The Book of Romans: Verse by Verse – Part 4

05/21/16 (3/7) Video Broadcast

 
So the Book of Romans verse by verse, and we are now in part four. We're gonna go over chapter four and part of chapter five in this particular broadcast. And just to summarize our part three teaching, that we shared a couple weeks ago. First of all, any unfaithfulness on the part of man does not make Yahweh's faithfulness of no effect. 'Certainly not' is the strongest possible objection. Every man is guilty of telling a lie at some point in their life. Yahweh speaks the truth. Therefore Yahweh is just in his condemnation of sinful man. The fact that our sin demonstrates how righteous Yahweh is, does not justify man's sin.
Both Jews and Gentiles are under sin, as evidenced by
the scriptures. Both Jews and Gentiles are under the law. No one can be justified by the law, except Messiah who was born under the law yet without sin. The law and prophets show us that man can only be made righteous through the righteousness of Yahweh. The law and the prophets show us that Yahweh's righteousness would be in the coming Messiah and we would receive Yahweh's righteousness through him. The items in the ark, not the ark that floated in water, but the one that was in the tabernacle, represent things that Yahweh has given to man from his throne room on high. The Messiah is the propitiation, or atonement, or mercy seat, or cover of the ark, through which man can be in a relationship with Elohim, the Father. In past time Yahweh passed over the sins of man, so that His righteousness would be revealed. That's through Messiah. Yahweh's righteousness reveals our unrighteousness. And His righteousness redeems us from our unrighteousness through the Messiah. We have no right to boast, we did not obtain righteousness by our own deeds. But Yahweh saved us by His grace, not our own works. One Elohim justifies both Jew and Gentile. And finally, our faith does not mean Yahweh's law is null and void. Our faith causes Yahweh's law to stand, not fall. So that is the context through which we will now be embarking on Romans chapter four. So far we've seen clearly that while our righteousness does not come from ourselves, and our righteousness does come from Yahweh, this does not cause the law to be null and void. And to further expand on the point that our righteousness cannot come from our own works, from
our own self, Paul brings up the example of Abraham.
Now Abraham was highly regarded, very, very highly regarded in Judaism for centuries. So good example for him to bring up. He says, "What then shall we say that Abraham, our father, has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before Elohim. For what does scripture say? Abraham believed Elohim and it was accounted to him for righteousness." Now, notice the key word here, 'justified by works'. Justified by works.
The word 'justified' means to be declared righteous,
that is the meaning of the word 'justified'. Yahweh will not look at our works and declare us righteous, no way. Not even Abraham, as good a man as he was, could be declared righteous by his human effort. Rather it was his faith that caused him to be
justified.
It was his faith. Look at Genesis chapter fifteen, verses one through three, that's where it's quoting from here. Whenever Paul quotes from something in the Old Testament, something in the Tanakh, we want to try to find out. "Okay, what was the context of that?" And take a look at what he's looking at. Genesis 15:1-3, it says, "After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision saying, 'Do not be afraid Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.' Abram said, 'Master Yahweh, what will you give me, seeing I go childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?' And Abram said, 'Look, you've given me no offspring, indeed one born in my house is my heir.'
Behold the word of Yahweh came to him saying, 'This
one shall not be your heir. But one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.'" "Then he brought him outside and said, 'Look now toward the heaven and count the stars if you're able to number them.' And He said to him, 'So shall your descendants be.' And he believed in Yahweh, and he accounted to him for righteousness." So Abraham had faith in Yahweh's promise, he believed Him. Now this took real faith. He was a childless man. His wife was past child-bearing age, and yet Abraham believed Yahweh's words. Yahweh respected Abraham's faith, and accounted to him for righteousness. Abraham still had things to learn, he was not a perfect man, yet Yahweh was willing to declare Abraham righteous by his faith. He accounted to him for righteousness. That's the pattern. So going back to Romans 4. "What shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before Elohim. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed Elohim and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. But to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the irreverent, his faith is accounted for righteousness." Now, for a person who works a job, it's not an act of grace for the employer to give him a paycheck. It's essentially paying a debt. The employee did the work for the employer, and the employer paid the worker the wages that he was due. That's not grace. So in the same way, if we were able to be justified by our own righteousness, Yahweh would be indebted to us, and our wages would be eternal life.
He would have to give us grace.
