Romans (Session 6) Chapter 5

[Music] let's bow our hearts for a word of prayer well father we just thank you for who you are and we thank you father for the extremes that you've gone to that we might live and father we just thank you for this special book that we're exploring the book of romans we pray father you'd open our hearts and lives to it help us to understand what you would have of us in response to what you have done for us as we commit this evening and ourselves into your hands in the name of yeshua our lord and savior jesus christ amen indeed we're in chapter five which is uh you know as we've been through some pretty heavy stuff chapter five is starting the transition to perhaps more comfortable ground book of romans first eight chapters of the 16th chapter book are doctrine not just on doctrine but probably the definitive statement of christian doctrine the first three chapters that we've been through were a study of the most complete diagnosis of sin we talk a lot about sin the first in the bible and christian things that word comes up a lot the first three chapters the book of romans define it the most the most comprehensive diagnosis of sin the next two chapters a pair that we're finishing tonight in other words the fifth of the the second of the two chapters is on salvation in fact the last part of this is a transition to the next major section which is sanctification what on earth is that all about we use that word a lot what does it really mean we'll start to get introduced to that tonight then the last part of the book changes the next three chapters will be 9 10 and 11 are we call them dispensational basics about israel israel's past israel's present israel future nine churches out of ten have no grasp at all of what of the role of israel in god's plan of redemption not israel just israel but israel as its role in god's program for all of us gentiles are jews and then uh chapters 12 through 16 are a whole bunch of personal but practical comments that paul makes to his friends uh in about 28 of them in the in the enrollment in the that are in rome so you can call it faith hope and love in three sections doctrine dispensational and practical love love is always practical right we're together so we've gone from that first section into this second major part of the first half and we're in chapter five now just just by way of warm up here and review we're plunging into the most comprehensive statement of truth in the bible that's quite a statement think about it that's quite a statement if somebody asks you what is the most comprehensive statement of truth in the bible that's a tough question to answer and a lot of good candidates but this is certainly one of them it certainly is the most challenging book many of us are comfortable with many aspects of the bible but theology is usually the uh tough stuff this is this is and this book is right there god raised up this unusual human being for this very purpose his mental capabilities and his training are without exception without anyone that's better he was very well educated not just in the hebrew culture but in the greek culture best schools he quotes some of the famous greek poets uh in in acts and so on uh in epistles and so on now he also was not just a hebrew he was taught by gamalia himself he's a pharisee of pharisees so he's he's got the superlative credentials in both camps if you will and thus he becomes the natural bridge from that jewish background and the presentation of the messiah to our world today and he's also probably had the most brilliant mind we've ever encountered we're not going to probe that especially in this at this survey but you could spend easily a full lecture on each verse and and discover how complex and how uh uh elegant his structure and his thoughts are on these very very difficult topics we'll skim through it enough to get the flavor of it but i can tell you frankly that we could inspec instead of spending you know 24 sessions as we will we could easily spend you know a couple years in fact in some churches that's typically what happens you go through the bible in two years on sunday night and you go through the book of romans in two years on thursday night that's a very difficult pattern anyway chapter one and two dealt of course with the reality that we are all part of a fallen race it's hard for us to grasp difficult to accept but a reality we need to understand the pagan problem is dealt with and the creation itself is enough to condemn the pagan culture enough to condemn any of us what about the pagan well the pagan has the creation to hold him accountable that's enough the moral man non-christians often lead more and more lives than we do are they saved no because they don't really live up to god's standard to their own standard yes maybe but not be outstanding in fact not even to their own standard you want to get really at the argument but point is what about religious man committed sincere boy you can be very committed and sincere to the wrong things but religious man religion is man's attempt to reconcile himself with god and he can't do it jesus christ was the most anti-religious man that ever walked the planet earth i say it to understand what the word religion really means we use the term very sloppily generally you know very precisely it's man's attempt to cover himself to god he can't do it god's done it all and to try to add to what he's done is blasphemy but god finishes he finishes so no matter how committed or how sincere someone might be that will not reconcile himself with god and that's that's that's the heavy part of chapters one and two okay guilty guilty guilty okay chapter three god's greatest problem can god have a problem and how what's his problem to compromise his hatred of sin would be to compromise his own character he will not compromise his own character but he loves you so much that he wants to save you how does he do that how can a just god justify sinful man how can he prevent man to enjoy the destiny that he made for us those are the issues the chapter 3 dealt with and i always intrigued with socrates of all people his confession to plato may be that deity can forgive sins but i don't see how he understood the problem many people don't recognize the answer because they don't really understand the problem god can't compromise his justice he can't be lenient that violates his justice so how does he do it he makes sure it's paid for man can't pay for it god paid for it himself by coming man and paying for it that's that's none of it that's the net of it but we need to understand it so in chapter three you learned about god's greatest problem in chapter four abraham and david speak to israel about god's greatest gift god's greatest gift solves his greatest problem chapter 4 demonstrated that the unity of the old new testament together how abraham was saved that was before the law was given he was saved can't be saved by the law and david was saved under the law and both of those two examples were used to tie together the old and new testament that's what we went through last time so okay that's my way of review in chapter four paul presented several irrefutable reasons why justification before god is by faith how can god justify by faith justification is a gift it can't be earned he was justified before he was circumcised jewishness had nothing to do with it that came later circumcision has no relationship to justification that's what that really tells us that's a shock to a jew abraham was justified centuries before the law that's why ibraheem's so significant to us you know conceptually he was justified before circumcision he was justified before there was a law he was justified because of his faith in god not because of what he did not because of his works that's the essence of chapter four okay that brings us to tonight quovatus huh where are you going where are you headed whence now pilgrim i don't know why do