Paul is converted. He spends a little time with the disciples. He gets with Barnabas in the church at Antioch. The Church is spreading. Paul and Barnabas are commissioned by the Church to go out (to Greece and Rome) as missionaries to tell people about Christ. There was a town in Greece (modern-day Turkey) called Thessalonica. Two of the books we’ll look at were written to the church at Thessalonica (1^st and 2^nd Thessalonians). After each missionary journey, Paul would venture out a little further and return to Jerusalem to report on his journeys. These journeys are described starting in Acts 15.

During his first missionary journey, he wrote his first letter to the churches of Galatia (modern-day Turkey). The book is called "Galatians." So you’re reading a letter or epistle Paul sent to Galatia after his missionary visit with them. It was read to the churches there. On his second missionary journey, he wrote 1^st and 2^nd Thessalonians. On the third missionary journey, he wrote to the Romans. He never visited Rome until he was in prison but he wrote the book ahead of time. He also wrote 1^st and 2^nd Corinthians (while in Corinth) and Philemon.

We’re going to start looking at the book of Romans this morning. He wrote to the Romans before he had visited. After his third missionary journey, Paul was put in prison by these "devout" Jews. They were getting tired of people talking about Christ. After 2-3 years, Paul said, "I’m a Roman citizen." They said, "OK. You’re going to Rome." That’s how he got from Jerusalem to Rome. While in prison, he wrote what are called "the Prison Letters." He wrote Ephesians (to Ephesus), Philippians (to Philippi), and Colossians (to Colossi). During his second imprisonment, he wrote 1^st and 2^nd Timothy and Titus. It’s interesting to note that he wrote initially to churches or areas of churches. His later letters were to pastors.

This is the chronological order they were written. You can see this in the book of Acts.

Yes. Looking at your Table of Contents, can you tell me the smallest letter Paul wrote? Philemon. Which is the longest letter he wrote? Romans. Which is the second longest letter? 1^st Corinthians. They were put in order of size. It was nothing magical, sacred, or holy. They just said, "Romans is big and Philemon is small, so let’s put them in order from largest to smallest." That’s all it is.

I wanted you to understand how, when, and in what order Paul’s letters were written. The order is significant. If you know that Galatians was written first, followed by 1^st and 2^nd Thessalonians, you’ll understand the content more. What was the early Church asking? What were they thinking? Galatians talks a lot about Law vs. Grace. In the early Church, the Jews still had their Law. It started out as a Jewish Church and became more of a Gentile Church. Paul said, "I must go and tell the Gentiles about Christ." The Jews said, "OK, but they have to become Jews first, before they can be Christians." In Acts 15, there is a big Church Council meeting where they said, "No. That’s not the case. A Gentile can become a Christian without first becoming a Jew." That was a big, big change in the growth process of the early Church. So Paul’s missionary journeys were directed toward Gentiles all over the known world.

So when you read the first few books, he’s talking about Law vs. Grace. Many were confused about that. Jews were under the Law. With Christ, Christians are under Grace. 1^st and 2^nd Thessalonians are about the Second Coming of Christ. That’s expected because Christ died, was resurrected, and ascended but He said that He was coming back. People are saying, "But I have a friend who is a Christian who died. What am I going to do?" Paul addressed that in Thessalonians. If you read a little about the book before you actually read the book, you can see what Paul was trying to do and say. For example, when Paul says that women should be quiet in the church, you need to know the setting, the audience, and the context. Some people take things out of context: "Wives, submit to your husbands." You want to understand what he was talking about. It makes a big difference when you know what was going on at the time and his purpose for writing it.

Romans was written before Paul ever visited. That was unusual compared to all the other letters he wrote. At the first of Acts, we read that when the Holy Spirit came on the people at the Day of Pentecost, some Jews from Rome were there. So Romans was written to the church located in the city of Rome, the headquarters of the Roman Empire. This was where all the wealth and power was. At this time the Roman Empire was peaking. In terms of wealth and power, any city today would pale by comparison. Rome had it all. If you lived in Rome, you never went hungry, no matter who you were or weren’t.

