Thank you for joining today as we seek God’s wisdom together. Let us begin with prayer.
“Lord Jesus, I ask that you take the words in this blog and breathe life into them. Apart from your anointing they are just words on a page. I ask that you quicken our hearts to hear, see, and act upon what you are trying to teach us by the Power of Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus name, Amen.”
Romans 2: 9- 16, (NASB).
“There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of mankind who does evil, for the Jew first and also for the Greek, 10but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who does what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11For there is no partiality with God. 12For 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; 13for it is not the hearers of the Law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the Law who will be justified. 14For when Gentiles who do not have the Law instinctively perform the requirements of the Law, these, though not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, 16on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of mankind through Christ Jesus.”
What the Word is Saying
Building on the first eight verses of the Chapter, Paul begins to show what “wrath (v.8)” looks like. Wrath in Paul’s example here is being turned over to the consequences of their evil deeds. Here Paul points out that those consequences can be “tribulation and distress (v.9).” conversely, righteous behavior elicits “glory, honor, and peace (v.10).” The covenant status of the individual has no bearing on the matter. Be it Jew (Abraham’s descendant) or Gentile the consequences of their action are based totally on their actions. God does not show favor in this regard to one people over another. I am reminded of the story of Caleb and Joshua for an example.
Caleb and Joshua were two of the twelve spies that Moses sent into the land to see what was there and what the people of Israel faced when they went over into the land. All twelve brought back reports of what was there saying it was “a land filled with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27).” The other ten spies reported back of how strong the people were “we also saw the Nephilim there; and we were grasshoppers in our own sight and so were we in their sight (v.33) and that their cities were “fortified and very large (v. 28).” However, Caleb reported back that “we should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will certainly prevail over it (v.30).” “Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces… and Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying ‘The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, the He will bring us into this land and give it to us (Num. 14: 5-8).” Of course, the Israel people failed to trust in the Lord and as a result had to wonder around the desert for forty years until every last one of those who did not believe had passed away before the people went into the land and God gave it to them. The sin was unbelief and lack of trust in God’s power and His plan. The result was wrath upon the unbelieving among the Jewish people.
Perhaps the biggest point I think that should be taken out of this is that these people missed out on the opportunity to see the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants fulfilled. It was fulfilled after they all passed away but, they could have been the ones if they only had believed. In contrast one needs to only think of the Ninevites. They repented at the preaching of Jonah and therefore God did not destroy their city as he had planned. This was a gentile population who nonetheless obeyed the word of God and by faith acted in accordance with it. Therefore, God seeing their righteousness in their faith and repentance changed His mind and did not destroy their land.
These people of Nineveh were what Paul was referring to when he said: “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 29But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from people, but from God (Romans 2: 28-29).” Their hearts had been changed and they acted by faith in observance of that change. Whereas, with the children of Israel failed to believe the good reports of Joshua and Caleb and though they were circumcised physically. They were not circumcised in the heart. Therefore, they acted in accordance with that lack of faith and suffered the consequences of it.
As Christians we like to sit back and smirk at the lack of faith in the children of Israel. But are we that much different? Do we fail to believe God can change the heart of that person on the street or the “giants” we come across in our lives? Do we look at the outside appearance of the land and its people and fail to share the Gospel of Jesus, because we do not really believe inwardly that Jesus can change their heart? Jonah knew of God’s ability to act in accordance with his precepts. He was mad because he knew that the people of Nineveh could repent and therefore God in his mercy would change his mind about the destruction, they “deserved.” Yet we fail to trust God and believe that His Holy Spirit can remove the heart of stone in people and give them a heart of flesh. Nevertheless, that is the mission that Jesus left for us to do. If we won't tell them, God will accomplish his will in spite of our disobedience. However, he wants us to obey and be the Jesus with skin on the world needs to see.
If you do not yet know Jesus as lord and savior, I encourage you to submit to Him now. Pray this prayer with me right now. Where you are; say these words out loud: “Jesus, I confess you are Lord and believe that God raised you from the dead. I am a sinner and ask you to forgive me and take out my heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. I ask that you send me your Holy Spirit to fill me with Power to live my life for you and lead me into all truth. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Maybe you are a believer and recognize where you have fell short of God’s plan for you. Maybe you fell back into sin and turned your back on him. Maybe you failed to act on your faith when God was prompting you to. I encourage you to seek forgiveness and ask God to change your heart in the matter. He is faithful and willing to do exactly that and make you a new creature again.
Thank you for joining me today as we searched the scriptures for What the Word is Saying to us Today. I pray that God would send His Holy Spirit into our lives anew and fill us again with His love and His purpose for us.
“Scripture quotations taken from the NASB (New American Standard Bible) Copyright 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” lockman.org.
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