Participants:
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP000044A
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00:01 The Bible tells us, "In the beginning was the Word,
00:03 and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." 00:07 It says to receive with meekness the implanted Word 00:11 which is able to save your souls, 00:13 and to be diligent to present yourself approved to God 00:17 rightly dividing the Word of truth. 00:20 Join us now for the 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 00:25 Our study today is Salvation by Faith Alone, 00:29 the Book of Romans. 00:32 Hello, and welcome to 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 00:36 I'm Shelley Quinn. 00:37 And I've got four other 3ABN family members 00:40 joining me today. 00:41 We are going to be looking at lesson five, 00:45 the faith of Abraham. 00:46 We're going to be talking about Abraham today 00:48 in our fourth quarterly Sabbath school study. 00:53 Now this fourth quarter, we're talking about 00:55 Salvation by Faith Alone, 00:58 we're studying the Book of Romans. 01:00 And it is such an exciting study. 01:03 If you don't have a copy of your very own 01:06 of this study that is published 01:08 by the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference, 01:11 then we ask that you go 01:13 to a Seventh-day Adventist Church. 01:17 They'd love to have you come. They'll give you a quarterly. 01:19 You can study with them. 01:21 Or you can go online to ABSG.Adventist.org 01:27 and you can download your very own copy. 01:29 Let me quickly introduce our wonderful panel to you. 01:33 We have with us, Jill Morikone, Mollie Steenson, 01:37 Pastor CA Murray, and Pastor Kenny Shelton. 01:40 And anything I could say about one of them, 01:43 I could say about 01:44 all because they're dear friends. 01:46 They're brothers and sisters in Christ 01:48 and they're part of my family. 01:50 And we're so glad that you're part of the family too. 01:52 And we're really excited to be bringing you this study. 01:56 Before we begin, I think I would like to ask, 01:59 Mollie, would you please pray for us. 02:01 Very happy to. 02:02 Holy Father, we are so grateful 02:04 that you've brought us all together today. 02:06 Thank you, Lord, for these hearts 02:09 that are submitted and committed to You. 02:11 We ask, Lord, that You would anoint. 02:14 Father, anoint us as we present what You've given us. 02:17 And Lord, I pray for everyone that's listening, 02:19 everyone that's watching, Father, 02:21 that their hearts will be touched, 02:23 that their hearts will be opened. 02:25 And as this word goes forth, it will go forth as good seed, 02:29 it will be planted in our hearts, 02:30 it will take root, it will grow, 02:32 and it will produce. 02:34 And, Lord, we will be changed from glory to glory 02:36 into Your image in your likeness. 02:38 Father, we pray this in Jesus' name. 02:41 Amen. Amen. 02:42 Before we get to Sunday's, 02:43 let me just spend a moment setting this up 02:45 because this has been 500 years this week 02:50 since the Reformation began. 02:53 And so this is something that, Romans 4 as we were studying, 02:57 and this was foundational to Martin Luther's discovery 03:02 of justification by faith, righteousness by faith, 03:05 that salvation was by faith alone. 03:08 And Paul presents Abraham as having obtained 03:14 righteousness by faith and salvation by grace. 03:17 It is so amazing because did you know 03:19 the Jews commonly believed that... 03:22 They looked at Abraham as the paragon of virtue, 03:26 the paragon of somebody, of obedience. 03:29 They looked at him and believed that he kept 03:32 all of God's commandments 03:34 before they were given on Mount Sinai. 03:37 And they based this on Genesis 26:5 03:40 where God renews His covenant of grace 03:45 that He had made with Abraham, with Abraham son Isaac. 03:50 And their, He says to him in Genesis 26:5, 03:55 the reason that He was renewing it 03:57 is because Abraham obeyed my voice, 04:00 kept my charge, my commandments, 04:01 my statutes, and my laws. 04:03 But in Romans 4:3, Paul goes all the way back. 04:07 And he picks, he plucks the scripture 04:09 out of Genesis 15:6. 04:12 And he says, 04:13 "For what does the scripture say? 04:15 Abraham believed God 04:18 and it was accounted to him for righteousness." 04:23 So he's proving his point 04:25 that salvation is always been by grace, 04:27 justification always has been by faith. 04:30 And he holds Abraham up not as the supreme example, 04:36 a virtue and obedience 04:39 but he holds him up to show 04:42 that if Abraham had to be saved by grace, 04:45 it's true for all of us. 04:47 So Paul's giving us three main... 04:50 He presents three major stages in the plan of salvation. 04:54 He presents the promise of divine blessing, 04:57 the promise of grace, 04:59 the human response to that promise 05:01 which is of response of faith, 05:04 and the divine pronouncement of righteousness 05:06 that is credited to those who accept Christ Jesus. 05:09 So salvation is always been by grace. 05:12 If it's credited to us that means it's not owed to us, 05:16 it's not a debt. 05:17 And as Luther... 05:20 Paul broke free as a Jew from that idea 05:24 of earning your salvation, and also so did Luther. 05:29 So let's look at our memory verse, 05:32 Romans 3:31. 05:34 "Do we then," let us join together, 05:37 "Do we then make void the law through faith? 05:42 Certainly not! 05:43 On the contrary, we establish the law." 05:47 So that is the scripture that I want to pick up for Sunday. 05:51 And what he is showing here in this scripture 05:55 is that the only path to salvation, 05:59 in the Old Testament times 06:01 the pathway to salvation was by grace. 06:06 When they looked at the Old Testament sanctuary 06:11 which was the remedy for sin, that's where the grace came in. 06:15 All of the services, all of the symbols 06:20 of His sanctuary pointed to Jesus Christ. 06:24 And so, it's always been a religion of grace. 06:28 And actually when they got off into legalism, 06:32 that was a perversion of their system. 06:36 So when we think about the law of Moses, what did... 06:41 Let's not talk about the law of Moses. 06:43 Let's talk about the Ten Commandments. 06:45 The Ten Commandments reveal three things. 06:47 One, it revealed God's holiness, 06:50 His character, His standard of righteousness. 06:54 It also reveals to mankind our own sinfulness. 06:58 We begin... 06:59 The law reveals the sin 07:02 but it also then makes us seek our Savior 07:07 because it points us to the need of our Savior. 07:10 So grace was given to us that we might fulfill the law. 07:16 When we look at... 07:18 When he says in Romans 3:31, 07:21 "Do we make void the law through faith? 07:23 Certainly not! 07:25 We establish or fulfill the law." 07:28 Because, you know, the Nicolaitans taught 07:32 that faith did away with the need of obedience. 07:36 That was a violence to scripture, 07:40 I guess you could say. 07:42 But what happened for Jesus was that when He came, 07:47 He showed us that we've even... 07:49 He set stricter standards 07:51 because we've discussed this in the past. 07:53 Jesus said, "It was lust that was the sin, adultery... 