The sermon, delivered by Jason Dohm, introduces the Book of Romans, emphasizing its profound theological significance and historical impact on key figures such as Augustine, Martin Luther, and John Wesley. Romans is described as a comprehensive, systematic presentation of theology that has foundational truths pivotal for understanding the entire Bible. The Apostle Paul, a Jew and Roman citizen, wrote the letter to a diverse church in Rome, consisting of both Jews and Gentiles, to unify them under the gospel and dismantle self-righteousness. The sermon highlights the cultural and religious context of Rome, a city known for its diverse beliefs and vices, which made it a challenging environment for Christians. Paul’s letter aims to provide a theological framework for believers and promote unity, emphasizing salvation by grace through faith. The sermon calls for listeners to become better Bible students, using Romans as a guide to deepen their understanding of Scripture.

So please open your Bibles so you'll be able to follow along as we read. So we begin a new book today. We're going to have an extended reading. I will be reading Romans chapter 1, 2, and 3 before Jason comes and gives us an introductory sermon. So as is usual when we have extended readings, please be extra diligent and paying attention.

And if you catch yourself zoning out or thinking of other things, dial back in quickly and pick it up and follow back along. It's very, very useful, very profitable time. So please, if you're able, grab your Bibles and turn to Romans chapter 1. Let's begin Romans chapter 1. 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 all 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 throughout the whole world. For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son that without ceasing I make 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 is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. For I'm 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 and 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, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, 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 and the lust of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worship and serve 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 of the woman burned in their lust for one another, men with men 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, backbiteers, 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.

Chapter 2 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 yourselves wrath and 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 in 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, be instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourselves 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.

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 physical 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 won outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.

But he is a Jew who is won inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in the Spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God. Chapter 3. What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the prophet of the circumcision? Much in every way, chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe?

Will 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 judged 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 ass 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. In 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's 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. Our God, just a few chapters, this wonderful letter you had written to the church in Rome, and there's so much just here enough to praise you for. Praise you for your grace, for your mercy, for your righteousness, for the work of Christ alone by faith alone in whom we can be saved. So thank you God. Courage your people, save those that you will draw to yourself, save people.

God please bless Jason, this introductory message. Holy Spirit, give power to your word through Jason. Give us ears to hear. May you be glorified. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Well, at long last, this is our introduction to the book of Romans. It's been 11 or 12 weeks since we finished Joshua, and we didn't want to start until the vacations were beyond the Dome family and the Lunkless family. I was back from Malawi. I'm not sorry that We took those 11 and 12 weeks to go through some of the things that we never would have if we were working section by section through a book of the Bible. I think that was helpful for me.

I hope it was helpful for us. But I hope you enjoyed it because it's going to be a long time before we do that again. I'm sure Romans will take two years. We're going to try to be careful that it doesn't take three years. So probably no less than two and hopefully no more than three.

And we'll try to make it close to two. The Bible has so many glorious books that even though you could go very, very slow, Lloyd-Jones took 14 years, every Friday night pretty much, for 14 years and didn't finish. He had health concerns. He stepped back from the pastor. I think he ended in chapter 15.

And so we're not going that slow. You can be as slow as we're going. You can be thankful that I'm not Lloyd-Jones. I could go without saying, Romans is a towering book of scripture. Like I said about our recitation text, every book of the Bible is wonderful, has precious truths.

I don't think they're all equal. I do think some are even more consequential than others. I hope you don't find that irreverent. There are some that just have such foundational truths that you dare not give it a special place. And Romans might head that list.

If it doesn't head it, it's very close to the top. God has used the book of Romans to bring so many believers into his kingdom, including people from the past that he then raised up in the faith to make such significant contributions to the people of God. Let me give you a couple of names. Augustine, or Augustine, depending on where you were raised. One of the, probably the greatest theologian of the early church was Augustine or Augustine.

Martin Luther, there's no Reformation, speaking in human terms, there's no Reformation without Martin Luther. It was passages of Romans that undid Martin Luther. John Wesley, a great preacher of the gospel. We don't necessarily stand in his stream of theology. We don't stand in his stream of theology, but God used him in a mighty way to bring the gospel to so many people.

