Epistles of Paul 68

Well, good evening, brethren. Romans, as an epistle, is basically about God's plan of salvation, that we could say is its basic theme. In other words, it's about us being made right with God. Or put it another way, it's about being justified and ultimately saved. A brief breakdown of Romans, a very brief, just into three sections. The first eight chapters, from chapter one to eight, is God's plan to redeem man from the wages of human sin. Chapters nine through eleven explains God's concern as he deals with the Israelites, and very specifically the Jews. And then the last few chapters from 12 through to 15, its exhortation to us as brethren to grow, and addresses some questions the Romans had.

The first chapter, in the first chapter, Paul writes to the Gentiles, and he writes about their, let's call it, knowledge or misdirected science that they have or had, which as we end today, in a sense, is still being suppressed. The true knowledge is being suppressed, and they have misdirected and society has misdirected knowledge or misdirected science. So the world society is suppressing true knowledge in words, in other words, the truth. And but in this first chapter, because Paul is addressing the Gentiles, he says therefore they have nothing to brag about.

So in the first chapter, after his initial greetings, Paul mentions that he has desired to visit them. So he discusses that. And then in verse 11, he mentions how he wants to have the capability to impart to them a spiritual gift with his visit. So that's what he says, for I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift.

Then in verse 16, he says, and that I want to visit you, I want to preach the gospel, and then in verse 16 he says, I am not ashamed of the gospel, of the good news, because the gospel is the power of God for salvation, as we read there in verse 16. Then in verse 17, he then says in this gospel, the gospel of the kingdom of God, the gospel of Christ, that Christ boreth, which is originally the gospel of God, the righteousness of God is revealed. We also went through that this word that is used for righteousness.

It's the same word that is basically used for justification or justify. And so the righteousness of God, the way that God makes us right within through his righteousness, you know, it was the way in which we may attain a state, a state or a condition of being approved or being made right with God. That is the gospel message, is how we can be approved, how we can ultimately be saved. So and then there in verse 17, he says, for in 18, that's in this gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.

The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. And then he says a very important word here that he says, as it is written, that just shall live by faith. The key word or the key verb there is live by faith. Faith is absolute trust in God, who we don't see, and faith or trust is indeed the basis for any good and healthy and solid relationship. So the key word is to live. So not just to believe, but it is to live this way of life. We got to live our faith. We got to live God's way.

So this epistle tells us, putting it in different words, tells us how to live by faith. In other words, in this new way, the way to salvation. In other words, it guides us to keep God's law with the help of Christ and of God's power, his Spirit. And that's why later in chapters 9 through 11, when Paul is dealing with the Jews and Israelites and his concern for them, he emphasizes the need for God's righteousness, for God's capability to move away, to make us right with him. You see, the problem with the Jews is that they had the law. They tried to keep it on their own terms, and they did not understand the spiritual depth or perspective of God's law.

And they didn't understand they needed the help from Christ and from the power of God to be right with God. They were trying to do it. They owned the way. They were looking at it purely from a spiritual, a big part of, from a physical point of view. They were not looking at it from a spiritual point of view. And that's what we see, for instance, in chapter 10 of this same epistle of Romans, in chapter 10, verse 1 and through 3, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved, that they may reach this the salvation through this way, but I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God.

A lot of people today, a lot of Christians, have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. This is key, but it's not just knowledge, it's the application and the living of the right knowledge, which is according to God's way, God's righteousness. And that's why it says, for they be ignorant of God's righteousness. They seek and seeking to establish their own righteousness. In other words, they try to be self-righteous. I remember vividly people telling me, says, well, the important thing is righteousness. Yes, it is, but it's not our righteousness.

It's God's righteousness. And that's why it says, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. They have not, these real lights have not submitted to the righteousness of God. And so, getting back to Romans chapter 1, in verse 17, where it says, for in it the righteousness, you know, was the gospel, through the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, from believing and trusting to more believing and trusting, you know, from faith to faith, from absolutely believing God and trusting God and the way that God is faithful and as being faithful likewise from faith to faith.

As it is written, the just shall live by faith. This verse, in a sense, is a link step from the introduction and the beginning comments to the very purpose of this epistle. In fact, in church terminology, we could call it, it is the SBS, is the specific purpose statement of this epistle. We need to live by faith, trusting in God's righteousness, in God's way of making us right with Him, and ultimately, if we remain faithful till the end, to be saved.

