Paul’s longest letter, chiefly about salvation, full of doctrine and themes filling the heart to overflowing. Here are some of the special riches of verses 1-5, with four compelling reasons why we should be drawn to Christ the Lord.
What a Gospel this is! Christ, his love, his pardon, his righteousness, his Spirit, his holiness, his strength and his fulness, are all offered freely to poor, miserable sinners. Nothing must interfere with this freeness.
‘For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’
‘O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.’
‘What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?’
‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.’
Justification by faith! What does it mean? It is the simplest yet the most profound teaching in the world. It is the most important thing anyone can know; the most surprising, the kindest, the most powerful, and the most costly (for God). It gives eternal life.
The seven great benefits that flow from justification are revealed by the apostle. Here are the incomparable riches of Christian life and experience that lift believers over tribulations and make communion with Christ a daily reality. A ministerial compendium of blessing.
Over the last decades there has come in among Christians a craze for counselling borrowed from secular psychology, largely formulated by atheists opposed to biblical teaching. It is astonishing that even evangelical churches are hiring counsellors to ‘heal’ Christians who need biblical advice, not psychological therapy.
The only source of knowledge about God and how to know Him comes from the Bible. Here is proof that it is God’s infallible truth. And here is what we must believe about Christ to find Him, and to avoid the shame of a lost soul.
By peace, the Bible refers to cessation of war and the close union that replaces it. Whether we are aware of it or not, all are at war with God. Here is how, and here also is the amnesty that transforms life and eternity.
One of the most common impediments to believing in Christ is that of self-righteousness. It is a powerful ‘enemy within’ each one of us. Here are its forms, and the only way to shed it and know true conversion to God.
Atheism is the most common condition brainwashed into us today. Exactly how does it affect us? How does it change us? Here are the aspects of life torn from us by atheism, and how much God will do for those who seek Him.
How could it be that God allowed the Fall, and all the evil and horror that was brought into the world, when our first parents fell? How was it that sin was ever permitted in the first place? Our limited, human way of reasoning soon calls into question the righteousness of God.
It is an astonishing concept for us that Christ Jesus, the Lord of glory, should dearly love his people. Here is an opportunity for us just to skim the surface of that mighty, unspeakable love. He has bound himself to each one of his people, even to the weakest, the youngest, and the smallest, with a depth of affection beyond human comprehension.
Current coronavirus restrictions deeply affect our worship, our fellowship, our Sunday Schools and our outreach. No one likes them or wants them. Recently, a British evangelical periodical asked the question – Should we have a debate about this? Are we doing the right thing? Should the churches, ruled by Christ, surrender so easily to the state – the kingdom of this world?
Paul personifies sin as an emperor who conscripts us into his army and drills us in unbelief and lust to bind us in his service. Then Paul shows how we may be ‘brought out’ of our bondage to walk with the Lord God.
‘I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.’
Even if surrounded by the might and superiority of imperial Rome, Paul cannot be intimidated, for he proclaims a message of over-towering power, that illuminates minds, transforms hearts, unites people to God and grants eternal life – this is the only message of spiritual rescue.
All who have responded to the call of Christ can say with Paul, ‘We know that all things work together for good to them that love God’. Is our course of life disordered, or planned by the Lord all the way to eternal glory?
‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.’
Militant atheists caricature Christian belief, reducing it to something childish and abnormal. They seem unable to grasp anything of God’s being, or the necessity, scope and kindness of His love. Here is the work of Christ, and how His love may be tasted and proved.
‘To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:..But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.’
‘That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.’
Paul spells out how God has made salvation possible by the atonement of Christ and the work of the Spirit in the heart. Are our minds set on material things and the ‘here and now’ or do we know Christ inseparably for life and eternity?
The Jews of Paul’s day were intensely religious, and so were the Gentiles in their paganism. Yet neither understood nor sought to know God and His purposes. Here are the losses due to vagueness in matters of the soul, and here are the gains of finding Him.
‘Two natures’ was the position of the Reformers, the Puritans and the mainstream evangelical position until the 1950s. Here is the scriptural support, also the mistakes of the one-nature view, and how the old view gives the most realistic view of the struggle for holiness.
‘I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.’
There are two classes of people in the Bible, those who focus on ‘the flesh’, and those who relate to the Spirit. Here are the characteristics and goals of each, and how God can free us from the captivity of flesh to know communion with Himself.
