Book of Romans - Ch. 5, Vs. 1-6 (08/29/2004)
Bro. Otis Fisher
Transcript
David, not Brother David, but David, we have a word in this first verse in the 5th chapter, and it is therefore.
Tell me, why is therefore, therefore? 5 .1.
Romans. Yes, why did they use that word?
John? Alright.
What do we call that part of speech, Brother David? Joy? Well, then it's come in, he can tell us.
5th chapter of Romans, verse 1. What is, what part of grammar is the therefore?
Means what? Means what?
Well, Dave, I guess you'll have to answer. Russell?
What? Alright. Therefore, or since, or because.
Alright. Being justified by faith.
So he stated the conditions. We are justified by faith.
Now, Joy, did I perform some duty that caused the
Lord to justify me? You hesitated, and I don't like that.
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Brother David, turn to Hebrews 12 .2,
if you will, please, and read that for us. Is said.
Now, is this passive or active, John? Alright.
It is passive. Now, Dennis, what does it mean, passive?
Well, you're a little bit off. Russell, what does passive mean?
Alright. It was done for one time, that's right, but it was done to us.
To us. Now, Brother David, why is that important in this verse?
That's exactly right.
The Heavenly Father, the Almighty God, invited Jesus to come set down because of what he had accomplished while on earth.
Now, the word have goes back up to our verse. We have peace through God our
Father. The word have, what does it represent to us,
John? Alright.
Present perfect tense. We have it. We're not going to get it.
We have it right now. Of course, we've always had it, but we didn't know it.
Now, peace, we have peace.
The peace that he's speaking of is to live in harmony.
Harmony. What is harmony, Russell? Alright. Joy, what is a harmonizing note on the piano?
Well, it feels peaceful.
It's pleasant to the ear. Now, Brother David, do you feel peaceful inside?
Yes. Alright.
Yes. Paul, back there. Paul, are you always trying to change things in order to feel peaceful?
That's right. You do not work from the outside in, but from the inside out.
Things cannot make you peaceful. Accumulating lots of money or property or businesses or whatever, that cannot make you peaceful.
You have to conquer that fact. You have to understand that the peace is coming from within me that makes me peaceful.
If you win that battle, everything will suddenly be alright.
Now, peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ. What's that mean,
Russell? Is that it?
Alright. We have peace through our
Lord Jesus Christ. That says a whole lot. Through our
Lord. John, that means that I belong to him. I cannot answer for you.
You have to answer for yourself. Do you belong to him? Our Lord.
It is a company word. Not my
Lord, but our Lord. It puts me as high as you and you as high as me.
And it is through not the Christ, but Jesus Christ. Why is that important,
Brother David? That's exactly right.
Christ didn't die, but Jesus did. Second verse.
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
By whom? John, by whom?
Who's he talking about? Jesus Christ. By whom also we have access by faith.
Access. John, tell me what does access mean?
If you experience an access to someone, what has to take place?
Alright, Russell. Have to have a third party.
Now, why say that? Well, I thought
I had access to the Heavenly Father just to go to the Heavenly Father. Alright.
By whom? So he's narrowed it down. By Jesus. We have access and it is by faith.
It has to be by faith while we are yet in this life. It cannot be any other way.
You do not have access. Well, access means that there is a third party involved.
And the third party knows the person to whom you're seeking access and knows you.
Jesus fills that bill. He knows the
Heavenly Father and he knows you. So he introduces you to the
Heavenly Father. You cannot get to him any other way. Then he used the word stand.
By access into this grace wherein we stand.
Is that passive or active?
Alright. Is it present or past? Is it perfect or imperfect?
It is a present, perfect, active verb. We stand.
Right now I stand in the presence of the
Almighty God through Jesus the Christ. Now, rejoice.
Is it present? Is it passive or active? Is it imperfect or perfect?
Rejoice. Joy, since you answered the other one, tell me this.
Is it present or passive? Is it imperfect or perfect?
Is it passive or active? Well, rejoice is present, passive and imperfect.
No, you got the first. What do we mean by imperfect?
Alright. It is like you had a blackboard and you're putting a dot on it and another dot and another dot and another dot and another dot.
Continually rejoicing. It means that we do, we do, we do, we do, we do until it becomes as you back off and look at it, one solid line.
You're doing all of the time. Yes. That's right.
But if you hadn't had the key, could you get access? You have to do something.
Either the key, break a window or something. That's the third party.
Good try. You're thinking.
Three. And not only so, but we glory in the tribulations also.
Now, Dave, this seems a little bit odd to me. We glory in tribulation.
Knowing the tribulation worketh patience. Now, we not only glory, we enjoy the glory of God.
It is present, passive. It is done to me.
Not only so, but we enjoy the glory of God in tribulations.
Now, David, Brother David, did you bring the tribulations on yourself?
