Expounds on the book of Romans, asserting that Jesus Christ is its central theme and the ultimate salvation for humanity. It highlights the book's structure, noting the presence of "therefore" clauses that mark transitions from condemnation to justification, from justification to freedom from condemnation, and from freedom to consecration. The message emphasizes that Romans reveals how humanity can be just before God, detailing Jesus' role in seeking and saving the lost across various categories of people, from pagans to religious hypocrites. Ultimately, the sermon concludes that Jesus saves us from the penalty, power, and presence of sin, leading to a saved life, sanctification, and future glorification, and calls for a response of obedience and love.
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the invitation to come here, spend some time with him, and I'm thoroughly enjoying Turkey Hill. I knew it was here. I'd seen some pictures of it, and I've known about it for some time, of course, but I got to thinking more about it when my best friend Harold Silver came down here to work, and so I've known more about it. I just had a hunch to because of Harold that I'm here. And I appreciate him talking you into taking a chance on me. I come from North Dakota, as Pop says, and we don't have much in the way of scenery up here.
We have this farm state, and we raise a lot of grain, and our state tree is a telephone pole. We don't have much in the way of education. And I kind of thought it very was a farm state, and probably all it was here was fields, and maybe it was very new now and then. And I'm just surprised at what a beautiful state you have. And especially this camp, I just really enjoyed it. Well, for the short time I'll be with you. I've been spending some time in Romans. And for the short time that I'll be with you, you'll probably just see an outline and an overview of Romans. Romans is, well, John Phillips, and a lot of you know John Phillips, who's a Moody Extension Head and State of Conferences and so forth, he's on one of our conferences there at the Mederet Bible Chapel in Fargo.
And John Phillips says that if you expect to be used of the Lord, you need to get a good understanding of Romans. Scopio says that Romans is the most complete exposition of the central truths of Christianity that we have. Someone else says that Romans is the profoundest document ever written. That's the case we should be studying today. some uh some commentators uh give the impression that paul was had a very logical mind and roland is kind of a product of his logical mind paul was an intellectual of course but paul himself would deny that paul says to the galatians he says but uh he says but i'm in galatians one eleven and twelve he says but i make known to you brethren that the gospel which was preached by me is not after man.
So I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Roman is the revelation of Jesus Christ. We have a lot of therefores in Roman. One of the things you probably noticed, Roman kind of reminds you of a courtroom scene. We have the evidence and then we have the verdict. Therefore. twenty-seven therefores in Romans for instance in Romans three twenty we have the therefore of condemnation therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin he tells us that after telling us how this the pagan and the moral counterfeit and the religious hypocrite and the whole world is guilty before God he says therefore We wind up by saying, Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.
By the law is the knowledge of sin. And then after we get the message of the Lord's death and justification by faith, in Psalm I he says, The Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit says, Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God. We have all the evidence. Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God. Then in Romans eight one we have a therefore of no condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation to then we're in Christ Jesus. What a lovely verse. I've spent some time memorizing Romans. I had only got up into the ninth chapter. But after memorizing two chapters seven, I walked to work and back.
I worked at a bank and I led two miles away and I walked to work in the morning and I walked back at night. And I used that time for meditation and for memorizing. and I remember memorizing through Romans seven and as I wound up with seven it was such a discouraging part and then I wept as I came to verse one therefore there is therefore no condemnation even though the old nature is always there and we'll never be rid of it until the Lord returns and we can't seem to do the right thing but there is no condemnation praise God and then in Romans twelve one after telling us all about the gospel and all about how Israel too will be saved.
We have the therefore of consecration or of dedication. I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God that you offer your body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is only your reasonable, worshipful service. Job had a problem. He said, but how should man be just before God? How should man be just before God? Socrates said, he said, maybe he said that the deity can forgive sin, but I don't see how.
I don't see how. How should man be just before God? So Romans has the answer. Romans has the answer. In Romans, seventy-one times we have the word righteousness, unrighteousness just justified. It's all about that. That subject of being just before God. Seventy-one times we have in Romans that expression. I'd like now to go to, we finally got the technical things worked out here. I want to go to the overhead. What a hotline we have, Romans.
