ROM-137-151004 - length: 51:38 - taught on Oct, 4 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.
God has plans for you! So often, when I hear believers in Christ talk about God’s plan for their lives…they talk about it as if it is unknowable…they talk about it with a throwaway comment. When something is going wrong in their lives, they say, “Well I know God has a plan!” And my thought is, “Yeah…but do you know what God’s plan is?” Especially, I want to know whether or not they know God’s plan for them personally.
Well several passages in the bible give us insight into God’s plan for our lives…among them, Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verses 1 to 10. The apostle Paul is speaking for the Lord Jesus Christ in this passage, communicating the Lord’s mind to believers in Christ. The first three verses describe “the old you” in believers…Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verse 1…
And you believers in the Lord Jesus Christ were spiritually dead in your trespasses and sins…
When we were spiritually dead we had no communion with, no relationship with, no ability to communicate with God…we were not only described as spiritually dead, but also we were described as unregenerate. Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verse 2…
…in which (trespasses and sins…these deliberate acts against God and against His righteousness) you formerly walked (the maintenance of a lifestyle) according to the course of this world (the ways and the curriculum of Satan’s cosmic system of power), according to (the ways of) the prince of the power of the air (Satan, the ruler of this world), (according to the ways) of the spirit that is now working in (unbelievers…who are described as) the sons of disobedience.
Among them (the sons of disobedience) we (believers in Christ) too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh (the “if it feels good do it” mindset) and (the desires) of the mind (of the flesh…enmity toward God), and by nature we were children (who were the object) of (God the Father’s) wrath, even as the rest (of the unbelievers were).
Now a description of God’s plan for “the new you” … Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verse 4…
But God the Father, being rich in mercy, because of the great and UNconditional love with which the Father loved us…
…even when we were spiritually dead in our transgressions, made us spiritually alive together in union with Christ (by grace you unregenerate ones have been saved)…
…and raised us up with Christ (in resurrection from the dead), and God the Father seated us with Himself in the heavenly places in union with Christ Jesus…
As a believer in Christ, what is God the Father’s plan for your life? (1) He made you spiritually alive from spiritually dead…you were born again…this time, not born physically, but born spiritually… (2) He placed you into union with Christ and He raised you up with Christ in resurrection...(3) and then God the Father seated you at His right hand along with Christ.
“Well I know God has a plan!” He sure does…and it’s tailor made for you!
Now you know what God’s plan is…but why did God the Father do this for you? Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verse 7…
…so that in the ages to come God the Father might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us who are in union with Christ Jesus.
For by God the Father’s grace you have been saved through faith; and that
(grace based salvation by means of faith is) not (from the source) of yourselves, it is the gift of God the Father…
…and it is not as a result of your works, so that no one may boast before the justice of God.
We cannot work for our own salvation…salvation only comes as a benefit from the shed blood of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to those who believe. Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verse 10…
For we believers in Christ are God the Father’s workmanship, created in union with Christ Jesus for good works, which works God the Father prepared beforehand for us so that we would walk in them.
Welcome to a place where you can learn about the plan of God for your life so that you don’t ever have to be confused about God’s plans again… because one day you’ll meet God…and you don’t want that to be the beginning of your learning about His plans for you.
MUSIC AND REFLECTION
Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ
Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
I CAN ONLY IMAGINE
MercyMe
The opening song is I CAN ONLY IMAGINE by MercyMe.
OPENING PRAYER
Let us pray...
We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…
We thank you for allowing us to gather here in faith with the resident and non-resident members of this congregation…and with our guests who join us from time to time…we’re in awe, and we’re deeply appreciative of the fact that you know each of us by name and have created us to walk with You for all eternity…we are happy to be dependent on You and we trust You completely…and we gather here to surrender ourselves to You in adoration.
We ask that You would inspire our hearts today by means of God the Holy Spirit...that You would fill us with Your unconditional love…that You would bridle our tongues to speak only in grace and in truth when we are in the world…that you would help us feel Your presence as we worship You today...
We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit in Christ’s name...Amen.
TODAY’S STUDY
Only God Makes The Holy Life Possible
We continue our study of the first passage of Romans, Chapter 8…I appreciate the depth that is in every word of this passage, and I am enjoying sucking the marrow out of it. Beginning at Romans, Chapter 7, Verse 24…
Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
Thanks be to God the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord (for the deliverance)! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other hand, with my flesh, I am serving the law of sin.
The beauty of Romans Chapter 8, among many other things, is that we learn about the deliverance that God’s plan has provided for us…about how He provided the deliverance…and about why He provided the deliverance. So first, what deliverance did God provide His believers with? Romans,
Chapter 8, Verse 1…
Therefore there is now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are IN UNION WITH CHRIST JESUS.
For THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE in union with Christ Jesus has set you free from THE LAW OF SIN AND OF DEATH.
