(# 283) Romans 8 - The One Who Condemns is Your Best FriendWelcome 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. At Barah Ministries we are “pursuing the truth through the study of the Word of God.” Because of the gracious provision of the internet, from our omnipotent God, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Barah Ministries has a worldwide reach and an intimate impact on lives. Thank you Lord for providing a way for anyone, anywhere to be reached with Your Word.
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON The One Who Condemns is Your Best Friend
One of my college professors irritated me. He was a well-respected executive from the radio-television-film industry who had retired to teach. He was not a good teacher. He was a bore. That certainly irritated me, but what irritated me most was that he was a namedropper. He was always talking about the time when he and Charlie were having dinner…Charlie being the late and great movie actor Charlton Heston …or the times when he and Annie were talking…of course referring to Academy Award winning actress Ann Margaret…and it wouldn’t have been so bad to hear about them, but I really didn’t want to hear about them during the time he was supposed to be teaching me how to be a media mogul. Unfortunately, I had to get along with him. He was the department chairman.
One day his body was found on the ground outside of a rooming house in a depressed Chicago neighborhood. Police said that he’d been pushed from a third-floor window. There he lay, wrapped in a shower curtain with the curtain rod shoved through his head, after he was robbed of by two male prostitutes. My professor was gay. I had two classes with him that day, and he wasn’t there…a regular practice of his…to not show up for class…but this time it was for keeps.
I was in shock. The classroom building has an eerie and atypical silence. I went to discuss his death with one of my favorite instructors. He was particularly somber. I asked him, “Why are you so down?” He said, “Because I am gay, too. Is that my fate?” Two shocks in one day…it was a bit overwhelming for me. There’s no way you would have ever thought he was gay. After a long silence, he asked, “So does this mean we can’t be friends? Are you homophobic?” The time was 1975…over forty years ago. There was quite a different sentiment about homosexuality at the time. It wasn’t accepted at all. I said, “No…I’m not homophobic…whatever that means…I don’t even know…and yes…we can still be friends…but do you realize that this is going to subject you to a whole new category of mean jokes from me?” In other words I would continue to tease him mercilessly, but now I’d have new subject matter.
I don’t really know where the loyalty comes from…I’m sure it is not genetic…it was probably a choice…but when I consider you a friend, I don’t think about turning my back on you. To be sure, you can push me away, and eventually as you keep pushing, I’ll grant your wish…but my inclination is always to move toward a friend in tough times, not away from them. That’s a choice I have made in my life. And again, I don’t know where the decision comes from, nor do I remember when I made it. But I would have never thought of disowning a friend because he was gay…or black…or female…or a murderer…or of whatever other malady you might consider. A friend is a friend.
“Fair weather” friends are people who stop being friends in times of difficulty. They disgust me. They have a stench about them. You can smell it. Our God is not a “fair weather” God. He doesn’t move away from you in times of trouble. God is on your side. God is for you. Welcome to a place where you can learn about the best friend any person could have. The One who has the task of condemning is your best friend.
MUSIC AND REFLECTION Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD Rich Mullins
As we prepare our souls for worship, let’s enjoy Rich Mullins singing OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD.
OPENING PRAYER Let us pray...
We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…
Almighty Father…thank you for being our best friend…and thank you for the power of prayer, which you have given us as a way to talk to you…many times when we talk to you, Father, we think we need a bunch of fancy words…it’s out of our respect for you that we search for just the right words…but one of the qualities we value most in our human friends is that when we don’t have just the right words…we can come as we are…thank you for being a best friend, a person to whom we can come just as we are…to share a hurt…to crack a joke…or to say nothing if we want to say nothing…
Teach us, Father, how to be the friend to others that you are to us…
We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s name... Amen.
A few announcements….
BARAH MINISTRIES ANNOUNCEMENTS
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Next Deacon’s Meeting Moved June 4 7:30A-10:00A
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! A Gathering of God’s Men June 5, 2016 After Church
A chance for the men of Barah Ministries to hang out and to talk…let Deacon Denny know that you will be there…who is coordinating this?
