Romans 121: Romans 3 - Where Sin Exists, Wrath...Where Righteousness Exists, Life.

Welcome To

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church…my name is Pastor Rory Clark.

 

If you “should,” then why don’t you?  We spend a lot of our lives talking about what we “should” do and then not acting on it.  We know the right thing to do.  Yet a lot of the time, we do the opposite.  “Shoulds” often warn you that you’re using your will against yourself.

 

Will has a role in righteousness.  It is God the Father’s will that everyone have righteousness, even those who hate Him and His Son.  Second Peter, Chapter 3, Verses 3 and 4 say…

 

2PE 3:3-4

Know this first (and foremost) of all, that in the last days (the days between the Lord Jesus Christ’s first time and second time coming to the earth) mockers (false teachers) will come with their mocking (false teaching), following after their own lusts (leading to sexual perversion), and saying, “Where is the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ’s second coming?”

 

In other words, false teachers, who don’t believe the Lord is coming back to evaluate the living and the dead, feel good about promoting sexual orgies and other sins without consequence.  They “mock” that they have all the time in the world to goof off, and that they’ll get serious when the Lord keeps His promise by coming again.  In Second Peter, Chapter 3, Verses 8 and 9, Peter warns believers in Christ not to follow the lead of the mockers and their misuse of their will…

 

2PE 3:8

But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved (divinely loved ones), that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.

 

God doesn’t look at time the same way humans look at time.

 

2PE 3:9

(Remember that) The Lord is not slow about His promise of coming again, as the mockers (false teachers) accuse Him of, but is patient toward even the mockers, not wishing for anyone to perish in the Lake of Fire, but for all to come to repentance, a change of mind about Christ.

 

There are no “shoulds” in God’s plan.  God wishes for all to be saved, even though He knows some will reject Him and His salvation offer.  Yet the Lord’s will for the “whosoever” is clear.  His will is to save as many people as possible.  Therefore, let’s follow His example and not “should” all over ourselves.  Let’s do the things we know to be right, right now!

 

Believers in Christ make a difference here on earth.  Making a difference in the lives of others is born from a decision within, and it takes wings on the wind of commitment, hard work, and sacrifice.  So many years have passed since I made the decision to make a difference that I’m unsure when it happened.  My life has been dedicated to making a difference with everyone I meet, one person at a time.

 

To allow me to make a difference, God gave me the spiritual gift of Pastor-Teacher.  He has asked me to offer all of myself to each person I meet, and to make a difference in each person’s life.  He asks the same of you.  Mark, Chapter 12, Verse 30 says…

 

MAR 12:30

‘AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’

 

I do love the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the reason I’m committed to making a difference.  Whether my gift is accepted or rejected, it doesn’t change my intention.  The gift is in no way reduced when it is rejected.  The gift bears fruit when it is accepted.  The gift is in no way reduced when it is rejected.  The gift always makes a difference.  I enjoy sharing my spiritual gift with a passion and an intensity that reflects the passion and the intensity of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  As a result, I like what I see when I look at myself in the mirror every morning.  I eagerly anticipating meeting the people my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ presents to me each day.

Making a difference has a cost.  Sometimes it hurts.  Yet whether the people who have encountered my gift have loved the gift or hated it…whether they have loved me or hated me…the gift still makes a difference.  The commitment to keep on giving will continue until I breathe my last breath.  I invite you to join me in this commitment to making a difference.

 

My life is not filled with “I shoulds.”  It is not be plagued by guilt.  If I should, then I will.  My life is empowered by my own intention.  Please join me in living a life of intention rather than a life of guilt and regret.  If you “should,” then do it now.  Act now!  In Second Peter, Chapter 3, Verses 10 and 11, the apostle Peter asks us to reflect on a rhetorical question…

 

2PE 3:10

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief (with suddenness and with catastrophic consequences), in which the heavens (the current universe) will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the (present) earth and its works will be burned up.

 

2PE 3:11

Since all these things (the universe, the elements, and the earth) are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?

 

What sort of people ought we become?  We come to bible study to learn how to be the kind of people the Lord wants us to be…how to live lives of holiness, set apart unto God…and how to live lives free from the distraction of sin.  As people who have spiritual gifts and spiritual lives, we are called to lifestyles spent giving the gift, without regard to whether it is accepted or rejected. 

