God’s Sovereignty, Inseparable from ALL His Other Attributes

"Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. "

1 Chronicles 29:11

While God’s Sovereignty is often referred to as another one of His attributes, we may also think of God’s Sovereignty as the very culmination or summation of ALL His attributes:

GOD is Sovereign because He is Absolutely Supreme in ALL His attributes.

God is Holy. Holiness is one of God’s attributes. Is there anyone or anything more Holy than God? No. God is the absolute power and authority when it comes to Holiness.

God is Righteous. Righteousness is one of God’s attributes. Is there anyone or anything more Righteous than God? No. God is the absolute power and authority when it comes to Righteousness.

God is Gracious. Graciousness is one of God’s attributes. Is there anyone or anything more Gracious than God? No. God is the absolute power and authority when it comes to Graciousness.

God is Merciful. Mercy is one of God’s attributes. Is there anyone or anything more Merciful than God? No. God is the absolute power and authority when it comes to Mercy.

God is All-Knowing (omniscient). Is there anyone or anything more All-Knowing than God? No. God is the absolute power and authority when it comes to Omniscience.

God is Eternal. Is there anyone or anything more Eternal than God? No. God is the absolute power and authority in all of Eternity.

And so it goes, for each and every attribute of our incomparable God!

As Arthur W. Pink declared, “Sovereignty characterizes the whole Being of God. He is sovereign in all His attributes.”

May all of God’s children agree in Christ, “Amen!”

Ignacio Lacsina jnr.

Ah, Humility! (The Opposite of "Argh, Humiliation!")

It was humbling for me to learn that Elder Julius G graciously mentioned this blog, in his testimony last Sunday, at church. It was made all the more humbling by the fact that I wasn't there to hear it: I was late for church.

Oops.

I dropped the wife and kids off at the front, already late and drove down Arthur Street, gone around the round-about at the very end, drove past the church again from the opposite direction so that I could park at the corner lot across from the barber shop. I managed to hear only the tail end of his testimony. And it wasn't until we were driving back home that my wife told me about it.

I'm quite sure why the LORD made me miss it: it was to keep me humble.

It's quite a challenge to keep me humble. I thought having a failed business and then being retrenched at DisneyToon would've been enough to do the job. But no... I can't imagine how much it would've gone to my head if I had been personally there to hear it. None of this makes me less sorry, though. ("Sorrow-y," I think, is where the word "sorry" came from.)

Many thanks Kuya Julius, and sorry for my being late.

Thankfully, I did not miss any more of the service: Praise God for Rev. Manuel M's message, the encouraging words from Dr. Roger F, the devotion of Rob W and the P&W Team, and of course the tireless Ate Pat C. (Daig pa ang Duracell!)

Heaps of thanks also to Elder Robert V, who has encouraged me to further explore 1) the "inseparability" of God's Grace from His Sovereignty; and 2) the need for saints' to continually grow in our realisation of utter dependency on God, for apart from Him we can do nothing--not half of something; nor 1% or even 0.5% of something: Nothing.

I'll hopefully have more on these, eh, soon. Until then...

Hannah's Prayer from 1 Samuel Chapter 2

1 Then Hannah prayed and said:

"My heart rejoices in the LORD;

in the LORD my horn is lifted high.

My mouth boasts over my enemies,

for I delight in your deliverance.

2 "There is no one holy like the LORD;

there is no one besides you;

there is no Rock like our God.

3 "Do not keep talking so proudly

or let your mouth speak such arrogance,

for the LORD is a God who knows,

and by him deeds are weighed.

4 "The bows of the warriors are broken,

but those who stumbled are armed with strength.

5 Those who were full hire themselves out for food,

but those who were hungry hunger no more.

She who was barren has borne seven children,

but she who has had many sons pines away.

6 "The LORD brings death and makes alive;

he brings down to the grave and raises up.

7 The LORD sends poverty and wealth;

he humbles and he exalts.

8 He raises the poor from the dust

and lifts the needy from the ash heap;

he seats them with princes

and has them inherit a throne of honor.

"For the foundations of the earth are the LORD's;

upon them he has set the world.

9 He will guard the feet of his saints,

but the wicked will be silenced in darkness.

"It is not by strength that one prevails;

10 those who oppose the LORD will be shattered.

He will thunder against them from heaven;

the LORD will judge the ends of the earth.

