In this sermon, Scott Brown discusses the significance of the first eight chapters of Romans, emphasizing the centrality of the gospel in the life of believers and the church. The gospel is portrayed as essential for interpreting emotions, governing thoughts, and maintaining right relationships. The sermon highlights the gospel's historical impact, mentioning figures like Augustine, Martin Luther, John Bunyan, and John Wesley who were transformed by the book of Romans. Brown outlines Romans as addressing the necessity of justification by faith in chapters 1-5, and the struggle with ongoing sin in chapters 6-8. He discusses the book's themes of sin's nature and the hope the gospel provides, urging believers to meditate on and cherish the gospel. The sermon concludes with reflections on the power of the gospel's grace, likening it to an ocean extinguishing the flames of sin.

Please turn your bibles to Romans chapter 1 and we will be summing up the first eight chapters of the book of Romans this morning. I'll spend some time framing the first eight chapters and then we will read it out loud and then I'll come back and have some closing comments. And the first thing that I want us to understand when we read the first eight chapters of the book of Romans is that we're talking about the centrality of the gospel in the life of the believer and in the church. Romans begins with the statement, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation. And then the book of Romans ends with a prayer that says, now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ.

And so when we come to Romans, we come to the centrality of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is so important for us. This is important for every single area of our lives. Without the gospel, you cannot rightly interpret your feelings. Without the gospel, you cannot rightly govern your thoughts without an understanding of the gospel.

You cannot raise your children well without the gospel and an understanding of it. You cannot have right relationships with friends. You cannot be the kind of employee or employer that God would have you to be unless you understand the Gospel. It's critical to every area of life. You cannot have a good church, a faithful church, without the Gospel being the oil that lubricates all of the interactions and all of the directions of that church.

And it is the gospel that establishes us. So when we think about Romans we have to understand that the gospel is book-ended on the front and the back as our lives ought to be as well. The Gospel is the beginning and it's the end of all and it's everything in between for all of life. The second thing I want us to understand about these first chapters is that we need to be aware of what's taught here regarding the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Romans is the longest of all of Paul's letters, it's the most often quoted, and it's just a very lengthy testimony about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And Romans supplies for us the only solution to the problems of life on earth is the Gospel. Yes, this is the irreducible principle of all of life, the life of the Church, the problems of the world, the things going on in the nations. You can trace everything back to either a right or a wrong understanding of the Gospel. You can see an outline. I have passed one out of the first eight chapters.

First of all, before we see the outline, we have to see the overall outline in Romans. In chapters 1 through 11, we see the power of the gospel and of justification by faith alone. And then the tone changes, and in chapter 12 to the end of the letter, what we see there is how to apply the gospel in everyday life. And there are very detailed applications that are there. And then as we get down into these first eight chapters, chapters one through five answer the question, why do we need justification and how are we justified?

You can really sum up these first five chapters in that. Everything that happens there will explain that. And then the second part, which spans from chapters 6 through 8, speak of how should a justified person wrestle with ongoing sin. This is a great problem for all of us. We are saved, and then there's the sanctification process where slowly the well is purified.

Oh, but it's ever so slow. God has declared us righteous and then he spends the rest of our lives working out the spots and the wrinkles and sucking out the poison that has gripped every fiber of our being. Our lymphatic system is full of sin and God is figuratively and God is working those sins out in the sanctification process and that's what six through eight is all about. I also want to help us be aware of the amazing power of the book of Romans in history. Consider that in 386 Augustine of Hippo, the professor of Milan, was in a garden with a friend and he heard a child saying, tola lega, tola lega, take up and read, take up and read.

And right next to him was a scroll of the book of Romans and he took it up and he read it and he read Romans 13, 13 through 14, which said, let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts." Well, he was stricken with the power of the gospel at that moment and he was saved by reading those words in Romans. Fast forward 1200 years later, Martin Luther in a monastery in Germany was this Augustinian monk, the professor of the University of Wittenberg. He was not in bondage to licentiousness like Augustine. He was in bondage to dead religion. And he was trying so hard.

He was a worker for God. And he was, again, stricken with guilt. He prayed to st. Anne that he would become a monk he came out of a storm and he read a verse in the book of Romans 8, 1 through 4. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. He read those words and he was saved. Fast forward, fast forward again another another period of time another a hundred years of Bunyan is using the Book of Romans to guide him to write Pilgrim's Progress. Fast forward another 100 years, John Wesley, another hard worker for God, opens the Book of Romans. He's been working for God but he was never saved and he opens and his heart is strangely warmed and he is saved well Romans has been used mightily in history Who knows how it could be used in your life and my life?

There may be somebody here sitting right now who's not converted, maybe working very hard for God. Maybe you're a child and you've never been saved. You've heard the gospel and you've appreciated so much about the life God has given you, but you have not been converted. You can be converted by acquiring the wisdom of God and receiving it in your heart as it's presented to us in Romans. Who knows that one verse may lead to the salvation of a child here today?

