Romans 14

Chapter 14 continues with instructions for Christian behavior and begins to even teach general principles for living.

Romans 14:1-3
As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

Once again we need to deal with the word adiaphorous. Things which are adiaphorous are those things which God has not commanded nor forbidden. So what is God telling us in this Scripture? First of all we are not supposed to argue with a person who has decided that they should eat or not eat or drink or not drink something. In fact, we are not even allowed to judge or despise someone who observes a dietary restriction. If someone feels that something which is adiaphorous is something that should not be part of their life then that is fine and you don’t really have anything to say about it. However, the knife cuts the other way too. Someone who has decided to abstain from something which is adiaphorous may not think that it makes them any better or more righteous than one who does not abstain (and if they do then they are sinning). It is ironic but when we set up laws to make ourselves more righteous it has the opposite effect. We are not generally aware of that at the time and we can even get drawn into acting in ways we associate with the Pharisees.

Getting specific examples these topics is generally a good way to get someone upset with you. A real life example that is relevant to you is your behavior while fasting. Jesus assumes that we will fast so it is not a question of if we will practice this behavior but how we will practice this behavior. God gives specific things to do and attitudes to have when we fast (Isaiah 58) but it isn’t a magic practice that forces God’s hand. It is a good way to bring humility into our lives and focus on spiritual growth but it is all about us conforming to God and His will and not about getting God to conform to us and our will.

However, over the last however many decades I’ve heard of a “Daniel Fast” and of course all that is required for an evangelical to develop a new spiritual discipline or even sacrament is a misinterpreted Scripture. The practice is based on Daniel 1:12-15. Daniel and his friends ate vegetables and drank water rather than Nebuchadnezzar’s food and drink. There was a particular motivation for Daniel and his friends to do this and God blessed them and performed a miracle and they gained weight and looked better and answered the king’s questions better than anyone. Some modern Christians have decided that if they eat only vegetables and drink water that they too will gain weight and smarter. No I’m teasing. I wish it was that simple. They seem to think that they will be more spiritual based on thinking that this special fast (not really a fast but a kosher diet for life in Babylon) will, somehow, make them more holy. Now there is nothing wrong with this type of dietary restriction unless you think it works in some magical way. We are told to crucify the flesh. We can fast all sort of things. One Norcross GA church says that your Daniel Fast can include potatoes, beans, and soybeans. None of those would have been available to Daniel. They suggest fruit juices which would not have been available. And they suggest you avoid grains that Daniel probably would have used. They suggest a single meal a day. Biblically I suppose that you should believe God for weight gain so I guess that raises the bar a little. No one seems to teach that you’ll be smarter and I’m not sure why. Some teach that you can use a Daniel Fast to lose weight! You can even buy a 76 page cookbook for your Daniel Fast.

Now you can do a Daniel Fast if you feel that God is calling you to that type of fast. In fact, you can fast anything that God puts His finger on. He may have you fast something that is taking on too large a role in your life. But these things are adiaphorous. Many Christians fast something for the 40 days leading up to Easter and it can be a very personal thing. I’d encourage you to ask God if He would lead you into a fast. Fasting of some sort is supposed to be part of the normal Christian life. I was once confronted by a Korean immigrant who was almost a nominal Christian who had been friends with my Roman Catholic sister-in-law for a long time. She decided that she was going to fast her “cussing” until Christmas. I told her she could not fast a sin and only after my protesting for a while did the Roman Catholics break the news to her that they agreed that she probably couldn’t fast a sin. You can’t fast sin! For sin, you repent right now and stop sinning.

You can’t feel superior because of the type of fast or because of anything you do or don’t do that is adiaphorous. If your brother or sister in Christ decides to pursue a “Daniel Fast” then that is fine and you should not offer them roast beef in the middle of it. However, if they begin to teach that you must fast in a particular way in order to be righteous then they are sinning and you must lovingly indicate that.

Romans 14:4-6
Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.

We sometimes need reminding who the boss is and it isn’t us. Each of us will answer for our behavior to The Boss. However, here we also see the promise that each Christian has that we will be kept by God. We will be upheld because God will uphold us. In every case we are to honor God in our life. You are called on to serve God each moment so it is by doing what you believe God would have you do that you serve God. You are to be “fully convinced” in your own mind that your behavior honors God. Even in our eating we give thanks to God and honor Him. Even in our fasting we do so to honor God.

Romans 14:7-9
For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

All of our life and whatever we do is to be done to glorify God. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him as John Piper says. Our position within the Body of Christ is for God’s glory and we serve Him according to His direction.

Romans 14:10-12
Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

We will each explain why we did what we did. We don’t need to be trying to figure out what is in someone’s heart when they decide what to fast … unless they want to fast a sin. The Bible never tells us not to call a sin a sin in order to avoid “judging” one another. Our problem is with things which are adiaphorous or in the way a brother or sister follows God. You certainly don’t want to feel superior or despise your brother over these things but that is often what happens. Fasting, mode of baptism, mode of communion, observance of a day of rest, frequency of church attendance, and worship style are all things that can cause deep differences among Christians. Sometimes it has something to do with serious scriptural issues. For example, communion can be practiced in a way that I would not participate in; however, we often encounter differences that should be tolerated.

Romans 14:13-19
Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

Therefore, because you’ll answer to God for your behavior, do not judge the behavior of your brother’s and sister’s that is not in conflict with God’s commands. You also are told not to put your freedom or your lack of freedom in the face of another in a way that might cause them to sin. Remember that if a person thinks something is sinful, and you encourage them to do it, and they do it, then you have caused them to sin. The attitude in the act makes it a sin. If we think God would have us do something or not do something and we do it or don’t do it then we have sinned. The act is a sin because the sinner’s heart is acting contrary to the perceived will of God. You don’t want to push a person into that. We are supposed to pursue peace and mutual upbuilding. God expects us to be able to fellowship within the diversity of the Body of Christ discerning the essentials of the Christian Faith and passing over the things which are not essential.

Romans 14:20-23
Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

So if you are pursuing those things that make for peace and mutual upbuilding then you will not make an issue of nonessential aspects of the Christian life. You will clearly need to know Scripture to be able to separate essentials from nonessentials but that is no excuse for stumbling your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Romans 13

In chapter 13 we continue to receive instruction for how we are to become sanctified by following Christ.

Romans 13:1-2
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

We resist the governing authorities whenever we find it convenient and remember that the governing authorities were radically more hostile in Paul’s day than they are today. The TV show “Cops” is a show about resisting the authorities that God has appointed. It is an eye opener if you haven’t seen a really good liar or amateur track athlete with more motivation than skill.

