ROMANS 7 A ADULTERESS, AUTHORITY, & FRUIT
Introduction:
We are starting Romans 7 tonight instead of ending it.
I am going to try and not give you to much of a hint about Sunday. (Just to me mean.)
I want us to start by reading Romans 7.
There are several things in the first 6 verses that I was us to talk about tonight.
I. Adulteress
A. Who is an adulteress?
B. Why is Paul talking about an adulteress?
C. Why did Paul not mention adulterer?
II. Authority
A. The law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives?
III. Fruit
A. Raised from the dead. vs. 4
Speaks about our salvation.
Speaks about baptism as referenced in chapter 6.
B. To bear fruit for God.
C. Not bearing fruit for death.
Conclusion:
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
ROMANS 6B SLAVES TO WHAT?
ROMANS 6B SLAVES TO WHAT?
Introduction:
We talked Sunday morning about dead men walking.
The old man died when we gave our hearts to Christ.
The sinful man died.
We are walking as a new man.
So yes we are a dead man walking.
We are walking in abundant grace.
We move to verse 15 today.
There must truly be a problem in Rome with believers continuing to want to or look for excuses to sin.
Paul brings the idea of just continuing to sin up again.
He brings it up in a slightly different light. Shall we sin because we are no longer under the law.
Our study tonight takes a look at Paul’s answer.
I. We are slaves to the master that we choose to obey.
A. By no means.
Paul starts his response with a resounding no way.
The root of their thinking must be well if the law is gone then we don’t have to worry about carrying out any of it.
So does that mean that nothing is sin?
The law is gone so we won’t even know what is sin or not.
That does not mean that we are free from the moral commands of the commandments or the law.
Grace means with God’s help we have the power to keep the moral commands of the law.
The moral still stands.
Righteousness is the heart of the matter now.
The thought of slavery dominates these verses.
Words related to slavery is used 8 times in these short verses.
We will realize here that we are either sin’s slave or God’s slave.
Vs 16
B. A slave to sin
Obeying the temptation to sin makes you a slave to sin.
Vs 19 speaks of being weak in your natural selves.
Paul elsewhere says that spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
The old man keeps trying to come out of the grave and lead us astray.
We need to keep this body and its parts away from slavery to impurities.
Paul talks here about ever increasing wickedness.
Good habits are hard to establish.
Bad habits seem to come about so easy.
When I read about this ever increasing wickedness that reminds me about how it becomes easier to yield to temptation each time we yield.
It is so easy for wickedness to increase.
A slave to sin is outside of the control of righteousness.
We know that sin leads to death.
Vs 23, The wages of sin is death.
Vs 16b, which leads to death.
Vs. 21b Those things that result in death.
The lead us through shame in the road to death.
Vs. 21
The pleasures of sin are only for a season.
They quickly lead to guilt and shame.
The quote benefit is short lived but the shame carries on for a long time.
The benefit is not very good if the end result is death.
This death is more than a physical death.
It is an everlasting destruction and being shut out from the presence of the Lord.
II Thessalonians 1:9
The opposite of eternal life, verse 23.
C. A slave to righteousness
This is what we need to be.
We need to be a slave to obedience which leads to righteousness.
Paul is rejoicing in verse 17 in their whole hearted obedience to the teachings that they were entrusted with.
He is excited that they have been set free from sin.
He loves the reality that they are so attached to righteousness.
II. The great benefit of being a slave to righteousness
A. He adds in verse 19b that their slavery to righteousness leads to holiness.
Holiness is a benefit.
Hebrews 12:14 says we will not see God without holiness.
God longs for us to live holy and upright lives.
B. The end result is eternal life.
The gift of God is eternal life.
That is a great ending to the story of life.
It is not an ending.
It is an amazing forever.
C. The heart of this all is Jesus Christ our Lord.
His birth, sinless life, death, and resurrection has made this gift and this life possible for us.
Conclusion:
Thank you Lord for the gift of your son and the life that He brings to us.
Introduction:
We talked Sunday morning about dead men walking.
The old man died when we gave our hearts to Christ.
The sinful man died.
We are walking as a new man.
So yes we are a dead man walking.
We are walking in abundant grace.
We move to verse 15 today.
There must truly be a problem in Rome with believers continuing to want to or look for excuses to sin.
Paul brings the idea of just continuing to sin up again.
He brings it up in a slightly different light. Shall we sin because we are no longer under the law.
Our study tonight takes a look at Paul’s answer.
I. We are slaves to the master that we choose to obey.
A. By no means.
Paul starts his response with a resounding no way.
The root of their thinking must be well if the law is gone then we don’t have to worry about carrying out any of it.
So does that mean that nothing is sin?
The law is gone so we won’t even know what is sin or not.
That does not mean that we are free from the moral commands of the commandments or the law.
Grace means with God’s help we have the power to keep the moral commands of the law.