I'm enjoying the fellowship here. It's just been great. I'm especially enjoying the fellowship with both of my friends, the Sovers, and then Brother John, well-born. And I'm going to ask him to critique what I have to say here. He is an old-timer of this thing. But I have... In verses, I'm thinking that in chapter one, verses one through seventeen, we have the introduction and the theme. And I say that the, I believe that the theme of Romans is Jesus. Matthew one twenty one, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. Jehovah his salvation, for he shall save his people from their sins. That's what Romans is all about.
How to get right before God is the most complete record of the gospel that we have. And our Lord Jesus is salvation. You know, especially enjoying fellowship with Don because he's a Greek student. And he knows a lot of Greek words that can translate into English and what they really mean. But you know, I know some Greek too. If you know the name Jesus, you know some Greek, because Jesus is a Greek name. Jesus is the Greek of the Hebrew Joshua. The way the Greek state is Jesus.
And that means Jehovah is salvation. Remember that Simeon said when the Lord Jesus as a babe was brought into the temple for presentation to the Lord, that's the law of Moses, Old Simeon, filled with the Spirit, held the Lord Jesus in his arms, and he said, Lord, my eyes have seen thy salvation. That's the Old Department of Peace, however it was he said, Jesus, I have seen thy salvation. And in Philippians two ten, we read that at that name of Jesus, every knee shall bow.
I tell you, that makes me worship. Those in hell, everyone. Every knee is going to follow that name. And I am so glad that the Lord has taught me to follow my knee before we get to the end of the wave. I come to know the Lord when I was fifteen years old. I've known him for fifty years. I'm in an eight now. I'm in a group where I can do that. And I say it's been a wonderful fifty years. That's all I can say. It's no surprise that Jesus is the theme of Romans. He's the center of the gospel. Because the Lord Jesus is at the center of everything great. If he's not the center of it, it's not great.
He's always the center of great things. We think of the Great Commission, but you know the greatest Commission. We read in Hebrews ten seven. Then said, I lo, I come, and the volume of the book that is written of me, to do thy will, O God. This is the greatest commission. And our Lord came here as a babe. He grew up here. At the age of thirty, began his ministry. He came here to die for us, the greatest commission. In Revelation three-twenty, we have the greatest fact as human experience.
The old I stand at the door and knock. Here's our Lord Jesus knocking on the door. And by the way, that verse is used for gospel and I don't mind that. He's talking to Christians. He's talking to you and me. He's knocking on the door. And the greatest possible experience that you and I can have is to hear his voice and open the door and let him in and have communion with him. The greatest fact as human experience. I understand that the idea there in Romans, excuse me, in Revelation, what it's talking about there is in those days they would have, after a long day's work, their big meal was in the evening and it was a long, gone out of there where they relaxed with the family and they had a long evening meal that he's talking about.
Let me in and we'll have a long time of cozy fellowship with you. Well, I have let him in at times, and you have, and we know it's true, don't we? No greater human experience. Remember when two sad disciples were walking on the road to Omeas, they were talking, they were sad, and he came along and joined them, joined the conversation. And remember they said afterward, didn't our hearts burn within us? Did he open the scriptures? And you know, how many times we've had that experience when the Lord entered the conversation. I like to do that.
I like to just out of the blue, bring it into the conversation. Whether I'm talking to someone, save or loss. The greatest thing we can do is let him in on the conversation. You know, we hear a lot about prophecy, but the greatest fact of prophecy is a lot of wonderful things. can be said these days. It says that the way things are shaping up. But let us not forget that the greatest fact is prophecy. We read in John, verse thirteen, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. That who I am, there you may be all.
This is a great fact of prophecy. Let's not lose sight of that. We might get all taken up with some things and prophetess finds. Warren Wersby says, he says, you know, you might wonder what do those ten toes in Daniel's image, what do they mean? He says, well, just look in the footnote. That's where you find the answer. Just remember the great fact of prophecy is he's coming again to take us home. Any great thing, he is the center of it. Back in nineteen sixty, Carl Barth was speaking to, I think it was about two thousand seminarians. A young seminarian asked him a question, what is the greatest theological concept?
