ROMANS CHAPTERS 9 & 10
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Rom 9,1-26
(219a) Sovereignty
>>
God overrides the will of man >> The elect >>
Man is a spectator of his own salvation >> God
elects us through His sovereign will
– The content of chapters nine, ten and eleven
revolve around the nation of Israel predestined through the foreknowledge of God
to crucify their own messiah at the beginning of the age of grace, and then come
to
faith in Christ at the end of the age for the purpose of leading a Great Endtime
Revival. Act 2-23 says, "This Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death."
Peter's statement depicts both the will of man and the will of God in
the death of Christ. In chapter nine we see Paul using pharaoh to show that God
has predestined Israel to reject Christ, yet
we don’t see anyone forcing their hand to nail Him to a cross. In
many respects, predestination is a subject about time, more than
about God imposing His will over man. Predestination is an active choice that
God makes with mankind, choosing one person over another, but this is merely a
perspective. There are other instances in Scripture that speak of
predestination in terms of foreknowledge; He simply knew what would happen,
which is vastly different from what Paul is saying, yet both depict
realities that are anchored in Scripture. We
must keep in mind the context of Paul’s argument, specifically that God overrides the will of man. Pharaoh virtually had no choice but to
harden his heart, yet God still found fault with him, believing in his heart that his works
were completely his own, not suspecting that God was using him as a puppet. What
pharaoh did was predestined to occur, but at the same time there was an
ownership of behavior regarding pharaoh that we cannot ignore, complete ownership of
all his anger
against God. So we really do have two things happening at the same time:
God’s pre-destiny and man’s expression of it; the two of them cannot be
separated, yet neither can we see them as a single entity. See also: Predestination; Rom 9,3-6;
37e
Rom 9,1-3
(63h) Paradox
>>
Anomalies >> Sarcasm >>
Ignoring the truth to convey the truth
(123c) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Love >>
Spiritual affection >> Compassion >>
Compassion is the emotion of the Spirit – The people Paul was describing endlessly
tortured him, beat him and whipped him and had him thrown in prison
for years, wanting him dead. He was speaking about the Jews, that if he
could he would give them his place in heaven! Paul understood the Jews because
he was a Jew who persecuted the Church. He would be standing right
alongside them still squelching the gospel, had Jesus not reached out and
saved him. He empathized with their unbelief and related to their bondage.
Whether
or not we understand our enemies we are supposed to love them, no matter what
they do to us. Our enemies could be incomprehensible, yet God has
called us to continue to act and behave in ways that would benefit them. There is one aspect of our enemies
which we can always relate; we were once unsaved ourselves (Tit
3,1-7), in bondage to unbelief and to the darkness of evil that dictated how
we lived, but God has called us out of darkness and has raised us with Him
to a higher plateau, so that now we can make right choices that benefit even
our enemies, this being the agreement of the new covenant: God treats us the
way we ought to treat our enemies.
(173h) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism >>
Unholy sacrifice (Penance) >> Offering sacrifice without
God’s approval >> Sacrifice against the ways of
God – Paul wasn’t devaluing
his faith as though
sacrificing it for something useless, such as in the story of Jacob
and Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. Esau essentially sold his
conscience, and God interpreted his actions as thinking so little of his
inheritance in a moment of weakness as to equate it to a bowl of soup. God’s
judgment on Esau was that He made it a literal transaction, and God gave Jacob
the blessing that was intended for Esau, the firstborn.
If Esau wanted to sell his birthright, God would accommodate him, and the
transaction occurred in the spiritual realm, but the transaction Paul
wanted to make for his fellow countrymen was not possible, because this is
not how the gospel is transmitted. See also: Patriarchs (Jacob and Esau); Rom 9-6; 210ib
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1Tim 4-1,2; 155e
(188k) Die to self (Process of substitution)
>>
Separation from the old man >> Sorrow >>
Grieving over your own loss >> Grieving over the
loss of others
Rom 9-1,2
(81j) Thy kingdom come
>>
Pray without ceasing >> For the Church
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Rom 9-1
(78b) Thy kingdom come
>>
Sincerity of heart >> Being honest >>
Telling the truth –
Verse one is quite a preamble to this chapter. Paul wanted us
to know for sure that He was being sincere,
swearing by his conscience that he was telling the truth, that
he was willing to sacrifice his soul and the hope of eternal life if it
guaranteed salvation for his countrymen. However, God is unwilling to sacrifice one soul for many,
except in the case of His Son, and Paul is not the savior of the Jews.
Although Jesus is the savior of the Jews, they still cannot be saved unless
they believe in Him, because God is unwilling to violate the will of man for
any reason. To believe in Jesus is to trust Him and love Him, for how could God
save a people who hated Him? Moreover, if everything changed when we passed from this
life to the next, then what would be the point of this life?
(108f) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >> Balance >> Conscience is the balance between God
and man –
“Conscience bearing witness in the Holy Spirit” is a useful definition
of faith; it is how we relate to God. Paul disassembled faith into its component
parts; the Holy Spirit
alone does not represent our faith; He is God’s faith. Likewise,
conscience alone does not represent our faith unless we use it to believe in
Christ. So, when we attach our conscience to the Holy Spirit, we are able to
believe in
God through His faith. This faith comes from God
through the Holy Spirit made manifest in our conscience, suggesting that
having a clear conscience is essential for genuine faith. When God sends
His Holy Spirit into our hearts and our conscience is grafted to His, we
become conscious of God.
(154j) Witness
>>
Validity of the believer >> Witness of the
believer >> Conscience >>
Having a good conscience >> God is my conscience – Paul had to start this chapter saying, I’m
telling the truth; I’m not lying.’ This was the one and only time He said
this. Jesus, who commanded us to love our enemies often said something similar, “Truly, truly I say to you….” Since neither Jesus nor Paul was a
liar, it seemed unnecessary for them to use this type of expression, except
that they were trying to build confidence in us that they weren’t lying,
because apparently what they were about to say would be hard to believe.
Rom 9,3-6
(37e) Judgment
>> Judgment of God
>>
Jesus’ humanity >> He was part of the lineage
of David – Paul dabbles in the genealogy of Israel,
bringing to mind the patriarchs whom God used to establish faith in God, and then he
took it to another level
with a
dissertation about predestination, implying that all these things were planned
from the very beginning and suggests that this was the reason Paul cannot
save his kinsmen by trading places with them. Paul was selected from the foundation of the world to become
an heir of the faith, and this blessing is nontransferable. See also: Predestination; Rom 9-6;
210ib
Rom 9-3
(26e)
Sin >> Consequences of sin
>>
Death is separation from Christ
Rom 9-4,5
(210h) Salvation
>>
Jews and gentiles are being saved >> Salvation
is from the Jews >> The Jew first >> Jews lead the world to faith in Jesus
–
The mere mention of the Law and of temple worship represents the first five
books of the Old Testament. The prophets spoke of God’s love for Israel,
that if they repented their sins and returned to Him, He would preemptively forgive
them, looking forward to the cross that would come later.
When we look in the Old Testament for the promise of sending Jesus Christ for
the propitiation of man’s sin, it is everywhere. For instance, the temple
services were an illustration of His blood sacrifice. It is no wonder people
believe in the Bible; it is self-evident. Paul is saying that every aspect of
God’s purpose was executed through the nation of Israel. We cannot
overemphasize the importance of this nation or fully appreciate what they have
suffered for us all. Had God chosen any other nation to be his people according
to the flesh, they would have followed the same path as Israel.
Satan worked tirelessly against them for thousands of years, leading them into
rebellion against God in effort to frustrate His plan, but through all His
efforts the only thing he could accomplish was to fulfill God’s plan. Screwed-up Israel sacrificed
their Messiah as the work of Satan, and God used that to judge him and to set
man free from the penalty of sin.
Rom 9-4
(36m) Gift of God
>>
Adopted >> We are adopted in the flesh –
This short list that Paul provided stands for everything God has done with
Israel over the millennia, yet it says that they too must be adopted as sons
and daughters into the family of God, though they are God’s chosen
people from the original vine into which all other nations must be grafted. This adoption means something different from grafting (which Paul
will discuss in chapter 11). “Adoption” means children who were once not
His children have now become His children. So whose children were they before
they were adopted? Mankind as a whole, both Jew and gentile, every person born
into this world from the beginning of time belongs to Satan; we were the
children of the devil, so anybody who believes in Jesus is born-again, adopted
from the family of Satan and into the family of God. Jesus said to the
Pharisees, “You are of your father the devil” (Jn 8-44); this makes it
sound like those guy were really bad, but everybody is a child of the devil
until they are saved—adopted is what “saved” means.
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Rom 9,6-10
(151ba) Witness
>>
Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears
witness of the Old >> The Patriarchs >>
Abraham >> Faith of Abraham
Rom 9-6
(210ib) Salvation >>
Jews and gentiles are being saved >> Salvation
is from the Jews >> Jews are believers >> Jew and Gentile believers are
one flock with one shepherd – Paul chose a very interesting pair of
brothers to illustrate his point about predestination. On the one hand we have
God’s choice of Jacob selected while still in his mother’s womb, while on
the other hand we have Jacob manipulating the circumstances in order to fit into
God’s choice. Although he was born chosen for the blessing, he still had to steal
it from his brother Esau. That is, he had to do his part to complete
God’s choice of him, for had he not stolen the blessing, he would not have
been heir to the faith. He was unaware
that he would become part of the lineage of Christ, who would come to redeem
Israel and the world from sin; he only knew he wanted the blessing
because it was of God, and this is why God loved him over Esau. He was a man
who sought after God’s heart, which was also said about David, but Esau did not.
