Romans 125: Romans 3 - The Lord Jesus Christ is the ONLY Role ModelWelcome 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, and I’m proud to be the Pastor of Barah Ministries. I am committed to helping you see the Lord Jesus Christ as He for whom He truly is and to helping you see His Word from His point of view.
MUSIC AND REFLECTION Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD
Let’s begin our worship service today by raising our voices to the Lord in song. Please stand and join June Murphy in singing the opening song… HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD.
HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD
The splendor of a King, clothed in majesty Let all the earth rejoice All the earth rejoice
HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD
He wraps himself in Light, and darkness tries to hide And trembles at His voice Trembles at His voice
HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD
How great is our God, sing with me How great is our God, and all will see How great, how great is our God
HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD
Age to age He stands And time is in His hands Beginning and the end Beginning and the end
HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD
The Godhead Three in One Father, Spirit, Son The Lion and the Lamb The Lion and the Lamb
HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD
How great is our God, sing with me How great is our God, and all will see How great, how great is our God
HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD
Name above all names Worthy of our praise And My heart will sing How great is our God
HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD
Name above all names Worthy of our praise And My heart will sing How great is our God
HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD
How great is our God, sing with me How great is our God, and all will see How great, how great is our God
HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD
How great is our God, sing with me How great is our God, and all will see How great, how great is our God
HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD
How great is our God, sing with me How great is our God, and all will see How great, how great is our God
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 see what you want to teach us…that our only hope is to look to You…let Your message reverberate in our souls today as we continue to learn about the “so great salvation” You have prepared for all Your creatures…
We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit...in Christ’s name... Amen.
TODAY’S STUDY Romans 4 The Lord Jesus Christ is the ONLY Role Model
To the resident and non-resident members of Barah Ministries,to our guests who join us from time to time, and to all believers in Christ…Grace to you and peace.
We continue our study of the book of Romans…we now transition into the fourth chapter…we continue our look at righteousness…you justification by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone as the ticket to eternal life.
THE BOOK OF ROMANS RIGHTEOUSNESS Your Justification is ONLY by Faith in Christ
Romans 3:21 to Romans 4:25
What we have learned so far…beginning in Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 1…the individual Christian is in view…
ROM 1:1 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God…
Paul is just like you and me…a human being…a believer in Christ…with a spiritual gift (apostle)…with a calling (set apart to disseminate the gospel message…to bring about obedience to faith)…choosing to be a doulos a twenty-four hour a day, seven day a week bond-servant of God…and he’s just like you and me, only worse, because he was a persecutor of the church…God picks the worst of us to make his best points.
SATAN’S CONTENTION
There are bad guys and there are good guys
Paul is the poster boy for all bad guys…he lived all three lifestyles that Satan offers…the lascivious life…he was a murder…the religious life…he was a Pharisee…the self-righteous life…he thought he was better than everyone else.
In Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 1 to Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 8…the gospel message is in view…we evangelize to others we are delivering God’s gospel message…
ROM 1:8 First, I thank my God the Father through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.
The gospel message is a legacy left by the Lord Jesus Christ for all mankind as a free gift…the Lord offers the free gift of salvation for anyone willing to believe what God the Father says about the Lord Jesus Christ. John, Chapter 3, Verses 17 and 18 say…
JOH 3:17-18 “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 The person who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ is not judged; the person who does not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ has been judged already, because he has not believed in the Person of the uniquely born Son of God (the Lord Jesus Christ).
Here’s what the Lord Jesus Christ has to say about you…First Timothy, Chapter 2, Verses 3 and 4…
1TI 2:3-4 This is good and acceptable in the sight of the God who is our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who desires all men to be saved and who desires for all men to come to the knowledge of the truth believed.
SATAN’S CONTENTION
You have to earn the gift of righteousness
In Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 9 to Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 17… righteousness begins to come into focus…being righteousness is the only way to get into heaven…your salvation cannot be earned…it can only be received as a free gift…the gospel announces the opportunity of salvation… Romans, Chapter 1, Verses 16 and 17…
ROM 1:16 For I (Paul) am not ashamed of the gospel of God, for the gospel is the power of God the Father for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
ROM 1:17 For in the gospel the righteousness from God the Father is revealed on the basis of God’s faith principle to anyone expressing faith in Christ; as it is written in the Old Testament Scriptures, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
SATAN’S CONTENTION
Articulated by a friend…
“I can’t believe that a billion people in China, or other people all over the world who worship God, and who have never heard about Jesus Christ, will go to hell just because they don’t believe in Jesus Christ.”
