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Dr. Matt Bain covers Chapter 3 in the Book of Romans during this sermon at JBC, recorded 2/9/2025. Need more info? Better yet, swing by Sunday mornings at 8:30 to hear him 'live': https://www.jbc.church/teacher-bio-matt-bain
Comment
Dr. Matt Bain covers Chapter 3 in the Book of Romans during this sermon at JBC, recorded 2/9/2025. Need more info? Better yet, swing by Sunday mornings at 8:30 to hear him 'live': https://www.jbc.church/teacher-bio-matt-bain
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The speaker discusses the importance of understanding Paul's perspective as an expert in the Old Testament and the Law. They mention that reading the Old Testament in context can help clarify misconceptions. The speaker also emphasizes that having the law does not guarantee protection or eternal salvation, but rather it provides a corporate advantage for Jews in terms of righteousness and restraint. They discuss the concept of God's promise and the importance of faith in Yahweh. The speaker references passages from Deuteronomy and Psalms to support their points. They also mention the significance of having a mediator, such as Jesus Christ, in the context of judgment. My goal is, if you're like me, you probably have had kind of fuzzy glasses with a lot of things, especially the Old Testament and the Law, and to understand Paul means we have to get into the mind of an expert in the Law, of the Old Testament, and what is he saying, and why is he saying the things that he's saying. And so, as I've been going through this, and again, I am not an expert in Romans, don't claim to be, but I have grown significantly just with challenges of how do you put this together, especially in context with what he's saying in the Law, and today I predict that what you'll probably do is be, oh wow, some things finally make sense out of the Old Testament that I was incorrect on, and again, I'll say it all the time, if you saw something on a flannel graph in Sunday school, it's wrong. I've got a 98% chance that I'll be correct by telling you that, and you'll probably come to that conclusion today as well, as we look at Old Testament, the sacrificial system, and what it does. If we do not understand what the expert in the Torah is referring to in the Torah, we are clueless in interpreting what he's talking about in Romans. You're wasting your time, and so that's one of our goals here today as we do this. So, we're on chapter 3, and to try to spice the pod a little bit, if you volunteer to read, you actually get a candy now. I figure that'll get more people to read, but I'll just summarize, just real brief summaries. Romans 1, everyone has perceived. God says he has put that in everyone's heart. They have perceived. Now what do you do? You have a binary option. A, you suppress that. B, you embrace that. The embrace is called faith. Those are the only two options that you have. And then God, if we're not thankful and grateful, God gives us over to a depraved mind, a paradigm, and that has significant realm 2 complications and implications with it. That's one. How about Romans chapter 2? Start at the beginning. Therefore, oh man, you have no excuse. Do you think you will escape the judgment? Do you think that because you have the law, that will protect you? Don't be naive. That's the summary of Romans 2. At the end of Romans 2, well, circumcision is of some value if you obey the law, etc. There's some value to having this stuff, but not really. And then we'll kind of get into that a little bit more today. And so you see in starting 1 is a then, connecting to what he finishes, which is there an advantage to being a Jew or not? And what he's basically saying is not really, because what God is after is circumcision of the heart. And so that's what we're taking up today. So who wants to read this first, in the first paragraph? Stop after you end the quote. So just 1 through 4, because we're going to spend a lot of time on it. Who's going to read this one? Oh, come on. When a couple each point to each other, you can give that tip. Then, you know, they got an issue. Three verses, so now we're on Chapter 3. So read and then you'll flip the page and just read the top quote. They're only reading the first four verses. We'll just stop there, because this is going to take us a while to get through this. We're going to go to the Old Testament. And so then we'll go to the next paragraph. So excellent. Thanks for hitting that. So as we go through here, then what advantage has the Jew? So we've just been talking about having the law does not mean you're protected. That was Chapter 2. So what advantage has the Jew? Or what value is circumcision? His answer, much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. So we can go up here to Deuteronomy 4. So again, this is the law in Deuteronomy. 7 to 8. For what great nation is there that has a God, an Elohim, so near to it as Yahweh, our Elohim, is to us, whenever we call on him? So Israel is different. Why? Because they have Yahweh as their Elohim. And who is the Elohim of any other nation? Some realm to Elohim. That is a massive advantage. Does that guarantee individual eternal life? No. So one of the things we're going to understand is the Old Testament will talk all the time about do this so that you may live and not die. That means today. That is not talking about eternity. That is not talking about salvation. That is one way of life. But don't confuse that with eternal life. The other is that it may live in the land. You may have the promised land. And so as they reject, as they were not following God's word, what? The North goes into captivity in Assyria. The South, Judas, goes to Babylon. And now Paul is a zealous Pharisee to re-establish Torah. Because that gives us national prestige, gets Romans out, and we get our land and the kingdom back. That's what it's after. Notice that has nothing whatsoever to do about eternal salvation. That's a key point to understand. So the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. And then we just read Deuteronomy 4, 7 to 8. Here's 8. For what great nation is there that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? A lot of nations have similar laws, you'll see. But they didn't have the same Elohim. It's a big difference. So now, and I'm just putting this to remind us, that helps me to know when I go from reading here till we go down to verse 3. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness, so some Jews did not have faith, does that nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means. Well, why not? God is faithful to His promise. What is the promise? That is the line and it goes to the Messiah. And what is the end result of the Messiah? All nations, Gentiles can come to the Messiah, including Israel. But that is the promise. That is what is predestined. That is what never changes. It doesn't matter if some Jews are not having faith. That is not a promise of eternal salvation for all Jews. That has nothing to do with what he's saying. The promise is the Messiah. Most Jews do not believe in the Messiah. His promise didn't fall flat. That wasn't the promise. By no means. Let God be true, though everyone were a liar. So, we'll just go to Psalm 116. All mankind are liars. So, he's going to be referring off and on to the Old Testament. And Jesus calls the Psalms the law. Very interesting. So, as it is written, now let me back up before we go to that. Does a Jew have an advantage? Yes. And you notice Paul is going back and forth. You might get confused. Yes, there's an advantage. No, there's not. What is the advantage? It's a corporate advantage for the corporate Jews. They have the law. There's going to be less sin, more righteousness. You have restraint. But that has nothing to do with anybody's individual salvation. So, as an individual, being a Jew, you still have the same issue that any Gentile does. You still have to come to faith in Yahweh. Having nothing to do with whether you follow the law or not. Remember last week we talked about can you have loyalty and obedience? How about faith and words and how those interact? So, now by no means that some individuals rejecting the faith does not mean that God's promise doesn't work or that he's not faithful. He is faithful to his promise. Let's make sure we understand what his promise is. As it is written, that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged. And so, this one, what we're going to do is go through a significant chunk