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November 2008
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Dividing the Word of Truth
(2
Timothy 2:15)
This
is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to
be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1Timothy 2:3-4
Romans by the Book Lesson
114
One of our Apostle
Paul’s critical teaching points from last week was contained within Romans
15:4, so I’d like to begin this week’s lesson by returning to that verse: For
whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction,
so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures
we might have hope.
Instruction as Paul uses it here relates to heart knowledge. It has been said that the majority of people who
have lived will miss spending an eternity with their Creator in heaven and
instead spend an eternity suffering indescribable torment in the Lake of Fire by
a mere 12 inches (Romans 6:23). That is
the measured distance from an individual’s brain to their heart. The Scriptures
clearly say every person born into this world arrives with an innate knowledge
of God. First, God has revealed Himself
through His creation; and in these latter
days God has revealed Himself directly through His Son and His Word (John
1:9; Romans 1:19-20). The Lord Jesus
Christ said, “It is written in the prophets,
‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.”
Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes
to Me. (John 6:45)
Your parents can
supply you with books and associated paraphernalia and send you to school but
it’s up to YOU to listen to the
instructors and more importantly to learn
from them. It is a choice.
Perseverance follows instruction - knowing God the
Father, we can wait patiently for Him to do His work in us and about us. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is a
Believer. After your admission of faith,
the Holy Spirit takes up residence within you and the construction process
begins. He will conform you into the
image of Jesus Christ. This
transformation takes “time,” depending on the type of individual you are and
your willingness to cooperate – God asks us you to “come as you are” to be
saved, but He doesn’t leave you in that condition. God has purposed a plan for you: Wait
for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the
LORD. (Psalm 27:14; Romans 8:23-25)
Encouragement (or comfort) naturally follows
perseverance. We all can draw comfort
from the Scriptures and those who have “gone before us.” Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Daniel, David and the
rest of the Old Testament Believers looked to the coming of the Messiah through
the eyes of faith. Their faith
directed and guided them all their days.
They weren’t biblical super-humans but ordinary run-of-the-mill sons of
Adam – sinners saved by grace. They
overcame the “pull” of the world and
its enticements, their afflictions and trials and chose to keep the Main Thing
the Main Thing.
What they looked
forward to in faith – we look back on
through the eyes of faith to every Messianic prophecy fulfilled in
Christ Jesus. Thus, we are to be encouraged by these flawed individuals and
their godly examples as they walked with the LORD God. Should the situation present itself we are to
be encouragers of others and not discouragers
because the Bible commands it. (John
8:56; 1 Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 11; 12:1)
According to Paul, Hope follows encouragement and for good
reason. There will be days when the
future doesn’t look so rosy. In fact, the
future could appear downright bleak, when taken from a “snapshot” perspective. We’re all going to face temptation, trials
and tribulations but this doesn’t mean God’s gone missing or He’s on vacation. Mere circumstances cannot overcome what the
Almighty God has already determined.
The greatest hope all true Believers possess is eternal life, in Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ said, “I
came that they (who believe) may have (eternal) life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Our Apostle Paul wrote: For
the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is (what) eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord (Romans 6:23; 8:28; Titus 1:1-2).
God’s gift of Grace
and eternal life are free gifts
bestowed to those who choose to listen and
learn His Word. When the sinner believes God’s Gospel (1
Corinthians 15:1-4), he or she receives God’s free gift of eternal life at that
moment and you can’t lose it (Romans 8:1; Ephesians 2:8).
**********
Please
open your Bible at Romans 15:9.
We
learned some time ago that a “partial hardening,” in part, has come
upon the nation of Israel until the
fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”
(Romans 11:25). I mention this Bible
prophecy again because from Romans 15:9-29 Paul mentions Gentiles ten times and
five of these occurrences are directly related to Old Testament prophecies!
Romans 15
9: and for the Gentiles
to glorify God for His mercy; as it is written (in the Old
Testament), “THEREFORE I WILL GIVE
PRAISE TO YOU AMONG THE GENTILES, AND I WILL SING TO YOUR NAME.”
