(# 302) Romans - What Did We Learn From Paul in Romans Chapters 3 and 4?

Class Outline:

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Welcome To

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Good Morning!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark.  Barah Ministries teaches the Word of God from God’s perspective and not from the human perspective.  We want to know what God has to say to us though His Word, because we’re convinced that God knows exactly what He’s talking about.  And our God is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

What Did We Learn From Paul in Romans Chapters 3 and 4?

 

Lovingkindness is the Old Testament word for grace…Psalm 23, Verse 6…

 

PSALM 23:6

Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me (the believer in Christ) all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

 

The Lord’s unconditional love follows His believers throughout this life, wherever we go, regardless of circumstances…Psalm 31, Verse 7…

 

PSALM 31:7

I will rejoice and be glad in Your lovingkindness, because You have seen my affliction; you have known the troubles of my soul…

 

PSALM 31:8

…and You have not given me over into the hand of the enemy…You have set my feet in a large place.

 

David, like all believers can always count on the Lord’s deliverance to victory…Psalm 33, Verse 18…

 

PSALM 33:18

Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who respect Him (believers in Christ), on those who hope for His lovingkindness…

 

God’s grace never fails those of us who count on Him.  Psalm 59, Verse 17…

 

PSALM 59:17

O my strength, I will sing praises to You; for God is my stronghold, the God who shows me lovingkindness.

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

AWESOME GOD

Rich Mullins

 

Let’s begin this lesson by hearing praises sung to our gracious, loving and awesome God.  The opening song for this lesson is AWESOME GOD sung by Rich Mullins.

 

OPENING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…

 

Father thank you for the many gifts you have given us, among them the gift of faith…

 

Strengthen our faith…help us to stop listening to the voice of doubt, the flesh…teach us through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit how to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called…lead us to lives filled with character that reflect You in every situation we encounter… free us from confidence in self…teach us confidence in You…

 

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

Amen.

THE OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall

 

Let’s begin this lesson by giving you a chance to make an offering…in just a moment we’ll welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall to take the offering.

 

The apostle Paul highlights the joy that a Pastor has in watching the congregation give, in Philippians, Chapter 4, Verse 17.  He says…

 

PHILIPPIANS 4:17

Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account (from the giving of the gift).

 

I love watching you give because I KNOW what God is doing for you in return…he’ll reward your cheerful generosity, which gives this ministry life.  The summer is tough for us financially because the contributions take a hit.  Simultaneously we have to pay our expenses to conferences…so any help you could give us at this time would be greatly appreciated.  As always, thank you for everything you provide. 

 

Please welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with the offering message.

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

MATTHEW 7:13

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.”

 

OFFERING

FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE

Dave McClure, Instrumental

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

What Did We Learn From Paul in Romans Chapters 3 and 4?

 

Let’s begin our look back with Romans, Chapter 3…

 

ROMANS 3:1

Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?

 

ROMANS 3:2

It is great (to be a Jew) in every respect!  First and foremost of all, that the Jews were entrusted with the oracles (the exact thinking) of (THE) God (the Lord Jesus Christ).

 

However, the Jews were unable to keep the command of God with which they were entrusted…they did not follow the Mosaic Law…and some didn’t believe in Christ.

 

ROMANS 3:3

What (do we make of this) then? If some (Jews) did not believe (in the Lord Jesus Christ), their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God (toward the Jews), will it?

 

In other words, God isn’t arbitrary is he?

 

ROMANS 3:4

May it never be (absolutely not)! Rather, let God keep on being found to be absolutely true (and faithful), though every man keep on being found to be a liar…as it is written, “That You (Lord) may be justified in Your words, and (that You may) prevail when You are judged.”

 

God is faithful even when we’re not!  Right June?

 

ROMANS 3:5 (Rory Translation)

But if our unrighteousness demonstrates (more clearly) the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Shall we say that the God who inflicts wrath is unrighteous (by inflicting wrath on us)? (I, Paul, am using a human argument.)

 

ROMANS 3:6

May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world (if He Himself is unrighteous)?

 

ROMANS 3:7

But if through my lie, the truthfulness of God resulted in His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner?

In other words, if God benefits from my sinning, by putting His conduct on a pedestal, why am I being judged?  Said another way, why don’t I get credit for sinning?

 

ROMANS 3:8

And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), “Let us do evil that good may come”?  Those who say such things deserve to be condemned!

 

A righteous God is not unfair in condemning sin.

 

ROMANS 3:9

What then?  Are we (Jews) better than the Gentiles?  Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are ALL under (the sovereignty of) sin (under its power and control…in other words, all unbelievers are spiritually dead)…

 

And now the chilling indictment of the whole human race…as unbelieving, unregenerate humanity…points also made in the Old Testament Scripture.

 

ROMANS 3:10

…as it is written, “There is no creature who is righteous, not even one…”

 

ROMANS 3:11

“There is no creature who understands God, and there is no creature who seeks for (a relationship with) God…”

 

ROMANS 3:12

“All creatures have turned aside (away from God), together they have become useless (worthless); there is no creature who does good, there is not even one.”

 

First, in talking…what creatures say…

 

ROMANS 3:13

“Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep on deceiving, and the poison of asps is under their lips…”

 

ROMANS 3:14

“Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness…”

 

Next, conduct…what creatures do…

 

ROMANS 3:15

“Their feet are swift to shed blood…”

 

ROMANS 3:16

“Destruction and misery are in their paths…”

 

The result…

 

ROMANS 3:17

“And the path of peace they have not known.”

 

ROMANS 3:18

“There is no respect for God before their eyes.”

 

ROMANS 3:19

Now we know that whatever the Mosaic Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Mosaic Law…the Jews…so that every mouth may be closed up (from its utterance of excuses) and so that it is clear that all the world owes the payment of a penalty to God…

 

ROMANS 3:20

…because by the works of the Mosaic Law no flesh will be justified in God’s sight…for through the Mosaic Law comes (only) the knowledge of sin.

 

The Mosaic Law is God’s standard…the Law makes it clear that ALL OF US are lawless lawbreakers as unbelievers…because any law we break makes us lawbreakers…and lawbreakers are fully deserving of death.  Therefore, keeping the Mosaic Law is not a way for mankind to be saved…no creature has ever kept the Mosaic Law except the Lord Jesus Christ…instead the Mosaic Law is a way for mankind to know they are condemned and need a Savior.  All of us are fully conscious of what is sinful.

 

Then thirteen words that change the fate of all mankind…

 

ROMANS 3:21

BUT NOW, APART FROM THE MOSAIC LAW, THE RIGHTEOUSNESS FROM GOD HAS BEEN MANIFESTED…this (establish and irrevocable)  fact being testified to by the Mosaic Law and the Old Testament Prophets…

 

If we can’t meet the standard of God’s righteousness on our own, God would have to help…and He did!

 

ROMANS 3:22

…even the righteousness of God the Father through faith (alone) in (the Lord) Jesus Christ (alone) for all those who believe; for there is no distinction (in this matter between Jews and Gentiles)…

 

Just because the Jews have been entrusted with God’s oracles does not give them special privileges…this does not exempt them from being condemned because they sin…

 

ROMANS 3:23

…for ALL have sinned and keep on falling short of the glory (the essence… the attributes) of God …

 

ROMANS 3:24

…(therefore all creatures keep on) being justified as a (free) gift (from God) by (the agency of) His grace through the redemption (the ransom payment) which is (imputed as a credit to a person’s account through being) in (union with) Christ Jesus (as a believer in Christ)…

 

ROMANS 3:25

…(this Jesus) whom God the Father displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate God the Father’s righteousness, because in the forbearance of God the Father, He passed over the sins previously committed…

 

What is propitiation?  It means that the Lord Jesus Christ’s Person and Work is the ONLY perfectly satisfactory payment, in God the Father’s eyes, as an atonement for mankind’s sin (“In Adam”).

 

 

ROMANS 3:26

…(and He did it) for the demonstration, I say, of God the Father’s righteousness at the present time, so that the Father would be (considered)  just and (so He would be considered) the justifier of the one who has faith in (the Lord) Jesus (Christ).

 

God the Father overlooks the ignorance of all mankind.

 

ROMANS 3:27

Where then is (the) boasting (of the Jews for their special position)? It is excluded (completely unwarranted…shut down). By what principle is it shut down? (On that principle of doing) works? No, but on the principle of faith.

 

ROMANS 3:28

For we maintain (as a conclusion) that all mankind is justified by faith (alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, an approach that is) apart from works of the Mosaic Law.

 

ROMANS 3:29

Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, (he is the God) of Gentiles also…

 

God is without partiality.  Whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, it is faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation.  Period.

 

ROMANS 3:30

…since indeed God the Father, who will justify the circumcised by faith (alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone) and the uncircumcised through faith (alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone), is one (and the same Person).

 

God the Father is the God of the Jews and the Gentiles.

 

ROMANS 3:31

Do we then nullify the Mosaic Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Mosaic Law (by faith).

 

When the Mosaic Law lets us know we are sinners who need a Savior, we have a choice…for or against Christ?  It’s your choice!

 

MUSIC BREAK

HOW MAJESTIC IS YOUR NAME

Various Artists

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

What Did We Learn From Paul in Romans Chapters 3 and 4?

 

Welcome back!  In the first three chapters we have been introduced to the apostle Paul…to the gospel message…that righteousness is required for admission to heaven…to the Jews and the Gentiles…to Law versus works as a means to be saved…to the condition of the whole human race from physical birth…condemned…and to provision God has made for creatures to be saved…salvation through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.  Now Paul takes us to an example in Romans Chapter 4…the example of Abraham…

 

ROMANS 4:1

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?

 

What lesson can we learn from the father of the Jewish race, Abraham?

 

ROMANS 4:2

For if (for the sake of argument) Abraham was justified by works (an he wasn’t, by the way), he has something to boast about (to people), but not before God.

