We Know God Is Working All Things Together

July 24, 2016 · Romans

Series · Romans · Week 51 of 85

Scripture referenced 35 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Colossians 3:16 opening verse read before the first song

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.

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Acts 2:24

read aloud before the congregation was seated: God raised Jesus from the dead because death could not hold him

24 whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.

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Romans 1:1

starting point of the series on January 17, introducing Paul as bond servant and apostle

1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of God,

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Romans 1:1-7

the prescript of Romans, identifying sender, recipients, and the gospel of God

1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of God,

2 which he promised before through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,

3 concerning his Son, who was born of the offspring of David according to the flesh,

4 who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

5 through whom we received grace and apostleship, for obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name’s sake;

6 among whom you are also called to belong to Jesus Christ;

7 to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Romans 1:16-17

theme of the letter: not ashamed of the gospel, the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith

16 For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.

17 For in it is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.”

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Romans 1:18-23

rejecting the knowledge of God as sin, beginning of the section on universal sin

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

19 because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them.

20 For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse.

21 Because, knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.

22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

23 and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things.

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Romans 1:25

they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped the creature rather than the Creator

25 who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

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Romans 1:29-32

list of sins flowing from rejection of God, unrighteousness through disobedience to parents

29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers,

30 backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

31 without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful;

32 who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.

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Romans 2:1

whosoever judges another condemns himself, the impartiality of God

1 Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things.

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Romans 2:7-11

two destinations: eternal life for those who do good, wrath for those who obey unrighteousness; God shows no partiality

7 to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life;

8 but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath and indignation,

9 oppression and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

10 But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

11 For there is no partiality with God.

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Romans 3:10-18

there is none righteous, no not one; throats an open grave; no fear of God before their eyes

10 As it is written, “There is no one righteous; no, not one.

11 There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God.

12 They have all turned away. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not so much as one.”

13 “Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit.” “The poison of vipers is under their lips”;

14 “whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood.

16 Destruction and misery are in their ways.

17 The way of peace, they haven’t known.”

18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

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Romans 3:20

by the works of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight

20 Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

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Romans 3:21-25

but now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been manifested; justified as a gift by His grace through redemption in Christ Jesus, a propitiation

21 But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets;

22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction,

23 for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;

24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;

25 whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance;

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Romans 4:22-25

Abraham believed God and it was credited as righteousness; credited to those who believe in Him who raised Jesus from the dead

22 Therefore it also was “credited to him for righteousness.”

23 Now it was not written that it was accounted to him for his sake alone,

24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead,

25 who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.

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Romans 5:1-5

having been justified by faith we have peace with God; we exult in tribulations which produce perseverance, proven character, and hope

1 Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;

2 through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3 Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance;

4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope:

5 and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

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Romans 5:8

God demonstrates His love in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us

8 But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

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Romans 5:12-21

contrast of death through Adam and life through Christ; the binary of who you identify with

12 Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned.

13 For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law.

14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.

15 But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

16 The gift is not as through one who sinned: for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses to justification.

17 For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.

18 So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life.

19 For as through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous.

20 The law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly;

21 that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Romans 6:1-2

shall we continue in sin that grace may increase? May it never be

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

2 May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?

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Romans 6:12-14

do not let sin reign; present yourselves to God as instruments of righteousness; sin shall not be master over you

12 Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.

13 Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

14 For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.

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Romans 6:19

yield your members as slaves to righteousness resulting in sanctification

19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification.

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Romans 7:4

we were made to die to the law through the body of Christ to bear fruit for God

4 Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might produce fruit to God.

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Romans 7:14-25

conflict of two natures: doing the evil I do not want; wretched man, who will set me free; thanks be to God through Jesus Christ

14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin.

15 For I don’t know what I am doing. For I don’t practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do.

16 But if what I don’t desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good.

17 So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.

18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it doing that which is good.

19 For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice.

20 But if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.

21 I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present.

22 For I delight in God’s law after the inward man,

23 but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.

24 What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?

25 I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God’s law, but with the flesh, the sin’s law.

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Romans 8:1-2

therefore there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus; the law of the spirit of life has set you free

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.

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Romans 8:3-4

what the law could not do God did, sending His own Son; the requirement of the law fulfilled in those who walk by the Spirit

3 For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;

4 that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

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Romans 8:5-6

those according to the flesh set minds on flesh; the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace

5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

6 For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;

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Romans 8:11

the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies

11 But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

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Romans 8:12-14

we are under no obligation to the flesh; all who are led by the Spirit are sons of God

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

13 For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.

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Romans 8:15-17

received the spirit of adoption by which we cry Abba Father; heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ; if we suffer with Him we will be glorified

15 For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;

17 and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

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Romans 8:18

sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with the glory to be revealed

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.

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Romans 8:19-23

creation groans waiting for the revealing of the sons of God; we ourselves groan waiting for the redemption of our bodies

19 For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

20 For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

21 that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

22 For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.

23 Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.

