The Bad News

Our Salvation

Romans: The Bad News- Recognizing our sin- Written by Paul

• The process of human thinking- How it all starts:

Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

-Ungodliness: not accepting God or a particular religious doctrine; irreligious; atheistic (dictionary.com)

-Unrighteousness: sinful; wicked 

• Paul has started by explaining everyone has sinned (also see Rom. 3:23)
• All sinners suppress or keep the truth from being known. No one wants to hear they are sinners and destined for hell. So people suppress the truth so the issue never comes up.
• However even though God’s “eternal power and divine nature” are invisible we are without excuse from knowing his existence because of the creation of the world and “things that have been made” (Rom 1:20)

Romans 1:21 “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

• Ever since the creation of Adam and Eve we knew a higher being existed. 
• Our main purpose in life is to worship and glorify Him (Isaiah 43:6-7), however we missed the mark and became “futile” (purposeless) in our thinking.
• With “futile” thinking, we have no purpose in what we do, so we fled from the light of God. We are left with a “darkened” heart.

Romans 1: 22-23 “Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

• We pretend like we know what we are doing and why we are here and because of this we give up God for worldly things that God created such as “mortal man (famous people, anyone we strive to be like) and birds and animals and creeping things (false idols or Gods humans worship like in tribes, etc.)- “because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!” (Romans 1:25)
• We do this all the time, wanting to be like MJ, Tiger Woods, Carrie Underwood, etc. These are mortal people that give us no promises or sense of security. Instead of following God we break his first commandment! (Exodus 20 1-17 and 22-23).

Romans 1:29-32 “They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” 

• I think you get the idea. We are a sinful being. Thus God has every right to condemn us (“those who practice such things deserve to die”- sent to hell). 
• God has every right to send us to hell because we chose to worship the world instead of Him

Romans 2:1-3 “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, everyone of you who judges. For in passing judgement on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. Do you suppose, O man-- you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself-- that you will escape the judgement of God?”

• Anyone who judges another is just “condemning” themselves because we who judge are acting as if we haven’t done those same sins as the person we are judging. A.K.A. Hypocrisy (John 8:1-12, Matthew 7:5)
• We all fall short (Romans 3:23) so we are a sinful people. Since we are not perfect (Jesus) we have no right to judge another.

Romans 2: 9-11 “There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.” 

• Anyone who goes against God’s commands does evil, no matter who you are or where you are from. Therefore “God shows no partiality.” (Amos 3:2)
• Do not get fooled when the scripture here says “but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good.” Paul is talking about those who do good in faith by what Christ did for us on the cross. This “good” is proof of genuine faith (Galatians 5:6, James 2:14-26)

Romans 2: 14-15 “For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them...”

• Saying that those who do not know God’s law live by a moral code somehow given to them; so God’s law is written on their hearts without them knowing Him. This is where our morals come from when we were a non-believer (gentile).
• ex.) Obeying our parents, doing good deeds, abstaining from sex, etc. People still do these things even though they are non-believers

Romans 2: 23-24 “You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because off you.’”

• We who call ourselves Christians and proclaim the Lord’s name can dishonor God because we break his law (Look at verses 17-22). If we proclaim his name and still live in satan’s lie, we are dishonoring God. 
• If we live immoral lives and claim his name, then non-believers see this and they are pushed away. ex.) if you are leading someone to Christ, and then they see you out drunk and acting like a fool, that person would be hurt and frustrated that they listened to a hypocrite and they may talk with others about Christians in a bad way.

Romans 2: 25 “For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.” 

• Before Christ was born, circumcision was God’s physical sign of righteousness with Abraham for his faith (Genesis 17: 9-14). 
• If we are physically circumcised and we obey the law, then all is good. However we are sinners and if we do not have the holy spirit in our hearts, we break the law. So no matter if we are physically circumcised or not, we are condemned. A.k.a. “your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.” 
• Circumcision to the Christian is being circumcised in the heart; meaning we uphold God’s law and we trust in Him, living according to his purpose. (We have received the Holy Spirit. Romans 2: 29)

Romans 2: 29 “But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” 

• The true mark of a Christian is not the physical mark of the body (circumcision) but of the regenerating of the heart through the Holy Spirit.
• We are not Christian just because someone tells us we are. Only God can save us and no man can save us. (John 5: 41-44, 1 Corinthians 4: 1-5)

Romans 3: 5 “But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? By no means! For then how could God judge the world?"

• How can we show the glory of God through sin? It is impossible because God is perfect. It would be a sin for us to show his Glory by doing what is wrong. 
• If we are showing God’s righteousness by doing what is wrong, how can He then judge us? It wouldn’t make sense. Ex. If you kill someone and then say, Judge Matthews is a righteous judge who demands justice, how could he/she set you free?

Romans 3: 9 “What then? Are we jews and better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin...”

• No matter what race, religion, etc. we are all charged under sin in Gods eyes. (Romans 3: 10-19) 

Romans 3: 19-20 “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

• We now understand that we are all under the law and because we all have the law in us, we all will be judged by God.
• If we did good works according to the law, we think we are good morally. However we are not justified in God’s sight because we do not have the spirit in us (Isaiah 64:6).
• We are not justified because the law shows us that we are unrighteous. If the law showed us that we are righteous, then there would be no purpose for Jesus (Galatians 2:21).

This is all bad news that is very hard and convicting to us…It shows us how weak we are. But thank the Lord for the Good News! coming up next blog post :)


Song of the Day! Click- Forgiveness, Toby Mac ft. Lecrae