Book of Romans
2-22-2012 Vol. 6 Part 15
Psalms 59:6-17 NKJV At evening they return, They growl like a dog, And go all around the city. Indeed, they belch with their mouth; Swords are in their lips; For they say, "Who hears?" But You, O LORD, shall laugh at them; You shall have all the nations in derision. I will wait for You, O You his Strength; For God is my defense. My God of mercy shall come to meet me; God shall let me see my desire on my enemies. Do not slay them, lest my people forget; Scatter them by Your power, And bring them down, O Lord our shield. For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, Let them even be taken in their pride, And for the cursing and lying which they speak. Consume them in wrath, consume them, That they may not be; And let them know that God rules in Jacob To the ends of the earth. And at evening they return, They growl like a dog, And go all around the city. They wander up and down for food, And howl if they are not satisfied. But I will sing of Your power; Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; For You have been my defense And refuge in the day of my trouble. To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; For God is my defense, My God of mercy. Father we praise you, we give you all the glory. We thank you for all that you do for us. We ask that you open our ears and heart to your voice. Reveal to us what true faith is so that we can reap a relationship with you that will fill our hearts with a joyfulness we have never known. We seek your face and ask for your love and guidance in all we do. In Jesus name we pray! Amen!
When I read the above Psalm it reminds me of the following verses we have already studied. How about you? Romans 3:10-18 NKJV As it is written: "there is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one." "their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit"; "the poison of asps is under their lips"; "whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness." "their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known." "there is no fear of God before their eyes."
Romans 4:13-25 NKJV
13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.
To show that the faith of Abraham, on which his justification depended, was not by the Law, Paul proceeds to show us in the rest of chapter four that the promise God made with Abraham and his descendants was based on faith, and not on works/ceremonial laws.
Let’s look at verse 13 from a timeline perspective. This covenant God made with Abraham took place 430 years before any law was given, showing that salvation/acceptance with God depended on faith, and not on anything that we do as humans, which is works. Galatians 3:17 And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. If you remember last week’s lesson it was pointed out that Abraham was justified fifteen years before God instituted the rite of circumcision. Our salvation is by faith in God and what He has promised us, meaning, what Jesus Christ did on the cross for us. It is only by faith that we can accept the gift of grace from God. There is nothing else, I repeat, nothing, that we as humans can do, to get to Heaven. Anything besides faith, is works on our part and unacceptable to God.
Verse 14 declares that if we think we can keep the laws, perform religious ceremonies, and do good deeds/works, then faith is dead and void. Galatians 3:18 NASB For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.
Salvation is impossible due to human works. We all know that we cannot keep God’s law, it is humanly impossible. Some people think they can do both, live by their concept of faith and also obey the laws whether God’s laws or the ceremonial laws (baptism, confirmation, communion, etc.) of the religious denomination they belong to. Living this way will get you nowhere. For instance, let’s say you go out and rent a speed boat, but before you can take it out on the lake, the owner tells you to fuel up the motor. He also tells you boat motors are special and you will have to mix up some fuel. He tells you the components are out on the dock. On the dock you find gas, oil, and water. Knowing that motors require all three components to operate properly and based on what the owner told you, you mix all three components and take off. Everything starts out ok, but the motor starts to sputter. It will take off for a second and then start to die. This goes on for a couple minutes and then the motor dies completely and will not start. By mixing all three components together and not understanding the effects of what the water will do, resulted in being dead in the water. This is the same with faith and works. Oil (faith) mixes with gas (God) resulting in us reaching our destination, just like our faith mixes with God and the result is His grace. Water (law/works) is not compatible with gas (God), resulting in us not reaching our destination, just like our law/works does not mix with God, resulting in us sitting in the middle of the lake and trying figure out what we must do to reach our destination (salvation). So faith is made void when law is practiced.
The law brings wrath. Just what does that mean? When people look to the law for life instead of to God; or when they look to the law for justification, they find instead that failure to keep the law makes them guilty, and instead of life they face death. If you try to justify yourself through law you have to keep the laws perfectly and we know no one but Jesus can do that. Even if we keep all the laws but one, we are still guilty and fall short of God’s saving grace. James 2:10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. So what is the purpose of God’s laws? Why do we have the law? To find that answer we must turn to Galatians. Galatians 3:19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed (Jesus) should come to whom the promise (promise to Abraham) was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Galatians 3:24-25 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor (law).
16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all
Paul explains that Abraham had pleased God through faith and only faith. Abraham had never heard about the rituals that would come into existence and become so important to the Jewish people. All people are saved by faith and nothing else. It is not by loving God and doing good that we are saved, or by faith plus love or by faith plus good deeds. We are saved only through faith in Christ, trusting him to forgive all our sins.
17 (as it is written, "I HAVE MADE YOU A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS") in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, "SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE." 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 22 And therefore "IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS."
“I have made you a father of many nations.” The key words here are, “made you”. God said this to Abraham when he and Sarah had no children, and they were past their child bearing years, but yet they had faith that God would deliver. It wasn’t until Abraham was 100 years old, about 25 years after God’s promise, that Isaac was born. Now this is what you call faith! Abraham believed what God said, and knew it would come into existence just like God created the universe. Hebrews 11:3 NLT By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen. This is why Abraham believed in what God said because all things are possible with God, and Abraham knew this. It didn’t matter if he was old or if Sarah’s womb was dead. Abraham knew God would give life to the deadness of Sarah’s womb and himself. This is also the faith Abraham had in God when God told him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham knew that if he killed Isaac, God would bring him back to life, because God is the creator of life. God promised Abraham his descendants would be as numerous at the sand of the seashore. Hebrews 11:12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. Hebrews 11:17-19 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, "IN ISAAC YOUR SEED SHALL BE CALLED," 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. Abraham did not waive in his faith of what God promised. Abraham had no hesitation and no reservation in his faith. God’s ability was the foundation of his faith’s stability. This kind of faith is incomprehensible in modern times. If everyone in this world had a thimble of Abraham and Sarah’s faith, what a different world this would be.
23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.
These last few verses present the Gospel in condensed form. The dynamic faith of Abraham isn’t for Old Testament times, it is for all to grasp and apply to their lives. It is for the here and now and through faith in what Jesus did at the cross and that God raised him up we are made righteous.
Romans 15:4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
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: What messages do you harvest about Aaron’s ephod?
Answer: I get two messages. One being we are to come before God on Sunday, dressed in our finest clothes that we own. Just read how splendid the garments were to be made, for Aaron and his son’s to wear when they were to go before God; Exodus 28:2-41. Second is to be dress modestly to hide our nakedness; Exodus 28:42, 43.
This week’s Trivia: Do you understand what these verses signify? Genesis 15:8-18.
| Verse List: |
| · Genesis 15:5, 6 |
| · Genesis 21:2 |
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