He was undone by passages of the book of Romans. These Augustine, Martin Luther, John Wesley, and many many many like them, their unbelief couldn't survive the book of Romans in the hands of the Holy Spirit. So You could read the book of Romans a thousand times and never be benefited, but if the Holy Spirit comes and throws light on it, then your unbelief won't be able to survive the powerful arguments against your self-righteousness and towards salvation by grace alone through faith alone that you find in the book of Romans. Let me give you a couple of quotes. Here's from Martin Luther.

Martin Luther says, this epistle is really the chief part of the New Testament. So that's what Martin Luther thinks of the book of Romans. And is truly the purest gospel. It is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word by heart, but also that he should occupy himself with it every day as the daily bread of the soul." Wow. Martin Luther couldn't, how could he possibly think more of the book of Romans than he articulates there.

Or John Calvin, listen to John Calvin, who says, if we have gained a true understanding of this epistle, or this letter, we have an open door to all the most profound treasures of scripture. I'm going to read that one again. Just think about what he's saying. John Calvin says, if we have gained a true understanding of this epistle of the book of Romans, we have an open door to all the most profound treasures of Scripture. What's John Calvin saying there?

He's saying that the book of Romans has truths in it that are so foundational that if you grasp the truths of the book of Romans, it is a gateway into all the other, even the deepest, truths of the rest of scripture. So that it gives you a theological framework through which you can understand the greatest mysteries of scripture. That makes me want to go and master the book of Romans as best as I can master it. Because it means if I do, according to John Calvin, if he's right, then I actually gain more from the rest of scripture than I've ever gained before. This is really what I'm hoping for myself.

One of the things that I'm hoping for myself and for us that we come away from the book of Romans, not just having gained from the book of Romans, but having gained an ability to gain more from the rest of scripture. Would that be an acceptable outcome? Would that be a good investment of a couple of years? You better believe it would be. Let's pray.

God, as we consider the book of Romans, who was written by, who was written for, and the great benefits of the book. I pray that you would make us Bible students like we've never been before, so committed to gaining every good thing that is here. So committed to drinking deeply of this purest gospel. So increasingly dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ, and so increasingly disconnected from the false hopes that we've nurtured. May it be so in Jesus name.

Amen. Well we'll get to Paul's own introduction next week so I promised not to pre-preach that sermon now. What I'd like to do during this time, and I think this is going to be very short, and secondly, it'll be as close to a lecture as you've ever heard from me. God made me to be a preacher, not a lecturer, so I don't really even like doing it, but there's information to be passed over here. So welcome to your only lecture from me, hopefully.

The rest will be preaching. Let me ask and answer some of the basic questions about the book. Who is the author? This is an easy one. Chapter 1 verse 1.

Paul, a bond servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle. Paul was taken captive by Jesus Christ. Jesus made him his slave or bond servant. Either is an appropriate translation of that word. Slave is not inappropriate.

Jesus enslaved Paul. Much to Paul's joy and delight and benefit. And he gave him a message and then he sent him out with a message. An apostle is a sent one. So Jesus took him captive and Paul was eternally grateful to be taken captive by the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then Jesus sent him into the world to the Gentiles with this message. Who is Paul? A Jew, but not just a Jew, also a Roman. So that's an interesting observation as we come to Paul's letter, long letter, to the Romans. If you wrote a letter this long to any of your friends, they would probably tell you to back off a bit.

Save it for in person. Paul had reasons to write a long letter to the Romans. He wrote the letter to the Romans as a Jew, but also as a fellow Roman. Paul was born Saul of Tarsus. And being born in Tarsus, he was born a Roman citizen.

Tarsus was in the Roman province of Cilicia. It's in modern day Turkey. And it's a coastal town on the Mediterranean, north and then west of Israel. And being born there, he was a natural born Roman citizen. He claimed that right a couple of times in Acts, in Acts chapter 22.

He's about to be beaten without being tried and condemned. And so He asks, is it lawful for you to be a Roman citizen without me being tried and condemned? You remember they stopped the proceedings because he has claimed his right as a Roman citizen. Then in Acts chapter 25, rather than to be turned over to the Jews who are plotting to murder him, and he knows it, he appeals to Caesar. As a Roman citizen, he had a right to appeal to Caesar.

