Romans 3: What Do You Think When God Calls You to the Spiritual Carpet?The word of God applies to whosoever...including us today.
If you’re in the resident congregation turn off your electronic devices and put them away. Let this be a place where you aren’t distracted by the world.
Welcome To BARAH MINISTRIES
Rory Clark Pastor-Teacher
Good Morning!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…an intimate, local Christian Church with a worldwide impact. My name is Pastor Rory Clark. Thanks for listening to this Bible lesson!
OPENING AGENDA
You may be wondering some things about Barah Ministries, like…
Who is the God we worship? What is our source of truth? Who is our enemy?
We're always happy to begin each lesson by answering those questions.
Hebrews, Chapter 4, Verse 12 says…
HEBREWS 4:12a+c …the word of God is alive and powerful…sharper than any two-edged sword…and it’s piercing…a critic of thoughts and intents of the heart…
Who is the God We Worship?
We worship a Triune Godhead. There is One God who reveals Himself to mankind as three separate…distinct…co-equal…co-infinite…co-eternal Persons… God the Father…God the Son… and God the Holy Spirit.
GOD THE FATHER is the author of the Triune Godhead’s plan for all creatures. The Bible says that a parent who spares the rod hates his child. Our God and Father loves to disciplinebelievers in Christ…His children…training us in a righteous character pattern, as Solomon reminds us in Proverbs 3, Verses 11 and 12…
PROVERBS 3:11 My son…do not reject the discipline of the Lord…nor loathe His reproof…
PROVERBS 3:12 For whom the Lord loves He also disciplines…even as a human father corrects the son in whom he delights.
Thank you, Father, for Your concern for us.
GOD THE SON (the Lord) volunteered to execute God the Father’s plan…taking on human form as Jesus…the Christ (the Jewish Messiah)…He is the ONE AND ONLY WAY to heaven.
FIRST JOHN 4:9 By this…the unconditional love of God the Father was manifested (made clearly visible) in us believers in Christ…that God the Father has sent His uniquely born Son (the God-Man…the Lord Jesus Christ) into the world so that we might live the resurrection life through union with Him.
When you invest your faith in the Lord Jesus…the Christ…the Jewish Messiah… asking Him to save you…by believing in Him you instantly have the resurrection life…eternal life…in His name.
Amen?
We worship GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT. He is our Mentor and Teacher…the guide who is the rudder of a Christian’s life. Look what God the Holy Spirit did for the Lord Jesus Christ…who is known as the shoot from Jesse’s seed…Isaiah, Chapter 11, Verse 2…
ISAIAH 11:2 The Holy Spirit of the Lord will rest on Jesus…the Holy Spirit of wisdom and understanding…the Holy Spirit of counsel and strength…the Holy Spirit of knowledge and the respect of the Lord.
Wow! How can we lose with that kind of guidance? He does the same things for us that He did for Jesus Christ. Thank you to the oft-forgotten member of the Trinity…our God the Holy Spirit…who teaches us wisdom and understanding… who gives us counsel and strength…who teaches us knowledge, especially knowledge of how to respect the Lord.
What is Our Source of Truth?
As Christians, we develop a deep, intimate, and personal relationship with the entire Godhead through the study of the Word of God…THE BIBLE. It’s important to get to know Your Godas a Person. At Barah Ministries, we teach the Bible from God’s perspective and not from man’s perspective because we refuse to teach as doctrinal truth the precepts of men.Psalm 119, Verse 9 asks…
PSALM 119:9 How can a person keep his way pure? By ordering his wayaccording to Your Word (the Bible), Lord.
The Word of God is truth. You can live a life of truth by listening to it.
Who is Our Enemy?
GOD HAS AN ENEMY…Satan…whom God made ‘the ruler of this world’ for a finite period. He is the enemy of believers in Christ as well. Satan is a troublemaker, and like the bully in school, he is ALWAYS looking to do damage… Revelation, Chapter 12, Verse 4…
REVELATION 12:4 And the tail of the dragon…Satan…swept away a third of the stars of heaven (the fallen angels) … and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child.
