Not Guilty E-Book

Brian Simmons

• Herausgeber: BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: The Passion Translation Devotional Commentaries
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 405

Beschreibung

Dive into Romans and watch God's love set you free. Shame. Failure. Sin. They leave mankind with a verdict: guilty. Have you been trusting in your works or feeling continually crushed by sin? Your story does not end there. Christ paid the price, and a new verdict has been rendered: not guilty! It's time to relinquish every heavy burden of sin and guilt to God. As you examine the powerful, freeing book of Romans through this devotional commentary and study guide, you will - rediscover the joy of your salvation, - surrender all self-righteousness, - stop striving to please God or earn his love, - return to the simplicity of the gospel of grace, - silence the accusing voice of shame, and - experience acceptance by God.Understand the true grace of the gospel that releases God's power and peace into your life.  

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BroadStreet Publishing® Group, LLC

Savage, Minnesota, USA

BroadStreetPublishing.com

Not Guilty: Be Free to Experience God’s Love

Copyright © 2023 Brian Simmons

9781424564699 (softcover)

9781424564705 (ebook)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Contents

Foreword by Caleb Hyers

Lesson 1: Major Purpose and Themes (Introduction)

Lesson 2: The Power of Grace (Introduction)

Lesson 3: Paul and His Mission (Romans 1:1–10)

Lesson 4: Without Excuse (Romans 1:11–2:29)

Lesson 5: The Righteousness of God (Romans 3:1–24)

Lesson 6: Faith Alone in Christ Alone (Romans 3:25–4:17)

Lesson 7: The Blessings of Our New Life (Romans 4:18–5:11)

Lesson 8: The Triumph of Grace (Romans 5:12–6:10)

Lesson 9: Living Our New Identity (Romans 6:11–23)

Lesson 10: No More Bondage (Romans 7:1–25)

Lesson 11: The Goal of Grace and Glory (Romans 8:1–16)

Lesson 12: A Glorious Unveiling (Romans 8:17–22)

Lesson 13: The Goal of Grace Is Glory (Romans 8:23–29)

Lesson 14: The Case Is Closed (Romans 8:30–39)

Lesson 15: God’s Heart for Israel (Romans 9:1–11:15)

Lesson 16: Right Relationships (Romans 11:16–12:21)

Lesson 17: Living in Unity (Romans 13:1–14:12)

Lesson 18: Love Is Key (Romans 14:13–15:19)

Lesson 19: Paul’s Final Remarks (Romans 15:20–16:27)

About the Authors

Foreword

I first met Brian Simmons in a refugee camp in Bethlehem. We were ministering to orphans and widows, singing praises to God and blessing dear ones. I met a man who was opening the gates of his heart to be a vessel of love to strangers whom others would deem worthless. I met a man who would give his last dollar to a hungry child in need. I met a man who surrendered his life, becoming a missionary in the jungle and risking even his family, to follow the call of God. I met a man who lived out the romance of the book of Romans.

Since that time in Israel, ministering and worshiping the Lord side by side, I have come to call Brian a dear friend. The Lord Jesus himself said you would know true and false teachers by their fruit. I have personally seen the fruit of Brian’s life, and I hope to imitate him as he imitates Christ.

Brian’s devotional commentary and study guide through the book of Romans is a precious gift to the body of Christ. Not only does Brian lay out striking biblical truth throughout his writing, but he also includes amazing questions to help you go deeper into the glorious work that is the letter to the Romans. Each lesson’s impactful activations will challenge and equip you to use what you are reading in your life. This combination of balanced truth and practical application is what makes Not Guilty: Be Free to Experience God’s Love a standout among devotional commentaries on this deeply important book of the Bible.

There are so many moments that I could hold up where Brian brilliantly opens the mind to the Scriptures with his revelatory teaching gift. Here are just a few of my favorites. Speaking of how our knowledge of salvation should spur us to righteous living, Brian says, “You have nothing to fear, only something to expect: deeper communion with him. This is the heavenly transaction that took place when you trusted in Christ for salvation by grace through faith. Now, live like it!” In addressing the tension of how we are to embrace our new identity in Christ without ignoring our present tense issues, Brian exhorts us, “Have you settled for less? Have you been in a wrestling match with sin (bad habits, bad attitudes, bad behavior) instead of reckoning yourself dead to it? Our Lord Jesus has paved the path to freedom for us, and we walk it through sweet surrender. This is how we take up our cross and follow him.” And finally, underscoring the truth of how the author himself lives his life, Brian speaks, in that potent way only he can, of our freedom to worship the Lord. He says, “Our freedom is complete, for ‘if the Son sets you free from sin, then become a true son and be unquestionably free!’ (John 8:36). We are not just free from something, but we are also free to do something—to worship God with our whole lives.”

