Romans 11:25-32

Here's my text I preached on Romans 11: although I didn't deliver it word for word.
Someone might ask: where the application? The application runs through it: this God can be trusted, and He is very merciful. Is that woolly application? My soul needs to feed on that Sunday by Sunday more than anything else.


Our Merciful Sovereign – Romans 11:25-32
If Christmas hadn't intervened, this would be sermon three on Romans 11 in a row. And Romans 11 is about the Jews. I don't suppose many here are Jewish. I don't suppose many have an interest in the once hot debates concerning the relationship between Jews and non-Jews, that is, Gentiles, in the church. Why should we care less about this stuff? The reason is simple. What's at stake here is God's very character. Will He stick to plan A or have events forced Him to plan B? Can He keep His promises long ago made to the Jewish founding fathers? Does He have a clear purpose in this world? Israel in Paul's day rejected Jesus Christ, their Messiah. Still today, the majority of Jews reject Him. So has God changed plan, abandoned His promises? Is that the kind of God He is? Let me answer that question with three points.

God's ancient plan will be executed
Let's read again verses 25 to 32: I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. God has a plan, and it is in verse 26: All Israel will be saved. What does Paul mean by all Israel? I think there is room for disagreement among Christians on the meaning here. But two options make no sense and I want to exclude them. Firstly, Israel here must refer to the Jewish people. It is always used in contrast to Gentiles – that is, non-Jews. God has big plans to bring faith in Messiah Jesus to the Jews. He can even say of those plans all Israel will be saved. But secondly, the Bible insists again and again on faith in Messiah as the mark of God's people. Paul does not mean that all Jews in every generation will be saved. Jesus Himself called Jewish leaders in His own day children of Satan, and said they did not belong to His flock. Clearly He did not believe them to belong to God's people. I think personally that the old Reformation position on this question is right. Paul expected, and we are to expect, a great turning to God among the Jews before the end of history. And so in that day, all Israel will be saved. God's plan will be executed.
This plan is ancient. It stretches back into the Old Testament, hundreds of years before Jesus. So Paul quotes Isaiah 59:20-21, continuing in verse 26: As it is written: The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. God's plan to send Jesus is clear in the Old Testament. Jesus comes to the ancient people of Israel. He is of the line of David, the king who founded Zion. And He has a mission to end the godlessness of the people of Israel. Isaiah records for us again and again how Israel turned away from God. They decided they didn't really want Him to be their God. They didn't really want to be His people. Because being God's people means having God as God in all their lives. That's what godlessness is. It's not having God as God – as the ruler, the decision maker – in every part of our lives. Jesus came to put an end to godlessness. And a key part of that was that He offered the sacrifice that sealed a new deal – a new covenant it is called in verse 27 – between God and men. That sacrifice was of course His own body and blood on the Cross. At that Cross He did, in the words of verse 27, take away sins. There can't be a successful arrangement or deal – a successful covenant – between God and men where there is sin, that is, godlessness. So at the heart of God's covenant, verse 27, is that He takes away our sins. Now that plan is not some emergency plan. It's not like God thought, “aargh, Israel is being godless. “I need a new plan to deal with this one.” No, His plan was always, from the creation, to send a deliverer and to take away sins. Now reading between the lines of Romans 11, some of the non-Jewish people may have been saying something like this: “The Jews blew it. They simply became godless. So God turned away from them and sent the message about Jesus to us.” No, says Paul. Rather, this hardening of Israel and the conversion of the Gentiles all serves the big picture, that all Israel will be saved. Gentile self-righteous conceit won't do. In fact, Paul strikes a hammer blow at such thinking. The full number of the Gentiles will come in, verse 25, and so by that all Israel will be saved. As Paul puts it back in verse 11 of this chapter, second half of the verse. Salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. The very purpose of non-Jews being saved has a Jewish focus. That should humble any pride among non-Jews. God didn't give up on the Jews as a bad job and then turn to us hoping we're better. No, our very salvation serves His plan for the Jews. A point very humbling for the Jews: it takes getting the rest of the world to turn to Messiah before they recognise Him. God has an ancient plan and He will execute it. All Israel will be saved. That is God's plan, and He executes it. That has a key implication.

