Memory Text: Romans 3:28 KJV Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Sunday, March 6 The Gift
Romans 5:14-18 KJ21 “14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the similitude of Adam’s transgression, he being the figure of Him that was to come. 15 But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one Man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16 And not as it was by one who sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification. 17 For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by One, Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore as by the offense of one, judgment to condemnation came upon all men, even so by the righteousness of One, the free gift unto justification of life came upon all men.”
Romans 6:23 KJ21 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
2 Corinthians 9:15 KJ21 “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!” Ephesians 2:7-9 KJ21 “7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, lest any man should boast.”

Monday, March 7 Justified
Isaiah 53:11 God’s Word to the Nations “He will see and be satisfied because of his suffering. My righteous servant will acquit many people because of what he has learned through suffering. He will carry their sins as a burden.”
Deuteronomy 25:1 Modern King James’ Version “If there is a controversy between men, and they come to judgment, and they have been judged, and the righteous one is declared righteous, and the wrongdoer declared guilty,”
Proverbs 17:15 MKJV “He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, even both of them [are] hateful to the LORD.”
Matthew 12:37 MKJV “For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.”
Romans 5:16 MKJV “And the free gift [shall] not [be] as by one having sinned; (for indeed the judgment [was] of one to condemnation, but the free gift [is] of many offenses to justification.”
Romans 8:33-34 MKJV “33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? [It is] God who justifies. 34 Who [is] he condemning? [It is] Christ who has died, but rather also [who is] raised, who is also at [the] right [hand] of God, who also intercedes for us.”
John 3:17 New King James Version “"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Tuesday, March 8 The Reckoning of Righteousness
Romans 4:1-8 NRSV “1 ¶ What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." 4 Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. 5 But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness. 6 So also David speaks of the blessedness of those to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works: 7 "Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin."”

Wednesday, March 9 Christ Our Righteousness
Romans 3:25-26 20th Century NT “25 For God set him before the world, to be, by the shedding of his blood, a means of reconciliation through faith. And this God did to prove his righteousness, and because, in his forbearance, he had passed over the sins that men had previously committed; 26 As a proof, I repeat, at the present time, of his own righteousness, that he might be righteous in our eyes, and might pronounce righteous the man who takes his stand on faith in Jesus.”
Romans 10:1-3 Weymouth “1 ¶ Brethren, the longing of my heart, and my prayer to God, on behalf of my countrymen is for their salvation. 2 For I bear witness that they possess an enthusiasm for God, but it is an unenlightened enthusiasm. 3 Ignorant of the righteousness which God provides and building their hopes upon a righteousness of their own, they have refused submission to God’s righteousness.”
Galatians 2:21 William Tyndale’s NT “I despise not the grace of God: For if righteousness come of the law, then is Christ dead in vain.”

Thursday, March 10 Justification By Faith
Romans 3:20, 28 NRSV “For "no human being will be justified in his sight" by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. 28 For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.”
Romans 3:20 SDA Bible Commentary Paul is stating a general truth that is applicable to Gentiles and Jews alike. Righteousness by works of law has been the basis of every false religious system and had become the principle even of the Jewish religion (DA 35, 36). But works performed in obedience to any law, whether that law be made known by reason, conscience, or revelation, cannot justify a sinner before God (Gal. 3:21).
Romans 3:28 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY That justification is by faith clearly implies that justification is no mere impersonal adjustment of a man’s legal status in the sight of God. Faith in Christ involves a personal relationship with the Redeemer. It implies an attitude of love and gratitude toward the Saviour in response to His love for us sinners. It is based on profound admiration of Jesus for all that He is, with a sincere desire to know Him better and become like Him. It means a trust and confidence in Christ that is so entirely without reservation that we are willing to take Him fully at His word and follow His directions wherever He may lead.
Romans 4:13 NRSV “For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.”
Romans 9:31-32 NRSV “31 but Israel, who did strive for the righteousness that is based on the law, did not succeed in fulfilling that law. 32 Why not? Because they did not strive for it on the basis of faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,”
Galatians 2:16 20th Century NT “So we placed our faith in Christ Jesus, in order that we might be pronounced righteous, as the result of faith in Christ, and not of obedience to Law; for such obedience ‘will not result in even one soul’s being pronounced righteous.’”
Galatians 2:16 SDA Bible Commentary The Jews erred in: (1) considering that salvation could be attained by one’s own efforts, through compliance with the requirements of “the law,” and by virtue of a meritorious life in which a surplus of good deeds would cancel out evil deeds, (2) adding to the law, as given by God, a mass of man-made requirements, commonly called “tradition”, and (3) extending, and attempting to enforce, certain features of the ritual and ceremonial provisions of “the law” beyond the cross, when they expired by limitation. All of this was no doubt in Paul’s mind as he wrote.
Galatians 3:8-11 NKJV “8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, [saying], "In you all the nations shall be blessed." 9 So then those who [are] of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. 10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed [is] everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God [is] evident, for "the just shall live by faith."”

