Faith Baptist Church
11/16/25 Dwell Richly Bible Study
  • What is the gospel? What are the essential elements of the gospel that must be understood in order for someone to be saved?
    Read some quotes from pg. 18-19.

    The Gospel in Romans 1-4

    Paul wrote a letter to the believers in Rome as a way to introduce himself and his message to a group of Christians he had never met. This is why Romans has a kind of systematic feel to it. Paul explained what he believed in a step-by-step fashion so that these believers would know him, his ministry, and especially his message.
    He wanted the Roman believers to know the good news that he preached was the same good news they believed.
    Romans 1:16 ESV
    For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
    Romans 1 through chapter 4 are Paul’s explanation of the good news about Jesus in beautiful detail.
    We want to examine four critical truths that Paul uses to structure the truth of the gospel.

    1. Paul tells his readers that it is God to whom they are accountable

    Romans 1:18–20 ESV
    For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
    What do we learn about God in this verses?
    There is a God. Humanity is not autonomous. We did not create ourselves, and we are neither self-reliant nor self-accountable. God created this world and everything in it, including us.
    Because God created this world He alone has the right to determine our purpose. Including his design that we worship him.
    Romans 1:21 ESV
    For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
    God created us for a purpose- to worship him. How well did we live up to that purpose? What do we call that?
    We are created people. We were created by God for a specific purpose- to give him the honor and glory that is due to him, to live and speak and act and think in a way that recognizes and acknowledges his authority over us.
    We are made by God. We continue to exist because of God. We were created for God- therefore we are accountable to Him.

    2. Paul tells his readers that their problem is that they rebelled against God

    Romans 1:23 ESV
    and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
    What a revolting image! This idea that we as created beings to consider our Creator and then decide to instead worship wooden or metal images- images of a frog or a bird or even ourselves. We think these things are more glorious, more satisfying, and more valuable than God. That is the height of insult! That is rebellion at its core. This is the root and essence of sin. And the results of sin are nothing short of horrific.
    And for most of the first three chapters of Romans Paul presses this point. In chapter 1 Paul focuses on the Gentiles, then in chapter 2 he turns his attention to the Jews.
    Romans 2:1 ESV
    Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.
    By the middle of chapter 3 Paul has indicted every single person in the world with rebellion against God.
    Romans 3:9 ESV
    What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
    And what is Paul’s conclusion because of humanities rebellious sin?
    Romans 3:19 ESV
    Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
    What a sobering conclusion! Every mouth will be silenced. No one will be able to mount a defense. Not one excused will be accepted. The whole world—Jew, Gentile, every last one of us—will be held fully accountable to God.
    These first two points are not good news at all. But they are essential. Why? The good news that someone came to save you is only good if you believe you actually need to be saved.

    3. Paul says that God’s solution to humanity’s sin is the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ

    Romans 3:21 ESV
    But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—
    What does “manifest apart from the law” mean? There is a way for human beings to be counted righteous before God instead of unrighteous, to be declared innocent instead of guilty, to be justified instead of condemned. And it has nothing to do with acting better or living a more righteous life. It comes “apart from the law.”
    How does this happen?
    Romans 3:24 ESV
    and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
    In the face of our rebellion God acted graciously so that his enemies could be counted righteous. And that redemption is only found in Christ Jesus- in Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection—because of his blood and his life— sinners may be saved from the condemnation their sin deserves.
    How is this good news for me? How do I become included in this promised salvation?

    4. Paul tells his readers how they themselves can be included in this salvation

    Paul writes about this in the end of chapter 3 and on into chapter 4 of Romans.
    Romans 3:22 ESV
    the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
    How does this salvation become good news for you and not just for someone else? By believing in Jesus Christ. by trusting him and no other to save you.
    Romans 4:5 ESV
    And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

    Four Crucial Questions

    The heart of Paul’s gospel proclamation are the answers to four crucial questions.

    1. Who made us, and to whom are we accountable?

    2. What is our problem? In other words, are we in trouble and why?

    3. What is God’s solution to that problem? How has he acted to save us from it?

    4. How do I—myself, right here, right now—how do I come to be included in that salvation? What makes this good news for me and not just for someone else?

    We can summarize these four major points like this:

    God, Man, Christ, Response

    The Gospel in the Rest of the New Testament

    1 Corinthians 15:1–5 ESV
    Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
    God?
    1 Corinthians 15:2 ESV
    and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
    Implicitly- we are being saved from what? God’s judgement. We were made God, we are accountable to him. We didn’t measure up to His standard.
    Man?
    1 Corinthians 15:3 ESV
    For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
    Human beings are in trouble, we are sunk in our sins and in need of being saved.
    Christ?
    1 Corinthians 15:3–4 ESV
    For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
    Most obvious. This is God’s solution to our sin problem.
    Response?
    1 Corinthians 15:2 ESV
    and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
    Our salvation is received by holding fast to the word- to the gospel that was preached. Believe truly and completely in the gospel and you will be saved.
    God, man, Christ, response.
    Acts 3:18–19 ESV
    But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,
    God? Man? Christ? Response?
    Man: you need your sins wiped out.
    God: not judged by God.
    Solution: Christ suffers.
    Response: repent and turn back to God in faith.
    Acts 10:39–43 ESV
    And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
    Give people time to find the pattern: God, Man, Christ, Response

      • Romans 1:16ESV

      • Romans 1:18–20ESV

      • Romans 1:21ESV

      • Romans 1:23ESV

      • Romans 2:1ESV

      • Romans 3:9ESV

      • Romans 3:19ESV

      • Romans 3:21ESV

      • Romans 3:24ESV

      • Romans 3:22ESV

      • Romans 4:5ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 15:1–5ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 15:2ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 15:3ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 15:3–4ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 15:2ESV

      • Acts 3:18–19ESV

      • Acts 10:39–43ESV

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