Like I said, some of the Roman Jews returned to Rome after the Day of Pentecost. They became Christians, started a church in Rome, and started multiplying. They were increasing in number. In secular history, you can read what some Roman historians said about these Christians. Around AD 48, there was a proclamation from the Emperor requiring all Jews to leave Rome because of the controversy concerning "Christos," or Christ. So from AD 33-48 (15 years), there had been enough Christian activity and disciples of Christ in Rome that it was causing problems. Jews were probably jealous of Christians like they were in Jerusalem. Some devout Jews said, "No. You must become a Jew before becoming a Christian." Others said, "The Messiah hasn’t yet come." That was causing problems within Rome. So the Emperor said, "OK. All Jews must leave Rome."

Paul wrote the letter to the church, to the Christians, in Rome. We can look at it as being written to both Jews who became Christians as well as Gentiles who became Christians. There is a mix. Both Jews and Gentiles were becoming Christians. The only people they have access to are those who visit Rome or those Roman Christians who visit other places. Paul has not yet visited.

It’s like—if you went to California, returned, and said, "Hey. I found this great new thing. Let’s talk about it." You invite some people over and talk about it with them. But people can only know and learn what you brought back in your head. So their knowledge and understanding of salvation, righteousness, grace, etc., was limited. Paul wrote the book of Romans to explain it to them. That’s why Romans is so chock full of doctrine.

Now, when I was growing up, when some preacher or teacher said the word "doctrine," I’d immediately fall asleep. I said, "That’s boring. That’s something I don’t understand." But we’re going to talk about doctrine. Here’s an outline of Romans:

1—8 :-: Doctrine; Justification by GRACE
9—11 :-: Israel; Is God really going to deliver Israel? How? When are the promises in the Old Testament going to be delivered?
12—15 :-: Christian Living

That’s application. That’s Christian living. It’s key to a Christian to renew your mind.

Chapters 12-15 also tell you how to get along with other Christians who are not easy to get along with, what to do with government, etc.

The bottom line is salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. That’s Romans. That’s what it’s all about.

Here is an outline of Romans that I put together. This just lets you study a little deeper.

Let’s start in Romans, chapter 1, verse 16. We’re going to take a look at the key verses. You may have a chart in your Bible that lists the most important verses. This would include 1:16-17, verses from chapter 5, and verses from chapter 12, depending on your Bible.

Look at what this says. When you talk about Rome, you talk about power. Rome was the seat of world domination. All kinds of religions existed in Rome. Everyone had a religion. It was not cool to be an atheist back then. It wasn’t. You had to have at least a Sun god, a River god, a Forest god, an agricultural god, or some kind of god. You usually worshipped the god in the form of a statue, idol, or some physical item. Paul wanted these Roman and Jewish Christians to say, "I’m not ashamed that I don’t have an idol. I’m not ashamed of that." He was talking about Christ, who died on the cross, was buried, resurrected, and ascended to Heaven. We have salvation because of that. So he said, "I am not ashamed that I don’t have one of those idols because it is the power of God (the cross)."

He’s describing it to these Romans. These Romans were much like Americans are today. I know we’re not a World Empire, but we think we’re pretty high and mighty with our military and our material wealth.

Back then, a non-Christian Roman would ask a Christian Roman, "Where’s your God? Let me see him. Is He in a closet at home? Is He in your pocket?" You’d have to say, "No. I don’t have anything to show you. We believe in an invisible God." That’s what Paul’s saying, "I am not ashamed."

This is doctrine. "Doctrine" means "this is what you need to know, as a Christian." You need to know this. You need to keep reading and studying and let God pour this into you so that you understand what he’s talking about here.

The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ, that God came in the form of a human being and sacrificed Himself for our salvation. Here, Paul says, "the righteousness of God is revealed." This is where we get into all kinds of questions. Do we concentrate on the righteousness and salvation or on the condemnation? We’ll talk about condemnation as part of doctrine in a bit.

Before your acceptance of Christ, the only thing you had going in your life was the World. After this, though, you have a choice. You can live in the Spirit (which hopefully increases) or in the World (which hopefully decreases). That’s Romans 12. That’s doctrine. So how do you do this? When you accept Christ, it’s by faith. And in living by faith, the righteousness comes from God and not from you. That is absolutely, positively key in a Christian’s life and growth. It’s not your righteousness.

