Beginning in chapter 12, Paul has been writing a series of practical exhortations to the church.  He started off in ch.12 vs 1 saying that as Christians we have a responsibility to present our bodies to the church as a living sacrifice, which is our reasonable service of worship. Now as we have learned, the church is not a building, nor a denomination, but a people.  The church is the eklesia, the called out ones, the assembly of believers who make up Christ’s body in local community.  So we are to physically present ourselves to be a part of that

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If you were here for the last few weeks in our study of Romans 12, then you will remember that chapter 12 deals with the practical application of the doctrine espoused in the first eleven chapters.  And practically speaking, chapter 12 is focused on the life of the church.  Paul says how we are live out the doctrines of justification and sanctification and glorification is by presenting our bodies physically to the church body, as a living sacrifice which is our worship to the Lord.   And the dominate focus of the chapter deals with how we live out our

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Jesus told His disciples in John 13:34-35 that “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” So in the church we are commanded to love one another, and we will be characterized by our love for one another. Now Paul is talking to the church in this chapter, giving them practical exhortation on how to live out their salvation. And Paul is saying in this passage

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When I look at what a lot of other preachers and teachers and commentators have said about this chapter before us, I think in some respects that many of them are guilty of dealing with  these passages out in a piecemeal sort of way.  What I mean by that is, they take them completely out of context with one another.  For instance, they look at vs1 and 2 separately from the rest of the chapter and see it as some sort of post conversion consecration of the individual believer.  Then in vs 3-8 they tend to disregard the previous verses

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Last week I went through the entire chapter 11 in one sermon.  Something I normally don’t attempt to do.  Today I am only going to be looking at two verses.  Oddly enough, the sermon length should be exactly the same. I think that the two verses we are looking at today are some of the most important in Romans. They serve as the culmination of Paul’s entire epistle and his argument up to this point.  Up through chapter 11 he has examined and explained the theology of our salvation; particularly the grace and mercies of God in producing and procuring

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The previous chapter ended with the verse which says, in Rom 10:21 “But as for Israel [God] says, “ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE.” And we determined last week that verse emphasizes the patience and mercy of God, in waiting for and calling to a rebellious people that are always resisting His call. It emphasizes that even though Israel as a nation rebelled against God, He is pursuing them even to this day. Yet this rebellion raises the question which Paul asked in vs 1, “I say then, God has

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A couple of weeks ago as we studied chapter 9 we learned about the sovereignty of God in salvation.  That God has the sovereign right to be merciful to whom He will be merciful and to harden those whom He hardens.  It is the doctrine of the election and predestination of God in salvation.  Then in the first section of chapter 10 which we looked at last week Paul shows us the other side of the coin of salvation; that being the responsibility of man.  Man must believe in HIs heart, he must confess with his mouth the Lord Jesus. 

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Last week, as we studied the previous chapter, we learned of the sovereignty of God in salvation. Yet even though God is sovereign, and He gives mercy to whom He will give mercy, and He hardens the heart of them whom He desires, yet even so, God does not work independently of us and our desires. And so God instructs us to pray for the lost, to pray for their salvation. Paul uses himself as an example of prayer for the lost. And he uses his kinsmen, his nation, his people as examples of those whom he will pray for.

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Today we are talking` about the sovereignty of God.  That is the title of my message, and it has been the  underlying subject of Paul’s message in the last couple of chapters of Romans.  We have not highlighted God’s sovereignty so much up to this point because there were other sub-elements of God’s character that Paul was emphasizing in those passages.  But nevertheless, the underlying principle of much of what we have studied over the past couple of chapters is the the sovereignty of God. Now what do we mean by that term, sovereignty? Sovereignty refers to the authority to

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