See also: Predestination; Rom 9,8-13; 36l / Jacob and Esau; Rom 9,10-13;
211c
Rom 9-7,8
(33c) Gift of God
>>
God is our Father >> Believers are children of
promise – Paul
announced that faith is the only determining factor of those who
belong to God, whether Jew or gentile. This has always been true, though God raised up Israel to become God’s
hammer to smash the nations and destroy those who were corrupting the earth.
That is not to say that Israel was the only people whom God
considered His children, for there were many people from other nations that
feared God, and God respected and cherished their faith. The Old Testament
teaches that gentiles of other nations were welcome to the citizenship of
Israel to obtain all the rights of the children of Abraham, except the right
to temple worship; they were not allowed in the temple. Other than that, they
were welcome to all the festivals and celebrations, and they were welcome to
the promises of obedience and warnings of disobedience, since they applied to the whole of mankind and not just to Israel. There were
also people
from other nations that remained in their respective countries who loved
and feared God and He received them. So it was not just Israel who were
considered the children of God even in the Old Testament, but those who
believed in the promises of God and lived by His laws.
Rom 9,8-13
(36l)
Gift of God >> Adopted >> We are adopted by the Spirit – One of the best ways to view predestination
is to portray it in terms of conception. When a man
fertilizes a woman’s egg during sexual intercourse, the male and female
chromosomes combine with each other in a completely random fashion to produce
a fetus. We see randomness at work in the next child from the same
parents being a totally different person. In direct contrast, Ps 139,13-16 says, “For You formed my
inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for
I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul
knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in
secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen
my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were
ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” It would seem that
we would have to pick one of these two scenarios, since they appear mutually
exclusive, yet equally they both make tenable points. We are in the fortunate
circumstance of being born many thousands of years after David the psalmist
wrote the above passage, so now we know much of the process through scientific
advancements how conception actually works, and that model does not make room
for God sticking His fingers in the process of making our unformed substance, yet the
Bible very explicitly says He does. Therefore, the best way to view this
dilemma of randomness versus God’s input is through His foreknowledge. That
is, the
psalmist was anthropomorphizing the process of conception as though God were
personalizing each of us. However, we should keep separate
"foreknowledge" and predestination in that they are
different: one shows God merely acknowledging the circumstances, while the
other shows God causing those circumstances. In this way we see the Bible
treating the fact that God knows
everything in advance as personally getting involved and being the change
agent in everything that happens. Although randomness and foreknowledge are
very real concepts, God does personally get involved on occasion. Case in
point, Heb 10-5 says, “Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says,
‘sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared
for Me.’” This is an example of actual predestination, which is defined as
an event in which God exercises His will to accomplish something. According to
the above verse, God reserved a body for Christ that He would use to die for the
sins of the world. The fact that this was God’s seed that He planted in Mary
makes the resulting child very special, and in that sense we recognize God’s
personal input directing the conception of His Son. Jesus' body was more than a
forethought in God’s mind, but a specifically created representation of
Himself to all humanity. For God to personally create us, whether by mere
foreknowledge or personalizing us is to concede that God
intentionally makes fetuses that have physical and mental abnormalities and
mutations, meaning that these people and adults are just as important to society as
the rest of us. Then there is the question of the world before Noah's
flood, why God specifically created so many people who were destined to rebel
against Him. See also: Predestination; Rom 9,10-13; 30c
Rom 9,10-13
(30c)
Gift of God >> God knows our needs >> He is the source of our
obedience – We see Jacob
running after the blessing, but we also hear Paul saying that it doesn’t
depend on the man who runs, but on God who calls. Therefore, we
shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that God foreknew what he would do; that is, He knew the choices we make before
we make them, even before He made the world (1Pet 1-2). When we look in the Scriptures, primarily in the Old Testament,
we see God working with mankind on a limited basis, such as coming
down and seeing for certain if the report he had heard about Sodom and Gomorrah
was actually true (Gen 18-20,21), sending two angels to investigate the case. This is an indication that God
deals with mankind on a highly limited basis. God can step back at any time from this
human saga and look at the big picture in terms of foreknowledge and predestination, but that is not usually how He deals with mankind. We know that God knows
everything from the beginning; knowing this helps us understand His infinite and
eternal nature, but it does little to understand why He limited
himself and became one of us when He sent His Son
in human flesh. See also: Predestination; 211c
(211c)
Salvation >> Jews and gentiles are being saved >> Gentiles included
>> Gentiles steal the kingdom from Israel through obedience
– This is an analogy where Jacob represents
the Church and Esau represents Israel. In the Old Testament we see Jacob
stealing the blessing from Esau through deception, but in the New Testament we
see the gentiles stealing the blessing
from Israel through obedience. Isaac loved Esau and wanted to give him the blessing, but
Rebekah love Jacob. The time had come
when Isaac was old and was about to die that he wanted to transfer the
blessing to his firstborn, Esau. Isaac told Esau to prepare his favorite meal, and
while Esau was away, Jacob’s mother prepared a dinner
for Jacob to give to his father, telling him to impersonate his brother. His father was blind from
age, so Jacob disguised his voice to sound like Esau and placed an animal coat on
his forearm to imitate the hairiness of his brother. Isaac did not detect the
deception, and after finishing his meal he blessed Jacob thinking it was Esau,
so from then on the lineage of Christ would pass through Jacob, who became
heir to the faith through deception. This is why we hear about "Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob." On the one hand, we have God’s choice of Jacob, but on the
other we have Jacob manipulating the circumstances to fit into God’s
choice. We see Jacob as a deceiver and manipulator, who stole both Esau’s
birthright and Isaac's blessing, yet Paul's discussion is not about destiny but
pre-destiny, not about man’s choice but God’s choice, and so the Church
managing the gospel throughout the age of grace was God's choice. See also: Jacob and Esau; Rom 9-12,13;
151c / Predestination; Rom 9,11-26; 220b
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Rom 9,11-26
(220b) Sovereignty
>>
God overrides the will of man >> Predestination >>
Predestined according to the sovereignty of God
--
Predestination is summarized in this statement: God chooses us as
we choose ourselves. Some people have a problem with the doctrine of
predestination (and rightfully so, because it is a difficult
subject). Although God
knows the end from the beginning and at times predestines us to make our decisions, we
no less have a free will. The ones who have the greatest problem with this view predestination as nullifying our will,
which neither the Bible nor common sense supports. God does not make us do anything; He simply
knows what we will do before we do it; that does not detract from our will one
iota. Someone might say, 'If God knew certain people would not accept Him and
they were ultimately predestined for hell, then why did God make them?' From
that they actually accuse God of sin! God may well send them to hell, but they
practiced unbelief in the character of God and committed the sins against Him
and their fellow man that sent them there through no one else's fault but
their own. Besides, who are we to tell God who and what He can and
cannot make? Perhaps God has a purpose in eternity for hell, such as using it as a
reminder for the elect as an example of the depth of evil that rebellion
causes and the depth of grace that God has showered on us. If there were only two things we didn't understand about God,
they would be infinity and eternity because of our vast limitations. We had a beginning and have an end in this life. It is these two
things that greatly limit our view of God and His overwhelming wisdom;
therefore, we should not jump to conclusions about God until we actually meet
Him face to face. After they meet Him and still think He is evil and unworthy
of their faith and service, then at least they will feel justified in
eternity, while the rest of us understand His heart and
enjoy His company and His creation forever. Thank you Jesus for the eternal lessons
in the perils of sin. See also: Predestination; Rom 9,11-23; 19e
Rom 9,11-23
(19e) Sin
>>
Mocking God Without a cause >> Uncontrollable circumstances
– Egypt placed Israel in bondage to slavery
because they were afraid of the Israelites. God was blessing them and they
were increasing in number faster than the Egyptians, so they oppressed them
as a preemptive measure to make them fear the Egyptians. God wanted the
Egyptians to be deserving of their punishment for enslaving His chosen
people, and the way He did that was to harden pharaoh’s heart so he would
sin more and deserve all the punishment that He intended for him, until His fierce wrath was completely
spent. The Bible says that God hardened his heart, still it was the actions of
pharaoh that were the physical expression of that hardening. That is, it’s
one thing for God to harden pharaoh’s heart, but it's another for pharaoh to
respond with contempt to the miracles of Moses. Pharaoh did all these things
that were written in Scripture, but had he been kind to Israel, he would
have denied God's predestined judgment, yet Paul was making the point that
we cannot override His sovereignty.
Think of it this way, predestination is the flipside of God’s refusal to
tamper with man's will. One the one hand, endtime prophecy is
predestined to occur as it was written; and on the other,
all the actions of pharaoh were the result of his own pride and massive ego
that beckoned the judgment of God. So it was pharaoh’s fault that God's anger
burn against him. God did not make pharaoh do anything, but he
sinned on his own volition. In other words, the hardening of pharaoh’s
heart was not an act of God only, but also the result of pharaoh's actions. God waited almost four hundred years for
pharaoh to be born and then judged him for the entire duration of Israel’s
slavery. The same will happen in the last days; God will unleash His fury on
a single generation for the sins committed throughout the entire age of grace. See also: Predestination; 94g
(94g) Thy kingdom come
>>
God’s perspective >> His perspective on the
sovereignty of God – 2Pet 3-9 says, “The
Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient
toward you, not wishing for any to perish but
for all to come to repentance.” How does this verse uphold
the popular tenets of predestination? God knows the end from the beginning, but chooses not to work with
us this way. Paul’s main point is that both human and divine
perspectives are happening at the same time. See also: Predestination;
213i
(108e) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >> Balance >> God's sovereignty balances
good from evil –
When Paul claimed that we will appreciate heaven more
because of hell, he really opened a can of worms! Sin exists apart from God,
meaning He did not create it, meaning there is something in His creation He did not create, suggesting that all forms of sin represent
a desire
to be God, proving that the mystery of lawless is very much at work.