of Old Testament to understand so Paul, again, is an expert in the law. And he's making this quote assuming that you understand all this next batch of stuff that we're going to go through. And if you're like me, you'll realize, boy, I didn't understand that very well. So, we'll just set the tone a little bit. Here's Job. There's all sorts of back and forth in Job. This is early in Job chapter 9. For he, Job talking about God, is not a man as I am that I may answer him, that we may go to court together. There is no umpire between us who may lay his hand upon us both. So, remember the quote has to do with judgment. We're going to get into the exact quote in the psalm, but we have to understand a little about God. There is no umpire. The King James would call it a daisman, or an arbitrator, or better yet, a mediator. There is no mediator. Christ has not been manifest yet. There is no mediator to go between me, Job, and God in this problem that I have. So, arbitrator, mediator. We're not doing a ton of New Testament, but we will where it helps. Hebrews 4. Since then, we have a great high priest talking about Christ who has passed through the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Hold fast. Now, you have to maintain your grip on faith. You can't let go, but you'll see that all through Scripture, especially in Hebrews. You'll see it in Romans. Are you secure? Well, yes, if you're holding. Oh, but we're not going to detour into that. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with a weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. So, now we're going to look at the quote. That's just a little bit of having a mediator and God's judgment. How do we go in between? We're going to go to the quote in the Psalms, and the context here is David. You'll see he references this throughout Romans. These events, so we have to understand the event to understand it. Of course, David, oh, there's a hot lady over there, Bathsheba. He sleeps with her, gets her pregnant. Uh-oh, hey, I'm pregnant. Oh, bring Uriah back from the front line. Sleep with your wife. No, how can I do that when we're out at war? Okay, then you go to die. So, murder to cover up as adultery. That's the context. And so, here's the quote. So that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. That's Psalm 51.4. So, let's get context for that. We're going to come back to that quote at the end of quite a bit of understanding here. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy. Blot out my transgression. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgression and my sin is ever before me. And then, he has judgment rendered to him by God. And he'll say, you are blameless in your judgment. So, let's back up and understand a few things. Number one, God is always justified and blameless in his judgment. So, now we're going to continue with this Psalm 51. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. And so, some people will take this and say, you know, because in Psalm 27, David was rejected by both his mother and his father. And his father never speaks highly. Jesse never speaks highly of David. In fact, totally rejects him from coming to when Samuel said, we're going to have a king. Doesn't even invite him. Oh, there is the one, the Catan, the worthless one. That can mean youngest, but the context is the worthless one. That's how Jesse spoke of David. Never calls him my son. So, some people say, ah, Jesse's wife had an affair and that brought David. But that is not true because, you know, the Bible tells us Jesse is the father of David. So, this was not an adulterous affair that gave rise to David's birth. Some translations will actually talk, this is really more about sin nature. Here's NIV. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. See the differences? You know, this is not an adulterous affair because Jesse was his father. So, the scripture always has to be internally consistent. So, that's just basically a comment on our sin nature. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with isop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I'll be whiter than snow. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit with me. I'd sing it, but you would probably vomit. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. So, does he lose his salvation? It's the joy of his salvation. So, again, salvation. This word salvation, you won't see in the Torah, by the way. That's eternal life. Salvation is being resurrected from Sheol, from the dead and having eternal life. Having nothing to do with whether you follow the Torah, whether you live and not die in the immediate. Two separate things. You won't find that word in the Torah. Restore. So, he's restoring the joy. Your salvation is gained by faith, not a work. It has nothing to do with your merit. Therefore, you can't unmerit it by a work. You don't gain it by a work. You don't lose it by a work. But you can have other ramifications. Well, what if you rejected the faith? That's a different scenario. So, let's go back to Psalm 32. Realize there's several months going on here. David sleeps with Bathsheba. Then she's late for her period. It's definitely late. I'm pregnant. Okay. Send. Got to get back. He's got to come back. And then he stays there several days. And then he goes and dies. So, you've got several months going on here that David is dealing with this. So, Psalm 51, he's talking about his repentance. In Psalm 32, he also wrote about this affair issue. So, we're going to see what he's saying about it. I'm pinging back and forth between those two songs. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. And then he puts this silah. Rest. Pause. Think. Contemplate. What is he just saying? It is blessed to be forgiven. Blessed. But if I keep silent about my sin, like David did for a period of months, there are problems that come and my strength is dried up. Number two. When we try hiding our sin, our strength will dry up. Makes me wonder. Sometimes I sit down on the bench press and you can't push the bar. Huh. What do I need to inspect in my life? That's a good thing to kind of think about. I acknowledge my sin to you and did not cover. Notice he went through a period of hiding it. And his strength is withering. He's drying up. I now acknowledge my sin to you and I did not cover my iniquity. I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. And you forgave the guilt of my sin. There's another silah. Another rest. Another pause. When I confess, you are faithful to forgive. Therefore, let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you, Yahweh, at a time when you may be found. Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. All sorts of things here that are interesting. In the class last year, we covered some of this. But just a reference back to the flood. You live at the time of Noah. Who shuts the door? God. You're alive on the earth. Can you call out to God for salvation? No, the door is shut. Being alive on the earth does not guarantee you that you can call. The sons of Eli. They are dead men walking. I do not pray for them, says Yahweh. I will not heal them. Dead men walking. And you will see that multiple times in Scripture. The point. If you're thinking about it, you better act on it now because you might still be alive and you may not know when God sovereignly shuts your door. That is a powerful thing. We're not going to weave that through Scripture, but you can weave that through multiple episodes of Scripture. Let's go back to Psalm 51. That was 32. I'm withering away as I'm hiding my sin. Back to 51. Now, as he's talking about this, notice he wants to propagate the faith. To be a preacher. Then, if you forgive me, Lord, then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you. That's where God's heart is all the time. Is preaching to other people. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God. O God of my salvation. There's that word again, salvation. And my tongue will sing aloud your righteousness. Deliver me from blood guilt. So, Paul's an expert in the what? The law. The Torah. How do you solve this problem? This is the problem. Adultery covered over by murder. Fairly significant. How do you solve that? Yeah, it's death. There is no solution in the Torah. There is no solution. It's death. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it. You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. So, why is there no sacrifice required by God or offered by David to solve his sin? Do you ever think about that? Well, we have to think as we read through. Why is there no sacrifice? Well, you don't want it. Yahweh doesn't want the sacrifice. Never asked for it. Doesn't demand it. Never given. But I thought, I know. I saw you offer a bowl and it solved sin. I've seen that when I was a kid. And therefore, we don't understand the law. So, why no sacrifice? It would do nothing. Three, why did not David offer sacrifice for the forgiveness of his sin? You can fill in the blank. You could say A, it was never required. You could say B, God didn't want it. You could say C, it wouldn't do jack squat. C is a pretty good answer. It wouldn't do jack squat. That's why God never asked for it. That's why David never gave it. And you're probably thinking, wait a minute, but we're going to go through. We're going to take time learning this one quote. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Notice that has nothing to do with the Levitical law. Zero, nothing. So, what is the required sacrifice? Remember, his sins are pretty good. Adultery and murder. If you steal something, you just have to pay back a certain percentage. So, there's ways to solve. But these have no solution in the law. It's being killed. So, now let's go back to Psalm 51. David writing in the context of his adultery and murder. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. That, O God, you will not despise. Number four, you notice I'm repeating this. The sacrifice for sin that satisfies God is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. So, now, this is interesting. It was Michael Heisser, I learned from him about understanding Leviticus. And I went back and read Leviticus, understanding you're not solving sin. What you're doing is decontaminating sacred space. A little key. Oh, and I went back and studied Leviticus. And it was amazing how that boring book that you just kind of skim over and mark the box you read it. How it starts to actually make sense. And notice that is what Paul is an expert in. And assume we know that before he even moves on in Romans. But we don't understand the law. And so, I was talking with a seminary friend of mine. We were talking about this psalm. And, you know, there's not a sacrament. Oh, yes, look. Purge me with hyssop and I will be clean. Oh. Let me go back. So, that was a challenge to me. So, I went back to study how about hyssop? What does applying blood with hyssop actually do in the law? Not what we learned in Sunday school, but in the law, what does it do? Here's the first episode. Death angel. Remember, there's Yahweh the father and Yahweh the son. The destroyer is Yahweh the son. David interacts with him individually. We did a whole class on that about a year ago. So, we're going to not develop that, but just you have to understand it. You will be confused. And a bunch of passages we'll show today. If you don't understand, there's Yahweh the father and Yahweh the son. And they interact. And who the pronouns are. So, let's go here to the Exodus. This is the Passover. Exodus 12. So, this is before the Levitical law. Exodus 12. Take a bunch of hyssop. There it is. Hyssop. Dip it in blood. Hyssop and blood. That is in the basin. Touch the lintel in the doorpost of the blood that's in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. What does that do for sin? There's no repentance involved. There is no forgiveness involved. This has nothing to do with sin. What is this? This is an episode. Do this and you will live and not die right now. Having nothing to do with eternal salvation. You do this, you will live and not die. What if you are a high priest and you don't follow protocol? You will die. You follow protocol, you will live and not die. That doesn't mean you have eternal life. That means you will what? You will live and not die. What does the blood from the hyssop mean? You will live and not die. Nothing to do with faith. Nothing to do with sin. Nothing to do with forgiveness. For the Lord, Yahweh, will pass through to strike the Egyptians. And when he sees the blood and the lintel in the two doorposts, the Lord Yahweh will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer. Yahweh the father will not allow Yahweh the son to enter your houses. You have to do a whole bunch of other reading to realize the destroyer is the angel of the Lord. We're not going to take time to do that. We're going to go to Leviticus and look at hyssop. We're looking, what does the Levitical law say about hyssop? The Levitical laws say that hyssop, applying blood, accomplishes. So, I just told you the first example. There's four. The first example of hyssop was Passover. Nothing to do with sin, forgiveness, or eternal life, but simply to live and not die right here today. You see the difference? So now let's go to the Levitical laws. Here we are in Leviticus 14. The Lord spoke to Moses saying, this shall be the law of the leprous person. We don't know what leprosy was and it's not simply a human skin condition but we're going to see there's leprosy in a house. It's some kind of a generic term for a problem. We'll just leave it vague. This shall be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest. And the priest shall go out because he's unclean. He can't be in the camp. The priest will go out to that dude and the priest shall look. If the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person, the priest shall command them to take for him what is to be cleansed. Two live clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop. You'll see there's all these details in the law that thankfully you don't have to do all the time. You've got to do it right. The priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthenwell vessel over fresh water. The priest shall take the live bird with cedar wood and the scarlet yarn and hyssop and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the dead bird over the fresh water. He shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird go in the open field. Notice it's a pronouncement of being clean. It's a ceremonial ritual. We'll come back to this and you'll understand it better in a minute. But here's the thing. Let the living bird go. Wait a minute. What are you actually doing? You're not applying the blood in a purification of sin. You're removing sin from the area. This bird is taking the sin and going. You ever heard of the scapegoat? What's going on in a scapegoat? The same exact thing. You are purifying the sin. The goat that runs is the one you put the sin on. It's not the one you kill. It's the one that goes out. And that's in Leviticus 16, the scapegoat. It doesn't have hyssop, so we're not going to do it. But you go read that. Who's the scapegoat? Anyone know? What's the word? English. It's translated as scapegoat in a lot. Some of your translations put the Hebrew in there. That's Azazel. Azazel. A realm two dude. The desert. Taking the sin. You kill this goat. You put the sin on the scapegoat. But he's going out to Azazel's turf. Oh, that's where Christ went for the temptation. Home turf for the enemy. Yeah, I'm going to kick your butt with your home field advantage. You see how things come full circle. You understand the scapegoat. It's a proper deity name, Azazel. And then two chapters later, you'll see hairy goat demons being talked about. And if you don't understand the scapegoat and Azazel, you won't understand the hairy goat demons. But we're talking about hyssop. That's our focus. But it's making sure you understand you are removing the sin from the space because the sacred space is the issue. You are not solving the sin of the individual. You see that massive difference of how we misunderstand it. And he is to be cleansed, shall wash his clothes and shave... A lot of rituals. Shave his hair and bathe himself in water and he shall be clean. After that, he may come into the camp, but live outside. Because you can come into the camp now, but still a week outside your tent. There's a holy space issue and we're protecting the space. On the seventh day, he shall shave off all his hair from his head, his beard, his eyebrows. He shall shave off all his hair and then he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water and he shall be clean. And he shall be clean. What's wrong with having a menstrual period? Nothing. That's part of the life cycle. But notice the body fluid, unclean. It has nothing to do with sin. You give birth. Well, that's a sinful. Why is that sinful? But body fluids going around, reproductive fluids going around, unclean. A nocturnal