i always picture john wayne saying that that he tells you that we're out from orange county he was a neighbor down there and and he was his image an interesting guy anyway so in romans five there's an e we know at this point that there is an eternal home waiting for those who have trusted christ no surprise how many knew that before we got here okay well that's most of you that's pretty good okay now the question paul's going to answer is what about the here and now that sounds great then when we cross over when we're in the afterlife that's an abstraction when you're young you know you're immortal when you're my age you can see it coming you know so romans chapter 1 chapter 5 verse 1. therefore there and you can link the whole epistle with the their force there's about four key ones okay therefore being justified by faith that summarizes everything we've had up until now we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ that's now you have it now well that's pretty exciting what do you mean by peace from god well the three kinds of peace at least well there's world peace how many of you are depending on you and for world peace anyone no chance there'll be no world peace until the prince of peace comes that's for sure that's obviously not what we're talking about there's the tranquility of the soul and many people assume that's what he's talking about but i'm going to suggest it's not there is then tranquility of the soul in christ because jesus says peace i leave with you my peace i give unto you not as the world giveth give i unto you he's talking about that tranquility that we can enjoy in our soul okay that's not what some of you here though there's a different kind of peace a tougher kind of peace coming up here in fact it's peace with god right is that what he says we have peace with god what does that really mean see that's the peace that passes all understanding so if you say you understand it i'll be interested to have you explain it because i don't it passes all understanding i don't plan to understand it i know it but it tells me but it passes all understanding he tells the philippians let's take a look at this a little more therefore that concludes from everything we've had before it connect it's the connector the piece with the word in greek is prose meaning face to face it's speaking really here of an intimate relationship an understanding one we have with another peace with god oh boy this is not it this is not speaking in the sense of making that peace but in the sense of enjoying it you didn't make the peace god did but we have peace in the sense we can enjoy it you see i can have dessert with you at your home i didn't make it you did or maybe the caterer did or whatever but i can enjoy it you follow me that's sort of maybe a clumsy example of it see many don't have peace with god because they don't claim it through faith the only way you're going to get peace with god is through faith go get to verse 2 we're making progress here by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of god through whom who's he talking about jesus good guess right he's the agent here the agency that's making this possible the word access here is prosage which is privilege of approach obtained access that's what we're really talking about having access to god having the ability to approach the throne say we have access how by faith by faith and this is the perfect sense it's in the past with results that continue on it's not in the past in the sense of being completed once and for all not it's not the error it's tren tenses it's past perfect it's completed but it endures you follow me it's been completed it's it's it's a perfect tense in the sense of a completed test it's completed but continuing is the concept okay nothing can change it nothing can change and that's the that's going to be hammered home in some exciting ways in subsequent chapters and wherein we stand that is go on standing this is in the present tense it means continuing on see it's we have it it's done and the benefit of that continues it can't be taken away that's the flavor of the grammar in the greek okay we're together so far okay this is in grace by faith into this grace that's exciting that means it's a gift you've done nothing to deserve it we are in a condition or a position it's our legal position so to speak before god that we can never earn nor merit we're in a position that's beyond by faith that's beyond anything we could merit that's what's that's what that basically is saying now here's the point that you got to be careful of attempting to earn what you've been given is a form of rejection of the intent of the giver there are conditions in which if somebody offers you a gift if you refuse it or try to pay for it it's an insult you can think of the cases like that diplomatically in terms of just transactions where you're you're meeting a representative of a foreign country and he offers you a gift and if your advisors advise you you know you better accept it because if you don't accept it you'll hurt it you'll you'll injure the relationship you thought get the picture and the higher the person is that's offering the gift the more danger there is of insulting him by not receiving it you get you get the flavor of this that's what we're dealing with here god has made a gift that's awesome that's incredible he's gone to incredible extremes to make this gift possible for you to try to add to it hey let me give you a buck for that man it doesn't cut it if am i getting across um think of some examples but i guess there's we we we'll move on um colossians deals as we have therefore received christ jesus the lord so walk ye in him again here it's received now in this case it's the errors tense which means once and for all not not to be repeated if you've received them you've received them you see so walk that means continue on walking okay present tense continuously so you keep on walking with them have you received them really if so how have you received them here's the classic verse you all know it i'm sure ephesians 2 8-9 of all our earliest memory verses you grab that one for by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves it what it the faith is a gift of god you're stripped of any contribution here even the faith you have is a gift from him is what it's saying not of works lest any man should boast you can't contribute anything to it your position before god is it of such a nature that you've account you've contributed zero all you've done is receive it and accept it that's the game that's the terms that's the way it works you need to understand now the real when you wrestle with this verse you if you're thinking about it you feel like saying why why see the real thing that's hard to understand is not that we're depraved and need a sinner that you eventually learn as you do the real mystery is why did he save us at all do you really understand how self-willed we are how ungrateful we really are it's hard to understand why would god bother why would god bother and the answer by the way to that question is the verse just ahead of this one we don't memorize verse 7 we we take ephesians 2 8 9 we've all learned that little thing let's take a look at the by grace you are saved that not of yourselves why why why why the verse 7 beforehand really answers that question that in the ages yet to come he god might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through christ jesus god is demonstrating ultimate infinite love how do you demonstrate infinite power well you can get some clues by looking through a telescope and understanding the universe the power the size the the immensity that we try to understand when we get into astronomy how big these things are how many billions of galaxies there are and the the the forces that are at work in the star and the thermonuclear all that you go through all of that you're sort of out of breath if you really understand