Things new and old, and if you haven't been here for the whole series, basically just looking at what's the relationship between a believer, a Christian, and the Old Testament Scriptures. And so, in order to do this, we just looked at the Gospels, how does Jesus use the Old Testament, then we looked at the Book of Acts, how did the Apostles, Paul and Peter, and Stephen, the deacon, how did they use the Old Testament? And then we've been looking at Paul's letters. And last time we looked at the book of Romans, which is kind of saturated, if you're familiar with the Old Testament. As you read through the book of Romans, you don't get past verse 3 before he's talking about the Old Testament. He's quoting it, he's founding doctrines on it, he's showing the agreement between the Old and New Testaments. And just to review that, last time, verses 1-3, he talks about God making promise through the prophets concerning his son. So you don't get past the first part of introducing the letter to the Romans before Paul starts talking about the Old Testament scriptures, God making promise concerning his son. So we saw that the gospel is taught in the Old Testament. Then we saw the righteousness by faith, Romans 1-17, that's taught in the Old Testament. He quotes an Old Testament passage. to prove his point. Then in chapter 1 verse 18 through chapter 3 verse 20, he shows the condemnation of the law, that it condemns both the Gentile and the Jew. And so he brings out the moral law, the laws of the Ten Commandments and other laws of the Old Testament. He shows both the condemnation of the Gentiles, especially in chapter 1 verses 23 through and also the Jew in chapter 2 verses 1-16. He shows the binding authority of the Ten Commandments telling us what sin is in chapter 2 verses 18-23. Then in chapter 3 from verses 9-18 he shows the universal depravity of all men. Every mouth will be stopped, he says, whether Jew or Gentile all men are depraved and condemned by God from chapter 3 verse 9 through verse 18 and there all it is is a series of quotations from where from the Old Testament from the book of Isaiah from the book of Psalms again and again citing that man whether Jew or Gentile whether privileged or lacking in privilege all are universally condemned and because that's the case then man may not be justified by his deeds, which he does in righteousness, by his own efforts, by his own will, by his own thinking, by his own feeling. There's no justification except, he says, in Jesus Christ, through faith in Jesus Christ. And interestingly enough, In chapter 3, verses 21 and 22, where does he say we have witness and evidence to prove that you can only be justified by faith in Jesus Christ? By the law and the prophets, he says. It is witnessed by the law and the prophets that you cannot be justified by the law. Now the law is the books of Moses. The first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. So for the Apostle Paul, guided by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Old Testament teaches that we're justified by faith in Jesus Christ, not that we're justified by works, not that we do things to earn God's favor. That's the teaching of the Epistle to the Romans. Then we see that faith, in chapter 3, verse 31, establishes the law, rather than making God's law void, which is the doctrine of the early Gnostic heretics, if you've ever studied church history. They said, now that the grace of the gospel has come, all of the natural law that God instituted, or the moral law given by Moses, that's no longer applicable. Paul says the opposite. Because of justification by faith in Christ, the authority of God as lawgiver is reaffirmed. So by faith we establish the law, we don't abrogate it. So we saw that from chapter 3 verse 31. Then Paul, in order to demonstrate to all of his readers, especially the Jewish kind, He proves his point about justification by faith in Christ, by the imputation of righteousness, by bringing forward two major examples. And again, we're just reviewing here on page one there. And the two examples that he chooses are the two great men in the Old Testament, Abraham and David. And he shows that through both of their lives, justification was by faith in the coming Messiah, not by works. So he proves that in chapter 4 verses 4-7. He shows original sin and universal human guilt through the law of Moses in the book of Genesis chapter 5 verse 12 referring there to early parts of Genesis chapter 3. Then we saw in chapter 7, verses 7-9, Paul gives his autobiography. How did he come to faith in Jesus Christ? He said he was dead without the law. He thought he was a righteous man, dead in his trespasses and sins. And when the law came, specifically the 10th commandment, thou shalt not covet, That law slew him, he said, and sin revived, and then he died. So in order for Paul to go from a Pharisee to a Christian, he had to be condemned and convicted by the law so that he could come to faith in Jesus Christ. Now, from there, let's pick up there on page 1 of your handout, part 2 of the book of Romans, chapter 7, verses 12 and 14, where the apostle says, wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. And then he says in verse 14, we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. So Paul measures his life by the terms of the law. He evaluates his intentions, his actions, and his words by this law of God, one of which is thou shalt not covet. That's the context of Romans 7, the Ten Commandments, in other words. And he shows that the Christian attitude toward the Ten Commandments is, it is a holy law, that means it sets us apart, shows us the holiness of God and what is required of man to be holy. He says that the commandment is just, meaning it shows us what is right, what is pleasing to God. And the commandment is good, that it produces only good things. The violation of the commandment is sin, and so the opposite of sin is what is good. And then furthermore, he says the law is spiritual. Now, this is very interesting because the Pharisees consider the law to be carnal, concerned