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Romans 8:24-25

in hope we have been saved; hope that is seen is not hope; we wait eagerly with perseverance

24 For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?

25 But if we hope for that which we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.

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Romans 8:26-28

the Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words; God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose

26 In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered.

27 He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.

28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

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Acts 16:31

quoted in a gospel definition submitted by a congregation member: believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved

31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

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2 Corinthians 4:17

our momentary light affliction contrasted with eternal glory, cited alongside Romans 8:18

17 For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory;

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Romans 15:13

closing benediction: may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that you abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit

13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

This message was a review of everything covered in Romans since January, walking back through the first eight chapters before landing on Romans 8:26-28. Carl has been working through Romans all year, and several people had asked him to step back and show how the pieces fit together before moving on. He closed by reading verses 26 through 28 and letting that be the sermon's destination.

What was said

Paul wrote Romans to people who already believed in Christ, so they could understand how the whole thing works. The letter opens, even in its greeting, with the gospel already in view: Jesus, descended from David, declared the Son of God by the resurrection, and the source of grace for everyone who trusts him. That framing matters, Carl said, because the book is about to go somewhere very uncomfortable before it comes back to good news.

Chapters one through three deliver what Carl called the universal reign of sin. The Gentiles are condemned for suppressing the knowledge of God they already had. The Jews who were nodding along find themselves condemned next. By the end of that section the verdict covers everyone: there is no one righteous, not even one, and their condemnation is just. Carl said he had to preach that material for about a month, and it was heavy every week.

The turn comes at Romans 3:21 with the words "but now." Apart from any law or code, the righteousness of God has been made known through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. Justification is God's work, not ours. It comes as a gift, grounded in Christ's atoning death, available to everyone who believes, with no distinction between Jew or Greek.

Romans four through seven build out what that justification produces. Peace with God, standing in grace, and a forward-looking hope are the immediate results. But Paul is honest: the practice of a believer does not always match the position. Romans seven names the conflict plainly, the pull toward sin still present even in someone who wants to do good. Carl read the whole passage and said he lands on the view that it describes a genuine believer still at war with sin but looking for victory. The answer Paul gives is not moral effort but Christ: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Romans eight builds on that answer. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in believers and intercedes for them. Creation is groaning and so are we, waiting for a redemption that is certain but not yet complete. Suffering in this present time, Paul says, is not even worth comparing to the glory that is coming.

That "not yet" and the groanings that go with it bring the review to its landing point in verses 26 through 28. The Spirit intercedes for believers with groanings too deep for words, and God, who searches hearts, knows exactly what the Spirit is asking. Then the famous promise: God is working all things together for good for those who love Him, for those who are called according to His purpose. Carl pointed to the Greek word behind "work together," the same root as synergy, and said the tense indicates God is actively and continuously doing this, not that He occasionally arranges a happy outcome.

Carl was careful to say the promise belongs to those who love God, and he put that with what he called a tear in his eye, because the contrast with those outside of it is real. But he also noted that the phrase "those who are being called" carries ongoing force. Even someone who has been pushing God away is still being called according to His purpose. That, Carl said, is where the review ends and where the hope lives.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

Pastor Carl walked through the bad news of Romans before getting to the good news, spending weeks on the universal reign of sin before arriving at 'but now.' Why do you think it matters to sit with the bad news rather than rushing past it, and how does understanding it change the way you receive the good news?
Several people sent in their one-sentence summaries of the gospel. What would yours be, and what does it reveal about which part of the gospel feels most central to you personally?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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Read the full transcript 8,051 words

Find in this transcript

0:00 Speaker 2Morning friends. So glad to have you in church this morning. We're a little bit past nine so we're gonna get started with Ray being gone last week. I'm sure he's gonna go along. So, get comfortable in those chairs.

0:11 Let's stand together. We're gonna start with a verse. Colossians three sixteen, Let the message about Christ and all its richness fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.

0:29 Wonderful words of life. Start out this morning. Sing them over. Sing them over again to me. Wonderful words of life.

3:01 Alright, you may be seated and I'll turn it over to Raymond.

3:05 Speaker 1Alright. Good morning, everybody. I have a couple of announcements this morning. There is nursery available downstairs. We're not doing children's church right now and if you are wondering what the line is outside, their seats still in here.

3:22 That is a gathering of youth for Christ students and their leaders. There were 96 of em spent the night on the floor in here last night and so they set up the chairs this morning and they have left remnants downstairs but they're out there heading over to the tram right now and hope to be back by the second service. We'll see. That's Youth for Christ. Summer nursery is available downstairs and there's a nursing room down there too.

3:50 Monday nights are on. Monday nights at first B this week is meal, music, and a message. Do you know know anything more about that?

3:56 Speaker 2I believe Flooring is leading music while Carl is down still and I think Eric's speaking.

4:02 Speaker 1Good. Okay. Fantastic. So, Eric is speaking from Luke. That's what book Carl is in right now and Florine's leading music.