emission by a high priest. They keep him awake all night so he doesn't have one. That is unclean. It's not a sin. It's unclean. Oh, we're not forgiving sin. We're not forgiving sin. We're dealing with sanctity of the holy space. So, let's just think. We don't know what leprosy was. I just picked this picture. But think. Use logic. Why? Why do you keep reading about leper colonies and lepers all the time through the Old Testament? Just heal them. Just go do the ritual. Done. Solved. Why are there lepers even to the time of Christ? Let's go back to the law of cleansing a leper. So, this is, again, we just read it. But notice our glasses weren't there to catch what was just being said. Even though we're starting to understand it. Here's where we're getting to the hyssop. Right? Then. Oh, a passage of time. Then. It requires a passage of time. If. Then. If. Notice, you've got a leper's dip. He's brought to the priest. If. It's already healed. He's already healed of the leprosy. Then. You move to the process of the hyssop and the blood. Having nothing to do with actually effecting the healing. He was already healed. Who knows why? We don't know how to heal leprosy. Do you see the big thing? When Christ healed the leper, He's giving a testimony to the high priest. You go show yourself to the high priest. Go through the law. You have been healed. They won't do anything for you. But it's a message to them. Here's a dude that was healed. We don't really know how to do it. We have the law, what to do with it. But no one's ever healed. You have to be healed before you engage in the process of the hyssop and the blood. See how that is so contrary to what we think. Until you go through this. There's a type. That's Greek typos. Or type. Typology. Christ is the real. The eternal. The actual power that gets things done. Christ's Passover death is no longer a type. It's no longer passing over. It's breaking and destroying death. Prior to that is the anti-typos. Or anti-type. You'll get into baptism. Baptism now says, you know, that's not understanding that passage in 1 Peter. Our physical baptism is an anti-typo. Christ's action is the real thing that makes things happen. What is the Old Testament? It's this. And it's not even fully what Christ does. It's just starting to understand. So if we look backwards and see Christ through that. We're misunderstanding what they went through with the whole process. So now you've got, oh, leprosy in a home. Yeah, it can't just be. It's not a sin issue. The leper didn't necessarily sin. What did your house sin in doing? But it has leprosy. I don't know. Mold. Some kind of thing like that. We don't even know. But notice same chapter. Leviticus 14. So what we're doing is looking at hyssop. Because in Psalm 51, David said, apply the hyssop to me. Does the hyssop in the blood solve the sin problem? No. We just looked at the Passover. Nothing to a sin and forgiveness. Just live and not die. We looked at the hyssop and the leper. Now we're going to look at a leprosy in the house. If the disease breaks out again. So they already had this in there and remove stuff, plaster over it. See what happens. I'm picking up here. If the disease breaks out again in the house. After he has taken out the stones and straight the house and plaster. You have to take the stones out. Then the priest. It must be a black mold problem. Then the priest will go and look. Notice the priest is the only one certified to make the decision. If the disease has spread. So now if the disease has spread in the house. It is a persistent leprous disease in the house. The house is unclean. The priest is the one making that determination. And he shall break down the house. Now you tried to take the stones out and re-plaster. But it continued to spread. Break it all down. The stones, timber, all the plaster of the house. Carry that out to an unclean place because we have to keep our space clean. Moreover, whoever enters the house while it is shut up shall be unclean until the evening. Whoever sleeps in the house shall wash his clothes. Whoever eats in the house shall wash his clothes. But here's what you do if the disease has spread. You've got to get rid of the whole house. Suck it out in the unclean area. If the priest comes and looks. And if the disease has not spread in the house after the initial removing the stones and plaster. If it has not spread after the house is plastered. Then, oh passage of time. Then the priest shall pronounce the house clean in the ceremony. For the disease has already been healed. Having nothing to do with the ceremony we're about to perform. For the disease is healed. And for the... Oh here's the ceremony. What do we now do? The then. What do we now do? Because it's already been healed. Now we will take two small birds of cedarwood, scarlet. Notice the parallels here. Sounds pretty familiar. Kill one of the birds in the earthenware vessel over fresh water. And take the cedarwood and the hyssop and the scarlet yarn along with the live bird. Dip them in the blood of the dead bird. And in the fresh water and sprinkle the house. You're just decontaminating in a ritual. What has already been healed. Thus he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird. And with the fresh water and the live bird. And the cedar and the hyssop and the scarlet yarn. And he shall let... There it is. Get the garbage out of here. Let the live bird go out of the city into the open country. Get out of here. Remove that. That is making atonement. A covering. That is not solving sin in the Old Testament. It is not until Christ that you actually solve the problem of sin. So now let's go back to cleansing the house. Notice that if the disease has not spread. Now let's engage. The disease has already been healed. Now then after passage of time, we will now engage with the ceremony of the hyssop and the blood. Are we all on the same page? Is that not totally the opposite of what you grew up thinking? Because we never actually study Leviticus. We just read it. And we don't think and ask why questions as we're reading it. Number five. Applying blood with hyssop does nothing to the fundamental problem of sin. That's three. Here's the fourth. You're around some dead dude. And so now you're ceremonially unclean. That may not be a sin. Might be your dad died and you got to deal with him. It is not a sin issue. And now you're going to apply hyssop. This is a number. So it's after the Levitical lives. But then again, you have blood and hyssop. There's the red heifer thing. And you're sanctifying your space again because you're contaminated by death. None of the cases of hyssop are solving a sin problem. They're all applied as a ceremony after the problem was solved. So how does hyssop with blood solve sin? It doesn't. It is a ceremony. When do you engage the ceremony with blood and hyssop? After it has already been healed. It is not the act of healing. It is a ceremony to celebrate the fact that you have been healed. Oh, now are we finally in position to understand. That was from one quote that Paul made. And you will see in a minute. He actually changes the quote. And we'll see why. But that is one quote that Paul makes in Romans. Assuming we, of course, are experts in the law. And already understand that. So now let's go back to Psalm 51. And I'm just going to put a couple of highlights from here. In chronological order. But picked among the Psalms. Seven. Purge me of others that purge me of hyssop. And I shall be clean. Wash me. And I shall be whiter than snow. Cast me not away from your presence. And take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of my salvation. And uphold me with a willing spirit. For you will not delight in sacrifice. There has nothing to do with this. No bowl. No goat. No nothing. No sacrifice. If you would delight, I would give it. But you don't. Therefore, I won't. For you will not be pleased. There's burnt offerings. There's rain offerings. There's all sorts of offerings. We're not going to try to understand all of those. That's a whole other thing. But it's realizing the blood and the hiccup is not solving anything. For you will not delight in the sacrifice. There's murder and adultery here. That's like the top of the food chain as far as crimes go, I think. But it can't be solved under the law anyway. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart. What does verse 17 have to do with the Levitical law? Oh, nothing. Oh, wow. It's always been faith. That's how you get to eternal salvation. Do this the right way so that you live and not die. So you live and not die right here and here and now. Having nothing to do with eternity. We've got to understand the connections and where they go. Cast me not from your presence and restore to me the joy. So, let's go through the ceremony so I can be ceremonially clean for what has already happened. So now to finally understand it, we're going to look through the actual story. And it's just going to be quick. One slide worth of notes. 2 Samuel 12 Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will raise up evil against you. He's speaking through Nathan the prophet to David, who's in regards now several months after his sin of murder and adultery. I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor. It'll be a son. And he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this son. The son up above so everyone can see. For you, David, slept with her secretly and killed the dude secretly. But I will do this thing before all Israel. Remember, he put a tent right up there so everyone can see. He's going in to sleep with them. David said to Nathan, I have sinned against Yahweh. And Nathan said to David, the Lord has put away your sin. You shall not die. No sacrifice, repentance, forgiveness. Nothing has changed. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die. So there's the judgment. And then that's the end. And then Nathan goes home. End of discussion. No argument. No back and forth. From Romans 2, last week, God's mercy is designed to lead to repentance. God's mercy is to lead to repentance. Did David do what God's mercy is designed to do? Did he rush off to do a work? No, he bowed his head in repentance. And then what? He is forgiven. Having nothing to do with the Levitical law system. Having nothing to do with the sacrifice with blood, bull or goat. Nothing. He is forgiven because he repented. Because God's mercy led to his repentance and he embraced it. Instead of suppressing it or saying, well, she wore a low-cut dress. It was her problem. I mean, she was naked bathing. And I just happened to be in a good position to watch. He's not blaming anything but himself. Number six. The Old Testament law cannot solve the fundamental problem of sin. It's not what it's designed to do. Now, notice the child who is born shall die. And so, we're not going to dig into this one. Because again, we're already spending a ton of time on this. But realize that's the judgment. And there's multiple other judgments that will haunt David his entire life. Now, we're going to go to our quote. So, all of this, Paul is understanding, we understand with this quote right here. So, it may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. So, you, Yahweh, rendered judgment. I've repented, you forgave. But, oh man, my whole life will be haunted. I'm going to lose my kingdom, all these problems. And the son born from this will die. But you are blameless in your judgment. You are blameless in your judgment. I will not argue with anything. Now, look at that and look at the quote on page 16 in your book. Do you see a difference? So, when you're just reading Romans, you don't even see the difference. If you got your study Bibles out or whatever and you pinged back and you read through some of these, you didn't even see the difference. Psalm 51 is saying, you, Yahweh, are blameless in your judgment when you judge. Paul does this several times, little tweak, because he's making a point. What does he say? You, Yahweh, will prevail when you are judged. Oh, who's doing the judging? In Psalms, God is doing the judgment. In Romans, you, Yahweh, will prevail when man judges you. Oh, I totally missed that when I just read Romans. He put a twist on it. He didn't verbatim make the quote. You, Yahweh, will prevail. Oh, that's just not vindicated. You will win. Oh, there's a lot going on here. So, now, who wants to read our next one to put this together? You got a candy. Come on. Oh, throwing the wife under the bus. All right. Loud and clear. Let's go. Just this paragraph. All right. So, let's walk through this. Notice the first word, but. So, what did we just do? We just did all that Old Testament, and God will be justified when he judges. But, now, Paul switches to saying, when you are judged by us, God, you will prevail. Who are we to put judgment on the infinite God? That's what Paul's saying here. So, but, if our unrighteous, so if we're not righteous, if that serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is not righteous because he's inflicting wrath. What is wrath? Remember, last week, we did a whole bunch on the day of the Lord and judgment, the wrath of God. The day of judgment. So, he pings to himself, is God then not righteous if he inflicts wrath on us? I speak in a human way, because God will inflict wrath, and he will prevail when we try to say he's not. So, I speak in a human way. All men are what? All men are sinners and liars. So, just go back the next page before, and we start chapter 3, bottom line there on page 14, chapter 3. By no means let God be true, though everyone is a liar. Psalm 116, every man's a liar. So, speaking from a human way. Remember, men are liars. God will prevail when we try to say he's not right with his judgment. That's our context here. By no means, in verse 6, for then how could God judge the world? How is God going to judge the world? You can go back to Abraham, and this is in Genesis 18. God himself comes and is speaking with Abraham about the upcoming judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah. Far be it from you, says Abraham, to do such a thing, to kill Lot with these people, to put righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked. Far be that from you, shall not the judge of the earth do what is just? What is biblical justice? Equal treatment of equals. Unequal treatment of unequals. So, Lot. Lot was a turd, but he was righteous. That's not his worst, that he had faith. You can be a turd who has faith. I have. Lot. Read through Hebrews 11. All sorts of them. You can be a turd as long as you have faith. As long as you have faith. Faith is the issue. Not whether you're a turd, whether you're following the law, and whether you look righteous from work. It's faith. It's the heart. So, Lot was righteous. Not because he was a cool dude or good. But he had faith. Far be it. So, Lot. Faith. Sodom. No faith. Unequal. Far be it from God to have justice, meaning equal treatment of unequals, if you kill them all. No, don't worry about it. You know the 50, the 40, the 30, all the way down. He's trying to count. They still have to die. But Lot and his daughters get out. Wife, partway, doesn't make it. So, equal treatment of equals, unequal treatment of unequals. That is God's justice. So, now we'll go back to verse 7. But, if, a big if, through my lie, through me not being good, God's truth abounds to his glory. Why am I still being condemned as a sinner? Let's think about this. We will have all sorts of debates, but why are we racing to have a debate, instead of learning what Paul is saying along the way? Do you realize he is just chastising Calvinism here? Calvinism requires predestined eternal life for the elect, having nothing to do with what they will do. Not even using the foreknowledge of God to do it. Not even using the foreknowledge of God. That also requires the predestined damnation of those who will not. Not because he foreknows they won't, but because he sovereignly dictates. That's Calvinism. What is Paul saying? If, through my lie, God's truth abounds, until you get to Romans 9, a Calvinist will say the predestined damnation, not with any foreknowledge, but just God's will, somehow, magically, we pretend gives glory to God. What is Paul saying? Why am I still being condemned as a sinner? He goes on. Just realize that's Calvinism. Why not do evil, that good may come? As some slanders and charges are already saying. Their condemnation is just. He is condemning that argument. We're not going to spend more time with it now. We'll get there in Romans 9. But I'm just pointing out seeds that will bear fruit to understanding. Why jump to a debate down the road when we don't understand the pathway getting to the road? So, the Orthodox Jews today, did they accept Christ? So, what gives them salvation? The law. That's where this, it's a modern thing, post-Christ. And it comes from the Judaism and the rabbis. Huh, crap, we've rejected the Messiah. Well, how do we have eternal life? We, oh, by following the law. Now we morph it from