You can’t go out and do something and say, "Oh, I feel good about this." I hope you get to the point where you’ve heard and read enough such that you’re saying, "You know, when it really gets down to it, I am nothing." Now, I’m not talking about self-image or self-worth here. But, you, as a Christian, are nothing. You are absolutely nothing before God except condemned. You stand condemned before God as you are. There is nothing righteous about you. You can think of the best thing you ever did in your life—and it is not righteous. It is filthy rags to God. You have to get to that point. It’s only when you get to that point that you ask, "Then who will save me? What chance do I have with God?" God says, "It’s through my Son, Jesus Christ, His salvation, and the righteousness that I’ll reveal to you by faith in your life." And as you trust God’s righteousness that is revealed by faith, it increases and the World in you decreases. That’s the process we call "sanctification," growing in Christ, and becoming more Christ-like. But you have to get to the point where you understand and admit that there’s nothing good about you. Paul says that in chapters 1 and 2. Let’s read more.

Do you know what he’s saying there? This is a controversial one: did God put AIDS into mankind to condemn homosexuality? I can’t answer that. You can assume that. We can ask God after we die and go to be with Him, "God, did you do that?" and we’ll know for sure. But listen to what this says.

What is "the wrath of God?" His judgment. That’s the wrath of God. He looks at all the things going on in this World and allows or causes judgment. The wrath of God is … against what? "All godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth." What does that say? Paul is telling the Roman Christians and he’s telling us, "From the beginning of time, God has revealed His wrath." It started with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. How did God reveal His wrath to Adam and Eve? He said, "I’m removing you from the Garden of Eden. You’ll have to work and toil. You’ll have pain in childbirth. And you will die." That’s the wrath of God being revealed since day one.

We don’t have time to read every verse, but I want you to see the flow of the book of Romans so you can read it step-by-step. Chapters 1 & 2 are about condemnation. Chapter 8 starts off with "Therefore there is now no condemnation…" So he’s building this concept of "condemnation" from chapters 1 to 8. In chapter 1, what is He condemning? What is His wrath thrown against? Ungodliness. In other words, we would say it was those who are out playing golf or hunting right now. Ha Ha. We’re being a little light here, but you understand that we’re talking about the ones who are without, right? These are people choosing their own things, choosing to serve themselves.

This means that no one has any excuse. A controversial question some ask is, "Is the only way to God through Jesus Christ?" Whoa, is that a good one to talk about. What about the native in Africa who’s never heard of Jesus Christ? What’s God going to do with him? Paul addresses that in chapters 1 and 2. He’s already answered one of them. He said that every man is without excuse because God has revealed Himself to them. If the native in Africa is standing on a hill, admiring the view, what is God doing to him? God is showing him Creation and revealing in his spirit (not with flesh) that He is the Creator.

These are the idols we talked about earlier.

God said, "OK, if you’re going to do that, it’s yours. Go for it." It’s just like before the Flood, He said, "They’re doing abominable things, wickedness beyond anything I can imagine." He’s talking about lesbianism and homosexuality. The Bible says that is wrong. It is ungodly. God gave them over to it. I don’t care what the new age, modern world, political correctness says about it, this is what the Bible says. Let me tell you. This is so important. I was talking to an Episcopal priest this week and asked him, "Have you been involved with this argument within your church?" He said, "Oh yes. I was actually sitting in some of the church councils they held." I said, "Then how do they ignore Romans 1, Jude, and Sodom & Gomorrah in the Old Testament?" Here’s what he said: "To them, the Bible is not the inerrant Word of God."

Wait a minute! Hold on! That’s why you have to start with, "Are you reading God’s Word?" Do you understand why I explain so much about the formation of the Old and New Testaments? Before we opened the New Testament, I spent time showing you that what you’re reading is God’s Word. We went through it and discussed it. You can read books about it. You have to settle it in your heart that when you read something in God’s Word, it is not subject to what YOU want it to be. It is the inerrant Word of God. You have to settle that in your heart. It may not be homosexuality that you have a problem with. It may be something else that hits closer to your heart and home—like tithing. It could be anything. Understand that this is God’s Word. You want those times. As you read, pray, "God, as I read your Word, show me who I really am through your Word. Show me error and falsehood in my life against your truth and your Word so that I understand what I have to get right through your power and your Son, Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Spirit." That’s what we need to beg for. That’s what we want to do.

