Do you ever wish that you could take back something that you said or did? The apostle Paul shows us in Romans that Christ alone can cancel a person’s past and give us second chances. Jesus offers you the “do over” that you’re looking for. I hope that you can join us for our new series called Do Over.
Don’t you love that our God is a relational God? I do! God has used many ways to communicate with us such as creation, our conscience, Christ and his Words. Even in His word he gives us various types of literature to speak to us: He gave the Pentateuch, (the Law). He gave us history, He gave poetry, and He gave prophecy. He gave the Gospels, and now we come to a new section: the Epistles (or letters) the majority of which were written by Paul.
These letters that we have, these epistles are so warm and so personal that, as far as you and I are concerned, it is just as if they came by special delivery mail to us today. The Lord is speaking to us personally in each one of these very wonderful letters that Paul and the other apostles wrote to the churches. Romans contains the great gospel manifesto for the world. To Paul the gospel was the great ecumenical movement and Rome was the center of that world for which Christ died.
Interesting Facts:
- The book of Romans is the longest letter of all the epistles. (Did you know that Paul’s Epistles are in placed in the New Testament based on length, not chronological order? Galatians was the first epistle that Paul wrote)
- Some commentators and authors say that Romans is Paul’s Magnum Opus.
- Paul had not been to Rome when he wrote the epistle. Romans was written in Corinth about AD 57.
- The letter was evidently carried by a woman name Phoebe, a deaconess (servant) from the church in Rome. ( 16:1).
- The Key Theme is “The Righteousness of God” which Paul uses over 30 times in this epistle.
- Preaching from Romans 1:17 caused a radical transformation in two men who went on to be the founders of two church denominations. See below:
On May 24, 1738, a discouraged missionary went “very unwillingly” to a religious meeting in London. There a miracle took place. “About a quarter before nine,” he wrote in his journal, “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
That missionary was John Wesley. The message he heard that evening was the preface to Martin Luther’s commentary on Romans. Just a few months before, John Wesley had written in his journal: “I went to America to convert the Indians; but Oh! who shall convert me?” That evening in Aldersgate Street, his question was answered. And the result was the great Wesleyan Revival that swept England and transformed the nation.
Paul’s Epistle to the Romans is still transforming people’s lives, just the way it transformed John Wesley.
The one Scripture above all others that brought Luther out of mere religion into the joy of salvation by grace, through faith, was Romans 1:17: “The just shall live by faith.” The Protestant Reformation and the Wesleyan Revival were both the fruit of this wonderful letter written by Paul.
Imagine! You and I can read and study the same inspired letter that brought life and power to Luther and Wesley! And the same Holy Spirit who taught them can teach us! You and I can experience revival in our hearts, homes, and churches if the message of this letter grips us as it has gripped men of faith in centuries past.
Join us as we dive into Romans, be prepared to be transformed by the good news of the gospel, leave your past behind and experience a “do over!”
Darrell
Upwards Church 