ROM-13-140608 - length: 68:11 - taught on Jun, 8 2014
Class Outline:
Welcome To
BARAH MINISTRIES
a Christian Church
Rory Clark
Pastor-Teacher
Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church…my name is Pastor Rory Clark. In your spare time, you would do well to look into a trilogy of Psalms…Psalm 22…Psalm 23…and Psalm 24. In them you will see our God, the Lord Jesus Christ in every line. In Psalm 22 He is the Good Shepherd. In Psalm 23, which you are about to hear, He is the Great Shepherd. In Psalm 24 He is the Chief Shepherd. We take comfort as believers in Christ, in knowing the Shepherd…and He knows us. He is our Life, our Love and our Light. He is our foundation, our manifestation, and our expectation. He sets us apart for privileges that boggle the mind. Life will beat us, batter us, baffle us, and bludgeon us…and when it does…and when we lose our orientation…when we lose our way…we take comfort because the Lord is the One who is holding our hand. His righteous right hand will not let us go…will not let us be hurled headlong…and so we can be happy…we can take comfort.
In Psalm 23, King David reflects on his life, filled with many trials, tribulations and errors, yet also filled with the shaping of His Great Shepherd’s hand, and He penned these words…
The Lord is the One who keeps on shepherding me, I cannot lack anything.
The Lord knows men are but dust…the Lord knows we are sheep…aimless animals who wander into danger at all times…yet He protects us and gives us more than we need.
He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
The Lord is the One who gives us stability and sufficiency. We do not generate it for ourselves. He meets our physical needs, our mental needs and our emotional needs…but more than anything He meets our soul’s needs…
He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His reputation’s sake.
The Lord is the one who leads us. When we stray, He pulls us back to His path…the path of righteousness. As His sheep, we hear His voice and we follow Him.
Even though I walk through my very own death shadowed valley, I cannot fear evil, for You with me! Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
This verse is not a reference to physical death…this verse is a reference to the many deaths we experience in life…the ups and the downs of this life…the bearing of our crosses…and during all of these times, when all others may abandon us, our faithful Great Shepherd is with us. When we realize that, just as David has here, we squeal for joy. His rod defends us…his staff directs us. We are comforted by each. He keeps us in the fold.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.
We are happy. We have hope. In the presence of adversity or prosperity we know with absolute confidence that we have abundance, we have the life, so we treat the two imposters the same. We are content regardless of circumstances.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
God’s mercy and God’s grace will follow His believers all the days of our lives…and our future is guaranteed…we will live face-to-face with the Lord forever in a place of no more sorrow, and no more tears…the old things are passed away…the new things have come…so we take heart…we take comfort in our God’s provision of sanctification.
MUSIC AND REFLECTION
Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ
Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
He is Exalted
We begin our service today by worshipping the Lord in song. The opening song is HE IS EXALTED.
HE IS EXALTED
He is exalted, the King is exalted on High, and I will Praise Him
He is exalted, forever exalted and I will Praise His Name
He is the Lord, forever His truth shall reign
Heaven and Earth, rejoice in His holy name
He is exalted; the King is exalted on High
HE IS EXALTED
He is exalted, the King is exalted on High, and I will Praise Him
He is exalted, forever exalted and I will Praise His Name
He is the Lord, forever His truth shall reign
Heaven and Earth, rejoice in His holy name
He is exalted; the King is exalted on High
HE IS EXALTED
He is the Lord, forever His truth shall reign
Heaven and Earth, rejoice in His holy name
He is exalted; the King is exalted on High
He is exalted; the King is exalted on High
OPENING PRAYER
Let us pray...
We’re grateful Heavenly Father for the privilege of studying the absolute
truth...the Word of God…
Help us to remember our lack of self-sufficiently…get our attention…show
us how to count on you…show us your mercy and your grace…shape our paths…help us to experience the victories you promise in the midst of adversity…prepare us for all circumstances so we may be your battle tested warriors in the face of the onslaught of the kingdom of darkness…
We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit...in Christ’s name... Amen.
TODAY’S STUDY
Romans 2 -Calling All Hypocrites!
To the resident and non-resident members of Barah Ministries, and to our guests who join us from time to time…welcome. Grace to you and peace from God the Father…from God the Son…from God the Holy Spirit and from the manifest member of the Godhead, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I give thanks to God for all of you believers, and it is fitting, because your faith greatly enlarges my faith, and the unconditional love we have toward one another grows ever greater…especially among those of us who call Barah Ministries home…and I speak proudly of you in my travels because of the persecutions and afflictions which we endure together, plain indication of God’s righteous leading of us, so that we will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for it is the kingdom for which we suffer.
Turn in your bibles to Romans, Chapter 2, Verse 17…we are the studying the consequences of sin in the second chapter of the book of Romans, a passage that extends from Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 18 to Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 20.
THE BOOK OF ROMANS
The Consequences of Sin
Romans 1:18 to Romans 3:20
In the first chapter of Romans, Paul has three verses that set the tone for the first part of this magnificent work. Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 8…
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is
being proclaimed throughout the whole world.
As Christians, our dissemination of the gospel of the Lord is paramount in this lost and dying world. Why? Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 17…
For the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
The consequences of rejection of the gospel?
Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 18…
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…
So we indulge Paul, as beginning at Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 18, he provides an indictment of the entire human race. All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It’s a tough message to hear and it’s a tough passage to study. We’d rather hear all the positive things that are part of the plan of God. We’d rather have our ears tickled. I would. As believers in Christ we want to fall into a dissociative trance as we study the Consequences of Sin passage because we’d like to think that none of this applies to us. Yet while this passage describes the human race as unbelievers, both the Jews and the Greeks, it is a passage directed to the education of believers in Christ, so we don't forget where we came from , and so we feel some urgency in the matter of inviting to rescue those who believe in their own self sufficiency in the matter of salvation.
As a result of our study of Romans so far, I have a new appreciation for the word wrath every time I see it in the bible. And believe me, I don’t wish God’s wrath on anyone. For the past several years, I have had to wrestle in my soul with the fact that I thought I knew God…and I thought I knew His word…and I didn’t know it at all because I viewed God through a lens that was distorting who He really is…Systematic Theology…heresy…and before that the Roman Catholic religion…heresy…systems promoting the lifestyle endorsed by God’s enemy…
THREE LIFESTYLES
Romans 1:18 to Romans 2:16
The Lascivious Lifestyle
The Religious Lifestyle
The Self-Righteous Lifestyle
And after fifty years of being deceived, I have been prepared to know how God really is…not through a defective lens…but through the crystal clarity of His unadulterated Word…and I am happy to know Him and to see Him for who He is…and I can see the lessons that He teaches me through being at the wrong end of other people’s neuroses directed at me, which teach me valuable lesson about what He has endured on our behalf. These lessons are not exclusive to me. You are learning the same things. First Peter, Chapter 5, Verses 9 and 10 say…
But resist Satan, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren (other believers in Christ) who are in the world.
After you have suffered for a little while, God (the Father) of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in (union with the Lord Jesus) Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
We must learn from our suffering the lessons our God is teaching us about Him, rather than thinking that the lessons are about us.
Well now that Paul has indicted the three lifestyles offered by God’s enemy, he now addressed the Jews in Rome. Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles. Here’s what it says in Acts, Chapter 22, Verses 17 to 22…
“It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance…”
“…and I saw the Lord Jesus Christ saying to me, ‘Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.’”
“And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in You.”|
“‘And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him.’”
“And the Lord Jesus Christ said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”
Yet Paul was every bit a Jew. Here’s how Paul describes himself in the third Chapter of Philippians…beginning at Verse 4…
PHI 3:4b-6
If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh (and many do), I (Paul should) far more (put my confidence in the flesh)…
…(I was) circumcised the eighth day (as is the customer for Jewish males), of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Mosaic Law, a Pharisee…
…as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Mosaic Law, found blameless.
Well now the Jew, who was talking to the Gentile unbelievers in Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 18 through Romans Chapter 2, Verse 16, turns his attention to the Jews, who are thinking similarly to believers in Christ listening to this consequences of sins passage…this doesn’t apply to me!
One of Satan’s best weapons directed at the human race is religion. At the base of all religions is the idea that you have to work for your own righteousness, you have to work for your own salvation, you have to work to please God.
Well God created a religion, too. Judaism. And He created it to demonstrate the fruitlessness of religion. He gave the religion to the Jews. Take a five-minute break, and we’ll see what Paul has to say to the religious Jews in Rome.