He'd have to give us eternal life, because He's simply giving us what we deserve. We were not unrighteous, and therefore we deserve to live. And so we could boast that we had earned our salvation by our work that we had done.
But the truth is we need to humble ourselves and
accept the fact that our own righteousness is not gonna cut it. This phrase, 'to him who does not work', is speaking of one who realizes that there isn't any work that we could do to compensate for the sins that we have committed. The one who does not work to earn salvation is one who realizes they've sinned, and since Yahweh demands perfection in order for us to enter His presence, there isn't anything that they could do to gain and earn eternal life. So instead, we simply go down on our knees, and we beg for mercy and for grace. Pleading with Yahweh for salvation inspite of the fact that we have sinned and violated His standards. And that's where grace comes in. Yahweh is willing to save a man who humbles himself in this way. And as long as they make a commitment to repentance and begin a journey of pursuing righteousness. Again, as long as we make a commitment to repent and begin pursuing righteousness, because Yahshua's blood is precious. He's not gonna hand out salvation like a candy man in a parade throwing out candy in the street for children. He's not gonna hand out 'Get Out of Hell Free' card to everybody that passes by. His blood is precious. He wants to see a commitment toward changing our ways. And Paul taught this too. Absolutely he taught this. Look at Acts 20:20, he says, "I kept back nothing that was helpful." He's talking to the Ephesians here. "But proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly from house to house, testifying to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance toward Elohim, and faith
toward our Master Yahshua, the Messiah." Both.
Paul was not advocating a faith that is an empty faith. He is advocating a genuine faith that involves repentance. A faith that is real, a faith that has an action to it. And he gave this message to both Jews and Gentiles, same exact message, regardless of who your earthly Daddy happens to be. So while Abraham did have faith, it was not an empty faith. It was backed up by works. And if you believe Paul wrote the book of Hebrews, it's quite clear. Hebrews 11:8, "By faith Abraham... " did what? "Obeyed when he was called to go out to the place
which he would receive as an inheritance.
going. By faith he obeyed," obviously, "and dwelt in
And he went out, not knowing where he was
the land of promise as in a foreign country dwelling in tents with Issac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is Elohim." So by faith Abraham obeyed. It was faith that was propelling his works. By faith Abraham did all the things that he did. He dwelt in the land of promise. He waited for the kingdom.
And again Hebrews 11:17-19.

"By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up
Isaac." He did something with his faith, didn't he? "And he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten Son, of whom it was said, 'In Isaac your seed shall be called.' Concluding that Elohim was able to raise him up even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense." o the repentance from sin and
turning toward righteousness is driven by
a person's faith. Now some have apparently taken Paul's words to an extreme and decided that they were just gonna have faith and not concern themselves at all with works. And there are some who today, consider themselves to be Christians and yet have this mentality, they say, "All you need to do is have faith Messiah died for your sins and confess that he is Lord." But I can hear Yahshua now. "Why do you call me, 'Master, Master, Lord, Lord', and not do the things which I say?" How can you do that? Because if he's really your master, then you would do what he tells you. 0:13:44 S1: But again, Paul's not advocating the idea that after we are making this confession that we are free to live how we want. Look at what he told the Corinthians for instance. This is an example here. First Corinthians 6:9-10, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of Elohim? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of Elohim." Well, what if they just had faith? Not good. That's not gonna work. You have to have a real, living faith. Galatians 5:19-21, "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like. Of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of Elohim." And so Paul could not possibly have been making these lists at the same time teaching, "We don't have to concern ourselves with works." He warns both the Corinthians and the congregations in Galatia that they must not only repent, but also cease from practicing certain blatant sins.
And James also addresses this, in James 2:14-16,

"What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says
he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?
If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of
daily food, and one of you says to him, 'Depart in peace, be warmed and filled.' But you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?" No profit at all if faith that has no works to it, right? Scripture says, "By faith, Abraham when he was tested, offered up Isaac and he who received the promises offered up his only begotten son." So faith, Abraham's faith was accompanied by works, wasn't just empty. James 2:17-19, "Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith and I have works.' Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." I like that. "You believe there is one Elohim. Oh, you do well. Even the demons believe and tremble." Obviously they don't obey, right? They have the faith, they just don't walk it out. James 2:20-23, "But do you want to know, oh foolish
man, that faith without works is dead." He asked

the foolish man if he really wanted to know
this. It's like he wanted to take advantage of grace. It's like, it's pretty much what he wanted to do, take advantage of grace. "Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works when he offered Isaac, his son, on the altar?" Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect.
