In this sermon titled 'Lost and Found', Scott Brown emphasizes the importance of knowing one's spiritual condition and the power of the gospel to transform lives. The Apostle Paul's argument in Romans is examined, highlighting the need for individuals to recognize their lostness and the bankruptcy of their souls without Jesus Christ. Through exposing cultural revolutions and addressing both moral and immoral people, Paul emphasizes that salvation is by faith alone and the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The sermon urges listeners to understand the implications of being lost or found and the need to rely on God's grace and redemption.

Bibles to Romans chapter one, Romans chapter one, and find verse 16. Romans one, verse 16. This is the inerrant, all-sufficient, sweeter-than-honey Word of God. Romans 1 16. 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. Let's pray. Father, thank you for giving us such clarity about the power of the gospel and how wonderful it is that you would rescue every kind of person in the world. I pray, Lord, that you would give us wisdom to understand your word, that you would implant with meekness this word as we go through it today. Amen.

Please be seated. There's no more important matter than to know if you're lost or if you're found. And it's one thing to know that you're lost, but to be lost and to not know that you're lost is even more dangerous. You don't have any idea the danger that you're in if you don't know that you're lost. And we're gonna do a review here of where we've been in Romans because we haven't been in Romans for a few weeks and I wanted to kind of bring us back up to speed for the message that's here in Romans before we press forward.

So today I want us to get a flow of the Apostle Paul's argument. And He's really arguing that all men are lost, all kinds of men are lost. And he itemizes those, and I just wanna walk through the progression of the Apostle Paul's argument, because it's so important that man is awakened to his spiritual condition in order for him to be saved. And in order for anyone to be saved, he has to know the truth about himself. That the Bible says that the unconverted are dead in their trespasses and sins, that they're hopeless, that they're helpless, that they're ruined, and that's really the message that we find here.

What the apostle Paul is doing is he's actually, after the first 14 verses, he's painting a very dark picture. Paul is always painting pictures. And this picture that he's painting in the first three chapters has a very black background and he wants to know every, he wants everyone to know in Rome what it means to be saved. You know, D.L. Moody said that you've got to get people lost before you can get them saved.

That's exactly what the Apostle Paul is doing. He's going to get you lost first. And So I would like to consider this whole matter. Have you ever been lost? Have you ever been lost in the woods?

Have you ever been lost in a big city? You know, one of the things I loved about growing up in California as opposed to living here on the East Coast is in California really the whole, from the whole western half of the United States almost, the streets always run north and south. You always know which way you're going And it's actually kind of a blessing. But when you get into these squiggly, curvy roads, you have no idea what north and south is. And so it's a little bit easier to get lost on the east coast than it is on the West Coast if you're driving the streets.

But what we find here in the Apostle Paul's argument in the first three chapters that he's really declaring the hopeless condition of man apart from Jesus Christ and he's standing like a prosecuting attorney and he's declaring all people, all kinds of people guilty and he's including moral people, immoral people, dark people, people that have, you know, a sense of the light of natural law operating in their souls. But he exposes every kind of person, he knocks down every kind of excuse, he deconstructs every argument against the gospel, and in a way, the Apostle Paul is really working hard to help the Christians in Rome to declare spiritual bankruptcy. And that's what I hope to do today here in this church. That we would be a people who would finally realize the bankruptcy of our souls and our need for the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, you know, most people in America say that they're saved.

You know, a bunch of us went down to the pride parade recently. I'd never met so many people, you know, who said that they were believers and they went to churches. They accepted Jesus Christ into their heart. But everything about their life was a complete contradiction to it, but almost everybody in the South is saved. That's kind of a problem.

But the Apostle Paul here is sort of clearing up that cultural misunderstanding, and also just by way of introduction in this passage is the whole doctrine of salvation. It's a tremendous deposit on what theologians called anthropology, biblical anthropology which is the nature of man. And it also speaks of things that we see every day of cultural revolutions that take place because he exposes the cultural revolutions but there's a greater revolution in the soul and that is by faith in Jesus Christ. So that's what the Apostle Paul is doing. So I wanna just do a very simple walk through this passage of scripture up to chapter three.

If you have an outline in front of you, you'll see I've divided this into three divisions based on each chapter. But what I want us to do before we move forward in Romans is just to be reminded of the drift of the apostles argument because the apostle Paul is so logical and he's so careful. He builds on one building block after another And that's why you see this word for, for, for, for. He's presenting an argument so that you can understand a train of reasoning, he's actually helping the Roman church to learn how to think, how to think logically, in an orderly way about things. But the Apostle, the first thing he does is he talks about the transforming power of the gospel in the first 15 verses.

