Psalms 77:1-10 A Psalm
of Asaph. I cried out to God with my voice— To God with my voice; And He
gave ear to me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; My hand was
stretched out in the night without ceasing; My soul refused to be comforted. I
remembered God, and was troubled; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.
You hold my eyelids open; I am
so troubled that I cannot speak. I have considered the days of old, The years
of ancient times. I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within
my heart, And my spirit makes diligent search. Will the Lord cast off forever?
And will He be favorable no more? Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His promise failed forevermore? Has
God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? And I
said, "This is my anguish;
But I will remember the years
of the right hand of the Most High." Father, we give
you all the praise and thanks for all you do in our lives. Please touch our
hearts with zeal to do your will. Strengthen us to speak boldly about your
Gospel to others. Send the Holy Spirit to touch our hearts so we can understand
your Word and put it into practice. Open our ears so that we can hear your
voice. We give you all the glory and praise. Amen!
Romans 10:1-4 NKJV
What is zeal? Is it a good thing to have? Can we have
zeal for the wrong purpose, but think we are doing good? Zeal is what this
lesson is all about. Paul had both unrighteous and righteous zeal during his
lifetime. Zeal can cause us to do wrong when we think we are doing right. Zeal
is defined as; passionate ardor in the pursuit of anything. In general, zeal is
an eagerness of desire to accomplish or obtain some object, and it may be
manifested either in favor of any person or thing, or in opposition to it, and
in a good or bad cause. Zeal can be a blind conductor of the will of a person.
Many times a person’s enthusiasm will lead a person in the wrong direction that
is not pleasing to God, but the person doesn’t realize they are offending God.
This happens when we do not have a head knowledge of God’s Holy Word and what
it truly means. Paul goes through these four verses and does an excellent job
in explaining what this zeal can do to a person and lead them away from God
instead of to Him.
Romans 10:1-4
1
Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they may be saved.
Paul starts out addressing his brethren (fellow believers) and then bearing his
soul, and how his heart aches with the desire that his country men (Jews) would
come out of their self righteousness and accept Jesus as their Messiah. Paul is
writing to the Saints of the local church at Rome. The church existed of
Gentiles that had accepted Jesus as their Saviour and probably a few Jews. Paul
has expressed this heartfelt desire for his Jewish brothers and sister two
times in his Roman writings. Verse one above along with Romans 9:2-3 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in
my heart. 3
For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my
countrymen according to the flesh.
Paul
was a real soldier for Jesus and the Gospel. He worked with great zeal to bring
the Gospel to Jew and Gentile. His heart ached for all the lost and worked and
prayed passionately in hopes his readers and listeners would give their heart
to Jesus. Paul didn’t want to see anyone die and go into the pit of Hell for
eternity. With the desire that was within Paul’s heart, when Paul wasn’t
writing or preaching, he was praying to God that his kinsmen the Israelites would
see the light and be saved.
2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal
for God, but not according to knowledge. With today’s introduction do you understand what Paul is
stating here to his fellow saints? In a nutshell he is stating, “I know what
enthusiasm they (meaning Jewish kinsmen) have for God, but it is a misdirected
zeal”. How does Paul know this zeal that his Jewish brothers and sisters have? It
is because he can bear witness to this zeal that he once had. The zeal of
Jewish law and customs before he was touched by Jesus on the road to Damascus.
He thought he was serving God in all that he was doing at that time, but as it
turned out, it was a self righteous mindset that he had. He had the wrong
knowledge or misdirected knowledge of what scripture means. The NLT Bible
version states Paul’s testimony best concerning his misdirected zeal and
knowledge that he had at one time in Philippians
3:3-9 NLT For we who
worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on
what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, 4 though I
could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have
reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! 5 I was
circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel
and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I
was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish
law. 6 I
was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness,
I obeyed the law without fault. 7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now
I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes,
everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting
it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ
9 and become one with Him. I no longer
count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become
righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with
Himself depends on faith.
As you
can see, Paul knows exactly how his Jewish brothers and sisters were thinking
and rationalizing, because he thought the same way before he was saved by Jesus
on the road to Damascus. Paul was so sure the Jewish laws were right and must
be followed, he made several claims in verses 5 and 6 above in his testimony:
First; he claims of being circumcised
according to Gods command to the Israelites. Genesis 17:10-12 This is My covenant which you shall keep,
between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you
shall be circumcised; 11 and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your
foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. 12 He who is
eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your
generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any
foreigner who is not your descendant.
Second; he points out his heritage that he
is a Jew and descendant of Benjamin. Acts 22:3 "I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of
Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according
to the strictness of our fathers' law, and was zealous toward God as you all
are today.