what you're looking at so we can understand we can imagine at least infinite power infinite knowledge he knows everything we can't really understand it but we can sort of visualize it here his god is outside time he knows the end from beginning everything in fact uh mike uh paul davies the scientist in grasping the universe he says it's as if the universe it's it's a thought in the mind of god wow i don't know what that means but sure like the way it sounds that's pretty good why did god how does god demonstrate the ultimate love well you start with basics greater love has no man than he that lays down his life for his friends god created man knowing that man left to his own devices would get himself in a predicament that nothing less than the death of god would avail to get him out of that mess that an age is yet to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in christ jesus this is going to demonstrate to ages yet undisclosed maybe creations yet to be made who knows the kind of god we're dealing with by this extreme that he went to for you and me one of the unfortunate things in my mind is the mel gibson's movie the passions and great i think he did a great job in many ways some people have a few quibbles i don't share that that that is what it is it is it but it leaves two problems in my mind the main problem it leaves it creates the impression that the crucifixion of christ was a tragedy not understandably so and yet the real point is it's not a tragedy it was an achievement it was planned before the foundation of the world his death was every detail was written before 300 details in the old testament of his first coming his genealogy where he's born uh on and on and on and on his whole life was all laid out before he was he was fulfilling a mission it's an achievement that's the first thing that's the first deficiency of the movie that mel put together the second one is he doesn't get across i'm not sure he could have uh get across who he was he was just a neat guy that went through all that no he was the creator of the universe itself he was crucified on a cross of wood but he made the hill on which it stood and on and on do we go okay that an age has yet to come he might show this is the why would he bother that's the reason that an age is yet to come okay peace with god how do you continue now how do you can you you gotta like what happens next how do then shall we live the answer that of course is in galatians remember habakkuk 2 4 we hammered that in the early chapters the just shall live by faith who are the just that's the book of romans is all about how shall they live galatians will detail that for you and of course by faith that's where hebrews 10 39 and so go on anyway he is always the key almost any question that we throw at you the answer is jesus christ he's the key he is the hope of glory and there's plenty of references that will be in your notes to chase that down if you choose to do so now in the third verse we're making progress here and not only so but we glory in tribulations also really how many of you glory in your tribulations well fashion seat belt knowing here's why you're supposed to be glowing uh glorying in your tribulations because they fir it starts a chain your first reaction is they work patience so don't ever ever pray for patience because the way you get patients is through tribulations understand what you're praying for the lord give me patience and i need it right now gloria of course is exalt leaping for joy is the present tense here tribulation ellipsis it's a pressing and pressing together it the term tribulation implies being under pressure how many have you been any of you been under pressure any time i can imagine see the thus the ellipses are the tribulation means oppression affliction tribulation distress trials those are all equivalent bundles of concept here for us knowing now that's a complicated word because there's different kinds of knowing the word here is aido to perceive notice discern discover that which produces patience or perseverance according to romans 15. we'll be getting this this topic will be hit several times in this uh perseverance when we say patience here we're thinking a sense of patience in the sense of persevering not patience like you're waiting for something hasn't happened yet it's more the enduring what's going on patience in that sense okay so not only that we glory in tribulations knowing that tribulation work with patients and patients experience and experience hope see there's a chain reaction we go from tribulation to patients experience having endured it having experienced it to hope interesting to notice the climax of spiritual maturity is hope when we get upset frustrated it's a demonstration that we haven't lost our sense of hope you have hope those things don't matter interesting the word experience is leukemia that a proven character a proof a specimen of tried worth is what it means here in terms of experience and it keeps on producing character character produces hope okay that's not that's not that's not a logical obvious thing until you think it through the process of maturity tribulation worketh braces and what's here is more by the way more than just the stoical endurance of troubles just no no that's not what it's not about that's not what's in view here just toughing it through no no quite the contrary if that's what's happening you're missing the point you're missing the opportunity although endurance or steadfastness is the first result in an outgrowth from distress spiritual glorying not bragging in spiritual glory in afflictions knowing from oeda the by perception that the end product of this chain reaction is hope that's you'll do that when you've experienced it that's a different word see this is an elegant by this whole thing by the way is an elegant rebuttal to the what we call positive confessors the name it and claim it gang the blabbit and grabbit guys that are on television you've all seen him right you're not wearing a rolex watch because you have enough faith you're sick that's because you don't believe see paul had a real problem he had a thorn in the flesh if if he lacked faith and i'm in big trouble no no those guys have a miscon the wealth and the health and wealth guys are tragedy because they mislead so many people in that in on this particular issue at least and those promoters shun this passage because this puts the puts them to the lie if you will the process of maturity we have flabby christians no pain no gain is the game right is that where you grow strength right let's take a look at second corinthians what paul says in the second corinthians we then as workers together with them beseech you also that you receive not the grace of god in vain can you receive the grace in vain absolutely he says so for he saith i have heard thee in the time accepted in the day of salvation have i scored thee behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation in parenthetical answers he says giving no offense in anything that the ministry not be blamed but in all things approving ourselves as the mystery ministers of god in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labors in watchings and fastings and by pureness by knowledge by longsuffering by kindness by the holy ghost by love unfeigned by the truth word of the truth by the power of god by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left by honor and dishonor by evil report and good report as deceivers and yet true as unknown and yet well known as dying and behold we live as chastened and not killed that's the way he's describing the the walk that we're dealing with as sorrowful and yet always rejoicing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things see that's maturity how do you measure maturity by the presence of hope see by much endurance perseverance to persist in spite of difficulties to keep on keeping on okay proven character by the way the