God's ultimate goal for us is absolute freedom; therefore, He will let us
experiment with sin, like picking up a lit stick of dynamite and then setting
it down before it explodes. God could have made creatures that were
incapable of sin, but then they would not have been able to comprehend His
righteousness, which is one of His most prized attributes. We were made to
have a relationship with Him, and this ironically is why mankind is capable
of sin, for how could we know
righteousness without knowing unrighteousness? Sin is defined as trading our
relationship with God for something else, thus
limiting our ability to relate to Him.
(184d) Works of the devil
>>
The origin of lawlessness >> Darkness >>
God controls darkness >> God hides unbelief in
darkness
(213i) Sovereignty
>>
God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >>
His will becomes our will >> We are God’s
property – God has predestined
every man and woman to heaven or hell, implying that God knew beforehand
that millions of souls would not make it to heaven, so they accuse God of
being evil for sending many to the eternal flames of hell, where the fire is
not quenched and their worm does not die (Mk 9-44). In sharp contrast, man
has made his own choices that have led him to either heaven or hell.
Essentially, this reduces to a simple statement: God chooses us
as we choose ourselves. I gave my heart to Jesus on June 16, 1979.
Salvation is no different from marriage, for it is based on an oath,
kneeling in a ditch next to my friend who had just been in a motorcycle
accident, gurgling his blood, praying for God to save me. (My friend
survived the accident only to later die a crack head.) Had I not experienced that moment or one like it, I could not have
been saved. I literally felt His presence in my heart and since that day He
never left me, and He never will. Therefore, I had to make a commitment to
follow Jesus in order for God’s choice of me to be complete. Many are
called, but not all respond, and for that reason they are not chosen. See also: Predestination; Rom 9-16;
116k
(217b) Sovereignty
>>
God overrides the will of man >> God’s will
over man >> God Is Independent Of His Creation >> No one can tell God what to do
-- See commentary Rom 9,18-23; 202k
(221k) Kingdom of God
>>
The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Kingdom
hidden behind the veil from the world >> God
hides from sin >> He hides behind unbelief
Rom 9-11
(91i) Thy kingdom come
>>
The called >> God’s calling transcends the
will of man >> We are called by God through
His choice of us -- This verse goes with verses 24&25
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Rom 9-12,13
(151c) Witness
>>
Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears
witness of the Old >> The Patriarchs >>
The sons of Abraham – Jacob and Esau were brothers who were unlike
each other in many ways. Esau was the eldest, though they were born twins (not
identical), with Esau exiting the womb first, but Jacob would change
all that by the things he did. Note that he didn't obey the word of
the Lord but acted on his own authority with help from his mother. As the story goes, Jacob made a pot of stew and
Esau came home famished and considered himself as good as dead, and there
traded his birthright. He came to the
opposite conclusion of his grandfather, Abraham, according to what is written
of him, “He contemplated his own body, now as
good as dead
since he was about a hundred years old” (Rom 4-19). Hope against hope Abraham
believed God, and for this reason he is the father of our faith. In contrast,
Esau considered himself as only minutes from starving to death, and Jacob took
advantage of the opportunity and asked for his birthright in exchange for a
bowl of soup, and Esau agreed. Obviously Esau was not able to
literally give Jacob his birthright any more than he could change their birth order
or un-ring a bell, but Esau could despise his birthright, which he did,
and as a result their birth order was spiritually switched in the eyes of God. Jacob
showed great interest in being named among the early fathers of his nation
that originated by faith in God's word. Abraham’s descendents didn’t receive
the blessing from being firstborn; rather, the father spoke the blessing over
his chosen son with an oath, who was always his firstborn son, except in this
case. An outdoorsman, a
hunter and gatherer, a provider for the family, Esau spent days, weeks
and months in the wilderness alone. Much as Esau loved the creation, he didn’t
love his Creator. He loved fields of flowers, the song of birds, the thrill of the hunt and the meat of wild animals, but he didn’t love
God. Being firstborn was highly valuable, but Esau traded it for a bowl
of soup, whereas Jacob considered it valuable because God said it was
valuable. In fact, Esau was first born of the first born, not even Abraham or
Isaac could boast of that, and now Jacob had received this honor through
trickery. It was his reverence for
the things of God that led to Jacob’s status as God’s first choice. He
deems certain things important that remain true throughout all
time, and Jacob sought to fit into God's value system. When it says that God loved Jacob and hated Esau, it
doesn’t really mean that he hated Esau, but that God
doesn’t particularly like or dislike anything; he either loves or
hates with nothing in-between. See also: Jacob and Esau; Rom 9,1-3; 173h
Rom 9,14-23
(41a) Judgment
>>
God glorifies Himself as the judge of all
Rom 9,15-23
(186k) Works of the devil
>>
The result of lawlessness >> The reprobate >>
God’s role in forming a reprobate >> Rejected
by God
Rom 9,15-17
(142c) Witness
>>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears
witness to the new >> Prophesy about evangelism
Rom 9-16
(31k) Gift of God
>>
Gift of His grace >> Grace is the work of God
-- This verse goes with verses 22&23
(82b) Thy kingdom come
>>
Three elements of prayer >> Direction (Attitude) >> What not to pray for
(116k) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >>
Working the grace of God >> His Grace in us is
in vain without Him
–
Theologians have
extracted man's
will from the equation of predestination since John Calvin expounded his
beliefs in the mid-to-late fifteen hundreds. His contribution to Christian
theology was a travesty, single-handedly emasculating the protestant church
probably more than anyone before or after him, causing many to lose faith
because of his doctrine of "irresistible grace" and other similar
ideas that caused
passivity in people’s hearts who have adopted the attitude that their
salvation and walk with God is not up to them but God to determine, seeing the
human element as unimportant to the process of salvation. A more accurate view,
that of Jacobus Arminius (Arminianism), whose influence came a few decades
later, brings the human element back into focus and thus balances the
subject of predestination. In contrast to Calvinism, God involves our will
when we are saved, though we may be predestined to do so from the
foundation of the world. That is, Calvin was not entirely wrong in many of his views,
dubbing it “the paradox of free will.” However, it is only a paradox when
we separate the will of God from the will of man. Rather, there is an
amalgamation between the will of God and the will of man, suggesting there is
no paradox between them, only apart from each other. See also: Predestination; Rom 9,19-21;
75e /
Predestination (Calvinism); 2Tim 2,1-7; 115c
(171b) Works of the devil
>>
Manifestations of the devil >> Outward
appearance >> Vanity >>
Vain effort >> Vain attempt to pursue God
(173l) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Man’s Religion >>
Deeds that are not initiated by God >> Deeds
that are not initiated by the Holy Spirit
(227f) Kingdom of God
>>
God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God
working in you >>
Depending on Jesus to have compassion >>
Depending on Jesus to receive us
KJV WEB
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Rom 9,17-23
(49c) Judgment
>>
Enemies of God’s righteousness are destroyed
Rom 9,17-21
(213h) Sovereignty
>>
God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >>
We are his instruments >> We are clay in the
potters hand
Rom 9-17
(27c)
Sin >> Consequences of sin
>>
Condoning evil can bring a curse on your life – For 300 years Egypt was free to
oppress the children of Israel,
building up a mountain of sin that God would eventually judge with far greater
severity than had He corrected the nation earlier. Had Israel become dependent on Egypt and offered themselves as slaves,
that would have been one thing, but Egypt made them slaves from jealousy and
fear that they were becoming more numerous than the Egyptians. Meanwhile,
Egypt mistreated the Israelites while God
ratcheted up Egypt’s judgment before He unleashed it on them. It says that pharaoh was about to let the
Israelites go, and then God hardened his heart, incurring more condemnation on
the Egyptians, so God could judge them to the severity that they deserved. At
the same time bitterness was growing in the hearts of the Israelites against God,
who left them in those circumstances, forcing
His people to believe in Him under miserable conditions for a long time,
until their hearts became hardened, becoming apparent in their walk with God
through the wilderness. When He finally did arrive, it was
impossible to turn their hardened hearts to faith as their
fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob believed. In the meantime, God was also waiting
for the land of Canaan to become utterly corrupt so they would become worthy
of His judgment when He was ready to use Israel as His hammer to purge sin
from the
land. So if God does not judge our sin right away, or the sin of a nation, it might not
mean that he fancies us, but He could be waiting for our sin to increase for the Day of Judgment.
(246g) Kingdom of God
>>
Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >>
Demonstration of God’s kingdom >> God
demonstrates His glory >> Demonstration of His
power -- This verse goes with verse 22
Rom 9,18-23
(202k) Denying Christ
>>
Running from God >> Wicked men cannot approach
the throne of God >> Goats are unsaved church
attendants –
If God were to come and try to tell us what to do, it would make us angry enough
to want to kill Him, as they did to Jesus. If Jesus returned in the
flesh, we would want Him to do whatever we told Him as our only terms of
acceptance. That is, we would try to control God, because man likes to
control everything, except himself. Since the world doesn't do what God has
commanded in His word, how much more would they hate Him for telling man what to do in person? The question was,
“Who resists His will?” and the answer is everybody on every level
imaginable. No matter what God does He is wrong in the eyes of unbelievers;
there is nothing God can do to please them. If he returned, they would be
furious; if He didn’t return, they would despise Him, so no matter what He
does man hates God and resists His will, so He just does what He wants. He doesn’t worry
what man thinks of Him, knowing that sinful flesh is impossible to please, so
He has mercy on whom He desires and hardens whom He desires; that way nobody
resists His will. See also: God's
substance is faith;
Mat 9,27-30;
115g
KJV WEB
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Rom 9,18-21
(154b) Witness
>>
Validity of the Father >> God bears witness
against the world >> No excuse >>
There is no excuse for rejecting the Father –
Paul speaks for some who ask this question, “Why
does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” rebuking the questioner for his ignorance saying, “On the contrary, who are you, O
man, who answers back to God?” Paul is saying, ‘You don’t get to
know the answer, though I'm going to tell you.’ Man resists God in the very
questions he asks about resisting His will, like a criminal going to court
about a crime he committed with the evidence is stacked against him; the judge hands down the verdict and the criminal sasses him on his bench. God bypasses the sinner’s
comments just to end the case;
otherwise He would spend the whole day dickering with the sinner. Since God
has endued man’s railings against Him over the millennia, He
will certainly not put up with him at the judgment.
Rom 9-18
(185g) Works of the devil
>>
The origin of lawlessness >> Mystery of
lawlessness >> God helps Satan in the mystery of
lawlessness
(231d) Kingdom of God
>>
God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Mystery
of godliness >> God’s grace is the mystery of
godliness >> Having favor with God is a mystery
Rom 9,19-21
(75e) Thy kingdom come
>>
Motives >> Being manipulative >>
Questioning God’s judgment – Paul is finally adding the human element
to
the quandary of predestination, though many would say it does not belong
there. If it didn’t, God could not have
judged pharaoh, for what pharaoh did was his own doing; God did not make him
do anything. Paul answered being unable to resist
God’s will with another question: “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to
God?” Didn't Paul's answer demonstrate resistance to the will of God (v20)? To question
God’s judgment is irreverent, showing a lack of faith and trust in one of
God's core attributes, yet it is a valid question for man who is trying to
understand God. The best example of questioning God with an evil motive is found
by contrasting Mary, the mother of Jesus with Zacharias,
the father of John the Baptist. Mary asked the angel, “How could
these things be?” while Zacharias asked, “How [do] I
know for sure?” These statements sound similar, but their motives were not.
One asked a science question, how could Mary get pregnant if she never knew a man?” while the other blatantly
doubted the word of God, showing contempt for the angel who spoke with him.
The angel
answered Zacharias, ‘Who are you to question
my authority?’ which was Paul’s answer to those who would question God's
judgment. Why did God find fault with pharaoh
after he acted with hardness that He put in his heart? Paul's answer was that human will was
involved. We
cannot extract the human element from predestination and expect to derive the
truth. See also: Predestination; Rom 9,24-29; 142b
(96n) Thy kingdom come
>>
Having a negative attitude about sin >> Having a
rebellious attitude
Rom 9,22-29
(50dc) Judgment >>
Last Days >> Jewish Led
endtime revival >> Israel prophesied to restore the gentiles to salvation
KJV
WEB
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Rom 9-22,23
(31a) Gift of God
>>
God is our Father >> He favors the Church to
spite the world
(31k) Gift of God
>>
Gift of His grace >> Grace is the work of God
-- These verses go with verse 16
(33l) Gift of God
>>
Believers are special to God >> He has given us
all things
(37a) Judgment
>>
The cross >> God judged the sin of the world
through Christ –
This is probably the most difficult passage in the Bible (Vs11-23), but if we
can make sense of it, there is much to gain. By this we will begin to
understand some of the deep things of God, such as His justice, and His sovereign
authority over creation. Subjects like this the Bible states is
unsearchable (Rom 11-33), so we will by no means reach the bottom of it, but
we will scrape the surface and develop an introduction to the personhood of
God. That should be enough to get us through this life. Everything about God
is an extension of his justice, even his love, including the cross. God
loved us before the cross, but He had to sacrifice His Son for the sake of justice.
Somebody had to pay for our sins, and He determined that person would be Himself.
He wasn’t going to let us rebel against His authority and get by with it; He
had to exact payment, otherwise how could he invite us into His heaven or
trust us? Jesus has paid the penalty of our sins; the judgment has been
rendered, the sin covered and the issue resolved. All that remains between God
and man now is His love, and it says He loves us as much as He loves His own Son,
which itself is unfathomable.
(46i) Judgment >>
Spiritual warfare >> Satan falls by his own
wickedness –
When Paul said that God has mercy on whom He desires and hardens whom He
desires, and then asked the question, “Who resists His will?” he
intentionally left out one important detail: the sin that man and angels have
committed. God did not create evil; evil created itself through
willing agents, which led God to create the punishment of hell. He knew these
things would come to pass as the undesired results of
creating living beings who are totally free. If His creation were
not free, then evil would not exist; therefore, evil is linked to freedom. God knew
evil would result from His creation, still His foreknowledge did not create evil. God is absolutely perfect,
and evil seeks to replace Him, and since perfection is already taken, evil
must take the position of imperfection. God determined that if anything should
seek to replace Him, it must take the opposite of perfection. This is why evil is evil, and it
is why evil always corrupts people, societies and nations. Evil is the
opposite of God and God’s kingdom is predestined to succeed;
therefore, whatever evil creates must destroy itself (See Rev
17-16,17).
(54k) Paradox
>>
Opposites >> Contrast of two natures –
The yin-yang concept is validated by these verses. You can’t have light
without darkness, and vise versa. God existed forever in righteousness without
evil, but we need evil to comprehend righteousness. To us light is a
foreign concept; it must be contrasted with darkness for us to appreciate it.
Much as we may want to deny yin-yang, being a product of eastern religions,
God cannot just tell His people that He has mercy on them without pitting it
against its counterpart. We will be able to look into hell as through a portal
and see the punishment of fallen angels and man, depicted in Isaiah 66-24.
God will point to them in hell and say to the redeemed, 'This is what the
absence of mercy looks like.' If God did not have mercy on us we
would be there too. Our salvation was paid for, not only by the blood of
Christ, but also by the eternal damnation of hundreds of millions of fallen
angels and people.
Someone might look down on God and say that hell is really mean of Him; how
could He conceptualize such a thing? Is He going to let all these people
suffer forever just to make a point? God says yes! Hell completes the circle of God’s plan and
purpose for mankind. Every man and woman who ever lived will either live with
Christ in glory or showcase the absence of God’s mercy. Without hell we
would not have a contrast for the grace and mercy we have been shown, and
without contrast we couldn’t truly grasp the gift of God or how He feels about
sin. Without knowing how He feels about sin, we would not understand how He
fells about righteousness, justice and mercy. That is, we wouldn’t
have the capacity to know God. Over the course of eternity God will continue
clarifying these things, so we may understand them as He does and accept
them. In this life, aspects of God’s truth seem coarse and abrupt. The only
thing that really helps our understanding is the fact that those in hell have
brought it on themselves. This particular standpoint seems difficult, because
it tries to explain God’s sense of justice though it is incomprehensible.
Paul didn’t delve any further into this, possibly because he reached his own
limit or because he didn’t think it would help our understanding. We are
simply to accept the facts for now, and God will bring the understanding as we
are able to accept it.
(58d) Paradox
>>
Opposites >> God endures the lost for the sake
of the elect – In these verses we see God experiencing both
sides of this perspective, both the human and the divine, by choosing to
endure those whom He had prepared for destruction. It is mankind that suffers;
what does God endure? In light of eternity and infinity God does not endure or
suffer anything, unless He limits Himself to the finite and the steady grind
of time. When God deals with us on our level, He suffers with us. Therefore,
Paul is describing a God that experiences both the finite and the infinite at
the same time. It says that He endures the lost for the sake of revealing
the riches of his glory to His people, suggesting that He couldn’t have
revealed His glory without an opposite example, meaning that the lost serve a
purpose in God’s future design of eternity, referring to the yin-yang
concept that describes how opposites harmonize the parent system. Darkness is defined by light. Without darkness light would have
no meaning, so God created vessels of destruction to better show His mercy.
This way He can point at those in hell and say, 'You are not down there because I chose you.'
That is, we will reside in
heaven, not through any act of our will, but purely through His gracious
choice of us. This will be the prevailing attitude that will stand the
test of eternity. All our efforts to be saved in this life will pale in
comparison to God’s predestined kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. There is no such thing as God predestining those
to either heaven or hell without responding as they were predestined, yet what evil they do
belongs to them and not to God. In contrast, God is the author of our good
works.
(64c) Paradox
>>
Anomalies >> Limits of God >>
God has limited patience –
God certainly has the right to make common sinners and honorable saints
from the same lump of dough. Paul will explain what uses they have in God's overall plan of creation, which will answer his original question, “Who
resists His will?”