We, especially as Americans, have issues with being subject to anyone. We’ll consider to being subject to God but it rarely moves beyond our consideration and outward into action. I got caught speeding the other day and I think the policeman was waiting for me to give him a hard time. Now the speed limit was 30 and I did thirty until I thought it wasn’t 30 but I was wrong and when he hit his lights I figured I had done something wrong and pulled over before he was really out in the road. My charge from God in that situation is to be subject to the policeman and not resist him. He asked me if I wanted to challenge the accuracy of his radar gun. He seemed a little surprised when I said no. Apparently we in Georgia have been given the right to request a recalibration whenever we are stopped for speeding based on the results of a radar gun. I think that if a person were convinced that they were not speeding then it might be appropriate but to request it just because you are able to request it would appear to be resisting the authorities that God has appointed.

We live in a society in which urban myths exist on how to radar proof your car (no they don’t work) and you can buy radar detectors to make it possible to resist the authorities with reduced risk of penalty.

Governing is naturally thought of in a political sense but it would include your secular employment and church leadership as well. We need to seriously consider our actions when we have differences of opinion with those in authority over us. God would have us always respect the position even when the individual in the position is behaving in an ungodly way. That is because they are instituted by God. In the way taking revenge shows a lack of faith in God, we show lack of faith when we panic over individuals who are in positions of authority. God will still be in control next year when we have a new president regardless of who wins the election. God’s sovereignty is not shaken by democracy. We participate in our government as a privilege of citizenship but we still know that God says:

2 Chronicles 7:14
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

We may be subject to the judgment of God (as the context of 2 Chronicles 7:14) but we are never outside His control.

Romans 13:3-4
For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.

Only a man of great faith could have written this with the rule of Caligula, Claudius, and Nero in view. I’ve lived long enough to watch Republican and Democrat Presidents lie and face impeachment on television but the worst sins of the past few decades in the United States are nothing compared to what was going on when Paul wrote the book of Romans.

We have no wiggle room for aligning our minds with this Scripture and being law abiding citizens. To be law abiding in this democracy is a trivial command compared to being law abiding with Nero in charge. If you had lived in that age you would likely have believed that Nero was the antichrist.

Romans 13:5-7
Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

So our good citizenship is not just so that God will not judge us but so that we can have a clear conscience and not live in opposition to God’s revealed will. We can never cheat on our taxes because God commands us to pay. As Jesus instructed, we pay our taxes and then give to God what you find His image imprinted upon (Romans 12:1). Notice also that we are told to give respect and honor to authorities. Not because of the individual but because we recognize the office is filled by authorities who are ministers of God. If you have a problem with this then talk to God and begin by thanking Him that we are not governed by anyone who is even in the same ballpark with those who were in authority when this verse was written. Study Caligula and Claudius and then praise God for His mercy and grace in your political life.

Romans 13:8-10
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Now Paul is moving from a discussion of our life in society to a discussion of our interactions with other individuals. This is a restatement of Jesus command and a reminder to keep short accounts with each other. Here, as in many other portions of Scripture, the word love is not a warm fuzzy feeling this is God’s purposeful love that works in the heat and cold.

Romans 13:11-14
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

I think that it is remarkable how mankind hasn’t changed in 2000 years. Those who are saved are warned to wake up, cast off sin, and put on our spiritual armor. The warning specifically warns us to abandon substance abuse, sexual sin, and selfishness.

We can put on the Lord Jesus Christ because the law of the Spirit of life has set us free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Romans 12

Before moving into Chapter 12 we need to review context. We need context because we are coming up on a “therefore” and we need to realize what it is there for. This is also a pivotal point in the book of Romans. Paul is preparing to move on to our participation in sanctification. We need to keep the big picture in view so I’ll do a brief review of what we have covered so far.

Greetings and Introduction (1:1–17)

Mankind’s Universal Sinfulness (1:18–3:20)
---Our Condition Apart from Christ (3:10-20)

Justification (3:21–5:21)
---Provided in Christ by Faith (3:21–31)
---Abraham is an Example of Justification by Faith (ch. 4)
---Justification Guarantees Blessings for the Righteous (5:1–11)
---Imputed Righteousness from Christ in Justification — the New Adam (5:12–21)

Sin’s Dominion Broken and We are Captured by God (ch. 6)

Believers Dead to the Law’s Condemnation, Not Yet Made Sinless (ch. 7)
---'Simul iustus et peccator'

Those Living by the Spirit Prove Victors over the Flesh (ch. 8)

God Demonstrates His Righteousness and Mercy in Election (chs. 9–11)
---God’s Righteousness Established in History (ch. 9)
---God’s Righteousness Received Only by Faith (ch. 10)
---God’s Righteousness Revealed in Jew and Gentile (ch. 11)

Paul is moved to worship and adoration of God for His sovereignty in salvation and for His actions in Grace … at the end of Chapter 11 Paul writes:

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?” “Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?” For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen

Briefly then Justification and God’s saving Grace in your life is why Paul says “therefore” in the following verses.

Chapter 12:1-3
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

What God revealed in the first 11 chapters we now begin to see worked out in lives. What is it that justification should produce in you? Worship as we saw in Paul’s praise of God and a submission of yourselves as living sacrifices. This is your worship. Your soul should be moved to worship in this way if you are thinking rightly. It is appropriate to worship in this way because of the Grace that has been poured out on you. You are told to fight against being conformed or shaped by the world. You are supposed to fight for a renewal of your mind. We learn (by experience in pursuit of God) to discern His will and to recognize “good”, “acceptable”, and “perfect”.

Here is where the Laodiceans fell short (and lots of others). In Revelation 3:14 and the verses that follow we find that the Laodiceans were neither hot nor cold and Jesus tells them they are about to be rejected as a Church. We know we have an assurance of our individual salvation but God is under no obligation to keep moving in a place that apathetic. We must ask God for mercy when we see our church or nation heading in this direction and do our best to keep our hearts pure before God’s face. The natural reaction is to look for a new program or change the order or style of worship. That is just like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. We need a miracle for a fellowship at that point and not new sales techniques. The really tragic thing is that programs can give an illusion of success in numbers while the Holy Spirit moves out the door.

It is ironic and perhaps telling of our hearts in the way we quote the Scripture, “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me (Revelation 3:19-20).” The verse is often quoted in evangelism and I’m sure was in the Will Thompson’s mind when my least favorite hymn was written (Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling). In context, the verse has nothing to do with evangelizing the unsaved. It is written to the church at Laodicea. They were lukewarm. They were well fed and fat and sassy. As it says in Romans 11: 9, “their table had become a snare to them.” It is written to believers who must move contrary to the spirit of their age and seek God with all their hearts while others in the Body of Christ do not seek God with all their hearts. I beg you by the mercy of God to become a living sacrifice. Don’t live a sick weak Christian experience when Christ can feed you and renew your mind. The way the culture of the United States glorifies sin is bad but the way the Church fails to respond to God is a greater tragedy. He promises if you’ll pursue Him in your sanctification that He’ll respond and if you can stand against the lukewarm in your age and in your church then the promise is in Revelation 3:21, “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.”

