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Bible Study- Lutz, Florida
Established
November 2008
Rightly
Dividing the Word of Truth
(2
Timothy 2:15)
This is
good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who
desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1Timothy 2:3-4
Romans
by the Book
Lesson 34
I
want to begin by welcoming you to our Home Bible study. I pray you all enjoyed a memorable and safe Thanksgiving
holiday with family and friends.
The
Thanksgiving holiday offers many traditions from the Macy’s parade in NYC to
the nationally aired football contests on television. Let’s not leave out the
turkey which is the center of attention on many a dinner table this Thanksgiving. Each family has their own traditions to add
to this short list, but my question is this:
did you remember to include God our Father in your Thanksgiving
plans?
In
other words, did you pause in your joyous celebration to recall your blessings
throughout the year, and give God thanks and praise for all He has
accomplished?
The
Bible instructs us “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication
with “thanksgiving” let your requests be made known to God.”
(Philippians
4:6)
When
I was serving in BSF many years ago, I learned to make a list of all the things
I was grateful for and then during my prayer time I would give thanks to God
for each one individually naming them as I went along. This activity allowed me to see the blessings
God had presented to me and my loved ones; I was able to count my
blessings. This exercise helped me
realize that the list of things I am thankful for is lengthy and I also
realized my list is growing.
If
you’ll pause and make a list of all your blessings at the end of the day; not
just at Thanksgiving, but each and every day of the week you too will soon
realize how “rich in Christ Jesus” you truly are.
Chief
on that list: thanks be
to God for His indescribable gift of grace!
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If
you’ll recall from the opening of this chapter, Paul, the Apostle to the
Gentiles, writes concerning: The
results of “Justification by Faith” (alone):
Peace with God, a Standing in Grace, a Sure Hope of His Glorious Coming,
Present Patience, and Joy in God the Father, in verses 1-11.
If
you’re ready I’m prepared to resume our study, so please open your Bibles to
Romans chapter 5. We took a good long look at verses 3 and 4
so let’s move on to verse 6.
Beginning at verse 6, we see a three-fold
view of God’s love for us sinners, and 3 stages of our sinfulness each
connected in a peculiar way with God’s love.
Romans 5
6: For while we
were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the
ungodly.
When I read this verse I picture a solitary
swimmer caught in a rip current off the shore line of Florida. A “rip” is a strong channel of water
traveling seaward from near the shore; the flow is at 1-2 feet per second which
is faster than any human can swim.
Rip currents can travel up to 8 feet per
second; and you can’t see them. If a
swimmer is caught in one of these strong currents, he or she is dragged away from
the beach at an alarming rate of speed. The
person is helpless while in this situation. Unless rescue is timely, death
by drowning comes following exhaustion while trying to fight the current.
The Apostle Paul is saying in our sinful Adamic state we are all “helpless.”
As Paul has already stated in earlier
chapters, mankind is unable to alter this terminal condition by their own
good works and it’s repeated here for our learning.
Without Jesus Christ, all sinners are caught
in this evil riptide and are helpless.
Romans 5:
6b: …at the right
time…
Here the Apostle Paul is clarifying his
previous statement and it would read like this, “At the right time,
while we (all) were still helpless…”
Paul wants us to understand there is absolutely nothing
we can do to save ourselves.
We are (all) “helpless.”
Romans 5
6b: …Christ died
for the ungodly.
Into this world of sin and “helplessness” God sends His Son, Jesus, - for what
exactly?
Scripture says, “Christ died for the ungodly.”
Here’s the thing I want you to place in
your memory bank: no return or response from God the Father is
demanded for this sacrifice. It
is an act of grace – “for the ungodly.”
What is meant by “the ungodly?”
What does the Scripture say?
…as it is written, “THERE
IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE
WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL
HAVE TURNED ASIDE,
TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT
EVEN ONE.”
Romans 3:10-11
Romans 3:10-11 describe the entire human
race without Jesus Christ.
These are “the ungodly.” These are the
very souls that Jesus suffered and died for. Furthermore, God the Father
committed His Son to die on a Roman cross without asking or demanding any kind
of a response from us in return.
It wasn’t like God said, I’m going to send
my Son to die for you so you’d better believe it or else! It’s not like that at all.
Never forget that when God created man
(Adam) he was created with free will.
That is the ability to make choices, to do
as you please, in other words.
We’re not going to get into the whole
creation story and why God created man and woman, but suffice to say God
created them for relationship purposes.
God wanted a creature that would “choose” to love Him unconditionally.
Let’s return to Romans.
Romans 5
7: For one will
hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would
dare even to die.
Paul wants us to know that in some
circumstances a good person may trade their life for another. On a battlefield for example, a soldier may
throw himself on top of a grenade to cover the explosion thereby saving his
buddies from death or harm.
Many Medal-of-Honor winners ignored the
danger and put themselves in harm’s way to retrieve fallen comrades, etc., but
they all displayed extraordinary heroism under enemy fire and many gave
their lives to save others.
Let’s
go to the next verse.
Romans 5
8: But God demonstrates
His own love own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for (all of) us.
In the Greek, the word “sinners” in hamartolos
(pronounced: ham-ar-to-los’) and means –
devoted
to sin or especially
wicked.
Paul is saying, “…while we were yet enthusiastically active in sinning.”
You see, God confirmed His own love toward
us, even though we were yet robustly sinning, and despite the fact that we
(humanity) didn’t know God. The Jews
certainly had knowledge of the LORD God but the Gentiles did not. The Gentiles were steeped in idolatry and practiced
wickedness of every sort. Gentiles were
outside the covenant promises of Israel and aliens to God (see Ephesians 2:12).
