Introduction
Romans 8:1 NIV Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
In the book of Romans, we find the path to the place where there is no condemnation - a place of victory in the spiritual war in which we all find ourselves.
Romans 8:37 NIV No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
In this life of battles, how can we know that we are on the road to victory? In this lesson and the next, we will explore seven powerful words - the high points of the teaching of Romans.
A few things we need to know about Romans before we dive in. Paul seems to have three purposes:
He is coming to Rome and he hopes to establish a missionary base to reach out into Spain. This will require some money and a church that sponsors and trusts him.
He is sharing with them the details of the Gospel he preaches. Romans 11:33 NLT Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!
He is attempting to help them iron out the complexity of the Gentiles and Jewish brothers in the same church but with different values and ideas. Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews in AD 49. Five years later, Nero became Emperor and allowed them back in. In the meantime, Gentiles led the church and when the Jews came back, there was major turmoil. Paul heard about this from Aquilla and Priscilla. He wants to help them iron these differences out in the spirit of Jesus.
These eight chapters give us directions on the road to victory. Here are eight powerful words to give us strength for the battle!
1. POWER (1:16-17)
Romans 1:16-17 ESV For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
This is the launching pad for Paul - the foundational truth. The Good News is the Power of God for the Salvation of believers. Twelve times in Romans Paul appeals to the Gospel - six of those in chapter one! He ends his letter with an expression of faith in the Gospel. Whether you are Jew or Gentile, the same news is needed. The Good news is that we can be righteous before God - but Only by God’s power. The first eight chapters is an exploration of the power of the Good News of Jesus.
2. PLIGHT (3:9-10)
Romans 3:9-10 LSB What then? Are we better? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, There is none righteous, not even one.
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
The reason we need Good News is that the bad news is real. No one can claim to be good enough without the Gospel. All have sinned. The Jews who preserved the written Word and had personal and up-close contact with God still sinned. The Gentiles who had natural revelation, the creation testified to the presence of a Creator, still sinned. No matter who you are, where you come from, or how Godly you’ve tried to be - all have sinned. That’s the human plight. In these chapters, God outlines what those sins looked like … declares that “ they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” (1:32)
3. JESUS (3:24-25)
3:24-25 NIV …all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood - to be received by faith….
Our only hope is Jesus who brings …
Justification - a cleansing declaration that we are free from our sin.
Grace - the gift we do not deserve, but that we all need.
Redemption - the broken people we are can be made new
Atonement - brought back close to God when our sin separated us from His holiness.
All brought about at the cross - the shedding of his blood. This is to be received by faith/trust… putting our lives in his hand.
4. FAITH (4:4)
4:4 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
He wasn’t justified by works - no one can be that good! 4:17b “He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.”
Abraham believed God could and would do what he promised. This teaches us how to have faith in Jesus. (24-25 NIV “But also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness - for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”)
How can sinful humans receive the redemption provided by Christ? By faith in Jesus - believing that God can do what cannot be done - the removal of our sin.
5. PEACE (5:1)
5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”
We have peace because we are justified
We have peace because of access to God
We have peace because of hope
6. LIFE (6:4)
6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
The response of faith is to be united with Christ. The promise and power of baptism is Jesus.
When people submit to Christian baptism, they die with the Messiah and are raised with him into a new life. This means, first and foremost, a change of status. We are no longer located ‘in sin’; grace has met us there (5:8; 5:20), not in order to tell us that we were all right as we were, but in order to rescue us and take us somewhere else. - N. T. Wright
6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
7. WAR (7:21-24)
7:21-23 NIV So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
Until the final redemption at the return of Christ, we continue to battle the flesh. There is a war at work within us. That does not deny the truth of the victory.
7:25 LSB Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
This reminds us that when we battle sin, we remember …
8. SPIRIT!
8:1-2 - Helps us be released from the law of sin and death
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
8:5 - Helps us set our minds on Spiritual things
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
8:10-11 Helps us by giving us life
But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
8:14-16 Helps us come close to our Abba Father
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
8:26 Helps us when we pray
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
8:31, 37-39 Helps us Experience Victory!
8:31, 37-39 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Conclusion
In Romans 1-8 we see powerful words of truth and victory:
The Power of God for Salvation
The Plight in which all humanity finds itself.
Jesus - sacrificed to save the world
Faith required to receive the impossible
Peace with God that brings us hope
War continues as we struggle with the flesh
But the Spirit within gives us victory!
I hope three things happen: I hope we will….
Be moved to depend more on Christ than we ever have before.
Be moved to explore the book of Romans in greater detail.
Discover greater peace in the Gospel.
Peace within that comes from following the Lord.
Peace without as we serve Him together as His people.
Outside of Christ, I am only a sinner, but in Christ, I am saved. Outside of Christ, I am empty; in Christ, I am full. Outside of Christ, I am weak; in Christ, I am strong. Outside of Christ, I cannot; in Christ, I am more than able. Outside of Christ, I have been defeated; in Christ, I am already victorious. How meaningful are the words, "in Christ.” - Watchman Nee
Next week we will explore Romans 9-16, The Victorious Life.
___________________
To receive sermon notes in your email inbox, subscribe here:
https://forsythesermons.substack.com/
To receive emails from John Dobbs on topics of faith, books, photography, and miscellany:
https://johndobbs.substack.com/
To watch videos of sermons from Forsythe Church of Christ:
https://www.youtube.com/c/ForsytheChurchofChrist
Our church website is http://facoc.org
___________________
Resources
Wright, T. (2004). Paul for Everyone: Romans Part 1: Chapters 1-8 (pp. 101–102). Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