4:11 That'll be good. Now,

4:14 Speaker 2Solid Rock Student Ministries. We've got a few trips planned. The first one, Denver trip. I think actually this one's full, so I probably shouldn't be announcing it. But we leave our deadline is tomorrow if you're coming.

4:26 So if you're one of the people that have said you're coming, just double send it send it back to me so that I know for sure. I'm also gonna text the group that has said they're coming, but I think we're full on that one. There will be a waiting list, though, if someone we have people drop out last minute. So if you're really set on going and you didn't get to the deadline in time

4:42 Speaker 1That's to a Rockies game and then Elix Garden.

4:45 Speaker 2Right. Rockies and then Elix. The next one, the deadline for Lagoon is also coming up, and I believe that deadline is August 15. So if you're coming to either of those, let me know ASAP. I'm creating the list and just arranging transportation.

5:02 So

5:02 Speaker 1The lagoon trip is going down on the nineteenth. Spend the night in the lagoon campground, camping out, and then

5:08 Speaker 2And then shopping extravaganza.

5:09 Speaker 1Shopping extravaganza on the twentieth. Back to school shopping.

5:13 Speaker 2That's right.

5:13 Speaker 1Yes. Okay. Alright. Very good, Renzy. There's also a young adult cookout.

5:17 I want to keep it on your radar, August 9. That's going to be at River Crossing. So, it's a multi church young adult cookout. And I think that's it. If you need to know anything else, it's right here, okay?

5:29 Anything else that you need to know about what's happening and when, it's in the bulletin. So, would you stand up and greet one another? And I will bring you back together with a song.

5:41 Speaker 2Alright, The greatness of our God. Give me eyes. Give me eyes to see more of who you are. And may what I behold still my anxious heart. Take what I've known and break it all apart.

6:04 For you, my God, Alright. From Acts two twenty four. But God raised Jesus from the dead because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. Christ is risen. Alright.

16:45 You may be seated.

16:47 Speaker 1God is good.

16:49 Speaker 2Frontline team, please come forward.

16:56 Speaker 1Would y'all pray with me? God, I thank you for this glorious morning. I thank you for this beautiful place and all of these folks that are filling this building last night, this morning. God, I pray that each of us would orient ourselves towards you, that we would set our eyes on things above. I set our minds on things above and not below and God saying that and thinking about all that you have given.

17:22 We take this time this morning to give back a portion so that others may be able to orient themselves to you. God, we pray that what we put in the plates this morning as an offering to you would be used to further your good gospel that you would rescue, that you would save, that you would do what it is that only you can do. Would you spread the life given message of the gospel through this acknowledgement this morning of you. We ask you to bless and multiply these gifts to extend your kingdom. Amen.

18:17 Thank you, Florine. So, good morning. I'm glad to be back. Last week, I had not anticipated. Two weeks ago, I had not anticipated being gone last weekend.

18:29 I went home to see my folks. I have not seen them in almost two years and so it's really good to be back home and I sat and listened to a sermon last week which has been a while since I've done that and I just appreciate Eric Wakub. I listened to the message this week. I listened to it last night actually and man, if I could preach like that, I would. It was really, really good.

18:48 Really clear, really concise, like, wow, actionable, practical, application points, and stuff and I was like, man, that's good. That's not what you're gonna get today. I am gonna be reviewing. I've had like four or five of you that said, wow, I'm starting to get kinda I'm starting to miss the forest for the trees a little bit, and each section that we've been doing. So I wanna go back and do a broad swath today.

19:16 More slides than I have ever had but not nearly as many as I looked at during the week this week, okay? We have been studying since January 17. We've been looking at Romans. I told y'all at the very beginning, D Martin Lloyd Jones did a series that lasted for thirteen years from 1955 to 1968. We are not gonna do that but I was trying to fit it into a year and we are almost exactly on pace.

19:41 We're halfway through the book of Romans and today, I wanna conclude with just three verses, 26, 27, and 28. That'll be the sermon for today but before that, we're gonna review. So, listen fast, alright? I'm gonna talk fast, I'm afraid. Romans one one, we started January 17 talking about Paul.

20:03 Who he was, how he was educated, he was very well educated in all things of Greek culture in Tarsus and he was educated at the feet of Gamaliel and all things in Hebrew culture and he was a very very bright and intelligent persecutor of Christians until Christ met him on that road to Damascus and completely converted him and he became a humble servant of God and we started Romans one one right there. Then, the prescript of Romans. Now, normally in a letter from this time period, a prescript would say, Paul, whatever his title was, apostle of Christ and then, two, wherever the church is, greetings. Just that simple. In fact, I use Bob the builder in my illustration.

20:49 Bob the builder to dizzy the cement mixer, greetings. You know, can we build it? Yes, we can. Alright, that's it. This is the prescript of Romans.

20:58 So, the first seven verses are that. So, if we look at who it's from, the sender, that's Paul, bond servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. That's a little bigger than normal but it's still just about the sender. The recipients down at the bottom where you can't see it. It says, all who are beloved of God in Rome, that's the recipients and you, all of the saints.

