Date: 7/23/23

By: Elder Steven Morris

Text: Romans 2:6-10

Outline:

I. Principles (doctrine/truth)

A. Main point: Only those who do/practice according to God’s righteous/just law will be just-ified by God in the coming day of judgment. (13b, 16)

1. Corollary: Those who merely have/hear/honor God’s law but do not obey it/ Him will not be justified in God’s sight in the coming day of judgment (13a, 16)

B. All people(s), both Jews & Gentiles, “have sinned” and fallen short of God’s glory by failing, to a greater or lesser degree, to follow/obey the light God gave them. (12, 14-15)

1. Gentiles “have sinned….without God’s codified law but “are a law unto themselves”, having the “work of the law” written on their hearts and their conscience to discern.

2. Jews “have sinned….in God’s codified law/covenant”, in addition to having the work of the law written on their hearts and their conscience to discern.

C. God’s judgment will be altogether righteous (12, 16)

1. It will be conducted by Jesus Christ, the Righteous Judge

2. It will include/expose all the secrets of men,

3. It will account for the light people have received and the kind/degree in which people “have sinned” (12, 16)

II. Practices (application)

A. We must live our lives day by day with the final judgment in view

1. Holy fear

2. Hope-full, happy faith working through love

B. We must work to develop and keep a “good” conscience before God so that we will judge rightly what pleases God.

1. Clean/pure conscience

2. Informed/discerning conscience

3. Tender conscience

Date: 7/16/23

By: Elder Steven Morris

Text: Romans 2:6-10

Outline:

I. Principles

A. God justly and gladly grants ‘eternal life’ to all those who diligently seek Him by patiently continuing in doing what is good in His sight.

B. Patient continuance in doing/working good is the fruit of possessing present eternal life (i.e. new birth, faith, hope, & love seeking glory to God) that is seeking the fullness of eternal life (i.e. glory, honor, and immortality from God).

1. The righteous seek for and receive ‘eternal life’ (v.7a) So what is “eternal life”?

2. The righteous patiently continue in “doing/working good”. So what makes works ‘good’? And can we who are sinners really do what is “good” in God’s sight?

II. Practices

A. Praising and prizing God as our chief and highest goal and good

B. Praying to God in dependence on (abiding in) Christ

C. Fighting/wrestling and running to “lay hold of eternal life”

D. Giving/loving of ourselves to “lay hold of eternal life” and “treasure in heaven”

E. Dying and rising daily to bear fruit unto eternal life

Date: 7/9/23

By: Elder Steven Morris

Text: Romans 2:4-11

Outline:

I. Two truths about God [4, 5b-6, 11]

A. God is good (kind) – goodness, forbearance, longsuffering

B. God is just – Only equity; No excuses, No errors, No escape

II. Two types of people [5a, 7-10]

A. Two hearts – hard/impenitent vs humble/repentant

B. Two pursuits – seeking self-glory vs seeking God’s glory

C. Two practices – obeying unrighteousness vs patient continuance in doing good

D. Two destinies – laying hold of eternal death/ruin vs laying hold of eternal life/reward

By: Elder Steven Morris

Text: Psalm 17:1-15

Outline:

I. We must remember that the LORD, in His covenant fidelity and steadfast love, hears and saves those who trust in Him from those who rise up against them. (6-8)

II. We must call on Him to judge justly based on our fidelity to His covenant (1-5)

III. We must call on Him to judge justly based on our adversaries’ infidelity (9-14a)

IV. We must call on Him in view of our eternal hope of sharing in His glory, and we must let this hope drive & direct our pursuit of righteous dominion on earth (14b-15)

By: Elder Steven Morris

Text: Romans 2:1-5

Outline:

I. Observations

A. Two types of judgment (condemnation) – God’s righteous judgment vs Satan’s unrighteous judgment

B. Two types of idolatry – Overt (paganism/Gentiles) vs Covert (moralism/Jews-Christians?)

II. Applications

A. Have you reckoned yourself dead to sin/self-righteousness and alive to Christ?

B. Take heed not to deceive yourself about God’s true judgment of yours/others’ sins.

C. Take heed not to despise the riches of God’s goodness/grace to yourself or others. Rather, repent of all self-righteousness/justification and lay hold of God’s grace.