07:58 The thought was the sin, adultery was the fruit of sin. 08:02 It was hatred that was the sin, murder was the fruit of sin." 08:07 So He made it even stricter. 08:10 So now let's look at what Paul goes on to say 08:15 in Romans 4:1-8 08:17 because his point he's trying to prove 08:19 is that justification by faith alone 08:22 doesn't destroy the law, it completes. 08:25 It fills it up to its fullest and makes it meaningful. 08:29 So in Romans 4, and we'll start with verse 1, 08:33 "What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found 08:36 according to the flesh? 08:38 For if Abraham was justified by works, 08:41 he has something to boast about, 08:43 but not before God." 08:45 So basically, he's saying here God justifies 08:48 no one on the basis of works. 08:50 And then he says, 08:51 "For what does the scripture say?" 08:53 Paul knew that the way to end any argument 08:57 was to go to scripture 09:01 because tradition always has to yield to scripture. 09:03 Let me repeat that. 09:05 Tradition has to yield to scripture. 09:08 I believe for so long that the commandments 09:11 had been nailed to the cross. 09:12 I was taught that. 09:14 It was a tradition that was taught in the church 09:17 in which I grew up. 09:18 And when I went to scripture, the truth showed me otherwise. 09:24 So when Paul is talking to these Jews, 09:27 he knew that this if there's a clear statement in scripture, 09:31 they had to yield to that. 09:33 And then he goes on and he says, 09:34 "This is what scripture says, 'Abraham believed God, 09:37 and it was accounted to him for righteousness.'" 09:42 So this man who was the model of virtue, 09:46 the model of obedience. 09:49 His faith was an obedient faith, 09:51 but he was still saved by grace. 09:54 Then in verse 4 he says, "Now to him who works, 09:58 the wages are not counted as grace 10:00 but as debt." 10:02 I think I told you last time. 10:05 Paul uses 11 times in Romans 4, 10:09 a Greek word that is Logizomai, 10:13 and it means, it's a commercial accounting term. 10:16 It means too lay to one's credit. 10:18 So 11 different times Paul is using this that 10:22 God accounts it to us, He counts it, 10:24 He imputes it, He reckons it. 10:26 There's just no way to... 10:32 There's no other way that our heavenly... 10:34 We were overdrawn in our heavenly bank account. 10:37 And without God giving us 10:39 the righteousness of Jesus Christ, 10:41 there's no way we could ever measure up. 10:44 He says in verse 5, "But to him who does not work 10:48 but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, 10:51 his faith is accounted for righteousness." 10:55 Boy! This is a shocking statement 10:57 and it was the focus of the reformation. 10:59 God save sinners, God saves His enemies, 11:02 God saves the ungodly. 11:05 And it all comes by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. 11:10 And I want to say this too. 11:11 Sometimes people say, "I don't know 11:13 if I've got enough faith to be saved." 11:16 It's not the strength of our faith, 11:19 it's the strength of Jesus Christ. 11:22 But I do want to point out that James said, 11:25 Faith without works is what? 11:27 Dead. 11:28 Abraham's faith was an obedient faith. 11:33 When God told him to get out of his homeland 11:36 and He's sending him somewhere, Abraham followed. 11:39 When God asked him to sacrifice his son, 11:42 Abraham was following God's directions. 11:46 So we can't just think that faith means, "Oh, I believe." 11:51 Even the demons believe and tremble. 11:54 What faith is, it's not just a mental assent. 11:58 It's when it gets into our heart 12:00 and it is worked out. 12:02 So actions of obedience are part of faith. 12:06 Now he says in verse 6, 12:08 "Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man 12:12 to whom God imputes righteousness 12:15 apart from works: 12:18 Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven..." 12:21 These are David's words, "And whose sins are covered: 12:24 Blessed is the man 12:26 to whom the Lord shall not impute sin." 12:30 See, wages are an obligation, are they not? 12:33 That's the obligation to the worker 12:36 but grace is the gift. 12:37 When we use... 12:39 I love it that Paul used David. 12:42 Because here we see someone in scripture who is... 12:47 God calls "a man after my own heart" 12:50 but David lusted after Bathsheba. 12:53 He acted on that lust, 12:55 he committed adultery with Bathsheba. 12:57 He was very deceitful, he lied. 13:00 He then arranged to... 13:02 He deceived her husband, arranged for his murder. 13:05 But David admitted his guilt. 13:07 And when he prayed to God and ask God to forgive him, 13:13 to renew a right spirit within him, 13:16 then when he did that, God restored David. 13:22 He covered his sin. 13:24 And he restored David 13:26 and He did not take the Holy Spirit from David. 13:28 So we see that the primary steps of repentance and baptism 13:34 are needed to be justified by sin. 13:37 I mean, justified by faith. 13:39 As we accept God's grace, 13:42 just know that God is the one 13:45 who's going to not only work in us to... 13:51 He's not just going to pardon us 13:53 which is the act of God is justification. 13:57 But then, He's going to do 13:59 a work of righteousness by faith in it. 14:02 That's called sanctification 14:03 and that is when God works in us 14:06 to will and to do His good pleasure. 14:10 So as we look at the law, 14:12 we see that then the law is still something that is good, 14:18 something that is holy, 14:20 something that points out all of our shortcomings 14:27 but it is what brings us to Christ. 14:29 And then we can fulfill the law as Christ works in us, 14:35 as He lives in us by grace. 14:39 By the power of the Holy Spirit, 14:40 isn't that what Ephesians 3:20 says 14:43 that when we have the Spirit in us, 14:46 He lives in our heart... 14:47 Christ lives in our hearts by faith 14:49 and He works out His character in us. 14:52 Amen. Amen. 14:54 Thank you so much, Shelley. Well done. 14:56 Praise the Lord for the study of the Book of Romans. 14:59 Praise the Lord that He wants to justify 15:02 you, and I, and each one of us 15:05 with the blood of Jesus. 15:07 Praise God for that. Praise God. 15:08 He wants to sanctify us 15:10 and make us into the image of Jesus. 15:13 On Monday, we look at debt or grace. 15:17 And you know, I think, and we mentioned this 15:19 on previous lessons, previous studies. 15:22 Many times, it's so easy 15:24 for us to fall into our works orientated religion. 15:28 It's so easy to think that salvation is grace 15:31 plus my works 15:33 instead of I'm saved only by the blood of Jesus, 15:37 justified by faith. 15:39 If you contrast a works orientated religion 15:42 versus a faith orientated religion, 15:45 if your works orientated, 15:47 you believe you reach a certain standard of holiness 15:51 or you need to reach a certain standard of holiness 15:54 before you can be justified or before you can be forgiven. 