God’s Truth Prevails

Transcript

GR 2211
06/23/19
God’s Truth Prevails
Romans 3:1-8
Gil Rugh

We’re in the Book of Romans and we’re right at the beginning of chapter 3 in this great book, which is about the good news of the gospel of God, God’s salvation provided in Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God has directed the apostle Paul to write in a very clear, orderly way the truths that must be grasped and understood, to appreciate the wonder of the gospel. The good news that God has provided salvation for lost, hell bound, hopeless sinners, those under the wrath and judgment of God. Remember chapter 1 tells us Paul is anticipating coming to Rome and he tells us he’s not ashamed of the gospel. You’d think you shouldn’t have to say that. Here is a message of the wonder of God, in love providing His Son to be the Savior, but Paul tells them I am not ashamed of the gospel, it is the power of God for salvation. And we have to start out, why do we need salvation? So, we start in Romans chapter 1 verse 18, and we’ll go through chapter 3, verse 20. We are all sinners. The sad thing is people refuse, fail to consider the reality of their lost condition, so he showed in chapter 1. The rest of chapter 1, the Gentiles demonstrate their sinful condition and its manifest. They are under the present wrath of God as He has turned them over in judgment to their own sinful desires, to be controlled, to live for the sin that they love.

We come to chapter 2, and we’re still dealing with the issue of sin, but we have a different group of people to deal with, the Jews. The “Jews” are a special people. They’ve had special blessings, they’re a very religious people. They pride themselves in that. They are confident in that, and that kind of situation hasn’t changed. So many people today you share the gospel, “Well I’m--I’m fine. I go to this church. I’m part of this religion.” None of that has anything to do with anything. And the Jews, because of the special relationship that they had by God’s grace, with God as a chosen nation, even that did not mean they were individually and personally saved. So in chapter 2 he walked them through the fact that the Jews who were trusting in their religious observances, the fact that God had called that nation to belong to Him.

Amos chapter 3, verse 2, God says, “You are the only nation I have chosen for myself.” It doesn’t get any better than that and He gave them His Law with its 613 commandments. We have them somewhat summarized in the Ten Commandments, the priestly system so they would have one to represent them to God, the sacrifices, all of this. They prided themselves and put their trust in their religion and in their religious activities. The fact of the matter is, they were just as sinful as the Gentiles. So, he told them in Romans chapter 2, verse 17, if you bear the name “Jew” you rely upon the Law, you boast in God, you know His will, you approve the things that are essential. Instructed out of the Law, you’re confident, you’re a guide to the blind, a light to those in darkness, a corrector of the foolish teacher of the immature. But you know what, it’s not real.

He goes on to say you commit the same sins you condemn in other people. You think it’s enough that you have the Law, that you have your religious system that has been established by God, but what is missing is true faith in the God who has called them, and that’s an individual issue. It always was, it always has been. Circumcision became a big thing; something like baptism today. People think you get baptized. My parents had me baptized as a baby. They had no clue, they were lost themselves, they had no concept of salvation, true salvation. They were in a Protestant Church, didn’t attend often, but they sent me to Sunday school. They had the rituals, the externals. That’s where the Jews were, and they were God’s people. We have the Law, we’ve been circumcised, that marks us off as God’s people. All to no avail. So, we came down through that chapter, and we got to the end, and we noted there’s some confusion that comes.

Paul talks about in verse 28, “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.” What he is saying is, God has to bring about that change in the heart as Jeremiah wrote in chapter 17, “…the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked.” Only God can really know its true sinfulness. External religious activity could never save a person. Physical circumcision couldn’t save. The Old Testament was clear; we noted some of those passages, Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy, chapter 10, chapter 30, Jeremiah, chapter 4, chapter 9, Ezekiel chapter 44, all of these. If you read those chapters, they’ll say you need to have your heart circumcised. You have to have the sin removed on the inside, its source. Jesus said it’s out of the heart that all kinds of sinful activity come. The Jews thought, we’re going through the externals; that does it.

