June 11, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Leviticus 1-3

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

We just finished Revelation, which marks a major landmark in our Bible study; we have gone through the entire New Testament.  We will return to Romans and work our way though it, I hope to take my time on this study and learn as much as possible in this study. 

Romans is an interesting book, it is kind of a Gospel in retrospect, Paul was the last of the Apostles, becoming one after his conversion when he met Jesus on the road.  His learning about Jesus did not come from one on one discipleship from Jesus, it came from a careful searching of the scriptures and discipling from those who walked with Jesus.  Paul takes us and teaches us the basic truths that we need to know as Christians.  Of all the books in the New Testament, Romans is one which every believer should have a good working knowledge of. 

So much can be said for this book as a background, but I will abbreviate the introduction so that we can get on with the study.  Keep in mind as you read through Romans that Paul wrote this book looking forward to visiting the Roman churches.  He planned to visit Rome with its many churches in order to edify the churches that were planted there.  In his heart he was a Jew, and he was commissioned to reach out to the Gentiles by God.  He paints a picture for us of how Judaism and Gentile believers fit and work together to bring forth a balanced fellowship of believers.

Romans 1:1-7 (NASB95)
¹ Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, ² which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, ³ concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, ⁴ who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵ through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, ⁶ among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; ⁷ to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Galatians 1:1 (NASB95)
¹ Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead),

Galatians 2:7-9 (NASB95)
⁷ But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised ⁸ (for He who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles), ⁹ and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ^[1]

Paul was called as an Apostle by Christ Himself.  This introduction gives us his credentials as he begins to share the good news of the Gospel with his audience.  First consider that he was "set apart", this idea goes back to the Old Testament prophets who were set apart to carry God's message to the people of the Old Testament.  Paul inserts the idea that he was set apart to deliver this message just as the prophets of old were set apart. 

Exodus 21:2-6 (NASB95)
² “If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment. ³ “If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. ⁴ “If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out alone. ⁵ “But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’ ⁶ then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently. ^[2]

Paul considered himself to be a "bond-servant", which brings out the idea from the Old Testament that he has chosen to remain in service to the Lord out of love, not out of requirement.  Consider for a moment, Paul was trained as a Pharisee; he had religious credentials that would equal him to a modern day seminary trained preacher with a doctorate in theology.  Yet when he came to meet Christ Jesus, he found out that his theology was all screwed up since he was persecuting the Messiah that came to save his soul.  Paul had a complete change of mind; he went from fervently persecuting the church to being on fire and promoting the church of Christ regardless the cost to himself.  He went from being an intellectual who was in charge of his own life to being a slave of God by choice.

Paul introduces Jesus as one who was promised through the prophets that were set apart by God in the Old Testament.  In that way, he proclaimed the same message that was proclaimed beforehand, the message that he carried was the same one which was delivered as the Old Testament prophets looked forward to the coming of the Messiah.

John 2:18-22 (NASB95)
¹⁸ The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?” ¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰ The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But He was speaking of the temple of His body. ²² So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

Matthew 16:21 (NASB95)
²¹ From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. ^[3]

Paul came to speak to the world about Jesus Christ, and he goes right to the meat of the matter.  The thing that set Jesus apart from the other Old Testament prophets besides all the miracles and signs that He performed was that He rose from the dead.  This clarified that Jesus was the Messiah and was the strongest argument that Paul had to verify that Jesus was the promised Messiah. 

Look at the tremendous gifts that we received through Jesus, first we have the Holy Spirit, (the Spirit of holiness).  Paul verifies in verses 5-7 that the gentiles are called and set apart for this holiness as saints.  He makes it a point to ensure that the believers in Rome understand that they are set apart and have the same privileges as the Jews. 