God used that to ultimately send him to Rome in person. And the book of Acts ends, Acts chapter 28 ends with Paul in prison under house arrest, but free to entertain people at this home where he was under house arrest and to preach the gospel to them there. So, Paul is the author, But in chapter 16 verse 22, so there are 16 chapters in the book, in the final chapter in verse 22, a man named Tertius identifies himself as the one who physically penned it. So, Paul is responsible for the contents, all the contents of the book of Romans, but Tertius wrote it all down. That's not actually unusual for Paul's letters.

There are a number of Paul's letters in which you learn at the end of the letter that someone else penned Paul's words and was physically responsible for writing it down. Who was Paul writing to? Chapter 1 verse 7. To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. So he's writing to Romans, but specifically to Roman believers in Jesus the Messiah.

Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, and in chapter 1 verse 13, we learn that Paul often planned to go to Rome, but a number of different things kept him from going to Rome. And so he begins his interactions with the Romans by writing them this letter. Of course, Rome was the capital and the most important city of the vast Roman Empire. Thomas Schreiner, who's one of the commentators that I think is going to survive the cut In about a month, I'll make a cut, because I always buy more commentaries than I will ultimately be able to read all the way. I just do a lot of reading for the first four or five sermons, and then I'll vote one or two of those commentators off the island and keep the rest with me.

I suspect Mr. Schreiner is going to survive the cut. Anyway, Thomas Schreiner writes the Baker exegetical commentary on the New Testament. He says that at the time of the writing of this letter, the population of Rome was around a million people. So imagine an ancient city with a million people with a Jewish population of in the range of 15, 000 to 16, 000.

That works out to about a percentage of a percent and a half of the population up to six percent of the population. So a small minority but not an insignificant minority. Anytime you have whole percentages of the population It's a significant percentage of the population. Rome, a million people, and a percent and a half, up to six percent of that million people, being Jews who lived in Rome. ESV Study Bible has this note, Contemporary authors spoke of a severely overcrowded, loud and smelly city.

There's Rome, that's who Paul is writing to. A place that provided every virtue and vice known to mankind. Rome is the center of the universe in terms of the empire. The known world is under Roman rule at this time. This is the center of that.

Every vice can be found there, and every god can be found being worshipped there. We really know the Greek version of the pantheon of these pagan gods. So we're used to thinking in terms of Zeus and Apollo's and Venus. They're Roman equivalents to all those whose names are less familiar, but they're all being worshiped in Rome. It is the pagan city of pagan cities.

So it would be a place that wouldn't be easy to be a Christian there. Because all these other people are worshipping all these other gods that want you to come along for the ride. How did Christianity get to Rome? The text doesn't say, The Bible doesn't say. But we do know a couple of things from scripture that at least inform us and give us some educated guesses.

In Acts chapter 2 verse 10, this is the day of Pentecost, Jews and Jewish converts from around the world have come to Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit falls on the early church on the day of Pentecost. Peter preaches to the people who have gathered around the sign of speaking in tongues. And in Acts chapter 2 verse 10 in the list of foreigners who are in Jerusalem we find this visitors from Rome. So visitors from Rome were there in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and heard the Apostle Peter preaching the gospel.

It's very possible, I think it's likely that there were converts on that day who then went back to Rome. So that's that's part of an explanation. In Acts 18 verse 2 we learn that the Emperor Claudius expelled all the Jews from Rome. In Acts 18 verse 2, we're introduced to Priscilla and Aquila, this married couple of tent makers who were kicked out of Rome by the Emperor Claudius. I think in 182 we find them in Corinth.

We have this note from the ESV study bible based on that. The Roman historian Suetonius records that the Roman Emperor Claudius expelled Jews from Rome in AD 49 because of strife over Crestos. The dispute was probably about Christos, which is Latin for Christ. In other words, the speculation from many scholars, I came across similar arguments in a lot of the commentaries I wrote this week, was that the Roman historian just wasn't familiar enough to know the distinction between Crestos and one letter off from Christos, which is Latin for Christ. That the Jews were actually embroiled in Rome over contentions over Jesus.

