteous Wrath of God

15:35 God's Righteous Standard

18:04 The Righteousness of God's Forgiveness

20:35 The Cross and God's Justice

25:03 The Gospel Empowers Righteous Living

27:09 The Gospel Brings Peace and Transformation

29:43 The Gospel Frees from the Law

30:50 The Gospel Guarantees God's Love

32:15 Conclusion and Prayer

The book of Romans is where you're gonna be.

2

It's in the New Testament, right?

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The book of Romans.

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And we are just gonna be

doing an overview of Romans.

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Okay?

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So tonight we're gonna kind

of give you a big picture of.

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Of what this letter is all about.

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Now, you might be thinking,

why did you pick this, right?

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You could have picked

any book in the Bible.

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You had 64 other options

because we just did Matthew 64.

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Other options.

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Why in the world would you pick Romans?

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Well, I, I want you to know that

this is probably, I think, I think

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definitely the most important letter

that has ever been written in the

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history of letters, in the history of

writing, in the history of language.

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This is the most important letter.

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That has ever made.

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In fact, you wouldn't be here if it

wasn't for the book of Romans, because

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the book of Romans is what started what

we call the Protestant Reformation.

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The book of Romans started.

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This, this monk in Germany

who said, you know what?

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I don't think people are

really saved by works.

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So he read the Bible, he

read the book of Romans.

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He was like, that's what God says.

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God says, we're justified.

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We're saved through faith not works.

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And so we're here because

of the book of Romans.

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So the book of Romans, I hope is

gonna change your life and I'm

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so excited to be studying it.

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But the reason that we're doing, Ezekiel

freaked out a little bit on the worksheet.

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He said Romans one through eight, you're

preaching eight chapters in one sermon.

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Yes.

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And the reason we're doing that is 'cause

I want you to have a picture of the

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whole, the whole book, or in this case,

the first eight chapters of the book.

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That's what we're gonna

be studying this year.

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And I want you to, to see what kind

of the whole roadmap is all about.

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It's kind of like.

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The first time that I saw Avengers,

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The first time I saw the Avengers,

I had no idea what this thing was.

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So, you know the opening scene with

like Loki and the, and he's in that like

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Shield lab and he comes outta the portal.

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I had no clue what this was.

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I was, I didn't see Captain America first.

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I didn't see anything.

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I was like, what is the deal with this

blue box and why is it, why is everyone

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fighting for it and why does it kind of.

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Seem like it's like a nuke and, but

also not like what is going on, what's

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happening with this blue box, right?

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I wanna help you understand this book and

not just jump into it right away, right?

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I want you to, to, to see the whole

map of, of what everything's, what

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the context is, what's happening.

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I want you to see all that so that way

you're not like me watching the Avengers

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wondering what this blue box is and if

you still dunno what the blue box is.

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Watch Captain America, and you can find

out, but Romans, what Romans is all about.

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If you could put Romans in one

sentence, here's what it is.

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You ready for it?

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Whole book of the Bible in one sentence.

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Here it is.

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Romans is all about the

gospel, the good news.

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The good news, and the good news

does something, it shows us, it

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reveals the righteousness of God.

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The gospel reveals the

righteousness of God.

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That is the book of

Romans in one sentence.

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The book of Romans is all about how the

gospel shows us that God is righteous.

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Now, maybe you've never

thought about that before.

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God is righteous.

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I thought righteousness is

something that I need, right?

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I need to be righteous.

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But we're gonna look at how God

is righteous and then he gives his

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righteousness to us through the gospel.

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But if you don't believe me, one

chapter one, look at verse 16, right?

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Book of Romans chapter one.

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Look at verse 16.

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This is kind of the thesis

statement of the book.

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So if you've ever.

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Written a paper, you know, or, or written

a, a paper in school that your teacher's,

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like you need a thesis statement, right?

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You need a thesis statement at the

beginning of your paper that tells

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you what your paper's gonna be about.

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This is the thesis statement

for the book of Romans, okay?

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Chapter one, verses 16 and 17.

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So Paul is writing it, the gospel.