And so, you know, if you're lost, you need to know what salvation is looking like, and that's what the apostle does in these first verses. And he's telling the story of his life. He's telling the story of his personal experience. And he's actually explaining what happened to him when he believed. And these are the kinds of things that happen in anybody who believes.

So he starts out talking about the transforming power of the gospel. In verse one, he says, Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ. Here, he's saying that God changed him from a slave of the devil to a slave of God. The gospel was so powerful that he wanted to become the slave of Jesus Christ. He wanted to do everything his master wanted him to do.

And he was called, in other words, He heard his voice, actually literally, on the road to Damascus, he heard the voice of Jesus Christ, which really was saying, come to me, and he came. Now remember, Romans is written 25 years after the Damascus Road experience, so lots of time has passed since he's been saved. Now, I know for some of you a long time has passed since you've been saved, some of you not very long at all. Praise the Lord for both, but it's been 25 years and you know, Paul, here's I think a reality that we face in Paul's testimony and that is that past experience is only really valid with the present reality. God preserves his children and he implants with them a desire for him their whole life long.

We do know that we go through fluctuations, don't we? Fluctuations of passion, fluctuations of obedience, and it's very difficult, and sometimes you think, am I even saved? But God definitely has sustained Paul in these 25 years. If you've been saved for 25 years, can you say the same thing? I want to be the slave of Jesus Christ.

I want to follow Him wherever He goes. That's actually the mark of a disciple. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. Remember when we studied that in Revelation. But then he also is talking about himself and he uses I or me over and over again, mainly in verses eight through 15.

And he's saying, you know what happened to me? God made me so thankful for the people of God, and that's in verse eight, and then he says it made him into a person who's praying for that local church in verses eight through 10, and then in verse 11, he says that God completely changed him, Instead of persecuting the church, he wants to impart a blessing to the church. And he also wants to receive a blessing from the church. It goes both ways. You know, Paul is such a towering mind, such a courageous believer, but at the same time, he needed to be encouraged by others.

It was both, this is life in the body. God brought him into the body of Christ where you have this mutual encouragement for one another. And he says that he was determined to obtain fruit, you know. When he came, when he thought about the Romans, his disposition toward the Romans was that he wanted to see fruit and he wanted to live in such a way to gain fruit, and that's what we should be doing as well. And he was determined to preach the gospel, and he was large-hearted toward all, toward the sophisticated and the unsophisticated.

He didn't care. He loved everybody. I think the apostle, you'd find the apostle Paul loving and encouraging the weakest Christian in the church, not despising him. That was the apostle Paul. So in the first 15 verses, the Apostle Paul is just talking about how the gospel transformed his life.

And then in verse 16 through 20, he begins to talk about why he's not ashamed of the gospel. And so, you know, before he begins to explain why every person without Christ is condemned, he first of all wants to tell why he's not ashamed of the gospel. And this verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for, there's that word, now he begins to itemize the reasons he's not ashamed. For, it's the power of God, that's the first word. The second word is to salvation, for everyone who believes, to 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.

So he's talking about the power of God unto salvation. If you're lost, you need to know of the power of God to change your life. It is a power of God and it's if you're lost you need to know that only you can only be saved if God saves you. If he reaches down into your heart and changes your heart, you can't save yourself by any of your works, but God saves by his power And it's the power of God to salvation. It means deliverance.

What are you delivered from? You're delivered from the penalty of sin. And you're actually delivered in everything about your life. The way you think, you're actually delivered from yourself. And you receive the implanted word and the word of God you know, works in your mind and changes your mind about everything.

God's always involved in transforming the mind. And this is the power of God to salvation. It's a work of God. Somebody sent me this quote this week. If human free will were a factor to the degree of even 1% of matters of conversion and salvation, no human being in the entire course of history would ever be saved.

That's Absolutely true. Ephesians 1 and 2 tell us that we're predestined before the foundation of the world. It's God who saves. God didn't save any of us because we were just so open. He didn't save us because we were exemplary people.

The Bible actually tells us the opposite, that we were fools, that we're the dregs of the world, and God rescues, He rescues the worst of mankind. And then he makes it clear that if you're lost, you need to know that salvation is by faith because it's for everyone who believes. For the Jew first and also for the Greek. And then in verse 17, he makes it really clear that if you're lost, you need to know what it means to receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ. You know, righteousness is used two ways in the Bible.