15:58 And I know, just being honest with you. 16:00 I have done that. 16:02 I have fallen into that thinking, 16:03 I must need to do some penance, a few lashes on the back, 16:07 something after sin. 16:09 And before I come back to Jesus, 16:11 I need to somehow become better before He will accept me. 16:15 But faith orientated religion says 16:17 you can come to Jesus just as you are. 16:21 He accepts, He forgives, He cleanses and justifies, 16:26 and then empowers you to walk anew. 16:29 Works orientated says, it's about trying harder, 16:32 gritting my teeth and trying harder. 16:34 Faith orientated says, 16:36 it's about surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ 16:39 and allowing Him to do His work in me. 16:42 Works orientated really turns inward. 16:45 I look at my own character virtues, 16:47 my own character flaws 16:49 where faith orientated turns outward, 16:52 constantly beholding Jesus, 16:55 His love, His mercy, His character. 16:58 Works orientated is really self-absorbed 17:01 and faith orientated is God absorbed. 17:04 Now the passage we have here, 17:06 a couple of verses are the same ones Shelley read. 17:08 So we're going to read them again. 17:10 We're in Romans 4:6-12 is the passage I have. 17:14 And I know you already read 6, 17:16 I just want to point out one thing here in 6. 17:18 "Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man 17:23 to whom God imputes righteousness 17:26 apart from works." 17:28 That righteousness from God 17:29 comes without anything that you or I could do. 17:33 Now you already mentioned, Shelley, 17:34 that Greek word which I can't pronounce very well. 17:38 Logizomai maybe. 17:41 Maybe Pastor CA could have something better for us. 17:44 But to impute, to take into account, 17:46 you already mentioned how many times 17:47 it's mentioned in this chapter here in Romans 4. 17:52 Imputed righteousness, 17:54 justification by faith 17:56 is the work of God outside of us 17:59 crediting to us the righteousness of Jesus. 18:02 It's credited to us 18:04 enabling the Christian to stand before God is justified. 18:07 Imparted righteousness is the work of God 18:10 and the Holy Spirit inside us. 18:13 What God does in Christ by the power of His Holy Spirit 18:16 after justification, 18:18 working in us and empowering us 18:20 in that process of sanctification. 18:24 Imputed righteousness, faith connects us with Christ. 18:28 We talked about being accounted. 18:30 Verse 6, you said Abraham believed God. 18:32 I'm sorry, verse 3, 18:34 and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 18:36 Verse 6, "Just as David also describes 18:39 the blessedness of the man 18:40 to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. 18:43 Verse 11, "And he received the sign of circumcision, 18:47 a seal of the righteousness of the faith 18:50 which he had while still uncircumcised." 18:53 Now we'll get to that part about uncircumcised. 18:55 But right now, I just want to look at that part, 18:57 "The righteousness of the faith." 18:59 Faith is not the thing 19:01 that's credited as righteousness. 19:03 Righteousness is the thing that God credits to us. 19:06 God credits righteousness 19:09 but it comes through the vehicle, 19:11 through the avenue of faith. 19:13 By faith, we reach out and grasp that, 19:16 and God credits His righteousness to us. 19:20 Let's look at verse 7 and 8. 19:23 Now before we do that, 19:24 I'm sorry, I want to go to 2 Corinthians 5. 19:26 And then we'll come back to verse 7 and 8. 19:29 2 Corinthians 5, 19:33 and we talk often about some of our favorite verses. 19:36 I think chapter 5 is some of my favorite verses. 19:40 2 Corinthians 5:21. 19:43 And I don't know if this is a word, 19:45 so I'm going to say the word 19:46 but I don't know if it's really a word or not. 19:48 I'm going to say "double imputation". 19:51 So I don't know if imputation is a word or not 19:53 but I'm going to coin that word. 19:55 I see a double imputation in this verse. 19:58 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For He made Him 20:01 who knew no sin to be sin for us, 20:05 that we might become 20:07 the righteousness of God in Him." 20:10 God imputed our sins to Christ who knew no sin. 20:15 And at the same time, 20:17 God imputes Christ's righteousness 20:20 to you and I who have no righteousness of our own. 20:24 To me, you see almost that double imputation, 20:26 our sin going to Jesus 20:28 and then His righteousness being credited to our accounts. 20:32 So let's come back to Romans 4:7 and 8. 20:36 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, 20:40 and whose sins are covered. 20:43 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute," 20:45 there's our word again, "impute sin." 20:48 Now he is quoting actually from Psalm 32:1 and 2. 20:53 And in that scripture, 20:55 I think that's one of the clearest statements 20:57 of imputed righteousness in the Old Testament. 20:59 We also have the Genesis 15:6, 21:01 Abraham believed God 21:03 and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 21:06 This Hebrew word used in the Psalm 32 21:08 is the same as the Hebrew word used in the Genesis 15:6, 21:12 hashab, I'm not sure 21:14 but it means to impute, to reckon, to account. 21:18 God accounts us. 21:19 So we say this concept of justification by faith 21:22 is New Testament? 21:23 It's not. 21:25 It came from the beginning, from the very beginning. 21:27 Amen. 21:29 Let's look, there's a quote here 21:31 and then we'll go to the rest of our scriptures. 21:32 This is from Selected Messages book 1, page 215. 21:36 "The sinner must come in faith to Christ, 21:40 take hold of His merits, 21:42 lay his sins upon the Sin Bearer, 21:45 and receive His pardon. 21:47 It was for this cause 21:48 that Christ came into the world. 21:51 Thus the righteousness of Christ 21:53 is imputed to the repenting, believing sinner." 21:57 That's you and that's me. 21:58 "He becomes a member of the royal family." 22:02 So praise God for that. 22:04 Couple more verses, we're going to read 9 through 12 here. 22:07 Now this is whether Abraham was justified 22:09 before his circumcision or after. 22:11 That's what Paul is addressing here. 22:13 "Does this blessedness," 22:14 this blessedness of justification by faith, 22:16 "Does it come upon the circumcised only, 22:19 or it also upon the uncircumcised? 22:23 For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham 22:26 for righteousness." 22:28 Or through faith, 22:29 Abraham received that righteousness. 22:32 "How then was it accounted? 22:34 While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? 22:37 Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. 