root word for the greek in that for that is something engraved it's not transitory it's engraved get the feeling there it's permanent it's etched qualities of moral commitment dependability self-discipline fortitude trustworthy moral fiber is probably a good synonym here well let's uh let's stop for a second wait a minute how many anyone here have no trials anyone's never experienced any trials huh most of you have i guess how many have experienced trials okay i got my that's why i always got 100 on that one okay do you ever wonder why christians have trials how about 10 reasons ready for this to glorify god daniel 3 fiery furnace they glorified god right there's other examples to discipline for known sin there are times when you have trials as a form of taking you to the woodshed that doesn't necessarily mean why you have trials job is a counter counter example but there are lots of places where you can find trials as a as a discipline for known sin job's three friends we're sure that was the cause there and it wasn't to prevent us from falling into sin sometimes we'll have a trial to keep us from falling into sin that's god's protective guidance here oh here's a prayers here's an important one to keep us from pride sometimes we have trials to keep us from pride best example is paul paul was kept from pride by what he called his thorn in the side he had some kind of authority and flesh he had some kind of malady i'll come back to the speculations of what it was but the main point he kept praying about this thorn in the flesh he had he had a problem apparently a medical problem that was an encumbrance on his ministry and he prayed again and again and again and god said my grace is sufficient for thee and paul realized that that trial that stress was god's way of keeping him from being proud what was that stress apparently by reading carefully as things we suspect that it was an eye problem in fact not only did it have an eyesight problem but apparently it was unattractive in appearance because his friends knew that he had this eye problem and uh and he compensates for it by in certain uh in galatians by signing signing the document a lot he had a and manuensis do the writing he signed it with a big hand to avoid them because there's a forgery issue and stuff but anyway his eyes from galatians 4 and also 4 15 he makes a reference that makes it sound like his flesh was an eye problem and at the end of the thing he also see i signed in a large hand so we we infer commonly thought among scholars that but the main point was he had this trial you want to call that that kept him from pride also you have trials to build your faith to build your faith you want the best example that read my wife's book faith in the night seasons where dark times are brought by god to draw us into intimacy with him that was very dramatically portrayed in her third ever trilogy series but there's more reasons to cause growth that's what we're dealing here in romans 5. it's a growth process to teach obedience and discipline acts 9 philippians 4 to equip us to comfort others have you gone through some really tough trial maybe a business bankruptcy that might be to train you to help others that are in a business bankruptcy have you lost a child maybe that's to train you to comfort someone who's lost a child i'm some i may be stepping on sensitive toes here but the point is the trial you may have endured may be for that purpose god training you to to be effective there are some kinds of counseling and ministries it makes it's useless unless you've been there you've you know what i'm talking about to prove the reality of christ in us by which no it's for witness in effect and there's even one in in the scripture as a testimony to the angels do you realize the angels can't see ahead god has that ability he sees them from beginning angels don't necessarily i'm glad they don't because satan's an angel he can't have that big capability he was that ark he was the he was he was the he was the boss they don't have that skill we get clues in the scripture that the angels in heaven discover god's plan by watching it unfold with us the the peter talks about the certain things that are going on that the angels desire to look into you sort of get the impression they're up in the mezzanine watching with fascination ooh yeah oh now i get it yeah you know unless you get to james you all know james a couple of verses people i think this is well known my brethren counted all joy when ye fall into the diver's temptations or trials knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience and let patience have her perfect work or completed work that ye may be complete and entire wanting nothing so when you have problems count it all joy now christians will use that almost as a sarcastic phrase when we have a real say you got a flat tire oh well count it all joy we kid about it a little bit but we're supposed to do that you know when you get that blow out on the freeway well god must have some purpose here and you just trust him right okay let's keep going here now the highest when you say we're supposed to be maturing in faith what's the end product what's that i often have said and and i'm corrected here i often said the way you tell how mature you are is how much you measure your maturity but do you hate faith you do you hate sin as much as god does god hates the sin loves the sinner we get it backwards we love sin we love that violence on television we love sin we hate the sinner no no no we get it backwards we get it backwards god hates sin but loves a sinner the highest form of maturity isn't what i've said many times how much do you hate sin that's that that is something worth understanding the highest form of maturity is to measure your hope if your hope is complete you won't get any frustrated you won't have any frustrations confidence in the future over the present is what hope is confidence in the future over the present you have confidence you may not know what the future is but do you have confidence in the future that's called hope it's faith that's aimed at future things you're going to have faith in terms of past things i believe that jesus christ is the messiah indeed i mean i can think of all kinds of statements i could make that i have faith in no faith aimed at future things would be called hope he who lacks hope in the future frets over the least circumstances i'd be embarrassed if you knew how often i lose my temper over inanimate objects you know a drawer that sticks something that spills when i didn't intend it to you know and i get upset but what as i watch my auntie and i think about my antics what really makes them stupid and there's probably some other adjectives in there we're talking about inanimate objects now if i get upset with a person a whole different thing and that problem is a lot less than ever was i mean that that's something that's i think i'm overcoming but i still get upset you know with a stuck zipper or a jam door or something and because i'm in a hurry and and that is those you know that means i'm not trusting the future it's a lack it is in a fact at the bottom line a lack of hope it's a lack of trust of the future fretting frustrations which i'm guilty of often demonstrate a lack of perspective you have a real perspective you don't bother you don't they bother you and often after thing over you stand back you laugh at yourself boy wasn't that stupid yeah it was you should have joy and difficult circumstances troubles that's the net of all this difficulties can be are used by god to develop proven character proven character let's go on and hope maketh not a shame because the love of god is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy ghost which is given to us the word of shame here is used in the sense of a disappoint put to shame because of disappointment is perhaps the right way to say it in especially in unfulfilled promises ashamed and contrast