God's ancient promises will be kept
Let's read on, verses 28 and 29: As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. The key phrase here is in verse 30. God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. There is a balance in Paul's words here lacking in much Christian discussion today of Israel. Firstly, Paul is a realist, first half of verse 28. As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account. Jews were opposing the gospel. Paul himself was persecuted dreadfully by his own countrymen. Not for him the “Israel is right whatever she does” of some. But neither do we find here the creeping anti-Semitism of too many both without and within the church. He carries on in verse 28: But as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs. God made massive promises to the patriarchs. That word refers to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the first three generations of the family from whom all those whom we today call Jews can claim descent. Our verse tells us that as God works to draw people to His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, He pays particular attention to the Jews. He has a particular settled love for them. Because they are special? By no means! After all, the first half of the verse says they are enemies of the gospel! They oppose the message that Jesus has come as their King and taken away sins. No, God pays special attention to them, loves them with a settled love, because when God promises, He keeps His promise. Verse 30 speaks of His irrevocable gifts and calling. He called them to be His people. He gave them great gifts: promises of blessing, promises of being a great nation, numerous and a blessing to the rest of us, promises of a land. Supremely, He promised them a King, a King who would secure their relationship with Him by defeating their enemies and turning them from godlessness. When God promises, He keeps His promise.

Let's pause there a moment.
We've reflected on the implications of these passages for Israel. Interesting. But what has this talk of God's plan for and promises to Israel got to do with us? Let me give two answers.
Firstly, it shows that God's work in our world may be hidden.
Whatever you may think of the policies of the State of Israel, whatever you may think of the Middle East situation, or even of the situation of Jews elsewhere in the world, one thing is obvious. If God's plan is to turn godlessness from Israel, it doesn't seem to be making great progress. But as soon as we say that, if God's Spirit is at work in us, He taps us on the shoulder and says, “turning godlessness from you isn't making rapid progress either.” Similarly, if God has made all these promises to Israel, why aren't there more Jewish Christians? Why aren't they the people of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? Where is God's saving love for them? The answer is that often God's work is hidden. It is, as Paul called it at the beginning of verse 25, a mystery. The same is true for our own lives. The God whose big picture is saving Israel is our God. He has a plan to turn godlessness from us. He has made promises to us in Christ about never leaving us, about being our God, hearing our prayers and giving us life to the full. Yet so often it doesn't seem that way. He seems slow, even absent. That's because His work in and for us too is often hidden.
Secondly, Israel is a test case.
If God did give up on Israel, then God could not be trusted. Admittedly, His work is hidden. But by the time all His work is revealed, on the day of judgement, He must have saved all Israel. We must see how that promise has been kept. If Paul had to tell us that God had given up on Israel, what security would we have that He wouldn't give up on us? Just as Israel failed in the desert after leaving Egypt, failed again at the foot of Sinai, failed again in the wilderness of Kadesh, failed before, during and after entering the promised land, failed again and again through the period of the judges, failed despite and even because of the kings – in other words, for those not familiar with the details of the Old Testament – kept failing, so I keep failing. If the point comes when He says, “I've had it up to here with Israel, I'm going to find another people,” then why wouldn't He do that to me? Oh, just as Israel has experienced periods of great trial and difficulty, so do we. And ours are not so testing. But Israel is a test case. A God willing to give up on them is one willing to give up on me. And that is a dreadful thought. God doesn't give up. No.