"He will give strength to his king

and exalt the horn of his anointed."

"Hey, My Brains!" (And a few other stuff.)

"The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains, proves that he has no brains of his own."
--Charles Spurgeon

Happy the man who sees a God employed in all the good and ill that chequers life. --WILLIAM COWPER

We turn to God when our foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God who is shaking them. --CHARLES WEST

A firm faith in the universal providence of God is the solution of all earthly problems. It is almost equally true that a clear and full apprehension of the universal providence of God is the solution of most theological problems. --B. B. WARFIELD, God's Providence Over All

I have no hope at all but in thy great mercy. Grant what thou commandest and command what thou wilt. --AUGUSTINE

God promises to deliver us from the penalty of sin (justification), the power of sin (sanctification) and the presence of sin (glorification). --DAVE BROWN

The greatest judgment which God Himself can, in this present life, inflict upon a man is, to leave him in the hand of his own boasted free-will. --AUGUSTUS TOPLADY

I do not believe we can preach the gospel... unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought through the Cross; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called. --CHARLES SPURGEON

Jesus Christ is the center of everything, and the object of everything, and he that does not know Him knows nothing of nature and nothing of himself. --BLAISE PASCAL

There is not an inch of any sphere of life over which Jesus Christ does not say, "Mine." --ABRAHAM KUYPER

The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are not worthy of Him. --A. W. TOZER

So many Christians interpret Christ's words to witness rather than to be a witness. And they see it as an activity instead of what it really is; the state of our being--what you do emerges from who you are. --CHUCK COLSON

We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit. --A.W. TOZER

Just as the sinner's despair of any hope from himself is the first prerequisite of a sound conversion, so the loss of all confidence in himself is the first essential in the believer's growth in grace. --ARTHUR W. PINK

Preaching duty, is preaching the law; preaching the free grace of God, and salvation by Christ, is preaching the gospel; to say otherwise, is to turn the gospel into law and to blend and confound both together. --JOHN GILL

Whoever marries the spirit of this age will find himself a widower in the next. --WILLIAM RALPH INGE

Everyone may be entitled to his own opinion but everyone is not entitled to his own truth. Truth is but one. --DOUG GROOTHIUS

I've learned to hold everything loosely because it hurts when God pries my fingers from it. --CORRIE TEN BOOM

The great paradox of faith is that we find our perfect freedom only when become slaves--slaves to God... In the ancient world, slaves judged their self-worth in relation to the importance of their masters. The greater the social status of a master, the greater the esteem of the slave. Christians are slaves of the greatest and kindest Master of all... --ALISTER McGRATH

I am convinced that the first step toward attaining a higher standard of holiness is to realize more fully the amazing sinfulness of sin. --J. C. RYLE

An ineffably holy God, who has the utmost abhorrence of all sin, was never invented by any of Adam's fallen descendants. --A. W. PINK

The London Times once asked a number prominent people to write essays on the topic, "What's Wrong with the World." G. K. Chesterton reply is the shortest and most to the point in history:

Dear Sirs:
I am.
Sincerely, G. K. CHESTERTON

We may think God wants actions of a certain kind, but God wants people of a certain kind. --C. S. LEWIS, Mere Christianity

The world invents its own good works and persuades itself that they are good. But Paul declares that good and right according to the world are to be judged by the commandments of God. --JOHN CALVIN

Sheep and swine can both end up in the mire. Yet the essential difference in their two natures is quiet visible from the reaction each has to its fallen condition. While sheep do stray and stumble into the mire, they quickly loathe the situation and struggle to get free. They may be dirty, but they desire to be clean. They may be stuck, but they bleat for their shepherd to come and save them out of the muck. But swine, in keeping with their nature, wallow in the muck, content to stay there all day. --JOHN ENSOR

It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bothers me, its the parts I do understand. --MARK TWAIN

How Powerful Is God?

"Suppose you were the victim of an accident and you were laying in the emergency room in pain... How would you feel if someone told you that God had nothing to do with what happened? How long would it take you to start thinking some very serious and logical questions like, "Where was God when this happened? Could He have prevented it? Why didn't He prevent it? Was the devil stronger than God in this situation? Did the devil really cause this accident, even though God was desperately trying to keep it from happening to me?" You would soon begin to wonder whether you were on the wrong side. You might think... maybe God is not nearly as powerful as you thought He was...