with hope and lots of verses that deal with that the love of because the love of god is shed abroad the love of god here is used in the subjective genitive case which means it's the ability to comprehend the love that he has for us that's really what's implied here for us to comprehend the love that's there and shed abroad or pour it out may be another way to say it that's the perfect tense which means keep on yes you've done it but it continues is the idea is given that's in the error is tense because that's once and for all it's given once and for all but it continues oh that's what that's the flavor of the greek in the fence the holy spirit's mentioned here for the first time in paul's epistle and he's going to mention it 20 times in this crescendo that we're anticipating in romans 8. romans 8 is the high ground that's what we're working that's what we're earning our way up to is to really savor and enjoy this climax you call romans chapter eight and in romans chapter eight the holy spirit we mentioned 20 times interesting contrast now the ministry of the holy spirit is the seal of god we're going to start looking at the logic i'm using logic here in the computer sense the boolean sense the logic of it this ministry of the holy spirit is the seal of god now what is a seal something is intended to be never broken never broken a holy spirit is the commitment the earnest or not earnest money or down payment to seal a bargain it's the down payment of their inheritance and glory that's what the holy spirit is each believer has the spirit of christ we're going to see that hammered in romans 8 when we get there every one of you even if you're not speaking in tongues okay that's a footnote you don't know what i'm talking about check first corinthians 12 13 and 14 but anyway move on here and is indwelt by the holy spirit you are if you are a believer he is indwelling you there may may not be a lot of evidence of that you may be very successfully throttled throttling any outward blowing of that but it's there and you got to deal with that there is a shake-up coming we need to have our priorities straight not with our eyes on the world one of the things we emphasize in the in accordance institute is the iss car track we have the berean track where we study the word of god expositionally verse by verse that's the backbone of it but the issachar track is where we try to unders like the sons of iskar understand the times the tools there are very different because not dealing with truth like the bible we're dealing with disinformation misinformation bias that we that's that's inherent in the information that's available to us nevertheless through all that there are tools to try to understand what really is true what is really happening and as we do that we want to do that for stewardship on the one hand on the other hand we want to be very careful as we do that not to have our eyes on the world but on him anyway getting back the persecution is a catalyst for christian growth and the body of christ is going to have a tremendous opportunity for growth in the next few years the complacency and the apathy that has characterized the last few decades is going to evaporate before our eyes for lots of different reasons and people who have been apathetic or complacent are suddenly going to be awoken and searching for answers and god's calling you to be prepared to give them those answers that's what the third commandment is all about thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain it's talking about ambassadorship not vocabulary that's not about swearing that's about ambassadorship if you're going to take on the name of the king which i think most of you would raise your hand say you are then you better be prepared to represent that king competently and faithfully because persecution is coming as a catalyst for christian growth that's going to those those are going to be exciting times if you have your focus on the right things the blessed hope the hope of his appearing now pressures should lead to exaltation as character grows that's what james means that you should you know count it all joy hope is simply the certainty you have about god's promises for the future do you believe him then if so rejoice i'm so worried about israel the the bombers and the rockets and the death hey he that keepeth israel will neither slumber or sleep i don't worry about israel because god's hand is on them i do worry about america for lots of reasons let's continue verse 6 and when we were yet without strength in due time christ died for the ungodly that's amazing he died for the ungodly now if anyone's a calvinist here my apologies to you he died for the ungodly he died for all men well he only died for those who are saved that's a calvinist idea that's not biblical that doesn't mean the calvinists are wrong about everything but they're wrong about that he died for everybody he's not willing that any should perish but they'd all come to repentance it wasn't limited there's no limited atonement not in the bible when we were yet without strength in due time christ died for whom me the ungodly the four is like one of these therefore it's it's it's the logical connector to show how great that love is and it's his love the greatness of his love is is substantiated by the kind of people he died for undeserving totally undeserving helpless that's where you can do nothing to help yourself absolutely nothing not even a little you can't assist the process and the ungodly means un incompatible and at the right time everything was done at the right time not early not late at the right time judas had not planned to betray christ that night because they had planned not to do it on a feast day for fear of the romans it happened that night because christ made it happen that night because he announces it somebody among you is going to betray me the word is out it's like saying it's like saying to judas fisher cut bait now's your point if you're gonna do it you gotta do it now you can't you won't have a choice but you do do quickly you had a split make arrangements they hadn't made the arrangement that's why they're in yosemite so long there's a lot going on behind the scenes to make it all happen in due time how's us all taught it's taught by sacrifices which in the past in the old testament are like a passion play the sacrifices sacrifices and all that levitical stuff was a foreshadowing of the cross well there's gonna be are there gonna be sacrifice in the millennium absolutely there will be celebrations rather than in after the fact rather than celebrations before the fact strangely enough the passion play of innocent animals passages like psalm 22 passages like isaiah 53 which is written 750 years before the fact or daniel 9 which lays it down precisely virtually five centuries before the fact 483 years earlier all taught taught by scripture and taught by the enactment taught by the festivals the seven feasts of moses lay it all out it's why a christian wants to understand what's behind all of those well what's over written what several things were before time were written for our learning paul tells us you'll tell us that later in romans 15. let's go on here we're scarcely we're scarcely for our righteous man will one die there's very few people that really deserve where they deserve to be died for you don't you normally volunteer for that sort of thing yet per adventure for a good man some would even dare to die indeed they have our soldiers have stood up to be counted a willingness to give their life for this country they may not realize that they have picked up the obligation to do that for the u.n and i had a big debate at the naval academy homecoming a few months ago with the leadership there and they tried to explain to me how they rationalized an oath of office for the constitution means you're subject to the u.n and i said if that's the case i wouldn't let my kids go to the academies