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2. WHY STUDY ROMANS? You must know that the most important issue in your life is your relationship to the One Holy Triune Creator God. If you think _______ is more important (and you get it or don’t get it) then studying Romans can seem irrelevant - even irritating, and not life giving.

3. ROMANS CHAPTERS 1-8 1-3: Everyone’s problem – The Law requires righteousness – No one is righteous – On Judgment Day you will go to hell forever 3-5 How your problem is resolved – By grace through faith you trust that – Christ paid the penalty for your unrighteousness – Christ covers you with His righteousness – You are justified, forgiven, & adopted by God 6-8 After your problem is resolved – You have a new relationship to Christ – You have a new relationship to the Law

4. CHRISTIAN LIFE BY GOD’S GRACE Chosen by God before creation Born again by the Holy Spirit – Regeneration Internally called by the Holy Spirit Godly sorrow over their sin Confession of their sin Repentance from their sin Faith/Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ Justified, forgiven & adopted by the Father Baptized to publically identify with Jesus Christ Sanctified progressively by the Holy Spirit on earth Glorified by God when in heaven

5. ILLUSTRATIONS OF CONVERSION RELEASED FROM THE LAW Baptism: 6:1-14 Slaves to a New Master: 6:15-23 New Marriage: 7:1-6

6. RELEASED FROM THE LAW Christ has fulfilled the Law for you and set you free from Law keeping to be related to God You are now married to Christ You are filled with the Holy Spirit You are now free to live righteously by the power of the Holy Spirit because you love Christ

7. THEN – BUT NOW 7:5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

8. GOD’S REVEALED WILL: THE LAW GOOD OR SINFUL? Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. Psalm 119:97 Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.

9. GOD’S REVEALED WILL: THE LAW GOOD OR SINFUL? 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law Being under the Law: – keeps us from marriage to Christ – arouses sin in our lives that leads to death – impedes life in the Holy Spirit

10. DEFENSE OF THE LAW 7:7-13 7:7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.

11. DEFENSE OF THE LAW 7:7-13 7:11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. 13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.

12. THE LAW EXPOSES SIN 7:7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

13. PRIDE: EXTERNAL LAW KEEPING Philippians 3:4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

14. THE LAW AROUSES SIN 7:8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.

15. THE LAW CONDEMNS SIN 7:9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

16. LAW VS. SIN 7:12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. 13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.

17. A NEW RELATIONSHIP TO THE LAW & CHRIST BY GRACE John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

18. PRINCIPLES God’s Law is holy, righteous, and good Without the Law you can be deceived that you are doing fine You must know God’s law to be convicted of sin It is a blessing and a necessity to be convicted of our sin You must know God’s law to love Christ, live for Christ, and resist temptation by the power of the Holy spirit

19. APPLICATIONS By God’s grace have you been convicted of your sin, confessed your sin, repented of your sin, and trusted in Christ to pay the penalty for your sin? What are you doing with God’s Word now? ( not a legalist and not an antinomian) How does your life demonstrate that you love Christ above all things?