Latest / 1 Year Audio Bible Podcast / The Road to Salvation | Romans 3 Unpacked (July 16)

Transcript

The Road to Salvation | Romans 3 Unpacked (July 16) · 1 Year Audio Bible Podcast

• 0:00
  Do you know for sure, without a doubt, that you are going to heaven one day when you die?
• 0:08
  How would you answer that question?
• 0:10
  How do you know?
• 0:11
  Well, I'm a good person.
• 0:14
  I'm kind.
• 0:15
  I'm generous.
• 0:16
  I'm giving.
• 0:18
  I help others.
• 0:19
  I serve others.
• 0:20
  I do a lot of good works.
• 0:22
  I'm a deacon at the church.
• 0:24
  I sing in the choir.
• 0:26
  I'm a children's ministry teacher.
• 0:29
  Are those the things that will get you into heaven?
• 0:33
  Will good works get you into heaven?
• 0:37
  Paul says in Romans chapter 3, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.
• 0:44
  And in verse 23, he goes on to say, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
• 0:51
  God.
• 0:53
  What is the path to salvation?
• 0:55
  How is it that we come to know Christ and know that we have an eternal life in heaven
• 1:02
  with him?
• 1:03
  Listen in as we unpack Romans chapter 3.
• 1:07
  Welcome to the One Year Audio Bible Podcast.
• 1:10
  Today is July 16th.
• 1:13
  Now let's continue our journey reading through the entire Bible in one year.
• 1:17
  This week we are reading from the Israel Bible for the Old Testament and from the King James
• 1:21
  for the New Testament.
• 1:26
  Numbers 24.1-12
• 1:34
  Now Balaam, seeing that it pleased Hashem to bless Israel, did not, as on previous occasions,
• 1:40
  go in search of omens, but turned his face toward the wilderness.
• 1:45
  As Balaam looked up and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of Hashem came
• 1:50
  upon him.
• 1:52
  Taking up his theme, he said, Word of Balaam, son of Beor, word of the man whose eye is
• 1:58
  true, word of him who hears Hashem's speech, who beholds visions from the Almighty, prostrate
• 2:06
  but with eyes unveiled.
• 2:08
  How fair are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel, like palm groves that stretch out,
• 2:16
  like gardens beside a river, like aloes planted by Hashem, like cedars beside the water.
• 2:24
  Their boughs drip with moisture, their roots have abundant water, their king shall rise
• 2:30
  above Agag, their kingdom shall be exalted.
• 2:34
  Hashem who freed them from Egypt is for them like the horns of the wild ox.
• 2:40
  They shall devour enemy nations, crush their bones and smash their arrows.
• 2:45
  They crouch, they lie down like a lion, like the king of beasts, who dare rouse them.
• 2:52
  Blessed are they who bless you, and cursed are they who curse you.
• 2:57
  Enraged at Balaam, Balak struck his hands together.
• 3:02
  I called you, Balak said to Balaam, to curse my enemies, and instead you have blessed them
• 3:08
  these three times.
• 3:10
  I went with you at once to your own place.
• 3:13
  I was going to reward you richly, but Hashem has denied you the reward.
• 3:19
  Balaam replied to Balak, but I even told the messengers that you sent me.
• 3:25
  Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not of my own
• 3:29
  accord do anything good or bad contrary to Hashem's command.
• 3:34
  What Hashem says, that I must say.
• 3:41
  1st Chronicles 23.1-23.32
• 3:48
  When David reached a ripe old age, he made his son Solomon king over Israel.
• 3:55
  Then David assembled all the officers of Israel and the Kohanim and the Leviim.
• 4:00
  The Leviim, from the age of thirty and upward, were counted.
• 4:04
  The head count of their males was thirty-eight thousand.
• 4:07
  Of these, there were twenty-four thousand in charge of the work of the house of Hashem,
• 4:12
  six thousand officers and magistrates, four thousand gatekeepers, and four thousand for
• 4:17
  praising Hashem with instruments I devised for singing praises.
• 4:22
  David formed them into divisions.
• 4:24
  The sons of Levi, Gershon, Kihat, and Merari.
• 4:28
  The Gershonites, Ladan and Shimei.
• 4:32
  The sons of Ladan, Yechiel, the chief, Zethem, and Joel, three.
• 4:38
  The sons of Shimei, Shelumeth, Haziel, and Haran, three.
• 4:43
  These were the chiefs of the clans of the Ladanites.
• 4:46
  And the sons of Shimei, Jehath, Zena, Jeush, and Beriah.
• 4:51
  These were the sons of Shimei, four.