21:22 So, that includes you too. And then, that's all of the rest of the prescript. Now, that's extra stuff. What's all that extra stuff? What's all that extra stuff?

21:32 It's good that I still think the same way I did in January. It's the gospel of God. He mentions that in that prescript. It's the gospel of God. I believe that that is subjective.

21:44 God's good news instead of the good news about God. It's God's good news. Good. Thank you, Florine. The gospel of God.

21:54 God's good news. He promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh who was declared the son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead according to the spirit of holiness. Jesus Christ, our lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all of the Gentiles. That's everyone outside of Judaism, everyone, every tribe, tongue, and nation. For his name's sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ.

22:30 So, he extends this glorious gospel and entrust it to the recipients of this letter including those in Rome and you too. To all who are beloved of God in Rome, called us saints. Grace to you and peace. From God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So, just in the prescript, just the first seven verses, who is this book gonna be about?

22:51 It's about Jesus. Praise God. It's wonderful that he gives us that in the prescript because it's not gonna be long before we descend into one of the deepest valleys in all of scripture. Romans has some of the highest mountain peaks and we're to reach one of em today in 08/28 but it's got some of the lowest lows too. The whole book is about the good news of Jesus.

23:14 So, the opening remarks Paul has in eight through 17. That was thirty first of January last year. The theme of the letter he opens up this section with, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. To the Jew first and also to the Greek. Now, that would have been scandalous not long before this because Jew was completely separated from everyone else but in Christ, they're one and that's one of the themes of this letter.

23:47 I'm not ashamed, Paul says, of the good news and he's already expressed it in the prescript what it is. For it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. The Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the gospel. The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written but the righteous man shall live by faith.

24:06 Now, I tweaked our slide that we come up to and bless your hearts. If you're a visitor, my goodness. Y'all just stepped into it today. I'm glad that you're here and you are very very welcome but we're going through a lot more information than we normally do. We tweaked our slide that we had picked up about the message of the cross.

24:26 So, the gospel to everyone who believes is the power of God and Paul adds for salvation. People need saving. They need to be saved. They need a savior. Now, to those who are perishing, it's mere foolishness.

24:43 What in the world does a first century Jew's death have to do with me? But to everyone who believes, it is the power of God for or unto salvation. So, I gave you a homework assignment that day and it was what is the gospel and I asked you to name it in 10 words or less if you could or to keep it into one sentence if you couldn't and y'all hit me about 120 times that week with little text and Emails and I'm gonna share a few of em. So, I ask you to shoot for the center of the gospel in a short a phrase as you could. Jesus resurrection reconciles holy God and sinful people who believe.

25:19 Amen. Faith in Jesus is enough to be forgiven and received. Amen And transformed. Amen. Being deeply flawed and conscious of it but being deeply forgiven and conscious of that too.

25:33 My friend, Allen Levi. I love that one. Individuals can have peace with God through Jesus atoning death. Amen. Some of you did it acrostic.

25:43 God's only son provides eternal life. Amen. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Acts sixteen thirty one. Oh, this was Bob Wells.

25:55 Bob said, God's plan and provision. Jesus Christ is the incarnate son of God. He died on the cross in your place and became the righteous payment, a ransom you could not pay for your unrighteousness which is condemning you before God. Furthermore, Christ was buried, resurrected, witnessed by many, and ascended to heaven where he currently intercedes on your behalf. Now, your responsibility in God's promise.

26:15 If you choose to believe or trust in these provisions, then God promises your removal from condemnation and you will immediately possess an eternal new life. Amen, Bob. That's great. Bob said this also, clarity and accuracy trumps brevity. I like that.

26:32 God's righteous wrath shall be averted, pleading Christ's death alone. Now, that's good news but it hints at some pretty bad news. Don't just hint it. It says, God's righteous wrath. Damnable as mankind is, God in Christ provides a way out.

26:50 That also carries some bad news, right? Sin condemns hopeless mankind. That's bad news. God lovingly redeems all who believe. That's good news.

27:01 I like that sermon a lot. Y'all helped me a lot on that one. Romans 118 through 23. It's all about sin and who it extends to mainly. So, one eighteen through 23 is about rejecting the knowledge of God, rejecting the knowledge of God that you have from your conscience, that you have from the beginning and that is sin.

27:25 Now, for context, I went through 118 through three twenty because all of that covers a grand scope. The grand scope of the bad news, what Douglas Moo calls the universal reign of sin. So, it's not just for the Gentiles although that's where he starts out. Actually, when he was condemning the Gentiles, you can almost hear the Jews in the background going, yeah, get em Paul. Get em Paul.

27:48 They're right. Heathens. So, the section titles, I just took those from the New American Standard Bible are unbelief and its consequences for the first section there. This is just a little snippet. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever.

