Founders Baptist

The Gift of Prophecy - Part 1 | 1 Corinthians 12: 8-11

Jesus Identified - Part 2 | Luke 9: 34-36

Jesus Identified - Part 1| Luke 9: 34-36

Introduction: 
We have now arrived at the place where Paul gives voice to the objection that he regularly faces in his ministry when teaching the truths about God’s sovereignty in salvation. He gives voice to the kind of objection that he meets with when explaining the unbelief of so many Jews, and when he insists that what was being witnessed in the response of Israel to their Messiah was, in fact, the outworking of God’s sovereign purposes and promises. 
The way that lost humanity responds, when a preacher insists that God acts like God, is to accuse that preacher of making God a God of injustice. 
I said it to you before, but when we preach the truths of God’s sovereign grace, man, in his sinfulness, interprets those truths as injustice. And one of the ways that you know that you are preaching the truth, is that you meet WITH THE SAME RESPONSES THAT PAUL MET WITH. 
Now, we want to be careful, because there have been people who explained God’s sovereignty in a way that DOESN’T accord with all of Scripture. 
There have been people who have interpreted God’s sovereignty in a way that would see God as having no love for lost humanity, no true desire to see anyone but His elect reconciled to Him. There are those who understanding the outworking of God’s sovereignty in salvation in a way that DOESN’T involve man receiving Christ by a choice. 
In other words, there are some people who have preached about God’s sovereignty in a way that WOULD represent something that falls short of God’s righteousness. Which is to say, THEY HAVE SKEWED what God has revealed about Himself. 
BUT WHAT I’M SAYING IS THAT WHEN THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY, AS IT REALLY IS, IS CAREFULLY TAUGHT FROM SCRIPTURE, IT IS SOMETHING THAT THE NATURAL MAN FINDS OUT OF STEP WITH HIS SENSE OF FAIRNESS. 
I also said that Paul’s defense of God, when that charge is leveled, is equally instructive. His defense of God is not an attempt to ROB GOD of His rights as God, to DIMINISH the freedom that God has, but to MAGNIFIFY GOD’S RIGHTS AND GOD’S FREEDOM. 
Far from backing away from the idea that God is absolutely free in His choices, Paul doubles down. He EMPHASIZES IT. Indeed, he does more than that, HE PROVES IT, FROM SCRIPTURE. 
 That’s what we see him do in these verses. 
We will examine verses 14-18 under four headings. (1) The justice of God defended (2) The freedom of God demonstrated (3) The priority of God declared (4) The rights of God embraced. And, we will see that all of this adds up to perfect justice. 
THE JUSTICE OF GOD DEFENDED (vs.14) 
As Paul did earlier in Romans, he answers an unthinkable suggestion with a swift rejection. 
THE QUESTION: “What shall we say then?” 
What will our response be to the truth that God made a free and sovereign choice, not based on works performed or works foreseen, when He chose Abraham? 
What will our response be when the Word of God tells us that He did the exact same thing in the case of Isaac, and again, in the case of Jacob? 
What will our response be when we learn that the same sovereign freedom that explained physical Israel, also explains spiritual Israel? 
That is, the same God who was free to grant salvation privileges to a particular nation, is free to grant everlasting life to particular individuals, HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO THAT? 
THE SUGGESTION: IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THIS MEANS THAT GOD ISN’T A GOD OF ABSOLUTE JUSTICE? 
“BY NO MEANS!” 
God’s justice is defended by a swift denial that God could be guilty of injustice. 
But we do need to understand what is being asked. 
Why is it being asked. 
And HOW GOD’S ANSWER COMES FROM A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE THAN THE QUESTION. 
What is injustice, by God’s standard? 
What would it mean for God to be unjust? 
FROM MAN’S POINT OF VIEW, FROM THE QUESTIONER’S POINT OF VIEW, INJUSTICE ON GOD’S PART IS GOD ACTING IN A WAY THAT ISN’T “FAIR.” 
Man expects for God to act in a way that accords with man’s sense of fairness. 
Man expects for God to treat all men exactly the same. 
And if God doesn’t, then man says that this is injustice. 
But what is justice from God’s point of view? 
IT IS DOING WHAT IS RIGHT. 
IT IS UPRIGHTNESS. 
IT IS ACTION TAKEN, DECISIONS RENDERED, THAT PERFECTLY ACCORD WITH HIS OWN PERFECT WISDOM AND CHARACTER. 
God is genuinely good. 
God is truly light. 
THERE IS NO DARKNESS IN GOD. 
THERE IS NOTHING CROOKED IN GOD. 
THERE IS NOTHING DISHONEST IN GOD. 
THERE IS NOTHING IN GOD THAT ISN’T AS IT SHOULD BE. 
He is qualified to judge men; men are not qualified to judge Him. 
Is God’s freedom APPROPRIATE? Is it possible that God is conducting Himself in a way that shouldn’t be? 
NO!! 
OR, PERHAPS TO GET MORE TO THE POINT. DOES PAUL’S MESSAGE ABOUT THESE THINGS PRESENT GOD IN A WAY THAT WOULD MAKE HIM UNJUST BECAUSE IT PRESENTS GOD IN A WAY THAT HE REALLY ISN’T? 
Is it possible that God would truly be guilty of injustice, or is it possible that Paul’s explanation of what God has done would represent injustice? 
No. Why not?

Introduction:
We have now arrived at the place where Paul gives voice to the objection that he regularly faces in his ministry when teaching the truths about God’s sovereignty in salvation. He gives voice to the kind of objection that he meets with when explaining the unbelief of so many Jews, and when he insists that what was being witnessed in the response of Israel to their Messiah was, in fact, the outworking of God’s sovereign purposes and promises.
The way that lost humanity responds, when a preacher insists that God acts like God, is to accuse that preacher of making God a God of injustice.
I said it to you before, but when we preach the truths of God’s sovereign grace, man, in his sinfulness, interprets those truths as injustice. And one of the ways that you know that you are preaching the truth, is that you meet WITH THE SAME RESPONSES THAT PAUL MET WITH.
Now, we want to be careful, because there have been people who explained God’s sovereignty in a way that DOESN’T accord wit

The Justice of God | Verse By Verse Exposition of Romans 9:14-18

Introduction: 
A theodicy is a defense of God’s actions. 
The claim is that God has done something wrong. 
The claim is that God has done something that does not add up to good or does not add up to justice. 
A theodicy is an answer to such a claim. It is a vindication of God’s character. It is a demonstration, a defense, that shows that the claim is false. 
Romans chapter 9 represents such a defense. 
Paul raises a question (has the Word of God failed), answers the question, and then anticipates a false claim based on a true answer, and then answers that false claim with a defense of God’s character. 
HE DOES NOT DO THIS OUT OF ACADEMIC INTEREST. This is not just theoretical for Paul. 
These are the very questions, and objections, and accusations, that Paul dealt with in his ministry. 
And as I look at this theodicy, a couple of things stand out to me at the very outset. One of these I have mentioned many times before, but it bears repeating. 
WE WILL MEET WITH THE SAME OBJECTIONS PAUL MET WITH IF WE PREACH THE SAME MESSAGE 
This is something that is very instructive, and I think obvious. 
If you take the Arminian position with respect to man’s ability or inability in sin, and God’s sovereignty in salvation, you will NEVER meet with the objections that Paul met with. But if you preach the truths recognized by a reformed soteriology (the truths of election, predestination, effectual calling, etc.), it is THEN that you meet WITH THE VERY SAME OBJECTIONS PAUL HAD TO ANSWER. 
It seems to me that this is one way that you can test your ministry, and your doctrine, against the New Testament standard. Do I meet with the same enemies? Do I meet with the same agitation? Do I meet with the same objections? 
But the second thing that stands out to me, and again, is VERY instructive, has to do with Paul’s defense of God on the question of sovereignty versus an Arminian defense of God on the same question. 
 
