Romans 5:12-21...Guilt versus Grace

This coming Sunday, I am going to be preaching from Romans 5:12-21. This is really an amazing part of the book of Romans. These 10 verses basically summarize what we have learned thus far from 1:18-5:11 and what we will learn and be challenged by in 6:1-8:39. Here’s how this section can be outlined:

• 5:12-14 references the fall and ruin of humanity. These three verses summarize 1:18-3:20.

• 5:15-19 references God’s rescuing of humanity by sending His Son as propitiation for all sin. These five verses summarize 3:21-5:11.

• 5:20-21 introduces a Christian’s victory because of God’s indwelling Spirit. This will be discussed in 6:1-8:39.

However, the heart of Romans 5:12-21 introduces us in great detail to the struggle between “good and evil.” This struggle did not begin with you and your first dilemma or your first moral decision in which you may have failed. Rather it began in the perfect Garden of Eden where the first man and woman lived in a beautiful, untainted by sin, garden. Their duty was plentiful and seemingly easy; God empowered them to be vice-regents over the earth. They were to have dominion over all creation, love each other, multiply, and have an intimate, personal relationship with God. The only stipulation: Adam had the choice to choose between good and evil. Since love is a choice, God placed in the garden a tree. Adam was to choose between “right” and this one solitary tree. He chose to disobey and eat from the tree. GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY!
Adam plummeted all humanity into sin. Oh, the guilt he must have felt. Actually his and Eve’s first decision was to cover themselves in guilt and not grace. They sowed together fig leaves to hide their shame. They hid themselves from God’s presence. That is EXACTLY what we do with sin. In our guilt, we hide ourselves and our behavior.

Join us this coming Sunday at North Park as we talk about what to do with guilt. Grace trumps guilt. We do not need to live in guilt. Guilt keeps us separated. Christ died for our guilt. Show up this coming Sunday and let’s learn how to deal with the guilt problem

Romans 1:1-17

In our quest to preach/teach through the grand book of Romans, we really haven’t spent much time, if really any in Romans 1:1-17. So, let’s deal with it in this blog.
Paul was a man on a mission. His mission? To spread a cure to a problem called sin and separation that was traced all the way back to the Garden of Eden through the sin of Adam. He felt his mission was to distribute the most precious gift the world had ever been given; the gospel of Jesus Christ—the cure to the sin problem. Paul simply wanted his readers to understand that he was about to unfold the reason why there is a “good news” to a “bad problem.” (For a better understanding of the church at Rome, read my blog entitled, “The Purpose, Occasion, and Background to the Church at Rome.”)
Here are a few key things that Paul does in this salutation to get the readers ready to hear the most amazing story ever.
1.Paul greets them in 1:1-7 with the final salutation in verse 7. Notice in verse 1 that Paul calls himself a “bond-servant.” The Greek word for “bond-servant” is doulos. No one wanted this title. It means “slave,” “under someone else’s control.” For Jews it even carried the idea of their slavery in Egypt. It simply meant “the loss of freedom.” Paul readily identifies himself as person who was under full control and service to his Lord, Jesus Christ.
2. Paul also calls himself an apostle. This word simply designated Paul as not just an ordinary preacher of the Gospel. He had a special task. He was appointed and sent out by God to do an extraordinary task that only a few had been asked to do.
3. In Romans 1:2-5 Paul simply but yet profoundly tells the church at Rome three things about the gospel message:
i. The origin of the gospel—vs. 2
ii. The content of the gospel—vs. 3
iii. The gospel’s purpose—vs. 5
4. In verses 8-13 Paul encourages these believers. A letter from a fellow servant but also someone of Paul’s stature would only affirm, confirm, and encourage their work. Here’s how he does it:
i. He prays for them—vs. 9
ii. He tells them that he wants to join them—vs.10
iii. He promises to help them spiritually and with ministry—vv. 11-13
5.In verses 14-17 Paul pours out his passion on this church. Since the power and dominion of sin is no respecter of person, neither is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul tells them that he feels as if he is obligated to share the gospel with everyone whom he comes in contact with. He sincerely felt as if he was in debt to people who knew not the saving grace of the Messiah. And Paul was not ashamed of his message, mission, or methods of the gospel.
It is my prayer that I become as eager and passionate as Paul with the gospel that saved my life. It is my prayer that NP becomes this eager and passionate about the gospel as well.
FOR I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL, FOR IT IS THE POWER OF GOD FOR SALVATION TO EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES….