ROM-105-150524 - length: 72:27 - taught on May, 24 2015
Class Outline:
Welcome To
BARAH MINISTRIES
a Christian Church
Rory Clark
Pastor-Teacher
Good Morning!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…a worldwide Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark.
Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 28 to 39 is a treatise on unconditional love and eternal security…
And we know that God the Father keeps on causing all things to work together for good to those who love God (believers in Christ), to those who are called according to His purpose (invited to…summoned to…and given salvation as a free gift).
Even when things aren’t good for us, God the Father weaves them into a tapestry of good.
For those believers, whom God the Father foreknew (in their very person), He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that the Lord Jesus Christ would be the firstborn among many brethren (a group who has been selected to glorify the resurrected Christ)…
God the Father chose a destiny for His believers, that they would be made in exact image of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Understand that this is something God does for you…it is not something you do for yourself.
…and these whom God the Father predestined, He also called; and these whom God the Father called, He also justified; and these whom God the Father justified, He also glorified.
You’ve already been called…you’ve already been justified…you’ve already been glorified…it is in the past tense so it is an established and irrevocable fact that is as good as completed.
What then shall we say face-to-face with these things? If God the Father is for us, and He is, who is against us?
What can we say in response to all this? Of course Satan is against us, but he will not prevail.
God the Father, who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with our union with Christ freely (in grace) give us all things?
If the God the Father did the hard thing by sending His Son to die for us, won’t He also do the easy things and give us everything else we need?
Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God the Father is the one who justifies…
Who can successfully press charges against believers in Christ? No one. If God doesn’t do it, and He doesn’t, no one can do it.
…who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather He who was raised, who is seated at the right hand of God the Father, who also intercedes for us.
Who can successfully condemn a believer in Christ? No one. If God doesn’t do it, and He doesn’t, no one can do it.
Who will separate us from the unconditional love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
No one and nothing can separate us from our union with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;
We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who unconditionally loved us.
For I (Paul) am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers…
…nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us believers in Christ from the unconditional love of God the Father, which is a result of being in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.
Not much else needs to be said. We believers in Christ are more than conquerors. Welcome to a safe haven where you can learn about the unconditional love God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and the Lord Jesus Christ have for you.
MUSIC AND REFLECTION
Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ
Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
Flawless
Mercy Me
The opening song is FLAWLESS by Mercy Me.
OPENING PRAYER
Let us pray...
We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…
Help us to assess our inner spiritual game and bring it into alignment for us through the indwelling God, the Holy Spirit…
We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit...in Christ’s
name...Amen.
Memorial Day is the time in the United States where we remember the people who died while serving in the country’s armed forces. Whether it is the men in women from our country or whether it is the men in women from allied nations, we pause today to give our tribute. Here is the armed forces medley.
MEMORIAL DAY TRIBUTE
Armed Force Medley
MEMORIAL DAY TRIBUTE
Armed Force Medley
U.S. Army
MEMORIAL DAY TRIBUTE
Armed Force Medley
U.S. Marines
MEMORIAL DAY TRIBUTE
Armed Force Medley
U.S. Navy
MEMORIAL DAY TRIBUTE
Armed Force Medley
U.S. Coast Guard
MEMORIAL DAY TRIBUTE
Armed Force Medley
U.S. Air Force
TODAY’S STUDY
What is the Status of Your Inner Spiritual Game?
Like the Jews in the day of the Mosaic Law, for many of us it is all about the outer game…the image we portray to the world. But God measures the heart…the inner game. What is the status of your inner spiritual game?
The story of being dead to sin and dead to the law and the crucifixion of the flesh is a story of deliverance…a release from obligation…the deliverance provided by our Sovereign God, the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot deliver ourselves. We cannot save ourselves. When we try to save ourselves, we want our own actions to count as much as Christ’s actions at the Cross counted, and that is just not a possibility. Deliverance is the story of our total dependence, in all matters, on the One in whom we have faith, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Through the Lord’s work, we are completely discharged from a concern about obedience to sin as our sovereign. Through the Lord’s work, we are discharged from a concern about the principle of law and the Mosaic Law...the outer game. The game that people see.
