(# 315) Romans 9 - Obedience Defeats Heartbreak

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

Obedience Defeats Heartbreak

 

If only the heartbreakers, the Jews, spent their faith in their Messiah!  Paul can relate.  He refused to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah for quite a while.  The one who is heartbroken by the Jews had been the foremost heartbreaker himself.  In Acts, Chapter 26, Verses 12 to 18…the apostle Paul describes his Damascus experience…his sin against the church of the One and Only God, the Lord Jesus Christ…

 

ACTS 26:12

“While so engaged (in many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth), as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and by the commission of the chief priests…”

 

ACTS 26:13

“…at midday, O King (Agrippa), I saw on the way (to Damascus) a light from heaven, brighter than the noonday sun, shining all around me and around those who were journeying with me...”

 

ACTS 26:14

“And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect (Aramaic), ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?  It is hard for you to kick against the goads (it is futile for you to go against the living God).’”

 

ACTS 26:15

“And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.”

 

ACTS 26: 16

“But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you…”

 

ACTS 26:17

“…rescuing you from the Jewish people and rescuing you from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you…”

 

ACTS 26:18

“…to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan, to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’”

 

The simple obedience of faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation opens up an eternity of possibilities for those who believe.  Welcome to a place where you can stop kicking against the goads in this life…where you can believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved!

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

FOREVER

Kari Jobe

 

The opening song for this lesson is FOREVER sung by Kari Jobe.

 

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 being our refuge and our strength…an ever present help in times of trouble…

 

Teach us how to obey…show us how to put aside our own strength and our stiff necks…teach us not to kick against the goads…help us to know there is no win in disobeying you…help us as Gentiles to preach the word of the gospel message to Jews who are disobedient in this age…preaching to them both in season and out of season…and let their disobedience remind us not to do the same…

 

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…we need and we value your financial support…please welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with the offering message.

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

ROMANS 12:2

And do not be conformed to this world, but keep on being transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

 

OFFERING

FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE

Dave McClure, Instrumental

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

Obedience Defeats Heartbreak

 

We continue our verse-by-verse study of the first passage of Romans, Chapter 9, a passage that extends from Verse 1 to Verse 5…the apostle Paul speaks from a broken heart…

 

ROMANS 9:1

I am telling the truth in Christ…I am not lying…my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit…

 

ROMANS 9:2

…that I keep on having great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.

 

ROMANS 9:3

For if I could wish that I myself were accursed…separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh…

 

ROMANS 9:4

…the kinsmen who are Israelites…to whom belongs the adoption as sons…and the glory…and the covenants …and the giving of the Mosaic Law…and the temple service…and the promises…

 

ROMANS 9:5

…whose are the fathers…and from whom came the Christ…according to the flesh, the Christ who is the One over all…THE Sovereign God…eternally blessed forever. Amen.

 

Paul has a broken heart for his “kinsmen according to the flesh” because they’re learning a double covenant from false teachers who insist that the Jews all will get to heaven because of their unique covenant with God through Abraham…thus they have no need of the Messiah…the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Of course this is a lie.

 

Paul prays for his brethren…and he has hope…knowing from his own experience that even those who dioko…as the Koine Greek verb puts it…those who keep on “pursuing passionately” against the Christ can be turned in an instant for Christ, just as Paul was.  All of us have but to respond to Jesus’ call…with simple faith…faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone…and we will be saved.  The obedience of faith defeats the heartbreak of an eternity in the Lake of Fire.

 

Is Paul happy for the plight of the Jews in this Church Age, the Jews who have rejected their Messiah, because they hurt him?  Hardly!  And he was hurt by them…Acts, Chapter 23, Verses 12 to 22…

 

ACTS 23:12

When it was day, a group of fanatical Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under an oath (an anathema), saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

 

The oath was actually a self-imposed curse…these men agreed, by taking the oath, to put themselves to death if they did not succeed in killing Paul.

 

ACTS 23:13

There were more than forty who formed this plot.

 

ACTS 23:14

They came to the chief priests and to the elders and said, “We have bound ourselves under a solemn oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul.”

 

They were fasting as well…the truest sign of a fanatic!

 

ACTS 23:15

(They said) …“Now, therefore, you and the Council notify the commander to bring Paul down to you, as though you were going to determine his case by a more thorough investigation…and we for our part are ready to slay him before he comes near the place.”

 

ACTS 23:16

But the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, and he came and entered the barracks and told Paul.

 

ACTS 23:17

Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, “Lead this young man to the commander, for he has something to report to him.”

 

ACTS 23:18

So the centurion took the young man and led him to the commander and said, “Paul the prisoner called me to him and asked me to lead this young man to you since the young man has something to tell you.”

 

ACTS 23:19

The commander took the young man by the hand and stepping aside, began to inquire of him privately, “What is it that you have to report to me?”

 

ACTS 23:20

And the young man said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to the Council, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more thoroughly about him.”

 

ACTS 23:21

“So do not listen to them, for more than forty of them are lying in wait for Paul, men who have bound themselves under a curse (anathema) not to eat or drink until they slay Paul…and now they are ready and waiting for the promise from you.”

 

ACTS 23:22

So the commander let the young man go, instructing him, “Tell no one that you have notified me of these things.”

 

Thank God for a police officer with integrity…an officer who swears to uphold the law and hen does it!

 

When these men failed at the plot, they weaseled out of their oath through the help of lawyers.

