Glory Of God

Romans 3:23 - But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward 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 sins.

Genesis 1:26,28 - Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”… And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Ephesians 4:20-24 - But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Hebrews 2:7-9 - You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Application:

·         Glory of God is what God intended man to be.

·         Man is the climax of God’s creative activity, and God has crowned him with glory and honor and made him ruler over the rest of His creation.

·         As God’s representative in the creaturely realm, he is steward of God’s creatures. He is not to exploit, waste or despoil them, but to care for them and use them in the service of God and man.

·         The new self is a new way of life that I put on positionally at conversion and put on experientially as a Christian.

·         God’s purpose from the beginning was that I should be sovereign in the creaturely realm, subject only to God.

·         As forerunner of man’s restored dominion over the earth, Jesus was made lower than the angels for a while but is now crowned with glory and honor at God’s right hand.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

There Is No Difference...Glory Of God

Romans 3:21-25 - But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward 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 sins.

Galatians 2:15-16 - We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

John 3:14-15 - And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Romans 10:4 - For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Galatians 3:28 - There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:11 - Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Application:

·         No one is justified by observing the law. It is an indispensable requirement that one must place his faith in Christ.

·         Eternal life is an infinitely high quality of life in living fellowship with God—both now and forever.

·         I have a righteous standing before God because I believe in Christ.

·         Unity in Christ transcends ethnic, social and male/female distinctions.

·         Christ transcends all barriers and unifies people from all cultures, races and nations. Such distinctions are no longer significant. Christ alone matters.

·         I am declared righteous freely, by His grace, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus and through faith.

·         The glory that man had before the fall I will again have through Christ.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Fear Of God

Romans 3:14-20 - “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Psalm 36:1 - Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.

Genesis 20:11 - Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’

Acts 13:39 - Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

Galatians 2:15-16 - We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Romans 3:21-25 - But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward 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 sins.

Application:

·         Do I take account of His all-seeing eye? Do I take account of His righteous judgment? Do I take account of His power to deal with me?

·         Do I have a reverential trust in God that includes commitment to His revealed will?

·         By believing I have the forgiveness of sins and the gift of righteousness.

·         Faith is the means by which justification is received, not its basis.

·         Christ’s righteousness has been credited to me as my own.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

No One, Not Even One

Romans 3:9-13 - What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.”

Psalm 14:1 - The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 - Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

Psalm 5:9 - For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.

Application:

·         Mankind in general is corrupt.

·         There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins

·         Only in God’s courtroom can a person experience redress for those who maliciously wield the tongue.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Will Be Declared Righteous

Romans 2:13-16 - For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

James 1:25 - But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Romans 3:21-25 - But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward 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 sins.

2 Timothy 2:8-9 - Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!

Application:

·         Obeying the moral law gives me the joyous freedom to be what I was created for.

·         Christ’s righteousness has been credited to me as my own.

·         Christ’s resurrection proclaims His deity, and His descent from David shows His humanity; both truths are basic to the gospel. Since He is a man, He could rightfully become my substitute.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Gentile

Romans 2:9-12 - There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

Acts 10:34-35 - So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

Romans 6:14 – For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

1 Corinthians 9:21 – To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.

Application:

·         With spiritual privilege comes spiritual responsibility.

·         God does not favor an individual because of his station in life, his nationality or his material possessions.

·         Law provides no enablement to resist the power of sin; it only condemns the sinner.

·         Do I accommodate myself to the culture when it does not violate my allegiance to Christ?

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Righteousness

Romans 1:17 - For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”


Philippians 3:8-11 - Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Habakkuk 2:4 - “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.

Romans 3:21-25 - But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward 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 sins.

Application:

· Union with Christ is not simply an experience in the past, but a present, continuing relationship
· I am to wait patiently and live by faith—trusting in my sovereign God.
· Christ’s righteousness has been credited to me as my own.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV