Children (Romans 9-11), continued

• Romans 11:1-4 – Paul is reassuring them that God had not rejected Israel. It is Israel that had rejected God! Elijah felt alone in standing for God in I Kings 19:10-18, but God reminded him that God still had many followers left.
• Romans 11:5 – Despite being in the minority, there were still a remnant clinging to God in Paul’s day.
• Romans 11:6 – What sort of works are these? Works of merit – something we can do in order to be owed salvation (Romans 9:31; 4:4-8). It’s impossible for man to do such works. We need Jesus for salvation!
• Romans 11:7-10 – Got chose a certain type of people to be saved – the faithful. People themselves decide if they will be in that group. It is very easy for us to be prejudiced against God’s word so that when we see evidence that it is true, our heart is hardened instead of softened to faith. You must have the right information and the right attitude to be able to accept it. See also Isaiah 29:10; Psalms 69:22-23.
• Romans 11:11 – See Acts 13:44-47. The Jews were jealous of salvation coming to the Gentiles.
• Romans 11:12 – How much better would it be for the Jews to turn and believe in Jesus!
• Romans 11:13-15 – See Acts 9:15-16. How odd it must have been for Paul, a Jew of Jews, to go speak to Gentiles and see their conversion when the Jews rejected him. See Acts 14:27; 15:3, 12.
• Romans 11:16-18 – See Genesis 12:2-3; Romans 9:7-8. There was a physical part of this “tree” and a spiritual part. Gentiles can now be grafted into this tree in a spiritual way, enjoying the blessings that come from Christ. Paul warns the Jews not to have a bad attitude about this as though the blessings come from them. The blessings come from God!
• Romans 11:19-21 – Be careful with your attitude, Gentiles! Paul warns that they could be “broken off” as well if they fall into unbelief.
• Romans 11:22-24 – See Romans 2:4-6. If we are removed from the tree for unbelief, we can still come back to be grafted in again, whether Jew or Gentile. This passage also obliterates the arguments from Calvinists around unconditional election and perseverance of the saints. See also Galatians 3:26-29.

Introduction

• Class outline taken from Humility Practice by Jacob Hudgins.
• Humility is not something to check off a list. It requires continual improvement.

Questions

• How do we protect our relationship with God?
  • Isaiah 66:1-2
• How is God’s dislike for arrogance described?
  • Proverbs 6:16-19 – As an abomination!
• What is pride and haughty spirit preceding?
  • Proverbs 6:18-19
• How can we stay justified before God?
  • Luke 18:10-14
• When, where, and how are we supposed to be humble?
  • Luke 14:7-11
• What is one thing required to receive God’s grace?
  • I Peter 5:5 – Humility towards another.
• How is the absence of humility manifested in James 4:1-8?

Pride

• What is “sober judgment” and how does that help prevent pride?
  • Romans 12:3
• What do you have?
  • I Corinthians 4:6-7
• How do you see yourself? Are you a better person than most? Are you kinder, more patient, more loving, more giving?
• What speck have we noticed in our brother’s eye?
  • Matthew 7:3
• “I’m not like the others … I’m better.” Have we ever felt this way?
  • Matthew 26:33-35

Confess a sin

• Why do we blame others?
  • Aaron – Exodus 32:24
  • Adam – Genesis 3:12
• Why is it important to confess our sins?
  • I Kings 21:27-29
  • I John 1:8-10; James 5:16
• Why don’t we confess our sins to each other?

Pray for someone

• What interferes with us praying for others?

Introduction

• Matthew 19:17 – Was Jesus just a legalist?

If we think we’re saved by the law, we’re wrong.

• Romans 3:19-20 – The law made people aware of their sin.
• Romans 1:15-17
• Romans 5:1; 8:1 – Salvation comes through Christ. Not through law!
• Titus 3:4-7
• The New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant, not because it has better laws, but because it is founded on Jesus’ sacrifice.
• Salvation is not through works – it is through Jesus.

But if we think we don’t need to obey, we’re also wrong about that.

• Matthew 7:21; II Thessalonians 1:8
• “spiritual” – Galatians 6:1-2
  • Being spiritual involved obeying God’s laws and helping others do the same.
• “love” – James 2:8-13; Romans 13:8-10; I John 2:2-6; 5:2-3
  • Love is God’s way of summarizing His commands. It is not in opposition to obedience.
• “letter … spirit” – II Corinthians 3:5-18
  • Letter here refers to the Old Covenant. Spirit refers to the New Covenant. This is not referring to two different approaches to following the New Covenant.
• Pharisees – Matthew 15:3, 6; 23:3, 23-24
  • Jesus was not saying to not do the small things. He was teaching against hypocrisy. The Pharisees in their hypocrisy were failing to obey God’s law even though they outwardly proclaimed to be doing so.

