Category: Weekly

“For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.”
Rom 2:28-29

There are so many theological errors in our day and age that would be cleared up if we only understood the truth contained in the statement above.  Who is a Jew according to God’s definition?  It is an individual that has a new heart, that has been born of the Spirit of God!  It is not an outward, fleshly achievement.  It has nothing to do with your natural birth.  It is a work on the inside of an individual that identifies Him as a Jew, one of God’s chosen people!

The Old Testament by and large dealt with the natural Israelites, and there was great benefit to being born a natural Jew per Rom 3:2 because they received the law and the prophets.  They were raised learning truths of which most Gentiles had no knowledge.  But there were some exceptions, and throughout the Old Testament we see a foreshadowing of God’s plan to include the Gentiles into His spiritual Israel.  Jesus mentioned some of these exceptions as He taught in the synagogue in Lk 4:24-29, namely the widow of Sidon that Elijah was sent to and Naaman the Syrian that Elisha cleansed of his leprosy.  Guess how the literal Israelites responded?  They tried to kill Jesus!  Why?  Because in their eyes, they had a corner on the market of God’s favor.  They were a step above the Gentiles surrounding their region.  Sadly, a lot of people today, Jew and Gentile alike, still believe this way!

The New Testament is ripe with passages that say there is no difference between the Jew and Gentile in the church.  God doesn’t divide the world up into three categories–unbelievers, Gentile believers, and Jewish believers.  No, God says all mankind is divided into believers and unbelievers, sheep and goats, the righteous and the wicked.  Just listen to the following verses:

“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.” (Rom 10:12)

“…but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Co 1:23-24)

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” (1 Co 12:13)

“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal 3:27-29)

“…and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.” (Col 3:10-11)

God could have just said it once, and it would have been enough for us to receive it as truth.  But, as if to make sure that there was no confusion our part, He tells us repeatedly that Christ has brought Jew and Gentile together into one glorious body that He calls His church.  Speaking of Jews and Gentiles in Eph 2:14, the apostle Paul writes “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation…”  There is no longer a distinction between the two!  If we belong to Christ, we are equally heirs of the promises of God! (Gal 3:29) Everyone gets in the same way…through the Way, the Truth, and the Life (there’s only one way!).  So, go ahead Gentile and Jewish Christians.  Embrace the promises made to Abraham’s seed as your own because you are the true Jews!  I hope this will help clear up verses like Rom 9:6: “For they are not all Israel who are of Israel”.  Verses like this one make perfect sense when we realize there are two Israels–the natural Jews born by natural birth, natural Israel, and spiritual Israel, those made spiritual Jews by the new birth!  “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Co 2:14)

Jamie

6 “who ‘will render to each one according to his deeds‘: 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath…”
Romans 2:6-8

Have you ever been passed over for a position or a role when you were clearly the more qualified candidate? Have you ever had to watch someone else receive the prize that you worked hardest to obtain? It happens all the time in this biased world! Someone else gets the job because of who they know or how they look NOT because they have the best skills for the task. But, with God, that’s not the case: “For there is no partiality with God.” (Rom 2:11)

God doesn’t care who your parents are, what nationality you are, or what color your skin is.  God is unbiased when it comes to judgment, and in that day, all that will matter is what YOU are. Rom 2 tells us that Jew and Gentile alike will be judged by the same criteria.  Are you an obedient servant of Jesus Christ, one who patiently continues in doing that which God commands, or do you live your life in rebellion to the truth? Some would argue, “But I was saved by grace, so why is God looking at what I do?”  Because what you do is the evidence of whether or not you have been saved! As Jms 2:20 tells us plainly, “faith without works is dead.” If God has granted you faith and put His Spirit within you, the natural result will be that you do good!

Now, consider why these individuals are doing good. Our text tells us they are seeking “glory, honor, and immortality,” but is that the reason they do good? Are they walking in obedience simply to receive a reward for themselves? Is that the main goal? That would be self-seeking, wouldn’t it? Well, that’s exactly how the unrighteous are described in v. 8.  They are “self-seeking and do not obey the truth,” so, the righteous cannot be described in this fashion.

