Romans 10:14-21

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Romans 10:1-13

I want to tell you two stories; one story I heard over ten years ago, and the other story I read this week.  Both stories are true and happened during the Tsunami of 2004, and both stories put what has been happening in our nation and the world in perspective for me. 

The first story is about ten-year-old Tilly Smith and her family who I learned about in Heath Adamson’s book:  The Sacred Chase.  Two weeks before their family vacation to Thailand’s Mai Khao Beach, Tilly learned about tsunamis in her geography class.  She learned about the affects a tsunami will typically have before it rushes upon the coastland, she learned about the way the waters will sometimes recede before coming back in potential cataclysmic force.  So, as Tilly and her family walked the beach, she noticed the waves going out but not coming back in.  Tilly tried to alert her family that something was wrong.  At first, her mother and father did not pay much attention, but their daughter’s persistence continued until Tilly desperately shouted to get their attention: “There is going to be a tsunami!”  Tilly shouted louder and louder as she panicked: “There is going to be a tsunami!”  Tilly’s panic also frightened her younger sister who began to sob hysterically. 

Tilly was unrelenting and petrified.  Tilly’s father took his younger daughter Holly to the hotel to try and calm her down while leaving Tilly and her mother on the beach.  However, Tilly noticed all the people on the 1.5 miles of exposed sand left by the receding ocean and was convinced that everyone was in grave danger.  Tilly ran back to the hotel to find her father talking to a security guard, so to put his daughter at ease, he said to the security guard: “I know this sounds completely mad, but my daughter says there’s going to be a tsunami.” 

The security guard, however, was not dismissive of ten-year-old Tilly. Instead he listened to the desperate pleas of a ten-year-old British schoolgirl.  The guard not only listened, but he ran out of the hotel and shouted for the people to get off the beach.  Because the hotel lobby was on a higher floor, it became a gathering place for all seeking safety from the tsunami.  As you know, an estimated 230,000 people were killed by the tsunami of 2004, but not one person from Tilly’s beach died that day.  Tilly learned something about tsunamis two weeks before she would have to live through one; Tilly believed what she learned so much that the felt passionate enough that it moved her to warn others about it. 

Let me tell you a shorter story about that same day but on a different shore.  The earthquake that hit off the coast of Indonesia measuring between 9.1-9.3 in magnitude and lasted between 8-10 minutes which made it one of the largest and longest running earthquakes.  On one of the shores, the waves had receded over a mile leaving fish flopping on the ocean floor exposed.  Children and adults, unaware of the danger, ventured out to the exposed ocean floor to collect the shiny fish that attracted their attention.  Every man, woman, and child that ventured out on that shore to collect fish, died. 

Not long ago, I was asked if I thought the world was coming to an end. When asked about the end of the world, my answer was that I am certain that we are closer to the end then we were when Jesus first told us about the end (see Matt. 24).  Regardless of the timing of the end, or the day when you take your last breath, there is a judgment that is coming that will either result in everlasting hell or everlasting life.  Every person will stand before God either as judge or as heavenly father.  Most of the world see the reseeding ocean of life as the opportunity to play and collect fish unaware that the tsunami of God’s judgment is coming and will find them unaware and unprepared.   If you are a follower of Jesus, your mission is to warn that there is a tsunami coming that cannot be escaped except through the cross of Christ.  The prob

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Romans 9:14-29

Corrie Ten Boom (1892-1983), who was caught and sent to a German concentration camp for her involvement in hiding Jews from the Nazis in her home, gave sage advice that would do us all good to heed:  “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed.  If you look within, you’ll be depressed.  If you look at God, you’ll be at rest.”  