28:12 For this reason, why? Because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie. They rejected the knowledge of God in their minds. The light they have been given, they cast aside. Being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, their gossip, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful, and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death and not only do the same but they also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

28:45 Doesn't that just feel like, oh my goodness, can we go any deeper? And it says that that kind of sin only begets even more sin and more rejection of God. Now, that would have been getting the amens from the Jews but this next section, the impartiality of God. Therefore, thou art inexcusable. Oh man.

29:08 Whosoever thou art, that includes everybody that judgest for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself for thou that judgest doest the same things. That's the old KJV. I like the old man in there. That was the refrain from that one. Oh man, this is bad news.

29:23 Oh man. And it ends with, oh wretched man. He list in this section, destination one and destination two. To those who by perseverance and doing good, seek for glory and honor and immortality and eternal life. Glory and honor and peace.

29:40 To everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also the Greek, but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath, and indignation, tribulation, and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek. Now, if it's gone by how we do, what we do, all of us belong to destination number two. Absolutely. Everyone of us but he's hinting at good news there. He hasn't gotten to it yet.

30:10 It's still in the middle of that one hundred eighteen to 03/20. There is no partiality with God looms very very large because the Jews have been trusting in their birthright. They've been trusting in their race. They've been trusting in their upbringing. Some of us might have been trusting in being in church every Sunday, Sunday night, Wednesday night, all of our lives.

30:30 There's no partiality with God. He knows the heart. He judges the heart and all of us have wicked hearts. God's judgment is based on truth. That's not good news, people.

30:42 That's not good news. That puts us into a very dangerous, perilous position. Oh, man. The next one is to be clear. The Jew is also condemned by the law.

30:57 God does not play favorites and we looked at this. This is an a chiasm or a chiastic construction, chiastic construction. Who will render to each person according to his deeds to those who do good life eternal but to those who do unrighteousness, wrath, and anger, affliction, and anguish to those doing evil but glory and honor to those doing good. God shows no partiality. Now, the most important part of a chastatic construction is the first and the last.

31:24 So, who rendered each person according to his deeds, wrath and anger, affliction, and anguish. God shows no personality. No, no partiality. He shows a personality for sure. Partiality.

31:38 So, the end of the matter in this section, if you haven't gotten it already, if you thought Gentile or Jew did not agree with you that you weren't included, The last portion here, one through ten twenty just says, all the world is guilty. There's not one righteous. No, not one. And at the end of Romans eight, he says, flatly, their condemnation is just. So, every person, every person before Jesus, every person, since Jesus, everyone except for Jesus.

32:06 Justly deserves condemnation from God. That's heavy. There's no one righteous. No, not even one. There's none who understands, none seeks after God, all have turned aside together.

32:20 They have become useless. There's none who does good, not even one. Their throats and open grave, their tongues, they keep deceiving. The poison of asp is under their lips whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood.

32:34 Destruction and misery are in their paths and the path of peace. They have not known for there is no fear of God before their eyes. That's all of us. No one's righteous. No, not one.

32:44 I'm ready for some good news. Y'all ready for some good news? I had to preach that for like a month. Over and over, we kept coming back and we kept getting more bad news but it is good news and that everybody's in the same boat as Florine likes to say, in the same bucket, I think he said, because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. Now, Romans introduces a lot of jargon words and justification is one of em.

33:12 That is the act of God making someone right to justify someone and he can do that. But by works of the law, no one will be justified in his sight. Why? Because we have sin. Holy God cannot abide sin.

33:32 By the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. So, this next section from 21 really up to 31 is the glorious doctrine of justification by faith. He starts off with this. So, right after this, by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified. So, any religion that you have or any code that you live by, that you try to live up to which if we're all honest, we fail even on our own codes.

34:05 No flesh will be justified in his sight and then we get to this. Noony day. I love to see a noony day. It is but now, but now, for all those who believe in this section bears repeating, it's 21 through 25 but now, apart from the law, completely apart from any code, from the 10 commandments, from any other law that you've been seeking or trying to practice, the righteousness of God has been made manifest. Being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe.

34:38 For there's no distinction. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Now, he said that for three chapters. He just gonna make sure you got it in the blue section there. Being justified as a gift by his grace through redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith.

34:56 Now, through faith, through faith, being justified as a gift, whose work is it? Is it your work? No. It's God's work. Salvation and justification are the work of almighty God.

35:08 Amen. Sin looms large. Guilt, enslavement, and wrath go with it. But now, for all those who believe, God has provided a way. He's provided a way out.

35:21 So, Romans lays the architecture for the Bible. If you were to take just one book with you to the desert island from the Bible, Romans, you would not lose any any major theological theme if you only had Romans. Now, if you don't know Jesus, get to know him in the gospels, okay? Get to know him. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John but if you wanna know about Christianity and how it works, Romans is the place but now, for all those who believe, God's righteousness through Jesus Christ's faithfulness.

35:57 Jesus Christ, absolute faithfulness and his total dependence upon the spirit, his walking that perfect life, and giving his life as a ransom for many. Allows those who believe to see and experience and act out upon God's righteousness. So, all of sin, the wrath of God is what we deserve but the good news is the righteousness of God is what we get when we believe. We're still in chapter one. No, we're not still in chapter one.