The fact is that if you do that which is pleasing to God, you are by nature a seeker after glory, honor, and immortality. In other words, you’re not focused on this life but on eternal matters. You aren’t interested in the glory this world offers, but you’re much more interested in the glory God will share with all His people. (Rom 8:18) Unlike the world that seeks “honor from one another”, you “seek the honor that comes from the only God”. (Jn 5:44) And, you’re not living by the mantra, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” (1 Cor 15:32) You believe there is a life after this life, and your state of affairs in the world to come is far more important then your standard of living here. You are seeking immortality or eternal life!

But, why do you seek these things? The answer is simple. You’re not interested in obtaining “things”.  Your sight is set much higher! What you want is God Himself, and you are a diligent seeker of Him! (Heb 11:6) Your heart’s cry is that of the psalmist in Ps 73:25-26: “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” God has made an astonishing promise to such an individual.  He will forever receive the desires of his heart! (Ps 37:4)

Jamie

Romans 1:32 “Who knowing the judgment of God…”

Well, we’ve finally begun our study of Romans, and we ran into this verse last week.  What a statement! It will change the way we share the gospel. God says we ought to approach others in the awareness that they know the judgment of God! It’s not our job to convince men there is a God and that they must give Him the honor due Him. They already know according to v. 18-19! “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.”

The devil has been working hard to trip us up in our day. He’s told us that we have to first convince men that God is real and the Bible is true before we can share the gospel with them, but God never said that! God said we are simply to declare what He has said. It’s His job to convince men it’s the truth!

Earlier in the chapter, the gospel of Jesus Christ is called “the power of God to salvation”. (v. 16) There is power in declaring God’s word in its purity and simplicity!  We don’t need to add anything to it to spice it up.  We don’t need to take anything away from it tone it down and make it less offensive.  It is a word that transcends time and applies just as well in 2011 as it did thousands of years ago.  Ps 18:30 says “the word of the LORD is proven” meaning “refined”.  The refiner’s fire can’t consume it because there is no impurity in it.  It will stand the test!  It is sure and perfect according to Ps 19:7.  You can’t depend on another’s word like this word.  Heaven and earth won’t outlive it!  Jesus said, “My words will by no means pass away”! (Mt 24:35)

When Eph 6 lists the pieces of the Christian armor, only one weapon is included in the list.  It is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”. (v. 17) In declaring this word, the enemy will flee away!  What did Christ do that sent the devil running following the temptations of Mt 4:1-11?  He quoted the word of God!  There is no other weapon like this weapon.  It pierces deeper than any natural weapon can reach.  It will disturb the conscience of a man because it “is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb 4:12)  This fact should lift a heavy load off of you, Christian, if you’ve been struggling trying to figure out how to break through to that unbeliever over whom you are so burdened.  Just faithfully declare the word of God as God by His Spirit leads you.  The rest is up to the Lord.  We are but to plant and water.  Only God can bring forth the increase! (1 Co 3:6)

Jamie

Ps 78:9-11 “The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.  They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.”

In Ps 78:9, The Interlinear Bible reads, “The sons of Ephraim were armed, shooters of bows”.  The word “carrying” literally means “to hurl or to shoot”.  The point is that they both had the necessary weapon AND they were skilled in using it!  What is the weapon of the believer?  It is called “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”! (Eph 6:17) In Ez 13:2-5, these prophets through false teaching have not helped the people to be able to stand in the day of battle; but, in contrast, we infer that to sit under sound preaching is to be prepared to stand and not run in the day of battle.  Brethren, we have been armed with the word of God and well-trained in its use, but what will we do in the day of battle?!!  Many have a fair speech, know the right thing to say, can quote a lot of Scripture and repeat like parrots their pastors, but what will happen when the war comes to their doorstep?  Ephraim had what he needed and had been well-prepared for the fight; there was no lack in those areas.  So, where was the problem?  Ephraim made two mistakes that we must guard against!