"I am sure you can see that if God isn't big enough to control the bad things as well as the good things, then we are in deep trouble. When the bad things get more numerous than the good things (in times like today), then it looks as if we are losing the war. It looks like "our side" is the weak side. Whether you realize it or not, that is exactly what has happened in the hearts of many present-day Christians...

This generation has forgotten the sovereignty of God and exalted the sovereignty of man's "free will." We have forgotten the holiness of God and exalted man's personal happiness to be the chief goal and obligation of the gospel. We are so occupied with ourselves and our own pleasure that we literally believe that God exists for the sole purpose of making us "happy"... He is viewed as a heavenly bellhop that is ready to carry our suitcase of self-ambition anywhere we instruct Him--we call it "praying in faith." When we do not get what we want, then we either condemn ourselves for lack of faith or lose confidence in God's promises (what we falsely believed were His promises)...

Blaming all of our difficulties on the devil is a backhanded way of strengthening our own self-righteous conceit: "We really must be super-spiritual Christians to be attacked so strongly by the devil." Until you see the hand of God in all things, you will fight both God and the very purpose for which He sends the problem. There is nothing so tragic as listening to a sincere, but misguided, believer blame the devil for the fruits of his own stupidity; he then feels the devil did it just because he was so spiritual! It never occurs to him that he was believing and expecting something that God never promised, and at the same time was refusing to accept his circumstances as having been sent by God. His bad theology keeps him from hearing God speak to him in his trials; and worse yet, it hardens him in his false spirituality." --JOHN G. REISINGER

A Method to The Madness...

James Montgomery Boice recounts an incidence when Methodists George Whitefield and John Wesley were preaching together:

"They conducted several services during the day and returned exhausted to their room together in a boarding house each night. One evening after a particularly strenuous day, the two of them returned to prepare for bed. When they were ready each knelt beside his bed to pray. Whitefield, the Calvinist, prayed like this: 'Lord, we thank Thee for all those with whom we spoke this day, and we rejoice that their lives and destinies are entirely in thy hand. Honor our efforts according to thy perfect will. Amen.' He then climbed in bed. Wesley, who had hardly gotten past the invocation of his prayer in this length of time, looked and said, 'Mr. Whitefield, is this where your Calvinism leads you?' Then he put his head down again and went on praying. Whitefield stayed in bed and went to sleep. About two hours later he woke up, and there was Wesley still on his knees beside the bed. Whitefield got up, went around to where Wesley was kneeling and touched him. Wesley was asleep. Whitefield said, 'Mr. Wesley, is this where your Arminianism leads you?'"


MARTYN LLOYD-JONES being interviewed by a Canadian reporter in 1932:

"Which kind of church are you the minister of in Wales?"

"Really a Presbyterian Church, the name of the denomination--the strongest one in Wales--is the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church."

"Surely there's a mistake somewhere," I opined, "please say that over again."

Once more the name rolled out, a civil war in language.

"I'm bewildered," was my confession. "Surely the term 'Calvinistic Methodist' is about as harmonious as 'white black-bird' or 'east-west wind'. Are they not antipodal terms?"

"Not at all--you evidently think that John Wesley was the only Methodist who ever lived. George Whitefield was a Calvinist--that's why he and Wesley quarrelled."

Alas, I never read anything that Calvin wrote; my doctrines I had from Christ and His apostles; I was taught them of God...The doctrines of our election, and free justification in Christ Jesus are daily more and more pressed upon my heart. They fill my soul with a holy fire and afford me great confidence in God my Saviour. --George Whitefield

There are two great truths which from this platform I have proclaimed for many years. The first is that salvation is free to every man who will have it; the second is that God gives salvation to a people whom He has chosen; and these truths are not in conflict with each other in the least degree. --CHARLES SPURGEON

"Christ is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all."
--J. Hudson Taylor

Quotes mostly taken from:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/3505/WebPageQuotes.html

If God Is NOT Sovereign, Why Do Anything?

Many Christians seem to be quite uncomfortable emphasizing and focusing too much on God’s Sovereignty. This may be because they are concerned that people will use this as an excuse to say, “If God is Sovereign (and is totally in control and is working all things according to the purpose of His will) anyway, then why should we do anything? Why don’t we just all sit back and enjoy the show?”

