The Just Shall Live by Faith

Today on Renewing Your Mind. There is no program known to man that has the power that the gospel as it is the word of God that he is promised that he will not allow to return unto him void. That's the method the foolishness of preaching that he's chosen to save the world did not include full confidence in preaching the gospel is the only means God uses to reach considers we must embrace the foolishness of preaching to reach this washed world welcomed Renewing Your Mind for this Monday time we were hearing a portion of Dr. Orsi's groceries from the book of Romans.

Today's message is titled the just shall live by faith. Paul is continuing his reading and his opening comments to the church at Rome before he plunges in to the content of the theological understanding of the gospel that he sets forth throughout this entire epistle, so he begins by saying first of all I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all. The apostle had a heart that was constantly filled with thanksgiving word that he used here in the epistle was the word Eucharist, though, from which the church derives the term Eucharist which was a word used to describe the celebration of the Lord's supper in the primitive Christian church because at the heart of the celebration of the Lord supper was a profound spirit of Thanksgiving for what God had wrought for us in the work of Jesus Christ. And so Paul mentions this spirit of thankfulness for these Roman Christians and he says because your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. When first century people spoke of the world they were speaking of the known world. They were speaking of basically the Mediterranean world that was in their purview. And when Paul says I'm rejoicing that your faith is known throughout the world is talking in the way people talked at that time. Anything that I'm glad that throughout our known world throughout the Mediterranean world, people everywhere are talking about your faith which is made an impact he so eager that the people who receive this epistle, understand the depth of passion that he feels in his grateful heart for the remembrance of that is published throughout the known world of their faith that he swears about basis for God is my witness, we will see later, God willing. This is not the last time in this epistle that the apostle takes such a bow to guarantee the truth of what he saying God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son there without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers.

Making requested by some means not last. I may find a way in the will of God to come to you, but I also don't want us to jump too hastily over a little comment that he makes in passing here when he says this about God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son. Remember last week earlier on in the first chapter, Paul said that he was separated as an apostle and was called by God to preach the gospel of God, and I reminded you at that time that that phrase the gospel of God, did not mean the gospel about God, but it is the gospel that is the possession of God. God owns that gospel, he's the one who invents the gospel. He's the one who commissions Paul to teach the gospel. The gospel does not originate with Paul originates with God.

But now uses the same structure to talk about the gospel instead of talking about the gospel of God. He talks the gospel of God's son, Jesus Christ. So in the same sense the gospel is the possession of Jesus. But it's not only the possession of Jesus. Jesus is the heart of the content of the gospel during the earthly ministry of Jesus. The term gospel is linked with not particularly the person of Jesus. But it is the gospel of the kingdom and Jesus would say in his parables.

The kingdom of God is like unto this or the kingdom of God is likened to that and so on the lips of Jesus. The gospel was about this dramatic moment in history where the long-awaited Messiah, the long-awaited son of David who would restore the kingdom to the people, the kingdom of God himself was now breaking through in time and space and the good news was the good news of the kingdom, but by the time we get to the epistles, and particularly the Pauline epistles. The term gospel takes on a new shade of understanding now it's the gospel of Jesus Christ and the gospel of Jesus Christ as a clear content to it. At the heart of the gospel is the announcement of who Jesus is and what he accomplished in his lifetime. If you give your testimony to your neighbor and say you know I I became a Christian. Last year I gave my heart to Jesus or whatever your bearing witness about Jesus telling them the gospel because the gospel is not about you. The gospel is about Jesus. What he did his life of perfect obedience.

His atoning death on the cross, his resurrection from the dead, his ascension into heaven's outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon the church. Those are crucial elements of the gospel that we call the objective aspects of the New Testament gospel of Christ.

However, in addition to the person and work of Jesus. There is also in the New Testament use of the term gospel the question of how the benefits accomplished by the objective work of Jesus are subjectively appropriated to the believer.

So first of all, there is who Jesus is and what Jesus did and then the question is how that benefits me and that's why Paul can joins with the objective accounts of the person and work of Jesus, particularly to the Galatians that essential to the gospel is the doctrine of justification by faith alone, so that in preaching the gospel we preach about Jesus and we preach about how we are brought into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. So Paul now speaks of the gospel of his son and then says, that without ceasing, he mentions them in his prayers, making the request that he might find a way to get there. As I said I said, for I long to see you.