Now, they wouldn’t have judged just externals, but that’s what they were trusting in. Verse 28 says, he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and there are two kinds of Jews, both physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob the twelve patriarchs. They’re physically in the line, so they are Jews. All he’s been talking about is Jews in chapter 2. Verse 17 of chapter 2, if you bear the name “Jew” and you rely upon the Law, you keep talking about Jews, physical descendants of Abraham through Isaac, through Jacob, but he is not a Jew who is one outwardly. He is a Jew, verse 29, who is one inwardly; that is heart cleansed, sin dealt with. So, there’s two kinds of Jews, both physical descendants of Abraham. One is just superficial, has a superficial connection; they’re physical descendants, but they have never experienced God’s cleansing salvation in their heart. The other kind of Jew is the Jew who has. They’re the true Jews that will inherit the promises God gave to Abraham in that covenant that He repeated with Abraham’s son Isaac, that He repeated with Isaac’s son Jacob. They are the true descendants.

Now it’s stressing this. I put a couple of quotes up last week and I’m going to put them up again this week so that I get the use out of them. The first one is from Schreiner. These are two recent commentaries. They’re large commentaries, not the first ones you want to buy. They can be tedious, but they’re evangelicals, believe the inspiration of Scripture, but for some things they miss the point of these. This is Schreiner’s quote, “Paul asserts in 2:26 to 29 that uncircumcised Gentiles who keep God’s commands reveal that they are the true Jews.” Note, uncircumcised Gentiles now are Jews, they’re circumcised in heart, “one can be a true Jew without being an ethnic Jew.” That is a lie. The Jews never thought that, Paul never thought that, it’s never taught anywhere in the Scripture, and there’s no reason for confusing here; he’s talking about Jews.

You note how Romans chapter 3 begins. “Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?” We’re talking about physical Jews, the physical descendants of Abraham. But he’s making it clear that it’s not enough being a physical descendant of Abraham to inherit what God promised to Abraham’s physical descendants. You must also be in the spiritual line of Abraham. This will get much more development in chapter 4, starting in chapter 3, verse 21; but Abraham comes into the picture in chapter 4. How did Abraham experience God’s salvation to be declared righteous by God? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.” (Romans 4:3) It never was by works. Abraham never earned it and Abraham will be circumcised with his son Isaac, but that will be years after God declares him righteous.

That will be the argument in chapter 4, so there’s no reason for someone just to jump in this. These men are clear, we’re talking about Jews in chapter 2, but for some reason they say now when God says in verse 28, “he is not a Jew who is one outwardly,” that that means now you can be a Gentile and called a Jew. The New Testament never calls Gentiles Jews. Verse 29, “…he is a Jew who is one inwardly.” That was always the case. We went back to the Mosaic Law and Leviticus chapter 26, verse 41. God required circumcision of the heart for true salvation, and to be in the line of Abraham to receive the promises, but you still have to be a physical descendant of Abraham. He’s talking about two groups of people, non-Jews in chapter 1. Here, he’s talking about Jews, but when he’s done he’ll be able to summarize and say everyone, non-Jews and Jews alike are sinners and lost and their only hope of salvation is the gospel.

Look at the second quote that comes from Douglas Moo. Again, Douglas Moo wrote a commentary several years ago and then he revised it and updated it and it’s a very fine commentary. Both these men believe in the inspiration of Scripture, they’re covenantal, not dispensational. That becomes the problem, but this is where they get this idea. “Paul goes beyond any first century Jewish viewpoint in implicitly applying the term Jew to those who were not ethnically Jews.” Paul does not do that, he does not imply that. He’s talking about the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That’s been true and both these men acknowledge that through chapter 2, but when you get to these closing verses of chapter 2, I guess they had a mental collapse. I don’t understand it. We find here a radicalizing of the essence of the people of God. Now, the people of God can be called Jews no matter what you are. I’m Gil Rugh, a Jew, really. Even the world continues to see a distinction between Jew and Gentile. I mean watch the news, the land of Israel, the anti-Semitism that breaks out in the world.

