Are You Guilty Before a Holy God? Understanding Paul's Most Important Letter
Here's a sobering truth: if your actions were brought under the light of God's judgment tomorrow, would you want that? I'm guessing nobody's hand is going up - mine isn't either. But here's what's remarkable about the Book of Romans - it settles this question without dispute.
After thoroughly studying Galatians and seeing how Paul argued from every possible angle that God saves by His grace, we're now diving into what can be considered Christianity's most comprehensive legal document. Understanding Paul's most important letter means grasping that the Book of Romans contains all the foundational truths of Christianity and serves as our title deed to our future inheritance.
The Perfect Spiritual Lawyer for God's Case
Who better for God to use than Saul of Tarsus - now Paul, the spiritual lawyer of the New Testament? Before his conversion on the Damascus road, Paul was a theological analyst who knew the law inside and out.
In Acts 22:3, Paul describes himself: "I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day."
This same man who once stood unmoved while Stephen was stoned to death (Acts 7:58) would become God's chosen vessel to pen the most foundational Christian doctrine we possess.
Every Mouth Will Be Stopped: The Universal Verdict
Here's what Romans reveals with crystal clarity: everybody is found guilty. Every mouth will be stopped, and every person living will be condemned by God. It's like a judge bringing down the gavel - everybody's guilty, everybody's condemned.
The Gentiles received the testimony of creation but failed to respond, resulting in idolatry. The Jews received God's law and His righteous requirements, yet they broke that law and didn't respond to its testimony either.
"For there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:22-23).
The Gentile without the law: Condemned by God
The Jew with the law: Condemned by God
The verdict: Universal guilt
Why We Need Salvation: Dead While Alive
By nature, we have no spiritual life and no righteousness in us. You might say, "But I'm alive!" Yes, you have physical life, but you're also dead in trespasses and sin.
Think of it this way: you have three parts - body, spirit, and soul. Your body isn't you; it's the building that houses your spirit and soul. When we die, our spirit goes back to God, our body goes in the dirt, and our soul goes to either heaven or hell.
So are you alive or dead? If you're saved, your soul is alive. If you're not saved, you're dead in trespasses and sin, no matter how physically alive you feel.
How God Meets Our Greatest Need
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).
God offers this gift freely to "whosoever will." He doesn't give us righteousness by making us righteous - He imputes His righteousness to us. It's given, not earned.
Recently, I spoke with someone who said, "I don't believe any of that" because of a medical condition he'd had since childhood. His argument was that God did this to him, so why believe?
I tried to explain that the wages of sin is death - we all have something in our bodies that won't work right. It's not God's fault; it's the result of mankind's sin. But God loves him and provided a remedy through Jesus Christ.
What God Wants to Do Through Us
Once we're saved, God's righteousness should be radiated through us. What do you radiate? It's a tough question, isn't it?
If you've been born again, you have the indwelling Holy Spirit who can rule your life if you allow it. God longs for His righteousness to be radiated through His people.
Our Relationship to Him: Come, Live, Work
1. Come Unto Him "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). God is the initiator. He desires everyone to be saved.
2. Live in Him "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me" (John 15:4).
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Most people say they're Christians, but old things haven't passed away because they're still abiding in ungodly entertainment, submersed in a pool of wickedness that comes through earbuds and screens. You can't be living in the world and expect to abide in Christ.
3. Work for Him "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20).
We are His ambassadors. When God asks us to do something as Christians, how dare we say we have a better way? Who's working for who?
The Complete Picture Romans Provides
The Book of Romans will show us:
God's relationship to mankind
Our sin problem and separation from holy God
Why the nation of Israel is set aside for a time
The "why" and "how" of salvation
What God has done FOR us, IN us, and wants to do THROUGH us
All of this plays out through the person of Jesus Christ. What God did through His Son wasn't a program or method - it was a provision for mankind.
In today's age, people have become satisfied with man's opinion or their own opinion. The most popular book has become "Opinion Chapter 1 Verse 1" - a made-up book where we create our own truths about God. But Romans tells us exactly who God is and provides all the foundational truths we need.
📚 🎧 Want to dive deeper into this life-changing study? This blog post only scratches the surface of what Romans reveals about God's amazing grace and our desperate need for salvation. I humbly encourage you to listen to the entire message for the complete expository preaching experience. There's so much more verse-by-verse bible teaching that will strengthen your faith and deepen your understanding of God's Word.
[Listen to the full sermon here] - because God's truth deserves our full attention!