Calvary Chapel Bible College
February 3, 2021
Introduction
The letter of Paul to the Romans is
considered Paul’s most important letter. This is why it is placed in front of
all his others writings.
When and Where
The year is around AD 57 or 58
In your Bible, we’d place the
writing of this letter around Acts 20:2 – that’s about when Paul wrote to the
Romans from the city of Corinth.
Paul had been in Ephesus for three
years, yet when persecution arose, he makes his way up to Macedonia, writes
2Corinthians at Philippi, and then heads south to Corinth where he writes his
letter to Rome.
What it’s about
We’re going to see the first five
chapters dealing with justification, how a person is made right with
God.
The next three chapters will deal
with sanctification, the process where we grow to be more like Jesus.
The next three chapters will unpack
the differences between the Jew and Gentile, and God’s plan for His
people.
In the last five chapters, Paul
will launch into personal, practical matters – how do we live as
Christians? What does the Christian life
look like? How do we get along with one
another?
Paul has been carefully showing
that both Jew and Gentile are facing condemnation for their disobedience to
God.
The Gentile is responsible to God
because he has seen the evidence of God’s existence in Creation around him.
When the Gentiles reject the knowledge of the Creator God, they are “given
over” to sin. (Rom. 1)
The Jew is responsible to God
because he has had the Law of God in front of his face and then breaks that
very same law. (Rom. 2)
The Jew has been rather proud of
the sign of his relationship with God, his circumcision. To him, it was the
proof of being right with God. But Paul has shown that circumcision doesn’t
mean a thing if you don’t live in obedience to God.
3:1-8 Defending God’s judgment
:1 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of
circumcision?
advantage – perissos – exceeding some number or measure or
rank or need; pre-eminence, superiority, advantage
profit – opheleia – usefulness, advantage, profit
Some people might look at how Paul
has brought both Jew and Gentile down to the same level as common sinners and
say, “Well then what’s the big deal with being a Jew?”
It is a big deal. The Jew has a lot
of things going for him.
:2 Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the
oracles of God.
:2 to them were committed the
oracles of God
oracles – logion – a brief utterance, a divine
oracle
It’s a form of logos, “word”
(but a shortened, smaller one)
In the LXX, this is the word found 19
times in Psalm 119 to describe God’s Word:
(Psalm 119:11 NKJV) Your word
I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.
(Psalm 119:103 NKJV) How sweet
are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!
(Psalm 119:162 NKJV) I rejoice at
Your word As one who finds great treasure.
committed – pisteuo – to think to be true, to be persuaded
of; entrust
This is the normal word we
translate “believe”, but here in the passive sense it carries the idea of
“entrust” (God believed in them to…)
This is the verb form of the word pistis, the word for “belief” or “faith”.
This word will tie
into three words in the next verse.
The Jews are a privileged people
because they are the nation through whom God has given us His Word; God
considered them trustworthy enough to give His Word to; God put His Word into
their “trust”.
We owe a lot to the faithful Hebrew
scribes who copied the Scriptures so accurately.
Prior to the discovery of the Dead
Sea Scrolls in 1947, the oldest complete Hebrew manuscript of the Old Testament
was dated about A.D. 900. The Dead Sea Isaiah Scroll is dated about 200 B.C.
When the Isaiah Scroll was examined, it was found to have no major changes from
the text we already possessed.
If you visit Israel, one of the
places most tours visit is Masada, located out in the wilderness next to the
Dead Sea. An important part of Masada is
the “synagogue”, where the last holdout of Jews decided to kill themselves
rather than face slavery at the hands of the Romans. If you walk around a wall in the back,
there’s now a little alcove where a Jewish Scribe is continuing the tradition
of making a hand copy of the Scriptures.
Paul will deal with more of the
advantages of being a Jew in Romans 9 (the “adoption”, the “glory”, the
“service of God”, and most of all, the Messiah).
:3 For what if some did not believe? Will
their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?
:3 what if some did not believe
…
did not believe – apisteo – to betray a trust, be unfaithful; to
have no belief, disbelieve
This is the opposite of the word
“committed” (in verse 2).
unbelief – apistia – unfaithfulness, faithless; want of
faith, unbelief; weakness of faith
faithfulness – pistis – faith, conviction of the truth of
anything, belief; faithfulness
It’s all about “trust”
God “en-trusted”
His Word to the Jews. Some did not “trust” God.
Did their lack of “trust” make God’s “entrusting” pointless?
:3 make the faithfulness of God
without effect?
make … without effect – katargeo (“according to” + “idleness”) – to
render idle, unemployed, inactivate, inoperative; to cause a person or thing to
have no further efficiency; to deprive of force, influence, power
future active indicative
Because there were some Jews who
did not believe God and His Word, does that mean that God’s faith in them was
worthless? Does that mean that God was wasting His time when He gave them His
Word?
:4 Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As
it is written: “That You may be justified in Your words, And may overcome when You are judged.”
:4 let God be true but every man
a liar
Even though every person might be a
liar, God is still true.
Lesson
Truth doesn’t need belief
I remember growing up watching the
live action “Peter Pan” on TV. At one
point Tinkerbell has been poisoned and needs all the children to “believe” in
her to get better…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6IKaLF4Fqc
Some people think this is true of
God – that if we just “believe”, then He will get better, or even worse, if we
“don’t believe”, God might get sick…
Suppose you go into a math class and the teacher writes on the board “2+2=4”. “Wait a
minute!” you exclaim. “I don’t believe it!”. Does that mean that it isn’t true?
Suppose you work in a bank and a man comes up to your teller window, shoves a gun
in your face and tells you to give him all your money.
If you say back to him, “I don’t
believe in guns”, then will that bullet kill you when he pulls the trigger?
Whether or not you believe doesn’t affect the truth of
the gun.
Believing in God is vital for your salvation.
We are saved from the penalty of our sins when we start trusting in God.
But the truth of man being judged
one day by God,
the truth of my sins carrying a
penalty,
the truth that Jesus died for my
sins,
the truth that God loves me so much
that He gave His Son to die for me –
these
truths are real whether or not I believe them. My
believing in them only affects how these truths affect me, not whether or not they are real.
