Romans 090: Romans 1 - God's Response to the Hard Way People

Welcome To

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church…my name is Pastor Rory Clark. The Lord Jesus Christ has made us into new creatures and He is conforming us into His image.  We come here today to worship Him.  We worship the Lord Jesus Christ because He is God…Colossians, Chapter 3, Verses 1to 11 say this…

 

COL 3:1

Therefore if (1) you have been raised up (in resurrected from the dead) with Christ (and all believers have), keep seeking the things above, where (the Lord Jesus) Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (the Father).

 

COL 3:2

Set your mind (believers in Christ) on the things above (in heaven), not on the things that are on earth.

 

COL 3:3

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God (the Father’s care).

 

COL 3:4

When Christ, who is our (resurrection) life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed (in union) with Him in glory.

 

COL 3:5

Therefore consider the members of your earthly body (the crucified sin nature) as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.

 

COL 3:6

For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience (unbelievers)…

 

 

 

COL 3:7

…and in them (these deeds) you also once walked (as a lifestyle), when you were living in them (as unbelievers).

 

COL 3:8

But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.

 

COL 3:9

Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self (the sin nature) with its evil practices…

 

COL 3:10

…and (you have) have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One (the Lord Jesus Christ) who created him (the new self)—

 

COL 3:11

…a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew (no racial prejudice), circumcised and uncircumcised (no religious prejudice), barbarian, Scythian(no foreigner prejudice), slave and freeman (no class prejudice), but Christ is (for) all (whosoever), and (Christ is) in(dwelling) all (believers in Christ).

 

Welcome to a place we come to as Christians for worship…for the renewing of our minds through the study of the Word of God.  Revelation, Chapter 2, Verse 7 tells us how to renew our minds…

 

REV 2:7

‘He who has an ear, let him hear what (God) the (Holy) Spirit says to the churches.’

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

Who am I?

 

As God prepares your soul for this RENEWING, let’s hear June Murphy worship our Lord in song.  Feel free toplace your cares into the hands of the One who cares for you…our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The opening song is WHO AM I?.

 

OPENING PRAYER

 

Let us pray...

 

We’re grateful Heavenly Father for the privilege of studying the absolute

truth...the Word of God…

 

Thank you for maintaining our health…thank you for providing our wealth…thank you for making our contributions in Satan’s kingdom stealth…thank you for enveloping us believers in the sphere of your grace which provides the opportunity for us to make mistakes as we learn…

 

Help us to learn things the easy way, by listening to You…

 

We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit...in Christ’s name... Amen.

 

TODAY’S STUDY

Romans 1: God’s Response to the Hard Way People

 

First, a few announcements…

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

Mark Your Calendars!

The next Lord’s Supper Celebration is April 20, 2014

Part of The Resurrection Day Celebration

Bring Friends!

 

Mark Your Calendars!

Deacon’s Meeting

April 6, 2014

12:00P to 2:00P

 

Yard Sale

April 12

At the Future Home of Barah Ministries

573 E. Guadalupe Road in Gilbert, AZ

Donations Needed

Contact Mike Embree

 

We need five volunteers to work the sale.

 

We’re Moving to a New Location!

Target Date is April 27

1220 S. Alma School Road

(Alma School and Southern)

Suite 201

Mesa, AZ

 

This sale should defray some of our start up costs for the new location…

 

Let’s take the offering.

 

Let’s remember to give with the motivation suggested in Scripture

 

2CO 9:7

Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful (grace oriented) giver.

 

Welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall.

 

TODAY’S OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall

 

Barah Ministries Financial Policy

 

Even though we are sanctioned by God to charge for the things we provide so you can worship God, we choose not to exercise our right.  Therefore no price appears on any material from Barah Ministries so that anyone who desires biblical teaching may have it free of charge.

 

Barah Ministries Financial Policy

 

Even though the materials we provide are free of charge, they are not free of cost.  We appreciate it when the Word of God motivates you to give financial support so as to provide biblical teaching, both for yourself and for others.

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

PRO 12:26

The righteous is a guide to his neighbor, But the way of the wicked leads them astray.

 

OFFERING

East to West

 

TODAY’S STUDY

Romans 1: God’s Response to the Hard Way People

 

Turn in your bibles to Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 26…what is God’s response to the people who like to learn the hard way?  What is His response to the unregenerate unbeliever?  To those who are not born again?  What is His response to those who are not spiritually alive?

 

ROM 1:26

For this reason GOD GAVE THEM OVER to (their) degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural (sexual) function for that (sexual function) which is unnatural…

 

Unbelievers exchange light for darkness…one example is the rejection of natural sexual instincts for those that are quite unnatural.  Sex with the opposite sex within marriage is natural.  Sex outside of marriage…sex with same sex partners…sex with animals…is quite unnatural.

 

We all have free will, which means we can act independently from God.  When we do act independently from God, especially if we do it for a long enough time, we think our rebellion makes God change His viewpoint about what is natural…and what is natural is that which He sponsors…that which He provides.   Our depravity does not change God’s viewpoint.  James, Chapter 1, Verse 17…

 

JAM 1:17

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down

from (God) the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

 

The Lord is immutable.  He does not change.  Hebrews, Chapter 13, Verse 8…

 

HEB 13:8

(The Lord) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

 

As Pastors, we have to be able to separate the doer from the deed when we teach sensitive matters like this.  Many Pastors don’t separate a person from his actions, and as a result, Pastors send confusing biblical messages to people, which unbelievers love to exploit.  Turn to Second Peter, Chapter 3, Verse 10…

 

2PE 3:10

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the (current) heavens (the universe) will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the (current) earth and its works will be burned up.