Yet instead of seizing the occasion to expose the foolishness of such a question, we often end up even validating it by saying, "Well yes, God is Sovereign but Man is STILL Responsible." As if God is some Supreme Commander alright, but without His loyal troops playing their part in making the mission a success, well um, then the Great Commander won't be too terribly happy and the troops will miss out and have to settle for second best, or something... All as if the final decision to just sit back and enjoy the show, is truly up to mortals like us to make!

If we're missing out on anything, I think we're missing out on a wonderful opportunity to further herald our Father's majesty, power and providence--working even in us.

By skirting the issue, we allow others to continue with a very unsound view of God and a very pathetic opinion of His dominion over ALL things—including His active dominion over us, and His personal involvement with every single one of His beloved children. Such slanted views of God do not glorify our LORD.

God doesn’t just cause or initiate things and then leave it to us to determine whether we’ll participate in them or not. His Sovereignty is no sovereignty at all, if it is in any way shape or form, waiting for man’s willingness, decision or initiative to participate in His plan or not.

Am I suggesting that Man is no longer RESPONSIBLE? No: Man is STILL Responsible.

He is still responsible to be holy and blameless before God, even if all our righteousness are like filthy rags to the LORD. Man is RESPONSIBLE for failing every single one of his God-given responsibilities--there is no excuse!

Man MUST do his part. It is essential. It is commanded. It is Biblical. And this is all the more reason why we should all celebrate the fact that:

It is GOD who works in US to both WILL and DO of HIS Good Pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)

What can be more inspiring, more encouraging, more exciting and more motivating to a true child of God than that?

God’s Sovereignty means that it is GOD who is initiating AND working out ALL things for the purpose of HIS will—down to the smallest and minutest of details—even to the number of our hairs. Each strand serves our Heavenly Father’s purpose.

Man’s goings are of the LORD, how can a man then understand his own way?

Sometimes we suggest that God waits for man to play his part before God will play His. Perhaps this is when we need to remember that it is we who have been commanded to wait on the LORD, not the other way around.

Championing human initiative and man’s ability to "make the right choices for God" is what brought us The Tower of Babel, the wild child Ishmael, Jacob stealing the birthright that was promised to him anyway, Moses the murderer, King Saul’s downfall, Simon Peter's foray into ear surgery and a host of other embarrassing fiascos—all recorded for posterity in God’s eternal Word.

Yet in all of these, God was and is still in full control—giving us valuable lessons about our inability, our fragility, our limitations and our utter need to be totally dependent on Him alone always. The Glory is all HIS.

God's Sovereignty means that it is HE who is the Master and LORD, ever faithfully transforming His children—shaping us, dragging us, lifting us, moving us from predestination, through election, through regeneration, through justification, through sanctification, from glory to glory with Christ, throughout all eternity.

There are no gaps or blind spots with God nor in His plan. God does not say, “Doh!”

If a person is not being actively used of God, then the onus is not on that person to be of use to God. No, the onus is on that person to be afraid—very, very afraid. For this is no small matter. If God is not actively working in a person, then there may be eternal implications for that person, that are too horrible to imagine. It doesn’t matter how long that person has been attending church, for it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. And for us to suggest otherwise might be tantamount to offering that person a false hope, the cruelest of all hoaxes.

We are saved by GOD’s Grace Alone, through Faith Alone, in CHRIST Alone, as declared in Scripture Alone: All for the Glory of GOD Alone.

God does not save anyone merely to give them a choice whether they want to participate in God’s plan or not. No, God saves us because He is already actively involving us in His plan: For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do--even before the foundation of the world.

(And if any of us should end up in hell, then it is still for the glory of God who reminds us of what we truly deserve!)

God’s Sovereignty means that it is He who makes a people that is not His people, to be His people—and He will be their God. Just as sure as when God said, "Let there be light" and there was light, we can be sure of this!

God’s Sovereignty means that it is He who is the one removing our stony hearts and putting into us, hearts of flesh. It is He who is putting His Spirit in us, so that we can walk in His statutes and execute His judgments—not by our own choosing or His mere enabling, but by His actively carrying this out in us. Our God is not one who simply calls us to do something, then waits for us to decide to do it or not--otherwise we shall all be doomed! Praise God that He who is calling is also the one who causing everything to work out according to His will.