What is the affect of the law on our spiritual lives? It highlights our dependence for deliverance. The enemies of grace don’t want us to be delivered by God…the want us to deliver ourselves…they want us to pay for our own sins and they want us to follow the law…neither of which we can do. The enemies of grace always have something to say about our deliverance…Al Pacino said it best about his fate in the movie Godfather 3…“Just when I thought I was out…they pull me back in.” Just when we get comfortable with grace, comfortable with freedom, comfortable with deliverance, the enemies of grace say or do something to pull us back into slavery to sin and the law.
As we begin our study of the next passage of Romans, Chapter 7, Paul is addressing the enemies of grace. Let’s transition to the study of the next passage…Romans, Chapter 7, Verses 7 to 13…
What shall we say then? Is the Mosaic Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Mosaic Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Mosaic Law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Mosaic Law sin is dead.
I was once alive apart from the Mosaic Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died…
…and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me…
…for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
So then, the Mosaic Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good (the Mosaic Law), so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.
Now let’s look a the passage in detail…the enemies of grace seek to twist Paul’s words…to distort the truth of the Word of God…Paul is having none of it…Romans, Chapter 7, Verse 7…
What shall we say then? Is the Mosaic Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Mosaic Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Mosaic Law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
Law gets us in touch with our own helplessness…law gets us in touch with our inner game…because we vow to follow the law and then we fail miserably. “The flesh” and its rebellion toward everything that is good encourages us to violate the law. And we do. When something is forbidden and we can’t stay away from it, we become conscious of our weakness. John, Chapter 8, Verses 33 and 34…
The unregenerate Jews answered Jesus, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will (know the truth and you will) become free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.”
Everyone who sins becomes totally aware of his weakness and bondage and helplessness in the matter of sin, a force that is more powerful than our will…and when we are at our helpless best, we need to the Lord Jesus Christ, and we welcome His free gift of deliverance from sin, from the law, and from the flesh.
When we fail in the spiritual life, we must NOT run from God. After all, there is nowhere to run, and certainly there is nowhere to hide. Instead, when we run, we run to Him…not to beg for already provided forgiveness, but to enjoy the comfort of His unconditional love…like a child who runs to mommy after a mistake. Take a five-minute break.
BREAK
He is Exalted
TODAY’S STUDY
What is the Status of Your Inner Spiritual Game?
Welcome back! Romans, Chapter 7, Verse 8…
But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Mosaic Law sin is dead.
Your inner game is the real you…not your outer game. You can cover your real inner game with people through the use of a phony façade…you can be a hupocrites…someone talking from behind a mask…but you cannot not cover your real inner game with an omniscient God who knows all the knowable, even your innermost thoughts.
The flesh is an incurable evil. The flesh is your Ronda Rousey…it is always looking to arm bar your life…to put you in a submission hold. It rebels against anything of God, it seeks to ruin you…it seeks to ruin your relationships…it seeks to ruin everything that is good in your life.
Undoubtedly, as Paul wrote this passage in Romans, Chapter 7, he reflected on Deuteronomy, Chapter 5, Verse 21 where he first learned about his inner game…
‘You shall not covet (have lust or desire in your mind for) your neighbor’s wife, and you shall not desire (have lust or desire in your mind for) your neighbor’s house, his field or his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey or (have lust or desire in your mind for) anything that belongs to your neighbor.’
You dropped the bomb on me…baby! You dropped the bomb on me!
Evil desire is sin. That shocked Paul. The things you THINK can be a sin. That’s your inner game. Of course the things that you SAY and the things that you DO can be a sin…that’s your outer game. But the things you think are the biggest indictment of you. Proverbs 21, Verse 2…
Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts.
In an interview with Playboy magazine, former American President Jimmy Carter admitted…
JIMMY CARTER
“I’ve looked on a lot of women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.”
Instead of admiring his honesty, here was the reaction from “the world.”
