WWUTT 187 By the Mercies of God?

All right, grab your pens, your highlighters, whatever it is you use to mark in your Bible, because we're going to go back through the first 11 chapters of Romans, highlighting key passages that we might know the mercies of God better when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily study of God's Word that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. All right, you got your pen ready, your highlighter, as we're going to go from Romans 1 through Romans 11, highlighting some key passages that we have looked at over the course of our study thus far.

If you are driving in the car, obviously you cannot do this. If you have been studying your

Bible on an iPad or your phone, I pity you. Really, you got to have a

Bible in front of you. I mean, there's just nothing like having a Bible here. In fact, as a pastor, though,

I'm all right with seeing somebody using an iPad or their phone. There's just simply no substitute for the sound of pages turning whenever you tell a person to turn to a certain section or passage.

Turn in your Bibles to Romans 12. We're going to start there. We're going to begin with these two verses that we've looked at.

See, you can hear my pages turning here. These two verses we've looked at here at the start of Romans 12, and look at these passages in light of everything that we have read in Romans thus far.

So Romans 12 verses 1 and 2, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

In fact, I'm just going to go that far, just verse 1. So by the mercies of God, when

Paul is talking about the mercies of God here, he's saying in light of everything that I have shared with you so far in the doctrine of justification and this theology that I have expounded upon to you regarding the gospel of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So when we get to Romans 12, 1, we should understand by the mercies of God, according to everything that we've looked at so far, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

I told my church when we got to this verse, I don't know when this was, two months back,

I think we've been in Romans 12 for two months. But anyway, when we got to this verse, I said, I am looking at Romans 12, 1 and 2 in a way unlike I have never viewed them before.

I have done studies of Romans before, but never a study of Romans that has taken as long as this study has doing this in church and also in the broadcast.

And so the way that I see Romans 12, 1 and 2 is a way that is different than I have ever viewed these passages before.

But let's go back to the start of Romans 1 and start drawing out verses to understand these mercies of God even better.

Romans 1 begins with greeting. That's how Paul begins all of his letters.

Verses 1 through 15 are basically greeting at the beginning of the letter.

Paul talks about his desire to want to come to them, and he has not been able to do that yet because the

Lord has had him in other areas, planning churches. But as soon as he has that opportunity, he wants to come to the

Romans and be an apostle to them because they have yet to have an apostle come to them and share with them more of the gospel of Christ.

But that doesn't stop him from writing extensively in this letter about that gospel.

The thesis statement to Paul's letter to the Roman Christians is

Romans 1 16. And this is the first verse that you will underline Romans 1 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel for in it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the

Jew first and also to the Greek. It's even important to underline that section where Paul says to the

Jew first and also to the Greek, because a lot of the things that he talks about over the course of this letter are how the

Jew and the Greek are both saved through Christ alone. The Jews are not saved because they're

Jews, and the Greeks or the Gentiles are not saved because they're Gentiles. They are saved through Jesus Christ alone.

Then when we get to verse 18, we start to see a case that Paul presents for the condemnation of all men, both

Jews and Greeks. This is why both Jews and Greeks need the gospel of Jesus Christ. We read that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who, by their unrighteousness, suppress the truth.

For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. Underline verse 20, for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made.

So they are without excuse. What we read in verses 18 through 32 are five things.

We know that everybody knows that God exists and that he has eternal power and divine nature these things are clearly seen in all that has been made.

We also know what is natural and unnatural. We know that the wages of sin is death.

We know that God has written the law and we know that everybody who disobeys that law will be destroyed, that the wages of sin is death.

Those five things we know from what Paul lays out in Romans 1 verses 18 through 32.

Underline verse 32, 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. Those that exchange what is natural for what is unnatural, for what

God has designed for their own passions and sinful desires. Those that worship the created things rather than the creator.

These people who engage in all of this sinful behavior will be destroyed, though they know that those who practice such things deserve to die.

They not only do them, they give approval to those who practice them. Then we get to chapter two, underline verses three and four.

Do you suppose, oh man, you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself that you will escape the judgment of God?

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?

So as Paul is making a case against the Gentiles in chapter one, then he makes a case against the

Jews in chapter two. They have God's law, but yet though they judge the Gentiles according to that law, they are still also breakers of that law.

We cannot measure up to God's law, nor can we even measure up to our own standards of right and wrong.

