Have you ever read the letter that changed the world? It was written to Christians in one of the most prominent cities of the world today, and it has been changing the history of the world ever since it was written.
A few days before His crucifixion, Jesus gave His disciples a little insight into what was going to happen in the future. Aghast at this news, they asked Him when these things were going to happen. Jesus told about the troubles that were going to come upon the world. He said, “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).
What He said about the end coming after the gospel was preached to all the world was a dual prophecy. Jesus referred to two distinct events. In the first part of Matthew 24, Jesus predicted what would happen before the destruction of Jerusalem. This event was also a type of the destruction that will come upon the whole world at the end of time. Jesus said that before the end would come, the gospel would be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations. And it was preached in all the world as a witness to all nations before Jerusalem was destroyed. We know this because Paul said, “If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister” (Colossians 1:23).
How was it that the apostles were successful in getting the gospel preached to every creature under heaven? Remember, no more than 30 years after the crucifixion of Jesus, the gospel had been preached to the entire world. It was a time when there was no radio, or television, telegraph, telephone, newspapers, or any of the modern media or means of communication that we have available today. Yet the gospel was preached to all the world. It would never have happened without the special blessing and power of the Holy Spirit that came upon the disciples on the Day of Pentecost.
After the apostle Paul was converted on the road to Damascus, he went on missionary tours and raised up churches in the prominent cities of the Roman Empire. Ephesus, Thessalonica, Corinth, Philippi, Antioch, as well as other places he visited to share the gospel. He greatly desired to establish the Christian religion in the city of Rome itself. In a sense, Rome was the capital city of the world in those days. People came and went from that city to and from all parts of the world and Paul knew that if Christianity could be established in Rome, it would go very quickly to all parts of the world. He was right and that is exactly what happened. The gospel at that time had already been preached to every creature under heaven.
But before that, while he was working in the city of Corinth, Paul wrote and sent a letter to the Christians in Rome. He said, “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established—that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me” (Romans 1:8–12).
Continuing he said, “Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. I am a debtor both to Greek and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise.” Paul said, “I’m ready as much as is in me to preach the gospel to you that are in Rome.” And then he said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (verses 13–16).
Paul then proceeded to show that the ancient nations, by not acknowledging God, lost sight of eternal realities. There are a large number of people today who are unaware that there was a time when all the nations in the world knew about the true God. Unfortunately, that knowledge has been lost. Information can be lost in one, or two, or three generations. Paul says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
“For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due” (verses 18–27).
Here we see clearly that the result of people knowing God but refusing to glorify Him as God, not being thankful and not wanting to keep God in their remembrance, is a moral downhill slide. It says, “Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them” (verses 28–32).
The description that the apostle gives is an accurate description of the exact conditions in which the Christians were living in the city of Rome. As one historian said, “Rome was the sewer of the nations.” History of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church, by Henry Charles Lea, 1884.
The Christians in Rome were living in the place where idolatry and paganism reached its greatest heights, but where morality reached the lowest depths. By not acknowledging God, the nations lost sight of eternal realities. People want religion. They want to be saved some way. There are many people even today who believe that they will be saved by going through certain religious rituals or by making certain pronouncements. People claim that because they have made a profession and confessed their faith as a Christian they have a right to be saved. In fact, they quote a text from the book of Romans to try to prove it.
But Paul shows that there is no religious ritual or works that can save a person. Notice what he says in Romans 2:25. He says, “For circumcision [a religious rite] is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.” Concerning religious works, Paul said, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:19, 20).
Paul says that not by the deeds of any law—the moral law, a ritual law, a religious law, a ceremonial law, whatever kind of law it is, by going through religious rituals, or doing certain things, making certain pronouncements—will you ever be saved.
Paul points out that we are all under condemnation and under the penalty of death because we are all violators of God’s law. It says in Romans 6:23, that “the wages of sin is death.” He says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). There is no such thing as a person who hasn’t sinned or who is not a sinner. The apostle John said, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Verse 10 says, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
Everyone in the world has sinned and is under the sentence of death. In Romans 7:10, 11, it says, “And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.”