There’s no excuse for this. I want you to be clear, this is where this position comes from, these two verses. Come over to Galatians 6. I realize I’m repeating myself. It’s not just age that contributes to it. But Galatians 6, the whole book has been about what we’ve been talking about, the Jews. The Jews did not see themselves as sinners. We are special and they are special, but not in the sense that they don’t need God’s salvation. Abraham needed it. If after this whole discussion in Galatians 6 verse 15, Paul says, “For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” You have to be made new by faith in Christ. Jesus said it, “You must be born again,” and He’s talking to Nicodemus the teacher of the Jews. It’s not enough. Nicodemus didn’t have a clue what He was talking about. Jesus said, what do you mean you don’t know what I’m talking about, to paraphrase John chapter 3. How can you be the teachers of the Jews and not understand?

You need a circumcision of the heart. So, verse 16, “And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.” That’s the other passage to show that Gentiles are called Jews. What do you mean? He’s been talking about the Jewish issue to this Gentile church that these Judaizers were trying to tell the Gentiles you’ve got to convert to Judaism. Really, you have to be circumcised, you have to keep the Law to be saved, so believe in Christ plus be circumcised, plus keep the Law, then you’ll be saved? That’s what Paul’s been dealing with in Galatians. Well, that’s not the Israel that belongs to God, in the line of Abraham to receive the fulfillment of the covenant. The Israel of God are the true believing Jews. They are the descendants of Abraham and Paul brought that up back in chapter 3, so come back to Romans.

He’s still talking about Jews and it’s important, just like we talk about religious people today. We’ll say to someone, are you a Christian? Yeah, I’m a Christian. Do you know you’re going to heaven? Yes, I’m a Christian. I go…and they might name any number of Protestant denominations. I’m Baptist, I’m Lutheran, or I’m Roman Catholic, we’re all Christians. We all say we believe in Jesus Christ, and the facts about His life, but we know many of them are believing in their church, in their baptism, in their religious activities, and when you get into the issue of sin, and only faith in Christ and His finished work, they don’t want to talk to you. That’s offensive! My church is as good as your church. And that’s right. Nobody’s church gets them to heaven, and nobody’s baptism gets them to heaven, and nobody’s good works gets them to heaven, and no one being a Sunday school teacher gets them to heaven on that basis. It’s all the same. It’s you need God’s grace in salvation.

Come back to Romans chapter 3. After he said this about the Jews and their very serious condition, of trusting in their external religious activities other than a heartfelt heart placed faith in God and the salvation He provided in Jesus Christ, well does that mean the Jews have been cancelled out? Chapter 3 opens up, “Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?” It is a reasonable question out of what we just noted in chapter 2. Then the Jew doesn’t have any advantages, it was of no benefit to be a Jew. Well, it really was. He says in 3:1, what is the advantage, what’s the benefit? “Great in every respect.” There are advantages, blessings, and privileges given to the Jews. First of all, they were entrusted with the oracles of God. Now the Jews thought that they would be excluded from judgment because they were Jews. Well, the Gentiles will be judged, they’re sinners, they’re unclean, they’re defiled. They’ll be judged by God. A Gentile could be saved in Jewish eyes if he converted to Judaism and adopted Jewish practices. Then he became a proselyte, a convert to Judaism, but no, that wouldn’t save them. Because the Jews themselves were not saved, but there are blessings and benefits.

The first one is you know here what the bible throughout the whole Old Testament, all 39 books as we have it of the Old Testament. They were all given to Jews, the nation Israel. They had the word of God called the oracles of God. The word of God was given to them. That is a great benefit. That is a great blessing. The Gentiles, the nations of the Old Testament, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and then the Greeks, they didn’t have the word of God. They had to hear it from the Jews if they were going to hear it, and salvation was found in Israel. There was no word of God to the Gentiles. Oh, there was word of God about the Gentiles, the prophets wrote about that, God spoke about them, but God didn’t give His word to them. The Old Testament as we have it is a Jewish book. It was given to the Jews, so they had the oracles of God, they had the word of God. That’s a great privilege. That’s a great benefit. Now that’s not the only benefit, just jump ahead in Romans to chapter 9.