The moral still stands.
Righteousness is the heart of the matter now.
The thought of slavery dominates these verses.
Words related to slavery is used 8 times in these short verses.
We will realize here that we are either sin’s slave or God’s slave.
Vs 16
B. A slave to sin
Obeying the temptation to sin makes you a slave to sin.
Vs 19 speaks of being weak in your natural selves.
Paul elsewhere says that spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
The old man keeps trying to come out of the grave and lead us astray.
We need to keep this body and its parts away from slavery to impurities.
Paul talks here about ever increasing wickedness.
Good habits are hard to establish.
Bad habits seem to come about so easy.
When I read about this ever increasing wickedness that reminds me about how it becomes easier to yield to temptation each time we yield.
It is so easy for wickedness to increase.
A slave to sin is outside of the control of righteousness.
We know that sin leads to death.
Vs 23, The wages of sin is death.
Vs 16b, which leads to death.
Vs. 21b Those things that result in death.
The lead us through shame in the road to death.
Vs. 21
The pleasures of sin are only for a season.
They quickly lead to guilt and shame.
The quote benefit is short lived but the shame carries on for a long time.
The benefit is not very good if the end result is death.
This death is more than a physical death.
It is an everlasting destruction and being shut out from the presence of the Lord.
II Thessalonians 1:9
The opposite of eternal life, verse 23.
C. A slave to righteousness
This is what we need to be.
We need to be a slave to obedience which leads to righteousness.
Paul is rejoicing in verse 17 in their whole hearted obedience to the teachings that they were entrusted with.
He is excited that they have been set free from sin.
He loves the reality that they are so attached to righteousness.
II. The great benefit of being a slave to righteousness
A. He adds in verse 19b that their slavery to righteousness leads to holiness.
Holiness is a benefit.
Hebrews 12:14 says we will not see God without holiness.
God longs for us to live holy and upright lives.
B. The end result is eternal life.
The gift of God is eternal life.
That is a great ending to the story of life.
It is not an ending.
It is an amazing forever.
C. The heart of this all is Jesus Christ our Lord.
His birth, sinless life, death, and resurrection has made this gift and this life possible for us.
Conclusion:
Thank you Lord for the gift of your son and the life that He brings to us.
ROMANS 6A DEAD MEN WALKING
ROMANS 6:1-14
Introduction:
I came across the phrase this week in my research that I found interesting, “dead man walking“.
I discovered that it was the title of a 1995 movie about a death row inmate. The movie was based on a book by the same title. It is a story about a nun and a death row inmate. I didn’t see the movie. I understand in my reading that the heart of the story is anti capital punishment.
I am not getting into those discussions today.
I also found that statement, Dead Man Walking, is used in some of the death rows in the USA.
In some of the Death Rows in the USA – when a prisoner is taken to be executed the guard that leads the procession shouts out, “dead man walking”. It means, get out of the way this man is on his way to his execution. Have some respect and stand or give a last word of encouragement for he is about to leave this life.
I know that sounds a little morbid.
I am going to go a little further.
You and I, children of God, are just that.
We are dead men walking.
Let’s talk about that.
I. Background
We need to look at the last 2 verses of chapter 5 and the first verse of chapter 6 as a background.
A. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
The increase of sin brings the increase of grace.
The addition of the law added to the list of sin and wrong.
Without a speed limit you can go as fast as you want and not be breaking a law and therefore not need the grace of an officer.
So as sin increased it required more grace to forgive it.
Illustration: I know I told some this story of grace. Scratching dad’s car trying to take a trailer load of wood to the end of the yard for a sleep out. I showed it to dad and apologized. He said to me did you learn a lesson from that. I said yes. He said ok that’s good. My dad was a gracious forgiving man. Maybe just to me but I won’t ask my siblings about that. Now once I was legally allowed to drive on the road and not just in the yard if I would have come home with a much bigger scratch on his car he might or he might not have said the same thing.
Hold on to that thought a moment.
Paul reminds us in verse 21 that sin and death go together.
On the other side grace through righteousness that is ours in Christ Jesus bring eternal life.
B. Since grace is a good thing shall we purposely cause more grace to abound, or increase. Verse 1
Back to my illustration about the car.
Would that have been smart of me to get in the car and head down the road with the idea that dad is a gracious man so if I put a big scratch on the car he will forgive me.
No! It would not have been smart o put his grace to the test.
When dad road with me I knew where every curve was before I got there. There is a curve up there you better slow down. Oh but dad you are a gracious person let me see just how fast I can go around that big curve ahead.
The same is true with sin and the grace of God.
C. This background sets the stage for the concept of dead men walking.
II. Dead men
A. Dying to sin
Vs. 2 “By no means, we died to sin.”
Believers died to the power of sin.
We talked Wednesday night about all of us dying in Adam.
