Last Call Digest: Where Was God?-Kay Arthur

PRECEPTS FOR LIFE

a Production of

Precept Ministries International

P.O. Box 182218, Chattanooga, TN 37422-7218

1-888-734-7707/ www.preceptsforlife.com

The following is an actual transcript of the PRECEPTS FOR LIFE Broadcast. For the purpose of filling transcript requests quickly, they have received only light editing. If you have questions concerning the material covered in this broadcast, Kay has published a number of books explaining the Scripture in depth. These books may be ordered by contacting the telephone number or address printed above.

SERIES: Interview With Bob And Diane Vereen

TITLE: Program 1 - Where Was God?

         

WEDNESDAY (12/16/09)

Bill: In the wake of a horrifying disaster in your own life, you may be left with doubts, fears, questions. Questions of Blame. Questions of Guilt. Questions of Faith. When disaster hits you, how do you cope? How do you deal with the pain of a personal tragedy in your own life? How do you heal Emotionally. . . Physically. . .Spiritually? Do you ever wonder if there is anyone in Control? If there is a God, where is He? Join us today as we discover the answers to these questions on Precepts For Life. 

PART ONE

MAN ON THE STREET INTERVIEWS:

Woman 1: I think humans are in control of a lot of fate. God plays part in our life, but I think he stands back for the human element.

Man 1: I control my own destiny. I make the decision whether I want to be with God or not.

Woman 2: It‟s up to us what we do. And we have choices in life and it‟s up to us to make those decisions. And, so that‟s why I think we‟re in control.

Man 2: It‟s beyond our control.

Man 3: I guess I‟m in control of my own destiny as far as the choices I make.

 

Man 4: I think it‟s more of a crutch to lean on, instead of, like the controlling force, like what upstairs with the, the big remote control for everybody telling them what to do.

Woman 3: I know somebody has to be in control, because of, because of the way things work.

Man 5: Without God man you ain‟t, I don‟t know what to tell you if you ain‟t got God on your side. 

  

IN THE STUDIO:

Kay: It‟s one thing to look at a disaster from afar off. It‟s one thing to hear about it on television. And many times our hearts are gripped and they‟re torn, but it‟s another thing to live through a disaster.

I want to introduce to you, Bob and Diane Vereen. They are our Ambassadors at Large at Precept Ministries International, and they travel all over the world.

And yet I remember what happened twelve years ago. I picked up the phone and I heard these words: “Kay, this is Bobby, and I‟ve got something to tell you.” And at that moment they told me of a tragedy that they were living through.

And it was like one tragedy upon another. And you‟re going to hear their story today, but more importantly, Precious One, you‟re not only going to hear their story, but you‟re going to learn:

How do you live in the midst of that disaster?

How do you understand what is going on when all of a sudden tragedy hits.

You wonder, “God, where are you?”

And I can tell you honestly that this dear couple can give you hope and they can give you help for your future because we all suffer in one way or another.

THE SCOTT VEREEN STORY:

Diane: There were times, literally, I felt like I was having a heart attack.

Bob: You just almost feel like at times, “I‟m not sure I‟m gonna be able to, to go through this. I‟m just not sure I‟m gonna make it.”

 

Debbie: Bob and Diane Vereen were living what most would consider a good life. They were both active in ministry, serving as Ambassadors for Precept Ministries International, happily married and the proud parents of two successful sons, Scott and Sean. Scott was the oldest and constantly made big footprints for his little brother to fill.

Sean: I think you know just the, the enjoyment of uh you know having the competitiveness but also having a best friend who you know was my brother. Um you know we got to room together in college. We played baseball together in college.

Debbie: Scott was a gifted athlete. He especially loved football and baseball ....but Scott realized what made him great on and off the field.

Bob: He worked extremely hard at whatever he did. Therefore in a lot of cases he would rise above some of the kids that maybe had more natural talent. Uh But his perseverance and discipline and, and work ethics just were overwhelming.

Diane: Probably one of the most coveted awards that Scott got was when he was in in college. He was a senior in college playing college baseball and Scott was given the award for uh it was the Bo Freeman Award. And he was given that award recognizing his Christian character in the athletic arena and out of the athletic arena.”

 

Debbie: After graduating college Scott married his high school sweetheart Chrissie. At age twenty two these newlyweds were living the fairytale life when the unthinkable happened.

Sean: “I could tell you like it was yesterday. It was February the 18th of 1994. It was a Friday afternoon. It was um crystal clear blue day."

Bob: I was sitting uh in my uh breakfast room, at the, at the breakfast table and I was studying the book of Revelation. And uh I received the phone call. And on the other end of the phone was Johnny. And Johnny was Scott‟s boss.

Diane: Bobby called me at the doctor‟s office and of course when he, I picked up the telephone he said my name over and over again. And I could tell by the tone of his voice that there was something wrong. Bobby said, “Diane, Scott is dead. And of course the first thing that happened is that I just couldn‟t believe it. I just said no, there‟s got to be a mistake. And I, I kept trying to get him to tell me that it was a mistake.

Debbie: A parents worst nightmare became a shocking and devastating reality within a matter of minutes. Scott was tragically killed when his car slammed into the back of a truck loaded with lumber. Many friends and family members asked how such a tragedy could happen to someone whose life held so much promise.

Sean: The hard part for me was the, the fact and the reality that it was over. The fact that I couldn‟t pick up the phone and call, the fact that I couldn‟t get advice, the fact that just the night before I had spoken to him.

Bob: The emotions run wild. The emotions go ah all over the board, everywhere. And the mind has a tendency to wonder in terms of, “What did I do wrong?” Uh, probably uh one of the most painful experiences I‟ve ever gone through. 

Diane: I‟d be standing in the shower and start crying. Or I‟d be in the car or in the grocery store. And just for no reason something would remind me of Scott and I would start crying.

Debbie: Scott was 23 years old when he died. The Vereen‟s grieve over their loss, but they find peace in knowing that at the age of 17 Scott gave his life to Christ.

The Vereen now shares their story to help others cope with the loss of a loved one.

Diane: The day that Scott was buried uh I just asked the Lord that day not to let his death be in vain. And I knew that it would not be in vain but it would be in vain in my life if I did not allow the Lord to do what he wanted to do through my life and in my life as a result of it.

Sean: The greatest thing that I know and remember about my brother was that he was ready. Scott was at total peace with his life. He was at peace with his Savior. He was at peace with his wife. He was at peace with his family and his friends. And that‟s what we try to give the encouragement to other people is is is first of all, are you at peace with your Savior? Are you at peace and knowing that if, if I walk out of this door today and I‟m in a car accident or I have a heart attack or I have some other illness that it‟s my time to go that I‟m at total peace with my savior. That‟s the number one key.

IN THE STUDIO:

Kay: You‟ve heard their story and you understand the tragedy. And you‟ve experienced some of the pain, but I know you want to know, “How did you make it?” “How did you survive?” “How did you keep from getting angry at God?” Or, “Did you get angry at God?” “Were you bitter?”

Did you say: “Well! If this is what it means to serve You, then You can just forget it!”

Because these two people have literally poured out their lives for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well I remember getting in the car. I remember driving with another staff couple all the way to the funeral.