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Paul is writing book of Romans.

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He says, for I am not ashamed of the

gospel, I'm not ashamed of the gospel

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for, because it is the power of God.

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For salvation to everyone who

believes to the Jew first and

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also to the Greek or the Gentile.

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Verse 17, four.

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In it, the righteousness of

God is revealed from faith.

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For faith.

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As it is written, the

righteous shall live by faith.

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Now, where did, where did this come from?

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From this?

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Well, look at this.

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Paul's not ashamed of the gospel.

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Why is he not ashamed in it?

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Power of God has revealed everyone who

believes four, because in the gospel.

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You see it?

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What's it?

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It's the gospel.

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The righteousness of God is revealed.

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See that?

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That's Paul's thesis statement.

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The gospel reveals it, shows

us the righteousness of God.

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That's what Rowans is all about.

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Now, what is God's righteousness?

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Maybe you've never thought about this.

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What is God's righteousness?

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What's two things?

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It's an attribute and it's an action.

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It's something about God.

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It's a quality that God has, and it's also

something that we see in God's action.

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That's how the gospel shows us.

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It's something we see

in God's actions here.

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Look at that.

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God's righteousness.

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It's an attribute.

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So it's his like sense of justice, right?

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His self-defined moral standard.

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God always does the right thing.

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God is just, remember

you've heard that, right?

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God is just, God is a good judge.

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God always does the right thing.

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That's what God's righteousness means.

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But also, also it's an action.

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It's his righteous rule it we So right?

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You can't see God.

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So how do we know that God's righteous?

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Well, he does things that are righteous.

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He rules like a king or a judge, and

his actions also make things right.

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I think it might be helpful to think

about what's unrighteousness, right?

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Unrighteousness is

something that's not right.

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You're like, that's not okay.

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So for example, let's say you were

playing dodgeball and you were

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holding a ball, and then someone

threw the ball at you, and you dropped

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the ball when the ball hits you.

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Then you're the guy in charge of

the game was like, you're out.

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Let's say that happened to

you hypothetically, right?

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Hypothetically, let's say that happened

to you when you were playing dodge ball

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and you were like, that's not fair.

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How is that okay?

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I blocked it with the ball.

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That's not okay.

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You would think that's unrighteous, right?

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That's not fair.

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Referee, you're not doing your job.

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Maybe you come out and argue with

the umpire and you're like, what

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are you doing Is a terrible call.

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What's going on?

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Right?

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See, what you don't understand is that in

a game, right, the referee or in a game

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in true North, your leaders, your leaders

in this case are always in the right.

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Whenever we play a true north game,

your leaders are always right.

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If a leader says, you're out, you're out.

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Right?

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This, right?

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If you, if especially, especially

something like this happens, right?

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If we did leaders versus students,

and a leader says, you're out.

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You're out.

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Right?

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The leaders.

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Are are righteous, right?

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Your leaders are always in the right.

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Your leaders always make a right

decision in dodgeball, right?

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If your leader says that you didn't

catch it, it means you didn't catch it.

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If your leader says that you're

out, it means you're out.

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If your leader says that they

caught it, it means they caught it.

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That's kind of the way that God is, right?

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God is righteous.

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He always does the right thing.

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He has a self-defined standard.

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This is what's right.

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This is what's good.

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This is the right thing.

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God has a standard, and that's

why you have a conscience.

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You have a conscience.

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'cause innately, God has put

his standard into your heart.

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He said, I'm gonna give you

a sense of what's right.

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And that's why when you get

cut in line, you're upset.

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You're like, that's not fair, because

God has taken his righteous standard

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and put it into your heart so you have

a sense of what's right and what's not.

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So Romans is all about

God's righteousness.

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Now here's how the gospel in Romans, don't

write this down, don't write this down.

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Don't write this down.

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Okay?

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Uh, I saw everyone

reaching for their pens.

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I was like, no.

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So the gospel reveals God's right actions.

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How to do that?

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Well, there's five parts to

the book of Romans, right?

