(#454) Romans 13 - Be Who God Wants You to Be When No One is Looking

Welcome To

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

Good Morning!

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church with worldwide impact. My name is Pastor Rory Clark. At Barah Ministries, our God is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We make a difference by teaching the Word of God from God’s perspective, and not from man’s perspective.

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON - Be Who God Wants You to Be When No One is Looking

What does the Lord Jesus Christ want His believers to be?

Panoply.

This little used word describes perfectly the person God wants us each of us to be when no one is looking. What is a panoply?

PANOPLY

An impressive display clothed in a complete suite of ceremonial armor…

Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 9 says…

ROMANS 8:9a …believers in Christ, you are not IN THE FLESH (like you were as unbelievers) but you are IN THE SPIRIT…if indeed the Holy Spirit of God indwells in you (and of course He does...

As we continue our study of the final passage of Romans, Chapter 13 today, you’ll be offered a different outlook as to why personal sinning is not conduct becoming of a Christian.

Well you’ve probably heard many times when people make mistakes… “Oh well…nobody’s perfect!” It’s not true. The Lord Jesus Christ is perfect, and He demands perfection. In Matthew, Chapter 5, Verse 48 the Lord calls Christians to perfection…

MATTHEW 5:48 …(believers in Christ)…you are to be perfect…as your heavenly Father is perfect.

And since the Lord is not a God of partiality, He calls unbelievers to the same standard…perfection…Matthew, Chapter 5, Verse 20…

MATTHEW 5:20 “For I (the Lord Jesus Christ) say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees (self-righteousness)…you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Self-righteousness is outward conformity…mere “eye-wash” … and it cannot get you to heaven…inward conformity happens when the Lord causes your righteousness to happen.

The Lord Jesus Christ is perfect. First John, Chapter 2, Verses 1 and 2…

FIRST JOHN 2:1 My little children (my born again ones), I (John) am writing these things (in the bible) to you so that you may be able not to sin. And if anyone should sin, and of course we believers in Christ do, we have an Advocate with God the Father…Jesus Christ THE ONLY RIGHTEOUS ONE…

FIRST JOHN 2:2 …and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the propitiation (the ONLY perfectly satisfactory payment) for our sins…and not for our sins only (as believers in Christ)…but also for the sins of the whole world (unbelievers as well).

When we say the Lord is Jesus Christ is perfect, another way to say it is He is righteous. Psalm 11, Verse 7…

PSALM 11:7 For the Lord is righteous…He loves righteousness…the upright (believers in

Christ) will behold His face.

If you want to get to heaven, you must have the Lord’s righteousness, not self-righteousness. Psalm 119, Verse 137…

PSALM 119:137 Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity (the ways of the flesh)…and revive me in Your ways.

The Lord’s ways are comforting…they allow us to let our guards down…He turns us away from vanity. Psalm 145, Verse 17…

PSALM 145:17 The Lord is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds.

What is righteousness?

RIGHTEOUSNESS

Complete freedom from sin in every thought, in every word, and in every deed…never violating God’s standard of perfection…living a character pattern that involves never breaking the law.

It is not possible for God’s creatures to obtain perfect righteousness on their own. Let’s face it, we commit personal sins…sins of thought…sins of word…and sins of deed…we break God’s law on a regular basis.

The Lord Jesus Christ paid for our sins with His blood at the Cross, and offers us righteousness instead. Second Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 21…

SECOND CORINTHIANS 5:21 God the Father made Jesus Christ who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf… so that we might become the righteousness of God in union with Him.

After declaring that no one becomes righteous by following the Mosaic Law, the Lord drops a bomb on us…in Romans, Chapter 3, Verses 21 and 22…

ROMANS 3:21 BUT NOW…apart from the Mosaic Law…a righteousness from God has been made known, being testified to by the Mosaic Law and by the Prophets…

ROMANS 3:22 …and it is the righteousness from God the Father…appropriated through faith in Jesus Christ…available for ALL who believe in Christ…for there is no distinction…

Once we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, He gives us His righteousness…

Galatians, Chapter 2, Verse 16…

GALATIANS 2:16 …nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified (declared righteous by God) by doing the works of the Mosaic Law…instead…a man is justified through faith in Christ Jesus…even we who have believed in Christ Jesus believe so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by doing the works of the Mosaic Law… since by doing the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.

