The "O" in R.O.M.A.N.S.

Continuation from "R" in R.O.M.A.N.S.

I would say if given the option that that entire Bible would be taken away--God forbid!--save for just one book, I would have to keep Romans. In so many ways, Paul saved his best stuff for this Epistle. It is the entire Gospel message condensed and expounded, explained, unpacked, verified by other Biblical references, and logically lays out that man can never be justified by works and obedience to the law, but only by Jesus Christ, who was perfectly God and perfectly man, who made the ultimate atoning sacrifice to reconcile man to God. I believe this is why Paul's Epistle to the Romans comes right after the four Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, because in so many ways it makes sense of the five books before it. So, through Romans, let's look at how Paul logically unpacks the Gospel message through the acronym R.O.M.A.N.S.

It is rather common for evengelists preaching the Gospel and following the "Romans Road" to quote Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fallen short to the Glory of God," but I feel often the next verse should be quoted as well: verse 24 "and ALL are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." We discussed before that by man's works and attempted obedience to the law, our righteousness is ruined. But now we enter the next phase, the "O" in R.O.M.A.N.S. I would say is "Offered Righteousness." That is to say that by faith alone do we recieve the righteousness and grace offered to us by God through the atoning sacrifice of Christ.

I know to many who have been saved for a good long time, this seems like "baby stuff" in the realm of spiritual maturity. But for many others, this concept has been an unscalable wall for so long and has hindred their growth in Christ. I have seen it time and time again people acknowledging Christ as Savior and professing Him as Lord, but then get tangled in His words recorded in the Gospels. Jesus says challenging things, like telling the rich man to sell all his possessions to follow God, and that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich person to ener the Kingdom. These were heavy statements and it was Jesus' way of showing that the true ultimate following of the law would require things that no person was truly capable, except Him, to carry out. But folks get hung up on their inability to obey fully that they sink into despair, resent, and lament their failures. And rightly so for the wages of sin is death! But let us remember and understand that the wages of good works is not Heaven. We cannot earn it, it is a gift to be accepted. And we can only accept it by faith.

This is what Paul points out in the "O" section, that by faith alone can we accept this righteousness imparted upon us by Christ shedding His blood on the cross. We accept it, it covers us, blots out our sins, and when God sees us, He sees the righteousness of Christ. Then we can truly obey, move, and work for the Glory of the King in His Kingdom! Amen!

I put it in this illustration: picture a deep ravine and on one side is you, and the other is God. Our sin dug that ravine, made the sides steep, the depths bottomless, and impossible for us to cross. If we tried we would fall for eternity. Now, Jesus built, through His atoning sacrifice, an invisible bridge from one side to the other and bids us to come to the Father. You have to make the decision to move, will you take that step of faith? We can't build our own bridge out of our feeble attmpts at obeying the law and doing good works. As much as so many try to, feeling this bridge is visible and so they can trust it more. But it's a futile attempt.

Faith is true trust in God and in His sovereignty. That He is good, He is compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in grace, and He is love. He works all things for the best! It takes faith to not let our circumstances and past mistakes hinder us from taking that step of faith. But it is through that faith do we receive the righteousness of Christ and therefore the ability to come into the wonderful presence of our Creator!

Bless you, Beloved of Christ, for He did this for every one of us, He paved the way to bridge the gap. Let us move in faith to Him! Next Paul describes through the history of Biblical Heroes of the Faith how it is not a new concept that faith is the key to righteousness in the "M" section of R.O.M.A.N.S.

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