And as we drove, I was thinking, you know, it was seven months ago that I was on this same road going to their wedding. And I remember you couldn‟t get near the funeral home. I mean, there were young people all over the place.

There were adults and somebody spotted me and somebody recognized me as being close to them and working with them at Precept Ministries International and they said, “Come on, and we‟ll take you through.”

But I‟m  telling you that that funeral service and what Bob said to me when I saw him for the very first time, you said, “I want you to know…”

Bob: Umhmm.

Kay: You looked at me and you said, “I want you to know that His Word is true and His grace is sufficient…

Bob: That‟s true.

Kay: … and God has not left the throne.” And I‟ll never forget it because I thought, “God, he really believes. He really did.”

Bob: Oh yeah! Because um, the, the key I think Kay was that, for years since my salvation in 1978 until 1994, during all of those years, those uh 16 years, it had been my pattern to study the Word of God and I‟m so thankful that I was introduced to the inductive method of studying the Word of God, because I really discovered truth for myself. And those truths were just not things that I knew about in the Bible, but they were things that I had embraced and they had become a part of me because God Himself had, through the Holy Spirit had taught me those truths.

Kay: Um hmm.

Bob: And when you said, “Do you remember what you said?” I remember that the thing that carried me through was the, the Word of God and I love what a friend of mine said when he went through a tragedy. He said: “When the bottom fell out, my feet landed on the rock.”

 

Kay: Unnnhh.

Bob: He landed on the Word of God. And all those years of studying the Word of God, those truths just started coming to surface. And every time I would think of something, God would bring to remembrance a truth. I, I never will forget the first time I hung the phone up after receiving the news, I sa-, I cried out to God and I said, “God, I don‟t think I can go through this.”

 

Kay: Umhmm.

Bob: And immediately that uh verse of scripture in 1 Corinthians 10:13 came to my mind, immediately. There has. [“No temptation or trial taken you such as uh common to man.”] (PARAPHRASE, 1 Corinthians 10:13a, KJV), but um.

Kay: “God is faithful….” (1 Corinthians 10:13b)

Bob: [“Faithful, and He will,” uh-um-um, you know, “enable you to, to endure it,” or to go through it, “and will provide the way of escape,”] (PARAPHRASE, 1 Corinthians 10:13b, KJV) and uh-, that verse of scripture was the first uh, response of God, if you will. So the Word of God is just so tremendously important, and then the second thing that you said was that, “That was the past.” That was what, what laid the foundation, if you will, for that event. But then the other thing that was so important was the grace. You know the, uh, “My grace is sufficient….” (2 Corinthians 12:9b) And [“My grace is is is enough.”] (PARAPHRASE, 2 Corinthians 12:9b) And uh-, I believe that‟s the, the key. It was not something that I did. It was something that God was doing in me.

Kay: And Diane, when we come back, I know that your two boys, well, your three boys counting Bob. And he acts like a boy many times, but uh-, but I know that your two boys were, next to Jesus, they were the center of your life, and I know that you had ah, your mother ah had cancer, uh you were going through all sorts of other trials when this happened, and nuh, I want you to share when we come back.

Diane: Thank you.

PART TWO

MAN ON THE STREET INTERVIEWS:

Man 1: I, I‟m not a real bi-, big believer in God, but I mean I know there is something bigger out there that controls everything, but I‟m not sure what.

Woman 1: Uh, Definitely the Lord God is in control. Uh, He does everything, uh, with a purpose and even though we don‟t understand it, He is uh, is defiantly in control. He knows what the end result is.

Man 2: Whatever you want to call Him, I call Him God, other people may have a different name, and, and there‟s got to be a higher order out there is unknown to most of us and remains hidden and uh, that secret is always what we‟re searching for.

Woman 2: Yeah, it‟s up to us kinda. God doesn‟t force us to do anything, you know.

Woman 3: My own self, I‟ve lost a child and I know going through that God was the only peace that I had. And the day we buried my child I can‟t tell you but the peace that I had was beyond all measures, and I know that only comes from above. And that‟s the peace that God gives.

IN THE STUDIO:

Kay: And suppose, Precious One, we put that microphone in front of you and we asked you: Who‟s in control when bad things happen? And suppose something bad had just happened to you.

Suppose your mate had told you that they were leaving. Suppose you got word about cancer. Suppose you heard that your daugh- granddaughter, as one of my friends just heard, your granddaughter was murdered.

What would you say? How would you answer? Is there an answer? Do we really know who‟s in control? Well, as you know, we‟ve been talking to Bob and Diane. And you know how that car went up and and how another one had stopped and how that wood came right through and and killed Scott.

Where was God? Well, Diane, you had to answer that question, didn‟t you?

Diane: I certainly did, Kay.

Kay: Yeah, and those boys were so special to you, are so special to you.

Diane: They they are and I literally would have given my life for them. But God chose to take Scott home and the thing that I had to ask myself was “Where was God?” Well God was on the throne because He is El Elyon: He‟s the most High God. He rules over the realm of mankind.

He was also with Scott that day because He‟s omnipresent. He was with me and when I was taking care of my mother who was dying with cancer. And He was with Bobby and our youngest son in Chattanooga. And I also had to think, “Well, God why didn‟t you stop it?” You know He could have because He‟s all powerful and He had the power to do that. But I also know what the Word of God says and and God had just used these verses in my heart over and over again to encourage me and and take me through a healing process. But God knew the plans that He had for Scott and they were plans for good, not for evil to give him a future and a hope. And before he was ever formed in my wombs God had numbered his days. So that day was just a fulfillment of those days that He had ordained for Scott.

Kay: Yeah, I love that verse it‟s Psalm 139 when he says, [“He, He wrote in the book all of our days”] (Paraphrase, Psalm 139:16b) God did, “…when…there was not [yet] one of them.” (Psalm 139:16d)

 

Diane: Yes

Kay: All of Scott‟s days. But it‟s so hard because you think, he was such a fine young man, I mean he was so outstanding and so kind and so compassionate and so burdened, burdened that others would come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And does it make you afraid to give your child to God or to say to God, “God, whatever it takes, use me to bring another person to Christ”?

Diane: I think, Kay, if you know your God and you know that He is a God of love and that He knows better than we do and you can trust Him, then you have to be able to trust Him with your children. And you know both of my boys were in open hands before the Lord, and that was difficult. I mean it‟s been a very very painful, painful process and certainly not one that I would‟ve chosen to go through, but the reality is: God is, is a trustworthy God. And and I had to just choose to believe what He said in His Word and choose to believe who He is rather than keeping my focus on those circumstances. Humanly, as I said earlier, it doesn‟t make any sense to me even today.

Kay: Yeah. I have walked through this with you. I‟ve been there. We‟ve shared many evenings together and we‟ve been at our headquarters in Israel and I‟ve seen the tears come and mine came with yours and Bob, I love it „cause you‟re a man in touch with your emotions and you were crying at the beginning of this program, uh, because I was crying. But the tears, the pain: what do you do when all of the sudden the wave, the remembrance of it comes and and and hits you, you know? How do you handle that?

 

Bob: I don‟t know if this is the right thing to say, Kay, but enjoy the moment.

Kay: Enjoy the moment…

Bob: Yeah, you know. Let the tears flow.