Friday, March 11 Further Study
Ellen G. White, Faith and Works, p. 20 – “Should faith and works purchase the gift of salvation for anyone, then the Creator is under obligation to the creature. Here is an opportunity for falsehood to be accepted as truth. If any man can merit salvation by anything he may do, then he is in the same position as the Catholic to do penance for his sins. Salvation, then, is partly of debt, that may be earned as wages. If man cannot, by any of his good works, merit salvation, then it must be wholly of grace, received by man as a sinner because he receives and believes in Jesus. It is wholly a free gift. Justification by faith is placed beyond controversy.”
Ellen G. White, Faith and Works, p. 21 – “Christ proposed to become man’s surety and substitute, that man, through matchless grace, should have another trial--a second probation--having the experience of Adam and Eve as a warning not to transgress God’s law as they did.”
Ellen G. White, Faith and Works, p. 21 - “Man broke God’s law, and through the Redeemer new and fresh promises were made on a different basis. All blessings must come through a Mediator. Now every member of the human family is given wholly into the hands of Christ, and whatever we possess--whether it is the gift of money, of houses, of lands, of reasoning powers, of physical strength, of intellectual talents--in this present life, and the blessings of the future life, are placed in our possession as God’s treasures to be faithfully expended for the benefit of man. Every gift is stamped with the cross and bears the image and superscription of Jesus Christ. All things come of God. From the smallest benefits up to the largest blessing, all flow through the one Channel--a superhuman mediation sprinkled with the blood that is of value beyond estimate because it was the life of God in His Son.”
Ellen G. White, Faith and Works, p. 25 – “Faith is rendering to God the intellectual powers, abandonment of the mind and will to God, and making Christ the only door to enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Ellen G. White, Faith and Works, p. 26 – “many are struggling in their own finite strength to win salvation by good works. Jesus, they think, will do some of the saving; they must do the rest. They need to see by faith the righteousness of Christ as their only hope for time and for eternity.”
Ellen G. White, Faith and Works, p. 26 “Man’s part must be done. He must be a laborer together with God, yoking up with Christ, learning His meekness, His lowliness. God is the all-controlling power. He bestows the gifts; man receives them and acts with the power of the grace of Christ as a living agent.”

Thanks james..
I hope the previous week's lesson is just a warm up for this week.

On your mark..
get set..
Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

SABBATH AFTERNOON March 5

Read for This Week's Study: Rom. 3:20, 28; 4:13; 5:14-18; 6:23; 8:33, 34; 9:31, 32; 2 Cor. 9:15; Gal. 2:16; 3:8-11; Eph. 2:7-9.


Memory Text: "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law" (Romans 3:28).


Paul wrote that Jesus "was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" (Rom. 4:25). Few topics are more controversial among Christians than that of "justification." From the time of Paul, who struggled with this issue in the early church, up through Martin Luther, whose battle with the papacy first arose over the question of justification, up through even today among Seventh-day Adventists (not to mention other Christians), the question of justification still foments discussion and debate.

It's a crucial, powerful topic, one that we need to approach in humility, not just before the Lord but before one another. It's a topic that we need to approach on our knees, our hearts and minds open to the Spirit, who alone can teach us from the Word.

This week we explore this rich and fruitful teaching, which stems directly from, and only because of, the Cross.



The Week at a Glance: Why must salvation be a gift from God to us? What is the meaning of to justify? Why weren't Abraham's works good enough to justify him? Why can the law not save us? What does it mean that Christ's righteousness is imputed to us?


*Study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 12.


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SUNDAY March 6

The Gift

Last week we saw that, at the cross, God bore in Himself the punishment for sin. That is, to be true to Himself and to the grand principles that He Himself had established, sin had to be punished. This is God's justice. But in order to be merciful (for God is also merciful), He took that punishment on Himself, in the Person of His Son, thus satisfying the claims of justice while, at the same time, rendering mercy and forgiveness to those who deserve neither (Rom. 3:26). This amazing provision forms the basis of the Cross, the foundation upon which we are forgiven our sins, cleansed from our sins, and ultimately given a new body in a new world.

With this background in mind, can you see why salvation has to be free? Think about it: If salvation is based on anything that we can do, then God's Son taking on human flesh, living in that flesh a life of perfect obedience to the Father, and then going to the cross, where He faced divine wrath against sin, where all the sins of the world fell on Him, where He became sin for us, where He was judged and condemned in our place, where He died as a substitute for all the world—all this still wasn't good enough? Was it still lacking something that we, as sinners, can add in order to finish what Christ's life, death, and resurrection didn't complete? Please! The mere idea of earning our salvation automatically weakens in our minds just what God accomplished for us. What could anyone—that is, any sinner—do to add to what was done for him or her at the Cross?