Like it or not, God’s Sovereignty means that poor Moses went to Pharaoh, even if not once did Moses say to God, “Yes, sir.” In short, Moses went to Pharoah even if there is absolutely bo indication in the Bible that Moses was willing to go. If it were up to Moses' choice, he would rather that God left him alone! And yet Moses led the Israelites for forty years, even as he complained to God, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you, that you put the burden of all these people on me?... I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now...”

God’s Sovereignty means that little Gideon was told: “You have too many men…If I say this one shall go with you, he shall go; but if I say this one shall not go with you, he shall not go.” If the choice was up to Gideon, he would have preferred that God assigned the mission to someone else, right from the very beginning!

God’s Sovereignty means that Jeremiah still heralded God’s Truths, even as he lamented, “O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me.” God’s Sovereignty means that Jeremiah still proclaimed the Word of God, even as Jeremiah chose and determined not to “mention Him or speak anymore of His name…”

God’s Sovereignty means that Jonah went to Nineveh, even when he preferred instead to die. If the whole matter were up to Jonah, he would have chosen to send all of Nineveh straight to hell. (So much for all of that "People-don't-care-how-much-you-know-until-they-know-how-much-you-care" drivel.)

God’s Sovereignty means that Simon Peter became a fisher of men, even after telling Jesus to, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” Peter's choice was to send God away!

God’s Sovereignty means that Saul of Tarsus who chose to persecute of the flock, became Paul—a bondservant of Christ, Apostle to the Gentiles.

God’s Sovereignty means that the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that human words cannot express. God’s Sovereignty means that at His appointed time, “You will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

God’s Sovereignty means that true Christians CANNOT be fatalists. For the fatalist declares Fate to be in full control through chance; whereas those in the Faith proclaim God is in full control through Jesus!

The fatalists’ only hope is chance. Our very hope is Jesus—therefore there is no chance for chance.

God’s Sovereignty means that He has made sinners into Saints, worshipping an intensely active and deeply personal God, who is involved in everything that we are, were and will be—having sent us from where we’ve been, keeping us where we are and sending us to where He wills. No chance for chance.

God’s Sovereignty means that the decision to do anything or nothing, mercifully does not lie with vain capricious men. The decision belongs to the Sovereign God and Master, The King of Kings and LORD of Lords: The Shepherd, not the sheep. The Potter, not the clay. And so there is no chance for chance.

And who are we to protest? Do we feel slighted by being referred to as clay?

Then may God be gracious to us and cause us instead to cry out, “LORD Almighty, The Holy Righteous and Everlasting God: because it is You who is the Potter—because it is YOU who is The Potter—then what higher honor, what greater glory and what grander ambition can anyone have than to be YOUR Clay!”

Oh, how the planets and stars in the galaxies must groan in envy, because it is WE whom the Sovereign LORD has chosen to be His clay.

Yet over and above this, by His Sovereign Grace, He justifies the ungodly, having mercy on whom He will have mercy and adopts them to be His very own children: co-heirs with CHRIST!

So are we still to ask, “If God is Sovereign, then why do anything?”

Perhaps what we should be asking instead is, “If God is NOT Sovereign, then WHY do anything?

If God is NOT Sovereign, then why come to church? Why read the Bible? Why proclaim the Gospel? Why praise His name? If God is NOT Sovereign, then I can do whatever my sinful heart desires.

Yet it is because GOD IS SOVEREIGN, that the former objects of His wrath now have peace with Him who proclaimed: "I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again."

It is because GOD IS SOVEREIGN, that is why mortal sinners who do not understand and do not seek after God, end up worshipping Him forever!

It is because GOD IS SOVEREIGN, that is why those who used to live for themselves no longer live—but it is Christ who lives in them. The dead have no say over the One who is living. This is not an appeal for the dead to surrender their will to Christ—no, it is a declaration that Christ has taken over. The redemption has begun—Mission: Unstoppable. No chance for chance!

Through every painful struggle and correction and heartache and frustration and disappointment that He has ordained to take us through: in all this, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us. He is our chief and highest motive and there can be no greater exhortation to a true Christian than Christ Himself.

It is because GOD IS SOVEREIGN, that in Him we LIVE and MOVE and have our being.