22:42 And he," meaning Abraham, 22:43 "received the sign of circumcision, 22:45 a seal of the righteousness of the faith 22:47 which he had while still uncircumcised, 22:51 that he might be the father of all those who believe, 22:53 though they are uncircumcised, 22:55 that righteousness might be imputed to them also, 22:59 and the father of circumcision 23:01 to those who not only are of the circumcision, 23:03 but who also walk in the steps of the faith 23:06 which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised." 23:10 Now if you read in Joshua 24:2, 23:14 it talks about Abraham's roots 23:16 and some of his ancestors worshipping idols, 23:19 worshipping other gods. 23:20 And yet God called him. 23:22 God imputed to him that righteousness. 23:25 He was justified 23:27 before the time of when he was circumcised. 23:31 So we see whether we are Jew or gentile, 23:35 in the world, in the church, 23:37 none of that matters. 23:39 We come before the Lord Jesus Christ. 23:41 And we say, "Father, I have sinned 23:44 and I have fallen short of the glory of God. 23:46 And I want to be cleansed. 23:48 I want to be made righteous. 23:51 Will you impute Your righteousness, 23:55 Your character to me?" 23:56 When the Father looks at you, He doesn't see that sin. 24:00 He doesn't see those dirty garments. 24:02 He sees the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. 24:06 Praise the Lord for that. 24:08 No matter, this scripture tells us, 24:09 no matter who we are, no matter what our background, 24:12 we don't have to belong to a special people group 24:14 or be a special people. 24:16 God accepts us, justifies us, 24:18 and then He will work that process of sanctification. 24:21 Amen. Amen and amen. 24:22 Beautifully said, beautifully said. 24:24 Well, I am looking at Tuesday and I'm looking at the promise. 24:30 So we ask our self, 24:31 "What promise are we talking about? 24:33 What promise? 24:35 What is the promise? 24:37 And who was the promise made to?" 24:39 The promise was made to Abraham. 24:41 And what promise was that? 24:43 That He was going to make Abraham 24:46 the father of many nations. 24:49 So that's the promise, 24:51 but I want us to see something in this. 24:53 We have to remember who Paul is writing to. 24:58 He's writing to Jewish believers. 25:01 Now in the letter of Romans, he's writing to the Romans. 25:07 But it's Jewish believers that are there. 25:10 But they are immersed, 25:11 of course, they are immersed in Old Testament law. 25:14 The reason is they were Old Testament believers. 25:18 They were under the old covenant. 25:20 They heard the gospel message of the Lord Jesus Christ 25:23 just like you and I did, and they accepted Jesus. 25:27 Now they are Jewish believers. 25:31 Many of these believers truly believed 25:35 that their salvation rested on `how well they kept the law. 25:41 Even though that wasn't what the Old Testament taught 25:44 which we have made so clear, 25:46 been presented so beautifully here, 25:48 that's not what the Old Testament taught. 25:51 However, that was what they had been taught. 25:55 And so that's what was true to them. 26:00 So what Paul is facing 26:04 was people that were living under a misconception 26:08 but it was truth to them. 26:11 And Paul has to try. 26:13 And what Paul is doing is correcting the misconception 26:18 that they were living under. 26:21 He was bringing them truth in exchange for the error. 26:25 Now these people were, they had a... 26:28 Can we say a performance based mentality? 26:31 Yes. Well said. 26:32 It was so much easier for them to keep along. 26:37 You know, it's easier for us to do something 26:39 than to live by faith. 26:41 You know, to live by faith means 26:43 you're putting your confidence 26:44 in something you can't see, hear, touch, taste, or smell. 26:48 That would be, I wrote this scripture down. 26:50 It's Romans 5:7, 26:52 "For we walk by faith and not by sight." 26:55 If you don't walk by what you see 26:57 that means you're not walking by your senses. 26:59 You're not going to walk 27:01 by what you see, or touch, taste, or smell. 27:02 That is faith, when you put your confidence 27:06 in something that you can't see. 27:08 And so these people that Paul was teaching, 27:13 are bringing them up out of their error, 27:15 what they have been told erroneously. 27:18 They were walking about what they saw. 27:22 They didn't understand 27:24 the concept of walking by faith at all. 27:28 To correct the error, 27:30 what Paul had to do 27:32 was he had to contrast the law with faith, 27:37 so they could see and receive their need to exercise faith. 27:43 Now when you correct somebody's error. 27:48 Do people want to be corrected of their error? 27:51 As a rule, no, they don't. 27:53 You know, it says, "Be not..." 27:55 No, that's not the scripture that I want. 27:58 "Be a doer of the word 28:00 not a hearer only deceiving your own selves." 28:05 Now if you're self deceived, 28:06 that's the hardest person to get, 28:10 to bring into light 28:12 is because you're in self deception 28:14 you've deceived your self. 28:16 But if you're a doer of the word, 28:17 if you read God's word, 28:20 Pastor Kenny, if people read God's word 28:22 and just did what it said, but we could... 28:25 Just like these Jewish believers, 28:27 they had such a skewed... 28:32 concept of God's grace and mercy. 28:35 It had been skewed by erroneous teaching. 28:37 So the why you correct error, 28:40 it's the same way you would deal with a child. 28:45 Let's say your child has got a broken glass jar 28:49 and they're playing with it. 28:50 They're so happy. 28:51 They haven't cut themselves yet but they will in time. 28:56 That broken glass jar, 28:58 that piece of glass is going to damage them. 29:01 So what do you do? 29:02 You don't go for it, "Give me that..." 29:05 You'll cut him, you'll harm him. 29:06 What you do is you bring him this nice rubber ball 29:09 and you say, "Honey, here, take this 29:13 and let momma have that piece of glass." 29:15 And that's how you would deal with your child. 29:19 So what Paul was doing was he was saying, 29:22 "Here, give me 29:24 that misconception concerning the law 29:27 and let me teach you about grace, and mercy, and faith." 29:31 So that was how Paul was addressing the situation. 29:36 In so doing, Paul is arguing that Abraham, 29:40 whom they call the father of all, 29:43 you know, their father 29:44 and we've talked about even today, 29:46 what a great high regard that Abraham was 29:51 and to the children of Israel. 29:54 That father Abraham walked by faith, 29:59 he received the promise of faith 30:01 even before Mount Sinai. 30:03 He walked by faith. 30:04 Romans 4:13, 30:06 and I think we've probably read this scripture a few times. 30:09 "For the promise that he would be the heir of the world 30:13 was not to Abraham..." 30:14 And this is something I want you to see. 30:17 "Or to his seed through the law, but through..." 30:21 What is it? There's that word again. 30:23 "Righteousness by faith." 30:25 In this scripture, Paul contrasts 30:28 how Abraham received the promise 30:30 that, "He and his heirs 30:33 would be that heir of the world." 30:36 Now, let's think about this, "To Abraham." 30:38 So we're reading the scripture of this Old Testament 30:44 personality, father Abraham and he's been made a promise. 30:48 How does that affect you? 30:50 And then I would have you go to Galatians 3:29. 