Romans 12:3-8
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

What are you going to do with the gifts given you by God? He breathed life into you when you were dead in your trespasses and sins. He has promised to keep you and now what will you do? Sleep in the light or run with patience the race that is set before you? There is a bunch of sleeping and discouragement in the Church. The enemy of your soul wants you bundled up in discouragement and/or asleep in the light of the Gospel. We have different gifts to use in service. You must find your place in the Church to obey God and to fulfill your reasonable worship. Yes of course you will be fulfilled and enjoy the fruits of the Spirit but that is not to be your motivation. You were taken from the kingdom of darkness and made a Child of Abraham and it was all by the Grace of God. You need to let that truth drive you to seek God’s place for you in the Body of Christ. God has given you purpose and it is grounded in your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Tom Brady is quarterback of the New England Patriots. He was interviewed by Steve Kroft on 60 Minutes for CBS. Brady’s team is one win from an undefeated season. If they win the Super Bowl it will be the first undefeated season in 35 years. He won Super Bowl MVP twice and been to the Pro Bowl 4 times. He dates actresses and supermodels and makes millions of dollars a year. In his interview he said:

"Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, 'Hey man, this is what is.' I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, 'God, it's got to be more than this.' I mean this isn't, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be."

When Kroft asked him, "What's the answer?" Brady responded, "I wish I knew. I wish I knew. I love playing football and I love being quarterback for this team. But at the same time, I think there are a lot of other parts about me that I'm trying to find."

Sometimes a striking contrast is what we need to see. Brady has very little sense of meaning in his life. Another victory won’t mean anymore than the last one. He is a fantastic quarterback but so what. He’s gained the whole world but, by his own words, has a lost soul. There are probably plenty of Patriot fans who hope he won’t let it trouble him at least until his football career is over.

God has purpose for your life. Any Christian regardless of resources can give an answer to a question of purpose superior to that of Brady. It isn’t a question of our ability but of Gods.

Listen to just a little of a poem titled, “The Hound of Heaven” by Francis Thompson (1859-1907) in which Thompson describes the way in which he ran from God but how God, as the Hound of Heaven with unhurrying chase and unperturbed pace ran him down.

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
But with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat--and a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet--
"All things betray thee, who betrayest Me."

Thompson was a smart guy who lived in the late 1800’s but he had some health problems and ended up addicted to heroin. He was homeless and would send poems in for publication but without a return address because he didn’t have an address. Some editors tracked him down and tried to care for him but things didn’t go very well. Eventually he damaged his brain on heroin and was essentially a vagrant. He died from tuberculosis when he was 48. Now his poem, “The Hound of Heaven” has blessed many for many years and will continue to do so. He had nothing except some paper and a pencil. Almost no resources were available to Thompson but God used him anyway. Do think a Sunday School class in 100 years will have a reason to be talking about something that Tom Brady wrote or said this year? Unless he changes his ways then the best he can hope for is that he might be the answer to a sports trivia question. Tom Brady, the Laodicean Church, and the American Church have wealth and blessing in common and they are neither hot or cold just lukewarm with respect to God.

Our behavior as God’s children is supposed to be different than our behavior before our salvation. We are blessed by God with a purpose to our blessing. We are to take the physical and spiritual gifts of God and spend them as God directs on others.

Romans 12:9-13
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

We are not supposed to be generating a hypocritical love but on the contrary we are to release God’s love. God’s love isn’t dependent on a feeling. God loved us while we were unlovable. It was Grace and mercy. We can, in God’s strength, display Grace and mercy while functioning in God’s love. People don’t have to be lovable all the time. Pat works at the Food Pantry once a week and we talk about some of the folks that are blessed in this Mercy Ministry. They aren’t all wonderful or even thankful. We don’t need them to have a certain demeanor for us to bless them. We are to reject evil and love good things. Popular media has developed a fascination with evil and the effort to be on the “cutting edge” is putting some violent perverse stuff into the living room. We need to be very careful about what we view as entertainment since God has told us to abhor what is evil. We are to be disgusted by evil and not fascinated by it.

Showing brotherly affection and honor toward each other is also something we are commanded to do. This is a command of God and not a suggestion. So you really should be asking God how that Scripture applies to you and how you can obey God. In contrast to the Laodiceans, you are commanded be zealous and fervent in spirit as you serve the Lord. Well what if we don’t “feel it” right now? Then how about asking for forgiveness and God’s grace to be poured out so that we won’t sin by having a cold heart?

We rejoice in hope because we know that we will live forever with God. That hope helps as we face tribulation and keeps us constant in prayer. As we live within the Body of Christ we will clearly pay attention to those around us seek to minister to their needs. We seek to show hospitality. Things as simple as our breakfast in Sunday School become spiritual disciplines if we seek to do it in Jesus’ name as we are supposed to live our entire lives.

Romans 12:14
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

Guys have a tendency to spend more effort on what this Scripture doesn’t mean rather than what it means. This is stated pretty clearly and it is at least a little funny that we are so worried about what it doesn’t mean. In the time it was written Christians were being placed in prison, were losing property, and losing their lives. So yes you are to bless those who persecute you. It is a very good spiritual discipline for you to pray for those who persecute you. God will judge those who attack you. This is a command not a suggestion. I remember I was sharing one time about the importance of blessing those who are persecuting you and we had a person who just flat said that they pray for God to beat the daylights out of people who persecuted them. So rather than obey God they decided to pray contrary to the command of God. I know that I waste plenty of time but praying that God would honor my prayer when I pray contrary to His revealed will is just too dumb of a way to spend your life.

Romans 12:15
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

This should be obvious to us (and generally is) but sometimes we do respond in an inappropriate manner. In an effort to encourage we may fail to mourn with someone who is in an appropriate time of mourning. On the other side we may fail to rejoice with those who have been blessed in some way. We need to be happy when we see our brothers and sisters blessed. I really can’t watch “American Idol”. However, I caught part of a show the other day and Simon said something interesting. Folks would wait outside for their family member or friend to audition and when they are successful there is screaming and hugging and all sorts of carrying on. After one especially loud display after a person’s successful audition, Simon said that he couldn’t imagine being happy for someone he knew in the same way that we are all over the United States. I feel sorry for anyone so self absorbed that they are only happy when they succeed and I’m certainly happy that there are enough Americans around to rejoice with those who rejoice. It is revealing when we don’t rejoice with those who rejoice.

Romans 12:16-18
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be conceited. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

What a recipe for a healthy church fellowship! However, with recipes you can pick a different one each time you cook and these attitudes in Romans are not optional or elective. These verses are commands and not a menu for you to look over and consider for adoption. So as long as it involves only personal preferences and doesn’t depend on Scripture and the commands of God … your effort should be to live peaceably with all.

Please realize that you are never asked to compromise Scripture. Paul makes it abundantly clear that when the Gospel is involved it is time to stand up and hold fast to the truth. The general principle is that you only dig in your heels when it comes to the essentials of the Faith. Justification, atonement, sanctification, and the person and work of Christ as taught by Scripture do not depend on you and they are not negotiable.

