(# 359) Romans 10 - God’s Will is at the Center of the Universe

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.  We worship the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is God, and as believers in Christ, it is our pleasure and our good fortune to have been placed in union with Him forever at the moment of salvation by God the Holy Spirit.

 

Sponsored by God’s enemy, and the ruler of this world, Satan, people who are “religious” seek to “dumb God down” … to reduce God to manageable proportions.  Unfortunately for them, God is infinite and eternal…God cannot be reduced or contained.  Instead, the Lord would have His creatures step up to the infinite abundance He has in store for us.  Isaiah, Chapter 55, Verses 6 to 11 say this…

 

ISAIAH 55:6

Seek the Lord while He may be found…call upon the Lord while He is near.

 

“Whosoever” may find the Lord “whenever,” as long as a person is still breathing.

 

ISAIAH 55:7

Let the wicked abandon his wicked ways and let the unrighteous unbeliever abandon his unrighteous thoughts…and let the wicked, unrighteous one return to the Lord, and the Lord will have compassion on him… let the wicked, unrighteous one return to our God, for the Lord will abundantly pardon.

 

Wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts describe a lifestyle of unbelief by the unbeliever.  The word that expresses the act of “returning to the Lord” is the word REPENT.  When we choose to turn from one way of thinking to a different way of thinking, we REPENT…it’s like turning from an unbelieving lifestyle to believing in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved lifestyle in a single moment.

 

ISAIAH 55:8

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts…nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.”

 

As human beings we are not at all interested in forgiving those who wrong us…or those who don’t believe in us.  Why?  Because most of the time our thoughts are wicked!  The Lord’s thoughts are not the same.

 

ISAIAH 55:9

“For just as the heavens are higher than the earth…so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

 

ISAIAH 55:10

“For just as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth, making it bear fruit and sprout vegetation…and just as the rain and the snow don’t come down from heaven without furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater…”

 

ISAIAH 55:11

“…so it will be with My Word as it goes forth from My mouth…My Word will not return to Me empty…without accomplishing what I desire…and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”

 

Welcome to a place where you can see what the Lord’s Word can do to expand your thoughts and to make you aware of the abundance He has always had planned for your life…an abundance which you may or may not be willing to receive!

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God’s Will is at the Center of the Universe

 

You probably slept last night…God didn’t.  God was awake all night, and two of the things on His mind were, “What am I going to reveal today to my church called Barah Ministries?”  … and … “What am I going to reveal today to each person who is part of Barah Ministries that lets them know how much I care for them?”  Philippians, Chapter 2, Verse 13 makes you aware of something you may know intellectually…that you may not feel daily…

 

PHILIPPIANS 2:13

…it is God the Father who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

 

As we study Israel and the Jewish Race…God’s favored nation and His favored people…a nation and a people who have completely turned their backs on their Messiah…we see the character of God’s will.  God still considers those who don’t act the way He wants them to as precious in His sight…and He still wills and works for His good pleasure, which is to make all of us know how special we are to Him.

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

I AM BEAUTIFUL

June Murphy

 

Here’s June Murphy to remind us how beautiful we are to God, with her song…I AM BEAUTIFUL.

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

COME SEE A MAN

June Murphy

 

Who is this one who sees us as beautiful?  His name is Jesus.  Let’s hear June Murphy sing about Jesus in her song, “Come See a Man.”

 

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 having the strongest will in the universe…and thank you for having will for our lives…thank you for letting us know what your will for us is through Your Word…thanks for letting us know that it is pleasurable to You when everything goes well for us…and how You work all the things we experience together for our good, especially the things that represent tribulation to us…with You Father…we just know You’re going to work everything out for us…

 

Help us to relax, Father…help us to know Your character and Your will through the study of Your Word…help us to stop struggling as if Your will is not knowable…help us to ignore the false picture Your enemy paints of You…help us to know that You are on our side, and in our corner…help us to remember that You sent Your Son to die for us to demonstrate You have nothing against us…help us to realize and to always remember that You are always doing everything for us because You always are able and willing to accomplish everything on our behalf…

 

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

Amen.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God’s Will is at the Center of the Universe

 

In Paul’s letter to the believers in Christ at Rome…Romans, Chapters 1 to 8…Paul’s focus is the gospel message.  It is God’s will that His gospel message be distributed throughout the earth, and the apostle Paul is one of God’s many instruments to accomplish this good pleasure. 