WE WILL DEFEND GOD’S CHARACTER IN THE SAME WAY PAUL DID IF WE ARE PREACHING THE SAME MESSAGE 
We will see, when get to verse 14, that the question of JUSTICE is raised based upon God’s CHOICES. Are God’s electing purposes somehow unfair? 
The Arminian defense of God says that the problem is one of misunderstanding God’s sovereignty. What we are missing, they say, is that God’s choices are only reflective of man’s choices. The Arminian defense of God is one that makes God just by MAGNIFYING MAN’S FREEDOM OF CHOICE. 
All God does is simply affirm man’s choice. This is true with salvation; this is true with reprobation. 
God looked down through the corridors of time and chose those whom He knew would respond positively to Jesus — to the gospel. God chooses those who choose themselves. God chooses those who make the right choice. 
NOW, SOMETIMES, THOSE WHO ARGUE LIKE THIS WILL DO SO INDIRECTLY. That is, they will say that this entire chapter is misunderstood because it has nothing to do with the individual salvation of sinners. This chapter, they say, has to do with choices made regarding nations. BUT WHEN IT COMES TO THE MATTER OF INDIVIDUAL SALVATION, it is the matter of man’s choice that is determinative in the final analysis. 
If a person is saved, yes, Jesus did all the work, but it was the man himself who was responsible to choose Jesus, and his choice is not explained by a predetermination on God’s part. 
In whatever way you explain the salvation of a sinner, you do not explain it in terms of a sovereign, free, choice on God’s part. 
And the same is true with reprobation. God has nothing to do with making a choice that in any way determined the lost man’s future. 
GOD IS DEFENDED ON THE GROUNDS OF MAN’S FREEDOM OF CHOICE! 
BUT WHAT WE FIND IN ROMANS 9 IS JUST THE OPPOSITE OF THAT! 
What Paul magnifies in these verses is NOT MAN’S FREEDOM OF CHOICE, BUT GOD’S FREEDOM OF CHOICE. 
At every point, what the apostle is fighting for, is the CREATOR’S RIGHT TO DO, WITH WHAT HE MADE AND WHAT HE OWNS, EXACTLY WHAT HE CHOOSES. 
And even though Paul takes up the matter of God’s choices regarding nations or peoples, the whole reason he takes it up has to do with the lost condition of individual sinners. WHY ARE HIS KINSMEN REJECTORS OF THEIR MESSIAH? WHY ARE SO MANY JEWS LOST? 
So, you cannot avoid the question of individual salvation in this chapter. 
 
This is a trustworthy test as to whether you have understood Paul’s teaching here. Do you defend the character of God in the same way that the apostle does? 
NEW TESTAMENT SALVATION THEOLOGY DOES NOT EXALT MAN’S FREEDOM ABOVE GOD’S. 
NEW TESTAMENT SALVATION THEOLOGY MAKES MAN SUBJECT TO THE FREEDOM OF GOD, AND GOD IS FREE TO SHOW MERCY TO WHOMEVER HE WANTS. 
So, before we look at Paul’s argument here, ask yourself whether you are standing WITH the apostle, or standing AGAINST the apostle, in terms of the big picture. Do you stand against the apostle by voicing your objections in the very way the apostle feels necessary to answer in this chapter?

Introduction:
A theodicy is a defense of God’s actions. 
The claim is that God has done something wrong. 
The claim is that God has done something that does not add up to good or does not add up to justice. 
A theodicy is an answer to such a claim. It is a vindication of God’s character. It is a demonstration, a defense, that shows that the claim is false.
Romans chapter 9 represents such a defense. 
Paul raises a question (has the Word of God failed), answers the question, and then anticipates a false claim based on a true answer, and then answers that false claim with a defense of God’s character.
HE DOES NOT DO THIS OUT OF ACADEMIC INTEREST. This is not just theoretical for Paul.
These are the very questions, and objections, and accusations, that Paul dealt with in his ministry.
And as I look at this theodicy, a couple of things stand out to me at the very outset. One of these I have mentioned many times before, but it bears repeating.
WE WILL MEET WITH THE SAME OBJECTIONS PAUL MET 

The Freedom of God’s Will |  A Verse by Verse Exposition of Romans 9:8-13

Introduction: 
The intense sorrow that Paul knows over the lostness of the Jewish people, was not just personal, it was theological. 
God related Himself to this people by covenant. To them belonged great privilege, as Paul noted in the first 5 verses. 
As unbelievable as it was, this people who had been given so much, had crucified their Messiah. 
This is what Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. He preached that ISRAEL needed to recognize their error. 
ESV Acts 2:36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." 
This is the same witness that Peter and John gave when they were called before the council for healing a man in Jesus name. 
ESV Acts 4: 5 On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, "By what power or by what name did you do this?" 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead-- by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." 
Again, not just emphasizing the truth of who Jesus is and what He did, but the truth about ISRAREL, and what they had done with Jesus. 
In those earliest days of the church, it appears that there was even the hope that the Jewish people would immediately recognize their error and turn in mass to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 
 
 
In the sermon that Peter preached following the healing of the crippled man in the temple, he said this. 
ESV Acts 3:17 "And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. 
But by the time that Paul writes Romans, toward the end of his 3rd missionary journey, around AD 56, it had become apparent that Israel would not be characterized, for the moment, by mass conversion, but by mass rejection. 
That not only broke the hearts of converted Jews; it raised a large theological question. 
WHAT ABOUT THE INVESTMENT GOD MADE IN ISRAEL? 
WHAT ABOUT THE ENTIRE OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY WITH THE NATION? 
WHAT ABOUT THE COVENANTS, THE PROMISES, THE FATHERS, THE LAW, THE GLORY, AND ALL THE OTHER PRIVILEGES THAT BELONGED TO THIS PEOPLE BY GOD’S CHOICE? 
And, what about the spiritual security that belongs to the plans and purposes of God? 
What does Israel’s unbelief say about the Word of God? 
Did God’s investment in Israel represent a miscalculation on His part? He made promises to them, will He not fulfill them? And if He will fulfill them, how do we think about their current rejection of Christ? 
Paul answers these questions, and he knows the importance of the answer. Unbelieving Jews did not see the rejection of Jesus as a commentary on them. They saw the mass rejection of Jesus as a commentary on Jesus. How could so many be so wrong? 
ISRAEL’S UNBELIEF DOES NOT REPRESENT A FAILURE OF GOD’S PROMISES (vs.6) 
It is not the case that God purposed something that did not come to pass. Israel’s unbelief is not a failure of God’s plans. It does not represent God’s promises coming short of their goal. 
God does not declare things that He cannot deliver. 
THAT IS THE SENSE OF THE PHRASE “WORD OF GOD” in this verse. 
The word of God, here, is the revelation of God’s purpose. His plan. His predeterminations that have been made known. 
What God says He will do; He watches over His Word, to perform it. 
 Jeremiah 1:12 Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it."