36:30 This is the theme of the book. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel. The good news, it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. It's not limited. It's for the Jew first and also the Greek.

36:41 It's for everyone. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed. From faith to faith, the faithfulness of Christ and your place in your trust and your faith in him. As it is written, the righteous man shall live by faith. Now, Romans four, the whole thing is Paul supporting argument for his thesis of justification by faith from an Old Testament evidence.

37:05 It was Abraham's experience. Now, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness and this says now, it was not for his sake only but it was credited to him but for our sake also to whom it will be credited as those who believe in him who raised Jesus our lord from the dead. Those who believe, John hits it over and over and over and over again in the gospel of John. It's the gospel of belief. It matters what you believe about Jesus and Paul seconds that.

37:36 All of Pauline theology is grounded in dominical tradition, the traditions of Jesus. As those who believe in him who raised Jesus, our lord from the dead. He was delivered over because of our transgressions and he was raised because or for the purpose of our justification. In order to make us right, God did not withhold his own son but gave him. In our stead, those of us who would place our faith and trust in him.

38:06 Now, going on into Romans five, I love the beginning part of Romans five. It's about the result of our justification by faith. Having been justified, past tense, you see that? By faith in Christ, we have now peace with God. We've been introduced to grace.

38:25 We stand in that grace and we exalt in hope. There's a lot about hope in this book. It's all over the book of Romans. We see this, we exalt in the hope of the glory of God but he starts to introduce a subject right here that I hit the last time I preached was about suffering two weeks ago. Not only this but we also exalt in our tribulations, the hard times, the suffering, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope.

38:56 Do you recognize that he says, we exalt in hope or we exalt in tribulations because it gets back to hope? There's a forward looking to Christianity. There's something about that incorruptible hope in front of us. And hope does not disappoint. Roman says and why is that?

39:13 Because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's given us. Can anybody testify to that? I don't I don't mean you have to stand up where you are but can you testify to the love of the God, love of God being poured out in your spirits. Amen. Amen.

39:27 Good. God demonstrates his own love towards us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We did not have to jump through hoops. We did not have to do something to attain it. Y'all get that.

39:41 While we were still sinners, he died for us. Five twelve through 21 gives the clearest contrast in the Bible to Adam and Christ. Death through Adam is the default. All of us are out there and but life through Christ is available. The whole point of that sermon is with whom will you identify?

40:05 Now, I said in this sermon, it is a binary function. You are either saved or you are not. It's kinda like pregnancy. You are either pregnant or you are not. There's not it's complicated there.

40:20 A binary function position. You are either identifying with Adam, that's the default position, non Christian, unbeliever, and unsaved no matter what family you came out of or you are identifying with Christ, you are a Christian, you are a believer, you are saved according to what the Bible says. Believers in Romans six, Paul says, are dead to sin but alive to God. Now, that looks like a binary function. Unfortunately, is that the case?

40:53 How many of you were completely glorified the moment you were saved and have not sinned since? No. So, we talked about the non binary function is actual practice of our belief, of our Christianity. He starts off that chapter. What shall we say then?

41:09 Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be. This is where we introduce this slide. I picked up from second Thessalonians. The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit happens between the time that you believe and the time that you are ultimately and completely saved in the day of the Lord, the great and mighty day of the Lord that is still future and you can see that it is a rocky up and down and it depends upon your will.

41:36 We'll get to that in just a minute. It depends upon your surrendering to the Holy Spirit, and this is his work, that still small voice. As Mark Hutto said, that fleeting thought, fleeting holy thought. Believers are dead to sin and alive to God. Now, Paul is stating it as fact.

41:59 He understands very well the practice does not always match what we believe. So, he gives us a couple of imperatives here. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lust and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you. That's still out there in the future.

42:32 For you are not under law but you are under grace. I like the KJV here because I like the the term yield. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lust thereof, neither yield you members, your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. But yield yourselves unto God as those who are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you.

43:05 For you are not under the law but under grace. Now, the yieldedness, you are going to yield to something. Neutrality is not possible in this life. You are either gonna yield to righteousness or you're gonna yield to unrighteousness and so, be resolute. What is it that you're gonna yield to?

43:23 Who are you gonna identify with? Adam or Christ? He goes on from there and says, so now, be presenting or yield. That's the only imperative in that whole passage. Yield your members as slaves unto righteousness which will result in your sanctification.

43:42 So, those places where things are going up is those places where we're yielding to God's spirit. Yield to righteousness for your sanctification. So, Paul has covered all kinds of stuff in this book, right? The actuality of the sin and the wrath that we deserve but the gracious good gospel, Piper calls this, the mighty and merciful message of the first eight chapters of Romans. Though we deserve to be justly condemned, God mercifully saves and everyone of us in this room will either be justly condemned by your what you merit or mercifully saved by what Christ gave on the cross.

