The Gospel According to Romans - Living under Grace 7: Children of God

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses:Romans 8:1-17

Roman chapter eight has rightly been described as one of the greatest passages of Scripture, dealing with three foundational truths of the gospel viz. Assurance, Life in the Spirit and Adoption in Christ.

The birth right of the Christian is ‘no condemnation’. The verdict of the final day has been brought forward and declared i.e. ‘righteous’ for those belonging to Christ. The verdict cannot be changed. We face judgement day with complete assurance. What lies ahead for the believer is not a life-or-death assessment of our lives, but the divine disclosure of acquittal...

The Gospel According to Romans - Living under Grace 6: Grace Trumps Law, The “I” of the Storm

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: Romans 7:14-25

‘Who am I?’ They mock me, those lonely questions of mine. Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am Thine’. The answer to Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s poignant probing is crucial as it will determine our values, lifestyle, future and ultimate destiny. It is here that Romans 7 enters the fray. Few passages of Scripture have been more influential in shaping how Christians think about themselves. However, the passage is not so much about the Christian life as about the law, the Torah and its effects upon the believer...

The Gospel According to Romans - Living under Grace 5: Grace Trumps Law

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: Romans 7:1-6

Paul has argued in Romans chapter six that as Christians we have died to sin. He now adds in 7:4 “you also died to the law”. If the law in Psalm 19:7 ff is described as “… perfect refreshing the soul… [and] The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous,” why then are we called to die to something which is inherently good, true and righteous. Paul would argue that the problem is not the law per se, rather sin which is provoked by the law and seeks to control us. Left to ourselves we end up serving sin as master of our lives. Bob Dylan protest folk singer of the sixties and recent Nobel Laureate for literature reminds us...

The Gospel According to Romans - Living under Grace 3: Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: Romans 6:1-14

Thomas Schreiner aptly describes this as ‘one of the most complicated and controversial portions of Romans’. It has also been referred to, tongue in cheek, as a ‘good Baptist chapter for a Presbyterian to preach on’.

I would argue that Paul is not referring to baptism in a sacramental sense i.e. water baptism. Rather he is using it as a metaphor for conversion and new life in Christ. “All of you who were baptised into Christ have been clothed with Christ through the new birth” (Gal 3:27). “Our ancestors were all under the cloud and they all passed through the sea. They were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and the sea” (1 Cor 10:1,2). Moses was their representative head into whom they were baptised. Someone has cheekily observed that the only people who got wet that day were the Egyptians who drowned in the sea! Moreover Mark 10:38 speaks of the impending baptism which Jesus must undergo i.e. his death and suffering on the cross...