Satan did this with Mary as she was giving birth to Jesus Christ’s humanity…and he does it with each of us. Unfortunately for Him, the Lord has decided his fate…Romans, Chapter 16, Verse 20…
ROMANS 16:20a The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
As believers in Christ, we have the victory through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON What Do You Think When God Calls You to the Spiritual Carpet?
LESSON INTRODUCTION
In the first three chapters of Romans, the Lord calls the entire human race on the carpet. What does it mean to be “called on the carpet?” Being “called on the carpet” means being reprimanded by someone in authority when we do something wrong.
What affect has this had on you? After fifteen hours of instruction in Paul's letter to the Romans, are you seeing yourself differently? Of course not! In today's lesson, we'll begin the final chapter of this indictment of the entire human race. Hopefully, you'll begin to feel how much these three chapters are an indictment of your life… personally.
OPENING SONG INTRODUCTION
Let’s hear some music!Be humble! Be humble! You’ve heard that said…you’ve been told that. Most times when people tell us to be humble, what they mean is, “You have no right to feel good about yourself…EVER!” There’s some truth to that, although that is not exactly God’s attitude.
What is humility? It's the attitude held by those who know they have no special importance that makes them better than others. Galatians, Chapter 6, Verse 3 says…
GALATIANS 6:3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Here’s June Murphy to remind us to be humble in song with her tune HUMILITY.
MUSIC OPENING SONG Let’s Sing the Lord’s Praises
THE HUMILITY SONG June Murphy
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 loving us despite our deficiencies…help us to love ourselves as You love us…
…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s name...Amen.
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON What Do You Think When God Calls You to the Spiritual Carpet?
LESSON PART ONE
After fifteen to twenty-five hours of studying the first two chapters of Paul’s letter to the Romans, what has the Word of God added to your spiritual wisdom and understanding of God and His Plan for you?
Since I can’t answer that for you, I decided to ask some of the believers in Christ who are faithful students of the Word of God as taught here at Barah Ministries what they think. I asked, “What did you get out of the first two chapters of Paul’s letter to the Romans?”Here’s what they said…
1 We are ALL born UNDER SIN…physically alive and spiritually dead.
2 We have no room to criticize others when genuinely we understand we are just as bad or worse than others.
3 Just because we conveniently forget our flaws doesn’t mean we don’t have them.
4 When we are immoral, we say to ourselves, “I’m so bad!” and we’re right.
5 When we are moral, we say to ourselves, “I’m so good!” or “I’m not that bad” and we’re wrong.
6 When we are religious, we say to ourselves, “I’m perfect!” or “I’ve got it all together” and we’re delusional.
7 Whether we are immoral, moral, or religious, we fall well short of God's standards.
8 It’s not important how we see ourselves, because it’s inaccurate…we are phenomenal at lying to ourselves about ourselves. We love doing it!
9 When we see ourselves as God sees us in our fallen state, it’s enough to make us sick at the stomach.
10 Before I realized God was talking to unbelievers in these two chapters, I saw myself in every accusation. I was asking myself, “Is this really me?”
11 When I saw these chapters through the lens of being a believer in Christ, I felt better about myself, and that’s a mistake.
12 Regardless of what God says, I have my own way of thinking about myself, and it is much more meaningful to me than anything God has to say to me. In other words, I prefer to listen to my flesh more than I like listening to God. I prefer my beliefs and traditions over the things God wants me to do. In other words, I am a rebel at the very core of my being.
13 One person asked, “Why did God even bother giving us the Law if He knew we wouldn’t be able to keep it?”
14 When we ask others, “How can you be a Christian and do those kinds of things?” or when I say, “I would never do that,” I don’t know myself very well.
15 If you have the mirror of the Word of God in front of your face, you’ll see so many of your own defects that you won’t have time to think about the defects of others.
16 The Word of God helps us see who we really are…and we are hypocrites who live a facade.
17 Religion is idolatry…it is superficial…it is “window dressing” that gives those whoare in it a false sense of security.