Romans 1:8-10 (NASB95)
⁸ First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. ⁹ For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, ¹⁰ always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. ^[4]

Look at these verses and think about them.  Paul hits them with a shotgun blast here.  First he praises God for the way that God is working through them to reach out to the world.  Then he shares how that he is constantly in prayer over them, finishing with how that he wishes to visit with them.  The power that is evident in the Roman believers is because believers like Paul were bathing them in constant prayer.

To put this passage into shoe-leather, how many of us have considered ourselves to be set apart as slaves of God?  I doubt that many of us have fully surrendered our rights, our goals and our dreams so that God can live His life through us.  We claim to have done this, but when push comes to shove, not many have reached a point where we live in an attitude of prayer, not many have reached a point where we live with a passion to pass on the Gospel to the unbelieving world.  Today we live in a mission field, we don't have the problem that Paul did where God was considered to be a Jewish God.  We live with the problem that people have cheapened the relationship with God so much that it is not taken seriously.  We don't have to debate about which god is the true God, we debate with a world that is familiar with the Gospel, and familiar with the example that Christians have set.  It's time that we get fired up like Paul was, and determine to follow Christ becoming passionate about our message.

Father, as we consider Your word, open our eyes and build in us the passion that we so desperately need in our lives.

In Him,

Joe Turner.

June 12, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: 1 Kings 10-13

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Romans 1:11-12 (NASB95)
¹¹ For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; ¹² that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine. ^[1]

This verse demonstrates for us an example of fellowship of the believers.  Consider for a moment, Paul sought to impart a spiritual gift to them, but in return, he wanted to receive a spiritual gift from them.  It was not a situation where he was to be the teacher and they were to be the pupils, it was a situation where they both were on equal ground.  It was to be a time of sharing common blessings between them, building each others faith by sharing faith building and encouraging words.  How often do we really think about this?  True fellowship is not a situation where a teacher gets up and gives a talk, it is where a body of believers share hurts, dreams, and experiences of God's power in each of our lives.  It is a time where we build up other believers by sharing what God has done in our lives.  We don't think about this as a spiritual gift, yet that is what Paul calls it.  Paul could be speaking of a literal spiritual gift, but in the context that doesn't seem to be what he is speaking about here.  The word "established", could also be "strengthened" according to the NASB footnotes.  The give and take relationship between believers is a vehicle by which we give spiritual gifts to our brothers; it is in this way that we can grow together, sharing our personal experiences in order to build up others.

Romans 1:13-15 (NASB95)
¹³ I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. ¹⁴ I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. ¹⁵ So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. ^[2]

Paul established his goals and his dreams for the believers that he was writing.  His desire is that he will be able to travel to visit with them and to share and build fruit among them.  But he is also obligated by God to go to other Gentiles as well.  Verses 14-15 give a contrast between the wise and the foolish, giving us a picture of how that God has called him to preach to all the Gentiles and not just to the rich and important ones.  The idea of the Greeks and "barbarians" indicate that God called him to preach to the educated and the uneducated people in his society.  Note also that Paul covers all the bases by reaching out to the Romans, who were a mix of all gentile cultures of that day. 

Romans 1:16-17 (NASB95)
¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”^[3]

I am closing with these verses today.  Consider that Paul reached out to everyone equally.  God reached out to the Jew first, and notice, each person is allotted the same amount of faith by God.  His good news is that salvation is available to everyone regardless of class, creed or religion.  God's grace and God's saving power is available to every single person who wishes to draw from the power that God has already placed within our hearts.  Here is the wiggle that is hard to place a finger on with the predestination group, God places the faith in the heart and those who choose to act upon that faith can be saved if they draw from the power of God and act upon the faith.  Quite a mouthful for simply saying that God has called all men and has made it possible for all men to be saved, it is an individual decision.

The question each of us has to ask ourselves is if we are of the same attitude that Paul had?  Are we ashamed of the Gospel?  Do our lives reflect that we are witnesses for the Gospel, or are we silent participants in the church of God, doomed to spend eternity in heaven?  Often Christians look like they were weaned on pickles, it's time that we cheer up and share the great news that God has given each one of us.

