Jason Dohm's sermon, 'Separated to the Gospel of God,' explores the foundational theological themes found in Romans chapters 1 through 11. He emphasizes the universal nature of sin and the inability of the law to justify mankind, highlighting that the righteousness of God is revealed through faith in Jesus Christ. The sermon stresses the importance of understanding Romans as a critical book that systematically presents theology and acts as a key to interpreting other parts of the Bible. Dohm discusses the role of faith, grace, and the concept of justification by faith, drawing upon the teachings of Martin Luther and John Calvin to underscore Romans' significance. The sermon outlines Romans' theological structure, describing the great problem of sin, the only solution through Christ, and the assurance of God's promises. It also addresses the issue of Israel's unbelief and God's sovereignty in salvation. The latter part of Romans, according to the sermon, shifts to practical application, urging believers to live transformed lives in response to God's mercy. Throughout, Dohm calls for a deep-rooted understanding of Romans that leads to spiritual transformation.

Our sermon text this week is from Romans chapter 3 verses 19 through 26. 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 one, 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 had 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. The title of the sermon this morning is separated to the gospel of God. It's just drawing on a phrase from the very first verses of Romans where Paul says that God set him apart to be a preacher of the good news to the nations. So this is our summary of Romans.

Why Romans? It's a little late to be answering that question, isn't it? I'll answer it anyway. Why Romans? When we were leaving the book of Joshua, that's the last book we went through, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, is James and I considered where we would go next.

We tracked back and saw that it had been about 15 years since we had been in Romans. That goes back to the very earliest years of Hope Baptist. We were in Romans in 2007 and 2008. So then, anybody five, six, seven, eight years old doesn't remember much of what they heard from that time. It essentially means it's a generation that hasn't heard an exposition of Romans.

And just viewing Romans is such a critical foundational book of the Bible. So if God keeps James and I alive for another 15 or 20 years and we're part of an elder team here, we're going to be beating on those elders to go through Romans again because every generation really has to go through Romans bit by bit. That's why we've spent this time in Romans. On October 23rd, 2022, we had the introductory sermon to Romans. Is June 23rd 2024 so it's 20 months to the day in our time in Romans this is if I counted right this is the 79th sermon in Romans My whole family said we should do one more sermon so we hit the 80th.

There's no need for that actually. There's nothing wrong with just doing 79 sermons. By other churches standards that's actually a sprint through Romans. Many have spent much longer in Romans. But if I remember right, in the beginning, we said we don't think we can get through it any faster than a year and a half, but we think we can be done before two years.

So we're really right in that time frame, 20 months. Here are two quotes from that introductory sermon, one from Martin Luther, one from John Calvin. Martin Luther said this, This epistle, Romans, is really the chief part of the New Testament 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." So it's hard to imagine how Martin Luther could have thought more of Paul's letter to the believers in Rome. Here's what John Calvin said, If we have gained a true understanding of this epistle, we have an open door to all the most profound treasures of Scripture.

What's he saying? Have you ever heard of a gateway drug? He's saying, Romans is a gateway drug for the Bible addict. Romans is a book that if you gain an understanding of Romans, it really is the interpretive key to help you understand so many connections that happen from Genesis to Revelation. So it's really good to go, really get rooted and grounded in Romans, get a good understanding of Romans because it just opens up a good correct solid understanding of the rest of Scripture.

I think both Luther and Calvin are right there. Two other quotes from that introductory sermon from study Bibles, the Nelson Study Bible, had this note, Romans includes the most systematic presentation of theology found anywhere in Scripture. I challenge you to find another book of the Bible that is more step-by-step, answering objections as you go, brick-by-brick, building of a theological structure than the Book of Romans. I think they're right. It's the most systematic presentation of theology found anywhere in the Bible.

ESV had an ESV study Bible with a similar note. What distinguishes the letter is its long and carefully constructed body which presents a sustained theological argument. If you wanted One description of Romans, those three words might be a fantastic description. Sustained theological argument. Step by step, brick by brick, building this theological structure systematically.