How influenced and conformed we are, if only we knew it, to society around us! How unoriginal, how alike – yet all that shapes us is external, while our greatest needs are within. Here Paul presents the inner transformation that conversion to God brings about. You May Be Also Interested in… Sermon: Finding an Inner Life, … Continued
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So … Continued
Full chapter _____________ Romans 13 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror … Continued
Atheism steals the key to understanding of life, claiming there is no God, eliminating the soul and eternal life. It is unable to answer all ‘why’s?’ of life or to forge character. It is bleak, purposeless, and useless in sickness and death. Full Service Recordings: You May Be Also Interested in… Video Tract: What is life? Sermon: … Continued
Here are our three greatest mistakes about God that keep us from seeking Him, and here also are the three charges that God will bring against us if we ignore Him in our lives. Best of all, here is God’s way of forgiveness and real life. You May Be Also Interested in… Sermons: Seeking Things … Continued
You May Be Also Interested in… Sermon: The Height and Depth of Salvation, The Impossibility of Earning Salvation For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made … Continued
The Scriptures exclusively explain the human condition, the presence of sin and suffering, and God’s way of salvation. Here is the doctrine of the Fall – the understanding of which is the door to reality and seeking for God and conversion to Him. You May Be Also Interested in… Sunday School Resources: Questions and Answers about … Continued
What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (Romans 3:9-11) The deeper things of … Continued
Paul tells of how he once lived as a Jewish intellectual without concern about his condition before God. Then the day came when the commandments of God suddenly shook his conscience and led him to faith. Here is the discovery of life’s purpose.
Using a military analogy, Paul compares waking from soul-sleep to soldiers being roused to defend against an attack. Here are spiritual realities unseen while we live with no thought of God. Here is the new life that dawns with finding Him.
Here is Paul magnificently explaining first, how not to gain the ear of God, and then how to do so – by understanding how He saves the soul and changes the life; also how to approach Him. This is the way to find and know Him.
The apostle Paul was converted from a career as a persecutor of Christians to being a tireless missionary to the Gentiles. Here he describes the viewpoint of God as He considers rebellious mankind. This is Paul’s magnificent survey of our need, and Christ’s kindness to save.
Here is the whole Bible in one verse, showing the great division in society; also that unbelief must have consequences; then – the meaning of sin, the true meaning of death, the extraordinary gift of God, and the price paid by the Giver.
The reality of the state of war between all people and God before conversion. The full consequences of war throughout life, and its futility. Then the multiple benefits of peace on reconciliation, how it is achieved, and how we may be certain of it.
A study of a selection of psalms to show how they minister to communion with God, and the securing of spiritual strength and perception in all conditions of life.
The basis of salvation taught throughout the Bible and down the centuries by Christian preachers is the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Here is the meaning of this greatest message of love, and why there can be no other way of meeting God.
Preachers down the centuries have identified the problem of self-righteousness as the greatest barrier to seeking Christ and salvation. Here is the evidence for its near universal hold on the hearts and minds of people, and how it is only cured by faith in Christ.
Romans 8 shows sanctification begins with conversion and that it is progressive lifelong. Here is how the Spirit employs the Word, the conscience, and the practice of putting to death sin. Here also are special means such as divine chastisement, suffering and mutual admonition.
The apostle makes us pause to sense the depths of the ugliness and harm of sin. His words jolt us, alarming us out of our lightness and calling us to engage fully in the war against sin through personal holiness and Gospel proclamation.
Paul’s analogy of war shows our state before God. We are enlisted in a war against Him, using faculties and powers as weapons. It is a moral war, a rebellion, in which we will fall. Here is the possibility of amnesty and reconciliation.
Paul’s powerful challenge to all believers to offer up their lives constantly as a living sacrifice. The need for sacrifice today; what it includes, and also what it is not. The value of this precious concept and its benefits to us spiritually.
The question, ‘Why did God allow sin?’ deeply disturbs many seekers and young believers for it challenges the perfection of God. The full answer – beyond our capacity – awaits eternity, but here are precious clues that reveal a glorious and heart-warming part of God’s eternal wisdom.
Paul’s famous words reveal the greatest human need and God’s astounding remedy in drawing countless individual people to Himself. Here is the Bible’s view of the plight of man and Christ’s redeeming work, in a single life-changing chapter.