Father as we consider Your love that You made available to each one of us, open our eyes in order that we can share Your word with those around us.  Let us be willing and active participants in sharing what You have done in our lives in order to strengthen believers and draw others to You.

In Him,

Joe Turner.

June 13, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Psalms 69-71

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

I hope that this finds many of you home and able to go to church this morning.  Yesterday, or rather late last night the study on the first few verses of this chapter focused intently upon the need for the fellowship of believers. 

Romans 1:17-23 (NASB95)
¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” ¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. ²¹ For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. ²² Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. ^[1]

In verse 17 we are told how that God called the righteous by faith.  Yet the contrast to that is that the ungodly stand against the wrath of God.  How is that?  Jesus said that either people are for Him or against Him, no in-between.  In this word, the Gospel is either accepted or rejected, upon rejection the people are typified by unrighteousness and a desire to suppress the truth. 

Think about that for a moment, we as people are passionate about what we do.  We are passionate about our toys, we are passionate about our goals and our desires, and we are passionate about our religious beliefs.  God made us that way.  God created us with passion, He created us with a burning desire to follow Him.  When that desire is turned aside from God it becomes a burning desire against God.  Not many people will go and actually preach for Satan, most will preach the benefits of being without God, focused upon the "good life". 

Jonah 4:9-11 (NASB95)
⁹ Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.” ¹⁰ Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. ¹¹ “Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”^[2]

God made it clear in each person from the beginning of creation until now that He is God.  Isn't that a tremendous truth?  How often have you heard the argument from both Christians and the world about the ignorant who have never heard about God in the jungles of wherever?  This passage clears up the question, God makes Himself known to every single man that has ever been created.  As a point of reference of this, consider the words of Jonah where God spoke about the heathen Assyrians that dwelt in the city of Nineveh.  Is there any evidence that they had heard or been taught about the one true God?  Most likely the people that were in that land had never heard of the Jewish God Jehovah.  Rather they were focused intently upon their false gods and required a message from God in order to be returned to the right path.  This is both a commendation for missionaries, and an amazing fact about God as to how that He will reach out to each man in the world.  He created them, He cares about them, and He reveals Himself to them. 

Psalm 8:1-4 (NASB95)
¹ O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens! ² From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength Because of Your adversaries, To make the enemy and the revengeful cease. ³ When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; ⁴ What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?

Psalm 19:1-6 (NASB95)
¹ The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. ² Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. ³ There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. ⁴ Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun, ⁵ Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; It rejoices as a strong man to run his course. ⁶ Its rising is from one end of the heavens, And its circuit to the other end of them; And there is nothing hidden from its heat. ^[3]

One thing that we must keep in mind is that God does not fit into a box.  He is able to do what He wishes regardless our rules and our perceptions concerning God.  He can reach out to those who don't know Him and have never heard of Him, and He will cause each person to account for the knowledge that they have had revealed to them. 

The unfortunate thing that Paul points out is that the people who turn from God don't give Him glory, rather they refuse to worship him and become fools as a result.  In ancient days they turned to the worship of animals and of other men.  In modern days we worship our jobs, our houses, our toys and our passions.  Modern man hasn't changed at all compared to the men of Paul's day, or the men of the Old Testament, we will worship something.  When we refuse to worship God, we change Him for inferior objects that have ultimately been made by God.  It's not a question of whether we are going to worship, it's a question of who or what we are going to worship.  The word for "honor" in verse 21 is the word which means "glorify", the idea of glorifying God is to worship God. 

To wrap up the study today, consider who you glorify or what you glorify.  What is it that you think about most of the time?  Is God the topic of your thoughts, or is the topic of your thoughts wrapped up in something else?  We don't consider that our passions are deceptive and drawing us away from God, but they do.  This passage today spoke of how God reached out to every man in the created world, and how men either accept the revelation or reject it.  Let each of us consider these words today.  Are we fools who chase after every other aspect in life, or are we focused upon the savior of our souls?  Remember, God has given us the faith to come to know Him, all we have to do is act upon it, after acting upon that revelation our lives will draw from the Power of God.

