Do you ever get angry because what someone else has done is not right towards others?
They shouldn‟t have done it.
They shouldn‟t have acted that way.
It was cruel.
It was mean.
It was evil.
And it‟s a righteous anger.
It‟s an anger that God can relate with, because God gets angry. God gets angry over things that destroy and distort men‟s lives. We‟ll talk about it today.
You know this Book is pure unadulterated truth.
Nobody‟s messed with it because God has watched over it and He‟s preserved it all of these years because He wants you to know truth and He wants you to know it for yourself. So thanks for joining me. Thanks for coming to study the Word of God so that you can discover for yourself what God has to say about the subjects that He covers in this Book. Well you know that we‟re studying Romans. And if you don‟t know, we‟re studying Romans. Okay.
And Romans is a book in the New Testament.
It‟s a book in the New Testament that is written by the apostle Paul. And of all Paul‟s letters that he writes to different people around the Roman Empire during the time of his life, this book contains more Old Testament references than any other epistle that he wrote.
It contains references to what we call or what the Jews would call the Tanak, to the Old Testament.
Why?
Because the Old Testament becomes the basis of the New Testament. As a matter of fact, what you see laid out in the Old Testament really comes to fruition, really comes to maturity in the New Testament. And if you would ever sit down even as a Jew and read this New Testament, you can get it on your computer, and call it up and just go through and at least read and pick out for yourself what God says that you would recognize in the Tennoch, if you‟re a student of the Word of God. Well we‟re going to mark a new word. We‟ve been marking words. Why? Because what you want to do is you want to find the key words. Key words are important words to the text. They‟re words, that if you extracted them, if you put in a syringe and pulled that key word out of the Bible or out of the that particular book of the Bible, then it wouldn‟t make sense. They‟re important words because they give you insight into what this Book is all about. And in Romans, chapter 1, he‟s going to talk about the wrath of God.
As a matter of fact Romans is about the gospel that delivers us from the wrath of God.
Now that ought to be good news.
There is a way that you can escape the wrath of God.
So in verse 18, it says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”
Now what I want you to do is I want you to mark “wrath” and that you mark “wrath” that way as you go through the Bible.
All right, now, what is Paul talking about? Paul, in Romans chapter 1, is saying that he wants to come to Rome and he wants to preach the gospel to those that are at Rome.
Why does he want to preach the gospel? Because he‟s debtor to the gospel. Because he‟s under obligation. Why? Because this gospel, this good news, this message has the power to change a persons life.
It has a power to take them out of slavery to any sin.
And we‟ll discuss sin in a few minutes. To any sin and set them free.
It has a power to deliver them from hell.
It has a power to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to the kingdom of God.
It has the power to give them everlasting righteousness.
It has the power to give them forgiveness of sins.
So in this he is talking about the gospel. So let‟s pick up at verse 16 and let me read it to you so you can get it in context. You read along with me.
It‟s good for you to read the text.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel for it …,” and you‟ve marked “it” like you‟ve marked gospel with a megaphone. “… It is the power of God.” Remember we saw that that‟s the “dunamis.” You know it doesn‟t come from the word dynamite, but maybe we took dynamite and made it after power because you light a stick of dynamite and man it‟s explosive.
So, “… it‟s the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, in that gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.” Now what do we mean about the righteousness of God? We studied it but it bears repeating.
The righteousness of God means this, that God always does what is right.
You can never take God to court. I mean you can haul Him into court if you want to and I‟m sure that many of you have done that and said
You‟re God, why don‟t You do this.
If you‟re God why don‟t You act like this?
And if You‟re God why don‟t You stop this?
So you may haul Him into court but you know what, when you haul Him into court the judge and the jury are going to pronounce Him innocent, because God is righteous.
Everything that God does is right because God is God, because there‟s no flaw in Him, because there‟s no sin in God, there‟s no bias in God. God is God. And so it says, “… in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.”
In other words it is revealed by you and I believing
and then by you and I living according what we believe.
Believe simply means it‟s the word, “p-i-s-t-e-u-o” in the Greek, which is what the New Testament was written in, in the Koine Greek, the common Greek language of the day.
And it simply means to believe. But it doesn‟t mean believe intellectually, it means to believe so that you commit yourself to what you believe and you act on it or you live in the light of it. “So the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, but the righteous man shall live by faith.”
All right, now let‟s just stop there, before we hit the wrath of God and talk about it, because you‟re going to see a contrast here.
All right, now when he says, “The righteous man shall live by faith …,” remember I told you that Paul quotes the Tanak, the Old Testament more in this epistle than any other epistle that he has written, any other letter that he has written.