Praise God for Romans. It's been so helpful. As with every book of the Bible that we undertake, I'm sad to leave it. Let's pray. God, we are sad to leave the book of Romans just because of all the treasures that we've found here, but we're so grateful that you would, the Holy Spirit would inspire Paul to write to these believers like a spiritual father with such tender heartedness, but also such carefulness to give this theological, this extended theological argument that we could then study little by little.

Thank you for our 20 months here in Jesus' name. Amen. It's a fool's errand to try to re-preach parts of 79 different sermons. So really I'm thinking and hoping that this is actually going to be a short sermon. I'm going to try to get done no longer than 45 minutes.

So I'll be watching the clock and really trying to push the pace, I think we can get them between 30 and 45 minutes. The reason for that is we just want to hit some of the heads. We want to hit some of the highlight points and leave with an overarching view of what this was all about. And I think it's actually counterproductive to get down into the weeds because that pulls you away from these overarching things that I hope we'll leave with. I broke the book of Romans into four different sections.

There are no blanks to fill in this week. And you can see them on your handout. The first is chapters one through three. And I've labeled that the great problem. Paul educates us on mankind's great problem in the first chapter.

The first part of chapter one is very warm and personal. It means it's not to me, it's not to you. It's the very specific people living in a very specific place at a very specific time. We're not them. We can certainly learn about Paul and his heart for believers in Rome, but it's not to us.

It's very warm. It's very personal. But then he quickly gets to systematic theological matters. He starts laying these bricks in chapter 1. By the middle of the chapter, Paul provides a framework for the whole book.

If you're open to Romans chapter 1, Look at the framework that he gives us for the whole book of Romans in verses 16 and 17. Paul writes, 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." I think it's accurate to say that everything else in the whole book you can hook back on this. Paul has got a gospel to preach that he has not one atom of shame in. And He's actually bold with the gospel.

He's actually proud of the gospel. The reverse is actually true. He's proud of the gospel. Why? Because it's a saving gospel.

It's a gospel that is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by His Son Jesus Christ. And everyone who believes can be saved by it. No one is left out of the offer of this gospel. Then in the very next verse, Paul begins to systematically put all of mankind in the same boat. Look at verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." So we have this lovely verse about the power of the gospel to save all sinners.

And then in the next verse we have storm clouds. The wrath of God revealed. God's fury unleashed against all the unrighteousness of all mankind. He's actually beginning to, in that verse, in the shift of that verse in verse 18, beginning to systematically put us all in the same boat. The Gospel has no offer for you until you understand that you're in this boat.

And I'm in this boat. And we were all born in this boat. For the remainder of the first three chapters, Paul makes the step-by-step argument that no matter who you are, though you might be self-righteous, you are actually the exact opposite of being genuinely righteous. So you might have talked yourself in to you being a good person, but that is disconnected from reality. So Paul talks about actually in these chapters the different ways that you can talk yourself into being a good person, but that it actually doesn't stand up to the scrutiny, especially the scrutiny of an all-knowing God who can see even into your motives.

So Paul is laying out this is the God we're dealing with here. You can fool your friends, your family, your neighbors, your co-workers, but you can never fool this God because he sees even into your motives. So you might be self-righteous, but you're not actually righteous. You're in the boat with the rest of us. If you are a Gentile, Gentile just means not a Jew.

There's two kinds of people in the world by this division. There are Jews, the descendants of Abraham, and then there's everybody else. Everybody else is a Gentile. If you're a Gentile and you had no access to the written law, you didn't have the Scriptures, even so you have a conscience. So Paul tells all the Gentiles who had no access to the Scriptures that's not an excuse that God has actually made everyone born with an inborn sense of right and wrong.

And you know your conscience has told you many times, you shouldn't be doing that, but you wanted to do it. And you overrode your inborn sense of right and wrong simply because you had to have it, even though your conscience tells you, it's wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong. But I want it, I do it. And that as many times your conscience has said, you know, you really should do this. You really should tell the truth.

