A series of articles on prayer written by Joel Virgo are currently being featured on The Resurgence Blog, a resource based in America and run in partnership with Mars Hill Church Seattle and the Acts 29 network.

With over 20,000 subscribed followers, the blog is a significant resource and speaks into the lives of many.

The series looks to the book of Nehemiah for lessons in how to pray fervently and effectively. Please take a look at this helpful resource and be encouraged to share it with others.

The biblical doctrine of prayer is not in contradiction of its doctrine of providence, but in correspondence with it.

Prayer is among God’s ordained means to God’s ordained ends: He who has purposed to accomplish His will has also purposed to do so through and with the prayer of his people.

Prayer often seems to us the weakest of all our works and sometimes the most irrelevant. But the power of prayer is, quite simply, the power of the divine response to prayer; it finds its power in the strength of his love, as the power of the baby’s cry lies in the devotion of the baby’s parent. Its relevance is asserted by God who tells us to pray.

Peter Lewis
The Living God
P 312.

I’m away for two days at an annual Songwriters Consultation that Graham Kendrick runs,  there are about 60 of us here from the UK and further. Having a great time. Today we had Jim Wallis talk about remembering the poor, justice and compassion. It was hugely challenging to be honest… Followed by a Q&A session with Jim, Martin Smith and Tre Shepherd.

I guess it’s easy to think that caring for the poor is what the ’social justice’ people do, or just a few projects we do on the side. But the truth is, it’s at the heart of the gospel. The first words Jesus proclaimed in public are quoting Isaiah 61 – ’sent to the poor’ (see Luke 4:16-20). Also, remembering the poor is quite a clear theme through scripture – which obviously climaxes with Christ, the One who became poor to save the poor.

Anyways, heard a lot of stuff today but here’s some thoughts for songwriters… There are three types of compassion/justice songs:

1) Songs that inform us about the poor and injustice. Eg the verses to Delirious’ Our God Reigns

2) Songs that help us worship in the place of poverty, injustice. Eg It is well with my soul

3) Songs that commission us to go to the poor. Eg God of Justice

But all of these MUST be in the context of the gospel – The God of justice sent His son to the poor to bind up their brokenness and bring freedom to the captives, and by extension we carry on this Kingly work of Christ as His hands and feet, as His church. Our motivation for mission and source of compassion is the gospel, and the agent for God’s mission is not a charity but the Church. Yes!

I’m challenged as I haven’t written any songs in either of these 3 camps. Hmmm. Well there’s my thoughts for the day. Over and out

Awesome! is a word we use quite a lot in our culture. We talk about awesome roast dinners… and awesome free-kicks… and awesome movies… But Job 25:2 says ‘Dominion and awe belong to God’, so only God is truly awesome.

I’m reading The Living God by Peter Lewis at the moment (an astonishing book) and just read about Mount Sinai and the 10 Commandments. I was so stunned by this paragraph, I had to share it. It’ll help to read Exodus 19:16-19 for the context…

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.  Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain  trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. Exodus 19:16-19

Peter Lewis writes:

“It is surely fair to say that awe is in danger of becoming the forgotten emotion among Christians today. This is not because we know better but because we know less! We have lost sight somewhat of the awesome holiness of God. We have become desensitized to sin. We do not realize how extraodrinary it is that we can survive in God’s presence. The fact that it took a Calvary for us to ‘have confidence to enter the Most High Place’ (Heb 10:19) should make us think again: ‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, by becoming a curse for us’ (Gal 3:13)

There is only one place on earth more awesome than Sinai and that is Calvary. There God the One and Only did not come down to a mountain but was lifted up on a cross. There the Son of God, who had come in our human nature, bore the penalty for our human sin, our great rebellion against God. There the Judge was judged in our place and the One who had given the commandments died for those who had broken them.”

The living God, the true God, the God of the bible – alone – is truly awesome.

C.J. Mahaney answers the question, “Why sing so many cross-centered songs in corporate worship?” at Bob Kauflin’s WorshipGod conference. Absolutely worth all 8 minutes 35 seconds. Phenomenal.

Psalms Hymns and Spiritual Songs

So it’s important that lyrics are true and reliable if people are going to sing them and allow them to feed truth into their daily lives. So does that mean we should restrict our song content to Scripture quotations?