Introduction:
The intense sorrow that Paul knows over the lostness of the Jewish people, was not just personal, it was theological.
God related Himself to this people by covenant. To them belonged great privilege, as Paul noted in the first 5 verses.
As unbelievable as it was, this people who had been given so much, had crucified their Messiah.
This is what Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. He preached that ISRAEL needed to recognize their error.
ESV Acts 2:36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified."
This is the same witness that Peter and John gave when they were called before the council for healing a man in Jesus name.
ESV Acts 4: 5 On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, "By wh

The True Israel | Verse By Verse Exposition of Romans 9:6-7

Introduction: 
New life in Jesus Christ means new burdens. Far from the Christian life meaning no cares, no stresses, no difficulties, it in fact means a new set of cares, added stresses, added difficulties. 
Without question, our life represents burdens lifted. 
There is the sweet knowledge of the forgiveness of our sins. 
There is the new fellowship that we know with God. 
There is a peace, a supernatural peace, that belongs only to those who are saved. 
The kind of difficulty we knew in our lostness is sweetly replaced by a kind of difficulty that you only know in salvation. 
One of those difficulties is a brand-new concern for the souls of the people you love. 
Romans 8 ends on the emotional high of security. Romans 9 reminds us that we aren’t just concerned for ourselves, we are concerned for others. 
You know a new concern for all lost people. But there is a special aching, an informed aching, for the people who belong to your own clan. 
A new burden for your immediate family, for your extended family, and for all the people you’ve had a personal relationship with throughout your life. 
THIS BURDEN IS ESPECIALLY HEAVY WHEN THE PEOPLE YOU LONG TO SEE SAVED REGARD YOU AS THEIR ENEMY. 
This is the case for many Christians. Your love, your loyalty toward a person, is regarded by that person who needs the gospel as if it is a betrayal. 
“Why won’t you just accept me as I am?” 
“Why do you always have to talk about Christ, or the Bible, or my soul?” 
“Why can’t you be happy for the choices I’ve made, and the life I’ve chosen to live?” 
“Why do you treat me like I’m a great sinner, instead of celebrating my choices?” 
“Why do you condemn me?” 
“Why have you turned your back on how we were raised?” 
“Why can’t you just be like you were before all of this church stuff?” 
In some cases, even, “Why do you question my relationship with God?” 
There are many more of those kinds of statements that exist, but you get the picture. 
The burden of knowing that the people you love are without Christ, is made even heavier because it feels like you can’t even get close enough to give them the answer. They run from you, they resent you, they oppose you. 
PAUL KNEW THAT KIND OF BURDEN. HE GIVES VOICE TO IT IN THESE FIVE VERSES. 
This morning we think about our burden for sinners. We think about Paul’s burden and our burden. 
THE SINCERITY OF PAUL’S BURDEN (vs.1-2) 
Now, there is something unique about the burden that Paul describes here. Paul’s burden was for fellow Jews. 
His burden was for his people, the people chosen by God out of all the nations of the earth. God, by His own free will, had chosen to establish a covenant relationship with a people descended from Abraham, through Isaac, and Jacob. 
God had chosen the nation Israel to be a people upon whom He would demonstrate His love and faithfulness, and through whom He would make Himself known to the world. He would make Himself known by how He took care of them, by how He disciplined them, and by the special revelation that He gave to them. 
Through this people would come the Savior, the Messiah, the King over all realms. 
He’s going to describe that in a moment, but first he feels the necessity to underscore the sincerity of his concern for them. 
THE NEED FOR PAUL’S STATEMENTS 
Why does Paul feel this necessity? Well, because it was denied. Paul’s faith in Christ was viewed by his fellow Jews (those who were lost) as a defection. 
He was viewed as a traitor. 
He was viewed as someone who was attacking all that he has once held to. 
And it wasn’t enough that he had done this himself, he was now out preaching this message for the conversion of Jews and Gentiles. From the vantagepoint of his enemies, he was promoting the “imposter.” 
Paul’s ministry, of course, always placed on emphasis on demonstrating the unity of his message with all that God had done in the past. 
He was always showing how the message Christ was not a nullification of God’s law, nor a contradiction to it, BUT THE FULFILLMENT OF IT. 
Far from being out of step with what God had done in previous times, his faith in Jesus was a completion and a continuation of what God had done in previous times. 
God gave the New Covenant. 
God brought the church into being. 
There are distinctions to be noted when comparing God’s work in the Old Testament times and the New. 
But there is no disagreement. 
Paul is the friend of Israel. Paul is a Jew himself. But he is now viewed with suspicion and with opposition. 
Israel’s friend is regarded as Israel’s enemy. 
And in that way he was simply sharing in the treatment that our Lord experienced. 
John 1:10–13 (ESV) 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Introduction:
New life in Jesus Christ means new burdens. Far from the Christian life meaning no cares, no stresses, no difficulties, it in fact means a new set of cares, added stresses, added difficulties. 
Without question, our life represents burdens lifted.
There is the sweet knowledge of the forgiveness of our sins. 
There is the new fellowship that we know with God. 
There is a peace, a supernatural peace, that belongs only to those who are saved. 
The kind of difficulty we knew in our lostness is sweetly replaced by a kind of difficulty that you only know in salvation.
One of those difficulties is a brand-new concern for the souls of the people you love. 
Romans 8 ends on the emotional high of security. Romans 9 reminds us that we aren’t just concerned for ourselves, we are concerned for others.
You know a new concern for all lost people. But there is a special aching, an informed aching, for the people who belong to your own clan. 
A new burden for your immediate family, for yo

Paul’s Burden & Ours | Verse By Verse Exposition of Romans 9:1-5

The Messiah Comes To His Temple | Luke 19:45-46

The Excellent Wife Part 1 | Proverbs 31:10-12

Introduction: 
Something underestimated, at times, when it comes to the sound handling of the Word of God, is the responsibility to rightly grasp the SENSE of a passage. 
What is the attitude represented in the words? 
What is the purpose of the words on the page? 
What are the words meant to accomplish in the listener or the reader? 
There have been many sermons preached that paid attention to the words of a passage, but plowed over the sense of the words, the goal of the passage. And when that happens, though the words might be rightly defined, and in that sense understood, they are not allowed to aim at their intended effect. 
It is comparable to saying to a person, “Did you say these words?” “Yes, I did, but you did not take them in the spirit in which they were given.” 
What we have, in this section of Romans, are words intended to teach the BELIEVER that salvation is free and final. 
These are words that CAN expose false professions of faith. But that would be a secondary use for these sections. The primary purpose is that THE PEOPLE OF GOD would be comforted, and encouraged, and made confident with respect to God’s saving work in their lives. 
The main point of the sections is not to awaken deceived people. The main point of the section is to fill the hearts of saved people with a true sense of their freedom, and the joyful responsibility that belongs to them as a free people. The point is wonder and worship. 
LOOK AT WHAT GOD HAS DONE! 
LOOK AT THE FREENESS OF IT ALL! 
LOOK AT THE SECURITY OF IT ALL! 
LOOK AT THE WONDER OF IT ALL! 
LIVE IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF IT ALL! 
That is the attitude of these verses. 
THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE VERSES CANNOT WARN. 
We have recently studied a brief warning that Paul gives in the midst of his explanation and application of the gospel. 
If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if, by the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 
Saved people are people who deal with their sin. 
Saved people have the Holy Spirit, and He leads us. 
And last week, we saw exactly what that leadership is. It is HIS LEADERSHIP that guarantees a new pathway of righteousness. It is His leadership that guarantees a life of repentance, a life characterized by obedience. 
We saw that salvation means A NEW FAMILY, and it means A NEW FOLLOWING. 
And we saw that this speaks of security because everyone who is in the family has the Spirit of God, and His presence guarantees the final salvation of those who are now God’s sons by faith in Jesus Christ. His presence speaks of our certain future inheritance. In fact, His presence is the FIRST TASTE of what now belongs to us, the first taste of our everlasting future. 
That teaching represents THE FIRST of FOUR REASONS why the believer can have assurance. 
What we have in this section are four evidences that one really is a child of God: four evidences of sonship. Which means four reasons for assurance. 
We saw the first one in verse 14. 
The evidence that I’m a child of God is that I’m led by God’s Spirit 
This morning we begin by looking at the second. 
The evidence that I’m a child of God is that I’ve received the Spirit of adoption. 
Paul teaches us what we have received by contrasting it with what is no longer true of us. There are two main points as we look at verse 15. (1) What we did not receive when we were converted (2) What we have received because we are converted