All right. What was the condemnation/wrath against in Chapter 1? The ungodly—everybody outside the church. Guess what chapter 2 is about? Everybody inside the church. In other words, now we’re going to talk about us, as Christians.

See? He’s talking to you. He addresses this to the church, the Roman Christians.

I can read your mind. Right now, you’re saying, "Oh, no I don’t! I don’t do those things." You have to understand the Greek word that is translated "the same things." It really means, "not identical, but in God’s sight, it holds the same weight." Don’t read, "the same things" and say, "Well. I’m not a homosexual. I don’t lie, cheat, or steal." No. That’s not what it’s saying here. It’s talking about anything ungodly in God’s sight, including gossip, falsehood, etc. It’s anything contrary to God’s Word. So Chapter 2 is addressed to the self-righteous Church-goers. Paul says we do the same things.

Paul mentions five things that God uses for judgment. The first is truth. He says that God will judge us against the truth. When we ask, "How can God do that?" He says, "I judge based on truth." Does everybody see that? You can take that to the bank. That is one of God’s criteria for judging. When He looks at a person to judge them, He says, "I’m going to weigh that person against the truth."

No! Everyone stands before God condemned. You have to get that through your head. You stand condemned before God, as you are. Only Christ allows you to stand before God in righteousness. Nothing you have, nothing you’ve done, no matter what your self-worth, and no matter what you’ve given or done—it’s all absolutely nothing in God’s sight. You stand condemned. With Christ, you stand righteous before God. That’s what Paul is saying. That’s the doctrine.

This is addressed to Christians. This is addressed to you. You will not escape judgment with what you’re doing and your works. Don’t jump ahead to chapter 8 yet. Paul is saying that before you can understand salvation through Christ, before you can appreciate and understand God’s love for you, you have to know how bad you were. A lot of people skip this step. They skip their own condemnation before God and say, "Oh, I accept Christ—in case I get into trouble, I have that insurance." Most never realize that before Christ, they stood condemned before God. That’s what Paul is saying here. Do you understand how you have to reach this point? You must get to a point in your life where you understand that if it weren’t for Christ, you have nothing that allows you to stand before God. Nothing! You can try to use all the self-help, Dr. Spock, feel-good-about-yourself remedies, but they’re all wasteful garbage and nothing to God. You have to look in the mirror and say to yourself, "As I am, I stand condemned before God. I am just like the homosexual. I am just like Saddam Hussein. There is nothing self-righteous about me. There’s nothing I’ve said or done that I can feel good about. There’s nothing to me without Christ. I have to have Christ."

As a Christian, you are saved by grace. With Christ, you are as righteous as Christ. What you’re doing by understanding your condemnation without Christ is that you’re growing in your understanding of that salvation. It strengthens you and increases your faith. That’s the point. It’s not that you hear and understand condemnation and salvation one time and say, "OK. Got it. I don’t need to hear this any more." Trust me. You need to hear it every day of your life. The more you hear it, the more you’ll grow in understanding and knowledge of what happened on the cross and what happened with the empty tomb. You’ll grow and increase in your understanding such that when you stand in the righteousness of Christ, you know it. You’re standing in God’s righteousness and not your own. You become more Christlike and less worldly the more you increase in your understanding of that condemnation.

American society today is all about making you feel good about yourself (and parents, you do it to your children). That sounds so good, doesn’t it? But when your children do wrong, guess what they need to feel? They need to feel the heat, the guilt, and the sweaty palms of their wrong. You don’t need to leave them hopeless. There is a hope. God loves you and I love you. But they need to feel that.

Here’s the second criterion of His judgment. He will judge by what man has done. There are three others in chapter 2. There are five criterion He uses to judge. This is a judgment made of your life in Christ, not your salvation. You will not receive crowns or jewels, etc.