with meats and this and that, you know, these kinds of restrictions and the holy days like the new moon and the festivals and whatever. But if you read the prophets, you find out that they don't say that. Jeremiah says that God is speaking through him to Judah. When I brought you up out of Egypt, I said nothing about sacrifices and incense. I said, obey my voice. And then he proceeds to give them the Ten Commandments and to show them the moral law, the law that's written on everybody's heart, the law that's universally applicable, not these unique laws to you Jews. He said, it's almost like I don't care about those. What I care about is you listen to my voice. Isaiah says the same thing in Isaiah chapter one, your new moons and your Sabbaths are an abomination to me. You come into my courts and trample here. You do all the ceremonies. You follow all these external laws, but you don't keep the Ten Commandments. You have blood on your hands. You take usury against your neighbor. You deceive people in contracts. These are all the moral laws that you're violating, and yet you come before me to do the ceremonies." He says, no, that's an abomination. I don't want your incense. I don't want your new moons. I don't want your Sabbaths. So the Lord, in other words, just like the Apostle Paul here, he shows in the Old Testament that the law is spiritual. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with what? Just your external actions? Just with your money? Just with your garden? No. He says, all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength. It's an internal spiritual law that God requires of us. So the Apostle Paul again is building off passages like Psalm 19, Psalm 119, when he says the law is holy, just, good, and that the law is spiritual. And then the apostle says that even though he found this law of sin and death at work in his members, that after the inward man, he took his delight in the law of God. And there you hear echoes of what David says throughout Psalm 19, for example, that it was sweeter than the honeycomb. or Psalm 119 or Psalm 1, where the blessed man is the one who takes his delight in the law of the Lord. He meditates in it day and night. Then in chapter eight, Paul says very famously in verse one, there is therefore now no condemnation. to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. So he's gone through his autobiography and his struggle with sin in chapter 7, but what he tells us is, there is hope for us in Christ. Because even though we struggle and wrestle with sin, we're still justified, not by our works of righteousness, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So therefore there's no condemnation. But then he goes on to say, how can a person claim that righteousness by faith? And he proves you can't claim that if you go on living in your sin. You can't claim that if you say, but now I can live a carnal life. I can live according to the lusts of my own flesh, the thoughts of my own mind, my carnal mind. No, you can't do that. He says that those who have been justified by faith, the law is fulfilled in them. Who walk, he says, not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Because man's carnal desires are against God's law. In fact, he says this, that the carnal mind, or the thinking of the flesh, is enmity against God. Well, how do you know that man's carnal mind is contrary to God, or enmity against God? He tells us. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. This is the depravity of man. His carnal mind fights against God. It is not subject and cannot be. Those are two different statements. Is not is like a description of what is or is not. Cannot is a statement about possibilities. Is it possible for the carnal mind to submit itself to God's law? Well, again, externally, the Jews could go on the courts and they could offer the incense and they could do all the ceremonies. But is that being subject to the law of God? No, it's not. It's not possible for a man in his native state to submit himself So then, Paul says in verse eight, they that are in the flesh cannot please God. So the law of God shows us, is a man a friend of God or an enemy of God? The law is the standard. Here's how you know. Do you subject yourself to God's law? If no, you're not his friend, you're his enemy. Do you submit yourself to the law of God? Yes, then you are his friend. And he says that in verse nine, but you are not in the flesh. In the flesh, carnal mind disobedient to the law, subject to the Spirit of God, walking under his dominion, fulfilling the righteous decrees of the law, fulfilling what the moral law requires, in other words, that person is a spiritual man. Now, the heretics, as I said, they said the gospel abolishes the law. Paul says, no, that's not the case. The gospel establishes the law. By faith, we establish the law. The Spirit of God is not the opposite of the law of God. The Spirit of God enables the fulfillment of the law of God. And this is the same thing Jesus taught as we saw in the Gospels. All right. So then point 15 there, Romans 9, 12 through 16. The apostle quotes from the books of Genesis, Exodus, and Malachi here. And these, what, five verses. And what he's proving here is the doctrine of election. Because the question is, God chose Israel. Why are they so unbelieving? Why did they crucify the Messiah? You know, he shows up. What's the problem? Well, Paul says there's no problem. God had predetermined this. It's not like it took him by surprise. And then he traces back the history of Israel and says, you go right back to the beginning of the 12 tribes. Who is it? Jacob, right? And then you have his brother Esau, who's the firstborn. Esau, right? You know, he's the one that dad loves. He gets some savory meat and Isaac wants to bless Esau. And he has to be hoodwinked out of it because God had a purpose and he was going to accomplish the blessing even while they were in the womb. the rebecca was told these children the elder shall serve the younger i have a purpose i've chosen i'm going to set aside the first born and i'm gonna put it on the little deceiver that's what jacob means take it by the what's that he'll grab because he grabbed his brother's heel i was coming out of the world so he's going to be a deceiver is going to be a liar is going to be a was is going to be a mama's boy and he's going to get the blessing not the big hunter and uh... you know According to the natural man, Esau's the one. According to Isaac, our father, Esau's the one. And God says, no. So the principle of election he proves from the book of Genesis 25, 22 through 23. Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Malachi 1, 2 through 3. That's why Esau's destroyed. That's why Jacob's preserved. And then Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. It's God's will that's supreme. It's God's choice that's overarching. It's God's choice that ruled over Jacob versus Esau. And it's God's choice, as we'll see, when he destroyed Pharaoh. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. So Paul is saying that from Exodus 33, Genesis 25, and Malachi 1, we can prove conclusively from the Old Testament that salvation is all of God's grace. It's not of man's dessert. It's not of the good works or the evil works he does. It's of God's sovereign will. Alright, second page there. Same thing, Romans 9, 17 through 19. This is the other edge of the sword. The scripture saith unto Pharaoh, which is actually an interesting turn of phrase. It's Moses who says this as God's representative to Pharaoh. And he says, the scripture says. The scripture says to Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, that's what we looked at with Jacob and Esau, et cetera, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?" So here the Apostle is demonstrating from the Old Testament, not just the doctrine of what we call election, but this is what we call the doctrine of reprobation. Who is it that God rejects? Who is it that God has not chosen? Who is it that has their heart hardened by God? Well here he's proving it. Pharaoh himself is one instance of this. Why did God raise him up? He was a vessel of wrath, determined for destruction, prepared beforehand for that end. God raised him up so that his name would be declared through all the earth." Because everybody heard. Remember Rahab? We know what God did when you were down there in Egypt. We heard all the messages about what God did. And so all their hearts melted. Why? So that God could give the inheritance to his people. So God has a purpose, even in the hardness of Pharaoh's heart, to declare his name. Alright, then in chapter 9 verses 23-26, God talks again about the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, whom he had aforeprepared unto glory. And then he proves from Hosea 2 and Hosea 1 that God had a purpose to choose. We talk about the chosen people, and we have been conditioned to think the chosen people are the Jews. No. Here the Apostle says, the chosen people are all them that are of faith, whether they're Jews or whether they're Gentiles. And he proves this from Hosea 2 and Hosea 1, not the Jews only, verse 24, even us whom he hath called not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, as he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people. and her beloved that was not beloved." God's going to reject Israel just as much as the wife was rejected, called back, rejected, and a new wife was brought in. God says, I'm going to have a new wife, a new bride, and I'm going to reject my old wife. I'm going to give her a bill of divorcement, to use Jeremiah's language. Okay, so the call of the Gentiles is prophesied in the Old Testament. And then the remnant of Israel, chapter 9, verses 27 through 29. He talks about a remnant being saved. That's from Isaiah, chapter 10, verses 20 through 23. And then the leaving of a seed so that Israel wasn't completely destroyed, but a remnant was saved. That also, Isaiah 1, verse 9. And then there from Romans 9 verses 31 through 33, he proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ was laid in Zion as a stumbling stone and a rock of offense. Remember, God will have mercy on whom he'll have mercy and he'll harden whom he will. So he set Jesus for the rise and for the fall of many. Some people were going to stumble over Jesus so that they would fall and be destroyed, Peter said. They were determined to that end. God did that on purpose. It wasn't like, Oh no, they crucified my son. What am I going to do now? No. God put him there as a stumbling stone so that they would fall so that he could call in the Gentiles. So he says this, but then he also says, and this is where the Bible always does this. When it talks about predestination, it talks about human responsibility. And when it talks about human responsibility, it talks about predestination. This is just how the Bible does it. So here, not only does God predetermine these things and put a stumbling stone, but also whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. This is from Isaiah 28, verses 16 and 22. Then chapter 10 of the book of Romans, Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doeth those things shall live by them. Leviticus 18 verse 5, he's quoting there. And then verse six, but the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, say not in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven. That's from Deuteronomy 30 verses 11 through 14. So whether you want to know what is the doctrine of the law and the legal requirements for salvation, or you want to know the doctrine of the gospel and how we're saved by faith in Christ alone, Moses teaches both. Moses taught the law to condemn all flesh so that he would prepare us for the righteousness which is by faith. Many people make the mistake of saying Moses taught people to be justified by their works, to do good things and God would respond. The Apostle has no use for that doctrine. That is just the inverse of what he is saying. You can read Moses and he will show you the righteousness of faith and you can read Moses and he will show you the righteousness of the law. And in