 

Let’s take a quick music break…and then we’ll begin to look at the first passage of Romans Chapter 9 verse-by verse…

 

MUSIC BREAK

FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

Larnelle Harris

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

Obedience Defeats Heartbreak

 

Welcome back!  Romans, Chapter 1, Verses 1 to 5…

 

ROMANS, CHAPTER 9, PASSAGE 1

 

ROMANS 9:1

I (Paul) am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit…

 

ROMANS 9:2

…that I keep on having great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.

 

ROMANS 9:3

For if I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh…

 

ROMANS 9:4

…who are Israelites, to whom belongs…the adoption as sons…and the glory…and the covenants…and the giving of the Law…and the temple service…and the promises…

 

ROMANS 9:5

…whose are the fathers…and from whom is the Christ…according to the flesh…the Messiah who is over all, THE God, blessed forever. Amen.

 

VERSE 1

 

Since some might think that Paul is spiteful toward the Jews…that Paul has turned on the Jews because of their mistreatment of him…Paul starts the chapter affirming his sincerity by calling on the backing of the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit…Romans, Chapter 9, Verse 1…

 

ROMANS 9:1

I (Paul) am telling the truth…I am in union with Christ on this, I am not lying to you, my conscience testifies along with me in the filling of God the Holy Spirit and His enabling power…

 

Paul is introducing two omnipresent witnesses for his assertions in this passage…the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit have the ability to be everywhere simultaneously, thus they are eyewitnesses to everything that happens in all of divine history.  A legal requirement for testimony is that the one testifying must have two or three witnesses…in Deuteronomy, Chapter 19, Verses 15 to 21…we see excerpts from the Mosaic Law…

 

DEUTERONOMY 19:15

“A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed…on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed (to be able to convict a man of a crime).”

 

Evidence to convict a man of a crime…what a concept!  Where has that idea gone?

 

DEUTERONOMY 19:16

If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing, then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and before the judges who will be in office in those days.

 

DEUTERONOMY 19:18

The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely…

 

DEUTERONOMY 19:19

…then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.

 

In other words, if someone wanted a man put to death…and the man was found innocent, then the one who was accusing would be put to death.  What a concept!  Can we bring it back, along with the stoning of teen-agers to death if they reject their parents?  I’m kidding of course about the second part…but not really.

 

DEUTERONOMY 19:20

The rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you.

 

This was the intent of justice…to deter crime…today, criminals know that if they commit a crime and they are convicted, they will be housed for life…thus crime is not deterred.

 

DEUTERONOMY 19:21

Thus you shall not show pity…life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

So Paul was calling on two or three witnesses to prove his assertions in Romans, Chapter 9, Verse 1…

 

ROMANS 9:1

I (Paul) am telling the truth…I am in union with Christ on this, I am not lying to you, my conscience testifies along with me in the filling of God the Holy Spirit and His enabling power…

 

Paul, and his conscience (the part of him that knows right from wrong), and the Lord Jesus Christ. and God the Holy Spirit all testify in this matter…the matter of Paul’s truthfulness and sincerity.  In fact, it is God the Holy Spirit who is speaking through Paul.  By the way, the reason I think our God reveals Himself as One God in three separate and distinct persons…an idea the Trinity…God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit…is because of this very idea of witnesses…that in the Creator-creature Conflict, it is not Satan’s word against God’s…instead it is three separate and distinct, omnipresent witnesses that testify against Satan and the fallen angels for their crime of disobedience…for rejecting a relationship with the One and Only God in favor of their own plan for themselves.  That’s why the idea of a trinity is rejected so vociferously!

 

So the apostle Paul is telling this truth…Romans, Chapter 9, Verse 2…

 

ROMANS 9:2

…that I (Paul) keep on having great sorrow and grief in my heart (heartbreak…adialeiptos…the kind of grief for which there is no ceasing).

 

The Greek word in play in this verse is the verb adialeiptos…it’s a verb that we have seen in First Thessalonians, Chapter 5, Verse 17…

 

FIRST THESSALONIANS 5:17

…pray without ceasing (adialeiptos)…

 

Adialeiptos … it means continuing sorrow…it means incessant grief…it means a haunting grief…in First Thessalonians, Chapter 5, Verse 17 the verb translates “make it a habit,” as in “make it a habit to pray.”  Paul is saying that this continuing, haunting grief ,directed toward his kinsmen in the flesh, continues without ceasing…in fact it haunts him.  Parents…can you relate?  Romans, Chapter 9, Verse 3

ROMANS 9:3

For if I (Paul) could, I would wish that I myself were accursed (made anathema), separated from (my union with) the Christ (the Messiah) for the sake of my brethren (the Jews), my kinsmen according to the flesh (those Jews who are unbelievers)

 

Paul is saying, “I would do what Christ did!”   Paul would give up his own salvation, if he could, which he can’t, if it could save his brethren…he is proposing the exact same sacrifice as Christ made…the exact same sacrifice that Moses offered to make…the exact same sacrifice that Abraham offered to make by taking his son Isaac up a mountain to be sacrificed.  Yet the Lord would not allow a believer in Him to be snatched from His hand for any reason.  Yet we see Paul’s broken heart…and it is all because of the disobedience of the Jews, who could have easily remedied this situation through simple faith alone…faith in their Messiah alone, the lamb without spot or blemish…the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We’ll continue our study of the first passage in Romans, Chapter 9 in our next lesson.

 

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 5:8

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 (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

FEAR NOT

June Murphy

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

          THANKS - INTERCESSION - PETITION

 

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

 

www.barahministries.com