Introduction:
Something underestimated, at times, when it comes to the sound handling of the Word of God, is the responsibility to rightly grasp the SENSE of a passage.
What is the attitude represented in the words?
What is the purpose of the words on the page?
What are the words meant to accomplish in the listener or the reader?
There have been many sermons preached that paid attention to the words of a passage, but plowed over the sense of the words, the goal of the passage. And when that happens, though the words might be rightly defined, and in that sense understood, they are not allowed to aim at their intended effect.
It is comparable to saying to a person, “Did you say these words?” “Yes, I did, but you did not take them in the spirit in which they were given.”
What we have, in this section of Romans, are words intended to teach the BELIEVER that salvation is free and final. 
These are words that CAN expose false professions of faith. But that would be a secondary use for these 

From Fearful Slaves to Loving Sons | Romans 8:15-17

Introduction: 
One of the sad realities associated with growing older in this country, during a time when your nation has experienced the judgment of God in the form of a moral freefall, is the awareness that you have witnessed the loss of an appreciation for certain words. 
Character words. Words that once had meaning, not only in the church, but due to Christian influence, even in the world at large. These words no longer to seem to matter, at least not to the degree they once did. 
Words like: 
Honor 
Integrity 
Loyalty 
Faithfulness 
And a word that we think about as we look at our text, the word used in the NASB, the word “obligation.” Or as the ESV has it, “debtors.” 
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the English word obligation this way, “An act or course of action to which a person is morally or legally bound; a duty or commitment.” 
The Greek word translated “debtors” is ὀφειλέτης and the Greek lexicon defines the word, in this context to mean: 
② one who is under obligation in a moral or social sense, one under obligation, one liable for 
The Holy Spirit of God, through Paul, having told us of what the new condition is that Christians have been brought into, now speaks to us of the OBLIGATIONS that belong to that condition. 
Let it register with us that redemption brings new responsibility. 
Salvation produces a new freedom that results in a new ABILITY and that new ability imparts a brand-new set of obligations. 
Obligation is not a bad word. The life of Christian obligation is a glorious condition, not a depressing one. 
 The obligations of the Christian life speak of God’s grace to us. 
This morning we think about our obligation as a redeemed people, salvation’s obligation. 
THE CHRISTIAN’S OBLIGATION STATED (vs.12) 
The transition, here, is emphatic, and it is as instructive as the statement itself. The new obligation has a foundation. It is the result of what Paul has just taught us. 
THE FOUNDATION FOR OUR OBLIGATION 
 
THE NEW OBLIGATION IS THE RESULT OF FORGIVENESS (vs.1-3) 
THE NEW OBLIGATION IS THE RESULT OF INTERNAL TRANSFORMATION (vs.4) 
THE NEW OBLIGATION IS THE RESULT OF A NEW HOPE GUARANTEED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT’S PRESENCE (vs.9-11) 
Indeed, we could sum all of this up by saying that the Christian now stands in a new place of moral responsibility due to the fact that now he or she knows LIFE IN THE SPIRIT. 
James Montgomery Boice – “Paul is arguing that Christians “have an obligation” to live according to the Holy Spirit, rather than according to the sinful nature. And the reason for this, which he has just stated, is that the Holy Spirit has joined them to Jesus Christ so that: (1) they have been delivered from the wrath of God against them for their sin and been brought into an entirely new realm, the sphere of God’s rule in Christ; (2) they have been given a new nature, being made alive to spiritual things to which they were previously dead; and (3) they have been assured of an entirely new destiny in which not only will they live with God forever, but even their physical bodies will be resurrected. These are things God has done (or will do) for us. We have not done them for ourselves; indeed, we could not have. But, says Paul, because God has done them for us, “we have an obligation” to live like God has lived. We must—it is an imperative—live for him.”

Introduction:
One of the sad realities associated with growing older in this country, during a time when your nation has experienced the judgment of God in the form of a moral freefall, is the awareness that you have witnessed the loss of an appreciation for certain words.
Character words. Words that once had meaning, not only in the church, but due to Christian influence, even in the world at large. These words no longer to seem to matter, at least not to the degree they once did.
Words like:
Honor
Integrity
Loyalty
Faithfulness
And a word that we think about as we look at our text, the word used in the NASB, the word “obligation.” Or as the ESV has it, “debtors.”
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the English word obligation this way, “An act or course of action to which a person is morally or legally bound; a duty or commitment.”
The Greek word translated “debtors” is ὀφειλέτης and the Greek lexicon defines the word, in this context to mean:
② one who is under obligation in a mor

Salvation’s Obligation | Romans 8:12-13

Introduction: 
One of the great errors that the church has had to battle throughout history is the viewing of salvation as something that is not NECESSARILY experiential. 
According to this error, salvation occurs wherever you find a willingness to profess faith in Jesus. “Pray this prayer.” “Say these words.” “Welcome to the family of God!” “Don’t ever allow someone, or some set of circumstances, to cause you to doubt.” “You asked Jesus to save you, and that settles it.” 
What also characterizes this error is a gutted gospel message. A gospel that is not the gospel. 
Professions of faith are called for, but in response to a message that doesn’t match the fulness of the biblical gospel. 
Sometimes, no mention of sin. 
If sin IS mentioned, it is often minimized and dealt with superficially. 
There is a superficial presentation of God, of Christ, of what salvation really is, and what it means for someone to believe. 
YOU HAVE TRUNCATED MESSAGE 
ELICITING A TRUNCATED RESPONSE 
Those who fall prey to this error emphasize salvation from the standpoint of its legal results. Salvation is a legal matter. Salvation is factual, it is objectively true, but it is not necessarily something that changes a life in this age. “It SHOULD. It CAN. But we cannot say that it always WILL.” 
So that, it is possible, according to this view, to have been saved from the fires of hell, and brought into a heavenly citizenship, and there be no real difference in your life right now. 
The results from this error has been devastating. 
On the personal level, there are many holding on to a false assurance of salvation. 
There have been many who have been “evangelized” in a way that imparts that false assurance. 
On the corporate level, there are churches full of lost people who have made professions of faith in Jesus Christ. 
RELIGIOUS BUT NOT REGENERATE. 
 