So what is he quoting? Well, he is quoting a verse in the Old Testament, a verse that is in the book of Habakkuk is a book that is only three chapters long.
I‟ve written a book and it‟s called, “When Bad Things Happen”. And when you look at that book, “When Bad Things Happen”, I take you to the book of Habakkuk because in the book of Habakkuk, Habakkuk is upset with God. He‟s upset with God because he says, “I‟m crying for help. How long will I cry for help and you won‟t hear? I cry out to You violence and You don‟t save.” He says, “Why do You make me see iniquity?”
Now what is iniquity? Iniquity is what is awful. Iniquity is what is just not right. Iniquity is what makes most everybody, unless they have a seared conscience, just absolutely mad.
He says, “And why do You cause me to look on wickedness, yes, destruction and violence are before me, strife and contention exists.”
He says, “Therefore the law is ignored.” I mean, do you ask, “I want justice”?
And you watch Law and Order; you watch all these different programs because you‟re into court cases and things like this.
You want justice.
You know, you go to Judge Judy.
What do you want?
You want justice.
All right.
Now do you always get it?
That‟s what was happening in the day of Habakkuk.
He says, “Justice is never upheld. The wicked surround the righteous.” In other words, the bad guys are winning. The bad guys have circled the righteous guys. In other words, “You know the righteous are encompassed about by these wicked people; therefore, justice comes out perverted.” And then he goes on to talk to God. He says, you‟ve got these people, these fierce Babylonians, these Chaldeans, that are coming against us and they don‟t believe in You. They look at men just like fish. You, God, honor life. We as Jews honor life. It‟s precious. It‟s sacred. You‟ve taught us that, but they don‟t think so. They catch men like fish in a net and they just toss them away. They don‟t care. They‟re a fierce and impetuous people, God. Why are You allowing them to do this to us? And then he says, “Aren‟t Thou not from everlasting …,” verse 12, “… O Lord, my holy One, we will not die.”
Now listen, Habakkuk, Habakkuk looks at God and he says,
“You know I don‟t understand it all but I know that You‟re God and I know that You may judge us with these people that You tell me that You‟re going to bring against us, these Babylonians. But I know this; I know we will not die.”
And listen to me carefully. He‟s saying,
“I know we will not die because You are a righteous God and you cannot lie. That‟s why I know we will not die because You‟re righteous.
You are a God who does what is right.
So I might not understand why you‟re going to bring these Babylonians, these Chaldeans, against us, but I know this, I know that You promise that we would exist as a nation forever.”
Did you get that?
They will exist as a nation forever whether you hate the Jews or whether you love the Jews or whether you‟re just apathetic about the Jews, I want you to know this, that God has the Jews as the apple, the pupil, of His eye. In other words they are very very dear to Him and they‟re always going to exist.
So he goes on and he talks about this and then he says in chapter 2, verse 1, “I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart. I will watch to see what He, God, will say to me and how I may reply when I am reproved.”
I know that God‟s going to show me. You‟re thinking‟s off Habakkuk.
“Then the Lord answered me and said, „Record the vision. You‟re right. I‟m going to talk to you.
You right it down. Inscribe it on tablets that the one who reads it may run.‟”
Write it down.
Put it up there so that people can come along and read that and say hey, I‟ve got to get this message out. And so he says,
“This is what I want you to do …,” He says, “… for though the vision is for an appointed time, it hastens toward the goal. It will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it, for it will certainly come. It will not delay. Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him, but the righteous will live by his faith.” That‟s what Paul is picking up from the Tanak.
And what does it mean?
It means a lot.
It means a lot to you.
And we‟ll talk about it .
Romans, chapter 1, verse 17. It says, “In the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith …,” In other words, it is embraced by faith, “… to faith, as it is written: The righteous man shall live by faith.” What is sin? Sin is a willful refusal to believe, embrace, live by the truth of God.
Sin is a willful refusal to embrace, to live by, to believe the Word of God, the truth of God.
And the truth of God is the Word of God. Jesus cannot lie. And Jesus prayed for you and me. And it‟s recorded in John 17 and this was just before He went to the Garden of Gethsemane where He was going to be arrested and then taken and crucified.
And this is what He prayed. He said, “Father, I don‟t ask You to take them out of the world, but I ask you to keep them from the evil one.”
And then He said, “Father, sanctify them, set them apart.” The word saint and sanctified and holy all come from the same root word in the Greek language, “h-a-g-i-o-s.” So in John 17, He says, “Father, sanctify them through Thy truth.”
In other words, use the truth of Your Book to set these people aside for You.
Sanctify them through Thy truth and then He made this statement.