Kay: Yeah

Bob: Ah, it ah ah, to to cherish that, that pain that uh that the ah absence that is there on the one hand. On the other hand uh, Diane says it best when she says, “I choose not to live there....”

Kay: Yeah

Bob: “…I choose not to stay there” because if you stay there then then comes anger, then comes bitterness, but it‟s OK to have those emotions and we still do obviously.

Kay: Mmhm. When you stay there then you deal with the „what if‟s‟ and the „if only‟s‟ and “Why did you?” and “Where were you?” and and otherwise if you look at the Word and you say, “OK, God, this is who you are.” This is what you hear. I love what your friend said, you know, when the bottom falls out you land on the Rock. And the thing is that that that Rock was cleft.

Remember that God had Moses in the cleft of the rock when He passed by in all of His power and all of His majesty. And I think about that cleft of the rock as being Jesus, you know, that He‟s there and He‟s sufficient. (See Exodus 33:-12-22) And and I think about Abraham offering Isaac.

How could Abraham obey God and offer his son as a sacrifice, you know, “…”Take…your son, your only son, whom you love….‟” (Genesis 22:2a) [“And offer him as a sacrifice where I‟ll tell you”]? (Paraphrase, Genesis 22:2b) And you think, “How?” It‟s because Abraham looked beyond that to the fact that God was going to raise him from the dead.

And he though, “OK, if I put him to death the promises are renewed you promised me an heir. This is my heir. You‟re just going to have to raise him from the dead.” And when I found that verse in Hebrews 11 and ah, when it was saying, you know that in this hall of faith, of trusting God and over and over and over again you see them just trusting God in all these things.

And then in Hebrews chapter 11 it says that He considered God.

It says,

“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he who to whom it was said, „In Isaac your descendants…,‟” or your seed, “„…shall be called.‟ He considered that God is able…,” God is able, “…to raise [men] even from the dead, from which…also [he] received him back as a type.”

(Hebrews 11: 17-19)

Because He stopped him and he says, “Now I know. Now I know that you love Me.” Would you say that trials show or demonstrate our relationship to God?

Bob: Oh absolutely. Yeah because, I think, for me the af affirmation of my faith came in the death of our son because I saw the supernatural. I felt the supernatural. I experienced the supernatural strength and grace of God.

Kay: Precious One, listen to me very very carefully. You do not have to be afraid of the trial. You do not have to be afraid of the tragedy because God sits on His throne.

Psalm 103 says, “…His sovereignty rules over all.”

(Psalm 103:19b)

Isaiah 45 says that, [God wounds and God heals.] (Paraphrase, Deuteronomy 32:39) That God, I‟m sorry that‟s Deuteronomy that says that. Isaiah 45 says, [He creates good and He creates adversity.] (Paraphrase, Isaiah 45:7)

If it‟s God behind it, Beloved, just know that you can make it. It‟s not Mother Nature, it‟s Father God. It‟s not the devil; it‟s Almighty, omnipotent, Lord.

He is God. He‟s on His throne. You can trust Him. Rest and trust in His promises. Cling to Him,

“…as the waistband clings to the waist of a man….” (Jeremiah 13:11a)

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Hope Beyond Your Failures ~ Kay Arthur

Failures can really loom before us, can‟t they? They come at the most, the most inopportune times. You‟re ready to do something or you‟re ready to take an adventure and all of a sudden failure comes in your face and you think, what if I fail, what am I going to do?

Listen to me, your failures never change the character of God. Your failures never nullify the promises of God.

There"s hope beyond your failures.

Romans, chapter 3 that‟s where we‟re beginning. Now remember I told you that Romans is a diatribe. It‟s not somebody off on a kick. A diatribe in those days meant that it was a discussion, a critical dissertation. And this is a critical dissertation of the gospel.

And what Paul is going to do is in chapter 3, beginning at verse 3, he‟s going to start asking questions. He is anticipating the questions and the comments and the assumptions that people will take or have against the gospel.

And so what he has done is he has laid out very clearly in chapter 1 the lostness of the Gentiles and how the wrath of God is going to come upon them because they have not honored God as God.

Then in chapter 2 he turns to the Jew and he wants the Jew to know, he wants the religious man; we‟ll apply it today, to religious persons. He wants the religious persons to know that they‟re not going to miss the judgment of God. If they are saying one thing and they‟re living another way, if they‟re playing the hypocrite, if they‟re playing the actor, if they‟re putting on a mask, they‟re not going to escape the judgment of God.

Now what he‟s done is he‟s hit those Jews very very hard. And he has hit them where it hurts the most. He has hit them in regard to their keeping of the law and he has hit them in their circumcision, a circumcision of the flesh but not a circumcision of the heart.

And so he‟s hit them very hard and he‟s explained to them, the Gentile man that is not circumcised, but has a heart to keep the law, sits in judgment on you if you‟re just trusting in your circumcision, but you don‟t have a heart to keep the law.

So he opens up chapter 3 with this question. He says, “What advantage then has the Jew?” Is there any advantage at all to being a Jew?

And he says, oh yes, there is an advantage to being a Jew.

And then he asks this other question, “And what is the benefit of circumcision?” Okay, so if circumcision isn‟t going to get me into heaven, what is the benefit of circumcision?

And so he says, listen, a Jew has an advantage, being circumcised as a Jew has an advantage. Why? It‟s great in every respect. And then he says, first of all, that they,

“The Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.”

Now remember the oracles of God are special disclosures in the Old Testament, in the Jewish Bible, it‟s call the Tanak. Regarding the Messiah.

So here they have this knowledge of Messiah.

They knew that Messiah had to be born of a virgin because the Bible said that.
They knew that Messiah was going to be a man.
They knew the town that Messiah would be born in.
They knew that Messiah was going to come and he was going to rule the world.

There were 333 prophecies about the first coming of Messiah.
And all 333 of those prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Now listen, you cannot choose the place that you‟re going to be born.But the whole circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ, how His parents were from Nazereth and how they were called because of a census, a census that had been delayed several times, but now came to pass because it was time for Mary to bring forth her child and so they end up in Bethlehem. And it was in Bethlehem-Ephrata that Messiah was to be born.

And the Jews understood that. So he‟s saying, okay, you have all these prophecies. These belong to you.

But then he comes back in verse 3 with the next question. Now what he‟s going to do is he‟s going to start anticipating their questions. He‟s going to start to answer them.

If it‟s a question that is to be answered with a negative, then it‟s going to have an M-E in it. In the Greek, the equivalent of an M-E, if it‟s a question that is to be answered with a positive response then it‟s going to have an O-U in that.

So he asks the question in such way that you already know the answer before you answer. You know that he‟s expecting a negative answer or a positive answer.

Now he also does something else and I want you to see this.

Sometimes he looks at them and he anticipates some false conclusions that they are going to come to. And that‟s what you see happening and I‟ll point this out, but it‟s in verses 5 to 9.

Now as we go through the book of Romans, I mean, he‟s going to start these questions. So this is what I would suggest that you do. I would suggest that you take a green coloring pencil and that you just color every question as you come to it. And I will tell you what to color. But color the question so that you can see it‟s a question.