He's come across your mind. What is the greatest theological concept? And Carl Barth thought for a moment and he said, the greatest theological concept is Jesus loves me, this I know, or the Bible tells himself. Nothing greater, nothing greater. Praise God. If it's great, Jesus is in the middle. Someone has said that the greatest thought that can occupy the human mind is the contemplation of Jesus Christ our Lord. The greatest thing that can occupy your mind. Let's keep our mind full of them.
Jesus Christ our Lord. He is a theme of Romans. I can't go wrong on that because he's a theme of the entire Bible. So I can't go wrong in that. But he really is. I mean, Romans is all about salvation and that's what Jesus is saying. You know, people think they watch their television and they think about the big things that are happening in the world today and the nations are gathering and having summits to talk about and think about the big things that are going on in the world. But remember the Lord says, Over in Isaiah forty, verse fifteen, he says, the nations, they're like a, cause I'm concerned, they're like a drop in the bucket.
They're like the small dust of the balance. These aren't big things that are happening. Nothing big about them. The Lord Jesus Christ is the big thing to be occupied with. We are being occupied right now, a much, much bigger thing. The Lord says the nations, you know, they're not just the dust on the balance, but the small dust. It's just the small dust, okay? There's different sizes of dust. And you know, the dust on a balance means nothing. She says, that's how big those things are. The Lord Jesus is the king of Romans. I'm kind of new at making Pentecostals and I think I'll have to learn to make them bigger.
So for Romans, I think, for Romans, I think through Romans, I think we have Jesus seeking us. Luke fifteen four, does he not go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And then we We read, too, in Luke nineteen ten, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. So I say that passage there that is so full of conviction that it's the Lord Jesus seeking us. He has his way of getting our attention. And of course, if we're going to do business with him, if he's going to save us, we have to come up front with a sin question. And so he seeks.
He seeks the pagan from one eighteen to one thirty-two, the pagan And from two, one through sixteen, Jesus seeks the more counterfeit, those who would judge the pagan and say, oh, we wouldn't do those things. What the Lord says in there, he says, no respecter of persons. And then in two, seventeen through three, eight, we have Jesus seeking the religious hypocrite, especially the Jews. And then from three, nine to twenty, Jesus seeks the whole guilty world. It gets our attention. You see, God is light.
God is light. Lord Jesus reflects that light. And so he sheds light on all of these types. Now you can take your choice. I don't know which type you were, but he has the categories there. So how does he seek them? Well, the pagan we see especially there in the first one, the eighteen to thirty-two, we see a lot about creation. He seeks us through creation. Everything shouts that they're the creator, that the God we're going to have to do business with. He seeks us through creation. He seeks us through conscience. He checks the conscience of the moral counterfeit. And then he seeks us through the commandments.
And Jews are especially in verse seventeen through three eight. He says you claim to keep the law and you break it. You bring its honor upon God. And we find that there is none that seeks it after God. The whole world is guilty before God. He also seeks us through circumstances. He seeks us through Calvary. Remember, he said, I, if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people under me. There's a drawing there. Nothing like the gospel to get people's attention. No, they have rejuvenated the Statue of Liberty.
What a lovely symbol it is. For so many years, for more than a hundred years, let's take the old lady there, held up for a lamp. And we invited everybody to come. And Emma Lazarus wrote a wrote a poem, and part of it goes like this. Give me your tired, you've all heard this, I'm sure. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door. That's marvelous. But the Lord Jesus said, lifted up his arms on the cross and said, Come unto me, all Jesus labor and heavy laden, I will give you rest.
A much greater message, a much greater drawing card than anything man has ever produced. As the Lord speaks to us, as we have it out there, he brings out all these sins, the hypocrite, the counterfeit, filthy, pagan life. It's like the Lord is asking questions like he asked our first parents back in Genesis. Such questions is, where are you? Adam, where are you? In other words, where are you in relationship to me? Are you a pagan? Are you a counterfeit? Are you a moral counterfeit?
Are you a religious hypocrite? Where are you in relationship to me? Well, just like Adam, we are all guilty. All guilty. We ask other questions like Have you done that which I told you not to do? What is this that's how I've done? Because if he got his light, he must, he must face up to the same question. We all come to Christ the same way, by way of Calvary, by way of the cross. Those sins must be reckoned with, they must be put away by the precious blood of Christ. He's got his light, and he tells us we're guilty. And that must be, we must agree with God.
