Let's begin this afternoon with the reading by Isaiah 55 from verse 1.

O everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy?
Harken diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in fatness.
Incline your ear and come to me, hear that your soul may live, and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.
Behold I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.
Behold you shall call nations that you know not, and nations that knew you not shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
Let him return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither, but water to the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from on out.
It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
For you shall go out in joy, and be led forth in peace.
Mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands, instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress, instead of the drier shall come up the myrtle, and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial, for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off.

Let's pray together.
Our God, almighty, all powerful, all wise, we come to consider your word, help us to understand within ourselves what it means to come and inquire, to be instructed by you.
May we truly be given insights and understanding from yourself, and may it be in the attitude of submission, the attitude of true worship, truly adoring you and acknowledging you to be God.
Guide us each one in our deliberations this afternoon, that we may truly be seeking your truth, and be instructed in your ways.
We ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.

This afternoon we will actually be spending most of our time with some introductory thoughts preparing us for the study of the book of Romans, the first of the letters of the apostle Paul in the New Testament, and for most of us, if not for all of us, it will be revising things that we already know or have heard at some point, but which we really constantly need to be reminded of because they are so important and because they are so fundamental to an understanding and an approach to this section from the Bible as to any section of the Bible.
The first thing I want to point out is what I see as the plan for the afternoon meeting, and very simply, I envisage that I would speak for between 35 to 45 minutes, depending on the particular subject, and then move into a time for questions, and the question time will be directed primarily at the material that we covered in that particular session, but it will not be restricted to that, so that it will be open to any questions relating to the word of God and understanding of the word of God, but at the same time I'll be deliberately conducting the question time to prevent any back and forth discussion on an issue, either between the people in the meeting and myself, or between people in the meeting between themselves.
In other words, I'll be encouraging questions to be put, and if necessary, we'll be rephrasing or asking the person to rephrase the question in terms that we might all be able to understand so that we'll not be looking at questions which are purely technical or deal with things that are theologically so obscure that most of us will not be able to follow the argument.
We will bring the questions down to a level that we might all be able to understand what the question is, and then if I feel that I have enough information to be able to answer the question on the spot, that will be answered, and that's where that question will stay, except for perhaps clarifying what has been said, we will then encourage people to discuss anything that they're not happy about the answer after the meeting, so that we can encourage as many people as possible to bring forward questions and get an answer on those.
At the same time, it will be open for others to come back in the same area and ask another question, but what I'm simply trying to emphasise is that we don't want to develop to where there is a two-way conversation with one particular person who has a particular theme that they want to follow up and to explore every area of scripture concerning it, because that will not help in the aim of what the meeting is about, that we'll try and run it in such a way that it will be of maximum help, and I feel that I do not have the necessary resources at hand to answer the question, then I will simply indicate that I will answer that question the following week to give time to do a little more research in that particular area.
Now so that's my way of general introduction to what we hope to be doing on a Sunday afternoon, and now to look at an introduction to our studying this portion of the Bible.
When we come to study the Bible, the attitude and the expectation of the person undertaking that study is of tremendous importance, because what you expect to find to a large extent will determine what you will find because you'll only be looking in that particular direction.
Let me give an example of exactly what I mean.
Some people have said that it's important for us to read the Bible just as it is important
for people to read a manual when they are trying to operate a complicated piece of machinery.
In other words, the thought has been put forward that the Bible is to be seen as a manual with
instructions for living issued by the maker of the complicated machinery of the universe
and the complicated equipment that we find in a human being.
Now there is some value in using that sort of a picture, but it can also be very misleading,
and it can be very misleading, particularly to people like myself, who always take manuals
with a grain of salt, and maybe some of the rest of us have that sort of approach also.
That is all very well to read the manual and to try the particular operation on the machine,
but then after using the machine, if you find the better way of doing it, then you leave
the manual entirely where it is and do it the way that you find to be more effective.
In other words, a manual can be treated as an option.
It only becomes essential if it's just so complicated and there is only one particular
way and you do not find another way, and so in that way, the Bible is not to be seen as
a manual to be seen in any way as being optional.
We must come to understand at the outset that what we're dealing with is not suggestions
for how to live better or how to do things better, but it is in fact the word of God.
God has spoken.
God has made a statement which is absolutely binding.
We must see the Bible as the word of God.
Now, there has been some controversy and there is a continuing controversy about what we
mean when we say the Bible is the word of God because some people say, sure, God speaks
through the Bible and I will go along with saying that the Bible contains the word of
God, but I cannot go so far as to say that every single thing which the Bible says is
actually the word of God.