Now I‟ve chosen green because you know when you ask questions you get answers, you grow. So that‟s why I chose green. Okay, so let‟s look at this first question. He says,

“What then if some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?”

And this is a question that has the M-E in it. And the answer is, “May it never be.” In the King James Version it is “God forbid.” So may it never be, absolutely not.

What he‟s saying is this and we‟re going to apply it to you and to me, where we are today.

But he‟s saying that when you do not believe God that does not cancel out, that does not erase the faithfulness of God.

Aren‟t you glad?

Because what their question would be is this, okay, so here are the Jews, they have these special disclosures about Messiah, about Jesus being the Messiah, Yeshua, being the Messiah and they don‟t believe them. So because they don‟t believe them then does that nullify, does that negate, does that cancel out these promises of God? Does that mean Messiah‟s not going to come, uh, the second time? Does that mean that all is lost?

And he says, may it never be. God forbid. He says,

“Rather let it be found true though every man be found a liar, just as it is written.”

Now what he does in this diatribe is he reasons with them from the scriptures. The scriptures are the Old Testament. The scriptures are from Genesis to Malachi. So he‟s going to reason with them.

Now he‟s pulling up Psalm 51, verse 4. Psalm 51 is the psalm that David wrote; now listen carefully, after he sinned with Bathsheba. It is the psalm that he wrote after he had Bathsheba‟s husband put to death. So here he is now, he‟s an adulterer and he just had a man murdered and he‟s writing a psalm.

And you would think, okay David, that‟s it for you, you had this Davidic covenant, you had these promises of Messiah, but buster there is no hope for you. The promises of God are canceled. They are X‟d out.

And he says, oh no they‟re not. They‟re not X‟d out. They‟re not erased. They‟re not made null and void because of what you did.

And the reason that they‟re not, is because of who God is.
Your unfaithfulness never changes the faithfulness of God.
Your unbelief never nullifies the promises of God.

You have to go, oh, I am so thankful.

You know why?

Because we‟re all going to fail, because we‟re all going to hit sometime a wall of unbelief and we have to just say, oh God, I‟m so thankful that my sin, that my mess up, that my unbelief, that my stubbornness did not stop You from coming through. And it does not stop God from coming through. So let‟s look at it.

He says in Psalm 51, verse 4,

“May it never be, rather let God be true. Though every man be found a liar, just as it is written, that Thou mayest be justified in Thy words.”

Now David is writing to God and he‟s saying, “God, that You might be justified in Your words …,” declared righteous is what justified means. “… and that You might prevail when Thou, God, art judged.” Why?

Because His words do not fail.

Isn‟t that awesome? Isn‟t that tremendous?

And this is what he says. He says, but, so he anticipates now. Watch what he‟s doing. He‟s anticipating a false conclusion. He says,

“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.”

Now I just wanted to read you that before the break. What I want you to do on the break or now is with a pencil, take a line from verse 5 to verse 9 and then right here in the margin or in the book that we‟ve given you, write that he anticipates false conclusions from what he‟s just said.

Okay, now, what I want you to know and what I what you to understand this before we go to the break, I want you to understand, Precious One, that God will always remain God and he says this in Psalm 138, that

“God has magnified His Word together with His name.”

In other words, the Word of God stands because the name, the character of God stands.

So, just remember this, that when you blow it and you‟re so grieved that you blew it, it is not over. As my friend, Jan Silvious says, the last chapter hasn‟t been written yet. And the last chapter ends with the wonderful promises of God.

Do you enjoy learning the Word of God, moving through it verse by verse and sticking with the text and seeing what God has to say? Do you realize Precious One, what we‟re going to have when we get through all of this? You‟re going to have an understanding of this dissertation of the gospel.

It‟s like the constitution of your faith.

And listen; it‟s interesting now, but it gets gooder and gooder and gooder because right now we‟re in the part where God is trying to convince all mankind that they‟re sinners. And we‟re going to see that in just a minute.

Well now, let‟s look at these false conclusions.

All right, in verse 5, he says, but if our unrighteousness then demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say?

In other words, look, if when I‟m so unrighteous, when I‟m so unlike God that it shows you how righteous God is, then what shall we say? He says, “God, who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous is He?”

And then he says, “I‟m speaking in human terms …,” and again it‟s an M-E question. It‟s an answer that says, “May it never be.”

In other words, what he‟s saying is this; okay. Your unrighteousness shows the righteousness of God. So then God should not pour out His wrath on you because you are showing others how right God is.

He says that‟s a false conclusion.

And I want you to know this that your sin, can never be used as an excuse to show the greatness of God.

Do you know in the time of the Metichis, in the church, in way way back. I‟ll take you back to Italy and I take you back to, I think it was Florence where the Metichi‟s lived. Do you know that there was a priest within that group, within that inner circle and he told the women this, he said listen, the more we sin the more it shows the grace of God.

Now Paul‟s going to deal with that later. And we‟re going to see it.

But he says, the more that we sin the more it shows the grace of God. So therefore it is fine for you to sleep with me. It‟s fine for me to sleep with all you women because then we see the enormous grace of God in saving us.

Well this is the same thing right here. And you think, stupid, wake up, wake up. Don‟t you come to that false conclusion.

That is a futile speculation like Romans 1 is talking about. You are devising something in your mind and you are playing the fool.

So then the next one is this. He says, “May it never be for otherwise, how will God judge the world?” So you can‟t come to that false conclusion.

All right now, verse 7. He says, “But if through my lie, the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I still being judged by as a sinner?”

In other words, once again, it‟s the same tenant.

If my sin shows the glory of God in forgiving me, then why am I judged as a sinner?

And then he says, “And why not say …,” and then he puts in a parenthesis, “… as we are slanderously reported and as some inferred that we say, „Let us do evil that good might come.‟”

It‟s that same thing that I told you about, the time of the Metichi‟s, when they were ruling in the church at that time.

So what I‟m saying is this, and what Paul is saying, is look.

You can never excuse your sin. You can never cover it up by saying, but my sin shows the grace of God. My sin shows the glory of God. My sin shows the truth of God.

No you can‟t say that.

All right, so what does he say? “And why not say as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm we say, „Let us do evil that good may come.‟” And then he makes a statement, “Their condemnation is just.”

You know I was just appalled and someone sent me an article from World magazine. And in that article they were telling about different pastors within different denominations, not just the Roman Catholics had sin in their camp, but different denominations had sin in their camp. And these were pastors that were counselors. And here they were, they were counseling women and seducing them and molesting them and using their molestation and their seduction as a means of telling them that this is the way that they would be cured.

I mean, what have they done?

They have twisted, they have distorted. This is why I wrote the book, “Sex According to God”. I want everyone to understand what the Bible has to say about sex.

Well this is what he‟s going to do now. He says,

“What then, are we better than they?”

Now who‟s the we? Who is Paul?

Paul is a Jew. Paul is a Jew who believes that Yeshua is the Messiah he was persecuting Christians. He hated Christians. He was throwing them in prison. He was letting them be put to death. And then one day on the road to Damascus, Acts 9 tells you about it, if you want to read it later, he met Jesus Christ face to face.

And Christ means Messiah.

