Thoughts From Romans 11 - Part 1

 

11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:

“The deliverer will come from Zion;
    he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is my covenant with them
    when I take away their sins.”

28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. 32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

            A big debate today is whether or not God is done with the Jews. Are the Jews still God's chosen people? An interview of Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz on this matter went viral with Carlson lambasting Cruz for his Sunday School answers on this matter. Paul in this passage states that the Jews have received a temporary hardening while the gentiles are coming in, even though there are a million born again Jews today, but at some point, the Jews will in mass come back to God and receive the Messiah.

        What are some signs that the Jews are still God's chosen people? First of all, Israel getting their land back in 1948 as a fulfillment of Ezekiel 37. Along with that, the fact that after hundreds of years of dispersion, the Jewish people weren't amalgamated into the general population through intermarriage. In other words, the fact that there were still a Jewish people to move into Israel, that they kept their race pure by only marrying in their people group, is supernatural.

        When Egypt along with other Arab countries in 1967 decided to wipeout Israel in what was later dubbed the 6-day war, despite overwhelming odds, the Israel Airforce destroyed 452 planes while losing 46 of their own. Egyptian tanks rolled into town, and some went down the wrong streets where they became useless, some surrendered due to literal paralysis of the soldiers, some surrendered due to mirages of hundreds of Israeli tanks that didn't exist.

       I hear today of Hamas being wiped out by an elaborate scheme of a pager company formed by Massad that Hamas leaders would all use pagers from this company and the pagers were filled with C-4. Israel sent a page, and they all blew up! How can that even work? It has to be the hand of God.

        Netanyahu stated that evangelical Christians are Israel's best friend. We need to cultivate friendships with our Jewish acquaintances because in this day and age of prejudice and hostility toward Jews, this is the best time to let them know of our friendship toward them. I heard one Messianic Jew say, "ask them, who is this talking about? and then read them Isa.53. They will answer 'Jesus, of course, but we don't accept the New Testament.' Then you show them it's from their writings and they will be shocked. They have no idea." Back in 1950 there were 2000 messianic Jews. Today there are near a million. Let's pray for continued revival of the Jews.

Thoughts From Romans 10 - Part 3

  But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:

“Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.”

19 Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,

“I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
    I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”

20 And Isaiah boldly says,

“I was found by those who did not seek me;
    I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”

21 But concerning Israel he says,

“All day long I have held out my hands
    to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? 4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

7 What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, 8 as it is written:

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
    eyes that could not see
    and ears that could not hear,
to this very day.”

9 And David says:

“May their table become a snare and a trap,
    a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
    and their backs be bent forever.”  Romans 10:18-11:10

Why did Jesus speak in parables?

"He told them, 'The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,

“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
    and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’" Mark 4:10

It appears from this passage in Mark that this hardening of the heart spoken of by Paul in Romans 10,11 didn't make it impossible to repent and become part of the remnant of Jews, like Paul, to be saved. It appears that their hardening of their hearts, aided by Satan, keeps them from accepting the truth.

We all understand this to a certain degree. Let's say in the area of some doctrine that's debatable like Women's role in the church. There are two camps, egalitarian which believe there is no difference in roles and complementarian which believe there is. Mike Winger, a Bible commentator on social media with a million followers published probably 50 hours of content where he studied the issue starting from no preconceived notion (if that's truly possible) and conclusively stated complementarianism is correct. Did he convince any egalitarians that he was right? I sincerely doubt it. In fact, I doubt if any even listened to it knowing his conclusion ahead of time. What am I saying? You could quote Isa.53 to a Jew who is convinced that to believe in Jesus is to forsake one's Jewish roots, and it would be falling on deaf ears. Like a parable recited by Jesus, to dig below the surface and strive to find the truth is non-negotiable. Don't bother me with facts, my mind is already made up!

What is the conclusion? Don't get disappointed by those who reject the gospel or be discouraged to the point where you give up. I must admit that I've been discouraged with our medical mission trips to the Philippines. Hundreds have prayed to receive Christ and baptized, yet when I return, the Church is still the same size. It appears to me these are phony salvations. Like Elijah saying, there are no believers, yet there is a remnant being saved and even if there is only one genuine convert, it is worth it. The road is narrow and few find it yet a remnant do. Keep sharing and praying that God would bind Satan's influence and open their minds to understand and receive the gospel that can save their souls.

Thoughts From Romans 10 - Part 2

  How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. Rom. 10:14-17

         Being a big Keith Green fan, near the end of his life he stated that according to the Great Commission we've all been sent. Therefore, don't ask God or listen for a call to go be missionaries, rather listen for a call not to go or stay. Some of his mentors tried to calm him down a little telling him that if everyone went, who would support them? I'm not sure his response but he probably would have said, "God", or maybe, "the people that God told to stay."