Like many of you, I am not sure what to believe from the media these days, and it certainly seems that all the major networks serve as a propaganda machine more than a source to be informed.  Here is what I do know.  I know that the murder of George Floyd is symptomatic of a much larger problem in our nation and world.  What happened to him was wrong and evil.  I am convinced, now, more than ever, that we live in a nation where all lives do not matter, and it didn’t begin in 1619 with the arrival of the first group of African slaves in Jamestown, Virginia.  No, it began long before the slave trade; it began when Cain killed his brother Abel.  The history of humanity is one of violence, oppression, and the devaluing of a life out of some warped sense of pride that we are better than our neighbor.  As I said in my e-letter that was sent out on Thursday:

I am convinced more than ever that we live in a nation where all lives do not matter.  That should really bother those of us who follow Jesus.  When we hear from those in our community, who are tired and appalled over another senseless death of a person of color, we protest with them that “Black Lives Matter.”  The Church must stand up and agree, that in a world where all lives do not matter, the lives of black men, women, and children matter. 

When I read in my Bible, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” I hear that there is hope for humanity, not because of the change that I can bring, but because of the change God will bring in people like me.  When I read, “So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”, I am reminded that the only hope for our nation and the world is the gospel of Jesus Christ that “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…” (Rom. 1:16).

The Gospel is Not God’s Plan B.

When I read Romans 9, what I hear the apostle Paul saying is that God’s plan to have mercy on whom he will have mercy through the death and resurrection of his Son was not his “plan B”, but was always his “plan A.”  God cannot be sovereign and at the same time have a plan B.  The only reason God could have a plan B is if he put together a bad plan A.  If God is sovereign, all-knowing, and all-powerful, then the only plan he is capable of having is a fail proof plan A. 

Anticipating the legitimate questions that his readers would have and that we would have, Paul asked the question for us in verse 14, “What shall we say then?  Is there injustice on God’s part?”  What was Paul’s answer?  His answer was: “By no means!”  Why is there no injustice on God’s part when it comes to his sovereign will to call and justify some over others?  Because the receipt of his mercy is not dependent on human will or effort. 

There are two other ways Christians have tried to make sense of God’s sovereignty and the fall of Adam and Eve.  If salvation is not God’s plan B to Adam and Eve’s sin, then what is it?  Some argue that God decreed the sin of Adam and Eve and the fall of mankind for the purpose of calling and redeeming certain people for salvation (aka supralapsarianism).  In other words, according to this view, God elected certain people to salvation and others to damnation and to do this, God decreed the fall of humanity to provide the circumstances to show his grace and wrath.  The problem with this view is that the Bible clearly teaches that God is not the author or creator of evil.  As one theologian said, “God does not force people to sin and then punish them for that sin.”[1] 

Others claim that God’s sovereignty and plan of salv

Romans 9:6-15

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Romans 9:1-5

How many of you remember falling on the pavement when you were little and receiving road rash?  How many of you had a parent who insisted on making sure that your road rash was cleaned and that the best way to clean it was with rubbing alcohol or peroxide?  What hurt more: receiving the road rash, or receiving the alcohol or peroxide to clean the road rash? 

After my crash on June 21, 2017, I received road rash from hitting the pavement from my shoulder down to my ankle.  To be honest with you, I was not all that aware of the road rash probably because of the pain I felt in my hip from hitting the pavement.  After I was transported to the ER, the nurse assigned to my care took one look at my road rash and the very large contusion on my right hip and informed me with a hint of remorse: “We will need to scrub that.”  I then asked: “Scrub what?”  I was horrified by her answer: “All of it.”  The few minutes it took to “scrub” my road rash and huge contusion so that I my wounds would not later become infected, felt ridiculously long; all that I wanted to do was scream at the nurse. 

Romans 9 feels like a much needed, but painful scrub to wash out the theological infection of a man-centered theology that places human beings at the center of God’s universe.  So, what I would like to do today is help you understand why Romans 9 is in the Bible.  This will serve as the foundation for helping you understand for Romans 9:6-33. 