While there’s a strong argument for saying “yes”, it is clear from Scripture and church history that the people of God have always benefited from contemporary expressions of eternal doctrine applied and expressed in a way that their generation can easily grasp. The meaning and content of Scripture should always be central to the songwriter’s work; but there is value in moving beyond the mere reciting of Scripture in order to explore the meaning, much as a preacher might do in a sermon.

The Role of Songs

The first thing we must realize is that worship songs play a significant part in our lives; not only for us as musicians, but for all those who attend our services. Our congregations may hear some fantastic biblical teaching on a Sunday morning, but when they leave they’re more likely to be humming one of the worship songs than reciting a section of the sermon.

Let’s face it: songs stick in the mind in a way that the spoken word does not. And that means that in our daily lives we can recall truth when it is contained in a song. For example, I still sing the old chorus “For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…” when I’m trying to remember Galatians 5!

This fact was not lost on great preachers of the past. For Luther, Newton and Wesley, the central message of their songs was the truth they were preaching in their sermons. In fact, William booth and others changed the words to popular secular songs of the day in order to better fix biblical truth in the minds of believer and unbeliever alike.

This is part 2 in a series of thoughts on Does it matter what we sing? More coming soon…

I noticed an article recently in a Christian publication claiming that a number of well known, much-used worship songs were actually unbiblical. The writer’s arguments concerning specific songs were not particularly convincing, but it did raise an issue that affects all those of us involved in leading and participating in church worship: how much do we take care to ensure what we sing is true? And does it really matter anyway?

Yes.

Over the next few days and weeks, I’ll try and post up some thoughts on the Role of Songs, Doctrine and Experience, Theology and Poetry and Psalm, Hymns and Spiritual Songs.

I’ll tweet once something’s up if you’re interested…

Introduction

“This is an occasion of worship. I am one of those who do not recognise any consideration of the Word of God which is not accompanied by worship. The bible is not an ordinary book – it is God’s Book and it is a Book about God and man’s relationship to him. Therefore, overtime we consider or stuffy the Bible we are, of necessity, worshipping… It is an occasion for worship, and not really just a lecture.”

No set plan for this series. Go at the Spirit’s pace

Why is Roman’s first epistle in New Testament?
Because it is first in importance.
Augustine, Pelagius, Martin Luther, John Bunyan, John Wesley all came to faith through book of Romans. Chrysostom of Constantinople had it read to him twice every week.

“This Epistle is the chief part of the New Testament and the very priest gospel, which indeed deserves that a Christian shoal not only know it word for word y heart, but deal with it daily as with the daily bread of the soul, for it can never be read or considered too much or too well, and the more it is handled the more delightful it becomes and the better it tastes” Martin Luther.

Paul was an exceptional man.
A well trained Jew, but also a man of culture
“He know the Greek poets and he could quote them. He knew the writings of the Greek philosophers and could quite them.”
“Here is a man , who not only has the gospel to preach but who also understand the people to whom he is preaching.”
He became all things to all men, he can speak as a Jew, he can speak as a Gentile. He knows the background of both cultures.
Perfect guy to reconcile the OT to the NT.

Natural gifting for the Lord.
A mastermind. All the great men of the bible were actually very gifted people…Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah.
Church history too; St Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon… all unusually gifted men.
“There is nothing wrong with natural gifts in and of themselves. It is God who endows all men with their natural gifts; man does not create his own. A Shakespeare is not responsible for his own ability. All gifts and bestowed by God; therefore it is unscriptureral and unchristian to decry naturally gifts. ”
“You have used your personality in you old life, in your business, in your sin. The same gifts can be used in your Christian witness, in your Christian deportment. That is the lesson I find here. That is the lesson I find here.”

Romans 1:7-8 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

Doctrine vs. practical?

Even as Paul is speaking in a more personal and personal way, it is still full of doctrine. The Christian life is one and it is indivisible. The peculiar characteristic of the Christian is that all his actions are directly connected to his doctrine, to his belief.

‘Grace to you and peace’

Grace: unmerited favour. Kindness to someone who doesn’t deserve it at all. The whole basis of our salvation. What does this experience of grace lead to? Peace.
Grace > Peace. The grace of God is designed to bring us to and to give us this peace. These two terms are the beginning and the end. Paul is thinking of the source of the river and the sea to which it leads – the Alpha and Omega.
Peace: The opposite of strife, restlessness, uncertainty and unhappiness. The Christian is someone who enjoys peace with God, then from that finds peace in life. The absence of restlessness within.

