Jet Tour of Romans (Part 2)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio and the Return to New Shows

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth. And in real time, it is August 2023, August 24th. I'm glad you've tuned in. You can pick us up at Spotify and all kinds of other places.

And we're finally after a summer in the book of Hebrews reruns. We're back making new shows live. I know, I know. Thanks a lot. I don't know how many years I've been doing this, 15, 16 years, something like that.

I think we're probably over 3 ,500 shows. And I don't know, maybe I've said everything I need to say. Half the time I think, why do I keep doing this? I'm not exactly sure. All right. Somebody just called me from Brookline, but I don't know what in the world that means.

I think that's, I think that's, I don't know, some doctor's appointment. That's all I do is go to doctor's appointments these days. I'm the stereotypical old man. And then you sit around and you just talk to other old men about all the things.

Well, you had that done. Well, I had this done. What's become of us? We are on KAGV 1110 AM Alaska's gospel voice. Thank you. Shout out there to vfcm .org forward slash KAGV in Alaska. I always found it interesting that Alaska, the abbreviation for Alaska, the postal abbreviation is AK, right?

I want it to be AL, but I'm sure that's Alabama. AK Alaska, Alaska. Maybe that's why they do it. If you want to write KAGV at vfcm .org and say, we're glad no co's on there. That would be good. I would be glad for that.

We're also, Brian Onstead is a pastor in Wyoming, Trinity Bible Church, friend of the ministry here. And he has us on 88 .1 FM K F G R. At least we're not on AM because you know, the new cars, they're not putting AM on there because I think someone said that AM is typically more conservative.

I don't know. Would this, would this show be conservative? Powell, Wyoming, tbcwyoming .com. If you want to email them and say you like no co on that radio station, dsiggins at tbcwyoming .com. And that is K F G R radio and K A G V radio.

And if you want to play our show on other radio stations, I won't send you money, but you can play the show. Just ask for my permission. Don't forget gospel assurance, both the 31 day guide and devotional.

Two separate things are out right now. The guide is on Kindle. I don't have the devotional out on Kindle yet, but discovering Romans, excuse me, discovering Colossians by S. Lewis Johnson. By the time you hear this, it's super close to coming out.

A great commentary on Colossians that has all kinds of information on there. S. Lewis, warm, devotional, wonderful. That'll be both Kindle and Amazon discovering Colossians. Anyway, we are today in part two, the book of Romans jet tour.

I'm going to do this on a Sunday morning, the whole thing, but wanted to try to put it on two radio shows since my radio show is only about a half hour long. It used to be exactly half hour long, 24 and a half minutes of talking.

Now I probably cause problems at those radio stations because it's not exactly half hour. So sorry to the folks at K A G V and at K F G R. I used to be on KZUM radio in Omaha, Nebraska, sorry, Lincoln, Nebraska.

And it was a tiny little, it wasn't the university radio deal. It was a small little, we would actually go into a house and a guy that I knew named Bill Stoughton. I don't know if Bill Stoughton is still alive.

He and I did a radio show together and I think it was Thursday nights for two hours and it was called Aural Delights. A-U-R-A-L Delights, what you would listen to, Aural. And he'd like to play kind of synth stuff like human league, orchestral manures in the dark, kind of a Gary Neumann type thing.

Gary Neumann's new stuff is wild. He started off in the two-way army, which was more punky. Then he did the synth, you know, car stuff. And then now the new stuff is like sci-fi stuff, especially when you watch what he's doing.

Anyway, I played more Joy Division, Clash, Jam, that kind of stuff. And so I don't think we really got along and I only wanted to do it with him because I was too afraid to go in there and do it on my own.

So I figured if the two of us could go in there together, I think I'm a little bit different now. I would probably just go into my own and aggressively, in an Abe and Roth fashion, try to get it done.

The Gospel and the Guilt-Grace-Gratitude Structure of Romans

If you didn't listen to yesterday's show, you probably should, but I'll give you a break anyway. Romans 16 chapters starts off with the gospel, ends with the gospel, a gospel, a good news of Jesus Christ.

The gospel of God is good for unbelievers to show them their need of salvation. I mean, who can save them rather, and for believers to motivate them to obey. Well, Paul starts off with the gospel in chapter one and chapter 16.

And the way this is laid out, Romans, is guilt, grace, gratitude. That's where Heidelberg got it, guilt, grace, gratitude. Chapters one, two, and half of three is guilt. You need righteousness. And for us as Christians, we realize, yes, we needed righteousness and isn't the Lord good?

For chapter three, verse 21 through, let's just say at the end of chapter 11, God provides righteousness. God provides righteousness. That's called grace. And of course, we know Jesus earned righteousness, not for Himself.