We’re not dealing with everything God’s got to say about the Jews in these opening chapters. All God is doing through Paul is establishing the fact the Jews are just as lost as the Gentiles. They’re just as needy for the gospel, which is the power of God for salvation as the Gentiles. That’s the only point we’re really focusing on and at this point in Romans, you need to understand your sin. You’ve never been saved if you haven’t come to recognize your sin. We’ve talked about that earlier. I mean there’s no salvation for those who haven’t seen themselves as sinners. Their hopeless situation can only be resolved by Christ. In chapter 9 he said that the first benefit or the chiefest benefit, however you want to put it, but he doesn’t go on to talk about any other. He just gives the major one. They do have the word of God, they had the Law of God given on Mount Sinai to Moses.

Note chapter 9 of Romans, verse 2, and he’s talking about the Jews again. Paul’s a Jew and mentions several times giving his testimony. I’m a Jew, I’m of the tribe of Benjamin. His Jewish name was Saul named after the first king of Israel. Saul, he was of the tribe of Benjamin, he was a Pharisee. You know he had standing. Now he says concerning Israel, “… I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites...” He hasn’t seen any transformation here, Jews are Jews and being a Jew, he has a burden for his people. You know I would take their penalty of being cursed from God, condemned to hell if it would save the nation. But he couldn’t. But Christ did that. It tells his passion and heart for them. Note, they’re Israelites, verse 4, “…to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh...” These are some of the benefits.

We’ll talk about those when we get to chapter 9. Yeah, they’re great benefits for the Jews and there are great promises that yet will be fulfilled to the nation Israel as a nation. They still to this day are the only nation chosen by God, for Himself. The United States is not God’s chosen people, nor is any other nationality, race, or nation. God says, you only, referring to Israel in Amos chapter 3. You only have I chosen of all the nations. But it resulted in a pride and arrogance. So, there are benefits to being Jews. The prime one Paul is mentioning here is you have the word of God. He mentions that one, the one to deal with because he has demonstrated in chapter 2 that the Jews don’t keep the word, so they come under the condemnation of the word of God. I’ve mentioned Amos several times. Let me read you Amos chapter 3. You don’t have to turn there unless you want to find your way into the Minor Prophets, but in Amos chapter 3, verse 2. “You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth…” That’s the first part of that verse. The second part, “…therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”

You see the Jews thought they had a pass. I chose you, that means you have great responsibility. I gave you My word. You of all people should have put your trust in Me as your father Abraham did who believed God and God credited it to him as righteousness. The Jews were depending on their physical benefits that were to be an evidence of a heart change, but the heart hadn’t changed. So, I have chosen you; therefore I will punish you.

Chapter 2 of Romans began by telling the Jews, remind them in your stubborn, unrepentant heart that you were storing up wrath. Greater revelation brings greater responsibility. In chapter 3, “…they were entrusted with the oracles of God,” which is the word of God. It proceeds here, what then? And this word “entrusted,” should mention before we leave, that it is a key word in verses 2 and 3. It’s mentioned four times. It’s the word for faith or a variation of the form of that. Entrusted, well our word trust, believe. So, the same translation of the basic word, they were entrusted with the word of God. It was placed in their hands.

It was a trust of faith. It was placed there so they would believe it, place their faith in the provision. And when they offered a sacrifice, they would believe that because they were sinners and guilty. God would provide a sacrifice that would enable Him to cleanse them and declare them righteous. Those sacrifices simply prefiguring the ultimate sacrifice that only could take away sin, the death of Christ. “What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?” So that word “entrusted,” the word believe, unbelief, faithfulness of God; all forms of that word faith, believe, trust. You know, it’s a matter of trust, and if they don’t believe the word of God, will their failure to believe cancel out God’s promises? No! How could that be? If a person is unfaithful, does that mean God will be unfaithful? If a person can’t be trusted, does that mean God can’t be trusted? Well, now we begin to remake God in man’s image. If the Jews didn’t believe, will their unbelief nullify the faithfulness of God?