 

A certain future event…

 

2PE 3:11

Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you (believers in Christ) to be in holy conduct and godliness…

 

2PE 3:12

…looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!

 

2PE 3:13

But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

 

2PE 3:14

Therefore, beloved (divinely loved ones), since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless…

 

 

2PE 3:15

…and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you…

 

2PE 3:16

…as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable (those who are unbelievers) distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction (in the Lake of Fire)…

 

Let’s not be confused.  We are under God.   We are under God’s laws.  He doesn’t change, and His laws don’t change just because we are unstable, depraved, distorters of God’s Word.  There is a natural sexual function and an unnatural sexual function.  We are able to do both.  We must never confuse the natural with the unnatural.  More importantly, we must never be confused about this…a person is not the person’s sins.  So be clear we are talking about sins and not about people in Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 26…

 

ROM 1:26

For this reason GOD GAVE THEM (unbelievers) OVER to (their) degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural (sexual) function for that (sexual function) which is unnatural…

 

The Doer is the creature.  The Deed is sin.  God loves the creature unconditionally.  God hates the sin.  Be clear why God hates the sin…it’s because sins destroy us, and God doesn’t want to see any of His creatures destroyed.

 

ROM 1:27

…and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of (sex with) the woman and burned in their (sexual) desire toward one another, men with men (homosexuality) committing indecent (not natural) acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty (compensation) of their error (for breaking God’s law).

 

Take a five-minute break.

 

BREAK

When I Think About Home

 

Welcome back!

 

ROM 1:28

And just as they (unbelievers) did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, GOD GAVE THEM OVER to a depraved mind (absent of God), to do (in practice) those things which are not proper…

 

What did God give unbelievers over to?

 

HE GAVE THEM OVER TO…

 

Lusts of their Hearts

 

Degrading Passions

 

Depraved Mind

 

In short, God gives them over to the full consequences of their sinful desires.

HE GAVE THEM OVER is God’s deliberate decision to withdraw his restraint in the life of unbelievers both as a lesson and as a fervent plea...John, Chapter 3, Verses 17 and 18…

 

JOH 3:17

“For God (the Father) did not send (God) the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

 

JOH 3:18

“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name (the Person) of the only begotten (uniquely born) Son of God (the Lord Jesus Christ).

 

God withdraws His restraint, God the Holy Spirit, in the Age of the Tribulation, the age following the Church Age.  Second Thessalonians, Chapter 2, Verse 7…

 

2TH 2:7

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains (god the Holy Spirit) will do so until he is taken out of the way.

 

In the Tribulation period, God allows humans to be attacked by fallen angels from the abyss, as a way to get them to come to the Lord for salvation.  Turn in your bibles to Revelation, Chapter 9…

 

REV 9:1

Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven (an angel) which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him.

 

REV 9:2

He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.

 

REV 9:3

Then out of the smoke came locusts (fallen angels) upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

 

REV 9:4

They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads (unbelievers).

 

REV 9:5

And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment (them) for five months (the number of grace); and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.

 

REV 9:6

And in those days men will seek death (through suicide) and will not find it (because God does not permit it); they will long to die, and death flees from them.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ, our loving and unconditional parent, occasionally withdraws His restraint to teach, both in this age and in the ages to come.  Most human parents refuse to withdraw their restraint, thus their kids never experience the consequences of their actions.  Their kids never learn.  Their kids wallow in the blanket of parental protection and become monsters.  And here’s how the parents justify this betrayal of their children.

 

 

PARENTAL BETRAYAL OF CHILDREN

 

“I want my kids to have it better than I did.”

 

If you want your kids to have it better than you did, then teach them the truth…that there is a God, and His name is the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

If you want your kids to have it better than you did, then teach them the truth…that there is one way of doing a thing…God’s way.

 

If you want your kids to have it better than you did, then teach them the truth…that there is a consequence to your actions.

 

If you want your kids to have it better than you did, then teach them the truth…prepare them for the world they are going into.

 

PARENTAL BETRAYAL OF CHILDREN

 

“I don’t want my kids to see R-rated movies”

 

“I don’t want my kids to be exposed to swearing”

 

PARENTAL BETRAYAL OF CHILDREN

 

“I don’t want to yell at my kids

 

“I don’t want my kids to be around the wrong kind of people”

 

Today’s kids are not being equipped to stand on their own by today’s parents.

 

When kids go off to college…parental restraint is removed.  What is their response to this lack of restraint…usually, they willfully destroy themselves.  And there is nothing that the “brooding parent,” who worries incessantly and obsessively about children, can do about it.

 

What is lust?

 

Lust

Insatiable desire

 

When God turns us over to the lusts of our heart we go deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper into the dungeon of depravity.  In our next lesson, God is going to reveal to us the sins of the depraved and unnatural…

 

We Close

with the

Promises of the Lord Jesus Christ

 

JER 29:11

“For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

 

1PE 5:6-7

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

 

JUD 1:24-25

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

 

CLOSING SONG

Every Time I Breathe

 

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 person, Your thinking, Your work, and Your 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!

 

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