We heard two things about God in the last two weeks…our God is Justice…He is always fair…and our God is forgiving…He doesn’t hold our sins against us. Now we hear our God is righteous! Since God is righteous, there is only one thing He wants from you…righteousness! Since you can’t earn it, He gives it to anyone who wants it as a free gift…Philippians, Chapter 3, Verse 9…

PHILIPPIANS 3:9 …I (Paul) want to be found…as one in union with Christ…found not having a righteousness of my own derived from keeping the Mosaic Law…but a righteousness that is derived through faith in Christ…the righteousness which comes (as free gift) from God the Father on the basis of faith…

Paul wants to be a panoply…and so do we…on full display…adorned with the full armor of God…for the whole world to see…even when no one is looking…welcome to a place where you can learn how to be a perfect reflection of a perfect God.

And when we are a panoply, four words will guide our conduct…here’s Hillary Scott to sing about them…THY WILL BE DONE.

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

THY WILL

Hillary Scott

OPENING PRAYER

Let us pray...

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

Thank you for giving us a way to live…and thank you for giving us God the Holy Spirit to pour His enabling power into us so we can live the life of righteousness…the resurrection life that You built for us…

Make us a display of Your greatness for all to see…including our enemies…

…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s

name...Amen.

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON - Be Who God Wants You to Be When No One is Looking

When I look back on the last six lessons, I wish these had been the titles…

LESSON TITLES

What’s Your Choice?

Let LOVE Be Your Choice

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee, Spiritually Speaking

Let God Make Your Life a Light in This Dark Place

The Son is coming!

Your Life is Light When You Choose to Lay Aside the

Deeds of Darkness

They were close to these titles! Then today…Be Who God Wants You to Be When No One Is Looking! Be a panoply…an impressive display… reflecting the virtues God the Holy Spirit is creating in you…love, joy, peace…patience, kindness, goodness…faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…the fruit of the Spirit…be clothed in a complete suit of protective and ceremonial armor…in full view…for all to see…especially when no one is looking.

As we continue our study of the final passage of Romans, Chapter 13, Verses 11 to 14…it calls us to this panoply lifestyle…both in public and in secret…

ROMANS 13:11 Do this (be in subjection to the governing authorities and have a lifestyle of unconditional love)…knowing the time (the season of the divine plan)… knowing that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep…for now salvation (our final deliverance to glorification by God) is nearer to us believers in Christ than it was when we first believed in Christ.

ROMANS 13:12 The night is almost gone…and the day is near. Therefore let us believers in Christ lay aside the deeds of darkness and let us put on the armor of light.

ROMANS 13:13 Let us keep on behaving properly (in lifestyle…our Christian walk… behaving in a manner worthy of our calling…behaving) as we do in the day…not in carousing and drunkenness…not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality…not in strife and jealousy (the deeds of the night).

ROMANS 13:14 But keep on putting on the Lord Jesus Christ (reflect Him in your lifestyle… your Christian walk)…and keep on making no provision (of forethought) for the flesh in regard to its lusts (which is the flesh clamoring for attention).

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, Chapters 12 through 16, the Lord tells believers in Christ the do’s and don’ts of The Christian Way of Living. Romans Chapters 12 and 13 are a single unit discussing a Christian’s duties.

Chapter 12 spells out a Christian’s duties to the church. Believers in Christ are spiritual beings…with a spiritual gift…in unity with other believers in Christ…as the body of Christ. We are to present our bodies as a sacrifice acceptable to God…we are to keep on having our minds transformed by God…we are to think highly of ourselves but not too highly…we are to love other believers in Christ unconditionally…we are to recognize our function in the body of Christ…a function different from and critical to others in the body…and we are to love our enemies the same way the Lord loves His enemies.

The first passage of Chapter 13, Verses 1 to 7 spells out a Christian’s duties to the state. Christians are exhorted to be in submission to the governing authorities. The second passage, Verses 8 to 10, outlines a Christian’s debt to others, which is really a debt owed to the Lord Jesus Christ. As citizens of the state, the Lord expects us to have a genuine concern for others. God wants believers in Christ to LIVE unconditional love. The final passage tells us how we are to behave. In Romans, Chapter 13, Verses 13 and 14…

There are three lifestyles we can live…a lifestyle of LASCIVIOUSNESS…a lifestyle of LEGALISM…or a lifestyle of LOVE. Christians were designed to live one of those lifestyles. Yet many of us have adopted the other two. Instead of being ourselves, we’re trying to be something we are not.

What is lasciviousness?

LASCIVIOUSNESS

A lifestyle of lewdness and sexual desire

What is legalism?

LEGALISM

A failed attempt at strict adherence to law, especially to the letter of the law rather than to the spirit of law.

The LASCIVIOUS and the LEGALISTIC lifestyles belong to spiritually dead ones…Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verses 1 and 2…

EPHESIANS 2:1 And you believers in Christ WERE spiritually dead in your trespasses and

sins…

EPHESIANS 2:2 …in which you formerly walked according to the curriculum of this world (the curriculum of the night…lasciviousness and legalism)…a lifestyle according to the prince of the power of the air (Satan…the enemy of God)…a lifestyle of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience (unbelievers).

