1) The document is a summary of a class on Romans discussing salvation as a gift from God that cannot be earned through good works. 2) It emphasizes that all people are sinners and cannot attain righteousness on their own by following religious rules or laws. Salvation is only possible through having faith in Jesus Christ. 3) The gift of salvation through faith in Christ alone is challenging for some to accept, as it undermines notions of earning salvation through good deeds. The document urges readers to glory in Christ rather than themselves for their salvation.

1. December 8
The Gift You Can’t Give Yourself
Studies in Romans, Winter, 2013-14
John R. Wible
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2. The Point . . .
Jesus offers you His gift of a relationship
with God.
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3. Being Good
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4. Houston, We Have a Problem
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5. Houston, We Have a Problem
• In spite of our bent toward sin, most
people want to be good.
• The majority of religions promote this as
the way to salvation. When we keep
whatever rules are set before us, we feel
good about ourselves.
• But, none of us can perfectly keep a set
of rules, much less God’s perfect law.
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6. There is an Answer
• Beginning in Romans 3:21, Paul pointed
us to the solution.
• God’s standard of righteousness was met
in Jesus Christ.
• When we place our faith in Christ, His
righteousness is credited to us.
• PERIOD!
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7. The Best Gift Ever
• What’s the best gift you’ve ever
unwrapped?”
• An unexpected gift can turn a bad day
into a good one.
• Read “The Point,” p. 21. “Jesus offers you
His gift of a relationship with God.”
• Remember the song, “Give Me 40 Acres
and I’ll Turn this Rig Around?”
• Only Jesus can “turn THIS rig around.
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8. Funeral Home Fans
•They Don’t work
so good on a hot
day in South
Alabama
•Trying to “work
our way back to
You, Lord” is about
as effective.
•This is a problem.
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9. The Supreme Problem of Life
• How can I get into a right relationship
with God?
• How can I feel at peace with God?
• How can I escape the feeling of
estrangement and fear in the
presence of God?
– Barclay, William (2010-11-05). The Letter to
the Romans (New Daily Study Bible) (p. 66).
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10. But God Created Air Conditioners
•
•
•
•
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They work really well
Read Romans 3:20,21
Why are the words “but now” significant?
Were Paul’s words a “cool breeze” to the
Romans and other readers?
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11. But Now . . .
• Paul went on to identify God’s ‘but now’
gift—righteousness through faith in
Christ.
• READ: Romans 3:22-26.
• See the math problem on p.p. 25,26. You
get to go back and correct errors.
• What would the world be like if God had
made salvation humanly attainable?
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12. Keys to the Bible
• All of us are sinners.
• All of us need the gift that only Jesus
offers.
• Salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ
alone.
• Salvation is for all who believe.
• Read Romans 3:23 “23 For all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
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13. Drilling Down
What Does it Mean?
• All of us are sinners
• Salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ
alone?
• Salvation is for all who believe?
• Who are all?
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14. The Gift
• Read Romans 3:24 , “They are
justified freely by His grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
• Q: What does this mean?
• Q: Why is it a challenge for some people
to accept the grace God offers us through
Christ?
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15. Four Words
• Key Word: Righteousness (v. 21)
—
This word refers to being right before
God. People only become righteous as
God declares them so. It is a judicial
term. It means being found “not guilty”
even though you might, in fact, be very
guilty.
• Paul draws from the Roman system of
Justice here.
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16. Four Words - Grace
• Grace points to God’s free and unmerited favor
by which God has without charge to believers
declared them to have a right standing in His
sight.
• Bengel’s ‘supreme paradox of the gospel,’ God is
just yet accepts the sinner as being just. The
natural thing to say would be: ‘God is just, and,
therefore, condemns the sinner as a criminal.’
• But here, the great paradox – God is just, but he
accepts the sinner not as a criminal but as a son.
• How? . . .
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17. Amazing Grace
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18. Four Words - Propitiation
• Paul uses this word and the concept behind
it, as a second metaphor from the religious
sacrificial system.
• Q: Did Paul use Propitiation to refer to
– an appeasing sacrifice that satisfied God’s
wrath;
– an atoning sacrifice that removes sin, or,
– figuratively speaking, to Jesus as the mercy
seat, the place where the blood of the sacrificial
lamb was sprinkled and where mercy is found?
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19. The Blood
•
•
•
•
The answer is found in the blood.
To the Hebrews, the Blood was sacred.
It represents life.
The penalty of sin is death, the shedding of
blood, usually the guilty person, but . .
• Christ’s blood is spilt – thus removing not the
guilt, but the stain of the guilt
• God indulges a fiction that we, though guilty,
now appear innocent, thus His wrath is
appeased.
• Jesus is both the sacrifice and the altar
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20. Enter Pride
• Satan wants believers to feel
very proud of themselves.
• He wants us to think, surely
God gave me this wonderful
gift because He saw
something good in me.
• But READ: 3:27-28.
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21. Pride
• Is it possible to boast about our religious
practices only to ourselves and maybe
not to others so as not to appear selfrighteous?
• Is this any less sin?
• Are we fooling ourselves?
• Are we fooling God?
• How can we avoid even
these internal thoughts?
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22. Another Word -Scandalon
• “Stone of offense.” Something to over.
• Justification by faith in Christ alone apart
from any works can become a stumbling
block for people in two significant ways:
– Some people cannot accept the truth that
salvation is a gift. So, they try to store up
good deeds to outweigh the bad.
– Others believe in accepting the gift by faith
but believe they must secure their salvation
by works.
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23. What’s the Problem?
• Both rely on work:
– one to receive,
– the other to secure salvation.
• We are not the heroes in the salvation
story. Jesus is.
• He deserves all honor and glory for our
salvation.
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24. The Foolish Galatians
You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched
you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was
publicly portrayed as crucified? This is
the only thing I want to find out from
you: did you receive the Spirit by the
works of the Law, or by hearing with
faith?
– Galatians 3:1,2
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25. What’s Wrong with Good Works?
• It makes us think we have the capacity to
do anything worthwhile to be approved
of God.
• This is the sin of pride, to the ancient
Egyptians, the sin of hubris seeking to be
equal with God.
• That’s where Satan went wrong.
• So, what do we boast in?
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26. Boast in Our Weakness &
Christ’s Strength
• On behalf of such a man I will boast;
but on my own behalf I will not boast,
except in regard to my weaknesses.
– 2 Corinthians 12:5
• “Boasting” renders kauchēsis which
means “the act of boasting, glorying,
exultation, exhaulting, glorying or
glorifying.” What should happen is not
autokauchēsis but christokauchēsis
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27. Glorying Properly
• Without Jesus, there is no gift of
salvation, no hope of a relationship with
God.
• Whether we are new to the faith or
received Jesus’ gift many years ago, He is
the Hero who, as the hymn says, ‘saved a
wretch like me.’
• Q: What helps you to “glory in Christ?”
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28. Question of the Week
Since boasting is excluded, how will you
express your faith this week?
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29. Let’s Pray About it!
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