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First part, the gospel shows that

God's wrath against sin is righteous,

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so that it's actually a good thing.

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It's the right thing for

God to be angry at sin.

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God's response to sin is

wrath, and that's a good thing.

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That's the first part of Romans second

part, the gospel shows that God's

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forgiveness of sinners is righteous,

and we'll get here in the sermon, but

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if you believe this, then why should you

believe that God should forgive anyone?

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If you really believe that God should show

his wrath against sinners, then why should

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you think that God should forgive people?

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Right?

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What?

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How is it okay that God forgives people?

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If He, he should do is punish them?

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How is that okay for God to

just be like, no, it's okay.

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I forgive you.

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Romans is gonna show us that

that's actually the, that's,

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that's a good thing that God does.

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And it's okay for God to do

that and still be a good judge.

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Maybe you've never even

had that question before.

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We're gonna talk about

that in Romans third part.

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The gospel shows that how God's

relationship with forgiven sinners works.

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That's five through eight.

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These are some of the most famous chapters

in the Bible, but it's gonna talk at work.

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We're, we're gonna talk about

we, how God can relate to someone

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who's still not perfect, right?

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Even if you're a Christian,

you've been forgiven of your sins.

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You're no longer under God's wrath.

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You're still not perfect.

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So how can God still have

a relationship with you?

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What does, how does that work?

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What does that look like?

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That's what we're gonna

learn in this third part.

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And then we won't get to these

parts because otherwise we'd be

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here for like six hours every night.

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But the fourth part, the God

the gospel shows that God's

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plan for Israel is righteous.

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'cause if you're thinking about

this, you're like, wait, I thought

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God chose Israel and all that stuff.

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And then this last part of Romans, the

gospel transforms the way Christians live.

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And there's a lot of really cool,

practical stuff if you wanna

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think of these as questions.

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I already did that for you.

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Look at that.

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These are some questions you

probably have had before.

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Why does God send people to hell?

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We're gonna be talking about

that Romans one through three.

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How can God forgive sinners

and still be a good judge?

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We're gonna talk about that.

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How does the gospel impact

my relationship with God?

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Now that I'm saved?

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What happens?

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We're gonna talk about that right here.

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We won't talk about these, but

these are some really relevant

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questions that you probably have.

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How can a righteous God

choose whom he saves?

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How can you save some

people and not others?

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That's what Romans nine

through 11 is all about.

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And then how does the gospel

change my everyday life?

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That is what 12 through 16 are all about.

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So we're gonna be focusing on

Romans one through eight this year.

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Okay?

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Romans one through eight.

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So the first 60% of what I

just showed you right here.

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Okay?

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That's what we're gonna be looking at

today, and I'm gonna give you a brief

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snapshot of that tonight just to kind of

overview it, see where we're going and

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what that's all gonna look like this.

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Is what we're gonna be looking at this

year, all the way until the end of May.

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So Romans, God is righteous,

and the gospel shows that.

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And the first thing that we see

the gospel shows about God is

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that his wrath is righteous.

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And that's your first point tonight.

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Point number one, God's

wrath is righteous.

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God's wrath is righteous.

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I'm gonna move this way

to help you guys see.

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And that's the first

three chapters of Romans.

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God's anger against sin, God's

desire to punish sin is right.

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It's good.

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It means that God is

doing the right thing.

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It's the right response against sin.

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Now that sound might sound like a

weird place to start a letter, right?

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If you're the apostle Paul, how

are you gonna start your letter?

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He's like, well, God's wrath, right?

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That's what he's gonna do.

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Why?

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Well remember.

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In his thesis statement, I'm

not ashamed of the gospel.

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For the power of God.

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For salvation.

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For salvation.

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Now, if I came up to you, let's say

you're just like in the lunch line

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at school and someone comes up to

you and they're like, you're saved.

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You'd be like, okay, cool.

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From what?

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Maybe, right?

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You'd be really weird.

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You'd be like, I don't know.

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I don't feel like I need saving.

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I don't know what's happening.

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I, I, cool.

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Right?

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What are we being saved from?