“May it never be!” May it never be! Me genoito! That is a Greek expression, which means nothing to you. King James translates it, “God forbid!” But the word God-Theos is not in it. You can tell that to hear it. The Greek name for God, the word is Theos. Me genoito! It’s just the negative of a word, it cannot come to be; which is a forceful word, it’s a very strong word. Paul will use it a number of times in Romans. Such a thought is inconceivable! That is not possible! It cannot come about! Very strong! King James, to give something of the force, those translators said, “God Forbid!” because that gave force but it’s not exactly what it says. But it gives you the concept, this is something that cannot happen, that God would be unfaithful regardless of how faithful people are. God cannot be unfaithful, it could never happen! “Rather, let God be found true, through every man be found a liar...”

We live in a day where we think everybody’s vote counts, or should count, and all those arguments, we think if there’s a majority who vote for something, then it’s right. God speaks; that’s what’s right. That will not change. Back in chapter 2, verse 4, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God…” There’s a day of judgment coming. This is what God told the Jews in Amos chapter 3, which I read to you. You only have I chosen of all the nations of the earth, and I will punish you for your sin. Well, what about His promises? He will keep all His promises. Part of His promise is, He will punish them for their sin.

We don’t have time to go back into some of the references where God deals with Israel that way, back in the Book of Nehemiah chapter 9. We won’t go there but Nehemiah acknowledges we are under the punishment of God. We are being punished for our sins and we deserve it, but he said I still believe God will be merciful to us. So, what he is saying here? God will punish sin. What He says will be true no matter what man does. It doesn’t matter if you get the whole world to vote one way, what God says is true, but it doesn’t change it.

The Supreme Court Justice made a statement that shows being the Supreme Court Justice doesn’t mean that you have the final word. It was a statement regarding abortion and a mother and a child, and before that child, that baby is born, that woman is not a mother, and that fetus is not a child. Well, you may be on the Supreme Court of the United States, but you are not on the Supreme Court of the universe, God is. You can make a statement, but your statement will be found to be a lie. God will be found to be true. That’s what he says. Every man may be found a liar. This is not a matter of voting, this is not a matter of someone’s opinion, someone else’s opinion. That’s why we come to the word of God and we have what God says.

And then Paul quotes at the end of verse 4 in Romans 3, from Psalm 51, verse 4, “THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED (shown to be righteous) IN YOUR WORDS AND PREVAIL WHEN YOU JUDGE.” You have perhaps, “ARE JUDGED.” It has to do with a form, it can be either middle or passive, and if you take it in the middle, it’s “WHEN YOU JUDGE.” That’s the way it is in Psalm 51:4. In other words, God will be shown to be righteous on that day when He exercises judgment. We studied that in the Book of Revelation, the ultimate final judgment of the unbeliever at the Great White Throne. It will be a judgment in righteousness. It will be a judgment without partiality, as we were told in chapter 2, verse 11, and we’re reminded in verse 16 of that coming day when “God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.” Though He will be found righteous, the word justified, the form of the word righteousness is built on that word. Righteous, it often means to declare righteous, to show righteous. We’ll see that as we move further into Revelation, when He exercises His judgment. That will be a perfect judgment, a righteous judgment, a judgment of the motives of the heart. It will be a judgment that will show our sin was a reflection of what was in our heart. That salvation alone could cleanse.

Look at verse 5, “But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.)” Or I’m speaking here as a man. Like we think, sometimes our human logic and reasoning leads us away from the truth of Scripture. We may say, if our unrighteousness demonstrates God’s righteousness when I sin and God will judge me for that, I just magnify that God is righteous. So, is that bad? Don’t we want to exult God’s character? If my unrighteousness magnifies God is righteous, then why would God judge me? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? I did what benefited Him. I did what gave Him credit. Now, I say that doesn’t make sense. But that’s the kind of arguments that were going on, the kinds of things that people think today even.