There is a Future Shame Coming

There is coming a day that, all of Scripture points to, will bring great shame upon millions of souls.  The day that is coming is referred to in the Bible as the Day of Judgment; a day that is described vividly in Daniel 12:1-3 and Revelation 20:11-15.  The description given to us by the prophet Daniel describes that day in the following way:

At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. (Daniel 12:1–3)

In the book of Revelation, the apostle John describes the coming day with a bit more detail:

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11–15)

It is in light of this coming day that the apostle Paul begins with Romans 9:1-5.  The reason Paul has “great sorrow and unceasing anguish” in his heart is because many of his Hebrew kinsmen would eventually stand before the Judge of creation only to experience the wrath of God.  Why was Paul’s sorrow great and his anguish unrelenting?  Because it was through the Hebrew people that salvation was promised, came in the form of one person, and it was that salvation that many of them could not accept.  The very last verse in Romans 9 is what I believe to be the linchpin between the first eight chapters and the rest of the epistle, and it is a quote from Isaiah 28:16 which simple states: “B

Romans 8:18-29

Oprah Winfrey once said that, “There’s no greater gift than to honor your life’s calling.  It’s why you were born and how you become most truly alive.”  Now, just so you all know, I do not believe that Oprah is the greatest source for spiritual advise, but her statement about purpose reminded me of a group of men who met for breakfast and, during their time together, the topic of retirement came up.  A man in the group who went by the name Pete, shared his excitement about the prospect of retirement and preceded to tell his friends about a conversation he and his wife had earlier that morning: “My wife asked, ‘What are you going to do when you retire?’ I told her, ‘I’m going to sit on the couch and watch TV all day every day.’”

One of the men at the table, wisely responded: “If you do that, you’ll be dead in a year.”  Pete, who looked at the man wide-eyed and surprised, asked why.  The man answered: “If the lack of purpose in your life doesn’t kill you first, your wife will.”  The late Chicago Philanthropist John Shedd said, “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”  We were not made for the harbor of retirement, but the voyage of a mission rooted in the glory of God for the good of the world.

Last week told you a story about a guy who viewed the Christians faith in the same way he treated his saving’s account in this present life: So long as he made more deposits than withdrawals, he would be in good shape.  The reality is that Jesus didn’t die for our sins so that we can make more deposits than withdrawals from our heavenly bank account.  Jesus died so that we can live our lives in light of our present reality.  What is our present reality?  Our present reality is that although we cannot make deposits or withdrawals from what Jesus already purchased, we are living off the unending benefits that Jesus purchased for us.  What are the benefits we ought to be living our lives in light of?  “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” 

How do I know that there is no condemnation for the Christian in a COVID-19 World?  Paul gives us at least six reasons in Romans 8.  The first three we looked at last week are:

You are not condemned because Jesus was (vv. 2-8)You are not condemned because you are in Christ (vv. 9-11)You are not condemned because you are an heir with Christ (vv. 12-17)

These first three reasons and the final three that I am about to share with you are six manifestos that will free you up to live a life of purpose in light of your present reality. 

You are Not Condemned Because Death is Not Your Inheritance (vv. 18-25)

Paul begins, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”  If you are reading the NIV, Romans 8:18 is translated a little differently.  The difference is in how the Greek word “eis” is translated.  Here are the four ways eis can be translate: “for, in, to, or into.” The ESV uses “to” while the NIV uses the word “in”: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” So, which is it?  Is the glory to be revealed going to be revealed to us or in us?  It is both. 

The glory, of which Paul is speaking, is something we will experience personally as well as something we will inherit.  Therefore, Paul is able to say that the worst that we may experience on this side of eternity cannot be compared to the glory that is coming.  In other words, for the Christian, the worst of our suffering cannot compete with the life we will inherit.  In 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, Paul makes the same point: “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

So what is the

Romans 8:1-17

Most of the sermon I have preached have been sermons written and preached to my own heart.  The legacy I hope to pass down to my children and my grandchildren are the collection of sermons that I have preached and tried to apply to my own life.  Occasionally, I am motivated to write a sermon for a person or for a group.  This is one such sermon.  I understand loss.  I understand the pain that is experienced when it is time to say goodbye to someone you love as that person passes from this side of eternity to the next.  I also know the deep pain that comes when someone you love so deeply dies without you ever having the opportunity to say goodbye. 

