Culture Study

Romans 7:11 - Perverting the Law
* To pervert something is to “use it against its

use.”
* Sin is doing something that’s

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.
* Perversion is doing something that’s wrong but also goes contrary to the way the thing was

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to be done.
* Paul calls it “

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” in Romans 1.
* Let’s apply this to the law.
* The Law of God was created to do

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- it was a guide to life.
* Sin ruined the Law and it became something it was never intended to become - the

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of sin!
* Sin perverted the law.
* The law now

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our desire to sin - it wasn’t supposed to be that way.
* In the Garden, the law didn’t arouse sin -

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did!
* But once they gave in Satan was no longer the only instigator of sin - the law itself was.
* The law was created as a boundary for

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, not a barrier to

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.
* Do we throw the law out? Heck no.
* God’s Law is still beautiful!
* Vs 7-12 - the law arouses sin, which shows us we need a Savior - and that’s a great thing!
* Why is this important?
* God’s law is under attack.
* Love is compassion with standards (law).
* God’s love is unconditional, but His favor is conditioned upon our

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to His law.

Romans 12:18 - Loving Well
* Romans 12 summary:
* Get your

right (vs 1-3) - it leads to transformation.
*

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each other (vs 4-8).
*

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well (vs 9-21) - even when people don’t treat you well.
* Paul is talking about the church body - showing us how we’re all a part of it with unique and special gifts.
* But people grate on each other - they say and do things that are hurtful.
* What do we do then?
* We don’t think in terms of

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- we think in terms of

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.
* When you see people as a part of your

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, it changes the way you treat them.
* Vs 18 - not repaying evil w/evil is doing your part to live in peace.
* They may not be at peace with you - not even Jesus had that privilege.
* You’re only as fast as your

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leg.
* In a relationship, you’re only as strong as the weakest person.
* Focus on what you can control and let the other person do the same.

Romans 16:22 - Faithful Servant
* There are 97 verses in the Bible that talk about a faithful servant.
* Faithful - “to be loyal and steadfast, true to the original.”
* It also means “to

.” (Luke 19)
* The book of Romans is the most deeply theological book in the whole Bible.
* It talks about the mysteries of our faith.
* Martin Luther said this book was the very heart of the gospel.
* Without Romans there’s so much to the Christian faith that we wouldn’t understand.
* In the last chapter, Paul is thinking a bunch of people.
* Then he reveals something to us - he didn’t write the book!
* He dictated it to someone else who actually wrote it.
* Vs 22 -

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wrote it.
* He was the man who was tasked to write down everything Paul said.
* What type of servant would he be?
* What if he was distracted and wrote down “most” of what Paul said?
* What if he was weak-willed and wasn’t willing to tell Paul to slow down so he got it all?
* What if he didn’t pay attention in class and therefore he struggled with writing certain letters (making confusing symbols)?
* Or what if he just saw this job as a chance to make money so he didn’t take it serious?
* The result would be damaging to God’s kingdom!
* Of course, God would’ve found someone else to do it.
* But, because of Tertius’s faithfulness, people of faith have

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for more than 2,000 years!
* And his name is now written in the book he penned with his own hand!