This is not an argument that will be left in passing. Come over to chapter 6 verse 1. We’ll have to deal with the details of this, but you just see this argument will get picked up again. “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase? Me genoito! May it never be!” Impossible! But that idea, because we’ll move through chapter 5, and we’ll see. Well, our sin magnifies God’s grace, and the multitude and the increase of sin, and the greatness of sin just magnifies how great God’s grace is. Well, therefore, maybe sin has its good side. It magnifies God’s grace, so at least when I sin there is a good side to that because I am demonstrating even more clearly how gracious God is in forgiving me. And it seems there’s a certain logic to it, but it’s not biblical.

Come back to chapter 3. “But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I’m speaking in human terms.)” There’s our expression, it begins verse 6, Me genoito! “May it never be!” Such a thought is inconceivable! I mean, that we can come to the perverted view that our unrighteousness is good and not so sinful because God’s the beneficiary. Because how would you know how gracious God is, how loving God is, if it wasn’t for my sin? And so, my sin has done something good. It’s an occasion for God to demonstrate His mercy, His love, His grace, His patience. That shows how perverted we are in our thinking. How far away we drift from God in our thinking. Verse 6, “May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world?” There’s no judgment, because man in his thinking has twisted it so that sin is not bad. It’s good because we are to glorify, magnify God, and in my sin, I showed something of the greatness of His love. His patience is perverted, but we have to deal with it.

He continues, “But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I still being judged as a sinner?” If everything is for the glory of God, Westminster Confession of Faith and the chief end of man is to “glorify” God, well, I’m glorifying God. I can testify that I sinned, but you know what? My sin just magnifies God’s grace. Isn’t that the goal of everything? Sometimes you know, we get into these kinds of discussions and debates, we joke about how many angels can stand on the head of a pin. These kinds of things, we should let God speak, and that resolves it. We are sinners. God’s righteousness, His holiness, His grace and mercy will be magnified, and is demonstrated in His provision for sinners, and the greatness of our sin just magnifies the greatness of His grace. That in no way changes the character of my sin as anything but worthy of judgment.

Verse 7, “But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say) …” These were things brought up about Paul. Paul hadn’t been to Rome, but there were people who say, I know I’ve been where Paul taught, I know what he teaches. This is what Paul teaches and you know all error, heresy has an element of truth in it, which brings the confusion. It’s not total absence of truth, but it is truth corrupted by error and so they were saying, this is what Paul teaches. He teaches about God’s grace. He teaches about God’s holiness, about God’s mercy, about God’s kindness. There’s an element of truth in that, but he wasn’t teaching that our sin is anything less than sinful. So, that he would say, “‘Let us do evil that good may come’?”

He’ll come back to that in chapter 6 verse 1 to go a little different direction, but the point that Paul would say, “Let us do evil that good may come,” because every time you sin and God forgives you, that magnifies. There’s no limit to God’s grace. Sin all you want, there’s forgiveness, and every time you sin—I just because there couldn’t be any greater sinner than me. And every time I sin, I just magnify God’s—wait a minute. “Let us do evil that good may come”? You know he doesn’t even answer this, he just says, “Their condemnation is just.” Those people that try to pervert the truth, regarding God, His character, and His action, all I can say about them is they deserve condemnation. We’ll leave it there. That just demonstrates what I’m showing.


Verse 9, “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin…” It’s just come to there. Remember what he’s doing, he’s showing how sinful we are, and he’s just giving some examples. Even in religious and using the word of God, there’s a perverting of it. And the Jews got into that kind of thing and the ways that they could say or change where God said it was sin, and they had adjusted it so that it wasn’t sin. Jesus used the example of that. God says you take care of your parents. You say, well, I’ve devoted all I have, it’s consecrated to God so I couldn’t give it to my parents, because it’s consecrated to God. But I get to use it, but they don’t, because it belongs to God. I can’t give it to anyone else. Well, we begin to twist the Scripture, we alter it. That’s all he’s done, we’ll look at verses 9 down through verse 20 in our next study. He’s done the job, I’ve showed every Gentile is a sinner, I’ve showed every Jew is a sinner and alike. They need the power of God’s salvation that comes through the provision of Jesus Christ, that good news that when you believe in Him you are made new.

