(# 340) Romans 9 - There is Divine Power in Accepting the Truth

Class Outline:

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Welcome To

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Turn off your electronic devices and put them away…they are not welcome here.  Let this be a place where you aren’t distracted by the world.

 

Good Morning!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark.  At Barah Ministries we worship the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We call Him Lord because He is 100% God.  We call Him Jesus Christ because He is 100% true humanity just like you and me.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

There is Divine Power in Accepting the Truth

 

What’s it like when you tell the truth and others just won’t accept it?  Well then you know what it is like to be God.  John, Chapter 1, Verses 9 to 11…

 

JOHN 1:9

There was the true Light (ho logos…the Lord…God the Son) which, coming into the world (as Jesus Christ in true humanity), enlightens every man.

 

JOHN 1:10

The Lord (God the Son) was in the world, and the world was made through Him (according to JOHN 1:3), and the world did not know Him.

 

The Lamb without spot or blemish…the One who would take away the sin of the world…came into the world and was rejected by His own people.

 

JOHN 1:11

He came to His own (The Nation Israel and The Jewish Race), and those who were His own did not receive (welcome) Him.

 

Why?  They refused to believe the truth.  If you love someone, it breaks your

heart when they miss the obvious things…especially the most important

things of this life. 

 

As a parent you know what I mean …you say, “My kids just don’t get it!”

And you’re right.  You prepare your children for adulthood, and the folly in their souls blots out your teaching.  As a married person, you know what I mean … you say, “My spouse just doesn’t get it!”  You tell your spouse that competition is destructive to a relationship…only cooperation works…both people can have everything they want in the relationship…yet the plea for cooperation falls on deaf ears.  As a citizen you know what I mean … you say, “The government just doesn’t get it!”  You hope the government is there for you, to make you better off, but what you see is the people you put in power lining their pockets and their friend’s pockets at your expense.

 

When you love someone, it breaks your heart when they miss the obvious things…especially the most important things of this life.  Truth is important. 

When those you love hurt themselves, it is a source of unending grief, especially because you’re helpless to do anything about it.

 

For example, my mom was my human rock.  Yet she was quite imperfect.  When she died, I can remember sobbing, as I have never have before.  My older son Zachary, my first-born, was a real love of my life.  When he flunked out of college, on the day I found out, I can remember sobbing as I have never have, except the day when my Mom died.  Mom and Zachary were human treasures to me, just as Israel and the Jewish Race are human treasures to the Lord.  And like the Lord, in his faithfulness to the nation Israel and The Jewish Race in spite of their rejection, it just never occurred to me to hold their flaws against them.  Like the nation Israel and the Jewish Race, these two human treasures of mine refused to see the truth of my love for them.  All they had to do was accept it.  They didn’t.

 

Welcome to a place where you can learn the divine power of accepting the truth through the study of the Word of God.

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

VOICE OF TRUTH

Casting Crowns

As we open our hearts and our ears to the Word of our all-powerful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, let’s listen to a group called Casting Crowns sing about the power of following the VOICE OF TRUTH.

 

OPENING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…

 

Father, thank you for always telling us the truth…help us to accept Your truth and to orient our lives around it…

 

We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s name...

Amen.

 

We begin with few announcements…

 

BARAH MINISTRIES ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Pastor Rory Clark

January 13, 2017

 

Nine years as a Pastor…many scars…but I’m still standing.

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

The Next Lord’s Supper Celebration

February 12, 2017

 

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Next Deacon’s Meeting

January 28, 2017

7:30A -9:30A

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Homecoming for the Non-Resident Congregation

April 22-23, 2017

 

Book your flights now!  Hotel Info?

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Annie Grace Davis

January 14, 2017

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Deacon Larry Collins

January 17, 2017

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Meredith DeSmet

January 22, 2017

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Jackson DeSmet

January 24, 2017

 

PRAYERS

Barah Ministries Prayer Request Group

ON FACEBOOK

 

Join me in prayer directed at all the intercessions and all the petitions of the

people visiting the Barah Ministries Prayer Request Group.  Please take time to pray for each other.

 

YOU BELONG AT BARAH MINISTRIES!

20 Families

Help Us Build a Church

 

2017 makes the time when we grow our church.  What is a church?