Lesson
Trust God, not people.
People will disappoint you, they will let you down. Sometimes we get surprised when
someone we are counting on or admire lets us down. In a way, we shouldn’t be
too surprised. Every human is owner of a sin nature.
But God will never let you down.
Illustration
A college man walked into a
photography studio with a framed picture of his girlfriend. He wanted the
picture duplicated. This involved removing it from the frame. In doing this,
the studio owner noticed the inscription on the back of the photograph: “My
dearest Tom, I love you with all my heart. I love you more
and more each day. I will love you forever and ever. I am yours for all
eternity.” It was signed “Diane,” and it contained a P.S.: “If we ever break
up, I want this picture back.”
God isn’t like
that one bit. There’s no “p.s.” to His love letter. Though others might break
up with us, He will never leave us.
:4 As it is written …
justified – dikaioo – to render righteous or such he ought
to be; to show one to be righteous
overcome – nikao – to conquer; when one is arraigned or
goes to law, to win the case
(Romans 3:4 NLT) Of course
not! Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say about
him, “You will be proved right in what you say, and you will win your case in
court.”
Paul is quoting from David’s great
psalm of repentance after his adultery with Bathsheba.
(Psalm 51:4 NKJV) Against You,
You only, have I sinned, And done this
evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless
when You judge.
Our own unfaithfulness, our own
sin, only makes it clearer that God is right and we are wrong. If man tries to
take God to court and sue Him for unjust judgment, man only loses every time.
:5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God,
what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.)
:5 our unrighteousness
demonstrates the righteousness of God
demonstrates – sunistao – to place together; to teach by
combining and comparing; to prove, establish, exhibit
Paul is suggesting that some people
might listen to what he’s been saying and then respond:
“If our own badness simply shows
that God is really, really good, then why should God
be punishing us sinners if we are only making it plain just how much greater He
is. Why does God punish us for making Him look good?”
:5 I speak as a man
This was a phrase that the rabbis
used. Paul was trained as a rabbi. It’s like saying, “That is actually the way
some people talk” or, “pardon me for this line of argument.”
:6 Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?
:6 Certainly not!
We’ve already seen this in vs. 4.
The Greek here is me genoito meaning “may it not be”.
It’s in the rare optative case
which expresses a desire, but it is negated with “me” (the
negative). “I wish it would never be”.
Paul will use this phrase a lot in
Romans. It’s part of his reasoning
process – bringing up silly ideas that people have and then refuting them.
It’s found 10 times in the book of
Romans. (only 15 times in entire New Testament). It will be in this chapter three times.
(Rom. 3:4, 6, 31; 6:2, 15; 7:7, 13;
9:14; 11:1, 11)
:6 how will God judge
This kind of silly reasoning would draw
the conclusion that God would not be able to judge the world one day.
But the truth is that God will one
day judge this earth.
It’s all through the Old Testament.
(Genesis 18:25 NKJV) …Shall not
the Judge of all the earth do right?”
(1 Samuel 2:10 NKJV) …The Lord will judge the ends of the earth…
(1 Chronicles 16:33 NKJV) Then the
trees of the woods shall rejoice before the Lord, For He is
coming to judge the earth.
(Psalm 96:13 NKJV) For He is
coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall
judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.
:7 For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His
glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?
Paul simply continuing with the
same idea from verse 5, that some people were suggesting that our
unrighteousness was demonstrating God’s righteousness.
It that’s so, then why is God going
to do anything to us when we make Him look so good?
:8 And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that
we say. Their condemnation is just.
slanderously reported – blasphemeo (“blaspheme”) – to speak reproachfully,
revile, blaspheme; to be evil spoken of
:8 Let us do evil that good may come
Some people are claiming that Paul
has been teaching people that they should go out and do bad things in order to make God look that much better by forgiving
them.
Lesson
Testimony problems
There is nothing good about being
bad.
The problem with “testimonies” –
sometimes we can get the wrong message from testimonies. We like to listen to
people share their story of how horrible, raunchy, wicked, and sinful they are,
and how they turn to Jesus. But sometimes we can get to thinking that the only
good testimony is one where a person was really, really bad
before coming to Christ.
I was one of those “good kids”
growing up. I have to tell you that more than once
I’ve wondered if I wouldn’t have been better off if I had done drugs, sex, and
rock ‘n roll. Then I would have had a “better” testimony. Right?
A good testimony is about any person who comes to Jesus. A good
testimony is about what Jesus is really
doing in your life. It doesn’t matter if you were a dope smoking, murdering,
alcoholic heroin addict, or if you were a nice guy who got straight A’s in school. We all need Jesus.
3:9-20 All
are sinful
:9 What then? Are we better than they?
Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are
all under sin.
In verses 1-2, Paul was making a
point that the Jewish people have some great advantages. But that doesn’t mean
that they are any better than the non-Jew, the Greek.
:9 they are all under sin
previously charged – proaitiaomai – to bring a charge against previously
(i.e. in what has previously been said)
Back in Romans 1:18-32, Paul had
made a case about how creation shows there is a God, and that when men reject
the knowledge of God they fall further into sin – this was his condemnation of
the Greeks.
In Romans 2, Paul dealt with the
Jews, guilty of breaking their own laws.
Here are some suggested chapter
pericopes:
Romans 1 – Gentiles are guilty
Romans 2 – Jews are guilty
Romans 3 (so far…) – All are guilty
:10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;
:11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks
after God.
:12 They have all turned aside; They have together become
unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”
:12 There is none who does good, no, not one
Paul now pulls a lot of Old
Testament quotes together to show that God’s word speaks about all men being
sinners.
Bits and pieces of verses 10-12 are
being pulled from:
(Psalm 14:1–3 NKJV) —1 The fool has
said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are
corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who
does good. 2 The Lord looks down
from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek
God. 3 They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.
Without the help of God, without
the drawing of the Holy Spirit, man doesn’t seek God, he walks away.