 

Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles…believers in Christ like us…people who are not of God’s chosen nation Israel…and people who are not of God’s chosen race…the Jews…yet people whom God loves and whom God treats as equals of the Jews because we don’t have a God who is partial.  We have a “whosoever God” who is out to save everyone.  Paul describes the Gentile plight in Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verses 11 to 16…

 

 

EPHESIANS 2:11

Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision” … the Jews … a circumcision, by the way, performed in the flesh by human hands—

 

EPHESIANS 2:12

…remember that you Gentiles were once separate from Christ (unbelievers without a promised Messiah), excluded from the commonwealth of Israel (not citizens), and strangers to the covenants of promise (the blessings promised to Israel), having no hope (as ungodly, unrighteous unbelievers) and without (a relationship with) God in the world.

 

There was a time before the Cross of Christ when the Jewish Race considered us Gentiles as woefully inferior.  In fact, that same stigma, that same social and spiritual boundary exists among some members of The Jewish Race this very day…people who consider us Gentiles as not worthy to mingling with.  A Jewish person from this group of elitists who marries a Gentile is thought to be damned.

 

EPHESIANS 2:13

But now in union with Christ Jesus you Gentiles, who formerly were far off, have been brought near to God the Father by the blood of Christ.

 

This is called reconciliation…the Cross gave Gentiles direct access to God the Father…the same access given to the “so called” circumcision…the Jews.

 

EPHESIANS 2:14

For the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is our peace, who made both groups (Jews and Gentiles) into one group and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall…

 

Peace…God has nothing against those of us who are in union with Him…thanks to the redemption provided by Christ’s shed blood at the Cross.  Now there is no wall…no barrier…we have direct access to God.

 

EPHESIANS 2:15

…(The Lord broke down the barrier) by abolishing in His flesh the enmity (both between Jews and Gentiles…and between God and us), which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances…so that in union with Himself the Lord might make the two (Jews and Gentiles) into one new man (the new creature…a completely new humanity), thus establishing peace…

 

The Lord Jesus Christ made the Mosaic Law inoperative by fulfilling it.

 

EPHESIANS 2:16

…and so that the Lord might reconcile both Jews and Gentiles to God the Father, into one body (The Body of Christ), through the Cross…by the Cross having put to death the enmity (between Jews and Gentiles…between us and God).

 

It is God’s will that everything is in unity…it is God’s will that we are one…and God will have it His way…He is perfecting the universe this way.

 

We have been studying an important section of Paul’s letter to the believers at Rome…Romans, Chapters 9 to 11…a three chapter passage designed to answer the question, “How Will the Lord Deal with the Jews?”  You may ask, if we’re not Jewish, why should we even care how the Lord deals with the Jews?  Well it is God’s will that we care about and learn from Unbelieving Israel and The Unbelieving Jewish Race…and what He wants us to learn is how much He cares for us no matter how many mistakes we make.

 

Remember how the Romans, Chapters 9 to 11 passage started?  It started with the apostle Paul expressing God’s will for an obstinate people by revealing His deep desire to sacrifice for those who have turned their backs on The Jewish Messiah…the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

ROMANS, CHAPTER 9 - PASSAGE 1

 

ROMANS 9:1

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

 

ROMANS 9:2

…and I tell you that I keep on having great and sorrow and an incessant, haunting grief in my heart (I am heartbroken).

ROMANS 9:3

For if I (Paul) could, I would wish that I myself were accursed (made an anathema by God…sent to the Lake of Fire as a substitute), separated from (my union with) the Christ (the Messiah) for the sake of my brethren (the Jews who are unbelievers), who are my “kinsmen according to the flesh…”

 

ROMANS 9:4

…my 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

…my kinsmen who are of the lineage of the fathers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob)…and my kinsmen from whose lineage comes the Christ, the One who became flesh (and tabernacled among us)…the Messiah…the One who is Sovereign over all, THE God (Deity), the blessed One…who IS forever. Amen.

 

If we stop for a moment, we have to ask ourselves, “Why is Paul telling us Gentiles about his heartbreak over the Jewish race?”  Paul wants our sympathy.  In fact, Paul wants us to have the exact same sacrificial feelings for God’s Chosen People that he has…and we do!  Anti-Semitism has no place in Christianity…an enemy of the Jews is an enemy of God!  It is God’s will that we feel the same about Israel and The Jewish Race as Paul. 