By the way, to confess, to confess, I understand, means to agree with God against ourselves. That's what it means. God, you're right. I'm exactly what you say I am. That's what confess your sins mean, as I understand. Check this out later. But the thing is, the Lord tells us the truth, even though it hurts. He shines it on us, shines a light on us. And we must agree with God that we are in one of those categories. We do need his Savior. Well, the Lord doesn't leave us there. The Lord has provided the land.
The Lord has provided himself the land. Jesus died for us. John ten, eleven, the good shepherd, gives his life for the sheep. What I'm trying to do with this outline, I'm trying to emphasize the giver over the gift. I'm trying to emphasize the bluster over the blessing. We have a tendency to talk about salvation, our righteousness, and so forth, and that's true, and that's wonderful. We want to emphasize, I think, the giver. That's why we have Jesus involved here in everything. He's the one who has made it all possible. He's the one who gives the gift.
He's the one that satisfies our heart. God is light, but God is also light, and Jesus dies for us. So from three-twenty-one to three-thirty, Jesus satisfied God. He satisfied justice. He satisfied mercy. He satisfied Jews and Gentiles, and he satisfied the law. Everybody is satisfied. And if we, I don't think about time enough, but we His resurrection is mentioned right away in Romans, which prove that God is satisfied. He's raised him from the dead to prove that we are justified. God is love, for God's full love the world that he gave has only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Well, we need to analyze what he has made this promise. Jesus saves us from the penalty of sin. That's justification. We're justified, we're saved from the penalty of sin. This is talking about a saved soul. We're going to move on a little bit. Maybe what I should try to do, I want to show you the contrast here. Now, in chapter one through five eleven, the emphasis is on Jesus saving us from the penalty of sin.
That's a faith soul. It's a birth. It's instantaneous. It's justification. It's a matter of position. And then from five twelve through eight sixteen, Jesus saves us from the power of sin. We have a great salvation. He saves us from the penalty of sin, he saves us from the power of sin, he will save us from the very presence of sin. You see, from five twelve to eight sixteen, and farther two actually, we have the saved life. Many people have a saved soul and they will come to the end of the way into the judgment seat of Christ with a saved soul and a lost life.
Jesus does give us the power, he saves us from the power of sin. We can have a saved life. We can grow. It is a process. Sanctification is a condition. That speaks of our condition. We're justified and we're positionally as righteous as we'll ever be. And he even says that we are glorified positionally. But we know that our condition is something else. It's a matter of growth. It's a process. Salvation is not a process. Sometimes you talk to people and you get the impression that you kind of get saved by the inch. You kind of improve your life and you go forth, but that's not the way it is.
Salvation, that is justification, is instantaneous. It is not a process. But sanctification is a process. So we have from five, twelve, two, twenty-one, Jesus before all that Adam lost, and thus lost. Six, one, two, twenty-three, Jesus shall reign as Lord and Master. In a matter of whose loss, either it is the Lord and the boss, or we find that we're slaves. We find that slavery has not been abolished. We're a slave to something. It is to the Lord, to righteousness, or to ourselves, to the devil, to the old nature, whatever.
Instead of one through twenty-five, Jesus, our Lord and husband and deliverer. It compares the law as our old husband and our Lord Jesus as our new husband. He delivers us from the power of sin. And from eight through sixteen, Jesus Christ has made me free from sin and death. Now we have a complete change here, an abrupt change in subject between those two. In other words, between five eleven and five twelve, I mean, that is an abrupt change. Before that we're talking about justification, after that we're talking about sanctification.
It's kind of interesting that up to five eleven, The subject has been our sins, our sins, the things we've done wrong, how they've been put away at the cross. And after that, the subject is sin itself, the sin nature. And I counted up the word sin, sin, sinful, sinner, sinner's book, or appears nine times. Only nine times from chapter one, verse one through five, eleven.
Only nine times we find those words. And then from five twelve to the end of eight, it appears forty-seven times. The subject is sin, not sin, not the act. But sin itself. That's what sanctification is all about. What do we do about this sin that has come into the world, that has infected our old nature? That's the subject. sanctification. How do we become fully sanctified with a sin nature and a sinful world where everything is tainted by sin? That is the subject. And just to kind of bring that point home, let's say only nine times is sin spoken of before five eleven.
