Archive for the 'Romans' Category

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Reviewing Last Sunday’s Sermon, “Why We Deserve It”

Published on January 9, 2010 in Romans. 1 Comment

For our people, it would be a great idea to prepare for tomorrow by prayerfully reflecting on last Sunday’s sermon.  You can go to the church web site to listen to sermons: www.theredbrickchurch.org .

(Romans 1:18-23) – In Romans 1:18 Paul stated that God’s wrath is being revealed.  The judgment of God is seen already in some measure, but his awful wrath will be poured out fully at the final judgment.

The fact of God’s wrath begs the question, "Is it fair that God should reveal his wrath?"  The answer to that question is an emphatic "yes" because since the creation of the World God has plainly made himself known to all people.  Everyone knows that God is (1) All-mighty and (2) All-righty.  Quoting Schreiner:

God has stitched into the fabric of the human mind his existence and power, so that they are instinctively recognized when one views the created world.

Humanity’s problem is not that it doesn’t know about God.  Rather, God has made himself known yet, humanity suppressed that knowledge.  The problem isn’t ignorance; it is rebellion.

So, our response must be to confess our sin and humble ourselves before the Lord Jesus Christ.  Even those who know Christ, should recognize that in their battle with the flesh, we still battle rebelliousness in one way or another.

Did you know that a caterpillar has 228 separate and distinct muscles in its head?

Published on January 8, 2010 in Psalms, Recommended Reading and Romans. 0 Comments

God is almighty and al-righty and it is obvious from his Creation (Romans 1:18-20).  There is no excuse for not believing in Him.

Take 15 minutes and watch the, “Just Stop and Think,” video by Francis Chan, or read the below.

Francis Chan in his book, Crazy Love.

Did you know that a caterpillar has 228 separate and distinct muscles in its head? That’s quite a few, for a bug.

The average elm tree has 6 million leaves on it.

And your own heart generates enough pressure as it pumps blood throughout your body that it could squirt blood up to thirty feet. (I’ve never tried this and I don’t recommend it).

Have you ever thought about how diverse and creative God is? He didn’t have to make hundreds of different kinds of bananas, but He did. He didn’t have to put 3000 different species of trees within one square mile in the Amazon jungle, but He did. God didn’t have to create so many kinds of laughter. Think about the different sounds of your friends’ laughs—wheezes, snorts, silent, loud, obnoxious.

How about the way plants defy gravity by drawing water upward from the ground into their stems and veins? Or did you know that spiders produce three kinds of silk – when they build their webs, they create sixty feet of silk in one hour, simultaneously producing special oil on their feet that prevents them from sticking to their own web. (Most of us hate spiders, but sixty feet an hour deserves some respect!) Coral plants are so sensitive that they can die if the water temperature varies by even one or two degrees.

Did you know that when you get goose bumps, the hair in your follicles is actually helping you stay warmer by trapping body heat? Or what about the simple fact that plants take carbon dioxide (which is harmful to us) and produce oxygen (which we need to survive)? I’m sure you knew that, but have you ever marveled at it? And these same poison-swallowing, life-giving plants came from tiny seeds that were placed in the dirt. Some were watered, some weren’t; but after a few days they poked through the soil and out into the warm sunlight.

Whatever God’s reason for such diversity, creativity, and sophistication in the universe, on earth, and in our own bodies, the point of it all is His glory. God’s art speaks of Himself, reflecting who He is and what he is like.

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their measuring line goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun,(Ps 19:1-4)."

This is why we are called to worship Him, His art, His handiwork, and His creation all echo the truth that He is glorious. There is no other like Him. He is the King of Kings, the Beginning, and the End, the One who was and is and is to come. I know you’ve heard this before, but don’t want you to miss it.

I sometimes struggle with how to properly respond to God’s magnitude in a world bent on ignoring or merely tolerating Him. But know this: God will not be tolerated. He instructs us to worship and fear Him.

