LESSON #7

ROMANS 3: 1-10

        Having clearly established that mans need is the righteousness of God. Paul now proceeds to say that the righteousness has already been provided by God. It is for all who will come to Him, It is done. It was finished at Calvary. Eph.2:8,9."For by grace are ye saved, through faith: and that not of yourselves: It is the gift of God.

25,26, There are six main points in these two verses.

1. God presented Jesus as an atoning sacrifice, A propitiation.

2. The sacrifice was of blood. Christ’s blood.

3. It is appropriated to the sinner by faith.

4.The sacrifice was necessary, because in the past God had not fully punished sin. Sins Yes, but not "SIN"

5. It was also necessary to validate the justice of God.

6. The sacrifice demonstrated that it is God who justifies the sinner, who has faith in the LORD JESUS CHRIST.

The mercy seat in the old testament was a place where, when the Priest sprinkled it with the blood of an animal, one whose sins it atoned for found mercy there. Jesus through his blood sacrifice sprinkled the mercy seat in Heaven, there by becoming our mercy seat. And all who will come to him will find mercy. I love the 85th Psa. V-10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other”. Were?? At CALVARY. He had to die on Calvary to declare his righteousness so God showed the world how he felt about sin, When he made his own Son sin for us and then let him die so he could march down into hell and conquer death hell and the grave, He came back victorious. He paid the price of our “SIN” and he did not pay it to the devil either. He paid it for God’s sake, to the Father. He paid it because the Father not only ordered it. But demanded it . And Then He gave his Son for it. Someone had to pay for the sin that Adam brought into the world. And Jesus was the one who paid the price of it.

        VERSE 31: Do we then make void the law through faith. GOD FORBID! YEA We establish the law. Jesus came to fulfill the law and establish it in our hearts. That is what Paul is saying here. If you are saved then you are free from the power and the guilt of sin. You are free from the law. And Jesus who lives in your heart sets up the law to guide you in all truth, Yea the Holy Spirit will guide you in all truth Going back to Isaiah 28;16,17. The foundation stone in V-16 is the LORD JESUS CHRIST and his righteousness, Any place in scripture where you find the righteousness of God in Jesus, you will also find something about JUDGMENT; V-17 the plumb line represents the judgment of God. God is love, but Love with out judgment (Discipline) is a forest and is wishful thinking, It is not of God , and earthly Father chastens his children, just like the Heavenly Father chastens his children.

THERE IS NO LIMIT TO THE GOODNESS OF GOD,

        To the one who is building their foundation on Jesus Christ, Jer 32;19 -Psa.40;5 and Rom11;32. Those who are not walking the line, who do not measure up to the plumb line, who have not surrendered complete obedience to him, Are chastened of the Lord. You say preacher, How do you know?? Because the Bible says so, Heb.12;6,7. If you are not chastened of the Lord then you are not his Son, you are already judged, And I am sorry but that is a cold hard fact of the Bible. Whether you believe it or not, does not change it. You were judged a sinner the moment you came forth from the womb. All judgment was given over to HIM, WHY?? Because of Calvary. He is righteous, He is worthy, He is the law, Rom.8;2 THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS, HATH MADE ME FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH;

CHAPTER IV

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ILLUSTRATED?

        In this chapter Paul analyzes the principle By which God saved Abraham. The father of Israel is a illustration of God's message of salvation in the old testament. 4;1,2. Paul identifies himself with his people. The question is was Abraham saved by his works or by faith, like Paul talks about in chapter 3. Then he asks the question (like we should always do)

        WHAT SAITH THE SCRIPTURE? The answer to all our questions lies within the scriptures. If we would just turn to them and find the answers for ourselves, instead of listening to the first man who says something. All the scripture given here are from the KING JAMES VERSION and I challenge you to get your Bible and read them for your self. Don't take no man's word on what God says till you check it out with Him, in his word. The world can not give you answers to Biblical questions, they do NOT have the answer, YOU DO!!!