 If this section of Romans did not make anything else clear, we should be clear on this, that the absence or presence of salvation is not something that produces a result that is purely EXTERNAL to a person. The absence or presence of salvation is seen IN THE LIFE. 
Salvation does not just change one’s legal status, it changes the person. 
So far in this chapter, we have seen what the absence of salvation looks like. 
Such is the condition of the natural man, that even if you give him the law of God, he cannot be saved by it. For salvation to occur, God had to do what the law COULD NOT DO, due to the weakness of the flesh. 
And God did that. He did it by sending His own son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. This resulted, not only in a right standing with God received by faith, but a new liberty imparted by the Spirit. 
God did this by His Son precisely so that His people would not be able to walk in a new righteousness. They are not saved BY that righteousness, but they have been saved FOR that righteousness. 
The New Testament consistently sounds that message. 
ESV Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 
This is the message Paul has been sounding throughout Romans. 
ESV Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 
Not only is this new life APPROPRIATE, it is CERTAIN. 
ESV Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 
ESV Romans 6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

Introduction:
One of the great errors that the church has had to battle throughout history is the viewing of salvation as something that is not NECESSARILY experiential. 
According to this error, salvation occurs wherever you find a willingness to profess faith in Jesus. “Pray this prayer.” “Say these words.” “Welcome to the family of God!” “Don’t ever allow someone, or some set of circumstances, to cause you to doubt.” “You asked Jesus to save you, and that settles it.”
What also characterizes this error is a gutted gospel message. A gospel that is not the gospel. 
Professions of faith are called for, but in response to a message that doesn’t match the fulness of the biblical gospel.
Sometimes, no mention of sin. 
If sin IS mentioned, it is often minimized and dealt with superficially. 
There is a superficial presentation of God, of Christ, of what salvation really is, and what it means for someone to believe.
YOU HAVE TRUNCATED MESSAGE
ELICITING A TRUNCATED RESPONSE
Those who fall pr

Life In The Spirit | Romans 8:9-11

Introduction: 
The book of Romans is an extended and detailed explanation and application of the gospel. 
It defines the gospel. 
It demonstrates the need for the gospel. 
It identifies what stands in opposition to the gospel. 
It clarifies how what God has done throughout history accords with the gospel. 
It reasons with us, showing us why the gospel is what it is. 
It anchors the gospel in the Old Testament Scriptures, showing how the new revelation God has given completely accords with what came before it. 
It demonstrates what our attitude should be about the gospel, and what our attitude should be concerning those who stand in need of the gospel. 
It glories in what the gospel provides. 
It carefully teaches us how to apply the gospel to our daily lives in the real world. And, it does so, showing us those applications for virtually every realm of life. 
And it is laid out in a way that we can follow its progression. 
So that it is no surprise, when we come to the 8th chapter of Romans, that Paul gathers up what has come before, in his earlier teaching, before he celebrates the certainty and the finality of all that is accomplished by God’s saving grace. 
Verses 1-4 represent a recapitulation, a summarizing, a restating, of the teaching that has led us to the 8th chapter. 
We will cover Paul’s review under three headings. (1) The deliverance announced (2) The deliverance specified (3) The deliverance explained. 
THE DELIVERANCE ANNOUNCED (vs.1a) 
Notice that Paul begins with the word “therefore.” What he has in mind is not just the teaching that he has just given in chapter 7, but the teaching that began in chapter 5. He is teaching the marvelous good news of justification by faith. 
To say that there is NO CONDEMNATION is to say that there is NO GUILT and there is no SENTENCE AND PUNISHMENT that would belong to such guilt. 
 
When man is examined on the basis of his ability to keep the law, when he is measured by the righteousness that he can ACHIEVE, the result is what we just saw in chapter 7. 
The law meets him with condemnation. 
The law tells him that he is a sinner. 
The law demonstrates that he is a slave. 
The law exposes the fact that he is fleshly and impotent before the power of sin. 
The law pronounces God’s verdict on such a person, and that verdict is DEATH. 
The man who is “under law” and not yet “under grace” is a man who is UNDER THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH. 
But the good news being announced in verse 1 is that there is ABSOLUTELY NONE OF THAT THAT IS TRUE ANY LONGER. 
No condemnation means freedom from the law’s judicial claims. 
No condemnation means a right standing before God, given as a gift, received by faith. 
That was the main question leading up to the 5th chapter of Romans. How does a human being stand before God JUSTIFIED? How is one declared RIGHT WITH GOD? 
ESV Romans 2:13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 
ESV Romans 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. 
ESV Romans 3:24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 
ESV Romans 3:28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 
ESV Romans 4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 
AND THEN IN THE 5TH CHAPTER PAUL ANNOUNCES THE SOLUTION. HE TELLS US WHAT IS TRUE OF THOSE WHO HAVE BELIEVED GOD’S GOOD NEWS REGARDING SALVATION IN HIS SON. 
ESV Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
ESV Romans 5:9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 
 
WHAT PAUL MADE PLAIN IS THAT ONCE A PERSON BELIEVES IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, THEY ARE DECLARED RIGHT WITH GOD, AND THAT RIGHT STANDING WITH GOD, GIVEN AS A GIFT, IS NEVER REVOKED. IT IS PERMANENT. IT IS FINAL. IT IS GLORIOUSLY FREE, AND THEREFORE IT REPRESENTS PERFECT SECURITY.

Introduction:
The book of Romans is an extended and detailed explanation and application of the gospel.
It defines the gospel.
It demonstrates the need for the gospel.
It identifies what stands in opposition to the gospel.
It clarifies how what God has done throughout history accords with the gospel.
It reasons with us, showing us why the gospel is what it is.
It anchors the gospel in the Old Testament Scriptures, showing how the new revelation God has given completely accords with what came before it.
It demonstrates what our attitude should be about the gospel, and what our attitude should be concerning those who stand in need of the gospel.
It glories in what the gospel provides.
It carefully teaches us how to apply the gospel to our daily lives in the real world. And, it does so, showing us those applications for virtually every realm of life.
And it is laid out in a way that we can follow its progression.
So that it is no surprise, when we come to the 8th chapter of Romans, that P