Let’s have a word of prayer and then I’m going to open it up to you if you have any questions, things you want to talk about. Let’s pray first. Thank You Lord for this truth of Your word. Lord, how awesome it is that the gospel is Your power, for salvation, to everyone who believes. Lord, that awesome power that can cleanse a person, make them new. It is there but it doesn’t become operative in a life until the person believes. Thank You, for Your patience and grace in teaching us about sin. And Lord, I pray for the conviction of the Spirit to impress upon us the seriousness of sin, the guilt of sin, the consequences of sin, so we might see and appreciate in a greater way the provision of the gospel, which is powerful to bring forgiveness and salvation to everyone who believes. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

Okay, anybody have any questions? Are you clear on things? Everything’s good? “Gil, my question is concerning elderly parents. What does the bible say? What guidelines does the Scripture give us?” You should take care of them, you should provide for them, (laughter) you should fund their vacation every year. (laughter) I could give you a long list, but no, I think we show respect to our parents, and this is true even beyond parents, for relatives. The bible says if we don’t care for our own, he uses a word in that context that would go beyond just parents, it could be aunts, uncles. We are worse than unbelievers. So, I think there is a care. Now what that—depends, it may mean helping provide for them in their home, in a nursing home, taking them into your home, but I can’t absolve myself of responsibility there.

Now that will vary according to the parent, their need, financial resources. Doing that, my mother reached a point where we had to put her in a care facility. Sometimes it gets to that. It’s not that you’ve absolved your responsibility, but that’s not the only responsibility you have. Now we weren’t done with the responsibility when we put her in a home, to use her as an example, and she’s gone, so the responsibility’s still there. We visited, made sure she was being cared for. Because some people think, well, it’s my parents, I shouldn’t put them in a home, and sometimes parents aren’t in a situation. The reality of it is, they don’t want to leave their home, but they are not in a position to take care of themselves in their home, and that sometimes you have to make decisions that may be unpleasant. Now, I want to be honest before the Lord. I’m not just looking to try to get out of my responsibility, but by the same token, I have responsibilities for my immediate family and so on. I can’t abandon that to take care of my parents. And I can’t put pressure in my own home that, I can’t say I will take them into my home and my wife will take care of them because I’ll go to work.

That may not be workable, so I have to sort through those things. The church is to help where there is nobody else to help, believers in the body like elderly widows, but that’s where Paul says if we don’t take of our own, we’re worse than an unbeliever. We’ve denied the faith because part of what we do is fulfill our responsibilities. Some of these practical things are important. I’m amazed how we run over things we think we can ignore. God says certain things about the home, like taking care of the family, like the order in the home. I can’t provide godly leadership for my home, if I’m not doing that. If I fail to do that, I’m failing what God said, I’m denying the faith, and the same for a wife and the kids. But for parents, it is a care.

Now we’re benefited in our society. We do have things that are provided. We don’t like big government but, I’m 76 and I vote for Social Security. I’m on Medicare, that is a help. There’s nothing wrong with that and my kids don’t have to provide that and for some parents the Lord has provided enough that they don’t need their kids to take care of them. But the kids still may get in because there are mental issues that come, that they may not be able to deal with. You know we get old, we get stubborn. You don’t know how stubborn Marilyn is, (laughter) and then sometimes you know as you get set in those ways, it can become difficult to deal with. So, we have committed to the Lord and then I have to make decisions sometimes that I believe are right and best for them. They may not always appreciate that, and I want to make it as understandable, but they need to be done. It’s a balancing of responsibilities. I think it is important that we take it seriously.