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Well look to verses later.

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The wrath of God.

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The wrath of God is

what you're saved from.

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Maybe you've heard, oh, I

need to be saved from my sin.

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Well, the reason you need to be saved

from your sin is because God's response,

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God's right response to your sin is wrath.

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The right response God should

have against your sin is wrath.

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And when you think about it, you want God

to care about other people's sin, right?

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If you want God to do something about

someone who hurts you, you want God

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to do something about someone who does

evil to, you know, make a really bad

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person like, like Adolf Hitler, right?

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You wanna do, you want God to do

something about him, but ultimately

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we do similar sins, right?

306

In our, in our hearts,

maybe we do the same thing.

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The wrath of God is revealed.

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It's shown against sin, and that's

what we need to be saved from.

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And so that's where Paul starts.

310

He's saying the gospel is the power

of God to save people from what.

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From the wrath of God.

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Now, maybe you're sitting there,

you're like, that seems extreme.

313

I don't think God should

be this angry about sin.

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Or maybe you're thinking, I

don't deserve God's wrath.

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I'm a good person.

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I'm totally fine.

317

I, I'm in a good spot.

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I don't think that God should do this.

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Well check this out right here.

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These next three verses, the

wrath of God is revealed from

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heaven against all ungodliness and

unrighteousness of people who, by their

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unrighteousness, suppress the truth.

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First, this is like a, like a court

case against all of us, and Paul's

324

starting it right here, that we

all suppress the truth suppress.

325

The best way I can describe it is like,

you know when your trash can's full,

326

you don't wanna take the trash out.

327

What do you do?

328

You suppress it, right?

329

You push it down, you're like, I

don't wanna deal with it right now.

330

I'm gonna push it down and I'm

gonna just pack it in and ignore it.

331

That's what we all have done or

maybe still are doing with the truth.

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God is righteous and we're not.

333

We're sinners, we're guilty.

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We're suppressing it.

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Or we have in the past, before we

became Christians, suppressed it.

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And maybe that's you right now.

337

Maybe you hear sermons,

you went through revival.

338

You, you come to true North, your parents

teach you and, and you're just like,

339

I don't wanna deal with it right now.

340

Maybe later, I later I'll become a

Christian, or I don't really feel

341

that bad about it, or I'll just go

home and start scrolling and forget

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about feeling bad about my sin.

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So he's saying all these people

know deep down and they suppress it.

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Four, what can be known about God

is plain to them, it's obvious.

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So it's not like God didn't make it clear.

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It's obvious because God

has shown it to them.

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So God did something.

348

He said, here I am, and he's,

he's made himself obvious to 'em.

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He's made his standard obvious.

350

We all have conscience, right?

351

You all feel bad when you sin.

352

Four, God's invisible attributes,

his eternal power, his divine nature,

353

have been clearly perceived ever

since the creation of the world.

354

So for all of time.

355

People have known God and his standard,

and so you and me we're without excuse.

356

We can't say, oh, but God, uh, whatever.

357

Fill in the blank.

358

Excuse.

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Paul is saying that every single

person is accountable to God.

360

We all fall short of God's

standard and all of us are guilty.

361

All of us are guilty.

362

You still don't believe me,

but look at Romans three.

363

Look how Paul finishes this section.

364

Just do you think, do you think Paul's

making this point kind of clear?

365

No one, none is righteous.

366

No, not one.

367

No one understands.

368

No one seeks for God.

369

Everyone has turned aside together.

370

They've become worthless.

371

No one does good.

372

Not even one.

373

And in case you didn't get

the point there, verse 23 of

374

chapter three, all has sin.

375

Raise your hand if, if this,

this is talking about you.

376

If you're all, that's you.

377

Everyone has sin.

378

We're all guilty before God.

379

We all fall short of the glory of God.

380

God's standard isn't

just being a good person.

381

God's standard is himself.

382

His righteousness, God's standard

is His glory, his perfection.

383

I heard one time, I've heard multiple

times since then, but I've heard,

384

I remember the first time I heard

it, it really stood out to me.