It's important for us, if the Bible is going to be authoritative, if the Bible is going
to finally determine whether something is right or wrong, that we must accept the whole
of the Bible as the word of God.
Not a part of it, not something that particularly appeals to us or that we find a response within
ourselves to that particular section.
We cannot retain the option or the liberty to pick and choose for ourselves what we want
to apply as the word of God without thereby undermining and virtually destroying the Bible.
Right from the beginning we have an interesting concept concerning the word of God and it's
important for us to be reminded of it here because in our present society we have a tremendous
profusion of books and writings and printing.
There was a time when the percentage of people who were able to read was not very large and
it wasn't all that long ago.
The number of books available was not very large and there was a sense in which people
almost came to worship the printed page so that what was said in print, what was read
somewhere was taken to be absolutely reliable and true.
Now that time is gone.
We're now in a stage where whether we pick up a newspaper or a book for most people it
is taken to be simply an opinion which could be binding, which could be true but most likely
than not it is only partially true if at all and it is only the idea of a person.
Now the danger is that without intending to do so we take the Bible in the same attitude
and we pick it up as though it's an idea and an opinion put forward for us to consider.
It's tremendously important to remind ourselves that whenever we pick up the Bible we are
listening to God speaking and there is nothing optional about it.
It is utterly binding because God is saying it.
There is no less power in the word of God written here for us than in the word of God
which we find right at the beginning of the Bible record where we are told that in the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth and then a description of what the state of
the universe was and the process of what happened and then in verse 3 and God said
let there be light.
God spoke, God issued a word and there was creation.
It was brought into being.
Now we were reminded of that in the passage we looked at right at the beginning we read
from Isaiah 55 where God says through Isaiah so shall my word be that goes forth from my
mouth it shall not return to me empty but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and
prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
Now that's of tremendous importance even though with our own eyes we may have trouble seeing
some of the things happening which God says will happen.
It will never undermine the fact that what God says happens always happens without fail.
And if we are ever tempted to take lightly any small portion of the Bible any part of
it at all we need to remind ourselves that it is God who has said it, God who spoke it
and if God said it if it was if it is God's word then it is absolutely binding.
The other aspect of the word of God of course is brought out very forcefully in the picture
that we are given about our Lord Jesus Christ as the word of God in the Gospel of John the
first chapter we're told in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and
the word was God and we're given a few more details about the important path which the
word played in the creation story in the creation event.
And then a little further down in the first chapter with John we're told that the word
became flesh and dwelt among us and it becomes very clear that we can speak and we must speak
about the Lord Jesus Christ as the word of God.
And here the emphasis is not inconsistent with the word of God in creation or the word
of God in record but it demonstrates in fact one aspect very clearly that when we speak
about the word of God we are speaking about God who revealed himself the God who is speaking
the God who is revealing himself Christ being of course the greatest and the complete revelation
of God to us.
Now the attitude which was taken by our Lord Jesus Christ to the Old Testament is a tremendous
importance for us.
He treated the whole of the Old Testament as being utterly binding and when he refuted
the devil at his temptation he reminded him as we were reminded earlier today ourselves
that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth
of God.
He was speaking about the recorded word of God as the Jewish people knew it at that time.
And then of course he also emphasized strongly how the Old Testament continually pointed
to him that God had spoken about his coming through the scriptures the writings of the
Old Testament.
The New Testament is given to us also as the binding and absolute word of God because the
writings of the New Testament are restricted to the apostles or their close associates
and we have an interesting comment by the chief apostle to some extent who was the apostle
Peter who was seen to be a leader amongst the other apostles in many different ways.
The interesting comment when he was writing in 2 Peter chapter 3 and he makes a comment
about the apostle Paul he says so also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according
to the wisdom given him speaking of this as he does in all his letters there are some
things in them hard to understand which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction
as they do the other scriptures as they do the other scriptures.