18 The thought of being totally cleansed by God with no works necessary on my part does not even compute in my psyche.
19 Being at the wrong end of the wrath of God the Father scares the hell out of me. I’m grateful to be a believer.
20 Keeping the law is not God’s path to salvation.
We thought and well done I say. Now we know the value of being believers in Christ and the value of studying the Word of God…as we learn from James in his letter…Chapter 1, Verses 23 to 25…
JAMES 1:23 For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer of the Word, and ALL OF US ARE…he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror…
JAMES 1:24 …for once he has looked at himself and gone away from the mirror, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
JAMES 1:25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law…the law of liberty (the Bible…the mirror)…and abides by it…not having become a forgetful hearer of the Word but instead being an effectual doer of the Word…this man will be blessed in what he does.
So we do well to take the Lord's advice in Romans, Chapter 12, Verse 2…
ROMANS 12:2a And do not be conformed to this world (by Satan, by his cosmic system of thought, and by the flesh resident in you)...instead, keep on being transformed by (God the Holy Spirit)...through the renewing of your mind (by studying the Word of God)...
ROMANS 12:2b ...so that you may see clearly...through the testing of experience...what the will of God is...and the will of God is that which is good for you and that which is acceptable to Him and that which is perfect (in result).
Clearly…that is the choice for all of us. We can realize we are sinners from birth…we are "in Adam" … we are "in the world" … we are "in the flesh" … we are "earthly minded" … and we can realize that immorality, or morality, or religion, or circumcision or works or any other machinations on our part are not the path to God. In fact, anything we do to wiggle out of our predicament makes us realize that we are worse than we thought. We learn who we really are failure after failure after failure.
When the Word of God brings us face to face with God’s indictment of the whole human race, it’s such a helpless feeling. We are the pits! After the first two chapters of Paul’s letter to the Romans, the religious Jews gave Paula series of “Yeah buts” … and in the first part of Romans Chapter 3, Paul refutes their argument. Then Paul moves from the indictment to an arraignment of the entire human race.
Let’s listen to the next passage in Paul’s letter to the Romans…Chapter 3, Verses 1 to 20…
ROMANS 3:1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what benefit is there of physical circumcision?
ROMANS 3:2 It’s great in every respect! First of all, that the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.
ROMANS 3:3 What then? If some Jews did not believe…their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God the Father toward the Jews, will it?
ROMANS 3:4 May it never be! Rather, let God the Father be found true…though every man be found a liar…as it is written, “THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS AND THAT YOU MAY PREVAIL WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED.”
ROMANS 3:5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God the Father…what shall we say? The God and Father who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in humanterms.)
ROMANS 3:6 May it never be! For otherwise, how will God the Father be qualified to judge the world?
ROMANS 3:7 But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory…why am I also still being judged as a sinner?
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?” (For anyone who says that)…their condemnation is just.
ROMANS 3:9 What are we to conclude then? Are we Jews better than the Gentiles (the Greeks)? Not at all…for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks (Gentiles) are all under sin…
ROMANS 3:10 …as it is written, “THERE IS NO CREATURE WHO IS RIGHTEOUS BEFORE GOD…NOT EVEN ONE…”
ROMANS 3:11 “THERE IS NO CREATURE WHO UNDERSTANDS GOD (OR ANY DIVINE THING)…THERE NO CREATURE WHO SEEKS FOR A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD…”
ROMANS 3:12 “ALL CREATURES HAVE TURNED ASIDE FROM GOD…TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS…THERE IS NO CREATURE WHO DOES GOOD…THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
ROMANS 3:13 “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE…WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP ON DECEIVING… THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS…”
ROMANS 3:14 “THEIR MOUTHS ARE FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS…”
ROMANS 3:15 “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD…”
ROMANS 3:16 “DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS…”
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 Jews know that whatever the Mosaic Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Mosaic Law (us Jews)…so that every mouth may be silenced and all the world (both Gentiles and Jews…all creatures) may become aware that they areaccountable to God…
ROMANS 3:20 …because by (keeping) the works of the Mosaic Law no flesh will be justified in God’s sight…for through the Mosaic Law comes the knowledge of sin.
