Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Exposition of Chapter 1: The Gospel of God
Chapter Seven

Romans 1:2 …which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures…

Why a long gap from Eden to Calvary?

i) God revealing the depth of Sin. Though the Jews heard the truth, they were blinded by sin, they had a veil over their hearts  (2 Cor 3)

ii) God proving Man’s attempt to save himself is futile. God gave man a full opportunity of saving himself, but he could not do it.

iii) God showing His own Lordship over all, absolute control, final authority. He chose a people, gave them a law, but they could not keep it. At Calvary, Satan is silenced, God is just, and there is not a word that can be said against Him, His ordering of the life of the world, or of His great salvation.

Paul preached Christ from the Old Testament

Paul was always anxious to show the gospel was not a departure from the past, nor a complete break with the OT Scriptures. It was a continuation of what God had already been doing – which started back in Eden.

Paul would prove to the Jews from their own Scriptures that their needed to be a Suffering Servant who would be rejected and put to death. If he couldn’t establish that, how could he possibly convince them?

All those promises are yes and amen in this Christ Jesus.

8 Lessons from Paul preaching from the OT:

i) The Bible is complete. OT + NT (the Canon of scripture) is the complete revelation that God has given to man concerning His truth. There is not continued extra revelation (immaculate conception, worshipping Mary..) All we need is in the bible.

ii) The Bible is the only authority. Our message must always come from the Bible, and from nowhere else. We have no authority but this (and a great authority it is!)

iii) The Bible is one book. Not a library of books, not even two books. The OT and NT are one; it is the same fundamental truth about the saving God and His great purpose. Old and New are parts of the same

iv) The Old Testament is therefore essential. The OT is not just for Jews. Nor is to be used just devotionally (psalms) or to for a bit of history. God’s truth is revealed there and we need that revelation. The New is in the Old concealed, the Old is in the New revealed.

v) Interpretation of  NT must never contradict teaching of the OT. Eg. Atonement. ‘It is just Jesus showing how much He loves us by dying. Nothing more’. Wrong. This is a false teaching about death not consistant with the OT teaching; there must be blood shed and punishment for the forgiveness of sins, Jesus was our expiation and propitiation. (Hold on to your OT to understand the NT – so important)

vi) The NT fulfils the OT. You cannot receive Jesus as your Saviour and say later I will perhaps take Him as my Lord. He is always the Lord and you receive Him as Lord. Can’t just have justification without sanctification. Jesus is now your Lord.

vii) OT reminds us Salvation is global. It is a personal salvation, but God has a purpose for the whole world. The OT emphasises that, keep one eye on it.

viii) Learn to submit ourselves absolutely to God’s ways. Put yourself, and everything that is a concern to you, entirely in the hands of God.

So let us never forget…

..that there is nothing more comforting or encouraging to the Christian than to be familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures.

Depressed and discouraged? God back to your OT Scriptures, read them, study them, learn them by heart. See God’s method. The whole of Hebrews 11 is used in that way, you remember

More from Romans

Awesome! is a word we use quite a lot in our culture. We talk about awesome roast dinners… and awesome free-kicks… and awesome movies… But Job 25:2 says ‘Dominion and awe belong to God’, so only God is truly awesome.

I’m reading The Living God by Peter Lewis at the moment (an astonishing book) and just read about Mount Sinai and the 10 Commandments. I was so stunned by this paragraph, I had to share it. It’ll help to read Exodus 19:16-19 for the context…

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.  Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain  trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. Exodus 19:16-19

Peter Lewis writes:

“It is surely fair to say that awe is in danger of becoming the forgotten emotion among Christians today. This is not because we know better but because we know less! We have lost sight somewhat of the awesome holiness of God. We have become desensitized to sin. We do not realize how extraodrinary it is that we can survive in God’s presence. The fact that it took a Calvary for us to ‘have confidence to enter the Most High Place’ (Heb 10:19) should make us think again: ‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, by becoming a curse for us’ (Gal 3:13)

There is only one place on earth more awesome than Sinai and that is Calvary. There God the One and Only did not come down to a mountain but was lifted up on a cross. There the Son of God, who had come in our human nature, bore the penalty for our human sin, our great rebellion against God. There the Judge was judged in our place and the One who had given the commandments died for those who had broken them.”

The living God, the true God, the God of the bible – alone – is truly awesome.