And so, Claudius kicked them all out. And it would be a period of years before Jews could come back and live in Rome. Now just think about this. So we know for sure from the book of Acts that Jews got expelled from Rome under Claudius. We think That was in the year AD 49.

But that must have meant that the church, however it was formed, however many believers there were, would have continued and developed for a period of years without Jews there, because the Jews had been kicked out. So, who would be left? The Gentile believers. And they would be continuing, that church would be continuing and developing without Jewish presence there for a period of years. And then the Jews come back into the church, and Paul is writing to the church in that state, Jews and Gentiles, but the Jews having been gone for a while, and now back in Rome.

Also, listen to John Murray. John Murray is a, he's definitely making the cut for sure. I'm pre-announcing that John Murray's commentary will remain with me. He's a wonderful theologian who taught theology at Princeton Seminary. And then when they liberalized and the theological conservatives left to start Westminster in Philadelphia, he went and was part of the OPC.

So if you're familiar with Presbyterian circles, John Murray was one of the founders of the OPC. And he wrote the New International Commentary on the New Testament and says this, We may say that the three great cities at which he, the Apostle Paul, had spent the longest time, Antioch, Corinth, Ephesus, were just the three from which, with Alexandria intercourse, was most active. We may be sure that not a few of his own disciples would ultimately find their way to Rome. What is John Murray saying? John Murray is saying, If you look across the scope, the vast scope of the Roman Empire, there are four great cities where there would be the most exchange of people going back and forth from those cities to Rome.

To Rome. And he names them Antioch, Corinth, Ephesus, and Alexandria. Three out of those four are the places in the book of Acts where Paul spent the most extended periods of time, years at a time in Corinth, Ephesus, and Antioch. Those would be just the places that would be exchanging citizens back and forth with Rome. John Murray is saying you can believe that some of Paul's disciples from those three cities and his extended stays in those cities found their way sooner or later to Rome.

I think that is probably a safe bet. Finally, the book of Acts ends with Paul in prison under house arrest in Rome. Historians think he was martyred. He died for the faith in Rome in either 67 or 68 AD under the Emperor Nero, the infamous Emperor Nero. When did Paul write to the Roman believers?

Almost all scholars agree that he wrote it from Corinth. He wrote the letter to the Romans while he was in Corinth at the end of his third missionary journey. How do we know that? In 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, both of his letters to the believers in Corinth, Paul is calling for financial help for impoverished believers in Jerusalem. There was a famine in Israel.

The believers in Jerusalem were suffering and needing help. So in 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, Paul is saying, lay aside money and when I come, I'll take this collection as financial help to the believers in Jerusalem. And then in Romans 15, So in our book of Romans, Paul says he's now collected that financial aid and is going to deliver that aid to Jerusalem. In Romans 16 verse 1, Paul commends Phoebe of Sincrea. Sincrea is essentially suburbs of Corinth.

It was the port city right outside Corinth. It's almost sure that he's commending Phoebe and sending Phoebe with the letter to Rome. In chapter 16 verse 23, we see Gaius is named as Paul's host. Gaius is associated in other places in the New Testament with Corinth. And Erastus is also in that same verse, chapter 16, verse 23.

Erastus sends greetings. He's also associated in other places in the New Testament with Corinth. It's almost surely he wrote it from Corinth, the end of his third missionary journey. So there's a high degree of agreement between scholars that it was written no earlier than 58 AD, no later than 55 AD. So there's your kind of scope of years.

Somewhere it was written. Most likely it's 57 or 58 AD. Place that. That's 25 years after the death of Jesus. So Saul of Tarsus became Paul the Apostle shortly after the death of Jesus and now something like two, two and a half decades later there are believers in Rome and Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles is writing to these believers in Rome.

Why is Paul writing to the Roman believers? He's clearly unifying a mixed church. So Sometimes in the book of Romans we're going to see things that indicate very clearly he's talking to Gentiles. Other portions, it'll be really clear, undeniable that He's talking in this section to Jews. So he's very subconsciously, very consciously, he's very aware that he's writing to Jews and Gentiles in the same church.