but anyway we got a little tip about that but the point is let's move on here this is in contrast by the way to human thinking the highest expression of human love and god's love is there anyone that you would die for you could probably list less than a number on one hand i'm sure let's turn it around the other day are any of those willing to die for you that might make the number even smaller verse 8 but god commandeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners christ died for us christ died for you before you were a good guy assuming you ever were okay commend us sinisteo is the word actually for comments demonstrates proven action not with words in action that's what the word commendeth there in the greek means while sinners the word means defiantly rebel against with scorn rebelling against god with scorn that's us gang then we get one of the many much mores this is the first of a whole series of much mores paul loves that phrase much not just more than much more than much more than being now justified by his blood that's what we're justified by we'll come back this is all this is all about justification we shall be saved from wrath through him you don't want wrath trust me what can be more than this fact his blood already there's nothing more valuable more effective for your benefit than the blood of jesus christ that overshadows anything you may have done what about manasseh in the old testament blood from border to border shed at his with his rampages and god forgave him before it was over even him what i mean by justified justification fancy word means declared righteous you're not righteous yet but before the throne of god you're declared righteous you've got that label they're declared innocent i'm not really into it that's okay you're declared innocent really great i'll take it i'll take it this ties to the first thing you know first verse of this thing how then can one ever once saved be lost if that's what saved you can you lose your salvation there are a lot of people around that say you can once you know you've got to preserve your salvation people who say that do not understand the pauline definition of salvation because if you're saved you're born again how do you become unborn once you're born again you might not be what you should be but you're still born again there's a whole other issue we're going to get to call sanctification a whole different story don't worry about it right now how can one ever once saved be lost answer you can't be because you're saved through him not us to say you can lose your salvation is to say christ lost you he praises the father in john 10 of all in john 17. all that you've given me come unto me and all that come to be you know so forth in john 10 both he and the father share that commitment to keep you from being lost we are secure by his faithfulness not ours i don't trust my faithfulness i trust his that's why i'm so secure in my salvation because i trust him not me let's go on for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to god by the death of his son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life if we're saved by his death even more so by his life because he lives forever see reconcile means to restore the relationship by the removal of barriers it is man that is reconciled to god not by man not by man but by god religion is man's attempt to reconcile himself he can't remember gethsemane jesus prayed three times if there's any other way let's take it nevertheless not mine will but then be done if there's some other way for a man to be reconciled that god didn't answer jesus's prayer think about it he died down here to save us he lives up yonder to keep us saved so if i can lose it then he's blown it if i lose my salvation god's lost something much bigger than my salvation he's lost his integrity i don't think he's about to do that there's the great triumphant redemption propitiation reconciliation it's totally the work of god a company accomplished through the death of christ redemption pertains to sin we're redeemed pertains to sin propitiation is the satisfaction that pertains to god and reconciliation is for us redemption relates to the sin propitiation pertains to god reconciliation to us but the same act is taken care of by the death of christ well for as long as we're saved that's right how long are we saved okay for he is able also to save them to the uttermost that coming to god by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for him this is in hebrews 7 25 you want to remember he's he is our intercessor we have a guy by the judge making our case he happens to be the judge that helps the fix is in we're delivered daily by christ is what this says we are you and i are delivered daily by christ how long are we saved for as long as he lives saved by his death but maintained by his light living if we continue now verse 10 for if we were in if when we were enemies we were reconciled by god by the death of his son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life if his death reconciles his life even more the word enemies is used here there are four descriptive words that show come out of these these verses helpless ungodly sinners enemies that's us all four words describe us would you die for people like that he did if god loved you that much while in that condition what about now that you are considered his child you're more valuable now to him than you were before when he died for you hopefully right see out of this logic comes the only correct motivation for living for god be careful for this one it's key there are many that's going to try to confuse you on this subject out of this logic we've just gone through is the only correct motivation for living for god not fear that's commonly used today in terms of rewards that leads to a bonfire you're still saved though obscure verses out of context philippians 2 is used and so forth where from my beloved as you've always obeyed not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is god which worketh in you both to will and to do good pleasure that's really talking about sanctification it's not talking about salvation but the point that can confuse a lot of people see fear here is the ancient term for awe of god to work out to work out on the outside that which is already on the inside is what's talking about here so this is often misquoted out of context confuses people whereas god who is at work in you is what's really going on here sanctification not justification let's go on to verse 11. and not only so but we also joy in god through our lord jesus christ by whom we now have received the atonement we have now received it done deal not something you're going to get you've got it now you have received it's finished work to tell us die it is finished he says from the cross paid in full it's another translation now we're starting to get into sanctification here that's different than justification we use the word salvation sloppily i was saved from drowning the other day that's not the same thing as a sal so i had salvation by a life that's a different thing what am i saved from is the question when we use the term saved theologically we're talking about our salvation eternally being the word we talk that's in two parts it's justification to justify the requirements that god has taken care of the other part is sanctification that's where we get into here justification does not make a person righteous it means that before god's holy court a lost sinner is now declared righteous but his heart may not have been changed yet but he's declared righteous that's hard for us to relate to to realize that see god has not only a plan in salvation whereby he not only declares is righteous he is also going to make a sinner righteous that's a that's phase two one gets you on first base the other gets you home there's another way of looking at it maybe god provides a way that a sinner may grow in grace and become