GOD IS SOVEREIGN and that is why everything—EVERYTHING is going exactly according to His plan. Yes, people break His commandments all the time, and this breaks our hearts! But do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows, so shall he reap. It’s all going according to God’s plan and nothing—absolutely not a single solitary thing is exempt.

Not even Satan, our enemy, our accuser and our tormentor—to whom we should not give a foothold—the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient, not even he is exempt. Satan could not sift Peter as wheat without Christ’s permission. Satan himself could not touch Job without God’s consent. So let us not be surprised if Satan himself cannot even scratch his own nose, if it is not according to God’s plan!

Jesus Christ is LORD. That means Jesus Christ REIGNS. That means Jesus Christ is SOVEREIGN.

Christ's LORDship, His Reign, His Sovereignty are not subject to the choices of man. It is not up to man to decide whether Jesus is Lord or not; whether man accepts it or not, Jesus reigns over all. Christ is not LORD only where we allow Him or choose Him to be REIGN; that's not Sovereignty, that's lip service!

"Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain in the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am HE who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you: I will sustain you and I will rescue you. To whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?"

All glory, honor and power are His, to the praise of His Mighty Name: JESUS CHRIST our LORD—the Alpha, the Omega; the Beginning and the End, the Ruler of all things in between.

Ignacio Lacsina jnr.

A Summary Of Our Study On ROMANS

Grace and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ to y'all!

We've been having such blessed times at our Bible Study group, taking up Paul's letter to the Romans. Here's a summary of what we've covered so far. Please let me know of any insights, comments and suggestions that will help our group have a better understanding of this profoundly impactful epistle. Kindly pray that the Holy Spirit leads more people to and through this wonderful book.

Many thanks and God bless!

--Boms

The PBC Blacktown Care Group's Study on the Book of ROMANS

Author: Paul

• Romans 1:1; Style and theological viewpoint very similar to other letters attributed to Paul (Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians)
• Probably written while he was in Corinth, Greece; as guest of Gaius (Rom 16:23) who was a prominent church leader in Corinth (1Cor 1:14); around 57ad, before Great Roman Fire of 64ad, during reign of Nero.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Intended Audience: Christians in Rome

• Ethnically, culturally diverse Gentile (non-Jewish) and Jewish converts
• Most probably first received the Gospel during Feast of Pentecost (Acts 2:10)
• Most have never met Paul personally, but may have heard of him as former Saul of Tarsus; most may have heard of his conversion (Acts 9), apostleship (sending out), missionary journeys and church planting (from Acts 13 to 18?); most may have heard other people’s rumors about him and his teachings (Romans 3:8)

Reasons for writing:

• Paul wanted to introduce himself in preparation for his intended visit to Rome
• Paul wanted to make clear his position regarding the Gospel and help the Roman Christians have a clearer understanding of the subject of Salvation (or “Soteriology,” from Greek sōtērion, meaning deliverance; sōtēr, meaning savior; saos, sōs, meaning safe)
• Paul wanted the diverse Christians in Rome to be united in their understanding and teaching of God’s Gospel, and together lead Gospel-Driven lives.
  
• Paul wanted to help build up the Roman churches in understanding their faith, so that they may be better able to help him spread the true Gospel, towards Spain (Rom 15:28)
  
  
  
  

SUMMARY/HIGHLIGHTS

The Good News, The Bad News, The Best News Ever (chapters 1-11)

ROMANS 1: Paul introduces himself and the Gospel (Good News) regarding Jesus Christ, the Son of God who became son of man: seed of David (God incarnate=God in the flesh), declared as God the Son by his resurrection from the dead, “through Him and for his name’s sake, we have received grace …”

Paul writes of his longing to visit the Roman Christians and preach them this Gospel “for it is the power of God for salvation of everyone who believes.” (The Good News is not just for unbelievers, but also for those who already believe.) People need the Gospel because “God’s wrath is being revealed… against all the godlessness…”

We value the things that God created, more than we value God the creator. There is no excuse...

ROMANS 2: God’s wrath is justified. We are all sinners, unable to measure up to God’s standards. God’s judgment is “based on truth.” Outwardly trying to observe (Jewish) laws and traditions (such as circumcision) is commendable and may result in being praised by others, but it is not enough to appease God’s wrath.