And he's writing to unify them around the understanding of the Gospel that includes both without distinction. Remember Ephesians when we preach through that. The middle wall of separation has been brought down by the gospel and the two have been made one. So he's explaining to this mixed church in in Rome that the gospel, God's plan always was to make the two one and to bring down the middle wall of separation. And In the book of Romans he's explaining how that can be and the implications of that for churches to have both in them.

Why did we stop after chapter 3 this morning? Time constraints, but more than time constraints. The first three chapters form the first section of Paul's sustained argument and will be in this through January, won't be out of chapter three until February sometime. I'm sure that's true. Chapters 1-3 is an all-out assault on self-righteousness.

You can think of Romans as a long-form gospel. If you are sharing the gospel with a neighbor you might not want to be quite that long-form. But Romans is a long-form gospel that explains different elements of the gospel in significant detail so that we get it in all of its clarity and he starts with an all-out assault on self-righteousness. So if you were here last week for essentially a plain preaching of the gospel, there's warrant for me preaching that way, meaning assaulting self-righteousness before offering Jesus as the solution to our greatest problems. Paul does that here.

New Testament preachers typically do that. They assault our natural inclination to justify ourselves when we are not just in the eyes of God. And then he tells us about the person or work of Jesus Christ. Let me conclude with a few assorted quotes that I couldn't fit neatly into my questions and answers. But I wanted to make sure we got to you.

This is a note from the Nelson Study Bible. Romans includes the most systematic presentation of theology found anywhere in scripture. That's quite a statement. I think it's true, actually. Romans includes the most systematic presentation of theology found anywhere in Scripture.

Scripture is full of theology. It's a book about God. Romans is a book about God, But it's not usually organized so rigidly systematically. Romans is. It is a sustained argument.

Listen to how the ESV really makes the same point. The ESV Study Bible had this note. What distinguishes the letter is its long and carefully constructed body, which presents a sustained theological argument. It's just like you would order it if you had enough time to really think it through and build, building block on building block from foundation through the headstone. It is a sustained theological argument.

Finally, the Reformation Heritage Study Bible had this note. It is not surprising that God has used this part of His Word when bringing about the rediscovery of the true gospel in history. Particularly, in the time of the Reformation. The reformers were captivated by the book of Romans. The reformers recovered the true gospel out of all the terrible perversions that were clinging to it at the time of the Reformation.

A key weapon in their hands was the book of Romans, because it is this brilliant, systematic argument against self-righteousness and for salvation by grace alone through faith alone. That's what we're going to get. We're going to get just a heaping dose of Jesus, his person, and his work in the book of Romans. That's why you should look forward to it. It is a book about God.

Applications, I'll give you two. One, to acquire Romans is to acquire a systematic framework for understanding the whole Bible. I essentially quoted Calvin as saying that early on. I think it's true. Do you want a systematic framework for understanding the whole Bible?

Then be a good student in Romans. Really acquire Romans. Does anyone ever really acquire Romans? In heaven you do. But for now we'll do the best we can.

Number two. I'm calling for better Bible students. He called me a bad Bible student. I did no such thing. I called you to up your game.

Wherever your game is. Some of you are bad Bible students and need to be better Bible students. But some of you are very good Bible students and could stand to be better Bible students. Up your game for the book of Romans. Before the preaching, get more familiar with what's going to be preached on before the sermon than you're used to.

Dads, get your families thinking about the text early in the week and then Saturday night, get it in again so that on Sunday morning we're dealing with familiar words and familiar phrases. I know you're not going to do all the reading I'm going to do. You buy my time so that I can do that. You don't have the time because I don't buy your time for it, you're buying my time for it. So I understand that, but you can get in the text and be really familiar with the words and phrases and concepts so that the preaching is more meaningful and helpful.

During be a good note taker, be really attentive, and then after. We spend the afternoon together. So often I talk football, when I should be talking Joshua and Ephesians and now Romans. We have time. We can actually we can actually talk about both.

We spent a lot of time together. Let's squeeze all the profit out of this that we can and be better Bible students together. God, I pray that would be so, that we would come to the end glad that we've invested wisely. If we're going to spend two years here, God, let it be for the profit of our souls. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.