sanctified that is set apart for god he's already justified jesus took care of that but you're in a process between being saved and being with him of growing hopefully some will grow more than others that's what rewards are all about there's five crowns there's going to be a feast a wedding feast that not everybody but a lot the key people will be at some will reign with them if so be that you suffer their conditions on all those things that's what we call rewards there's a huge disparity within those that are in heaven some get in there by the skin of their teeth first corinthians 3 talks about that we're going to now two heads adam and christ from the 12th verse to all the way through to chapter 8 we're going to start talking about sanctification what makes that union of christ absolutely irrevocably ours because of him it contrasts our descent from adam with our present union with christ we're going to talk about imputation through union impute means to ascribe to account something that was true of another you have had christ's righteousness imputed to you it's a credential he's given to you wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin so death pass into all men for that all have sinned so this is a an apparent rebuttal to life on other planets is there life on the planet mars well if there is is it sinful or sinless either way it contradicts christian scripture because his scope is here and the remedy is here i don't think christ went and died for them too i think by one man's sin and in the world and by one man it was dealt with there are two only two exceptions of people not dying enoch and elijah one gentile and one jew they have a future i believe in revelation 11 but that's just a personal suspicion we're sinners four different ways and these get confused we're sinners because we commit acts of sin right i saw a bumper sticker my ancestors were human sorry about yours that's kind of interesting we're sinners by nature sin doesn't make us sinners but we sin because we have that tree he's not a horse thief because a stole a horse he stole a horse because he's a horse thief that's the way it captures the idea we are in the state of sin that's a whole another thing that's often misunderstood god has declared the entire human family under sin just because we're sons of adam i'll give you example that in a minute let's take the fourth one here first you and i are also sinners by imputation that is adam acted for the human race because he was the head of it we inherit his mistakes look at it like a genetic defect back in hebrews there's an interesting remark he's making another point here but the writer says for as i may say so so say levi also who receives the tithes paid tithes in abraham in other words he's talking about when abraham gave tithes to melchizedek levi hadn't been born yet he's still in his loins so to speak but levi gets the benefit of that position abraham then gives ties to melchizedek so levi was included there he's making another theological rabbinical point here but the point is in that sense we're accountable to what our ancestors did one of my ancestors came to america boy am i glad he did but i'm here because he was here i'm a beneficiary of my parents the fact that they were americans they were foreign born but they were american citizens and i was born here so i'm an american and am i grateful for that i'm glad they weren't in some other culture with some other background okay so there's that aspect here that's only one of four aspects but it's an important one anyway continuing back in romans for until the law sin was in the world but sin was not imputed when there is no law okay cain was not guilty of breaking the ten commandments when he murdered his brother he sinned but it wasn't under the law the law hadn't been given yet when he says the law here means the torah law see nevertheless death reigned from adam to moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of adam's transgression who is a figure of him who has to come here's a very strange interesting insight adam is a type an anticipatory type of christ in some sense and many people don't recognize that we'll get in there first of all why did people die from adam to moses mankind did not die for their personal sin they died because of adam's sin being imputed to them okay but adam had rejected god's warning dying you shall surely die and in fact there were two deaths two deaths mentioned in jude one and four times or three times the three times four times in the book of revelation dying you shall surely die the second death there's two deaths first death the separation of soul in the body that's what we think of death physical death the second death is separation of the spirit from the soul that's another one in the day that you you certainly you know the instant rejection he violated god's word at that he was the very center of his being spiritually it began a process and we are after the image of a fallen adam death from adam to moses is undeniable anyone want to deny death between adam and moses i don't think so who was the figure of him that was to come now this is unusual how could it be jesus is called the last adam he's the end of a race the adamic race he's starting something new he's the last adam okay now what does that mean we get a clue here in ephesians 5 paul is talking about marriage his wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands unto the lord i'm sure your girls have had your husband point that out to you for the husband is the head of the wife even as christ the head of the church he is the savior of the body therefore the church is subject to christ so let wives be to their own husbands in everything i'm sure your girls have had that thrown at you be careful here guys husbands love your wives even as christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that's the flip side of that coin gang that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot a wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish and you're getting along pretty well with this you think you know what he's talking about except paul throws you a boomerang and ellipsis does so want men to love their wives is their own bodies he that loveth his wife loved himself a few verses later he says this is a great mystery what do you mean where i speak concerning christ and the church he turns it over he's using that model which indeed he intends don't misunderstand but what he's really getting at he's describing something much more mystical much more profound this is what i'll call a pauline ellipsis i want you to visualize this guys you're adam you have not sinned you're still clothed with the light you're walking with god everything's cool you come home and find out your gal has been deceived by this nakhash the shining one and did the one thing that you had prohibited you were prohibited from doing i'll tell you how the conversation would have gone guys oh kid you're in trouble i'll pray for you but man you've lost immortality you've sinned oh kid you are in deep yogurt kid i'll pray for you that's about the way you go something like that that's not what happened adam was not deceived if we look at first timothy 2 13-14 paul tells us adam was first formed then eve we know that and adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression so the woman was deceived adam wasn't deceived he knew what he was doing he did yeah he loved her so much that he chose to join her in her predicament rather than go on and live without her i want to ask you guys for a show of vans but do you love your wife that much but because he did there was issue that led to the messiah by which she ultimately would be saved wow now do you see in a sense of spirit don't misunderstand i'm not condoning adam's sin don't take me that far but do you see how jesus is the last adam who loved us so much is to take on our predicament that we might live see the parallel