44:26 Union with Christ through faith is what it's all about. Union with Christ is death to sin and deliverance from slavery. I like that. I put a few y'alls in there. I heard Eric's message.

44:42 These are second person plurals. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, y'all also were made to die to the law through the body of Christ so that y'all might be joined to another, to him who is raised from the dead in order that we, he's speaking to Christians here. This is the main reason I put this in. Romans is a book for people who believe in Christ to get how this whole thing works, okay? In order that we might bear fruit for God.

45:11 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death but now, we have been released from the law having died to that by which we were bound so that we serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Spirit and flesh has come up multiple times in this book and there's always that battle. Paul introduces something here at Romans seven four. He says, we can. It is possible to produce a harvest of good deeds for God.

45:47 Now, how can we? No one is righteous. No, not one. Produce the harvest of good deeds for God. Only by Christ, only through Christ.

45:53 Amen. Now, we can serve God living in the spirit. Are you with me? Y'all are sleepy this morning. My goodness.

46:01 Eric said he only put one of you to sleep last week. Actually, second service, he said 30% but Romans seven fourteen fourteen through 25 is the conflict of two natures. I'm gonna read the whole thing. If you identify with it, we're getting to the great eight in just a minute. The great chapter eight.

46:23 From here on, I'm just gonna read the passages up to the point where we'll start the sermon for today, okay? The conflict of two natures. For we know that the law is spiritual but I am of the flesh, sold in bondage to sin. For what I'm doing, I do not understand what I'm, for I'm not practicing what I like to do, but I'm doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the law.

46:52 Confessing then that the law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it but sin which indwells me. He's talking about a sinful nature. Now, there's a spiritual nature which he's introduced and said, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God because we do have a spiritual nature but he is admitting that we still have a sinful nature, an old man. For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh.

47:16 For the willing is present in me but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do but the but I practice the very evil that I do not want but if I'm doing the very thing I do not want and I'm no longer the one doing it but sin which dwells in me. I find in the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God and the inner man but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, making me a prisoner of the law of sin, which is in my members. Wretched man.

47:53 Remember the old man? This is where it gets to the old wretched man. Oh, wretched man that I am, who will set me free from this body of death? Now, I asked, who the man? Who is it?

48:06 People have argued about this for a long time. Is this an unregenerate person? Is it a man who's under conviction but not yet persuaded? Is it a carnal Christian? Some people don't believe that exist at all.

48:18 Is it a bona fide believer that's still at war with this sin? I go with this one. I definitely don't don't go with one who's achieved moral perfection. We cross that one off the list, okay? But I believe it's a bonafide believer still at war with his sin but looking for victory.

48:35 Now, we're gonna find some victory here in just a second because when he says, oh wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our lord. Amen. That's a peak on the way to the Mountain Peak Of 828. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our lord.

48:52 I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Jesus is the answer for the question of sin. It's the power of salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also the Greek. The power of God for salvation. We need saving So then, on the one hand, I myself, with my mind, I'm serving the law of God but on the other, with my flesh, the law of sin.

49:17 He recognizes that it's a struggle still but then the great chapter eight says, therefore, there is now no condemnation. Even though you're struggling people, it's where you put your faith. It's where you put your belief. Your yieldedness will help you in sanctification. It will help you in hope.

49:35 It will help you in your practice. Just knowing that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus is a comfort. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do weak as it was through the flesh, God did. Sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin.

49:56 He condemned sin in the flesh. Your sin, he condemned in the flesh. To access that, he asked for you to believe. So that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us to love God, to love people The requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the spirit.

50:25 For the mind set on the flesh is death. But the mindset on spirit is life and peace because the mindset on the flesh is hostile towards God. I loved Eric's example from last week that we orient everything in this valley towards the grant. Do y'all remember that? Those of you who are here, he says, he's an engineer and when they set up house plans, they take the biggest window in the place and they point em straight towards the ground.

50:46 They orient them towards that and Paul is saying, orient yourself towards God, toward the spirit of God, the cross of Calvary. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. Had a guy text me the other day and said, I am feeling the struggle right now. I'm feeling it within me. I'm feel prone to wander.

51:18 Lord, I feel it and I said, but the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is living in you and he said, exactly what I need to hear. He is leading me out of what I was just about to get into. So then, brethren, we're under obligation not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die but if by the spirit, you're putting to death the deeds of the body and you will live. For all who are being led by the spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

51:46 For you've not received the spirit of slavery leading to fear again but you've received the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, Abba, father, daddy, to almighty God, we can say, Abba, father. The spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God and if we're children and we're heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Now, we're up to the last sermon that I preached. It was all about sufferings and honestly, when it was over, I felt like somebody just taken the air out of me.

52:29 I needed a couple weeks to recover. For the our light affliction, Paul says in second Corinthians, our momentary or light affliction up against eternal glory. What Paul says here, it's not worthy to be compared. For the anxious longing of creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God, for the creation was subjected to futility not willingly but because of him who subjected it, in hope, here it is again, in hope. That the creation itself will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

53:05 We know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now, not only this but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the spirit. Even we ourselves grown within ourselves. Waiting eagerly for our adoption of sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we've been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he already sees.