Lesson
Base your theology on the Word.
Too often we base our beliefs in
God upon what others tell us, what the world seems to think is popular, or by
“what makes sense to me”.
Paul based his beliefs on what God
had already revealed in His Word.
Be open to tweaking your own
theology of God as you are reading the Word.
“Theology” is simply the way I put
my ideas of God together. Sometimes I’m not perfect in the things I think about
God.
Don’t try and tweak the Scriptures
to make them bend to your theology.
Be open to tweaking your theology
to make it bend to God’s Word.
Illustration
Fishnets and Christmas ornaments
I like to think of
my “theology” as a large fishnet hung on the wall. My ideas about God are like those
colored glass floats hang on various places on the fishnet. The more I read
God’s Word, I ought to be open to moving where I place
those shiny balls.
For example:
When I was in high
school, I visited a Pentecostal-like prayer meeting. I ended up getting
baptized in the Holy Spirit, even though I wasn’t looking for it, nor had I
ever seen such a thing. I was even “slain in the Spirit”, though I had never
seen such a thing. But it was very, very real to me. I spoke with tongues. A
lot of things changed in my life from that point on. I shared my faith. I got real involved at church. I got
involved in ministry.
After college, I
went to seminary where I was taught that the Holy Spirit doesn’t operate today
like He did in the early church. I was taught that the
gift of tongues no longer exists. I was shown verses that seemed to indicate
that this was so. I was confused and discouraged. I stopped speaking in
tongues.
After seminary, I
began to do my own studying on the subject of the Holy
Spirit. I dug into the Bible on my own. I began to realize that the work of the
Holy Spirit through spiritual gifts wasn’t going to cease until Jesus came
back.
I changed my
theology based on the Word, not based on my experience, not based on what
others say, but based on the Word.
Paul had a Bible-based theology.
Just look at how
much of the following is simply Paul quoting Scripture.
:13 “Their throat is an open tomb; With
their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under
their lips”;
:13 Their throat is an
open tomb …
This verse has two quotes in it:
(Psalm 5:9 NKJV) For there
is no faithfulness in their mouth; Their inward part is destruction; Their throat
is an open tomb; They flatter with their tongue.
(Psalm 140:3 NKJV) They sharpen
their tongues like a serpent; The poison of asps is under their lips. Selah
throat is an open tomb –
talk about bad breath! This is the stink of a newly opened grave, a description
of the kinds of things people say.
What did Martha say when Jesus told
them to open Lazarus’ tomb?
(John 11:39 AV) Jesus said,
Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto
him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he
hath been dead four days.
:13 The poison of asps is
under their lips – Supposedly the poison of the asp lies in a
bag under the lips – a good picture of the poison of men’s words.
:14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
:14 full of cursing and
bitterness
Paul is quoting from:
(Psalm 10:7 NKJV) His mouth is
full of cursing and deceit and oppression; Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity.
Listen to the things that people
say in the world. Look at how much deceit, poison, cursing, and bitterness
there is in the things people talk about.
cursing – ara – a prayer, a supplication; an
imprecation, curse, malediction
bitterness – pikria – bitter gall; extreme wickedness; a
bitter root, and so producing a bitter fruit; metaph. bitterness, bitter hatred
What a gruesome picture.
I think of some of those images in
some of the Indiana Jones movies where they show these old
decayed bodies covered with cobwebs and stuff.
Video: Indiana Jones – Escaping well of souls
This is what our mouths can be like,
our language.
Lesson
The mouth reveals the heart
(keyword)
(Matthew 12:34–37 NKJV) —34 Brood of
vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of
the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man
out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man
out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men
may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will
be condemned.”
As horrible as the mouth is, it’s
only an extension of the heart. You can tell a lot about a person by the kinds
of words that consistently come from their mouths.
Sometimes all that comes out of our
mouths are things that are critical of others…
An
efficiency expert was delivering a seminar on time management for a company’s
junior executives. He concluded the session with a disclaimer: “Don’t attempt
these task-organizing tips at home,” he said. “Why not?” he was asked. “Well, I
did a study of my wife’s routine of fixing breakfast,” he replied, a little
embarrassed. “I noticed she made a lot of trips between the refrigerator and
the stove, the table and the cabinets, each time carrying only one item. So I asked her, ‘Honey, I notice that you make a lot of
trips back and forth carrying one item at a time. If
you would try carrying several things at once you
would be much more efficient.’” He paused. “Did that
save time?” one of the executives asked. “Actually, yes,” the expert answered,
“It used to take her twenty minutes to fix my breakfast. Now I get my own in
seven minutes.”
Got “Sailor’s mouth”?
The solution to cursing is not to
pay close attention to every word you say, it’s to clean up your heart. Clean
up the heart and the language stops.
Listen to yourself.
What do your own words tell you
about your heart? There are times when I become painfully aware that the majority of things that come from my mouth are
complaints, criticism, and bitterness. What does that tell me about myself?
Adjust the pH.
We have a pool at home, and it
takes a little bit of work to keep it in good shape. One of the things you have
to do with a pool is keep testing the water – you test for chlorine to make
sure the water stays clean and healthy. You also test the pH to make sure the
pool doesn’t become too acidic or too bitter. Keeping the pH just right helps
the chlorine to work better. Here are some chemical adjustments we can make to
keep the water coming from our heart fresh and clean:
Try injecting some
of God’s word into your mind:
(Colossians 3:16 NKJV) Let the word
of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your
hearts to the Lord.
Add a little grace
to your heart and let it come out your mouth:
(Colossians 4:6 NKJV) Let your
speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how
you ought to answer each one.
:15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
:16 Destruction and misery are in their ways;
:17 And the way of peace they have not known.”
:15 feet are swift to shed
blood
Paul is quoting from parts of:
(Isaiah 59:7–8 NKJV) —7 Their feet
run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their
thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their
paths. 8 The way of peace they have not known, And there is
no justice in their ways; They have made themselves crooked paths; Whoever
takes that way shall not know peace.
swift – oxus – sharp; swift, quick
destruction – suntrimma – that which is broken or shattered, a fracture; calamity, ruin
misery – talaiporia – hardship, trouble, calamity
Why is it that most successful
movies contain illicit sex and violence?
