Bible Study Romans Part 65-Manifested

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God's Word is supreme at Chapel Ministries.

We consider it absolutely essential to a proper relationship with God.

We study it, we love it, we rely on it every minute of every day.

The following program is an edited recording of the regular Bible studies we hold, and we decided to share these with you in the hope that you too will be able to find inspiration, encouragement, and ultimately salvation through discovering Christ in Scripture.

Our intention is to travel all the way through the Bible.

It will be a challenging journey, but one that will undoubtedly bring you to a decision.

Through this study, you will be faced with either believing or rejecting what God has said to us.

It is our intention to provide you with enough knowledge to make an informed decision about God and his word.

We strongly encourage you to listen intently and diligently, because though at the moment you may not realize it, these things are truly a matter of life and death.

In fact, these are matters of eternal life and eternal death.

Never treat what God has said lightly.

There is truly nothing more important to you.

Now join us as we seek God's will through his inspired word.

We've been making our way through Paul's letter to the Romans.

It is one of those books from the Bible that have so much important information for us Christians to grasp.

It's important for us as we go through our lives as Christians to understand what Paul is saying to us here.

Now, Paul, after laying it on thick for one and a half chapters, drops the biggest truth bomb of them all.

We're currently in the third chapter.

Paul has been talking for a chapter and a half about some rather negative things.

He's telling us about how big of a sinner we all are.

And then he drops the biggest truth bomb of them all.

No one is going to work their way out of judgment by pursuing some program of self-improvement.

He says that not even the most sacred set of rules mankind has ever known can help.

And these aren't even rules man came up with.

Thus far, Paul has been using a rather loose definition of that word.

And we can be certain that in this section, he's not singling anyone out.

Here he's talking about both Jews and Gentiles, and if for no other reason than consistency, we should make sure in our mind that this reference to the law, by the law is the knowledge of sin.

When Paul said that, he meant to include any law.

All law codes have the purpose of informing the citizen, if you will, of the knowledge of what's not allowed.

This isn't the law only, it's any set of rules, any law.

Following any law is not going to help you.

The next verse, verse 21, marks a significant and obvious turning point.

Here it seems that Paul is finally satisfied that he's done enough to convince us of our desperate position.

He's been telling us for a chapter and a half that we're sinners and that there's nothing we can do about it.

He seems at this point relatively sure he's gotten us quaking in our boots at the prospect of being a sinner standing before God in judgment, naked, as it were.

He stands persuaded that we're retreating in shame and fear.

And so now he starts to reel us back in with hope.

Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

Can you imagine how excruciating it was for Paul to keep this held back for a chapter and a half?

How painful it must have been for him to drag us through our own excrement for all this time.

The patience it must have taken to keep this back until just the right moment.

I mean, make no mistake.

Listen, Paul has the heart of a pastor, and no pastor likes to bring his congregation to such grim conclusions.

He must have been dying inside until he could say, but now the righteousness of God without law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

This must have come out riding a giant sigh of relief.

Finally, I can bring some good news up.

Just as a side note, believe it or not, this isn't good news for everyone.

The religious types don't greet this very warmly.

That crowd doesn't like when the common man is told that there's a righteousness without the law.

After all, the age-old question goes: how can we keep the people under control if we can't leverage the law?

The people will go on sinning forever if we tell them that the law isn't the means by which they are justified.

Well, like it or not, Paul's going to say it.

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

He's circling back.

He's returning to his earliest strategy.

He's once again saying, this isn't a Paul the Apostle thing.

This is a law and prophets thing.

This isn't something I came up with.

This is what God's word has always been said.

The righteousness of God, which happens to be the only kind of righteousness that counts, the righteousness of God without the law is now manifested.

I loved that word.

In the English, it means to make obvious.

In the Greek, it's the word funer oo, and it's defined as meaning to render apparent, to cause, to shine forth, to set in a clear light.

Now I want to make sure that you understand this.

This is when this is manifested.

This is when this is being shown in it all its clarity.

As Paul said, this has been around since the law and the prophets, but now the law is manifested.

Now you have to really feel the impact of this statement.

You have to realize that the underpinnings of everything Paul says is the gospel, the good news.

Here he's saying that what Christ has done shines forth the righteousness which is without law.

It didn't create it, it wasn't born today.

The righteousness is now shining forth because of what Christ did.

Christ manifested this type of righteousness for us.