My brother lived in New Jersey, my parents lived here. Well, he couldn’t bear the same responsibility that I would. He was willing to help whatever if I had needed additional finances, I could have called him. In that sense, it wasn’t needed, but he can’t fly out here every week and visit her like we could when we lived down the street. But we also want to be careful, I don’t think I’m absolved of the responsibility, because I live far away, so I can just consider myself out of it and he did. I could have that contact and what could I do to help? Is there something we can do? When we had Marilyn’s mother live with us, Marilyn’s sisters would come in and stay so we could go on vacation. Well, that was good, that was helpful, and my sister in California also let us stay in her home. That was even better, so they did what they could do, but they couldn’t be here every day. In a sense the greater responsibility fell upon the sister that lived here, and she lived with us and so on. So, I think you work through those things and you as a husband and wife need to talk about it, you’re together because you don’t want it to put strain on a relationship. That may not be the best thing for your home, to bring your parents into your home. You may look for other alternatives. A little bit of a general answer, I guess.

Everybody good, everybody here dispensational, no confusion on Israel? (laughter) Israel is Israel, is Israel. I always remember, it got fixed in my mind when I was in Bible College. Dr. John McGehee, he was an avid dispensationalist, white hair, great personality, but firm and solid. He gave a test. It involved Israel and the Church, and one of the students in the class connected Israel and the Church, and everybody called him Dr. John. He’d come into the class and drop his bible. I cannot believe it! All of a sudden, his face was red against his white hair and he went on about, how could you confuse Israel and the Church. He was gracious, he didn’t mention the person by name. Always fixed in my mind, don’t get that wrong.

“Gil, I have a question on the Holy Spirit. Did the Holy Spirit raise Christ from the dead or did God the Father?” You know some of those questions and they are good questions and the inner working of the Trinity, sometimes you read one verse and it seems to say one thing and another. It seems that the earthly ministry of Christ, since He functioned as true man was being carried out in the power of the Spirit. I think the Holy Spirit would be the instrument, if I was going to give my opinion off the top of my head, here in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now obviously, God the Father is in it because the Trinity is involved in everything, and the Father is not the one though that’s usually viewed as coming and doing those works on earth, although the Father is at work. Jesus said, My Father works and I work, but often it’s like working through the Son, and through the Spirit. And it seems that Jesus’ ministry, the Spirit came upon Him when He was going to take upon Himself the Messianic ministry.

So, during the first 30 years of His life, Jesus was not offering Himself as the Messiah to Israel. He was, but He’s not offered to the nation until His baptism by John, the Holy Spirit comes upon Him now to enable in a special way, and manifest that He is the Messiah of Israel. I take it His resurrection, which is the culmination of that earthly work would be done in the power of the Spirit also. So, I would take those verses, but there are verses sometimes it seems that the Father is doing it. But God is called the Savior and you say, well that could be God the Father because the Trinity is involved in the work of salvation. You know, we sometimes say God planned it, the Son carried it out, and it’s applied to us in the work of the Spirit. They are all involved. And then sometimes that line of which Person? And it just seems Scripture says God is doing this, and we try to back up and sort out which Person of the Spirit. I would say the Holy Spirit would be the active Person of the Trinity.

Okay, thank you. Appreciate you being here tonight, the chance to be in the word together. Trust it will be a good week. Remember because every day is made beautiful, right, Ecclesiastes 3:11? And we want to enjoy every day and no matter what God brings in it, we know He brings the grace and strength, and we want to handle it wisely. Let’s pray. Thank you Lord for the riches of Your word. We do look forward to the week ahead of us if You give us these days. And Lord, You’ve planned those days. You’ve planned the events of those days. Lord, we have the truth of Your word. We are to be lights in the darkness. How awesome! Lord we go out, wherever you send us to jobs and neighborhoods, to personal contact, and we have a message, the only message, which is powerful to bring about the salvation of a lost, hell bound sinner. Lord, use us. May we be ready, may we be bold, may the Spirit be pleased to use the testimony that goes out to bring convictions to hearts and minds. We commit the week to you in Christ’s name. Amen

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