53:28 Hope is an absolute certainty that is to come, but it has not yet, and we're living in that not yet. But if we hope for what we do not see, we, with perseverance, wait eagerly for it. That brings us to today's sermon. Okay. It is exactly one minute till ten.

53:47 So, we're concluding with this. I just wanted to review. I've actually had about 10 of you that have said, we gotta review at some point. Get what's covered. Do you get the cosmic scope of what's happened?

53:58 So, for the believers here, 26 says, that in exactly the same way. Now, that sermon from two weeks ago where we were feeling crushed by the sufferings and then, having the hope that it's not even worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us. In the same way, the spirit also helps in our weakness. We do not even know how to pray as we should but the spirit, that's the Holy Spirit of almighty God himself intercedes for us with groanings that are too deep for words. It is beyond our ability to to verbalize and he, that's capital H, God.

54:42 He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is. Why? Because God and the spirit are one because he intercedes for the saints exactly according to the will of God. Even when you don't know what's going on, you have God interceding for you and he does know what's going on. That's encouraging.

55:04 That's full of hope And then this is that absolute pinnacle. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good. To those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. Now, this is good news because it's a letter to Christians. And I know that the majority of you who are sitting in here are saying, amen, good news, great, that's good for me.

55:28 But it's only good for you. It's only good for the believers. Just like those first few chapters that I was talking about, this good news necessitates some bad news. And we know. Now, that's certainty.

55:42 The grammatical construction right there. There's no doubt about this. This is an absolute fact that we can trust in for sure. We know. That God causes all things to work together.

55:54 Now, I didn't stop at God causes all things. God's not the author of sin. He's not the author of temptation and this translation, you could confuse that if I had stopped that God causes all things. Actually, the word there is sooner gay. Couldn't get out of one Greek word.

56:09 You know the word synergy that you feel like people just made up recently? You're hearing it all the time? It's a buzzword. It actually is from this, synagogue. Present active indicative third person singular from syner gayo, and that means God is working together.

56:24 God is working together all things for good, and that is ultimate good. It's not just winning the state championship or winning the spirit stick. Actually, by the way, our boy scouts that meet here, troops troop sixty seven won three awards which nobody's ever won together before. Just a shout out for the boy scouts. So, there you go.

56:45 God causes all things to work together or God is working all things together for good. I love this quote. I couldn't remember who said it but I remember the quote, everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end. That's true.

57:02 Even if John Lennon said it, no, I mean, because John Lennon's the one who said it but everything will be okay in the end if it's not okay, it's not the end. That goes along with this verse very very well. We know God causes all things to work together for good but it is to those who love God. So, it's with a tear in my eye. Anytime we hit a place where the good news is contrasted against the bad news and I think it is right here.

57:29 He's causing all things to work together for good to those who love God. To those who are called according to his purpose. I love that and I take comfort in that when things get hard that that is gonna come to pass. I wanna share with you a wooden translation of eight twenty eight and this is the last couple of slides anyway. A wooden translation of eight twenty eight is this and this is exactly in the word order that it is in the Greek.

57:59 We know or we are knowing. Moreover, that to those loving God, he is working all things together for good. To those who are according to his purpose, according to, oh, wait a second. Start over. We know, edit that part out, Renzy.

58:15 We know, moreover that to those loving God, he is working all things together for good. To those who according to his purpose are being called. That are being called means that there is still hope for those who have been rebelling and pushing God away, rejecting the knowledge of God. There is still hope. According to his purpose, they are being called right now.

58:43 So, I say, if you find yourself in that boat and you have been pushing like Paul, kicking against the goats, you've been pushing away from God. His purpose is continually calling so that you might turn from rebellion and turn towards him and love and accept the forgiveness that he offers. You are being called. Okay? Everybody?

59:08 That's the fastest you've ever gone through it. Eight chapters of Romans? Whoo. Me too. And actually, that's not.

59:14 In seminary, I had a class where the professor said, I have fifteen minutes to share the whole book of Romans with you. So, he did more chapters than one a minute. 16 chapters in a minute. I mean, fifteen minutes. Lindsey, would you come on on up?

59:27 I want you to linger on this. To those who are perishing, all of this seems like foolishness but to those who believe, every single one of you, no matter how vile or destitute you have been in the past. It's the power of God towards salvation. So, would you stand with us and we're gonna, I think, sing for that incorruptible hope, right? When we all get to heaven?

59:51 Yes. Alright. Amen. So, next week, we'll get to that paragraph with 28. We'll start from there and go forward to the end of this chapter.

1:02:11 I will not try to do eight chapters again in a row, alright? I promise. Now, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and all peace in believing so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus name, I pray that for you. Amen.

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Holy Spirit Intercession Justification By Faith Romans Overview Sin And Salvation Suffering And Hope

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