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August 19, 2018 - May 3, 2020
Periodically, I believe that every follower of Christ needs to get back to the basics of their Christian faith
When we say that God is righteous, what we mean is that He is the standard by which we measure all other things.
a slave was looked on as a piece of property, not a person. In loving devotion, Paul had enslaved himself to Christ, to be His servant and obey His will.
One of the requirements for an apostle was the experience of seeing the risen Christ (1 Cor. 9:1–2).
“the gospel of God”
“the gospel of Christ”
“the gospel of ...
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Jesus Christ is the center of the gospel message.
Missionary is the Latin form of “apostle—one who is sent.”
God does not ask people to behave in order to be saved, but to believe.
God’s righteousness is revealed in the gospel; for in the death of Christ, God revealed His righteousness by punishing sin; and in the resurrection of Christ, He revealed His righteousness by making salvation available to the believing sinner.
Through the death and resurrection of Christ, God is seen to be both “just, and the justifier” (Rom. 3:26).
Here Paul refers to Habakkuk 2:4: “The just shall live by his faith.” This verse is quoted three times in the New Testament: Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; and Hebrews 10:38. Romans explains “the just”; Galatians explains “shall live”; and Hebrews explains “by faith.”
When you sum it all up, the book of Romans is saying to us, “Be right!” Be right with God, with yourself, and with others.
Until a person knows he is a sinner, he cannot appreciate the gracious salvation God offers in Jesus Christ. Paul followed the basic Bible pattern: first law and condemnation, then grace and salvation.
This section does not teach evolution (that humans started low and climbed high), but devolution: He started high and, because of sin, sank lower than the beasts.
Men knew the truth about God, but they did not allow this truth to work in their lives. They suppressed it in order that they might live their own lives and not be convicted by God’s truth.
They were willing to use God’s gifts, but they were not willing to worship and praise God for His gifts.
All of the benefits but none of the cost.
Man the worshipper became man the philosopher, but his empty wisdom only revealed his foolishness.
Note that first on the list of false gods is ourselves. This fulfilled Satan’s purpose when he told Eve, “You will be like God” (Gen. 3:5 NASB). “Glory to man in the highest!” Satan encouraged humans to say.
Not that Satan wanted mankind to be head of all things. He knew he could wipe us out once we separated ourselves from our Creator. He wanted His creation — us! — to become like Satan, hating God.
If man is his own god, then he can do whatever he pleases and fulfill his desires without fear of judgment.
“The lie” is that man is his own god, and he should worship and serve himself and not the Creator. It was “the lie” Satan used in the garden to lead Eve into sin: “Ye shall be as gods.” Satan has always wanted the worship that belongs only to God (Isa. 14:12–15; Matt. 4:8–10), and in idolatry, he receives that worship (1 Cor. 10:19–21).
God revealed His wrath, not by sending fire from heaven, but by abandoning sinful men to their lustful ways.
Because he was abandoned by God, he could only become worse.
He began glorifying God but ended exchanging that glory for idols. He began knowing God but ended refusing to keep the knowledge of God in his mind and heart. He began as the highest of God’s creatures, made in the image of God, but he ended lower than the beasts and insects, because he worshipped them as his gods.
God’s judgment is according to truth. He does not have one standard for the Jews and another for the Gentiles.
Instead of giving the Jews special treatment from God, the blessings they received from Him gave them greater responsibility to obey Him and glorify Him.
In Romans 2:6–11, Paul was not teaching salvation by character or good deeds. He was explaining another basic principle of God’s judgment: God judges according to deeds, just as He judges according to truth.
For example, David committed some terrible sins, but the total emphasis of his life was obedience to God. Judas confessed his sin and supplied the money for buying a cemetery for strangers, yet the total emphasis of his life was disobedience and unbelief.
True saving faith results in obedience and godly living, even though there may be occasional falls.
God not only judges according to truth (Rom. 2:2), and according to men’s deeds (Rom. 2:6), but He also judges “the secrets of men” (Rom. 2:16). He sees what is in the heart.
The Jewish people had a religion of outward action, not inward attitude.
The tragedy is that the Jews depended on this physical mark instead of the spiritual reality it represented (Deut. 10:16; Jer. 9:26; Ezek. 44:9). A true Jew is one who has had an inward spiritual experience in the heart, and not merely an outward physical operation. People today make this same mistake with reference to baptism or the Lord’s Supper, or even church membership.
Would trust in the physical mark explain or otherwise apply to the mark of the beast on the forehead or hand? Would the name "the beast" adopt to the debauchery of man into beasts, as noted earlier?
No sinner seeks after God. Therefore, God must seek the sinner (Gen. 3:8–10; Luke 19:10).
The ignorance mentioned in Romans 3:17 is caused by the pride of verse 18, for it is “the fear of the LORD” that is the beginning of knowledge (Prov. 1:7).
The fear of the Lord indicates something of greater power. Fear means lack of arrogance or self-confidence.
Justification is the act of God whereby He declares the believing sinner righteous in Christ on the basis of the finished work of Christ on the cross.
justification is an act, not a process.
There are no degrees of justification;
justification does not mean that God makes us righteous, but that He declares us righteous.
Sanctification is the process whereby God makes the believer more and more like Christ. Sanctification may change from day to day. Justification never changes.
Under the Old Testament law, righteousness came by people behaving, but under the gospel, righteousness comes by believing.
the law bore witness to this gospel righteousness even though it could not provide it.
The law could witness to God’s righteousness, but it could not provide it for sinful humanity. Only Jesus Christ could do that (see Gal. 2:21).
All people trust something, if only themselves, but the Christian trusts Christ.
Law righteousness is a reward for works. Gospel righteousness is a gift through faith.
There is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile when it comes to condemnation.
God declared everyone guilty so that He might offer everyone His free gift of salvation.
This does NOT mean that the reason God declared everyone guilty was so that he could provide everyone the same gift. This is in the context of treating everyone the same; neither Jew nor Greek.
When God relates that love to you and me, it becomes grace and mercy. God in His mercy does not give us what we do deserve, and God in grace gives us what we do not deserve.
We are justified without a cause!
Salvation is free, but it is not cheap.