Father, I know that most involved in this study already know You, for those who don't I pray that You will open their hearts today so that they can come to know You.  For those of us who are believers but are still clinging to our old idols, free us from them and give us the power to draw from Your power.

In Him,

Joe Turner.

June 21, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Proverbs 5-6

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

To set the scene, consider the spiritual state of the Romans briefly.  Homosexuality was running crazy, sin was not the exception, the norm was that the sins in this chapter were a state of lifestyle in the Roman era.  Paul was not telling them about how to change from living in error, he was dictating to them an entirely new lifestyle which they had absolutely no familiarity with.  The Roman Christians had a very little idea of what God's standards for life was compared to the Jewish scriptures. 

Remember, the Bible was not compiled at that point, Paul had the Septuagint to draw from which was a compilation of the Old Testament scriptures, and other scrolls to draw from, but nothing to the extent that we have in the completed Old Testament.  When you read through Romans, try to remember that Paul was acting as a mentor to the Romans, gently revealing their lifestyles and comparing them to the Word of God. 

Today we have come full circle, although there is a lot of familiarity with the Bible there has been little done in the way of implementing the principles of the Bible into peoples lives.  People today place more stock in psychology and in the secular morals dictated by our television sets rather than leaning upon the Word of God.  The true shame is that when they are faced with the truth, the ways of the world are touted as being much more desirable than God's principles.  Although people do not worship idols outright today, they have abandoned the principles of God's word and adopted the principles of the pagans that were predominating in the Roman era.  When you look at the list of attributes of the depraved mind listed these verses, it is easy to check off each one as being typical of today's society. 

This morning I was eating breakfast with my wife and caught a little television news.  It went from one tragedy to another, ending up with a spot on the "gay pride" parade that took place yesterday.  Pathetic.  I thought yesterday was "Father's day", must have been mistaken, the news didn't offer any recaps of that.  I was disgusted with it, and we left the restaurant where the TV was on.  Enough of my editorializing, let's get on with the study.

Romans 1:24-25 (NASB95)
²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. ²⁵ For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. ^[1]

Anytime that you see a "therefore" look and see what it is there for, is a good rule when reading through Paul's epistles.  Look back a few verses at the degradation of man, Paul established that men knew God originally, but decided to ignore Him and turn to the creature instead of the creator, worshipping the created things rather than worshipping the God that created everything.  As a result of this, God delivered men to the lusts of their hearts.  It is a downward spiral, each circle becoming just a little worse than the one before it.  Wisdom in man's standards is foolishness according to God's standards.  These two verses is a recap of an argument that he has been developing on the way that every man has decided to leave God's ways and pursue their own.

Consider the word "Amen" at the end of verse 25, Paul summarizes the verses before it, and places a stamp of finality upon his words.  We did a small word study on "Amen" when we were studying Revelation and determined that our God is the God of Amen.  Paul's use here is probably better translated as "it is and shall be so", or "so let it be" according to Vine's.  It is a word that was transliterated from Hebrew to Greek to English, but hardly ever translated because of the power of the finality of the word.  Paul's words were final on the subject and not open for discussion.  This evaluation of the natural man is one of the key concepts that he will build upon as he writes the rest of this epistle.

Romans 1:26-27 (NASB95)
²⁶ For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, ²⁷ and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. ^[2]

Paul was not speaking directly about the days of the Romans here although it applied very well.  It was a history lesson which reached all the way back to the Old Testament in the example of Sodom and Gomorrah as God sent judgment upon that city due to the homosexuality that took place there.  He also probably remembered the time that the prophets visited the city in Dan where the entire tribe was almost wiped completely out.  Paul was speaking out against homosexuality, but was pointing out to the Romans that they were not the first to have the problem.  The history of the Jews testified to the fact that men have a propensity to turn to evil rather than to God.