And of course, Paul's already said this.

Romans 1:16 and 17.

Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed.

Same thing, from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith.

Here in the third chapter, Paul is bringing us right back to these foundational statements.

He's almost word for word repeating himself back to chapter three.

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested.

Over there, he said it was revealed.

Here it's manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is of faith, said that earlier, by the but is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference.

Friends, listen, this is really the only way to become familiar with God's message.

You have to go through it verse by verse.

And when you do that, you're going to be amazed at how consistent the message is.

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

Again, this is a repeat of a first chapter statement.

Of course, you remember this one too.

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which she had promised before by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.

Though the Jews might not realize it, this is not a new message.

It's shining forth now, it's revealed, it's manifested, but it's not new.

The gospel is not a departure in the least from the message God has been delivering all along.

But you know, I gotta say it again.

You can't blame the Jews.

They've been bamboozled for so long.

They've been fed a lot of nonsense down through the centuries to the point that the truth is now unrecognizable to them.

It's all right.

You don't have to worry about that.

It's okay.

It's all right.

Absolutely no different than what's happening to us in our own day.

I've had person after person come up to me and say, I've never heard anything like this before.

This is all so new.

And then I'll sarcastically ask, have you never been to church before?

Yes, I've been to church before.

And of course, I know that since I sat next to some of them in the past.

They know that I know they've been to church because I was there with them, but I'm trying to make a point.

You've been to church and yet you've never heard anything like this there.

Well, I'm not using any source that your churches don't have access to.

The difference is they don't teach it this way.

In fact, they don't teach it at all.

And that was the problem for the Jews, too.

It was probably worse for them because in their synagogues they were told to revere their scriptures and yet they got so little of it.

I know that's the case because they missed this, just like most of you missed it.

This isn't new.

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference.

This is one jam-packed declaration.

Now I'm counting verses 21 and 22 as one statement.

Listen, remember, uh, when originally written, the chapter and verse designations did not exist.

They were added much later, probably in the Middle Ages, in order to aid in memorization and study.

I know it seems hard to believe, but there was a time when there was an interest in helping people memorize and study scripture.

That's not so common now.

Of course, all of you are interested in your Bible, but wouldn't it be nice if there were more of us?

It sure would make me happy to be able to sit down and discuss the gospel with someone without them rolling their eyes and pretending they have to leave because of an unexpected root canal.

Anyhow, back to my main point.

Since when originally written, there were no chapter and verse definitions or divisions, not definitions, divisions.

We can confidently push together verses that seem like they belong together.

To me, Romans 3.21 and 3.22 seem like they form one complete thought.

Instead of quoting them again, let me summarize.

Paul is telling those Romans that there's a righteousness of God.

We'll get to that later.

There's a righteousness of God that's not tied to any set of rules and rituals.

Something that's been talked about for millennia by the prophets, that's been mentioned in the scriptures, and it's a righteousness of God that is by faith that comes by faith of Jesus Christ.

We'll also discuss that topic at length later on.

It's a righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ, that all who believe in him shall be saved.

And then Paul says, this one I will quote, for there is no difference.

And we'll get to that as well.

That one might be a bit tricky.

Anyways, now the righteousness of God without the law is made clear, is manifested.

Now, one of the reasons that Paul had such difficulty with his fellow Jews is right here on display.

You know, today, if you want to lose all credibility with your workmates, tell them that you don't believe in evolution.

Oh boy, here we go.

We've got a creationist in our midsts.

In fact, you don't even have to go that far.

Just pick any viewpoint that is opposite to the mainstream, and you'll be forever labeled persona non grata.

Come out against the canceling of student loan debt, stand up for more border control, less government, more school choice, and even those you consider your friends will turn their back on you.

Well, that's how Paul got in trouble with his own people.

He had the nerve to claim that there was a righteousness of God available that did not involve their beloved law.

To them, there could be no more ridiculous statement.

Now, let me make sure I'm perfectly clear in what I'm teaching here.

I want to leave no doubts as to what Paul is saying.

As Paul clarifies elsewhere, he's not saying the law is irrelevant.

The giving of the law was necessary and of great value.

God loves the law.

But as far as the righteousness we receive from God is concerned, it does not come to us through our relationship to that law.

This is not that type of righteousness.

We do not achieve righteous standing through our effort.

I should say we can't achieve righteous standing through our effort.

That's how the law worked.

