Paul is nearly finished with his letter to the Romans. Before he signs off for good, he sends some greetings and a final exhortation.

In chapter 14 Paul takes all he’s explained already and applies it to one specific case to show how the gospel transforms the individual and the community at the same time. He shows how gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture.

In Romans 13, Paul helps us think through how to approach government and its role in our life, and how love for others and Christ compels our lives to be lived differently.

In Romans 1-11, Paul lays out the foundation for gospel doctrine. In Romans 12, he begins to explain how that gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture.

The big question before us is whether Israel has a future or not.

because the Jews twisted the law from a pointer to God into a ladder to God, when Christ appeared, Israel stumbled over him because they had always stumbled over the law.

Romans 9-11 is not easy to grasp, but if you are willing to work through the initial pushback, you’ll find behind these words a big God. And as Michael Bird says, “If you wrestle with a big God, you will begin to develop big faith muscles.”

We can’t know everything about God, but one thing we can know is summed up in verse 28, “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

The law was universally binding but deadly. Jesus is selectively binding but life-giving. We can perish under the law, or we can come under the grace of Christ.

The question that remains is not “will we receive grace?” but rather “what will we do with the grace we received?” There are two options before us. We can use grace as an excuse to sin or we can use grace as power to obey.

Romans 4 is all about justification by faith, and Paul’s argument is that’s what the Bible is all about too. How are we set right with God? By faith in Christ. How can we know? Because the Bible tells us so – Paul, as well as the Old Testament. 

If we are saved by Christ alone, apart from all our works, how in the world can we boast about what we’ve done? The law of works leads itself to boasting in obedience. But the law of faith excludes boasting because it is not our obedience at all. It is Christ’s obedience.  

In the gospel, God found a way to accept us and keep his standards. Will we have him under the terms of the gospel, or will we refuse his grace in our attempt to justify ourselves?

A good preacher lifts the gospel, takes a scalpel, and cuts it wide open, letting the guts fall out to reveal the insides. What we need is not a surface level understanding of the best news the world has ever heard. We need to see it all, guts and everything. That’s what Paul does in the book of Romans. He cuts deep into the gospel of Jesus Christ and shows us the glory within.