God’s Gospel
Selected Scriptures in Romans
October 24, 2021
I preached the first sermon in the series on Romans on May 10 — in 2015. That was 6-1/2 years ago. Now, not every sermon in those years has been from Romans. I counted, and today’s final sermon is #161 — an average of 10 sermons per chapter. In case you are wondering, the most sermons were preached on chapter eight (21 sermons) and the least on chapter 16 (four sermons). I figured that I may have written something around 1 million words of study notes on the book, and over half a million additional words in my sermon manuscripts. We’ve been here for a while.
So as we come to the end of this great letter, what will we say about it? On a personal level, this has been a most remarkable journey for me. I always love preaching everything I get to preach from the Bible. Everything in this book is profitable for teaching, reproving, correcting, and training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Just as our Savior loved all His disciples, so we love everything in this book. But just as the Savior loved all His disciples, three stood in an inner circle of fellowship with Him — Peter, James, and John. In a similar manner, three books have particularly impacted me when I preached them — Ephesians, 1 John, and Romans. And of three Jesus’ disciples, only one was called “beloved” — John. And of my three books, one is particularly beloved — Romans.
Part of the wonder of Romans for me is the season in which I preached it — when my theology has become settled and sure, and I saw its magnificence and delight in ways I could not have seen 25-30 years ago. Part of its wonder is also that I repeatedly had it minister to my own soul, week-by-week. Many weeks in studying I had to stop and pray with gratitude as tears clouded my eyes from reading my books. This letter has been a balm of comfort and a source of wisdom to my own heart.
And while my exposition of the letter finished on October 3, I couldn’t just leave it behind. I needed to write an “afterword” or an “Epilogue” — a “coda” for a musical letter to the soul. This is that last word.
We introduced the book with an overview of it in the first sermon and I have done a number of “summary” sermons along the way, condensing Paul’s thoughts. So you can go back to those messages if you want more comprehensive overviews of the flow and structure of the book. Today I want to conclude with my gratitude for the book and why I love this letter. I will summarize this message similarly to how I summarized the introduction to this letter in my first sermon:
Romans is God’s gospel — God’s power for salvation to all who believe..
Here are five reasons to be grateful for the book of Romans:
- Romans is Gospel-Centered
- Romans is Biblically-Based
- Romans is Missions-Driven
- Romans is Church-Building
- Romans is God-Glorifying
Download the rest of this summary sermon on Romans.
The audio will be posted on the GBC website by tomorrow.
Photo Attributed to Rembrandt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Words of Grace 