In the end, these things only bring
destruction and misery, and not peace.
:18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
:18 no fear of God
(Psalm 36:1 NKJV) An oracle
within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes.
The fool tries to tell himself that
there is no God (Ps. 14:1). He does not want to have to be accountable to God.
He pretends there is no judgment and so there is nothing to be afraid of.
:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are
under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God.
:19 all the world may become guilty
guilty – hupodikos – under judgment, one who lost his suit;
of liable to punishment from God
The Jew already thinks that
certainly the Gentiles were guilty before God because they were obviously so
sinful.
The Jew was thinking that he had it
made because he had the Law, yet he didn’t realize that the Law didn’t make him
more righteous, it just showed him how sinful he was.
If a man jumps out of an airplane,
what does he want to take with him? A parachute or a bag of cement?
The grace of Christ is our
parachute. The Law of Moses is a bag of cement.
The law’s purpose is to show us how
guilty we are.
:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in
His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
:20 by the deeds of the law no
flesh will be justified
Lesson
No salvation by the Law
There are some folks who are
convinced that you must keep the Law in order to be
saved. I wonder what they do with this verse?
The law won’t save you; it will
only show you how sinful you are.
(Galatians 3:19 NLT) Why, then,
was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their
sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who
was promised. God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator
between God and the people.
There are some folks who say you
get saved by faith, but you keep your salvation by keeping the Law. The same
thing applies, it can’t be done.
(Galatians 3:3 NLT) How foolish
can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying
to become perfect by your own human effort?
It’s all by faith in God’s grace.
We are saved by trusting in God’s
grace.
We are able to
follow Christ by trusting in God’s grace.
Up to this point in Romans 3, Paul
has been showing us that man is a sinner.
Starting in verse 21, Paul will
begin to talk about the way out of judgment.
Break?
3:21-26 God’s righteousness through faith
Read verses 21-26, then take them
apart, then read them again.
(Romans 3:21–26 NKJV) —21 But now the
righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law
and the Prophets, 22 even the
righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who
believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set
forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His
righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that
were previously committed, 26 to
demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and
the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
:21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed,
being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
:21 the righteousness of God
The order of the Greek text reads
like this, “But now apart from the Law, the righteousness of God is revealed…”
righteousness – dikaiosune – in a broad sense: state of him who is
as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God; integrity,
virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking, feeling, and acting
If I were to pick a key word in
this passage, this would be it.
The passage (vs. 21-26) is really
one long sentence, and yet this word or related forms of this word are found
SEVEN times in a single sentence. Circle
the word.
It comes from dike – right, just; it is used to describe a lawsuit; it is used to
describe the court proceedings to determine who is “right”
The root word dike is found
79 times in the book of Romans.
In this verse, it is used to talk
about the quality of being right with God.
Lesson
Getting right
“Right-ness”. Here’s the issues:
God is right.
We are not.
How can we be made “right”? This is what Paul is teaching us…
:21 apart from the law is
revealed
is revealed – phaneroo – to make manifest or visible or known
what has been hidden or unknown
The fact that righteousness could
be achieved apart from the law was a mystery.
Now it’s more clear.
The verb is a “perfect” tense,
meaning that it is something that has happened in the past, but the results continue on into the present.
It’s not just something that’s done
and is over with, but something that still impacts us today.
:21 being witnessed by the Law
and the Prophets
This is a way of saying “the entire
Old Testament”.
There are passages all through the
Old Testament that tell us that God’s righteousness can come to men without the
Law. For example.
(Isaiah 53:11 NKJV) He shall see
the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His
knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall
bear their iniquities.
We’ll be looking at the example of
Abraham next week – a man who was declared “righteous” because of his faith,
not because of his works.
:22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to
all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;
:22 even the righteousness of
God
righteousness (dikaiosune) –
second occurrence, circle it.
:22 through faith in Jesus
Christ
through – dia – through; the ground or reason by
which something is or is not done; by reason of
The righteousness of God comes
through the act of putting your faith in Jesus Christ.
:22 For there is no difference
no difference – diastole – a distinction, difference; of
the different sounds musical instruments make
God doesn’t make a distinction
between whether you are Jewish or whether you are Gentile. If you believe, you receive God’s
righteousness.
:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
I hope this verse sounds familiar…
The reason there is no distinction
between Jew and Gentile finding righteousness through faith is because we all
start at the same place. We’ve all
sinned. We’re all on the same boat.
:23 sinned … fall short of the
glory of God
the glory – doxa – opinion ;
in the NT always a good opinion concerning one, resulting in praise, honor, and
glory; splendor, brightness.
The phrase could be talking about
several things:
This could be talking about
“reputation”, God has a great reputation and we
certainly fall short of it. When Jesus
heard about His friend Lazarus being sick …
(John 11:4 NKJV) When Jesus
heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory
of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
God’s reputation
was going to be raised by Jesus raising Lazarus.
We fall short of
God’s “reputation”.
This could be talking about light,
God has “glory”, He shines, has “brightness” and “splendor”.
(1 Timothy 6:16 NKJV) who alone
has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen
or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.
(1 John 1:5 NKJV) This is the
message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light
and in Him is no darkness at all.
We on the other hand are full of sin and
darkness.
Perhaps it’s talking about God’s
very presence. Where God’s glory is,
God’s presence is there.
When God hung out at the
Tabernacle, it was filled with “glory”
(Exodus 40:34 NKJV) Then the
cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Moses wanted to see God’s glory,
God responded by saying:
(Exodus 33:20 NKJV) But He said,
“You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”
Moses only got to
see the back side of God as He passed by Moses.
Perhaps the word is talking a bit
about all three ideas. The point is that
we all fall short of God’s standards.
have sinned – hamartano – to be without a share in; to miss the
mark; to err, be mistaken; violate God’s law, sin
aorist tense
In medieval times, the term was
used in archery contests. If you didn’t
hit the bull’s-eye, you “sinned”.