 

There is no “should” in God’s plan for us.  Only will.  God could have easily turned His back on us when we sinned.  It was His right.  It was the demand of His righteousness.  Instead, His will was different…Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 25c…

 

ROM 3:25c

…in the forbearance of God the Father, He passed over the sins previously committed…

 

If God had dealt with His creatures with justice as His point of contact, He would have wiped them out at the first sign of sin.  It was always God’s will to deal with His creatures with unconditional love, and His righteousness found a way…the Cross is the way…Christ is the way…and He acted with definiteness of purpose, regardless of creature response to His choice.  Let’s follow His lead.

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

SHOUT TO THE LORD

 

We begin our worship service today by worshipping the Lord in song.  Please stand and join June Murphy in singing the opening song…SHOUT TO THE LORD.

 

SHOUT TO THE LORD

 

My Jesus, my Savior

Lord, there is none like You!

All of my days, I want to praise

The wonders of Your mighty love!

 

SHOUT TO THE LORD

 

My comfort, my shelter

Tower of refuge and strength

Let every breath, all that I am

Never cease to worship You!

 

SHOUT TO THE LORD

 

Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing!

Power and majesty, praise to the King

Mountains bow down and the seas will roar

At the sound of Your name!

I sing for joy at the work of Your hands

Forever I’ll love You, forever I’ll stand

Nothing compares to the promise I have in You!

 

SHOUT TO THE LORD

 

My Jesus, my Savior

Lord, there is none like You!

All of my days, I want to praise

The wonders of Your mighty love!

 

SHOUT TO THE LORD

 

My comfort, my shelter

Tower of refuge and strength

Let every breath, all that I am

Never cease to worship You!

 

SHOUT TO THE LORD

 

Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing!

Power and majesty, praise to the King

Mountains bow down and the seas will roar

At the sound of Your name!

I sing for joy at the work of Your hands

Forever I’ll love You, forever I’ll stand

Nothing compares to the promise I have in You!

 

SHOUT TO THE LORD…

 

Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing!

Power and majesty, praise to the King

Mountains bow down and the seas will roar

At the sound of Your name!

I sing for joy at the work of Your hands

Forever I’ll love You, forever I’ll stand

Nothing compares to the promise I have in You!

 

SHOUT TO THE LORD

 

Nothing compares to the promise I have in You

Nothing compares to the promise I have in You

Nothing compares to the promise I have in You

 

OPENING PRAYER

 

Let us pray...

 

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

 

Thank you for the education you are giving us on the simplicity of righteousness…

 

Lead us into righteous lives so that our lives honor you and the entire Godhead…

 

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

Amen.

 

TODAY’S STUDY

Romans 3

Where Sin Exists, Wrath…Where Righteousness Exists, Life.

 

To the resident and non-resident members of Barah Ministries,to our guests who join us from time to time, and to all believers in Christ…Grace to you and peace.  As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, God has nothing against you.  You have His peace.  You also have the freedom to operate by means of grace, which means you are free to make mistakes as you learn knowing of God’s perfecting of you though these experiences.

 

THE BOOK OF ROMANS

Righteousness:

          Your Justification is ONLY by Faith

 

                             Romans 3:21 to Romans 4:25

 

We are studying the miracle of God’s righteousness in a passage concerning our justification by faith…the passage that extends from Romans, Chapter 3,

Verse 21 to Romans, Chapter 4, Verse 25.  In Romans, Chapter 1, Verses 16 to 18, God makes the issues of this life clear, through the apostle Paul’s letter to the believers at Rome…

 

ROM 1:16

For I (Paul) am not ashamed of the gospel, for the gospel is the power of God the Father for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

 

ROM 1:17

For in the gospel the righteousness from God the Father is revealed on the basis of God’s faith principle to anyone expressing faith in Christ; as it is written in the Old Testament Scriptures, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”

 

The issue in this life for every creature is righteousness…if we refuse God’s righteousness, we incur God’s wrath.  Romans, Chapter 1, Verse 18…take heed…

 

ROM 1:18

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and against all unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…

 