God's eternal purpose will be fulfilled
Let's read again verses 30 to 32: Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. God's plans and promises are ancient. They are as ancient, more ancient, than creation itself. I've called the purpose of God eternal not because God's purpose is older than His plans and promises. That's not possible. His purpose, plans and promises were all set before time began. Rather, by switching from ancient to eternal I want to make a different point. The purpose of God is deeper, more part of God's character, more rooted in God's very person than His plans and promises. God makes His plans and His promises because of who He is. But His purpose is who He is. His purpose is verse 32: For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. And most important in verse 32 are the words: so that he may have mercy. God's purpose is to have mercy. Because that's who He is. One who has mercy. On verses 30 and 31 I will simply quote C K Barrett: "For Jew and Gentile alike, the end of the road is God's mercy; and for each the road leads through disobedience." Jew and Gentile alike knows disobedience. But the road that leads through disobedience leads to mercy. So why do Jews and Gentiles go these roads of disobedience and mercy? Verse 32 again: For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. Note first how this verse begins: For God. We are not talking about random circumstances. Our disobedience is not like a train crash that God stumbles across and takes as an opportunity to show heroism. No, even our disobedience has its place in His purpose. God is the great actor in verse 32. He has bound all men. He does that so that He may have mercy. He's been the great actor in all this reading. Verse 27: it's God's covenant and He takes away sins. Verse 29: God has called and God has given gifts and God won't go back on it. In fact, God is the great actor in all of Romans. God has acted in Jesus Christ to justify us, that is, to make us right with Himself, free of accusation before His own court, by transferring the guilt and punishment of our sins to Christ and crediting to our account the very perfect obedience of Christ. For God – this verse is about God acting. What does He do? Two things.
Firstly, God has bound all men over to disobedience
We are responsible for our disobedience. This verse in no sense excuses us. But God binds us up in it. In Romans 1, we saw that He hands us over to sin. We choose sin and He abandons us to it. He lets us fall under its sway. But that's not all. He then gives us the Law. The Law does two things. Firstly, it condemns us. It shows us our objective guilt in God's court. It shows us that we deserve only God's punishment. But secondly, the Law eggs on sin. Remember how in Romans 7, the Law shows sin how to sin. Paul gives the example of the sin of coveting. Sin seizes the opportunity of the Law to show God how much it hates Him by breaking that commandment. And so the Law which condemns us as sinners also sends us spiralling deeper and deeper into sin. And what we need to understand is the sheer magnitude of our problem. We have disobeyed God. We are condemned under His Law. And yet in us is the death wish of sin. Even a man-made sign saying “keep off the grass” makes us want to trample all over it. God's Law really gets us going. God has bound us over to disobedience. He has trapped us in it, let it rule us. He has not mitigated our disobedience but lets it swallow us. Why? Second half of the verse.
So that he may have mercy.
I don't know how good you are at going to the doctor's. I hate it. And it's time out of my busy schedule. I'll only go if I'm utterly convinced of the need. If we take seriously the first half of Romans 11:32, as I've explained it in the light of all that Paul has said previously in the letter, we can see we and all humanity has a great need. And that gives God the opportunity to show mercy. God doesn't show leniency – that is, letting us off because generally we're alright. We're bound in disobedience. From His perspective, we're not generally alright. We are pitifully lost, trapped in and swallowed up by disobedience. And that's what opens the door to mercy. As our situation is so dreadful, He can show mercy. He can show the full extent of His mercy – just how merciful He really is. Our situation could not be worse. So He can show exactly how far He is willing to go for us. To a poor, cold stable. To 33 years as an outsider. To rejection. To a show trial, mockery, beatings. To a Cross. To receiving Himself the punishment that He rightly ought mete out to us. To hell. God executes His ancient plan and keeps His ancient promises. He never gives up on Israel – He's made His promises to them. That assures us He is a faithful God able to do what He says He will. But plans and promises serve a purpose. That purpose is to have mercy. Mercy on the disobedient.

Romans 11

There is no better time to be preaching through Romans 11 than during a Middle East crisis - NOT! There are always Christians whose focus is too much on the 1948 state when you say "Israel", although they to my mind often merely balance the outrageous bias the other way of others. Neither those in Hamas who happily force children into martyrdom (what can a seven year old do with 72 virgins anyway?) nor those in Israel who accept the temptation to cause such (oh hateful phrase) "collateral damage" are to be condoned, nor can we sympathise greatly with anyone except the suffering, although empathy (which is different - check your dictionary) with tiny Israel surrounded by hostile powers does not seem unreasonable to my mind.
But the great thing about Romans 11 is that is simply off topic. I don't need to preach Israel next Sunday. Here's something that got my spiritual juices flowing as I prepared the text using e-sword (which explains some font failure for Greek and Hebrew quotes.) Feel free to correct errors - you have until Friday, when I write the sermon!