God the Father gave us God the Holy Spirit of THE RESURRECTION LIFE to set us free from mental slavery to the ruler of this world. We are studying the following two verses right now… Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 3 and 4…HOW did God the Father deliver us?
FOR WHAT THE MOSAIC LAW COULD NOT DO, (as) weak (and) as (powerless as) it was through the flesh, GOD THE FATHER DID: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh…and as an offering for sin, GOD THE FATHER CONDEMNED SIN IN THE FLESH…
We have to wonder what it means that God the Father CONDEMNED SIN IN THE FLESH. And now, WHY He delivered us…
…so that the requirement of the Mosaic Law (righteousness) might be fulfilled in us believers in Christ, who DO NOT WALK ACCORDING TO THE FLESH but who WALK ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT.
For those who are walking ACCORDING TO THE FLESH set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who walking ARE ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT, set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
And now the gracious result of God the Holy Spirit’s work in us…
For the MIND SET ON THE FLESH is death, but the MIND SET ON THE SPIRIT is life and peace…
…because the MIND SET ON THE FLESH is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so…
…and those who are IN THE FLESH cannot please God.
However, you BELIEVERS IN CHRIST ARE NOT IN THE FLESH but YOU ARE IN THE SPIRIT, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you (and of course it does). But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ (and unbelievers don’t), that one (the unbeliever…the unregenerate one) does not belong to Christ.
IF CHRIST IS IN YOU, (and He is for believers in Christ) though the body is dead because of sin (indwelling), yet THE SPIRIT IS ALIVE because of righteousness (imputed).
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you (and
He does for believers in Christ), He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according
to the flesh—
…for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if you are living by the Spirit YOU ARE PUTTING TO DEATH THE DEEDS OF THE BODY, you will live.
I have had several chances recently to listen to people talk about God. I hear them spewing their fruitless and inaccurate speculation about Him…I watch their defensive body language as they speak about Him…I hear their circular and irrational arguments about how to view God and how to view the spiritual life…and I smile…because God is not confused or confusing…and if you want to know the Lord you can…and quickly. In today’s lesson we’ll get into the depth of the how and why of God’s delivers His believers to the victory of a holy life. First, a few announcements.
BARAH MINISTRIES ANNOUNCEMENTS
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
Visit the Vets
October 18, 2015
1:45PM MST
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
Next Deacon’s Meeting
October 24, 2015
7:30AM MST
This is a new date…
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TODAY’S STUDY
Only God Makes The Holy Life Possible
God has two concerns…the DOER…that is, who you are…and the DEED…the things you do. There is no more vivid example of God’s attitude concerning you and your deeds that the sin of homosexuality. The United States government has recently endorsed the sin of homosexuality by bringing into law the right for same sex couples to marry. Now there is no way to start a conversation about this subject, especially if you are in opposition to it, without being accused of being homophobic. What does it mean to be homophobic?
HOMOPHOBIC
To have an unreasonable fear, a repugnance or an aversion toward homosexuals and homosexuality.
I am not homophobic. I don’t think my opinions on the subject of the government’s decisions are relevant or important. I do think it is important for me to know how God views the situation. The bible makes it clear. Marriage is between an man and a woman. God didn’t change His mind, and He doesn’t change His mind, and He won’t change his mind.
I’m on record as saying I don’t think there is such a thing as a homosexual…there is the sin of homosexuality…and I think it is unfair to attribute an identity to those who practice a sin. For example, if you engage in homosexuality, in this world you are considered to be a homosexual…if you lie in this world you are considered to be a liar…if you commit adultery in this world you are considered to be an adulterer…if you steal in this world you are considered to be a thief. Your sins give you an identity. I think that is unfair.
God separates the DOER from the DEED…and I think we need to join Him in separating the person, from the person’s actions, even though there seems to be a biblical exception to this rule in the matter of Satan. When the Lord Jesus Christ talks about Satan in John, Chapter 8, Verse 44…he attributes an identity to his actions…
You (unregenerate Jews) are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
The Lord attributes an identity to Satan’s nature…murderer…liar.
As we sort through the depths of Romans, Chapter 8 verse by verse, I think we have to be able to hold two thoughts in our head at the same time. The sin of homosexuality, as I see it, drives the point home…God cares about you as a person first and foremost…there is a saying…God loves the homosexual UNconditionally and He hates the sin of homosexuality…in other words, God has the ability to separate who you are, the person, from the things you are doing, the sin. So if we use God’s wisdom in this matter, we should be able to easily see, from our study of the next two verses of the Romans 8 passage, that God has a plan for you the person…and that plan is for you, the person, to have a holy life. God also has a plan to rid your life of sin, which He absolutely hates. I think it’s easy to miss the second part…how much God hates sin.