When you wish anybody grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, you have wished them everything.

‘God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’

God is a Father to the Christian. He is not a philosopher’s abstraction: the x, the ‘absolute’, the ‘eternal’. No! He is our Father. Personal. ‘and the Lord Jesus Christ’ shows us they are equal… What can you put by the side of God? Nothing but God. Anything by His side must be equal with him.

‘I thank my God’

Paul does not thank them – He thanks God for them. We are not to be praised, It is God who is to be praised for what we are.

‘faith’

What kind of faith? A specific spiritual gift of faith, or a general saving faith? He is not saying they are unusual or outstanding in their faith and in their manefestation of faith. No! He is thanking God that they have faith at all.

‘whole world’

Does not mean every single individual. Let the context decide what the word means in any given, particular instance, and you will find it has different means attached to it in different places. Everyone in the Roman empire? No, he’s referring only to members of the Church in different countries. Christian people everywhere in the Roman Empire and heard that there were Christians even in Rome, and Paul rejoices in that, and they rejoice.

They had not got newspapers, mobiles or the internet. Yet, the news had spread to every Christian in the Roman empire. What a lesson on church publicity! A revival never needs to be advertised. You do not need to advertise the work of the Holy Spirit; it is its own advertisement. Christianity was advertised in the first century at the very beginning simply by the lives and living of Christian people. Are you advertising Christianity?

More from Romans

Romans 1:6-7 And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints

‘And you also‘

Paul has described himself in verses 1-5, now he must describe them also. Indeed, one of his great purposes in writing to them is that they realise clearly what they are as Christians.

‘belong to Jesus Christ’

God the Father calls. He calls us through Christ; He calls us to Christ. We are placed in Him. This is the differentiating thing that separates us from all others. We are in His kingdom; we are in Him as members of His body; we are joined to Him; we are united to Him.

‘loved by God’

They are where they are ‘inChrist’ because, first of all, of the love of God. We are what we are because He first loved us. These little groups of Christians in Rome are meeting together why? Because the eternal God has set His love upon them! Ephesians 2, they were ‘dead in trespasses and sins‘…’But God’ ! Why are we still not there? One answer – ‘But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, has made us alive together with Christ.’

Jesus prays in John 17:22-23 also… I want the world to know that God has loved you as (in the same way as) He has loved me. This is what Paul is saying here – loved by God!

‘called’

A Christians is one of the called ones. A distinction between general call and particular call, effectual call. [Two men hear the same preach, the same gospel, only one responds.The call has gone out to two, but in the one it is effectual] An effectual call: this is what the Apostle means, these people are called of Jesus Christ. It is the Spirit alone who can make the Word effectual.

‘called to be saints’ – objective.

You cannot be a Christian without being a saint. The Roman Catholic idea of canonising people to be saints, through certain rigid tests, as to then be called ‘Saint so-and so’, is entirely foreign to the teaching of Scripture.

Called means separated. So that one of its primary meanings is that we’re separated from everything that separates us from God. The difference between a Christian and a man outside Christ is that the latter may be a good, moral man, but he is not a holy man; he is not a saint. The thing that makes us saints is we are separated to God.

‘called to be saints’ – subjective.

Philippians 2:12-13 says ‘continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose’ God continues to work in us by His Holy Spirit, and that is the subjective aspect of being made holy and of becoming a saint. So I do not end by being a saint – I start as a saint. But it should be increasingly evident that I am a saint, as I go on with my sanctification.

Because I realize that I am a saint, I must live as a saint.

Paul is in the same boat.

‘Called’ is the same term Paul has used about himself. It’s important for us to realise that as a Christian, the Apostle Paul was the same as every other Christian. He was not made a Christian because he was an unusual or exceptional or remarkable man. Not at all! ‘chief of sinners’ was his name. God loved him, and called him, and separated him, and made him a saint’ and it is true of every other Christian. What a wonderful thing for us to realise!

More from Romans

Romans 1:5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations

‘the obedience of faith‘

Not the obedience of works, but the obedience of faith. Not just obedience of itself, but the obedience of a heart responding in faith – the two must always be taken together, ‘the obedience of faith’.