For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, that you might not be understanding to yourselves, that hardening in part has come to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel will be saved, as is written,
Out of Zion comes the Deliverer,
He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob
And this to them the covenant I have made,
When I forgive their sins.
These three theologically packed verses hang on the correct interpretation of the word "Israel". A quick search on the use of "Israel" in Romans shows that it is used frequently in opposition to the elect or to the Gentiles in Romans 9-11 and only in Rom_9:6 is it used in any other sense, being used here to distinguish Israel, the descendants of the patriarchs from Israel from Israel the elect line counted descendants of Abraham and so receivers of the promise (note the parallelism in Rom_9:6-7).
Therefore the bringing in of the Gentiles serves the purpose of bringing in Israel! All Israel will be saved because in fact the mission to the Gentiles will make the Jews jealous of the nations who serve their Messiah (Rom_11:13-14).
Paul does not want the Romans to be ignorant of the mystery he is about to reveal because the alternative to revelation is παρ᾿ ἑαυτοῖς φρόνιμοι, that is, speculation, literally, being insightful or understanding to or for ourselves, rather than turning to God for insight and understanding. These words stand out as a clear call to revelation based theology. Where we speculate, we are being exactly that which the NIV and ESV accuse us of being - conceited. For the danger with speculation is that as soon as we arrogate to ourselves the right to do theology rather than listen to it, we then end up with a theology that glorifies us rather than glorifying God.
Israel's hardening is to be put in the context of a plan, a plan conceived in heaven, in which the bringing in of the fullness of the Gentiles not only works out God's purpose to save from among the nations, it being too little for Messiah only to save Israel (Isa_49:6), but in which His very calling the Gentiles serves His Israel plan. In this sense, the Gentile plan serves the Israel plan: Gentiles are brought to God in order to bring in Israel.
That naturally has implications for mission to the Jews: firstly, the clear teaching here that God's plan has two distinctive parts tells us that Jewish mission must be part of the ministry of God's people, yet secondly all mission serves the aim of Jewish evangelism, for whatever we do to bring in the fullness of the Gentiles serves the purpose of bringing in Israel.
The Isaiah quote underlines the Jewishness of the saving work of God: from Zion, to turn ungodliness from Jacob, according to the covenant. Romans has unpacked the gospel of the forgiveness of sins by way of the justification of the ungodly by Jesus Christ. To expect this gospel not to be fully effective for the ancient covenant purposes of God would be most strange. This new David, from David's city, must surely not just rule the nations but save Israel and bring them to godliness.
The phrase ἡ παρ᾿ ἐμοῦ διαθήκη is quite striking, as Paul has not chosen the simpler ἡ διαθήκη ἐμοῦ. The genitive attribute παρ᾿ ἐμοῦ underlines the active nature of God in this covenant (see Bauer on παρά I4a). It accurately reflects the LXX of Isa 59:20-21, which translates presumably the extra emphasis of אני in the Hebrew. The passage is insistent on the activeness of God: He is the saving covenant actor.
Hence overall in these verses we here the voice of the Sovereign God challenging us: who gets to decide our theology? Who gets to decide who gets saved how (one thinks further of Isa_45:1-13 and particularly God's response to those who challenge the use of a pagan king to save; but we could also consider the Gentiles who don't like seeing their salvation as in any sense secondary)? The answer is found in the answer to this question: who is the author and executor of the covenant? He decides.

Our Two Intercessors

Continuing reflection on Romans 8 and particularly the intercession of the Spirit.
Romans 8 is a passage about eschatological tension, and our groaning flows out of looking forward to the glorious hope of the revelation of the sons of God.
The groans of the Spirit are an acceptable prayer to the Father, because they express our eschatological yearning, for Christ to return, for our adoption, for our freedom and for our redeemed bodies. It is a forward looking prayer, concerning ultimately the work of the Spirit Himself, namely our uniting to Christ, our sanctification and the renewal of all things. It is a prayer from earth, because the Spirit is with and in us.
Contrast that with the heavenly intercession of Christ: not on earth, but before heaven's throne. Although I can't find where John Owen gets it from, he argues that it is also unspeaking, the showing of His Calvary wounds; that would be an interesting half-similarity, half-difference to the Spirit's groans. Christ's intercession is also not forward, but backward-looking, looking back to Calvary, to redemption not future but past and complete. And like the Spirit's intercession concerned the Spirit's work, so Christ's intercession concerns His own work.
In this intercession we see therefore the communion of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each in their common cause and in their genuine trialogue concerned for their own ministry to bring glory to the unity. And we see how dependent we are on a sovereign Trinity to save us: for without Christ's intercession, why should we benefit from His Cross, and given that we don't know how to pray in line with God's will (Romans 8:26), without the Spirit's intercession, how would we make any progress in the Christian life?
Praise God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, our saving Trinity, for their pursuit of their own glory in the demonstration of their saving grace and power!