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! The Next Lord’s Supper Celebration June 12, 2016
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Coeur d’Alene Bible Conference Coeur d’Alene, Idaho August 5-6, 2016
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! New York – Pennsylvania Conference Traditions at the Glen Johnson City, New York September 16-17, 2016
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Evening Lesson Only 6:00P-7:30P August 7, August 21, September 18
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Homecoming for the Non-Resident Congregation April 21-23, 2017
PRAYERS Barah Ministries Prayer Request Group
Join me in prayer directed at all the intercessions and all the petitions of the people visiting the Barah Ministries Prayer Request Group.
THANK YOU! Non-Resident Congregation Members Cheryl Grande
A quick hello and thanks to Cheryl Grande for supporting the ministry.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! May 23
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON The One Who Condemns is Your Best Friend
We continue our study of the final passage in Romans, Chapter 8, which extends from Verse 31 to Verse 39…
Romans 8:31 What then shall we believers in Christ say face-to-face with all these things? If God the Father is for us, and He is, who is ever going to be successful in opposition against us?
Romans 8:32 God the Father, who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will the Father not also, with our union with Christ, freely give us all things?
Romans 8:33 Who will bring a successful charge against God’s elect (all believers in Christ)? God the Father is the one who justifies…
Romans 8:34 …who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He…the One who died, yes, rather He who was raised from the dead…He who is at the right hand of God the Father…He who also intercedes for us.
Christ does not condemn us even though He is able to…
Romans 8:35 Who will separate us from the unconditional love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword separate us from His unconditional love?
Romans 8:36 Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” As Christians, we are always at the point of the attack and we are being persecuted all day long with no time off for good behavior.
Romans 8:37 But in all these things (in every situation imaginable) we believers in Christ overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us unconditionally.
Romans 8:38 For I (Paul) am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers…
Romans 8:39 …nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the unconditional love of God the Father, which is for us through our union with Christ Jesus our Lord.
In Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 31, God is telling us clearly, through Paul, that He has nothing against us. In other words…God is on your side…God is FOR you.
The proof that God is on your side comes in Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 32, where God says to us…“If I am able and willing to do the hardest thing for you…which is standing by and watching as my Son is mutilated by sinners on your behalf…then you have to know that I am MUCH MORE able and MUCH MORE willing to do the simple things for you, whatever they happen to be.”
Paul’s questions for the believers in Christ in Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 33 and 34…
PAUL’S NEXT QUESTION TO BELIEVERS IN CHRIST
Who will bring a successful charge against God’s elect?
God is the One who justifies…who is the One who will condemn?
Here are the verses under study…Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 33 and 34…
Romans 8:33 Who will bring a successful charge against God’s elect (all believers in Christ)? God is the one who justifies…
When you know that God is on your side…when you know that God is FOR you…it MUST breed confidence. You are God’s elect. No one can bring a successful charge against you. What does it mean to “bring a successful charge against?” It means to press charges against someone in front of a judge. Who is the judge in front of whom charges are being brought against you? The Righteous Judge is Christ…the One with the power to judge…the One with the power to condemn…yet He is your best friend, and He would never condemn you believers in Christ. To do so, He would be condemning Himself. Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 34…
Romans 8:34 …who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He…the One who died, yes, rather He who was raised from the dead…He who is at the right hand of God the Father…He who also intercedes for us.
It is Christ who condemns…but He will NEVER condemn one of His believers…one of His best friends! Here’s the Kenneth Wuest Translation of Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 33 and 34…
Romans 8:33-34 (Wuest Translation) Who shall bring a charge against God’s chosen-out ones? God the Father, the One who justifies (would He bring a charge)? Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He…the One who died, yes, rather, He who has been raised from the dead, who is on the right hand of God the Father, who also is constantly interceding on our behalf (would He bring a charge)?
The inference of Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 34? “Don’t be ridiculous!”… God the Father … the One who justifies you won’t bring a charge against you … God’s elect … Christ … the one who intercedes for you won’t bring a charge against you … God’s elect … “Don’t be ridiculous!”
Where does Christ’s condemnation of creatures happen? Let’s take a short music break and we’ll find out.
MUSIC BREAK GOD ALMIGHTY Chris Tomlin
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON The One Who Condemns is Your Best Friend
Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 33 and 34…
Romans 8:33 Who will bring a successful charge against God’s elect (all believers in Christ)? God the Father is the one who justifies…
Romans 8:34 …who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He…who died, yes, rather He who was raised from the dead…He who is at the right hand of God the Father…He who also intercedes for us (is the One who condemns).