Sandemanian
More than intellectual acceptance to the teaching of the gospel; it includes an element of submission. Sandemanian churches teach you just have to say you believe in Jesus Christ (‘Confession is made with the mouth unto salvation‘ was their great text) – doesn’t matter whether you feel anything or what your life is like. No one will be a victim of this if he remember the phrase ‘obedience of faith’. The whole man is involved. It includes repentance and change.

‘among all nations’

Nations can be translated ‘gentiles’ too, but we reject this translation because:
-  If Paul were speaking about the Gentiles, he would not need to use the word ‘all’, but he’s deliberately making a point
- Paul’s calling on the road to Damascus was to start in Jerusalem, then go into Samaria, and then unto the uttermost pasts of the earth, preaching to both Jews and Gentiles. Acts 26
- Nations is the theme of this Epistle – both Jew and Gentile, not just Gentiles.

Let us hold to the word ‘nations’ – Jewish nations and non-Jewish nations – all nations. In other words, Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the whole world. He is not merely a Jewish Messiah.

’sake of His name’

Paul Why the obedience of faith? For the sake of His name, so that He is glorified. The name reveals a man. The name which someone has made for himself (doctor, builder, whoever…) tells us about him. Paul is saying, I preach for the glory of His name – and in order to bring people to glorify Him and to glory in Him. By our ‘obedience of faith’ we glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.

It was His glory that mattered, and that alone mattered, withPaul. He was a Christ-intoxicated man; he lived for His praise and for His glory.

More from Romans

Romans 1:4-5 Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,

‘Jesus Christ our Lord‘

Jesus Christ is Lord. The whole of the Christian faith depends upon this recognition of this; this is what really makes one a Christian. Early Christians were constatnly arrested because they said ‘Jesus is Lord’, not ‘Caeser is Lord’.

The great confessions and creeds were not done merely for their entertainment of amusement. The fathers in the early church were given to see clearly and rightly, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that if there was any question about the lordship of Jesus, the whole of the Christian position collapsed; and the central matter, therefore, is that Jesus is the Christ; the Son of God.

‘Lord’ in the New Testament is the same term ‘Jehovah’ taken from the Old Testament. So saying Jesus is Lord is really saying Jesus is JEHOVAH ! He is the everlasting, eternal God.

‘Jesus Christ our Lord’

He is our Lord because He has bought u; He has purchased us, We are not our own, we have been bought at a price. He is our Lord because He is our owner. This removes the false teaching of taking Jesus as Saviour, but not as Lord. You cannot take Him as Saviour only, because He saves you by buying you with His precious blood. And if you know that, you must know at once that He is your Lord.

Undoubtably the greatest Christmas hymn ever written:‘Veiled in flesh the Godhead see!’

He is veiled in flesh; but the Apostle says that in the resurrection He is ‘declared to be the Son of God with power‘. There we realise how powerful He is. Unless you were inspired by the Holy Ghost as ancient Simeon and Anna the prophetess were, you would see nothing but a babe.

What was veiled while He was here on earth, is now fully revealed. A proclamation at the resurrection!

‘received grace and apostleship’

Paul is repeating himself from verse 1, reminding us that he really is an apostle. He had enemies who went around saying, ‘This man is not an apostle at all.’ But he has been called by God to be an apostle.

‘obedience of faith’ not obedience to the faith

Note, he says ‘obedience of faith’, not obedience to the faith. To understand this, we must help by defining sin:

Sin:
Sin isn’t just doing bad things (sins of commission), it is an absence of doing the right things (sins of omission).This is sin: a refusal to listen to the voice and to the Word of God.

If you are living that little self-contained, self satisfied life in which you really only think of god now and again, and remember perhaps moring and evenings that there is a god, and you say your pryare; if that is your attitude to god, if you are not waiting upon him and listening for his word, and seeking it everywehere, and livinjg to practice it, then you are as much a sinner as the drunkard or the adulterer; you are not listening to god. That is the essence of sin.

If sin is disobedience, what is right? Obedience. The obedience of faith – to listen to what God has said about His dear Son.

More from Romans

Romans 1:4 and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

Verse 3 is about Jesus’ humanity. Verse 4 about Jesus’ divinity:

‘Declared’

In contrast with ‘made’ in verse 3.
Jesus was ‘made’ flesh, but ‘declared’ the Son of God. ‘Declared’ = ‘announced’ or ‘proved’.

He was not made the Son of God by the resurrection, but He was declared to be the Son of God by it.