• 4:53
  Jehath was the chief and Zezah the second.
• 4:57
  But Jeush and Beriah did not have many children, so they were enrolled together as a single
• 5:02
  clan.
• 5:04
  The sons of Kihat, Amran, Izhar, Shevron, and Uziel, four.
• 5:09
  The sons of Amran, Aaron, and Moses.
• 5:12
  Aaron was set apart, he and his sons, forever, to be consecrated as most holy, to make burnt
• 5:18
  offerings to Hashem, and serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name forever.
• 5:25
  As for Moses, the man of Hashem, his sons were named after the tribe of Levi.
• 5:30
  The sons of Moses, Gershom and Eliezer.
• 5:34
  The sons of Gershom, Shebuel the chief, and the sons of Eliezer were Rehobiah the chief.
• 5:41
  Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehobiah were very numerous.
• 5:46
  The sons of Izhar, Shelumeth the chief.
• 5:50
  The sons of Shevron, Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second.
• 5:55
  Jecheziel the third, and Jechemim the fourth.
• 5:59
  The sons of Uziel, Micah the chief, and Eshiah the second.
• 6:03
  The sons of Merari, Mali, and Mushi.
• 6:07
  The sons of Mali, Eliezer, and Kish.
• 6:10
  Eliezer died having no sons, but only daughters.
• 6:14
  The sons of Kish, their kinsmen, married them.
• 6:18
  The sons of Mushi, Mali, Eder, and Jeremoth, three.
• 6:23
  These are the sons of Levi by clans, with their clan chiefs as they were enrolled, with
• 6:28
  a list of their names, by heads, who did the work of the service of the house of Hashem
• 6:33
  from the age of twenty and upward.
• 6:37
  For David said, God of Israel has given rest to his people and made his dwelling in Jerusalem
• 6:43
  forever.
• 6:44
  Therefore, the Leviim need not carry the Mishkan and all its various service vestibules.
• 6:51
  Among the last acts of David was the counting of the Leviim from the age of twenty and upward.
• 6:56
  For their appointment was alongside the Aaronites for the service of the house of Hashem, to
• 7:02
  look after the courts and the chambers, and the purity of all the holy things, and the
• 7:06
  performance of the service of the house of Hashem, and the rows of bread and the fine
• 7:11
  flour for the meal offering, and the unleavened wafers, and the cakes made on the griddle
• 7:16
  and soaked, and every measure of capacity and length.
• 7:20
  And to be present every morning to praise and extol Hashem, at evening too, and whenever
• 7:26
  offerings were made to Hashem, according to the quantities prescribed for them on Shabbat,
• 7:33
  new moons and holidays, regularly before Hashem.
• 7:37
  And so to keep watch over the tent of meeting, over the holy things, and over the Aaronites,
• 7:43
  their kinsmen, for the service of the house of Hashem.
• 7:50
  Romans 3. 9-31
• 8:02
  What then? Are we Jews better than they Gentiles? No, and no wise. For we have before proved
• 8:09
  both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. As it is written, There is none righteous,
• 8:17
  no, not one. There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. They are
• 8:23
  all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that does
• 8:29
  good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have used
• 8:37
  deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
• 8:45
  Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way
• 8:51
  of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know
• 8:57
  that what thing soever the law says, it says to them who are under the law, that every
• 9:03
  mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the
• 9:10
  deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is
• 9:17
  the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being
• 9:25
  witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God which is by faith
• 9:31
  of Jesus Christ to all, and upon all them that believe. For there is no difference.
• 9:39
  For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his
• 9:49
  grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation
• 9:59
  through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that
• 10:05
  are past through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness
• 10:14
  that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believes in Jesus. Where is boasting
• 10:21
  then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we
• 10:32
  conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God
• 10:41
  of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles, seeing it is one God
• 10:51
  which shall justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then
• 10:59
  make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yes, we establish the law.
• 11:07
  Psalm 12, 1-8
• 11:12
  Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases, for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
• 11:18
  They speak vanity every one with his neighbor, with flattering lips and with a double heart
• 11:25
  do they speak. The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaks
• 11:31
  proud things. Who have said with our tongue will we prevail? Our lips are our own. Who is
• 11:39
  Lord over us? For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise,
• 11:47
  says the Lord. I will set him in safety from him that puffs at him. The words of the Lord
• 11:53
  are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times. You shall keep
• 12:00
  them, O Lord, you shall preserve them from this generation forever. The wicked walk on
• 12:06
  every side when the vilest men are exalted.