What does this tribulation do for you? Well, it's a powerful instrument for increasing our happiness and peace.
Tribulation. Yes. Yes. That's right.
That's right. Tribulation is a powerful instrument for increasing our happiness and peace.
An experience that tests one's endurance, patience, or faith.
It tests. Now, Dennis, who's going to read the test?
John? Russell? That's it.
God is not in doubt. God doesn't have to test you to see if you've passed.
He has to test you for you to see if you've passed. Does everyone understand?
Anyone that doesn't understand? Anyone that does understand?
Well, they do, but they got a wrong scoreboard. Yes.
You can't go by their score, but you can go by yours.
See, Dennis, we know what's right and wrong. Believe it or not, we know.
I know what's right for me. I know what's wrong for me. If I do something wrong,
I immediately know it. Now, the word worketh.
Now, why, let's see, tribulations worketh patience.
The word worketh, or work, what does that do to this sentence?
What does it supply? What is the work?
John? Fred? No, not necessarily.
Well, what? All right, so we have render now, opposite of work.
Work and render about the same, but what is it doing,
Brother David? It supplies the occasion.
Now, this can be mental, physical, effort or activity directs toward the production or accomplishments of something.
Now, unfortunately, if you should happen to belong to the Church of Christ, which
I don't think any of you do, they're taught that work is not mental.
You have to do something before you work. Is that true or not,
John? No. Give me an example,
David, of mental work.
Mental, M -E -N -T -A -L. What? All right.
You're working in your mind, aren't you? And that's work. It's the expenditure of energy.
Patience, the capacity to endure hardship, difficulty, or inconvenience without complaint.
Patience emphasizes calmness, self -control, and the willingness or ability to tolerate delay.
Patrick Henry once said, it is the mental duty of all to practice
Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other.
Patrick Henry. Now, what is the experience?
Let me back up to the verse, and we don't have experience in that verse.
Yes, patience, experience, and experience hope. Patience, experience, and experience hope.
What is the experience? All right.
Truth by trial. You cannot experience for someone else.
Is that true, Brother David? Yes. It has to be for you.
That's right. Yes. Now, the use of the word hope.
What do we as Christians hope for, Dennis? Hope. All right.
You touched on it, the last part that you said. What is our hope,
John, that we will experience eternal life with him?
That's basically our hope. If you run everything down, that's what you hope for.
Yes. That's right.
It's knowledge as far as you're capable of understanding knowledge now.
There's still the hope because you have not experienced it yet. Turn to Ephesians 1 .11,
please. And David, read that for me, Brother David. Boy, we quit right there.
We have an inheritance. We have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
Now, Dennis, how much does that leave out?
John, are there things in this world that are not after the counsel of his own will?
Well, we certainly do not understand.
I wouldn't claim to understand how a baby is taken after but a few minutes of life, or how an old man has to suffer and suffer and suffer.
I don't understand that. But I do know that it is according to his will.
Therefore, I can because he did.
And patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the
Holy Ghost which is given unto us. The word ashamed means reluctance through fear of humiliation or shame.
Now, you will not have shame, fear of being humiliated.
That doesn't play a part. You are unshamed.
The love, we love him. Well, let's look at this word love.
Because the love of God is shed abroad. Joy, whose love is it?
Alright. You love Fred. Is it with the same love?
Alright. John, why is it that I cannot love my wife with that same love?
Alright. Alright. Brother David, this godly love came from where?
From where? Alright.
It is impossible for us to originate that kind of love.
Now, I love my wife with all of my heart. Yes. That was a false.
I love my wife with all of my heart as much as I can, all that's possible, more every day.
But I cannot love her with the same love that originated from God.
That's on a higher level. It is impossible for us to originate the kind of love that God requires.
Therefore, he is the author of it. It came from him.
The word shed, present and passive. Russell, since it is passive, did we have anything to do with it?
No. We have nothing to do with having this love.
It is shed. David, what does shed mean to you besides a lean -to on the back of the garage?
Katie, tell me what he said. Alright.
Alright. Now, it is shed abroad.
Joy, do I have anything with acquiring this love? No. Why don't
I accept it? That's right.
We only receive this kind of love and he has shed it abroad in our hearts.
The work that we do is not ours. Brother David, the work that you do, why isn't it yours?
That's a good answer. This is the way
God's will is worked in this life. We're always praying, do the
Lord's will. Well, how do you do the Lord's will? The way it is.
That's right. It's all of him. For him. To him.
And if our motive is right, it will ultimately be for us too. Eventually.
Well, let's stop here. Well, let me say this.
Quit trying to be a Christian and be one. So many people go through life trying to do right, trying to be a
Christian. You'll try to come to church. That's not it. Just be one.
Yes. And I don't understand.
Well, as I grow older, I never want to be as old as I'm going to get.
Yes. Russell, dismiss this please.