‘Son of God with power’

Jesus was the Son of God before the incarnation and from all eternity, He is always the Son of God. But when He came into this world, He did not come as the Son of God with power. No! He came as a helpless babe. He was weak; He was helpless.

Undoubtably the greatest Christmas hymn ever written:‘Veiled in flesh the Godhead see!’

He is veiled in flesh; but the Apostle says that in the resurrection He is ‘declared to be the Son of God with power‘. There we realise how powerful He is. Unless you were inspired by the Holy Ghost as ancient Simeon and Anna the prophetess were, you would see nothing but a babe.

What was veiled while He was here on earth, is now fully revealed. A proclamation at the resurrection!

‘Spirit of holiness’

The phrase ‘spirit of holiness‘ only comes up here in the whole Bible, so we must be careful to recognise it does not mean the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Holy Trinity. The emphasis is upon ’spirit’ – a spirit which is holy.

Now ‘according to the spirit of holiness‘ is the parallel to ‘according to the flesh‘

He is distinct from man. Our spirit is not holy; His spirit is holy, because He is Son of God. So there is this perfect contrast then between what He was as the seed of David, and what He is as Son of God.

‘Resurrection from the dead’

It is in the plural. It is not singular. It has been done by a resurrection such as that of dead person when they rise. Acts 26:23 ‘That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first to that should rise from the dead’

He has inaugurated a resurrection from the dead. We shall rise because He rose. Lazarus was not resurrected; he was simply brought back to life. That is not a resurrection.

His resurrection substantiates all the claims He ever made for Himself.

Do not try to understand it.

Verse 3 is about Jesus’ humanity. Verse 4 about Jesus’ divinity.

A mystery. A marvel. Two natures – one Person. The Son of God – God is the only Person, but there are two natures in Him – the divine and the human that He has taken unto Himself. Completely human. Completely divine. Both in one Person. Unmixed, and yet both there and joined together. Do not try to understand it. It is the mystery of mysteries. It is the marvel of eternity. Bust it is God’s way of saving us. That is what He has done. That is what I am going to tell you about, says Paul to the Romans.

More from Romans

Romans 1:3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh

Verse 3 about Jesus’ humanity. Verse 4 about Jesus’ divinity.

‘Concerning his Son Jesus Christ’

The gospel is concerning God’s Son. That is the nerve, the very heart of the gospel. Take away Jesus and there is no gospel.

Moses was not essential to the law, God could have given it to someone else. You can have the law without him. Not with Jesus. Take away the Person and there is no message at all.

‘was made the seed of David according to the flesh’

‘was made’ can be translated ‘became’. He was – He became. He began to be ‘the seed of David according to the flesh’.The Son of God was there in eternity, then He began to be something that He was not before – not that He has begun to be, or that He has now come into existence.

The Word became flesh. He entered into full manhood, into a complete human nature.

Contradicting Genealogy?

The genealogies in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 seem to contradict… different parents, different lines?
Matthew: Genealogical tree of Joseph
Luke: Genealogical tree of Mary
In both instances, the Scriptures are careful to tell us that He was not the son of Joseph, He was the son of Mary. Mary was a descendant of King David, thus the great promises of Isaiah are fulfilled:

Isaiah 9 ‘He shall sit on David’s throne’
Isaiah 11 ‘And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse’ (David’s father)

The incarnation

We may think this is Irrelevant, but the first 3 or 4 centuries of the Christian ere were spend very largely inthe infant church fighting for this very thing! Heresies arose denying our Lord’s humanity or His deity; or denied that He came truly in the flesh, or that He really suffered. If these are lost, the gospel is lost, and there’d be no salvation of gospel to preach.

More from Romans

Romans 1:2 …which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures…

Why a long gap from Eden to Calvary?

i) God revealing the depth of Sin. Though the Jews heard the truth, they were blinded by sin, they had a veil over their hearts  (2 Cor 3)

ii) God proving Man’s attempt to save himself is futile. God gave man a full opportunity of saving himself, but he could not do it.

iii) God showing His own Lordship over all, absolute control, final authority. He chose a people, gave them a law, but they could not keep it. At Calvary, Satan is silenced, God is just, and there is not a word that can be said against Him, His ordering of the life of the world, or of His great salvation.

Paul preached Christ from the Old Testament

Paul was always anxious to show the gospel was not a departure from the past, nor a complete break with the OT Scriptures. It was a continuation of what God had already been doing – which started back in Eden.