Groaning in Romans 8

There's nothing like doing all age talks on Romans. I've done Romans 2:17-29, on this coming Sunday I'm doing Romans 8:18-30, and in November I'm doing Romans 11:1-10.
That's one cause for groaning in Romans 8: how do you present it to the full range from 4 to 84 in church?
But I was very encouraged to reconsider the passage, and particularly when Anders Nygren confirmed my reading. The Spirit groans in sympathy with creation and with Christians. His prayer of groaning is acceptable because that is exactly the right thing to pray as we long for the redemption of our bodies, the end of the battle with indwelling sin. Which leads to a striking application: if the Spirit's prayer for us, fully conformed to God's will for us, is to groan with us, then we ought to groan more in prayer. I'm going to groan more: that would suit my situation.
Another thing about the groaning. The groan of creation in 8:22 is sympathetic - check out the Greek. It is not the groans of a mother in childbirth, rather it is the husband alongside, sharing but contributing directly to the process, because of love and the desire to see the revelation of the child. In one sense that matters because it cleans some English translations from the charge of pantheism; but it also points to the labour of God, for it is He who is doing the life-bringing-forth work that creation groans to see the fruit of.

Romans 2:1-16

Most of my talks in church have been all-age of late, but I preached a sermon to the adults only today, and as they work in written form, here it is:

Romans 2:1-16 – No Leniency for the Law-Abiding

Chapters 1 and 2 of Romans are not easy. They speak of the state of human beings without Christ. Guilty before God. Caught in the power of sin. No excuses. Paul showed that in Romans 1 for the unbelieving world. He showed that they had no excuse for not knowing God. Creation gives them sufficient knowledge of God. But they suppress it because they don't want to glorify God and thank Him. So God hands them over to the power of sin. They have a knowledge of God's righteous decree. They ignore it. And so they are guilty. You can imagine the situation in Rome as the letter is read. Someone stands up. “Here, here, Paul. You tell it like it is. It's dreadful what's going on out there. Praise God that we have His laws and know the way to go.”

Paul answers back in verse 1 of chapter 2.

You therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgement on some else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgement do the same things.

The language of this section and the discussion of the law in verses 12 to 16 persuade me that Paul has a very specific audience in mind for these words. He's talking to the synagogue. Many of Rome's Christians will have come from synagogues. Synagogue thinking was in their bloodstream. In the synagogue there were two groups of people. There were the Jews, to whom he will speak specifically in verses 17 to 29. But in this first half of the chapter, he's not just speaking to them. He's speaking to a second group as well. Those Gentiles, non-Jews, who had found in the synagogue a refreshing change from Gentile society. They realised that the Jewish Law offered a superior lifestyle. They found the God of Israel plausible. These so-called God-fearers are also being addressed here. Paul's speaking to all who, verse 13, hear the law, that is, the Law of God. He's speaking to all who, verse 2, share his basic view of God's judgement. He's speaking in his own day to the synagogue. He's speaking in the 21^st century to all who hear God's Law. He's speaking to all who call themselves Christians. And his message is stark. Some parts of this passage sound a little tricky. But the main argument is simple and devastating. If you came to church to be patted on the head today, you'll leave disappointed. If you came today thinking you're the kind of person God wants around, forget it. Until we despair of such things, we won't hear God's real good news. That's where Paul is taking us today: to the point where we despair of our own righteousness.

Righteousness is a key word in Romans. To be righteous is match up to the standards of God's Law. The righteous person is found innocent and worthy of eternal life in God's court. People in the synagogue thought themselves righteous. They thought they would be fine on the last day. Paul has a shock in store for them and us. He has two main points: God judges deeds by the highest standard. God's kindness and patience will come to a terrible end.

Here's the major point.

God judges deeds by the highest standard.

Let's read some verses together – follow along as I read them out: Verse 1 again:

You therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgement on some else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgement do the same things.

Verse 6:

God “will give to each person according to what he has done.”

Verses 9 and 10:

There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew and then for the Gentile; but glory, honour and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew and then for the Gentile.

Verse 13:

For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.

Judgement is all about what you do. Hearing the law, verse 13, won't do. Judging others by the law, so agreeing with its standards, verse 1, won't do. Those in the synagogue listened to the law. They agreed with its judgement on the outside world. They nodded sagely in agreement with its standards and condemnations. They knew something of God. But the judgement is by deeds. God doesn't make people His favourites because they know about Him. God does not show favouritism, verse 11. Which means verse 12:

All those who sin apart from law will also perish apart from the law, and all those who sin under the law will be judged by the law.