Romans 12:19-21
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

These are some serious commands. God tells us to never avenge ourselves. That is hard because we always seek to avenge ourselves. The only time we don’t is when we didn’t get the opportunity. Once again we are, by nature, more concerned about what we can get away with than what we are commanded to stop doing. Keep in mind that the attacks that were facing the first century Christians were more serious than most Christians in our nation ever face. If you had a friend or family member martyred in the Roman arena then I think you’d find this command more challenging than when you suffer by being cut off in traffic or the victim of poor service at a restaurant.

If we are going to live like children of our Father then we need to respond to our enemy’s the way God responded to us while we were still His enemy. While we were sinners rebelling against God, He saved us. Most of us don’t even acknowledge that we have sinned when we fail to comply with the commands of this chapter and yet our Father loves us and cares for us. How dare we have a problem with Him telling us that we need to leave vengeance to him and to be kind to our enemy?

Romans 11:17 to 11:36

This week Paul continues to explain the way in which we have become the children of Abraham.

Romans 11:17-21
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

We have no place for thinking that any ethic group is superior or naturally more godly than those who are ethnic Jews. Romans chapter 3 should clear that up for us. We are supposed to stand in awe at the place we find ourselves. We are told to not be arrogant and yet we’ve historically had plenty of arrogance. We are told to stand in awe at the Amazing Grace poured out on us but while we sing Amazing Grace or actions and words seem to indicate we think we deserve Grace (yes that is an oxymoron). I’d urge you to prayerfully read over the Cambridge Declaration of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals (http://www.reformedreader.org/ccc/cdec.htm) because it addresses some of the errors that have crept into our denomination over the last little while in the larger history of the Church.

Romans 11:22-24
Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

Paul is writing to a mixed crowd of Jews and Gentiles and tells the Gentiles who are now part of the Body of Christ and therefore grafted in as offspring of Abraham to pay attention to how we became part of the Kingdom of God. We are told to note the severity toward those who have fallen (those who are Jewish and do not receive Christ) and the kindness toward us. Now as a people, we need to listen up. As a nation, we need to hear this. God is under no obligation to continue His work and blessing in our nation if we forget the salvation that is provided for us in Christ.

Romans 11:25-27
Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

The Church has certainly sinned in this way repeatedly over the last 2000 years. We are almost always wise in our own conceits thinking we are better in some way and that is why we are saved. God’s Grace saved you not because of your desirability (Romans 3:10-18) and not because you decided to be born again anymore than you decided to be born the first time. I know how it feels but we must acknowledge what God tells us about regeneration (John 6:44).

John 1:11-13
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

We need to bring only worship and awe to what God has done in our lives. A Christians new birth was not because of their genetics, nor of a will based in any person (yes even your mother or father), and you were not born of your own will (because it was corrupted to the core), but you were born of God’s will full of mercy and Grace.

Romans 11:28-32
As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

This is why we expect an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on those who are ethic Israel before the next coming of Christ. Remember that Romans Chapters 1:18 to 2:29 explain how we are all consigned or how we are all set together in disobedience. There is no difference among those who do not believe in Christ. No religion, no heritage, no relative goodness or badness, we are simply lost and apart from Christ.

Romans 11:33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Paul just starts to worship as we all should when God explains what He has done in our lives. Think about God’s omniscience with no limit to His knowledge. We really can’t fully understand His ways and we simply understand what He has been pleased to tell us. Relating to a transcendent being above and beyond time who sees the end from the beginning and yet is gracious to be immanent or in the moment with us so that we can have a relationship with Him.

The following list is a brief and probably inadequate list of the fight against God’s Sovereignty over the last 2000 years.

God is Sovereign in Salvation (as explained in Romans):
Augustine (354 – 430 AD), 2nd London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689 AD)

God is Less than Sovereign in Salvation (we are saved by our will but assisted by God):
Jacob Arminius; Arminians; Condemned by Synod of Dort (1618/19 AD)
Election by prescience (you are saved because you are better and God foresees that)
John Wesley (1707 – 1779 AD)

God is Much Less than Sovereign (God is not Transcendent):
If God knows the future then they argue falsely that they are not free
Open God Theology or Process Theology (Modern)

God is Not Sovereign in Salvation and There is No Original Sin:
Pelagius; Pelagians (354 – 420 AD)
Charles Finney (1792 – 1875 AD)

Romans 10:14 to 11:16

As we've mentioned before, while Romans 9 it one of the clearest teachings on election in Scripture, Romans 10 is one of the clearest teachings on our role in preaching as God sends us to the mission field.

Romans 10:14-15
But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

So (reversing the order since it is working back in time logically) as we pray for evangelism we pray that God would send (1) anointed preachers (2) and that the Holy Spirit would cause hearing (3), then believing (4), and then that is how you get to calling (5) on the name of the Lord.

Don’t miss the “send” in this verse. I think lots of times we stop at preaching and that is understandable because we get to do the preaching. However, the sending shouldn’t be lost in our rush to preach. The sending is a function of the Holy Spirit and the word is the word that makes up part of the name apostle. It is God who sends individuals as His emissaries. We support a missionary but it is implied that they are “called to the mission field” and that we simply confirm and support what God has done, and is doing, in their lives. Jesus made the point in Matthew 9:37-38 when He looked at the crowd and “Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Often we stop quoting and don’t get to the “therefore” and the command. The command is that we pray for God to send out laborers. However, here a different word is used for “send” and it has an element of driving out or leading out of the laborers. Therefore, we are commanded to pray that God would forcefully take His laborers into the harvest. So pray that way. I dare you.

Also, to repeat a point, notice that we are commanded to pray to make things different that they would be otherwise. So do not express a fatalistic view of salvation. The Biblical view is that we are called to pray that God would forcefully send laborers into the harvest and send preachers as His representatives to share the Gospel. We make it fitting and right for mercy to flow in revival when we obey His command. If you want to surprise God then you’re not going to be happy but He commands that you work together with Him. While He is transcendent the sad fact is that you are not transcendent most of the time with our feeble minds we are barely immanent. This is your life and you are making decisions regarding your obedience to the His Word.

Isaiah had a tough assignment when it came to preaching to Israel. God told him that things would not go well as he shared God’s word with them.

Romans 10:16-21
But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.” Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

I may not like being called a foolish nation or no nation but I can live with that now that I’m part of the Body of Christ. We found Him when we didn’t seek Him. Remember that we found in Romans 3:10-18 that our condition apart from God was without hope. We were lost, He showed Himself to us and we didn’t ask for Him. Historically, I think the early Church in Egypt and in Rome was an obvious fulfillment of this Scripture. In particular, the origin of such a large number of Christians in Egypt in the first couple of centuries is odd but God did it and I’m sure that it caused jealousy and anger in Jerusalem.

The following Scriptures give us a good and balanced view of how we related to Abraham and the all those Old Testament heroes of the faith.