 

CHURCH

A bunch of people who want to worship the Real God, the Lord Jesus Christ…who want to master the inner game of life…who want to be there for each other…who want to hurt each other…who want to do meaningful things for others

 

We’re looking forward to inviting new people into this wonderful church and having them worship with us and grow our ministries to the communities we serve.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

There is Divine Power in Accepting the Truth

 

The Jewish Race and the nation Israel missed the power of accepting a simple truth…that Jesus Christ is God in human form…and that He is the Revelation sent from God the Father to take away the sin problem from the world.  We are studying the middle section of the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans.  You’ll recall that Romans, Chapters 1 to 8 speak of the unconditional love the Lord Jesus Christ has for his creatures, especially the Gentiles.  Chapters 9 to 11 make it clear that God still has plans for the nation Israel and for the Jewish Race, even though they have rejected Him.  And Romans, Chapters 12 to 16 are the instructions for the Gentiles of the Church Age, our current age in divine history, on the Christian Way of Living…the do’s and don’ts of a life lived in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called.

 

We’ve been surfacing quite a bit of information over the last several lessons about the first half of Romans 9…the first three passages…and I have some final thoughts about the first two of these passages…and I’d like to connect these thoughts to your lives.

 

There is divine power in accepting the truth.  The nation Israel and The Jewish Race did not.  They saw their Messiah in the flesh and they did not accept Him.  Do you accept Him?

 

How many people in your life just don’t get it that the Lord Jesus Christ is God?  How many people in your life just don’t get it that the Lord Jesus Christ loves all people UNconditionally, regardless of their sins?  How many people in your life just don’t get it that they can’t save themselves by performing good works…that nothing they do will ever impress God…that nothing they do will ever get them to heaven…that only accepting a free gift relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ can allow God to save them?  How many people in your life don’t accept your love for them?  It’s painful isn’t it?  So it is to God.  So it is to Paul as he reflects on His Jewish “kinsmen in the flesh.”

 

There is divine power in accepting the truth.

 

For the believer in Christ, Paul summarized Romans, Chapters 1 to 8 with

this crescendo of thought…Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 38 and 39…

 

ROMANS 8:38

For I (Paul) am (ABSOLUTELY) convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither things present nor things to come, nor powers…

 

ROMANS 8:39

…neither height nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the unconditional love of God the Father, which comes through being in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

The Gentiles, who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, through faith alone in Christ alone, are in pretty good shape.  Nothing can separate us from the UNconditional love of God.  What about the nation Israel?  What about The Jewish Race?  What about the nation and the people who rejected their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ?

 

In summary, ROMANS 9, PASSAGE 1, tells us that there is unbelief in Israel.  How does it connect to our lives?  Just like all of us at physical birth, the nation Israel and The Jewish Race are lost.  First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verse 22…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:22a

For (all those) in (union with) Adam (at physical birth…and that is EVERYONE…are set to) die (the second death in the Lake of Fire)…

 

We are born in unbelief.  We are born separated from God.  We are born OBLIVIOUS.  What does it mean to be oblivious?

 

OBLIVIOUS

A state in which a person chooses to be unmindful, unconscious, and unaware of what is going on around them.

 

Do you have anyone in your life that is oblivious, especially oblivious to the love you have for him?  I do!  The majority of the nation Israel and The Jewish Race are oblivious to their Messiah…the Lord Jesus Christ…who was born…was crucified…died…was buried…has risen from the dead…and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God the Father.

Those who are OBLIVIOUS need a teacher…and there are always teachers! Some of these teachers teach us the truth…some of these teachers teach us lies…it all depends on who the teacher’s sponsor is…whether it is the Lord Jesus Christ or His enemy, Satan.

 

False teachers taught the nation Israel and The Jewish Race a double covenant…that the nation Israel and The Jewish Race will get to heaven, that they are saved, simply by virtue of being Abraham’s seed…therefore they have no need of the Messiah…the Lord Jesus Christ.  In Second Peter, Chapter 2, Verses 1 to 10, the apostle Peter, a Jew, has this warning for all mankind…

 

SECOND PETER 2:1
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

 

SECOND PETER 2:2

Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned…

 

SECOND PETER 2:3

…and in their greed they will exploit you with false words…their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

 

SECOND PETER 2:4

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, and He didn’t, but instead cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment…

 

SECOND PETER 2:5

…and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly (unbelievers)…

 

SECOND PETER 2:6

…and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by

reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter…

 

SECOND PETER 2:7

…and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men…

 

SECOND PETER 2:8

…(for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds)…

 

Sounds like life in the US!

 

SECOND PETER 2: 9

…then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly (believers in Christ) from temptation, and the Lord knows how to keep the unrighteous (unbelievers) under punishment for the day of judgment…

 

SECOND PETER 2:10

…and especially those who indulge “the flesh” in its corrupt desires and those who despise authority.

 

There is divine power in accepting the truth.  Some won’t.  As we take a break, let’s pay tribute to our God who loves us unconditionally in spite of our rejection…MY TRIBUTE by Andrae Crouch.