He already was righteous, inherently righteous, but He earned it for us, for others, for our sake, on our behalf, in our place. And you read in chapter three, while trying to keep the law, it couldn't save us, and we were unrighteous.

Chapter three, verse 21 and following, that God justifies us through faith. And He talks about redemption. He talks about propitiation. He talks in chapter four about how both Abraham and David, two great believers in the Old Testament, they also were credited righteousness through faith.

Now, because of faith, faith isn't meritorious. Faith is simply an instrument that receives, so that's why we call it the non-meritorious instrument. We don't say condition. We don't say ground. We don't say cause.

We don't say meritorious instrument. We go out of our way to say that faith receives, and it doesn't contribute. So, we worked our way into chapter five that said, these are the benefits of justification, the first 11 verses, peace with God, access to God, etc.

Then, probably people are asking, how can one person, Jesus, affect a lot of other people? You're telling me that He can earn righteousness for not just Him, but for other people, lots of other people?

Paul says in chapter five, verse 12, remember Adam? He, the federal representative, did something, and it affected a lot of people. His unrighteous deed was credited to many others. Therefore, credited to all others except Jesus.

Therefore, when Jesus earns righteousness, it can affect other people. It can affect many people, and it's the positive side of Jesus, the last Adam, the federal or covenant head, and that's a benefit of justification.

It is not to be looked at, justification, as something that should make us want to sin, just because we're secure and because we can't undo our salvation, and because we can't jump from the hand of God, and our sin doesn't make God stop loving us.

It causes chastisement, of course, but not undoing salvation, then maybe we should just presume on grace. In chapter six, Paul says, no, of course not. Don't ever think that way. You want to respond properly, and you ought to think to yourself every time that you want to sin, that you're united with Christ, and that you died to your old self, and you're alive to Christ.

It's all union, and it's union with Christ. Furthermore, when you do sin, you should be sad about it, that's true. You should repent, that's true. But you should not question your salvation, because Christians sin, and Paul, even the apostle, as a mature man, said in chapter seven, I do things I don't want to do.

Wretched man that I am. I mean, what is going on? What in the world am I doing? It seems like I'm sinning more now as a Christian. By the way, as a side note, many Christians think this way. They're like, I became a Christian, and now I think I sin more.

Well, maybe you're sinning more, I don't know, but generally speaking, it seems like you're sinning more because you have the Spirit of God now, and it's not just a conscience, but you have the Spirit of God, and you think, oh, I never knew that was a sin before.

Now I know it's a sin, right? And I never thought self-righteousness was a sin. Pride, yeah, I knew it wasn't that good, but some kind of sin against God, and not really being humble and sacrificial, et cetera.

Assurance, the Holy Spirit, and the Golden Chain of Redemption

Well, chapter eight is one of those chapters in Romans, as we pick up new information now, that just talks about how secure we are in Christ. It talks about the life of the Holy Spirit, all kinds of discussion now about the Holy Spirit in Romans chapter eight.

And chapter eight, it starts off with no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, and it ends with no one can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And it is one of those chapters that when you're struggling, when you're happy, you read it and you think to yourself, I want to honor God and I want to live my life to honor Him, and I want to put to death the deeds of the body, and I want to be led by the Spirit.

And I'm thankful that suffering these days in verses 18, and following no comparison to the glory that's going to be revealed that day, that one day when the Lord returns, we go and meet the Lord. And the Lord is so good that He can even take sin, Satan, trials, the world system, difficult relationships, and He can make those work together for good.

And it's not going to lose, we're not going to lose our salvation, because once God starts something and He foreknows people, He predestines them to be conformed to the image of His Son, and that He then calls them, justifies them, and it's as good as done, He glorifies them.

Even though they're not glorified yet, it's as good as done, so He uses the past tense. And that makes Paul say, what then shall we say to these things? Answer, yay, hallelujah, praise, thanks. If God's for us, who can be against us?

Well, a lot of people can, but they can't do anything against God. And we know God's for us, 832, because He did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all. Therefore, even when we sin, we're not condemned.

Even though that sin is bad and we ought to repent, Jesus Christ is raised, He's at the right hand, He intercedes for us, and nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ, especially Satan, who are more than conquerors.

And people say, well, that's fine that these people, a golden chain of redemption, if God's for us, who can be against us? But what about Jews? I mean, Paul's writing and he's thinking, oh, there's some Jewish people that don't seem to be believing, and Paul wants them to be saved.

He uses language in chapter 9, verse 3, if I can go to hell for them, I would, type of thing. And he's got anguish and he has sorrow. And people might say, well, maybe God's word failed. And he says in chapter 9, verse 6, but it is not as though the word of God has failed, for not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

Did God's promise fail? If somebody didn't believe? Was it God's plan that every single physical child of Abraham was going to believe? These are good questions for us to ask. God is sovereign through Isaac, not Ishmael.