Yes, my friend…five billion people can be wrong. God says so in His Word… Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 20…
ROM 1:20 For since the creation of the world the Lord Jesus Christ’s invisible attributes, His eternal power and His divinity, have been clearly seen by all mankind, from inside of themselves, and from outside themselves, even being understood through what has been made in nature, so that all mankind are without excuse in the matter of knowing the Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ makes Himself visible to everyone in ways they would understand.
In Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 18 to Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 20… Sin is in view…the wrath of God is directed toward sin…Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 18…
ROM 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and against all unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…
In other words, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…there is none righteous, not even one…your sins are not relative…they are absolute…some sins aren’t better than others…one sin…one violation of the law…is enough to indict you forever as a criminal…as a lawless lawbreaker…
SATAN’S CONTENTION
Some people are better than others
Satan offers three “works oriented” lifestyles…The Lascivious Lifestyle which induces a hopelessness…a CEO once told me…“Rory, I’m not a good man” … The Religious Lifestyle…I can earn my way into heaven by my own righteousness…The Self-Righteous Lifestyle…I’m just better than you because of who I am, what I have, what I know, and how I do things. Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 20…
ROM 3:20 …by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in God the Father’s sight; for through the Law only comes the knowledge of sin.
Romans, Chapter 5, Verse 20…
ROM 5:20a The Law came in so that the transgression would increase…
In Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 21 to Romans, Chapter 4, Verse 20…your justification by faith is in view…righteousness only comes ONLY through faith in Christ…Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 21…
SATAN’S CONTENTION You can earn your righteousness
Turn in your bibles to Romans, Chapter 4… <READ ROMANS CHAPTER 4>
Take a five minute break and we’ll begin our study of chapter 4, verse by verse.
BREAK Day by Day Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Welcome back. Let’s look at Romans Chapter 4, Verse 1…
ROM 4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found in the matter of salvation?
Paul’s eyes are ever on the Jews as he writes the letter to the Romans, even though the letter is to believers in Christ at Rome. Paul is a Jew himself… and a Pharisee…and a student of the Mosaic Law…left his “roots” behind to become a Christian…turn to Philippians, Chapter 3, Verse 1…here’s what Paul has to say about himself…he places no confidence in the flesh…
PHI 3:1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in union with the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.
When we are discouraged, we have forgotten to rejoice in our union with the Lord. We repeat to constantly remind us of the position we have in union with Christ. Satan wants you to forget. Paul was rejoicing from prison as he wrote this letter to the Philippians.
PHI 3:2 Beware of the dogs (the Judaisers), beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision…
The Judaisers were a group with tremendous influence who were promoting the mixing of the law with faith…they contended that you could not be saved if you were not circumcised. Sorry ladies.
PHI 3:3 …for we believers in Christ are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and who glory in our union with Christ Jesus and who put no confidence in the flesh…
Human accomplishments are not a cause for boasting since everything we have is provided by God. Philippians, Chapter 3, Verse 4…
PHI 3:4 …although I (Paul) myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else (like the Judaisers) has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I should have far more confidence…
I followed the rules! I have many human accomplishments. Why should Paul put confidence in the flesh?
PHI 3:5 …circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel (a Jew), of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee…
Paul was what the Jewish people call a mensch! In addition, he was a Roman citizen too…he had it all…
PHI 3:6 …as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is obtained from keeping the Law, found blameless.
<BS Cough> Self-righteousness in full bloom.
PHI 3:7 But whatever things were gain to me from this lifestyle, those things I have counted as meaningless for the sake of knowing the Christ.
Paul called his life before Christ “skubala” … “cacca” … a life without merit…a life without meaning… Philippians, Chapter 3, Verse 8…
PHI 3:8 More than that, I count all these things of merit to be, as I think about it and reflect on it, meaningless when compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have gladly suffered the loss of all these things, and I count them but rubbish (skubala…human excrement) so that I may gain a relationship with Christ…
The Jews had their eyes on Abraham and on David as their human role models. Paul uses these two biblical giants in his continuation of explaining justification by faith. Christ is the ONLY role model.
What did the Lord Jesus Christ do at the Cross? According to a dear friend of mine, the Lord Jesus Christ only paid for Adam’s original sin at the Cross. The payment for our sins after the original sin is up to us. Wow! I would hate to be in that predicament. First Peter, Chapter 3, Verse 18 says that’s a lie…
1PE 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all mankind’s sins, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God the Father, having been put to death in the flesh…
I told him that he is a like a person who was in prison for a life sentence on death row…he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and he was paroled…and after his release from prison, he went back to prison and asked that the parole be rescinded.