 

MUSIC BREAK

MY TRIBUTE

Andrae Crouch

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

There is Divine Power in Accepting the Truth

 

Welcome back!   We have a God who blesses the godly (His believers in Christ)…and we also have a God who has UNconditional love and inexhaustible mercy to those who are lost…Luke, Chapter 15, Verses 1 to 7…

 

LUKE 15:1

Now all the tax collectors and the sinners (prostitutes) were coming near to listen to Jesus.

 

LUKE 15:2

Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners (prostitutes) and eats with them.”

 

LUKE 15:3

So Jesus told the Pharisees and the scribes this parable, saying…

 

LUKE 15:4

“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?”

 

LUKE 15:5

“When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.”

 

LUKE 15:6

“And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’”

 

LUKE 15:7

“I (the Lord Jesus Christ) tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner (an ungodly, unrighteous, unbeliever) who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons (believers in Christ) who need no repentance (no change of mind about having a relationship with Christ).

 

People who are lost do not have a relationship with the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and frankly, many of them don’t want a relationship with him.

They are OBLIVIOUS.  Romans, Chapter 3, Verses 10 to 12…

 

ROMANS 3:10

…as it is written, “There is no creature who is righteous, not even one…”|

 

ROMANS 3:11

“There is no creature who understands (God)…there is no creature who seeks for (a relationship with) God…”

 

ROMANS 3:12

“All creatures have turned aside (from God)…”

 

Yet God never turns His back on His creatures.

 

Romans, Chapter 9, PASSAGE 2 is the tale of two sons who represent two nations…Ishmael and Isaac…Esau and Jacob…the first-born and the second born sons.  In God’s plan, He reversed the order of Roman law and of Jewish custom…the older sons served the younger sons.  The second passage is also the tale of two barren women…Sarah and Rebekah. In Genesis, Chapter 25, Verse 23…

 

GENESIS 25:23

The Lord said to Rebekah, “Two nations are in your womb…and two peoples will be separated from your body…and one people shall be stronger than the other…and the older son shall serve the younger son.”

 

This second passage in Romans 9 is about nations, not about individuals.  There is ethnic Israel…Ishmael and Esau are the picture of racial Israel.  There is spiritual Israel…Isaac and Jacob are the picture of spiritual Israel.  True spiritual Israel is in the Israeli who believes that Yeshua (the Lord Jesus Christ) is their Messiah.  They are known as, “The Believing Remnant.”

 

So the second passage asks a few questions.  Does unbelief mean God’s Word is not effective?  Does unbelief lead God to change His mind about us?  Does our unbelief cause God to abandon His promises?  James says no, in James, Chapter 1, Verse 17…

 

JAMES 1:17

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from God the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

 

The answer is NO…absolutely NOT!  In Romans, Chapter 9, PASSAGE 2

we learn that God is Sovereign.  We follow Him…He doesn’t follow us.  There are nations elected by God for privilege.  There are people elected by God for privilege.  It is His sovereign right as Sovereign God to elect whom He wills. His mercy honors those who obey His will.

 

Richard Freeman, a Pastor and a Jewish believer in Christ…a member of the believing remnant…sums up the first two passages in Romans, Chapter 9 this way…

 

FREEMAN QUOTE
There has never been a nation as blessed as Israel.  There has never been a people as blessed as the Jews.

 

FREEMAN QUOTE

But in spite of these incredible privileges and blessings, Israel as a nation and The Jewish Race as a group, have rejected Jesus as their Messiah.

 

FREEMAN QUOTE

Without accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, no person, no matter how privileged or blessed, can be in right relationship with God.

 

IN other words, there is only ONE WAY to be saved…through CHRIST… John, Chapter 6, Verse 35…

 

JOHN 6:35

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life…he who comes to Me will not hunger…and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”

 

John, Chapter 6, Verse 37…

 

JOHN 6:37

All that God the Father gives Me will come to Me (for salvation), and the one who comes to (believe in) Me I will certainly not cast out (into the outer

darkness…the Lake of Fire).

 

There is divine power in accepting the truth.  My prayer for you is that the spiritual component in your life takes on increasing importance…that God’s Word IS your truth…and that His truth is the divine power that you orient your life around.

GOD WANTS YOU!

Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life

 

ACTS 16:30

“…the jailer asked (Paul and Silas), “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

 

ACTS 16:31

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”

 

ROMANS 10:10

…for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

 

SECOND PETER 3:9

The Lord is not slow about His promise of salvation, as some accuse Him of, but instead He is patient toward you unbelievers, not wishing for any to perish (in the Lake of Fire) but for all to come to repentance (a change of mind about having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ).

 

LUKE 19:10

“For the Son of Man (the Lord Jesus Christ) has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

 

CLOSING SONG

ALL BECAUSE YOU WANTED TO

June Murphy

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

 

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