And the scripture was fulfilled which says,
"Abraham believed Elohim and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of Elohim." Now, remember that James is not discounting faith at all. He's simply defining it for us. He's simply saying, that if one's faith is alive and real, there will be works that follow. James' words are not at variance at all with Paul's words. Both James and Paul believe the same things. But Paul is countering the belief that one didn't need Messiah in order to be declared righteous. Paul is countering the idea that one could be considered righteous by their own works, by their own obedience, and have no need for Yahweh's righteousness coming through Yahshua the Messiah. This was the prevailing belief among unbelieving Jews in Rome, and so that's what he's addressing. But James is countering those who twist Paul's writings to their own destruction. He's countering the idea that one can claim to have faith, but not have any works that demonstrates the genuineness of that faith to begin with.
And so he's saying, "You see then, that a man is
justified by works and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." And so, true faith is not a dead faith. By definition, it will be alive, it'll be real. It's a living faith that's evidenced, of course, by works. But it's not the works that brings a man salvation, it is his faith.
Both Paul and James really have the same message, but
each of them are addressing a different problem. One is suggesting we don't have any works with our faith. James is suggesting our works, are evidence of our faith. I've heard it explained this way. Some have suggested that we are in a boat, a rowboat. And faith is one oar in that rowboat, and works is
the other oar in the rowboat.
And if we only have faith, but no works, we'll just
row around in circles and not get anywhere.
If we only have works, we will only go around in circles and not go anywhere. So we need both, faith and works. But there's something about this analogy, I kinda have to disagree with in one respect. I would suggest that both oars are marked 'works'. Both of them. But I would suggest that faith is what's propelling the oars, by the strength that Yahweh gives us. The man of faith is willing to row.
That's how I would see it.
So in a nutshell, we are saved by faith that works. We are saved by a faith that works. And so, it's a working faith, it's a real faith,
it's a genuine faith.
It's not just raw belief, 'cause even the demons have raw belief. And Paul was not advocating just a raw belief, he was advocating a working faith. Now we have a full study on this particular topic on the transcripts page. If you go to EliYah.com/transcripts/ Or if you see in the archives page, the very top of EliYah.com. You click that link, where the arrow is, and if you scroll down to the Roman date of June 30, 2012, you'll see it says, "Saved by a faith that works." We have a transcript, we have full audio and video on
that teaching.
So, moving along here. Romans 4:6, "Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom Elohim imputes righteousness apart from works, blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh shall not impute sin." Now we see that David declares that one who has his lawless deeds are forgiven is blessed. If one could earn their own salvation, Yahweh would owe them eternal life. But the fact that it's called a blessing shows he's not earning anything. It's simply a blessing from Yahweh. Now, a man could sit in a room and not do a single
thing and put his faith in the Messiah Yahshua, for
the forgiveness of sin, get on his knees, make a commitment to repentance, and believe in the Messiah Yahshua, for the forgiveness of sin. At that moment, he hasn't done anything with his faith, he's just verbalized. And at that moment, without doing a single work, he would be accepted by Yahweh, with no works whatsoever. However if that faith was genuine, at that moment he
would begin to make changes in his life.