When we return from the break we’ll take the offering and then we’ll study this passage verse-by verse.
FIVE-MINUTE BREAK NOBODY Casting Crowns
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON What Do You Think When God Calls You to the Spiritual Carpet?
OFFERING INTRODUCTION
In Philippians, Chapter 4, Verses 15 to 17, here’s what the apostle Paul has to say about giving…
PHILIPPIANS 4:15 As you know…Philippian believers…at the first preaching of the gospel (in my first missionary journey)…after I (Paul) left Macedonia…no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone…
PHILIPPIANS 4:16 …for even in Thessalonica (in my second missionary journey)…you sent a gift more than once for my needs.
PHILIPPIANS 4:17 Not that I seek the gift (for myself…even though I appreciate it)…but I seekthe profit that increases to your account (from God when you give).
One of the great pleasures of life is GIVING…especially to this ministry…so that anyone who wants to learn about the Lord Jesus Christ can do so free of charge. In addition, it’s a privilege to see how God blesses you for your giving.
Let’s welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with one of his always inspiring offering messages.
THE OFFERING Deacon Denny Goodall
OFFERING VERSE
PROVERBS 3:9 Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first fruits of all your produce…
OFFERING SONG THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU Instrumental Version
TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON What Do You Think When God Calls You to the Spiritual Carpet?
LESSON PART TWO
As we begin our verse-by-verse study of Romans Chapter 3, the final chapter of the Lord’s indictment of the entire human race, we must acknowledge a sobering reality. All of us creatures have one thing in common…SIN. We are BORN UNDER SIN. Sin separates us from God…and those in the clutches of sin…inasmuch as it is a choice to remain there…are targets of God the Father’s wrath.
Paul, knowing that most unbelievers…especially the religious Jews…would not accept responsibility for being sinners, anticipates their arguments and rebuts them in the first section of Romans, Chapter 3 in Verses 1 to 9…
ROMANS 3:1 Then (you religious Jews may ask) what advantage has the Jew (over the Gentiles)? Or what is the benefit of physical circumcision?
Said another way, “If religion is so bad, why did God give it to us Jews?”
ROMANS 3:2 (Now Paul's Response…being a Jew is) The advantage of being a Jew is great in every respect! First and foremost, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God (the Law… despite their unfaithfulness).
ROMANS 3:3 What then? If some (Jews) did not believe [in Jehovah Elohim (the Lord Jesus Christ as He revealed Himself in the Old Testament Scripture) and did not invest their faith in Him as Abraham did]…their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God the Father toward the Jews, will it?
ROMANS 3:4 May it never be (ABSOLUTELY NOT)! Rather, let God the Father be found true though every man be found a liar…as it is written (by King David), “THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS AND THAT YOU MAY PREVAIL WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED (by sinful men…God…as to the justice behind Your ways).”
God is not only loving…He is fair…and He is faithful. Despite their unfaithfulness to the Lord who trusted them with the oracles of God, the Lord remains faithful to the Jews. How amazing is it to stay faithful to someone who turns his back on you?
Thankfully the unfaithfulness of creatures does not nullify the faithfulness of God. The Jews betrayed their responsibility to spread God’s Word (see Psalm 67)… turning Judaism into an exclusive club for members only. Yet God did not cast them aside. In fact, God’s plan for His creatures ALWAYS has welcomed WHOSOEVER into the club…the worse the better!
In Acts, Chapter 13, Verses 26 to 31, the apostle Paul details the unfaithfulness of the Jews…
ACTS 13:26 “Brethren…sons of Abraham’s family…and those among you who respect God… to us the gospelmessage of this “so great”salvation has been sent to us by God.”
ACTS 13:27 “For those who live in Jerusalem…and their rulers…who recognize neither Jesus nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath…fulfilled Jesus’s Word by condemning Him.”
