WELCOME to CENTRALCHURCH OF CHRIST: Not a place, but a people connected by a common bond of Christ our Savior with a common mission to show HIS love, tell HIS story, and be HIS people! We’re on our last week of an expository sermon series this week that I’m calling the “ROMAN ROAD.” Expository means we learn from the text, and bring out it’s points, rather than topical, which is where we have a point and use the text to support it. So here we are digging in for a while in the beautiful letter to the Romans from Paul.
“…I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.” Romans 9:3-5
“Did God reject his people?” (The Jews) Romans 11:1
“Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery?” Romans 11:11
“I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.” Romans 11:1
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” Matthew 23:37
“I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” Romans 11:4
“Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: ‘Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.’” Romans 9:27 Quoting Isaiah 10:22
“In that day, I will gather the lame; I will assemble the exiles and those I have brought to grief. I will make the lame a remnant, those driven away a strong nation. The LORD will rule over them in Mount Zion from that day and forever. (Micah 4:6-7)
“And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the remnant whom the LORD calls.” Joel 2:32
2 Chronicles 16:9 “…the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him…”
“So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.” Romans 11:5
“You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in. Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief…” Romans 11:19-20a
“And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!” Romans 11:23-24
“(Israelites) were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.” Romans 11:20-21
“We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” Hebrews 2:1
“See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.” Hebrews 3:12
“… they (Israelites) were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.” Romans 11:20-23
ROMAN ROAD: That restoration process is listed throughout the book of Romans to bring us toward salvation.
1. The Human Problem (Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23, and Romans 6:23).
The first part of the Romans Road confirms the state of every human as sinful and the state of God as holy.
- “As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;”(Romans 3:10)
- “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23)
After establishing that “all have sinned,” the first half of Romans 6:23 explains the depth of this problem and its consequences.
“For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23a)
However, the second half of the verse hints at the hope sinners have for salvation through Jesus.
“…but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23b)
2. Humanity’s Hope in Christ (Romans 5:8).
The second part of the Romans Road further explains the hope we have in the love of God expressed through Christ.
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
3. The Sinner’s Response (Romans 11:20, Romans 10:9-10, Romans 10:13, Romans 6:3-5).
- Believe in Him – 11:20That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith.
- Repentance of sin Romans 2:3-5 “3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? “
- Confession of Mouth “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”(Romans 10:9-10)
- “For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” (Romans 10:13)
- Baptism – “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,” (Romans 6:3-5)
- The Result of Salvation 16:25-27 – Strength & Glory.
Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— 27 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.