He would start to do things that would
demonstrate he had the faith. Abraham believed Yahweh, and then he did things that demonstrated the faith. It was a genuine, working faith. It was not a faith without any works whatsoever. And so that's the difference we're talking about here. We are saved by faith, apart from works. But unless our faith does have works, it's not a genuine faith, and we will not be saved. And so we are saved by a faith that works. Romans 4:9-10, "Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised." Now, we see he's addressing the question of circumcision. Can one receive justification even though they are uncircumcised? That was a huge, huge question among the Jews in first century Judaism. Peter was confused about that at one time. And so Yahweh sent him this vision. The four-cornered sheets came down, and sent him to Cornelius, where he told Cornelius about Yahshua. And then the Holy Spirit fell upon Cornelius and all the Gentiles in the room, who had believed. They had not done a single work yet. But it says, "If, therefore, Elohim gave them the same gift... " I'm sorry, yeah, he's recounting this event, Acts 11:17-18, "'If, therefore, Elohim gave them the same gift as he gave us, when we believed on the Master Yahshua Messiah, who was I that I could withstand Elohim?' When they heard these things, they became silent, and they glorified Elohim saying, 'Then Elohim has also granted to Gentiles repentance to life.'" That was like an epiphany there, an awakening to something they never realized before. This was news to them. They were shocked. And this continued to be an issue among the Jews of the first century. Acts 15:1-2, it says, "And certain men came down from Judea, and taught the brethren, 'Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom of Moshe, you cannot be saved.'" In other words, you can't be saved until you're circumcised. "Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders about this question." And so in response to this a little later, verse seven, of Acts 15:7, "And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them, 'Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago, Elohim chose among us that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the good news and believe. So Elohim, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.'" So it was a huge thing going on in first century Judaism. And so with Paul going to all of these Gentile cities where there was a Jewish population there, and proclaiming the good news, this topic was gonna come up. It just was. And we touched on this in the second segment, where we read in Romans 2:28-29, "For he is not a Jew, who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew, who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from Elohim." So supporting this belief, is the example of Abraham, Romans 4:9-10, "Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised." Abraham had not been given the covenant of circumcision, the sign of circumcision. Yahweh didn't say to Abraham, "Well, cut off your foreskin, leave your family, and go to the place I'll show you," No, He called Abraham in Genesis 12, He allowed him to experience Egypt in Genesis 13, and allowed him to experience a trial with Lot in Genesis 14, followed by him tithing and recognizing Melchizedek as a priest. And then in Genesis 15, Abraham is visited by Yahweh and we are told his faith was accounted to him for righteousness. So there's a little pattern of salvation there that we all kinda follow. Abraham himself followed. So it's not according... It was actually not until Ishmael was born and just before Isaac was born, that he gave Abraham circumcision in Genesis 17.
So continuing on here, verse 11, "He received the
sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised.
That he might be the father of all those who
believed, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also. And the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while uncircumcised." So notice that circumcision is called a sign, it's called a seal, and it was not the source of Abraham's righteousness. It was simply a sign and a seal. That's it. And one can walk in Abraham's steps and be accounted righteous before being circumcised, Abraham's a pattern. Of course, most of all agree with that now, most people agree with that. But this was a major issue in the first century, and we need to understand how large an issue this was, in order to truly understand Paul's letters. "For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law but through the righteousness of faith."
So Yahweh did not give the promise to Abraham through
the law.
He saw Abraham's faith, which was a working faith,
not a dead faith, and it was account to him for righteousness, a righteousness by faith. Verse 14, "For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect. Because the law brings about wrath, for where there is no law, there is no transgression." Now remember, those who are of the law are the ones who were claiming that their own righteousness will be enough to justify them. But if we could actually claim to be righteous on our own, there'd been no need for faith to begin with. And we wouldn't even need the promise that Yahweh gave to Abraham.
Wouldn't need it, it'd be of no effect.
Faith is made void. What promise? The promise that Abraham's descendants would...
Abraham would be the heir of the world, right?
His descendants would inherit the land. Now scripture teaches the wealth of the Gentiles be brought to Israel, and since Yahshua's prophesied to dwell in the land, he will ultimately, being a
father to many nations, inherit all things.
Yahshua said... Or spoken of Yahshua, a prophecy, Psalm 2:8, "Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel." So Yahweh is going give Yahshua the nations for his inheritance.
And so looking back here, it says the promise that
he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. That was ultimately going to take place through the coming Messiah. And so we would need no promise to Abraham.
We would need no Messiah to come and inherit the
nations, if we could save ourselves.
Because it would be possible for man to say,
"Hey, I'll save myself. I don't need a savior." But the role of the law is to teach us righteous living, and by that demonstrate all the various ways we've violated Yahweh's standards and ultimately bring about wrath. So rather than the law being something that shows
us how righteous we are, it shows us our
transgression and our sins. Unless we've not transgressed a single commandment, the law can not be used to show how righteous we are. Even if we were keeping it perfectly now, all of us have sinned at least once in our lives. All of us. And certainly far more than once. So Paul is again demonstrating the need for the Messiah to come and make us righteous. And so it is faith that enables us to receive grace and be made righteous, not our own works. Because the laws is just gonna show us how rotten we are and show that we need wrath. We need judgment on our souls. So if we are of the law, meaning we're relying upon the law to give us this inheritance, faith is made void, the promise is made of no effect. But we do receive the inheritance because we are the part of the body of Messiah. Messiah is the inheritor as is promised, he will inherit all nations. And therefore through him, we reign with him 1,000 years, we're kings and priests and we are inheriting with him. So verse 16, "Therefore it is of faith that it might
be according to grace, so that the promise might be
sure to all the seed. Not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations. In the presence of him whom he believed, Elohim, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did." So the reason why Abraham can be a father of many nations, even Gentile nations, is because of what Messiah did for us. Through Yahshua it's no longer we who live, right? It's Messiah that lives in us. Messiah, an Israelite, who lives in us and, in fact, we are called Abraham's seed. Galatians 3:29 says, "If you are Messiah's then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise." And so by this, Abraham becomes the father of us all. The father of many nations.
