Therefore

My brother-in-law, Bruce Barton, wrote this and most recently at his youngest son’s wedding, treated us all to the full version of this sermon.

There are a lot of Christians who have a rather superficial understanding of the Bible and the stories of the Bible can get mixed up. The church in many parts of the world is an increasingly Biblically illiterate church.

So it is good news that many people determine to read through the whole Bible in a year, which sounds like a great goal. There are 1,189 chapters, so if you read three to four chapters a day, you are on track to finish reading the Bible in a year.

There are a lot of websites which offer various ways to do this. You can read through the Bible chronologically; you can read through the Bible as it is printed or you can mix up the Old and New Testament readings. Some days you might read just a couple chapters and another day five or six. You can have them appear on your email each day or on your portable phone.

A lot of people start off the year determined to complete reading the Bible in a year; few manage to do this. I have tried several times and never managed to do it.

But while this is a great goal, what is really accomplished if you read through the Bible in a year? I know, from personal experience, that it is possible to read three or four chapters of the Bible in the morning, accomplishing my task, but the words never went deeper than the surface of my skin. Does reading the words on the page without thinking much about them have some magical quality or is it necessary to spend more time with the words we read?

I think we are meant to have an intimate relationship with the Scriptures and to do this means we need to more than just read the words on a page and say we have accomplished our task for the day.

It is possible for me to skim through relationships and know a few superficial things about people, but in order to have an intimate relationship with someone, I need to take time to listen to them and think about what they are saying, ask questions about what they have said and then share how they have affected me.

The same, in-depth, relationship with Scripture is needed if we are to have an intimate relationship with it, if it is to have a positive effect on us.

It is for this reason, that participating in a Bible study in which you examine a book of the Bible is so helpful. But even here, it is possible to skim through the book. It takes time and energy to sit down each week and study the book and try to understand why the author wrote what he or she did. It takes work but it is worth it.

When I arrived in Rabat in January 2000, I began preaching from I Peter – mostly because that is what I had been reading for my devotions. Since then, I have preached through Galatians, Hebrews, Mark, The Ten Commandments, The Beatitudes, The Fruit of the Spirit, I Samuel with a look at Eli, Samuel and Saul, many of the Psalms, Ecclesiastes and I am in the middle of preaching from Acts and Romans.

In each case, as I have moved through the book, I have developed a deep affection and appreciation for that book. Preaching through these books has changed my life. Of all these books, Romans has probably affected me more than any of the other books from which I have preached.

It is with a bit of sadness that I begin today preaching from Romans 12 because I know we are coming to the end and this year, or certainly next year we will have finished with Romans. But then I am excited about preaching from I Corinthians. So there is a lot of Bible to go.

Martin Lloyd Jones preached from Romans for twelve years, but I am obviously not Martin Lloyd Jones and I have felt that a variety in our spiritual diet is a good thing. So I preach on Romans at the start of the year, then the Gospels for Lent, and Acts after Easter into the summer. The summer varies a bit. This last summer Tracy, Zak and I preached on questions asked by the congregation. In the fall I like to preach from the Old Testament and then we end the year with an Advent theme. This will be the eighth year we have begun the year with sermons from Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. 40 sermons over the past seven years have taken us to the beginning of chapter 12.

The first eight chapters of Romans are like a treasure chest and we have seen the wonder of the treasures in this chest over the course of the sermons.

Before we get to those treasures, let me remind you of the background for Paul when he wrote this letter.

Paul wrote his letter to the church in Rome during his three month stay in Corinth, just before his departure for Jerusalem with the collection that had been gathered by the Gentile churches for the poor in Jerusalem.

As Paul contemplated his future, he felt led to take the Gospel to the Iberian Peninsula, what is today Spain. As he had used Antioch in Syria as a base for his church planting in what is today Greece and Turkey, so he needed a base for his church planting in Spain and decided that Rome would be the best location.

So Paul wrote this letter to the church there. The church in Rome had not met Paul but they had heard of him and what they had heard was not all positive. So Paul felt the need to explain his Gospel. He needed to set the record straight to defend himself and his Gospel from the accusations made against him. He wanted to establish a personal connection with the church in Rome so they would welcome him and support him.

This letter was one of great importance to him and so he put a lot into it. As a consequence, it stands as the greatest of his letters and the source of much of our theology.

The first eight chapters of Romans is the heart of the book of Romans. What follows is three chapters about how the Jews fit into all of what Paul has talked about and then four chapters of practical concerns.

But it is the first eight chapters that stand as a monument to the great mind of Paul as he took the death and resurrection of Jesus and helped the early church, and us, understand the implications of this mysterious intrusion of Christ into human history.

Let me take you on a highlight tour of the treasures.

In this primary section of his letter to the Christians in Rome, Paul walks us through three giant theological concepts: justification, sanctification and glorification. In the process he leads us into two dilemmas, two traps from which it seems there is no escape. And in each case, he triumphantly announces the resolution to the dilemma, the way out of the trap.

The first trap Paul leads us into concerns the doctrine of justification, the process by which we are made holy in the eyes of God.

Paul began his letter by writing of the wrath of God. Before he could share the good news of Jesus, the bad news had to be presented. And the bad news is that all of us, every one of us, deserves the wrath of God. Note how Paul presents this truth in his letter.
Romans 1:18
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,  19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

The reaction for most of Paul’s readers and most of us is that this is true and just, because there are a lot of wicked people in the world and they do deserve God’s wrath. And as Paul goes on, we are gratified that we are not like these people.
Romans 1:21-32
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools  23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.  25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.  27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.  29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,  30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;  31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Depraved, non-religious society deserves the wrath of God and we say “Amen!” to that. But Paul goes on. Critical moralizers who think they are basically good people, better than those around them, also deserve the wrath of God. Ouch! That hurts because that is exactly what we were thinking.

Paul continues. Self-righteous, religious people who think because of their religion and behavior they are good deserve the wrath of God. That is also us.

So when we think we are better than all the wicked people around us and better than others because of our religious life and devotion, Paul cuts off our room for maneuvering and we are trapped. And then just to make sure that there is no escape, Paul summarizes by saying that if we thought we escaped one of the three previous categories, the whole human race is sick and deserves the wrath of God.
Romans 3:10
“There is no one righteous, not even one;

There is no wiggle room. I am trapped. Although I am pastor of a church, help with charitable projects, pray for people regularly, do lots of good things, Paul has put me into a tight spot from which I cannot escape. I, along with you and everyone else, deserve the wrath of God. God who created the world around me, who is all powerful and all knowing, who speaks and the mountains melt, thinks I deserve to be the object of his wrath. That is not a good position to find myself in. That is not a good position for you to be in.

And then just when we are trapped, stuck with no hope of escape, Paul delivers the absolutely marvelous news that sets us free.
Romans 3:21-24
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,  23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

We all, everyone of us, every single one of us, without exception, deserve the wrath of God but God has provided a way for us to get out of the trap we find ourselves in. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God but we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

We all deserve the wrath of God but then God made known to us a way of escaping the consequences of his wrath. Paul goes on to detail what exactly this righteousness is that is given freely to us and then in chapter 5 he begins to describe the benefits that come to the Christian who has been justified by faith alone: Because we are justified by faith, we have peace with God; we stand in grace; we have hope of the glory of God; and we rejoice in our sufferings.

Although we are sinners, we are viewed by God as being righteous. This is not because God has a problem with his eyesight, but  because when he sees us, he sees us through the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf. God is holy and the purity of his holiness burns away any impurity. For us to exist in his presence means we must be pure. This purity cannot come from us because we are sinners, but it comes from Christ. The purity of Christ is given to us so we can be pure in the presence of God. We are not holy. We do not deserve to be saved. We are still sinners. The death of Jesus and the sacrifice of his blood and life for us is what makes us holy in the eyes of God. This is justification, the first stage of salvation.

Paul then moves to the second stage of salvation and the second great doctrine of his letter, sanctification. Scripture says we have been saved – that is justification, but Scripture also says we are being saved and that is sanctification.

Justification, being made righteous in the eyes of God is a momentary transaction that takes place when we submit to God and accept his gift of salvation. But sanctification is an ongoing process that will continue to the day we die our physical death.

God sees us as being holy because Jesus’ righteousness has been given to us but sanctification is the process by which we are made over time to actually be holy. This is the subject of chapters 5, 6 and 7. And once again, Paul shows that we are trapped because although we are meant to be holy and we even want to be holy, we are unable to do so. This was Paul’s struggle
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

I have been a Christian now for 39 years and I understand very well what Paul felt when he wrote this. We have the nature of Christ but we also have our human nature and the two are in conflict.

When I preached three years ago about this, I used the Robert Louis Stevenson story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This is a story of a benevolent doctor who gets tired of the struggle of doing good but being at the same time filled with conflicting desires of anger and selfishness. Finally he gives up on the struggle and develops a potion that transforms him into his other self, Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde strides through the night streets of London doing whatever he wishes without feeling guilty and then he is transformed back into the benevolent Dr. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll tried to separate his two natures but this did not work. The story has an unhappy ending and Mr. Hyde takes over and Dr. Jekyll commits suicide.