The decision to do an interview with Playboy magazine was possibly not the best call of President Carter’s tenure. Yet, it was all going pretty well until he started talking about the Bible and adultery. Now, Carter’s not actually admitting anything shocking. Most men would probably say, “Yep, been there.” But presidents rarely (and for good reason) venture into the land of “too much information.” Ideally, they should exist on a higher plane than the rest of us. It was an uncomfortable moment for America.
Truth is always an uncomfortable moment for America, and for the world.
Mark, Chapter 12, Verse 30…
‘…and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
The Lord weighs the heart…the inner game…how is your inner game? To the Lord, the inner game is ALL…He wants ALL your thoughts.
Seeking righteousness without God is evil desire…hoping to take care of the sin problem yourself is evil desire…the thought that you can control the flesh is evil desire…how’s your inner spiritual game?
How does the law help us? The law helps illuminate our inner game.
But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Mosaic Law sin is dead.
Evil desire, evil thought, is part of your inner game. It is there, waiting to take wing. All it needs to take wing is a prohibition from the law. That’s how the law helps us…it illuminates our evil thoughts…our evil desires…and makes us aware of who we really are without God.
In Romans, Chapter 7, Verse 8, what is meant by, “Apart from the law…sin is dead?” It means the flesh lies dormant until there is a prohibition…then the flesh rises up and takes wing and produces coveting, sin, and all sorts of evil desires. Remember the Garden of Eden? Genesis, Chapter 2, Verses 16 and 17…
The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely…”
“…but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Everything was great until the request from God to creature free will…but after the commandment, we want to do exactly what we have been asked not to do…“the flesh” is a very real part of us that the Lord did not take away at the moment of salvation…we struggle with it when it is our primary means of approaching life. We need a new inner game…the filling of the Spirit.
Ephesians, Chapter 5, Verse 18…
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but keep on being filled with the Spirit…
Do not get drunk with wine…in other words, do not listen to the promptings of “the flesh”…but keep on being filled with the Spirit…let God the Holy Spirit fill up all of your power deficiencies. Depend on God the Holy Spirit. He is the only one who can defeat “the flesh,” including your evil thoughts and the lusts of your “flesh.” In human power we have no chance to defeat “the flesh.”
So will you try to defeat the flesh yourself? Will you go into the ring with Ronda Rousey? Or will you learn from Paul’s example and realize the only way to win against “the flesh” is not to play, and instead let God the Holy Spirit do battle for you, especially in light of the fact that He never loses?
We Christians are to live a lifestyle of faith, and are to be fully assured that we already have power for salvation in Christ’s work at the Cross, and power for deliverance by the enabling power of God the Holy Spirit. We are not to have evil desire…to want something for self above what God wants for us…and when we do…it’s the time to run to God for deliverance.
Look at Paul’s assessment of himself…Philippians, Chapter 3, Verses 3 to 11…
…for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in union with Christ Jesus and who put no confidence in the flesh…
…although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more…
…circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee…
…as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish (human excrement…skubala) so that I may gain Christ…
…and may be found in union with Him, not having a self-righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that righteousness which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God the Father on the basis of faith…
…that I may know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…
…in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
So the challenge for us is this…we have an inner game…part of that inner game is “the flesh” … I WILL NOT…the thoughts of “the flesh” … the rebel who hates restraint and who is not oriented to authority…the other part of the inner game occurs when we obey the will of God the Father and when we take direction from God the Holy Spirit…that’s when we realize that our human power can never defeat “the flesh,” but our indwelling Spirit can, and always does.
The Promises of the Lord Jesus Christ
are Guarantees!
…in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you (who are in union with) Christ Jesus.
It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.
…through Christ’s glory and goodness He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become sharers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption of death that is in the world by lust.
CLOSING SONG
Amazing GraceMy Chains are Gone
Chris Tomlin
CLOSING PRAYER
Let us pray...
THANKS- INTERCESSION- PETITION
And we pray that You continue to shape the messages from this pulpit that are an accurate reflection of Your unconditional love, Your glorious Person, Your lucid thinking, Your impeccable work, and Your magnificent 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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1220 S. Alma School Rd. Suite 201 Mesa, AZ 85210 |
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