We understand that.
So he has made Abraham a father of many nations
through this promise he made to Abraham.
Do we understand that? So through Yahshua Ha-Mashiach, who is ultimately the seed of Abraham, we have become also the seed of Abraham because of Messiah Yahshua who dwells in us, no longer we who live but Messiah who lives in us. And so he made all these things, these promises to Abraham. Abraham believed him. Abraham believed it and it was accounted for righteousness. And so in that sense he actually believed in the Messiah. So Elohim, it says, "In the presence of him who
believed, Elohim who gives life to the dead and calls
those things which do not exist as though they did." He said, "I've made you a father of many nations." It's already happened. I love that quote, "He calls those things which do not exist as though they did." It's for that reason we can say, "You know what? I've been saved." Just as easily as Abraham was called, we are a father of many nations. Hadn't even happened yet.
But we can say right now, "We're saved." And the
reason why is because... By our faith we can say we're saved, because even though our ultimate salvation occurs when our bodies are resurrected from the grave, and we live with Yahweh forever, and we have these new bodies and everything.
We can say, even though it happens in the future, we
can say today, "We are saved." It's okay to say that, and there is scripture for that too. Whose household was saved. So and so's household was saved. So in that sense, actually in that sense alone, I actually believe 'once saved always saved'. Because we're ultimately saved when we endure to the end, and we're raised from the grave, and we're granted eternal life and with Yahweh forever. And once that happens we'll always be saved. But I don't believe 'once saved, always saved' in the sense that once you make your confession, you believe the Messiah Yahshua died for you and all that stuff, you'll never lose it, and your name can never be blotted out of heaven and all that stuff. Where you think you can live how you want and still be saved. Don't believe that. So, "Abraham, who contrary to hope, in hope believed so that he might... He became the father of many nations according to what is spoken, 'So shall your descendants be.'" Talking about the descendants being as the stars of heaven and the sand of the seashore. "And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body already dead since he was about 100 years old and the deadness of Sarah's womb." So in a sense, Abraham believed in the Messiah here. It's just because it was Messiah who actually made all this possible. And he was not weak in the faith, but he believed even though his body and the body of Sarah was thought to be past the time in which they could
give life to another generation of children, he
still believed. Verse 20, "And he did not waver at the promise of Elohim through unbelief. He was strengthened in faith, giving glory to Elohim and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform. Therefore, it was accounted to him for righteousness." So with Abraham believing Yahweh's promise, he would have children and he would be the father of many nations and through those children would come the Messiah. It was in a sense believing not only his son would be born, but also believing Messiah will come from Isaac and cause Abraham to be a father of multitudes of nations. Because even if we're Gentile, what does it say? If you're Messiah's, you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. In fact, scripture actually says that the gospel was preached to Abraham, if you read the Book of Hebrews. Now verse 23 says, "Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us." What? "Righteousness will be imputed to us who believe in Him, who raised up Yahshua, our Master, from the dead. Who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification." So, Abraham's faith, although it might be considered indirect in the Messiah, was written for our sakes as well, so that righteousness would be accounted to us, who like Abraham, believed in Yahweh's promise. Chapter five, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with Elohim through our Master Yahshua Messiah, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of Elohim." So all of this is spoken to demonstrate that we are justified by faith.