Sin and death came to all of us through the sin of Adam.
We also talked about all of us being able to come alive through the second Adam Christ who shed His blood in penalty for our sin that we might live.
This passage paints a beautiful picture of water baptism,
Paul says all you who were baptized.
This passage speaks of baptism as a picture of what happened.
Jesus Christ
Died
Was buried
And he rose again.
He died carrying our sins.
He buried our sins.
He rose again setting us free to live a new life.
So when we accepted Christ we died to sin.
Our water baptism symbolizes that.
You do not bury a live person.
So in your baptism or at your conversion you said I am a dead man. I have died to sin.
Not only did we die to sin but we were buried with Him.
We buried the old man and his sin when we were buried with Christ.
II Corinthians 5:17
We come to life a new man.
B. Some things that a dead man doesn’t do.
Dead men don’t sin.
Dead men don’t insist on their own way.
Dead men don’t demand their rights.
C. Paul says to answer your question we died to sin so we can’t live in it any longer.
He says so that the body of sin must be done away with.
We should be no longer slaves to sin.
You see a dead man can’t sin.
Count yourself dead to sin.
If you are a child of God you are a dead man.
If you are alive in Christ then you had to have died first in order for that to happen.
You can not serve 2 masters.
You can not be alive in sin and alive in Christ all at the same time.
III. Walking
Now let’s go to the walking part.
A. We are now alive to God in Christ Jesus. Verse 11b
We are united with Christ.
Verse 5
In His death
In His resurrection
Verse 8 says that we will also live with Him.
I have said that we are alive to God in Christ Jesus.
The life that Christ lives He lives to God.
vs. 10b
The same is true, should be true with us. The life that we live we should live to God.
B. We have been brought from death to life. vs. 13
We are not a dead man in the grave.
We are a dead man walking.
Dead to sin, its penalty, and it’s power.
Alive to Christ and the righteousness that He gives us through His amazing grace.
When I look at you and you look at me we see the same person that we saw before our relationship Christ.
We see the same person that died when we gave our heart to Christ.
But yet we are up and walking.
We are more alive than ever before.
I might look like the same man that died but I am a new man on the inside.
I am a dead man.
But I am walking a new life.
C. Verses 13,14 give us a couple of nuts and bolts as to how that might look like.
The dead man walking a new in Christ does not offer parts of his body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness.
The dead man walking a new in Christ offers himself to God and the parts of his body as instruments of righteousness.
For sin shall not be your master.
Conclusion:
I ask you two questions.
Are you a dead man?
Are you walking as a new man in Christ.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Introduction:
I came across the phrase this week in my research that I found interesting, “dead man walking“.
I discovered that it was the title of a 1995 movie about a death row inmate. The movie was based on a book by the same title. It is a story about a nun and a death row inmate. I didn’t see the movie. I understand in my reading that the heart of the story is anti capital punishment.
I am not getting into those discussions today.
I also found that statement, Dead Man Walking, is used in some of the death rows in the USA.
In some of the Death Rows in the USA – when a prisoner is taken to be executed the guard that leads the procession shouts out, “dead man walking”. It means, get out of the way this man is on his way to his execution. Have some respect and stand or give a last word of encouragement for he is about to leave this life.
I know that sounds a little morbid.
I am going to go a little further.
You and I, children of God, are just that.
We are dead men walking.
Let’s talk about that.
I. Background
We need to look at the last 2 verses of chapter 5 and the first verse of chapter 6 as a background.
A. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
The increase of sin brings the increase of grace.
The addition of the law added to the list of sin and wrong.
Without a speed limit you can go as fast as you want and not be breaking a law and therefore not need the grace of an officer.
So as sin increased it required more grace to forgive it.
Illustration: I know I told some this story of grace. Scratching dad’s car trying to take a trailer load of wood to the end of the yard for a sleep out. I showed it to dad and apologized. He said to me did you learn a lesson from that. I said yes. He said ok that’s good. My dad was a gracious forgiving man. Maybe just to me but I won’t ask my siblings about that. Now once I was legally allowed to drive on the road and not just in the yard if I would have come home with a much bigger scratch on his car he might or he might not have said the same thing.
Hold on to that thought a moment.
Paul reminds us in verse 21 that sin and death go together.
On the other side grace through righteousness that is ours in Christ Jesus bring eternal life.
B. Since grace is a good thing shall we purposely cause more grace to abound, or increase. Verse 1
Back to my illustration about the car.
Would that have been smart of me to get in the car and head down the road with the idea that dad is a gracious man so if I put a big scratch on the car he will forgive me.
No! It would not have been smart o put his grace to the test.
When dad road with me I knew where every curve was before I got there. There is a curve up there you better slow down. Oh but dad you are a gracious person let me see just how fast I can go around that big curve ahead.
The same is true with sin and the grace of God.