And so from verse 18, Romans 1 verse 18, till Romans 3 verse 20, this whole section here is about the need for God's righteousness. From chapter 1 verse 18, to the end of this chapter, verse 32, it's talking about the unrighteousness of the Gentiles. Then from chapter 2 verse 1, to chapter 3 verse 8, it's talking about the unrighteousness of the Jews. And then from verse 9 of chapter 3 till verse 20, it's the unrighteousness of the whole world.

And that's why then it kind of summarizes this section, this whole section from 1 18 to 3 20. It summarizes or encapsulates it very nicely in chapter 3 verse 23, when it says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So Gentiles and Jews, in fact, everyone has fallen short of the glory of God. We all have sinned. So going back to chapter 1 verse 17, we said that is a link step into the rest, which starts in verse 18. So let's now read verse 18. In verse 18, it says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

The word suppress in my margin as a little one, which says, hold it down in my Bible, that is from the Greek word 2722, kathechau, hold down or hold back or detain. According to Robinson's words and descriptions, it means to conceal or to hide, to hide the truth because of mankind's evil deeds, in a words, to restrain the truth to hinder it.

And at the beginning of verse 18 says, God's wrath is revealed. The word revealed is the Greek word 601, apocalypto, where do we get apocalypse, which means the book of Revelation. But yeah, God's wrath is revealed, is apocalypto, is uncovered, is made known. And this basically shows that God's wrath is basically revealed in two ways. One is indirectly. There are natural consequences. What you sow, you reap. For instance, sexual immorality, sexual freedom leads to sexually transmitted diseases and leads to broken marriages and a whole lot of other things. Natural consequences. In a words, God's wrath is revealed through those natural consequences, which are in a sense indirect. But directly is when God personally intervenes directly to create certain situations or punishments. So we see God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and righteousness of man, all things that men have done that are wrong. But these are men who hold back the truth, hold back the truth. So what is it meant by holding back the truth? And they hold it back in unrighteousness. Well, verse 19 explains that a little bit more. Because what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them. God has revealed Himself to mankind.

Even today. The pagan world, for instance, knew very well, better than what we do today, that there was Adam and Eve, that there was a flood. For instance, Noah and his three sons knew, knew very well there was a flood. They knew very well God exists. What about their children? Did they know there was a flood? Of course. They knew that. And what about their grandchildren? Likewise, they knew. At some point, mankind began to turn his back on that truth. For instance, there is a book called The Two Babylons by Hyslop and Alexander Hyslop. And on page 305, talks about one of the names of Eve is Talath. Let me just look at Yah and read in page 305. It just says, and it's talking about quoting, "...and the robe in which the Lord God had taken from man in a margin literally bulleted he into a woman." So he took the robe and built, from that robe, he built a woman. That this history, now that I'm quoting out, that this history of the robe was well known to the Babylonians. It's manifest from one of the names given to the pre-meevil goddess as found in Barossos and the lib, one page 50. That name is Talath.

And then it says Talath, a little later, says, signifies the mother of the world. And so they knew these pagan people. They knew very well about Eve, for instance. And out of that, because that name, Talath, shall I, let me just go back to it again, because it meant a rib. Let me just, there's a section here that says that page 505, what it says.

Well, I can't see exactly what it is. I don't know. I like it here. But it meant it was a rib, came from a rib. So it shows that pagans knew about Adam and Eve, the creation. They knew about the flood. And that's why we have many of these pagan gods and goddesses, which are making some human, humans gods, and basically a perversion of things that happened. For instance, in 1 Kings 18 verse 21, we see there the 1 Kings 18 when we've got the situation about 1 Kings 18. Let me just get to it.

1 Kings 18 2 Kings 18, the situation about where, you know, they didn't have rain for three years. And then there's a situation about Elijah. And then in verse 21 says, and then Elijah came to all the people and said, how long will you falter between two opinions? You see, the people in the society knew about God. They were faltering between two opinions. And so, Paul, yeah, in Romans verse 19, he is saying, verse 18 and 19, he is basically accusing them or indicting the Gentiles because they knew the truth but has been suppressed by their religious leaders or whatever. That's why we see faltering between two opinions. They knew the truth. So, and that's what's meant by suppressing that people, even pagan people, knew the truth.

And they suppressing the truth. They have suppressed mankind as suppressed as knowledge. And then we read in verse 20, for since the creation of the world, since the creation of the world, you see, they knew the truth. And I mean, he spoke to God and there were a number of things that happened that passed down to the children, etc. They knew, but they've suppressed that. And it says, since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. You know, we just have to look at the universe and see God's power and divinity, and people have no excuse. Now, nowadays, for instance, there's a lot more knowledge about, for instance, the DNA. Now, DNA basically disproves evolution because it is impossible for this complexity in the genetic code to happen by chance.

