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“2 Corinthians 5:14-15 reads:
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
So the pertinent question, this morning, is not whether Christ was crucified, but whether I am crucified with Christ.”
“The stand-alone message of: “do better” has no place in the gospel presentation apart from being a necessary consequence of understanding that Christ has done better on our behalf. Our ability to do better, our desires to do better - and our desires to follow these ‘one another’ passages of scripture - must be understood as flowing from this Grace Alone through Faith Alone reality”
“From one test to another, Jesus purposely leads his disciples to greater and greater levels of trust. Jesus does this for us too. Because he is the author of life, and is sovereign over all events, he as the good shepherd leads us to and through trials and struggles, in order to strengthen our faith and grow our trust in him. Faith is not downloaded, it’s not presto. In general, our depth of confidence in God is hard fought, slow, a long-suffered growth. But, God creates a faith filled people by again and again being a faithful God...”
“…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?…”
“Many Christians have this dualistic worldview where, in a sense, there are two ‘gods’; a benevolent ‘good God’ who is trying his best to accomplish good things for humanity, struggling against his malevolent arch-nemesis, the devil…So many people struggle with the emphatic doctrines in Romans because they have this weaksauce view of God, where he is trying to accomplish his plans but is often thwarted in some aspects by the devil, or by the choices of human beings, and is forced to settle with whatever limited good he is able to pull off…This is a blasphemous and distorted imagination of the one true God, who actively and sovereignly rules over all his creation.”
“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…”
“…Any feelings of cultural and intellectual superiority are dashed to pieces by the preaching of the Gospel. The Gospel says that there is nothing special about you. In fact, God’s modus operandi is to pick those who are not wise, to pick those who are foolish, those who are least likely, least deserving.
This just breaks any pride in us. One of the most offensive things about Romans is it does not allow you a shred of pride but causes us to give all glory to our God…”
“Many, in my opinion, have avoided a verse-by-verse exposition of Romans precisely because of its distinctively doctrinal character, and the intense clarity it offers into the offensive gospel of salvation by grace alone…This offensive gospel, this biblical gospel, is at the core of Paul’s letter to the Romans, but the essential argument being made, and which is introduced here in the opening of the letter, is that the “grace alone gospel” Paul preaches is the only power which will bring about obedience in God’s people.”
“…Our passage this morning contains the word ‘greater’ in three places. The Greek word is ‘Mega,’ which we have appropriated into English as mostly representing big gulps, lotteries and haircare products…But, Mark describes 3 things in this account as Mega, or Great.
1) The Storm: ‘And a great windstorm arose.’ (Mark 4:37)
2) The Calm: ‘And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.’ (Mark 4:39)
3) The Fear: ‘And they were filled with great fear.’ (Mark 4:41)
You would think that the order of things should be different. That a great storm would cause great fear, and when it is quelled, there would be great peace. But as we’ve touched on earlier, the great storm only excited some fear. But, the calm — the great calm elicited great fear.…”