This sermon is for those of you who are experiencing a Mother’s Day without the company of or a phone call from that person you would have shared this day with today.  This sermon is my Mother’s Day card for my wife who is experiencing for the first time, a Mother’s Day without her mother.  If I could have been at the memorial service that celebrated Nang Bawk’s life, and had the honor of preaching the message, it probably would have sounded a lot like this sermon I share with you today.  This sermon is for all those who hate death and love life.  This sermon is for those who long for hope and want to be recipients of some really good news. 

It is no mystery as to what one of my favorite Bible verses is.  My favorite verse in the Bible is Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  What follows this verse are at least six reasons why verse 1 is true for anyone who believes that Jesus died for their sins on a roman cross and rose from the grave of a borrowed tomb (we will look at the first three reason today, and the last three reasons next week).  I want to encourage not just my wife today, I want you be encouraged if you are a real Christian.  If you are not a Christian, then it is my hope that you will discover what I am about to say as the best news you have ever heard. 

If you are a person who is convinced that Jesus died on the cross for your sin and because of your sin, and if you are a person who is sure that he defeated death by rising from the grave, then what I am about to say is true of you.

You are Not Condemned Because Jesus Was (vv. 2-8)

Romans 8:1 begins: “There is therefore…”.  A rule of thumb anytime you are reading any literature that when you see the word “therefore”, what you are about to read was written in light of what you just read.  What did Paul write in the previous chapters of Romans?  In Romans 1-3, we are all sinners who fall terribly short of meeting God’s standard of holiness and righteousness.  In Romans 4-6, we learn that our only hope for the forgiveness of our sins and the redemption of our souls is someone who is able to stand in our place as both our sin substitute and our righteousness; that someone was Jesus who lived the life we could never live and died the death we all deserved.  Finally, in Romans 7, we are told that the only hope we have from the bondage of sin is Jesus Christ who became sin for us to break the power of sin and death that we were once prisoners of. 

In light of Romans 1-7, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (8:1).  In what way was Jesus condemned in the place of my mother-in-law, in what way was Jesus condemned in your place and mine?  According to verses 3-4 we are told he Jesus was condemned in our place: “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.  By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

You are Not Condemned Because You are Now in Christ (vv. 9-11)

The moment you believed in Jesus as your savior, the Bible says that your identity changed by association.  You went from bein

Romans 7:14-25

I want to spend our time this morning by simply introducing Romans 7:13-25, by giving you two simple points as they relate to our lives and why we celebrate communion.  So let me begin, first, by stating that there are two different views concerning who it is the apostle Paul is writing about in Romans 7:14-25.  Some believe that Paul could not possibly be talking about his experience as a Christian, so they conclude that Paul was really talking about his life before becoming a Christian when he tried to generate his own righteousness with help.  There have been, and still are, good theologians who believe this to be true. 

Here are my two big reasons for why I side with the view that Paul was describing his present Christian experience in this passage.  First, when you read Romans 7, Paul discussed (past tense) his inability to keep the law and the purpose of the law to expose himself for who he was in light of his religious attempts to prove otherwise within the first 13 verses.  Second, in verses 14-25, Paul wrote in the present tense, which also seems to line up with our own experiences as Christians. 

Since I became a Christian, a hatred and frustration for my own personal sin has grown in me.  There is not only a love for God that began the moment I truly believed in Jesus, but a genuine desire to be free from my sinful behavior.  The Bible reinforces the legitimacy of this tension that every Christian experiences in 1 John 1:6-10,

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:6–10)

I do not know about you, but the pursuit of holiness in my life as a Christian feels more like a waltz then a sprint: two steps forward, one step back, two steps to the right, one step forward.  The apostle Paul basically said two things in this chapter about our pursuit of holiness, and those two things need to be heard in light of Romans 1-6.  Let’s begin with the first thing that he said in verses 14-20.