Sinners consider it a small thing that God endures them. Although He is
infinite, He is limited in patience. Enduring the
fallen state of rebellious human nature for thousands of years was a
tremendous feat, perhaps one of God’s greatest achievements. The reason
God’s patience is limited is that his sovereign lordship is infinite, which
are opposites by definition, for to have infinite patience would undo his
sovereignty. He allows himself a little patience, just enough to accomplish
His objective, which is to create a people for His own possession who are
zealous for good works (Tit 2-14). It takes patience to endure the sinner who
hates God and speaks evil of Him constantly, occurring around the globe, millions of people day and
night railing against His throne. He is not being
patient for their own sake, but for His own sake and for the sake of the elect. He intends to use
sinners throughout eternity after He judges them to be tormented day and night
by the fires of hell, which is the only place where they will
recognize God’s sovereign authority over them. If He ever set them free, they
might make a resolute promise to respect God’s sovereign authority, but they
would inevitably revert to their rebellious ways that landed them in hell in
the first place. God endures them in order to make known His riches and glory
upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory.
(126i) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Patience >>
The patience of God >> God is patient
Rom 9-22
(20k) Sin
>>
Disobedience >> Rejecting the word
(47d)
Judgment >> God Judges the world
>>
Hell is a place of destruction
(224k) Kingdom of God
>>
Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of
heaven >> The people of heaven >>
Traits of people who don’t make it to heaven
(246g) Kingdom of God
>>
Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >>
Demonstration of God’s kingdom >> God
demonstrates His glory >> Demonstration of His
power -- This verse goes with verse 17
KJV
WEB
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Rom 9-23
(224i) Kingdom of God
>>
Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of
heaven >> The people of heaven >>
Traits of the people who make it to heaven
Rom 9,24-29
(142b) Witness
>>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears
witness to the new >> Prophesy about the
dispensation >> Gentiles are included – These verses show even more the distinction
between the will of man and the will of God by choosing the gentiles over
Israel because of their disobedience. The gentiles have been prophesied, hence predestined to become the children of God,
and as a result they responded to the call. Prophecy was also spoken over Israel, thus they were
predestined to reject the gospel of Christ. So does that mean God wanted
Israel to reject Him? No, God did not force Israel to reject Him, but He knew they would,
and in this way we can see that one of predestination's viewpoints is one of
mere foreknowledge. God
will never violate the free will of man, hence the reason for all the problems
of the world. He has prepared a place of destruction for those who exercise
their free will against Him, and He has prepared a place in heaven for those
who use their free will to receive Him. If it were simply up to man Israel
would have destroyed itself long ago. There were times in Israel’s past when they
acted nearly as bad
as Sodom and Gomorrah and deserved their judgment, yet they are still here by
God’s choice. So we have the will of God and the will of man, two distinct
entities, One who
predestines man to behave a certain way, and the other who completes
God’s choice. See also: Predestination; Rom 9,1-26; 219a
Rom 9-24,25
(91i) Thy kingdom come
>>
The called >> God’s calling transcends the
will of man >> We are called by God through His
choice of us -- These verses go with verse 11
Rom 9-27
(92g) Thy kingdom come
>>
The narrow way >> What kind of trail is this? >>
Gate is small and few are those who find it
Rom 9-28
(40i)
Judgment of Christ
>>
God’s word executes judgment by the Spirit
Rom 9-29
(120f) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Forgiveness >>
Forgiveness is an act of mercy >> God passes
over our sins
Rom 9,30-33
(41fc) Judgment
>>
Satan destroyed >> Be like Jesus >>
Righteousness of
(176d) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Zeal without
knowledge (Spirit w/o the word) >> Conviction
without commandment
(201h) Denying Christ
>>
Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >>
Jesus is an offense >> Jesus offends the world >>
Faith offends unbelief
(205j) Salvation
>>
Salvation is based on God’s promises >> Faith
versus works >> The faith of God versus the
faith of men >> Faith is the law of
righteousness
KJV
WEB
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Rom 9,30-32
(58d) Paradox
>>
Opposites >> Gentiles seek wisdom, but the Jews
have it; Jews seek righteousness, but the Gentiles have it – The gentiles who did not
seek God
attained Him, and God has made a church from them in the same way that God
pursued Abraham and created a nation from him. The Jews sought the law after Moses, but failed to
comprehend how it would help them relate to God. Not only is man unable to please God
through the law, but Israel failed miserably to achieve even a semblance of
the law in their behavior. By rejecting Christ they stumbled over the stone, causing a role
reversal between the Jews and gentiles, who are now managing the oracle of
God, and they are failing just as miserably as the Jews in keeping their doctrines
pure along with their behavior. Israel’s disobedience throughout the
centuries led them to reject their Messiah, which led God to pursue
the gentiles. Now, instead of the Jews leading the gentiles into a
relationship with God by faith, the Jews need to be restored to their
own Messiah. The gentiles are not able to restore the Jews, which would be like the child telling the parents
what to do. It has always been Israel’s place to lead
the gentiles in things pertaining to God, so when Israel failed, only God can
restore them, and God will do so according to his own predestined plan, for He
has prepared a time when Israel will be restored, but until then, Israel will
continue to flounder.
Rom 9-33
(142a) Witness
>>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears
witness to the new >> Prophesy about the
dispensation >> The end times – Much of the Bible is prophetic, and much of
the prophetic word of God is meant for the endtimes, so a large swath of
Scripture is devoted to our generation, which to date is closer to the last
days than any generation before us.
_________________________________
ROMANS CHAPTER 10
KJV
WEB
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Rom 10-1
(210i)
Salvation >> Jews and gentiles are being saved >> Salvation is
from the Jews >> Jews are believers >> Gospel
belongs to the Jew first –
Paul is talking about the Israelites again, saying they were unwilling to accept the fact that they crucified their own
Messiah and too ashamed to believe
in Him, but God knew
they would do it, and for this reason He has not forsaken them, though they didn’t like being manipulated by
Him. They need to understand that they did these things not only for the sake
of all mankind, but also to demonstrate just how deep sin has penetrated
into the human soul. It is a travesty that Israel went through all their
hardships over the millennia only to abandon the salvation they
suffered to achieve. Israel needs to understand that if God called any other
nation
to witness His glory and power, they would have done the same thing.
(247h) Priorities
>>
God’s priorities >> God’s interests >>
God is interested in the gospel
– Man
has underestimated the curse from the very beginning of time. We have serial
killers that try to show us how deep the curse spans the human heart, and we
have world wars I
& II that testify against
our lust for violence, but man is unwilling to believe the full scope of his
depravity. He refuses to believe he is blemished, still thinking there is something salvageable
about us without God's need to send His Son to die for
our sins, but it is simply untrue. We are depraved from the inside-out, inciting Paul
to say, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh” (Rom
7-18), meaning that the Spirit of God dwelled in him, otherwise nothing that
meets His standard.
See also: Sin (omission of righteousness); Mat 24,45-51; 206k
Rom 10,2-10
(205j) Salvation
>>
Salvation is based on God’s promises >> Faith
versus works >> The faith of God versus the
faith of men >> Faith is the law of
righteousness –
We
could almost say that without Paul’s input none of us would understand
the gospel. He made it absolutely clear that our works do not save us. Paul
separated faith from works to show that faith is the active ingredient of our
salvation, and the good works that follow merely act as evidence of God’s
indwelling Holy Spirit. John went a step further regarding our works and said that without
evidence, our salvation questionable, and then James set the capstone and said
that without the evidence of good works, our salvation isn’t real at all; we are just fooling ourselves. Although it is imperative to bring
evidence to the table, it is our faith that saves us in the eyes of God.
Rom 10,2-5
(1h)
Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> False burden >>
Serving God
in ignorance >> Not knowing His will – What should the Jews have known
about God’s righteousness? We know it is about faith in Jesus Christ, but what about
God’s old covenant righteousness for the Jew before Jesus came? The answer
is in the example of Abraham. Paul
spoke extensively about him in some of the earlier chapters of Romans,
but spoke very little about Moses, because justification is better understood
through Abraham. Nevertheless, the Jews had fixated on the person and
ministry of Moses, thus overlooking Abraham, the founder of their nation. God’s righteousness for Israel was to live according to
the example of Abraham, who believed God, and it was
reckoned to him as righteousness.
(21e)
Sin >> Disobedience does not understand God
– Referring to the Jew, their zeal was well in
place, but their knowledge of the Old Testament was completely skewed. In
the days of the Old Testament God sent prophets who spoke the word of God to Israel. They were expected to obey
them as they would God and model after their father Abraham, who heard the voice of God
as Israel heard the voice of their prophets. Abraham
believed the word of God and did what he was commanded, but Israel did
not, and their disobedience over the centuries led them to crucify
their own Messiah.
(175l) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorance >>
Lack of knowledge
(199b) Denying Christ
>>
Man exercises his will against God >>
Frustrating the grace of God >> Frustrating
Jesus >> Frustrating the Father --
These verses go with verse 16
KJV
WEB
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Rom 10,2-4
(41h) Judgment
>>
Satan destroyed >> Be like Jesus >>
Seek His righteousness –
The righteousness of faith in Jesus Christ is the same as Abraham's faith. God spoke to
Abraham and said, ‘Move far away and live among a
foreign people, leaving your family and take only
your wife and possessions, and there I will make you a father of many
nations.’ That was a lot for God to ask of Abraham, and believing in Jesus is
no different. He did the will of God, knowing that somehow he would benefit. He
not only became very wealthy living in the land of Canaan, he became wealthy by his descendants that
never would have been born had he not obeyed the word of the Lord, since his
wife was barren. Had he disobeyed, he would have died in obscurity, but everybody knows about Abraham because of his faith. Believing in Jesus
exercises the faith of Abraham. The Holy Spirit is like the wind; we hear the sound of
it, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going (Jn 3-8), and we
follow Him. See also: Believing in Jesus is like the faith
of Abraham;
Col 2,9-15; 136g
(174d) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >>
Self righteousness >> Trying to please God by your
own good works –
The person who seeks his own righteousness apart from faith in Jesus Christ
cannot please God. Most people know what they want, and they reserve their lives
to do what they want, regardless of God’s
will for them. This is the height of arrogance and suggests that pride is even
more evil than the love of money if that were possible. God wants
us to humble our pride and trust in Him. He
doesn't want us accumulating a junk-drawer of works that we
bring to the judgment in effort to appease Him. Something important as our
eternal future we show no concern. Most people shoot from the hip
in answer to questions about God, but these are the things we should dedicate
our lives to understanding and live by them.