He placed on exactly the same level the writings of the apostle Paul as the rest of the writings
of the Old Testament and it is important to realize that the church after the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ took what the apostles said in their instructions to them as being
the exact equivalent absolutely what God was saying. In other words when the true prophets
of the Old Testament said thus says the Lord and they were not questioned and it was recorded
how God spoke through the prophets in saying these things thus says the Lord so in the
New Testament after the death of Christ the apostles had that role to where they were able
to proclaim through the guidance and inspiration of the Spirit of God thus says the Lord. This is
what God has said and the question was never raised as to their authority because it was seen
in the way that our Lord had appointed them and had told them that through the giving of the
Spirit of God he would lead them into all truth that they had been given the authority to proclaim
the Word of God. Now all this is by way of background but as I said at the beginning an
important reminder of how we are to approach the Word of God. We need to be constantly reminded
that here we are not coming to consider alternatives or insights we're not coming
here to be to have an opportunity simply to meditate so that our spirits might be lifted
up to higher planes but we are actually confronted by what God is saying thus says the Lord. So it's
tremendously important for us to use the best possible means to find out just exactly what is
the meaning of the words. We must inquire what was meant in the language that was being used. What was
meant in the language that was being used in that particular setting because we ought to know enough
about our language to realize that each language has its own peculiar ways of saying things. There
are phrases which on the surface mean something different to what they are really used for. They
are referred to as idioms, expressions which use words quite differently to how they're intended. I
always have to smile and people find it hard to understand that the Germans have a peculiar idiom
that when they want to give someone wish someone good luck and best wishes they wish them a broken
neck and a broken leg and yet it's an idiom which is fairly well known that when you do express your
best wishes to them this is how you wish them best wishes. Now if it was taken by someone who didn't
realize and wasn't aware of the idiom it might not be taken as a intended well-wishing at all and so
we need to be cautious when we come to look at the Word of God to be sure that we use the language in
the way it was intended and we have access to so many aids in that area but at the same time we
not only have to be careful to analyze the language that is actually being used to see
what God is saying but we also need to be careful that we harmonize what is being said with other
parts of Scripture. Now there is always the danger of not harmonizing different portions of
Scripture to be quite inconsistent to say one thing now and while we're reading this part of
Scripture and to say quite a contradictory thing when we come to another part of Scripture.
Scripture was never intended to be used in placing Scripture against Scripture because God is God
and he is speaking and this is what God is saying even normal logic would prevent us from thinking
that God could say one thing here and then a different thing in a different place with
different meanings. Our task is to make sure that there is harmony and if there is an apparent
contradiction if it seems as though the Word of God is saying something at this place and then
saying something differently at that place then what is necessary is to carefully place the two
side by side and to search through the rest of Scripture to see whether there is more light
thrown on. Now a very typical example of this principle is the teaching on the subject of
prayer. We're told very very clearly that whatever we pray for if we believe that we'll get it then
it's ours in the Gospel of Mark. Then when we get to the book of James we're told or the Cretans
are told you are asking for things in prayer but you're not getting them because you're asking
wrongly. Now instead of saying what some people are doing in this area and not necessarily just
an area of prayer but instead of saying well we can't understand prayer it's a mystery we ask and
we'll expect anyway we don't know about the things that where we may be asking wrong what it ought to
do is to when we place the two together it ought to tell us that we are to pray believing but there
are right ways of praying and there are wrong ways of praying and then to see what the rest of
Scripture teaches us about the subject of prayer and when we come to look into it we find that the
two do not contradict each other but in fact they speak very clearly about the same truth just
emphasizing a different aspect of it and so we will discover with other portions of Scripture.
Now the question that's sometimes raised by people who are not so familiar with the with
the Scriptures and do not have that quite that attitude toward that the Word of God the question
is raised well now if God is God why doesn't he make it so clear and so simple that no one could
ever misinterpret it they could just simply sit and read and everybody would agree well perhaps
the the first answer to that question is let's be cautious first of all as to how we challenge God
about the way in which he has revealed himself God in his sovereignty retains the way the right
to reveal himself in the way that he wants to not in the way that seems logical to us but that's not
necessarily we do not necessarily have to limit ourselves to saying only that we can go a little
further to suggest that what we do discover is that God in his wisdom has so designed our gaining
knowledge of himself that we must work at it that we must study that we must research that
we must have each other's help to be instructed in these things and to be guided and that there
is always that danger of twisting and misapplying was brought to us in this little passage I quoted
from second Peter there are some things in them hard to understand which the ignorant and
unstable twist to their own destruction there is always the danger of people who do not go to the
trouble of researching and studying and truly meditating on God's Word day and night as the
Psalmist said to them in fact it can be a snare rather than an enlightenment and if we have the
right attitude toward the Word of God that this is God speaking and I'd better find out exactly what
he is saying it is most important that I give myself to do this research so that I can find
out as clearly as I possibly can what are you saying then we'll never be tempted to pass lightly
over something simply because it's not perfectly clear in that particular passage or in the time
that we read it in that first time we will stay with it looking to God through his Spirit to
actually make it more and more clear as we look at other parts of his Word now that's also then
