These are the notes from the “Thanksgiving sermon” on November 21, 2021. I felt that it was prudent to gather previous lessons Paul had revealed to me in Romans 1-7 which I call the “firehose of the gospel” which led to his exclamation, “thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Like drinking from a fire hose, the volume and force make every drop impossible to consume, but my prayer is that God will apply one of these 39 points directly to how you can personally express your thankfulness to God this Thanksgiving week.

1. This gospel that Paul was so passionate about was the fulfillment of promises from the very beginning! 1:1-5…”IT HAS ALWAYS been the plan.” 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord who revealed the gospel through all history and lets us share in this mystery!
2. Romans is written for those who are CALLED to belong to JC, loved by God, called to be saints. 1:6-7- Those huge identity statements!  7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord for a solid identity!
3. The man who wrote this letter was wishing his readers grace and peace, but once sought to kill them!…He doesn’t even know his hearers or me, but by God’s gracious transformation, Paul genuinely cares about those who were previously his enemies! For the sake that we have the same heavenly father and our brother the Lord Jesus Christ-1:7b…this remarkable fellowship is born! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord for the deep fellowship between bros and sisters who once were enemies!
4. See 1:8-11 People like Paul thank God for me and pray and have prayed for me simply because of their mutual union in Christ! As Jesus expressed, “my mother and brothers are those who do my Father’s will.” Consider the prayers of my brothers and sisters for me and the prayers I pray for others because of the blood of Christ! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord for the prayers that have been prayed for me!
5. 1:14-15 God called men like Paul “under obligation” to preach the gospel and thus begin the church and write down this new covenant for us. God sent preachers to me (and millions of others throughout the history of the church)! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord for heralds of his gospel!  
6. 1:16- Not only is the gospel wonderful, but it is the powerful instrument by which I and everyone else in Christ received salvation. In the gospel, God has given us everything we need for the salvation of everyone who will believe! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that the Gospel is sufficient powerful, instrument to change hearts!
7. 1:17- I will live by faith, not works. How my soul can rest because I live by faith, not works!  7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord for rest in Christ!  
8. 1:18-3:8 God knows and sees all rebellion against him and he will hold everyone accountable for it…Consider the limitations of human law and justice. Ex: recent death penalty case in OK, Because of God’s justice, there will be no murkiness or confusion or anyone getting away with injustice in the last day. Thankful for true justice! We see beginning in 2:1ff that God’s justice also falls upon hypocritical religious people/churches who mislead others for their own gain and harm them and the cause of Christ. 3:8 -“Their condemnation is just.” 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord for perfect justice on sin either in Christ as substitute or on all sinners!
9. 3:23; 3:12 – All have turned aside and sinned and become worthless, but God justified many of those worthless rebels, including me!  See 4:5 He justifies the ungodly! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that he saves ungodly wretches like me!  
10. 3:20- God gave me the law so I could better know my sin and hence my need for the Savior! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that he gave the law so I would not walk ignorant to my need for Christ and forgiveness, so that I seek to be clothed with His righteousness!  
11. 3:22- through faith in Jesus Christ I have been declared the righteousness of God. Declared…Justification is the act of God. He says it, I do not participate in it, so I can’t mess it up. Justification it is final! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that justification is an act whose substance is Jesus Christ, not works by me!  
12. 3:24- I am thankful…what I received was a gift…therefore I didn’t earn it…which would nullify thankfulness entirely…GRACE UPHOLD THANKFULNESS!!!  7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that salvation in Christ is a gift, not earned, otherwise, I’m lost AND no reason to be thankful because I simply get what I merit.  
13. 3:25- Propitiation- God’s wrath has been satisfied by blood sacrifice. Therefore, believers like me will never have to atone for our own sins. This is not because of my blood atonement or any offering I might make, but due to the priestly work of the Lord Jesus Christ. 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that the blood of Christ typified in the Passover blood provides a shield that covers me from the wrath of God!
14. 3:26 By Jesus and his death & resurrection God saved sinners in the only way possible to uphold his justice. Thanks alone to the Lord Jesus Christ. Any other religious salvation scheme leaves God as unjust in how sinners are justified, only the gospel of Jesus Christ doesn’t besmirch is character.  7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that while other religions do not truly deal with sin but provide moral instruction, the true God of scripture gives us the gospel of the crucified and risen Christ!
15. 3:27-31- Because salvation is by grace and faith no one may boast, but we share the same Lord and blessing with peoples from all over time and space and cultural and socio-economic status. My community of faith is thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ and his work- not founded upon my connecting and relational savvy or our common interests. 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that he keeps expanding our family of faith!  
16. 4:7-8 I share the same blessing as Abraham and David that my sins are not counted as mine any longer, they are forgiven. My forgiveness is thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ- not my deeds. 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that by faith and union with Christ my sins were washed away buried with Jesus in his death.