And the first time it's spoken of is in two twelve first mention there, verse twelve, as for as many as have sinned, that is the act, that sinned without law shall also perish without law. And then the first time that that word is used in verse five twelve, and on begins in five twelve, verse says, wherefore as by one man's sin, whereas by one man, I'm sorry, I said it wrong, whereas by one man sin entered into the world. It was not the act, but the nature, the sin nature. By one man, we've got this sin nature. We can be thankful to Adam for one thing, the sin nature.
We thank God there's another federal head who has power over that sin nature and who is actually, well, actually, it was crucified with him at the cross. We'll go down to the next section. How much time do I have? What's the name of Jesus? We're on the next section here. And the eight... From eight, chapter eight, seventeen through thirty-nine, Jesus saves us... You know that goes too far? Yeah.
Jesus saves us from the presence of sin. We have glorification. We had... We had justification, sanctification. Now we have glorification. beginning in uh... eight seventeen and on through to the end of chapter eight uh... we begin talking about how he's going to save us and how we're going to share glory with him and save us from the very presence of sin and uh... let's say save to the uttermost in eight seventeen to thirty four was jesus christ our lord in suffering glory there's quite a connection to that you'll always find suffering in glory connected it's kind of interesting We're all going to be with him in glory, but to the extent that we share his glory with him, that we are glorified, it has, it depends on the suffering.
Remember in age seventeen he says that, how does it go, eight, eight, eight, seven, and if, and if heirs, heirs of God, joint heirs of Christ, If so be that we suffer with him, we may be also glorified together. If, I'm going to say, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be glorified together. Something to think about. We share his glory apparently to the extent that we suffer with him. Don't tell me how it's all going to work out, but that's what he says. Then we come to the next section of Romans.
And we have Jesus will save Israel. Romans eleven point six, and so all Israel shall be saved. Chapter nine, Jesus saved Israel, Israel giving remnant in the past age. The children of Israel, the remnant was always saved through the finished work of Christ. And during the present age, the remnant are in the church. They're saved just like you and I are. Their own Buddha Messiah is and they're saved. And then in the future, Israel as a nation is going to be trashed during the tribulation and they're going to wind up with all Israel.
So all Israel shall be saved. It'll be the remnant that's left over after the thrashing. So all Israel shall be saved. What a marvelous salvation. So then we had a very practical section. Let me come to that, but maybe we're starting to kind of hold it up a little bit, but then, oh, there.
Okay. Okay, we have to get the last step. Okay, Jesus saves our daily walk. I'm giving the Lord Jesus credit for our, if we do walk close to him, I'm giving him all the credit for it. Our response is for great salvation, the obedience of faith, a living sacrifice, the message in chapter twelve. In chapter twelve, Jesus inspired us with humble, worshipful, sacrificial service. That's the result of salvation. And in thirteen, one through seven, Jesus leads us in protection to higher powers. Thirteen, eight through fourteen, Jesus reminds us of his new law of love, to love one another.
Fourteen, one through fifteen, seven, Jesus showed us how to receive one another as he received us. Fifteen through eight through sixteen, then with Jesus leads us onto maturity, evidenced by unity and love. And as we have the foundation at the end, of course, Jesus is brought to all blessing. Thank you very much. Well, perhaps, Lord willing, we'll have time to get started in the book of Romans. We'll get a chance to get together again tomorrow evening.
And we'll start in Romans. I thank you very much for very much being a technical problem here. But I do appreciate the opportunity to go over this brief overview of Romans. Thank you very much. How do we close? Let me just close the word of prayer. Our precious Lord Jesus, we thank you for this, your word. We thank you for dying for us in Calvary's cross, shedding your own precious blood to wash away our sins. We thank you for bringing us into your lovely family, the family of God. We thank you for this gathering at this time to meet around your person, around your word, and to just enjoy fellowship with yourself and with each other.
And Lord, we do look forward to your coming. We look forward to that time when you will save us from the very presence of sin. Lord, while we're here, help us to be faithful and to always keep you at the center of our life. center of our thoughts. We thank you again in your own precious and wonderful name. Amen.