I pray that that would happen. So we can speak about so many critical issues, the centrality of the gospel, the power of the gospel, the amazing use of this book, you know, throughout history. Let me tell you about two recurring themes that we see in the book of Romans. First of all, there is a revealing of the nature of sin and what some people call the great cosmic crime. And it's the crime of exchanging the glory of God for a lie.

It's the crime of taking something that's unworthy and swapping it for the gospel, swapping it for something good. We are expert at taking the silly things of the world and swapping them for the great things of God. We do it on many, many levels. But the book of Romans reveals the nature of this great nature of sin. And imagine how heinous a crime this is.

That one who has been created in the image of God would say to his Creator, I don't want you. That's a great crime. And this crime is committed by us many, many times. And only the blood of Jesus Christ can atone for that great crime. We also see the second aspect of Romans, and that is it's a revelation of hope.

Not only does it reveal the great crime, but it also casts a vision of hope. If one would embrace the gospel, he should never be hopeless again, ever, ever. And it's such a tragedy when a believer loses hope, because the gospel is the gospel of hope. He is, as in Romans, the God of hope. Look for that phrase, the God of hope, as we read through it here in a few minutes.

Romans cast this beautiful vision of hope, and we're reminded to exalt in the hope of the glory of God. And what is that? The hope of the glory of God is His work in you. And what is He doing? He is taking you to heaven.

You're on a heavenly journey now. And oh, that we would not, like David Brainerd, oh, that we would not loiter in our heavenly journey, but that we would continue it with great hope, that God would fill us with that hope. I really do pray that God would make us a church full of hope. It would be one of the great marks that nothing could get in the way of our hope. Nothing could dampen it because the Gospel is so strong in us.

You can see when the Gospel is weak, when hope is low. And so we should pray for one another and help one another. Not go into our, you know, our figurative fetal position, you know, when difficult things happen, but that we would be filled with the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Notice there's some key phrases and words. You who are littler particularly, look for these words.

Look for the words like this. Law, sin, grace, justification, faith, righteousness, the Holy Spirit, hope. Look for those words and mark them, because when you go by them, you're going by some of the great, the words that explain the great themes that are in the book of Romans. Look for some characters. In these first eight chapters, you're going to bump into four great characters.

You probably already know who they are. Abraham, you'll bump into him in chapter four. David, you'll bump into him in chapter four as well. And Adam, You'll bump into him in chapter five. These are critical illustrations that the apostle uses to help us understand and get our wits about us for what salvation is.

And he uses Abraham and David and also Adam to help us get a grip on the doctrine of salvation. And then, lastly here, before we read, I want to exhort you, and I want to exhort myself, to meditate deeply and drink deeply in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We, I don't believe, have all that much hope unless we are people like that, who love the gospel, who meditate on it, and who savor it with all of our hearts. Spurgeon said this, never lose heart in the power of the gospel. Do not believe that there exists in any man much less any race of men for whom the gospel is not fitted.

He also said, let this be true, let this be to you the mark of true gospel preaching, where Christ is everything and the creature is nothing, Where it is a salvation of grace through the work of the Holy Spirit applying to the soul the precious blood of Jesus. Let's make sure that the gospel is central. He also said, Spurgeon, on Christ and what He has done, my soul hangs for time and eternity. And if your soul also hangs there, it will be saved, as surely as mine shall be. If you are lost, trusting in Christ, I will be lost with you and will go to hell with you.

I must do so, for I have nothing else to rely upon. But the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived and died, was buried, rose again, went to heaven, and still lives, and pleads for sinners at the right hand of God. Let it be true of us that the gospel is central to everything that we are and do. Derek Thomas said this, the gospel is not God loves us, but God loves us as the cost of his Son." James Denny said this about the gospel, there is only one God and so there can only be one gospel. Again Spurgeon said, we have an unchanging gospel, which is not today green grass and tomorrow dry hay, but always the abiding truth of the immutable Jehovah.

Tom Houston said this about the gospel, the gospel begins and ends with what God is, not with what we think we need. And then Augustine, if you believe what you like in the gospel and reject what you don't like, it's not the gospel you believe, but yourself." John Calvin. Whenever the gospel is preached, it is as if God Himself came into the midst of us. And I pray that that would be our experience this morning as we read the book of Romans. It would be as if the gospel of Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ himself is walking among the lampstands of the church here, and of the churches, and he is here with us as we read this great gospel.

Oswald Chambers said this of the gospel, there is nothing attractive about the gospel to the natural man. The only man who finds the gospel attractive is the man who is convicted of sin. And then Will Metzger said this, the gospel that elevates man and dethrones God is not the gospel. It's so important that we understand the centrality of the Gospel, that we meditate on it, that we love it. We are going to have a marvelous opportunity just to read through it in its purest form.