17. 4:11 As God gave Abraham a seal of righteousness: circumcision…He’s given me a seal of righteousness: baptism that I should not doubt. When and where I got the seal does not impact the righteousness…the righteousness is thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ. not my baptism! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that baptism is not primarily a statement of my faith, but the righteousness received by faith in Christ. I rejoice in the sign and seal of baptism and what it means! How few in modern evangelicalism grasp the powerful use of baptism for believers!
18. 4:16 Because the gospel doesn’t rest upon works but upon faith, it is guaranteed. The gospel’s substance is work done by Jesus Christ- therefore I can’t mess it up—Thanks then to the Lord Jesus Christ for his works that replace my works and thus serve as a full guarantee of my justification.  7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord for the active obedience of Christ, no hope without it!  
19. 4:25- I thank the Lord Jesus Christ that my justification is not established by my hard work, but on account of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, as is clearly stated in Romans 4:25! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that His historical resurrection is the actual good news and becuase of my union with Christ it is the gospel surety of my salvation!
20. 5:1- unlike any earthly peace that we can make between men…the peace we have with God is airtight and eternal because it is through the Lord Jesus Christ! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that the peace that surpasses understanding is true and established because it was blood purchased! Jesus paid my ransom!
21. 5:2 in Christ we have access to the hope of glory- access to God by faith.  7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that the barriers are brought down and we can experience sweet communion with God!
22. 5:3-5 Because of our union with Christ our sufferings are definitely not pointless and purposeless but establish us in endurance, character and hope and no shame because the Spirit works in them. 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that I don’t have to live a life fraught with shame and purposelessness, but I can find purpose even in the losses because Christ is presently purposely forming me.
23. 5:6-8- Thankful that Christ didn’t wait til I cleaned up my act before he loved me and he demonstrated this in his death for me that he died while I was a sinner! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that He approaches me while I was a sinner, in order to change me, not because I had already changed.  
24. 5:9 By the blood of Jesus there is no wrath of God for me…it was absorbed upon Jesus! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that wrath doesn’t exist for me in Christ!
25. 5:10-11 I am reconciled to God through the death of the son and now I rejoice in that death! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that I am reconciled to God who I had rebelled against!
26. 5:12-14 thankful for the covenant of works which was the type and shadow of the covenant of grace! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord for without the description of the covenant of works in Genesis 2 and here my understanding of the covenant of grace would be impoverished (and so would my joy)!  
27. 5:15-21 through Adam I died and was condemned, but through the Lord Jesus Christ, I live and have been made righteous! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that Jesus is my champion and redeemer. As Boaz redeemed Ruth and as David slayed goliath, Jesus saves Justin from the devil and hell and all his enemies. In Adam we were lost, in Christ we are saved!  
28. 6:1-4 In christ I have the capacity to walk in newness of life! 6:6 clearly says that in Christ I am set free from enslavement to sin!  This is analogous to how death sets one free from financial or marital obligations: 6:7. 7:1-6. 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!  Thankful that though the flesh is still present, it is not president of my life! I am free from being under the power of the flesh.
29. 6:5, I have the certainty of having a resurrection like Jesus’ 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that my new spirit united to Christ which will be joined with a body made new in the resurrection will have no corruption like his body in the age to come!
30. 6:8-11 Death has no rule over me. My resurrection is certain! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that my death is not the end, but a transition to eternal life.
31. 6:12-14 – Though justified in Christ, I am still as sinner. By God’s grace the Christian church cares for my lack of sanctification as it ministers the word and preaches the gospel to me and exhorts me toward holiness. 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord for the means of grace!  
32. 6:15-18 I am a slave to righteousness and obedience to Christ- therefore the sins that used to define me, no longer define me as those in Christ are no longer slaves to sin. 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that I am no longer the sinner I once was!
33. 6:21 set free of all my old ways that led to my shame. 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that my days of shame are numbered!
34. 6:23 Christ paid my debt so I could receive eternal life. 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that the price has been paid and I receive the gift of eternal life by faith!
35. 7:1-3 My failure to keep the law will not condemn me but it condemned Christ. God won’t commit double jeopardy! It’s one and done! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that there is no retrying me for my sin as Jesus has already been condemned to die the death for my sin!
36. 7:4-6 I am enabled to bear fruit in the new way of the Spirit as a new man 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that I have capacity in Christ to bear fruit of the Spirit!
37. 7:7-12 I can use the law without fear of it hurting me, but in Christ the law can be a help to me. I am justified and the word and Spirit work together for the process of sanctification! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that the power of sin is being diminished and I can say with Paul that the law is holy and righteous.
38. 7:13-23 I am free to struggle day after day without fear of being unjustified and forsaken! This is a liberating life! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that I am freed from despair from my sin, not free from struggling, but actually free to struggle against sin.  
39. 7:24- I am still feeling that I am this wretched man BUT THANKS BE TO GOD THROUGH the LORD JESUS CHRIST! 7:25a- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that I am free to due daily battle and engage with the flesh, as the Lord accomplished, is accomplishing, and will accomplish the victory. The three tenses of salvation in Christ: in justification the guilt of sin is gone, in sanctification the power of sin in me is going away, and in glorification the presence of sin will be gone.