Bible Study Romans Part 46-For His Glory

Welcome to the program Study in the Chapel.

God's Word is supreme at Chapel Ministries.

We consider it absolutely essential to a proper relationship with God.

We study it, we love it, we rely on it every minute of every day.

The following program is an edited recording of the regular Bible studies we hold, and we decided to share these with you in the hope that you too will be able to find inspiration, encouragement, and ultimately salvation through discovering Christ in Scripture.

Our intention is to travel all the way through the Bible.

It will be a challenging journey, but one that will undoubtedly bring you to a decision.

Through this study, you will be faced with either believing or rejecting what God has said to us.

It is our intention to provide you with enough knowledge to make an informed decision about God and his word.

We strongly encourage you to listen intently and diligently, because though at the moment you may not realize it, these things are truly a matter of life and death.

In fact, these are matters of eternal life and eternal death.

Never treat what God has said lightly.

There is truly nothing more important to you.

Now join us as we seek God's will through his inspired word.

We are in the midst of Paul's letter to the Romans.

We are in the very difficult to unwind second chapter.

There are a lot of things going on that we need to understand.

We have to be very clear about Paul's goal in this chapter.

We'll be talking more about that today and in subsequent lessons.

Let me jump right in, reading from verse 1 of Romans 2.

I read out of the King James.

Please follow along in the Bible in front of you.

Don't forget to bring a Bible when you come to Bible study.

When you watch these videos, make sure you have a Bible in front of you.

It's very important because you'll see the things that we talk about, and perhaps it will stoke some interest in other things about the Bible.

Make sure you become familiar with Scripture.

Romans 2:1, I read out of the King James.

Romans 2:1

Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest, for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest do the same things.

But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

And thinkest thou this, O man, that judges them which do such things and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds, to them who by patient continuance and well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life, but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath.

Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile.

Both tribulation and anguish are translating similar Greek words, and the thought for both is one of discomfort, pressure, and trouble.

And when either of these words are found in the New Testament, you'll find the other.

They always appear together because one describes the pressure and discomfort and trouble coming from the outside, and one describes discomfort, pressure and trouble coming from the inside.

Placing these two words together in one sentence paints a picture of inescapable worry and care and anxiety, a very common condition for those who have turned their back on the light.

If you're always trying to solve your own problems, or if God has forced you to solve your own problems, there's never a sense of success.

We can never do a complete job of disentangling ourselves from the messes we find ourselves in, messes either of our own making or those brought on by virtue of our miserable status as humans.

But here Paul is saying God is going to be the one bringing the tribulation and anguish on the man.

Anyone who insists on doing evil, habitually doing evil, will live a life without God's help.

In fact, the evil man will be purposely hindered by God's wrath.

God will render to every man according to his deeds.

For example, now Paul didn't say that, but I am to make it flow a little better.

God will render to every man according to his deeds, for example, to them who by patient continuance and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life.

But unto them that are contentious and do not bathe obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile.

But glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.

There is a lot to unpack here.

In the coming lessons, we'll talk more and more and in depth on each of these verses.

This is a section of scripture that requires the Holy Spirit's guidance to fully understand.

In fact, let's pause right now and each of us bow our heads and pray silently for his intervention, for the Holy Spirit's intervention in our efforts to try and understand the second chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans.

Now this is tough, and let me tell you why I say that.

Over there he said that salvation comes by faith.

The just shall live by faith.

Elsewhere he says, and if you're familiar with this next statement, you are no doubt really confused.

Elsewhere, Paul emphatically states, it's actually just over in the next chapter, Romans 3.20, therefore by the deeds of the law there shall be no flesh justified in his sight.

Just eight verses after that, he further defines this statement.

Verse 28, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Well, back here in chapter two, Paul seems to be saying the opposite.

So let's park here for a while.

Some of you may not know this, but chapel ministry, chapel ministries has been around now for about 15 years.

We're not a church, by the way.

We're a teaching ministry.

Our primary concern is and always has been the spreading of God's word.

We teach, and just about that's just about it.

We do some charity work on the side, but that's just me and the family showing God's love to the world.