Here the idea is that to get to
heaven you have to hit the target called “God’s
glory”. The problem is that we’re all
horrible shots.
fall short – hustereo – behind; to come late or too tardily;
to be left behind in the race and so fail to reach the goal, to fall short of
the end
The word is translated “lack” when
Jesus confronts the Rich Young Ruler:
(Mark 10:21 NKJV) Then Jesus,
looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your
way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
It’s translated “to be in want” in
the parable of the Prodigal Son:
(Luke 15:14 NKJV) But when he
had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.
It’s translated “ran out” at the
wedding in Cana:
(John 2:3 NKJV) And when
they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no
wine.”
When it comes to the glory of God,
every single person “lacks” it. Every
single person is “in want” of it. Every
single person has “run out” of it.
Illustration
Let’s say that heaven was located
on Catalina Island. Let’s say that all
you have to do to get to heaven is to jump to Catalina
Island. We’re going to “fall short” of
that mark.
Some people have this idea that
when they stand before God that they are going to give God a piece of their
mind.
I don’t think so.
Several of the prophets had visions
of God’s glory.
Isaiah:
(Isaiah 6:1–5 NKJV) —1 In the year
that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the
temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings:
with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he
flew. 3 And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole
earth is full of His glory!” 4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried
out, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am
a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of
a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.”
Ezekiel:
(Ezekiel 1:28 NKJV) Like the
appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance
of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness
of the glory of the Lord. So when I saw it,
I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking.
John:
(Revelation 1:17 NKJV) And when I
saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He
laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and
the Last.
Lesson
We are all sinners
I don’t quite know why people have
a hard time understanding this. Even the
TV executives understand it …
Illustration
FOX once had a show called “Moment
of Truth,” a TV show that wrestled with whether or not
anyone was ever willing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth. Contestants were hooked up to a state-of-the-art lie detector test in order to determine whether or not
they were spinning lies while asked a series of questions. If contestants told
the truth, they could win $500,000.
To add a little
drama, the show mixed spouses, significant others, family members, friends, and
co-workers into the audience.
Video: The Moment of Truth
Here are a few of the questions
that were asked:
Have you ever lied
to get a job?
Do you like your
mother-in-law?
Have you ever
stolen anything from work?
Would you cheat on
your spouse if you knew you could get away with it?
As one person on the show noted:
“This is the first game show where you already know all the answers!” But
despite their foreknowledge, contestants found the game difficult. This was the
genius of the show—
FOX
executives knew that humans are depraved and lack integrity.
Lesson
Face the truth
The sooner we learn to admit the
truth that we are sinners, we can move forward.
Illustration
Do you ever feel that if anyone
found out the truth about you, you’d be finished? Do you go through life
basically trying to convince others that you are something you’re not—that
you’re cool when you know you’re not, that you’re confident or skillful or
good-hearted when you know it’s not so?
John Corcoran knows what that’s
like. During grade school he never learned to read or write, but he caused a
lot of trouble and somehow kept getting promoted to the next grade. He got to
high school and mastered new skills. He says, “I started cheating by turning in
other peoples’ papers; [I] dated the valedictorian and ran around with college
prep kids. I couldn’t read words but I could read the
system and I could read people.”
He received an athletic scholarship
to Texas Western College and cheated his way through there as well, getting a
degree in education, of all things. Somehow he got a
job as a teacher and for the next 17 years taught in high school without being
able to read or write. He says, “What I did was I created an oral and visual
environment. There wasn’t the written word in there. I
always had two or three teacher’s assistants in each class to do board work or
read the bulletin.”
Finally he
left teaching and became a real estate developer. Later in life he learned to
read and write and became an advocate for better educational systems.
In a sense, we’re all like John
Corcoran. Most of us don’t have to fake reading and writing, but we live our
lives trying to persuade ourselves, persuade other people, and persuade God
himself that we are good people. Deep down inside, though, we have a growing
awareness it’s not true.
Charisse Yu, “Retired Teacher Reveals He Was Illiterate Until
Age 48,” 10News.com (posted 2-11-08)
The truth is, without Christ we are
all hopeless sinners. Even as
Christians, we still struggle and wrestle with that sin nature of ours that is
going to stay with us until be die and go to heaven.
Maturity comes when we learn to
face the truth about who we are. Stop
hiding from the truth.
(Psalm 32:1–5 NKJV) —1 Blessed is
he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is
covered. 2 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3 When I kept
silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the
day long. 4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality
was turned into the drought of summer. Selah 5 I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I
will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” And You
forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
It’s horrible to
keep the secret. Stop hiding from
God. Admit your sin to God. He is ready to forgive.
:24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus,
:24 being justified freely by
His grace
justified – dikaioo – to show or declare someone to be
“right”.
This is the third occurrence of the word. Circle it.
“justified” is the same basic word
that we’ve been translating as “righteous”.
We have perverted this word in
English. When we talk about someone
“justifying” their actions, we’re thinking they’re going to make up some kind
of excuse why they weren’t so bad in doing what they did.
We use this word when we’re typing
on the computer. When you “left-justify”
your text, you are making all the text line up on the left side.
With this Greek word, it doesn’t
mean you were “right” to begin with. It
might mean that you were wrong, but somehow you were made to be “right”.
It’s like your text was all over
the page, but something happened to make it all line up right.
Some look at this word as
“just-as-if-I’d never sinned”.
I was really
wrong. God made me really right. Sounds good to me.
Illustration
A man who lived in England came
over to the United States to go to a resort for several months. He wanted to
bring along his Rolls-Royce for the trip, so he had it carefully packaged and
shipped overseas. While visiting the U.S., something happened to the car—a
mechanical failure of some sort—so he called over to England and explained his
problem to the company. Rolls-Royce told him, “That’s fine. Within 48 hours,
we’ll have a mechanic with the auto parts there to fix it for you.”