So, you cannot save yourself by any good work, by any religious ritual, or by any profession or confession. There is no ritual or ceremony you can do or be part of that can save. This is one of the first lessons you learn reading the book of Romans, but do not lose heart. God always has a solution to any problem we may have.
The book of Romans has had an effect that has changed the history of the world ever since it was written because it seems that the majority of people in the world have felt for thousands of years that the way to be saved is to do some good thing, do some good work, go through some religious ritual, be circumcised, become a member of a certain church. However, the apostle Paul shows that none of these things can bring salvation. The Jews thought that if you become a member of their religious organization, you would be saved. Jesus told His disciples that this thought was just a delusion.
Jesus said that if you want to be saved, you had to be directly connected to Him. (See John 15.) The book of Romans teaches us that we cannot perform any good work that will save us from death. Notice what it says in Romans 3:20: “By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Verses 27 and 28 say, “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.”
If we can’t do anything to save ourselves from the penalty of sin, which is death, and we are all sinners, guilty, and all doomed to die, then how are we going to be saved? There’s only one way. You can only be saved by the gift of the grace of God when you believe. Verses 24 to 26 say, “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation [meaning somebody that paid the price] by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Romans 4:1–5 says, “What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.”
You can be saved only by the grace of God, when you believe. Salvation is a gift. As the apostle Paul stated to the church at Ephesus in Ephesians 2:8, salvation is a “gift of God.” Salvation is not of anything that you can work to achieve. However, when you read the rest of the chapter, you will see that to believe means to make a commitment. When Paul talks about believing, he is not just talking about giving an intellectual assent; he means making a life commitment.
Abraham is used as an example. Concerning him, Paul says, “Who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became of the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore ‘it was accounted to him for righteousness’ ” (Romans 4:18–22).
Notice, Abraham believed God, and he acted on that belief. He made a commitment. O, friend, have you made a commitment? There are many people in the world who say, “O, I believe that Jesus is the Christ. I believe that He died on the cross for the sins of the world.” But the Bible says, “The devils believe those things” (James 2:19). The devils believe all those things and tremble, but they are not going to be saved, because their intellectual belief does not lead them to make a commitment with the Lord.
Have you made a commitment with the Lord and committed your life to Him? Or is your religion just a matter of an intellectual assent, and hoping for the best? There are some people who think that because forgiveness comes by grace, by a gift of God, and not by anything that you can do, that you don’t have to do anything. You don’t even need to worry about keeping God’s law anymore. Paul clearly teaches in the book of Romans that that is not the way it is.
He says in Romans 2:13: “For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified.” In Romans 3:31, he says, “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.” Romans 7:7: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet’ ” (referring refers to the 10th commandment).
“But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good” (verses 8–12). Notice, he does not say the law has been done away; he says the law is holy. It has not been made void but established (Romans 3:31). It is those who obey the law who will be justified and receive the gift of salvation. Paul says that the law is holy, and just, and good, and furthermore, he then states that the Christian who has received the Holy Spirit will, through the power of the Holy Spirit, keep God’s law. Notice what he says, in Romans 8:4: “That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Notice, the person who is filled with the Holy Spirit will be keeping God’s law. Who is the person that will be breaking God’s law? Paul says that it’s the person who has not been converted. In fact, he says, the person who has not been converted cannot keep God’s law. “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (verse 7). Who is it who is not subject to the law of God, nor can be? It is the carnal man with the fleshly mind, the unconverted man, the person who has not made a commitment to the Lord. When you make a commitment to Christ, you are forgiven by grace alone when you receive the Holy Spirit, without anything that you do. The Holy Spirit gives you the power to live a new kind of life, one that is in harmony with God’s law. O, friend, has that miraculous change happened in your life? Have you really been converted? Have you received the Holy Spirit and are you resting in the only One who is “able to save to the uttermost” (Hebrews 7:25)?
(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)
Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.