That's interesting too, isn't it? Through Isaac, not Ishmael. God's sovereign in all this. And so God sovereignly selects some and not all of Israel and then of Gentiles as well. That's God's prerogative.

No one should get chosen by their own merits because we demerit that. And so people are saying, maybe God's not just. And Paul says, is there injustice on God's part? 9 .14, by no means. He who says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

So then it depends not on the human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You say to me then, why does he still find fault? Who can resist his will? But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? We don't put God on the witness stand and ask him questions.

Job found that out very quickly in Job 38, 39, and 40. That's not something that we do. God is sovereign, and he's sovereignly saving people. And all the elect will come. And they will come through gospel preaching.

They'll come through preaching that we see in Romans 10, verse 14. How 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?

That's why when preachers preach, they have beautiful feet because they preach the good news. It has been said, faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. And Paul then says, you know what, are the Jewish people completely rejected?

I asked then, verse 11, I mean chapter 11, has God rejected his people by no means? And then Paul says, well, I'm a Jew. I mean, I'm an example of the remnant. Is God finished with Jewish people? The answer is no.

And there's a debate on who these people are. Is it going to be a lot of Jewish people saved at the end? Is Paul more talking about just what he's thinking right then and there? Are there Jewish people getting saved?

I think as you read chapter 11, depending on where you fall with your interpretation, you're going to say, oh, they're Jewish people still getting saved. They're still elect Jewish people. God's not failed on any of his promises.

He's even sovereignly using Gentiles to make these Jews jealous and how he works all these issues through is amazing to watch. And so we can't say, oh, I don't really understand any of this stuff. And God's failed.

I mean, there's partial hardening upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come, right? That's exactly what it says in chapter 11, verse 26. And he says at the very end of chapter 11, the great doxology because of all this, but also the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the 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, who has been 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 the glory forever.

Amen. The book is about righteousness, guilt, grace, gratitude. We now move to the gratitude section and we respond out of gratitude and we show forth fruits and evidences of our salvation. And the first thing Paul says in chapter 12, as we go to this third section is he says, I want to appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, just all the mercies of God in the first 11 chapters to present your bodies, not as a dead sacrifice, like you've got to kill an animal, but a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

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

How do we respond when God saves us? When we had no righteousness, now we have Christ's righteousness, signed, sealed and delivered all the way to eternity. We're going to make it. God doesn't need our good works, but our neighbor does.

And so we're here to do good deeds for others and to love God by loving other people. God's not on earth, so we love his people. And God has made it easy for us to do that because he's given us his spirit and the spirit has given us spiritual gifts, so that altogether the church body can function properly, differing by the grace of God.

And that's what he says through verse 8. He gives general exhortations, love one another with brotherly affection, rejoice in hope, show hospitality, live in harmony with one another, live peaceably. If you have an enemy, feed the enemy.

That's chapter 12. We respond out of gratitude. And as you watch what goes on there in that section in verses 9 through 21, often you just think, that's exactly the life of Jesus. I'm predestined to become conformed to the image of Jesus.

His love was genuine. He abhorred what was evil. He held fast to what was good. He loved one another with brotherly affections. He wasn't slothful and zeal. He was fervent in spirit. He served the Lord.

He rejoiced. He was patient. He was constant in prayer. He's the one who blessed those who persecuted him. He was weeping with those who weep with Lazarus. You read that and you just think, oh, that's what the life of Christ looks like in a Christian.

Government, Love, and Christian Liberty in Romans 13–15

Well, we're at Rome. What do we do with Rome? I mean, if righteousness applied in our lives by the spirit of God affects lots of things, how does it affect the way I live with the government? And the way it affects it is chapter 13.

God ordains government. God has instituted government. Don't resist the government because you'll be resisting God. And sadly, today, rulers don't do the right thing. So what do we do? Of course, there's a time to disobey.

Their sphere of authority is their sphere of authority, and it can't intersect or sneak over into the realm of the church or into the realm of the family. And when there's a time to obey, there's a time to obey.

Yeah, but what about taxes? Well, pay your taxes. What about revenue? Well, pay the revenue. What about respect? For the office, at least, we'll have respect. Make sure you do that, he says in verses 1 through 7.

In verses 8 through 13, and 8 through verse 14, he talks more about love. Back to the idea of love. Well, speaking of love, now we move into chapter 14 and 15, and chapter 14 and 15 deal with preferences and gray areas and how do we live.

I mean, we've got different maturation levels of Christians. We've got Gentiles, Jews, younger, older, male, female, cultural differences, differences of what country they were born in, languages, all kinds of things.

