Romans by the Book (Lesson 20)

Home Bible Study- Lutz, Florida

Established November 2008

Rightly 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 20

Greetings one and all and welcome to what I like to call “Bible Study-Lite.”

By that I mean:  we only study what the Bible says and in some cases what it does not say.  I won’t overwhelm you with unrelated Biblical trivia or unnecessary scientific data.  The Bible lesson and its message get lost while you’re chasing down those “bunny” trails.  I also don’t use words that you’ll have to use a dictionary to interpret.

I adhere to the KIS principle = I Keep It Simple.

I want this Bible study to come across as being relaxed and conversational; just as if we were invited into your home and sitting across from you in your living room.

During a training session, before heading off to summer camp to be the Division Director for the Pathfinders, a pastor taught me and a few others something I’ll never forget.  When it comes to teaching, keep the main thing, the main thing throughout, and repeat it ten times.  He told me something else later on that same day.  He said, “They’ll walk away from church forgetting 75% of my sermon on Sunday mornings, but at least they’ll remember “the main thing” because I repeated it ten times during the sermon.”  And that’s true; he did.

This ministry is about one thing only and that is getting the Truth of God’s Word out to people who choose to hear it.  I don’t expect everyone to agree with me.  But if there is disagreement, let it be based on Scripture – on what the book says; and not on what someone else has said.

My other goal is to get people excited about studying their Bible.

I can’t think of a reason why people wouldn’t want to be in this book; poring over these pages every day.  The Creator of all that is seen and unseen, the same One who paid your sin debt, has left this book here for us, not to read, but to study, and statistics show fewer and fewer people are doing just that month after month, year after year.

Bible study classrooms are almost empty in every church in this so called Christian nation week after week.  There is no interest in knowing what God has said!

Is it any wonder more and more people are drifting away from the Truth?

This is one of the reasons I think you are special.

Thanks for being here today with me.

Please open your Bible at Romans chapter 2, verse 16.

I ended the previous Bible lesson at this verse and with this thought.

All of mankind will stand guilty before the Lord Jesus Christ on the Day of Judgment whether they are: a heathen (pagan), a moralist, or a religious Jew.

The only people who won’t be there facing judgment on that day are the Believers.

When I use the term Believers, I am referring to all the people who have chosen to put their faith, (their trust) in the Gospel preached by the Apostle Paul.

Romans 2

16: on the day (Judgment Day) when according to my gospel (the Gospel of Grace – see 1 Corinthians 15-1-4), God will judge the secrets of men (and women) through Christ Jesus (who created all things seen and unseen).

Gospel of Grace = Jesus Christ died for the sins of all according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He was raised up from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures.

Of course the Gospel of Grace did not exist back in Old Testament times, and even the Gospel of the Kingdom = Believe that Jesus is the Son of God; only existed during His earthly ministry and a few years beyond that.  The Gospel of Grace eventually replaced the Gospel of the Kingdom.  So how were people saved from Adam until the birth of Jesus?  That’s a tough question to answer.  We know for certain people were saved; the Bible says so.  But the best answer I can come up with is this.  Salvation is and has always been based on FAITH in what God has said (revealed) to mankind (see Hebrews 11).

Therefore, the people who find themselves in the uncomfortable position of facing their Creator and their Judge at the Great White Throne Judgment (see Revelation 20:11-15) will be all the “unbelievers” who have ever lived. 

Hear me on this, the souls who appear before their Righteous Judge at the Great White Throne Judgment will not be there because they “died in their sins,” as some would have you believe.  They will suffer loss and anguish because of their unbelief!

What does the book say?

Hebrews 11

6: And without faith it is impossible to please Him (God), for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

And this one:

Hebrews 7

26: For it is fitting for us to have such a high priest (referring to Jesus Christ), holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

27: who does not need daily, like those high priests (referring to Levitical priests working in the Jewish temple and/or Tabernacle), to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, (read carefully – this is why we’re here) because this He died once for (how many) all when He offered up Himself.

(See also Romans 5:8)

All means all. 

Jesus Christ died on that Roman cross once for all sinners past, present, and future.

Those unbelieving souls won’t spend eternity suffering in the Lake of Fire because they didn’t confess and repent of their sins.  Their sins were taken care of at the cross.

Jesus Christ paid the sin debt God the Father demanded.  They’ll suffer for eternity because they CHOSE NOT TO BELIEVE THE APOSTLE PAUL’S GOSPEL (see Romans 2:16).

Therefore, John 3:16 is not the gospel of your salvation today.

There is no mention in John 3:16 about believing in the shed blood of Jesus for the remission of your sins.  Oh but they put it in there.  But it doesn’t belong in there.

John 3:16 does not say believe in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection to be saved.

Why doesn’t it?  Because these things hadn’t happened yet!  God won’t ask you to believe in something that hasn’t been revealed!  (See Deuteronomy 29:29).

This is one of the “secrets” or mysteries that God the Father kept “hidden” from all men since the beginning of time but one day soon He would reveal them to His chosen Apostle to the Gentiles– Saul.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 is the gospel of your salvation today, according to the Scriptures.

(To be continued)

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GJ Heitzman’s Ministry

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