The closing prayer of praise in Romans draws strong assurance from the Gospel, emphasising the eternal security it gives, its complete and unchanging nature, its exclusive power to save, its being received by faith alone, and the glory it reflects upon the Lord.
An appeal for the stirring up of strong feelings of earnestness and warmth in the spiritual life, and a warning against sinking into coldness, with its consequences. Here are Paul’s pressing arguments. They provide an insight into his life, and a fresh impetus for ours.
Paul longed to see the church at Rome, both to help them and to be refreshed by them. Here are the ways we are strengthened through fellowship, and the nature of the ties that the Holy Spirit forms within true churches of Christ.
These five verses of vital exhortation for every church present the importance of mutual admonition in the right spirit; living life as an offering to God; true submission to the Word; and the necessity of entire dependence on the Holy Spirit for all blessing.
Hope (meaning anticipation) of God’s dealings with us throughout life, and then in glory, is the crown jewel of assurance. Here is the way God gives it, with joy and peace, showing both our part and the powerful aid of the Holy Spirit.
Fervour or zeal for the Lord (literally ‘heat’) is a conversion gift. But this fire within of passion for Christ, holiness and souls is easily quenched. Here are its sources, objects, accommodation to personality, and means of erosion or revival in our hearts.
Contrary to the ways of today’s society the believer is called to an unselfish life. Here are the questions we should ask about any activity; Paul’s personal discipline; the example of Christ in His life, and the role of the Old Testament in helping our progress.
Here is, first, the walking analogy for the Christian life and its implications; then the genuineness of that walk; then the characteristics of heathen life which still press on believers today. Finally, what it means to put on Christ, how to do so, and the blessings.
What form does love for others take? It is not unconditional love, or necessarily even affectionate love. ‘Social’ love is here defined, with hindrances and helps. Also the error of loving oneself, and the great exhortation to ‘awake out of sleep’ to serve Christ.
Why should hostile authorities be conscientiously obeyed by believers? Because while rulers may not know it, they are servants of God, Who in His kindness has etched into the fallen human constitution a need for government. Here is how Christ is magnified.
Searching practical verses setting the tone for sanctified behaviour, reflecting the Saviour, proved by the apostle Paul, and providing a gauge of our progress and a spur to advance. What are we really like in our relationship with other people, and in adversity?
The immense value of ‘rejoicing in hope’ is here seen. This is the practice of anticipating and expecting God’s hand in our lives. We see its major place and its fruits from Paul’s various references to it in Romans. Its neglect costs us much blessing.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16) The deeper things of life are so easily crowded out today. Here at the Metropolitan Tabernacle we cater for the … Continued
A threefold exhortation in a single verse calls believers never to hang back in outgoing activity for Christ, always to maintain spiritual zeal and also to live as people who are bonded to the service of Christ. Here are the applications and helps.
Reasons why love for fellow believers often falls short, and how we should build it up. The command to utterly hate evil things, and how this is a vital help in avoiding sin and harm in our churches. Cleaving or clinging to good, despite Satan’s assaults.
Seven spiritual gifts – roles in the church for which God distributes abilities and the dedicated and spiritual way they are to be carried out. Here is a view of all that was done in a first-century church with all members pooling their efforts.
The epistle now turns from doctrine to living, beginning with dedication, and the offering of ourselves as a holy sacrifice, not conformed to this world, but transformed by God. The second cannot proceed if the world is not renounced. The prize is real discernment.
This great song of praise is a compelling call to reflect on God’s infinite wisdom and knowledge and on His mysterious ordering of the lives of His people. The passage moves us to marvel and trust Him for all, and to serve Him wholeheartedly.
God’s promises to bless Abraham’s offspring are kept in every age in an elect remnant saved by grace. Even Gentile salvation is used by God to turn the hearts of many Israelites. And saved Jews and Gentiles have enriched the world, here is how.
Paul’s famous ‘backwards text’ covers the wonders of the Gospel, the call and the commissioning of preachers, and what it means to truly hear, believe and call upon the Lord for salvation. The back-to-front order serves to stir responsibility to make Christ known.
It may seem open-minded and non-judgemental to be vague about God and spiritual matters, but here are some of the things vagueness will forfeit and miss. Many are surprising, and all have lifelong consequences. Here are the benefits of following Christ.