1)      They were disobedient! (v. 10)

To not go into battle was an act of disobedience on their part!  If for no other reason, they should have pressed on because God said to do so!  In 1 Ti 6:10-12, we are told to fight!  In Eph 6:10-13, we are told to stand!  In 1 Co 16:13 we are told to watch, stand fast, and be strong!  If we stopped right here, we’d have sufficient reason to hold our ground because God said to do so!  The Lord says in Heb 10:38, “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.”  Didn’t the Lord warn us to consider when we spoke the same words as the man in Lk 9:57-58?  Didn’t the Lord warn us to count the cost of discipleship in Lk 14:26-33?  Did Christ promise a bed of roses, or did he say, “In the world ye shall have tribulation”?  But He didn’t stop there, did He?  Praise God, He said also “but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16:33)  Don’t let the strength of the battle surprise you, Christian.  The Lord said it would be this way.  Follow the captain of your salvation into battle.  If you love Him, keep His commandments.  Don’t be fearful.  If you’ll avoid Ephraim’s second mistake, you won’t be!

2)      They forgot Who was on their side! (v. 11)

Do you remember all of those little skirmishes you had before this point?  What happened?  You say, “God got me through it.”  Exactly!  He was preparing you for the battle.  He was confirming that He is faithful!  Don’t forget what God has already done for you!  In Ps 119:52, this memory is the source of the psalmist’s comfort!  In Ps 27:1-3, the psalmist said an entire army couldn’t make him fear because of God’s past deliverance!  See also Ps 44:1-8.  Ephraim knew these things and thus should have trusted in God and not their bows.  If you trust in your skill with handling the word, you will run in the day of battle!  Our hope is not in our ability!  It is in the Lord!!!  In Zech 10:3-9, we find Ephraim again, but this time, notice who’s handling the bow in v. 4.  God is!  These will fight and not turn because God is with them (v. 5)!  We find even Ephraimites standing their ground when they know the Lord is on their side in v. 7!

I only found one New Testament character with a bow in Rev 6:2. Comparing this text with Rev 19:11, we find that the white horse rider is Christ!  He will succeed!  Trust in His bow!  Continuing to compare the bow to His word, we know that He alone can say “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”  Only He can with certainty proclaim, “My word will not return unto me void.”  The bow belongs to Him!  Sheep our defenseless!  All their hope is in the Shepherd!  Our heavenly Shepherd has promised He will never leave nor forsake us, so if He commands us to go, go forward trusting that, though the battle is overwhelming to you, the Shepherd, the captain of your salvation, goes as well.  And, as David said when he faced Goliath, “the battle is the LORD’s”!

Isa 54:17  “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD”

Jamie

Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
1 Thessalonians 1:4

I could hardly believe the verse above when I read it, so I read it again. I checked it out in the original language, and the KJV translation stood firm. The apostle had just said to the Thessalonians, “I’m certain you’re saved.  You are the elect of God!” What could be such strong evidence of salvation that Paul could make such a statement? Well, we don’t have to wonder because the chapter spells it out for us. The following ten items evidence regeneration in the life of an individual:

1) Working faith (v. 3) – This reveals true faith as Jm 2:17-20 tells us; in contrast, “faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” When we read the list of past possessors of faith in Heb 11, we find that faith to be active. “Abel offered” (v. 4), “Noah…prepared” (v. 7), and “Abraham…went out” (v. 8). Notice in the each of these situations, true faith was evidenced by the action!

2) Loving labor (v. 3) – There are many that will labor, doing so tirelessly, but with what motive do they labor? Many do so only for their own gain. They are incapable of serving as instructed in Gal 5:13: “…by love serve one another.” True love manifests itself in the giving of ourselves unselfishly for the brethren. This pattern follows the example of Christ (1 Jn 3:16). 1 Jn 3:17-19 says loving in deed and truth evidences that we are really of the Truth!

3) Hopeful patience (v. 3) – These don’t give up, but patiently press on because of hope in the Lord! The labor in our last point doesn’t wear out according to Rom 2:7 because there is a hope beyond this life! These don’t wear out over time because there is a patience in this hope in the Lord. They have no doubt that the Lord will save. If things get tough, there is a calm assurance that the Lord will not forsake. They have hope, so they are patient, not anxious. As in Is 40:30-31, “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” True hope in the Lord produces patience!

4) Effectual preaching (v. 5) – One thing we are assured of concerning those hungering and thirsting after righteousness is that they shall be filled (Mt 5:6). The apostle had assurance of their election because of the preaching done among them. It was powerful, Spirit-led, and in assurance (or “entire confidence”). Paul said, “I knew God was feeding you through me! The time I spent among you was one in which I was clearly led by the Spirit and confident in what God would have me to say.” Not just once, but repeatedly among them, the preaching was powerful. True belief among the congregation prompts a mighty work in the pulpit. The opposite is also true according to Mt 13:58 where the Lord in his own country “did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” Paul said that wasn’t the case in Thessalonica, but the word was effectual (1 Th 2:13).