Paul would prove to the Jews from their own Scriptures that their needed to be a Suffering Servant who would be rejected and put to death. If he couldn’t establish that, how could he possibly convince them?

All those promises are yes and amen in this Christ Jesus.

8 Lessons from Paul preaching from the OT:

i) The Bible is complete. OT + NT (the Canon of scripture) is the complete revelation that God has given to man concerning His truth. There is not continued extra revelation (immaculate conception, worshipping Mary..) All we need is in the bible.

ii) The Bible is the only authority. Our message must always come from the Bible, and from nowhere else. We have no authority but this (and a great authority it is!)

iii) The Bible is one book. Not a library of books, not even two books. The OT and NT are one; it is the same fundamental truth about the saving God and His great purpose. Old and New are parts of the same

iv) The Old Testament is therefore essential. The OT is not just for Jews. Nor is to be used just devotionally (psalms) or to for a bit of history. God’s truth is revealed there and we need that revelation. The New is in the Old concealed, the Old is in the New revealed.

v) Interpretation of  NT must never contradict teaching of the OT. Eg. Atonement. ‘It is just Jesus showing how much He loves us by dying. Nothing more’. Wrong. This is a false teaching about death not consistant with the OT teaching; there must be blood shed and punishment for the forgiveness of sins, Jesus was our expiation and propitiation. (Hold on to your OT to understand the NT – so important)

vi) The NT fulfils the OT. You cannot receive Jesus as your Saviour and say later I will perhaps take Him as my Lord. He is always the Lord and you receive Him as Lord. Can’t just have justification without sanctification. Jesus is now your Lord.

vii) OT reminds us Salvation is global. It is a personal salvation, but God has a purpose for the whole world. The OT emphasises that, keep one eye on it.

viii) Learn to submit ourselves absolutely to God’s ways. Put yourself, and everything that is a concern to you, entirely in the hands of God.

So let us never forget…

..that there is nothing more comforting or encouraging to the Christian than to be familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures.

Depressed and discouraged? God back to your OT Scriptures, read them, study them, learn them by heart. See God’s method. The whole of Hebrews 11 is used in that way, you remember

More from Romans

Romans 1:2 Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,

Preaching vs. Writing

Paul could stay somewhere for 18 months and preach daily. He’s clearly not just superficially going through these epistles (he could have done that in a week).

Paul’s Epistles are headings which he expounded. This particlar one, verse 2, is one of his favourite headings which he obviously expounded at very great length.

‘Promised afore’

The gospel is right through the old testament. Genesis to Malachi.

2 Tim 3:15 ‘how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus’.It is all there if you have got eyes to see it.

Paul reasoned and argued from the Old Testament about Jesus, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

‘Prophets’

The term ‘prophet’ in the Scripture here refers to all the books in the Old Testament in which there is any sort of prophecy of the coming of the Son of God.

Foretelling and forth-telling

People would argue that OT prophetic scripture was forth-telling – just speaking about a current situation, not speaking about the future.

But they went beyond that, God used them as His special servant to foretell events yet to come.

Revelation and Inspiration

Revelation means knowing the certain facts –  giving the information
Inspiration is that which controls the statement and the expression of those facts.

A prophet has both.

If a man receives inspiration to state facts already known, it is not revelation. Prophets are men who have both.

Prophesying, but not understanding

The prophets of God – His prophets – were given the truth, given the power to express it truly and without error, although the did not fully understand what they were saying. What they did understand is it was not for them; it was largely for thosse who were going to come.

‘Holy Scriptures’

These are holy writings; they are not human or ordinary. They belong to God, and they are holy because they belong to God.

They have been written under the guidance and the power and the influence of God, under the control of the Holy Ghost.

The Apostles regarded the OT as the divinely inspired Word of God. 2 Tim 3:16

More from Romans

Romans 1:1 the gospel of God

Gospel means ‘Good News’
Has the gospel come to us as good news?
The law is not good news. Paul is ‘herald’ of good news, the announcer.

The gospel is not primarily an appeal for us to do anything. It is an announcement, a proclamation to us of what God has already done.

Isaiah 35 & 55 The lame leaping like an hart! Every man singing and rejoicing!
Luke 2:1-20 Shepherd have ‘good tidings of great joy’ for you.
Good tidings- the gospel!