30:55 I know every time we get together, 30:57 we talk about scriptures that are our favorites 31:00 but I want you to look at the scripture. 31:02 Turn to Galatians 3:29, "And if you are Christ," 31:08 in the King James it says, "If you be Christ, 31:11 you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ." 31:13 If you've made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, 31:16 this scripture is to you, this scripture belongs to you. 31:20 "And if you are Christ 31:22 then are you Abraham's seed and heirs 31:26 according to the promise." 31:28 That means that this promise 31:30 that was made to father Abraham, 31:33 if you have made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, 31:35 this promise is to you. 31:37 Amen. 31:39 He said that this promise didn't come through the law 31:43 but through the righteousness of faith. 31:46 You received it the same way by faith. 31:48 God made a promise to Abraham 31:51 that he was to be the heir of the world, 31:54 Abraham believed the promise, 31:56 as a result God accepted him 31:59 and worked through him to save the world. 32:02 Now, I want you to look at this in Genesis. 32:04 Genesis 15, we're going to read verses 5 and 6. 32:09 Genesis 15:5-6. 32:14 Now this is God 32:15 and it's accounting a conversation 32:19 he had with Abraham. 32:21 "Then he brought him outside and said, 32:25 look now toward the heaven and count the stars." 32:28 Can you count the stars? 32:30 God brings Abraham and said, "Look up there, Abraham, 32:33 count those stars 32:35 if you're able to number them 32:37 and he said to him so shall your descendents be." 32:42 Now at this time, how many children did Abraham have? 32:47 None. None. 32:48 That would be none. 32:50 Now, let me ask you this. 32:51 How old was Abraham? 32:54 About how old was Abraham at this time? 32:56 It was about, is he 70... 32:59 Seventy five? Yeah, yeah. 33:00 Too old to be thinking about children. 33:04 So, he has no children. 33:06 He's getting old up there in age. 33:08 He got no wife. 33:10 And want to tell you, 33:11 so Sarah is of same age as he is there and about. 33:14 So here we have this older couple 33:16 and God says to him, "So shall your descendants be." 33:20 It's all the stars. 33:22 Well, there's another time He takes him to the sea shore 33:24 and what does He tell him then? 33:25 Look at the sand. 33:27 Same promise. 33:28 And, but look what Abraham did. 33:31 "And he believed in the Lord 33:34 and He accounted to him for righteousness." 33:36 Now it reminds me of Peter. 33:38 Remember one night when he went fishing, 33:40 he came back in the next morning, 33:42 how many fish had he caught? 33:43 None. None. 33:45 But what did Jesus tell him? 33:48 Cast out. 33:49 And you know what Peter said to Him, 33:52 "Nevertheless at Your word." 33:54 Amen. Amen. 33:56 That's faith. That's faith. 33:57 That's faith. 33:58 Righteousness by faith. 34:00 He accounted to him for righteousness. 34:03 Why did God account righteousness to Abraham? 34:07 Because Abraham believed, had faith in what God told him. 34:11 How is righteousness accounted to us? 34:14 How many of you do want righteousness 34:16 to be accounted to you? 34:17 Amen. 34:19 It's by us, listening to what God has to say, 34:23 believing what He says 34:24 and then doing what He tells us to do, 34:26 that's righteousness by faith. 34:28 That's fulfilling the promise. 34:30 And remember, if you be Christ then are you Abraham's seed 34:34 and you are heirs to that promise too. 34:37 Amen. Pastor CA. 34:39 Well said. Well said. 34:43 In looking at the times in which we find ourselves... 34:48 If you're listening to each of the teachers here, 34:53 one of the things you're hearing 34:54 is a certain amount of repetition. 34:57 We are repeating ourselves. 34:59 We are repeating ourselves 35:00 because Paul is repeating himself. 35:04 He is going against centuries of cultural indoctrination. 35:09 It's in the Jewish mindset, we've got to help ourselves. 35:14 If we're going to be better, 35:15 we've got to make ourselves better. 35:18 Even our savior is going to come to help us 35:23 make ourselves better. 35:24 It's part of the mindset of a people 35:27 who are used to solving problems 35:30 and doing it for themselves. 35:32 And so Paul is taking times. 35:34 And I tell you when you're speaking, 35:36 if you can say something three times 35:39 because the first time you say, a third will hear, 35:41 a third will be looking in a pocket book 35:43 or check in their iPad. 35:45 The second time, another third will hear. 35:47 By the third time pretty much your audience has gotten it. 35:49 So you see Paul coming to the same conclusion 35:52 from many different directions. 35:54 So he's saying it over again and over again and over again. 35:57 And then he pulls out examples 36:00 to try to buttress the theological points 36:02 that he is making. 36:04 We're about 20 years 36:05 after the death of Christ on the cross. 36:08 So we're still early in the Christian dispensation, 36:11 we're not very far down the road. 36:13 About this time, the Book of Matthew is being written, 36:16 the Book of Mark is being written, 36:17 the Jerusalem Council is convening. 36:19 So the church is wrestling with the idea 36:23 that everything you, like you tell us, Shelly, 36:26 when you went to Lord, 36:27 Lord said, "Everything that's in there, flush it 36:29 because I've got some whole new stuff to give you now." 36:31 And so he's saying to the Jewish community 36:35 who are Jewish Christians, 36:37 this is the Jewish Christian community in Rome 36:39 that he is addressing. 36:40 Everything you saw you knew, 36:42 everything that appertained 36:44 to the way you used to approach me, 36:47 you've got to get rid of that. 36:48 You've got to jettison that now 'cause I've got a whole new way 36:51 for you to look at your relationship with me. 36:53 And it is so opposed to what you had before 36:58 that I've got to give you this example 37:00 so that you can understand what I'm trying to say. 37:02 And then as you mentioned, Jill and Mollie also, 37:05 he goes back to Abraham 37:07 who, I mean, you couldn't pick a better example 37:10 if you want to impress a Jewish mind. 37:12 You know that, let's go to Abraham. 37:13 "Oh, Abraham, that's the guy." 37:15 And he shows that Abraham had to come through faith, 37:20 had to exercise the same kind of faith 37:22 that you are now going to exercise 37:24 because Abraham was starting a whole new thing, 37:26 a whole new faith, 37:28 he's the father of the faithful. 37:29 You're starting a whole new thing, 37:31 a whole new faith 37:32 so you've got to use the same kind of faith 37:34 that Abraham did. 37:35 And then Ellen White says this, 37:37 she compares Abraham and Zachariah, 37:41 John the Baptist's father. 37:43 She says, they are parallel in a couple of ways. 37:45 One, they both were too old to think about children. 37:49 Zachariah says to Gabriel, 37:52 Gabriel says, "I got some good news for you, man, 37:55 you're going to have a son. 37:56 He's not going to drink wine, he's going to be a blessing." 