That is who Brian is, a wholehearted worshiper of God. I am so grateful for this offering in the form of a devotional commentary. I will be recommending it to the church that I lead and any and every believer who wishes to walk in the true freedom that is expressed in Paul’s letter to the Roman church. What an amazing time we are living in to have such powerful teachers of the Word! I implore you to embrace these truths, walk in their tension, and give your whole life in worship to the only one found worthy. May the Lamb himself open the scroll of your heart as you read this work. Amen.

Caleb Hyers

Senior Leader of The Resting Place Family

trpfamily.org

LESSON 1

Major Purpose and Themes

Introduction

Introduction to the Book of Romans

Grace and Glory!

The book of Romans is perhaps the greatest piece of theological literature in history and the greatest expression of Paul’s unique spiritual genius. There has never been a letter like it. The sheer scope and magnificence of Romans set it apart. The closest comparison would be Isaiah, and thus Romans can be viewed as the “Isaiah” of the New Testament and vice versa.

Truly Holy Spirit inspired, Romans is a masterpiece treatise of church doctrine. We thank God for Paul’s obedience and dedication to writing it for us, but we wholly recognize only God could author such a treasure chest of theology. You will be stirred, challenged, and perhaps even corrected as you read this enlightening letter.

Paul’s gospel was the gospel of grace and glory, which is the beautiful and much-needed major theme of this book. As believers in Christ, we are more than just dedicated disciples; we are desperate lovers. We intensely long for deep connection with the one who made us and made us his. And, once we have been brought into that communion with him, we recognize how we need to learn and grow! We need a solid, systematic, and stable theology, and Romans gives us that.

Key Verses

The key verses of this book are Romans 8:15–16. This passage focuses our heart on the thrust of Paul’s gospel: our new life in Christ is empowered by the Spirit, not human effort, and by his Spirit we experience God’s love and are enfolded into his family.

You did not receive the “spirit of religious duty,” leading you back into the fear of never being good enough. But you have received the “Spirit of full acceptance,” enfolding you into the family of God. And you will never feel orphaned, for as he rises up within us, our spirits join him in saying the words of tender affection, “Beloved Father!” For the Holy Spirit makes God’s fatherhood real to us as he whispers into our innermost being, “You are God’s beloved child!” (Romans 8:15–16)

Why You Should Read Romans

Romans is full of revelatory truth with the power to transform us. The revelation of righteousness by faith, not works, which Paul heralded in Romans, is a lightning bolt of truth that breaks the power of darkness and releases the power of light into our lives.

The Power of the Gospel

Romans is power packed. Literally. There is revelation-light in Romans that can and should bring a revolution to our lives. In fact, two major revivals of church history were born out of the revelation of righteousness found in Romans: the Protestant Reformation and the Wesleyan Revival. Catch the fire of truth and grace for yourself as you read through Paul’s masterpiece.

You can imagine the joy that came over the church at Rome when they read Paul’s letter. You, too, will be blessed as you read the anointed words found herein. The romance of Romans will fill you with freedom. Freedom from sin. Freedom from self. Freedom from dead works. A new freedom is coming into your spirit as you embrace the truth of Romans.

The Purity of the Gospel

Concerning this epistle, in his work, Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans, Martin Luther declared it to be the “purest gospel.” He further encouraged every Christian to consume it “as though it were the daily bread of the soul.” Because history has proven our humanistic desire to want to add to the pure gospel, we take Luther’s encouragement to heart. The law said “do,” but the gospel says “done”; there is nothing more to add to its perfection. Faith alone in Christ alone is enough, and that is truly good news.1

The Peace of the Gospel

The love of God is so rich; it leaves our hearts full of heaven. When we believe in Jesus Christ, he pours his Holy Spirit into our hearts until every sense of abandonment leaves us. We become children of God, sons and daughters of glory, who follow the Lamb. Peace becomes our new normal.

Do you want to be enriched and discover the heavenly treasures of faith, grace, true righteousness, peace, and power? Plug into the book of Romans, and you’ll never feel the same again. Truth always sets the heart free, and nothing can free you more than the truth found in Romans. Grace and glory are waiting for you to unwrap and make your own. Live in the truths of Romans and watch how God’s love sets you free.

Purpose

The most important letter in the world was written to the most important city in the world. Because Rome was the power center of the known world when Paul penned this letter, it was the most influential city on earth at that time. Although Paul had not yet been to Rome, he would one day be martyred there. So Paul wrote to these Roman Christians an important epistle filled with rich doctrines of our faith that reveal God’s heart for his people and what must be our proper response to such sacrificial love. Paul’s theology flows from the romance of God toward us. Intimacy longs for understanding and oneness. And to be intimate with the God of glory requires that we understand his heart and join him in every way. As a result of Paul’s writing, we can determine the following purposes:

1.Paul wrote Romans to communicate the grand themes of God’s grace and glory encapsulated in the gospel. No one comes into glory except by the grace of God that fills believers with his righteousness. The works of religion and our clumsy attempts to please God are unable to make us holy. But God is so kind, compassionate, and gracious that he shares his righteousness with all who receive his Son, Jesus Christ. He causes his faith-filled ones to be made holy by his grace and glory. Paul wrote his letter to clearly articulate this message, to explain why he preached it, and to show how it should affect Christians in their daily life and community.