No Condemnation | Romans 8:1-4

Introduction: 
We have taken considerable time, over the past few weeks, to explain why we understand the man of Romans 7 in the way that we do. 
We believe that Paul is vividly describing what his condition was, indeed, the condition of every person trying to be saved by law keeping, prior to salvation in Christ. He is making use of the dramatic present. He is standing now in the place of salvation but looking back at what someone experiences when they are sufficiently enlightened as to the true nature of the law, but not yet enlightened as to the limitations of the law. This is NOT just a personal testimony. This a vivid way of DEPICTING what he has just given us, in the previous section, DOCTRINALLY. This depiction is in the interest of making a doctrinal point about the purpose of the law, the inability of the law, due to man’s fallen nature (8:3a). 
And when I say, the experience of anyone trying to be saved by law keeping, I mean anyone who is in the position that Paul describes. 
This is an unregenerate person, but not just any unregenerate person. 
This is the person, Paul describes in the 9th verse, to whom “the commandment came.” 
This is someone now experiencing the work of the law in the hand of God’s Spirit. 
They have been granted insight into the true nature of God’s holiness, into the true nature of God’s commandments, and therefore into the true nature of their own sinfulness. 
We said, last time, that the two categories in which people dwell spiritually (lost or saved, in darkness or in the light, in Satan’s dominion or God’s kingdom) are fixed categories. But there is variety within those fixed categories. And it is God’s grace that explains that variety in the realm of lostness. 
All lost men are lost. But there are some lost men who have received more light than others. There are some lost men in whom God is at work, granting conviction and a growing understanding of their inability to be saved by the law. That is the kind of person Paul describes. 
They are discovering that the problem in their life is NOT that there is anything wrong with the law, but rather, that there is something desperately wrong with them. 
And yet, that awareness does not save them. To be saved they must look to Christ. 
This is the description of someone being brought to that point of desperation where they cry out to God looking for God’s answer to their problem. 
God’s answer, of course, is His Son. 
This explains why you have statements in this section that don’t seem to fully accord with the view that this man is unregenerate, and yet you have other statements that don’t seem to fully accord with the view that he is regenerate. 
There is a sense in which he is standing between two worlds. It is comparable to someone like Nicodemus who comes to Jesus by night. Nicodemus has enough light that he knows Christ is not who His most ardent enemies say that He is, but at the same time, not enough light to understand the new birth or to declare his faith in Jesus. Nicodemus was an unregenerate man experiencing an enlightenment, a stirring, taking place in his soul. 
So, again, I wish to be clear. We are not saying that there is a 3rd category. We are saying that God is at work bringing people to a sense of their lostness, shutting up every possible way of escape in their own mind, as He leads them to His Son. 
Every other way of salvation, every other hope of deliverance, MUST be exhausted in a sinner’s heart and mind before they can ever trust in God’s Son.

Introduction:
We have taken considerable time, over the past few weeks, to explain why we understand the man of Romans 7 in the way that we do.
We believe that Paul is vividly describing what his condition was, indeed, the condition of every person trying to be saved by law keeping, prior to salvation in Christ. He is making use of the dramatic present. He is standing now in the place of salvation but looking back at what someone experiences when they are sufficiently enlightened as to the true nature of the law, but not yet enlightened as to the limitations of the law. This is NOT just a personal testimony. This a vivid way of DEPICTING what he has just given us, in the previous section, DOCTRINALLY. This depiction is in the interest of making a doctrinal point about the purpose of the law, the inability of the law, due to man’s fallen nature (8:3a).
And when I say, the experience of anyone trying to be saved by law keeping, I mean anyone who is in the position that Paul describes.
Th

The Misery of the Man of Romans 7 | Romans 7:15-25

Introduction: 
There are enormous things happening in our world at the moment, gaining enormous attention, raising enormous questions, and prompting enormous conversation. And, as much as we might wish that we could avoid it all, we can’t. 
First, we are all dealing with a virus that was supposed to wipe out close to 2 million American citizens unless we took drastic measures. 
We were told that we must all stay indoors, practice social distancing, or else we didn’t love our neighbor. There was a weird rush on toilet paper, that we are still trying to get our minds around. Hand sanitizer was more valuable than gold. And, because of the fearful way (we were told) this virus could be transmitted (which varied from one report to another… see masks) NO EXCEPTIONS would be made for these restrictions. Not a hospital visit. Not a funeral. Not anything. 
NOW, there WERE essential places. Places where we could go and risk infection because we must. We could still congregate at Walmart and, in some states, liquor stores. And as we’ve recently seen, the virus is apparently not to be feared at protests. 
The major question about all of this was not whether we would comply with the directives given by our governing officials. Romans 13 gives Christians clear guidance about how to respond to government, unless we are commanded to disobey Scripture. We would submit. We would support. 
The question was how we thought about all this. The question for the church, and for individual believers, was how would we process this? 
Then, of course, in recent days we have all been familiar with the tragic death of George Floyd while in police custody. We are now witnessing the aftermath of it all. And, a part of that aftermath, is a national conversation (indeed, a global conversation) about our history, our present condition, and what the future should look like. Conversations about race, about privilege, about how society is structured. 
Once again, the major issue facing believers is “how we are thinking about these things?”. 
 How do we see this? How do we process it? 
NONE OF THIS IS ENTIRELY NEW. THIS IS JUST THE LATEST IN A WORLD FULL OF CHAOS AND OPINIONS. 
In our lifetimes, we have seen MUCH change — a seismic shift in culture. 
 
We have seen a redefinition of marriage — something (to my knowledge) unprecedented in the history of the world. 
We have lived to see society embrace homosexuality as, not only tolerable, but good. 
We have lived to see restroom facilities rearranged to accommodate people who insist that their gender is something separate from their biological sexual reality, and we have seen an avalanche of activity intended to convince us all, including the youngest of us all, that all of this is perfectly acceptable and normal. Just note the public children’s book readings that are given by men dressed up like women. 
WHAT HAS BEEN APPALLING AND INDICTING, THROUGH ALL OF THIS, IS HOW OFTEN THE CHURCH HAS BEEN FOUND TRYING TO FIT INTO THE WORLD’S GARMENTS, WHILE INSISTING THAT SHE IS HOLDING ON TO HER HISTORIC IDENTITY. 
Trying to squeeze her way into a set of clothes that she was never intended to wear, but claiming, all the while, that these were really her own brand of clothes. 
 “I know it looks and sounds the same as the current cultural narrative, with some Christianize thrown in, but actually, these are gospel issues and we are all about ‘gospel issues.’” 
How often the church of our time is found speaking in the same language, using the same jargon, spouting the same perspectives, as a world that is in darkness! 
How often the evangelical church of our time, has been willing to reevaluate what she has long believed, because of the social consciousness, the moral outrage, of a world that has already demonstrated that it has no conscience, and has no respect for what is truly moral according to Scripture. 
ARE WE TO BELIEVE THAT A WORLD LOST IN SIN, IMMERSED IN SPIRITUAL DARKNESS, ALIENATED FROM GOD, AND SO DEMONSTRABLY WRONG ON SO MANY FRONTS, IS SUDDENLY OUR GUIDE ON HOW TO LIVE IN THE WORLD? ON HOW TO THINK ABOUT OTHER HUMAN BEINGS? 
IF THE CHURCH WERE TO CHOOSE A COUNSELOR, SHE COULDN’T HAVE CHOSEN A WORSE ONE. 
SHE HAS CHOSEN THE MOST UNKNOWLEDGEABLE AND UNREASONABLE ONE. 
SHE HAS CHOSEN THE ONE WITH A 100% TRACK RECORD OF FAILURE. 
SHE HAS CHOSEN THE ONE WHO HAS NO FEAR OF GOD AND IS HOPELESSLY SELFISH. 
SHE HAS CHOSEN ONE WHO IS BLIND, AND DEAF, AND ENSLAVED, AND DEAD IN SINS. 
SHE HAS CHOSEN THE ONE WHO IS NOT HER FRIEND. THIS COUNSELOR WILL APPLAUD HER UNTIL IT NO LONGER NEEDS HER AND THEN WILL TURN ON HER. 
THE TRUE CHURCH WILL NEVER WIN THE FRIENDSHIP OF THE WORLD. And if she tries, she is siding with God’s enemies. 
ESV James 4:4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Introduction:
There are enormous things happening in our world at the moment, gaining enormous attention, raising enormous questions, and prompting enormous conversation. And, as much as we might wish that we could avoid it all, we can’t.
First, we are all dealing with a virus that was supposed to wipe out close to 2 million American citizens unless we took drastic measures. 
We were told that we must all stay indoors, practice social distancing, or else we didn’t love our neighbor. There was a weird rush on toilet paper, that we are still trying to get our minds around. Hand sanitizer was more valuable than gold. And, because of the fearful way (we were told) this virus could be transmitted (which varied from one report to another… see masks) NO EXCEPTIONS would be made for these restrictions. Not a hospital visit. Not a funeral. Not anything. 
NOW, there WERE essential places. Places where we could go and risk infection because we must. We could still congregate at Walmart and, in so