Conclusion: Trust in Jesus with an obedient faith.

• Romans 3:21-24, 27-28
• Romans 6:17-18
• Hebrews 5:9

Children (Romans 9-11), continued

• Romans 10:1-4 – Paul wishes that the Jews would be saved. They were religious and believed in God but did not have full knowledge of God’s plan for salvation. They wanted to be saved their own way – through the Law of Moses (see Romans 9:30-33). They were looking for Jesus and He was right in front of them, causing them to stumble over Him. Compare John 9:28-29. The Law of Moses pointed toward Jesus (Matthew 5:17; Galatians 3:23-25). They had all these scriptures, but they read with prejudice and missed the point.
• Romans 10:5-13 – See Leviticus 18:4-5. Man could live by following the Law of Moses, but no one could follow them perfectly. See Galatians 3:10-14.
  • Romans 10:6-8 – The quote is from Deuteronomy 30:8-14. The word of God is not in some far off, inaccessible place.
  • Romans 10:9-10 – Salvation is from God. We can’t look to ourselves to find a way to be saved. Our only option is to turn to God.
  • Romans 10:11 – The writer quotes Isaiah 28:16 here. See Acts 7:35. Paul is pleading with them to not make the same mistakes of the past, when then initially rejected Moses as their leader.
  • Romans 10:12-13 – The quote is from Joel 2:32. Jesus is the way to salvation. He is Lord! See Matthew 7:21; Acts 9:18; 22:16. Calling on the name of the Lord involves more than just saying words. Paul had already been praying for three days, but he still needed to call on the name of the Lord and have his sins washed away. Clearly, “calling on the name of the Lord” involves more than just prayer. See Acts 2:16-21, 37-38, 47. Peter called on them to do more than just pray to be saved. See I Corinthians 1:2; II Timothy 2:22.
• Romans 10:14-15 – This is referring to men that God sent in the first century – not preachers today. See Luke 24:46-49; Acts 1:8; 9:15; 10:42. Jesus sent forth the people who had witnessed His life, death, resurrection, and teaching.
• Romans 10:16-17 – See Acts 14:1; 15:7. Faith comes from hearing (or reading) the word of God. It is not by a direct indwelling of the Holy Spirit as is often believed today. If you want to develop faith, study the Bible! Even when the Holy Spirit did intervene miraculously in Acts 2:4, He made it so everyone could hear the message in their own language. He did not miraculously change their hearts!
• Romans 10:18-21 – The quote in verse 18 is from Psalm 19:4. “They” here is referring to Israel. Everyone has heard the gospel message! Paul then quotes more Old Testament scripture (Deuteronomy 32:21; Isaiah 65:1-2) to illustrate that their behavior was prophesied long before. Israel should have been the first in line to follow Christ, but many of them refused His message.

Introduction

• II Kings 14:25

You can’t hide from God!

• Jonah 1:1-10, 17; 2:1, 10; 3:1-2 – Jonah tried to escape God’s command but could not.
• Romans 10:9, 10; Acts 2:38 – God has commands for us today. We cannot run and hide from them!
• Psalms 139:1-12 – God knows even our thoughts. There is no hiding from Him! He knows everything about us.
• Ecclesiastes 12:14
• Matthew 12:36
• Hebrews 4:12
• If we can’t hide anything from God, how can we cope with that?
  • Romans 3:10
  • The only option is to throw ourselves on his mercy.
  • I John 1:9

God’s word works.

• Jonah 3:1-10 – This is possibly the most successful instance of preaching anywhere in the Bible!
• Jonah’s message was simple and negative.
• Luke 10:27-29 – When the Bible message is simple, leave it simple!
• Matthew 12:41
• There are negative elements to God’s message. We cannot try to hide it or take the teeth out of that message.
• Matthew 7:13
• We do ourselves and others no favors to pretend that hell is not real.

God expects us to love souls.

• Jonah 4:1-11
• The Assyrians were a brutal and merciless people. Israel held a deep-seated resentment against them.
• God wants us to love everyone’s souls!
• Luke 9:59-62
• Luke 23:34 – If Jesus could have this attitude toward His murderers, can’t we love others also?