“Thy Word is truth.”
This is the Book that Jesus believed.
This is the Book that Jesus lived by.
This is the Book that Jesus proclaimed.
He proclaimed the Word of God.
So if you want truth, this is it.
You say, I don‟t believe that. You know you don‟t have to. God let‟s you not believe. And that‟s hard to imagine when God is sovereign and He could make you believe. He could do anything He wanted with you. But He‟s given you a free will and He will let you not believe. But you know what? You can‟t choose the consequences.
You can choose your way, but you cannot choose the consequences.
If you don‟t believe, you‟re going to perish. If you don‟t believe, the wrath of God is going to be poured out on you.
Why?
Because God is angry. God is angry because He has presented you with truth and you refuse to believe it. And you refuse to believe it because of your own stubborn will.
Sin is the refusal to believe the truth that‟s given to us by God. The Bible says, “He that knows to do good and does it not, to him it is sin.”
The Bible says, “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”
And here it says, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” You know you can be very very religious and Romans 2 deals with that kind of a religion. A religion that is a form of godliness but it has none of the power that we talked about, the power of the gospel in it that absolutely changes you.
And so when he says, “The righteous man shall live by faith,” this verse out of Habakkuk, this verse that is quoted again in Hebrews, this verse that is quoted again in Galatians, chapter 3. And here it‟s used three times in the New Testament. It‟s used in Romans 1. It‟s used in Galatians 3 and it is used in Hebrews, chapter 10.
So this famous verse is a verse that started a reformation.
There was a monk, a monk by the name of Martin Luther, a monk that wanted to please God, I mean, just wanted to be a man of God, a monk that would close the door to his cell and take a whip and beat himself, a monk who would not sleep on a bed, but slept on a cold cold floor, a monk who abused his body because he was trying trying to be righteous, trying to be right with God, trying so hard, he was doing, listen carefully, everything he knew to do and it wasn‟t working.
And you know why?
Because he was trying to become righteous on his own.
And this is the wonderful message.
Why?
Because in it, in this gospel is revealed to us how we‟re made righteous. And we‟re made righteous not by works of righteousness that we think that are right or that God says that are right, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to God‟s mercy, according to God‟s grace He has saved us.
“For by grace …,” Ephesians 2:8 and 9 says, “… For by grace, unmerited, unearned favor are you saved through faith,” through believing God. It says, “For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, even the faith isn‟t of yourself. It‟s a gift of God.” Salvation is all pure unadulterated grace. It is unmerited, unearned extravagant lavish grace that is poured out.
And Romans will go on to say, “Where sin did abound, grace did much more abound.”
The righteous man lives by faith because the minute that he believes God, the minute he grasp God and he understands that he cannot do anything to merit salvation, to change himself, the minute he grabs that then you know what happens?
He escapes the wrath of God because by pure faith and believing that he is declared righteous and he is enabled to live righteously. By living righteously, remember living righteously is living according to what God says is right.
And that‟s the message that we‟re going to see in Romans as we move through it.
But let me tell you about this monk. I mean he did everything. He was in Rome and he was going up these certain holy stairs saying the hail Mary‟s and making his petitions to God and kissing each step, totally humbling himself, crawling up these steps, this great big monk. And as he did that, all of a sudden, this verse from Habakkuk, chapter 2, verse 4, from Romans, chapter 1, verse 17, from Galatians, chapter 3 and Hebrews 10:38, this verse came crashing into his head.
It was a verse that he had read.
You see he found in the library at the seminary a book, a book that had a chain through it and this book that was chained was chained so that nobody could take it out of the library and it was a Bible. You‟ve got to remember that we‟re living in the days when books were copied by hand. Books were treasures.
So he sees this book that‟s chained. He opens it up and in the sovereignty of God, in the desire of God that no man should perish, He takes this monk that He sees is searching for Him and seeking for Him with all of his heart and He takes this monk who really is angry with God.
I mean he fumes and he fusses at God because he can never be right enough and God‟s standards are impossible and he cannot ever get a sense of peace in his heart and so he‟s angry with God. And so He takes this monk and the monk opens the Bible in the sovereignty of God he reads Romans 1:17,
“That the righteous man shall live by faith.”
The just, another translation says the just. The just is a righteous man.
“The just shall live by faith.”
As he‟s kissing those steps and trying to earn favor with God, all of a sudden the truth. He is saved. He is saved. He sees that he is going to escape the wrath of God because he‟s received a righteousness that comes by faith. Now listen, the only way you can ever be right with God is to believe in Jesus Christ, to receive Him as your God, as the Son of God, as the Savior of the world.
