Sin is a reality for us all and we need to be confronted with it. Both Christians and non-Christians need Jesus and the Word of God drives us to Him. Be refreshed today and focus your heart on Jesus.

Eureka Moments – Finding Gold in God’s Word

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

PROMO

Sin is a reality for us all and we need to be confronted with it. Both Christians and non-Christians alike need Jesus, and the Word of God drives us to Him. Be refreshed on the next HAVEN Today with Charles Morris and special guest, Dr. Mark Strauss, and a program called "Eureka Moments - Part 3."

What Bible do you carry? What translation do you use? Who printed the Bibles you own? In all likelihood, they came from either Zondervan or Thomas Nelson and now, the very secular Rupert Murdoch and News Corp, will own them both.

swell

In the summer it was phone hacking allegations in England that created a scandal and brought a seedier side to light for Rupert Murdoch and his company called News Corp. Already owning Christian publisher Zondervan with the NIV and other Bible translations, Rupert Murdoch is now buying Thomas Nelson, known for the King James and New King James Bibles. This purchase will give News Corp close to 40 percent of the Christian publishing market.

It’s sad when the distribution of Holy Scripture is controlled by the highest bidder, much less a secular tycoon. But the unseen reality, is that God owns His Word and He alone, will make sure it reachess out and keeps calling people to faith.

Welcome to HT, I’m CM sharing the GS that’s all about Jesus and part 3 of a program called Eureka Moments – Finding Gold in God’s Word. All week, we’re digging deeper each day into a passage of the Bible, coming from the just released Expanded Bible. It’s a brand new approach to taking the original Greek and Hebrew and expanding what that means into English. It’s not meant to replace the Bible translation you are currently using, it’s meant to become an important of studying God’s Word. You can read a sample chapter and watch the videos we’ve posted at haventoday.org. That’s haventoday.org. For your gift to this listener supported ministry, we want to send you either the hardback or leathersoft editions of The Expanded Bible. You can also call us after the program at 1-800-654-2836. That’s 1-800-65-HAVEN. In a moment we’ll be joined by Bible translator Dr. Mark Strauss and we zero in on a famous passage in the book of Romans.

Paul's letter to the Romans is a kind of Christian manifesto. To be sure, it is also a letter, whose contents were determined by the situations in which the apostle and the Romans found themselves at that time. Nevertheless, it remains a timeless manifesto, manifesto freedom through Jesus Christ. It is the fullest, plainest and grandest statement of the gospel in the New Testament. Its message is not that humans were born free and every where we are in chains, as the philosopher Rousseau put it. It is rather than human beings are born in sin and slavery, but that Jesus Christ is a summary. For here is unfolded the good news of freedom, freedom from the holy wrath of God upon all ungodliness, freedom from alienation into reconciliation, freedom from the condemnation of God's law, freedom from what someone called the dark little dungeon of our own ego, freedom from the fear of death, freedom one day from the decay of the groaning creation into the glorious liberty of God's children, and while freedom from conflict in the family of God, and freedom to give ourselves to the loving service of God and others. It is not surprising that in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ, every generation has acknowledged the importance of the book of Romans. This is especially true when it comes to Romans 3 and 2 versus that we will examine closely from the expanded Bible with Dr. Mark Strauss.

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Romans 3 is about sin and we will drill into two verses in particular – Romans 3:23 and 24 – with Dr. Mark Strauss in just a moment.

9 Jews and those who are not Jews are all guilty of sin.10 As the Scriptures say:
"There is no one who always does what is right,
not even one.
11 There is no one who understands.
There is no one who looks to God for help.
12 All have turned away.
Together, everyone has become useless.
There is no one who does anything good;
there is not even one." — Psalm 14:1–3
13 "Their throats are like open graves;
they use their tongues for telling lies." — Psalm 5:9
"Their words are like snake poison." — Psalm 140:3
14 "Their mouths are full of cursing and hate." — Psalm 10:7
15 "They are always ready to kill people.
16 Everywhere they go they cause ruin and misery.
17 They don't know how to live in peace." — Isaiah 59:7–8
18 "They have no fear of God." — Psalm 36:1
19 We know that the law's commands are for those who have the law. This stops all excuses and brings the whole world under God's judgment,20 because no one can be made right with God by following the law. The law only shows us our sin.
How God Makes People Right