Romans 11:1-6
I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept
for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

The first point that Paul makes is that God has not rejected those who are physical descendents of Abraham because He has kept a remnant, chosen by grace, as heirs of Salvation. Paul uses himself as an example and many of those we study in Acts were ethnically Jewish and saved by the Grace of God. The incorporation of those who were not ethically Jews into the Body of Christ was a big deal for those who were ethnically Jewish. Think of poor Peter. He went round and round on the topic. So God kept a remnant in the Body of Christ by His grace. Especially today when we have had such a mobile population we would have a difficult time determining the portion of the Body of Christ that is ethnically Jewish.

Romans 11:7-10
What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”
And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.”

Except for the elect within Israel of Paul’s day, a hardening occurred. God is under no obligation to coddle us when we, by nature, resist the Holy Spirit. So God, particularly in Paul’s day, was not moving within ethic Israel. Gentiles were being raked into the Kingdom but ethic Jews were not. Once again God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. Grace and mercy can’t be required of God or they would not be Grace and Mercy.

Romans 11:11-16
So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!
Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

So the stumbling of ethic Israel was not without a good consequence. The rejection of salvation brought riches for the world as the Grace of God moved out into the Gentiles. This was/is the manifestation of Jesus’ parable about the wedding guests. We are still living out this parable (Matthew 22:1-14).

The Parable of the Wedding Feast (Matthew 22:1-14)
And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

God has called us to the wedding feast as those originally called rejected the Groom. We are clothed in wedding garments provided for us by the Grace of God. So we look for a time at which God will poor out His Grace on ethnic Israel. We need to seek God for our own nation while we can. The historic animosity felt toward the Jews is satanic and misinformed. What is plain to us is plain to us by the Grace of God. Consider the celebration of Passover that testifies so clearly of Christ that many Christians celebrate it as a worship service. Grace has given life to believers both ethnically Jewish and ethnically gentile who are now the offspring of Abraham.

Romans 10:1 to 10:13

Remember to keep asking, “Why is God telling me these things?”
There are some things that we want to keep in mind.

1) God can know the future actions of a free moral agent (by definition of omniscience).
2) God knows all contingencies but He knows nothing contingently (by definition of omniscience).

Don't forget that omniscience and omnipotence are necessary attributes of God. God, in order to be God, has these as part of His nature. If you want a God that you can surprise then you don’t understand the term “God”. In His mercy and grace He interacts with us as we live in time but He is not limited in that way with the exception of the human nature of Jesus (Emmanuel) who is fully God and fully man without mixture, confusion, separation, or division.

3) Our future is known by God but not fixed from our point of view since we are in the moment (it is fragile).
4) We can pray and/or act in a way that changes the way things would otherwise be.
5) God (in His Grace) will even show mercy and change what He would otherwise do in response to our cries for mercy.

Matthew 7:7-11
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Jesus wasn’t misinformed or trying to mislead us. This verse if from the Sermon on the Mount and a careful reading will show you that He was speaking to His disciples when he gave the sermon. Another comfort I have in God’s transcendence is that He will not give me a stone or serpent if I ask for one in my ignorance. As a disciple of Jesus you are commanded to ask, seek, and knock and it will be fitting for your Father to respond to your requests. Remember the father’s response to the “non-prodigal” son in the parable of the prodigal son? When the “non-prodigal” whined to his father about the blessing of the prodigal the father said that he could have asked for blessing at anytime and he would have given it. It is right and just for the Father to respond in blessing to His children as they ask for what they need.

6) You must not think in deterministic or fatalistic ways (it is sin).

Luke 18:1-8
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? , Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

If you give up on your ability to change the way things will be and lose heart then when the Son of Man comes He will not be looking at faith. The future is not fixed but God is Sovereign over it. The enemy of your soul wants to surrender to determinism and fatalism.

7) God told us these things about election so that;
a. we would understand how deep our fall was (salvation is not a random process),
b. how great was His mercy toward us (salvation is not a random process),
c. we can trust Him to keep us (salvation is not a random process), and
d. we can minister in His power and see results (salvation is not a random process).

The message with regard to the means of your salvation is to be a blessing. Arguably the greatest Baptist evangelist that has lived was Charles Spurgeon (1834 - 1892). He was known as the “Prince of Preachers” and these things motivated him to excellence in preaching and evangelism. There were 14,692 baptized during the approximately 35 years of his pastorate at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. That was without tapes, CDs, DVDs, or even amplification he averaged 35 baptisms a week. But the reason why people still love to read him is because he had such a fidelity to the Word. He taught meat to his congregation for 35 years.

“How shall those who are the subjects of divine election sufficiently adore the grace of God? They have no room for boasting, for sovereignty most effectually excludes it. The Lord’s will alone is glorified, and the very notion of human merit is cast out to everlasting contempt. There is no more humbling doctrine in Scripture than that of election, none more promotive of gratitude, and, consequently, none more sanctifying. Believers should not be afraid of it, but adoringly rejoice in it.” – Charles Spurgeon

"If the Lord sent me to preach the gospel to the devil himself, I should believe that God was able to convert even him. I know that he never will do so; but if there be any man who is as bad as the devil, and the gospel is sent to him, I shall never despair of the possibility of that man being reclaimed, and made to stand among the redeemed at the last.” – Charles Spurgeon

Amen. Soli Deo Gloria.
Paul continues to discuss his “kinsmen after the flesh” in Chapter 10.

Romans 10:1-4
Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

A commitment to establishing our own righteousness in our own strength is poison to real spiritual growth. Only God by His Grace can break through when we start building these walls. Our sin nature loves the feeling that God owes us something. It is a strong drug. We begin to judge our actions as deserving of God’s reward instead of depending on Christ’s righteousness. On the other hand we also begin to think that God should pass over our sins and disobedience because of some action that, in our mind, makes up for our failure. The Cross alone brings forgiveness and righteousness.

Romans 10:5-8
For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) or “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);

Our righteousness is based on faith and doesn’t ask who has been good enough to get into heaven thereby neglecting the righteousness imputed to us because of the excellencies of Christ (to bring Christ down). In addition or righteousness based on faith doesn’t ask who has been bad enough to be sent to hell neglecting the necessary forgiveness required for our own sin and the penalty paid by Christ on the Cross that only He could pay (to bring Christ up from the dead). But as we minister, the word is near those to whom we share and as we share in the power of Christ … people respond to the word of faith.

We are to have tremendous confidence and freedom when we are involved in evangelism because of the promises of God. We realize that evangelism is not dependant on some sort of a sales process but is rather our participation with the Holy Spirit in God’s activity.