Because all these genes put in specific sequence, it actually is a language, like a programming language. It is a language, and a language, like a programming language, anybody that is a programmer will know that you've got a vocabulary. Even any language, but even a programming language, there's basically words, there's syntax, there's grammar, and there's meaning being put into that sequence of words the way they structure that it is a language. That it's got a meaning. Let me give you an example. For instance, in your Bible, in our Bible, we have words. But in the Bible, we have these words are basically on paper, and there's ink. Now, the paper and the ink, basically the matter there, there, is not the information. The information is how the words are structured, how they put together, and that requires intelligence. And so the genetic code, the code, so it's not just the gene, but it's the way the genes are put together that has intelligence behind it. And the more you study about it and read about it, it's just amazing the amount of information in the genetic code, which is intelligence.

Intelligence, not just matter and energy. And the more we learn today about cells and all, yeah, sure, cells are thousands and thousands of chemical actions and reactions, but there is an amazing, intelligent complexity inside each cell. The simple human cell could be compared, I read many years ago, that one simple human cell, like the simplest cell, could be compared to a huge factory, for instance, like the size of a huge city, like maybe New York, with thousands and thousands of roads and, let's call machines and let's call machines and things like that, causing that cell to function just as a simple cell.

The more we study about the cell, the more complex we realize it is. And this just happened by chance. And this knowledge, this understanding, which many scientific people understand it profoundly, is suppressed. And it just said, oh well, it just evolved.

For instance, the universe, the energy of the sun, the amount of energy that the sun sends around it versus how much is the energy that mankind uses in thousands and megawatts, is nothing in comparison to the total energy that is, for instance, thrown out, out of the sun, maybe just in a day or even a month. The amount of energy that is used on earth, it's nothing to be compared with the energy that comes out of the sun. Some people say that the energy intercepted is something like one to the power of two trillionths of the energy of the sun. And brethren, the sun is only one star, and we know it's not one of the big stars. So where did all this come from? Where did all this come from? Now look at Hebrews 11 verse 3. Hebrews 11 verse 3. Because Hebrews 11, as we know, it's the 5th chapter.

But look at what it says here that maybe you have not noticed before.

By faith, we understand that the walls were framed by the Word of God. Ah, the Word of God? It's like language, programming code into DNA, for instance, as an example. But it says, so that the things which are seen were not made of things that are visible.

In other words, the visible was made from the invisible.

The visible, what is visible, was made from what is invisible. So there is some invisible energy, power, God's power, that made the visible. How? You don't know. I don't know. But for instance, let's look at an example. Matter is made up of atoms. What is an atom? Well, you can look at atoms, and atoms got protons, neutrons, and now they're finding out even more things. And it's just, and they break it down into smaller particles. In the end, in the end, it's actually energy. And if you split the atom, you get a lot of energy.

That's where we have things called atomic energy or atomic bomb. If we can control atoms correctly, and that splitting of the atom, we can get electrical power plots. You can get energy.

Now, exactly how God puts it all together? We don't know. I mean, many people have tried. Yeah, they can split the atom, but put atoms together. People can't do that. But God's spirit world, God's spirit world, is invisible. And so, it is energy, power, and force. And God takes some of that, which is a power of God, God's only spirit, compacts it in some way so that it becomes visible. And we call it matter. And when this is compacted, when these atoms are compacted in a very dense way, we have some matter that is harder. But when these atoms are compacted in a less dense way, we maybe have some softer matter, like soft tissue and others. And so, and these atoms, as we know, when we move, for instance, electrons around from one atom to another, that's electricity. That is electricity. It's actually the movement of electrons from one atom to another. And electricity, and electricity creates magnetic fields, that movement. A lot of scientific things we can understand, but a lot of other scientific things are just beyond our human understanding.

And look at the atom itself. The atom itself has got nuclear, it's got electrons around it, and things like that. It looks like a mini universe, a mini universe. And so God has put this universe and these mini universes, all this thing together.

And we say there's no God.

You see, physical things can cease to exist.

But the spiritual endures forever. Look at Psalm 19. Psalm 19.