And through that justification we have
peace with Elohim. And we all, Jew and Gentile, have access by faith into this grace. And we also have a hope in the glory of Elohim. A hope in this resurrection through
Messiah Yahshua, who is the manifestation and
brightness of Yahweh's glory. And so, in all of this, the practical lesson for us today is that we don't have to walk around defeated and wondering whether or not Yahweh is willing to forgive us, if we are repentant believers who put their faith in Messiah Yahshua for the forgiveness of sin. Repentant doesn't mean perfect, it means that when you do something you really do want to not do it anymore, and you are turning against it and you're confessing it. We don't have to wonder whether Yahweh accepts us or loves us. We need to believe in Yahshua like Abraham did. Believe that he truly bears our iniquities. Believe that Yahshua enables us to be accepted when we confess our sins, and allow him to bear them. You can't bear them at the same time Yahshua bears them. He has to bear 'em. If you're still bearing them, you're not letting him bear them. Only one person can carry the load, that's him. We're not worthy. 1 John 1:8 "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." And someone might say, "Well, how can that be repentance?" Because we are continually learning new things all the time; that's why. We just don't realize some of the things we don't know yet. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." We all have things that we're working on. Things that we're endeavoring to change in our lives. If we think we're perfected already, we are deceiving ourselves. The real issue is: What are we doing about it? Are we expressing an attitude of confession, repentance? Or are we just ignoring his calls to repent and confess? Are we willfully practicing sin and getting better at it everyday? Or are we willing to fight against it? When we sin, do we say, "Oh well, covered by the blood."? Or do we say, "Oh no, I don't wanna do that anymore. Oh Yahweh, please help me to be more like Yahshua in his shining example of love."?
That's the difference.

He says, "And not only that, we also glory in
tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character hope." Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of Elohim has been poured out in our hearts, by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Our hope is not going to disappoint. Believe that. Receive it. And look at these tribulations and realize we all go through it. It doesn't mean he doesn't love you. Tribulations are a part of what produces righteous character, and for that reason we can glory in them. If we don't care to have righteous character, we'll only complain about them. But if we want righteous character, we'll glory in them. Knowing that they're gonna produce in us, what? Perseverance, character, hope that will not disappoint. We can trust Yahweh's love for us which was poured out in our hearts through his Holy Spirit. Love Elohim poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. How can we be assured of his love?
Verse six, "For when we were still without
strength, in due time Messiah died for the irreverent. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die, but Elohim demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Messiah died for us." HalleluYah.
It's our desire to love him back.
Our faith in his love for us through the Messiah Yahshua that propels us, this propels us to do good works. It causes us to grab those oars and start rowing that faith in his love. Do we understand that Israel did not believe that Yahweh loved them. And for that reason they didn't think he was gonna bring them into the land. When the spies returned from scouting out the land and Moshe said about them. He says, "You complain in your tents and you said, 'Because Yahweh hates us He's brought us out of the land of Egypt, delivered us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.'" 'Because Yahweh hates us', that's what they said in their tents. They were murmuring in their tents. Oh, they're saying, "Oh, Yahweh hates us." And they said, "Well, you know what, let's select a leader and return to Egypt." Numbers 14:14. A key part of our faith in Yahshua is, we believe in
Yahshua because we've heard of Yahweh's love for
us and seen it demonstrated through what Yahshua did for man. And it's that faith in His love for us that compels us to love Him in return. A faith in a love that propels us forward to good works. And so scripture says, "We love Him because He first loved us." Faith in His love causes us to want to walk in love also. Having faith in His love for us, believing Him when He says He offers forgiveness, causes us to realize, "There's hope for me." His love for us compels us to love Him back. But you know if we don't have faith in His love for us, we really won't be particularly motivated toward walking in righteousness. We love Him because He first loved us. We have to believe He loved us. We'll say to ourselves, "Yeah, what's the point? He's gonna cast me into hell anyway." That's what we'll say if we don't believe in His love. We'll say, "What's the use? He hates me. He can't wait to lay his hands on me and throw me into the lake of fire." And so we're not motivated. And if you're having struggles overcoming sin, it might be rooted in a struggle in really believing how much He loves you. Scripture says, Psalm 130:3-4, "If you, Yahweh, should mark iniquities, oh, Master, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared." Interesting. How is it that His forgiveness causes us to fear? As if there's forgiveness with you, so that you can be feared, so you may be feared. I'll give you a parable. Suppose a teenage son was slowly becoming more and more rebellious against his father's authority, until one day he did something he felt his father would never forgive.
And believing his father would never forgive him,
he then went out just in full rebellion. He moved out of his father's house, with some friends. He joined a gang. He committed crime after crime. He figured his father would never forgive him anyway, so why even try to live right. Soon he ended up facing a criminal charge for one of his crimes and a very large fine. But then on the day where he was being sentenced, his father shows up and visits with his son out in the hallway of the courthouse. He explains to his son he is and always was willing to forgive his son completely.