He met Yeshua, the Messiah face to face. And He said, “Jesus said to him …,” He says, “„Saul, Saul!‟” that was his name before God changed it. “„Why are you persecuting Me?‟

And he says, „Who are Thou Lord?‟ And He said, „I am Jesus. I‟m Jesus.‟”

Now, watch what he‟s saying. 

We have the Law. We have the oracles of God. We have the promises of Messiah. You know, we have circumcision. Are we better than they? And listen to what he says.
 

“Not at all …,”

And when he says, not at all, the Greek says, not all together, no, no, no, we are not better than they; “… for we have already charged …,” He says, what do you think I‟ve been telling you? “… we have already charged both Greeks and Jews are all under sin.”

Now where did he show us this? He showed us this in Romans 1, the Greeks, the Gentiles are under sin. He showed it to us in Romans, chapter 2, that the Jews are under sin.

So he‟s saying, as it is written.

So he takes them back to the Word of God and what he does is he begins to string pearls, pearls of truth that he‟s going to get from the Psalms, that he‟s going to get from the book of Proverbs, the book of wisdom and that he‟s going to get from that awesome prophet Isaiah.

And listen to what he says,

“As it is written, there is none righteous, not even one.”

Now you want to underline, “not even one.”

There is none that is righteous in the eyes of God.
There is none that is righteous apart from God.
There is not even one.
There is none who understands.
There is none who is seeking after God.

You say, but I sought after God. But listen, the reason you sought after God was because God was seeking after you. That‟s God. That‟s the promises of God. That‟s the character of God.

He says, “All have turned aside. Together they have become useless.” He‟s talking about all mankind. He‟s talking about you and me before we ever come to know Jesus Christ. “There is no one who does good …,” and then he says it again, “… not even one.”

In other words, all mankind from Genesis, all the way up to the end of the earth and to the new heaven and the new earth, all are born in sin.

“Their throat is an open grave. With their tongues they keep deceiving. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their paths and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

What is the conclusion?

He‟s going to come to it. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

And you say, whoa, whoa, we‟re lost, we‟re lost.
We‟ve failed. We‟ve failed God.
We‟re lost.

You would be lost if it weren‟t for the fact that God never fails. 

You would be lost if it were not for the fact that the Word of God is true and God stands by His Word and watches over His Word to perform it.

There‟s hope for sinners Beloved.

What Advantage Does The Jew Have? ~ Kay Arthur

We‟re studying the book of Romans and at this point in this book we are about to confront sin. We are about to see what it‟s all about and we‟re about to see who are sinners.

And the question is, do you qualify? What would you do if I said to you: you are a sinner? Would you get mad or would you agree with that? What does God say? We‟ll look at it today.

What Paul is doing in the book of Romans in the first three chapters through chapter 3, verse 20 is he‟s trying to help everybody see man you are lost. Man you are a sinner. 

But I‟ve got good news for you. I told you the good news at the beginning of my epistle, but I‟m about to explain it in full. But before I do, you just have to know, you just have to be convinced of the fact that whether you are a Jew or you are a Gentile, you‟re a sinner, because the message that I have is only for sinners.

Jesus Christ did not come to earth to call the righteous. He came to call sinners. He came to save sinners. He came to set people free.

I am a sinner that has been set free. And it is absolutely glorious. And I have no higher privilege in life than having the privilege of talking to you my friend and sharing with you the Word of God so that you can see truth for yourself. 

Well, we‟re in that portion of Romans, chapter 2 where he‟s addressing the Jew and remember as he addresses the Jew, he says to the Jew, 


“You bear the name Jew when you rely on the law and you boast in God.”
 
And then he goes through all these things that they‟re doing. 


He says, 


“But when you teach others, do you not teach yourself? When you say, you should not commit adultery; he says are you committing adultery?” 


When he says, 


“You should abhor idols and you abhor idols, he says do you rob temples?” Verse 23, “You who boast in the law, through breaking the law, do you dishonor God?”

He says listen, when you say that you believe the law and then you break the law, do you realize what you‟re doing? You‟re doing the same things that the Gentiles do. You‟re dishonoring God. 


He says, “For the name of God …,” and he quotes the Old Testament. He says, 


“For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, just as it is written.”

Now when he says, just as it is written, he just quoted the Old Testament. He says, 


“For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the law. But if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.” 

Now why is he saying this? 

He‟s saying this because the Jews were taught that a man who was not circumcised will never go to heaven. They were taught if you are circumcised then heaven is guaranteed to you. It‟s like your circumcision is the ticket that gets you to heaven. So circumcision was very very important to them.

If we would go back to Genesis, chapter 17, what we would see is he says that if you are not circumcised, if any Jew is not circumcised or any Gentile that has come into live among that Jewish community is not circumcised then that uncircumcised man is to be cut off from the other people. 

So to be uncircumcised was a disgrace. 

It was to break the covenant because circumcision was sign of the covenant, that you belonged to God and that you were going to follow God and that you were part of that Abrahamic covenant. And so this is when Abraham gets circumcised is in Genesis, chapter 17. 


This is when Ishmael, the father of the Arab nations gets circumcised. So this is how valuable circumcision was.

So he goes on to say, he says, 


“If therefore the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the law ….,” 


if he knows what God says about loving God with all your heart, keeping the Sabbath day holy, honoring your parents, not committing adultery, not worshipping idols, all the things that are in the Ten Commandments, not coveting, not swearing falsely, if you kept all those and you were uncircumcised, he says, 


“… your uncircumcision will be regarded as circumcision.”

In other words, if your heart is to keep the law of God, then even though you‟re not circumcised as a man, God looks at you as if you are circumcised because it‟s not the external, it‟s the internal. All right? So the external was the circumcision, which was a picture or a sign of the covenant.

So he goes on to say, 


"And will not he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the law, will He not judge you who though having the letter of the law and having circumcision, are a transgressor of the law?”
 
In other words, listen to what he‟s saying. He‟s saying, okay, if this uncircumcised man is keeping the law, if he‟s holding on to the law, if he‟s seeking to honor God, that uncircumcised man with that heart for the law sits in judgment on this circumcised man who is not keeping the law, but who is resting in his circumcision. This is an eye opener. And this is especially an eye opener to the Jews.

Now listen to what he goes on to say. 


“For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither 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.” 


Now the Bible talks in the prophet Ezekiel about God circumcising their heart and he says,


“If your heart is not circumcised, if that old flesh is not removed, if it is not cut off, he says then your heart is not circumcised.” 


And he says, 


“You need a circumcised heart, a heart that is exposed and a heart that is tender towards God.”

So he says,

“But he is a Jew who is one outwardly 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.”

All right now, I want to stop for a minute, because remember we‟re marking our Bible, we‟re color-coding our Bible and I want us to mark the Spirit. And the reason I want us to mark the Spirit is because you need to develop a biblical understanding of what God teaches on the Holy Spirit.

You need to build a biblical doctrine on the person and the work of the Holy Spirit.

So when I mark God I use a triangle and then I color it yellow on the inside. When I mark the Holy Spirit I take one side of that triangle and then I add a cloud to it and I color it yellow and that way when I am looking at it I can see that here‟s the Holy Spirit, He‟s part of the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

And you say, but I‟m a Jew and I don‟t believe that. Well I just challenge you to go back to Genesis, chapter 1, verse 26 when God said, “Let Us make man in our image,” and to go to Deuteronomy, chapter 6 and let me just take you there. But if you‟re a Jew you know that verse and you know what it says.