C. This background sets the stage for the concept of dead men walking.
II. Dead men
A. Dying to sin
Vs. 2 “By no means, we died to sin.”
Believers died to the power of sin.
We talked Wednesday night about all of us dying in Adam.
Sin and death came to all of us through the sin of Adam.
We also talked about all of us being able to come alive through the second Adam Christ who shed His blood in penalty for our sin that we might live.
This passage paints a beautiful picture of water baptism,
Paul says all you who were baptized.
This passage speaks of baptism as a picture of what happened.
Jesus Christ
Died
Was buried
And he rose again.
He died carrying our sins.
He buried our sins.
He rose again setting us free to live a new life.
So when we accepted Christ we died to sin.
Our water baptism symbolizes that.
You do not bury a live person.
So in your baptism or at your conversion you said I am a dead man. I have died to sin.
Not only did we die to sin but we were buried with Him.
We buried the old man and his sin when we were buried with Christ.
II Corinthians 5:17
We come to life a new man.
B. Some things that a dead man doesn’t do.
Dead men don’t sin.
Dead men don’t insist on their own way.
Dead men don’t demand their rights.
C. Paul says to answer your question we died to sin so we can’t live in it any longer.
He says so that the body of sin must be done away with.
We should be no longer slaves to sin.
You see a dead man can’t sin.
Count yourself dead to sin.
If you are a child of God you are a dead man.
If you are alive in Christ then you had to have died first in order for that to happen.
You can not serve 2 masters.
You can not be alive in sin and alive in Christ all at the same time.
III. Walking
Now let’s go to the walking part.
A. We are now alive to God in Christ Jesus. Verse 11b
We are united with Christ.
Verse 5
In His death
In His resurrection
Verse 8 says that we will also live with Him.
I have said that we are alive to God in Christ Jesus.
The life that Christ lives He lives to God.
vs. 10b
The same is true, should be true with us. The life that we live we should live to God.
B. We have been brought from death to life. vs. 13
We are not a dead man in the grave.
We are a dead man walking.
Dead to sin, its penalty, and it’s power.
Alive to Christ and the righteousness that He gives us through His amazing grace.
When I look at you and you look at me we see the same person that we saw before our relationship Christ.
We see the same person that died when we gave our heart to Christ.
But yet we are up and walking.
We are more alive than ever before.
I might look like the same man that died but I am a new man on the inside.
I am a dead man.
But I am walking a new life.
C. Verses 13,14 give us a couple of nuts and bolts as to how that might look like.
The dead man walking a new in Christ does not offer parts of his body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness.
The dead man walking a new in Christ offers himself to God and the parts of his body as instruments of righteousness.
For sin shall not be your master.
Conclusion:
I ask you two questions.
Are you a dead man?
Are you walking as a new man in Christ.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Monday, February 14, 2011
ROMANS 5C ROMANS 5:12-21 THE POWER OF ONE
ROMANS 5C ROMANS 5:12-21
THE POWER OF ONE
Introduction:
I. One man Adam
A. Sin and death entered the world through one man, Adam.
How did this happen?
We are all related by the blood of Adam.
Acts 17:26
Our blood carries the sentence of death because of Adam’s sin.
B. Life is in the blood
Lev. 17:11
Blood is fluid, moveable.
It is the only part of our body that touches every area of the body.
Death happens when there is no more life in the blood.
We could say that eating of the tree of knowledge caused blood poisoning.
Adam and Eve died.
That poison has been passed by Adam to us all.
I know that I have explained this before.
Page 17 The breath of God….
C. Something happened to the blood to cause death.
Sinful flesh is sustained and nourished by sinful blood.
That sinful nature has been instilled in us.
II. One man Christ
A. Forgiveness and life enter through Jesus Christ.
B. The innocent and incorruptible blood of Christ.
Page 35 Innocent blood
Page 35 Incorruptible blood
C. The chemistry of Calvary
Page 53
Conclusion:
Readings are from
The Chemistry of the Blood by M. R. De Haan (Paperback - Sept. 1, 1974) Out of Print--Limited Availability
THE POWER OF ONE
Introduction:
I. One man Adam
A. Sin and death entered the world through one man, Adam.
How did this happen?
We are all related by the blood of Adam.
Acts 17:26
Our blood carries the sentence of death because of Adam’s sin.
B. Life is in the blood
Lev. 17:11
Blood is fluid, moveable.
It is the only part of our body that touches every area of the body.
Death happens when there is no more life in the blood.
We could say that eating of the tree of knowledge caused blood poisoning.
Adam and Eve died.
That poison has been passed by Adam to us all.
I know that I have explained this before.
Page 17 The breath of God….
C. Something happened to the blood to cause death.
Sinful flesh is sustained and nourished by sinful blood.
That sinful nature has been instilled in us.