(176c) Zeal Without Knowledge (Key
verse) – Gal 3,1-3 says,
"You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" The Galatians got ahead of themselves in the their zeal for God. They wanted to walk in the
spirit but didn't know how, so they simulated it in the flesh. Zeal without knowledge yields chaos,
and knowledge without zeal yields arrogance. When we have both in equal portions, they balance each
other, but balance does not come naturally. Half
the Church focuses on salvation and ignores the power of God, while the other half focuses on
the power of God and ignores salvation. There
are only saved people and on one side and hardly
saved people on the other, with almost nothing in between. The balance comes in learning from each other, which
would cause us to unite that we may gracefully step into God's power of
salvation together.
(176d) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Zeal without
knowledge (Spirit w/o the word) >> Conviction
without commandment –
An assertion of knowing the truth is
intrinsic to all religions, but the Jews historically were apathetic and
complacent with respect to their religion, so where did they get this so-called
zeal? After Nebuchadnezzar deported them to Babylon for 70 years, they returned
with a newfound fervor for God, but they did not subject themselves to His righteousness,
because they were too busy worshipping their own zeal, as though zeal itself somehow
granted them the truth. By that time they had forgotten what was important and
so determined for themselves how to serve the Lord. They fixated on the Law of
Moses, consequently ignoring the founder of their nation, Abraham, who was
iconic to Israel's relationship with God. They did not pay attention to their own
prophets (1Tim 4-16), and over the centuries migrated into heresy. After returning from Babylon and repossessing their
nation for the next 400 years, they claimed to have learned their lesson, they
thought they were healed from the evil ways of their past, until Christ came
and showed them how wrong they were about everything, primarily that they still were not serving
God in their hearts, and so they argued with Him and crucified their own Messiah. They allowed God’s
word to mutate into self-deception until zeal became their new religion. What they believed didn’t
seem to matter,
only how strongly they believed it. Zeal became their new righteousness, so in their minds the stronger they believed
the more righteous they were, but in the process they did not subject themselves
to the righteousness of God. People can be zealous, but if they don’t obey the
truth, they are still in their sins.
(181a) Works of the devil
>>
Practicing witchcraft >> Rebellion >>
Rebelling against God >> Rebelling against the
authority of God –
The Jews in Paul's day did not seek the
righteousness of God, but sought their own righteousness based on the law. They
thought that if they followed the law, they would find favor with God, but this
idea was in error from the start. God didn’t give them the law for the purpose
of justifying them but for the opposite reason, to show that their sin was
utterly sinful (Rom 7-13). Israel began with Abraham, the father of their faith,
whom God called over six centuries before He gave the law to Moses,
and since then the Jews have distorted their Old Testament writings and
concluded that
following the law would find favor with God. It is probably something that is sown
into the human genome, since gentiles feel the same way, that if they do good,
God will accept them. There is a problem with that, though; if the opportunity
to believe in Jesus is available and we don’t believe in Him, then what good
is our works? Faith in Jesus Christ is the best thing we can do, and if we
reject Him, it contaminates all our other works. Faith in Jesus Christ discriminates
between seeking God's righteousness and seeking self-righteousness. Faith in
Jesus Christ is the first act of righteousness that God accepts, and all other righteousness
we do
through Christ. Faith in Him sanctifies our good works.
Rom 10-2
(185f) Works of the devil >>
The origin of lawlessness >> Mystery of
lawlessness >> Having knowledge but not
knowing God
KJV
WEB
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Rom 10-4
(44e) Judgment
>>
Satan destroyed >> Transformed >>
Completed by God –
Faith in Jesus Christ is the definition of God’s
righteousness, whose cross was the predetermined plan of God, sacrificed by the hands of sinners. We who are unrighteous can look to this
sacrifice of the only righteous man who ever lived as the propitiation for our
sins, so that everyone who believes in Him adopts His righteousness as their
own and be completely forgiven all their sins.
Rom 10-5
(151d)
Witness >> Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears witness
of the Old >> The Patriarchs >> Moses
– Moses’ statement was one of defiance
against anyone who would seek to be justified by his law. Instead, God wanted to create a nation of people who lived like
Abraham who listened to His word. Abraham obeyed
God’s voice, which is nebulous and vague compared to Moses' written laws,
yet Israel didn't obey Moses either, though they fixated on his laws,
primarily the Sabbath, believing that if they were alive in Moses day, they
would have been his staunch supporters, but they disproved this
by crucifying the Lord of glory (read John chapter 8).
(173i)
Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism
>> Unholy sacrifice >> Penance of following the law (Legalism)
Rom 10,6-8
(71k) Authority
>> Ordained by God >>
We have His seal
– No one has the authority to condemn
anyone
to hell or to approve anyone to heaven. Paul said in 2Tim 2-19, “Nevertheless,
the firm foundation
of God stands, having this seal, ‘The Lord knows those
who are His,’ and, ‘Everyone
who names the name
of the Lord is to abstain
from wickedness.’”
This suggests that no one but God knows exactly who are His children, though
we have evidence but no solid proof regarding the identity of our
brothers and sisters in Christ. To claim that someone is going to heaven is to bring
Christ down, that is, to belittle Jesus' need to sacrifice His flesh for sin. Likewise, to assume that someone is going to hell is
underestimating the power of the cross to set the captives free. Paul is saying that the righteousness of faith does not pass
judgment on anyone regarding their eternal destiny. It is crucial to know who
are the true saints, and this will become especially true as the days grow
dark and the hour draws near to Christ’s return, for the hour will
reveal them.
KJV
WEB
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Rom 10,8-13
(85i) Thy kingdom come
>>
Words of your mouth >> That are spoken in faith >>
Will justify you – Paul paints a very simple picture of
salvation. Our confession erases any doubt that we have obtained the righteousness of God through faith,
for the work of
God is not done in a corner. If
we get rid of sin, then we get rid of the complications of life, and the one sin that is rooted
in all other sins is unbelief, which is the very
opposite of faith.
(150cb) Witness
>>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Confessing Jesus
–
James added a warning to
the gospel, that we should make certain our faith rises
above mental ascent, a frame of mind that allows the unbeliever to think he believes when in fact he doesn’t. When we think
about the simplicity of faith in the saving
knowledge of Jesus Christ, it makes us wonder
why everyone isn't saved. Ask someone who doesn't believe to confess Jesus
as Lord and believe in his heart that God raised Him from the dead,
and we will discover just how hard it is for some people to be saved. We make faith look simple
to unbelievers, and they
mock us for it. God made it easy on purpose, because He wants many people in heaven, and if he made it any harder, virtually no one would be getting
saved. The gospel is something a
little five-year-old child can understand; in fact, she has some of the
strongest faith of anyone; she simply believes. The faith of a child is not
based on ignorance; rather, it is a God-given ability that many adults trade for the
tangibility of life. Jesus said, “Truly
I say to you, unless
you are converted
and become like
children, you
will not enter
the Kingdom of Heaven” (Mat
18-3), so God made His gospel very simple. We shouldn’t judge who is going
to heaven and who isn't, because the process is so simple it is deceptive, being almost impossible for us to know for sure who really
believes.
(230j) Kingdom of God
>>
God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Mystery
of godliness >> Mystery of the trinity >>
Word of God is the mystery godliness
Rom 10,8-11
(74d) Thy kingdom come
>>
The heart >> The heart is the location of man's truth
Rom 10-8
(107c) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >> Hearing from God >>
Word of God creates faith -- This verse goes with verse 17. Having faith in anything but the truth is no faith at all. Faith without truth is
like faith without works; it is dead; but faith in the truth produces the anointing in each person who believes the truth.
Rom 10,9-11
(86b) Thy kingdom come
>>
Belief >> Treating the knowledge of God as fact >>
Believing is the result of the resurrection – When we get saved,
God expects us to conform to the image of Christ, and if our faith is not
leading us there, then it is time to question the validity of our faith, according to the saying, ‘Those who believe obey, and those who obey
believe.’ Paul was teaching in these verses that if we really believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, it would change our lives.
Salvation on its face is the simplest thing in the world, but because of our
sinful nature and all our ambitions, ambivalence and anxieties, fitting the
gospel into our lives is not easy.
Some people don’t think obedience is necessary; instead, we should just
believe and continue with our lives as we were, but if God doesn’t change
our lives, then what kind of God is He; and if He really is a life changing
God, then why doesn’t He help us believe in
Him? This is where James asked, ‘Do you believe that God
raised Jesus from the dead? The demons also believe and shudder!’ (Jm 2-19). Keep in mind that Paul over the course of the book of Romans
deliberately separated works from faith for the purpose of eliminating
legalism from the gospel, but that does not mean works are not part of it. Presenting the gospel in this way he opened the door to
licentiousness; the root word “license,” refers to having a license to
sin. Paul considered it a reasonable risk so we would not fall into the same
trap of the Jews, who sought to pin their salvation on their zeal, instead of
on God through faith. Paul knew by example and by firsthand experience
legalism's
destructive potential, but he would not think any higher of the
apostasy in the Church today, caused by removing obedience
from our faith.