Judges 19:22-30 (NASB95)
²² While they were celebrating, behold, the men of the city, certain worthless fellows, surrounded the house, pounding the door; and they spoke to the owner of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house that we may have relations with him.” ²³ Then the man, the owner of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my fellows, please do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not commit this act of folly. ²⁴ “Here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. Please let me bring them out that you may ravish them and do to them whatever you wish. But do not commit such an act of folly against this man.” ²⁵ But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and brought her out to them; and they raped her and abused her all night until morning, then let her go at the approach of dawn. ²⁶ As the day began to dawn, the woman came and fell down at the doorway of the man’s house where her master was, until full daylight. ²⁷ When her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, then behold, his concubine was lying at the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold. ²⁸ He said to her, “Get up and let us go,” but there was no answer. Then he placed her on the donkey; and the man arose and went to his home. ²⁹ When he entered his house, he took a knife and laid hold of his concubine and cut her in twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel. ³⁰ All who saw it said, “Nothing like this has ever happened or been seen from the day when the sons of Israel came up from the land of Egypt to this day. Consider it, take counsel and speak up!”^[3]

Considering that, the illusion that is propagated by today's society concerning homosexuality is still false.  The centuries have not blunted the truth at all, homosexuality is still wrong, it is still blatantly opposed to the truth of God and the principles of His word.  Obviously, my stand on the topic is that homosexuality is sin.  Honestly though, I get so irritated with the sin that I cannot see past it.  God has the ability to save and restore the homosexuals to Himself as believers, yet often their conscience is so seared that they will not listen to the word of God.  The two cases in the Bible where homosexuality is spoken about God utterly destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and wiped out the Benjamites who were allied with the men of Gibeah.  The tribe of Benjamin was almost wiped completely out by the end of the book of Judges due to a civil war that was sparked by the incident at Gibeah.  Does God like homosexuality?  The answer is obviously no.  Yet they are redeemable only by a miracle of God, He utterly stamped them out in two places in the Old Testament.  God tolerated the idol worship, but did not tolerate homosexuality. 

Romans 1:28-32 (NASB95)
²⁸ And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, ²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹ without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; ³² and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.^[4]

Paul probably had in mind the degradation that took place in society during the times before the flood when God decided to destroy man rather than put up with his continuous error.  He also may have had in mind the times that men chose to abandon the ways of God for false gods as the nation of Israel rebelled against God.  The object lessons that we receive from the Old Testament scriptures are incredible eye openers when we apply them to today.  Paul used the happenings of the Old Testament to reflect on the error of the Romans in his day. 

We could go through a word study on these verses and reveal that each one of them is applicable and real in today's world.  The list of sins that is listed here is a compilation of the attributes of the natural man who does not know God. 

Our job today, just as it was in the Romans day is to recognize the sin for what it is, to abandon the sin, and turn from it.  Although our society embraces these sins, we don't have to follow suit.  It is time that Christians stand apart and put the word of God into action in our lives.  Today we have a real knack for justifying sin, each one of the sins listed here can be justified with psycho-babble.  It's like calling a garbage man a sanitation engineer, he's still a garbage man.  The key to the entire list of sins is in verse 32, "but also give hearty approval to those who practice them". 

It is time as believers that we root out the sin from our lives, from our churches, and from our congregations and hold to the standard of God's word.  Only then will we see people flocking to the Lord because at that point we will shine as beacons of light in a dark place.  It is only when we abandon the sin in our lives that God can start to shine His light through us to draw others to Him. 

Father as we consider Your word this morning, I pray that You will soften the hearts of the believers in this group and prepare them for this message.  Open our eyes and show us the sins that we have covered up and hidden in our lives.  Let Your light shine through our lives.

In Him,

Joe Turner.