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FROM THE PASTOR'S STUDY

Topic: Message Outlines: Chapter 4 (Include Audio)

Romans 4:23-25 (3)

by Darrel Cline
(darrelcline biblical-thinking.org)

Chapter # 4 Paragraph # 4 Study # 3
January 17, 2006
Lincolnton, N.C.
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(188)

Thesis:   The issues involved in our justification are two: the payment of the redemption price and the conviction that God is really "about Life".

Introduction:   We have been studying the issues surrounding the concept of "justification by faith". In our last study we focused our attention upon the difference between belief in God and belief in what God says. Paul made it a point to press the issue that Abraham was justified when he believed in God so that he could believe what He said to him. Rationally and biblically, faith in the Person must precede faith in what He has to say. Because Abraham was justified by faith in Him Who had the capacity to both prophesy and give life to the dead, Paul says we can also be justified by faith in Him.

But, as we said last week, Abraham was "justified" at the point of his faith in the promise of a seed "as the stars of heaven". That is what Genesis 15:6 says. The promise we have is not the same in content when we push the details. I have no promise from God that I will have a son. So, the specific content of the promises changes, but the root issue of faith never changes: God's true character is the root issue of faith. It was when the truth about the real nature of God was challenged that the truth of what God had said was able to be unseated and unbelief was able to come in and create the rebellion and its subsequent barrier that allowed Death to begin to reign.

So, this evening, as we wind up chapter four, we are going to look at the specific content of the promises we are to believe so that we may see how it is that we are justified by faith.


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This is article #189.
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