He offers to pay his fine for him and even would
allow him to move back home, as long as he's willing to turn away from wrong behavior and start making changes for the better.
And so the son decided to have faith in his father's
offer to forgive and that propelled him to good works. He went back under a willing obedience to his father's authority and he feared ever displeasing him again. Why? Because he loves his father. He's thankful. He'll be afraid of doing something that would damage the relationship. It's not the kind of fear that involves a fear of torment, but a fear of his father being displeased with him. Here he had done all these things to hurt his father, but his loving father, who was willing to give him another chance. And here he is. In the same way, Yahweh has a standing offer of love and forgiveness, that compels us to want to love Him in return. And we don't want to hurt Him again.
And so his forgiveness and our love for Him compels
us to fear the thought of ever displeasing Him again.
There is forgiveness with you, that you may be
feared.
Now suppose the son moved back in the house, and it
all went well for awhile and the son started to slip up again. Now what? Now a lot of people feel that this is what they've done to Yahweh and so they wonder, now what? It really depends on the son's response. The son was quick to go to his father and apologize and even asked his father for help to overcome this temptation he's facing to disobey his authority. Any good father would be willing to give all the grace in the world to a son like that. You know that's true.
But what if the son carried the attitude,
"Well, it's no big deal, my dad will forgive me anyway. He even paid my fine last time I messed up. So, hey, he's got grace. I'll just go ahead and do what I've been doing and... " Do you think his father would accept such an abuse of his grace? That's faith without works. A dead faith that does not lead to a good relationship. Well, suppose a son tried to sneak and hide and make excuses for his disobedience. Again, that's where the father is gonna have a real problem. Well, suppose a son, again didn't think the father would forgive him, and so rather than going to his father and dealing with the issue, he went back into the world again. That's a lack of faith. A lack of faith in his father's love. That's like Israel saying, "Yahweh hates us. We'll never make it. Might as well go back to Egypt." So much of our relationship with Yahweh can be understood through a healthy father-and-son relationship. And I think that's why Yahweh puts man in these relationships. We've all been children at some point and we're all parents, if we have children. And so this is a lesson for us, so we can understand relationships and how they function. And what does Yahweh say? Psalm 103:13, "As a father pities his children, so Yahweh pities those who fear him. For he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it and it is gone. And its place remembers it no more. But the mercy of Yahweh is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, in his righteousness to children's children." Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Like a father pities his children.
Yahweh is awesome.
That's all I can say. It's a standing offer of grace compelling us to have faith in what He said he would do, like Abraham. Having faith in His zealous love for us will cause us to want to love Him back with an equally zealous love. Having faith in His zealous love for us causes us to wanna rise up, grab the oars and move toward Him. We may have to go upstream, there's a waterfall behind us. We have to fight and move forward. It's not we just sit on the boat and wait. He's gonna float down the river and go over the falls. It causes you to wanna grab those oars and, "Yahweh, I wanna run to you. I wanna propel myself because my love for you, I want to be just like you. I want to know. I want to love others with this same kind of love." And that's why our faith produces works. It is the greatest and most wonderful love exchange known.
Romans 5:6-8, "For when we were still without
strength, in due time Messiah died for the irreverent. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But Elohim demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Messiah died for us." Now I translate this word, 'irreverent'.
Most translations use 'ungodly' in this verse,
but I'll tell you why I translate it 'irreverent'. Because it's from 7:65 as a base which means
'irreverent', that's what it means.
It does not mean 'ungodly'.
Because the irreverent are those who have not really
received Yahweh's offer of grace, when it says, "If
you, Yahweh, would mark iniquities who could
stand? But there's forgiveness with you, that you may be feared." They don't have that fear of displeasing Yahweh. They don't accept His standing offer of forgiveness. And so, why they translated this as ungodly I'll never know, but he died for the sinner who's
not yet revering Yahweh, not yet fearing Yahweh.
And saying, "Receive my standing offer of love and grace, and then you will turn and then you will fear." Verse nine, "Much more then, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be safe from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies we are reconciled to Elohim through the death of His son, much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by his life.
And not only that but we also rejoice in Elohim
through our Master Yahshua Messiah, through whom we now have received the reconciliation." So we are
saved from wrath through Messiah, and when we were
enemies we were reconciled through the death of His son. Since that's happened he says, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life and not only that, will we also rejoice in Elohim. Through Yahshua, through him we receive the reconciliation. So it is a Messiah's death that causes our sins to be forgiven, enables us to be reconciled to the father. But it's his resurrection that enables us to have the hope of eternal life.