 

ROMANS 4:3

For what does the Old Testament Scripture say (in Genesis 15:6)? “Abraham believed God (the gospel message), and it was credited to him as (absolute) righteousness.”

 

ROMANS 4:4

Now to the one who works, his wage is not paid as a favor, but it is paid as what is due (what is owed to him for the work).

 

ROMANS 4:5

But to the one who does not work (instead counting on God’s grace as a favor), and believes in Him (the Lord Jesus Christ) who (by His Person and His Work at the Cross) justifies the ungodly (unrighteous unbelievers), his faith is credited as righteousness (as a favor)…

 

Abraham was saved because He believed God and obeyed God in the matter of how to be saved…faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone…

 

ROMANS 4:6

…just as (King) David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works…

 

ROMANS 4:7

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered.”

 

ROMANS 4:8

“Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.”

 

Paul has used two people whom the Jews are obsessed with…Abraham and David…to make His points.  Powerful!  Convincing!

 

ROMANS 4:9

Is this blessing then on the circumcised (the Jews), or on the uncircumcised (the Gentiles) also? For we say, “Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness…”

 

ROMANS 4:10

…how then was righteousness credited (to Abraham)?  While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised?  Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised…

 

Abraham was a Gentile long before he was a Jew!  In fact, Abraham was circumcised thirteen years after he believed in God and was credited with righteousness.

 

ROMANS 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 (the Gentiles as well), that righteousness might be credited to them…

 

Circumcision, then, is a symbol of what has previously happened in the soul…through faith alone in Christ alone…a person is declared righteous because of faith in Christ, and males are then circumcised, as a reminder of God’s promises to the Jews…circumcision IS NOT the condition of salvation itself, as some erroneously believe.  Once again…works, like circumcision, do not credit righteousness to your account.  Only faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone credits righteousness to your account.

 

ROMANS 4:12

…and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision (the Jews), but also those who follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised (the Gentiles).

 

ROMANS 4:13

For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Mosaic Law, but through the righteousness of faith (long before the Mosaic Law was given).

 

ROMANS 4: 14

For if those who are of the Mosaic Law are heirs (through following the Law), faith is made void and the promise (of God) is nullified (making God a liar)…

 

ROMANS 4:15

…for the Mosaic Law keeps on bringing about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation (of law).

 

God gives us law to make the rules clear to us.

 

ROMANS 4:16

For this reason it is by faith (that righteousness is imputed), in order that it may be (imputed) in accordance with (God’s) grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants (the Gentiles, too), not only to those who are of the (Mosaic) Law (the Jews), but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham (faith alone in Christ alone), (Abraham) who is the father of us all…

 

ROMANS 4:17

…(as it is written in Genesis 17:5, “A father of many nations have I made you”) in the presence of the God in whom Abraham believed, even in the presence of God the Father, who gives the resurrection life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.

 

ROMANS 4:18

In hope against hope Abraham believed (even though he was sexually dead and his wife was barren…and even though both were advanced in age), so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”

 

ROMANS 4:19

Without becoming weak in faith Abraham contemplated his own body, now as good as sexually dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb (who was about 90 years old)…

 

ROMANS 4:20

…yet, with respect to the promise of God, Abraham did not waver in unbelief (he did not doubt God…he was not double minded), but instead he grew strong in faith, giving glory to God…

 

ROMANS 4:21

…and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able (dunamis…powerful enough) also to perform.

 

ROMANS 4:22

Therefore this is why his faith was also credited to him as righteousness.

 

Abraham had faith in God for salvation and faith in God for everything else.

 

ROMANS 4:23

Now not for Abraham’s sake only was it written that his faith was credited to him (as righteousness)…

 

ROMANS 4:24

…but for our sake also, to whom righteousness will be credited, as it is credited to those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead…

 

ROMANS 4:25

He (the Lord Jesus Christ) who was DELIVERED OVER (by God the father) because of our transgressions, and was raised (from the dead) because of our justification.

 

Abraham and David teach us the power of faith, and the resulting righteousness, which saves ours souls.

 

GOD WANTS YOU!

The Most Important Decision of Your Life

 

MATTHEW 19:25b

(The disciples asked the Lord) “Then who can be saved?”

 

ROMANS 3:10

…as it is written, “There is no creature who is righteous, not even one…

 

ROMANS 5:7-8

For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.//But God the Father demonstrates His own unconditional love toward all mankind, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died instead of us.

 

EPHESIANS 2:8-9

For by grace you have been saved through faith (alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone); and that (grace and faith and salvation is) not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;//it is not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

 

TITUS 3:5

The Lord Jesus Christ saved us, not on the basis of deeds we have done in self-righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and by the renewing from the Holy Spirit…

 

CLOSING SONG

WHAT CAN SEPARATE YOU

June Murphy

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

THANKS - INTERCESSION - PETITION

 

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

 

www.barahministries.com