38:00 He gave him a list of things 38:01 that John the Baptist is going to do. 38:03 And Zachariah like, I guess any old man said, 38:06 "I'm gonna need a sign. 38:09 I'm gonna need some help. 38:10 How will I know?" 38:12 And Gabriel says, "Well, first of all, 38:17 do you know who I am? 38:19 You know, I am Gabriel." 38:22 Basically he's saying, "I didn't come here to fool you 38:27 or to clown with you. 38:28 I came here to give you a message 38:30 that's very, very serious. 38:31 And your sign is gonna be you're not going to talk again 38:34 until it happens, that's your sign 38:37 because I don't want you throwing doubt out." 38:39 So when this prophecy comes through, 38:42 then you'll be able to rejoice over the prophecy. 38:44 Well, Paul is doing the same kind of thing here. 38:48 You people are being exposed 38:51 to something brand new and radical to you, 38:54 so I'm gonna say it again and again. 38:56 It's like that old story I heard, Mollie, the preacher, 38:59 he went to the church to preach the first sermon 39:01 and people loved it, brand new church. 39:03 Then next week, he preached the same sermon, 39:05 the next week he preached the same sermon, 39:07 the next week he preached the same sermon and they said, 39:09 "Pastor, it's five weeks now. 39:10 This is the same sermon, you know." 39:12 He says, "I'm gonna keep preaching it to you 39:13 till you get it right," you know. 39:15 So it's that kind of thing. 39:16 Paul says, "I'm gonna keep saying this 39:18 until you understand 39:20 this brand new way of thinking." 39:21 And it was revolutionary 39:23 to think that all I've got to do 39:25 is surrender my life in faith 39:28 believe in Christ and He credits me. 39:31 Mercy. 39:32 That's not good accounting, giving me credit for stuff. 39:36 He credits me with righteousness? 39:39 So it's not law as opposed to grace, 39:41 or law as opposed to faith, or law as opposed to love, 39:45 they all work hand in hand. 39:46 They all work together. 39:48 And this is for people who've never thought of that before, 39:51 a radical new thought. 39:52 And so the Jerusalem Council says, 39:55 "We decree that the gentiles are saved 39:58 just like the Jews are saved. 40:00 It's righteousness by faith for them," 40:02 and hallelujah, 40:03 it's righteousness by faith for us too. 40:05 So even that, even though that is something 40:08 you never thought of before 40:09 or maybe you have trouble accepting 40:11 that is the will of God for you. 40:16 The principle and this is in the lesson. 40:18 The principle of the man can save himself by its own works 40:21 and layout the foundation of every heathen religion. 40:23 We talked about that before 40:25 that all heathen religions are based on this, 40:27 either there's something 40:29 I can do to make myself acceptable to God. 40:32 There's got to be something I can do. 40:34 And, you know, if you do it then you feel you deserve, 40:39 you know, "I did this. 40:41 I deserve my crown," you know. 40:44 And the idea that you get that crown 40:46 and there's nothing you can do. 40:47 The plan has been set in motion, 40:49 Christ has done it all. 40:51 He calls even the faith you get is His faith, 40:53 you are saved by His faith. 40:55 So it's nothing that you can work up 40:56 or put in a blender and come out with a smoothie. 41:00 It's something that Christ does 41:01 for you, with you, to you, through you. 41:03 Then for people who are used to doing it another way, 41:06 it is a radical thing indeed. 41:09 Ellen White asks this question and it's touched on in lesson, 41:12 there in the book of Desire of Ages. 41:14 She says, "Why does this idea of, 41:19 the fact that you can work your way in, 41:21 why does that open you up to sin?" 41:23 And that's a very interesting idea, 41:25 very sort of esoteric kind of thought. 41:29 If I make a law for Mollie, 41:33 then Mollie is left to wrestle with my imperfect law. 41:40 It comes from an imperfect mind. 41:42 So even if you kept my law, it's still imperfect. 41:47 So that opens you up to anything 41:49 that man's imperfect mind can conjure up 41:52 which is why people thought that crucifying their children 41:55 and burning babies was acceptable to God, 41:58 because it comes from an imperfect mind. 42:01 Which is why if you take away the law, 42:06 you are left with all kinds of, 42:09 can I say insanity, spiritual insanity? 42:12 The law gives us the parameters for righteousness. 42:16 It is not within me to direct my own steps, 42:19 let alone your steps. 42:20 Mercy. 42:22 So if I begin to create laws and make laws 42:26 which is why the United States Constitution 42:27 has so many amendments 42:29 because we realize that didn't work, 42:31 so let's change it, 42:32 that didn't work so let's change it, 42:34 that didn't work so let's change it. 42:35 But God's law is once 42:38 and for all comprehensive and beautiful 42:40 and needs no change. 42:42 You can't take away from it, you certainly cannot add to it. 42:45 It is perfect. 42:46 So when we try to keep our own laws, our own ways, 42:49 we open up ourselves to degradation and to sin. 42:52 We can only get worse, we can never get better. 42:55 You know, we can never rise any higher. 42:58 Plus there's no divine help to keep that. 43:01 This idea, and I'll close with this. 43:03 This idea that Christ came to sacrifice himself 43:09 so that we can be keepers of the law was so alien 43:11 that in John 6:61, he explained it to them. 43:17 They said, the disciples said, "This is a hard saying. 43:21 Who can hear this? 43:22 We're not, no, we're not doing that. 43:24 We didn't sign on for this." 43:26 And then in John 6:66, it says, 43:28 "From that time many of them went back 43:31 and walked no longer with him," 43:32 which shows you how tough 43:34 this new way of thinking about God was for them. 43:37 So this is why given this kind of history, 43:40 John, Paul rather takes his time 43:43 to explain and re-explain 43:45 and re-explain and re-explain and re-explain 43:49 because not only was it here in Romans, 43:51 we saw it in Galatia 43:52 and we'll see it again in other church groups in the Bible. 43:56 So this is something, 43:57 when you get a radical new idea like this, 43:59 it takes time to kind of get it into the mind, 44:01 but once it comes, 44:03 Martin Luther saw it 44:04 as a totally freeing experience. 44:06 It was enormous, the energy for the Protestant Reformation, 44:10 and of course, it is the foundation 44:12 upon which we live, 44:13 which we move and which we have our being, 44:15 the fact that Christ has done it all 44:17 and all I've got to do is accept Him by faith, 44:21 surrender to Him and let Him be the Lord of our life. 44:24 Radical but the greatest of all doctrines 44:28 and the basis of the Protestant Reformation. 44:30 Amen. 44:31 That's just good news, you know. 44:33 People who are here 44:35 if each one who is explaining their portion of the lesson, 44:37 how well it fits, you know. 44:40 You're in a construction, you go out in the worksite 44:42 and, you know, you have so many blocks that fits, 44:45 you know, here and there and so on. 44:46 They have to fit 44:48 and they have to fit perfectly and right. 