ROMANS 3: There is nothing that we can do (there’s nothing that can come from us) that will make us right with God, but that is no excuse to go on sinning. So “now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known… this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” God presented Christ as a sacrifice for atonement. (This is the only sacrifice that truly appeases God’s wrath and results in reconciliation with Him).








ROMANS 4: (For those who still insist on obeying Jewish traditions to be right with God,) Paul cites Abraham as an example (since the tradition of circumcision started with Abraham in Genesis 17): “Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness” even before he was circumcised (Gen. 15:6). Circumcision was a sign of his righteousness, not the cause of it: Righteousness comes by faith to those who believe in Him who justifies the ungodly. Even King David himself, the man after God’s own heart, believed that it is God who imputes righteousness apart from works (in Psalm 32:1-2). (The signs of righteousness then follow.)








ROMANS 5: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” and all of this, God did “while we were still sinners.” This is the reason for us to rejoice, even in suffering: suffering and death reigned as a result of Adam’s trespass, yet “how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through” Jesus Christ.








ROMANS 6: “Shall we go on sinning…? By no means!” We used to be slaves to sin, but now, we “have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness… slaves to God.” (Note the distinction: we have not been saved from death, so that we can continue to sin if we want, but rather) We have been saved from sin, which leads to death: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (A gift is not earned or deserved, it is by grace!)







ROMANS 7: We are no longer controlled by the sinful or carnal nature, so we now struggle or wage war against it. Who will rescue us “from this body of death” that we struggle against? (Ourselves? Our own will-power? What is Paul’s own answer?)

“Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

ROMANS 8: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” because Christ himself assures victory. Those who are not in Christ will continue in their sinful nature (just as we used to). They are hostile to God (just as we were). Their minds do “not submit to God’s law, nor can” they do so, unless the Holy Spirit sets them free from sin (as He did with us).

Only those whom the Holy Spirit controls are truly God’s children. (Does that mean that God’s children no longer suffer? No.) God’s children are co-heirs with Christ, and so “share in his sufferings,” so that we may also share in his glory. In our sufferings, “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us… nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”









ROMANS 9: But then what about God’s promises to the Jews? (Of everlasting salvation; to be God’s very own people; to be a royal priesthood; the promises of a Messiah, The Christ?) Have God’s word failed? No. The promises still stand; God’s word never fails! But we must remember that the promises were never made merely to the biological/natural descendants of Abraham. The promises were made to those whom God chose to adopt into His family. The Israelites who pursued righteousness with zeal by working, stumbled; while the Gentiles, who were not pursuing righteousness, obtained it by the gift of faith.









ROMANS 10: In spite of Paul’s desire for Israel to be saved, in spite of Israel’s zeal for God, Israel “did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own…” And so, did not submit to God’s righteousness. Israel cannot claim that they have not believed because they did not hear, or because no one was sent to preach to them: “Did they not hear? Of course they did…” But concerning Israel, God says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”








ROMANS 11: Has God totally rejected Israel? By no means! Even so then at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. Now Paul warns the Gentiles against looking down on the Israelites, because it is into their family that they have been graciously grafted into.

The hardening of Israel is for the glory of God: “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” (Israel, nor anyone else for that matter, will not be able to say that it was their zeal or faithfulness that caused God to save them.)

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?
Who has ever given to God that God should repay him?
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.”








The Gospel-Driven Life (from Romans chapter 12, onwards)

ROMANS 12: As a result of God's gracious work in our lives then, we ought to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to Him as an act of worship (“worth-ship”); being transformed by the renewing of our minds. We need to recognise Christ’s church as being one body with many different parts—many different gifts. We are to zealously exercise our individual gifts; sharing the life that God has given us in sincere love, joy and humility, in both good times and bad; overcoming evil with good, because “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (KJV).









ROMANS 13: Teaches us to recognize God’s sovereignty over earthly governments and the Christians’ obligation to authorities; how love fulfills the commandments; exhorts us not to waste time on carnal desires.









ROMANS 14: Tells us that those who are strong in the faith and those who are weak are to be united in Christ. Before we judge one another, remember that God is the judge of us all. We should build each other up in Christ, and avoid making each other stumble.







ROMANS 15: Those who are strong must selflessly help to build up the weak. Jesus did not make it a priority to please himself, so neither should we. God gives us endurance and encouragement through His word—may He grant us harmony, so that we can all together glorify Him.