5) Godly imitators (v. 6) – They followed the pattern of godly men and so were in fact following the Lord. Paul said in 1 Co 11:1: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” The Thessalonians were looking for others obedient to God and were imitators of them per 1 Th 2:14. Who do you pattern yourself after? Who do you want to be like? Is it the famous, the talented, the wise men of the earth? Are you driven by a desire to be recognized as they are? Do you copy their style, their mannerisms, etc., or are you more interested in being like that humble, lowly saint you see serving God with no desire for anyone to notice? Are you patterning yourself after those that are in Christ’s pattern set forth in Ph 2:7 as He “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant”? The evidence of being a son is that you are an imitator of the Father (Jn 5:19)! We can’t say it in the perfection that Christ could, but in one sense, though imperfect, when people see us, they should see the Father!

6) Joyous affliction (v. 6) – This characteristic doesn’t come from Adam!! We’re not talking about short-lived and easy affliction. It’s described as “much,” yet their joy was steadfast. There were no stony-ground hearers who “when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.” (Mt 13:21) Just being afflicted was evidence of spiritual life (2 Ti 3:12), but the fact that they rejoiced in it was especially revealing of their hearts! There’s something different about a person that will pray and sing praises to God after being beaten and thrown into prison. (Ac 16:23-26) like Paul and Silas. After being beaten and forbidden to preach Christ, the apostles rejoiced they were deemed worthy to suffer shame for Christ’s name (Ac 5:41). The believer can rejoice in affliction because of the privilege to suffer for Christ and because of the effect if will have in his life (Jm 1:2-3)!

7) Living examples (v. 7) – The natural result of point 5 (imitating godly men), is that we become examples for others to follow. There’s an issue if we don’t progress to this point. The Hebrews are rebuked in Heb 5:12 for only being students (followers) and not teachers (examples). Paul told the Corinthians that they were living epistles known and read of all men (2 Co 3:2). For a true believer, the word not only gets into his head but also his manner of life. The fact that others were looking to them as a pattern reveals growth and maturity, which is the evidence of healthy spiritual life (Eph 4:12-15).

8) Outward confession ( v. 8 ) – True salvation isn’t only a heart experience. It begins inwardly but progresses outwardly (Rom 10:10-11). Paul didn’t have to tell others of the Thessalonians’ faith. The word of God was like a geyser rushing out of them! When your heart is fixed on something, your mouth will declare it (“out of abundance of heart the mouth speaketh” Mt 12:34). I used to be grieved in my early Christian walk because music was such a fresh part of my past that I’d end up talking to people about it. I’d leave and think, “Where was Christ in all of that?” But in the midst of this study, a friend of over a year called me to say he had just found out I used to play in bands. He knew nothing about me except that I was a Christian! Wow! Thank you, Lord. I can see progress, but I want to be more like Christ. If your path intersected His, you were going to hear the word!

9) New creation (v. 9) – Some turn to God but not away from idols. That’s not regeneration! Regeneration is a new creature or creation wherein old things have passed away and all has become new (2 Co 5:17)! The one looking back isn’t fit for the kingdom (Lk 9:62). Jesus said in Lk 14:33, you must forsake all you have to be His disciple. The Thessalonians did, and they never looked back!

10) Waiting pilgrims (v. 10) – The idea conveyed here is one of not simply waiting but a longing for the Lord Jesus. The Interlinear Bible translates it as, “eagerly to await His Son”. They were as Paul in Ph 1:23 as he desired to depart and be with Christ. They were like the faithful in Heb 11:16 who didn’t feel at home here but were seeking a better, heavenly country. Rev 22:20 expresses the cry of their hearts for when the Lord says, “Surely I come quickly,” they promptly reply, “Amen! Even so, come Lord Jesus!”

If these things be in us, it leaves little doubt of our election. So, are they in us? “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.” (2 Cor 13:5) If Christ is in us, we will be stamped out in His pattern. “…give diligence to make your calling and election sure…” (2 Pet 1:10)

Jamie