385

It was in a rap song, funny enough.

386

Um, but this guy, he's, he's rapping

and he's talking about truth and

387

he's talking about God's standard.

388

And he, he starts talking and he

goes, um, if you want God to take

389

away all the evil in the world, right?

390

A lot of people, they say, oh,

well I don't believe in God.

391

'cause there's so many bad things, right?

392

All these bad things happen in the world.

393

Well, how much evil do

you want God to take away?

394

Do you want God to, to put

all the murderers away?

395

Do you want him to get rid of them?

396

Yeah.

397

We want God to, well, what about Jesus

says, if you're angry at someone,

398

you've murdered in your heart.

399

What about those people?

400

What about the liars in the world?

401

Do you want God to get

rid of those people too?

402

Because that means we're

in that group, right?

403

So really we're just saying, well, God,

yeah, I want you to get rid of like

404

the really bad people, but not like the

other really bad people who are just

405

secretly bad and not publicly bad, right?

406

If your objection is, oh God, I

don't believe in you, because there's

407

so much bad things in the world.

408

Well, if you want God to get rid

of all the bad things, guess who?

409

He's gonna get rid of.

410

Me and you.

411

'cause we're sinners.

412

We fall short of God's glory.

413

We're not righteous.

414

We seek our own way.

415

We put ourselves first.

416

We're selfish, we're liars.

417

We have impure thoughts and impure hearts.

418

We're prideful.

419

You and I all fall in this category.

420

We deserve God's wrath.

421

That's the first section of

Romans that God's wrath, God's

422

response to sin is righteous.

423

It's the right thing.

424

And you want God to do

something about sin, don't you?

425

Just not yours.

426

And ultimately, if you want God to do

something about other people's sin, God

427

needs to do something about your sin

too, because he is a good judge, right?

428

God can't say, well everyone

else, everyone besides Lewis's

429

sin, I'm gonna get rid of it.

430

Right?

431

That's not okay.

432

So God's response to sin is righteous.

433

The problem is, is that puts

us in a bad spot, right?

434

If we all deserve God's wrath and

it's a good thing for God to be

435

angry at sin and to punish sin, then

we're, we're not looking good, right?

436

We are under God's wrath.

437

We're under his condemnation.

438

We're guilty and headed for punishment.

439

So then what?

440

What do we do about that?

441

Well, that is where the next part of

the book of Romans comes in and the

442

rest of chapter three, and that's

that God's forgiveness is righteous.

443

God's forgiveness is righteous

444

and this is a problem that you

may have never thought about.

445

But I remember I was hearing this

guy, he was talking to a Muslim.

446

He was talking to a Muslim

and the the Muslim guy.

447

They were talking about how you can

be sure if you're going to heaven.

448

Ultimately, the Muslim

guy said, I'm not sure.

449

I don't know if I'm gonna be in heaven

according to Muslim rules, because

450

the Muslim God, he doesn't forgive anyone.

451

He can't forgive you.

452

You have to earn it.

453

And so you, if you're a Muslim, you

never really know if you're good enough

454

because you can hope you're good enough.

455

You can, you can do all the

right things and really try.

456

But they believe that their God

is, is just, he punishes sin.

457

That's what they believe, that they're

God and we believe that about our God,

458

but they don't have forgiveness because

they believe that God is just, and so the

459

Muslim lab is actually pushing back on

the Christian, he was saying that, well,

460

your God doesn't do anything about sin.

461

He just forgets it and lets it go.

462

And that's the problem that Romans.

463

Three answers.

464

Look at verses 23 through 25.

465

Romans 3, 23 to 25.

466

So Paul, right, he's saying

he's, he's made his case that

467

everyone's sinned, right?

468

All people have have sinned against God.

469

We're all guilty.

470

That's verse 23.

471

All have sinned and falls short

of the glory of God, but everyone

472

who falls short can be made.

473

So in English you don't

see this but justified.

474

The same root as righteous.

475

You think righteousness justice, it's

the same, comes from the same word.

476

So whenever you see justified,

think like righteous aside, okay?