We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things, and yet we who judge do the very same things.

For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That's ultimately what Paul is leading up to, which we'll read in chapter three.

So the next verse that you will underline is verse 11, Romans chapter two, verse 11.

For God shows no partiality. Again, all have sinned against God and are in need of his grace.

Underline verse 15. 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.

Everyone has a law written on their hearts. Everybody believes that there are things that it is right for a person to do and wrong for a person to do because there is a moral standard that has been written on their hearts.

Everybody understands this. And so when they impose their judgment on another person, they show that the law has been written on their hearts while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.

Underline verse 23. You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law.

You think that you know the right thing to do, but you have no ability to do it, to carry it out.

Chapter three, in case we have not yet understood that God shows no partiality and all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Paul lays it out very plainly and simply.

Underline verses 10, 11, and 12. Romans chapter three, verses 10, 11, and 12, as it is written, none is righteous.

No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God.

All have turned aside. Together, they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one.

Then before we leave this section and come to the resolution of the gospel, there are a couple of other things that I want you to underline.

In verse 19, now some of you may be using a different translation, so this might be worded a little bit different.

You want to find the phrase that I'm telling you to underline. But for those of you who have the English Standard Bible, in verse 19, underline the phrase, so that every mouth may be stopped.

And in verse 20, underline the phrase, through the law comes knowledge of sin.

What we see in those two phrases here in these two verses is an explanation of the use of the law.

We use the law to stop every mouth. As we read in Proverbs, every man is right in his own eyes.

If you go up to a person and you ask them, do you think you're a good person? They're going to say, sure, I think I'm a good person. Then you present them with the law.

Have you ever lied before? Have you ever stolen anything before? Have you ever looked at a woman lustfully in your heart?

Well, Jesus says that's the same as committing adultery. Have you ever said a swear word or cursed at someone else?

Jesus has said that's the same as if you have murdered them in your hearts. Have you ever taken the Lord's name in vain?

That's a very serious sin called blasphemy. And God has said that he will judge those who misuse his name.

By presenting the law to a person like this, they realize they're really not all that good. And so their mouths are stopped from proclaiming their own goodness.

That's one use of the law. The second use of the law we see in verse 20, through the law comes knowledge of sin.

When we present the law in this way, we realize that we are not all that holy. We're not all that good.

We cannot stand in the presence of God and boast about our own goodness. This is helping to condition the heart to realize that by our own goodness, we cannot proclaim our own righteousness so that a person will be more open to receive and understand their need for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And then Paul gets to that next, beginning in verse 21. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

For there is no distinction. Now you want to underline verses 23, 24, and 25 up to the end of the sentence.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom

God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.

So from chapter one, verse 18, through chapter three, verse 20, Paul has built a case of how all men are in condemnation before God, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

And then he resolves it with the gospel of Jesus Christ to be received by faith.

This is Paul's case for justification by faith. It does not nullify the law, rather it establishes it.

And now through Jesus Christ who fulfilled all the law and the prophets, we are able to obey God in a way that is acceptable and pleasing to God, though previously we could not.

Now do you understand a little bit better Romans 12, 1, which says to present ourselves as living sacrifices, pleasing unto the

Lord, which we can only do when we have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ, our

Lord. Now we get to chapter four, underline verse three, for what does the scripture say?

Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. So basically when you get to chapter four, you have the

Jews and the Gentiles saying, okay, give us an example of a person who has been justified by faith.

And Paul goes, okay, Abraham. So Abraham is the example that we are first given.

And we are all descendants from Abraham. Jews are descendants from Abraham by ethnicity. We are descendants of Abraham through the blood of Christ, but all have

Abraham as our father. Jesus talked about this in the book of John as well. If you were truly of your father,

Abraham, you would be doing the things that I am doing, but you are not of Abraham. You are of your father, the devil, Jesus talking to the

Jews in that way. So we have Abraham, our earthly father, as being our example for justification by faith.

Underline also the phrase in verse nine, where it says, this is at the end of verse nine, faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.

We are justified by faith. Now in chapter four, still in chapter four here, there is a section of verse 17 that I want you to underline.

And the ESV is right after the hyphen. In the presence of God in whom he believes, still talking about Abraham, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

God calls, God again, gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

Because when we were in our sin, we were dead in our sins and our trespasses. We did not have faith.