•God’s grace is an inexhaustible subject. It seems too good to be true…but it is true! God is good, and he wants us fully immersed in the revelation of his covering of grace and love. His grace truly is sufficient. Paul learned this first-hand when God spoke to him saying, “My grace is always more than enough for you, and my power finds its full expression through your weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). The other great theme of Romans is glory. Without the understanding of grace, we will never experience his glory. Glory is his plan for you, dear friend! In Adam, we all sinned (Romans 5:12) and fell short of God’s glory (3:23), but now in Christ, we are restored and glorified: “Having determined our destiny ahead of time, he called us to himself and transferred his perfect righteousness to everyone he called. And those who possess his perfect righteousness he co-glorified with his Son!” (Romans 8:30).

•The longing of every human soul is unconditional love—that’s grace—and to be changed—that’s glory.Forgiveness is only half of the salvation package. Transformation is also provided. We are meant to grow and go from glory to glory to glory. The psalmist expressed this transcendent longing with these words: “Here’s the one thing I crave from Yahweh, the one thing I seek above all else: I want to live with him every moment in his house, beholding the marvelous beauty of Yahweh, filled with awe, delighting in his glory and grace. I want to contemplate in his temple” (Psalm 27:4).

•Paul was hoping that Rome would be his “base of operations” in the West (like Antioch had been for him in the East and Ephesus had been for him in Asia Minor). Consequently, he wrote this letter, explaining his gospel carefully and fully, in the hopes that the Roman Christians would embrace him and his message completely. Further, since his life had already been in much danger from the Jews (Acts 17:5, 13 and 20:3), Paul may have sensed the need to pen his thoughts about the gospel in a systematic way. Paul was, of course, a missionary. At the time of his writing of Romans, he was in Corinth. He wrote this letter and sent it to the Roman believers by way of Phoebe, who was one of the outstanding women in the church of Cenchrea, a port city near Corinth.

2.Paul wrote Romans in part to address some conflicts within the church over nonessential matters of differing opinions. Paul did what is good for us all to do—he refocused hearts onto what matters most: God’s love, grace, and goodness. God’s love is supreme over “nonessential truths.”

Twelve Major Themes

•The Gospel: You could summarize the entire book of Romans with this one word: gospel. In the opening sentence, Paul explains that God had set him apart with the mission to unveil “God’s wonderful gospel” (1:1), which Paul preaches as salvation by grace through faith alone. This is one way of explaining the gospel. Here are some others: the revelation of God’s Son, the wonderful message of Jesus, the joyful message of God’s liberating power unleashed within us through Christ, the message of Christ’s goodness.

•Good News: We know the gospel, but we still need some good news. Romans is full of the good news that encourages our soul.

•Salvation: God’s salvation (Greek soteria)is purely by grace. There can be no mixture (grace plus anything else); otherwise, it is no longer grace. Salvation is wondrous in its cost as it cost God everything and costs us nothing.

•The Love of God: Romans 5 reveals how we receive “the endless love of God cascading into our hearts” (5:5). What love! His love never ends and will never fail us.

•Justification: This is our new reality in Christ. We are just, as if we had never sinned. When God looks at us, he sees Jesus. He sees us clean, holy, and beautiful. He sees us justified—a legal term that means “not guilty.”

•The Righteousness of God: We can’t get any more righteous than we are right now. Our righteousness is not of our own making; it is of God and God alone. He has made us righteous. He has actually made us the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21).

•The Law: Many have noted that Paul’s relationship with the law is complicated. In Romans, Paul says, “The law is holy and its commandments are correct and for our good” (Romans 7:12). It was given to us for our benefit and intended to bring life, but instead, it brought death (v. 10). Paul concluded, “God achieved what the law was unable to accomplish, because the law was limited by the weakness of human nature” (8:3). Through Christ, God achieved what we could not: Christ perfectly fulfilled every requirement of the law so that now “we are free to live, not according to our flesh, but by the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit!” (v. 4).

•The Flesh versus the Spirit: One of the most interesting comparisons Paul makes is between our old life in “the flesh” versus our new life in the “life-giving Spirit.” He offers this comparison as an exhortation to live the kind of life God desires from his children—not in the morally fallen way we once lived but in the new way as true children of God “who are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit” (v. 14).