21 But God has a way to make people right with him without the law, and he has now shown us that way which the law and the prophets told us about.22 God makes people right with himself through their faith in Jesus Christ. This is true for all who believe in Christ, because all people are the same: 23 Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God's glorious standard, 24 and all need to be made right with God by his grace, which is a free gift. They need to be made free from sin through Jesus Christ. 25 God sent him to die in our place to take away our sins. We receive forgiveness through faith in the blood of Jesus' death. This showed that God always does what is right and fair, as in the past when he was patient and did not punish people for their sins. 26 And God gave Jesus to show today that he does what is right. God did this so he could judge rightly and so he could make right any person who has faith in Jesus.



We live in a day when sin is not discussed. Even in churches, people including ministers are hesitant to use the word. Yet Romans and all of God's word teaches that all human beings, of every race and rank, of every creed and culture, Jews and Gentiles, the immoral and the moral, the religious and the near religious, are without any exception;, guilty, inexcusable and speechless before the living God. This is the terrible human predicament described in Romans 1 verse 18 to Romans 3 verse 20. There was no ray of light, no flicker of hope, no prospect of rescue. But now, Paul suddenly breaks in, God himself has intervened. After the long dark night the sun has risen, a new day has dawned, and the world is flooded with light. But now a righteousness from God, apart Rome law, has been made known. It is a fresh revelation, focusing on Christ and his cross, although the law and the prophets testify to it in their partial for tellings and foreshadowing's. Over against the on righteousness of some and the self righteousness of others, Paul sets the righteousness of God. Over against God's wrath resting on those who do evil, he sets God's grace dissenters who believe in Jesus. Over against judgment, he sets a doctrine called justification. He begins, by portraying the revelation of God's righteousness in Christ's cross, and lays the foundations of the gospel. 2nd, he defends this gospel against Jewish critics. 3rd, he illustrates it in the life of Abraham, who was himself justified by faith and is in consequence the spiritual father of all who believe. In Romans chapter 3 we find 6 tightly packed versus, that have been called the heart and the center of the entire letter. The late Australian theologian, Dr. Leon Morris, suggests these verses may possibly be the most in Portland single paragraph ever written. Its key expression is the righteousness of God, which we 1st heard when Paul uses the phrase in Romans chapter 1 verse 17. In verse 22 of Romans 3, Paul resumes his announcement of the gospel by repeating the expression righteousness from God, but now adds 2 more truths about it. The 1st is that this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Moreover, it is offered to all because it is needed by all. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile in this respect as Paul has been arguing in the entire letter, or between any other human groupings. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The 2nd truth following this phrase righteousness from God is that now for the 1st time a righteousness from God is identified with the whole new word of justification. Christ followers are justified freely by his grace. With this background in mind, let's go to San Diego and speak with Dr. Mark Strauss, professor of New Testament, Greek scholar, and Bible translator who teaches at Bethel seminary.

Mark Strauss interview

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PRAYER (with Stanton Lanier underneath)

Oh God our father may we never doubt your generous love. We know that, if you gave us the gift of your son, you will with him freely have us all things. We know that, even when we sin, you still love us and your only desire is that we should repent and return to you. Forgive us for our sins.

For the things which we try to hide from others; for the things which we try to put out of our minds and forget; for the things for which others find it very difficult to forgive us; for the things for which we cannot forgive ourselves; for the things which sometimes in our falling we tried to hide from you: forgive us, oh God.

For the heartbreak and the sorrow, the worry and the anxiety we have caused; for any time we made it easier for someone else to go wrong; for the harm that we have done, and can never know undue: forgive us, oh God.

In your infinite mercy come to meet our infinite need; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Israel – The Expanded Bible