Romans 10:9-13
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

God is active in salvation for all those who confess and call on the Lord. Remember that calling Him Lord has content and consequences. It is important to remember that God doesn’t place barriers and on the contrary He saves those upon whose hearts He moves. We don’t trust in ourselves do we? If you thought that we were responsible for keeping ourselves in the Body of Christ can you imagine what nonsense “with the mouth one confesses and is saved” or “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” would be. If we kept ourselves in the Body of Christ what comfort or assurance would our confession or calling on God be? Our current position would be no assurance or comfort at all. This would just be some dry piece of Scripture that meant nothing to us. Instead we know that God is promising as He promised in Romans 8 that He is the one who keeps us in the Body of Christ and I don’t wake up every morning wondering if today is the day that I’ll lose my salvation. What kind of a salvation would it be if God only paid for my sins up through 2007?

Exposition of 2 Peter 3:9

What about 2 Peter 3:9?
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (ESV)

Or

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (NIV)


The ESV translates the word “wishing” while the NIV translates it “wanting” but the bottom line is the same. If God is not willing or wishing that any should perish then why would Scripture also teach that Jacob was elect from before birth and Esau was not (Romans 9:13)?

First of all we need to understand that an expression of God’s will (and even a man’s will) needs to be viewed in three categories. There is the will expressed in an enforced decree (decretive), the will expressed in a prescription or rule (prescriptive), and the will expressed in a disposition or attitude.

God’s decretive will or His will expressed in a decree will can’t be resisted and will be accomplished. When He speaks forth His decree it is going to happen. A biblical example of God’s will expressed in a decree can be found in the book of Daniel. You probably remember the “Handwriting on the Wall” and this has even entered into popular language to indicate that something is decided already and can’t be stopped from occurring.

Daniel 5:24-28
“Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

God’s prescriptive will is His intent for our behavior expressed in commands that we need to obey. Disobedience brings consequences but obedience is not compelled. The 10 Commandments are excellent examples of God’s expression of His will in a prescriptive manner. He says, “thou shalt not” and yet we do what He told us not to do and then we eventually reap the wages of sin.

His will of disposition is what we would think of as wishing or expressing an opinion. For example, God tells Ezekiel to tell Israel that “As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11). So God does not find pleasure in the death (will of disposition) of the wicked and continually stresses that men are making real decisions and yet they persistently stand against the voice of God calling for repentance (prescriptive will).

So we have decretive will or will of decree, prescriptive will or commands, and then God’s will of disposition.

Certainly many have looked at 2 Peter 3:9 and said that it was simply an expression of God’s will of disposition. In fact, the ESV even translates it as “wishes” leaving the interpretation a bit ambiguous. However, the meaning seems a little odd if God is omniscient since He wouldn't need to wait to see if anyone was going to get saved. Besides, there are other scriptures using wish to mean a will of disposition. For example, Matthew 7:12 quotes Jesus saying “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” So the “Golden Rule” uses wish in the way we use use wish to mean a disposition or desire.

The problem with assigning God’s will of disposition to 2 Peter 3:9 is that it uses the wrong word. It is a purposeful wanting in 2 Peter 3:9 and not the wishing of Matthew 7:12. The verse found in 2 Peter 3:9 is not a prescriptive expression of God's will from either context or simple reading of the text. Consequently the most straightforward reading of the Scripture is found by reading the verse as God expressing His will in the decretive sense. So if we read in that way God decrees that He is unwilling (will not let) any perish. Well then suddenly the context is critical (as it always is and we should make sure that we never forget that). Who is “any of you”? If God decrees that He is unwilling to let "any of you" perish and "any of you" is everyone then we wind up finding support for universalism and presto we become heretics.

Scripture always fits together but we often insert ourselves out of context and then work from the middle outward. Remember when we looked at Hebrews how we wished we knew for sure who the epistle was written to so that it would aid our understanding of the Scriptures? Well we know who Peter was written to because it is specified in the first 2 verses of the epistle.

2 Peter 1:1-2
Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Therefore, the epistle is written to the Church and not to the world at large. The “any of you” are the called and elect (see verse 10). The “any of you” is you if you are a believer! You sitting in class or reading this Scripture now, if you are a Christian are the “any of you”. The context of the verse is an explanation of the delay in the second coming of Christ and Scripture tells us that God is delaying because He is not willing that any of the called and elect would perish. This verse is entirely consistent with Chapter 9 of Romans and in no way conflicts. In fact Peter is confirming that God is aware of those He will call and will not return in judgement until He finishes because He will not let any of His elect perish just as Jesus promised (John 6:35-44; John 17:12)

The struggle that we have in understanding how God made us alive when we were dead in our trespasses and sins is natural. It is also natural that we struggle to understand how God in His transcendence relates to His creation. Paul does a detailed explanation in Romans and it is OK that we take time to digest and understand all that God wants to explain to us and then leave the rest in God’s hand. Peter says in this epistle;

2 Peter 3:15-18
And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Romans 9:1 to 9:33

From the mountain top of praise for salvation in Chapter 8 Paul now looks back in sorrow for those who are by birth (but not the new birth) the children of Israel.

Romans 9:1-5
I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

You can feel Paul’s sorrow here. He has the security of God’s move in his life and he knows that those who God has saved will never fall. However, Paul also realizes that many individual members of a people chosen by God would not respond to the covenants, law, worship, and promises any better than Paul did before God’s intervention. According to the flesh or simple genetics they have the patriarchs and of course Jesus. Notice that Paul praises God for what He did in the lives of his “kinsmen according to the flesh”. Likewise, we need to praise God for His gracious ministry to the Israelites and praise Him for the Grace of His work in our lives. Our attitude toward those who are Israelites according to the flesh should be one of humility since we understand the Grace in which we stand is not based on our brains and skills but rather on the gracious move of God’s Holy Spirit. In the following Scriptures Paul tries to drive home that our position in Christ is one of Grace.

Romans 9:6-13
But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call— she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Paul still experiences anguish and sorrow over those who make up his culture but he realizes that the children that are God’s are the children of promise and not those according to the flesh. To drive home the point Paul points out that it has never been simply that the children of the Patriarchs were the elect. God has always kept the children of promise and allowed those that were not of the promise to continue according to their own will and inclination. Think about Esau and Jacob. Here the doctrine of unconditional election is lived out in the lives of two guys that really were both flakes. Esau and Jacob were both, at least arguably, jerks. You wouldn’t elect either one of them conditionally (based on their natures or works). They were as bad as us and frankly most guys would rather hang out with Esau than Jacob. God had to work and work pouring out Grace in Jacob’s life. God in His mercy and grace chose Jacob before his birth and not because of anything he had done or was going to do that God was going to need. You can’t say that God is unjust because He showed mercy and compassion to Jacob and didn’t show mercy and compassion to Esau. Justice would condemn both of them. Mercy by definition can’t be required of the one showing mercy or it isn’t mercy. I think this is a key point in understanding Grace. An act of mercy can not be required; not now, not ever, never. Mercy can’t be the “fitting” or “just” thing to do. If Mercy is fitting then it is justice and not mercy. We never want to argue with God asking for justice. I want mercy and Grace. In our hearts, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” is a hard Scripture to deal with. The “Jacob have I loved” is easy for us to pass over as an acceptable portion. Why? Because we figure our sin natures should be no problem since they are so natural to us. Of course it is OK for God to love Jacob but we stagger at “Esau have I hated”. We are not really amazed by Grace are we? We think God owes us Grace as oxymoronic or maybe just moronic as that is. Esau got justice while Jacob got mercy. Which do you want?