10: Again he says,
“REJOICE, O GENTILES, WITH HIS PEOPLE.” (Deuteronomy
32:43)
11: And again,
“PRAISE THE LORD ALL YOU GENTILES, AND LET ALL THE PEOPLES PRAISE HIM.” (Psalms 117:1)
12: And again
Isaiah says, “THERE SHALL COME THE ROOT OF JESSE, AND HE WHO ARISES TO (what) RULE OVER THE GENTILES, IN HIM SHALL THE
GENTILES HOPE.” (Isaiah
11:10)
The
remarkable thing about verses 10-12 is that Paul selected them from the three
great divisions of the Old Testament Scriptures: the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms
(Luke 24:44).
In
verse 9, Jesus Christ Himself gives PRAISE
to God from AMONG THE GENTILES. This quotation comes from Psalms 18:49,
where David becomes a distinct “type” of Christ, David’s coming Seed (see verse
50 and Psalms 22:22). After the
description of Jesus Christ’s suffering and death that are to come in the first
part of the Psalm, the LORD begins to speak of His resurrection praise. I will
tell of Your name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will
praise You.
This
“assembly” Jesus Christ speaks of took
place soon after His resurrection when He appeared to the faithful (few) Jewish
Believers in the upper room. But this “assembly” also includes the Gentiles of
Acts chapter 10 and thereafter. Here in
Romans 15:9, Jesus Christ is celebrating, GIVING
PRAISE AMONG THE GENTILES, who are part and parcel of God’s great work of
salvation.
In
verse 10, in reference to “REJOICE,
O GENTILES, WITH HIS PEOPLE” there are a couple of noteworthy
items worth mentioning. First, the Scriptures
say in all of basic human history, there are three, and only three, basic
groups of people: the Gentiles,
the Jews, and Jesus Christ’s Church (1 Corinthians 10:32). So, in Scripture, pronouns matter a great
deal. When you come across the words, “His people,” in the Bible this means
the nation of Israel always.
Second,
according to Deuteronomy 32:43, the “nations” or Gentiles are called on to rejoice with the Jews, for God’s determined
intervention on their behalf. Paul
selected this Bible passage from the Law to show that the Old Testament
“speaks” of the Gentiles as being called on to celebrate the praises of God with
the Jews. In addition, the Apostle Paul
uses it here to conclude that they are to be receive the same privileges as His people.
Verse
11
is a bit different in that it calls for “direct” praise from the Gentiles, with
no distinct notice of Israel as a people for the proper Greek
translation reads: And again, Praise the Lord,
all [ye] nations, and let all the peoples laud him. (The Darby Translation)
Paul
chose a quote from the prophet Isaiah in verse 12 which looks forward to
the Millennial reign: “THERE SHALL COME THE ROOT OF JESSE, (King
David’s father – Matthew 1:6) AND HE WHO
ARISES (from the dead) TO (what)
RULE OVER THE GENTILES, IN HIM
SHALL THE GENTILES HOPE.”
Jewish
Believers and Gentile alike, will look to the Lord Jesus Christ who will rule all the earth, on the throne of
David, during the Millennium (Revelation 22:16). Our Apostle Paul also preached this message
in 2 Timothy 2:8: Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of
David, according to my gospel… (Romans 2:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
In
Satan’s world or today’s globalized
society the emphasis is and has been for some time on individualism and
uniqueness; on self-development and self-choice. This ultimately alters mankind’s morals and values,
which changes the way people think, and act.
God’s plan is to bring all peoples and all cultures together, standing
upon the firm foundation of His Gospel, treating all men and women with the
same (agape) love and respect: accept one another, just as Christ also
accepted us to the glory of God (v7).
Romans 15
13: Now may the God
of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you
will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit,
Have
you ever stopped to consider that it is God’s will that every single Believer be
filled with all joy and
peace in believing?
It
has been said that gratefulness looks back while hope looks forward with confidence and expectation. In fact, by looking back, gratitude fuels forward-looking hope.