If a person sins not knowing God's standard, they die. As we saw two weeks ago, they're without excuse – they have the message of creation. But if we sin knowing God's standard, then we'll be judged by it. And the standard is high. In fact, it couldn't be higher. Verses 7 and 8:

To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honour and immortality, He will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

What kind of doing good wins glory, honour and immortality? Persistent doing good. No mistakes, nor errors, nor slip-ups. The words Paul uses mean unwavering, unfailing, without fault. The standard is unchanging perfection. If we want to be righteous, that's the mark we have to hit. But self-seeking, being motivated by what we can get for ourselves, will kill us. As soon as we pursue our own agendas, so reject God's truth and follow evil, that's it. Our English Bible here has done very well with “self-seeking”. Some, verse 7, seek glory, honour and immortality. They seek God – for these things are of God. Others, verse 8, are self-seeking. Again and again their deeds are besmirched by ambition and selfishness. There are the God-seeking and the self-seeking. And as soon as self-seeking slips in, we belong to that group. Isn't that all of us? If we are measured by the standards of the Law, are we not lost? If all we have is knowledge of God and His laws, we have nothing. All we have on the last day is the very Law that exposes and condemns us. And that day is coming. Paul's second devastating point:

God's kindness and patience will come to a terrible end.

Paul has shown us that when God judges, He judges by works and His standard is perfection. And Paul has said that there is no favouritism. But there is one hope surely? What about God's kindness, tolerance and patience? Won't He forgive His people their sins?

Paul has said to his audience that their best will never do. So they start to hope that God will overlook their sins. They want God to be lenient. Let me say that this is common thinking in Christian circles today. It is increasingly common to think of God as lenient. That precious word forgiveness has been used to support this view.

Firstly, some Christians think that God grades on a curve. It's as if heaven is for those who get 60% or more on the being good exam. God is forgiving. Get your 60% and He'll forgive the rest. But essentially heaven is for good people. And that viewpoint quickly leads people to a second. It doesn't really matter what you believe. It matters how you live. We talk about deeds mattering more than creeds. Or we see the beautiful character and lifestyle of a non-Christian and think, “oh, God will surely let them in.” In conservative, Bible-believing circles a similar view has found respect. People say, “God welcomes you into the church because of Jesus. Your sins are forgiven. You have a wonderful relationship with God. But you need to work at that relationship. God gives you His Spirit so that you can. But you need to keep that relationship going and growing. Because on the last day, God will judge whether you've fully lived that relationship.”

I've myself said things pretty close to that. But, again, human effort is required. This time, God begins the process and we finish it up. But again, our deeds will be judged. Without our deeds, no heaven. We have to contribute something, we have to be good, do the right things. It boils down to something like this: God is gracious to people who are good. Or: Do your best and God will forgive the rest. Perhaps more subtly: God forgives people who live for Him.

So, like the people Paul was writing to, Christians hope that God in His kindness, tolerance and patience will be lenient towards their failings. We hope that He will be lenient because we're doing enough to win His leniency. Paul's answer to that thought is a massive blow. Look at verse 4:

Do you show contempt for the riches of God's kindness, tolerance and patience, not realising that God's patience leads you towards repentance?

God won't accept they've done their best and then forgive the rest. His patience with them now is so they get their lives sorted out, up to scratch. God is patient with people now not because He's lenient. He wants people to repent. And when people don't repent, His patience means this, verse 5:

You are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath.

Notice how Paul repeats that word “wrath” for good effect? God is kind and patient to everyone at the moment. He hasn't come in His full wrath fully to reveal His righteous judgement on all. But one day that kindness and patience will end. And anyone who does not get themselves sorted out, who does not repent and match up to God's standards is going to find wrath stored up against them.