God demonstrated His love for us by sending His Son to die on a cross
for every sinner past, present, and future; even though mankind demonstrated no
love towards God.
This is what grace
means. It’s unmerited favor.
Romans 5
9: Much more then, having
now been (what’s the next word) justified by His blood, we shall be
saved from the (what) wrath of
God through (faith in) Him.
People love to talk about God’s love but
there’s a flipside to that.
The day is coming when this earth will
experience the “wrath” of God and it’s really hard to find anyone who wants to
preach on this subject nowadays. This
world could stand to hear some good “Fire and Brimstone Preaching.”
Next verse please.
Romans 5
10: For if while we
were (what’s the next word my friends) enemies we were reconciled to God through
the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled (by faith),
we shall be saved by His life.
Before you were saved did you know you were
God’s enemy?
The word “enemies” as it’s used here
denotes hostility or a spirit of resentment towards God. But what does this book say?
I’m going to use the King James Translation
for teaching purposes.
Romans 8
7: Because the
carnal mind is (what) enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be. (KJV)
In the Greek, the word “enmity” translated
is Echthra
(pronounced: ekh’-thrah) and means
hatred, or hostility. This is where we
get the English word enemy.
Again, I prefer that you see these things
in Scripture for yourself.
This is why I take the long-way around with
these Bible studies.
Alright then, let’s get back to Romans and
we’ll try to finish up.
Romans 5
10: For if while we
were (what’s the next word my friends) enemies we were reconciled to God through
the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled (by faith),
we shall be saved by His life.
I want to look at this section of this
verse: we were reconciled to God through
the death of His Son,
In the Greek, the word “reconciled” translates to katallasso (pronounced: kat-al-las’-so) and means – to change or to
return to favor with.
Paul is saying, that even though we were
yet “enemies” of God we were “reconciled” to God through the death
of His Son. This, even before we became
a Believer!
Wow!
I know. Again, that’s God’s
grace.
Allow me to illustrate.
Let’s pretend that I’m a teacher and there
is a standing rule which reads: No
cursing allowed. The entire class is aware of this rule, of
course. This rule is written on the blackboard in the classroom just in case a child should wake up one morning with amnesia. The penalty for cursing is a paddling in
front of the class by me.
One day I released the children for recess
and during that period Adam cursed on the basketball court. He swore loud enough for everyone to hear him
including me.
When the children returned to the
classroom, all their eyes were upon me to see what I would do. They know the rule has been broken. I also know the rule has been broken.
They also know that I care about all my
students.
I also have a son of my own in this class,
his name is William. I gave the class an
assignment and asked William to follow me outside the classroom. I said, “William I am going to ask you to step up
and take the paddling for Adam today. Right
now Adam assumes that I do not like him because he has broken the rule. But there must be a paddling. I must be true to
my word, so I’m asking you to do this. You
know how much I care for Adam.” My son
replied, “Father, you know I will do anything for you, and you know I love Adam too.”
My son and I return to the classroom and take a stand at the head of the
classroom.
I then announce to the entire class, “The rule on cursing has been broken. Adam is guilty. This is is Adam’s paddling. I am giving it to my son William.”
I then announce to the entire class, “The rule on cursing has been broken. Adam is guilty. This is is Adam’s paddling. I am giving it to my son William.”
The law of the classroom was broken and the
sentence is being carried out.
I am putting the penalty on my son. He agreed to accept the penalty for Adam.
I then proceed to paddle my son William and I do
not spare him.
I whip him as if he were Adam; just as if
he had broken the rule.
After the paddling, I dismiss William to
his seat and call Adam to the head of the class.
I take Adam by the hand and say, “I have
nothing against you – nothing at all.
All is forgiven.” This breaks
Adam up and he begins to cry. He says, “I
didn’t know you loved me that much. I thank you with all my heart.”
Now Adam is reconciled from his side to me –
the teacher.
But you see I reconciled Adam to me –
first!
Putting this back in God’s realm, God dealt
with our disobedience, our ugliness, and the fact that we were His enemies
first – He reconciled everyone of us through the death of His Son. If you’ll look at it this way, it wasn’t the punishment for our sins that Jesus bore
on that cross but God’s wrath.
Once again, not my opinion I’m going by
what the book says.
I Thessalonians 1
10: and to wait for
His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues
us from the (what) wrath
to come.
Back to Romans at verse 11.
Romans 5
11: And not only
this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we
have now received the reconciliation.
Do you see the change? I pray you do!
Three chapters ago were in God’s courtroom
declared guilty, and all our good works tossed in the trashcan; we were all
morally bankrupt. But now through our Lord Jesus Christ and His good
works we are rejoicing, exulting, in Him who sat as our Judge!
This is what Grace is and does for those
who choose to accept it.
In other words, the reconciliation process
has already been accomplished through
our Lord Jesus Christ. God has
reconciled the world unto Himself.
(2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
Everything that needed to be done has been
accomplished.
Jesus said, “It is
finished.” And that’s what He
meant.
We don’t twist arms here we just present the truth of God's Word.
Now the ball is in your court; you have a decision to make.
NO fence sitting allowed.
Your choice has eternal consequences, make
no mistake about that.
Examine all the evidence. Talk to people you know and trust that walk
with the Lord.
I pray you choose wisely.
(To be continued)
© Copyright 2011
GJ Heitzman’s Ministry
All Rights Reserved
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