It is the righteousness of God, the perfect purity of God but it's also used of righteousness in terms of man's behavior. But here, in terms of the righteousness of God, he brings together what theologians call both the passive obedience of Christ and the active obedience of Christ. The passive obedience of Christ is that He is holy in His nature. He is perfectly righteous in His nature, But at the same time in his incarnation, he obeyed every law. That's his active obedience.

He obeyed every law. We haven't been able to obey perfectly any of the laws. And so the righteousness of Jesus Christ in his passive and his act of obedience becomes ours. And if you're lost you need to know what it means to receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And then if you're lost you need to know that the wrath of God is being revealed.

That's in verse 18. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And he's saying that it isn't only that the wrath of God will be revealed, but the troubles that you see in the world are a manifestation of the wrath of God being revealed in the world. So many of the problems and the heartaches and horrible things that happen in the world, they're because God is pouring out His wrath on mankind. And if you're lost, you need to know why you're lost.

It says because you're suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. You're trivializing the truth, you're twisting the truth. Men flatter themselves. They're suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. If you're lost, you need to know that that's what you're doing.

If you haven't come to Jesus Christ, but you know you've heard His voice call you, you need to know what you're doing. You're suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. And in verses 19 and 20, the Apostle Paul makes it very clear that if you're lost, you're without excuse. You're without excuse if you're lost. Verse 19, 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." The natural world will never let you forget about the majesty of God. I am so thankful for that to be reminded every day in something in nature that God is God, of his eternal power and his Godhead, that he's good. I read the other day that there's a total eclipse coming up next year. It's going to start, it's going to cross the Mexican border and start in Texas and head north across the United States on April 8th. And, you know, people, I have a cousin who lives right in the path of this total eclipse, and so all the hotels are already booked out in the town.

And everybody is so, so amazed at it, and it really is amazing. But frankly, it's nothing. It's nothing compared to the way that God has arranged the natural world. You know, this, we're going to see a total eclipse. Well, 1.3 million Earths can fit inside of the sun.

This eclipse is a dinky nothing in the world. You know, 1 quadrillion Earths can fit inside of the planet Betelgeuse, okay? So, but it still is amazing, isn't it, that there's going to be a total eclipse. It's so amazing, but it's the tiniest thing. It's dinky compared to what God has done.

But God does not let the world forget that he is the creator of all that there is. And we see the manifestations of it every day. So if you're lost, you are without excuse. And then the apostle begins to elaborate in verse 21 on the results of exchanging the glory of God for the lie, the truth of God for the lie, verse 21, 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.

And here he's talking about the, what happens when people are lost. And there's this progression that takes place in people's lives. And the first is that they refuse to give thanks to God. They refuse to worship God. They don't want to retain God in their knowledge.

They don't want to think about God. That's the beginning of all the tragedies that take place. They don't want to retain God, they want to retain all this other, they want to fill their heads with junk. And you know, people become junk heads because they just fill their heads with junk. But it begins with not wanting to retain God in their knowledge, to saturate their minds with the things of God.

And then they become fools. And then in verse 24, they give themselves over to uncleanness and the lusts of their hearts. In other words, they launch a sexual revolution and then they launch a homosexual revolution. So there's this progression of cultural revolutions but it actually begins in the mind of a person. And then, of course, you know, God destroys every ungodly nation that raises up itself against God.

I was just, I'm reading an Isaiah in my normal reading. And I'm in the section where God declares the destruction of Moab and Egypt and I think they're like eight or 10 nations that God, he only destroys them for one reason, because they did not want to retain God in their knowledge. God destroys nations because of what they worship. The worship, the preservation of the worship of God is the most important thing for the church to preserve so that God is the center of all the worship. So that the people of God retain God in their knowledge.

And but this, the God's wrath is rolling right now, it's manifested today. You know, people are very concerned about the Q plus, plus, you know, revolution. But this is the wrath of God that's being poured out on the world. So not only is God pouring out wrath, but there's a final judgment to come. And then the apostle in verse 26, he begins to also make it clear that if you're lost, You need to know that the way you think about things is being distorted, that your mind is being bent, it's being corrupted.

If you're lost, you need to know that's what's happening to you. Remember, the apostle, he's wanting to bring the Roman church to where everybody declares spiritual bankruptcy, that they have no hope without Jesus Christ. That's the whole force of this section. But beginning in verse 26, it says, 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. Now, then in the final phrase of verse 27, he makes it clear how destructive it is not to retain God in your knowledge.

He says, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error. In other words, there's a penalty. You become distorted in your thinking. And you, you, you, you, you sort of, you begin to worship yourself in the creation instead of God. And that distorts your view of everything in the world.

