Posted by Pastor Pat on November 12, 2010
Part 3
I. Justification is looked upon as a provision of grace and thus a gift (Romans 3:24; 5:16,17; Titus 3:5-7) and is appropriated by means of faith and stands in direct contrast of being attained by works (Acts 13:38, 39; Romans 3:21, 22, 26, 28, 30; 4:2-6, 9, 11, 13; 9:30-33; 10:1-13; Gal. 2:16, 17, 21; 3:6, 8, 11, 21-26; Titus 3:5).
Because this is true, you and I have nothing to boast in or of. The Scriptural evidence is so overwhelming that it is impossible to get around it. If it could have been attained by works, then it would not have been by faith. In the Heidelberg Disputation of 1518 Martin Luther made the following comments. Theology of the Cross – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology_of_the_Cross
• He is not righteous who does much, but he who, without work, believes much in Christ.
• The law says “Do this”, and it is never done. Grace says, “believe in this” and everything is already done.
II. Justification is based on the sinless life and sacrificial death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 1:17; 3:25; 5:18, 19) and thus justifying faith finds its object in the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22; 4:22-24).
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Filed Under: Paul
Posted by Pastor Pat on November 9, 2010
Part 2
In Romans 3 the word “justified” is used several times (Rom. 3:4, 10, 20, 24, 26, 28, 30 [see also “righteous” Rom. 3:5, 21, 22, 25, 26). Only God can declare a man righteous and yet men continually seek ways to make themselves righteous.
“THERE ARE fundamentally only two doctrines of salvation: that salvation is from God, and that salvation is from ourselves. The former is the doctrine of common Christianity; the latter is the doctrine of universal heathenism. “The principle of heathenism is, negatively, the denial of the true God, and of the gift of his grace; and, positively, the notion that salvation can be secured by man’s own power and wisdom. Whether the works through which heathenism seeks the way of salvation bear a more ritual or a more ethical characteristic, whether they are of a more positive or of a more negative nature, in any case man remains his own Savior; all religions except the Christian are autosoteric . . . And philosophy has made no advance upon this.”
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Posted by Pastor Pat on November 6, 2010
Part 1
Romans 3:19-31
How can I be right with God? What does it mean to be right with God? How would you like to never have to worry about God being mad, angry, or upset with you? How would you like to find rest in the midst of life’s struggles? How would you like to finally measure up to God’s righteous expectations for you? Apart from sounding incredible, it also sounds impossible. But you and I can be right before God.
The book of Romans has already created a dilemma within man by revealing his position of complete spiritual bankruptcy before God (Romans 1:18-3:20). Chapter three verse ten is emphatic, “there is none righteous no not one.” In light of his condition man is barred from God’s presence, guilty of sin and a recipient of God’s full and undiluted wrath. In our next post we will consider the doctrine of justification by faith.
Posted by Pastor Pat on August 16, 2010
Do you ever find yourself succumbing to fleshly lusts? Have you ever wondered why you find it so easy to do evil when the good is equally present? No matter how hard you try to talk yourself out of it, failure seems so inevitable; your frustration level is climbing; stress becomes a part of your every day life. The gap between what you know to be true and how you experience life is glaring and the schism is heart breaking.
I am confident that all who read this can identify with Paul’s dilemma as lamented in Romans 7:19. Those who do not identify fall into one of two categories: those who are spiritually dead as an unbeliever, and those who are spiritually deceived as a believer.
Honesty and transparency are difficult, for they leave us vulnerable. The alternative, however, is mask wearing, and I have always found mask wearing to be uncomfortable as well as stifling and “plastic.”
So, let us be honest – both you and I struggle. While we do not struggle with the truth claims of faith, we do struggle with our progression forward. We want to see Him and have Him use us in an unprecedented way. We want to see Him with the eye of faith. We want to believe that which awaits us can swallow up the trials of this temporal world. We want to believe that somehow in the midst of all this “craziness” God is in control. And yet . . . we struggle. We struggle at work; we struggle with our kids; we struggle with our spouse; and we struggle financially, emotionally, physically, and, at times, spiritually. We just flat out struggle. Life is hard; nothing appears to be easy. We want the supernatural and miraculous. We want God to snap His fingers and fix all of our problems. Yet despite all of these desires, it is still incredibly difficult to do right when wrong is so easy.
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Posted by Pastor Pat on March 5, 2009
25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they *were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself *would not contain the books that *would be written.” (John 21:25)
Who is Jesus Christ? The Scriptures answer this question consistently and plainly. However, space and time prohibit us from sounding it out completely. Yet John provides for us a revealing look at our Lord Jesus Christ in what is commonly entitled, “The ‘I AM’ statements of our Lord.”
The first of the seven statements is found in John 6:35, 41, 48, and 51. Jesus Christ identifies Himself as, “The Bread of Life.” His promise to those who partake of Him is that they will never hunger nor thirst again. In 6:35 John uses a double negative. One Greek grammarian correctly notes how, “With the double negative and the subjunctive Paul is “ruling out even the idea as being a possibility: [the double negative] is the most decisive way of negativing something in the future.” (Wallace, Beyond Basics, 468).
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Posted by Pastor Pat on February 2, 2009
As we continue to work through the book of Galatians we have encountered the dichotomy between grace and law. To be in and under grace is to be free in Christ. To be in and under law is to be in bondage and slavery. We have used the term legalist to describe those who are in and under law, yet what do we mean by “legalism?” Warren Wiersbe gives us this clear definition of legalism.
We must keep in mind that legalism does not mean the setting of spiritual standards; it means worshiping these standards and thinking that we are spiritual because we obey them. It also means judging other believers on the basis of these standards. The old nature loves legalism, because it gives the old nature a chance to ‘look good.’ (Wiersbe, Galatians, 108-109).
Thus, legalism is not what you do it is why you do it that makes you a legalist. John Piper correctly notes that “legalism is present whenever a person is trying to be ethical in his own strength.” He equally argues that legalism is present whenever we try to make other people ethical through conformity to rules. In so doing we are lacking confidence in the sovereign power of God to complete that which He alone began and He alone can finish. (Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, 153-155).
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Posted by Pastor Pat on
The word “clothed” in the text before us is used of putting on a garment such as John the Baptist being “clothed with camel’s hair” (Mark 1:6) or the father clothing the prodigal son with his “best robe” (Luke 15:22) or of Herod being “arrayed in royal apparel” (Acts 12:21). Throughout the Gospels and Acts it is used almost exclusively in this way of putting on a physical garment.
Paul, however, uses it to describe the Christian life. In fact apart from Revelation 1:13; 15:6 and 19:14 Paul is the only writer to use the word once we leave the Gospels and Acts. I have listed each of the occurrences by its grammatical description. Once you look at the grammatical description certain elements become evident.
Aorist Middle Imperative
Romans 13:14 “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”
Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”
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