3ABN Sabbath School Panel

Lesson 5: The Faith of Abraham

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: SSP

Program Code: SSP000044A


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.


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Revised 2023-11-13