Discernment for the Ages: Proverbs 2:1-15

Introduction: 
This has been the great debate throughout the history of the interpretation of verses 14-25. Who exactly is the man Paul describes in these verses? 
We said last week that the history of interpretation can be divided up, broadly speaking, into three positions— a) This is an unregenerate man. b) This is a regenerate man at his very best. c) This is a regenerate man missing some vital element necessary for victorious Christian living. 
And I told you last week why I believe the first position is the correct one — that this is an unregenerate person. 
I believe that Paul is standing, in these verses, looking back on what his relationship was to the law of God prior to His relationship with Christ. He has taken up a position sometimes referred to as the dramatic present. He speaks in a 1st person, presents tense, way in order to tell us something vital about God’s law. I believe this, for one main reason — context. 
I want to remind you (and I felt that I stated this clearly last week, but perhaps it was lost on some) that the issue IS NOT whether a Christian sometimes FEELS like Paul’s description here. SOMETIMES WE DO. 
The issue IS NOT do we find similar phrases used elsewhere in the New Testament that DO refer to regenerate people. WE DO. I will say, however, that those places can be distinguished from Romans 7 when you look at them closely. Paul is not saying the same thing, for example, in Galatians 5:16-18 that he says here in Romans 7. They sound similar, but on closer examination they are not the same. But do we find NT language applied to the Christian that speaks to our struggle with ongoing sin? Yes. 
THE ISSUE IS NOT HOW WE FEEL, OR HOW IT SOUNDS, THE ISSUE IS TO GET TO THE HEART OF WHAT PAUL IS DOING IN THESE VERSES, AND TO ASK HOW HIS SPECIFIC STATEMENTS CONTRIBUTE TO WHAT HE HAS ALREADY BEEN DOING AND HOW THEY ACCOMPLISH HIS GOAL. 
We established last week, that when you track with the apostle’s arguments you find that his goal IS NOT to tell you about some kind of personal frustration. HIS GOAL is to vividly AMPLIFY what he has ALREADY TAUGHT US about the purpose of the law, and the limitations of the law with respect to salvation. 
THE LAW CAN DIAGNOSE but IT CAN’T CURE. 
THE LAW CAN SPECIFIY what sin is BUT IT CAN’T CHANGE THE SINNER’S NATURE 
THE LAW CAN CONDEMN but IT CAN’T REMOVE THE CONDEMNATION 
 
Paul has been teaching us that when the natural man, the fleshly man, the unregenerate man, meets with the law of God, the best that can happen is that the man SEES his sinfulness, and SENSES his bondage, so that HE CRIES OUT FOR DELIVERANCE and CEASES trying to save himself. 
The law can identify sin, and even AGITATE sin, but it can’t DELIVER from sin. 
IT IS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU REMEMBER SOMETHING ELSE THAT I SAID. 
Some will look at the statements that Paul makes here, in these verses, and say, “There is no way that an unregenerate person could say some of the things that Paul says here.” 
For example, he says that NOTHING GOOD dwells in him (7:18). 
“Is that what an unregenerate sinner says about himself?” 
Isn’t it true to say that sinners are usually quite satisfied with themselves? 
Isn’t it true that the sinner is blind to the holiness of God, and blind to the true sinfulness of their sin? 
THAT IS ABSOLUTELY THE TRUTH. 
But here is what I want you to remember. 
I’m convinced that one of Paul’s key statements, one that helps us make sense of these verses, is when previously he says of himself: 
ESV Romans 7:9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 
“BUT WHEN THE COMMANDMENT CAME.” 
Paul was unregenerate but felt alive. He felt good about himself. He felt good about his performance. 
But then, one day, he was granted insight into the commandment regarding COVETOUSNESS. He perceived something about his sinfulness that he had not clearly seen before. Now, it wasn’t just that Paul had the commandment, the commandment had come to Paul and taken hold of him. 
HE IS AN UNREGENERATE MAN, UNDER THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE CONVICTION THAT GOD BRINGS THROUGH THE LAW WHEN HE IS AT WORK BRINGING A PERSON TO THE DESPARATION THAT LOOKS TO CHRIST.

Introduction:
This has been the great debate throughout the history of the interpretation of verses 14-25. Who exactly is the man Paul describes in these verses?
We said last week that the history of interpretation can be divided up, broadly speaking, into three positions— a) This is an unregenerate man. b) This is a regenerate man at his very best. c) This is a regenerate man missing some vital element necessary for victorious Christian living.
And I told you last week why I believe the first position is the correct one — that this is an unregenerate person.
I believe that Paul is standing, in these verses, looking back on what his relationship was to the law of God prior to His relationship with Christ. He has taken up a position sometimes referred to as the dramatic present. He speaks in a 1st person, presents tense, way in order to tell us something vital about God’s law. I believe this, for one main reason — context.
I want to remind you (and I felt that I stated this clearly last

The Man of Romans Seven: Romans 7:14-15

Introduction: 
As we get to the 7th verse of Romans 7, we make our entrance onto an interpretive battlefield. 
We talked about it two weeks ago, but this chapter has an interesting history of interpretation. There are some important questions we have to answer when we come to the following verses. 
Is Paul describing his own experience, or is he using himself to talk about ANYONE’S experience? 
Is this Paul’s experience pre-conversion or post-conversion? 
Is his main point to give voice to his frustrated desire for complete holiness, or is there some other point that he is advancing? 
I’m convinced that if we hear what Paul writes here, IN IT’S CONTEXT — IF WE KEEP TRACKING WITH THE APOSTLE, then we will see that he’s advancing a tremendously important and logical argument concerning the law and its inability to save or sanctify apart from the Spirit of God and faith in Christ. 
Remember, you are either in the flesh or in the Spirit. And when someone is “in the flesh” they meet, not only with the law’s pronouncements, but a certain power that the law exerts upon unregenerate and sinful human nature. The law actually INCREASES sinning. 
The only answer to that operation of the law upon human beings is the new birth. It is freedom from the law and union with Jesus Christ. Nothing else will do, if there is to be fruit for God, except life in the Spirit. 
He is, then, telling us certain things about the law, and at the same time, telling us especially important things about unregenerate human nature. 
That is the context for what we find that follows those first 6 verses. 
To say it another way, I think people often misunderstand Romans 7 because they lift the chapter out of its context and they hear what Paul writes, NOT FOR THE ACTUAL ARGUMENT THAT HE’S ADVANCING, but through the grid of their own emotions as they struggle against sin and desire complete holiness. 
For them, Romans 7 is the chapter they go to when they want to think about their frustration with sin. For them it represents Paul giving voice to a struggle that we all know in our desire for holiness. But what I’m saying, and what I believe we will see together, is that that is not Paul’s aim. Rather, he is explaining, and personifying, the very points that he made in verses 5 and 6. 
THIS IS ABOUT THE PERFECT GOODNESS OF THE LAW OF GOD, BUT THE WEAKNESS OF THE FLESH THAT REQUIRES MORE THAN THE LAW — IF THERE IS TO BE FRUIT FOR GOD. 
So, let’s follow the apostle here. 
He says that while we were living in the flesh, the law did not transform our desires. The law agitated our desires. The result of our exposure to the law was not life. Our lives went on exhibiting the fruit of spiritual death (vs.5). 
He also says that having died to the law, being released from it, means a new way of service — the new way of the Spirit — and that the result is fruit for God (vs.4). 
Now, obviously, the apostle knows how this statement might be taken. And he now wants to answer false views of what he is saying. 
THE FIRST ANTICIPATED MISUNDERSTANDING (vs.7a) 
Does this teaching imply that the law is sin? 
Now, at first this question might not seem to make sense. How would Paul’s teaching imply that the law is sin? 
Well, the answer is found in his statement that the operation of law of God upon the unregenerate person results in fruit for death. 
What brings forth death? 
What has Paul said earlier? 
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 6:23-7:1 ESV) 
So, if the law is at work in a life in such a way that the fruit of death is the result, are we not saying that the law is an INSTRUMENT OF SIN? 
THE EMPHATIC AND BRIEF ANSWER (vs.7b) 
Paul responds, as he has done earlier in the letter, with a brief but EMPHATIC answer. 
Unthinkable! 
By no means! 
May it never be! 
THE EXTENDED ANSWER (vs.7c-12) 
But, thankfully, Paul does more than simply deny the accusation. He explains why the accusation does not have merit. 
 