        The other side of this is the Baptist Church which would say wait for the Macedonian call like Paul got. They would say missionaries are called to the mission field and their support of this would probably be verse 15.

      My take would probably be somewhere between the two. I do believe we are all sent to the mission field, but that mission field doesn't have to be overseas. It can be your school, your neighborhood, your place of work. I don't think you need to hear from the Lord in order to go on a short-term mission trip. We have already heard from Him in the Great Commission. Just go! If God wants you not to go, He will give you CoVid or stop you in some other way. While you're over there, maybe your burden for the people will be so great that you will want to go permanently. Maybe not.

       I had an interesting experience happen to me back in the mid 90's. I wrestled with Keith Green's words and wondered if I should leave America and be a medical missionary. A pregnant woman came in my office and told me "God gave me a dream about you. You are standing at a sink scrubbing your hands and an angel is standing by me (the patient), and he is telling me (the patient), 'Tell Dr. Koerten...' and then the dream would end." On her post-partum visit, she was eager to tell me, "I know what the Angel wants me to say! I had another dream, and he told me (the patient), 'Tell Dr. Koerten... to stay'. Does that make any sense?" Whether you believe Keith Green was right or not, I had my call to stay.

Thoughts From Romans 10 - Part 1

 Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.” 6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.   Romans 10:5-13

            Growing up in Evangelical Christianity, the sinner's prayer has been generally accepted as the means to salvation. It always has some facet of admitting you're a sinner and no amount of good deeds can save you. Next is an acknowledgment of believing God sent His Son to die on the cross for my sins and He rose from the dead to give me life. Lastly is by faith receiving Him into your life and through His power live for Him the rest of our life and live with Him forever in Heaven.

         Saying this prayer for salvation is never spelled out in the Bible but we get glimpses of it here. Paul says for salvation we first have to believe in our inmost being that God raised Jesus from the dead. By this alone, any liberal faction of Christianity that doesn't believe in the bodily resurrection as described in the gospels can't be saved. Secondly, he says that you have to profess your belief that Jesus is Lord openly with your mouth. This is probably where we get that it's necessary to pray out loud the sinner's prayer.

        My guess is that in the early church this was all done at the time of baptism, thus the rush to get baptized like Phillip with the Ethiopian and the confusion in churches today that you have to be baptized to be saved, or Baptismal Regeneration. Peter says that it isn't the water or baptism that saves us but rather the pledge of a clear conscience toward God which would be the first part of the prayer and the last part.

        My contention is that somewhere along the line getting saved by a public display and declaration at the time of baptism got replaced by the sinner's prayer. Although it's never mentioned directly in the Bible it does cover what's mentioned as a means to salvation in Romans 10 and 1Peter 3 so I endorse it.

      My dad after salvation went to some Dutch Reformed churches and his gripe was no one knew how to get saved. When you take away altar calls and the sinner's prayer it breeds confusion and non-assurance of salvation. I say use the prayer and don't apologize for it. Does that mean everyone who says it is saved? No, but that's for another time.

Thoughts From Romans 9 - Part 5

  What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. 33 As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall,
    and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame."

Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. Romans 9:30-10:4

          Almost all of my Upward Basketball devotions deal with this theme; you can't get to Heaven by your good deeds. Christ's righteousness is given to us when we receive it by faith. This is not just where the Jews stumble but every religion in the world other than Christianity stumble over this. When I say Christianity, I mean true Christianity. Many "sects" of Christianity stumble over this, too. Catholics believe you have to take the seven sacraments to achieve Heaven. Church of Christ believes you have to be baptized. Mormons believe to get to Celestial Heaven you must obey temple ordinances. Jehovah Witnesses believe you must live according to the teachings put out by the Watchtower Society.

        In medicine we use diagnostic questions. Just this week we did a c-section on a patient who post-operatively dropped her blood count and was extremely distended. We had to determine if it was just gas with blood loss during the surgery or if it was her abdomen filling up with blood from an uncontrolled bleeder which would necessitate going back in. I asked her if she had right shoulder pain and she said, "No". This is a diagnostic question looking for blood under the diaphragm. In Christianity we have a diagnostic question, also. it is, "When you stand before the Lord someday and He asks you, 'Why should I let you into Heaven?', how would you answer?" If their answer has anything to do with being a good person, it indicates that they are trusting in their own righteousness.

        One of my favorite devotions I do is pouring water into a cup and I ask them if they would drink it. Everyone replies yes. Then I bring in a urine in a specimen cup (actually I use Mountain Dew) and use a medicine dropper and put one drop in the water and then ask if they would drink it. Everyone replies, no. Then I add sugar or crystal light or anything to make it more palatable and they still say no. The point is, that urine, even just one drop, defiles the water and makes it unfit for drinking. You get the meaning, I'm sure. Sin, even one sin, defiles us and we are unfit to enter God's presence. No amount of good deeds can help, the sin must be removed. Jesus took the sin upon Himself on the cross and by faith refills our cup with His clean water. This is salvation.

