Sunday, March 24, 2019

We are going to talk about contrast. Contrast is necessary for understanding. For example you can’t understand a star’s light at noonday. But the contrast of dark space exposes it’s light.

Romeo and Juliet, and classic literary example of contrasting love and hate

Michiganders have a special appreciation for warm summers because we know the agony of a cold winters

Photo Example: Girl with a doll in the ruins of her home after the bombing of London, 1940. (WWII, German’s bomb London in The Blitz)

MAIN QUESTION: My question is can we truly appreciate salvation if we don’t understand judgment?

Today, one of the greatest deceptions of the devil is to delude moral absolutes. His strategy is to twist black and white truth into a sea of gray opinions. If there is not absolute standard of morality then our conscious is free to give into our own selfish and fallen nature.  Furthermore if there is no moral standard, then we cannot be held accountable.  If there is no wrong then why seek to be right. If there is no judgment (hell/wrath), than why seek a salvation? There is nothing to be saved from. This is a terrible error and a deception of the evil one!

• Results: moral decay, loss of justice, confusion, no urgency in church, etc.

“The safest road to Hell is the gradual one—gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turning, without milestone, without sign post” -C.S. Lewis

Today The Apostle Paul lays down an airtight case against humanity, that there is evil, there is judgment, there is a standard, and all of humanity has fallen short. He creates contrast between God’s absolute holiness verses our wickedness

His case declaring humanity’s hopeless fallen state is not for the purpose of condemnation, but to lead us to all cry out for the only salvation provided for our guilty state of being. In other words, the purpose of bringing awareness to the contrast of light verses darkness is that you will be drawn to The Light.

“May God grant that you may not rest quiet in sin, for to be at peace with sin is to be sleeping yourself into hell. May God awaken you, that you may flee to Christ for mercy at this very hour and there shall be joy in His presence. Amen.” –Charles Spurgeon

Review

Jewish rituals from the law (like circumcision) will not save you. Heaven’s gates will never open based on men’s merit.

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Romans 3:1-9 (NLT)

So then what is the importance of circumcision, and what advantage is there of being a Jew? ² Actually, there are numerous advantages. Most important, God distinguished the Jews from all other people by entrusting them with the revelation of his prophetic promises.

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1. Verse 1-2: It is asked, “Then what advantage to being a Jew?”
   1. Though there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles (we have all sinned) Paul doesn’t want us to lose sight of how unique and special the Jewish people are, due to all they were entrusted with.
      1. By this chosen people, we received the promise, were grafted into the promise given to Abraham
      2. By a Jewish hand, mind, and heart the Spirit of God moved and penned the inspired Word of God

• Through the lineage of the Jewish people came the Savior of the World.
  1. “I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, ² that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. ³ For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, ⁴ who are Israelites, to whom pertainthe adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; ⁵ of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.” (Romans 9:1-5)
  2. EXTRA SIDENOTE, there is obviously, no room for Anti-Semitism for those who follow Jesus Christ. There is no room for racism of any sort. For God’s Spirit does not partner with partiality of any kind (economic, social, ethnic, gender)
     1. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you areChrist’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:27-29)
        1. We are all equally invited to love and serve each other as fellow heirs in His Kingdom.

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³ But what if some were unfaithful to their divine calling? Does their unbelief weaken God’s faithfulness? ⁴ Absolutely not! God will always be proven faithful and true to his word, while people are proven to be liars. This will fulfill what was written in the Scriptures:

Your words will always be vindicated and you will rise victorious when you are being tried by your critics!

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1. Verse 3-4: Critics propose that, “God Doesn’t Work, because Men Failed.”
   1. Regarding the matter of seeking God: Does the failure of others prove God’s way doesn’t work? This thinking is absurd and backwards.
      1. It is to say, that a vehicle is faulty because the driver fell asleep at the wheel and hit a tree. The pilot is in error, not the Engineer.
      2. “God be true but every man a liar”
         1. “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. ¹⁸ For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” -Matthew 5:17-19
            1. The Lord is not loose with His Words. Every word is weighed, measured to the exact portion needed, and each Word will be fulfilled to the letter. He’s not like us, who bend promises, are reckless with our thoughts, cut corners on contracts, and use cleaver language to get out of responsibility.

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⁵ But what if our wrong shows how right God is? Doesn’t our bad serve the purpose of making God look good? (Of course, I’m only speaking from a human viewpoint.) Would that infer that God is unfair when he displays his anger against wrongdoing? ⁶ Absolutely not! For if that were the case, how could God be the righteous judge of all the earth? ⁷ So, if my lie brings into sharp contrast the brightness of God’s truth, and if my lie accentuates his glory, then why should I be condemned as a sinner? ⁸ Is it proper for us to sin, just so we can be forgiven? May it never be! Yet there are some who slander us and claim that is what we teach. They deserve to be condemned for even saying it!

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1. Verse 5-8: Paul addresses rumors that the purpose of man’s failures was to show God’s perfection, so then we should on keep sinning to justify His forgiveness.
   1. No! God still judges unrighteousness for both Jews and Gentile alike
   2. Our aim is peace with God, not justification for more sin! If your desire is The Father, you won’t spend time searching for loopholes to justify behavior that keeps you from experiencing Him.
      1. EXTRA SIDENOTE: Who is the manufacturer of twisted truth? Satan. (Recreational Marijuana Use: Twisted view of Gen. 1:12, “The land produced vegetation—all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.”
         1. You were called to reign and rule … cultivate and subdue, not abuse and use to your own destruction.
         2. See Romans 12:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8; 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:8; Titus 2:2; Titus 2:2; Titus 2:6; 1 Peter 1:13; 1 Peter 5:8; Proverbs 20:1.

