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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
85
A man was once
asked what he believed about God, to which he replied,
“I believe what my
church believes.”
The follow up
question to this was, “What does your church believe?”
He quickly said,
“My church believes what I believe.”
“What do you and
your church believe then?”
He said, “We both
believe the same thing.”
This brief exchange
may sound humorous but it’s not funny.
In fact, it’s daunting.
For some reason the
preacher’s message isn’t getting through to this individual.
Obviously, this
gentleman isn’t standing on “solid” ground with regard to faith and Church
Doctrine. “Whatever,” is his motto and he
appears to be content.
Unfortunately, this
epitomizes far too many church-goers today.
Does this describe
you and your church?
Why do you believe
what you believe?
What do you
believe?
These are important
questions.
Christians
misunderstand and struggle with several faith-related issues. One of these is assurance. They doubt their salvation. As a follow-up to the previous lesson, I’d
like to take a moment to talk about what it means for the Holy Spirit to
testify with our spirit that we are children of God: For
all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons (and
daughters) of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery
leading to (what’s the next word) fear
again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons (and daughters) by which we cry out, Abba! Father!”
(Romans 8:14-15)
The
first clue that you’re a saved individual is in the paragraph above. You’re the adopted son and daughter of God if you are being led
by the Spirit of God. The Greek term
Abba Father is a very intimate,
warm, personal, affectionate cry to God as our Father and it’s the Holy
Spirit witnessing.
You
can’t feel or hear the Holy Spirit, so how does one know they are spirit led?
According
to Scripture, the witness of the Spirit is the work of the Spirit giving
evidence in our lives that we are sons and daughters of God. The work of the Spirit within you provides
evidence and isn’t that what witnesses do?
They speak of reality after having seen it. So, now we go to Scripture to see what it
means to be led by the Spirit.
Please
turn to Galatians chapter 5.
Walking
by the Spirit or Living by the Spirit, = producing the Fruit of the Spirit.
If
you’ll skip down to verse 22, the Apostle Paul has given us a list containing 9
items which he named the fruit of the Spirit:
love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Now examine your life. Is there any evidence that the Holy Spirit within
you is producing this fruit which is
contrary to the lustful, selfish, Adamic human nature which coexists within you
(Romans 7:14-25)?
But
let’s be clear. The Bible never says the
evidence of salvation is perfection!
It
always concerns a direction of life where a person would say, “I used to be
hooked on internet pornography, but God showed me how destructive that was to
me and my family – He changed me.” Or,
“I used to spend Sunday afternoons in front of the T.V. watching sports instead
of spending time with my family, but God helped me see how selfish I was, thank
you Lord.” In both these examples, we see
some “measured” evidence of change. The
Holy Spirit is bringing out the nature of Jesus Christ in these individual
Believers – He is transforming them into the likeness of God’s Son.
Do
you believe there is only one true God?
Do
you believe that God is three persons:
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?
Do
you believe Jesus Christ is God in the flesh?
Do
you believe faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ,
according to the Scriptures for your sins is only way to be saved? You do, right?
But
you say there is still sin in your life and you can’t beat it. No matter how hard you try you keep returning
to it – even though you know you’re not supposed to.
As
I said, nowhere in Scripture does it say Believers are to be perfect.
Heaven
would be a lonely place if God set the bar that high.
Permit
me to illustrate: let's say we are on a 20 foot boat out in the
ocean. We are sailing along when we notice two men in the water.
There is no other boat around, so it is obvious these two men are in dire
straits. We take a life preserver, tie it to a rope, and throw it to them
but it lands a few feet short. We yell for
them to grab onto the life preserver so we can pull them in. One of the
men, exhausted, reaches out his arm for the life preserver but falls short.
"Grab it!" We yell. He reaches out but his arm drops in the
water from fatigue. The waves slap his face; he goes under briefly,
resurfaces swallowing salt water, but keeps trying. The other man is simply floating face down in
the water. There is no sign of struggle at all. But, the other man
is ardently swimming for the life preserver. He is fighting against the
ocean, the waves, and the wind all which are stronger than he is.
Which
one of these two men in the water is alive? Is it the one face down in
the water or the one struggling to grab onto the life preserver? The one struggling for life: right?
Dead
people don't struggle for life. Coincidentally,
spiritually dead people do not struggle against their sin. An unsaved
person is dominated by their depraved, unredeemed flesh. Those who have no life in them do not
struggle for eternal life.
(Romans
1:28-32; 1 Corinthians 1:18; Galatians 5:19-21).
If
you’re like the first man who is struggling against your sin, this is a sign
that you are alive in Christ Jesus. If
there was no sign of struggle at all, then one could dispute your salvation. However, since you “war” against your sins you
know your body is the temple of
the Holy Spirit.
People
who walk after the Spirit do so because they think about the things of the
Spirit and live their lives according to the Spirit. A true Believer is able to please God because
they’re thinking patterns are aligned with God’s and this comes from their new
nature.
Those
walking in the flesh have their minds on the things of the flesh because they
live according to the flesh (Romans 8:8-9).
Fleshly thinking patterns or a fleshly disposition will manifest itself
in worldly behavior which is contrary to the Spirit of God (1 John 2:15).
Thank
you for being here today; now let’s all turn our attention to Bible study.