Everything in the world. And then in verse 28, the apostle makes it clear that if you're lost, you need to know the path you're on. And because nobody stays in one place, everything is a trajectory, every affection is a direction. That's the way God built us, so we have to be very careful with the directions and the affections that we cultivate. And so in verses 28 to 32, the apostle, he begins to explain the tragedies.

Look at verse 29. Well, in verse 28, God gave them over to a debased mind. He gives you what you want. That's actually the bad news. He is the giver of all good gifts, God is, but then to the unbeliever, he gives the unbeliever over to what they want.

And it puts them on a trajectory, it puts them on a path. God gave them over to what? To a debased mind and they can't even think straight. I'm just tempted to illustrate how people can't think straight today. But you all know what it is.

You've seen the insanity that's at work in the biggest companies in the world and the most powerful governments in the world. It's insanity. The companies are committing corporate suicide by their policies, you know, and families are committing suicide by their philosophies. Whole nations are committing suicide. We had a man in our church, I might have mentioned this about a month ago, he's from the Netherlands and he said that they're in the Netherlands and in one more generation there won't be any more atheists there because they are not having children.

And he said the only two kinds of people that will exist in the Netherlands in not too long time to come will be the Muslims and the Christians because there's a Christian Bible belt in the Netherlands. They're having children and so are the Muslims. But The world is committing suicide by its policies. You cannot kill so many babies without committing suicide. But this comes from a debased mind.

So the Apostle Paul, he's wanting to bring every person in Rome to spiritual bankruptcy so that they know that their only hope is in Jesus Christ. And then he talks about the manifestations of this, being filled with all unrighteousness. This is 129. Being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness, they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful. This is the trajectory.

If you're lost, you need to know the trajectory that you're on. That's what the Apostle Paul is saying. To that church is a little embattled church in Rome. You know, when I was just reading this over, I couldn't help but think about our own church. How important it is that we understand the bankruptcy of the soul without Jesus Christ, that every person understands that.

I read the other day that, I mean, it's obvious that More people are committing suicide than any other time in American history. The use of anti-depressants, psychotropic drugs to pull you out of your funk, you know, those are being used like never before. You know, the top three internet searches I read the other day after midnight are porn, lonely and suicide. Those three. The poison pill of life without Jesus Christ.

So there's a trajectory. The Apostle Paul is talking about these cultural revolutions that really begin in the use of the mind. And it just so illustrates the importance of the mind. You know, many of you are raising your children. What will you fill the minds of your children with?

Fill them up with the knowledge of God. It's the only thing that will sustain them in the evil day. And then as we move to Chapter 2, Paul, he's been addressing the immoral people of the world but now he turns to the moral people. He turns to the nice people, the discipline, the orderly people, you know, who have it all together on the outside. On the outside and if you're lost, you need to know that even the moral nice people can be lost.

So, as you move to Chapter 2, the apostle is trying to destroy the reputations of all the moral people of the world and he just incinerates and he brings them to stubble. And so he talks first of all about the self-righteous, the ones who know their moral and they're proud about it. They're upstanding people and he's confronting the overconfident about their sin. So after condemning the outwardly rebellious, he moves to the moral people. So in verse one, if you're lost, you need to know that God condemns the self-righteous.

He says, therefore you are inexcusable, oh man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself. And then in verse 2 he says, you know, if you're lost you need to know that it's deserved. And then in verse 3 it's like he's saying, if you're lost you need to know that your judgment is inescapable. He says no one will escape the judgment of God. And then in verse four, he makes it very clear, if you're lost, you need to know of God's long suffering, because he hasn't destroyed you yet.

You're still lost, but you haven't been destroyed yet. So there's actually hope. As long as anyone's alive, there's hope. I know people that have children that are just ruining their lives, and I always say the same thing. Brother, sister, the story's not over.

It isn't over yet. God can save anybody. In verse 5 he says that if you're lost you need to know that it's because of the hardness of your heart. In verses 6 through 11 he makes it clear that if you're lost, you need to know that you're, if you are without the law, you will be judged by the law. And then, and then he says, you need to know that if you have the law, you'll be judged with the law.

And then he says that the only the doers of the law will be justified, not the hearers of the law. So he makes it really clear that the law of God is inscribed on every person's heart, even if they've never heard the law of God. Everybody has their principles, And basically what he's saying is, even if you have your principles, you don't even live by them yourself. Even though you don't have God's laws. Even your own principles you break.