Has it comes to us like that?
If not, we ought to be very doubtful we are Christians at all.

i) An inadequate understanding of our sinfulness is probably the greatest single cause of our failure to rejoice in the Lord always, and to realise that its message is the greatest good-news that the world has ever received.

ii) An inadequate realisation of the consequences of sin. If we detract from our bleief in the punishment of sin, so we are detracting from the good news of the gospel.

Gospel of the Trinity

Romans 1:1-4 “The gospel of God…concerning His Son…according to the Spirit of holiness”
Some see gospel solely in terms of:

i) the Father. All you must do is turn in and examine yourself, and look into yourself that God is in you. Mystics, Buddhists, New Age..

ii) the Son. Have the impression that God the Father is reluctant to forgive us, picturing Jesus has having to please with His Father to forgive us.

iii) the Holy Spirit. Interested in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit withought seeing the absolute necessity of the atonement. Conscious of their need for new life and power but by-pass the cross.
All three are subtle and dangerous.

The Father is the Centre.
The whole purpose of the work of the Son is to bring us to God the Father. Christ suffered for our sins to bring us back to God the Father. 1 Peter 3:18. It was his sending (John 3:16). If our account of salvation stops here, if we don’t go on to glorify the Father, our conception of salvation is very inadequate.

Define: sin.
The essence of sin is to fail to glorify God.
People quantify their sinfulness by their ’sins’, not by their failure to glorify God with their whole beings all the time.

The doctrine of the Trinity is the heart of Christianity.
All three Persons are absolutely necessary to the gospel. It cannot work with any of them missing. It is the thing that makes the whole gospel absolutely unique.

Oh! May God enable us to see the primacy and the centrality and tha all-importance of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

More from Romans

Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.

‘Apostle’
Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones is arguing no man could be an apostle unless:
i)  he had seen the risen Lord; he had to be a witness to the resurrection. Acts 1:21-22, 1 Cor 9:1
ii) he has been specially called to be an apostle.

Paul is concerned that these Roman Christians should realise that he is really a full apostle and that there is no question at all about it. He is the ambassador; he is the representative, he is the full authority. This is because there were people in that day claiming to be apostles that clearly weren’t, Romans 2:2

No more Apostles?
Lloyd-Jones continues to argue against modern day apostles* (based on his definition of what qualifies an apostle…):
i) No one can physically see the risen Lord Jesus anymore, so no can be an Apostle.
ii) The Church is ‘built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets‘ (Ephesians 2:20). “You don’t build a foundation on a foundation; a foundation is something that you lay at the beginning and once only”
iii) Now we have the NT Canon for authoritive teaching, an apostle is not necessary.

‘Separated’
Being set apart.
Paul was set apart as a Pharisee before, now he’s set apart for God. The false separation, the true separation! Man’s separation – God’s separation!
Galatians 1:15 ‘But when God, who had set me apart before I was born…‘
Called from before he was born. A great a glorious theme
True of your salvation and mine too.

* This is not the view or teaching of CCK.

Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.

Introductions to Paul’s letters are important.
“We want to get to the ‘meaty’ portion, as we call it, to that which really interests us, and so, without realising it, we pass over many things that are of the greatest possible value to the Christians”

A servant of Jesus Christ.
Paul here gives it to us at once; Jesus Christ is his theme.
Whatever else they might know about him, whatever else they might remember or forget, he was anxious thath they should at once think of this blessed person who had become the centre of Paul’s life. Paul’s whole ebbing revolved around this person and he could not think of himself apart from Him.
Is this true of us? Is Jesus Christ in the forefront of our minds, and our hears, and our conversation?
In the first 14 verses of Ephesians, Paul mention’s Him 15 times.

Servant = Bond-slave

i) Every Christian is a bond-slave as we belong to Him, He is our Master, our Lord.
From the moment He sets you free He IS your Lord. It is He as Lord who buys us out of that market and liberates us, and we belong to Him. We are never free. We were the bond-slaves of Satan; we are now the bond-slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ.

ii) Paul’s attitude towards the Lord, that of servanthood. LIke he’s saying “This is the sort of man I am, I have been completely won by Him, captivated, carried away; I am not my own.”

iii) He was writing as a servant of the Lord. He has a particular task allotted to Him.