But if you‟re a Gentile, you may not know this, but this is the great Shamah. This is the testimony of faith of every single Jew and its Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse 4. “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is one.” And it reads this way. “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our Elohim”. Elohim is a plural ending. And I think it shows the plurality of God.

You will see, “Let us go down and see what man is doing.” And you see this when they‟re building the tower of Babel and God comes down and confuses the languages. So what are we seeing here?

We‟re seeing that we need to mark the Spirit. And we‟re seeing that the true circumcision, is a circumcision of the heart, a heart that wants to keep the Word of God, a heart that wants to love God, a heart that wants to obey God.

So he‟s talking to the Jews now. And as he talks to the Jews, you know, I can‟t help but thinking so many times we get so caught up in our religion in our religious ways that we just become down right mean and ornery to people that don‟t agree with us or to people that we think are outside the inner circle or are outside the family of God. 


And so too many times what you see is you see Christians being ugly to non-Christians. And listen that is sin. 


And sometimes you see those that bare the name Christian being ugly to Jews and that is sin. I‟ve written a novel and it‟s called “Israel, My Beloved” and of all the books that I‟ve ever written I guess that book is the most special to me.

I lived the history of Israel. And it‟s a novel; it‟s a true story in novel form. And when I got to the period that dealt with the inquisition and the crusades, I was grieved at what was done to the Jews in the name of Christianity. 


I mean they would stick crucifixes in their face and they would tell them that they were Christ killers and then they would put them to death. And they would just force them to be baptized and say if you‟re not baptized then we‟re going to kill you, as if baptism could save them. 

And it‟s the same way circumcision cannot save a Jew. 

It‟s a sign of a covenant. But if there‟s no heart that goes with that covenant then it doesn‟t matter.

And have you ever seen Jews persecute Christians? 

I have. 

As a matter of fact at the Bible Society on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem they had to put up iron bars on their windows. Why? Because some orthodox Jews were so angry that they were there, not only with an Old Testament, and the Old Testament they call the Old Testament the Bible or they call it the Tanak, but not only were they angry that they had the Tanak there, but that they were combining it with the New Testament. 

It was blasphemous to them. 

Now listen, they have a right to that opinion, but hey don‟t have a right to break the windows. I have more to say, because God‟s going to ask the question: what advantage then is it that you‟re a Jew? Do they have any advantage being a Jew? We‟ll talk about that when we come back.

You know there‟s a good lesson for all of us here and I don‟t want us to miss it because so many times in our religiosity when we think that we‟re keeping the law, when we think that we‟re pleasing God, when we look at people that are idolaters or immoral or liars, or disobedient to their parents and not honoring their parents and we just look down our nose at them and we just say, how awful, and yet how do we treat them?

Remember the law was more than just those commandments.


 The law had a summary. What was the summary of the law? Because you see if you‟re a Jew and you‟re an orthodox Jew and you‟re being mean and you‟re throwing rocks at people that are not keeping your laws or violating and going down your streets on the Sabbath, what kind of a message are you giving them about God?

See, if you disdain others, if you look down your nose at the rest of mankind because they aren‟t like you, what kind of a message, you who profess to know God, are you giving about God?

When I thought about this passage and was praying about it, God brought to my mind Luke, chapter 10, verse 25 and I would suggest that you might want to write it in the margin of the Bible, but you mark it there.

You might want to mark it in pencil, but let‟s look at Luke, chapter 10, verse 25. It says, 


“Behold a certain lawyer stood up and put Him to the test. He put Jesus to the test. And he said, „Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?‟ And He said to him, „What‟s written in the law?‟” 


So now He‟s taking him back to the law.


 What‟s written into the law? How does it read to you? And he, the lawyer, now this is a Jewish lawyer, this is a scribe. This is a guy that knows the law and knows how to interpret it to people and say, you‟re breaking it or you‟re keeping it. This is one that has the Mishnah. This is the one that has all the laws and the Talmud and everything. 


This is the one that is the expert on the law. 


“And he answered and He said, „You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength and …,‟” and don‟t miss the and, “„… and your neighbor as yourself.‟ And Jesus said to him, „You have answered correctly. Now you go and do likewise.‟” 

But you know what?

The lawyer wasn‟t really satisfied because the lawyer really wanted to get Jesus. 


“So wishing to justify himself he said to Jesus, „And who is my neighbor?‟”

And then Jesus tells that famous famous parable, the parable of the Good Samaritan, the story of the Good Samaritan. He tells about a man that is an enemy to the Jews. The Jews hated the Samaritans. And this is what He says. 


“And Jesus said, „A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among robbers and they stripped him and beat him and went off leaving him half dead. And by chance a certain priest was going down the road and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.‟”

Here is a priest of the tribe of Levi and he crosses the road to go on the other side because he sees this man beaten and laying there as a bloody pulp along side the road. And he doesn‟t want to have to deal with it. And it says, 


“„And likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.‟”

Now the priest is of the house of Aaron. The Levite is from the same tribe and so he‟s a Levite. I mean he‟s from this special group of people that take care of the temple. So he goes around on the other side and then he says this; 


“„But a certain Samaritan …,‟” now these are the Gentile, these are the dogs, these are the half-breeds, these are Jews and Gentiles that the Jews can‟t stand. 


“„But a certain Samaritan who was on a journey came upon him and when he saw him he felt compassion and he came to him and he bandaged up his wounds and pouring oil on them. And he put him on his own beast and brought him to an inn to take care of him and on the next day he took out two denari, that‟s two days wages and gave them to the innkeeper and said, take care of him, and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.

‟ And Jesus looks at the man …,” this lawyer that‟s trying to justify himself, “… and he says, „Which of these three prove to be his neighbor, to the man who fell into the robber‟s hands?‟ And he said, „The one who showed mercy to him.‟ 


And Jesus said to him,

„Go and do the same.‟”

Just remember my friend, that the law is summed up in the fact that you‟re going to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength and your neighbor as yourself, because you can take every one of those Ten Commandments, and they will categorize themselves either under loving God or loving your neighbor.

Well, Romans, chapter 3, “What then advantage does the Jew have?” So you want to mark Jew again. Or what is the benefit of circumcision? And then he says, “Great in every respect.”

Now, what is happening at this point in the book of Romans? Well we have a diatribe. You think, oh, what is a diatribe? Well, we think of a diatribe today when mother gets on our case and she starts yelling and going around the house and yelling at everybody or daddy comes home angry or one of the kids just lets loose. We think of that as a diatribe.

But when you go to the setting of this book, a diatribe was a discussion. It was a critical dissertation. It was a discourse and Romans, is a diatribe, a critical discussion, a discourse on the gospel. And he‟s going to explain the gospel from one end to the other. 


Now what he does is he lays out the tenants of this gospel and he brings questions up, questions that are critical to this discussion, that are imperative if you‟re going to understand this discourse.

So watch what he does in chapter 3, verse 1, “What advantage has the Jew?” You‟re going to put a Star of David there, remember. 


“Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect. First of all that they were entrusted, that the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.”