Psalm 19. Let's look at verse one. Psalm 19 verse one. The heavens declare the glory of God. You could read it another way. The heavens, every time you look at them and you study them carefully, they are preaching a sermon every day. Think about it that way. And the firmament shows God's handiwork. Day and today, at this speech. You know, as we meditate about God's creation, about the heavens, it is like a proof that God exists. And as it says in verse three, there's no speech, no language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world, the end. These heavens are speaking in a way without words, but they're giving a message, a message of God's power and creation. Creation. And so when we read in verse 20, in verse 20 it says, the creation of the world, says the creation of the world, it says, his invisible attributes are clearly seen. And specifically, be I understood by the things I made, even his eternal power and Godhead. Yeah, it's an amazing power from God to create and sustain the universe. I know mankind is doing things that are affecting our planet, but in the end, it's God that will come back. We know Christ will come back. I don't know if you've noticed, but we are in Revelation 11.

Revelation 11, verse 15, when it talks about the Revelation 11, verse 15, when it talks about the seventh trumpet, which is basically Christ's coming, then it says that Christ will now rule the world and no more Satan will rule the world.

And then in verse 18, it says the nations are going to try and fight against Christ.

And then it says it's the time, and yeah, three things. It's the time of the end, of the dead, that they should be judged. So some will be judged to be in the first resurrection, and some will be judged to remain sleeping for another thousand years. And secondly, it's the time that you should reward your servants, the prophets, the saints. So there's a time of rewarding those in the first resurrection. So some will rule over five cities, some will rule over ten cities. So it's like saying to those saints resurrected, this is going to be your area of responsibility. This is going to be your reward. This is what you're going to be doing.

And thirdly, and it says it's the time that you should destroy those who destroy the earth. And people today are doing things to destroy the earth. We just look at some of the wars and devastation, destruction of cities, of people. It's just so sad. But it's God that through Christ there will come and intervene on earth and destroy those people that are destroying the world. So God not only through Christ created the world, but he sustains the universe. So going back to Matthew 20, when it says, even his eternal power and Godhead.

And that's basically his divine nature, his divinity. So the creation and how certain things are created show God's divinity and God's plan. For instance, the family, physical family, shows principles about the spiritual family that God is creating. But also the creation shows God's faithfulness, shows his power and peace and his graciousness.

So there is a lot that God's creation gives us, and these people knew it. Look at verse 21, because although they knew God, oh yeah, those people, those forefathers, they knew God, but they have suppressed the truth and did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. He said, everyone knew God, and we all can know God by looking at the creation. And everyone knew God after the flood, but over time they created what? Idolatry. It was futile in their thoughts, futile in their thoughts. Verse 22, professing to be wise. Oh yeah, they professes, doctors, listeners, and then and yet, but they become fools, become fools. Let's look at Psalm 14. Psalm 14 verse 1. Psalm 14 verse 1 tells about those people that don't believe there is a God. And in Psalm 14 verse 1, it states, The fool has said in his heart, There is no God.

It's the fool. Only a fool says there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There's none who does good.

So yeah, we have professing to be wise. They become fools.

They teach evolution. Why do they teach evolution? Because then there's no moral law.

There's no moral law. If there's no God, then there's no law. There's no law given. There's no moral law.

And they claim themselves to be wise. Verse 23, and change the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. So they made idols. They claimed to be smart and clever and intelligent, but they worshiped animals.

Therefore, verse 24, God gave them up to uncleanliness in lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies amongst themselves. Uncleanliness. He gave them up. The word gave them up. Greek 3860 is more like a judicial term, like handing over a prisoner once he's sentenced. So God handed over man to his own things. And God allows man, allows man to do his own evilness. Why? Because God has made man as a free moral agent. And why has man rejected God? He has a motivation in the lusts of their hearts. It's lust. It's lust. Because man does not want anyone to tell him what is right and wrong. Man wants to decide for himself what is right and what is wrong. So-called humanism. And especially in the area of lust, of sex.

In 1 John 2 verse 16, 1 John 2 verse 16, in fact, if you read from verse 15, 1 John 2 verse 16 says, for all that is in the world, verse 15 says, do not love the world, but 16 says, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It's lust of the flesh, of the eyes, and the pride of life. It says, I can solve my own problems.

And so back to Romans chapter 1 verse 24, in the lusts of the eyes, of the hearts, a big part of verse 24, in the lusts of the hearts, the lusts that they have in them. So because of that, they dishonor their bodies amongst themselves.

You see, the human body is to be honored as the temple of God for God's holy spirit and is to be honored in marriage to share with your mate in a loving relationship.

Everything else is lust. It's the wrong desire, the wrong use of the human body for a wrongful use of sex, whatever it is, whatever way it is.

Anything that's outside of marriage between a man and a woman is the unnatural use of of the body, the way God made it. God made the body to be the temple of God's holy spirit and to be shared with your spouse in a loving relationship in marriage.