That law said that if you complied with all of the do's and all of the don'ts, if you did the do's and you didn't do the don'ts, you gained righteousness.

That type of righteousness, by the way, is the only type of righteousness that Paul's contemporaries in the Jewish faith taught was possible.

And, you know, before Christ came, they were right.

But that's why Paul said, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference.

And Paul's critics, mostly the religious leaders, just couldn't accept that.

And one of the reasons this was such a bitter pill to swallow is because with this righteousness, now anyone can be eligible.

Anyone can be righteous.

And they just didn't like that.

It took away their sense of superiority, of exclusivity.

But then he had to go and make things worse and claim that the scriptures speak of such a righteousness.

Of course, he said it earlier, but he's not taking the chance that someone forgot about it.

He wants to shut down all talk of any new twist on an old idea or revisionist thinking or changing the rules of the game.

Paul didn't want anyone to think of him as some radical.

Listen, there were plenty of radicals in the Jewish faith at that time proposing all sorts of weird interpretations of Judaism.

Lots of heretical ideas being pushed that attempted to alter their ancient ways.

And that's why Paul kept returning to the scriptures, something the real radicals could never do.

Paul used the holy writings to show that this view, the one he's now promoting, has always been in God's plans.

And he sort of had to do that because he kept bringing up the idea that this was a righteousness of God.

Buddy, if you're trying to sell me on the idea that what you're saying is not true, you'd better have dropped the right names.

Okay, what if I told you this was a righteousness of God?

Now I want to talk about that.

I want to talk about the righteousness of God.

Now, let me warn you, this is going to take us several weeks.

We're going to stay with this, but there's a lot of setup we have to do.

If I were to ask the typical churchgoer, several churchgoers, what it takes to get to heaven, I could almost guarantee that more than 75% of the people would say sins forgiven.

Most would say that God must forgive their sins before they could go to heaven.

Being saved is equal to To being forgiven.

Okay, well, that brings up another question.

Listen, here's the question: What are we being saved from?

And you know, most people don't like that question.

They'd rather answer the question, what are you being saved to?

But what we what are you being saved from?

That's a question that makes people squirmy, makes them uncomfortable, and they don't want to answer that.

What are you being saved to?

Heaven.

No hesitation.

Comes right out, rolls right off the tongue.

But I want to ask the one no one wants to answer.

It's not because I want to be mean.

I don't want to make people uncomfortable.

I ask the what are you being saved from?

question because it's a test of the commitment of the one doing the answering.

You see, the correct answer is hell.

What are we being saved from?

Hell.

And most people don't like to answer that question because that kind of forces them to admit that there is a hell, which cool modern people love to deny.

Now, granted, the biblical answer to the question, what are we being saved from, is death.

But we all know that's just a euphemism for banishment from God's presence.

And the only place God's presence is not is hell.

Ipso facto, you're being saved from hell.

And all of this is related to my first question.

What does it take to get to heaven?

The typical answer is forgiveness of sin.

But believe it or not, that's not the Bible's answer.

You see, there's more to our condition than the fact that we sin.

My mailbox doesn't sin, but it's not going to heaven.

There's more to it.

Of course, that's terrible.

It's offensive to God.

Our sin is offensive to God.

Don't get me wrong with that.

It stands between us and him, but that's not where our problems stay.

In the garden, something happened to us.

Something happened to Adam and Eve when they sinned.

The nature of the human race was actually altered by sin.

In fact, the nature of the earth, at least some of it changed because of sin.

That's what the Bible tells us.

Genesis 3:17.

Genesis 3:17

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it.

Cursed is the ground for thy sake.

In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.

The entrance of sin into God's perfect paradise threw everything off.

Everything was affected by sin.

Everything was afflicted by sin.

And that affliction apparently doesn't go away just when sin goes away.

It takes more than that to make things right.

You see, the effect of sin is still present, even when sin itself is removed.

And that's why we need more than forgiveness.

Forgiveness only takes something away.

We need something added back to us, something very specific that couldn't be there while sin was there.

And that's just not something we can do ourselves.

A lot to think about, a lot more to talk about.

We'll pick it up right there next time.

See that.

We hope this study has blessed you.

God's word is a great treasure, and it's our belief that a thorough, purposeful study of it will bring all of God's children to an understanding of his eternal plan of redemption.

It is our prayer that this will be so for all of our listeners.

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