BUT NOW! Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verses 8…

EPHESIANS 5:8 …you believers in Christ were formerly children of darkness…BUT NOW you are Light in the Lord…walk as children of Light!

So a question for reflection…what is the lifestyle you lead when no one is looking? When we return from our five-minute break we’ll hear more about the secret life!

FIVE MINUTE BREAK

Unconditional Love

Donna Summers

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON - Be Who God Wants You to Be When No One is Looking

Let’s welcome Deacon Denny Goodall with the offering message.

THE OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall

OFFERING VERSE

PHILIPPIANS 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true…whatsoever things are honorable…whatsoever things are right…whatsoever things are pure… whatsoever things are lovely…whatsoever things are of good repute…if there is any excellence…and of course there is…and if there is anything worthy of praise…and of course there is…let your mind dwell on these things.

OFFERING VERSE

PHILIPPIANS 4:9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me… practice these things and the God of peace will be with you.

OFFERING

FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE

Dave McClure, Instrumental

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON - Be Who God Wants You to Be When No One is Looking

When we reflect on our lifestyle, sometimes we do it right…and sometimes we don’t. Yet we have a NO MATTER WHAT God who is there through it all says Colton Dixon in his song THROUGH ALL OF IT.

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

THROUGH ALL OF IT

Colton Dixon

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON - Be Who God Wants You to Be When No One is Looking

Welcome back! Most Christians are phonies…but not for the reason you might suspect. What is does it mean to be phony? A phony is…

PHONY

Someone who is not real or genuine…someone who likes pretending they are something they are not.

Most times, phonies are “pretending up” … they want us to believe they are of higher status than they are. Christian are phony because most are secretly “pretending down” … we adopt a lower lifestyle that the one God placed us in. As Christians, this is what we do when we sin. We play down. We are being someone we ABSOLUTELY are not. Romans, Chapter 13, Verses 13 and 14…

Do you “play down” to the lifestyle of the night? Who are you when no one is looking? Perhaps a better question, who does God want you to be when no one is looking? God does not want us to live LASCIVIOUSNESS or LEGALISM. He wants us to live a lifestyle of LOVE. Colossians, Chapter 3, Verses 1 and 2 say it the same way Romans, Chapter 13, Verses 13 and 14 say it…the do’s and don’ts of the Christian Way of Living…

COLOSSIANS 3:1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, and all believers in Christ have been…keep on seeking the things above, where Christ is, the One seated at the right hand of God.

Christians are to “play up” …to be dominated by a heavenly pattern.

COLOSSIANS 3:2 Set your mind on the things above, and not on the things that are on earth.

Don’t play down! Colossians, Chapter 3, Verses 5 to 10…

COLOSSIANS 3:5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality (because they are!)…dead to impurity…dead to illicit passion…dead to evil desire…and dead to greed…which amounts to idolatry.

Stop living the life of the Old Man!

COLOSSIANS 3:6 For it is because of (commitment to a lifestyle of) these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience…

COLOSSIANS 3:7 …and in these things you also once walked when you were living in them.

COLOSSIANS 3:8 But now put them all aside…put aside anger… put aside wrath…put aside malice… put aside slander…and put aside abusive speech from your mouth.

These are not the things we want to reflect as Christians.

COLOSSIANS 3:9 Do not lie to one another…since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices…

COLOSSIANS 3:10 …and since you have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—

Instead, panoply!

COLOSSIANS 3:12 So, as those who have been chosen of God the Father, holy and beloved, puton a heart (that reflects) compassion…kindness…humility…gentleness and patience…

COLOSSIANS 3:13 …bearing with one another…and forgiving each other…and whoever has a complaint against anyone…just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you forgive.

COLOSSIANS 3:14 Beyond all these things, put on a lifestyle of unconditional love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

COLOSSIANS 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…to which indeed you were called in one body…and be thankful.

COLOSSIANS 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you…with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs… singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

COLOSSIANS 3:17 Whatever you do in word or deed…do all in the name of the Lord Jesus… giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Don’t play down! First Thessalonians, Chapter 5, Verse 5…

FIRST THESSALONIANS 5:5 …for you believers in Christ are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of the night nor are we of darkness…

Ephesians, Chapter 5, Verse 11…

EPHESIANS 5:11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness…instead…even expose them…

Why is personal sinning not conduct becoming of a Christian? It’s because

you are righteous. Isn’t it about time to start acting like it, especially when

no one is looking?

GOD WANTS YOU!

Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life

The closing moments of this study are for the benefit of anyone who does not have a personal relationship with the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We want you to know that GOD WANTS YOU.

How often do you think about eternal matters?

It’s easy for human beings to be concerned only with the here and now… a concern with the things that busy us in our time on earth…a concern with the things that are temporary. Yet as human beings, we know that nobody gets out of this life alive, so there is a question to be considered about what people call “the afterlife” … the things that happen after we die.

The bible tells us that God’s enemy, Satan, is the one who deceives us into being short sighted. He wants to keep our focus on temporary things so we won’t prepare ourselves for eternal things. First Peter, Chapter 5, Verse 8 warns us to…

FIRST PETER 5:8 Be of sober spirit…be on the alert. The adversary…the devil (Satan) prowls around like a roaring lion…seeking someone to devour.

Satan busies us with things that distract us from eternal matters. He diverts our attention to meaningless things so we don’t think about valuable things. For example, the bible tells us how easy it is to be deceived by material wealth, a problem that pervaded the church at Laodicea. Revelation, Chapter 3, Verses 15 to 18…

REVELATION 3:15 “I (the Lord Jesus Christ) know your deeds…that you (like the water in your homes) are neither cold nor hot…I (the Lord Jesus Christ) wish that you were cold or hot.”

REVELATION 3:16 “So because you are lukewarm (like the water in your homes)…and neither hot nor cold…I will vomit you out of My mouth.”

A person who is lukewarm is an unbeliever. They think their good deeds make them a Christian…yet they are not in a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

REVELATION 3:17 “Because you Laodicean believers say, ‘I am rich…and have become wealthy…and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are (spiritually) wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked…”

REVELATION 3:18 “…I (the Lord Jesus Christ) advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich…and white garments so that you may clothe yourself (not the black wool that made you rich)…so that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed…and I advise you to buy from Me eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.”

Material wealth often blinds us to our spiritual poverty. We think only about now and not about eternity. What is it that the Lord wants the wealthy to see? He wants them to see what He says in Matthew, Chapter 6, Verse 24…

MATTHEW 6:24 “No one can serve two masters…for either he will hate the one master and he will love the other master…or he will be devoted to one master and he will despise the other master. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

The Lord wants the wealthy to see the two ways to get to heaven. The first way to get to heaven is to be perfect like God is perfect, because God demands perfection from us. Many wealthy people think their wealth makes them perfect. Wealth doesn’t buy perfection, nor does it buy a relationship with God. Are you perfect enough to get into heaven?

Once we sin, we are no longer perfect according to James, Chapter 2, Verse 10…

JAMES 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point (the one who breaks one law)…he has become guilty of breaking the whole law.

Once you realize you’re not perfect, the second way to get to heaven is by means of God’s grace. God’s grace is free of charge. In John, Chapter 14, Verse 6, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said…

JOHN 14:6 …to the doubting apostle, Thomas, “I am the way (to salvation), and I am the truth (through the Word of God…the gospel message), and I am the resurrection life (eternal life)…and no one comes to God the Father (in heaven) but through believing in Me.”

Once you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, God makes you perfect. At the moment of your salvation, the Lord imputes His absolute righteousness…His perfection…to you. Accepting the Lord Jesus Christ’s grace gift of eternal life saves you. As a result of the Lord’s work at the Cross…the work that paid for the sins of all mankind, including yours…sin was eliminated as a barrier between you and God. Second Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 21 says…

SECOND CORINTHIANS 5:21 God the Father made Jesus Christ who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in union with Him.

So, if you are imperfect, and you are if you don't have a relationship with Christ, you can be made perfect…your admission ticket to heaven…by asking God the Father to credit your account with SPIRITUAL WEALTH… His own righteousness…His own perfection...God makes you spiritually wealthy. God will honor your request, when you ask, and you will be saved. Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…

ACTS 16:31 “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”

John, Chapter 3, Verse 36 warns…

JOHN 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has the resurrection life right at that moment… but he who does not obey the command to believe in the Son will not see the resurrection life…instead the wrath of God (the Lake of Fire) abides on him.”

John, Chapter 3, Verse 17…

JOHN 3:17 For God the Father did not send God the Son into the world to judge the world…but God the Father sent God the Son into the world that the world might be saved through Him.

Take the free gift of eternal life right now! Don’t let God vomit you out of His mouth! There’s no time to waste. Just tell God the Father that you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is the moment of perfection…that is the moment of eternal life…for you. NOW is the time to think of eternal matters. God wants you. Real wealth happens when you decide to have a relationship with Him.

Let’s hear God’s perspective on His offer to you. Here’s June Murphy to sing about your DESTINY.

CLOSING SONG

DESTINY

June Murphy

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

www.barahministries.com