 

God has an attitude of unconditional love toward Unbelieving Israel and The Unbelieving Jewish Race, even though they have rejected their Jewish Messiah…the Lord Jesus Christ…in Romans, Chapter 10, Verse 21 it says…

 

ROMANS 10:21

But as for Israel and The Jewish Race the Lord says, “All the day long I

have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people (and they have rejected My Hand).”

 

Their rejection does not at all affect God’s will…a will that is powering the universe…and it is His will that Israel and The Jewish Race be granted the result of the promises the Lord made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and David…promises that will a wonderful future for Israel and the Jews…promises protected by the remnant of Jewish believers that God always keeps at the ready to preserve Israel and the Jewish Race.

 

Let’s listen to the words of the first passage of Romans, Chapter 11…a passage we studied last week…Verses 1 to 6…

 

PASSAGE 1

 

ROMANS 11:1

I (Paul) say then, God has not rejected His people…(Unbelieving Israel and The Unbelieving Jewish Race), has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite (a Jew), a descendant of Abraham (a believing Jew), of the tribe of Benjamin (the only tribe faithful to Judah).

 

ROMANS 11:2

God (absolutely) has not rejected His people (Israel and The Jewish Race, a nation and a people) whom He foreknew. Or do you not know (are you ignorant of) what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, and how he pleads with God against Israel?

 

ROMANS 11:3

“Lord, The Unbelieving Jews have killed Your prophets…they have torn down Your altars…and I alone am left…and they are seeking my life.”

 

ROMANS 11:4

But what is the divine response to Elijah?  The Lord says, “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

 

ROMANS 11:5

In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant (of Jewish believers) according to God’s gracious choice.

 

ROMANS 11:6

But if the remnant is chosen by grace, and it is, it is no longer chosen on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

 

Let’s take a two-song music break…and when we return we’ll move on to the second passage of Romans, Chapter 11…

 

MUSIC BREAK

HOLY IS THE LORD

Chris Tomlin

 

MUSIC BREAK

ALIVE

Hillsong

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God’s Will is at the Center of the Universe

 

Let’s begin the next portion of our lesson by giving you a chance to make an offering…we need and we value your financial support to continue the work of this ministry…please welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with the offering message.

 

THE OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

MARK 4:19

…but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful.

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

ROMANS 12:2

And do not be conformed to this world, but keep on being transformed by God through 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

God’s Will is at the Center of the Universe

If there were one message I want you to take away from this Homecoming Weekend, it’s this…

 

THE MESSAGE

 

God’s Will is at the Center of the Universe

 

It is not God’s will that you work to please Him.

 

God wants to do something for you!  He saved you…and now He wants to do everything else for you as well. 

 

Let’s continue our study of Romans, Chapter 11, in the second passage, at Verses 7 to 10….

 

PASSAGE 2

 

ROMANS 11:7

What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained… but those who were chosen obtained righteousness, and the rest were hardened…

 

ROMANS 11:8

…just as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor…eyes to see not… and ears to hear not…down to this very day”

 

ROMANS 11:9

And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap…and a stumbling block and a retribution to them.”

 

ROMANS 11:10

“Let their eyes be darkened to see not…and bend their backs forever.”

 

Let’s look into the details of this passage…Romans, Chapter 11, Verse 7…

 

ROMANS 11:7

To what conclusion are we forced then (now that we know God has not abandoned His nation Israel or His people, The Jewish Race)?  What Israel is seeking (righteousness through works), it has not obtained… but those who were chosen (by God…believers…the remnant) obtained righteousness (through faith in Christ), and the rest (the unbelieving) were hardened (by God…God allows the hardening)…

 

It is NOT God’s will that you become righteous in His eyes by keeping the Law…by following some code of conduct…and there are just some people who refuse to believe that’s true.  There are some people who look at evidence and then ignore it…refusing to be persuaded by the truth.  They see that in spite of the evil they demonstrate, God is still on their side, yet they refuse to believe that could possibly be true because of the false way they see themselves.  Romans, Chapter 11, Verse 8…

 

ROMANS 11:8

…just as it is written, “God gave (the unbelieving) over to a spirit of stupor…eyes to see not… and ears to hear not…down to this very day (God allows sin to have its effect….DEATH).”

