WHO SETS YOU FREE: ROMANS 6-11 (Week 6) - What is the Gospel? Chapter 9 - The complete sovereignty of God over all of history

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1 WHO SETS YOU FREE: ROMANS 6-11 (Week 6) - What is the Gospel? Chapter 9 - The complete sovereignty of God over all of history Chapter 10 - The complete responsibility of every one of us for the choices we make Matthew 26:20-25 When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me. 22 And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, Is it I, Lord? 23 He answered, He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to 20 21

2 that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. 25 Judas, who would betray him, answered, Is it I, Rabbi? He said to him, You have said so. Perversions of these truths: Perversion of election (the Christian drug dealer - antinomianism) Perversion of human responsibility (The Search for Santa Claus - moralism) Part 1: Self-Made Romans 10: Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. If it s Paul s desire, it is certainly the Lord s desire. Love for your enemies (Matt. 5:44) 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. It doesn t matter what you believe as long as you re sincere. Interest in God without understanding salvation. This is the person who would describe himself/herself as being spiritual but not religious. Want to be free from rigid dogma and do it their way. They want to distance themselves from organized religion and build a rich if unorthodox spiritual life. These are very tolerant individuals and yet sometimes without knowing it there is a self-deception to their tolerance, meaning that when push comes to shove they are not really as tolerant as they believe. The narrow-minded pluralist - To make the supposedly humble claim that all ways of worshiping the divine are equally valid, you're claiming to have first hand knowledge that God hasn't spoken on these things and doesn't care. Tim Keller tells the story of a young man he encountered who insisted that the differences between the various religions didn't matter since they all worshiped the same God:

3 But when I asked him who that God was, he described him as an all-loving Spirit in the universe. The problem with this position is its inconsistency. It insists that doctrine is unimportant, but at the same time assumes doctrinal beliefs about the nature of God that are at loggerheads with those of the all the major faiths... Ironically, the insistence that doctrines do not matter is really a doctrine itself. It holds a specific view of God, which is touted as superior and more enlightened than the beliefs of most major religions. So the proponents of this view do the very thing they forbid in others. Different mountaintops Here s the problem with being spiritual and discarding doctrine... 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. The righteousness of God is the means by which we re accepted by God. Is God indifferent about how we love Him? Well, let me ask you this. Are you indifferent about how people love you? Living in a cave snuggling a rock Christianity says that God is not indifferent to these things, that He has revealed Himself to humanity, but that humanity remains willfully ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeks to establish their own righteousness. Part 2: God-Gifted 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. The gospel vs. works - Are you trusting in your own goodness to make yourself acceptable to God? Or are you trusting in what Christ has done on your behalf? The Message of Salvation to All 5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. In other words, the person is trying to gain heaven by keeping the law. They re trying to earn eternal life by keeping the commandments, but the problem is that even if they keep the commandments

4 90% of the time, they still accumulate a bad record of sins for which they are accountable. 6 But the righteousness based on faith says, Do not say in your heart, Who will ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 or Who will descend into the abyss? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). The gist of it is this, in order to understand the gospel, we don t have to send a representative to heaven to get the scoop. Or we don t have to send someone to the grave and back to gain an understanding of the gospel. It s right here. 8 But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. The mouth confesses what is believed in the heart. Luke 6: for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Romans 10: For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. This is a calling on the name of the Lord as a life habit, not as a one time emotional response to a charismatic speaker. Part 3: Word-Infused 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? There is teaching involved. There is no understanding without teaching. Thus, there is doctrine involved. Jesus as great moral teacher is a different Jesus than Jesus as the crucified Christ. The word affects the choices you make, beginning with hearing the message of the gospel. That s how God affects your first choice to believe in Christ, by His word.

5 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news! We are sent. This is the mission of the church. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. (John 20:21) 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. 18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for Willful ignorance - Over 90% of women who contemplate abortion, but have an ultra-sound end up having the baby. MLJ: It is God s action alone that saves a person. So why is anybody lost? Is it because they are not elected? No! What accounts for the lost is their rejection of the gospel... We are responsible for our rejection of the gospel, but we are not responsible for our acceptance of it. Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. To not be changed by the word of God is to reject the gospel. 19 But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry. 20 Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me. 21 But of Israel he says, All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. Personal responsibility to repent and believe