You really should be kind. You really should be help. Your conscience was telling you this. It was your inborn sense of do good, but you said, no that's inconvenient. No, I don't want to.

No, I don't like them." And so you said, no, I'm not going to do that anyway, even though you knew it was the right thing to do, that you should do it, but you wouldn't do it. So on the day of judgment, God only needs one witness, and it's not even an external witness. He just has to call your conscience to the bar to to stand and give testimony and your your conscience will say, yep she knew and she overrode me. This is your conscience testifying. She overrode me because she wanted what she knew was wrong.

And so she grasped for it anyway, or She knew the right to do, but it was inconvenient. Or she didn't like that person, and so she wouldn't do it. Or he knew he shouldn't do that. He knew he shouldn't go there. He knew he shouldn't look at that, but he wanted it.

So he just trampled all over me, says your conscience, testifying before God. But if you are a Jew, so you did have access to the written law, You might have memorized large portions of it. You might have studied it, heard it preached on endlessly. And you had the sign of circumcision, a physical sign that you belong to the people of God, though that might have given you the ability to carefully cultivate an external righteousness. In other words, your friends and your neighbors, your family members, your coworkers say, what a good guy.

What a good lady. You're not actually less guilty, you're more guilty. How could that be true? How could you be more guilty? Because you had it in more clear terms, you had more light to walk by, but you know in your heart of hearts that you wouldn't walk by the light that God had given you.

So the Jews are actually not less guilty before God. They're more guilty. They're more responsible because they had been given more. Gentiles guilty before God. Their consciences will rise up and condemn them.

Jews guilty before God, they had this written standard in black and white. They were memorizing it, they were hearing it preached, and yet they still wouldn't do it. At the very end of chapter 3, there is a transition from problem to solution. Look at the end of chapter 3 and Read verses 19 and 20 and then skip down to 26. Chapter 3 verses 19 and 20.

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. See, there we are, all in the same boat. All the world 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.

The law just helps us to know that we're lawbreakers. Skipping down to verse 26, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, God's righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Here's the shift. The great conundrum, the great puzzle, the great question. If God is perfectly holy, how could he possibly save the sinner?

How could he maintain justice but save the sinner? And Jesus solves the puzzle. A perfect sacrifice to come and and be the substitute to take the place of the sinner so that sin is never overlooked but the penalty is transferred to the substitute God is willing to do that he maintains his justice in doing that and this and the sinner goes free sinner goes free so he's shifting In chapters 4 through 8 we have the only solution. So 1 through 3 is a great problem. Chapters 4 through 8 is the only solution.

There is only one solution and then that's it. That God will accept an acceptable substitute. But it has to be a perfect undefiled substitute. I can't die for you, you can't die for me. The only solution to our problem is the grace of God, the unearned, undeserved favor of God expressed in the person and work of God's Son Jesus.

And the only way a person can lay claim to that work of Jesus is by faith, just simple trust. You're not working your way into what Jesus has done, it's just simply throwing yourself upon Him. This is how we gain an interest in what Jesus has done. And that's not a work. Throwing yourself upon Him doesn't count as a work.

And that has always been true. So This isn't New Testament theology, this is theology. Old Testament, New Testament, Bible, all the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. All has been true. We know that because Paul gives us a case study, Father Abraham.

He keeps quoting Genesis 15 verse 6. He believed God and God credited it to him as righteousness or God accounted his belief as righteousness. He put an external righteousness outside of himself into Abraham's account because of faith. He proves that Genesis 15 comes before circumcision. So here is Abraham, an uncircumcised Syrian.

The Jews couldn't have liked him saying that very much, but it's just Bible facts. It's Bible facts. Abraham, an uncircumcised, believes God, and God credits righteousness to his account because of faith. In verse four, verse 16, Paul said, Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, meaning salvation, just a gift, nothing but a gift, nothing ever but a gift, not 99% gift, but 100% gift, so that the promise might be sure. Listen to all that again.

Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace so that the promise might be sure." What's what's he saying? If it depended in any measure on ourselves, the promise would be unsure. God is not leaving us with an unsure promise. He's leaving us with a perfect sure promise, perfectly sure promise, and the only way he can do that is just to take it all upon himself, because we are unfaithful and he's faithful. Paul argues that my status is determined by my family head.

Whoever's at the head of your family tree determines your status. You're born, Adam's your family head. Congratulations, he brought sin and death into the world. And when he brought sin and death into the world, the nature of every human being would be born was radically changed and warped and twisted and corrupted so that when you're born all you need is a little time and a little opportunity and you'll follow right in his steps of rebellion Even before you seize the opportunity, your nature is such that you're bent against God. And So, if you want to be saved, you have to change families.

You can't stay in Adam's family. You have to join Jesus' family with Him as the head of your family. Then He takes the place of you, and He bears your and He wipes your record clean. For those who are now in Christ by faith, the guilt of sin, the penalty for sin, and the power of sin have been broken. So in these chapters, he's teaching this.

If you change families, Adam was your head, but he's not your head anymore. Jesus is now your head. The guilt of sin, you are guilty. That's wiped away. And now you're declared to be righteous.

The penalty for sin, you have to die for your sins. Sinner is wiped away. The death for your sins has already been cleared, already been taken care of. Jesus died for your sins. The head of your family died for your sins.

And the power of sin, you have to serve sin as a slave for the rest of your life has been wiped away. You do not have to do that anymore. The guilt of sin, broken, the penalty for sin, broken, the power of sin, broken, no longer slaves of sin, but, but. Wow, If he ended the letter at the end of chapter 6, we would be expecting perfection. He says such glorious things in chapters 5 and 6 that if he just ended the letter there, we would have such a wrong idea.

But He doesn't end the letter there. He gives us chapter seven, and he makes it clear in chapter seven that this does not mean, these doctrines that he's been teaching does not mean that there are no remaining corruptions. There actually are remaining corruptions. So Christians are going to find themselves doing the things that they don't want to do. I don't want to do it, but I find myself doing it.

What is wrong with me? That still happens in the life of a Christian. Why? Because there are remaining corruptions. There are going to be things that they want to do, and they find themselves so backwards towards those things.

Why can't I make myself do these things? Christians are going to find that that is their experience. Paul ends that in chapter 7 by saying, who will save me from this body of death? You do have an alive spirit. You've been raised from the dead spiritually.

But that living spirit is joined to a body of death. And that is going to be your experience on this side of heaven. There are remaining corruptions. But he says someone will save you from that body of death. Someone does save you from that body of death.

I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord. That brings us to chapter 8. James was telling me in our elders meeting that he was listening to a preacher who was talking about the great eight. And he couldn't figure out what it was, but the preacher finally revealed that he was talking about Romans chapter eight. James said, I felt stupid that I didn't know that he was talking about.

It is the great eight. It's one of the most soaring. If you want your heart to soar, you should go read Romans chapter 8. It is the great eight. It begins with this verse, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

The days of condemnation are over forever for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans chapter 8, the sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory that's going to be revealed. The Bible never ducks the hard truths. There are going to be sufferings, but Paul wants you to know They're really not even worth comparing to the glories that await the believer. Romans chapter 8, the Spirit helps us.

God has sent the Spirit to help His people, to bring us to the finish line. Romans chapter 8, all things work together for good. It's complicated. There's going to be lots that you don't understand, lots that you don't like. So it's not that it's not complicated.

It's complicated. But in the end, you're going to look back and see that God used every single thing for your good and His glory. Say, I can't even imagine. Can't even imagine how that could be true. Well, your lack of imagination is not God's problem.

You're going to look back and say, God, you were perfectly wise. You did all things well. Everything, even the things I didn't understand, even the things I didn't like, even the things that hurt so bad, you use them for good, for your glory. Two important and memorable sections at the end of the great eight. Romans chapter 8.