It did not exist in our lives. And yet God, through the power of his word, having heard the gospel proclaimed, we repented of our sins and our dead souls were brought to life.

And what was called into existence that did not previously exist was faith, just as it was for Abraham.

So it is for every person who hears the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then we get to chapter five, and what we're going to see in chapter five is

Paul's case for original sin. First of all, I want you to underline the end of verse three, end of verses four and five.

We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance. Endurance produces character and character produces hope.

And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the

Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Now that's not necessarily in the same flow of the doctrines that we have been highlighting from chapter four on into chapter five, but it is just a great and encouraging verse for our hope that we should remember.

Furthermore, Paul highlights the three Christian virtues in this particular section when he talks about faith, hope, and love.

These are three essential virtues, and we see all three of those things mentioned right here in those verses. Further in chapter five, underline verses eight and nine.

That should be a given. You should have Romans chapter five verses eight and nine committed to heart.

But God shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Underline verse 12, therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so sin spread to all men because all sin.

Here is our case for the doctrine of original sin. Everyone who is descended from Adam is born into sin.

We are born sinners in need of God's grace. We are physically alive, but spiritually dead, and it is only the power of the gospel of Christ that brings our souls to life.

Underline also verse 19, for as by the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners.

So by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous. The first man that's mentioned here in verse 19 is

Adam. The second man is Christ. By his obedience, the many will be made righteous.

He was obedient even to death on a cross, as we read about in Philippians chapter 2.

All right, now into Romans chapter 6. How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Underline that phrase that's there in verse 2. How can we who died to sin still live in it?

So no one has any excuse to be able to say, well, I've been justified by Christ. Now I can go throughout my life doing whatever it is that I want to do and know that I'm not going to go to hell because I've been justified.

Well, Paul is saying that if you truly have been justified by Christ and you have a heart that has been transformed by him, you will not continue in the sin that you previously walked in.

How can we who have died to sin, as Christ died for our sin, how can we still go on living in it?

Verse 11, so you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Underline that verse, Romans 6, 11. We are no longer walking in the sins of our former selves, but we are walking brand new in the life of Christ.

I think that verses 12 through 14 are also important. Underline those, verses 12, 13, and 14.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions.

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law, but under grace.

We are not being judged by the law. We are going to be received into heaven, into eternal life with God because of the grace of Christ that is upon us.

We are not to any longer be following in our sin, but we are supposed to be walking in His righteousness.

Now, it doesn't mean that we're going to do that perfectly and we will continue to explore that as we go on, but we should no longer be walking in the regular sins and passions of the flesh that we were in before our transformation in Christ.

We read further in verse 19. Start at the end of that first sentence in verse 19 and underline the rest.

For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

That process of growing in holiness. In verse 22, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

And Romans 6 .23, you know, has got to be a verse that you have to underline. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our

Lord. Underline that one. All right. Then we get to chapter seven. And when we were studying through chapter seven here in the broadcast,

I presented three different viewpoints. I presented the pre -salvation viewpoint that Paul is presenting these things before he got saved.

I presented a post -salvation viewpoint that he's presenting these things in the course of his salvation. And then

I presented a viewpoint for neither, that Paul is actually talking about sanctification. He's mentioned that we could not be saved by the law.

And so here in chapter seven, he's saying that we cannot be sanctified by the law. Our justification is the work of Christ and our sanctification is also the work of Christ.

We ended chapter six talking about sanctification. The fruit that you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

So here in chapter seven, we are talking about Paul struggling with that process of trying to be sanctified by the law, but realizing that he can't be.

Sanctification is as much the work of Christ as justification is. So underline these verses in chapter seven, verses five and six.

For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive so that we serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

We're not saved by the law. We're not sanctified by the law. We're sanctified by Christ and his spirit.

Verse 12, the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

Underline that verse. I think that it is so important to remember that when we have underlined in chapter six, verse 14, you are not under the law, but under grace.

It is still important for us to remember that the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

And then because I love these verses so much, I'm going to ask you to underline them as well. Verses 24 and 25, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh,

I serve the law of sin. So verse 24 is

Paul saying, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? And the answer he gives in verse 25, another body of death.

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who died for us that we might live.

Now we get to chapter eight. Underline the entire chapter. No, I'm just kidding.

But there is so much richness to this chapter, it's difficult to pull out those highlights that we need to remember or emphasize.