Go back and reread the last two paragraphs. Go to the web site www.crazybooks.com and watch the “Just Stop and Think” fifteen minute video. Close this book if you need to, and meditate on the almighty One who dwells in unapproachable light, the glorious One.

The excuse, “I didn’t know,” isn’t going to work

Published on January 2, 2010 in Romans. 0 Comments

Some may claim ignorance about the existence of God, but according to Romans, the reality is another matter.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.(Ro 1:19-20)."

The problem isn’t that people don’t know about God.  Rather, the problem is that they do know, yet suppress that knowledge of the truth.

—————-

I continue with the Romans series tomorrow (D.V.).  Having covered the introduction (Romans 1:1-17), we now move into the beginning of Paul’s argument.  In this section, Paul asserts that all people know something of God whether they admit it or not.  Hence, God is justified in revealing his wrath.

Here are a few quotes to think about before the sermon.

Schreiner:

God has stitched into the fabric of the human mind his existence and power, so that they are instinctively recognized when one views the created world.

Calvin:

That there exists in the human minds and indeed by natural instinct, some sense of Deity, we hold to be beyond dispute, since God himself, to prevent any man from pretending ignorance, has endued all men with some idea of his Godhead, the memory of which he constantly renews and occasionally enlarges, that all to a man being aware that there is a God, and that he is their Maker, may be condemned by their own conscience when they neither worship him nor consecrate their lives to his service. Certainly, if there is any quarter where it may be supposed that God is unknown, the most likely for such an instance to exist is among the dullest tribes farthest removed from civilisation. But, as a heathen tells us, there is no nation so barbarous, no race so brutish, as not to be imbued with the conviction that there is a God. Even those who, in other respects, seem to differ least from the lower animals, constantly retain some sense of religion; so thoroughly has this common conviction possessed the mind, so firmly is it stamped on the breasts of all men. Since, then, there never has been, from the very first, any quarter of the globe, any city, any household even, without religion, this amounts to a tacit confession, that a sense of Deity is inscribed on every heart.”

Or, as I recall hearing Mike Wittmer summarize, “All people know that God is almighty and ‘al-righty.’”

Biblically, there is no excuse for not listening to this video – - one way or another

Published on December 31, 2009 in Apologetics and Romans. 0 Comments

Many have watched, “The Known Universe” – - but, have you really listened to it?

According to the Bible, there is no excuse for not listening, at least figuratively.  This video which shows the awesomeness of the universe and illustrates the point of Romans 1:18-20 that God has made himself known such that his power and righteousness are ever on display:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.(Ro 1:18-20).”

” Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! (Psalm 150).”

Piper: When you hug those who are suffering, you need a place to stand

Published on December 29, 2009 in Romans and suffering. 1 Comment

If you aren’t suffering terribly right now, you know someone who is.  John Piper (12/27/09) preached on suffering and Romans 8:15-25 at the Village Church who recently learned that their young senior pastor, Matt Chandler, has a malignant brain tumor.  (See these posts on suffering).

Piper introduced his sermon by stating that the first thing believers should do do with those who are suffering is hug them.  No words.  Just silent hugs.  But, Piper also noted that those who are hugging must have a place to stand.  That is, if we are going to make it through the suffering in this life apart from anger and bitterness, then we must know sound doctrine and how suffering fits with the plan of God.

If you can only listen to a few minutes of this sermon, it will be a wonderful investment of your time.

Listen here.

Before you preach that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ

Published on November 10, 2009 in Romans. 0 Comments

Dr. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

You remember the resounding sentence at the end of the eight chapter of this Epistle to the Romans: ‘I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’  ‘That is it’, says someone.  ‘That’s the sort of thing I like.  Why don’t you rush on to that?  That is the thing to stabilize us!’ Ah, but wait a minute!  The Apostle Paul is only able to make that statement because of all the things that he has been saying in his earlier chapters before he arrives at that statement!  That is the conclusion of the mighty argument about justification and sanctification, and glorification.  You cannot start with that.  You end with it.  And you will never be able to say that from your heart unless you really know, experimentally, these great doctrines.  You must know them with your mind, you must experience them.