THE LAW IDENTIFIES SIN (vs.7) 
Paul says, the law does not CREATE sin. The law IDENTIFIES it. 
When Paul says that without the law he would not have “known sin,” he doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t have known it in his committing of it. He means he would have known it in terms of his recognition of it. 
Sin is already there. The spiritual condition of man is not CREATED by the law of God, it is EXPOSED by the law of God. 
The law teaches. The law informs. The law defines and specifies. The law identifies. 
The law SOUNDS THE ALARM. 
Here is man in a spiritually ruinous condition. He is under the wrath of God and headed for the second death. And his KNOWLEDGE of his sinfulness lies dormant. 
HE IS A GREAT SINNER, BUT HE DOESN’T FEEL LIKE A GREAT SINNER. 
HE HAS AN URGENT NEED, BUT HE FEELS NO URGENCY.

Introduction:
As we get to the 7th verse of Romans 7, we make our entrance onto an interpretive battlefield. 
We talked about it two weeks ago, but this chapter has an interesting history of interpretation. There are some important questions we have to answer when we come to the following verses.
Is Paul describing his own experience, or is he using himself to talk about ANYONE’S experience? 
Is this Paul’s experience pre-conversion or post-conversion? 
Is his main point to give voice to his frustrated desire for complete holiness, or is there some other point that he is advancing?
I’m convinced that if we hear what Paul writes here, IN IT’S CONTEXT — IF WE KEEP TRACKING WITH THE APOSTLE, then we will see that he’s advancing a tremendously important and logical argument concerning the law and its inability to save or sanctify apart from the Spirit of God and faith in Christ. 
Remember, you are either in the flesh or in the Spirit. And when someone is “in the flesh” they meet, not only 

God’s Holy Law (Romans 7:7-12)

Introduction: 
I think it is true to say that nothing troubles a genuine Christian more than his or her own sinfulness. 
We are troubled by a frustrated desire for complete holiness. We do not want just consistent holiness; we want complete holiness. 
We want to grow. 
We wonder why it is that we do not grow more than we do. 
Yet, for all of that which troubles us, there is something that is still clear to us. While we are not yet what we desire to be, we are not what we once were. 
While the flesh is still present within us, we are no longer “in the flesh.” 
Sin still troubles us, but sin no longer rules us. 
While we are not yet characterized by complete holiness, we are characterized by growth in holiness. 
Not only is our relationship to sin forever changed, the apostle Paul is teaching us that our relationship to the law has forever changed. 
AND THESE TWO THINGS ARE VITALLY RELATED. 
That is what the 7th chapter of Romans is dealing with. Questions regarding the law of God. Questions regarding the Christian’s condition. Questions regarding progressive sanctification. 
And what we learn is that all three of those issues are wrapped up together. 
We are thinking today about the death that produces fruit for God. 
We have two main points (1) Fruit for God requires death to the law (vs.1-4), and (2) Fruit for God requires life in the Spirit (vs.5-6). 
FRUIT FOR GOD REQUIRES DEATH TO THE LAW (vs.1-4) 
Now, we covered these verses in some depth last week. So, I do not want to spend too much time going over them again, but there are some things I want to reinforce before we set our attention on verses 5-6. 
 
 
 
A REAL DEATH HAS OCCURRED (vs.4a) 
We spent time on this last week, but what Paul is describing is a release from the law in more than one way. 
We were released from the law regarding its perspective of us, and all humanity, outside of Christ. 
The law cannot save. The law cannot sanctify the unregenerate person. The law was never given for spiritual self-improvement, or self-salvation. 
The law reveals God’s character. The law reveals God’s moral will. The law exposes our sinfulness. The law condemns our sinfulness. The law demands the penalty for sin, which is death. 
Christ, our representative. Christ our substitute. He answered all the law’s claims upon us. He fulfilled all that the law required. HE DIED IN OUR PLACE. Which means that we died through His representation. And as a result of Christ’s death, through faith in Christ, our sins are forgiven, righteousness is given to us as a gift, we are reconciled to God, and a new union exists, union with the Son of God. THE OLD MAN HAS DIED. A NEW MAN HAS COME INTO BEING. 
As a result, we were also released from the law’s power exerted upon lost humanity. What is the effect, what is the outcome, of exposure to the law of God when someone is unregenerate? Paul will deal with this in verses 5-6, but we can say, as we prepare to look at those verses, that the result is INCREASED SINNING. 
The law does not curb sin — even if it curbs external exhibitions of sin — rather it stirs up sin in someone who doesn’t have the Spirit of God. 
HERE IS AN AMAZING REALITY. 
The message of grace does not lead to more sinning (which is the accusation) in the life of someone who has come into the realm of grace. But the law of God DOES lead to more sinning in the life of someone who HASN’T COME into the realm of grace. 
Legalism does not curb sin. Legalism stirs up sin. 
THAT DEATH WAS THE WORK OF GOD (vs.4a) 
“have died” translates θανατόω which is in the passive voice. This is why the NASB translates it, “were made to die to the law.” 
Our salvation is the work of God. This death to law is not explained by action made possible by us. If we had been left to ourselves, this new relationship to the law and God would have never taken place. We are God’s work. We are His creation.

Introduction:
I think it is true to say that nothing troubles a genuine Christian more than his or her own sinfulness.
We are troubled by a frustrated desire for complete holiness. We do not want just consistent holiness; we want complete holiness.
We want to grow.
We wonder why it is that we do not grow more than we do.
Yet, for all of that which troubles us, there is something that is still clear to us. While we are not yet what we desire to be, we are not what we once were.
While the flesh is still present within us, we are no longer “in the flesh.”
Sin still troubles us, but sin no longer rules us.
While we are not yet characterized by complete holiness, we are characterized by growth in holiness.
Not only is our relationship to sin forever changed, the apostle Paul is teaching us that our relationship to the law has forever changed.
AND THESE TWO THINGS ARE VITALLY RELATED.
That is what the 7th chapter of Romans is dealing with. Questions regarding the law of God. Questions regard

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