Look at verses 29 and 30. Sometimes this is called the unbreakable chain of salvation. I think if you're hoping to be saved you want to see an unbreakable chain. Like, oh you mean my weaknesses can't break it? No.

Your weaknesses can't break it. My sins can't? No. Your sins can't? My failings?

No. It's an unbreakable chain. Here it is in Romans 8, 29, and 30. For whom He, God foreknew, you might say for loved, loved beforehand. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he, Jesus, might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called." So we've got a couple links in the chain. He foreknew or pre-loved, loved beforehand these people and then those people he predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son. So no leakage. Everyone that He loved beforehand, He predestined without the loss of one. Everyone that He predestined, these He called without the loss of one.

Everyone that He called, these He also justified without the loss of one. And everyone that He justified, these He also glorified without the loss of one. It is an unbreakable chain of salvation beginning with in eternity past before the earth was formed or anyone had ever breathed a single breath, God loving people who they hadn't even brought into existence yet. And then these chains that are linked together and not one is lost in between one step and the next. Look at verse 32.

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?" That's such a good example of the arguments that Paul keeps making in Romans. It's undefeatable logic. God gave Jesus to save you, but He's not going to give you the rest of the things that you need. How absurd. Paul just wants to confront our logical fallacies that make us feel like God might not care for us.

Oh yeah, he gave his son, he sent his son from heaven to die for you, but he's not gonna care for the small things in life. Of course that's absurd and he brings us face to face with it. Verse 37, yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. God loves us. God loves his people.

And so he's made us more than conquerors in all these things, even in all the hardships of life. Chapters 9 through 11 I've called this promises that aren't precarious. Children, what does precarious mean? If you don't know here's what it means courtesy of Google. Not securely held in position dangerously likely to fall or collapse.

Do you want promises that are made to you to fit that category? I make you a promise, but it's not securely held in position. Well, then don't bother. Don't bother making me a promise that's not securely held in position. I make you a promise, but it's dangerously likely to fall or collapse.

Please don't bother, you're just getting my hopes up. In chapters 9 through 11, Paul is assuring us that these promises, gospel promises, aren't precarious. They are securely held in position. It's not even possible that they could fall or collapse. They are not precarious promises.

In these three chapters, Paul takes up the problem of Israel. Why is Israel a problem? Well, because of two things. God made them so many promises, and yet Israel is in such a sad, unbelieving condition. What are we to make of those two facts?

Are those irrefutable facts? God made so many promises to Israel. Who can refute that fact? Nobody. How about this one?

Israel is in such a sad, unbelieving condition. They were at the time Paul was writing this. They are today, overwhelmingly, in a sad, unbelieving condition. What conclusion are we to draw from these things? These two facts force a thinking person to wonder, did the promises fail?

Why? Because God has made promises to me. If they failed with Israel, How can I have any confidence that they won't fail with me, for me? Was God unwilling or unable to save Israel after all? And If he did save them, was he unwilling or unable to keep them?

My opinion is that chapter one and chapter nine are two of the most fundamental chapters in all of scripture. Going with John Calvin, how this unlocks so much of the Bible. I think chapter 1 and chapter 9, getting a good understanding of that helps you understand the world that you see, but also so much of Scripture. Chapter 1 teaches the truth that the rejection of the God of Scripture isn't actually about the fake reasons people give. Why do you reject the God of Scriptures?

Well, rock layers and evil in the world and Adolf Hitler and okay those Paul says you faker you faker you say those are your reasons those aren't really your reasons God who can see into your heart gives a different reason you love sin. John 3.16 is followed by John 3.17 and 18, that God did send his Son into the world to save sinners. God has never been the problem, But men love darkness. That's the problem. Men love darkness.

It's not that God hasn't made a provision for sinners. It's that men love their darkness. And really, Paul is saying much the same thing. The real reason for the rejection of the goddess of scripture is just about suppressing the truth because of the love of things God hates. I love these things and I'm going to have these things.