Paul acknowledges Christ’s accomplishments in his ministry of preaching the Gospel “where Christ was not known.” This is why he plans to preach in Spain, visiting Rome on his way there. Paul urges the Roman Christians to pray for him and his plans to visit them and to know them personally.







ROMANS 16: Paul commends his fellow workers to the Roman churches: these are his beloved brothers and sisters in Christ (each with various backgrounds, chosen to be of service to God in Rome). Paul urges the churches to keep away from those who cause divisions by teaching erroneous doctrine: “Be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil,” for “The God of peace will soon crush Satan” (the father of lies) “under your feet.”

Paul’s other companions send also their greetings to the Romans. Paul closes in praise of the Eternal Almighty All-Knowing God:

“Now to Him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey Him—to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen”

RECOMMENDED HOMEWORK (as the Spirit leads):

From what we have been learning in Romans, what do you think are the most essential things that Christians need to proclaim, about:

GOD?





MAN?





SIN?





JUDGMENT?





JESUS CHRIST?





The HOLY SPIRIT?






The Appropriate RESPONSE?

(Bonus points for citing passages in Romans to support your statements for all of the above!)

A Righteousness That is by Faith...

"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by faith.'"

--Paul's Letter to the Romans, chapter 1, verses 16-17

“…We must be very careful to understand faith as Paul uses the word, because he ties faith so closely to salvation. It is not something we must do in order to earn salvation – if that were true, then faith would be just one more deed, and Paul clearly states that human deeds can never save us (Galatians 2:16). Instead, faith is a gift God gives us because he is saving us (Ephesians 2:8). It is God’s grace, not our faith that saves us. In his mercy, however, when he saves us he gives us faith… Through the faith he gives, he carries us from death unto life (John 5:24).”

--Life Application Bible New International Version, excerpt, page 2027; Tyndale House 1991

“Remember this; or you may fall into error by fixing your minds so much upon the faith which is the channel of salvation as to forget the grace which is the fountain and source even of faith itself. Faith is the work of God's grace in us… “No man comes to Me,” says Jesus, “except the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). Grace is the first and last moving cause of salvation; and faith, essential as it is, is only an important part of the machinery which grace employs. We are saved ‘through faith,’ but salvation is ‘by grace’.”

--Charles H. Spurgeon



“Faith is a gift from God, so that no one may boast. The last bastion of pride is the belief that we are the originators of our faith…”
“Faith is the evidence of new birth, not the cause of it.”

--John Piper



“He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:31). Is this your view of salvation? Are you giving the entire glory to God, or are you reserving a little for yourself? Are you saying that it is your belief that saves you? If so, you are detracting from the glory of God. The glory is entirely His –to the praise of the glory of His grace in which he has highly favored us in the beloved.”

--Martyn Lloyd Jones

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..."

--Hebrews 12:2a



By Grace Alone, Through Faith Alone, In Christ Alone, As Taught in Scripture Alone,
All For The Glory of God Alone!



Interesting Links: www.BiggerGOD.com; www.DesiringGod.org; www.ModernReformation.org; www.Monergism.com; www.Theopedia.com

"I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes—that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit as well as the sun in the heavens—that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence—the fall of sear leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche. He that believes in a God must believe this truth. There is no standing-point between this and atheism. There is no half way between a mighty God that worketh all things by the sovereign counsel of his will and no God at all. A God that cannot do as he pleases—a God whose will is frustrated, is not a God, and cannot be a God. I could not believe in such a God as that."

"There is no attribute of God more comforting to his children than the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe troubles, they believe that Sovereignty hath ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children of God ought more earnestly to contend than the dominion of their Master over all creation—the kingship of God over all the works of his own hands—the throne of God, and his right to sit upon that throne."

--Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)

"Did You Know... ?"

"Did You Know...?"

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales

and the hills in a balance?

Who has understood the mind of the LORD,
or who instructed him as his counselor?

Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge
or showed him the path of understanding?

Surley the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust...

Before him all the nations are as nothing;
they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.

To whom, then will you compare God?

What image will you compare him to?

Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the world was founded?

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in...

"To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,

and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,

not one of them is missing...

Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary

and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

(Excerpts from the New International Version of the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 40, originally written around 680 B.C.

Images taken from http://www.rense.com/general72/size.htm

and can also be seen at http://webisto.com/space/)