The Book That Impacted The World Series

“For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed--a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith." (Romans 1:17)

For the past few weeks, I have been teaching through the book of Romans. Many books have been written that have influenced our world, but no book has ever influenced and transformed people like the book of Romans in the New Testament. It has been called “The Constitution of Christianity.” is the fullest and most comprehensive Christian doctrine in all the Scriptures. It is a systematic theological text, practical helps and a missionary appeal. The teaching of Romans can be broken into the following outline:

Chapters 1-3 deal with the sin problem.

Chapters 4-5 tell us about salvation.

Chapters 6-8 deal with sanctification.

Chapters 9-11 teach of God’s sovereignty.

Chapters 12-16 deal with Christian service.

Paul began by discussing that which is most dangerous and destructive in the world—is the “MAN'S REBELLION TOWARD GOD” or Man’s Sin - Man is ungodly by nature and by choice. This means that he has no relationship with God. Because He has no relationship with God, his relationship with his fellow man is also corrupted. Man is in open rebellion against the Lord and this is by his own choice. (Rom. 3:10; 12) Another sign of man's rebellion is the fact that he knows the truth about God. Even though he knows the truth, he “suppresses" the truth. Beyond that, man stubbornly holds to his sins while he seeks to undermine the truth of God.

All people have been condemned due to our sin against God. However, God in His grace offers us justification by faith in His Son, Jesus.

Justification delivers from the penalty of sin

Sanctification delivers from the power of sin

Glorification delivers from the presence of sin

When we are justified by God, we receive redemption, or salvation, because Christ’s blood covers our sin. But Paul made it clear that the believer’s pursuit of God doesn’t stop with salvation; it continues as each of us is sanctified—made holy—as we persist in following Him. Paul’s treatment of these issues offers a logical and complete presentation of how a person can be saved from the penalty, power and ultimately from the presence of his or her sin. The primary theme running through Paul’s letter to the Romans is the revelation of God’s righteousness in His plan for salvation, what the Bible calls the gospel: The Gospel did not originate with the church; the Gospel is of God’s Son.

The Gospel is not the invention of man. “I want you to know, brothers and sisters that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 1:11-12). The Gospel is direct and divine revelation.

The word gospel means “good news”. The source of the Gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:1-3) First Corinthians 15:1-4 clearly tells us “Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.”It is Jesus and Him alone who is the subject of the Gospel. He is the beginning, the end, and the forever of the Gospel.

The power of the Gospel is the saving and sanctifying and stabilizing power (Romans 1:16, 1 Corinthians 15:1-2) There is no other way to be saved apart from the gospel. The Gospel is authenticated by its message of salvation. You cannot beg, buy, borrow, or steal the salvation that comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You cannot even earn it (see Ephesians 2:8-9). It was bought by the supernatural work of God through Christ on the cross.

Therefore, the supply of the Gospel is Grace. We are saved by God’s grace. (Romans 1:5)- Grace can be articulate as “God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.” Jesus died on the cross, in agony and blood, for our sins in order to provide for us all of the riches of God.

The saving operation of the gospel: Grace wrought it (Romans 3:10-11, Galatians 1:6)

The Course of the gospel is that it extends to every person. (Romans 10:13), It flows to every place and It covers every problem. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4, 10)