Romans 9:14-18
What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

You can pray for God to have mercy and compassion on others and God may hear; however, you have no leg to stand on if you start to thing that God is unjust in dispensing mercy and compassion. If you do then please stop singing “Amazing Grace, that saved a wretch like me” and start singing “Reasonable Grace, that saved a guy with a few problems but otherwise was a pretty good guy”.

God will use a wicked man according to his wicked nature to accomplish God’s good will. God knew specifically what would harden Pharaoh’s heart and used him to accomplish His will. Events hardened Pharaoh and God used that. He didn’t need to “do violence” to Pharaoh’s heart to harden it. We need to remember what God previously told us about mankind’s lack of inclination toward God or we’ll make the error or thinking that Pharaoh was some basically nice guy who God had to corrupt. God doesn’t corrupt us we are already radically corrupt or, in other words, corrupt to the core. It is too late for God to do that. We did it to ourselves.

Now Paul is aware that since God is sovereign and it is He that has made us and that we have not made ourselves. So since God has revealed the depth of our sin nature we can just claim that we should not be subject to judgment because we are sinners by nature. Listen to what Paul says about that.

Romans 9:19-29
You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? As indeed he says in Hosea,
“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’” “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ” And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.”

To argue that you are not subject to judgment based on this revelation would be the same as a pedophile arguing that they can’t be found guilty because they are pedophiles by nature. An unsaved person who tries to argue that God can’t find them guilty because they willingly choose to sin is in error. We always choose according to our strongest inclination at the moment. We are liable for our sins because we make bad choices and choose to sin. God has revealed that in His mercy He changes our heart (regenerates) and we choose Him. We make morally valid choices in either case.

We are called “my people” and “beloved” because of the will of God. He has made us “Vessels of Mercy” and called us and made us the Body of Christ.

Romans 9:30-33
What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “ Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Here is the summary. You guys (who did not pursue righteousness) because of God’s work in your life, have a righteousness attained by faith while most of those who are Israel according to the flesh stumbled on a stone laid by God for stumbling.

Exposition of Hebrews 6:4-6

Well I hope that everyone realizes that if they find a hard Scripture that they want dealt with in class that they can ask, email, blog, or call me and give it to me to deal with. I might want time to pray and think before I answer but I’ll give you the best answer I can come up with. You are not likely to have any question that is younger than 500 to 2 thousand years old anyway.

Along those lines … I’d like to deal with some verses in Hebrews that, at first glance, may seem to be contrary to the doctrine of the Preservation of the Saints. I want you to have the Helmet of Salvation on and well fitted to protect your mind from the enemy of your soul.

First, we always need to remember to interpret Scripture with Scripture. It is a unified whole written by divine inspiration and not with men as mechanical holy typewriters used by God but with men inspired and God writing through them in history with their style and person in the process. That is why we like to know why a book was written. What occasioned the writing of the book? This is especially important in the Epistles and that is because it gives context. And why do we want context? It is because a text without a context is a pretext. In other words if you are out of context then you are spinning the use of a Scripture to support a point that may or may not be valid but in either case the Scripture isn’t appropriate for your point.

Hebrews is a little hard in this respect because the Early Church was convinced that Paul wrote the book but modern scholars wonder and nobody is sure who the letter was written to or what caused it to be written. So we are left to listen carefully to what the author is saying.

The verse that you’ll sometimes hear from someone who is convinced that “eternal security” isn’t eternally secure is Hebrews 6:4.

Hebrews 6:4-6
For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they then fall away, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

So that verse can be taken to infer that someone can fall away and lose their salvation. So you could decide that in John 17 when Jesus said that He had not lost any that the Father had given to Him that He was wrong or meant almost none. Well that can’t be right can it?

The solution that many have sought in this verse is to argue that the person that might fall into this category isn’t really saved. They saw some light, tasted some good stuff, shared a little in the blessings and then bailed out. I’ve had some friends and acquaintances that would fall into a category like that and Scripture does indicate that Tares (the Unsaved) will grow in with the Wheat (the Saved) until Judgment Day.

I like simple explanations when possible because we don’t want to twist stuff around and the fancier we get the more likely we are to make a mistake. This verse says “repentance” and says that they have shared in the Holy Spirit. It really seems that it is talking about a saved person and not a person that was just looking for the benefits of Christianity without the Lordship of Christ. In particular I see “restore again to repentance” as restoring salvation. So if that is the case then how does this fit?

We have to back up to context here. We don’t know who the author was really writing to for sure so what do we infer from the text? Hebrews begins with a discourse on the glory of Christ as our Priest. He is viewed in His glory as finished with his provision of purification for our sins (Hebrews 1:3-4). Then some warnings and corrections begin to be found in the text as the Glorified Christ is praised and lots of Scripture is quoted. I’ll list the warnings.

Hebrews 2:1
We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

Hebrews 3:12
See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

Hebrews 4:1
Therefore, since the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.

Hebrews 4:11
Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

Hebrews 4:14
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

It really sounds like they were rejecting the rest or position that God has provided for us on the Cross and beginning to develop some distorted gospel (which is no Gospel). The author was talking to the believers (Brothers) but their local church was in danger of forgetting the Gospel.

Then the author hits them between the eyes …

Hebrews 5:11-14
About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

So you have some brothers here who barely understand the Gospel. They are in need of the first principles of the Gospel and you have to assume they are teaching and practicing doctrinal error. Based on the warnings they must have a limited view of Jesus and the atonement and are not entering into the rest that Christ has provided n our justification.

Hebrews 6:1-8
Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they then fall away, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

So they have been returning again and again to repentance, apparently with multiple versions of baptism (here translated washings), with repeated laying on of hands (presumably for the Holy Spirit), and they apparently a problem with the doctrine of our resurrection and of the judgment throne. The author acknowledges that the Holy Spirit is needed for us to grow but it is something we must do. Then the author points out the obvious. That you can’t get saved, lose your salvation, and get saved. These guys were apparently teaching this. They were apparently stuck in some sort of multiple salvation process. Stuck at repentance over and over and forgetting our Great High Priest and his atonement for us once for all. Instead they were teaching that you got saved, lost it, got it, etc. The author wasn’t trying to say that if you lost your salvation you couldn’t get it back. He said what he said to correct an error. He was teaching that it doesn’t even make sense. How can you have all your sins past, present, and future atoned for, then lose this (how can that be?), and then have another atonement? Well you can’t. It takes a contemptible view of the Cross to make that work in which partial and progressive atonement would be possible. The author isn’t arguing for eternal insecurity but on the contrary he is saying it isn’t even a rational position and they need to stop teaching that your salvation comes and goes. If they keep teaching false doctrine then the author is afraid that they are not part of the Church but rather thorns and thistles.