        To answer the question just asked, it is found in Gen.15;6 ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD AND IT WAS COUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS; Counted means PUT TO YOUR ACCOUNT; or imputed to you from the cross, Abraham was not righteous, you are not righteous, no man is righteous Why? It is the flesh we live in that keeps us from being righteous or ever becoming righteous on this earth, IT IS NOT THE NATURE OF MAN THAT KEEPS HIM FROM BECOMING RIGHTEOUS. It is the flesh, If you have been saved, you have a new nature, and one day you will be complete in him with your new body (tabernacle) the righteousness you have, is what was imputed to you, will then be a robe of righteousness, but Not until then. Only God is righteous, and the only righteousness you have is what was imputed to you from the cross of Calvary when you got saved. Righteousness imputed from the cross, only means that God treats you as if you were righteous, RIGHT NOW.

        The sinner is condemned already, because he has one who has already judged him. John 3;18.. John 3;17 says God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

        MAN IS JUSTIFIED BY FAITH APART FROM THE LAW; . If you could work for your salvation, then it would not be a gift from God. If man could work for his salvation, then man would nave something to boast off, but he has nothing he can boast of before God because God has already took care of everything it takes to obtain salvation for you. You can not put God under obligation to anyone. He is not obligated to save anyone, he does not feel obligated to anyone, Salvation is purely a gift of LOVE. All that he has done and all that he will do for you is because he loves you so much. Rom.5;8 “In that while we were YET sinners, CHRIST died for us. Pay close attention to that little word YET, it becomes a big word in your salvation. You where still a sinner when God gave his Son for you, He did not see fit to ask you if you wanted him to do it either.

        Out of his great LOVE and GRACE he did it anyway. VERSE 7,8:. Are a quote from Psa.32 :1,2 As a Christian our sin and sins are forgiven, and covered. The reason the Christians sin and sins are not reckoned to him is that they were imputed to Christ on the cross and then from that same cross he imputed to you the righteousness of God. Praise God what a trade. Just think when you got saved you went up that hill of Golgotha, and laid down your sin on the Son of God and took up HIS robe of righteousness and came away from that place as if you had never SINNED. That aught to be enough to make even a Presbyterian shout. If man could just get hold of that principle, and let Jesus live his life through that robe that you have on, we could see revival come to our land.

THERE ARE MANY BELIEVERS IN THIS WORLD BUT FEW CHRISTIANS.

JUSTIFICATION IS NOT FROM ORDINANCES

        CHAPT. 4: 9-12. Cometh this blessedness then upon the Circumcision (Jews) only? Or upon uncircumcision also? When was it reckoned to him for righteousness, before circumcision or after circumcision, It was before circumcision, some 16 years before, when God counted his faith to him for righteousness. Abraham is the father of the faith. The argument here is the Jews were claiming Abraham their father, not father of the gentiles, and they them selves who claimed to have the faith of their fathers, were not walking so. A Christian however will not only claim living by faith, but will also walk in the steps of the faith. V-12. It is the circumcision of the heart that makes the Christian walk in the steps of the faith as Abraham did.

JUSTIFICATION IS APART FROM THE LAW

V-13. For the promise, that he should be heir of the world was not to Abraham, or to his seed through the law. But through the righteousness of faith. If they that were to inherit the earth were to get it by law, then faith would be void, And the promise would be with out effect God did not plan for man to inherit by the law and that's why he made the promise and gave it by Grace, you receive it by faith. The law worketh wrath, where there is no law there is no transgression, Sin is transgression of the law. We do not sin because the law says not to, But because of faith in the promise of God. V-20 He staggered not at the promises of God, Christians today stager at the promises of God in the scripture, They do not believe them, Abraham believed God, even when he told him he would father a son at 100 years old. There fore he had no problem with the rest of the promises of God. When God said he would make him the Father of many nations Abraham believed him.

4:V21, Abraham was fully persuaded that God would keep his promises, He recognized who God was, he recognize the power of God, he by faith knew that God was the creator of the universe an that when he promised anything he was able to perform it. There is no supernatural work that God can not do .If you do not believe that then how can you believe the resurrection, V-24. He was delivered for our sin and was raised for our justification. If you have believed that, then you can have that peace that passeth all understanding, If God takes a loved one, can you say he did it for his honor and Glory. When things go bad in your day, can you still say God is in control. That's the kind of faith Paul is speaking of here. If you can not believe God can raise the dead, how can he save you

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