44:50 And that's how God would have it in His Word. 44:53 I was thinking about 44:54 what you're talking about there. 44:55 Let's say, I go out to the construction site. 44:58 I'm used to having hammer, nails and jumping in 45:00 and working with the boys, you know. 45:03 What if every time I went over there, they say, 45:05 "You don't have to do any of that. 45:07 You don't have to do this now, you don't have..." 45:10 Pretty soon you would feel kind of like, 45:12 if you're kind of little prideful and so on is, 45:14 "I'm not needed." 45:15 And I'm wondering in our spiritual aspect, 45:18 you know, of it is somehow I've got to play 45:21 a vital part or role in my salvation 45:25 or this was always part of our thinking 45:29 when I grew up early in the church. 45:31 So I don't know about anyone else 45:33 but when you've been there a long time, 45:35 there's a lot of things that you do experience, 45:38 and good and bad. 45:40 But part of ours was... 45:43 There was certain things, 45:45 let's say, needed to be done 45:47 and there was, you can understand that. 45:49 But needed and if you weren't doing that you, 45:52 "I'm not sure you really need to be a member of this church, 45:55 you know, because you're not working. 45:56 You're not doing what the others are doing." 45:59 I'm so thankful that we grow and we learn and we realize 46:03 through these lessons here that God is saying to us, 46:06 "I have this beautiful free gift." 46:09 And I'm thankful for that free gift 46:11 and every day I thank Him for, 46:12 you know, just the life and health and strength 46:15 that He gives and the blessings that He sends, 46:17 you know, my way as well as everyone else. 46:19 And I know it's through Him 46:21 that we live and move and have our being 46:23 and I never want to shortchange that. 46:25 Since we talk about Thursday's lesson Law and Sin, 46:28 I mean, this is all what we've been talking about 46:30 and each one has put it very well 46:32 as far as we're going over some of the same things. 46:34 But let's just do it again 46:36 because this can be very elementary 46:39 to some who have been over but it can be very complex 46:42 to those who maybe have not studied before 46:44 but who have never heard this question 46:47 because when you say law and sin, 46:49 it's good to kind of look at definitions 46:51 and just look at from the beginning 46:54 because when I say the law, what comes in our minds? 46:56 What comes in your mind when you say the law? 46:58 I think several different things could come. 47:00 Ten Commandments. Yeah, Ten Commandments. 47:03 Law of Moses. Go ahead. 47:05 The law of Moses. Yeah, the law of Moses. 47:07 It could be ceremonial, could be moral, radical, 47:09 all kinds of different things. 47:10 But law is one thing I think the Holy Spirit, 47:13 he keeps putting in my mind, Kenny, 47:15 it's just not some ordinary thing, it's not this. 47:17 It says that the law is spiritual and we are... 47:21 Carnal. 47:23 Well, that sounds like opposite here. 47:24 I sound like I've got a problem already to start with here 47:27 and it needs to be work out, maybe you feel that way too. 47:30 Romans 7:14, the law is spiritual. 47:33 So number one, it tells me that the law is good 47:37 and how the law is... 47:38 If I can't explain, I need more than that, 47:40 how can something that's spiritual be bad? 47:42 So it must be good. 47:44 So I must set it over here on the table and say, 47:45 "Okay, now this says it's spiritual, 47:47 so something is spiritual. 47:49 It must be good, it must harmonize 47:51 with the rest of the Bible." 47:53 And then, you know, you read that you use 47:55 in your Bible study so often in Romans 7:12 47:59 talking about the law. 48:01 It says, "It's holy and it's just," and what is it? 48:04 Good. It's good. 48:06 Even as a young person I looked at this 48:08 because I heard older folks debating this, Pastor. 48:12 I know, they debate this here, 48:14 I don't know how good must be good, 48:16 or how much good isn't good. 48:20 It just said, it's holy, it's just and is good. 48:25 I just said, what more could I add to that? 48:28 How can I debate those words in scripture? 48:31 So I need to, just been said here, 48:33 read those things and say thank you Lord for those 48:35 because it's holy, it's just and the good, 48:37 that's the law. 48:38 And then, of course, Romans 7:7 talks about the law, 48:42 is law a sin? 48:44 I mean, it is such bad because, you know... 48:47 no, I said, God forbid, you know, it's not bad. 48:49 I had not known, talk about lust, 48:52 not known sin except by the law. 48:55 So these things maybe elementary 48:57 but when you put them one, two, three, A, B, C 49:00 to me in my simple thinking, 49:02 it begins to make sense to me what God is saying about that. 49:06 Romans 2:13, 49:09 "Be doers, the doers of the law will be justified." 49:13 We're looking for, 49:15 so there's something about the doing, right? 49:17 There's something about we keep saying, 49:18 "Well, it's free and it's all good." 49:20 But there's something about our love for Christ, 49:22 if we have it in our hearts and in mind, 49:24 it's going to motivate me to want to do something. 49:27 Does that make sense? Do something for Jesus... 49:30 It's called love. 49:31 Yeah, I want to give a Bible study, 49:33 I want to pray with someone, I want to witness to someone. 49:37 Sometime, you want to witness so bad, 49:39 you want to get him by the nap of the neck and say, 49:41 "You know, this is for your own good." 49:43 That's what I heard at home when I got corrected. 49:45 "This is going to be for your own good." 49:47 But you don't do it that way. 49:48 Christ never operate that way, those that are out there, 49:51 he says, "It is free, take it. 49:52 It's going to change your life. 49:54 It's going to make you a new creature in Christ." 49:56 And we read so many times Romans 3:20. 50:00 The law gives what? Knowledge. 50:01 This is what it is. 50:02 "By the law is the knowledge of sin." 50:04 Romans 3:21, "We make void the law through faith." 50:06 Once again, I've people after, 50:08 I mean, dozens will come up and say, "I live by faith. 50:12 I just live by faith, don't need anything else." 50:14 You give him this passage, 50:16 what are you going to do with it? 50:17 God forbid we establish that law. 50:20 Now, if you have your Bibles, you might want to turn with me 50:22 and I think it's 1 John. 50:23 Very interesting, 1 John 2 and those you at home 50:25 need to be following along with 50:27 because I know this for sure, regardless of what time it is 50:32 somebody is going to say, 50:34 "Why didn't they bring this point up?" 50:36 Well, now is your choice and your chance 50:38 to be able to get in and say now, 50:40 at least I'll read along and I can, 50:42 you know, my own home I can bring this thing up. 50:45 1 John 2:3-6. 1 John 2:3-6. 