       This salvation seems too simple and that's why people stumble over it. Intuitively we think that to get anything of value, it must be earned. Salvation can't be, it's a free gift. Humble yourself, receive it, and just be people of eternal gratitude.

Thoughts From Romans 9 - Part 4

 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says in Hosea:

“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
    and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,” and,

      “In the very place where it was said to them

       ‘You are not my people,’

         there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel 

       “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,

        only the remnant will be saved 

           For the Lord will carry out

          his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”

29 It is just as Isaiah said previously:

“Unless the Lord Almighty
    had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
    we would have been like Gomorrah.”

 Romans 9:22-29

       When I was in a reformed church, the Westminster Confession was required reading if you were to become an elder or deacon. I remember one part of it that comes specifically from this passage and it has to deal with double predestination. That's a doctrine where God prepares in advance one group of people(the objects of mercy) who will be saved and the other approximately 90-95% of the population (the objects of wrath) to be damned, and if you think that is unfair, see the preceding verses like who are you to question God; He can do whatever He wants to do. Just be eternally grateful He picked you to be in the 5-10%. Although I see how they make their case and yes, if it is true, He can do whatever He wants, it seems to go against so many other sentinel doctrines in the Bible and the character of God that I have to think there is another meaning to this passage.

         What I think Paul is saying here goes along with what Peter was saying when he says that the reason God is "slow" to judge the Earth and "slow" to return again. Peter says that He tarries because when He comes back the time for salvation is over and He doesn't want people to go to Hell. I think Paul would add to that, the people who have chosen not to follow Jesus and the resultant carnage of their lives resulting from that decision, should help encourage people to choose Christ. Just look at the messed up lives of people in Hollywood as examples. They have chosen fame over Christ and their private lives have been decimated.

        Paul will relate this to Jews and Gentiles. The Jews have rejected Christ and the fact that God is now "loving on" the Gentiles is going to provoke jealousy, conviction, and eventually mass repentance. The "objects of wrath prepared for destruction" are those people who reject Christ. He could take them out to immediate judgement but rather He lets them live among us century after century as warning signs not to follow down their path.

            It seems Gen Z has a common desire and that is to be an "influencer". What a great word! Most are part of the "objects of wrath" trying to influence you that their way is desirable. Look deeper into their lives. There is nothing desirable in rejecting Christ. Let them influence you not to follow them. Open your eyes!

Thoughts From Romans 9 - Part 3

 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
    and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

 Romans 9:14-21

          Have you ever heard someone being accused of "having a God complex"? I googled the term and here's what a found;

  "A god complex is a pattern in which an individual believes they have great power, ability, infallibility, influence, and are superior to others."

    In Virginia Giuffre's memoir on Jeffrey Epstein's use of her as a sex slave, she recounts that Prince Andrew, who recently lost his duke status for this, treated his time with her like he deserved this because of his status. Doctor's, because they often hold people's very lives in the balances, are sometimes accused of this. This weekend's "No Kings" rally which had over 7 million attend, could have been appropriately renamed "No Gods" as he made mocking memes of dumping excrement on them from a fighter jet which he flew wearing a crown.

        While he abhor human beings considering themselves superior to other people in essence, does the world treat God with disdain as if He had a God complex? The answer is "yes", and Paul addresses it here in Romans 9. In its very definition, a God complex implies that God is superior to humans in His essence. He has great power, ability, infallibility, influence, and is superior to others. He is "other" than us and He can do as He pleases because He is God. Paul's analogy is, He is a potter and we are a lump of clay.

       From the very beginning, mankind blamed God for his sin and the consequences. Adam said, "The woman You gave me", to Gideon explaining to the angel why he was hiding in a winepress threshing wheat and saying it was God's fault, to Cain blaming God for rejecting his sacrifice, to King Asa's anger against God's rebuke and refusing to seek His help for his disease of the feet from which he succumbed, the Bible is full of examples.

     Today, God is blamed for "making me a homosexual", to the cause of natural disasters, to putting certain regimes in power, to child abductions, genocides - you name it. He is even blamed for putting a tree in the garden knowing we would mess up. "It's all His fault", people say. There is a disdain for God and mankind blames their sinfulness on Him.

       God is a good God who has nothing but Love for mankind in His core. That's why He made us and put us in a perfect existence with a free will but all the negatives we see in the world come from our desire to be God. Yet our essence is wet mud, and He is the potter and we have forgotten that. Let's humbly submit to the One who holds our lives, eternity, the whole universe in His hands. Will He not do what is right?