II. One man Christ
A. Forgiveness and life enter through Jesus Christ.
B. The innocent and incorruptible blood of Christ.
Page 35 Innocent blood
Page 35 Incorruptible blood
C. The chemistry of Calvary
Page 53
Conclusion:
Readings are from
The Chemistry of the Blood by M. R. De Haan (Paperback - Sept. 1, 1974) Out of Print--Limited Availability
ROMANS 5B GOD’S LOVE
ROMANS 5B GOD’S LOVE
ROMANS 5:5B-11
Introduction:
We read tonight’s verses as we closed this morning.
We are going to pick up tonight with why this hope doesn’t disappoint us.
The answer is because of God’s love.
Because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
I am going to build our thoughts around verse 6 completing this sentence three times.
God’s love
I. Knows the right time
A. You see at just the right time….
The birth of Jesus was at the right time.
Galatians 4:4,5
Luke 2:6
The death of Christ was at the right time.
Matthew 26:18
Luke 17:22
The 2nd coming of Christ will be at the right time.
Mark 13:26-33
Luke 21:8
Luke 21:27
B. God’s love knows the right time in your life and in mine.
Sometimes we might wonder.
Sometimes we think His time is off.
Many times we wish his timing better suited ours.
II. Can overcome our weakness
A. When we were still powerless.
We have seen here in Romans that we were powerless to save ourselves.
There is none righteous
All have sinned.
The law offered no life or hope.
B. When I am weak then He is strong.
His strength is made perfect in our weakness.
II Corinthians 12:9-11
C. We need to let his love overcome our weakness.
Don’t fight our weakness.
III. Was demonstrated by death
A. “Christ died for the ungodly.”
Verse 7
Verse 8 While we were still sinners, still an enemy of God Christ died to make us a friend of God.
B. Verse 10,11 says that we were reconciled to Him.
Conclusion:
This love of God ultimately results in rejoicing.
Verse 11
I thank God for his peace, grace, and hope.
I also thank Him for his great love that has done these things for us.
ROMANS 5:5B-11
Introduction:
We read tonight’s verses as we closed this morning.
We are going to pick up tonight with why this hope doesn’t disappoint us.
The answer is because of God’s love.
Because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
I am going to build our thoughts around verse 6 completing this sentence three times.
God’s love
I. Knows the right time
A. You see at just the right time….
The birth of Jesus was at the right time.
Galatians 4:4,5
Luke 2:6
The death of Christ was at the right time.
Matthew 26:18
Luke 17:22
The 2nd coming of Christ will be at the right time.
Mark 13:26-33
Luke 21:8
Luke 21:27
B. God’s love knows the right time in your life and in mine.
Sometimes we might wonder.
Sometimes we think His time is off.
Many times we wish his timing better suited ours.
II. Can overcome our weakness
A. When we were still powerless.
We have seen here in Romans that we were powerless to save ourselves.
There is none righteous
All have sinned.
The law offered no life or hope.
B. When I am weak then He is strong.
His strength is made perfect in our weakness.
II Corinthians 12:9-11
C. We need to let his love overcome our weakness.
Don’t fight our weakness.
III. Was demonstrated by death
A. “Christ died for the ungodly.”
Verse 7
Verse 8 While we were still sinners, still an enemy of God Christ died to make us a friend of God.
B. Verse 10,11 says that we were reconciled to Him.
Conclusion:
This love of God ultimately results in rejoicing.
Verse 11
I thank God for his peace, grace, and hope.
I also thank Him for his great love that has done these things for us.
ROMANS 5A AN AMAZING TRIO
ROMANS 5A AN AMAZING TRIO
PEACE, GRACE, & HOPE
Introduction:
The Last Impression
Since this is the SuperBowl weekend, I thought I would share with you some football plays you might just see this Sunday... in church!
Quarterback Sneak – Church members quietly leaving during the invitation.
Draw Play – What many children do with the bulletin during worship.
Halftime – The period between Sunday school and worship when many choose to leave.
Benchwarmer – Those who do not sing, pray, work, or do anything but sit.
Backfield-in-Motion – Making a trip to the back (restroom or water fountain) during the service.
Staying in the Pocket – What happens to a lot of money that should be given to the Lord's work.
Two-minute Warning – The point at which you realize the sermon is almost over and begin to gather up your children and belongings.
Instant Replay – The preacher loses his notes and falls back on last week's illustrations.
Sudden Death – What happens to the attention span of the congregation if the preacher goes "overtime."
Trap – You're called on to pray and are asleep.
End Run – Getting out of church quick, without speaking to any guest or fellow member.
Flex Defense – The ability to allow absolutely nothing said during the sermon to affect your life.
Halfback Option – The decision of 50% of the congregation not to return for the evening service.
Blitz – The rush for the restaurants following the closing prayer.
As we move into Romans 5 I am going to talk about an amazing trio this morning.