The hope of Jew and God-fearing Gentile in the synagogue was that God would acknowledge their listening to and approving the law, even keeping much. They hoped that God would then forgive their failings. But Paul says “no”. God judges deeds, and judges them by the highest standard. God's kindness and patience will come to a terrible end. The only option is repentance. And we're only in Romans 2. Paul hasn't told us about Jesus yet. That repentance is a turning away from sin to perfection. Our only hope in Romans 2 is to reach the standard of God's judgement. And that is no hope at all. There is no good news in our passage. The reason for that is simple. This passage is here to drive us away from any last trace of trust in our own righteousness. Every moment in which we are unrepentant concerning our sins stores up wrath. Oh, we may be hearers of the law, but verse 13 tells us we must do the Law. We may approve God's judgement of outsiders, but verses 1 and 3 tell us that we judge ourselves and our own sins when we do that. No, we are no better off than unbelievers. As verse 14 points out, they too sometimes do what the Law requires. And we see that every day. As verse 15 points out, they have crises of conscience. They have thoughts accusing them as well as thoughts defending them. You don't need to be a God person to be a good person.

It may even be that our sins are very secret. But look at verse 16.

This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets.

Even our secret sins will be found out. We can't hide our secrets from God. Verse 16 puts an end to every hope that we can trust in our own righteousness. Let me ask you this question. If I put on a video of edited lowlights from your thoughts this week, would you stay? Would you ever come again? I wouldn't. My secrets condemn me. They reveal how I am part of humanity under sin. Even going half and half with God won't do. Verse 16 surely ends our hope. Our righteousness is in tatters. However good we are, we'll never meet the standard. And God simply is not lenient. Hope is gone. Or is it? Verse 16 again:

This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

When Paul proclaimed his gospel of Jesus Christ, he proclaimed this judgement. This message prepares us to accept what comes next: The good news. God's judgement is by the highest standard. But there was One who, in the words of verse 7, sought glory, honour and immortality, to whom God has given eternal life. Jesus Christ.

Our hope is not that we'll reach the standard or God will be lenient. Our hope is Jesus Christ. He reached the standard for us. And God the Father has given Him glory, honour and immortality. That glory includes being the Saviour of sinners. It reveals just how perfect, righteous and obedient Christ was that God declares Him Saviour of sinners.

We're celebrating Communion, so let me explain what I'm saying using Communion as an illustration. And as you receive, consider each step as acting out the drama of your salvation. We're going to use the Prayer of Humble Access. Look at it on the service sheet. Look how we say that we come “trusting not in our own righteousness.” We declare ourselves unworthy. Then we look away from ourselves to Christ, to His death. We ask for cleansing through His death.

Then, the meal having been consecrated, we come. We kneel – in heart, even if our bodies can't manage it. We are not worthy. Who are we? We are those who have not matched the standard. We have no hope of leniency. But what do we receive? We receive Christ. We receive tokens of that righteous body that died a sinner's death. We receive tokens of that righteous blood that was shed. We receive by faith the Righteous One. And so, one with Him, the Righteous One, we meet the standard, because He met the standard for us and we have received Him by faith. And receiving Him means receiving His righteousness. So we need no leniency from God. We need no leniency because God has shown us something better. He has shown us His grace.

Romans 5

I was interested to note that according to Anders Nygren (Commentary on Romans), Romans 5 is seen as an aside, a parenthesis, by many commentators.
That doesn't make sense to me. Romans 1:18-3:20 portrays humanity as under God's wrath, under the power of sin, condemned by the law, and not helped by it but rather driven further into sin by it, and doomed to die. Romans 3:21-5:11 explains what God has done outside of me, portraying the righteousness that is from God and is appropriated by faith.
Something has been done for me, that assures me of eternal hope, God's love and final salvation from wrath. But one more step needs to be made in the argument, or Romans 6ff won't make sense. I need to be shown that I am not just saved from things happening to me by something happening for me, but that something has happened to me: I have come under something new. I am not under wrath, sin, law and death, but under Christ and righteousness. Justification is not simply a legal deal outside of me, but it impacts on my relationship with everything that I was under, because I have been shifted out of the old humanity and into the new one. Neither the symbolism of baptism and its impact on my sinning (Romans 6:1-14) nor the tyranny of the law and its ending (Romans 7:1-6) makes any sense without understanding my transfer explained in Romans 5. Does it?
I'm beginning to think Romans 5:12-21 is the key to Romans, even if Romans 8 is the high point and Romans 9 the point at which the monergism of the book is driven home.
Anyway, I prayed very differently this morning, praying that I would live the life of one baptised into Christ and free from law's tyranny, as appropriate to one under Christ and not in Adam, and as I did so, it was so obvious sin just doesn't fit with who I am by grace in Christ.