D. Take heed to pursue sanctification/righteousness in the Spirit, not by the flesh/law (Gal 3:3), lest you “fall from grace” (Gal 5:4-6).

E. Seek to bear much good fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) by God’s transforming power mediated through the Spirit of Christ in answer to prayer and by abiding in Jesus’ word (John 15:1-8ff). Our fruit must be full of Christ to be “good”, not full of self.

F. Take heed to openly expose yourself to the light/glory/truth of God in Jesus Christ, and do not harden your heart in impenitence, storing up present and future wrath.

G. As children of God and disciples of Jesus, take heed to foster and maintain a heart that is “established by grace” (Heb 13:9b), rooted in God’s love (1 Cor 13:4-7a), reflecting God’s heavenly wisdom (James 3:13-18) and true humility (James 4:6-12), overflowing with words of grace/edification (Ephesians 4:29, Colossians 4:6)

By: Elder Gary Duff

Text: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Outline:

v1 Evangelism: how and what to speak.

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.

v2 Evangelism through our simple, focused gospel.

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

- Jesus Christ - His person

- Jesus Christ crucified - His work

v3 Evangelism through our weakness and humility.

I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.

2 Corinthians 12.9, 10:

- in infirmities

- in reproaches

- in needs

- in persecutions

- in distresses

v4 Evangelism by speaking and preaching in the Spirit.

And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

v5 Evangelism by His power and for His glory

that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Date: 6/4/23

Text: Romans 1:28-32

By: Elder Steven Morris

Outline:

I. Principles of God’s righteous wrath against man in His judgment [v28-29]

A. Judgment in kind (quality) – “even as…” [28]

B. Judgment by degrees (quantity) – “being filled with all…full of…” [29]

II. Portrait of man’s unrighteous wrath against God under His judgment [29-32]

A. Debased displays of “all unrighteousness” [29-31]

B. Destructive doom of “all unrighteousness” [32]

Date: 5/21/23

Text: Psalm 16:1-11

By: Elder Steven Morris

Outline:

I. The just will live & seek joy by faith: Perseverance & Preservation of the saints

A. Call upon God in believing prayer for your present preservation (1)

B. Talk your soul about the goodness of the LORD (2)

C. Walk with excellent Saints and separate from idolaters (3-4)

D. Thank the LORD for His covenant faithfulness and grace (5-6)

E. Seek the LORD’s counsel and bless/rejoice in the LORD for His guidance (7-9a)

F. Hope in the LORD for future/final preservation (9b-10)

G. Delight yourself in abide in the LORD’s joy-full presence and life-imparting path (11)

Date: 5/14/23

Text: Romans 1:18-23

By: Elder Steven Morris

Outline:

I. Idolatrous refusals (21a)

A. Refusal to glorify God as God in His greatness and virtue

B. Refusal to thank God for His good providences/gifts

II. Idolatrous replacements (23, 25)

A. Exchanging God’s incorruptible glory for an image likened to corruptible man/creatures

B. Exchanging God’s truth for the lie, worshiping/serving the creature rather than Creator.

III. Idolatrous ruin (21b-22, 24)

A. God gives man over to mental futility and affectional folly/darkness

B. God gives man up to fleshly lust, ‘uncleanness’, bodily dishonor/objectification

Date: 5/7/23

Text: Romans 1:18-20

By: Elder Steven Morris

Outline:

I. The righteous wrath of God revealed from heaven (1:18a)

A. Why is understanding God’s wrath so important?

B. What is the wrath of God that is being revealed?

C. Against what/whom is God’s wrath being revealed?

II. The reality of God’s revealed glory concealed by unrighteousness (1:18b-20)

A. God’s righteous wrath is being revealed because men blaspheme and misrepresent His glorious character and name by concealing, twisting His glory in their unrighteousness

B. God’s righteous wrath is being revealed because God zealously desires to save men from His wrath, glorify Himself, and make men eternally glad in Him through His Son.