And then the question comes, all right? 

And he‟s going to give a question and then he‟s going to give an answer. All right, so the question is, 


“What then, if some did not believe, their unbelief will not rule out the faithfulness of God will it? Will God‟s unfaithfulness be ruled out because they did not believe?”

Did not believe what? Did not believe the oracles of God. Now what were the oracles of God? Well the oracles of God were those prophecies that were revealed to Israel through the prophets about the Messiah. So what advantage does a Jew have? A Jew has the advantage of knowing that they own, in the Tanak, in Genesis through Malachi, that they possess these special oracles of God that tell them about he Messiah.

You say, but most of the Jews didn‟t believe in the Messiah. The Messiah came, some of you don‟t think He did, but He did. Anyway you‟ll find out at the end that the Messiah is Yeshua-hamashea.

Jesus is our Messiah.

And that will be discovered at one time or another.

So as we look at this what I want you to see is this, that they, the Jews were entrusted with these oracles, but they didn‟t believe them.

So if they do not embrace God, if they do not believe these things then does that nullify what God says? Does that nullify all those things?

Oh no, Beloved, it doesn‟t. They only haven‟t believed because of sin.

Sin is unbelief.

The Light You Have Will Make You Accountable to God ~ Kay Arthur

Have you ever been so done in, and so in your frustration, in you anger you turn and you say, God that is unfair? You are unfair, God. Can you be sure without a shadow of a doubt that God will never be unfair, that He will be absolutely fair right to the minutous detail? You can be sure my friend. And we’re going to see that as we look at God’s Word.

We’re looking at God. Is He fair? Is God fair? Well, it’s a good question to ask because you know what? You’re going to stand before Him. I’m going to stand before Him. Whether you believe in Jesus Christ or you don’t believe in Jesus Christ you’re going to stand before Him.

Later on in Romans, chapter 14 it says that,
 

“Christians are going to stand at the judgment seat of Christ to give an answer for the deeds done in our body.”

But it also says that in the book of Revelation that,  

“The lost people are going to stand before God and they’re going to give an answer also for their deeds.”  

They’re going to be judged according to their deeds and they’re going to be cast into the lake of fire, “… where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched.” But the degree of that punishment will be determined by their deeds.

It will be determined by the light that they had, 

the light that they refused to believe.

Now in Romans, chapter 2, and I want to read verse 12 to you but I want to read verse 11 first. But when we get to verse 12 we’re going to pick up some words that haven’t been used in Romans up to this point. And we’re going to mark those. So I’m going to go a little slow so that you and I get it.

It says in verse 11,  “For there is no partiality with God …,” Is God fair? Yes, He’s fair. How fair is He? How just is He? Well, he goes on to say, for all. There is no partiality with God and he’s going to show you how fair He is.  

“For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.”

Now do you realize what two new words we’ve heard today that we need to mark, because remember we want to mark, we want to color-code key words. So what we’ve done is I’ve marked the word sinned and you want to mark the word “sin” and the reason you want to mark “sin” is because it is very key to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s very key to this book. So he’s talked about what sin looks like. He’s talked about how sin behaves. He’s talked about sins disbelief or unbelief, but he hasn’t’ mentioned the word yet. But now he does.

So this is the way I mark sin. I simply color-code it brown. And then he mentions law for the first time. All right now, the law shows us the righteousness of God. And so what I do is I color law yellow but I draw a diagram around law like the two tablets from the Ten Commandments, because when we think of the law we think of the Ten Commandments.

I know people want to get rid of them in some countries and they don’t want to hear them and they don’t want them in courtrooms and they don’t want them in schools, but I want to tell you something. Give up. You cannot get rid of the law. The law is here to stay. Now there’s a way to live with that law and we’re going to see that later.

So you want to mark this, “For all who have sinned …,” color it brown, “… without the law or apart from the law shall also perish without the law.” Now what is he saying?

He’s saying I’m fair. I’m fair. And He says, I want you to know that if you didn’t know the law, if you did not know the commandment, the commandment that “thou shall not steal” or “thou shall not have idols” or that “thou shall not commit adultery” or “thou shall not covet your neighbors wife or house” or that, if you didn’t know that law I want you to know that I won’t judge you by that because you didn’t know it. But you will still perish. Now when you perish and perish means the ultimate judgment, the lake of fire.

So he says, “When you perish because you didn’t know the law then your punishment will not be as great as somebody’s punishment who knew the law.” So watch. He says, “And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.”

So I always tell people when you listen when I’m teaching and I’m opening the Word of God, and I never teach without opening the Word of God. So if you ever come to any place where I’m doing a conference or if you ever come to any national convention that we would do at Precept Ministries, bring your Bible.

But I warn them, you have just heard truth. Not that I am loaded with truth but the Bible is loaded with truth. This is the good book we’ve curled up with. All right and it is pure truth. And so when the Bible is explained, you become accountable to it. So really, you want to be very careful what you hear because everything that you hear, you’re going to answer to God for.

But if you’re hearing the Bible whether you believe it or not, you really ought to listen because you really need to be saved, because you’re going to perish anyway. If you don’t hear it, if you do hear it, you’re going to perish if you don’t bow the knee to Jesus Christ.

So he goes on to say, “For not the hearers of the law, not the hearers of the law are just before God …,” They’re not made right before God just because they hear the law. Now he’s in all probability talking to Jews, but he’s also talking to anybody that has been exposed to the Ten Commandments. He’s talking about anybody that has heard the law of God even sitting in church. He’s either talking to Jews, flat out directly to Jews or to hypocrites who profess one thing and live a different way.

So he says,

“For not the hearers of the law are just before God but the doers of the law will be justified.”

Now we meet this word just and justified here. And we’re going to see it and develop it when we get to chapter 3 in depth. But just or justified means that you are right before God. It means that you have been declared right in God’s eyes. And you know really my friend, that’s all that matters.

So he says, “For not the hearers of the law are just before God but the doers of the law.” In other words, just knowing the Ten Commandments and knowing what the law says isn’t going to get it, Jew or Gentile. It is not going to get it. You have to do the law. Now the Jews are going to come back and say, “Whew! I’m safe, I’m safe, I do the law.”

But wait. Let’s keep reading. He says,

“For when the Gentiles who do not have the law do instinctively the things of the law, these not having the law are a law to themselves.”

Now you’re going to mark law three times in that verse, but you’re not going to mark a law to themselves. Okay? Because it’s talking about a law, a principle to themselves. Otherwise, he’s talking about the law of God. So what is he saying?

He’s saying if you have never heard the law of God and yet you know in your heart instinctively that it is wrong to steal, that it is wrong to take another mans wife, that it is wrong to not honor your parents and you just know that instinctively, the minute that you know that, then my friend, the minute that you know that then you become accountable to God for that instinct within, for that conscience within.

So he goes on to say, “In that they are a law to themselves …,” verse 15, “… in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them.”

In other words he’s saying this, that when the work of the law is written in your heart, when you automatically just know that its right, that its right or that it’s wrong then you become a law to yourself and you will be judged by that law. You will be judged by your conscience.