•The Destiny of Israel: As a parenthetical insert in chapters 9–11, Paul addresses the question of where natural Israel fits in God’s heart and plan. In this portion, we see Paul’s great compassion for his own people as well as God’s faithfulness and loyal love.

•In Christ: Paul sees Christians living “in Christ.” Although used more frequently in Ephesians, Paul uses this phrase, or one equivalent to it, twenty-nine times in Romans. The phrases are used with different connotations, depending on the context. Sometimes they express the instrumentality of Christ’s activity (3:24; 8:39); sometimes they express the intimate relation of Christians and Christ, who live a sort of symbiosis (6:11). “In Christ” is the fulfillment of Jesus’ own High Priestly prayer from John 17. We are in him. There is now no justifiable accusing voice coming against us because we are “in Christ.” Paul states it powerfully with these words, “So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed One” (Romans 8:1).

•Grace: The radical gospel of grace, as it is found throughout Scripture, has always had its critics. One prominent leader told me a few years ago that he’s convinced that by trusting in God’s justifying and preserving grace, I would end up living a life of sin before long—and possibly lose my salvation and be consigned to hell. Similarly, Paul anticipated that reaction from the religious community of his own day after he said, “Wherever sin increased, there was more than enough of God’s grace to triumph all the more!” (5:20). So he asked the question he expected us to ask: “Do we persist in sin so that God’s kindness and grace will increase?” (6:1). Meaning, should we sin so that we can receive more grace? In other words, “If people believed what you just said in Romans 5, Paul, wouldn’t they take advantage of the situation and live like the devil, knowing they were ‘safe and secure from all alarm’?” That’s a fair question. But it reveals a basic misunderstanding of the nature of God’s saving grace. Paul’s response is unmistakable: “What a terrible thought! We have died to sin once and for all, as a dead man passes away from this life. So how could we live under sin’s rule a moment longer?” (v. 2).

• Glory: We have the hope of glory within us. We are not just saved from something. We are also saved unto something—Christlikeness. In the example of Christ, we must take up the cross and die to ourselves to achieve the glory found in Christ. We must daily put to death the flesh’s fears and worries and desires. The flesh wants only to glorify itself. This death of self leads to life in Christ! The glory of our Christlikeness is worth celebrating. As Paul says in Romans 5:2, “Our faith guarantees us permanent access into this marvelous kindness that has given us a perfect relationship with God. What incredible joy bursts forth within us as we keep on celebrating our hope of experiencing God’s glory!” We, as well as all of creation, have an expectation of unveiled glory. This expectation gave Paul the perseverance to endure his earthly suffering: “I am convinced that any suffering we endure is less than nothing compared to the magnitude of glory that is about to be unveiled within us” (8:18). Romans encourages Christians that they will participate in God’s glory.

Key Terms in Romans

There is some confusion within the body of Christ over these three important experiences: justification, sanctification, and glorification. We need good, sound teaching to help us not be wishy-washy in our understanding of these foundational biblical topics. We need to know, really know, these fundamentals:

1.Who we are in Christ

2.Who he is in us

3.What his atonement accomplished for us

4.What his resurrection accomplished for us

Here is a chart that defines and describes each term.

Sanctification

We are holy and being made holy. This is mind-blowing, so we have to get God’s thoughts, his mind, on this. To him, right now and forever, we are perfect and perfectly positioned “in Christ.” Done! And yet, we are still in the process of becoming more like Jesus every day.

The conclusion is this: We are perfect and perfectly loved while we are being made perfect. We don’t do our good works in order to be made holy; we do them because we are being made holy. As Luther said, we are simultaneously saint and sinner during the process of sanctification. Christians live in a tension between what was achieved by the cross and what will be fulfilled with the second coming. Sanctification is a “God-concept” that we believe by faith, even if our human minds can’t quite understand it. It is by faith that these truths are activated in our lives.

Justification

Before God, we are clean because of the blood of Jesus. We have been declared “not guilty,” and our new reality in Christ is that we now live just as if we had never sinned. Clean, pure, free—this is what Jesus has made us. We are eternally justified!

The conclusion is this: we have been made righteous and declared innocent by the judge of the universe. The only one qualified to condemn us, God himself, bore our guilt at Calvary. Therefore, we will never be judged for our sins and do not have to strive for victory. Instead, we live from the victory Christ won for us on the cross.

Glorification

We focus on our justification and sanctification quite a bit but not as much on our glorification. Why is that? The grace that delivers us from sin is also taking us to glory.

The conclusion is this: The finished work of the cross not only saved us from sin and sin’s effects but also brought us into God’s glory. Sin has been dealt with; the price is paid. Therefore, sin should not get our focus—glory should. Glory is our destiny.