God the Father declares people righteous, which is called justification, on the basis of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ…you simply believe what God the Father is telling you through the Word of God about Jesus Christ, and you are saved.
The Roman Catholics have a version of justification.
ROMAN CATHOLIC DOCTRINE
Are all people guaranteed salvation?
God has given us the gift of free will. The death of Christ on the Cross opened the gates of heaven so that all people might be saved, but because of free will we can choose to reject Christ’s free gift of redemption. Christ’s death on the cross cannot force anyone into heaven, and it is conditional. Only those who return the love of Christ and obey his conditions can justify their place in the kingdom of heaven. We call this process justification.
Works…works…works…no knowledge of propitiation.
ROMAN CATHOLIC DOCTRINE
The love and mercy of God has redeemed humanity, but it is the responsibility of the individual to justify their salvation by responding to Christ’s grace in baptism and obeying his words of truth.
As skillful a lie as there is…not the baptism of the Spirit…not simply faith alone…self-righteousness and self-justification can save you. That’s a lie. The person who is indoctrinated and subjective cannot see the lie interspersed inside the truth. Romans Chapter 4, Verse 2…
ROM 4:2 For if (for the sake of argument) Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
The rabbis of Paul’s day, and the rabbis today, teach that Abraham built up a lot of his own righteousness from all his good works. And if that is the case, he could boast about how great he is compared to others, the self-righteous approach. If Abraham built up merit by good works, the most it could be called is human righteousness, also known as self-righteousness. But Paul says that all of Abraham’s self-righteousness does not allow him to boast before God, who requires divine righteousness, a free gift, for salvation. All have sinned and keep on falling short of the glory of God…there is none righteous, not even one…Abraham is no exception. Romans Chapter 4, Verse 3…
ROM 4:3 For what does the Old Testament Scripture say (in Genesis, Chapter 15, Verse 6…right smack dab in the middle of the Torah…the bible of the unregenerate Jew)? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD (THE SON…JEHOVAH ELOHIM), AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
Abraham believed. That’s called faith. What is faith? FAITH Believing what God tells you
Abraham believed what God told him, and he made the transition from…
Unrighteous Righteousness
Ungodliness Godliness
Sinner Saint
Romans Chapter 4, Verse 4…
ROM 4:4 Now to the one who works for salvation, his payment is not paid as if it were a gracious favor, but his payment is paid because it is what he is due, as what he has earned because of the work.
Abraham was “paid” righteousness as a favor…not as a result of works.
ROM 4:5 But to the one who does not work for salvation, but believes in the Lord Jesus Christ who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness…
Paul contends that this is what happened with Abraham, long before the Mosaic Law, by the way, and that this is what happened with King David, too, another Jewish hero. Paul quotes Psalm 32, Verses 1 and 2 in the next two verses…Romans, Chapter 4, Verses 6 to 8…
ROM 4:6 …just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God the Father credits righteousness apart from works…
ROM 4:7 “BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED.”
ROM 4:8 “BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.”
What man is this…believers only? May it never be! To the one who expresses faith…to the one who chooses to believe what God tells him in the Word of God…to this person, righteousness is credited, just like it was for Abraham and for David. Paul says the same thing in the next verse… Romans, Chapter 4, Verse 9…
ROM 4:9 Is this blessing then on the circumcised (Jews), or is this blessing on the uncircumcised (Gentiles) also? For we say, “FAITH WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
The Jews are now in for a shock! Romans Chapter 4, Verse 10…
ROM 4:10 How then was righteousness credited? While Abraham was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised…
ROM 4:11 …and Abraham received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them…
Abraham was a Gentile when he was credited with righteousness. He was eighty-six years old when he had a son with Hagar. Genesis, Chapter 16, Verse 16…
GEN 16:16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.
Abraham was circumcised when he was 99.
GEN 17:24 Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
Abraham was actually a Muslim before he became a Christian and a Jew. He worshipped the “moon god.” Romans Chapter 4, Verses 12 and 13…
ROM 4:12 …and the father of circumcision (the Jews) to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.
ROM 4:13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.
The Lord Jesus Christ is our only role model.
The Promises of the Lord Jesus Christ
PSA 37:3 Trust in the Lord and do good…
PSA 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.
PSA 37:5 Commit your way to the Lord…and He will do it.
PSA 37:7 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him…
PHI 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in (union with) Christ Jesus.
CLOSING SONG Amazing Grace My Chains Are Gone
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!
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