One of my elders, Chris Solano, he's talked about one of his goals in his Christian walk is to eventually memorize all of Romans chapter eight.

But he does admit that he doesn't have it entirely memorized just yet. Romans chapter eight, verse one, that one you definitely have to underline.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. No one can condemn you.

No one can separate you from the love of Christ. We're going to see that again at the end of the chapter when

Paul comes back to that again. So no one can condemn you. You can't condemn yourself.

But the best news of all is that God does not condemn you. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Underline verse 11. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised

Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

That is just an incredible verse. And as I've talked about Romans 8 11 before, if there is any verse in the

Bible that comes the closest to just knocking me off my feet, it's that one. The understanding that the same spirit that brought

Jesus Christ out of his tomb back to life is the same spirit that you have living in you that has brought you from death to life.

Underline verse 18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Remember that we underlined in chapter 5 that our sufferings we are to rejoice in.

Knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. So our suffering in this world is producing something.

It's producing sanctification. We are being made holy through the sufferings that we go through.

But even this process of suffering and what it is producing in us as we walk this world, it cannot compare to the ultimate glory that is going to be revealed to us if we endure.

In verse 26, there are two phrases that I want you to underline. First of all, the spirit helps us in our weakness.

And then secondly, in the next sentence, the spirit himself intercedes for us.

Underline, the spirit helps us in our weakness and the spirit himself intercedes for us.

Because we as we inhabit these fleshly bodies cannot understand, we cannot even fathom what

God is doing in the process of sanctification or what our glorification is going to look like.

So we have a weakness in the sense that we cannot conceive of these things, yet the spirit helps us in our weakness and the spirit intercedes for us, though we do not know what to pray for as we ought.

The spirit is helping us in those things. The spirit intercedes for the saints.

Underline that as well. That's in verse 27. The spirit intercedes for the saints. So we see three things here that the spirit is doing for us in the course of this process of sanctification.

The spirit helps us in our weakness. The spirit himself intercedes for us. The spirit intercedes for the saints.

And then I have verses 28 through 30 underlined. So underline that.

And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose.

You had to know I was going to ask you to underline that one. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

So what is this good that God is doing? He is shaping us, conforming us to the image of Christ.

And those whom he predestined, he also called. Those whom he called, he also justified. Those whom he justified, he also glorified.

And that is the process of sanctification, the process of salvation that is given to us right there.

There is God who has foreknown. He has predestined. He has called.

He has justified. He has glorified. Then in verse 31, underline this sentence.

If God is for us, who can be against us? Continuing this understanding of there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ.

And then underline verse 33. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?

It is God who justifies. Then verses 37 through 39, you want to underline the last paragraph here of Romans chapter eight.

In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. More than conquerors means that we don't just overcome.

We are taking those things, the sufferings, the things that we endure in this world and using them to produce something, our sanctification.

Verses 38 and 39, for I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our

Lord. What a blessing of assurance those verses are. Verses 37, 38, and 39.

All right. Now we get to chapter nine and we talk about God's sovereign grace. We have already discussed in chapter eight,

God has predestined those who are called to salvation. We explore this doctrine further in chapter nine.

First of all, underline this sentence in verse six or this sentence fragment rather, not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel because here we have an understanding that there is an ethnic

Israel and there is a spiritual Israel or that which is called true

Israel. All who are in Christ are Israel. And so as we understand and we unfold these doctrines, it's important for us to understand there are not two people of God.

There's only one people of God and it is those who are in Christ. They have been predestined.

Verse 11, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls.

Now, of course, Paul is referring to Jacob and Esau in this passage, but this applies to any person, anyone who comes to faith in Christ, whether it is the person who has been predestined for salvation or the person who has been predestined for wrath, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad.

God's purpose of election continues not because of works, but because of him who calls.

In verse 13, as it is written, Jacob, I loved, but Esau, I hated.

Underline that verse, verse 13. Underline also in verse 15, I will have compassion.

I'm sorry. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom

I have compassion. I tried to do that by memory and I flipped around mercy and compassion. I will have mercy on whom

I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. Verse 18. So then he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills.

Underline that passage as well. Now I have a bracket from verse 19 to verse 24, meaning that I've bracketed that paragraph because I think that it is important, though I don't have the entire thing underlined because that's an awfully big section to underline.