Apostle.
Apostle is a particular kind of servant. Many people didn’t believe he was, so as a rule the Apostle, somewhere or other in most of his epistles, brings this out very powerfully, that he IS an apostle and that he writes as one.
Apostle: an apostle is one chosen and sent with a special mission as the fully authorised representative of the sender.
The apostles had power to impart spiritual gifts to others.
2 Peter 3:15-16 Peter is saying that the writings of this Apostle Paul are Scriptures

Called.
Surely, this is one of the most amazing things in history. This is the crowning act and the supreme masterpiece of our blessed Lord, that He chose thus as an Apostle one who had been His chief enemy.

Romans 1:1,7 Paul … to all that be in Rome

The letter was written to the church in Rome. Paul never visited Rome, neither did he plant it. We know Peter didn’t plant it either as Paul doesn’t ‘build on another man’s foundations’.

To the church IN Rome, not OF Rome.
“It is not scriptural to speak of the church OF anywhere under the sun, because we must ever preserve this distinction. The church is a gathering of Christian believers.The may be in London, in Rome, in Corinth, in Ephesus, or elsewhere; they are not OF the place in that sense. They are in it, but they are citizens of heaven.”

Written to establish Christians.
“To be converted was not enough we need to be established and to be build up”. There were false teachers then, and there are false teachers now. People didn’t and still don’t preach Christ as it causes devisions. Not Paul. Many of the early Roman Christians and others eventually died for their belief, they went to the stake for standing up against transubstantiation. ‘You see how important it is to know doctrine!’
‘Oh! May God so bring this truth home to us that we too shall be prepared to stand for it… therefore I say let us be sure that we know the truth’

Summary of Romans:
Chapters 1 – 11 doctrinal.
Chapters 12 – 16 practical.

Historically lots of trouble with chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8.
Rom 1:1-15 general introduction to theme, the Gospel of God.
Rom 1:16 elaborating this great theme, particularly justification by faith only
Rom 1:18-28 Gentiles need the gospel
Rom 2 Jews need the gospel too
Rom 3 Was the never any point being a Jew then? Paul shows importance and privilege of Jews
Rom 3:21-31 Mighty statement of justification by faith only
Rom 4 God has always dealt with Man and blessed him in terms of faith.
Rom 5 – 8 “Paul is showing and demonstrating and asserting the certainty, fillies and finality of this great salvation… the whole theme of chapters five, six, seven and eight is security, that here in Christ, justified freely by His grace, my end is secure”

“The thing thy put above their banners, was the truth that God alone must be glorified. SOLI DEO GLORIA! And if your view of salvation in any respect does not give all the glory to God, you have probably not understood it.

Introduction

“This is an occasion of worship. I am one of those who do not recognise any consideration of the Word of God which is not accompanied by worship. The bible is not an ordinary book – it is God’s Book and it is a Book about God and man’s relationship to him. Therefore, overtime we consider or stuffy the Bible we are, of necessity, worshipping… It is an occasion for worship, and not really just a lecture.”

No set plan for this series. Go at the Spirit’s pace

Why is Roman’s first epistle in New Testament?
Because it is first in importance.
Augustine, Pelagius, Martin Luther, John Bunyan, John Wesley all came to faith through book of Romans. Chrysostom of Constantinople had it read to him twice every week.

“This Epistle is the chief part of the New Testament and the very priest gospel, which indeed deserves that a Christian shoal not only know it word for word y heart, but deal with it daily as with the daily bread of the soul, for it can never be read or considered too much or too well, and the more it is handled the more delightful it becomes and the better it tastes” Martin Luther.

Paul was an exceptional man.
A well trained Jew, but also a man of culture
“He know the Greek poets and he could quote them. He knew the writings of the Greek philosophers and could quite them.”
“Here is a man , who not only has the gospel to preach but who also understand the people to whom he is preaching.”
He became all things to all men, he can speak as a Jew, he can speak as a Gentile. He knows the background of both cultures.
Perfect guy to reconcile the OT to the NT.

Natural gifting for the Lord.
A mastermind. All the great men of the bible were actually very gifted people…Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah.
Church history too; St Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon… all unusually gifted men.
“There is nothing wrong with natural gifts in and of themselves. It is God who endows all men with their natural gifts; man does not create his own. A Shakespeare is not responsible for his own ability. All gifts and bestowed by God; therefore it is unscriptureral and unchristian to decry naturally gifts. ”
“You have used your personality in you old life, in your business, in your sin. The same gifts can be used in your Christian witness, in your Christian deportment. That is the lesson I find here. That is the lesson I find here.”