The Knowledge of Sin: Romans 3:9-20

Get well acquainted with the irrefutable facts that we are all sinners—for this knowledge works toward repentance, faith, and holy character. The Apostle Paul in following 9 verses lays down an air tight case against humanity—we are all guilty of sin—no one is good, no not one!

 

1. Scripture Reading: Romans 3:9-20
   1. ^“9 What then? Are we better than they?Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. ¹⁰ As it is written:

 

1. “There is none righteous, no, not one; ¹¹ There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. ¹² They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” ¹³ “Their throat isan open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;
   “The poison of asps is under their lips”; ¹⁴ “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” ¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ¹⁶ Destruction and misery are in their ways; ¹⁷ And the way of peace they have not known.”

 

1. ¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

 

1. ¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. ²⁰ Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law isthe knowledge of sin.

1. The Purpose of the Law was the knowledge of sin
   7. When reading the OT, you must read through the understanding that the Law was not the fulfillment of the Covenant made to Abraham in Genesis 12:7; 13:15; 24:7. Jesus was the fulfillment.
      1. ¹⁶ God gave the promises to Abraham and his child. And notice that the Scripture doesn’t say “to his children,^[” as if it meant many descendants. Rather, it says “to his child”—and that, of course, means Christ. ¹⁷ This is what I am trying to say: The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his promise. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance could be received by keeping the law, then it would not be the result of accepting God’s promise. But God graciously gave it to Abraham as a promise. ¹⁹ Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised….(Galatians 3:16-19 NLT)
   8. The Law Charges us Guilty of all Manner of Sin—Specifically Three Types
      1. “For our transgressions are multiplied before You, And our sins testify against us; For our transgressions arewith us, And as for our iniquities, we know them: ¹³ In transgressing and lying against the Lord, And departing from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. ¹⁴ Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands afar off; For truth is fallen in the street, And equity cannot enter.” –Isaiah 59:12-14
   9. Sin—Moral Failure (Romans 3:11-12): “No one is good” (by God’s standard)
      1. Our record of mistakes speaks for themselves. A moment of self-reflections after reading even just the 10 commandments and one will conclude, “guilty”
      2. No one is “good”
         1. The entire concept of “good” was lost in the Garden of Eden. Once perfection was lost, good has become a relative term to describe the levels of evil each generation has acclimated to.
            1. Law of Acclimation: E.g. On a 80º F day (or 26º C) … “is the water cold?” “No, jump in! It’s warm!” [person jumps]“Yikes, that’s cold!” Why? Because the person in the water has already acclimated to the 65º temperature of the water. (law of acclimation)
         2. Transgression—Breaking Trust (Romans 3:13-14): “Practice deceit”
            1. “In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. ⁶ And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.  ⁷ People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, ⁸ but no one can tame the tongue.” (James 3:5-8)
            2. A study by the University of Massachusetts found that 60% of people will lie at least during an average 10-minute conversation.
         3. Iniquity—Crooked Behavior (Romans 3:15-18): “Feet are swift to shed blood”
            1. ¹⁴ Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands afar off; For truth is fallen in the street, And equity cannot enter”
               1. For example, we have lost our sense of justice because of a crooked view of the value of life. We redefined a baby as “fetus” and this crooked view sears the conscious to the point that we justify killing children in a mother’s womb.
               2. A similar crooked view happened in 1945 when 6 million European Jews were murdered under the leadership of German Nazi, Leader Adolf Hitler. Hitler convinced people that Jews were a separate race, inferior, and the cause of German’s economic fall.

• A similar crooked view led to slavery in the 17^th and 18^th century, when America dehumanized an entire race to justify their greed and lust for progress.

1. “For I was born a sinner—yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. ⁶ But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.” (Psalm 51:5-6)
2. We do not enter this world written in the Lambs Book of Life. It is through repentance from sin and total trusts, clings to, relies on Jesus that our names are then written in Heaven’s record.
   1. We love John 3:16 but remember there is a John 3:18-20, “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. ¹⁹ And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. ²⁰ All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.”

III. The Purpose of the Fear of God

1. Personal History: Fear of God and Job
2. “The fear of the Lord isthe beginning of wisdom. And the knowledge of the Holy One is” (Proverbs 9:10)
   1. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; because if you fear God you understand that one day He will judge you by His standard. And if that is true, you conclude that your only hope is mercy.
      1. “Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5)
      2. Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes’? ⁴³ “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. ⁴⁴ And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” (Matthew 21:42-43)
   2. “The fear of the Lord isto hate evil;” -Proverbs 8:13
      1. I hate evil, because it will separate me from the One I love, and the One who loves me!

1. Avoid moral decay and partake in His divine nature

“… He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:4 AMP)

• Pray, study His Word, Seek the Lord and be transformed more and more into His likeness and divine nature.

2. Do good, persuade others, and be accountable

⁹ So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. ¹⁰ For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body. ¹¹ Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too.  (2 Corinthians 5:9-11)

• You’re saved through Jesus Christ! Now you have the amazing privilege to apply His promises to your life. If you ignore them you will continue to experience the results of your fallen nature and crooked soul. “Kindness leads us to repentance”, yet the repentance is so that we turn from old ways and workout salvation and become new and experience the result of God’s wisdom, love, and principles. That is your privilege.

3. Workout your salvation with fear and trembling, so that your labor is not in vain

¹² Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. ¹⁴ Do all things without complaining and disputing, ¹⁵ that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. (Philippians 2:12-16)

• Workout all that Jesus purchased for you and become a light to this world!

The altar call is set to tomorrow morning…and every morning. Get in a Life Group, ask questions. Sign up for a classes … seek Him out! If you feel burdened for the souls of humanity, then sign up for MHLS and help is build churches, send missionaries, etc.…

Check out the rest of Pastor Joe’s notes in the link!

https://bit.ly/2CUuEW3