or to give us an incentive to take the trouble to be instructed by people who have in fact
researched the wider scriptures nowhere does the Bible indicate that every person who picks up the
Word of God will fully understand all of it immediately that promise is never made what is
indicated and we get a glimpse of this in Psalm 119 not only in the verse that I want to read
here now but also in other parts of it and that is a tremendous psalm dealing with the importance
of studying the Word of God and and living by the Word of God but he says in Psalm 119 verse 130
the unfolding of thy words gives a light it imparts understanding to the simple there are
strong indications that you do not have to have a degree or be tremendously educated to understand
the Word of God that it can be understood by very simple people but there are strong indications
also that God has made provision for people to be instructed and to be guided in the study of the
Word and for the need for us to help guide each other for the need to pardon me to share the
insights that we argue that the Bible gives us so that we might be sure that we are not twisting
that we are not misapplying but that we are placing what the Bible teaches in its full
context now why then do we want to study the book of Romans at this point even though we realize and
we ought to realize that that the whole of the Bible is given as Paul says in another place for
instruction and correction and reproof in order that the man of God would be completely equipped
in righteousness even though the whole Bible is given then for that purpose choose the book of
Romans now the book of Romans is a tremendously important book and it's interesting to note its
circumstances in that it would seem that this may well have been the only letter which the Apostle
Paul wrote to a group of people to whom he had never preached most of the other letters he is
writing to people as a follow-up reminding them of the things that he has told them in most cases
in very brief form or writing to them to sort out problems that have arisen since he first preached
to them but to the Romans he is writing as one to whom he has never spoken he's never preached to
them now this means to us that he is writing here under the guidance of the Spirit of God speaking
on behalf of God proclaiming thus says the Lord this is what God wants you to know he is setting
out in much more detail and much more fully the things which God has called him to preach he is
here laying them out to make sure that they know and so we will we when we come into the book of
Romans as we as we will come to discover we are actually having we have laid out for us more fully
than probably anywhere else in Scripture what God called particularly the Apostle Paul but all the
Apostles to preach concerning his plan of salvation concerning knowledge of himself and how he works
and concerning his purposes in Jesus Christ now it's tremendous tremendously well laid out
carefully presented step by step and is done with such deliberation that the book of Romans stands
almost head and shoulders in many ways in that area in teaching those things above any other
passage of Scripture it's no wonder that historically the book of Romans has had an
explosive effect after the Dark Ages of the church or even during the Dark Ages of the of the church
it was Martin Luther in his lecturing on the book of Romans at Wittenberg University that it was at
this point of Scripture that he was arrested on the importance of the understanding of being
justified by faith in other words being declared right with God on no other basis than embracing
as fact what God says he accomplished in Jesus Christ and one of the things I hope would come
out of these lectures on a Sunday afternoon would also be that we might come to understand
some of the terms that we have perhaps used and be able to give them in words that can be
communicated to people who are not so familiar with them and justification by faith I want to
give you that again in those words declared right with God on no other basis than that of embracing
as fact what God says he accomplished in Jesus Christ justified by faith now it was Martin Luther
who discovered this in a book of Romans and we had the Reformation John Wesley speaks of being
arrested and converted when listening to someone read from the introduction that Martin Luther
wrote to the commentary on the book of Romans. Augustine back in the very early part of the
history of the church he who contributed so much to the theology of the church was also converted
by picking up and reading the book of Romans and we'd go on we could think of all sorts of examples
of the effects that that this has had on people for myself this book has contributed more to my
understanding of the way in which God works in the lives of his people than any other single
passage of Scripture now my approach then to looking at this book and I want to encourage
you all before next week to begin reading the book so that you will have a little bit more
background I know some of you have already studied it in other contexts but it will still be helpful
to revise and to read it again to get the setting but my approach to the book will be to limit
myself to try and open up the meaning of the language that is being used and to place it in
the full context of what the scriptures reveal concerning the things that are being said in other
words to be clear that we're looking at what the words are actually saying and what they're not
saying what is the language used actually mean as to the best of the ability that we can discover
and then to harmonize that to put it not only in its immediate context of the chapter and its
immediate context of the book but also in the context of the whole Word of God and I'm not so
interested in anything outside of what the scripture reveals concerning it because I believe
that experience ought not to guide us in the interpretation of scripture but rather that
scripture ought to guide us to understand whether our experience is helpful or not we ought always
to examine the things that we see as important experiences in the light of what the Bible says
about them rather than to try and interpret the Bible on the basis of the experience that we have
had the central theme of the book and I'll close with that today is to be found in the very first
chapter in verses 16 17 and I want to suggest also verse 18 for I am not ashamed of the gospel it is
the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith to the Jew first and also to the Greek
for in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith as it is written he who
through faith is righteous shall live for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth Paul is writing
this book is set before the Romans the gospel the gospel and that gospel speaks of salvation which
results from a righteousness based on faith and that salvation is a salvation it is a escape a
way of averting and escaping the wrath of God and that's tremendously important we'll discover as we
go through it something about all those areas in this book