We do so out of love for humanity and an intensely felt sense of appreciation for what God has given us.

I started this ministry in order to share the magnificence of Scripture, and that's what we've been doing.

That hasn't changed.

But how we go about doing so has.

We've used a few different types of medium to accomplish this.

We actually started out with in-person teaching sessions.

We would rent out hotel conference rooms.

We've taught in public library meeting rooms.

We were on the radio for a couple of years.

We strictly did podcasts for a while.

Now we're using video teleconferencing technology and social media to get the message out.

But how we delivered the message isn't the only thing that's different.

The way we teach God's word has also changed.

We used to structure the lessons on topics or subjects or themes from the Bible, the typical sermon format.

For instance, we would structure lessons around the theme of the righteousness of God, or we'd have a few lessons on faith.

A few times over the years, we'd teach multi-part lessons on involved topics like the tabernacle or the plagues in the plagues in Egypt, that sort of thing.

We would focus on an aspect of scripture and teach what that aspect means to us Christians and how we can learn from it and use it in our relationship with God.

Up until about four years ago, that's all we did.

And then everything changed.

Now, I'm not one of those guys who goes around telling you that Jesus came into my office one day, sat down in a chair across from me, and started showing me ways to improve the ministry.

But I do believe that God speaks to me, but just not in such overt, tangible, boastworthy ways.

I can't explain to you how I find out what God wants for this ministry, but I can tell you that he's in charge and we end up where he wants us to be.

Right around the time of the pandemic, God set us on a different path.

As I so often do, I was listening to some preacher speak.

Don't remember who, don't remember when, but he was saying in this sermon or whatever it was, that the best way to teach Christians about the Bible is to go through it verse by verse.

Those that know me may think it was J.

Vernon McGee, but it wasn't.

I love J.

V.

McGee, and he did famously teach the Bible verse by verse, but this wasn't him.

As I said, I don't know who it was, but he was contemporary to us.

He's a current-day preacher.

That's not important.

What is important is that I believe God was working on me when I heard that preacher speak.

And it stuck with me.

And eventually I found myself agreeing with the premise.

I firmly support the idea that the best way to inform Christians about God and about ourselves and the relationship between us is to teach the whole Bible.

And by that I mean verse by verse.

And this is the point of this long rambling story.

By teaching the whole Bible, one gets the overall perspective of what God is trying to tell us.

And the most important aspect of scripture that I've discovered while teaching it that way is that it is incredibly consistent.

The message throughout the Bible is never changing.

Our journey through Paul's letter to the Romans has gloriously confirmed this truth.

If I may be so bold, I want to tell you what I've discovered is the consistent, relentless, present on every page message of the Bible.

God intends, indeed, God will glorify Himself through His creation and more specifically His creation of man.

A thorough, God-guided study of the Bible will lead you to no other conclusion.

If you do come to any other deduction, then your study of the Bible was not thorough and or not guided by God.

Now we're backing up and doing a little walk through the basics, but I'm going somewhere with this.

God's purpose since the beginning has been to glorify Himself.

Of course, many, many have tried to make this about something else, mostly about themselves, or at the very least, about humans.

Many within the church want you to believe that God's purpose is to glorify man, that since he made us so wonderfully, in our opinion, then that must mean we're the ones that should be on display.

We should be the objects of adoration throughout the universe.

Of course, that's no surprise, is it?

It's a reflection of the attitude of the world.

And to be honest, an easy arrow in the devil's quiver to string to his bow and shoot at us.

He did it with Eve, and he's been doing it to the rest of us ever since.

So many people fall for the self-centered philosophy of Satan.

No, friends, don't be fooled.

The devil has never been interested in giving mankind a boost.

He doesn't really care if we're glorified or not.

And actually, I don't think he cares if anyone gets glorified as long as God doesn't.

And that's what I mean about an easy arrow.

We flashy, self-indulgent, overconfident bone bags are willing victims of this nonsense.

We can take plain scripture and either ignore it or twist it.

And there are no more plain scripture in the Bible than those where God speaks of glorifying himself.

Now, don't worry, I'm pulling all this together once I think we're on the same page regarding God's intention.