Look up these few texts. Write out what they're saying about salvation: Rom. 5:14-18, 6:23, 2 Cor. 9:15, Eph. 2:7-9.



"Every soul may say: 'By His perfect obedience He has satisfied the claims of the law, and my only hope is found in looking to Him as my substitute and surety, who obeyed the law perfectly for me. By faith in His merits I am free from the condemnation of the law. He clothes me with His righteousness, which answers all the demands of the law. I am complete in Him who brings in everlasting righteousness. He presents me to God in the spotless garment of which no thread was woven by any human agent. All is of Christ, and all the glory, honor, and majesty are to be given to the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.' "—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 396.

Rephrase in your own words what Ellen White wrote.

God is not primarily concerned with a person's sinful past, but with their future restoration. Justification is not only pardon, it is also reonciliation, the establishing of a new relationship, as an experience of being set right with God.

The righteousness by which we are justified is imputed; the righteousness by which we are sanctified is imparted. The first is our title to heaven, the second is our fitness for heaven.--
MYP p35

Which all adds up to righteousness by faith -- faith in not only the ability of God to fully pardon us, and to count His righteousness as ours, but also His willingness to do so.

There is NOTHING that we can do to obtain our own salvation -- except to accept the gift that is offered to us, and stop kicking and screaming "LET ME DO IT!"

MONDAY.............March 7

Justified

"By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities" (Isa. 53:11).

Read the above text. How does the righteous Servant justify many? How does that answer fit in with what we have studied so far?


Two words translated "justify" are sadaq (Hebrew) and dikaioo (Greek), and they have basically the same meaning. They are legal terms. Both are to be understood in the context of a pronouncement that a judge renders in a court case. If the judge rules in favor of the accused, the accused is "justified"; if the judge rules against the accused, the accused is condemned. "Justification" is, therefore, a legal declaration. A person is justified when he or she is declared acquitted by the judge.

Look up the following texts; notice the contrast expressed in them between being justified and being condemned. How does this contrast help us understand what justification means? Deut. 25:1; Prov. 17:15; Matt. 12:37; Rom. 5:16; 8:33, 34. (Read also John 3:17: What does the contrast between condemnation and being saved teach us about the meaning of justification?)



In all these examples, there are only two options. There's no gray area, no middle ground, no compromise. People are either declared justified; that is, acquitted, or they are condemned. By its nature, the concept of justification (as well as condemnation) doesn't allow for degrees. You can't be partially justified or partially condemned. A decision can be changed, a person's status can be reversed, but in the end a person is either justified or condemned.

Keeping in mind today's study, what do these words mean to you: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:1)? How would you explain this to a non-Christian?




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TUESDAY March 8

The Reckoning of Righteousness

So far, in looking at the Cross, we've see that God Himself, in the person of Jesus, bore the penalty for our sins. Jesus paid the penalty; we, therefore, don't have to. We are spared what's due us, because Jesus took what's due us upon Himself.

Yet, there's more to our salvation. The good news is that we can stand justified before God—not on the basis of our good works (for however good they are, they aren't good enough) but because of the righteousness of Jesus. Jesus alone lived a sinless life, and His perfect life is credited to us as if it were our own. In other words, not only did Jesus take our sins, our filthy rags, upon Himself, but He offers us the opportunity to be dressed in His perfect robe of righteousness (Matt. 22:1-14).

Read prayerfully Romans 4:1-8 and then answer the following questions:

What is Paul's reasoning in the first five verses? Why, if justification is by works, can it not be by grace? Why can it not be both?


How was Abraham justified? What does it mean that "it was counted unto him for righteousness"?


Read Paul's use of Psalms in verses 6-8. What elements are found there when God "imputeth righteousness without works"? How are sins forgiven and covered?


The great news of these verses is that if the works of someone as holy and righteous and faithful as Abraham aren't good enough to save, what about the rest of us? And that's Paul's point: Even Abraham, esteemed among the Jews as a great man of God, needed a righteousness to be "imputed" to him, a righteousness credited to him, in order for him to be justified before God.

All through the Bible Abraham is exalted in Scripture as a faithful man of God (see, for instance, Gen. 18:19, 26:5). And yet he didn't have the works to stand before God alone? What should that tell you about yourself and your only hope of being accepted by God?




