10 Nov (Rom 3-4)

Romans 3

(v.2) The Jews were blessed to have God start His relationship with mankind through them. Through them, He gave the world the Bible. But with that came responsibility, and as we read in the Bible, they squandered that. But before we get too judgmental, we do the same thing now.

(v.19) Just as in the parable of the Wedding Feast that Jesus tells the disciples in Matt 22:12 the ones who rejected the free gift of salvation in Jesus, will be speechless when confronted with their sin.

(v.20) Ask your kids why God gave the Jews in the OT the Law...this is important. Did God do that to condemn them to hell, since no one can keep the law? Psalm 14:3 No one can, so why did God give them the Law?

God gave them the Law to point them to Himself!!! If we realize that we can't run our lives on our own, and we are doomed to hell in our sins, then we need a Savior to help us! The Law was given to point us to God...Jesus!

(v.21) After Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected, He gave us His Spirit...we no longer need the Law to show us our sin and our need for a Savior...we have His Spirit to guide us and convict us of sin.

(v.23) Since God is perfect and holy, there has never been a human who has attained that holiness...it took God Himself...Jesus, to come and take our punishment for sin. That was the only way for our sins to be washed away...the Holy Lamb of God had to be our Passover Lamb in our place! John 1:29

(v.28) This is the difference of Christianity from any other religion...works doesn't earn salvation, but only the faith in the works of God does!

Romans 4

(v.3) God isn't sitting in heaven with a big calculator, counting out our good works and our bad works. The calculator that matters is our faith! Abraham is our example...he obeyed God because he had faith in God. This was counted or tabulated as salvation in the Father's eyes. The word used in Hebrew means imputed, credited or counted...it's an accounting term. Gen 15:6

(v.13) This is why Abraham is called the Father of the Faithful...and why God said that his descendants would be like the stars in number. God wasn't talking about only Jews from Abraham's family tree, rather, God was talking about all the faithful...Jews and Gentiles!

(v.24) We are heirs of the Father's blessings and love, like Christ, since we died to sin and are born again...just like Jesus did for us!