Book of Romans
1-25-2012 Vol. 6 Part 11
Psalms 56:1-13 NKJV To the Chief Musician. Set to "The Silent Dove in Distant Lands." a Michtam of David When the Philistines Captured Him in Gath. Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up; Fighting all day he oppresses me. My enemies would hound me all day, For there are many who fight against me, O Most High. Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me? All day they twist my words; All their thoughts are against me for evil. They gather together, They hide, they mark my steps, When they lie in wait for my life. Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, O God! You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book? When I cry out to You, Then my enemies will turn back; This I know, because God is for me. In God (I will praise His word), In the LORD (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? Vows made to You are binding upon me, O God; I will render praises to You, For You have delivered my soul from death. Have You not kept my feet from falling, That I may walk before God In the light of the living? Father we praise you, we give you all the glory. I ask that you remove the veil from our hearts so that we can see the truth that your Holy Word teaches. Turn the light bulb on in our mind so that we can understand and put into practice your laws and not our self righteous laws. In the name of Jesus of we pray! Amen!
Romans 3:3-8
Romans 3:3-8 NKJV For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? 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." 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.) 6 Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world? 7 For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? 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.
In this lesson Paul deals with man’s unfaithfulness, unrighteousness, and untruthfulness compared to God’s faithfulness, righteousness, and truthfulness. Now days you hear people say God is all about love and he will forgive me no matter what I do. It doesn’t matter how I live God will forgive me. When people say and act this way they are playing with spiritual fire. God is forgiving, but he is also just and will judge us according to our disobedient self centered life style. Throughout this lesson and the ones to follow please do this, every time scripture refers to Jewish people or religious Jews, insert yourself or your religious heritage. Don’t just read the Bible as a text book, put yourself in the place of the people, the Apostles are preaching to. What applied over 2,000 years ago, applies today.
As stated in earlier lessons where Paul points out to us and the Jewish people of his day, just because they are Jews or we belong to a certain religion, doesn’t mean we have diplomatic immunity in God’s eyes Romans 2:17-29. For example: Several years ago a twenty-one year old son of one of the European ambassadors to the United States struck and killed a middle aged working woman with his car. He was charged with murder, but when he claimed diplomatic immunity, the charges were dropped. He had been arrested four times in the previous thirty months. Each time, he claimed diplomatic immunity and was released. We can claim immunity/justification of our sins here on earth all we want, but when we stand before our Lord Jesus Christ and our life flashes before our eyes, and Jesus puts his hand to his chin and goes, hmmmm, let’s see? You use my name in vain, you use foul language, you pray to others to intercede for you, you don’t keep the Sabbath, you don’t respect your spouse, you lie, you steal, you commit fornication, you’re an adulterer, you gossip, you covet, etc. Then He walks over and looks in the Lambs Book of Life and then walks back to you and looks you square in the eye and says your name is not in the Book, therefore you are guilty. You can say but, but, but and it will have no effect on your sentence.
In this week’s verses Paul deals with three issues before the Jews even asked any questions, because he knew what they were thinking. The three issues being, God and mans perspective of faithfulness, righteousness, and truthfulness.
Romans 3-4; Faithfulness: Let’s say a young person is given the opportunity to attend a prestigious college due to his parents, who he knows, money no object, and many people would like to go to this college but can’t because of certain stipulations. As a result this young person fails because he didn’t apply himself. This is exactly what was going on with the Jewish people. This young person and the Jewish people were unfaithful to their heritage and all that was promised and provided to them.
Verse three stated in another version helps us to understand what is being said. Romans 3:3 NLT True, some of them were unfaithful; but just because they were unfaithful, does that mean God will be unfaithful? Paul is speaking of the religious Jews who were unfaithful to what God had entrusted to them by not being transformed by the truths of the Holy Scriptures. Paul is anticipating they will accuse him of saying that God has abandoned them. Paul answers them with verse four stating absolutely not. God is true to His word, man isn’t true to his word, but you can bank on God being true to His words.