Rom 10-9,10
(156i)
Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of salvation
>> Confessing Jesus is evidence of salvation
– There is a difference between righteousness
and salvation. The righteousness of God is how we relate to Him, whereas
salvation is how we relate to the world. The Bible teaches that salvation is a
lifelong process, that we are saved (sanctified) from this world. Paul tells us in Phi
2-12 to “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” and this
working out our salvation pertains to our confession of Christ,
being the opposite of denying Him (Mk 8-38). To deny Him is evidence that we
are not saved, but confessing Jesus to the world is evidence of our salvation.
Conversely, our faith is proof to God that we believe, but our faith proves
nothing to men. We have already become saved in the mind of God simply by
believing in Him, but our salvation is made complete when we can prove it in
the natural realm by our confession of Christ. When the world sees that
we are indeed saved, then our salvation is complete, but if God is the
only one who knows we are saved, then maybe we're not.
(205aa)
Salvation >> Verses useful in evangelism
Rom 10-9
(39a) Judgment
>>
Jesus defeated death >> Resurrection of Jesus
Christ
KJV
WEB
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Rom 10-10
(41f)
Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Be like Jesus >>
Righteousness of faith >> Saved by grace through faith
Rom 10,11-18
(142c) Witness
>>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears
witness to the new >> Prophesy about evangelism
Rom 10-11,12
(225b) Kingdom of God
>>
Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of
heaven >> Equality in heaven
Rom 10-12
(35d) Gift of God
>>
God is willing to Give >> No partiality with God’s
generosity
(51h)
Judgment >> Judging
the Church with the world
>>
No partiality among us with God
(210ib) Salvation >>
Jews and gentiles are being saved >> Salvation
is from the Jews >> Jews are believers >> Jew and Gentile believers are
one flock with one shepherd
Rom 10-14,15
(149g) Witness
>>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >>
Preaching the word to the world >> Sowing the
seed – The word of God creates faith, and for this
reason each child of God should be devoted to the Scriptures in
nurturing his own faith, and also as an evangelist promoting the gospel in
the world. Paul is talking about his own ministry that he conducted
since his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus, associating it
with this discussion of our confession of faith, insinuating that everyone who
is saved should be an evangelist in one form or another. We don’t all need
to be like Paul and devote every waking moment to telling people about Jesus,
but whatever ministry God gives us we should treat as holy to the Lord and
perform it to the best of our ability and expect results from God.
Rom 10,16-21
(202j) Denying Christ
>>
Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >>
Running from God >> Running from walking in
faith >> Running from God through unbelief
(217f) Sovereignty
>>
God overrides the will of man >> God’s will
over man >> God gives up on you >>
After you refuse to comply
(223j) Kingdom of God
>>
The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Miss God >>
Missing the train >> Miss the invitation from
God –
Jesus told his servants to round up as many people as they could, and they
said, ‘We have already done that.’ He said, ‘Go then into the highways
and byways and invite the blind and lamb, whoever is willing and compel them
to come that My house may be filled’ (Lk 14,16-21). The developed
countries of the world have churches on just about every street corner, yet people
don’t seem to have much faith. Jesus asked in Lk 18-8, “When the Son of
Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” This is a rhetorical
question, and the answer is "No". If Jesus returned and found faith on the
earth, it would mean people were still getting saved, and there would be no
reason for Him to return. He would just wait and fill up his house until the
period of salvation ended; then He
would return. That is where we are today, and this is why
people believe His return is imminent. We are standing on the precipice of
fulfilled endtime prophecy. Since the developed nations of the earth cannot
find it in their heart to believe in God anymore, when the Great Endtime
Revival begins, it will therefore be found mostly in the undeveloped
countries of the world; for just as the Jews rejected the gospel and God
called the gentiles to obedience, so the developed countries of the world
will reject the gospel, and it will swing to the undeveloped countries,
among people who will receive the gospel and be saved. This time the Jews
will believe, and they will head this global revival, which is the subject
of the next chapter. See also: Great endtime revival; Rom 10-18; 50d
/ Harvest at the end of the
age;
1Cor 16,1-12; 130f
KJV
WEB
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Rom 10-16
(19m)
Sin >>
Nature of sin >>
Unwilling to believe >> Spirit of unbelief – Jesus said about His
own generation, “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are
white for harvest,” referring to the onset of the gospel when
many people got saved (Jn 4-35). Then there was the period of Reformation when there
was a burst of faith, and people clamored to the gospel again, and now we
seem to have gone back to our old ways with those who claim to believe are scarcely interested in their own
faith, merely going to church to socialize. This is
Christianity today in most cases. Jesus taught that when mankind no longer
saw a need for God, the curtain would drop and the age of grace would close.
(199b) Denying Christ
>>
Man exercises his will against God >>
Frustrating the grace of God >> Frustrating
Jesus >> Frustrating the Father -- This
verse goes with verses 2-5
Rom 10-17
(79i) Thy kingdom come
>>
Know the word >> Practice listening to God’s
word >> The word you heard perfects God’s
work in you – There have been whole
Faith movements that
have risen from this verse. Some have brought truth to the Church, while others have brought
error (1Tim 4-16). Those that error didn’t
weigh what they taught with the Scriptures, but made up
doctrines as they went along, which is nothing better than what other churches
have done, creating whole movements that skewed from the gospel that Paul
taught, being zealous yet without knowledge. Paul said that
zeal without knowledge is like a hammer without a project; whatever
we hit is probably not constructive. God has given each of us a project (Eph
2-10), and instead of
aimlessly pounding on it, we are to
take the faith that God has given us and construct the edifice of His purpose
in our lives, a ministry
that can heal people and help them believe in God.
(106j) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >>
Hearing from God >> Means of hearing from God >>
Through the Bible –
Preachers often use this passage in their pulpits to encourage people to
read their Bibles that it might increase their faith, yet we have all known people who have extensively
read the Bible, yet they hadn’t anymore faith than those who were less
committed to the Scriptures. Faith is like the dove that rested on Jesus'
shoulder at His baptism (Mat 3-16). Faith, then, is a little more elusive
than simply reading the Bible, for whenever we sin, it startles the dove and
it flies away, and we don't know how to make it return. It
is doubtful that the Church really knows the meaning of "faith". We
can look up the word in a Bible dictionary, but its usefulness is limited, contrary to the promises of many.
Moreover, we can read the Bible and still not know the truth, and we
instinctively know that genuine faith must be based on the truth. So it
seems that the quandary reduces to attracting the truth to ourselves, and we
do that by putting ourselves in a position where the truth becomes easier to
believe. Jesus called Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth and when we pray we
are interacting with the Holy Spirit, so it would behoove us as students of
God's word to also become disciples of prayer, so the Holy Spirit can lead
us into all the truth as we read our Bibles. This way we will know the truth
and the truth will give us great faith.
(107c) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >> Hearing from God >>
Word of God creates faith -- This verse goes with verse 8. God
wants us at some point to get beyond the words and understand faith the way
the Bible teaches. Hebrews says it is a substance, and this substance comes
from God; it is a gift as Jesus said, “The bread of God is that
which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world,” as it
did to the Israelites. They would awaken from their tents and find manna
everywhere. They would gather it and that would be their food for the day,
and that is how they lived forty years in the wilderness. Faith is not something we
should merely assume, since it is the very basis of our salvation. Paul is saying
that if we don’t understand the
word of God by the Spirit, then we don’t understand it at all. The Holy Spirit must be our teacher, as Jesus
said. If we let Him teach us the truth from God, then faith will
grow in our hearts, but a person can read his Bible till he turns blue in
the face and never understand it because of a lack of Prayer.
KJV
WEB
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Rom 10,18-21
(108c) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >> Balance >> Faith is the balance between truth and unbelief
Rom
10-18
(50d)
Judgment >>
Last Days >> Jewish Led
endtime revival >> Jews lead the world into revival
>> Leading the harvest at the end of the age –
Remember what Jesus said regarding endtimes, “This gospel of the kingdom
shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and
then the end will come” (Mat 24-14). Missionaries have been trying to
fulfill this passage ever since Jesus said it in attempt to bring about the
glorious age of Millennium. We know these things will happen in the last days,
since this was the context in which He made this statement, and it will happen
just prior to His return, perhaps during the Trumpet judgments that are 3½ years
long. This is in reference to the
144,000 Jewish witnesses, two of whom were mentioned in
Rev 11,1-14. These 144,000 Jews will establish a worldwide revival that
reaches around the globe, and they will begin their preaching in the developed
countries of the world, where some will come to Christ
but most of their preaching will fall on deaf ears. Then they
will go to the undeveloped countries of the world and preach the gospel to
them, and there they will get their response with billions of people coming to
Christ. This is what Jesus indicated in his parable of the wedding feast in
Mat 22,1-14. There will be a great ingathering just before He comes for his
people, and after the Rapture occurs, the Marriage
Supper of the Lamb will commence. See also: Great endtime revival; Rom 10,16-21;
223j
Rom 10,19-21
(24i) Sin
>>
Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Jews are envious of
the gospel –
Israel has always been God’s example of man; He wanted them to be a good
example, but because they refused, He used them as an example of human nature
under the curse of sin, and He has demonstrated through them what can happen
to a nation when they rebel against God. Truth has become impossible to them.