People
who tend not to be grateful tend not to be hopeful and hopefulness is a curse; it’s
the curse of trusting in the things of man or anything other than the Creator
God and His perfect wisdom and timing.
Hopelessness tends to lead to despair and a “woe-is-me” attitude. Despair focuses on one’s immediate
circumstances while hope sees ultimate
realities – the revealed promises of God coming to fruition.
It’s
only human to feel “down” at times. Believe
me when I say the world and especially
Satan wants to steal your joy. He wants you to “feel” inadequate, incapable,
and incomplete. Satan wants you to focus
on your present calamity and your stressful situation because it takes your
eyes off of Jesus Christ.
But
it’s not in the Believer’s “make-up” to stay down because hope believes God is not done.
For instance, the LORD God wasn’t done with Noah when he was in the
belly of the whale, when Abraham’s wife Sarah was barren, when Joseph was alone
in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, when Moses and the Israelites were
pinned up against the Red Sea while trying to escape from Pharaoh and his army,
our Apostle Paul couldn’t get rid of his “thorn in the flesh,” and Jesus Christ
was laid in the grave! Hope is not undone ever because God is
not done. Our hope is sustained by trusting God:
If God is for us, who can be
against us? (Romans 8:31b).
Romans 15
14: And concerning
you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of
goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.
Here
Paul speaks directly to these Believers in Rome informing them that they are full of goodness. In other words, they are new creatures with new hearts and minds created in Christ Jesus for good works (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). They are hardly perfect, for no one is, they
are still related to Adam; still children of the flesh. Yet, Paul believes they are living
victoriously, being controlled by the Holy Spirit, and walking by faith.
Paul
also says they are also filled with all
knowledge, pertaining to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). They have been studying the Word of Truth to gain
maturity and to be ready and equipped for every good work (2 Timothy
3:17). They know the Word well enough now
to explain it to others and to correct them in the Lord when necessary (2
Timothy 2:15).
Romans 15
15: But I have
written (in
this letter) very boldly to you on some
points so as to remind you again, because of the (what) grace that was given me from (who)
God,
16: to be a minister
of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest (or a go-between) the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become
acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Paul
reminds these Believers of this
“special” grace that had been given to him from God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. Paul often remarked in his letters to the
churches that he was Jesus Christ’s chosen steward
of God’s grace ministering the Gospel of God to the “nations,” (Gentiles)
to whom he was sent. Most people in the
church are either ignorant of this, or they simply regard Paul as an “outsider,”
“one like the twelve,” or worse yet a heretic working from the fringe. However, if you choose to read verse 15-16
carefully you’ll see that his words go far beyond mere apostleship.
The
word which characterizes Paul’s unique ministry to the Gentiles is the Greek
word leitourgos. There isn’t an English word that conveys
the exact meaning expressed by Paul.
Darby suggests: “an administrator officially employed,” while Alford
renders it, “ministering priest.” The
Bible translators have given us, “a
minister of Christ Jesus” and this doesn’t even come close to Paul’s
meaning. Stop and think. Every minister, preacher, and priest living
today, in a sense, could say they are a minster
of Christ Jesus.
The
Apostle Peter preached that salvation had come to the Gentiles in Acts
10:34-35: I most certainly understand now
that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man (or
woman) who fears Him and does what is
right is welcome to Him.
(Acts
11)
Paul
was sent to the Gentiles as Moses was sent to the Jews in the Old Testament –
by Divine calling. It is Paul’s gospel, minus
any Jewish thing, telling of the “Once and Done Great Offering” for the sins of
all men and women, both Jew and Gentile, that saves (Hebrews 10:14) - that my
offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the
Holy Spirit.
The
word acceptable as used here is the
same word found in 2 Corinthians 6:2: …Behold,
now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION” – the
time when God freely accepts each individual without the Law or one’s religion
any and all that come humbly by faith (alone).
(To
be continued)
©
Copyright 2011
GJ
Heitzman’s Ministry
All
Rights Reserved
[Published
Weekly on Friday]