By studying this passage over and over again, by reading and rereading the first three chapters of Romans, waiting patiently for God to reveal the meaning of the passage in His time, a simplicity of thought emerges… God the Father loves righteousness…God the Father hates sin.  Where righteousness exists, God the Father is totally pleased.  Where sin exists, God the Father inflicts His wrath.  This helps us understand what was going on when the Lord Jesus Christ uttered these words from the Cross…in Mark, Chapter 15, Verse 34…

 

MAR 15:34

At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” which is translated, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”  

 

When the sins of the whole world were being poured out on the true humanity of His Son, God the Father inflicted His wrath on the Son, which caused the Lord Jesus Christ to cry out…“MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”  The Lord Jesus Christ incurred this wrath alone, separated for a time from God the Father for our benefit…and if God the Father’s wrath had not been infected on the Lord, it would have been inflicted on us…because where sin is, so there is wrath.

 

Sin must be paid for with blood.  The Lord Jesus Christ paid for our sins with His blood.  Romans, Chapter 5, Verse 9…

 

ROM 5:9

Much more then, having now been justified by the Lord Jesus Christ’s blood, we believers in Christ shall be saved, delivered from the wrath of God the Father through Him.

 

God the Father pours out His wrath on sin…but He looks favorably on righteousness.  So why is it, that every time you, as a believer in Christ sin, the wrath of God the Father doesn’t come raining down on you?  Second Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 21…

 

2CO 5:21

God the Father made the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, who knew no sin, to be sin (the sin payment) on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God inunion with Him.

 

God the Father offered the only perfectly satisfactory provision for the sin problem…for the problem of His wrath…He offered His own Son…  Ephesians, Chapter 5, Verses 1 and 2…

 

EPH 5:1-2

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in unconditional love, just as Christ also loved you unconditionally, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God the Father as a fragrant aroma.

 

God the Father inflicts His wrath on sin, but not on the sinner.  It is the Father’s will that His Son would bear the burden for our sins, and that the Lord’s work at the Cross would be the payment for the sins of all creatures, so they would be spared from God the Father’s wrath.  So why is it, that every time you, as a believer in Christ sin, the wrath of God the Father doesn’t come raining down on you?  Because God the Father sent His Son to die for you so that you could BE righteousness.

 

Righteousness is a path.  It is a path of truth.  As believers in Christ, we enjoy wandering off the path of righteousness to sin.  God the Holy Spirit was given to us by God the Father to lead us down the path of righteousness…turn to John, Chapter 16, Verse 7…

 

JOH 16:7

“But I, the Lord Jesus Christ tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (God the Holy Spirit) will not come to you; but if I go away, I will send Him to you.”

 

JOH 16:8

“And God the Holy Spirit, when He comes, will convict (convince) the (whole) world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment…”

 

JOH 16:9

“…concerning sin, because those in the whole world do not believe in Me…”

 

JOH 16:10

“…and concerning righteousness, because I (as the ONLY Righteous One) go away to God the Father and you no longer see Me…”

 

JOH 16:11

“…and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”

 

John, Chapter 16, Verse 13…

 

JOH 16:13

“But when He, God the Holy Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth…”

 

…when believers in Christ wander from the path of righteousness…when we wander from the path of truth…God the Holy Spirit is there to guide us back to the path.  Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 26 and 27…

 

ROM 8:26-27

In the same way God the Holy Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not even know how to pray as we should, but God the Holy Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and God the Father who searches the hearts knows what the mind of God the Holy Spirit is, because the Holy Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God the Father.

 

To me, these simple ideas have always seemed so complicated to understand…but they really aren’t.  When you take away all the complexity, when you go beneath the surface of the Word of God, there is a simplicity there that is mind boggling.  Take a five-minute break.

 

BREAK                                

Caught Up In the Middle                  

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

 

Welcome back.  Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 21…

 

ROM 3:21

But now apart from law, another principle entirely, the righteousness from God, which has been made clearly visible, being witnessed to by the Mosaic Law in the sacrificial offerings and being witnessed to by the Old Testament Prophets in direct statements…

 

But now…pay attention…in this age…the Church Age…another principle entirely.