If you say you hate these things, I'm going to say you're not real. Doesn't have anything to do with rock layers. Right off Hitler. Chapter 9 teaches the deep mystery of election. That Because all of mankind is hopelessly lost in rebellion against God, the salvation of anyone is purely at the discretion of God's mercy that He owes to no one.

God doesn't owe salvation to any person, because all of mankind, without exception, is plunged into rebellion against God. So The wonder of things isn't that God doesn't save everyone. The wonder of things is that God saves anyone at all. Chapter 9, God chooses to save some on the basis of His own sovereign choice, and He is utterly unwilling to explain it to me. God explain yourself.

Tell me why you choose who you choose. I don't have to. I'm not going to. This is my summary of Romans chapter 9. I don't have to.

I'm God. All of mankind is a Sea of Rebellion. And just according to my own good purposes, I can pluck out this one from the Sea of Rebellion and leave that one. I am the king. We have in Romans chapter 9, verse 29, Romans 9, 29, quoting Isaiah, unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.

Who is the Lord of Sabaoth? The Lord of Sabaoth just means The Lord of hosts. The head of the army. What army? The avenging hosts of heaven.

Unless the king at the head of the avenging hosts of heaven had left us a remnant unless he had decided to leave us any at all we would have been we would have become like Sodom and we would have been made like Gomorrah. So what is Sodom and Gomorrah? Sinners getting what they deserve. Total annihilation. Every sinner dies in Sodom and Gomorrah.

God is the king at the head of an avenging army, avenging for what? Avenging for sin. God says, I hate this. We say, we love it. God said, I love this.

We say, we hate it. God is at the head of an avenging army, unless He leaves you a few. And if He decides to just give sinners what they deserve, you get Sodom and Gomorrah. This is so important to understand. It plucks you out of a man-centered framework and puts you seeing through the eyes of a perfectly holy God who has been rebelled against by a race.

So The formula is this from Romans chapter 9. Fair equals Sodom and Gomorrah. Stop clamoring for fair. You don't want it. Fair leaves us all wiped out by the avenging hosts of heaven with God at their head leading it because He's the one who hates sin the most.

So what about Israel? Have the promises failed? Paul says four things. One, salvation has always been only based on God's undeserved grace. And that is inside Israel as much as outside of Israel.

Salvation has always been only based on God's undeserved grace. Two, they are not all Israel who are of Israel. Oh Paul, makes sense man. They're not all of Israel. They're not all Israel who are of Israel.

What do you mean? What he's teaching is, and in context it's so clear, that physical, genealogical, the family line of Israel was a type a picture of a greater spiritual reality so you get really confused if you say Israel is the spiritual reality. No, no, no. Israel is the picture that teaches about and points to the spiritual reality. So don't say that every person in national genealogical Israel is a true member of the people of God.

God never meant that. God never said that. That has never been true. It isn't true now. Israel was designed to point to and teach about the greater spiritual reality.

So there were people of the national genealogical people of Israel who were part of the spiritual reality but never all. So the promises some were made to national genealogical Israel and some were made to the spiritual reality the true people of God and you have to be careful about understanding which is which. 3, Paul says, wait, I'm an Israelite. God is still saving Israelite. I'm proof positive.

Here I am, a Jew. And I was the most rebellious against God kind of Jew. I persecuted the church. But God wanted to prove that He was still saving Jews, so He saved me. Four, finally, Paul says God's not done with Israel.

Expect great things of God's work among Israel before the end. Chapter 11 gives us the right to expect a great ingathering of Genealogical Jews into the kingdom of God Merging up of the picture and the greater spiritual reality being brought together before the end So the promises actually aren't precarious at all They are solid as a rock you just have to understand them. So this concludes the predominantly theological portion of the book and letter, and now begins the predominantly practical portion. So chapters 1 through 11 are almost all just teaching these theological truths. And then chapters 12 through 16 are, what should we do with these?