And so we have every reason to rejoice in
Yahweh, through Yahshua who enabled us to be reconciled to the Father. Our life needs to be a continually marked expression of thanksgiving for what Yahshua did for us. Thanksgiving then will be the soil that will cause the fruit of joy in our life to grow and grow in abundance. Because of our thankfulness of what he's done for us, we look at ourselves and we say, "You know what, I didn't deserve anything. I deserved absolutely nothing. I still don't deserve anything. But Messiah came and did this and showed his love for me. Whatever I get is a tremendous blessing above and beyond what he's done for me already, which is save me from my life, from my life of sin, from my worldly ways. And so anything I get from this point on is just a bonus. And any tribulation I go through, well, it's for my good. I don't have to interpret it as His hatred for me. I can interpret it as His gentle correction or His way of refining me. And I can rejoice in that." So thanksgiving will be the soil that will cause the fruit of joy to grow. So to summarize, Romans chapter four, Abraham's belief and faith in Yahweh... It should say Romans four and five, but Romans part four. Abraham's belief and faith in Yahweh and his promise was accounted to him for righteousness. Grace is likewise given to us through faith. We cannot earn salvation by any work that we do. Yahshua's blood is precious. Repentance is necessary. Abraham's faith was indirectly faith in Messiah. Unless our faith is accompanied by works, our faith isn't a real living faith, it is dead.
Faith is what propels our works by the power of
Yahweh's spirit in us. In summary, we are saved by a faith that works. Some first century Jews were shocked, the
uncircumcised Gentiles were also granted
salvation. Paul shows that Abraham was regarded as righteous before he was ever told to be circumcised. Yahweh promised that Abraham would be a father of many nations. Gentile believers are Abraham's seed, Galatians 3:29, and so that's why.
Yahweh's promises are so sure, that Yahweh, He
calls the things that do not exist as though they did. We say we're saved, but ultimately you're saved when Messiah returns. We must put our faith in Yahweh's word that he loves us and forgives us regardless of inner feelings and whatever the devil happens to whisper in your head. We must have an attitude of thankfulness for His grace and not intentionally take advantage of it by practicing willful sin. With the right attitude, we can glory in tribulations, for we know that they will produce righteous character.
Ancient Israel interpreted trials, tribulations and
chastisement as Yahweh's hatred for them. We must be sure not to do the same.
Faith in Yahweh's grace causes us to want to walk
in love, otherwise we may lack the strength and will to obey His word.
A parent's relationship to their children mirrors how
Yahweh relates to us in many ways. I should say a good parent.
And out of thanksgiving, our heart will rejoice and
obey, for Messiah's death caused us to be reconciled and his resurrection gives us salvation and hope for eternal life. So that concludes part four of our study into The
Book of Romans.
We went into chapter five as well, about halfway through or so. And we will continue our journey into The Book of Romans next week. For now though, I wanna offer a word of prayer. "Heavenly Father, Yahweh, great and mighty Elohim, we thank you Father Yahweh for this awesome, awesome thing that you have done for us. Salvation through Yahshua Ha-Mashiach, for choosing to love us even though we did not choose to love you. And Father Yahweh we just, we rest and we bask in your love and your grace you have offered to us." "Father, forgive us any way that we have not measured up to the example of Yahshua Ha-Mashiach. Teach us, Father, how to walk as he walked. Continually instruct us. Help us to have the right attitude toward you that we must have. I pray Father, for any who are struggling right now with a lack of assurance in your love, Father. I just pray that you would touch them with your Holy Spirit, your Ruach Ha-Kodesh.
Give them assurance, Father Yahweh, that you
truly do love them. They have value and they have worth, and that you love all of your creation.
You show no partiality.

You are the lover of our soul.

And Father, I pray that your name would be
glorified as we go forth and that your Spirit would be in us and enable us to take ahold of the oars and fight against the current of this world. For we know what's up ahead and we know there are times where the river may become rapid and we have to fight hard. And other times where it's a little easier. But Father Yahweh, we don't want to take our hands off the oars. Empower us through the power of your love to be over-comers. Through and by your son Yahshua Ha-Mashiach we pray these things. Amein and HalleluYah."

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