J.C. Ryle said this, the man who does not glory in the gospel can surely know little of the plague of sin that is within him. And R.C. Sproul said this, the revelation of the gospel is to a world that is already under indictment for its universal rejection of God the Father. And then lastly, let me just quote Spurgeon again on the gospel.

I hope that these words are helpful to us. I hope that they help center us on the great truths of the Gospel. But let me finish with this last quote from Charles Virgin. The heart of the Gospel is redemption. And The essence of redemption is the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

And so we're here this morning to recount the gospel of Jesus Christ. We learn in Romans chapter 10 that those who carry the gospel are like those who have beautiful feet. How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of them that bring good news. And so we are here to relish and spend a time of savoring in the Gospel, I really do pray that it will be a precious time as we read these great words. We need to realize that Satan blinds the eyes of the perishing to the Gospel.

In 2 Corinthians 4, 3 and 4, we learn that the God of this age has blinded people. And as we read it and internalize it, that it would be so burning in our souls that we would speak it so eyes would be opened. That there are different Gospels, by the way, contrary to the Gospel. Galatians 6, Paul says, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel. And how tragic it is if we have a different gospel than the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The gospel can be perverted. Paul said to the Galatians again, he said, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to be diligent students of the gospel so that we don't pervert it. We are all people of unsound mind. Both intellectually and morally, we have difficulties in acquiring wisdom.

And so it's possible for us to pervert the gospel of Jesus Christ. What a tragedy it is if that would be the case. We should be aware of other gospels that are being preached. Paul said to the Galatians, but even if we are an angel of heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached. Let him be accursed.

And there will be people who will not be straightforward about the truth of the gospel as well. In Galatians 2, 14 we read, but when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, if you being a Jew live in a manner of the Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as Jews? Even someone as dear and faithful as Peter could not be straightforward about the gospel. If it was true of Peter, it can be true of you and I. How many times have we not been straightforward about the gospel of Jesus Christ?

I hate to count the times, but it is a sin for us not to be straightforward about the gospel. The gospel was preached to Abraham to show us that the Gentiles are also justified by faith. In Galatians 3, 8 we read that, and the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand saying, in you all the nations shall be blessed. The gospel that Abraham believed is the same gospel that you and I believe. It's the exact same gospel.

I don't believe there ever was a covenant of works. It was always by grace. It was always by faith. And Romans 4 proves that. And The gospel has always been by a repentant sinner who turns to God by faith for you are justified by faith.

No one was ever justified by works, and neither was Abraham, and neither are you or I. And we also realize that scripture makes it clear that we never outgrow the gospel. In the book of Revelation we learn that the gospel is everlasting. In Revelation 14, 6 we read, then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth every every nation tribe tongue and people the gospel is everlasting There is one gospel and it's everlasting and you never outgrow it. You don't become saved and then go into deeper, more beautiful, wonderful things.

The gospel is all-encompassing for our lives and it is eternal. Now, here's the problem. Or at least here's one problem. Sinners like you and I often have difficulty really believing the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have a difficulty believing that Jesus Christ has comprehensively received us and forgiven us of all of our sins.

We have a hard time believing that where sin abounds, grace abounds even more. You know, Jesus touched on this when He said, every sin and every blasphemy will be forgiven men. How's that? Every sin and every blasphemy will be forgiven men. And then he says, anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, that will be forgiven him too.

In other words, any particular sin can be forgiven. That's what Jesus says. It's so hard for us to get that. He says, except there is one sin, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit will cast you into eternal perdition. And that is the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ.

It's the sin of not trusting in His blood. It's the sin of not believing in Him. That's the only sin that will send you to hell. It's not a particular sin that sends us to hell. It is that one sin of rejecting Jesus Christ and His blood.

Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men. Do you understand that? Do you get that? I mean, we're getting ready later on in this service to celebrate the Lord's table. And let's don't forget this.

Every sin and blasphemy, everything spoken against the Son of Man by you and I is forgiven under the blood of Jesus Christ." And so in Romans here we find the nature of the grace of God being explained so beautifully. Think of the grace of God like this. As we're reading Romans, think of the grace of God as of a great ocean of grace, a massive, magnificent, and powerful ocean of grace. Think of the Pacific Ocean, the ocean of peace, a gigantic ocean. Now think of sin.

Think of the fires of sin. If your sin were a match, a lit match, if it were as destructive as a match could be, Could the ocean extinguish it? Absolutely. But if your sin were bigger than that, if it were like a torch, a flaming torch that would burn this facility down, Would that ocean be big enough to put out the fire? Absolutely.