What should these result in? Chapters 12 through 16 are what believers must do with these truths. Paul here, right in the starting a new section, right out of the gate, gives us this framework at the very beginning. Romans 12.1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. In other words, God has heaped so many mercies on the believer that in view of all these mercies, we should offer ourselves back to God as living sacrifices.

And this isn't super Christianity, this is simply a reasonable service. It's the logical conclusion of the Gospel. Because of the Gospel, we ought to offer ourselves back to God and live for Him. Live to His honor in the world. And that's just a reasonable service for all the mercies that He's poured out on us.

He's made us rich people, so we ought to just live for Him. Makes so much sense. He's saying the mercies of God are and ought to be transforming. Please at least in your heart say amen to that. The mercies of God ought to be transforming.

The mercies of God shouldn't come and go and leave us as we are, unchanged. Not instantly transforming, but progressively transforming. Wow, is that important to know? If they were instantly transforming, Paul could just talk about the transformation that instantly happens in the life of the believer. That's not what he does.

He takes these five chapters to call us to the transformation. Not instantly transforming, but progressively transforming. If the question is, what does it mean to live like a believer in Jesus? What does it look like to live like a believer in Jesus? Paul is answering that question.

Believers use their spiritual gifts to build up the other members of the body. Believers abhor evil and cling to good. Believers are kindly affectionate to their brethren and bless their persecutors. They know how to suffer well under persecution while being affectionate with their brethren. Believers submit to the governing authorities.

Believers love their neighbor. Believers learn not to despise a weaker brother or judge a stronger one. I've Got a couple of chapters on that. Paul spent so much time talking about how to relate with a weaker brother and a stronger brother. Don't despise that weaker brother.

That's not Christ-like. Don't judge a stronger brother. That's not Christ-like. Here's a question. Aren't you glad Paul didn't start with chapter 12?

If Paul started with chapter 12, we would instantly turn this into works righteousness and think I got to go earn my spot. No no no. Paul takes 11 chapters to say there is no earning the spot. Jesus earned the spot. You trust in Jesus and Jesus does it all.

Jesus transforms you. Here's what it looks like when you've been fully transformed. He grounded us in the Gospel for 11 chapters before he started telling us, here's what it ought to look like in your life. Thank God Paul did that. This is the wisdom of God.

The final chapter of Paul returns to the very warm and personal. He starts chapter 1, very warm and personal to those people in Rome. He ends the same way. Applications, I only give you one. It's so cheesy.

I'm trying to, I'm still arguing with myself about whether I should say these words. I'm gonna do it. Believing students of Romans who leave Romans without Romans leaving them are rooted and fruited. I know that's terrible. Terrible.

It might be memorable though. It's terrible, but it might be memorable. Believing students of Romans. So we've been studying Romans. Are you a believer?

If you're a believer who's been studying Romans with me, who leave Romans, we're leaving Romans, we're out of here. Next week is Lamentations. Then we've got 12 weeks of preaching on some different topical things. Then we're into Genesis 1-11. We're believing students of Romans who are leaving Romans without Romans leaving them, meaning we want this stuff to have stuck.

We are leaving Romans. We don't want Romans to leave us. We wanted to have an impact. I want to look back in 10 or 20 years if I'm still alive and say I got so much help from our 20 months in Romans. I'm still getting help from our 20 months in Romans.

I want to look back and say that. Our rooted, Romans 1-11 did its work in grounding me in the gospel. It sent my roots deep down into self-distrust and Jesus trusting. Romans 1-11 is designed to do that, to break your self-trust. You need to have your self-trust broken because you cannot trust yourself.

The Bible teaches anything, it teaches that. You can trust Jesus, we should trust Jesus. Romans 1 through 11, if it does its work, it breaks your self-trust and sends you to Jesus. And and fruited, rooted and and and fruited rooted and fruited like it looks like this stop laughing we should be rooted and fruited rooted in the gospel Self-trust broken, trust in Jesus established firm. And then it transforming us.

We want to be transformed. God thank you for our 20 months here. I pray that you would bless it and that our long-term look back would be that you continue to use it in our lives every day in Jesus name. Amen.