fact Jesus does the same thing and the Apostles do the same thing. When the Apostle Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost, he brings out several of the Ten Commandments in order to convict and condemn the Jews, to demonstrate to them that they murdered not just any ordinary man, but the Prince of Life, the Son of God. That's a violation of the First Commandment. You took the Son of God and you nailed him to a tree. You're guilty of murder, and you're guilty of sacrilege, and you're guilty of idolatry, all these sins he's arraigning them on. Why? so that they will come to faith in Jesus Christ. That's exactly what he does with the rich young ruler. Keep the commandments. You want to be justified by being a good person? Keep the commandments. Which ones? It gives him the Ten Commandments, right? Keep the moral law. Oh, I've kept the moral law my entire life. Okay, well here I got another one. You sell everything. You be so devoted to the Son of God that you get rid of everything and then come and follow me and give all your stuff to the poor. Does he do it? No, because then he got to the heart of the issue, which is that you're an idolater, that you love your money, and you don't love God, and you won't follow Jesus. So there's your problem. All right, so here again, Moses, he's proving the point. Christians can look at the Old Testament, they can see the gospel, the faith of Jesus Christ, the justification by faith, the doctrine of election, the doctrine of reprobation, they can see the call of the Gentiles, they can see the remnant in Israel, they can see the righteousness of the law, which brings us to the gospel of Jesus Christ. and then again chapter 10 verses 11 through 13, for the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, that's from Isaiah 28 again and Isaiah 49 23 and then there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved Joel 2 verse 32 so the universality of the gospel that anyone can come to faith, whosoever believeth shall be saved. That's taught in the Old Testament as well. And so all this, as we go through the Book of Romans, and we can't even get through all of it because there's so much of the Old Testament that saturates. You prick the Apostle Paul, what does he bleed? The Old Testament. He'll bring Isaiah, he's got the Psalms, he's got Genesis, he's got Exodus, he's got Malachi, all over the Bible. Because the faith that we hold as Christians is the same faith that David had. It's the same faith that Moses had. It's the same faith that Abraham had. It's the same faith that Isaiah had. The faith that we have as Christians may be better informed. We may have a greater light. We may have greater detail, we may have greater specifics as to the nature of the Gospel, and the Son of God, and the descending of the Holy Spirit, the doctrine of justification. It may be more clear to us than it was to them, and that's to be expected. When you start out as a child, and you learn the alphabet, and then you learn your basic language, you speak the same language as your parents. Do you understand it as well as your parents? No, because over time you learn more and things become more clear to you and things that you knew as a child, you still know them as an adult. But the level of clarity as an adult is much greater than the level of clarity as a child. And did you know the Apostle Paul refers to the Old Testament as like an age of childhood? When a child is learning his ABCs, he's learning his basics, and he compares the age of the Gospel after the coming of Christ to like an adulthood. When you come into your majority, you come into your inheritance, that's the idea of adoption. The Romans would have a child, a natural-born child, and then they would adopt their natural-born child when they came of age. So it's the same idea in the Gospel. The Gospel is the same that Moses believed as we believe. But the clarity with which we understand it, we have the promises already accomplished. They had the promises yet to come. Here's an instance. The Jews, in their commentaries, without the light of the New Testament, rejecting Christ, they say that there are two messiahs. Anybody know who the two messiahs are according to the Jews? One's the son of David, And the other is the son of who? Anybody know? Joseph. What happened to Joseph? He was betrayed by his brethren, falsely accused, brought down in prison, rose up to reign. Does that sound familiar? Well, it sounds like the Gospel, doesn't it? So they had a suffering Messiah from the Old Testament, the son of Joseph. Then they had a reigning Messiah, the son of David. Because David is what? He's the royal king. And from his body will descend the Messiah. So they had two messiahs in their minds. Because as you read the Old Testament, it's like, well, wait, here's the suffering Messiah. And then here's the reigning Messiah. Which one is it? Well, it's got to be two people. But we look back on it. We say, oh, well, we have the key to unlock this, don't we? It's already happened. There was a time when he was humiliated. And he went down and was obedient, became like a servant even unto the death of the cross, and therefore God did what? Highly exalted him. We have Philippians 2 to unlock our understanding. It's something that they were scratching the surface about and kind of understood, but we have the clarity of the gospel. And that's what the Apostle Paul is doing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the book of Romans. He's helping us understand that as Christians, that book is not a Jewish book. That book is a Christian book. That book is our book. It does not belong to them. They've rejected its teachings. They've been hardened and blinded so that God can have mercy on the Gentiles. But what we'll find out as we look, God willing, next month at Romans 11 is God has a purpose for the Jews as well. He's going to bring them back in. He's going to bring the fullness of the Gentiles and all Israel and all will be saved and brought to the knowledge of Christ. It'll be like life from the dead. All right.