I can say I have been very guilty of and very interested in, ramming home the ideas of the spiritual life that concern your person. You believers in Christ are priests, ambassadors, saints, holy and blameless, in union with Christ, the possessor of God’s imputed righteousness, justified, redeemed, reconciled, expiated, indwelled by the Trinity…all important things to be sure…about your person. Yet as believers in Christ, we must not forget that God hates sin and doesn’t want us engaged in it at all. That is easy to forget. God is clearly interested in your person…the DOER…but He is just as intimately interested in your DEEDS.
If we look at Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 1 and 2 we can clearly see what God did for the person…
Therefore there is now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are IN UNION WITH CHRIST JESUS.
For THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE in union with Christ Jesus has set you free from THE LAW OF SIN AND OF DEATH.
For the person, the believer in Christ, whom God wills to have a holy life, He removed condemnation…He placed us into union with Christ…He provided us with God the Holy Spirit…and He set us free from the law of sin and death. Those things He did for the person. Simultaneously, He did some things about our deeds…Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 3 and 4…what did He do?
FOR WHAT THE MOSAIC LAW COULD NOT DO, weak (powerless) as it was through the flesh, GOD THE FATHER DID: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh…and as an offering for sin, the Father condemned sin in the flesh…
HE CONDEMNED SIN IN THE FLESH. You may ask, “Why did He do that?” He did that…
…so that the requirement of the Mosaic Law (righteousness) might be fulfilled (by God the Holy Spirit) in us, who DO NOT WALK ACCORDING TO THE FLESH but who WALK ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT.
What does it mean…GOD THE FATHER CONDEMNED SIN IN THE FLESH. It means that God loves YOU, the person, UNconditionally…but God HATES sin, and He doesn’t want you to do it.
Many people in this congregation used to be part of a cult called Systematic Theology. In this cult’s system, we believed that when we sinned, as believers in Christ, we were ejected from fellowship with God. Then when we identified and admitted our sins to God, we were restored to fellowship. We used this verse as our justification for the practice…First John, Chapter 1, Verse 9…
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We would track our sins all day every day. And when we would commit a sin, we would identify the sin, admit the sin to God by confessing it, and then we would “move on in the plan of God” as the false teachers who taught this practice would say. We called the practice of this heresy, “The Rebound Technique.” In other words, when you sin, bounce back into fellowship.
I don’t have either the time or the inclination to go into the lunacy and the heresy of this practice right now. I will say briefly that the practice was one step removed from the Roman Catholic practice of the heresy of confessing your sins to a priest. Instead of confessing to a priest, we would go directly to God. Big deal. Same lunacy…different landing point.
The point I want to make about the practice of rebound is this…after a while, the practice gives you the idea that it is perfectly okay to sin, because all you have to do is identify the sin, confess the sin, and move on. “The Rebound Technique” is the epitome using free will as a license to sin. It is a pseudo spiritual “washing machine” that allegedly frees us from the sin and its guilt. The problem is, the practitioners of “The Rebound Technique” totally underestimate how much God HATES both the practice of sinning and the sin itself.
The Lord Jesus Christ wants His believers to live a holy life. A holy life is a life free from sin. Yet all of us know, as believers in Christ, that we sin after salvation. What we forget, is that God doesn’t want us anywhere near sin or its practice. Ephesians, Chapter 4, Verses 1 to 3…
Therefore I (Paul), the prisoner of the Lord, implore you believers in Christ to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called…
…(I encourage you to walk) with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in UNconditional love…
…being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Since we believers in Christ borrow our power from one of two sources… from the cosmic system when we are disobedient to God and His Word and are instead obedient to the flesh…or from God the Holy Spirit when we are obedient to God and His Word, ignoring the lusts of the flesh…we must be constantly aware of our need to do as Romans, Chapter 6, Verse 12 encourages us to do…
Therefore do not let sin reign as sovereign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts…
God is the One who powers the holy life of a believer in Christ…we don’t have the power to do it ourselves…but we do have the obligation to make the right choices at the point of decision, using God the Holy Spirit as our guide…and using His power to be obedient to God.
God the Holy Spirit is really interested in the DOER…but He is just as interested in our DEEDS. He is leading us to a holy life. God delivers His believers to the victory of a holy life because He wants us to be like Him…righteous. That’s what it means to walk in a manner worthy…to walk in righteousness, the standard into which we have been installed since the moment of salvation. That's what God wants for us.
At the point of decision…don’t sin. Make the holy choice. That’s where God is leading us.
When the Lord Jesus Christ
Promises Salvation, It’s a Guarantee!
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”
“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given to mankind by which we must be saved (except the name of the Lord Jesus Christ).”
“For the Son of Man (the Lord Jesus Christ) has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
CLOSING SONG
FEAR NOT
June Murphy
CLOSING PRAYER
Let us pray...
THANKS- INTERCESSION- PETITION
And we pray that You protect our steps as we go out into the world, Father…and that you keep us on the narrow way, completely dependent on You and Your Guiding, Mentoring Spirit…we ask this 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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