Or if the whole west coast, all the trees in the Pacific Northwest were a raging flame of fire and it slipped into the ocean, it would go out, just like that. That's the ocean of the grace of God. And that's what's preached in the book of Romans here. And so, as we read now, and then as we take communion, let's be so aware of this great ocean of the grace of God, which washes away all of my sins. And I pray this now, be a visionary here for a moment.

Project yourself to our time of communion. Brothers and sisters, let it not be a somber time. Let it be a time of rejoicing. Let it be a time of freedom. Jesus says, come, come to the table.

Come on. And let's come to the table and drink deeply of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so now we will begin our reading and so if the first one could come and we'll begin reading in the book of Romans, in Romans chapter 1 verse 1 and we will continue the reading continuously until we're finished. The Epistle of Paul, the Apostle to the Romans. Paul, a bond servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead.

Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among the nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. 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. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of through the whole world. For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I may mention of you always in my prayers, making requests if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. For I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift so that you may be established.

That is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you, but was hindered until now, that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So as much as in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for 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. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because What may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because although they knew God, They did not glorify Him as God, or were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. They became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions, For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use to the women, burned in their lust for one another, man with man, committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness.

They are whisperers, back-biters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful, who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. Therefore, you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his deeds. Eternal life to those who by patient continuance and doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality. But to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek. But glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For there is no partiality with God. For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law. And as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law. For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them, in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

Indeed, you are called a Jew and rest on the law and make your boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are excellent being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. You therefore who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, do not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, as it is written. For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law, but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision. And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you, who even with your written code and circumcision are a transgressor of the law?

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God. What advantage, then, has the Jew, or what is the prophet of circumcision? Much in every way. Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.

For what if some did not believe? Would their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not. Indeed, let God be true, but every man a liar. As it is written, that you may be justified in your words, and may overcome when you are judged.

But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? I speak as a man. Certainly not. For then how will God judge the world?

For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judge as a sinner? And why not say, Let us do evil that good may come? As we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say, Their condemnation is just. What then, are we better than they? Not at all.

For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside.

They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have practiced deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all, and on all, who believe. For there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God has passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law?

Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Or is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles?

Yes, of the Gentiles also. Since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not. On the contrary, we establish the law.

Chapter 4 What then shall we say that Abraham our Father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now to him who works the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt.

But to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also?

For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, and the father of circumcision to those who are not only of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had, while still uncircumcised.

For the promise that he would be The heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath. For where there is no law, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the Father of us all. As it is written, I have made you a Father of many nations, in the presence of Him who believed, God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.

Who contrary to hope in hope believed, so that He became the Father of many nations according to what was spoken, so shall your descendants be." And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body already dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform. And therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him, who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification.

Chapter 5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance. And perseverance character and character hope. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet, perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His love, His own love, toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned, for until the law sin was in the world. But sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense, For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned.

For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound But where sin abounded grace abounded much more So that as sin reigned in death Even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who die to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him.

For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise, you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lust? And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not. Do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?

But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms, because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness and of lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin you were free in regard to righteousness.

What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now, having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the fift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Or do you not know, brethren, for I speak to those who know the law, that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives.

For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.

For when we were in the flesh, The sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not.

On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law, for I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, You shall not covet. But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire, for apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.

Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not, but sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing I do not understand, for what I will to do that I do not practice, but what I hate that I do.

If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good, But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells. For to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do I do not do, but the evil I will not to do that I practice. Now, if I do what I will not to do, It is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin. Chapter 8. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin.

He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous 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 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. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God, but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.

And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin. But the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. But if you live according to the flesh, you will die.

But if by the Spirit you quit to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you do not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you receive the spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, Abba Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 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 together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

For the earnest expectation of creation eagerly waits 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. Because the creation itself will also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For We know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves eagerly waiting the adoption, the redemption of our body.

For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Likewise, the Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses, for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now, He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

And we know that all things work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, these He also called. Whom He called, these He also justified. And whom He justified, these He also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not, with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect?

It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen. Who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. We began our series in Romans with a song, a new one to us, called Not What My Hands Have Done. Not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul. Not what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole. Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God.

Not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load. Your voice alone, O Lord, can speak to me of grace. Your power alone, O Son of God, can all my sin erase. No other work but Yours, no other blood will do. No strength but that which is divine can bear me safely through.

Thy work alone, O Christ, can ease this weight of sin. Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God, can give me peace within. Thy love to me, O God, not mine. O Lord, to thee can rid me of this dark unrest, and set my spirit free. I bless the Christ of God.

I rest on love divine, and with unfaltering lip and heart I call this Savior mine. His cross dispels each doubt, I bury in his tomb. Each thought of unbelief and fear, each lingering shade of gloom. I praise the God of grace, I trust his truth and might. He calls me his, I call him mine, my God, my joy and light.

Tis he who saveth me and freely pardon gives. I love because he loveth me. I live because he lives.