They put a mechanic on a plane with
the necessary car parts and flew him to the United States. He worked on the car
in the parking lot of the resort, fixed it in good time, got on a plane, and
flew back to England. The man happily drove his Rolls for the rest of his time
in the U.S. Then he packaged it back up, put it on a ship, and sent it to his
home in England.
Nearly a year after the man
returned to England, he discovered he had never received a bill from
Rolls-Royce. So he wrote the company a letter, saying,
“This date last year there was something wrong with my Rolls-Royce and you flew
a mechanic over to help me. You fixed it, but I’ve never received a bill. If
you should find that bill in your office, I’ll be happy to pay for your efforts
at fixing my car.”
He received a letter back from
Rolls-Royce that simply said: “In the files at the headquarters of Rolls-Royce,
there is no such account saying anything has ever been wrong with a Rolls-Royce
anywhere that you speak of.”
Now that’s justification.
Mac Brunson, “The Purpose of the Passion,” Preaching Today
Audio, No. 282
For us, we’re that car that’s
broken down. God flew in His mechanic
and fixed us up, and there is no record of the charges. We’ve been “justified”.
freely – dorean – freely, as a gift
from doron – a gift, present
Our being justified didn’t happen
because we worked hard and earned it, it happened because God gave us a gift in
Jesus.
The true concept of something being
a “gift” is that it was unearned. There
might be some parents who are cruel and make their kids feel they have to “earn” their birthday presents, but this is not
God’s idea of a “gift”.
Illustration
David Neff writes, “This morning I
received the latest promotional e-mail from a clothing provider I really like
to patronize: L. L. Bean. I read the subject line with interest: “Double Coupon
Dollars: Our Gift to You.”
“The old sales trick worked. The
promise of something free compelled me to open the e-mail. But the first words
I read from the e-mail itself gave me a different message: “Earn Double Coupon
Dollars.” Wait. Didn’t the subject line say it was a gift? Now they want me to
“earn” their gift?
“Theological spirit that I am, I
lost interest in L. L. Bean’s promotion and instead began thinking about all
the ways throughout history that churches have pulled that same “bait and
switch” trick: Salvation is God’s free gift; here’s
how you earn it.”
David Neff, editor in chief and
vice-president, Christianity Today International
grace – charis – that which gives delight or pleasure;
goodwill, favor, kindness, helpfulness
from chairo – to rejoice, be glad
This is one of the main words in
the book of Romans. The word “grace” is
only found 12 times in the gospels (only in Luke and John), but it is found 25
times in the book of Romans.
One of the key components of
“grace” is that of being a “gift”.
We think of “grace” as being
“unmerited favor”, something not earned, something not deserved,
but still given.
We talk about a person being
“gracious”, usually thinking about a person who is nice, someone who is
forgiving and merciful, someone who is giving.
The ultimate demonstration of grace
is God giving His Son for us.
(John 1:14 NKJV) And the Word
became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth.
God didn’t have to give His Son for
us, but He did it because He is gracious.
:24 through the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus
redemption – apolutrosis (“from” + “ransom”) – a releasing
effected by payment of ransom
from lutron – the price for redeeming, ransom; paid for slaves, captives
The economy of the Roman Empire
rode on the backs of the millions of slaves that were treated as “property”.
Slaves weren’t always treated as
poorly as Spartacus, but it was a horrible life.
It would be an unthinkable dream to
think you could be purchased and then set free.
For us, the picture is that we’ve
been captured and are being held for ransom by this thing called “sin”. It is promising to destroy our life unless
the ransom is paid.
Illustration
Pastor Steve Yeschek, Crystal Lake,
Illinois, lost his sister, Judy, after a five-year battle with cancer. She was
a woman who, as Steve described her, was a party animal—a big drinker with a
self-contented lifestyle. She was someone everybody loved, because she exuded
excitement and a thrill for life.
When Steve tried to share Jesus
with her over the years, she would laugh it off and keep partying. But at the
age of 44, her world caved in. She found out she had breast cancer. She later
learned her husband had cancer, too. Adding to the devastation of these two
blows, she discovered her husband was having an affair. He subsequently
announced he didn’t love her anymore and left her.
It was in that context that she
began to ask eternal questions and soon prayed to receive Jesus as her Savior.
From that time until her death, Jesus and his Word and purpose became her
priority. With the same gusto she lived life as an unbeliever, she now
approached her new life in Christ. Her greatest aim was winning others to
Christ. She boldly shared her faith even as she was undergoing surgery after
surgery, praying for a miraculous healing from the
Lord.
Judy ultimately came to see that
the greater miracle would be for her friends and family to come to know Christ.
Even as she struggled for every breath, she talked her way out of the hospital
about ten days before her death so she could be baptized and publicly proclaim
Christ as the only way of salvation.
Judy invited everyone she knew to
come to her baptism service. Under the Spirit’s anointing, she powerfully and
urgently shared her testimony. Her 84-year-old father came to faith in Christ
that night and was baptized—along with her ex-husband, a
number of nieces, a college roommate who was a New Age cultist, her
aunt, her sister, and others.
Ten days later, Judy died. Even
still, more people came to know the Savior. When Steve
read the message she had prepared for her own funeral
service, another 100 people prayed to receive Christ that day.
From a sermon by Pastor Bob Page, Crystal
Lake, Illinois
Some might say that Judy “redeemed”
herself by turning her life around.
No, the “redemption” we’re talking
about is how Judy was “redeemed” because she found out that Jesus died for her.
She found out that Jesus came to set her free from the bondage of her sin. Because Jesus redeemed Judy, she was able to
turn her life around.
Jesus has paid the ransom to set us
free from our sin.
:25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood,
through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God
had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
:25 God set forth as a
propitiation
set forth – protithemai – to place before, to set forth; to
expose to public view; of the bodies of the dead; to let lie in state
God has “set forth” His Son, put
Jesus out in front of the world as …
propitiation – hilasterion – propitiation, expiation.
It comes from the word hileos, “merciful”. It is used in the Greek
Old Testament (Septuagint) for the “mercy seat”, the solid gold cover for the
ark of the covenant.