50:50 Now Pastor CA, if I say it three times, will it work? 50:54 We praise the Lord. 50:56 1 John 2:3-6, and it says, 50:59 "Hereby we do know that we know Him." 51:03 Here's, here it is, we're considering this thing 51:05 and we're looking at it and it said, 51:07 "Okay, now this, we know for sure now 51:08 that you know him, if," what? 51:11 "If we keep His commandments." 51:12 So how can someone turn around and say, 51:14 "Well, we don't worry about keeping, we don't..." 51:16 This is how we know, it's what scripture says. 51:19 This is how we know. 51:21 "He that saith, I knoweth him, and," 51:23 oh, this is heavy. 51:24 "And keepeth not his commandments, 51:25 is a liar, and the truth is not in him." 51:30 So a person can read that and you can read it to them 51:33 and they will turn and look at you and say, 51:34 "No, I know I still don't have to worry about these." 51:37 And it makes you want to come back and say, 51:39 "Well, the Bible just said you're liar." 51:41 It could be a little contentious, 51:42 could be a little problem. 51:44 I'm one likes to get down to it, 51:46 let the rubber hit the road, let there be, 51:49 Sister Mollie, I can agitate sometime. 51:51 Not you, no. 51:53 I might learn that from my brother a little bit 51:54 but anyway we can agitate 51:56 and it's not bad to be an agitator. 51:58 Ellen White says, we are to agitate these truths. 52:00 That means I can agitate. 52:02 Anybody know the old washing machine that used to have, 52:04 what they call them? 52:05 The agitators. 52:07 And it was to get the dirt out. 52:08 Get the dirt out and that's what it is. 52:10 You work it and you get the dirt out and you go over, 52:13 you talk about it, you discuss it 52:15 and all of a sudden people are starting to hear it 52:17 and what, we become clean by the word. 52:21 Agitated, keep before the people 52:24 because many times 52:27 and honestly, it's about, I'm still learning, 52:28 I'm in the school of Christ, you know. 52:30 How little we know sometime as a people 52:33 about this beautiful, beautiful message 52:35 righteousness by faith. 52:37 Any typical Adventist, anyone tap down and say, 52:40 you give me something about the 2300 days. 52:43 Sometime they had difficult time talking about 2300. 52:46 It doesn't make you good or bad, it's the knowledge. 52:48 But I think we should be studying these things 52:50 because that supports our gospel message. 52:53 "He that saith, I know him, keepeth not his commandments, 52:55 is a liar, and the truth is not in him." 52:59 It goes on, read that, we don't have time to read that. 53:01 Verse 6, "He that saith he abideth in him 53:03 ought to himself also," what? 53:06 "Walk, even as he walked." 53:07 There again, there's the example of my Lord 53:10 and my Savior Jesus Christ. 53:11 I can do that to Him, I can follow in His footsteps. 53:15 Grace, when someone says, "Oh, I live by grace now." 53:19 We've heard all that, right? 53:21 I live by, I don't worry about no laws. 53:23 I live by grace." 53:24 I just simply say, "You know, grace 53:25 must not be made an excuse for continuing in sin." 53:29 Many times grace is used as an excuse 53:31 to continue on in sin 53:34 because they don't know. 53:35 You say, well, I'm not sure about that, 53:36 I think we have time to read quickly, Romans 6, 53:40 I think it brings it out rather quickly here. 53:42 Romans 6:1-2. 53:44 Romans 6:1-2, that's twice I've said it. 53:49 Romans 6:1-2 and that's three, I love it. 53:51 It's all right, it's all good, makes sense. 53:54 Roman 6:1-2, "What shall we say then? 53:58 Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 54:02 God forbid. 54:04 How shall we, that are dead to sin, 54:06 live any longer therein?" 54:08 You know, that sound like part of our lessons 54:10 coming up to is victory, victory in our life 54:13 and because of righteousness by faith, 54:15 because someone mentioned down here, 54:17 Christ living in you and me, then we should have His mind. 54:22 It should be Him making decisions for us, 54:24 should be Him living His life through us, 54:27 us walking as He walked. 54:29 No longer I but Christ, no longer my mind but His mind. 54:33 So this is what to me is what it's a about 54:36 as we study this lesson. 54:37 It's not about Kenney, never has been. 54:40 It's about Jesus Christ. Amen, amen. 54:42 Thank you so much, Kenny, You know, as you said, 54:45 there are people who misconstrue 54:49 the meaning of grace. 54:50 And if we think about it, grace is God's... 54:53 If you think about His three greatest gifts, 54:55 it's grace, Jesus Christ, He gave His only begotten Son, 55:00 the Holy Spirit that He gave to empower us, 55:03 and all scripture was given as a gift to us 55:06 so that we can live godly lives. 55:10 So you think the power in those three greatest gifts of grace 55:14 and you see that grace is the unearned, 55:17 undeserved gifts of God 55:19 that provide His supernatural assistance 55:23 and divine power for salvation 55:25 because He didn't come to save us 55:28 in our sins but from our sins. 55:30 So we see then the covenant of grace 55:33 began with Abraham who fathered the Hebrew nation. 55:39 Just very quickly, if you can take about 15 seconds each, 55:42 just one single thought 55:44 that hits you from your day's lesson. 55:49 Mine is a quote from Martin Luther, 55:51 his understanding of imputed righteousness. 55:54 "It was like entering a paradise of peace with God." 55:58 And praise the Lord, that's what He wants to do 55:59 for you and for me. 56:01 Amen. Mollie Sue? 56:02 I think quite touched me the most from the scriptures 56:05 that I have covered was that, if we are Christ, 56:09 if we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ 56:11 then we are heirs with, joint heirs with Christ 56:14 and heirs according to the promise. 56:16 Amen. Amen. Praise God. 56:17 When I think of God's creative power, 56:22 what this affirms to me 56:23 is that we are also the creation of God. 56:26 God created us by fiat, by command, 56:29 He recreates us by fiat, by command 56:32 and says that we are righteous in His eyes. 56:34 Amen. Amen. Kenney? 56:36 One of the things sticks out in my mind is in the lesson, 56:38 the last few lines, this part here. 56:40 Is talking about the law. 56:42 Biggest argument, the best argument we have 56:45 that have not been changed is Calvary, 56:47 is the cross of Calvary. 56:49 If it could have been it been better have a change 56:51 before He had to go through what He went through 56:53 but it could not be. 56:55 Absolutely. 56:56 And God did not relax His standards 56:58 by giving us righteousness by faith 57:00 but, you know, sending His son, 57:01 in fact, He increased His standards. 57:04 Well, I hope you've enjoyed this wonderful study 57:06 on the faith of Abraham 57:09 and understand that Abraham's faith 57:11 was an obedient faith. 57:13 He believed God and he obeyed 57:16 and God counted it to him as righteousness. 57:19 Our prayer for you 57:20 is that the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 57:22 the love of the Father 57:24 and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit 57:25 will be with you always. |
Revised 2024-07-09