Paul uses the words of King David in Psalm 51:4 as an example of God’s faithfulness. Paul knew the Jews would recognize these words of their most famous king. When David realizes that he had sinned by sleeping with Bathsheba and then having Uriah killed (2 Samuel chapters 11 & 12) he confessed his sins to God, instead of accusing God of lying. Psalms 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.
The Old Testament is full of testimonies of God’s faithfulness:
Psalms 89:34-35 NKJV My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. 35 Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David:
Isaiah 11:5 NKJV Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist.
Numbers 23:19 NKJV "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Psalms 119:90 NKJV Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides.
Romans 5-6; Righteousness: In verses 5 the thought is that mans unrighteousness will make God’s righteousness stand out more. Of course this is mans reasoning, which is totally wrong. If we act this way, God’s judgment will be poured out on us. God will fulfill his promises to believers and bring his vengeance upon unbelievers. Man can make up many forms of excuses in order to justify his sinfulness. Some people reason that if sin abounds then God will pour out his grace more abundantly. This is far from the truth, in fact, when sin abounds, it only leads to spiritual death. Romans 5:20-21 NKJV Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:1-2 NKJV What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Paul answers verse 5 with verse 6, “certainly not”. God is just and will judge the world according to His standards and not mans standards. He will judge believers and unbelievers and give us what we deserve according to what we do with our life here on earth. Genesis 18:25 NKJV Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
Romans 7-8; Truthfulness: Verse 7 is another form of reasoning like verse 5. It is another form of justification. When we read verse 7 we think to ourselves, how silly is this statement, but it is very much alive today. People think doing something evil, good will come as a result. For instance; the mercy killer believes it is ok to kill to alleviate pain; the abortionist believes it is ok to kill, to spare a child from a difficult life; the gambling proponent justifies the financial ruin of some to subsidize education; the racists would drive the Jews from Europe in order to fulfill God’s prophecy of returning them to their homeland. This type of reasoning will creep into us if we are not vigilant and this is why we need to study God’s word and not just read it.
Here again verse 8 is very similar to verse 5. The reasoning in verse 8 is, if sin abounded, grace abound much more. This comes from Romans 5:20 NKJV Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. People were twisting the facts thinking that by sinning more, they would receive more of God’s grace. The actually meaning is that God’s commandments came into being to show us what sin is and when a person comes to realize he is sinning against God, repents, asks forgiveness, and turns their lives over to Jesus, Gods grace will abound over the sin nature.
Anyone thinking the following; doing evil more good will come their way; or if evil in our self and in others does not distress us; or if we take the transgressions of God’s commandments lightly, then we have to ask ourselves this, am I a Christian? A Christian will hate sin, repudiate sin, fight against sin, and strive for righteousness. The end does not justify the means when the means is sin, evil, or unrighteousness of any kind. Paul ultimately is saying to the Jews, “your sin is not justifiable in any way.
Many people don’t worry about sin because they think, it's God's job to forgive, He is so loving that He won't judge, and that He has changed over time. But God hasn’t changed. Hebrews 13:8 NKJV Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It is far too easy to take God's grace for granted. But God cannot overlook sin. No matter how many excuses we make, sinners will have to answer to God for their sin.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes,
Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Unless you are Born Again, you cannot enter into Heaven, the Kingdom of God."
Bill
Last Week’s Trivia: How old is this expression? Apple of my eye.
Answer: The first place it is found in the Bible is in Deuteronomy. So how old exactly, let’s just say old.
Deuteronomy 32:10 "He found him in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.
Psalm 17:8 Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of Your wings,
Proverbs 7:2 Keep my commands and live, And my law as the apple of your eye.
Zechariah 2:8 For thus says the LORD of hosts: "He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.
This week’s Trivia: Do you remember the story about Elijah, the lady, and her son and there was just enough flour and oil for one last meal. 1 Kings 17:11-16 What do you harvest from this story?
| Verse List: |
| Faithfulness: |
| Joshua 23:14 |
| 2 Timothy 2:13 |
| James 1:17 |
| Righteousness: |
| Jude 1:4 |
| Psalm 9:8 |
| John 16:8 |
| Truthfulness: |
| Proverb 12:19 |
| Deuteronomy 32:4 |
| John 14:6 |
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