David Henneke's Podcast

In this text, we see the character of God’s love. This passage discusses God’s unbelievable love and in doing so it reveals the great depth of our justification. For those who have submitted and surrendered their life to the Savior, their reconciliation has already been secured, we receive it the moment we believed in Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore we exalt and we rejoice in how God HAS richly blessed us because every blessing we have comes from Christ. 

In Romans 5:1-11 we have the most detailed theological discussion of both how we are justified and what it means to be justified. In verses 1-5 we will see what is the result or benefit of our justification. In verses 6-11 we will see how God accomplishes justification

Throughout Chapter 4, Paul has given several reasons why our Justification is by faith & faith alone.  He wraps up his illustration about Abraham by stating that Abraham was justified because of his FAITH in God, not because of anything else. The heart of this entire passage, in fact of the whole chapter, is that in response to Abraham’s faith, God graciously credited it to him as righteousness. On his own, Abraham (like us) was totally unable to meet God’s standard of perfect righteousness, but the good news of salvation, or “the gospel of God” as Paul says in 1:1, is that God will take the faith (that He Himself has enabled a person to possess)  and He will count that faith as divine righteousness.

Are you broken? Are you discouraged? Do you cry out that you just can’t take it anymore? What will you do with your suffering? Will you turn to Jesus and His Bride or will you run from Him and the Church?

Given the reality of sin, the law can only enforce the penalty of God’s wrath; it cannot deliver us from it.  deliverance can come only in the form of forgiveness; forgiveness is possible only as a free gift of grace; and grace can be received only through faith in God’s promise. Grace and Faith are naturally comparable. Faith is the key that fits the lock that opens up the treasure of the grace of God’s Salvation.

Abraham is “the father of all who believe”. Every Christian has the privilege of calling Abraham “our father” and of inheriting the salvation promised through him. Jews have the privilege of being children of Abraham in two senses. First, all are descended from him physically. This is an involuntary circumstance marked by circumcision. No promise of eternal salvation is attached to this relationship. Second, any individual Jew may choose to “follow in the steps of the faith” of Abraham by responding to God in faith. Everything that God had given the Jew (the Law, circumcision, sacrifices, feasts and festivals) better informed their faith but none of these things removed their need to personally respond in faith. The faith that Jews and Gentiles should imitate is the faith that Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Most people think that God will accept them just as long as they do the “best they can”.  For many, they believe they can secure God’s approval by being good, by being respectable and honorable, by being an upright citizen, or by occasionally helping others who are less fortunate.  The tragic reality is that this thinking is simply not true. In Chapter 3, Paul says that God declares people righteous [justification] on the principle of faith instead of works. In Romans 4:1-8, he Illustrates this Biblical Truth using Abraham and David as his example. 

In this section of Romans, Paul explains HOW sinners can be saved. The theological term for this salvation is justification by faith. Make no mistake, this is the theological essence of Evangelical Christianity. the theological essence of evangelical Christianity. In John 3:16 we see the gospel declared in a single verse. Here we see the gospel defined in a two-paragraph summary.

Every single aspect of this world has been infected and affected by sin. Paul goes to great detail, in this first portion of his letter, to make it known that we are all guilty before God. Therefore, we are all in desperate need of divine intervention in our lives. In this next section of Scripture (vs.13-20) Paul takes a look at the conduct on the natural man. He starts with an emphasis on human speech, and he paints a disgusting picture, proceeding from throat to tongue to lips to mouth. Just as the words of the natural man are deceitful, the actions of the natural man are destructive.

The Law, The Sabbath, and the Festivals were all given to point us to Jesus. The Law, The Sabbath, and the Festivals are a “shadow”, but in Christ, we have the “substance”. Why pursue the shadows when we have the reality of Jesus Christ right before us?

In Chapter 1, Paul gave his attention primarily to the sinfulness of the Gentiles. In Chapter 2 (beginning in vs 17) he turned his attention to the sinfulness that is present among the Jews. The conclusion that follows in Chapter 3, verse 9 is: for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. To validate his accusation that everybody is “under sin” in verses 10–18 Paul quotes from 6 Old Testament passages. In doing so he gives a series of specific charges. These charges can be broken into two major categories: (1) concerning the CHARACTER of the Natural Man (10–12) and (2) concerning the CONDUCT of the Natural Man (13–17).THIS WEEK we will look at the charges concerning CHARACTER.

Thru these 8 verses, by asking and answering three questions, Paul has further clarified the universal need of Salvation for everyone: (1)  What advantage is it to be a Jew? Every advantage, especially possessing the Word of God. (2)  Will unbelief cancel God’s faithfulness? Absolutely not—it establishes it. (3)  If our sin demonstrates His righteousness, how can He judge us? God’s justice is the demonstration of His perfect love. The cross was where God carried out His perfect justice upon His Son. The cross WAS where God displayed His perfect Love for mankind. The cross is the perfect demonstration of God’s love & justiceEVERYONE IS IN DESPERATE SPIRITUAL NEED OF THE GRACE OF GOD. We will see this even more in chapter 3:9-20.

There is no law, there is no practice, whether it is circumcision, baptism (or any other ritual) that is able to make us acceptable to God. Being acceptable to God is NOT an outward thing, nor is it about our nationality or spiritual heritage because being acceptable to God IS an inward reality. True salvation is a matter of the heart.

In this section, God is seen as the Sovereign Judge over Creation.  God dispenses His Judgement to EVERYONE on the Basis of Truth.  God’s absolute standards are known unto every one, “And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.” God PUNISHES the wicked and He REWARDS the righteous, He does so impartially and according to our works.

We will never get excited about the revelation of the grace of God until we fully understand that we stand condemned before God and are helpless and hopeless apart from His grace. God NEVER condemns WITHOUT just cause. In this text, Paul gives Three Reasons for God’s Wrath and Three Results of His Wrath.Three REASONS for God’s wrath:1.  For suppressing God’s truth 2.  For ignoring God’s revelation 3.  For perverting God’s glory Three RESULTS of God’s Wrath:1.Abandoned to impurity2.Abandoned to sexual perversion3.Abandoned to a depraved lifestyle 

When a person really believes that Jesus Christ is his Savior, God takes that person’s faith and counts it for righteousness. The person is not righteous; they have no righteousness of their own. They are still imperfect, still prone to sin, still short of God’s glory as sinful human beings. So how can we be made perfectly righteous? The gospel gives the answer. The gospel is the revelation of God’s righteousness. It reveals how we can be made righteous and reconciled unto Him 

Mali is a diverse, multicultural country with a deep and rich history. Despite pervasive challenges such as its extreme poverty and tribal clashes, the country remains warm to outside Christian workers and receptive to the Gospel. Missionaries are both welcome and wanted. The harvest is plenty, though the workers are few.For more information on how you can support mission efforts among the Soninke people of Mali please visit: firstkingsland.com/sermons/mali

Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because:1. it is the good news FROM God Himself2.  it is the power of God to SAVE.