BREAK
Yes We All Agree
When I Think About Home
Welcome back. In Romans, Chapter 2, beginning at Verse 17, Paul begins his address to the Jews. It’s the equivalent of me talking to a Roman Catholic. It’s easy to set them up with their feelings of superiority to all other religions, because I felt that way at one time. Paul felt the same way about being Jewish. The Jews of his day saw themselves as superior to the Gentiles. So Paul set s them up and then slams their fingers in the door.
But if (1) you bear the name “Jew” (and you do) and (if you) rely upon the Law (and you do) and (if you) boast in (your relationship with) God (and you do)…
…and (if you) know His will (and you do) and (if you) approve the things that are essential (and you do), being instructed out of the Mosaic Law…
…and (if you) are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind (and you are), (and if you are) a light to those who are in darkness (and you think you are)…
…a (if you are a) corrector of the foolish (and you are), (and if you are) a teacher of the immature (and you are), having in the Mosaic Law the embodiment of knowledge and (the embodiment) of the truth…
Paul has all the religious Jews in Rome shaking their heads in the affirmative…yes… yes…yes…Paul…that is a perfect description of us…we are the bomb y’all! (Those are the black Jews of course!) Then Paul lowers the boom.
…you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal?
You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
You who boast in the Mosaic Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God?
Ooops! The record scratches. Every affirmative nod comes to a grinding halt. It’s the moment of truth. Are those of you who are teaching others, walking the walk and talking the talk? Do you practice what you preach? Now if anyone is being honest, he has to say he isn’t practicing what he is preaching. If a teacher had to practice everything he preaches to be a teacher, there would be no teachers. One of the great dichotomies of being a teacher is that you know you break the law yourself. Funny as it seems, teachers are loved much more by students when they admit their vulnerabilities…when they admit that all of their learning has come through mistakes.
All of us, however, engage in the same syndrome that the Jews here are engaging in. When we think we have something in our lives that makes us righteous, we get on a soap box and try to covert everyone else so that they’ll be just as good as us. That’s self-righteousness. Isn’t it perfect that the Lord Jesus Christ picked the most imperfect person of all time to be a teacher? Ephesians, Chapter 3, Verses 8 to 10…
To me (Paul), the very least of all saints (believers in Christ), this grace was given (to me by God), to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ…
…and to bring to light the dispensation of the mystery, the Church Age, which for ages has been hidden in the God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who created all things…
…so that the manifold wisdom of God (the Father) might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.
Paul says it this way in First Corinthians, Chapter 4, Verse 9…
For, I (Paul) think, God (the Father) has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.
Our lives are a spectacle to the angels in the Supreme Court of Heaven…who look down on us and witness how we handle God’s grace in the Age of Grace. The Jews, who were entrusted with the oracles of God through the Mosaic Law, didn’t handle it very well. They used the Mosaic Law as a battering ram of self-righteousness to Lord the trust God placed in them over others. We get it. You don’t. Na-na-na-na-boo-boo!
The angels in the Supreme Court of Heaven are seeing the same things that they did in the pre-historic angelic state. They were given God’s grace, and they abused it. They turned on the Lord Jesus Christ. They rejected the perfect person and the perfect provisions of the perfect Person because they had a better idea. Romans Chapter 2, Verse 24…
For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU (religious and phony Jews),” just as it is written (in Old Testament Scripture).
Paul is talking to the Jews with a language they know and believe in…the Old Testament.
For indeed (physical) circumcision (the mark of being Jewish) is of value if you practice the Mosaic Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Mosaic Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
So if the uncircumcised man (the Gentile) keeps the requirements of the Mosaic Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded (by God) as circumcision?
And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Mosaic Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Mosaic Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Mosaic Law?
For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.
But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by (God) the (Holy) Spirit, not by the letter (of the Mosaic Law); and his praise is not from men, but from God.
Wouldn’t Paul’s advice apply to today’s Christians as well. If we replace Jews with Christians in Romans, Chapter 2, Verses 17 to 29, we’d get the same result. We’d see that we are nothing, but God is everything.
The Promises of the Lord Jesus Christ
Trust in the Lord and do good…
Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord…and He will do it.
Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him…
And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in (union with) Christ Jesus.
CLOSING SONG
Count it All Joy
CLOSING PRAYER
Let us pray...
THANKS
INTERCESSION
PETITION
And we pray that You continue to shape the messages from this pulpit that are a reflection of Your unconditional love, Your Magnificent Person, Your perfect thinking, Your impeccable work, and Your indescribable essence...we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit, in Christ’s name, Amen.
Thanks for coming!
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for listening!
www.barahministries.com
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