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WEDNESDAY March 9

Christ Our Righteousness

Abraham, no matter how pious and faithful, still wasn't pious and faithful enough to be justified before God. If he were to be saved, it would have to be because of something other than his own works or his own righteousness. And here again is where Jesus comes in. Not only did He die as our Substitute, paying the penalty for our sins, but the Lord offers to all who will claim it the perfect righteousness of Jesus in place of each person's sinful record. This is the wonderful provision of the plan of salvation: Not only are our sins forgiven, but the righteousness of Jesus is credited to us as if it were our own!

Read Romans 3:25, 26. Whose righteousness allows for the remission of sins, and by whose righteousness are we justified?




In Romans 3:21-26, Paul makes it clear that the righteousness of Christ is the righteousness of God Himself, and this is the righteousness that allows sinners to be justified before God. No human being's attempt to keep the law can save him or her, for the righteousness that obedience produces is never the righteousness of God Himself.

Read Romans 10:1-3 and Galatians 2:21. In what way are both texts saying the same thing? Why can righteousness never come about by our obedience to the law?



"The law demands righteousness, and this the sinner owes to the law; but he is incapable of rendering it. The only way in which he can attain to righteousness is through faith. By faith he can bring to God the merits of Christ, and the Lord places the obedience of His Son to the sinner's account. Christ's righteousness is accepted in place of man's failure, and God receives, pardons, justifies, the repentant, believing soul, treats him as though he were righteous, and loves him as He loves His Son. This is how faith is accounted righteousness."—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 367.

Look at your own self, and your own attempts, however sincere, at obedience and righteousness. Can't you see how futile salvation by the law is? In what ways does your own experience show to you the great truth of Christ's merits, instead of your own, as the basis of salvation?




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THURSDAY March 10

Justification by Faith

So far, what we have seen is that we are all sinners, incapable of ever achieving the righteousness needed to be justified. Jesus, however, has that righteousness, and through the wonderful provision of the gospel, that righteousness is available for all those who make it their own—by faith.

Read Romans 3:20, 28; 4:13; 9:31, 32; Galatians 2:16; 3:8-11. Notice the contrast Paul places there between the law and faith. What point is he making? Why can the law never save us? Why must salvation be by faith?


These texts are so often misread as teaching that Christians are no longer obligated to keep the law (see next week's lesson); yet, that is not Paul's point. The immediate issue here isn't obedience (at least our obedience); it's salvation, something that the law can never produce in sinful human beings. Indeed, it's precisely because humans have violated the law that they face death, and it was to spare us from this death that Jesus came, obeyed the law perfectly, and offers us His record in place of our own. In the context of fallen humanity, the law isn't the solution—Jesus is.

Look at the above verses again. What evidence do we have there that salvation by faith was taught in the Old Testament, as well as in the New?


From Adam onward, all human beings (with the exception of Jesus) have been under the condemnation of the law, because all have violated the law. Hence, salvation always had to be by faith, because no one, even in the Old Testament times, could find salvation in the law; on the contrary, the law is the very thing that condemns sinners. Seeking salvation in the law is like trying to douse a fire with gasoline.

However, by centering salvation on Jesus and what He has done for us, God has shifted the center of attention off ourselves, who are the problem to begin with, and places it upon Jesus, the only solution. By realizing our total inability to do anything to save ourselves, we're forced to rely upon something outside of us, something greater, holier, and more powerful than we are, which is, of course, "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Jer. 23:6).





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FRIDAY March 11

Further Study: Ellen G. White, Faith and Works, pp. 19-30.
"Moreover, Christ became sin for us, in order that 'in him we might become the righteousness of God.' In other words, our sins were imputed to the sinless Christ, in order that we sinners, by being united to him, might receive as a free gift a standing of righteousness before God. Christian disciples down the centuries have meditated on this exchange between the sinless Christ and sinners, and have marvelled at it. The first example is probably in the second-century Epistle to Diognetus, chapter 9: 'O sweet exchange! O unsearchable operation! O benefits surpassing all expectation! That the wickedness of many should be hid in a single Righteous One, and that the righteousness of One should justify many transgressors.' Then here is Luther writing to a monk in distress about his sins: 'Learn to know Christ and him crucified. Learn to sing to him and say "Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You took on you what was mine; yet you set on me what was yours. You became what you were not, that I might become what I was not." ' "—John R. W Stott, The Cross of Christ, p. 200.



Discussion Questions: Read the above section. What is it saying? How does this help us understand the concept of justification by faith? How do you understand the "sweet exchange"? What is that, and why is it "sweet"?
Imagine being in a school in which there are only two grades, pass and fail, and the only way to get the passing grade is to have a perfect score on every test, every quiz, every time. Even one question wrong on any text, and you get the same failing grade as someone who got every question wrong on every test. It makes no difference: If you get all the questions wrong or only one wrong, you still fail. How, in a sense, does this analogy help us understand why, as sinners, we need the righteousness of Jesus (who was the only Person ever to get every question right on every test) credited to us in order for us to be just before God?