General Articles

Romans 15 :: By Sean Gooding

Published on: by RR10

Last week we looked at the importance of those that are stronger in our local churches not allowing preferences to come between us as a family. Once again, this is not an issue of doctrine but of personal preferences, even to things like smoking, alcohol consumption, and other things like eating meat and the like. Personal freedoms are not a sign of maturity; it is the way that we use or mis-use these freedoms that make the difference.

Verse 1-6: We are to lead the way if we are strong. Each of us is to take responsibility for a neighbor. We are to be actively edifying each other, building each other up. Too many spend their spiritual lives looking down their noses at others and simply tearing them down. The only way that they can feel good about themselves is to tear someone else down, and we get this idea that if you don’t serve God like me, then you are not saved, or at least you may be saved, but you are not a mature one. This is crazy. Jesus, we are told in Psalm 69:9, bore our sins, bore our shame, and bore the wrath that we deserved. All that we do, we should do to glorify God, and if we do so faithfully, we will also build each other up.

Paul then springboards to let these Jewish believers know that the Gospel is for everyone, Gentiles included. The Jews in Rome needed to know that the Gospel was not just for them but for the Gentiles as well.

Verses 9-13, Paul lays out that the Gentiles are going to serve God as well, and he did it using Old Testament verses so that there were no disputes. Yes, the Old Testament told of the Gentiles and that the Messiah would reign over them as well and that they would worship Him.

I work in the car business, and I learned a while ago that Volvo invented the 3-point seat belt and that this was such an important discovery that they gave it to the other manufacturers for free. We should have the same mindset about the Gospel; it is so important that all need to get it for free. I am sure that these few Christian Jews in the Middle East could probably not envision a day when the new churches that they were seeing birthed would be populated almost entirely by Gentiles. But here we are 2,000 years later, and now the Gentiles are sending missionaries back to the Jews.

Verses 14-21: Paul was a pioneer of missions. He went to Rome, hoped to go to Spain, and we know that he was very active in Macedonia and other Greek cities. Paul set the idea of traveling in groups; he often had a large entourage with him. He worked secular jobs when needed, sacrificed his own needs, and built church after church all across Europe. Paul made time to write reports, to return and report to the church in Jerusalem, and made home wherever God placed him; he could fit in anywhere. He was always looking for a way to share the Gospel.

Is your church active in mission work? Are you financially supporting missionaries? Do they visit your church and share what God is doing worldwide? We could learn a lot here. Are we always on the lookout to share the Gospel; do we have a Gospel radar working all the time? Never forget that it is a privilege to be able to share the Gospel.

Verse 25-29: Don’t forget where the Gospel came from. Salvation is of the Jews. Jesus is a Jew, the apostles were all Jews, the Patriarchs are Jews, and Jesus is coming back to rule from Jerusalem. On and on we can go, but the truth is the same. Our salvation, the one that we Gentiles cling to, is a Jewish one, with a Jewish Messiah and a Jewish Savior, and we are never to forget where it all came from. Pray for Israel, pray for her peace, and that the blind Jews will have their eyes opened before it is too late and that they will see Jesus the Messiah; that they would repent, see Him as the One, and trust in His death, burial, and resurrection.

seangooding@yahoo.ca

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario

 

Knowing God: He is a Just Judge :: By Angela Scohy

Published on: by RR10

A few years ago, after coming across several Christians in a row who didn’t believe in the rapture, it came to me to jot down a few reasons why someone should be confident that we will be delivered (to have a quick answer on hand). The more I looked, those notes became hundreds of pages of reasons and places in the Word where the theme of His protection and deliverance is revealed.

Around the same time that I began to write them down, I came across the verses in Genesis 18:23-25, where Abraham was speaking to God after he had been told that God was going to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness. Even though I’d read this passage several times before, this time I very clearly heard Abraham’s conviction through his words:

“Then Abraham approached Him and said: ‘Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?… Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?’”

The moment I read that, I knew with all of my heart that God would never leave us here for the tribulation, simply based on who He is: The Just Judge.

Four points to consider:

>Those who have repented (yes, we must truly repent! Acts 3:19), received, and believed in the name of Jesus Christ, and been baptized by His Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13), have eternal salvation forever. We’ve been cleansed from all of our sins and justified through the blood Jesus shed on the cross when He redeemed us from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13).

>The tribulation is for those who have refused to believe Him. This is written clearly in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, which says the lawless one comes against those who are perishing: “They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” V.12 says, “so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth, but have delighted in wickedness.”  For the ones who refuse His salvation, they’re still in their sins, where the ground has produced thorns and thistles due to the curse (see Isaiah 24:6 and Deuteronomy 28:15-19).

>“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). To leave those who are in Jesus on Earth for that time would be putting someone going through terror, torment, destruction, and death for a crime which there is absolutely no record of them ever doing. And God is Love – He keeps no record of wrongs when He forgives us.

>It also wouldn’t be just for Jesus Himself: Our precious Savior gave His life to redeem us from the curse and save us from our sins. He took the punishment for us, shedding His own blood as a sacrifice. He already paid that very high price. He won’t crucify Himself (His body) all over again.

The Hebrew words translated for righteousness are also defined as “justice” (Strong’s H6664,5,&6), so they’re intertwined with one another. Therefore, if we’re righteous, we’re just, which is the foundation of His throne:

Psalm 89:14 “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face.”

            Isaiah 61:8 “I, the LORD, love justice.”

Isaiah 28:17 “So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place.’”

Psalms 37:28 “For the Lord loves justice, and does not forsake His saints; They are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off.”

Nahum 1:3 “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked.”

The Word points out many times that those who are God’s are just. We’re told Job was just, in Job 34:12 – “Surely God will never do wickedly, nor will the Almighty pervert justice.” We hear King Solomon was blessed greatly because He asked God to teach him about justice. Even the man on the cross next to Jesus was just, who said to the other thief, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:40-42). He made a strong confession of faith: he feared God, knew he was a sinner, knew that Jesus did not deserve death, and asked that Jesus “remember him.” Those are very specific and key words.

God takes justice so seriously that He requires it from His people.

Micah 6:8 “He has told you, mortal one, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

If we sow His Words, which are justice, righteousness, and eternal life, we’ll reap the fruit of it abundantly. To some of us, this is a promise of great benefit; to others who don’t sow these words, it is a warning. Those who have understanding of the Holy Spirit listen and hear Him:

Job 34:8-12 “Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding: Far be it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to commit iniquity. For He repays man according to his work, and makes man to find a reward according to his way. Surely God will never do wickedly, nor will the Almighty pervert justice.”

Jeremiah 17:10 “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”

Eternal life means life forever, and we abound in joy, but the tribulation is where death abounds. We won’t be saved and filled with His Spirit, then be unsaved and given over to Satan, the sword, and tribulation, and then resaved. That wouldn’t make any sense. In addition, that would also be calling those – who God has already cleansed – unclean and unequally yoked.

Satan desires to take us captive and shake, condemn, and sift us like wheat; he wants to steal, kill, and destroy, which he’s unable to do if we’re clothed in the righteousness of our Savior, safely behind the veil of His flesh, as Jesus has told us. His word tells us He is our “Rock, fortress and deliverer; our God, our strength in whom we trust, our shield, horn of our salvation, and our stronghold” (Psalm 18:2). The word stronghold in Hebrew H4869 “misgab” literally means “High Tower,” an inaccessible, high place of refuge and safety.

If you haven’t had this confidence that He’s just and will deliver us to safety, I highly encourage you to believe and know without a doubt that He’ll never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).