“…Paul uses the term justification in two senses with two different tenses: a here-and-now justification by faith — an alien righteousness applied to wicked sinners through the obedience of Christ — and…the final verdict of ‘justified’ which was declared by God over them already through faith…

With Paul, we can say with integrity, ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel,’ because this is a gospel that acknowledges the gravity of sin and the sober reality of coming judgment, while at the same time being the power of God to both justify and sanctify all who place their faith in Jesus Christ.  It is a gospel in which faith and obedience are two sides of the same coin, a gospel to celebrate and revel in, and not one to be ashamed of.”

“…Our passage this morning is a diatribe against (a) those who believe that God will be lenient to them despite their continued disobedience, AND, (b) those who believe that their obedience is sufficient to be counted righteous before God…Both are called to repentance here…

It is so easy for us to see sin in others and overlook it in our own lives. It’s easy to look at the world and call out “shame, shame,” and not recognize that the sanitized sins of our own hearts have the same idolatrous roots. To have the highest standards for others, but cut ourselves a lot of slack…Many of the Jews at this time felt free to condemn ‘sinful Gentiles’ because ‘they are not God’s people;' And then when they would sin themselves whenever the temptation arose they believed that they would not be held accountable for their own sins. Does this sound familiar yet?…”

“When we think about sins, like exchanging the glory of the immortal God for images, or dishonourable passions, or unnatural sexual relationships - it is so easy for us to hear about these things and think about ‘them’; Someone else needs to hear this message…”

You see there is a 'gothchya’ moment here. It’s not as though Paul is saying these things aren’t sins; it’s not that overt idolatry, adultery, and homosexuality are not sins - they are. But that misses the point. The point is, we sit here and nod about these things and then Romans turns it on ourselves and our own sins (see Romans 2:1). We must embrace the purpose of this first section of Romans - to bring us battered and bruised to the grace alone gospel. So that we will recognize our desperate need, that we have no righteousness of our own but must rely wholly on the undeserved favor of our heavenly Father who grants us a righteousness in Christ that comes entirely from outside ourselves.”

“That I can look at you, church, and I can’t see one worse sinner than myself. I can’t see one person that is in more desperate need to rely wholly on God’s grace alone…”