477

Made righteous right.

478

So our made righteous by God's grace as

a gift through the redemption that's in

479

Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as

propitiation, which we'll all talk about

480

this in like four months, somewhere here

by his blood to be received by faith.

481

What's the point of.

482

This is talking about the cross

Jesus atoning work on the cross.

483

What's the point of that?

484

It was to show God's righteousness

that God is still a good judge.

485

Isn't that weird?

486

Maybe you've never thought about,

oh, the cross was actually to show

487

something about God, and you've

always thought the cross is about me.

488

Yes, the cross is for you,

but the cross is about God.

489

It's to show who God is because

in his divine forbearance.

490

Now, what does that mean?

491

You probably never used the

word forbearance this week.

492

Forbearance that means patient.

493

Think, see bear, God's like bearing,

he's forbearing, he's being patient.

494

He's, he's putting up with stuff

he had, what's he putting up with?

495

He's passed over former sins.

496

This is kind of linked to, if God

is good, why do bad things happen?

497

Right?

498

If you think about for all of human

history, God just let people sin.

499

God just lets people sin and

doesn't do anything about it.

500

That's, that should,

that should bother you.

501

Right?

502

God just lets school

shooters do their thing.

503

God just lets people lie and

nothing happens to them, right?

504

God just lets husbands and wives sin

against each other and nothing happens.

505

God lets people look at terrible things

online and say really hurtful things to

506

people and doesn't do anything about it.

507

Maybe you've never thought about

that, but shouldn't God do something?

508

Where is God?

509

What's God doing?

510

He's being patient.

511

He's being patient.

512

That's what he's doing.

513

And now if you continue on that line,

well, what about, what about Christians?

514

God never does anything about their sin.

515

He just forgives them.

516

Right?

517

Well, here's the thing.

518

He does do something about their sin.

519

He punishes Jesus for it.

520

That's what propitiation means.

521

Jesus is punished for the

sins that God overlooks.

522

Right?

523

Think about, think about Abraham

Abraham's sinned and didn't go to hell.

524

Why not?

525

Because God put Abraham's sin

on Jesus and he waited to show

526

how that would work, right?

527

Imagine, I think I, I probably

used this illustration.

528

Revival.

529

But imagine if someone came and

stole everything in your house

530

and then you went to court and

the judge was like, that's fine.

531

I'm a loving judge.

532

I'm a forgiving judge.

533

You're good.

534

Don't worry about it.

535

Bad judge.

536

Right?

537

That's not okay.

538

I don't want to go to that court.

539

That's why Jesus had to die.

540

'cause God can't just

be like, oh, your sins.

541

No big deal.

542

You're lying.

543

All your selfishness, all your pride,

all your hurtful words, all your

544

lustful thoughts, not a big deal.

545

Don't worry about it.

546

Right?

547

We don't want a God like that.

548

'cause what about other people's sin?

549

That's why God's forgiveness is righteous,

because he's still a good judge.

550

One John one, nine, God is faithful

and just, he's a good judge to

551

forgive sin because that sin

that he forgives is paid for.

552

God's forgiveness is free for

us, but it's not free for Jesus.

553

Jesus paid for it.

554

He bought it.

555

He said, I'll take the payment, the

fine, the punishment that Lewis deserves.

556

Jesus took my sin.

557

He paid for it.

558

That's what redemption means, so

that God could still be righteous.

559

So God's forgiveness is righteous, and

that's what this passage goes on to.

560

Say.

561

God is just, he passed over former sins.

562

That's, that's a problem, right?

563

Why didn't God do anything about sin?

564

Well, he still remains just,

and he's the justifier.

565

That means that God is the one

who makes people righteous, right?

566

And, and you all hopefully

have heard that before.

567

You don't make yourself righteous.

568

God makes you righteous.

569

God's forgiveness is righteous.

570

He's still a good judge

in his forgiveness.

571

God is still a good

judge in his forgiveness.

572

So.

573

First part of Romans one

through three, right?

574

God's wrath is righteous.