So you're condemned by yourself. So the apostle, he's taking away every possible excuse to trust in anything but Jesus Christ and Christ alone. And then he talks about your conscience and he talks about the miracle of a circumcised heart, how God actually in salvation he circumcises your heart, that's in chapter two verse 17. And he's saying that the miracle of Christianity is an inward change of heart. You know, circumcision was a symbol of cutting away the flesh and being set apart for God.

And the circumcision of the heart is the same way. It means that you have turned away from the works of the flesh. You've cut away the flesh, and now you're marked forever by the Spirit of God, and then the Spirit of God bears fruit. So, in this whole section in chapter 2, he's really making one point. If you're lost, you need to know that none of your external practices can save you.

And he gives five questions, you know, You therefore who teach one another, do you not teach yourself? He's just exposing our hypocrisy. And then he says, you who preach that man should not steal, do you steal? And he says, if you say do not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? Because he's talking about how the law is spiritual.

There's murder in the heart, there's adultery in the heart. The law goes deeper than just your outward deeds. So he's just taking away every possible excuse. And in verse 28 he says, 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. So then we get to chapter 3 and he continues to deal really with the Jews and we'll get to this next week.

In the first 8 verses he talks about the advantages the Jews have had because they have the oracles of God. And then in chapter three, verse nine, go ahead and look there. He makes it clear that if you're lost, you need to know your true condition. He says, There is none righteous, no, not one, verse 10. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and the world may become guilty before God.

That's what Paul's doing. He wants to bring the whole world to be charged as guilty. And he wants the whole world, particularly the saints in Rome, to declare spiritual bankruptcy, that their mouths would be stopped and stop praising themselves for their morality, stop praising themselves for anything that they might think would help them in salvation. And then we get to verse 20. This is where Paul is driving.

And he says, verse 20, he's really saying, if you're lost, you need to know what it means to be saved. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh shall 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. And in verse 23, the apostle brings the whole argument down. 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 had passed over the sins which 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. So, are you lost?

The apostle doesn't want the saints in Rome to be lost and not know it. And so he takes every possible reason for self-righteousness away. And so that's really the big question. I really just wanted to ask one question this morning. Are you lost or have you been found by Jesus Christ?

And what that means is that you trust in Jesus Christ's righteousness alone. We're getting ready to take the Lord's Supper and we're gonna celebrate the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And people are often confused about what it means to be saved. The Bible has so much to say about it. Are you waiting to be holy enough to have assurance of your salvation?

Because salvation is not based on your holiness. Are you waiting to have enough faith to prove your salvation? You don't think your faith is deep enough to be saved? Salvation is not by some self perceived evaluation of your faith. Are you waiting to be passionate enough before you can be saved?

Salvation isn't by passion. It's by faith. It's by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Are you waiting for a righteousness that's enough? You're just waiting till you get to that level, you know?

I know so many young people who are like this. They think, well, I'm not there yet. I don't have enough passion yet. I do believe that Jesus is the son of God. I wanna follow Jesus with all my heart, but I don't know if I have enough.

I don't have enough to keep me. I don't know if I'm, you know, I need to make sure that I'm not a faker. You know, if you've grown up in the church and you've lived in a family that's really been ordered by God, what a blessing that is. You know, when you're saved, you might not have a massive, a massive salvation experience like somebody, you know, who's been on crack for five years and committed every possible defiling sin. You won't feel the same way if you're saved.

But here's how you will feel. You'll say, I believe I wanna follow the Lord. I believe that I don't have any hope in my own righteousness. If you're expecting some dramatic change and you've grown up in the church, I'm here to say this, salvation is not by drama. Salvation is by the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

You know, are you trying to pinpoint the exact time when you were saved? By the way, salvation is not based on your omniscience about the second you were saved, the moment you were saved. My experience is most people don't know the exact moment they were saved. There are some. I don't know if it's the majority, I don't think it is.

It's normal not to know the exact moment, but you know that your heart changed. And you know you wanna follow the Lord. I think it was a couple years ago I said in this church, you know, for, particularly for young people, who are just waiting for this kind of electric shock of oh God, you know, and the heavens open, and you fall on your face, and you weep for an hour, you're so thankful, you know. Salvation is not by electrification. Salvation is by grace alone, by faith alone.

And that's what the Apostle Paul is saying in this. If you're lost, you need to know what it means to be found. Don't you love that song? It's the most famous song, most famous Christian song in the world, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found.

Was blind, but now I see. So let's be really clear. The Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost. Praise the Lord. Would you pray with me?

Father, thank you for this remarkable section of your word to teach us what it means to be lost, what it means to be found, how righteousness is of Jesus Christ and Christ alone. I pray, Lord, that you would help each person in here to know whether they are lost or whether they are found. Amen. Amen.