It was to be a picture of the
throne of God. God sits on the mercy
seat.
The concept has to do with God’s
forgiveness. Once a year the high priest
would sprinkle blood on the “mercy seat” and God would forgive the sins of the
nation of Israel. The sacrificed animal
was paying for the sins of the nation.
Forgiveness doesn’t come just
because God loves you. Forgiveness comes
because God made sure that somebody paid for your sins. God made sure that all the wrongs were made
right.
In our relationships we often get
confused and think, “If you love me you’ll forgive
me”. In our relationship with God it works a little differently. God hasn’t ever stopped loving us. But for God to forgive us and not pervert
justice, a payment has to be made.
Jesus made the payment for us by
putting His own blood on the throne of God, the “mercy seat”.
Because Jesus paid for our sins,
God can forgive us because justice has been met.
(Heb
9:11-14 NKJV) But
Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and
more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.
{12} Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered
the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. {13} For
if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the
unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, {14} how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without
spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
I hope you have a better
understanding of this important word.
This and related forms of the Greek
word are used in (Have students find and read out loud…)
(Hebrews 2:17 NKJV) Therefore,
in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a
merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation
for the sins of the people.
(1 John 4:10 NKJV) In this is
love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be
the propitiation for our sins.
(1 John 2:1–2 NKJV) —1 My little
children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone
sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for
ours only but also for the whole world.
(Luke 18:13 NKJV) And the tax
collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to
heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’
The word the tax
collector used was a word speaking of sacrifice, of God covering his sins, of
God paying for his sins.
:25 through faith
This work of propitiation through
the blood of Christ takes place when we put our faith in Jesus Christ.
Lesson
Receive the gift
Jesus wants you to be forgiven.
(1 John 1:9 NKJV) If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Illustration
A beggar stopped a lawyer on the
street in a large southern city and asked him for a quarter. Taking a long, hard look into the man’s
unshaven face, the attorney asked, “Don’t I know you from somewhere?” “You
should,” came the reply. “I’m your
former classmate. Remember, second
floor, old Main Hall?” “Why Sam, of
course I know you!” Without further question the
lawyer wrote a check for $100. “Here,
take this and get a new start. I don’t
care what’s happened in the past, it’s the future that counts.” And with that
he hurried on.
Tears welled up in the man’s eyes
as he walked to a bank nearby. Stopping at the door, he saw through the glass
well-dressed tellers and the spotlessly clean interior. Then he looked at his filthy rags. “They won’t
take this from me. They’ll swear that I forged it,” he muttered as he turned
away.
The next day the two men met again.
“Why Sam, what did you do with my check?
Gamble it away?
Drink it up?” “No,” said the
beggar as he pulled it out of his dirty shirt pocket and told why he hadn’t
cashed it. “Listen, friend,” said the
lawyer. “What makes that check good is
not your clothes or appearance, but my signature. Go on, cash it!”
You may not feel worthy of the
price that Jesus paid for you, but He’s paid it. Go ahead and receive it!
:25 to demonstrate His
righteousness
righteousness – dikaiosune –Fourth occurrence of the word. Circle it.
God not only wants us right, but He
has shown that He is “right” in forgiving us because our sins had been paid for
by Jesus.
:25 passed over the sins that
were previously committed
forbearance – anoche – toleration, forbearance (in the Greek
text, this is actually at the beginning of verse 26)
passed over – paresis – passing over, letting pass,
neglecting, disregarding
Paul is talking about the sins of
the people who lived before Jesus, the people in the Old Testament.
The sacrifices of the Old Testament
were meant to be pictures of the coming ultimate sacrifice. God was tolerant and forgave sins in the Old
Testament because there would be a day when Jesus would indeed come and die for
all their sins.
:26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He
might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
:26 to demonstrate at the
present time His righteousness
righteousness – dikaiosune – the fifth occurrence, circle it.
just – dikaios – righteous, observing divine laws; innocent, faultless,
guiltless.
Here’s the sixth form of the
word. Circle it.
justifier – dikaioo – to render righteous or such he ought
to be.
Here’s the seventh time Paul uses a
form of this word. Circle it.
When God forgives us, He is “just”
– He is still making sure the sins are paid for because He paid for them when
His Son died for us.
He is the “justifier” in that He
makes us “right” before Him by forgiving all our sins.
Reread the passage.
(Romans 3:21–26 NKJV) —21 But now the
righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law
and the Prophets, 22 even the
righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who
believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set
forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His
righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that
were previously committed, 26 to
demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and
the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
3:27-31 No Boasting
:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.
:27 Where is boasting
then?
excluded – ekkleio – to shut out, to turn out of doors.
Sometimes boasting is harmless fun…
Video: Values – Greatest Pitcher
Sometimes boasting is dangerous.
We like to feel good about
ourselves, and one of the things we do to make ourselves feel better is to
“boast” about what we’ve done or who we are.
The more we understand the actual
process of salvation, the more we realize that we’ve got very little to boast
about.
We were the rebels. We were the
sinners.
God loved us. God sent His Son to
die.
:27 but by the law of faith
We aren’t saved by doing good works or by keeping the Law of Moses. We are saved by a
different law, the “law of faith”. It goes like this: You believe in Jesus, you
are saved.
There’s nothing for us to boast
about. All the work was done by God, not by us.
Sometimes you’ll hear people give
their testimonies and they’ll talk about all the things they gave up for Jesus.
We need to be clear to realize that the act of giving something up doesn’t do
anything for your salvation. Your salvation isn’t based on what you give up,
it’s based on the trust you have in the sacrifice of Jesus, that you are
trusting that God did all the work necessary for your salvation.
:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart
from the deeds of the law.
:28 we conclude that a man is
justified by faith
conclude – logizomai – to reckon, count, compute, calculate,
count over
It’s the “logical” conclusion.
This is another word we’ll see
often in Romans. It’s often translated
“account” or “impute”.
justified – care to guess
what the word is? (dikaioo) It’s the same word
that was used seven times through the entire previous passage (Rom. 3:21-26).
justified – dikaioo – to render righteous or such he ought
to be
We are made “righteous” by faith,
by trusting in what God did for us.