575

God's response to sin is just, it's

good, it's the right thing, but also

576

his forgiveness of sin is still okay.

577

It's still consistent with his

righteousness because Jesus paid for it.

578

Then this last section, five

through eight, talks about how the

579

gospel in powers righteous living.

580

How the gospel isn't just

something for Christians.

581

When they get saved.

582

It's something for Christians

for the rest of their lives.

583

That's our third point.

584

The gospel empowers righteous living.

585

The gospel empowers righteous living.

586

So a lot of you, I think, 'cause

I was here at one point in my

587

understanding of the gospel, I

thought of the gospel, right?

588

The good news, Jesus died for my sins.

589

He.

590

Gives me righteousness.

591

He died so that I could have

hope to live forever after I die.

592

The gospel, I thought the

gospel was kind of like, kind

593

of like a phone charger, right?

594

I use the gospel to get

saved and then I'm done.

595

I'm gone.

596

Right?

597

I, I unplug the phone and I'm do the

rest of my day without my charger, right?

598

Shoot.

599

But actually the gospel

is more like a battery.

600

If I asked you what's more important,

your phone's battery or your phone's

601

charger, they're both important, right?

602

They're both essential in

some ways, but your phone will

603

not work without a battery.

604

Your phone will not survive

literally without a battery.

605

Nothing happens without

your phone's battery.

606

I think a lot of us think

of the gospel as a charger.

607

I, I need the gospel for a little

bit and then I'm done with it,

608

and I move on the rest of my day.

609

The gospel is Christian's battery.

610

The Gospel empowers the rest

of the Christian's life.

611

Just like your battery

and your phone, char it.

612

It powers the rest of your phone.

613

Your phone will not work

at all without the battery.

614

The gospel is the battery

for a Christian life.

615

The gospel does everything for

a Christian, not just save them.

616

So how does the gospel do that?

617

How does the gospel

empower righteous living?

618

That's what Romans five

through eight is all about.

619

First part five, chapter

five, the Gospel brings peace.

620

The gospel brings peace, and that's

what we're gonna learn in chapter five.

621

But if you think about this,

the gospel brings peace.

622

It means I can have confidence

in my relationship with God

623

because as a Christian, you

need this all the time, right?

624

If you're a Christian at one point

in your Christian life, I'm sure

625

you felt, I'm not sure if I'm saved.

626

Or I'm too sinful to come to God.

627

How does God still love me?

628

After I just did fill in the

blank, you need the gospel.

629

Still, as a Christian, the most

experienced Christian still needs

630

the gospel because the gospel

is what gives you confidence

631

in your relationship with God.

632

'cause the gospel is all about Jesus.

633

Jesus is the one who justifies you.

634

That's where your confidence

for relationship with God.

635

Comes from, it doesn't come from you.

636

It doesn't come from how your

Bible reading was this week.

637

Even as a Christian, right?

638

It's so easy as a Christian

to start depending on, oh,

639

well, I started doing this.

640

I stopped doing this.

641

That all came after you got saved,

that none of that saves you and

642

none of that keeps you saved.

643

The, the gospel brings peace

because you can say, you know what?

644

I'm confident that Jesus represents me

before God, not how I did this week.

645

Also the gospel, as Romans five will

say, brings peace during suffering.

646

'cause I can say, you know what?

647

God saved me.

648

He will certainly help me when I suffer,

when things don't go my way, when bad

649

things happen to my family, when I don't

get what I want, when my school doesn't

650

go the way I thought I would, my friends

leave me or I get hurt or injured or sick.

651

The gospel brings peace.

652

That's what chapter five is all about.

653

Chapter six is that the gospel changes

your identity and your desires.

654

The gospel changes you.

655

So you can say, I'm not the same person

and I don't wanna live the same way.

656

That's what Chapter six is all about.

657

It talks about being dead to sin, right?

658

Like in a relationship when you

say, you're dead to me, you're dead.

659

You're cutting it off, right?

660

You're dead to sin.

661

You are not the same person anymore.

662

You don't, and then because of

that, you don't do the same thing.

663

So you have a different identity.