So they just honor their bodies amongst themselves. Verse 25 says, "...who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served a creature rather than a creator, who is blessed forever." Amen. So why do people worship, for instance, a calf or worship idols? Or worship whatever it is? The worship today could be the wrong use of time.

Why? Because the calf or these idols don't tell the people what to do.

Those idols don't give the person or the people standards to go by, because man and woman want to do what they want to do. And what is the lie? The lie is the denial of God's existence. Why? So that we don't have to serve and obey Him. The lie is that you can decide for yourself. And so you don't have, you don't die. You don't die because you decide for yourself. You don't die. Therefore, you can't decide for yourself. Don't worry about it. You'll never die. You've got an immortal soul. The lie is you can solve your own problems. And that goes back to the story of the two trees. Basically, the story of the two trees is trust. Or have faith in what God tells you is right and wrong. Or decide for yourself what is right and wrong. And what Satan did through the lie, he broke trust. He broke the trust, the faith. The trust by saying, oh God is lying. God is not telling you the truth. Adam and Eve. And so he broke trust. Trust faith is the basis of every sound relationship.

Right, verse 26. For this reason gave them up, gave them up to vile passions. For even the woman exchanged natural use for what is against nature.

So God handed them over to vile passions. In other words, to inordinate wrong, lusts and desires.

Vile being passions of dishonor. Passions that bring dishonor. Such as, like it says, the natural use for what is against nature. What is the natural use? The natural use is sex in marriage. Any use of sex in a way which is not natural, the way that God decreed, is vile.

And there are a number of other scriptures. Let me just read them to you, and maybe you can make an out of them and look and read them later. Genesis 19, Leviticus 18 verse 22.

1 Corinthians 6 verse 9, and continuing through 11. Galatians 5 verse 19, and continuing through verse 21. And Ephesians 5, 3 through 5. There's many scriptures that speak about these misuses which are blatant today, which is not what the Bible defines as the natural use of sex and being put into what is against nature. And then what's the penalty? What's the penalty of that? Verse 27, likewise, also the man leaving the natural use of the woman in marriage, man with woman in marriage, burned their lust for one another. Man with men committing what's shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of the error which was due. What is the penalty? Sexually transmitted diseases, broken homes, broken marriages, destroyed families, empty lives.

When one rejects God and his standards, you then end up with all kinds of perversity.

And that is, in a sense, the mind of the devil. You see, people are not born with these wrong orientations.

People become with these wrong orientations, quite often being due to a number of factors. Granted, there are some rare situations where there's some genetic error at birth, but in most cases, it's been proven, not all cases, but it's been proven there's a wrong relationship with the same sex in the early years of one's life. And therefore, that leads to other problems later. And because it happens so early, people think, oh well, they were born that way. No, they're not. And so we need to make sure there is a loving, caring relationship between mother with daughter and father with son. And particularly, the mother has a big responsibility as the mother in a family. We need to make sure there's a loving, caring relationship with the children. Granted, there are many sons in society.

But understanding, God calls all to repentance. God calls all to repentance, and we can be forgiven. But regrettably, there are penalties. There are consequences when we do things wrong. And so the moral of the lesson is that all relationships are based on spiritual principles. And we disobey those spiritual principles, and there's an automatic curse. And then we read in verse 28, and even as they do not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting. They knew. They knew. But they do not like to retain God in their knowledge. And a debase means an unfit mind, a mind that does not pass the test, that in a sense it is useless. And so continuing in verse 29, 30 and 31, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness. They are whisperous, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, and discerning, and trustworthy, and loving, and forgiving, and merciful. This is what happens to a society that rejects God's standards. And we can see this is prevalent today in our society. And then verse 32, as we conclude today's Bible study, who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. In other words, they practice. They live that way. Doesn't that describe our society? Look at entertainers, look at those that are called idols, idols of music, or idols in movie characters, or whatever it is, in magazines. They write about these evil things. They boast about what they do, and people think, oh well, that's just the way it's done. And so they do the same and approve those who practice them. And so in this chapter up to Yom, Paul took on the Gentiles, because they rejected God. Now in chapter two, which we'll cover in the next Bible study, Paul deals with the Jews and the Israelites. Why? Because they had the law, they had the standards, but they felt superior because of that. They had it, but they disobeyed. But it brings to us, because you and I have the laws, we have the standards. But do we do that?

People that know God's way and don't do it, and don't practice it, it's very, very dangerous. So, brethren, this is how I conclude today. In the next Bible study, we will then continue with chapter two. Good evening.