“Both/And”

The Western mindset struggles to try and file truths as “either/or,” but the Hebraic mindset operates in terms of “both/and.” This will stretch our thinking but will also align us with the heart and mind of God. His thoughts are higher than ours. In a “divine ambiguity,” God will mingle truths. For example, we are both filled and being filled. We are both holy and being made holy. We are both thirsty and satisfied. We are both hungry and full. We are both strong in him and boasting in our weakness. We are both perfect and not yet perfect. We are both at rest in Christ and at work for Christ. We are both seated in heaven and taking our stand on the earth in the evil day. You get the idea! We must simply embrace and enjoy the mystery.

Romans in Church History

Romans, a Masterpiece of Christian Doctrine

The acceptance of this great book as Pauline is rarely disputed due to its testimony by the apostolic fathers and its inclusion in early listings of New Testament books. We can date this letter to about AD 55. While preaching in Corinth, Paul dictated the letter to Tertius (Romans 16:22) and entrusted it to Phoebe (v. 1) to deliver it to the Roman believers. Romans has been described as Paul’s Song of Songs because it is a letter that so beautifully expresses the unconditional love of God, and the keynote of Romans is “no condemnation!” “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (8:1 NIV).

•No Condemnation

οTo Roman culture, it was very common to issue legal verdicts with this very pronouncement: “No condemnation!”

οThis pronouncement, therefore, from the apostle Paul was bombastic in its effect. Heaven has pronounced you not guilty! Free and clear! You have been justified in Christ.

οIn fact, Paul emphatically charges his readers: “Who then is left to condemn us?”(8:34).What a question! Who indeed?

•In Christ Jesus

οIn him, the debt is cancelled. In him, we are pardoned and accepted. Our new identity is in Christ.

Romans’ Effect on Theologians

•“This letter is truly the most important piece in the New Testament.” —Martin Luther2

•“It is impossible to read or to meditate on this letter too much or too well. The more one deals with it, the more precious it becomes and the better it tastes.” —Martin Luther3

•“No man verily can read it too oft, or study it too well; for the more it is studied, the easier it is; the more it is chewed, the pleasanter it is; and the more groundly it is searched, the preciouser things are found in it.” —William Tyndale4

•“The Epistle to the Romans is the cathedral of the Christian faith.” —Frédéric Louis Godet, nineteenth- century Swiss theologian5

Famous Historical Testimonials

In 386, Augustine, feeling cold and far from God, read in Romans 13:13–14 these heart-stirring words:

We must live honorably, surrounded by the light of this new day, not in the darkness of drunkenness and debauchery, not in promiscuity and sensuality, not being argumentative or jealous of others. Instead fully immerse yourselves into the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, and don’t waste even a moment’s thought on your former identity to awaken its selfish desires.

God’s power released through his illuminating Word gripped Augustine, and he gave his whole life to Jesus Christ at that moment.

In August 1513, a monk by the name of Martin Luther, though a teacher of God’s Word, found his life empty and in disorder. In particular, he felt confused about how God’s righteousness could do anything but condemn. Luther’s search led him to Romans 1:17, which says,

This gospel unveils a continual revelation of God’s righteousness—a perfect righteousness given to us when we believe. And it moves us from receiving life through faith, to the power of living by faith. This is what the Scripture means when it says: “We are right with God through life-giving faith!”6

About this verse, Luther later said: “Night and day I pondered until…I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy, he justifies us by faith. Therefore I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise…This passage of Paul became to me a gateway into heaven.”7 This truth changed Martin Luther’s heart and life, and from there, the Reformation spread throughout the world.

In May 1738, John Wesley, a failed minister and missionary, went to a small Bible study. Someone read from Martin Luther’s Commentary on Romans, and John later described the impact this reading had on his life in his journal: “While he was describing the change, which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for my salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken my sins away, even mine.”8 John Wesley went on to be a leader in the Great Awakening that swept through England and its thirteen American colonies.

Romans Releases Reformation

One of the unique aspects of Romans among all other New Testament books is its history of sparking revival and reformation. The powerful truths of Romans spawned two major spiritual awakenings that have literally changed the world.

The Protestant Reformation

Martin Luther led this great movement in the 1500s. Luther encountered the revelation-truth of salvation by grace through faith and broke out of the empty form and ritual of the church of his day, forming the Protestant church movement. It was a truth rediscovered from Romans (“The just shall live by faith” 1:17 KJV) that sparked this raging inferno we ourselves are a part of.

The Wesleyan Revival

This sweeping revival of the 1700s was also born out of the revelation of righteousness found in Romans. Its focus was the relationship between grace, faith, and holiness of heart and life. We will never outgrow the wonder, beauty, and simplicity of our great salvation.

Expect Revival and Reformation

As you apply yourself to the study of this great book, you, too, can expect a reformation. Expect revival fire. God’s power will surely influence you and make timeless truths come alive within you. Through our own individual revival and reformation, God will use us to bring his passion and fire to the world around us and ignite a great awakening. Expect him!