 

Self-betrayal…self-justification…self-deception…self-absorption.  That’s the sequence of the chain events that are initiated when we sin.  Sin is a self-betrayal.  We know the right thing to do, and we don’t do it.  We tell ourselves that it is okay to go against the things we know are right in God’s eyes…in the case of Unbelieving Israel and the Unbelieving Jewish race, the rejection of their Messiah.  Then, in self-justification, we tell ourselves that it’s okay that we betrayed ourselves.  Then when we tell ourselves enough times that betraying ourselves is okay, we enter into self-deception…we believe our own lies.  And when we deceive ourselves long enough, we become totally self-absorbed.  Life becomes all about our toes and our fingers and we can’t see anyone else as valuable.  We see others as things.

 

It is not God’s will that we stay in this state…so He allows a hardening for the purpose of instruction.  Those four demining words…GOD GAVE THEM OVER…remember from Romans, Chapter 1, Verses 20 to 25?

 

ROMANS 1:20

For since the creation of the world the things that can be known about the Lord…His invisible attributes, His eternal power and His divine nature, have been clearly seen by everyone, being understood through what has been made (things we can see…like nature), so that all mankind are without excuse.

 

God set it up so we would understand who He is from the outside and from the inside.  Ignoring the fact that we know everything we need to know about God is indefensible.

 

ROMANS 1:21

For even though unbelievers knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks (for being created), but instead they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

 

Instead of accepting the truth about God, the ungodly, unrighteous unbeliever turns to idols…self-created things to worship.

 

ROMANS 1:22

Professing to be wise, unbelievers became fools…

 

ROMANS 1:23

…and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image (idols) in the form of corruptible man (people worship), and in the form of birds, and in the form of four-footed animals, and in the form of crawling creatures (animal worship).

 

ROMANS 1:24

Therefore GOD GAVE THEM OVER in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.

 

God lets sin take its course…leading to death.

 

ROMANS 1:25

For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature (Satan) rather than the Creator (the Lord Jesus Christ), (the One) who is blessed forever. Amen.

 

God allows our spiritual apathy.

 

The Gym

Food

Learning

 

Romans, Chapter 11, Verse 9…

 

ROMANS 11:9

And David (a regenerate, believing Jew) says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap…and a stumbling block and a retribution (compensation) to them.”

 

This is David engaging in an imprecatory prayer…invoking a curse…asking God to do something severe…like break their teeth out.  He is hoping that when God gives you a gift and you profane it…the gift becomes a curse for you…a stumbling block…a trap…a full compensation of wrath.  Davis continues in Romans, Chapter 11, Verse 10…

 

ROMANS 11:10

“Let their eyes be darkened to see not…and bend their backs forever.”

 

Bent backs is a reference to a blind person, bent over and groping to find his way.

 

Well that isn’t exactly what God does when we goof, is it?  David didn’t get his way with God.  God’s will is at the center of the universe…and His will is to be on your side.  Enjoy!  And get off your own back!

 

GOD WANTS YOU!

Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life

 

In John, Chapter 3, Verse 3, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself gives instruction on how to be saved to a religious Pharisee…Nicodemus…

 

JOHN 3:3

Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again (the spiritual birth) he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

 

JOHN 3:4

Nicodemus said to the Lord, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”

 

JOHN 3:5

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water of the Word (the gospel message) and the (baptism by God the Holy) Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

 

JOHN 3:6

That which is born of the flesh is flesh (that which comes from mortals is mortal), and that which is born (again) of the (baptism of the) Spirit is spirit.”

 

JOHN 3:7

“Do not be amazed (Nicodemus) that I (the Lord Jesus Christ) said to you, ‘You must be born again.’”

 

In John, Chapter 14, Verse 6, the Lord Jesus Christ said…

 

JOHN 14:6

Jesus said to Thomas, the doubting apostle, “I am the way (to salvation), and (I am) the truth (the Word of God)…and (I am) the (resurrection) life (eternal life)…and no one comes to God the Father but through believing in Me.”

 

CLOSING SONG

I CAN’T DISAPPOINT YOU

June Murphy

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

          THANKS - INTERCESSION - PETITION

 

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

www.barahministries.com