what it used to be in the Old Testament. And now that's our salvation because we've rejected Christ. There is no solution. That's where it comes from. After Christ. That's not the way it used to be. That's the way it is post-Christ by those who rejected Christ. And the Orthodox Jews will bewail and bemoan Christians. So, yeah, you can just send what you want and ask forgiveness. That's garbage. We're trying to work hard, work hard, work, work hard and follow the law. We're working way harder than you are. So, yeah, that's true. It's not by work, but by faith. That's the whole point Paul is trying to make. And he's hammering it with his sledgehammer. So that's a lot of background. We'll go a lot faster on this one. Who wants to read this next section, the paragraph and the Old Testament quotes there? Who's got that? No one else? Right there in the back. The thing and then the Old Testament quote that barely goes on the next page as well. Big strong dudes might look at someone like Mary Ellen and think you could take her in a cage match. But she's got power. She read with power and she prays every Friday morning with power. You don't judge a book by its cover. That's interesting, especially for us young men. You know, the New Testament say you young men have strength. Well, their strength comes in different flavors. So we're not going to go through all this massive stuff, going through all sorts of whole bunch of Old Testament. That's all he's doing is hodgepodge in quotes together. You notice Mary does that when she's going to be pregnant. She hodgepodge. She had to be memorizing scripts all the time to have this flow from her heart. So Paul is doing this. I'm just going to go through a couple of highlights. What then? Are we Jews better? Not at all. Why? For we have already charged that all both Jews and Greeks are under sin. And so on the last page, there is some advantage to being a Jew, but that's a corporate advantage. That means zilch as far as your eternal destiny means zero, because you still have to embrace by faith. Having the law, having the ordinances does nothing to our eternal life, to eternal salvation. Notice, you can be chosen, i.e. Israel. You can be chosen and not have eternal life. Make sure you understand that because people blur and blend that. I was chosen, therefore I have eternal life. Was not Israel chosen? Yes. Do they all have eternal life? No, most of them don't. Don't equate being chosen with eternal destiny. That's a big leap. Okay, so now the whole point. First part of this quote, none is righteous. No, not one. That is me. That is you. Nobody. Multiple Old Testament quotes. We turn the page to get the end of the quote. I'm just going to give a few summaries of that. You could do a ton of them. I'm only going to do three. Genesis 6, 5. This is right before the flood. Part of God's rationale for the flood. And this is also right after Genesis 6, 1-4 and the sons of God and the Nephilim. Right after that. Yahweh, the Lord, saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Intention is a cognate of the Hebrew word yeser, meaning to form. Back in Genesis 1 and 2, God creates with bara. He also forms. He makes. Several different verb words. But to form. Stuff that's already there and you form. So the very intention, how we even start to form a thought is only evil continually. That's pretty bad. Number seven. Our sinful human heart can't even begin to formulate a pure thought. We don't even have a thought yet. We haven't even formulated the thought. The ingredients we're using to form the thought are already contaminated. We go to here, Jeremiah 17, 9. The heart is deceitful above all else, desperately sick. Who can understand that the heart is where we have our emotional thinking of what we want to bow down to. You watch politics, you see people's heart real quick. Psalm 36. This is not Psalm 32. That's where you keep crying about your sin and you wither away. This is Psalm 36. Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart. Deep in his heart. There is no fear of God. Fear of God. Yahweh will strip you of immortality and send you to the lake of fire. That's the fundamental definition. There's more after that, but that you have to start there. There is no fear of God before his eyes. He's not worried about judgment. For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated. We celebrate this in our culture. What do we call it? We teach it to our kids in school. What's that? Yeah, pride month. But here it is. I'm dead serious. That's self-esteem right there. Notice that's not God-esteem. How do you feel about yourself knowing that you have a deceitful heart? Well, my deceitful heart tells me I'm pretty darn good. Self-esteem. Why do we teach that to our kids? Oh, because we're following realm two. Okay, so now let's go to verse 19. Who's got that one? I'm picking Matt. There you go. I know I can pick on Matt. He can handle it. We know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. All right, so we'll just kind of work through this one. We won't spend as much time, but there's a lot here to understand. Now, so what he's just finished is all of us are pathetic. That's what he just finished in the Old Testament. Now, we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. Why? So that every mouth may be stopped. Every mouth stops. Let's just go back to our psalms here. The mouths of liars will be stopped. All mankind are liars. All the mouths of all mankind will be stopped by what? By the judgment of God. He will prevail. Notice the first quote he said. God will prevail when he judges. And the whole world, now I'm back to the text. The whole world may be held accountable to God. God is the judge, not us. Why? So ask the question why, then we go to verse 20. Why? For, here's the reason. By works of the law, no human being will be justified in God's sight. Since through the law comes knowledge of sin. So now let's just put some of this together back to the Old Testament. Day of the Lord, the day of judgment. We won't do too many of these, but here we go. Isaiah 41. Listen to me in silence, O Cosans. This is not Israel. These are Gentiles now. Let the peoples and the peoples of the Gentiles renew their strength. Let them approach and let them speak. Let us together draw near for judgment. He is calling the Gentiles in for judgment here. Day of the Lord. He gives up nations. Oh, I am so confused. And the ESV doesn't capitalize these for you, but I'll translate. You will have trouble until you realize in multiple parts of Scripture, especially in the day of the Lord context. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand. There's Yahweh the Father, Yahweh the Son. I'll help as we read this. He, Yahweh the Father, gives up nations before him, Yahweh the Son. So that he, Yahweh the Son, tramples kings underfoot. This is the day of judgment. He, Yahweh the Son, makes them like dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow. Who has performed and done this? Can the generations from the beginning... Calling the generations from the beginning. I, the Lord, the first and the last. I am He. And you will see that applies to Jesus Christ in four passages throughout Scripture. The first and the last. The coastlands, again, the Gentiles have seen and are afraid. The ends of the earth tremble. They have drawn near and come. They have come for what? The day of judgment. There is no escape. All, it doesn't matter if you're a Jew or a Gentile. All will be judged. Who can object to God doing his judgment? So we've seen Sodom and Gomorrah, but you could do this with anything. Psalm 143, God's judgment. Hear my prayer, O Lord. Give ear to my pleas for mercy. In your faithfulness, answer me in your righteousness. Enter not into judgment with me, your servant. For no one living is righteous before you. You can also translate this. For in thy sight shall no man living be justified. Justified means to be called righteous. Number eight, true or false. As long as we do, I emphasize that word to help you. Do things correctly, we can be righteous and justified. Before God. False. Can't do anything. Notice you choose which law to follow. Two laws. A, the law of works. B, the law of faith. Law of works, you're screwed. Law of faith, you can be righteous. So let's recap now. Paul, the expert in the Old Testament, is giving us a lot of information. What is the purpose of the law? He's just told us it's to point out sin. And let's go to Galatians 3. Who got that? Oh, here we go. Ah, I knew I could get it through the goalie. Alright. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Notice the promise has nothing to do with eternal salvation being predestined. The promise is the line and the Messiah. Don't confuse those things. Is the law contrary to the promises? There's multiple promises, including the Messiah and then the Gentiles. And then Gentiles being able to come in to faith. Certainly not. For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. Notice the big word, if. If the law could give life, but it can't. But the scripture, that's the law, imprisons everything, not just Jews, imprisons everything under sin. So that the promise that ends up being faith in Christ, that is what is promised. That is what is predestined. It's not predestined that you join it. It's that the promise is available to you, to have faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. So that, there's the reason, there's the answer. And that's the, it's so that the promise is going to be available. And that's by Jesus Christ, faith in Him. Notice Hebrews 10, 4 again. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. So, what is the purpose of the law? According to the expert in the law, which is Paul, what is he saying? It's salvation. I learned that in Sunday school. What is the expert in the law actually saying? The purpose of the law is death. The purpose of the law is death. So, we'll go to verse 21. And I'll just go through this one, because I will do this piece by piece for time. The last one, we can go fast. But notice the first word again here, but. So, what did we just look at? You're screwed. I'm screwed. Where are we? We're there. You're getting your face battered in. You're in the UFC cage. Notice in the UFC cage, you get a weight-based opponent. Oh, no. We're in the cage against the infinite realm one. He ain't my weight class. So, you are bruised. You are battered. You are in the corner. And you've already tapped. And the ref is ignoring your tap. You're a dead man. What are you doing here? You know how helpless he is with his arm? He's helpless. He's going to have a stroke. You keep this up. You keep going, he dies. So, you've tapped. The ref ignored your tap. And now you've fainted. No defense whatsoever. That's where we are. But what happened? Who? But Christ. But Christ saves us from that predicament. Right there, understanding UFC fight is understanding Romans 3. Very graphic. Very simple. Don't dress it up. Galatians 4. Paul wrote this as well. In the same way, we also, when we were children, so before he's an adult and born again, we're enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. What in the world does that mean? That's where some translations will just tell you elementary spirit or elemental spirit. The stokeion, the building blocks, what's actually holding things together like stoichiometry and chemistry. The stokeion, the realm two of the world. So, before you were with Christ, you were enslaved to realm two. That's exactly what Paul is saying here. But, oh, thank goodness we got a but. When the fullness of time had come, Yahweh the Father sent forth Yahweh the Son. Born of a woman. Born under the law. Born under the law. Let's look at this. But now the righteousness of God. So, we're all screwed. We're in the UFC cage. But the righteousness of God. How do you get the righteousness of God? By faith in Jesus Christ. That's the promise. Has been manifested. Manifested. Been made real. Here it is. Apart from the law. Christ is apart from the law. Oh, wait a minute. How come Paul can say he's apart from the law here in Romans, but under the law there in Galatians? Is he confused? I don't think so. But we can get confused pretty easily. Why might he say that? Well, let's let him finish verse five. Why? To redeem those who were under the law. That's us. We're past tense. We're under the law. So that we might receive adoption as sons, no longer under the law because of faith in him. Frees us from the UFC cage. Let's go back to verse 21 now. He is apart from the law. So, notice in Romans, Christ is apart from the law. He's not subject to the law. He is separate to the law. He's greater than the law. But in Galatians, he willingly submits himself under the law to come down and save us. But that requires him giving his life. He's both apart from and under the law. Both. 22 Apart from the law. I'm in 20 there. Although the law and prophets bear witness to it. What is it? Up at the first line. Righteousness of God. Two words later. The righteousness of God. That's the it which comes by faith. So, the righteousness of God which is through faith. He there defines it. Through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. Nothing to a predestination there. If you choose to believe, you have it. Notice that was in Romans 1 as well. Four. Here's the reason. There is no distinction. There is no distinction between Jew and Gentile. Why? For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And are justified. What does justified mean? Made righteous by faith. So, all are under sin, verse 24. And are justified, made righteous by His grace as a gift. Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Whom God put forward as a propitiation. Okay. So, I have a few big words here. As a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sin. So, let's stop. Passover. Deaf angel. Notice there's Yahweh the Father, Yahweh the Son. Both interacting in that passage. Solved the sin problem, didn't it? Or what's in the highlights there? Passed over the sin problem. You're not solving anything. Passing over. That's why it's called Passover. You pass over. You don't deal with. You pass over. You don't deal with. That is forbearance. Remember we had that word. What is forbearance? You're three million dollars in debt. You break your leg, whatever it is, and you can't work. And the dude has mercy. Because you broke your leg and you can't work, I will have mercy on you designed to lead to. Forgiveness. That's what mercy is for. But I will have forbearance. You don't pay interest. You don't pay principal. Loan didn't go away. Passing over the loan. It will come due. But with mercy and forbearance, I'm not demanding it yet. Notice there is no solution to sin before Christ. There is no solution. You can't deal with it until Christ comes. Oh, there's the solution. And notice when He's walking around, the solution isn't here yet. It requires His bloodshed and His death to be the solution. So, prior to the death of Christ, what was our debt in legally? Forbearance. Mercy. No interest. No principal payments required. After His death, we move to propitiation. What does that word mean? Fully satisfy the deity. So, you're fully, fully satisfying the deity. That means your debt is gone and it is past, present, future. You cannot go into debt again. It's already been paid. He does not have to come pay it again. Everything else prior to that was being passed over. So, 1 John 2. We have an advocate. Oh, there's the advocate. Notice back in Job, we didn't have an advocate yet, but now we do. We have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ. He is the righteous One. He is the propitiation for our sins. He is what fully satisfies the Father. Not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world. In this, the love of God was made manifest. That God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son. His Son is the propitiation for our sins. So, number nine. Only the blood and death of the infinite Messiah can propitiate the infinite Creator. So, just to put this home, let's go back to the Old Testament. I thought we were solving sin. No, it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. Why did I have that notion? And when I have that notion in my head, I can't understand Romans. That doesn't do anything to sin. Number 10. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. Isaiah 53. This is the suffering servant. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way. And Yahweh has laid on him. Yahweh the Father has laid on him. Yahweh the Son, the iniquity of us all. Yet, it was the will of Yahweh the Father to crush him, Yahweh the Son. Yahweh the Father has put him, Yahweh the Son, to grief. See, if you don't understand your pronouns, you get lost. When Yahweh the Son's soul Yahweh the Son's soul makes an offering, the soul, he dies, makes an offering for guilt, he, Yahweh the Son, will see his... How does he see his offspring when he dies? He gets resurrected. His offspring in the face. He shall prolong his days. He gets resurrected and rules for eternity. The will of Yahweh the Father shall prosper in Yahweh the Son's hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he, Yahweh the Father, shall see and be satisfied out of the anguish of Yahweh the Son's soul. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, which is the suffering servant, which is the Messiah, make many to be accounted righteous. We can't be accounted righteous, but through him and he, the Messiah, shall bear our iniquity. The anguish of his soul, he will be satisfied. The King James, God is pleased. It's not that he's a sadist. It's that he is pleased that we finally now have propitiation. That's what it means. So, 26, it was to show his righteousness at the present time, right now, which is when Christ came, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Going back to being just, Exodus 23, God says, I will not acquit the wicked. That's 11. True or false, to keep things simple and clean, God may simply acquit the wicked. So, I'd summarize it like this. You have the Old Testament. What is our debt called? Forbearance. That is a form of? Mercy. Forbearance is a form of mercy designed to lead to repentance. Repentance can't do much until you have what? The Messiah. Then you have propitiation. Now, how do we grasp onto that? So, we move from forbearance to propitiation, and it's by faith that we latch onto his coattails. So, we're late, but this last one will go fast. I'll do it. We'll make anybody read. You can read this more on your own, because he's saying, what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. Why? How do you or I propitiate the infinite deity? How do you or I propitiate the infinite deity? You can take all of creation. It all amounts to a finite sum, and burn it. That can't reach an infinite sum total. You must sacrifice the infinite one, which is Christ. So, what are you going to do about that? What kind of law? By a law of works? No, but the law of faith. Why? For we hold, we teach, that one is justified by faith, apart from the works of the law. So, here's Acts 13. By him, by Jesus, everyone who believes is freed from everything which you could not be freed, by the law of Moses. The law of Moses does not free you. It pins you to death. Here's a literal translation. From all things, from which ye, plural, all of you, were not able, in the law of Moses, to be declared righteous, in this one, in Christ, everyone who is believing, notice the present tense, is believing, is declared righteous. Number 12. He who believes in Jesus is freed from the law of Moses, and declared righteous. And, the last one here, is, if we go to verse 29, is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles? Yes, of Gentiles also. How, or why? Well, since God is one, who will justify the circumcised by faith, and the uncircumcised by faith. So, God is one, there is only one way, there is no two ways to God, and what is it? It is by faith. Deuteronomy 6.4, Hereo Israel, the Shema, the Lord our God is one, the Lord is one, the Lord, that is Yahweh, our Elohim, plural, Yahweh, singular. So, Yahweh is our Elohim, Yahweh is one. Different translations, the one to translate according to Hebrew guys, has multiple meanings to it, and that is intentional. He alone, not any other Elohim. There you can look at it if you want. 30. He is one, at the bottom of 30, He will judge us all through faith. We choose which law to follow. The law of faith, or works. The law of faith leads to salvation, the law of works to damnation. Do we then overthrow the law, by this faith? By no means, on the contrary, we uphold the law. What does that mean, we're upholding law? It's our last thing. It means God will not acquit the wicked. We are upholding the law. How did you uphold the law? The death of Christ, the propitiation. You didn't sweep it under the rug, you didn't call it good, you uphold the law. God is judge. But nothing could propitiate, other than Christ. But realize, that was predestined, and that was predestined before the beginning of time. So, I made a little summary, I'll stop this at the end, so you can, if you want to look at it. This is just me, but I'm taking each paragraph. Paragraph one, God is a just God, not a liar like us. Subpoint. Our only hope for salvation, is doing what he tells us to do. In the Old Testament, it's not salvation, it's just do this, so that you may live and not die. The big picture, is going to be faith, is what you must do, to have eternal life. Two different things, live and not die. Here, that's law. That's law. Have faith, live for eternity. That's eternal life. God requires, not even in the Old Testament, the expert in the law, by using David, is telling us, God does not require the sacrifices, it's the broken contrite, or circumcised heart, which is faith in him, and repentance, and not anything I'm bringing to the table. That has never changed. Next paragraph, from head to toe, all that Old Testament stuff, all of us are sinful, and stand condemned. What is the purpose of the law? Has nothing to do with eternal life. It is not eternal salvation. The purpose of the law, is to condemn everybody to death, pinned in the corner of the UFC cage, tapping out, and the rest is ignoring your task. That is what the law puts you in. But, thank goodness we're not in that condition, but Christ manifested, he became real, apart from the law. Yet, he willingly submitted himself, to the law, to fulfill the law. That is what transitions, from the Old Testament Passover, passing over, which is forbearance, to propitiation. The ultimate Passover now, put a stake in sin, and kills it. That was his death, that did that. God's justice upholds the law. You cannot stay in forbearance forever, because that ignores the law, and the debt is never paid. We don't stay in forbearance forever, we move to propitiation, but that required his death. We are then justified, not by our righteousness, but his, which requires faith. So, that's my summary of each paragraph, going through what we just did in Romans, and I would trust that like me, this is pretty new for me to start, and I would say I'm not, I'm no expert, but I'm starting to understand the Old Testament so much better, which allows clarity, better clarity, of what Paul is saying in Romans. Any questions on this, before we pray and get out? That was a lot of stuff. Well, the same thing. So, you die under the law, the question is, did you have faith? So, you can be following the law, but did you also have faith? So, following the law, has nothing to do with whether you have faith or not. So, again, we talked about, you could have loyalty and obedience. You can obey the law, but not have loyalty to Yahweh. You can live and not die right now, but that spoke nothing about your eternal life. So, whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, or you lived on Madagascar your whole life and never heard the law, Romans 1, God told us what? I put it in you. It's there, it's up to you to make a free will decision. Notice, he made the first move. Do you accept, and that's called faith, or do you suppress? That's the issue. We'll talk later about feedback loops and how you grow, because it's not a once and done. It's always morphing and moving. But yeah, you can live with the law or apart from the law. And what he's saying, kill a bean. It doesn't matter. What does matter? Do you have faith? Can you live under the law and have faith? Yes, David. Can you live under the law and not have faith? Yes, all sorts of people did that in the Old Testament. The Pharisees were brilliant at that. Living under the law, but rejecting faith in Messiah. Good for you. Live and not die following the law. Nothing says nothing about your eternal destiny. So sever the two things. You got the law and you got faith. The law is live and not die right here. Faith is eternal salvation. And you won't find the word salvation in the Torah. Interesting. Let's pray. Dear Lord, I just thank you for loving us. Thank you for having a plan. And Lord, I just pray that you'll guide us as we read your word. Help us to bow the knee before you and realize no matter what we think of ourselves and our self-esteem, we are hopelessly broken and help us to realize that and to bow the knee before you and to embrace your gift by just having faith that you are the solution. And we do nothing to add to it. Help us to realize the beauty of that gift and help us to celebrate that as we go our way today. In Jesus' name, amen.