ACTS 13:28 “And though they found no grounds for putting Jesus to death, they asked Pilate as a personal favor that Jesus be executed.”
ACTS 13:29 “When they had carried out all that was written concerning Jesus, they took Him down from the Cross and laid Him in a tomb.”
ACTS 13:30 “But God the Father raised Jesus from the dead (in resurrection on the third day)…”
ACTS 13:31 “…and for many days after, the resurrected Jesus…the Christ (the Jewish Messiah)…appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem…to the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people.”
Luckily for the Jews, through the Cross the Lord Jesus Christ made it possible for the Jews to have a relationship with the Messiah they rejected. Continuing at Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 5…
ROMANS 3:5 But if (for the sake of argument, we say God uses) our unrighteousness (as Jews) to demonstrate the righteousness of God the Father (who predicted our unfaithfulness) … what shall we say? The God and Father who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I [Paul] am speaking in human [argument] terms.)
ROMANS 3:6 May it never be (ABSOLUTELY NOT…AWAY WITH THAT THOUGHT)! For otherwise, how will God the Father be qualified to judge the world (if He Himself is unrighteous)?
If God sins, He is not qualified to judge sin. Ridiculous thought. The truth? Our God works all things together for good. He can use unrighteousness for a righteous purpose. Paul anticipates that the Jews will continue their argument…
ROMANS 3:7 But if through my lie (meaning our sins as Jews) the truth of God abounded to His glory … why am I (as a Jew) also still being judged as a sinner (why does God find fault with me?)
ROMANS 3:8 And why not say (as we are slanderously accused of and as some claim that we say) … “Let us do evil that good may come?” For anyone who says that…their condemnation is just.
As some Jews would say… “How can a loving God cast His chosen people into the Lake of Fire?” The Jews were much like Judas Iscariot who accused the Lord of using him as if Judas didn’t have a choice in the matter of betraying Christ.
Those who sin are guilty of their sins, regardless of any good that comes from it. Those who do evil…sinners…will pay for their own sins if they choose not to let Jesus pay for them. Continuing at Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 9…
ROMANS 3:9 What are we to conclude then? Are we Jews superior to the Gentiles (the Greeks… as we think we are)? Not at all…for we have already been charged (in the indictment of the whole human race) that both Jews and Greeks (the Gentiles) are ALL UNDER SIN…
Paul refutes the Jewish claims of superiority. Being UNDER SIN means being trapped by the power of sin. It is to be accused by God of being sinners…with no way to extricate yourselves from the penalty of sin without help.
What does it mean that the entire human race is UNDER SIN?
UNDER SIN Existing as if there is a weight on you…and the weight is the wrath of God.
In the first section of Romans, Chapter 3…the apostle Paul begins to bring the indictment of the whole human race to a close. At the Great White Throne Judgment…where God's judgment of unbelievers will take place…there will be many impassioned pleas and many blaming God for their circumstances…anything but the acknowledgment that the unbelievers at the Throne are sinners who have rejected a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why? Because those who are guilty rarely admit their guilt. As Dale Carnegie says in his best-selling book How to Win Friends and Influence People…
How to Win Friends and Influence People By Dale Carnegie…Chapter 1
Who said, “I have spent the best years of my life giving people the lighter pleasures…helping them have a good time…and all I get is abuse…the existence of a hunted man.”
How to Win Friends and Influence People By Dale Carnegie…Chapter 1
That’s Al Capone speaking.Yes, that’s America’s most notorious Public Enemy…the most sinister gang leader who ever shot up Chicago.Capone didn’t condemn himself.He actually regarded himself as an unappreciated and misunderstood public benefactor.
The Jews didn’t blame themselves for being unfaithful to God. They didn’t blame themselves for sin. Religious people today don’t blame themselves for rejecting a relationship with the Lord in favor of a counterfeit righteousness…religion.
Because there is no partiality with God, all God’s creatures will be judged fairly. Those who reject a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ have been judged already as unrighteous and will spend all eternity in the Lake of Fire. The immoral sinner…the moral sinner…and the religious sinner all choose this fate for themselves.