I am a Great Sinner

The law that Paul was discussing in these verses is what is known as the Mosaic Law, which is the law God gave to the Hebrew people through Moses.  The law served as a mirror to reveal the true nature of a person’s heart in comparison to the nature and character of God.  So in verse 14 Paul begins by stating that the law is not bad, but is spiritual.  He also states that it is good (v. 16) and that it is something in which to delight (v. 22).  Consider what else the Bible says about the law that Paul also believed to be true:

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;  2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:1-2)

The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;  8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes…. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. (Psalm 19:7-9, 10)

And do not forget what Jesus said about the law:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matt. 5:17). 

What we learn from the Bible is that the human heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick (Jer. 17:9).  The problem is that most people think that they are okay, and even good, by most standar

Romans 6:1-14

On April 6th Hulk Hogan (aka Terry Bollea) posted something on his Instagram that shocked many.  His comments drew praise from some and criticism from others.  He said:

In three short months, just like He did with the plagues of Egypt, God has taken away everything we worship. God said, “you want to worship athletes, I will shut down the stadiums. You want to worship musicians, I will shut down Civic Centers. You want to worship actors, I will shut down theaters. You want to worship money, I will shut down the economy and collapse the stock market. You don’t want to go to church and worship Me, I will make it where you can’t go to church.”

Hogan then quoted 2 Chronicles 7:14,”If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” He then concluded with the following recommendation that got some upset: “Maybe we don’t need a vaccine, Maybe we need to take this time of isolation from the distractions of the world and have a personal revival where we focus on the ONLY thing in the world that really matters. Jesus.”

Hogan’s observations on 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 was not the only time someone linked the coronavirus to a potential act of judgment from God.  For decades this passage has been cited by well-meaning Christians.  They share the idea that if we humble ourselves, pray, seek God, and turn from our wicked ways as a nation, then God will heal our land and return us to some level of prosperity.  What people miss in citing this passage is that it was not written for America but for Israel.  When 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 was shared with the Hebrew people at the completion of the temple that Solomon had constructed as the center of worship for Israel, God reminded them that their prosperity and land was a promise contingent on their faithfulness towards God. 

Although 2 Chronicles 7 is not about America, it is a prescription for how God’s people can, and should, respond to their sin in repentance towards God.  When you read through the Bible regarding the history of Israel as a nation, it becomes clear that the sins of the nation were a culture that began with the leaders of the nation.  It also becomes clear that the spiritual climate of spiritual leaders eventually become the spiritual climate of the people of Israel.  The prescription that God gave his people to get back to the place of spiritual health and vibrancy is for all of God’s people.  I want to share with you, very briefly, the four things that are required of anyone who would like to experience the kind of relationship God wants for all of his people:

Humility: The first step is to humble yourself by subduing your pride and submitting to the will of God for your life.Prayer: The second step is to prayerfully acknowledge your sin and plea for God’s mercy (e.g. Psalm 51:1-2).Seek: The third step is to humbly and prayerfully pursue God as the only hope for your deliverance.Turn: The final step is to turn from your sin by rejecting it for the purpose of satisfying yourself in God. 

According to Romans 1-5, there is nothing we contributed to our salvation.  All of the grace, love, and mercy that we received from God is all because of God.  You have heard me say that any religion that says you must contribute to your salvation with religious activity or good deeds is not good news, but an arrogant attempt to put God in your debt by making him obligated to forgive you of your sins.  The gospels and the epistles push against this kind of thinking.  The other error that we can fall into is the belief that, so long as I said a prayer expressing belief in Jesus or at some point in my life “believed” in Jesus, then I can live as I want without any fear of hell.  Believing that you can contribute to what Jesus did on the cross for your sins, or thinking that you can live the way you want to live without