Please
open your Bible at Romans 10:11.
Romans 10
11: For the Scripture says, “WHOSOEVER
BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” (Isaiah 28:16)
God’s
invitation goes out to all! This verse
reminds me of the LORD God’s call to Abram around 2000 BC; that’s when the
nation of Israel had its start. Then how God
worked with Abram and His people down through the years, with a few
gentile exceptions of course and that’s what they were “exceptions” – there was
the city of Nineveh, Ruth the Moabite, the Syrian general, and a few
others. The LORD God dealt primarily
with the Jew only and this theme carries through the first few chapters of the
Book of Acts (Acts 11:19). Gentiles were
separate from Christ, excluded from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promises, having no
hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12).
But
you see there has been a change. Paul
says whosoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved and because of this
things are not the same. Instead of God working
primarily with the Israelites with a few Gentile exceptions, now God is
primarily calling out Gentiles with a few Jewish Believers. Most of them still don’t recognize Jesus
Christ as their Lord and refuse to call on Him for salvation. However, in this dispensation of grace this
is what God requires.
12: For there is no (difference) distinction between Jew and Greek (Gentile); for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call
on Him;
13: for “WHOEVER
WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” (Joel 2:32)
Before
you’re conversion I’m sure you didn’t pay much attention to God, much less call
Him Lord, and pay Him homage. Before
that occurred, too many other things were more important such as: watching the NCAA basketball finals, studying
for your career, gathering money, maintaining your physical appearance, or
trying to keep up with the Jones’ to name a few. However, did any of these experiences bring
you joy? I
know they didn’t offer you salvation! All
these things gave you something to do, something to “chase” after while you
tried to fill that sense of emptiness inside of you. However, after you “caught”
one or more of these life-goals or experiences you discovered they weren’t fulfilling. You needed something more/something else so
the chase began anew. That sense of
emptiness you were attempting to fill with excitement, experiences, drugs,
booze, career climbing, stuff, or other worldly pursuits can only be filled by Jesus
Christ. This is why you “called” on the
name of the Lord – to be saved. This was
step #1 in your honoring Him.
Paul
used the same expression For there is no
distinction once before in Romans 3:22-23 while referencing sin. On account of “sin” there is no longer a
difference between Jew and Greek. Sin
puts everyone on the same level before God – guilty! Here in v12 Paul is saying our Righteous
Judge is abounding in riches for all
who call on Him, (whether Jew or Greek) WILL BE SAVED.
When
anyone accepts Jesus Christ as their personal Savior they are instantaneously enriched
with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3) and declared to be
complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10).
Paul refers to these blessings as “the unfathomable” riches of Christ in Ephesians 3:8. In the Greek, the word “Unfathomable” is anexichniastos which means: past finding out, unsearchable. The idea being that the Believer’s blessings
in Christ Jesus are “too deep to be measured.”
Romans 10
14: How then will
they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have
not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
15: How will they
preach unless they are sent? Just as it
is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD
THINGS!” (Isaiah 52:7)
This
is as good a place as any to point out that after the death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ for our sins God put 5 things into place so that people can be
saved. Paul mentions these in verses
13-15:
Whosoever
will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
But…how
are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed?
How
are they to believe in Him of whom they have not heard?
How
will they hear without a preacher?
How
will they preach unless they are sent?
So,
salvation is the result of a person going forth, preaching/sharing the good
news about Jesus Christ, hearing the gospel, believing, and calling on Jesus
Christ as Lord.
Now
I want you to stop and think for just a minute.
Is Jesus Christ doing the evangelical work down here on earth? Are angels spreading the gospel of Jesus
Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection around the globe or is it ordinary
people like you and me? I mentioned the
city of Nineveh earlier in this lesson.
Who took the LORD God’s message to them? It was Jonah – right? Just an ordinary man, reluctant to the nth
degree, but the LORD helped him see what needed to be done. My point being God has always used ordinary
people to BRING GOOD NEWS or to
promote salvation.
I
find it encouraging that God wants to use us Believers as His ambassadors here
on earth for that’s exactly what we are – strangers in a foreign land (2 Corinthians 5:20). This
isn’t a chore to put off. This is
something to look forward to for we have been included in God's ministry of “reconciliation:”
Now all these things are from God, who
reconciled us to Himself through Christ and (read carefully) gave us the ministry of
reconciliation, (2 Corinthians 5:18).
Please
understand it’s not up to us to save people.
We have not been given this responsibility. The reason why a person believes the gospel
is that God opens the heart (Acts 16:14).
What was said by Paul: first
someone must speak the gospel. God doesn’t
open the eyes of the heart to see nothing.
He opens them to see the glory of Jesus Christ revealed in the truth of
the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Therefore,
we Believers must speak the gospel – we are not to leave this responsibility to
the next person it is yours and mine. We
don’t make the new birth happen, when we speak the gospel but we fit perfectly into
God’s plan when we comply. The point of
speaking the gospel is to give the individual something to hear and to see
quite frankly. Since the key problem in
not believing the gospel is the hardness of one's heart, this is where the Lord
does His work – He opens the heart.
(To
be continued)
©
Copyright 2011
GJ
Heitzman’s Ministry
All
Rights Reserved
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