The trio is not big Ben, Mendenhall, and Hines Ward.
This morning’s trio is peace, grace, and hope
Chapter 5 begins a new focus in the book of Romans.
Chapters 1-4
The first 4 chapters centered on the need for salvation and the provision of salvation, righteousness, justification, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Our faith in Christ puts us in right relationship with God.
Jews and Gentiles alike can be a part of Abraham’s family, better yet a part of God’s family.
Chapters 5-8
Paul begins to tie our righteousness by faith with hope as we move into the next 4 chapters.
He talks about the hope that belongs to us who are right with God.
Jews and Gentiles alike have tapped into this great hope.
Writers reference the first 5 verses here as consequences of our righteousness and justification.
Define consequence: The effect, result, or outcome of something occurring earlier.
I prefer the word result.
There are three very vital results of our righteousness spoken of here.
Peace
Grace
Hope
They are the trio that we are going to look at.
Each of them are familiar to us.
I want us to pay closer attention to how they become ours.
I. Peace
A. Define peace
Dictionary.com
the normal, non warring condition of a nation, group of nations,
an agreement or treaty between warring or antagonistic nations, groups, etc., to end hostilities
a state of mutual harmony between people or groups,
cessation of or freedom from any strife or dissension.
freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession, etc.;
a state of tranquility or serenity:
B. Who is this peace with?
Paul says here that this peace is with God.
Ultimately He is the one that you want to have peace with.
It is great to know and understand the impact, the trickle down effect of this peace with God.
C. What is the key or what did this peace come to us through?
The key to this peace with God is Christ.
Isaiah 9:6,7 For to us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Colossians 1:19,20 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Our key is faith in Christ.
Paul tells us here that our justification through faith in Christ puts us at peace with God.
I love being at peace with God.
I love the way that my peace with God provides peace throughout the many other areas in my life.
II. Grace
The second result is into this grace in which we now stand.
A. There are several facets of grace.
This reminds me of the message I shared on grace in our Noah series.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Saving grace, the building of and the entering of the ark.
Securing grace, when all had entered the ark God shut the door keeping them safe inside.
Sufficient grace that kept them safe the entire time.
There is the saving grace.
Ephesians 2:8,9
This is not what Paul is talking about here.
There is the securing or the keeping grace.
I am glad that I just wasn’t saved by grace and that was a thing of the past.
Too many times Christians just hold onto a past experience.
Today is a new day and it has it’s own experience.
B. Paul is talking about the securing grace.
“grace in which we now stand.”
This grace is an abiding and immovable status arising from a past action. (John Murray in commentary)
Believers have an on going access to grace and continue to stand in grace. (Thomas R. Schreiner)
God did not save us by grace and then drop grace out of the picture.
Just like the grace that Noah found in the eyes of the Lord didn’t just build the ark but it keep them safely secured in the ark.
We need to walk daily in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
C. I believe that this flows into the sufficient grace.
His grace will keep us all the way to the end.
It is the grace of God that will enable us to stand upright before the Lord in that final day.
III. Hope
The third result is hope.
A. This hope is qualified as the hope of the glory of God.
This is not I hope you have a good day today hope.
This is not even I hope you have a good life hope.
This is I hope you experience the glory of God forever hope.
B. The door is open for us to share in God’s glory.
The vast experience of that glory is in eternity.
Notice that those who scorned and fell short of God’s glory are now given an opportunity to share in it.
Romans 1:21-23
Romans 3:23
Romans 8:17,18,21,30
Again we realize that this is not really a present possession.
We await future glorification that will bring moral perfection, and restore the glory that Adam lost when he sinned.
C. This is a life long process to experience this hope.
The peace that we talked about is a result of our faith in Christ.
The grace that we talked about is a result of our faith in Christ.
There is a process to obtain this hope.
Afflictions produce endurance or perseverance. Troubles have a way of toughing us up. Andre Crouch sings through it all. It goes through it all I learned to trust in Jesus, I learned to trust in God. One verse goes if I never had a problem I would never know that God could salve them, I’d never know what faith in God can do.
Endurance, perseverance produces character. They have a way of building a stronger character in us. The challenges that we face can make us bitter or better. Being made better is a great building of character.
Tested character generates hope. A change in character shows God at work in our lives. The more we let God work in us the more our faith and confidence in God are built up. We become assured that what God started He will finish.
Hope in God will not disappoint us or bring shame on us.
Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
I Corinthians 1:8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
None of us like the process but we certainly will like the end result.
Conclusion:
Read Romans 5:6-11
We are going to focus on these verses a few minutes tonight before we go home and eat some hot wings and finish watching the super bowl.
Communion
PEACE, GRACE, & HOPE
Introduction:
The Last Impression
Since this is the SuperBowl weekend, I thought I would share with you some football plays you might just see this Sunday... in church!
Quarterback Sneak – Church members quietly leaving during the invitation.