• 12:12
  Proverbs 19, 13-14
• 12:15
  A foolish son is the calamity of his father, and the contentions of a wife are a continual
• 12:22
  dripping. House and riches are the inheritance of fathers, and a prudent wife is from the Lord.
• 12:30
  I want to speak to you today from our reading from Romans chapter 3, and there's some really
• 12:37
  important foundational truths from this chapter. And basically, what this chapter is laying out
• 12:47
  for us, it's really well done by Paul. He's talking about the law, the law that was given
• 12:56
  to Moses at Mount Sinai, the Ten Commandments, and then, of course, all the rest of it,
• 13:01
  the first five books of the Bible. And can we be justified, made right with God by simply obeying
• 13:12
  the law? Well, Romans chapter 3 tells us, no, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.
• 13:23
  So, what's the purpose of the law? Why did God give us the law if he knew we wouldn't be able
• 13:28
  to keep it? Well, verse 20 tells us the purpose of the law. In verse 20, it says, therefore,
• 13:36
  by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the
• 13:43
  knowledge of sin. So, the purpose of the law was to make us aware of our sin. It's like looking
• 13:51
  in a mirror. And if you've been outside and working hard and doing outdoor work, and you
• 13:59
  come in and you look in the mirror, you see you've got some dirt on your face. You see that you need
• 14:04
  a shower. The law is a mirror. And when we look into the law, when we read it, we come under
• 14:12
  conviction that we've broken it, we have fallen short. Now, this is so important and so foundational
• 14:19
  because many different religions, for example, Mormonism or Judaism or other kinds of denominations,
• 14:36
  actually, it can happen in any church setting, not even tied to any particular denomination.
• 14:42
  What can happen is if you've been in church and if you've never actually had a born-again
• 14:48
  experience where you have invited Jesus into your heart, you simply go to church because your
• 14:53
  husband goes or because your wife goes or because your parents go, and so they take you with them.
• 14:58
  And it's just a habit. It's a habit that you do. And it's just, it's a good thing to do.
• 15:04
  But people think, well, if I'm a good person and I do good deeds and I help others and I'm kind and
• 15:12
  I'm giving, then that'll get me to heaven. No, it won't. It's like trying to cross the Grand Canyon
• 15:22
  and you're trying to jump across on foot. We all fall short. It's all by faith. Verse 22,
• 15:33
  Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith in Jesus Christ to all and upon all of them that
• 15:42
  believe, for there is no difference. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
• 15:50
  So, how we are justified, how we come to salvation is by believing, first of all,
• 15:59
  that Jesus did die on the cross and that he rose again for me, for you, my friend.
• 16:07
  And when we see, we're aware, we read the book, the Bible, and we see I have fallen short. I've
• 16:14
  had bitterness. I've had unforgiveness. I've been selfish. I've lied. I've stolen. I've cheated.
• 16:23
  I've had unclean thoughts, thoughts of lust. All of those things, if you break even one part of the
• 16:32
  law, it's as though you've broken the entire law. We've all sinned and Jesus died. He took the
• 16:39
  punishment that you and I deserve. The penalty of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal
• 16:47
  life, and so it's all by faith that we put our trust in Jesus Christ. But here's the other
• 16:55
  deal. You can have had a born-again experience and come to know Jesus and ask him into your heart
• 17:03
  and begun the journey, the walk of faith in faith, but what can happen is if you've been
• 17:09
  in church for a long time, for many years, we can slowly over time start to fall into a works
• 17:17
  and a performance mode. It can happen in any church setting, in any denomination, but certain
• 17:24
  denominations tend to be a lot more prone to the works, performance, obedience to the law.
• 17:32
  Hebrew roots, as an example, and there are notable exceptions, but as a whole, they tend to be very
• 17:40
  works-based and performance-based and obey the law, obey the law, but you can't do it in your
• 17:46
  own flesh. You're going to fall short. It's all by faith. We must be led by the Holy Spirit,
• 17:56
  and so I challenge you today. Are you in the faith? Have you slipped away from total connection
• 18:06
  and relationship and intimacy with Jesus? Are you trying to walk the Christian life out
• 18:15
  in your own efforts, in your own strength, in your own flesh? Is it just a routine
• 18:21
  that you attend church on a Sunday and then you do your own thing the rest of the week?
• 18:27
  Are you in the faith? Do you have relationship with Jesus, or are you relying upon good works
• 18:36
  and performance and earning God's approval? It's all by faith. We begin in faith,
• 18:45
  and then we continue each day by faith, by trusting in Jesus and being led by his Holy Spirit.
• 18:56
  Have a blessed day, and we'll see you tomorrow. Shalom.