Volume 1 of Romans, pages 228-229.

Who can you encourage “all over the world”?

Published on November 1, 2009 in Missions and Romans. 1 Comment

A chief strategy of the evil one is to isolate Christians.  He wants us to believe that we are part of nothing larger than the squabbles in our church committee meetings  Satan tries to shrink our conception of what God is doing and make us feel part of something small.

This morning I will continue preaching in our Romans project.  I plan to focus on Romans 1:8.  Here we see that one of the ways that Paul sought to encourage the Romans was by assuring them that there was a global awareness of their faith that extended far beyond Rome.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. . . (Romans 1:8a)

We should encourage others in the same way.

Is there a missionary, or a believer in some other part of the country that you can email or write today and say,

“Your faith is known and proclaimed.  I’m thankful for you.  I’m praying for you.  I thank God that we are part of the Body together.”

The Trinitarian Gospel

Published on October 25, 2009 in Romans. 0 Comments

Today (D.V.), I will preach on Paul’s Trinitarian theology in the first seven verses of Romans 1:1-7.

Notice the emphasis I have added for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh
4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Trevin Wax recently wrote an excellent post, The Trinitarian Gospel: Why We Need All Three Parts.

. . ..There is also a Trinitarian layer to the gospel that needs to be recognized.

    • God the Father justifies sinners by satisfying his own wrath through the death of Christ and by applying Christ’s righteousness to sinners who respond to him in faith.
    • God the Son inaugurates the kingdom of God on earth through his life, death, and resurrection.
    • God the Spirit breathes new life into sinners, giving us eternal life (”the life of the age to come”), uniting us to the community of faith, and empowering us to live in the world as a foretaste of the new creation.

Each of these aspects of the gospel should remain Christ-focused. Each points back to his life, death, and resurrection.

When these get out of balance, we run into problems.

Read the whole thing here.

Sunday’s Sermon: Keep the Big Picture of Salvation History in Mind

Published on October 12, 2009 in Preaching and Romans. 2 Comments

If you don’t keep the big picture of what God is doing in salvation-century in the forefront of your thoughts, then very soon the individual episodes of life won’t make any sense.

You can listen to the sermon  here. 

The Miracle that Was Paul: The Apostle to the Gentiles as Powerful Evidence of the Reality of Christianity

Published on October 11, 2009 in Romans. 0 Comments

We continue the Romans Project today and here it is appropriate to thank God for one of his greatest gifts to his Bride: the Apostle Paul.

One cannot study Romans without being in awe of the apostolic ministry of Paul.  Other than the Lord Himself, Paul was arguably the greatest theologian that ever lived  (See Romans!).  He was certainly the greatest missionary.  Such a miracle was Paul, that F.F. Bruce argued that by himself Paul is sufficient to prove Christianity.

“No single event, apart from the Christ-event itself, has proved so determinant for the course of Christian history as the conversion and commissioning of Paul. For anyone who accepts Paul’s own explanation of his Damascus-road experience, it would be difficult to disagree with the observation of an eighteenth-century writer that ‘the conversion and apostleship of St. Paul alone, duly considered, was of itself a demonstration sufficient to prove Christianity to be a divine revelation.’” F.F. Bruce, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free, page 74.

As a result of Paul’s theology and missionary leadership, local churches quickly belted the Roman Empire from Jerusalem to Spain.  The Gospel burned like a flame spreading across a map (picture the opening of the old Western Bonanza) north into Europe and south into Africa, so that by circa 200 Tertullian would insist in a letter to Roman leaders.

We are but of yesterday, but we have filled every place among you cities, islands, fortresses, towns, market places, the very camp, tribes, companies, palace, senate, forum we have left nothing to you but the temples of your gods.

If you would like to read a reliable biography of the Apostle Paul, then I highly recommend F.F. Bruce’s, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free.  Dr. Hoch (for whom I am so thankful) required us to read it in seminary and I still consult it.