Draw Play – What many children do with the bulletin during worship.
Halftime – The period between Sunday school and worship when many choose to leave.
Benchwarmer – Those who do not sing, pray, work, or do anything but sit.
Backfield-in-Motion – Making a trip to the back (restroom or water fountain) during the service.
Staying in the Pocket – What happens to a lot of money that should be given to the Lord's work.
Two-minute Warning – The point at which you realize the sermon is almost over and begin to gather up your children and belongings.
Instant Replay – The preacher loses his notes and falls back on last week's illustrations.
Sudden Death – What happens to the attention span of the congregation if the preacher goes "overtime."
Trap – You're called on to pray and are asleep.
End Run – Getting out of church quick, without speaking to any guest or fellow member.
Flex Defense – The ability to allow absolutely nothing said during the sermon to affect your life.
Halfback Option – The decision of 50% of the congregation not to return for the evening service.
Blitz – The rush for the restaurants following the closing prayer.
As we move into Romans 5 I am going to talk about an amazing trio this morning.
The trio is not big Ben, Mendenhall, and Hines Ward.
This morning’s trio is peace, grace, and hope
Chapter 5 begins a new focus in the book of Romans.
Chapters 1-4
The first 4 chapters centered on the need for salvation and the provision of salvation, righteousness, justification, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Our faith in Christ puts us in right relationship with God.
Jews and Gentiles alike can be a part of Abraham’s family, better yet a part of God’s family.
Chapters 5-8
Paul begins to tie our righteousness by faith with hope as we move into the next 4 chapters.
He talks about the hope that belongs to us who are right with God.
Jews and Gentiles alike have tapped into this great hope.
Writers reference the first 5 verses here as consequences of our righteousness and justification.
Define consequence: The effect, result, or outcome of something occurring earlier.
I prefer the word result.
There are three very vital results of our righteousness spoken of here.
Peace
Grace
Hope
They are the trio that we are going to look at.
Each of them are familiar to us.
I want us to pay closer attention to how they become ours.
I. Peace
A. Define peace
Dictionary.com
the normal, non warring condition of a nation, group of nations,
an agreement or treaty between warring or antagonistic nations, groups, etc., to end hostilities
a state of mutual harmony between people or groups,
cessation of or freedom from any strife or dissension.
freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession, etc.;
a state of tranquility or serenity:
B. Who is this peace with?
Paul says here that this peace is with God.
Ultimately He is the one that you want to have peace with.
It is great to know and understand the impact, the trickle down effect of this peace with God.
C. What is the key or what did this peace come to us through?
The key to this peace with God is Christ.
Isaiah 9:6,7 For to us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Colossians 1:19,20 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Our key is faith in Christ.
Paul tells us here that our justification through faith in Christ puts us at peace with God.
I love being at peace with God.
I love the way that my peace with God provides peace throughout the many other areas in my life.
II. Grace
The second result is into this grace in which we now stand.
A. There are several facets of grace.
This reminds me of the message I shared on grace in our Noah series.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Saving grace, the building of and the entering of the ark.
Securing grace, when all had entered the ark God shut the door keeping them safe inside.
Sufficient grace that kept them safe the entire time.
There is the saving grace.
Ephesians 2:8,9
This is not what Paul is talking about here.
There is the securing or the keeping grace.
I am glad that I just wasn’t saved by grace and that was a thing of the past.
Too many times Christians just hold onto a past experience.
Today is a new day and it has it’s own experience.
B. Paul is talking about the securing grace.
“grace in which we now stand.”
This grace is an abiding and immovable status arising from a past action. (John Murray in commentary)
Believers have an on going access to grace and continue to stand in grace. (Thomas R. Schreiner)
God did not save us by grace and then drop grace out of the picture.
Just like the grace that Noah found in the eyes of the Lord didn’t just build the ark but it keep them safely secured in the ark.
We need to walk daily in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
C. I believe that this flows into the sufficient grace.
His grace will keep us all the way to the end.
It is the grace of God that will enable us to stand upright before the Lord in that final day.
III. Hope
The third result is hope.
A. This hope is qualified as the hope of the glory of God.
This is not I hope you have a good day today hope.
This is not even I hope you have a good life hope.
This is I hope you experience the glory of God forever hope.
B. The door is open for us to share in God’s glory.
The vast experience of that glory is in eternity.
Notice that those who scorned and fell short of God’s glory are now given an opportunity to share in it.
Romans 1:21-23
Romans 3:23
Romans 8:17,18,21,30
Again we realize that this is not really a present possession.
We await future glorification that will bring moral perfection, and restore the glory that Adam lost when he sinned.
C. This is a life long process to experience this hope.
The peace that we talked about is a result of our faith in Christ.
The grace that we talked about is a result of our faith in Christ.
There is a process to obtain this hope.