 

A principleApart From the Law…separate…distinct…unmixable… a different principle entirely…righteousness from God, not human, self- righteousness manufactured through dead works…

 

Righteousness has been made clearly visibleas available to all… righteousness showed up in the Mosaic Law…it showed up before the Mosaic Law, as we’ll see in Romans, Chapter 4 with the life of Abraham…it showed up all throughout the Old Testament…testified to by all the Prophets…as a free gift available to all…Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 22…

 

ROM 3:22

…a righteousness that comes as a gift from God the Father through the principle of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and not through the principle of faith in yourselves for righteousness…and that free gift is available for whosoever believes; for there is no distinction between Jews and Greeks…

 

The last part of the verse, there is no distinction between Jews and Greeks, is a reminder of Roman, Chapter 3, Verses 9 and 10…

 

ROM 3:9-10

What then? Are we Jews better than the Gentiles (because they were given the Mosaic Law)? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin as it is written, “THERE IS NO CREATURE WHO IS RIGHTEOUS, NO NOT EVEN ONE…”

 

We continue to sin after salvation.  I have pondered that there are many reasons that sin is still a part of a believer’s life.  Mostly, I think it is so we don’t forget where we came from…so that we believers don’t start thinking we are somehow more special than unbelievers.  Believers certainly have more privileges than unbelievers, but it is never on the basis of things we have done, never on the basis of any merit in us, but always on the basis of what God has done for us.  Sin helps us to never forget the fact that righteousness is a gift…it is not earned.  Titus, Chapter 3, Verse 5 says…

 

TIT 3:5

The Lord Jesus Christ saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in self-righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and by the renewing by God the Holy Spirit…

 

Back to Romans, Chapter 3, at Verse 23…

 

ROM 3:23

…for all have sinned in the past when Adam sinned and all keep on sinning…and keep on falling short of the glory of God…

 

When we are bothered by our “failures,” which is why we “should” ourselves…we are still living under the delusion that someday we are going to be better than we are right now.  It’s not until we get it that God gives His righteousness to sinners (unbelievers)…that God gives His righteousness to the ungodly… that God give His righteousness to those who engage constantly in unrighteousness that we can begin fully to appreciate what God has really done.  God loves the unlovable…Romans, Chapter 5, Verse 8…

 

ROM 5:8

But God the Father demonstrates His own unconditional love toward us believers in Christ, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

 

That’s why we repeat and repeat and repeat the simplicity of God’s plan until it sinks in.  That’s why we repeat and repeat and repeat the simplicity of God’s gospel until it sinks in.  We must not forget that the letter to the Romans is written to believers in Christ and not to unbelievers.  Why the repetition?  Because repetition is the mother of learning.  But more importantly, because there are so many Christians who just refuse to give up their “law following,” which keeps them from getting to know who God really is and what God really did on their behalf.

 

As believers in Christ, we are being conformed to the image of God the Father’s Son.  What image is that?  Righteousness!  We are being conformed to righteousness!

 

Your expression of faith, which was also a free gift from God, is simply you agreeing that what God says is true…about the gospel…about righteousness…about faith…about salvation…about the life…about everything. 

 

I believe.

 

Thus we are free to know that God loved us and gave us everything when we were unlovable.   He loves us even more now that we have His righteousness.  Best of all God made every provision for us, especially the one that spares us from His wrath.  Hopefully, our study of righteousness helps us know righteousness another way.

 

When God credited His righteousness to us, it did not give us a reason for boasting.  For it is not a reason for boasting to brag about a free gift.  The gift of righteousness was not given to us on the basis of merit, and it did not change us into meritorious beings.  Instead it should give us a reason for gratitude, that God thinks so highly of us, especially when we fail.

 

The Promises of the Lord Jesus Christ

 

PSA 37:3

Trust in the Lord and do good…

 

PSA 37:4

Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.

 

PSA 37:5

Commit your way to the Lord…and He will do it.

 

PSA 37:7

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him…

 

PHI 4:7

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in (union with) Christ Jesus.

 

CLOSING SONG

How Great the Father’s Love for Us

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

          THANKS  

INTERCESSION

PETITION

 

And we pray that You continue to shape the messages from this pulpit that are a reflection of Your unconditional love, Your Magnificent Person, Your perfect thinking, Your impeccable work, and Your indescribable essence... we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit, in Christ’s name, Amen.

 

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

 

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