Man has been this way from the beginning, and God has been selecting out of
the world His worshippers, which best explains the relationship between God
and man throughout the ages, as Jesus alluded in Jn 4-23, “For such people
the Father seeks to be His worshipers.” When it comes to spiritual truth,
people are aware of it; the question is whether they are willing to admit it.
God's Truth is different from all other forms of knowledge, such as mathematics; we
either know the answer or we don’t; but with spiritual
truth, it is a matter of admitting it. To this day Israel still denies that
Jesus Christ is their Messiah, though they know it is true, they just refuse to
admit it. One day Israel will confess the truth and return to their faith, and
God will glorify Himself through the legacy of Israel’s rebellion, for in
that day Israel will obey God through their regret of not confessing their
sins earlier and manage the gospel, effecting a Great
Endtime Revival that will daunt all gentile revivals, but until then, God
continues to reach out to a rebellious and obstinate people.
(142b) Witness
>>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears
witness to the new >> Prophesy about the
dispensation >> Gentiles are included
(222h) Kingdom of God
>>
The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Do not give
what is holy to dogs >> God shares no intimacy
with dogs >> God does not let dogs in His house
Rom 10-19,20
(32a) Gift of God
>>
God is our Father >> Grace >>
God’s grace seeks man
(117e) Thy kingdom come >>
Faith >> Rest in Jesus (Sabbath) >> Let Jesus do the work >>
Let Him work on you
(211b) Salvation
>>
Jews and gentiles are being saved >> Gentiles
included >> God gives the Gentiles Israel’s
place – Paul
was talking about the prophecy concerning Israel that they would reject the
gospel of Christ because of their disobedient and obstinate heart, causing
Paul to turn to the gentiles. Unbelief is one and the same with disobedience
in that unbelief produces
disobedience and disobedience snowballs into further unbelief. Throughout
Paul’s Christian life he had been working with the Jews trying to get them
saved and finding that they were very reluctant to believe in Jesus. At the onset of Paul’s salvation God spoke
to Ananias who came to Paul’s aid and ministered to him after his encounter
with Christ on the road to Damascus; God said to Ananias in Act 9-15, “Go, for
he [Paul] is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the gentiles and
kings and the sons of Israel.” Throughout Paul’s ministry he never stopped
preaching to the Jews because he had a heart for them. He was a Jew himself,
and for that reason he realized all the more that the gospel fit
the Jews like hand-in-glove. The gospel was made literally for the Jew
first. However, it was not made for those who had Him killed, chanting “Crucify Him!” They proved impossible to reach with the gospel, and now
that his body had been sacrificed, there are still people like them chanting
something similar, who find it just as difficult to believe in Jesus. To be both called and
chosen is to believe in our hearts and confess with our mouth that Jesus is
Lord of heaven and earth. See also: Israel (Question of faith was never raised in the Old
Testament); Tit 1-10; 171d
(216k) Sovereignty
>>
God overrides the will of man >> God’s will
over man >> God Is Independent Of His Creation >>
You cannot control God’s desire for you >> man
is not in control of God’s gift
(219a) Sovereignty
>>
God overrides the will of man >> The elect >>
Man is a spectator of his own salvation >> God
elects us through His sovereign will
Rom 10-20
(120f) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Forgiveness >>
Forgiveness is an act of mercy >> God passes
over our sins
KJV
WEB
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Rom 10-21
(18i) Sin >>
Twisted thinking >> Unable to distinguish between good and evil >> God’s
purpose is evil – The gentiles started out happy to receive the
gospel of Christ, and they ran with it for a while full of joy and unity. God blessed
them, and it grew and flourished, but now
2,000 years later many false doctrines have been sown into the Church. We have the Bible in front of
us and we can
read an accurate account of God's word, yet it doesn’t seem to help, because of
all our
preconceived notions and false doctrines we have come to
believe. Much of our interpretation of Scripture is in error.
(21b) Sin
>>
Disobedient to the call –
This description of the Jews has resulted from their poor treatment of the prophets,
which led to turning against their Messiah and having Him nailed to a cross.
Paul was making the point that there is a
recurring theme of man being unprepared whenever God comes for a visit, and in the last days the Church will
be just like the Jews, disobedient, obstinate and unprepared. The Jews turned their ears away from their
prophets, and Christians have done the same to the Holy Spirit, refusing to
listen to Him. Jesus reiterated seven times in Rev 2-7,11,17,29 and Rev 3-6,13,22, “He who has ears to hear,
let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Old covenant prophets had a new covenant
relationship with God, who were given a glimpse into our future.
These men heard the voice of the Holy Spirit, just as the Bible promises He
will speak to us if we will listen, making us prophets according to the standard of the old
covenant. Therefore, to reject the Holy
Spirit is like being a disobedient prophet of the old covenant, and we know there were
terrible consequences for their insolence (1Kings 13,11-34).
See
also: Church resembles Israel at the time of Christ; 49a
(49a) Judgment
>>
Nations are destroyed >> Israel judged as an
example for us – The gentile
Church is
turning rebellious and disobedient prior to Christ's return, just like Israel
did at His first coming.
Mat 22,3-6 discusses the Church’s rejection of Christ based on
the mention of a wedding feast, God using the Jewish nation as managers of His
Great Endtime Revival to step over the gentile Church to create a new
people, who will become His true worshippers, whereas
Rom 10-21 speaks of Israel’s rejection of their Messiah. God stepped over the Jews
during Paul's day to elect the gentiles as stewards of His
gospel during the age of grace, which means He could do it again, stepping
over the gentile Church and electing the Jews to manage a global revival and
calling other people to be His worshippers, because the current Church is
unwilling. God will not be disappointed or rejected, nor can we foil God’s plan or fight against Him
and succeed. Whenever we fight against God we
condemn ourselves. The current gentile Church is following in Israel’s
footsteps in that the Jews had completely misinterpreted their Old Testament Scriptures to the point that
they could not recognize their Messiah when He came (Judaism and the Old Testament Scriptures have almost nothing
in common). The same thing is happening to the Church today. Many of the
belief systems that people have of the gospel do not even resemble the
New Testament, so that the words He spoke to Israel back then apply to us
today, “All the day long I have
stretched out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.” See
also: Church resembles Israel at the time of Christ; 21b
/
Rev 17,10-18; 3j
(70h)
Authority
>> Sin of familiarity >> Familiar with Jesus in the Spirit
(167i) Works of the devil
>>
Manifestations of the devil (Conspiracy) >> Carnality/Secularism (Mindset of the World)
>>
The carnal mind does not receive the things of God >>
It rejects God
(180i) Works of the devil
>>
Practicing witchcraft >> Rebellion >>
Rebelling against God’s narrow way >>
Rebelling against the will of God –
Israel as a nation cannot teach the world by example how to relate to God, for
their legacy is a people who have rebelled against Him. Israel’s attitude
has been that God has chosen them apart from all other people and nations, as
though they were inherently better than others and born in good standing with Him. However, since they
are completely wrong about this, they have become devoid of true knowledge in
regard to their actual position with God. They could have been an exemplar
nation; instead, they showed just how deep the sinful nature spans the human
soul. God glorified Himself through Israel as Paul said in Rom 5-20,21, “The
Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased,
grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace
would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord.” God glorified Himself in their disobedience through the demonstration
of His grace, so the more we sin the more God forgives us. In this way God has
glorified Himself through Israel’s disobedience by practicing loving
kindness to them and to us through them. The result was that God sent His Son into the
world, and through Israel's rebellion they inadvertently
sacrificed their own Messiah, which in God’s view
was the sacrifice they had been practicing for centuries
in the Levitical Priesthood in all their temple services. They didn’t know what
they were doing, according to Jesus’ confession on the cross, “Father,
forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk 23-34). See
also: Israel is exemplary of mankind; 202a
(185l) Works of the devil
>>
The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >>
Unwilling to obey the revelation from heaven >>
Unwilling to walk in God’s freedom
(198c) Denying Christ
>>
Man exercises his will against God >> Man
withers when he is in control >> Ungrateful
(202a) Denying Christ
>>
Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >>
Running from God >> Man’s will over God >>
Man is unwilling to walk in God’s grace –
The most frustrating aspect of mankind is his overall attitude about God and
how people have turned Him into a monster, accusing Him of all the sins that
they themselves have committed. The Father threw all man's sin on Jesus while
nailed to the cross, and now man is trying to do it again, claiming that
He is somehow responsible for their own actions. Their logic is amazingly
absent. Talk to people nowadays; they have possibly developed the most
negative opinion about God of any people, having completely lost their fear of God, and it is largely to do with the
apostasy of the Church. Just as Israel is God's example of man’s failure in the
old covenant, so the Church is His
example of man’s failure in the new covenant, only the Church has less excuse because we
have more knowledge. Israel considered
themselves better than anybody else, because God chose them from all the
nations of the world, and the Church has copped very much the same attitude,
surmising
that God loves us so much that we can sin and get away with it. The mistakes
of both Jew and gentile are based on arrogance, one on egomania and the other
on hedonistic pride. The more knowledge increases, the more sin increases, and
so the Church’s sin against God is worse than Israel’s rebellion.
Therefore, we could just as well apply this verse to the Church. See also:
Israel is exemplary of mankind; 180i / God tricked the Jews to
crucify His
Son;
Act 28-28; 211b
(235e) Giving (your
inner self
(Key verse)
(235h) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >>
Giving (your inner self) >> Be liberal in your
giving like God
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