The Gift of Righteousness or System of Truth | Mark Hankins
Recap
Our guest speaker, Mark Hankins, delivered a message entitled, “The Gift of Righteousness or System of Truth.” He explained that everywhere the Apostle Paul preached and in all of his letters to the churches, Paul consistently taught a “form of doctrine.” The Weymouth translation called it a “system of truth.” This system of truth was designed to create champions, those who would reign in life like a king!
Dive Deeper
Guest speaker Mark Hankins introduced his message saying, “We’re going to talk about amazing grace and the gift of righteousness.”
He used Romans 5:17 as his basic text: “For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)”
The phrase “one man’s offense” refers to Adam’s sin… his fall from grace. And because of Adam’s sin, death reigned. Death reigned in mankind not only through physical death, but spiritual death as well.
The verse continues… “much more those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” The word “reign” in this verse refers to reigning as a king, to rule and reign. This verse says that instead of being dominated, you now reign in life and are blessed.
“You will reign as a king in life by one man, Jesus Christ.” Through the work of Christ, you receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. Then Paul said, “You will reign in life through Jesus Christ.”
So in order to reign in life, you really just need to know that one man, right? So we want to talk about this reigning in life through the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness and living in the light of God’s grace and righteousness that God has produced for us in Christ, as a free gift.
Let’s look at Romans 6:17: “But God be thanked that you were the servants of sin, but you’ve obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine, which was delivered to you being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.” Then verse 14 says, “For sin shall not have dominion over you.”
Sin or Satan or the works of Satan shall not have dominion over you.
Look at 17 again: “But God be thanked that you were the servants of sin, but you’ve obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine, which was delivered to you being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.”
What does the phrase “that form of doctrine” mean? In all of Paul’s letters, there is present a form of doctrine. In the Weymouth translation, instead of saying “form of doctrine” it says, “system of truth.” …that system of truth in which you were instructed.
In other words, that form of doctrine was simply a “system of truth.” It was Paul’s system of truth. Every time Paul preached or wrote, his teaching contained a system of truth.
Pastor Mark said, “A system is just a group of interrelated items that are dependent upon each other for the revelation of the whole, for the whole thing to work.
Comparison: Nick Saban coached in Alabama for years and won seven national championships. What is interesting is that out of the top six college teams in the entire country, four of those teams had coaches that were trained by Saban! Those four Saban-trained coaches used Saban’s coaching system on the teams they coached. The coaching system produced champions!
In the same way, the Apostle Paul has a system of truth that he taught wherever he went to preach. It was a system that was designed to produce champions… to help you reign in life like a king.
Paul’s system of truth is revealed in Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians… because those are the letters written to the Church.
One writer said it this way: “Paul’s letters contain the thoughts that Jesus carried away from this world unuttered.” They are the advanced teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul’s letters are literally Jesus talking to you post-resurrection. In other words, something happened on the cross and the death and the resurrection of Christ, that changed everything.
Paul explains what happened that Jesus could not explain before it happened. Praise the Lord!
One translation says, “God’s work in Christ far exceeds any damage done to us by Adam’s fault.”
What Satan had done in Adam and Adam’s fall, God didn’t look at the damage and then say, “Well, let’s see if we can fix it.” What God did is overcompensate. God’s work in Christ far exceeds any damage done to us by Adam’s fault.
Whatever damage you experienced in your life due to sin or because of Satan, God’s work in Christ far exceeds.
The power of the blood of Jesus… the power of what happened on the cross… the power that raised Christ from the dead in Paul’s “system of truth” was designed to inform you of what happened there.
Paul’s system of truth tells you what happened in the death and resurrection of Christ. And he tells you everything Satan did in Adam, God reversed it in Christ.
Read About It
Rom 5:17, “For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)”
Rom. 6:14, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
Rom. 6:17, “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.”
Discussion Questions
Can you explain what happened when the first man Adam sinned?
How did Adam’s sin affect mankind?
What was the Apostle Paul’s system of truth?
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ELECTION PRAYER POINTS
As we approach the upcoming election, it is vital for us as the church to do our part and vote, but also to unite our voices and pray. For the next four weeks, we’re going to focus on a vital point of the election to pray over. We ask that you join us in agreement and prayer as we believe that God is going to do a mighty work in our Nation.
Prayer point:
The divine plan and purpose for America will be fulfilled and God will give us godly leaders.
I Timothy 2:1-4
Proverbs 28:2
Proverbs 29:2
2 Chronicles 7:14
Job 12:13-24
Job 42:2