Let’s Go Deeper!

Questions

1.Throughout our study of Romans, we will be discussing foundational truths concerning justification, sanctification, and glorification. (Refer to the chart in this lesson.) How would you answer these questions?

•Who are we in Christ?

•Who is he in us?

•What did his atonement accomplish for us?

•What did his resurrection accomplish for us?

2.There are two realities we all long for: unconditional love and transformation, or grace and glory. How do they work together, and why must we not have one without the other?

3.Romans is power packed. Within it are truths that can revolutionize you. Take some time for reflection and prayerfully list the results you want in your life through this study.

4.The key verses of Romans are 8:15–16. Write them down, and spend time daily committing these to memory, hiding them in your heart.

5.Many major doctrinal issues are addressed in Romans. Some may be new to you or even contrary to what you have learned. Prayerfully commit to the Lord to have an open mind and heart to his transforming truth.

Deeper Still!

Activations

The Good News of Grace and Glory

The Greek word for gospel is euangelion, which simply means “good news.” Acts 20:24 and Galatians 1:6 both use the terms “gospel” and “grace” interchangeably.

•“But whether I live or die is not important, for I don’t esteem my life as indispensable. It’s more important for me to fulfill my destiny and to finish the ministry my Lord Jesus has assigned to me, which is to faithfully preach the wonderful news of God’s grace” (Acts 20:24).

•“I am shocked over how quickly you have strayed away from the One who called you in the grace of Christ. I’m astounded that you now embrace a distorted gospel!” (Galatians 1:6).

When you understand the gospel as the grace of God, it will release the power of God into your life. That’s huge! Paul uses the word gospel as shorthand for the amazing, joyful message of God’s saving work through Jesus Christ. The entire Christian message is wrapped up in this one theme: the good news of God’s grace. The gospel is the message about how God has acted in the world to rescue humanity from sin and death through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. So when Paul says “gospel,” he means all of that.

There was a tendency in the early days of the church, as well as throughout church history, to stray from the simplicity of grace. Friends, let’s keep it simple. Have you been trusting in your works? Have you been striving against sinful habits? Today is your day to relinquish to God every heavy burden and every weight of sin. Simple surrender will usher in the tidal wave of God’s grace upon your life for real transformation and increasing glory.

Let’s Pray

Lord, bring me back to the joy of my salvation, the joy that flows from your fountain of pure grace. I let go of all self-righteousness and all trust in my own good works. I repent of striving to please you or earn your love in any way. I surrender all, Lord—all of my life for all of yours. Bring me back to the simplicity of the gospel of grace. Help me to abide under that waterfall, letting your grace and glory cascade into me, washing away every lie and every excuse. Through this study in Romans, God, I ask you to cause me to become rooted and grounded fully and only in your loving grace. These things I ask in Jesus’ beautiful name. Amen.

1 Martin Luther, Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans, trans. Andrew Thornton (Manchester, NH: Saint Anselm College Humanities Program, 1983), https://www.ccel.org/l/luther/romans/pref_romans.html.

2 Luther, Preface to the Letter.

3 Luther, Preface to the Letter.

4 “A Prologue upon the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans,” Tyndale’s Prologue to the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, accessed December 3, 2021, http://www.bible-researcher.com/romansprologue.html.

5 Frédéric Louis Godet, “The Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans,” StudyLight.org, accessed December 3, 2021, https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/gsc/romans.html.

6 David Guzik, “Romans 1—The Human Race Guilty before God,” Enduring Word, accessed December 3, 2021, https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/romans-1.

7 Guzik, “Romans 1.”

8 John Wesley, “‘I Felt My Heart Strangely Warmed,’” in The Journal of John Wesley, ed. Percy Livingstone Parker (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1951), https://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/journal.vi.ii.xvi.html.

LESSON 2

The Power of Grace

Introduction

God’s Great Grace

Grace has been described as “God’s riches at Christ’s expense,” but really, grace is indescribable. Hesed is the Hebrew word most often translated as “loving-kindness” or “mercy” and probably best represents God’s grace toward us. Though Paul uses the Greek charis, often translated “grace,” his use of the word reflects his Semitic roots and the depths of God’s love that hesed conveys. Translators have had difficulty giving hesed a proper English equivalent, but it is the word for God’s covenant love that prevails. He will never quit on us. His love holds on and on and on…and on! Past our faults or failures right into eternity. That is hesed, and that is grace. It is God’s default setting when it comes to his children.