I mean, what's right and what's wrong? What do we do there when it comes to areas that the scriptures don't seem to say much about? Chapter 14, verse 1,. As for the one who is weak in faith, he doesn't think he can do anything.

He doesn't think he has any liberty. Welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. Don't invite him over because you want to set him right. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.

Let not the one who eats the strong despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. God puts the welcome mat out on weak Christians.

Weren't we all weak Christians? Weren't we all immature Christians at some time? Sometimes we act like it even now. We were all there. So how should we act? And this is talking about loving people. This is back in chapter 13 at the end.

You don't owe anything to anyone except to love. If you love, you fulfill the law. And therefore, if you're going to be around Christians that are weaker, who, by the way, how would you define weak? Here's one way that they don't understand justification by faith alone.

Never read 14 and 15 outside of chapters 3, 4, and 5. Why? Because if you read 3, 4, and 5 and realize you stand before God based on Christ's perfect work, what you put in your mouth, what you eat, food offered to idols, you abstain from certain food, you eat pork, you eat shrimp, you don't, you drink wine, you don't, it's alcoholic, non-alcoholic, you don't.

Does that affect justification in any way, shape, or form? No. Does that make God love you in any way more? Of course not. Because He loves you in Christ, He can't love you anymore. So make sure the tie-in of justification is there.

The weak people, in my mind, are those that don't understand the implications of justification by faith alone. So Lafitte, Paul says, we want to make sure we're kind to them. And we even restrict our behavior sometimes.

It was Calvin who said, if there's a weak person and we bow, not to them, but we bow to their weakness and we're kind. If they're just a Pharisee, then we ignore them. That's pretty good advice. I just was rereading the 1541 French edition, not because I read French, but because it's translated into English.

And we don't want to make a brother stumble if he's really a weak brother. If he's a weak brother who's just a Pharisee, or a strong brother who's a Pharisee, then that's a different conversation. We don't want to act around people in a way that's ungodly and not loving.

And if one esteems a day better than the other, and if one wants to do something for food or not food, what about eating and grieving and all that other stuff? You know what? The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness.

There it is again, verse 17. And peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And so we bear with those failings of the weak in chapter 15. We just say, you know what? Jesus didn't please himself, so I don't have to please myself.

I tell you, verse 8, that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs. And he goes on this long list of quoting verses that are so great that he talks about the fulfillment of God's promise and faithfulness to his word.

He brings it right back to who God is. Paul said, I'd love to visit sometime. I want to visit you in Rome, but I've been hindered. I want to come and I want to see some of the fruit that God is reaping in you.

I will leave for Spain by way of you. I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. Then he says in chapter 16, by the way, there are some Christians who have really served.

They were guilty in Adam. They're graced in Christ. And now from Phoebe to Priscilla to Aquila, people that risk their lives for the gospel ministry. It says they risk their necks. And there's Mary and there's Amphilitis.

I want to say 20, more than 20 some folks listed there. I think if you look at it, six, seven, eight ladies. Here we have both men and women, workers in the Lord, kinsmen in the Lord, family of God, all kinds of different backgrounds.

He says, greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. And then he says, you know what? If people want to cause divisions, you need to mark them out. Don't have anything to do with them because people that cause divisions aren't out for the Lord's glory.

They're out for themselves. So watch out for those kinds of people. By the way, the God of peace is going to crush Satan under your feet. And the grace of the Lord Jesus is with you. Paul had somebody write it for him.

Verse 22, I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord. Paul dictated to him, Tertius, like first, second, third, his name was third, must've been a slave. And then he says, with the gospel end cap, the gospel book ends.

Now to him who was able to strengthen you according to my gospel. That's why you Christian need the gospel. And the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, 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 to the only wise God, be glory forever through Jesus Christ.

Amen. If you're not a believer here today listening, you stand guilty before God and you need righteousness, a perfect righteousness to withstand judgment day. By the way, Jesus provides that righteousness by perfectly obeying the law.

And you need to trust and believe in the Lord Jesus and rest in his finished work. He's also taking care of all the sins of all those who would ever believe by dying for unrighteousness, even though he was perfectly righteous.

He was raised from the dead to prove that he was God, to prove that the father accepted the offering that Jesus gave, to prove that Jesus was not sinful. And then what happens? You'll have a changed life because you're a new creature in Christ.

And then off you go, watching out to be conformed by the world, watching out to love other people, watching out to be kind, et cetera. And if you're a Christian, you need to be strengthened by this as well.

We all as Christians look back and remember how guilty we were, how graced we are, and how we want to respond out of gratitude. This is Mike Gabendroth, No Compromise Radio. You can write me, Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com.

I told you we could get through Romans in two weeks, two days.