Afflictions produce endurance or perseverance. Troubles have a way of toughing us up. Andre Crouch sings through it all. It goes through it all I learned to trust in Jesus, I learned to trust in God. One verse goes if I never had a problem I would never know that God could salve them, I’d never know what faith in God can do.
Endurance, perseverance produces character. They have a way of building a stronger character in us. The challenges that we face can make us bitter or better. Being made better is a great building of character.
Tested character generates hope. A change in character shows God at work in our lives. The more we let God work in us the more our faith and confidence in God are built up. We become assured that what God started He will finish.
Hope in God will not disappoint us or bring shame on us.
Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
I Corinthians 1:8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
None of us like the process but we certainly will like the end result.
Conclusion:
Read Romans 5:6-11
We are going to focus on these verses a few minutes tonight before we go home and eat some hot wings and finish watching the super bowl.
Communion
Thursday, February 10, 2011
ROMANS 4B CREDIT
ROMANS 4B CREDIT
Introduction:
We are going to talk about that word credit tonight.
The word credit is used 29 times in the NIV of the Bible.
Ten of those times is in Romans 4. The focus of those here are on Abraham.
There are 3 other Scriptures where it is used about Abraham, 1 in the OT and 2 in the NT.
Credit has many definitions.
credit
1. commendation or honor given for some action, quality, etc.: Give credit where it is due.
2. a source of pride or honor: You are a credit to your school.
3. the ascription or acknowledgment of something as due or properly attributable to a person, institution, etc.: She got a screen credit for photography.
4. trustworthiness; credibility: a witness of credit.
5. confidence in a purchaser's ability and intention to pay, displayed by entrusting the buyer with goods or services without immediate payment.
6. reputation of solvency and probity, entitling a person to be trusted in buying or borrowing: Your credit is good.
7. influence or authority resulting from the confidence of others or from one's reputation.
8. time allowed for payment for goods or services obtained on trust: 90 days' credit.
9. repute; reputation; esteem.
I. Abraham
A. Romans 4:1-3 Part of our message this morning.
B. Romans 4:9,10
Paul is saying this credit was before circumcision.
C. Romans 4:11
He is speaking of our righteousness being credited to us by our faith.
Paul tells us that the uncircumcised receive righteousness a credit to their believing.
D. Romans 4:22
Beginning in verse 17 Paul reminds us about Abraham’s belief in God giving him a son in his old age.
II. Paul for Philemon
A. Read Philemon
B. In verse 18 Paul is saying if my friend Onesimus owes you anything put it, charge it to my account.
Paul is saying credit his account as paid.
Charge what he owes to my account.
What a blessing that is.
III. Christ for us
A. Romans 4:23-25
This righteous credit was not for Abraham alone.
This righteousness is credited to us as well.
Our belief needs to be in Jesus who died for our sins and rose again for our justification.
B. Thank you Lord for the payment that your Son has made to my account.
Conclusion:
Introduction:
We are going to talk about that word credit tonight.
The word credit is used 29 times in the NIV of the Bible.
Ten of those times is in Romans 4. The focus of those here are on Abraham.
There are 3 other Scriptures where it is used about Abraham, 1 in the OT and 2 in the NT.
Credit has many definitions.
credit
1. commendation or honor given for some action, quality, etc.: Give credit where it is due.
2. a source of pride or honor: You are a credit to your school.
3. the ascription or acknowledgment of something as due or properly attributable to a person, institution, etc.: She got a screen credit for photography.
4. trustworthiness; credibility: a witness of credit.
5. confidence in a purchaser's ability and intention to pay, displayed by entrusting the buyer with goods or services without immediate payment.
6. reputation of solvency and probity, entitling a person to be trusted in buying or borrowing: Your credit is good.
7. influence or authority resulting from the confidence of others or from one's reputation.
8. time allowed for payment for goods or services obtained on trust: 90 days' credit.
9. repute; reputation; esteem.
I. Abraham
A. Romans 4:1-3 Part of our message this morning.
B. Romans 4:9,10
Paul is saying this credit was before circumcision.
C. Romans 4:11
He is speaking of our righteousness being credited to us by our faith.
Paul tells us that the uncircumcised receive righteousness a credit to their believing.
D. Romans 4:22
Beginning in verse 17 Paul reminds us about Abraham’s belief in God giving him a son in his old age.
II. Paul for Philemon
A. Read Philemon
B. In verse 18 Paul is saying if my friend Onesimus owes you anything put it, charge it to my account.
Paul is saying credit his account as paid.
Charge what he owes to my account.
What a blessing that is.
III. Christ for us
A. Romans 4:23-25
This righteous credit was not for Abraham alone.
This righteousness is credited to us as well.
Our belief needs to be in Jesus who died for our sins and rose again for our justification.
B. Thank you Lord for the payment that your Son has made to my account.
Conclusion:
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