Grace Community Church - Nashville

Paul wants his readers (which includes you and I) to have absolute gospel clarity, because only absolute gospel clarity can protect us from the allure of religion to make us right before God. It is entirely possible to live churched, but not saved. It is entirely possible to live around all the things that provide the opportunity for authentic faith, yet not have faith.

What is gospel numbness? Michael Kelley preaches this week from Romans 2:1-16.

The gospel is presented as the answer to many needs, and even desires. But what does the gospel itself tell us about our greatest problem? What is our greatest need? The wrath of God is essential to his righteous nature. God’s wrath is his righteous response to unrighteousness, and those who sin against him are under his wrath. We need a Savior who will deliver us from the wrath of God. Romans includes a lengthy section on the reality of God’s wrath that is designed to lead us to faith in Christ, to worship God, and to live the new life of the Spirit.

The gospel is central to our faith. This center will hold. Romans 1 tells us that the gospel is God’s and it concerns his Son. The gospel is the power of God for salvation because it is the message of what Jesus Christ, the Son of God has done to save us. The saving acts of Christ on our behalf reveal the righteousness of God, which is his right way of making us right with himself as a gift of grace. The gospel will hold because God is true. What will we do with this gospel?

How did Paul go from being a persecutor of the church to an apostle of God who preached the gospel? How did Jews and Gentiles in Rome become the saints of God who belong to Jesus Christ? How did we get here, in this state of grace, believing in Christ, connected as a congregation, and testifying to God’s mercy in the world? Romans reminds us that we are called. God has called us to himself, to each other, and to follow his Son. The question now is, where are we going?