Those with a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, who accept His salvation offer by faith, are credited with God's righteousness and will spend all eternity in heaven face-to-face with the Lord.
Now to conclude, Paul summarizes the fourteen counts of the indictment against the human race. Today's religious ones who consider themselves Christians while calling themselves Catholics or Mormons or Lutherans or Baptists or Methodists or Seventh-Day Adventists or Muslims or Buddhists…these religious ones balk at these thoughts in the indictment, for they are certain that their self-righteousness is a substitute for God’s righteousness. As a reminder…what is an indictment?
INDICTMENT A formal, written notice that a crime has been committed, listing the charges against the defendant.
What follows an indictment is an arraignment…
ARRAIGNMENT The part of a court proceeding where in the presence of the defendant, the charges against him are read and the defendant is asked to enter a plea concerning the charges against him.
As you hear the charges, think about how you will plead. Are you GUILTY or NOT GUILTY of what the Lord accuses you of? Romans, Chapter 3, Verses 10 to 20…
ROMANS 3:10 …(1) as it is written, “THERE IS NO CREATURE WHO IS RIGHTEOUS BEFORE GOD…NOT EVEN ONE…”
1 You were born unrighteous and that’s a BIG problem!
ROMANS 3:11 (2) THERE IS NO CREATURE WHO UNDERSTANDS GOD (OR ANY DIVINE THING)…(3) THERE NO CREATURE WHO SEEKS FOR A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD…
2 You were born with absolutely no understanding of anything regarding God. Ever ask an unbeliever about God?
3 We don’t seek out a relationship with God…He seeks us out. Remember the Garden of Eden? Genesis, Chapter 3, Verses 8 and 9…
GENESIS 3:8 Adam and Isha heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day (after they had sinned)…and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
GENESIS 3:9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
While we don’t seek a relationship with God, we do seek a relationship with substitutes…idols.
ROMANS 3:12 (4) ALL CREATURES HAVE TURNED ASIDE FROM GOD…(5) TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS…(6) THERE IS NO CREATURE WHO PRACTICES GOOD…THERE IS NOT SO MUCH AS ONE.”
4 The term that describes this act of turning aside is APOSTACY…the act of abandoning God….to turn away from God. When the immoral turned away from God, GOD GAVE THEM OVER to their debauchery and they liked it!
All of us are just like Satan and the fallen angels according to Isaiah, Chapter 53, Verse 6…
ISAIAH 53:6a All of us like sheep have gone astray…each of us has turned to his own way…
We ALWAYS think our ideas of what works are better than God’s ideas.
5 Useless means like rotten fruit…it needs to be thrown out.
6 We have feet that run swiftly to evil!
ROMANS 3:13 “(7) THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE…(8) WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP ON DECEIVING…(9) THE POISON VENOM OF ASPS (a snake) IS UNDER THEIR LIPS…”
7 From the mouth emanates trash in continuous action…we keep on doing it as a practice
8 We are liars…we lie to ourselves and others. James, Chapter 3, Verse 6…
JAMES 3:6 And the tongue is a fire…the very world of iniquity…the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body…and the tongue sets on fire the course of our life…and it is set on fire by hell.
9 We use our tongues to strike others with venomous words!
ROMANS 3:14 (10) “THEIR MOUTHS ARE FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS (BLASPHEMY)…”
Psalm 10, Verse 7…
PSALM 10:7b Under a person’s tongue is mischief and wickedness.
Are you ready to live in God’s presence because you are religious and because you have been dunked in water and you go to church? Hardly…
ROMANS 3:15 (11) “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD…”
11 Murder! If not for the restraining ministry of God the Holy Spirit the human race would destroy itself.
ROMANS 3:16 (12) “DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS…”
12 If we learn anything from history it is that human beings learn nothing from history…we keep on doing the same stupid things in history and in our lives. Is the human race is improving in race relations? Are we now WOKE? Nope! Nothing has changed except we are lying to ourselves even more than we were before.