Christ, long prophesied, was appointed to obtain spiritual salvation at Jerusalem in a manner that would humble human pride and presumption, draw multitudes to believe, but confound those who rejected Him. To the last day Christ will be the Rock of refuge or of dismay.
Paul upholds God’s right to exercise sovereign election, and shows it is the only hope of salvation. He also shows God’s kindness during life to the lost, and amazingly, the threefold divine purpose of all human history encapsulated in three unique verses.
The apostle is anguished for the souls of his enemies the Jews. Lessons in intercession. Also the symbols of true spiritual life held before Israelites and their rejection by so many. The same symbols appeal to us, bringing Gentiles into the ‘Israel of God’.
Proven facts about the reliability of the Bible, verifying its unique, inspired character. Why believing in Christ is the only way of escaping humiliation at the end of life’s journey. How an unmistakable experience of God’s forgiveness and presence may be obtained.
Proofs that Christ’s love of His own can never cease, ranging from the immeasurable price paid for them, to the impotence of all forces seeking to block the flow of His love. Here is the kind reasoning that carries us over attacks on assurance.
Here is the solid foundation of assurance in all the problems and needs of living for Christ in an increasingly hostile world. Also, the great objective of election and calling – likeness to Christ – and the features of character that should mark us out for Him.
The incomparable privilege of having the Holy Spirit’s prayers on our behalf; what they are, and what love they show. How they should greatly energise our prayers. Also, what is meant by ‘all things’ working for good, and why this is as much a challenge as a comfort.
Famous verses depicting the creation as a person subjected to the judgement imposed on mankind through sin, and looking forward to the end of the age, when it will be transformed into the home of the children of God. Here is the full, glorious picture.
Here are the priceless blessings of adoption into the family of the redeemed, also how one’s own spirit, then the Holy Spirit, both witness to our adoption. Then the inheritance that lies ahead for those who suffer now (here explained) with Christ.
Marks of a spiritual person, or, what it means to ‘walk after the Spirit’. Our thinking and behaviour is driven either by the flesh or the Spirit. Here are the features of each lifestyle (even in the church) and how the flesh is to be put to death.
The wages (or meagre rations) given by the world’s largest employer – ‘Sin’, slowly poison our interests in and openness to spiritual matters. Physical death follows but here is the astonishing gift of pardon and life through Christ and His atoning work.
First, the apostle shows the deep reality of the believer’s old life and sins being in Christ on Calvary. Secondly, he shows the certainty of new life and power over sin through reflection on this, and calls for a response of complete dedication to Christ.
In his passage showing the contrast between Adam and Christ, Paul provides five distinct aspects of the Lord’s achievements in redemption and the privileges of believers. Here also is the apostle’s stirring exhortation to all who are called ‘dead to sin’, and what this means.
Realisation of God’s love for us is given by the Spirit first through a profound sight of Calvary, and the price paid for contemptuous sinners. Such great love, we see, can never be withdrawn. Then we receive melting insights of His love during reflection, prayer and praise.
The priceless benefits of justification are here described and amplified. So great is the ‘fortune’ of believers, how can we fall into sorrow, or not share it, for the worldling has nothing. It is all by faith, progressively refined in the tests of life.
Everyone, though we may deny it, esteems, worships and obeys a variety of ‘forces’ and people, becoming shaped by them. The need to admire and submit is inescapable. Here is God’s remedy for misplaced servility, and the vast superiority of yielding to Him alone.
Paul traces eternal life, by faith alone in God’s redeeming plan, back across the centuries to Abraham, and then to King David. It pre-dated circumcision and also the law, and involves dependence on Christ and His creating power to give new and everlasting life.
The apostle’s perfectly woven threads of teaching show the depths of justification, redemption, propitiation and faith in such a way that the unenlightened are amazed, and believing hearts soar. It is not by inadequate ‘works’ but by faith that God’s law is honoured.
The apostle prepares the ground to show that grace is the only solution to human sinfulness. God will be faithful to His promises (to save), and His warnings (of judgement) also. Both Jew and Gentile must be saved by grace alone.
To what extent are the Ten Commandments written in every heart? Does the apostle redefine the term ‘Jew’ in showing that Gentiles may be Jews in their hearts? May Christians ever resemble the Jews condemned here for disobedience to the law? Paul provides the answers.