Satan is the enemy of God. The name Satan is not his actual name…it is a functional title…and the title means “the accuser.” Unfortunately for those in the law profession, it means lawyer. What does it mean to accuse?
ACCUSE To charge someone with a fault…to press charges against someone for an offense or a crime…to lay blame on someone
Planet earth is Satan’s kingdom…John, Chapter 12, Verse 31…
John 12:31 Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out (of heaven…dethroned…cast out into the Lake of Fire).
In the “judicial system” of Satan’s kingdom, planet earth, when you are accused of a crime, you are guilty until proven innocent…in other words, you are presumed guilty…and even if you are proven innocent, gossip has done so much damage, that your reputation never recovers…and one third of the people still think you’re guilty after you’re proven innocent.
For example, in professional sports when you are accused of cheating (doping…underinflating footballs…spying on your opponents and stealing their signals)…you are presumed guilty and you become a target of vilification from every sports talk show host in the free world (unless you’re Tom Brady or Bill Belichick of course).
In God’s judicial system there is the presumption of innocence. What is the presumption of innocence?
PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE
Even though we are born physically alive, spiritually dead, and in a state of condemnation…in God’s system, He offers a full pardon to all the guilty ones. An unbeliever may argue that it is unfair that he is born physically alive, spiritually dead, and in a state of condemnation…but he also has to acknowledge that he is offered, multiple times, a free pass to salvation by accepting the free gift of God’s imputed righteousness through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ at the Cross.
The unbeliever refuses all attempts to save him. It reminds us of the story of the drowning man, who was stuck on his rooftop in a flood. He prayed to God to save him. Soon a man in a rowboat came by and shouted to the man on the roof, “Jump in, I’ll save you.” The stranded fellow shouted back, “No, I’m okay…God will save me.” So the rowboat went on.
Then a motorboat came by. “The fellow in the motorboat shouted to the man on the roof, “Jump in, I’ll save you.” The stranded fellow shouted back, “No, I’m okay…God will save me.” So the motorboat went on.
Then a helicopter came by and the pilot shouted down to the man on the roof, “Grab this rope, and I’ll save you.” The stranded man shouted back, “No, I’m okay…God will save me.” Reluctantly, the helicopter flew away.
Soon the water rose above the rooftop and the man drowned and went to heaven, where he got to discuss the situation with God. He asked God, “Why didn’t You save me? I prayed for Your help. Why did You let me drown?” God said, “I sent you a rowboat and a motorboat and a helicopter, you big dummy…”
When Romans Chapter 8, Verse 34 asks, “Who is the one who condemns?” … we know the answer … Christ is the one who has the power to condemn. Where does this condemnation take place? For unbelievers it occurs at the Great White Throne Judgment…Revelation, Chapter 20, Verses 11 and 12…
Revelation 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him (the Lord Jesus Christ) who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them (to live).
Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, the great (the famous) and the small (the not so famous), standing before the great white throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things that were written in the books, according to their deeds.
Both of God’s judgments, the Great White Throne judgment for unbelievers and the Bema Seat judgment for believers, condemn our works…NEVER to our sins. Isaiah, Chapter 43, Verse 25 reminds us…
Isaiah 43:25 “I (the Lord), even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”
Revelation, Chapter 20, Verses 13 to 15…
Revelation 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.
Revelation 20:14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death, the Lake of Fire.
Revelation 20:15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, and many aren’t, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire.
The One who condemns, Christ, is your best friend. Isn’t it great to know that no matter what charges are ever brought against you, they have already been dismissed in eternity past, and the result is they stand dismissed forever? How does it feel to be a victor in every circumstance?
GOD WANTS YOU! Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life
Matthew 22:42 “What do you think about the Christ (the Messiah)…?”
Acts 16:31 “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”
Acts 4:12 “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).”
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Acts 2:21 ‘And it shall be that everyone who calls on the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation will be saved.’
CLOSING SONG HOW GREAT YOU ARE June Murphy
CLOSING PRAYER Let us pray...
Thanks for coming! Thanks for watching! Thanks for listening!
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