This is the universal struggle and Stevenson’s story is a great illustration of the battle we face. It takes constant energy to resist our human nature and live as we know we ought to live and like Dr. Jekyll, we can get tired of the struggle.

Paul was tired of the struggle and he came to the climax of his frustration when he wrote at the end of chapter 7
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

In this second great doctrine of Paul’s letter we are once again trapped, with no escape and once again it is God who provides for us a way out by doing what we cannot do.
Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

We are trapped because we deserve the wrath of God and we are rescued by God.
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

We are trapped again because we are unable to live the holy life we are called by God to live and once again we are rescued by God.
Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Because of what Jesus has done for us, we move into chapter 8 with the triumphal conclusion
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

When we had no hope because we are incapable of making ourselves pure enough to enter the presence of God, God rescued us by sending his son, Jesus, to die for us so we can live. We were stuck and God reached down his hand asking us to take hold and trust him.

When we despaired because of our repeated failure to live a holy life, the Holy Spirit never stopped working in us, encouraging us to try once again, to renew our efforts to work with him in our sanctification.

It is because of the consistently faithful work of God in our lives that we are able to hold on to God’s hand with confidence and adventurous expectation. This is why we look up and say, “What’s next, Papa?”

We finished Romans 8 with a celebration of the third great doctrine of Paul’s letter, glorification. (Romans 8:18)
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Our future glory, as God’s chosen sons and daughters, is so marvelous that our present sufferings are a price we are willing to pay. Remember that Paul’s present sufferings included being flogged five times, beaten with rods three times, stoned and left for dead, among other hardships and deprivations. And remembering this, Paul said his present sufferings were not worth comparing with the glory that would be revealed in him.

We, along with all of creation, are moving steadily toward the end when God’s glory will be revealed in all its fullness.

Paul ends the theological section of his letter with what I called a fireworks extravaganza.

For eight chapters Paul has been discussing humanly insolvable problems and then shooting up a firework rocket to proclaim the good news that God has done what we could not do. For eight chapters Paul has been shooting off these rockets of good news and now as he comes to the end of his discussion, he is caught up in a celebration of all God has done and shoots off multiple rockets, one after the other so that we are overwhelmed by the wonder of it all.

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I can see Paul sitting there, having dictated his letter and in awe of all God has done. He takes a break to breathe, walks around and considers where he wants to go next in his letter. His mind runs over all the treasures of the first eight chapters. He delights in the wonders of these glorious truths and then he asks himself, “What about the Jews?”

Chapters 9-11 deal with Paul’s struggle with that question.

There is a lot of argument in the church about the place of Israel in God’s plan of salvation and about who makes up Israel, but what people seem to miss is what these chapters reveal about Paul’s heart.

The first eight chapters of Romans stand as testimony to the brilliance of Paul’s intellect. But the opening verses of chapter 9 stand as testimony to Paul’s equally great heart.
Romans 9:1-5
I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel.

There are some who have great minds and others who have great hearts. Paul was an exceptional person because of his combination of a great mind and an equally great heart.

In his discussion of the salvation for his fellow Jews, Paul writes of the mystery of salvation, why some are called to faith and others are not..

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

Salvation is a mystery and we, the pots, as Paul pointed out, have no right to question the potter who created us.

Finally, after eight chapters of brilliant theology and three chapters exploring the place in God’s plan for Paul’s fellow Jews, Paul rests on top of this mountain he has created from which he can see so clearly all the wonder around him and bursts out with a doxology.

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?”
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

I imagine Paul sitting there with his letter written. The eight chapters of theology and three chapters of consideration of the salvation of his fellow Jews and then what?

When you receive something truly grand, a response is demanded. And so Paul wrote
Therefore

Behind that therefore lies the weight of all that Paul has talked about for eleven chapters.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

You can skim through Romans, barely touching the surface and walk away largely unaffected. But if you take the time to get into the mind and heart of Paul as he walks us through the glorious wonders of all God has done for us, then the only acceptable response for us is
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God

When Paul wrote chapter 12 of Romans, his exhortations came with the weight of all that had preceded in his letter. What Paul wrote is not mere advice you might find in a newspaper column. Chapter 12 calls out to us to live in light of all God has done for us.

We will focus on this theme in the next few weeks, but I would encourage you this week to take the time to read through the book of Romans. If you are reading along and are curious about what the sermon on that text had to say, you can go to our church website www.rabatchurch.org and pull up any of the forty sermons on Romans that are listed there.

The sermons on Romans have changed my life. I pray they will change yours as well.