Now, let me read you part of an article from one of my favorite preachers, John Piper.

And believe it or not, he's not been dead for 300 years like most of my other favorite preachers.

John Piper happens to be contemporary with us, and he is an excellent preacher.

What he wrote here, I think, will help me make my point.

He's teaching on the book of Isaiah, but what he's saying applies to my goal with this section.

Quote: Probably no text in the Bible reveals the passion of God for his own glory more clearly and bluntly as Isaiah 48, 9 through 11, where God says, I'm still quoting, by the way, John Piper, who's now going to quote Isaiah 48.

It's up on your screen.

For my namesake, this is God speaking, for my namesake I defer my anger.

For the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off.

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver, I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.

For my own sake, for my own sake I do it.

For how should my name be profaned?

My glory I will not give to another.

Pastor Piper continues, quote, I have found that for many people these words come like six hammer blows to a man-centered way of looking at the world.

For my name's sake, for the sake of my praise, for my own sake, for my own sake.

How should my name be profaned?

My glory I will not give to another.

John Piper continues.

What this text hammers home to us is the centrality of God in his own affections.

The most passionate heart for the glorification of God is God's own heart.

God's ultimate goal is to uphold and display the glory of his name.

The Bible over and over tells us that God's object of interest is his own glory.

For instance, God tells us he has chosen us for his glory.

The reason we have been chosen, the reason God chose anyone is as a way to glorify himself.

Ephesians 1, starting at verse 4.

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.

Verse 6, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Skipping down to verse 12, that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were saved with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

The purpose of redemption is the praise of his glory.

Not so you can have a nice comfy cloud to sit on, not so you can have a braggy bumper sticker extolling your blessed state, not so you can have a nice white robe in the end.

All of it is for him.

We're also told, and should should that bother us?

If we love God, we should want that for him.

If we understand what he's done for us, that should make us praise him.

We're also told in the Bible that God answers our prayers primarily not to make us happy or comfortable or wise or prosperous.

Jesus himself told us this.

When the topic of prayer was raised, he said, John 14, 13, and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, not to make you happy, not to make your belly filled, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

The answers to your prayers glorify God.

Speaking of Jesus, why do you think he came to the earth?

Well, here's what he has to say about his life and death.

I'd give you you a hint, but I'm sure you figured it out.

Nonetheless, let me read his words, John twelve, twenty seven.

Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say?

Father, save me from this hour.

But for this cause came I unto this hour.

Father, glorify thy name.

Jesus, who is awaiting the agony of the cross.

Jesus, who is in great distress, says, Father, glorify thyself.

Then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again.

This may surprise you and maybe even confuse you, but your sins aren't forgiven for your own purposes.

They're forgiven for God's.

Isaiah 43, 25.

I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins.

Now if you get that, you'd say right along with King David, Psalm 25, 11, For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great.

Another fact that may come as a surprise to most Christians is that even going to church is not for us primarily.

Paul in this very letter tells us, Romans 15, 6, that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God.

That's why you're there.

That's why you're at the worship service.

Even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, wherefore receive one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

I bet you didn't know the worship service was actually meant for worshiping God.

You probably thought it was for worshiping the soloist or the piano player or the clever songwriter.

Nope.

Wonderful singing is supposed to be, I said wonderful, worshipful singing is supposed to be for God's glory.

What's the point of all this?

And what the heck does it have to do with chapter two of Paul's letter to the Romans?

The modern church has invented the notion that the only reason God exists, the only reason Jesus exists, the only reason Jesus came to this earth according to the modern church, the only reason he lived the perfect life and died the death of a criminal is to save us.

And as a consequence, we everyday Christians see everything in the Bible in that light.

And that's led to a tremendous amount of confusion and misinterpretation.

And the biggest, most costly mistake we make, and with this, I'm bringing us back to Romans, because we think that all of this is for us, we miss God's work in our lives.

We misunderstand what He's saying to us in the Bible.

We think everything God says to us is related to our salvation.

And once that's done and taken care of, once we're saved, we and God can go our separate ways until we reach glory.

Fundamentalists love to tell you how long they've been saved.

I went forward 53 years ago.