I heard about you. I get reports from Rome, haven't seen you haven't met you and I long to have this deep yearning. This passion in my soul to meet you face-to-face why that I may impart to you some spiritual gift so that you may be established and established means not started in the Christian faith, but confirmed built up edified. That's what he means by established said I want to come to you, not for what you can do for me. I don't want to come to you and lay hands on you, so you can receive one of the your charismatic gifts. As noted, talking about her. I'm talking about establishing you in confidence and in maturity in your Christian faith. Now, let's keep that in mind that this is why Paul wrote this letter to the Romans and its why in the providence of God.

This letter is given to us is for our edification, that the faith that has taken root in our souls may be established that we may grow to maturity in full conformity to the image of Christ makes this, and passing it on a labor, but he says that is that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. One of the things that made Paul such a tremendous pastor as well as a theologian and missionary evangelist and all the other things he was notice when he wrote to the church at Corinth and recalls the experiences that he had with them. He said, and I was with you and your afflictions and your trials as it Paul didn't just preach at people or preach to people but he became involved with them in his heart in his prayers and his concern for their well-being and he wanted to encourage them and he said I long to be with you. Much is that I can encourage you, but you can encourage me there anybody who doesn't need to be encouraged. People were throwing stones at you everywhere you go inside to have somebody give you a word of encouragement from time to time and he said I long to come to Rome but I can encourage you and that you can encourage me but he says I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. While the language that he uses hearing notice he doesn't say I'm a debtor to the Jew into the Greek not at this point he same on them a debtor to the Greek end of the barbarian only talks about the great care he's talking about the highly cultured, civilized, intellectual elite of the ancient culture as distinguished from the rest of the Gentiles who were pagan barbarians and the sublime and that both the Greek by minded and of the barbarian went to see me is not talking here about a pecuniary obligation or debt is not the owes money, the both sides, but he felt a moral debt.

He was burdened by an obligation that went with his office as an apostle. Remember he was the one who was set apart to be the apostle to the Gentiles, and he said I'm spending my whole life discharging this obligation that I/O ultimately it's the debt he owes to God. It's the debt he owes to Christ but yet at the same time he's transferring that indebtedness that obligation to the people who need to hear the gospel. This is as long as I'm alive. I can't pay that debt is I/O my life to every person that I made to the wise, for the unwise. He's putting them altogether to say everyone I meet. I meet as one who owes my fellow person the message of the gospel. So he says as much, as is in me. I'm ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.

Again he's reaching down into his soul to speak of the depth of his own passion he says as much, as is in me every fiber of my being is ready to preach the gospel to you.

I can't wait to get there, why, why does he say it when he answers that question. What he says for. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

He says why in a moment, but let's just listen to this statement, for I am not ashamed of the gospel have ever been ashamed of being a Christian ever tried to duck the hostility of this world, the scorn that is heaped upon those who were known as disciples of Christ in a culture that is hostile to Christianity. If you think our culture is hostile to the gospel. Think of the culture that Paul was dealing with in the first century. I'm not ashamed I glory and it let him a bow slid in both of the Lord. There's nothing that the turns is crying more than to be known as a Christian. No shame. Jesus warned us that me if you ashamed of me before men, I'll be ashamed of you before my father.

That's a real crunch for many Christians. They want to be Secret Service Christians are what I call clear all Christians are only their hairdresser knows for sure whether they're a Christian and I want to be known as being holier than thou. And if if you say one word to your friends about Christ. You'll be accused of trying to shove the gospel down their throat.

That's the nature of the beast, and so we get rebuffed enough times, but pretty soon we become embarrassed about our faith of the apostle is much as it is in me.

I can't wait to get the room out. They why because I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Again, why is he not ashamed. Listen to this because this is dynamite literally to nemesis the Greek word from which we get the dynamite for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek what people want today when they go to the person who promises healing, enslaves them in the spirit really looking for a whittling for the looking for power. They want a Christian experience that is powerful.

They want power to manipulate their own environment. That's the great goal of the New Age movement bill to bend spoons with your mind only one is omnipotent is the Lord God and the Lord God has power to spare. He doesn't need Joseph's pants. He doesn't even need the gospel, yet it has pleased the Lord God omnipotent to invest his power not in Joseph's pants or in the preachers ability to slay somebody in the spirit. But the power is invested in the gospel. There is no program known to man that has the power that the gospel has. It is the word of God that he is promised that he will not allow to return unto him void.