When we deserve a lecture, we get his kiss. When we are at our very worst and in our greatest weakness, God’s love is at its greatest potency. In fact, it’s through his love that his grace is glorified. “For it was always in his perfect plan to adopt us as his delightful children, through our union with Jesus, the Anointed One, so that his tremendous love that cascades over us would glorify his grace—for the same love he has for his Beloved, Jesus, he has for us. And this unfolding plan brings him great pleasure!” (Ephesians 1:5–6). Grace is so rich and deep and multifaceted. We could study the rest of our lifetime, digging into the bounty of grace, and never hit the bottom.

For our study of Romans, we will focus on the truth that grace cannot be mixed with works. Grace cannot be diluted or mingled with anything of our own strength or merit; otherwise, it ceases to be grace. The works we do are empowered by grace not combined with grace in order to earn blessings from God. Grace is pure and holy. It cannot be earned or merited. It is more than we deserve and more than we could ever have hoped for. Grace is God’s kiss reserved for his dear children, and oh, how he loves to lavish his grace upon us!

Understanding the Power of Grace in Romans

1.There is a relationship between grace and mercy.

•Grace gives us what we don’t deserve (blessing).

•Mercy doesn’t give us what we do deserve (punishment).

God is full of mercy. Therefore, it is always good to ask for mercy. “Have mercy!” is a simple yet powerful prayer, and intercession is, in essence, the cry for mercy on someone else’s behalf. We need mercy, and God is rich in mercy. He is love—he “is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in compassion and lovingkindness” (Psalm 103:8 AMP).

2.There is a relationship between grace and justification.

•Like grace, justification is unearned and free.

If there were a way to earn freedom from the consequences of our sinful actions, then Jesus’ sacrifice was unnecessary. However, it was necessary, and just as grace is a free gift, so is our justification. We could never make ourselves guiltless, “yet through his powerful declaration of acquittal, God freely gives away his righteousness. His gift of love and favor now cascades over us, all because Jesus, the Anointed One, has liberated us from the guilt, punishment, and power of sin!” (Romans 3:24).

3.There is no relationship between grace and wages.

•We minister to God and for God as privileged servants.

•We aren’t exchanging our service for a wage from God because we belong to him. He deserves our all.

Our lives are as sacrificial love offerings, surrendered to God for his pleasure and purpose. Jesus declared this dynamic relationship by saying, “All who belong to you [Father] now belong to me as well, and my glory is revealed through their surrendered lives” (John 17:10). And he further stated, “So learn this lesson: After doing all that is commanded of you, simply say, ‘We are mere servants, undeserving of special praise, for we are just doing what is expected of us and fulfilling our duties’” (Luke 17:10). We, therefore, serve out of love and devotion, not for wages. After all, there is nothing we did to earn his grace.

4.There is no relationship between grace and debt.

•God doesn’t owe us anything.

5.There is no relationship between grace and reward.

There are certainly rewards in this kingdom life. The Bible refers to many crowns, but our eternal salvation is not such a reward. Salvation by grace is a gift, not the result of self-effort: “So no one will ever be able to boast, for salvation is never a reward for good works or human striving” (Ephesians 2:9). And the Holy Spirit is poured out as a gift from heaven, not an earned credit: “So answer me this: Did the Holy Spirit come to you as a reward for keeping Jewish laws? No, you received him as a gift because you believed in the Messiah” (Galatians 3:2).

6.There is no relationship between grace and boasting.

•If we were to stop and account for our assets, we would have to readily confess that anything good about us came from God.

•There is simply no room for boasting, not before others and especially not before God.

Paul, more than most, understood this important truth. From a human perspective, he had many reasons to boast, yet his confession was this: “God’s amazing grace has made me who I am! And his grace to me was not fruitless. In fact, I worked harder than all the rest, yet not in my own strength but God’s, for his empowering grace is poured out upon me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

This was a truth for which Paul suffered much persecution and laid down his life. He was passionate about protecting the pure grace gospel unadulterated by a “works mentality.” His love for Jesus compelled him to exalt Christ’s work, not ours, as the focus of all our boasting. “Where, then, is there room for boasting? Do our works bring God’s acceptance? Not at all! It was not our works of keeping the law but our faith in his finished work that makes us right with God” (Romans 3:27). Grace produces works out of gratefulness; works should not come from our need to boast or to earn a gift God gives freely.

“Hyper-Grace”

Hyper-grace refers to the nature of God’s grace as being “hyper,” which means “over, above, beyond.” There is a lot of talk and concern about the concept of “hyper-grace” in our day. From a godly desire to avoid cheap grace and to preach a true gospel that produces transformed lives, some fear a false grace message that condones or winks at sinful living. In his 1937 book, The Cost of Discipleship,theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer first defined cheap grace as “the grace we bestow upon ourselves” when we “preach of forgiveness without requiring repentance.”9 He goes on to say, “Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”10 However, we mustn’t go to the extreme of making grace something other than it is: lavish, extreme, and unlimited. So let’s tackle this issue from the perspective of God’s Word as hyper-grace is actually a biblical concept.