Hebrews 6:9-12
Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

“Though we speak in this way” refers to both the strong rebuke as well as showing that their doctrine was foolishness and that they had forgotten the surpassing worth of the sacrifice of Jesus. Note that the authors says that they are really sure of better things and things “that belong to salvation” and by implication that they are saved eternally and may have the full assurance of hope until the end. And what does it mean to inherit the promises?

Hebrews 6:13-20
For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of is purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

So if you wondered about the view of the author on Eternal Security here it is. Eternal security taught by the author! The “unchangeable character of His purpose” is so glorious for us. How can we get stuck on a verse that is simply pointing out how dumb it is to think that a salvation based on our High Priest could ever come and go and then ignore the verses that follow? God wanted an oath to assure us in our weakness so He swore by Himself that He was going to accomplish this thing for us. We are the Children of Abraham. We have a sure refuge and our souls have an anchor back behind the curtain in the Holy of Holies.

So Hebrews 6:4-6 does not teach that you can lose your salvation. The verse teaches that it is foolish to think that salvation can come and go. This portion of Scripture teaches eternal security and rebukes recipients for a weak view of the Cross and an immature understanding of justification.

Romans 8:9 to 8:39

Romans 8:9-11
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Christians are not in the flesh but on the contrary we are free from it. “Carnal Christian” is an oxymoron. Scripture says there will be tares in among the wheat but the tares are not “Carnal Wheat” because they are not wheat. Paul makes it clear that someone who is saved is not in the flesh any longer. You can’t be in the flesh and saved and your body is being given life in a new way by the power of the Holy Spirit who now lives in you. So you can’t be like you were before. You are saved by faith alone but not by a faith that is alone. Does that make sense to you? A living faith necessarily produces works. You are not saved by works. They contribute absolutely no merit toward your right standing before God. But don’t ever forget that faith without works is dead and you are saved by a living faith that gives life and leads you to act out your faith. So you judge yourself. The Church has a discipline responsibility for those within the Church but we can’t see hearts and tell is someone is in the Spirit or in the Flesh. We look for fruit and hope for fruit in ourselves and others but when it comes to salvation you obey Scripture and:
“make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pe 1:5).”

When we see someone in persistent sin who claims to be a Christian we are either looking at a child headed for discipline or a person who never possessed saving faith. We can’t tell. The longer they run without correction from God the more likely they were never saved but we can’t tell and we don’t really need to. We are required to address the sin and remove it from the Church for the health of the Church. We can’t act like a brother’s sin doesn’t matter to us in our walk with God because it does but we need to treat the person with dignity and concern.

Romans 8:12-17
So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Our lifestyle must change as we yield to the Holy Spirit. The struggle we find in our flesh is a spiritual struggle as we learn to let the Holy Spirit dominate and rule in our lives. It strikes me as odd that almost every departure I’ve heard of from the Gospel taught in the New Testament so clearly in Romans involves a move into a spirit of slavery and fear in order to control human behavior. But we are now children of God and we have that new birth in our hearts that connects us to God by means of the Holy Spirit and we inherit all that God has for us as we enter the struggle to obey and live before God in our Sanctification. When we as obedient children pray the Lord’s Prayer and say, “Our Father, who art in heaven” then it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we pray “Our Father” in humility and thankfulness.

Romans 8:18-25
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

We really need to guard our hearts against whining about the struggle to put to death the sin nature that we find within us. As Christians we struggle in our lives (as Chapter 7 makes clear) to live according to the Spirit and to stop living according to the flesh. We need to realize that if we make a realistic contrast of the struggles we have in this life with what will be ours someday we really should certainly be able to patiently run the race we find ourselves in. In some sense, all of creation is waiting for us to be revealed (as God intends us to be and His intent will be accomplished) and we also groan inwardly until the redemption of our bodies is complete. We sometimes lose sight of the hope that we had when we were saved. God has promised to complete the work that He began in us and that is our hope. Once again we don’t want to leave our minds in the struggle described in Romans Chapter 7 without moving on to the tremendous blessings and promises of Chapter 8.

Romans 8:26-30
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Most of us will admit that on occasion we are hard pressed to put up with our own failure in spiritual things. God knows our weakness and the Holy Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God. One of the beautiful aspects of these verses is the unity of the Trinity in our threefold salvation. The Holy Spirit is interceding (so that we may be saved day by day); God the Father working everything according to His purpose (so that we may be saved someday and live in Glory), and the Son who died for us that He might be the firstborn among many brothers (so that we are saved and justified by His work on the Cross). Then we have a golden chain of predestination, calling, justification, and glorification and that chain forged by God isn’t subject to breaking or even modification by anything or anyone. It is most certainly not subject to modification by the accuser who is the enemy of my soul.

Romans 8:31-34
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

What can we say about these things? If we meditate on our salvation and get rational about our situation we should naturally have a great assurance of salvation. Romans Chapter 8 starts with the statement “There is therefore now no condemnation” and we see clearly why there is none. It is because God who could justly accuse us has justified us. Christ could condemn us but He is at the right hand of God interceding for us. I think these verses are one of the main reasons I love this chapter. There is such finality with regard to my justification here. I can rest in my relationship with God and not fear losing it. It is also why all I can do is shake my head in disbelief at an organization that would teach that a sin might kill the grace in me and then I’d need to go earn merit to get right with God again. There is nothing about a salvation that comes and goes in this Gospel. The Gospel is all about God’s ability and not about my ability. I was saved, I’m being saved, and I’ll be saved in Heaven someday. In each case it is God who saved me, is keeping me saved, and who will raise me up in the last days. It is all God and not me. The evangelicals who abandon the P in TULIP as a means to scare people into holiness are in error. I can understand that as a man who is acquainted with sin I can understand why you might think that you could manipulate human behavior with fear of losing salvation. Many don’t even stress the glory of this doctrine because they think it might result in more sin. So would you assume that God would thank you for altering the Gospel to do him a favor? As Paul says to the Galatians, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:6-9)

Romans 8:35-39
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“ For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things
present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ
Jesus our Lord.

Here is a wonderful and beautiful affirmation the doctrine known as the “preservation of the saints”, “perseverance of the saints”, “eternal security”, and “once saved always saved.” God tells us this so that we will know that we are His and kept by Him. This causes an attitude of worship in my heart. It is a source of awe at God’s patience and sovereign Grace in my life.

I think some reject this doctrine out of fear. You can’t reject the Gospel because it is too good. And I’ve also seen those who were supposed to reject the doctrine of the preservation of the saints (because of denominational affiliation) cling to this doctrine in times of trial.

Considering the basis of the “love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” we have to praise God along with Paul and leave the question as a purely rhetorical question with the obvious answer that, with all the glory going to God, I’m sitting in the palm of God’s hand and nothing can remove me from that place.