That's the method the foolishness of preaching these chosen to save the world's pulses. I'm not ashamed I want to preach the gospel. Why because it's the power of God and the salvation the part of God's salvation for everyone who believes the Jew into the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. I mentioned last week that this was the verse the God the Holy Spirit used to awaken Luther as he was preparing his lectures on the book of Romans. When he glanced at a manuscript from St. Augustine were Augustine read this tax and it says here one speaks of the righteousness of God. Augustine said in his note, this is not the righteousness by which God himself is righteous, but it is that righteousness that God provides for people who don't have any righteousness. It's that righteousness that he makes available by free grace to all who believe what Luther called the alien righteousness the righteousness that is not our own, but it is somebody else's righteousness. It's Jesus righteousness and this Luther Hood sought every means that he knew in the monastery to satisfy the demands of God's law and never had PC would spend 34 hours in the confessional. Every day, confessing their sins from the last day and all of a sudden he understood another righteousness.

Righteousness that was the free gift of God to all who put their trust in Christ, a righteousness that would available to satisfy all of the millions of God's law.

Luther said when I saw that the doors of paradise swung open and I walked through no wonder that man stood against Kings and officials of the church who would refuse to compromise because once he tasted the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Once he was delivered from the Pines in torment of the law no funny was gonna take it from. I was involved in this International Council of biblical inerrancy many years ago a 10 year initiative to defend the doctrine of Scripture numbers the president of that counsel. I was asked to go to a seminarian and meet with their whole faculty because the faculty had departed from that view.

In an odd that this discussion behind closed doors for about three hours and afterwards I was walking to my car in the parking lot and the Dean was with me and he said I just understand you are ceases what you care so deeply that the Bible is inerrant, what difference does it make the system's in my life was saved by this work. There is nothing more precious to my soul that every word is found on this page. How can you be the Dean of a theological seminary and asked me what difference does it make God so understood the sense of liberation Luther experience from reading the text. This is a thematic verse for the entire epistle everything that comes after it will be a explanation of this one line. For in it the righteousness of God toward their decay as soon a is a word that is used for justification in the New Testament were to be saying that word again and again as we pour over this manuscript to the Romans and finally pulses in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written that just shall live by faith three times that verse is quoted in the New Testament seer. It's in Galatians. It's in Hebrews chapter 10 all three times the text that is quoted goes back to the Old Testament book of the prophet Habakkuk below. The problem is soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by faith. That is the righteous person righteous in the sight of God, not by his own righteousness. We've already established that the righteous lives by trust Jesus in the Judean wilderness under the unbridled assault of Satan, lonely, hungry, Satan's says take the stones make them bread can't do that, don't you understand Satan that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God.

I've said to the people of St. Andrews really 100 times.

Anybody can believe in God, what it means to be a Christian is to believe God to trust him when he speaks and that does not require a leap of faith that does not require crucifixion of the intellect. It requires a crucifixion of the pride because there is no one ever more trustworthy than God. Why wouldn't you trust when we don't trust them is because we transfer to him our own corrupt qualities. God doesn't have any of those critical you can trust him with your life.

That's the theme of this book, the just shall live by faith. From that vantage point, Paul opens up the deaths and the riches of the whole gospel is Dr. RC Sproul in your listing to Renewing Your Mind. I we went you heard RC mention St. Andrews Chapel. That's the church where Dr. Strohl served as copastor for many years until he went home to be with the Lord in December 2017 this week and were pleased to feature highlights of Dr. Strohl sermon series from the book of Romans. It's often been called the apostle Paul's magnum opus is because Romans contains the most complete explanation of the gospel that we find in the Bible from the exceeding sinfulness of man to the overwhelming kindness of God in salvation as we just heard RC say there is confusion about the gospel in the modern church. That's why we like to get today's resource offer into your hand. Since Dr. Strohl's complete sermon series from Romans 59 sermons in all will send you the entire series on a single USB drive.

When you give a donation of any amount to leader ministries. There are couple of ways you can reach us. You can call us at 800-435-4343 or you can go online to Renewing Your Mind.org and let me thank you in advance for your generous financial gift. Our mission at leader ministries is to help people grow in the knowledge of God and his holiness. And when you give a gift to this ministry.

It goes directly to spreading this message around the world. Well, if were going to share the good news of the gospel with those around us. We need to understand the basics of the gospel tomorrow. RC continues his series from Romans.

There are few professing Christians who even can define the meaning of the term justification. Luther warned that the end of his life that unless the gospel were proclaimed. Clearly people would begin once again to entertain the idea that they could be right with God on the basis of their good works. We need to have a definition of justification clear in our minds. RC will help us do just that. Tomorrow you on Renewing Your Mind