1. God’s Grace, Love, and Power Are Limitless

God’s limitless grace is revealed in three forms.

•Huper-ballo—“to transcend, surpass, exceed, excel” (see Ephesians 2:7)

•Huper-perisseuo—“super-abound, abound much more, exceeding” (see Romans 5:20)

•Huper-pleonazo—“super-abound, to be exceedingly abundant” (see 1 Timothy 1:14)

When we soberly consider the depravity of our past sins, God’s abundant grace is so lovely. Where would we be without such love, and why would we ever want to diminish or limit such grace? Jesus’ work on Calvary was enough. His resurrection was also ours. Because of his death and resurrection, we are free indeed. We have salvation as well as the power for transformation all wrapped up in the wondrous package of God’s amazing grace.

2. True Hyper-Grace Is Not Sloppy Grace

Upon the Reformer’s rediscovery of the biblical doctrine of grace, someone once questioned Martin Luther, saying, “If this is true, a person could simply live as he pleased!”

“Indeed!” Luther replied. “Now, what pleases you?”11

The biblical reality, therefore, is that God’s grace is extreme and abundant. Some fear the message of huper-gracewill encourage Christians to live sinful lives. This would effectively turn God’s truly hyper-grace into sloppy or cheap grace that says, “No big deal! I can sin. I’m under grace!”

However, true grace stirs us to greater devotion, purity, love, and passion for holiness in our pursuit of intimacy with God. We greatlyneed hyper-grace. But not so we can just skate by in life, barely making it, looking and acting like the world. We need abundant grace to walk in the abundant life Christ died to give us. Grace empowers us to walk in purity. Paul said it this way, “But God’s amazing grace has made me who I am!” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

3. Saving Grace Is Also a Teaching Grace

Romans 6 really addresses this issue, and we will discuss it further when we get there in our study, but Paul succinctly puts it this way: “We have died to sin once and for all, as a dead man passes away from this life. So how could we live under sin’s rule a moment longer?” (v. 2). In other words, how can we live in sin knowing that Jesus died to free us? It is a rhetorical question, friends. Grace empowers us and teaches us to live worthy of Jesus.

When addressing Titus, Paul reveals how this grace is a daily part of a Christian’s life: “This same grace teaches us how to live each day as we turn our backs on ungodliness and indulgent lifestyles, and it equips us to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives in this present age” (Titus 2:12).

The bottom line is that lovers of God don’t want to do any-thing or have anything that hurts their intimacy with Jesus. Grace enables us in our godly pursuit of his beautiful heart. More grace means more purity. So we say, “Give us more grace, Lord!”

4. Biblical Advocates of Huper-Grace

John the Beloved—“From the overflow of his fullness we received grace heaped upon more grace!” (John 1:16).

•John’s revelation of Jesus is that Jesus Christ is grace personified. He is grace with skin on. Grace is the fullness of Jesus’ nature—it’s who he is. He is full of grace and mercy, and out of his fullness, we are filled.

The Apostle Peter—“Then, after your brief suffering, the God of all loving grace, who has called you to share in his eternal glory in Christ, will personally and powerfully restore you and make you stronger than ever. Yes, he will set you firmly in place and build you up” (1 Peter 5:10).

•Peter’s revelation of God was that he is “the God of all loving grace.” Do you know him that way? Oh, how he wants you to!

•Peter understood that we “continue to grow and increase in God’s grace” (2 Peter 3:18). We are on a beautiful journey of discovery into the gracious nature of God. It will never ever end, and he will just become more and more lovely to our hearts.

James (Jacob), the Brother of Jesus—“He continues to pour out more and more grace upon us. For it says, ‘God resists you when you are proud but continually pours out grace when you are humble’” (James [Jacob] 4:6).

•To James, God is the one who gives us more and more and more grace! He “pours out grace” upon humble hearts who come to his throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16).

The Prophet Zechariah—“What are you, you great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring out the top stone with shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’” (Zechariah 4:7 NASB).

•To Zechariah, God is a master builder who is establishing his house, his people, by the power of his grace.

•No matter what mountain of impossibility and resistance seems to block your path or promise, God’s unrelenting grace will overcome it.

The Prophet Joel—“‘Tear your heart and not merely your garments.’ Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in mercy and relenting of catastrophe” (Joel 2:13 NASB).

•Joel had a revelation of the gracious God who is willing and ready to receive every repentant heart. Our cry for mercy will touch his gracious heart.

Moses—“Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth’” (Exodus 34:6 NASB).

•Moses knew him as the great forgiver—so slow to anger. He never holds a grudge. He overflows with grace, hesed.

•Moses deeply understood the grace nature of the great I AM.

Oh, the Endless Grace of God!