I was saved when I was eight years old.

In 1979, I answered the altar call of the Billy Graham Crusade, and I've never looked back.

Okay, that's wonderful, but what have you been doing since?

That's what I'm interested in.

And if I'm reading my Bible right, it's what God wants to know too.

But we think it's all about getting saved and nothing more.

And here is my point with all this.

When we see Paul telling us that God will render to every man according to his deeds, we think he's talking about salvation.

We think so highly of ourselves.

We assume that all God does is sit around thinking about whether we get to heaven or not.

We assume that's all he talks about.

We assume that's all he cares about.

And I think that mistaken impression comes from a serious lack of familiarity with Scripture.

It's not that we're totally ignorant of what God says in his word, it's just that we're only paying attention to a portion of what God is saying to us, and that gets us in trouble.

And that, by the way, is why we at Chapel Ministries decided that we were going to teach through the whole Bible.

Sin was not a part of God's plan for glorifying Himself through our creation, but neither did the plan die when sin did come in.

The glorification of God did not end the moment Adam bit into a piece of fruit.

However, and here's the important point of all this sin still exists and is still standing in the way of God's glory.

So whether we're forgiven or not, sin, the physical act of sinning, whether we're saints or not, the physical act of sinning must be expelled from all of our lives.

Sin, the acts of sin, sinful behavior, is not compatible with God's plans to glorify Himself.

In short, what we do does matter to God.

But here's ground zero for the majority of the misunderstanding in Christianity.

What we do does matter to God, listen closely, but it does not and cannot affect our salvation.

When God is talking about sin to a saved Christian, it is not in the context of salvation.

Let me put it this way What we do in this life makes neither makes it easier nor harder to get into heaven.

Getting there is purely a matter of faith.

Remember, that was clearly articulated already in this letter.

This letter meant strictly for Christians, and it will continue to be articulated.

We are saved, saved by faith.

Though you may be able to recite it in your sleep by now, let me read it to you, Romans 1:16.

Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith.

Elsewhere, Paul says we are saved by grace.

We are saved by grace and not by works, lest any man should boast.

Works our Bible speak for behavior.

Grace, not works, is the path of salvation.

And Paul reminds us that over and over in his writings.

Here in Romans, it's a major theme he returns to in detail repeatedly, but not here.

Not in what we now know as the second chapter.

Paul in this section is not talking about grace or salvation or even the gospel.

At most, what he is doing is warning people how much they need the gospel.

He is strictly here talking about judgment.

And when you talk about God's judgment by truth, it naturally leads someone to, oh my gosh, what am I going to do?

Here's the gospel.

But Paul is concentrating on judgment here.

In this second chapter, Paul has set aside the conversation of faith and the gospel and what Christ has done and is strictly talking about how God deals with human beings without regard to the cross.

I know I have to be careful, but there's no other way to teach this.

You see, Paul's attention has turned to the Jews and their attitude toward themselves.

They've somehow gotten the impression that God suspended his feelings about sin when it comes to them.

They don't see God as insisting that they meet his demands.

They act as if God can turn on and off his justice as he sees fit.

And honestly, most of the rest of us feel that way too.

We simply don't take God's hatred of sin seriously.

We think it's just a matter of choice that he can choose to be just or unjust.

He's not bound to his word, we think.

Frankly, we think he's more like us than himself.

And that is why this section is here.

Paul is clearing up a grievous error.

He's trying to convince the Jews and the rest of us that God's justice is who he is, not what he does.

And frankly, what he told us in chapter one about the gospel is that God must judge.

Listen to me.

If God's own son is not exempt from his justice, because as a man, when he arrived as a man, his son was not exempt from justice.

He was sent to receive God's wrath.

That's the whole point of becoming a man.

He was here to take our judgment that God would not avoid, the one God would not defer.

God had to judge.

And so he laid that judgment on his son so that you and I could be saved by grace.

But as I said, all of that is notwithstanding as far as chapter two is concerned.

He'll get back to it, but at the moment, Paul is simply telling us, like it is, God renders to every man according to his deeds.

Still so much to talk about, but let's stop here for now and we'll come back next time and pick it up right there.

See you then.

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