that's how paul can call jesus give him a title called the last adam not that he's the last of the adamses but that he's starting a fresh a new line adam's over with there's a new generation a read you're you are a new creature if you're in christ adam was not deceived let's go on with romans 15 or 5 15 but not as the offense but also as the free is the free graph for if though through the offense of one many be dead much more the grace of god and the gift by grace which is by one man jesus christ hath to bound into many one offense wiped it out but all of them are wiped out by one man two opposing sources and results according let's keep going and not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one to condemnation but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification that's all ours for if by one man's offense death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one jesus christ so this is the kind our predicament derived from one man our salvation is the result of one man our salvation depends on him not on anything we can or ever could do in one case people are dying victims under a ruthless ruler satan and the other they themselves become rulers whose kingdom is one of life that's in revelation chapter one bill zeleda those who receive god's grace and gift that emphasizes the provision made for all in christ sacrificial death and offered to all by god yet it must be appropriated by an individual by faith to become effective someone gives you a check for a million dollars it's useless and you go to unless you go to cash it well i've saved it i've saved it really here it is i said well gee dad it's about 20 years old oh is it is it outdated yeah i guess it is no you have to cash it if you got if you're a prisoner on death row and you get a pardon you've got to accept it there are cases in life where governor pardoned a prisoner and he refused to accept it they executed him by his choice in effect that's our that's our role if we refuse to receive the gift that christ has given us therefore is by one the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one a free gift came upon all men unto the justification of life he's drawing the peril here now this is that some people call it you speak of cheap grace no it costs god greatly to make it free to us the gospel is not according to man galatians reminds us for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous they're not simply declared righteous the verb for impute is not being used here they will be made righteous it says see we're starting to get into sanctification here it's going to be the next couple of chapters made right in the process of sanctification culminating glorification god's presence so the the being saved is a first step it's like you're on first base you're not at home yet you're saved don't misunderstand me but you're not you haven't gotten where god wants you the word made there means to stand constituted as same verb using the first half verse 19 but let's keep going here we sin because we're sinners do you ever have to teach a child to be bad it's in his nature right by the obedience of one not many christ we get new nature chapter 6 is going to develop this verse in glorious terms the next chapter chapter six seven and eight are a climax that i can hardly wait to get to it's gonna be fun all that we have in our union christ romans chapter eight will become one of your most favorite chapters in the bible because you will have the foundation by then to really understand what he's saying anyway all that we have in our ear of christ all we have to do is to count on them to be true more of the law added that the fence might abound where sin abounded grace much more about it that's a startling statement the law entered so that offense might abound why did the law why is the law given so that we would send more we'll believe it or not we'll see that when we get to romans 7. why did god introduce the law or sin to abound this is the opposite of what we think the law is given so that we don't violate no it's to show us our violations eliminates our ability to rationalize our sin nature you can't rationalize yourself when you're confronted with the law that'll be explained in romans 7 we call the romans 7 law school right it is until man despairs of his self-effort that he can comprehend god's grace which is even more a bounds of sin that a sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by jesus christ our lord once again paul spoke of reigning in connection with life those who received god's gift reign in life through christ and this is really going to be developed in romans 8. so the contrast of two unions one man adam contrasted with one man christ one man's offense many died one man's free gift righteousness to many one man brought judgment condemnation one for many offenses the gift of justification through one man death reigns through one man believer's reign in life through one man's offense condemnation to all for the righteousness of one justification is offered to all disobedience of one many were made sinners by the obedience of one many made righteous sin reigned in death in the one case grace reigns throughout eternal life in the other you see a contrast there i hope so so that's the summary five concludes the arguments for for justification we call it salvation but it's really justification how then should we live chapter six seven eight are going to lay that out clearly five speaks to the two heads we've just gone through that adam and christ six is going to talk about two masters sin personified and god revealed in jesus we're gonna see that contrast seven is going to be two husbands in a sense i call it law school the law in christ risen so in the next session thought we'd never get there didn't you i want you to read chapters six seven and eight all that we have in our union in christ all that we have to do is count them true great then i want you to outline those of you that are serious outline chapter six sanctification what on earth do we mean by sanctification how can we how can he accept us while we retain our sin nature we're saved now but we're still sinning how can he receive us he's gonna deal with that how does he disengage us from that nature if we're sinners by nature how do we get disconnected from that how do we overcome that that's what sanctification is all about it's an under under-taught area in the body of christ that's one of the reasons the body of christ such a mess in our view we'll talk about that so let's stand for a closing word of prayer a lot of heavy stuff but it's all the fog will lift as we get through the next few chapters but what a blessed gift you and i have for the asking let's borrow hearts father we praise you for who you are we stagger as we realize the extremes you indeed have gone to on our behalf we thank you father for going to these lengths that we while yet sinners have access to your throne and have life eternal father we would sincerely ask you through your holy spirit and through your word instruct us as to how we go from justification to sanctification you've declared us righteous positionally oh we're more grateful than we can possibly express for that and yet father help us to understand how we take advantage of the powers you've provided for us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our lord and savior jesus christ we do pray father that you would help each of us to become more effective stewards of these precious days that remain that our priorities might be your priorities that we indeed would accomplish what you would have us accomplish not to earn that which you've already given us father but rather to be more pleasing in your sight as we commit ourselves this night without any reservations whatsoever into your hands in the name of yeshua our lord and savior jesus christ amen [Music] you

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Published: Thu Oct 15 2020