664

The gospel changes who you are, and then

because of that, it changes how you live.

665

It changes your desires.

666

Romans six talks about how you

stop being strapped in sin and

667

now you're free to serve God.

668

You serve God because you want to,

and that's where chapter seven goes.

669

Right after that, the gospel

frees you from the law, because

670

if I'm a Christian, right, what

do I do about all the commands?

671

What I do about all God's

commands, the, the Old Testament

672

has 600 something commands in it.

673

What do I do with all this?

674

The gospel frees you from the law.

675

You're free from trying to be good

enough because chapter five, you're

676

justified, you're made righteous.

677

You have confidence because of Jesus.

678

So now you say, you know what?

679

I don't need to use my good works.

680

I don't need to use my Bible reading

or my prayer, or my church attendance,

681

or my Bible knowledge or my.

682

Or how am I, how I treat my siblings?

683

I don't need to use that to

make me feel good enough.

684

I'm free from that 'cause

I just, I serve God.

685

'cause I love him.

686

I'm a new person, chapter six.

687

I love God.

688

I have new desires.

689

I have a new heart.

690

I have new ambitions, I have new motives.

691

So I don't do the right

things to be good enough.

692

I do the right things 'cause I love God.

693

'cause it's who I am.

694

That's just what I do.

695

Right.

696

A lemon tree just produces lemons.

697

'cause that's what it does.

698

It's a lemon tree.

699

That's how it works.

700

It doesn't do it to

prove to be a lemon tree.

701

It just says, yeah, I'm a lemon tree.

702

It's what I do.

703

So the gospel frees you from the law,

and then chapter eight, the gospel

704

guarantees God's love for you, right?

705

You can be a hundred percent certain

that God loves you and is working

706

for your good because of the gospel.

707

Chapter eight verse 31 and 32.

708

Says that if God gave Jesus for you,

if God sent his son to die for you, his

709

favorite person in the world, how will

he not also give you all things that is

710

give you what you need, take care of you.

711

If God loves you enough to save

you when you are a rebel, that's

712

what Chapter Five talks about.

713

Then how can you not trust

him to take care of you?

714

If you can trust God with your eternal

salvation, surely you can trust God with

715

your career or your school or your friend.

716

So the book of Romans is gonna show us

that the gospel is for all Christians

717

forever, not just to get you saved and

then you move on to to better things.

718

The gospel is essential for all

Christians, no matter how long you've

719

been a Christian or how much you know.

720

So that's what the book of

Romans is gonna show us.

721

It's gonna show us.

722

All of these awesome things

about God, about his word, about

723

forgiveness, about how Christians

live, about what Christians do.

724

And so I'm really excited to

be studying this with you.

725

And so we're gonna talk about more

of these things in small groups.

726

So I'm gonna pray for us and

we're gonna head to small groups.

727

All right.

728

God, thank you that you came

up with the idea to save us.

729

You didn't have to.

730

You weren't obligated to save us.

731

In fact, the only obligation you have as a

good judge is to condemn us, to punish us.

732

It would be the right thing for you to do.

733

But instead, because of your great love,

you decided to save us and forgive us of

734

our, of our sins if we trust in Jesus.

735

So I pray for anyone tonight who does

not trust in Jesus, who is trying to be

736

good enough on their own because of what

they do or, or who their parents are, or

737

what they've maybe tried to do for you.

738

I pray that, um.

739

They would rely on Jesus to save them and

they wouldn't rely on themselves, but they

740

would put their hope and their confidence

in Jesus to be their righteousness, to

741

make them good enough to be with you.

742

And I pray for those of us who are

Christians, that we would continue to

743

live by the gospel, that we wouldn't try

to go back to living the way we used to,

744

but that we would remember that you've

changed who we are and so that we would.

745

Live for you because we love you and

because we know that you love us.

746

So thank you for just the certainty

we can have that you love your people,

747

you love your children, you've adopted

us, and I pray that you would make

748

that even more clear to us as we talk

about these things in small groups.

749

We pray this in Jesus' name.

750

Amen.