But anyway, you have Paul responding here to an argument. You will say to me then, why does he still find fault for who can resist his will?

But who are you, oh man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, why have you made me like this?

Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

What if God desiring to show his wrath and make known his power has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.

Even us whom he has called not from the Jews only, but also from the

Gentiles. So I have a bracket around that because I think that illustration that Paul presents there is the best understanding to God having predestined some for mercy and some for wrath and destruction.

Now we get to chapter 10 and verses 9 and 10 are the first verses that you want to underline there.

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.

For with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

And Paul is not saying here that one must say something with their mouth in order to be saved, that it takes more than justification by faith, but it also takes declaration.

That's not what he's saying here. But rather, if a person has truly been changed from the inside out, they will show it in their words and in their deeds.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, he says in verse 13. And so underline verses 14 and 15 in light of what we have looked at regarding God's sovereign grace in chapter 9 and the doctrine of election.

It is necessary for us to understand this in Romans 10 verses 14 and 15. 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?

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, underlining verses 14 and 15, and then underline verse 17.

So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ, though God has predestined those who will be saved and those who are the objects of his wrath.

The church is the instrument that God has chosen to share the gospel that it would be proclaimed so for the sake of the faith of God's elect, as Paul talks about in Titus 1, 1.

So the gospel would be proclaimed and a person would repent of their sins and come to faith in Christ as God had predestined them to do and had arranged for the church to be that instrument, that vessel that would carry the gospel to those who would hear it and believe.

So just because God has predestined some for mercy and some for wrath, that does not mean that there is no responsibility upon us to preach the gospel.

That is part of God's divine plan. We've been called to that. And so we must do it.

Chapter 11. Here we are. Final chapter here. We're going to be underlining passages. Underline in verse 7,

Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened.

And underline this also in verse 11 as we continue to understand what this means. Salvation has come to the

Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous. And this is not because of anything that you have done, but it is because of what

God has done. I think it is important here to recognize verse 18.

Do not be arrogant toward the branches. Underline that. And then in verse 20, do not become proud, but fear.

Underline that. Again, this is not because of any work that we have done. It is because of what

Christ has done. Put a bracket from verse 17 through verse 24.

I have that whole paragraph bracketed. And the reason why is the same reason that I gave you for chapter 9, putting that bracket around that illustration that Paul gave to help you understand the doctrine of election.

This helps you understand the doctrine of there being one Israel rooted in Christ. The illustration of the cultivated olive tree.

And then in verse 26 we read, in this way, all Israel will be saved.

Underline that. All Israel, meaning all spiritual Israel or true

Israel. And then here is the final section that you want to underline.

And it is the doxology at the end of chapter 11 that goes from verses 33 through 36. So you are going to be underlining

Romans 11, verses 33, 34, 35, and 36. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.

How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways. For who has known the mind of the

Lord or who has been his counselor or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid.

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.

Amen. When you look at verse 34, for who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor, the thing that comes to mind for me when

I read that verse is the questions, the arguments that have been raised in chapter 9.

Like when Paul's opponent has said, there's injustice on God's part and he answers by no means there in verse 14.

Or in verse 19, you will say to me then, why does he still find fault for who can resist his will?

And Paul responds, but who are you, oh man, to answer back to God? So basically, of those who would be

Paul's detractors, of those who would raise those kinds of arguments, Paul is saying, who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor?

Who are you to say back to God? And then when I read verse 35, or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid, this is

Paul saying that we have done nothing to earn our salvation, so God owes us nothing.

He gives us his mercy and grace out of his love to the praise of his glorious grace.

For from him and through him and to him are all things, even our salvation, even our faith.

It is from him and through him and to him. To him be glory forever. Amen. And so now in light of these mercies that we have looked at in these 11 chapters of Romans, these mercies that have been outlined for us in this theology that Paul has presented, read again

Romans 12, 1. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, and some of your translations might read in view of God's mercies, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

In light of these mercies, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

And as I talked about yesterday, what is the will of God? How can we know what that is? By reading the

Bible. And that's what we have done today, going back through these passages and catching the highlights of the doctrines that have been laid out for us in the book of Romans.

Our great God, how wonderful your mercies. Help us and teach us to present ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to you.

And let this be our spiritual worship, to Jesus Christ our

Lord, who has given us our faith and our right standing before God.

Amen. Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find out more online at www .utt