NOVEMBER 25, 2007 – “GOD IS FAITHFUL”
TEXT: Romans 3:1-9
(Romans 3:1) “What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there
in circumcision?”
(Romans 2:29) “No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is
circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s
praise is not from men, but from God.”
(Romans 3:9) “What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have
already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.”
(Proverbs 20:9) “Who can say, ‘I have kept my heart pure; I
am clean and without sin’?”
(I John 1:8) “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is
not in us.”
(Romans 3:20) “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing
the law; rather through the law we become conscious of sin.”
(Romans 3:23) “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
(Vance Havner) “You can become a
Christian by going to church just about as easily as you can become an
automobile by sleeping in a garage.”
(Romans 3:2) “Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with
the very words of God.”
(II Peter 1:4) “Through these he has given us his very great
and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine
nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
(Romans 2:19-21) “If you are convinced that you are a guide
for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the
foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge
and truth – you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach
against stealing, do you steal?”
(Oswald Chambers) “What we need is the Bible bound in shoe leather.”
(Romans 2:13) “For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight,
but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.”
(Psalm 119:11) “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against
you.”
(Luke 12:48b) “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from
the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”
(James 1:22) “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what
it says.”
(I Peter 2:9-10) “But you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises
of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were
not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received
mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
(Rufus Jones) “We are to be a
center of light, hope and leading, inspiration and guidance for the community
God has placed us in.”
(William Temple) “The church is the only cooperative society in the world that exists for the benefit of its nonmembers.”
(I Corinthians 4:2) “Now it is required that those who have been
given a trust must prove faithful.”
II. (vs. 3- 4) GOD IS
FAITHFUL IN ALL SITUATIONS AND AT ALL TIMES
(Romans 3:3) “What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s
faithfulness?”
(Terry Pendleton) “Life's setbacks are temporary, but God's love is permanent. He's always there to take us over the rough spots, to lead us out of our slumps and into our grooves.”
(Romans 3:4b) “Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is
written: ‘So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you
judge.’”
(C.S. Lewis) “A man can't be always defending the truth; there must be time to feed on it.”
(II Timothy 2:13) “If we are faithless, he will remain
faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”
(William King) “O God, if in the day of battle I forget Thee; do not Thou
forget me.”
(Deuteronomy 32:4) “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and
all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is
he.”
(II Samuel 7:28) “O Sovereign Lord, you are God! Your words
are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant.”
(Psalm 51:4) “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your
sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you
judge.”
(Deuteronomy 7:9) “Know therefore that the Lord your God is
God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand
generations of those who love him and keep his
commands.”
(I Corinthians 1:9) “God, who has called you into fellowship
with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.”
(Hebrews 10:23) “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we
profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
(II Thessalonians 3:3) “But the Lord is faithful, and he will
strengthen and protect you from the evil one.”
(I Corinthians 10:13) “No temptation has seized you except what is
common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what
you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that
you can stand up under it.”
(I John 1:9) “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us
our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
(I Thessalonians 5:24) “The
one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”
(Lamentations 3:22-23) “Because of the Lord’s great love we are
not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great
is your faithfulness.”
III. (vs.5-8) GOD IS FAITHFUL BUT HIS
FAITHFULNESS MUST NOT BE MISUSED OR MISUNDERSTOOD
(Psalm 145:17) “The Lord is righteous in all his ways and
loving toward all he has made.”
(Psalm 119:137) “Righteous are you, O Lord, and your laws
are right.”
(Romans 3:5) “But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s
righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing
his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.)”
(Isaiah
55:8-9) “‘For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts
than your thoughts.’”
(Blaise Pascal) “The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.”
(Romans 3:6) “Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the
world?”
(Psalm 96:13)
“They will sing before the Lord, for he
comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his truth.”
(Romans 3:7) “Someone might argue, ‘If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?’”
(Romans 8:1-2) “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the
Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”
(Romans 6:23) “For
the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus
our Lord.”
(Romans 3:8) “Why not say – as we are being slanderously
reported as saying and as some claim that we say – ‘Let us do evil that good
may result’? Their condemnation is deserved.”
(Psalm 34:14) “Turn from evil and do good; see peace and
pursue it.”
(I
Thessalonians 5:22) “Avoid every kind of
evil.”
(II Timothy
2:19) “Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation
stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’
and, ‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must
turn away from wickedness.’”
(Romans 6:22) “But now that you have been set free from
sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and
the result is eternal life.”