ROMANS 3:17 (13) “AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.”
13 Human beings don’t know how to treat each other.
ROMANS 3:18 (14) “THERE IS NO RESPECT FORGOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”
14 What happens when you close your eyes in this life? Who will you see first in eternity?
From God’s perspective…and that is the point of view from which we study and yearn to know…there is nothing in human beings that is worthy of a single blessing or worthy of a single word of praise.
Think of the legalistic, self-righteous unbeliever who thinks he is better than others. He is not.
An astounding fact? Not one creature who has ever lived seeks a relationship with God. God is the seeker of creatures. Praise Him for that!
Now to the Jews…who have the Law…Paul’s final thoughts…
ROMANS 3:19 Now we Jews know that whatever the Mosaic Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Mosaic Law (us Jews)…so that every mouth may be silenced and all the world (both Gentiles and Jews…all creatures) may become aware that they are accountable to God…
With God, EVERY MOUTH IS SHUT UP! You think you’re what you think you are until you compare yourself with how God sees you. But how God sees you and how God looks at you are different. He sees your sin but He chooses not to look at it in a way that counts it against you.
Jews have a double problem…they’re not only sinners but they break every law they claim to support.
ROMANS 3:20a …because by keeping the works of the Mosaic Law (doing the right thing in your own eyes) no flesh will be justified (declared righteous) in God’s sight (mainly because the only One ever able to keep the Mosaic Law perfectly is Jesus Christ)…
ROMANS 3:20b …for through the Mosaic Law comes the knowledge of sin (not the knowledge of righteousness which is the admission ticket to heaven).
The Law makes you aware that you are a lawbreaker. If you are a Lawbreaker…a sinner…who cannot save yourself…you need a Savior. The fate of a lawbreaker is put in the hands of a judge. The Lord Jesus Christ is the righteous judge.
Humans want to place their faith in anything but God. Despite this, God keeps on offering us the gift of salvation. He seeks us out…He makes the offer…some accept it…most reject it because we are committed to our own ideas of what is right
It’s not important how we see ourselves because it is inaccurate…we love lying to ourselves about ourselves. Even when we learn how God looks at us we dismiss it…our opinion of ourselves is more important than God’s opinion of us…but it’s really the opinion of the flesh we believe.
Our own ideas of what is right do not cut it. It’s time for us to see what God has done for His unrighteous creatures. We’ll take a look in the lesson after The Resurrection Day Celebration.
THE GOSPEL MESSAGE The Good News of Jesus Christ’s Salvation Offer to the Human Race
The closing moments of this lesson could be the ten most important minutes of your life. You’ll be introduced to the good news concerning how you can spend all eternity in heaven when you close your eyes in this life. We want you to know that…
GOD WANTS YOU! He Wants You Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life
The Lord Jesus Christ gave you a powerful weapon and a perfect gift from the moment of your physical birth…CHOICE. You get to choose the life you want to live. The life you are living right now is the sum of all the decisions you have made so far.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the Sovereign God of the Universe and the Savior of all mankind says there are only two choices for your eternal future…either heaven (the small gate and the narrow way) or the Lake of Fire (the wide gate and the broad way) … described in Matthew, Chapter 7, Verses 13 and 14…
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 the wide gate (into the Lake of Fire).”
MATTHEW 7:14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to the resurrection life (into heaven)…and there are FEW who find the small gate.”
MOST PEOPLE CHOOSE THE BROAD WAY according to the Lord. Which road will you choose for your eternal life? You have the chance to be the eternal hero of your own life by making the right choice.
Those who are on the broad way that leads to destruction believe there is safety in numbers. It is not true. Believing what everyone else believes does not save you. Learning the truth saves you. Place your confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ and He will save you.
The Lord Jesus Christ is 100% God…that’s why we call Him Lord…and He is 100% Man…true humanity like you and me…that’s why we call Him Jesus…the Christ (the Jewish Messiah). Jesus says HE is the small gate, which makes Him your guide to heaven, In John, Chapter 14, Verse 6…
JOHN 14:6 Jesus said to the doubting apostle, Thomas, “I am the way (to salvation) … and I am the truth (through the gospel message in the Word of God) … and I am the resurrection life (eternal life) …and no one comes to God the Father (in heaven) but through believing in Me.”
God the Father’s plan for your life is simple…BELIEVE in His Son and it is your ticket to eternal life. Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31 says…
ACTS 16:31 “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved by God, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”
Those on the broad way that leads to destruction place their confidence in liars. The Lord Jesus Christ warns about them in Matthew, Chapter 7, Verse 15…
MATTHEW 7:15 “Beware of the false prophets (false teachers) … who come to you in sheep’s clothing (appearing harmless)… who inwardly are ravenous wolves (out to destroy your eternal future).”
As ravenous wolves, false teachers want to choose to follow a false gospel message. Proverbs, Chapter 14, Verse 12 illuminates the issue…
PROVERBS 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man (saving yourself by thinking good deeds will earn your salvation)…but its end is the way of death (the second death in the Lake of Fire).
The Lord Jesus Christ offers the true gospel message and an invitation to be saved in John, Chapter 3, Verse 36…
JOHN 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has the resurrection life (eternal 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.”
RIGHT WHERE YOU SIT…RIGHT NOW…you can tell God the Father that you are believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation, and that is the moment of eternal life for you.
Who is this God who saves you? The apostle Paul describes the Lord Jesus Christ…in First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verses 3 and 4…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:3 For I (Paul) delivered to you as of primary importance the gospel message I also received from God…that it was Jesus Christ who died for our sins according to the Old Testament Scriptures…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:4 …and that He was buried…and that He was raised from the dead on the third day…according to the Old Testament Scriptures…
God’s enemy…Satan…is the sponsor of false teachers, false teaching, and a false gospel message. You have to be able to discern the difference between God’s truth and Satan’s lies…John, Chapter 8, Verses 31 and 32…
JOHN 8:31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word (the Word of God from a true teacher), then you are truly disciples of Mine…”
JOHN 8:32 “…and you will know the truth (the true gospel message)…and the truth will make you free.”
Another warning for those who choose the broad way is Matthew, Chapter 7, Verses 21 to 23…
MATTHEW 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven…but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven (by obeying the gospel message) will enter heaven.” MATTHEW 7:22 “Many will say to Me on that day (of judgment), ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name…and in Your name did we not cast out demons…and in Your name did we not perform many miracles?’”
MATTHEW 7:23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you…depart from Me (into the Lake of Fire) …you who kept on practicing (a lifestyle of) lawlessness.’”
Don’t wait until it’s too late to consider what road you are on! Mark, Chapter 1, Verse 15 says…
MARK 1:15 “The time is fulfilled…and the kingdom of God is at hand…so repent (changeyour mind about having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ)…and believe in HIS gospel message.”
The will of God the Father is that you believe in His Son so you can have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who choose the narrow way have decided that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone is the ONLY ticket to heaven. Get yourself on the narrow way that leads to eternal life in heaven right this minute.
THE GOSPEL MESSAGE The Good News of Jesus Christ’s Salvation Offer to the Human Race
CLOSING SONG INTRODUCTION
Let’s close with music! A loving father brought his son to Jesus for a cure to a lifetime of being possessed by an evil spirit. The father said, “Jesus…if you can…help my son.” Jesus said, “If?” Mark, Chapter 9, Verse 24…
MARK 9:24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe…help my unbelief.”
Kale Horavath sings the same request in his song…HELP MY UNBELIEF.
MUSIC CLOSING SONG Let’s Sing the Lord’s Praises
HELP MY UNBELIEF Kale Horvath
CLOSING PRAYER Let us pray...
Almighty God and Father…
As we go forward into this week of challenges…keep our spiritual eyes and ears open…help us to see ourselves as we really are daily…and teach us to be comfortable with the things we call failures and imperfections, knowing that You love us unconditionally…help us look at ourselves the way You look at us…
we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s name...Amen.
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