All will be judged by their deeds, even those saved by grace alone. True salvation leads to good works – the sure evidence of grace. Here is the kind of evidence that appears, and the apostle’s call to all Christians to be certain of their salvation.
Three times it is said that God gives up and gives over people to their sin. Here are the reasons and the outcome. Here also is the list of 22 sins that increasingly fill an atheistic society like ours, and the opposite traits in Christ’s people.
How God’s wrath is revealed in the Gospel and the reason for it. Also how disrespect for Him in society leads to increasingly extreme sensual sin. What it means to be given up to sin, and the mission of the church to rescue people in time.
Paul gives three reasons why he is ready to evangelise where his message will be despised. Herein is the power of the Gospel, also an explanation of God’s imputed righteousness, and of how regeneration leads to someone being consciously convicted and persuaded by the Gospel.
Before Paul’s famous, stirring, profound statements come pouring from his inspired pen, six priceless verses reveal his unselfish, caring, outward-looking character, his evangelistic priority and his great concern to live in accordance with the will of God. All are challenged to keep spiritual priorities.
Introducing Romans – the supreme doctrinal foundation of our faith – revealing Christ in the full glory of His work and His headship of the church. Romans shows how He calls, saves, sanctifies and keeps His own, and the duties of the Christian life. Above all, it exalts Christ.
‘And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.’ Full chapter _____________ Romans 12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living … Continued
Reasons why we reject God, and what unbelief takes from us. How atheism shapes us, imparting distinctive characteristics of thought and action. Proof that it is itself a religion. The contrasting benefits of believing in God, and how He may be found and known.
Full chapter _____________ Romans 12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what … Continued
What the Bible says about God’s infinite knowledge is both surprising and humbling. His knowledge of us is particularly moving, for it is a longsuffering and concerned knowledge that has provided a way of forgiveness and life to countless people who see their need of it.
… to be reconciled with God. Here are the facts set out by Paul, the apostle. We must know about the state of mankind, our future in eternity, what Christ has done to help us, how He can rescue us, and what happens at conversion.
Rejection by God at the end of life’s journey is surely the most terrible shock imaginable. Here are the reasons set out in the Bible, along with God’s method of showing mercy and love to all who will receive it, while there is time.
A single study on the special contribution of those to whom Paul sent greetings at Rome: Phebe, Priscilla, Aquila, Epaenetus, Andronicus, etc. What they did, and their contributions took on significance beyond anything they could have imagined – as ours also may.
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of … Continued
We do not realise how conformed we are to the programming of society. Even when young and experimental we are being shaped in the ways of the world, but there is a way of escape and freedom – in fact radical transformation – in conversion to Christ. Here is how.
The Bible describes the inactivity or sleep of the soul in many lives, if we live oblivious to our detachment from God, and our eternal destiny. Here are Paul’s sympathetic pleadings that call us to turn from a spiritually empty life and seek reconciliation with our Creator.
A review of the characteristics of Christ’s love for His people, and how it should stir ours for Him. Also, how having received such love, we should reflect it in marriage. Here also is Paul’s famous declaration that it is impossible to be separated from the Lord’s love.
The first preachers of Christianity were not embarrassed by their message offering personal reconciliation with God, for it towered above all religions of the day, and still does (including atheism). Here are its superior features of beauty, credibility, and power to change.
In one of his most surprising illustrations Paul shows that, before conversion, we are in the employment of sin. If only we could see that it is the worst possible employer, giving disastrous rewards. By contrast, here is what we gain by turning to Christ.
The supreme and most vital teaching of Christianity about salvation – the key to knowing God – is the teaching of justification by faith alone. What does it mean, in plain terms, and why is it essential for any personal discovery of God?
‘What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise. For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin.’ My subject this evening is ‘Being in Denial’. Being in Denial. Have you noticed how even the most avowed atheist uses the word good? They speak of people … Continued
Coming to God is not just a matter of having good opinions about Him. It involves the heart as well as the mind. Here are the differences between mental belief only, and believing in Christ with the entire person.
Treasures from the past – one of four rare recordings from the renowned Bible commentator (1900-1982). A stirring, heart-warming devotional survey from one who excelled in combining quality of scholarship with simplicity of expression. A great example of the art of taking sublime truths and helping people feel them in their hearts. This summary of Romans is a masterclass in conveying the spiritual and devotional themes of the epistle in a deeply feelingful way.