Third; he was a student of the law and
abided by it the best he could. The Pharisee’s were the strictest of the Jewish
sects. They practiced the law with diligence. Acts 26:4-5 "My
manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own
nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know. 5 They knew me from the first, if they were willing
to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a
Pharisee.
Fourth; Paul believed in his heritage,
customs, rituals, laws so much that he hunted down Christians and put them in
jail. He stood by and watched and condoned the stoning of Stephen. Acts 8:3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church,
entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Acts 7:58-59
and they cast him out of the
city and stoned him. And the
witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they
stoned Stephen as he was calling on God
and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
So
Paul can make his claim in verse 2 above about having zeal for God, but without
knowledge. The knowledge they had was of the Old Covenant and not the New
Covenant. They truly believed they were doing right, but instead offending God
by their thoughts and actions. The truth was reveal to Paul, his eyes were
opened, he was no longer blind to the truth. He had a new knowledge given to
him by Jesus. Do you have the right kind of zeal toward Jesus?
3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness,
and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the
righteousness of God.
By rephrasing this verse in a fashion for us to understand what is being said,
Paul is stating this; For they don't understand God's way of making people
right with Himself. Refusing to accept God's way, they cling to their own way
of getting right with God by trying to keep the law.
What
Paul has just pointed out to the people of his time and people of current times
is that even today many are self righteous and cannot give up their religious
customs and doctrine even when it is not based on God’s Holy and True Word.
They are blinded to the truth and will not allow God to show them the truth so
that they can be saved. It is their will they serve, and not God’s will. This
is why Jesus heart aches, Paul’s heart ached, and every true believers heart
aches for the unsaved. There is nothing a Born Again Saint can do to get a
nonbeliever to believe, but to witness and share the Gospel. It is up to the
individual to answer God’s calling to them. A head knowledge without heart
readiness is a dangerous thing that will lead to one’s eternal destruction.
Throughout the ages many a man has not submitted to God’s calling or will, but
relied on their own knowledge. Only a remnant has responded to God’s calling to
righteousness. Throughout history and even in current times mankind deems
themselves wiser than God.
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest
for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your
children.
Psalms 95:10-11 For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, 'It is a people who go astray in their
hearts, And they do not know My ways.' 11 So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My
rest.’
Isaiah 1:2-3 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the
LORD has spoken: "I have nourished and brought up children, And they have
rebelled against Me; 3 The ox knows its owner And the donkey its master's
crib; But Israel does not know,
My people do not consider."
Romans 1:18-22 For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because
what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since
the creation of the world His invisible attributes
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead,
so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not
glorify Him as God, nor were
thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were
darkened. 22
Professing to be wise, they became fools,
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who
believes. Paul is
stating here that Jesus fulfilled the totality of the Law, meaning the
righteousness that the Law stood for could not secure ones salvation. It is
only through believing in the shed blood of Jesus Christ for one and all that
one can be saved. It is the knowledge of what Jesus did on the Cross for us and
all we have to do is place our faith in the finished work of the Cross that one
can become an adopted child of God. This fact we have already studied in Romans 8:3-5 For what the law could not do in that it was
weak through the flesh, God did
by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He
condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be
fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the
Spirit. 5 For those who live according
to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the
things of the Spirit.
What
Jesus did in the form of human flesh no human being could or can do. Jesus kept
the law perfectly which defeated Satan. There is nothing wrong with the Law of
God, it is just, holy, and good. Romans
7:12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and
just and good. The
problem lies with man and his sinful inherited flesh. We have no ability to
keep God’s Holy Law. If one is going to establish his own righteousness it
means keeping 100% of God’s requirements 100% of the time according to the Law.
To break the Law in one point is the same a breaking all the Commandments. James 2:10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet
stumble in one point, he is
guilty of all.
Therefore
Jesus came into the world to do what we could not do, satisfy the requirements
of the Law in order to win righteousness for those who would receive it as a
free gift instead of trying to earn it themselves.
Jesus
is the end of righteousness for all who believe. Do you believe? If so, then
give God a big I LOVE YOU and THANK YOU for what He has done for you by sending
His only begotten Son, Jesus, to die on the Cross for you.
For I am not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God
to salvation for everyone who believes,
Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a
steadfast spirit within me.
Unless you are Born Again,
you cannot enter into Heaven, the Kingdom of God."
Bill Wiesbrock
Last Week’s Trivia: Who was Abidan?
Answer: Abidan was of the tribe of Benjamin.
He was selected as one of the twelve princes who were to represent the twelve
tribes and help with the census when Moses took a head count in the wilderness.
Numbers Chapters 1, 2, 7, 10.
This week’s Trivia: Who was Abihu?
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