:29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also
the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also,
:30 since there is one God who will justify the circumcised
by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
:30 the circumcised by faith and
the uncircumcised through faith
Robertson: By faith (ἐκ
πιστεως [ek pisteōs]). “Out of faith,” springing out of. Through faith (δια της
πιστεως [dia tēs pisteōs]). “By means of the faith” (just
mentioned). Ἐκ
[Ek] denotes source, δια [dia]
intermediate agency or attendant circumstance.[1]
Either way, it’s still all about
faith.
:30 there is one God who
will justify
To the Jewish mind of the first
century, the uncircumcised Gentiles were hardly even human. They were considered to be nothing more than fuel for the fires
of hell. It was inconceivable to think that God could even think about
Gentiles, let alone save them.
Yet listen to what King Solomon
prayed when the Temple was built and dedicated:
(1 Kings 8:41–43 NKJV) —41 “Moreover,
concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come
from a far country for Your name’s sake 42 (for they
will hear of Your great name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm),
when he comes and prays toward this temple, 43 hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for
which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your
name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that
this temple which I have built is called by Your name.
Solomon understood that Yahweh was
not just the “god” of the Jews, but the God who made and rules the universe.
It doesn’t matter whether you are a
Jew or a Gentile. Both are made “right” before God by coming to trust in what
Jesus did for us.
We might think that prior to Jesus
that people were “saved” by keeping the Law. This was the fallacy the Jews had
fallen into.
In truth, it has always been about
faith – trusting God.
Lesson
Humility
(keyword)
We’re not better than anybody. We
have nothing to boast in when it comes to us going to heaven – except to boast
in Jesus.
Sometimes Christians can come off
as if we think we’re better than everyone else.
We like those jokes that compare
different religions like …
Illustration
A priest, a rabbi
and a Pentecostal preacher all served as chaplains to the students of Northern
Mich U in Marquette. They would get together two or three times a week for
coffee and to talk “shop”. One day someone made the comment that preaching to
people isn’t really that hard. A real challenge would be to preach to a bear.
Well, one thing led to another and before it was over
they decided to do a 7 day experiment. They would all
go out into the woods, find a bear and preach to it......................
It’s now 7 days
later and they’re all together to discuss the experience. Father O’Flannery,
who has his arm in a sling, is on crutches, and has various bandages goes
first. “Wellll,” he says in a fine Irish brogue, “Ey wint oot into th’
wooods to fynd me a bearr. Oond when Ey fund him Ey
began to rread to him from the Baltimorre
Chatecism. Welll, thet bearr wanted naught to do wi’ me und begun to slap me aboot.
So I quick grrabbed me holy
water and, THE SAINTS BE PRAISED, he became as gintle
as a lamb. The bishop is cooming oot
next wik to give him fierst
communion und confierrmation.”
Reverend Billy Bob
speaks next. He’s in a wheel chair, with an arm and
both legs in casts and an I.V. drip. In his best fire and brimstone oratory he
proclaims, “WELL brothers ....you KNOW that we don’t
sprinkle........WE DUNK! I went out and I FOUND me a bear. And then I began to
read to him from God’s HOOOOLY WORD! But that bear wanted nothing to do with
me. I SAY NO! He wanted NOTHING to do with me. So I
took HOOOLD of him and we began to rassle. We rassled down one hill, UP another
and DOWN another untill we come
to a crick. So’se I quick
DUNK him and BAPTIZE his hairy soul. An’ jus like you
sez, he wuz gentle as a lamb. We spent the rest of
the week in fellowship, feasting on God’s HOOOOLY word.”
They both look
down at the rabbi who’s laying in a hospital bed. He’s in a
body cast traction with IV’s and monitors running in and out of him. The
rabbi looks up and says “Oy! You don’t know what tough is until you try to
circumcise one of those creatures!”
I have to
admit that I’ve known people who like to boast about their great witnessing
prowess. It’s kinda
hard to listen to.
But here - The truth is, no
“religion” is any better than another if you are trying to reach God by doing
good works.
Every
religion fails. The only thing that we can count on is God doing the work for
us if we will learn to trust Him.
Like Paul said in
verse 27 – there is no room for boasting.
:31 Do we then make void the law through
faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
:31 we establish the law
make void – katargeo (“according to” + “laziness”) – to
render idle, unemployed, inactivate, inoperative
Lesson
Study the whole book
The Jewish mind might be completely
horrified at Paul’s conclusions. They considered the Law as pure and holy. They
would think that Paul was tossing out the Law.
Yet Paul has been showing that the
Law of Moses was very necessary. He isn’t doing away with the Law of Moses,
instead he is showing how necessary the Law is.
The Law shows us how sinful we are.
The Law provides for sacrifices to
be made, “propitiation” where our sins are covered.
Jesus didn’t toss out the Law,
He fulfilled it by being that
perfect sacrifice for all of us.
When Jesus taught on the Law, He
didn’t make it easier to obey, He taught the true spirit of the Law.
When God says,
“Honor your father and mother”, Jesus clarified that people were to take that
seriously and care for their elderly parents (Mark 7:10-13).
When God says,
“You shall not murder”, Jesus took it a step farther and clarified that you are
not allowed to be angry without a cause with someone (Mat. 5:21-22).
When God says,
“Don’t commit adultery”, Jesus taught us that it’s not just having sex outside
your marriage, but if you simply look at a woman with lust that you are
committing adultery.
There are some Christians who come to the conclusion that since we’re under a new Covenant
with God, that we don’t even pay attention to the Old Testament. But just the
opposite is true. We need the Old Testament to understand what has happened in
the New Testament. Don’t just read part of your Bible, read the WHOLE thing!
Pericope Project – I’ve uploaded a
sample of the first three chapters in Populi – in the “file” section.
Homework
How did you like NIV?
Read in ESV
Memorize Romans 5:1
(Romans 5:1 NKJV) Therefore,
having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ,
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The mouth reveals the heart
Humility