Now he has an interesting thing here. And remember that he talks about men knowing within that there is a God. And when you know that there’s a God, you know that there has to be a right and a wrong. You have that witness within yourself. And what he’s showing is, listen these laws that God wrote down are not really that strange, just as a human being we ought to understand what God says about the law.

So then he goes on to say this. Now remember, is God fair? Is God just? Can He be trusted? It says,

“Their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately, accusing or else defending them on the day, on the day when according to my gospel God will judge the secrets of men through Jesus Christ.”

The judgment of God is going to be according to truth. The judgment of God is going to be according to deeds. The judgment of God is going to be according to the gospel, according to what you did with Jesus Christ.

The judgment of God will be fair because it’s according to truth, because it’s according to deeds, and because it is according to the gospel. He’s going to judge the secrets of your heart. And you know, that makes Him fair. That makes Him totally fair.

Because that means that you can’t play the hypocrite. That means you can’t put on a mask and say, oh, I didn’t mean to do that to that person. Oh, I’m sorry, they just took me the wrong way.

Oh no my friend, God is a just God. God is a fair God. He judges righteously. Remember that. Sometimes we sit in judgment of God and we say you know, that’s not right. That is not fair. And one of the things that you and I need to understand is that God judges us by His standards, not by ours. And His standards are always right.

Now what’s happening next in Romans, chapter 2? Well watch what he’s going to do. This time we know for sure that He is going to zero in on His chosen people. He’s going to zero in on the Jew.

Now when I use the term Jew, I want you to know, I am not using it in a derogatory way at all, because if you know anything about the Bible you have to know and understand that God’s people, the Jewish people, are His covenant people. And He will never forsake them. He will never let them go. What He has promised them will surely come to pass.

Let’s see what he says to the Jew. And if you’re Jewish and you’re listening, this is very, very important because so many times what happens is we think that because I am what I am that I’ve got it made with God.

The Muslims that have been acting as terrorists, the Muslims that have been blowing themselves up in terrorist’s attacks think that they are right with God. And they’re not right with God. They don’t even understand who God is.

The Jews, who are keeping the law, think that they are all right with God and they think that they’re all right with God because they’ve kept the law, because they’re a Jew, because they’ve been circumcised.

And so it’s at this point that God turns through the apostle Paul to address the Jews that are at the church at Rome. All right? Now, this is what he says. “But if you bear the name Jew …,” so what to do you want to do? You want to mark the word Jew again. You want to put a Star of David there, a blue star. Now let’s go to verse 17. “But if you bear the name Jew and you rely upon the law …,” now the law are the commandments of God. It’s the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. If you’re relying on the Torah, Gentiles call it the Pentateuch, for the first five books of the Bible.

But he says; “… if you rely on the law …,” so mark that like we’ve marked law, “…and you boast in God and you know His will and you approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the law …,” In other words, you say I’m a Jew, I’m keeping the law, I’m boasting in the things that are essential, I know the will of God because I know the Word of God. He says, “… and you’re confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind …,” You look at others and because you are a Jew and you have the Word of God and it belongs to you and you are God’s chosen people, then you are a guide to the blind. He says,”… a light to those that are in darkness …,” And you look at the Goym, you look at the Gentiles and you just say, they’re just living in such darkness. He says, “… a corrector of the foolish …,” You look at those people and you say, what fools they are, “… a teacher of the immature.”

In other words, you’re so mature and you’ve grown so much and you know so much and you keep the law, to the tiniest little jot and tittle. You live by the Talmud in addition to the Torah, in addition to the Tanak, in addition to the first five books of the Bible and in addition to what the Gentiles would call the Old Testament. And you have the Mishnah and you have Talmud and you study it day and night and you seek to live by it. He says, so that you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and of truth.

He says, you therefore, now note how he’s described them. And you know this would be good to take a fine pen and mark a one and a two and a three and a four and you would see everything that he says about them.

They bear the name Jew. They rely on the law. 

They boast in God. They know the will of God.

They approve the things that are essential because they’ve been instructed out of the law.

They’re confident that they are a guide to the blind that they are a light to those that are in darkness, that they are a corrector of those that are foolish, that they are a teacher of those that are immature.

They have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and of truth.

He says, “You therefore, who teach one another …,” you’re sitting there, you’re the teacher and you’re teaching one another. You’re the rabbi and you’re teaching the students in your synagogue, he says, “… and you teach another. Do you teach yourself?”

You know this is a good word for any teacher.

It’s a good word for me because I know, I’ve studied the Bible and I know a lot of the Bible, but if I’m teaching others am I teaching myself?

If others are coming under conviction by the Word of God as I teach it, am I coming under conviction by the Word of God if I’m not living accordingly?

So he says, “You …,” he says, “… who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one should not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?”

You know when I read that, I cannot help but think that when I was in Steinmaskies in Jerusalem, there are a lot of Steinmaskies, but I was right down on Jaffa Road, right down where they’ve had a lot of terrorist activity, and this was some time ago. But I was in Steinmaskies and I was buying something. I was schlepping my little cart. I had been to the store and I was schlepping my cart and as a matter of fact I left my cart and they were about to haul it away because you don’t leave any package around unattended because they think it’s a bomb. And I looked over, I went to the counter, they were saying you know, is this anybody’s cart and I came and said yes, it’s mine. I am so sorry, I forgot. You know and I’m standing there to pay for the book that I bought in Steinmaskies and next to me is an orthodox Jew with the curls, with the hat, all dressed you know just in his orthodox attire and he is buying a Playboy. I’m standing there. My eyes are falling out. And I’m thinking, God he should not be buying that. Puts it in the bag, walks out, and I said to the clerk, I said, did you see him do that? Did you see him do that? And she said, it happens all the time.

I was so frustrated with myself. I was so angry. I should have said son, you know when you’re older you can get away with things like this, but son, do you realize what you are doing? Do you know what the law says? The law says that you’re not to commit adultery and I want you to know that buying one of these magazines is an adulterous act, because you are looking at these women for lustful purposes. You’re in trouble with God.

And this is what he’s saying. He’s saying, you can’t be the teacher and live contrary to what you’re teaching. He says, “You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?” In other words, are you getting money, are you doing certain things to get money when you really shouldn’t be doing that? “You who boast in the law through your breaking the law, do you dishonor God?”

You know the Gentiles that have turned their backs on God and turned their back on this inner witness dishonor God and wrath is going to come on them. Do you think that because you’re a Jew and you know the law and you have the law and you quote the law and you teach the law that you can get away with dishonoring God and not have the judgment come upon you?

If you bear the name Christian and you act like this and you’re into pornography and you’re into these other things, you’re into lying and you’re into cheating and you’re into stealing, you’re blaspheming the name of God. And a just and righteous and fair God who judges without impartiality will hold you accountable.

He says, “Just as it is written …,” and he’s quoting the Old Testament, the Tanak, “… the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” It’s written in the Tanak, not just in the New Testament. “For he says, for indeed circumcision is a value if you practice the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.” What does he mean by that?

We need to know, because there are many Jews that believe that if they are circumcised that that is their ticket to heaven. And you know what? It’s not your ticket to heaven, not according to the Word of God. And we’re going to see that. How do we bring today to a conclusion?

We need to stop, curl up with a good book, read what I’ve said again, and know that God judges impartially. Remember that.